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What are the likely consequences of the US decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal

The Iran nuclear deal, more properly the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was signed in Lausanne on 14 July 2015 and came into force in January 2016.

I studied the agreement without having access to the records of the negotiations to comment on the various proposals that were put forward during them, whether from the Iranian delegation or from the P5 Group of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany.

As a scholar, I believe the JCPOA failed to cover the following dimensions:

- An engagement on the part of all the negotiators to include in the deal the establishment of a Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone in the Middle East, in accordance with the 1995 Nuclear Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Extension and Review Conference Resolution and the relevant Resolutions of the UN General Assembly;

- A commitment on the part of all the parties, which have not made one, to adhere (sign and/or ratify), the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT);

- A pledge to adhere to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Additional Protocol to formally enable the agencys inspectors to carry out intrusive inspections of all the nuclear facilities of the country concerned;

- The means of delivery of nuclear and other Weapons of Mass Destruction, particularly missiles.

After the conclusion of the JCPOA, many believed that the mistrust between Iran, the IAEA and the Western countries was over.

However, US President Donald Trump declared the USs withdrawal from the deal in May 2018. In spite of the above observations, I approve of the role played by the IAEA in the follow-up and inspection of the Iranian nuclear sites and the cooperation shown by the Iranian side with the agency.

IAEA reports have indicated that the JCPOA is being observed by the Iranian government. However, this did not affect Trumps decision to withdraw from it, though the other parties to the JCPOA have resisted the US pressure on them and refused to follow suit in what will be a crucial test in US-transatlantic relations.

The US and other world powers curbed Irans nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief and the licensing of military and other spending by Iran.

When Trump pulled America out of the deal, he launched a campaign of economic pressure on US allies to deny the Iranian regime the funds it needs to advance its national development agenda.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani did not meet Trump in New York on the margins of the UN 73rd General Assembly meetings in September 2018, and he will have hoped to achieve a victory over America in the crisis since Irans hardliners opposed the nuclear deal and see no room for compromise with America.

Trump then ordered the reinstatement of sanctions on the purchase of Irans debt and launched a campaign to stop foreign companies from doing business with Iran. After almost two years of negotiating the nuclear deal, the Europeans have vowed to resist US pressure and to evade its penalties.

Several of Europes largest companies, including Danish shipping firm Maersk, French energy giant Total and German conglomerate Siemens, have stepped back from Iran to avoid losing access to lucrative US markets, however.

The next wave of US sanctions, due on 5 November, will target Irans port operators, insurance and reinsurance businesses and foreign purchases of Iranian oil.

The impact of the sanctions on Iran has been negative. Current forecasts estimate its economy will grow by 1.8 per cent in 2018 and its currency has hit a series of record lows.

The US will impose new sanctions against Iran aimed at its oil industry, and as a result Japan, South Korea, Sri Lanka and some European countries will likely slash oil imports from Iran.

The US might offer cheap oil from its own reserves to induce some oil-importing countries to follow suit. Though European governments continue to uphold the nuclear deal, a French state-owned bank has dropped plans to finance exports to Iran, while the French government has restricted diplomatic travel to Iran.

On the other hand, Iran has sought support from Russia and China. Yet, Russia has largely filled the gap left by Iran in the oil market, and China is focusing on its current trade war with the US.

It should be noted that Iran draws nearly 80 per cent of its tax revenues from oil exports, and that these have dropped by 35 per cent since April in anticipation of Novembers sanctions. The enforcement of the November oil sanctions will add more losses to Iran.

European governments are keen to protect their economies and companies from the negative effects of the US sanctions.

The British, French and German governments thus agreed with Russia and China on 25 September to set up a new payments system that would allow their oil companies and other businesses to continue trading with Iran.

Europe is seeking to alter transatlantic relations in order to ensure that it is a sovereign continent that has totally independent financial instruments.

As a result, the damage to US-European relations is expected to get worse. And European countries now face greater pressure than ever before to loosen the economic and security ties that bind them to the US.

Finally, the withdrawal of the US from the JCPOA is not the first time the US administration has withdrawn from an international instrument.

Other international agreements and/or commitments have suffered the same fate, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. This trend, if sustained, throws doubt on future US international commitments.

* The writer is the former head of the Egyptian Delegation to the Conference on Disarmament and 1996 chair of the Working Group on Legal and Institutional matters of the CTBT negotiations.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 25 October, 2018 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: Challenges to the Iran nuclear deal

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Sesa sen By

Express News Service

BHUBANESWAR: While rivals have locked horns to acquire more capacities under the insolvency turmoil, the debt-laden Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL) said on Friday that it plans to invest Rs 50,000 crore to augment steel production capacity of its facility in Odisha to 20 mtpa by 2030. The steelmaker, however, is considering financing its expansion plans from internal accruals, raising equity and roping in strategic investors over a period of time as part of its debt resolution plan.

We are looking to increase Angul plants capacity from 6 mtpa to 20 mtpa in the next 12 years and also ramp up production on the back of higher contribution from the facility, which has resulted in improved profitability, JSPL chairman Naveen Jindal told Express, adding that facility has started making operational profit from this month despite the acute shortage of coal and iron ore at times.

Angul expansion involved a debt of around Rs 24,000 crore. In FY16, a large part of this project was included in the capital of close to Rs 12,000 crore, which was 26 per cent of its fixed capital employed in the company. This time, there would not be much borrowing as the company has decided not to take any more loans, but explore equity-linked fundraising options, Jindal noted. The domestic capacity, he said, will reach 9 MT by March-end and Angul will reach its full capacity by May. The steelmaker also plans to produce 3 lakh MT of hot metal in November this year and step up output to 4 lakh MT per month by March 2019.

On international business, the company will seek to progressively sell about 30 per cent of the Oman unit over two to three years and this may partly be achieved through an initial public offer, Jindal said. The company will engage with potential buyers in December and hopes to conclude a deal by March. JSPL, which has a debt pile of Rs 42,000 crore, is hopeful of bringing it down by 50 per cent of the present level in the next three to four years, said Jindal.

He also expects the steel prices to go up in the near future as higher prices of iron ore and coal have led to a Rs 3,500-4,000 per tonne increase in the cost of steel production. At times, we are buying the most expensive coal in the world, which erodes our competitiveness. To offset the rising input cost expect to increase hike steel prices by Rs 2,000 a tonne again in the coming few weeks, he explained. JSPL had previously raised prices by Rs 2,000 a tonne.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: Following the raids by the Enforcement Directorate on Amnesty Indias office in Bengaluru, the organisation has accused the Central government of treating human rights organisations like criminal enterprises.

In a statement issued by Amnesty International on Friday, its India head Aakar Patel said most documents asked during the search were available in the public domain or were already filed with the relevant authorities. Details of our current structure, which was the focus of much of the questioning, have been available on our website since 2014, he said, noting that the focus of EDs questioning was the relationship between Amnesty International India Pvt Ltd and Amnesty International India Foundation.

Amnesty has also accused Indian authorities of attempting to cast a negative image on its operations in the country. ... ahead of the raids, the Indian authorities leaked a cache of their internal documents marked secret that appears to cast Amnesty Indias operations as a dark web of intrigue, the statement read.

We could not agree more with the Prime Minister when he says that periods of repression, like during the Emergency, have left a stain on Indias history. Sadly, those dark days are now casting a shadow over India again. Instead of protecting human rights, as it vowed to do, the government is now targeting the people who fight for them, Patel said.

Over 40 lakh Indians have supported Amnesty Indias work over the last six years and around one lakh Indians have made a financial contribution, the release added. Amnesty Indias office in Indiranagar, Bengaluru, was raided on Thursday allegedly for violation of Foreign Direct Investment guidelines and bypassing the Foreign Currency (Regulation) Act to raise funds.
Ashwini M Sripad By

Express News Service

BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court has set a deadline for Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to clean up the city. But various civic agencies face a stiff challenge to achieve it. From garbage to littering, public toilet to sewage lines, the city has a long way to go to retrieve the Clean Bengaluru tag.

The citys population has crossed 1.2 crore, and its Swachh Bharat ranking has slid every time the survey has been conducted. The rankings are given based on parameters like municipal solid waste, sweeping, processing to disposal of solid waste, open defecation-free, provision of public and community toilet seats and many more cleanliness issues.

Kathyayini Chamaraj, activist and urban expert, told The New Indian Express that to improve the citys ranking, the authorities concerned should meet the parameters set by Swachh Bharat. Ideally, they were supposed to start by September 1, so they can improve and score better in the next Swachh Bharat ranking survey which is in January 2019. But they have not started yet, she said.

The high court on Thursday told the BBMP to come out with concrete and substantial results with regards to cleanliness by October 31.

However, city cleanliness does not just depend on clearing garbage. The New Indian Express points out a few issues which need urgent attention to make our city clean.

What next for BBMP?

Pourakarmikas who work under BBMP are getting salary directly to their account, thus making no intervention of contractors. However, right from pushcarts to auto tippers and compactors, BBMP is still depending on contractors. It is better to have its own equipment.

Instead of focusing on e-toilets, BBMP should find more space to construct public toilets under private public partnership. Monitor offenders who litter or dump waste on road side by installing CCTV cameras and levy penalty Take help of marshals or recruit more people to monitor garbage dumping as well as picking waste from door.

Enforce waste segregation at source Waste disposal should be decentralised, so that waste will not be transported to different places Monitor people who dump waste to drains Enforce apartments to have their own sewage treatment plant, so that treated water is let out to drains

GARBAGE menace

The city generates close to 5,000 metric tonnes of garbage, of which 40 per cent is wet waste. The garbage crisis worsened in 2012 after Mavallipura residents stopped taking the citys waste at the landfill sites in their backyards. In 2014, Mandur landfill was also shut after the villagers protested. The same scenario was witnessed by BBMP in Lakshmipura, S Bingipura and other landfill sites. The issue even reached the High Court, and after the courts intervention, the BBMP notified the rule  segregation of waste at source. But even after six years, citys garbage issue has not been sorted. Mayor Gangambike Mallikarjun expressed her utter displeasure over waste segregation which slipped from 5pc (two years ago) to 25pc.

STINKING PUBLIC loos

According to national guidelines set by Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), a city with a floating population of five lakh should have one toilet seat per 100 men and two per 100 women. Bengaluru, with a population of over one crore, has just 2,838 toilets in 473 public toilet complexes. The city needs at least 1,100 more public toilet complexes, says a recent Janaagraha survey. The SBM guidelines also indicate that the city requires one toilet complex for 7km, but in Bengaluru, it is one toilet complex on every 24km stretch. When it comes to cleanliness, the survey says 76 per cent male and 70 per cent female toilets are usable. Only 10 per cent mens and six per cent womens toilets have functional flushes.

STORM-WATER DRAINS

In BBMP limits, there are 633 stormwater drains (SWDs) which comes to 842km. Of these, 142km are primary and 426km are secondary. The drains actual capacity is to hold 80mm of rain. But due to encroachment, this has reduced to 35-40mm.

Rapid urbanisation and civic agencies apathy, especially on the city outskirts, have led to

sewage lines from apartment complexes ending in these drains. Moreover, garbage dumped by people leads to inundation of these drains even after moderate rains. The garbage water presents not just an ugly picture, but the smell is unbearable too. The infamous Bellandur and Varthur lakes get their water from such drains.

DEFACED WALLS

After the High Court intervention, the citys walls are free of posters. However, in a few places bills are still seen. Furthermore, these walls which were painted some years ago by artists are slowly starting to fade off, making it look ugly. One of the worse public practices is pan beeda stains on walls, especially at market places, due to the publics rampant habit of spitting carelessly. These kind of practices need to change with the peoples mindset. It is unfortunate that people who work at these places spit pan and contribute to the lack of hygiene, an official from BBMP said. Another practice which lends to the defacing of walls is that of it being used as public urinals.
Chetana Belagere By

Express News Service

BENGALURU: Did you know that there is a recruitment period for rowdy gangs too? According to veteran cops who have observed this, new gangs are recruited between August-September and November, starting with the Ganesha festival and ending with Rajyotsava festivities in the first week of November.

The key factor behind the recruitment during this period is extorting money from businessmen and residents on the pretext of collection for arrangements for festivities and celebrations.

According to BB Ashok Kumar, another officer who has observed this trend and retired as Assistant Commissioner of Police, says September till November is the time when most men get recruited into rowdyism. It starts with Ganesha festival and ends with Rajyotsava.

Earlier, the day was celebrated only on November 1 but now, the celebration goes on till December. If you notice, there will be lot of rival attacks following these months and most of the time, the gangs will be new, he said.

Retired police officer BK Shivram informed City Express that it has become an unsaid norm that many youngsters form gangs in the name of setting up Rajyotsava Pole in the city. In an area, there will be two or three prominent gangs of young boys who would want to celebrate the day and hoist the Kannada flag. The clout of the gang is proved depending on who puts up the pole first. This argument, in the past, has led to many group clashes ending in gory murders, he said.

The city police are now warning old time rowdy elements to stay away from creating any trouble in the areas.

The police have also planned a few rowdy parades and have asked rowdy sheeters to refrain from extortions in the name of Rajyotsava. Many a times, when these young boys do not get to put the pole first in the area, hold a grudge against other gangs. It then leads to assault, attempt to murder and murder cases and also make a name in the area, said a senior police officer.

Members of Kannada Rakshana Vedike have requested youngsters to refrain from getting into group clashes during this year. We all love our state and we are proud of our language. I request youngsters to celebrate the festival in peace. Do not get into any kind of violence or cause inconvenience to the public, appealed Narayana Gowda of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike.
Samuel Merigala By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Deepavali arrived 10 days early to the southern suburb of Chitlapakkam. Residents welcomed the two activists who were jailed after they questioned certain irregularities in the panchayats flood mitigation project, by bursting crackers in front of Varadharaja Theatre on Friday.

With the 10,000 wala bringing traffic to a standstill at the junction, a few commuters descended from their vehicles to embrace the men of the moment  Kumarasubramaniam and Balachander. The two were released from Central Prison, Puzhal, on conditional bail earlier that morning after spending five nights. These men are real heros and the entire community owes them gratitude for not backing down, said a resident who stopped to congratulate the duo, on his way to work.

Ironically, sweets were distributed and slogans were raised by the gathering in front of an AIADMK banner thanking Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam for the cut-and-cover project at Chitlapakkam.

Speaking to Express, Balachander and Kumarasubramaniam said they were surprised by how well they had been treated by their fellow prisoners. They knew we were inside for questioning irregularities in a government project at Chitlapakkam, said Kumarasubramaniam.

We thought only those who commit murders are respected in jails, said Balachandar claiming that prisoners have special respect for social activists. They tried to make our stay as comfortable as possible, he said, encouraging fellow activists not to worry about threat of imprisonment.While the jail clearly seems to have taken a physical toll on both, who were dishevelled, their spirits did not seem to have weakened.

I just worried about the people at home who would be worrying about me and could not eat, said Balachander, taking photos with his friends, who were jokingly referring to him as accused.Activists from local NGO Chitlapakkam Rising claimed the whole ordeal had been a wake-up call.

We made it a point not to bow down to the government and the quick release of our activists is sign that public voice will be heard by the judiciary and that good will triumph over evil, said Lakshmi, an organisation volunteer, extending thanks to political parties and other activist groups such as Arappor Iyakkam that had come out in support over the last few days.
By PTI

GURGAON: The Gurgaon Police has arrested four Kashmiri youths for allegedly raising funds on a fake Delhi University (DU) letterhead with forged signature of DUSU president Ankiv Baisoya, an official said Saturday.

According to police, the accused claimed that the funds were meant for the rehabilitation of people from the terror affected regions of Jammu and Kashmir.

However, police suspect that the group might be involved in financing terror activities in the valley.

The accused were arrested on Thursday evening and presented before a local court in Gurgaon on Friday, which sent them to two days police custody, they said.

"Since the matter is very sensitive as the accused have used letterhead of DU signed by its president, we are establishing their network to find out (if they have) any links with terrorist organisations," said investigation officer Mohan Singh.

"We have also contacted Baisoya in this regard and asked him to submit (his) reply with proofs including his signature and original letterhead of DU," he added.

The four accused were identified as Mohamad Aamir Ahmed, the head of the team hailing from Nar Singh Peera village, Abdul Hamid Bhat from Bofwara, and Shahrukh Khan and Jahor Ahmed from Kareva village in Kulgam district.

During interrogation, Aamir, who is a second-year student of Bachelor of Arts, revealed that they came to Delhi 15 days ago and were residing in Shastri Park area of the national capital.

"He saw a poster of DU president Ankiv Baisoya and made a plan to prepare a fake letterhead of DU with his (Baisoya) forged signature to impress the residents of Delhi/NCR and raise funds," the official said.

They began collecting the money in Gurgaon but were caught soon after as a resident of Sector 4 grew suspicious of the gang, he said.

According to police, the man observed that funds were being sought for the people of Jammu and Kashmir with the endorsement of Baisoya, who is affiliated to the right-wing student organisation Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

The homeowner immediately informed the police who reached the spot and arrested the four.

When contacted, Baisoya told PTI: "Gurgaon police has enquired about this incident and I have denied my involvement. The letterhead is fake and the signature is also forged. I have submitted my signature and other documents soughed by police before ACP of concern area," he added.

The Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) president further said that the DU administration was yet to issue him the official letterhead.
Pinto Deepak By

Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Following the attack on YSRC chief Jagan Mohan Reddy at Visakhapatnam airport on Thursday, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) is mulling restrictions on the entry of all passengers at check-in area, when there is movement of classified passengers or VIPS.

The passengers will either be not allowed or will be thoroughly frisked, before allowing them to go near the classified persons, CISF officials said. This may also apply to the staff working at the stalls on the airport premises.

Though the CISF does not follow the practise of frisking the passengers before letting them into the check-in area at any airport, other surveillance procedures are in place to handle emergencies. These include CC cameras, armed CISF personnel and other securitymen in plain clothes and marshals to handle any untoward situation.

READ| Police recover another small knife from YS Jagan Mohan Reddy's attacker

While the AP police chief RP Thakur said that an Assistant Commandant of the CISF was present at the spot at the time of the attack, CISF officials claimed that his presence prevented further damage to the VIP by nabbing the attacker immediately.

According to CISF officials, armed CISF personnel are deployed all over the airport, but their job to frisk passengers or scrutinise them begins only after they clear the security check and enter the security hold area (SHA), which is a completely sanitised location.

But Thursdays incident happened in the check-in area, where there is no frisking of passengers or staff. At this location, any person with suspicious movement will be apprehended or frisked and it is done randomly. The man involved in the attack is an employee of a restaurant located in the check-in area and holds an Airport Entry Pass (AEP), which is issued after a background check, the officials said.

READ| BJP seeks probe into attack on YS Jagan Mohan Reddy; blames Andhra government

Thursdays incident pushed the CISF officials into introspection. We should also restrict the number of followers accompanying the VIP. They should either be prohibited or allowed only after thorough search. The movement of staff should also be regulated after checking. There are permission for tools used in the kitchen, but the weapon used in the attack on Jagan is different and how it was brought inside the airport will be probed,  they said.

Jagan discharged from hospital

YSRC president Jagan Mohan Reddy, who was injured in a knife attack at the Vizag airport, was discharged from a private hospital here on Friday. Doctors attending him had said he received a lacerated injury on his shoulder and had to undergo a surgical procedure. Jagan, Leader of Opposition in the AP Assembly, who checked into a private hospital in Hyderabad on Thursday, was discharged on Friday.
Sadaf Aman By

Express News Service

HYDERABAD: A Day after two Symbiosis Law School students were verbally threatened with rustication if they failed to remove their social media posts alleging sexual harassment by an assistant professor, an official communication was issued to them on Friday asking them to vacate the hostel. The move, seemingly to silence women from calling our their abuser, has shocked activists and gender-rights activists.

Students who have deposed before the internal complaints committee against assistant professor Srinivas Methuku alleged that the college was trying to hush up the issue. Students, many of them, have accused professor Methuku of ogling at them and making them uncomfortable. According to an Instagram post, one student even shouted at him saying my face is here, sir, after she caught him staring.

The college management is on a witch hunt against the students, initiating disciplinary action against anyone raking up the issue, say students. In fact, the college has also asked to two girls to issue an unconditional apology, they said. Further action against the duo is now pending with Vice-Chancellor of the deemed to be university.

We have no faith in the committee. We were told to our faces that we were lying due to personal grudge against the professor, said one student.

Methuku, students say, ironically was also a member of the university grievance cell. And until recently, when students put pressure on the management, there was no internal complaints committee where complaints of sexual harassment could be reported. What justice can we expect from a management that threatens students with suspension for speaking up, asks another student.

A day before examination, we were told to unlike or avoid sharing of the Facebook post by these two girls if we did not want to be suspended. I am so stressed I dont know how I performed in the examination, said another student. Despite threats from management, several students have extended support to the duo, albeit anonymously.

Meanwhile, the management has said the suspension of the students and allegation against the professor are two separate issues. The former was done for maligning the reputation of the institution and its dean. By their action, the students are not only dragging their names in the mud, but also tarnishing the reputation of the institution, said Y Vidya principal director Symbiosis.

The duo, allegedly has faced three disciplinary committees in the past but never deposed before them.

Timeline

April 1: Two girls write to women and child welfare about institutional mismanagement of sexual harassment complaints in campus

May 2: SLS registrar MS Shejul responds saying that Prof. Srinivas Methuku was reprimanded for ogling and causing discomfort

October 13: Pooja Malhan calls students

October 15: ICC was constituted and 8 students deposed against Prof Methuku

October 25: Dean Shashikala Gurpur tells students that they will be rusticated

October 26: Action initiated, the duo asked to vacate campus

Methuku was a member of grievance cell

Methuku, students say, was also a member of the university grievance cell. And until recently, when students put pressure on the management, there was no internal complaints committee where complaints could be reported
By Express News Service

KOCHI: Kochi is all set to get direct air connectivity with eight more cities in the country, taking the number of Indian cities with direct connectivity to 21.

The Cochin International Airport (CIAL) released its winter flight operations schedule on Friday introducing direct flight operations to Goa, Bhubaneswar, Visakhapatnam, Nagpur, Lucknow, Guwahati, Jaipur and Kolkata. The airport currently operates services to 16 international destinations. The new operation schedule will come into effect on Sunday and will be in effect till March 30, 2019.

Presently, the airport operates 1,360 services per week, which will increase to 1,734 once the winter schedule comes into force. There will be 124 takeoffs and 124 landings per day. Apart from introducing services to eight new cities in the country, the frequency of many services has been increased. IndiGo and GoAir have announced new services to Goa.

The IndiGo flight to Goa will take off at 9.40 pm every day, while the GoAir service will start at 3.20 am. The GoAir service will start on November 15, while IndiGo is expected to launch the new service on November 15.

IndiGo will start services to Bhubaneswar and Visakhapatnam on December 1. The IndiGo service to Bhubaneswar will take off at 5.35 am every day.

The service to Visakhapatnam will leave at 1.40 pm on Tuesday and 2.10 pm on all other days. The IndiGo service to Nagpur will be launched on November 15 and the flight will leave Kochi at 9.20 pm on all days except Tuesday.

The Guwahati service will start at 5.40 am every day. Services to Lucknow and Guwahati will start on December 9. GoAir is currently operating services to Jaipur via Ahmedabad. This service will continue and IndiGo will launch new services to Kolkata and Jaipur from November 15.

The Jaipur service will leave at 3.05 pm on all days except Tuesday. The Kolkata service will take off at 7 am on all days except Sunday. CIAL operates the maximum number of 15 services to Bengaluru per day.

The GoAir will operate 7 additional services during the winter season, while IndiGo will operate 14 new services and Air India will start one new service. Meanwhile, the SpiceJet has cancelled two services and Jet Airways has scrapped three services.
Kumar Vikram By

Express News Service

Abuse of money power and abuse or misuse of media has come out as a major concern as Telengana is going to see the casting of votes on December 7.

Talking to the New Indian Express in New Delhi, chief election commissioner said, Abuse of money and abuse or misuse of media are the key challenges particularly in Telangana. In the 2014 polls, over 154 crore was seized only in Andhra Predesh. This time also, all the political parties have expressed their worries and have told the Commission that these are their main concern.

Rawat agreed that in every poll innovative tactics are used during campaigning. Abuse of money will be rampant and therefore the Commission takes effective steps to control and regulate this. Similarly, Media ownership has gone into the hands of political parties through different means and they are regularly campaigning for the persons who are favoured by the owners. This will be checked, he added.

ALSO READ | Telangana election: Grand alliance leaders, activists held for protesting at CBI office

On the controversies surrounding deletion of voters from the list, the CEC asserted that the Commission uses latest technology to purify the electoral rolls.

Earlier, the electoral roll used to be only on paper and it was nearly impossible to find anomalies. Thereafter, the Election Commission took the initiative of its digitization. Many things have come out. A lot of voters were deleted on various accounts. We started many programmes and introduced software to ensure the purification of electoral rolls. It is being done since 2015. In Telangana, many political parties submitted their lists, which we sent to officials for verification. Similarly, in Rajasthan, many civil societies had complained about rolls and we took steps accordingly. This way the electoral roll has become clean without any anomalies, Rawat said.

The number of voters in Telangana have come down from 2.82 crore in 2014 to 2.73 crore as per the final rolls published this month. The net deletions were about 22 lakh as 12 lakh new voters were added.

The poll panel has said that the removal of names from the list is due to multiple entries of voters and migrated and dead voters.

Congress had approached the Supreme Court over deletion of large number of voters and the matter was subsequently referred to Hyderabad High Court.
Mrinal Rajaram By

Express News Service

Going by todays heightened standards of violence and gore in filmmaking, the original Halloween of 1978 would fail to make much of an impact on a desensitised viewer. But that would be an unfair expectation for a film that set the bar for a slew of slasher flicks/franchises to come. And truth be told, the original was the best the new genre had to offer then. Im convinced of the shock it must have elicited amongst audiences in the late 70s. Besides, theres nothing like a bit of originality, is there?

I watched Halloween as a teenager in the early 2000s, and revisited it recently in preparation for the eleventh film of the series. And though John Carpenters cult classic did not make as much of an impression on me as Id expected, there were certain aspects of the first film that were much ahead of its time. The first-person perspective of the killer/Michael Myers as he stalks his victims, for starters.

The films haunting theme is one of those pieces of music that has always remained with me, and the associations it makes will forever be intertwined with a deranged psychopath wreaking havoc on the lives of unsuspecting suburban teenagers. Carpenter has gone on record stating that the score was heavily inspired by the music of The Exorcist (1973) and Suspiria (1977). And just as Mike Oldfields Tubular Bells takes us back, even against our better judgement, to that freezing bedroom of the possessed Regan MacNeil, Carpenters theme succeeds in putting us in the shoes of his mentally unstable serial killer.

Nine films followed the 1978 original, only to give audiences this direct sequel four decades on. It begins with two English podcasters in search of answers to the 1978 massacre in Haddonfield. They travel to the mental health facility where Michael Myers has been incarcerated for 40 years. They meet with his current psychiatrist, Dr Ranbir Sartain (the old faithful, Dr Samuel Loomis, having passed on), to get a sense of where things stand. The doctor informs them that he hasnt spoken a word in all these years. The two podcasters are taken to an open-air concrete plot that houses the most dangerous inmates of the sanatorium. In spite of urging him to engage, he gives them nothing to document.

The next stop is Laurie Strodes (Jamie Lee Curtis) house. After the traumatic events of 1978, Laurie suffers from severe PTSD. She is more or less estranged from her daughter, but is rather attached to her teenage grandchild. Her home is a mini-fortress, equipped with multiple cameras and weapons in the event of her tormentors imminent return. Laurie is convinced that Michael will make another attempt on her life, and believes she is ready for him this time. After the podcasters are sent packing without adequate information, it is learned that a bus carrying inmates from the sanatorium has met with an accident on the highway  and Michael Myers is back on the loose.

One aspect both the original and this direct sequel have in common is the pacing. The only difference is that Halloween (2018) is a bit too long for it to work well. The music isnt utilised as effectively as Carpenters film, either. The theme does make an appearance as Michael slips back into his pattern of Halloween night butchery, but the absence of the killers perspective set to music (which I really believe they should not have done away with) ruins some of the more important scenes.

The opening sequences are quite unrealistic too. That two unknown podcasters could get access to a notorious serial killer so easily, let alone be allowed to incite the patient for a reaction, is quite simply absurd. The only telling scene of violence is a shot that is so abrupt (with no music) that it creeps up on you without fair warning.

The middle-aged Laurie Strode comes off as too much of a badass for someone with severe PTSD. Besides, Michael Myers, who would now be 61, possesses the same superhuman strength he did four decades ago. Please dont tell me hes become another Jason Voorhees (from the God-awful Friday the 13th series)! Though Halloween (2018) may be worth a watch, being superior to those bad films made through the years, it certainly does not compare to Carpenters 1978 original that forever changed the quintessentially American trick-or-treating holiday.
Rajesh Asnani By

Express News Service

JAIPUR: The mercury may be falling with winter approaching in the desert state of Rajasthan, but the temperature in the election arena is rising, with three big rallies scheduled in the next three days. The competition is between traditional rivals BJP and the Congress, but the third front is a possibility and its success will depend on two of the three rallies.

The eyes of the entire political class are on the rallies. Even politicians in Delhi are keenly observing the developments as they can make or break political careers. Fanning the possibility of a third front, a  Kisan Hunkar Rally will be held on October 29 in Mansarovar by Kheenvsar MLA Hanuman Beniwal. He will announce his new political party that day. Beniwal has said that 15 lakh people will gather for his rally, and a day earlier, on October 28,he will conduct a 10-km roadshow in Jaipur. He has been campaigning in villages and smaller areas for the last few days and has also held rallies.

Beniwal claimed that his party was in alliance with former BJP leader Ghanshyam Tiwaris Bharat Vahini Party and had asked parties such as the CPI, BSP and SP to join the third front. Beniwal is relying on the votes of Jats, a politically dominant community in western Rajasthans Nagour, Barmer and Bikaner districts. The BJP and Congress have not done anything for farmers. We will ensure that the Swamintahan commission report for farmers is implemented, he said.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is also looking to gain new ground and field candidates in all 200 Vidhan Sabha seats in the state. The AAP convenor, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, will hold a rally on October 28 in Jaipur which will be attended by top AAP leaders. sensing the importance of the farming community vote bank, Kejriwal is giving top priority to the issue of farmers.
Fayaz Wani By

Express News Service

SRINAGAR: With killing of eight militants including a top commander of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) in security forces operations in Valley in two days, a senior police officer on Saturday said the -anti-militancy operations are successful because of flow of information.

"There have been a lot of successful anti-militancy operations in the Valley. Eight militants have been killed in these operations in last two days. The operations have taken place without any collateral damage," Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Law and Order and Security Muneer Ahmad Khan told reporters here after laying floral tributes to CISF jawan killed in militant attack last night.

The CISF jawan, who was posted at Grid Station Wagoora, Nowgam in outskirts of Srinagar, was killed after militants fired on the security men posted in the grid station in the dead of the night. Khan said they have been receiving flow of information about militants.

ALSO READ | Jammu and Kashmir: Two Army jawans injured in militant attack in Pulwama

"Due to this information, good operations are taking place"."The success rate of anti-militancy operations depends on flow of information. Since the anti-militancy operations have been successful, it means there is flow of information and we intend to keep on doing such operations," he said.

Eight militants including a top Pakistani commander of Lashkar-e-Toiba Abu Maaz were killed in three anti-militancy operations by security forces in Valley in two days.

On Thursday six militants were killed in two anti-militancy operations - Kreeri in north Kashmir's Baramulla district and Arwani in south Kashmir's Anantnag district.Two more militants including LeT commander Abu Maaz were killed in another encounter with security forces in Sopore, Rafiabad area of north Kashmir on Friday.From Sunday, 13 militants including scholar-turned-Hizb militant Sabzar Ahmad have been killed in encounters with security forces in different parts of the Valley.

Three army men, a SSB jawan and a CISF man have also been killed in the militancy related incidents in the week.The ADGP said the forthcoming 9-phase panchayat polls in the State would be more challenging that the recently held 4-phase ULB polls.
Namita Bajpai By

Express News Service

LUCKNOW: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday attacked the Congress for linking the Centres decision to remove Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Alok Verma on Tuesday to a probe in the Rafale fighter jet deal. On the other hand, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief and former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav slammed the Centre for meddling in the affairs of an autonomous constitutional body.

Speaking at an event to commemorate 100 years of the Railway Provincial Primary Co-operative Bank, Rajnath condemned the Congress for staging nationwide protests against the governments action in the ongoing CBI imbroglio and claimed that the grand old party had no issue of relevance to raise, so it was misguiding the people of the country through misinformation and fact-twisting.

He advised the principal Opposition party to wait for the report of the probe that is ongoing. An authority is already conducting a probe into the matter involving CBI director Alok Verma and special director Rakesh Asthana. Congress should wait for the report to come before jumping to any conclusion, said the home minister.

Moreover, the issue is sub-judice in the Supreme Court of India. If the Congress thinks it is above the apex court, I dont have anything to say. Actually, the Congress never takes any issue related to the common man to the streets. They only take an interest in non-issues, he added.

Akhilesh meanwhile, said that the premier investigating agency had been used by subsequent dispensations as a tool to scare political rivals. But now, it must be completely insulated against any interference from any quarter to maintain its autonomous character, he added. He also joined the Congress chorus and demanded a probe into the Rafale deal by a Joint Parliamentary Committee. Meanwhile, UP Congress workers, led by the partys state chief Raj Babbar, protested at the CBI office in Lucknow.
By PTI

PATNA: RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha Saturday said he stands "firmly" with the NDA and is working for another term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a day after he met RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav triggering speculation of discontent within the ruling BJP-led alliance in Bihar.

Kushwaha met Yadav Friday hours after BJP president Amit Shah in Delhi announced a seat-sharing formula for the state for the next year Lok Sabha elections.

He said the seat-sharing is yet to be finalised in the NDA and that he would meet Shah in the next two-three days.

Kushwaha, a Union minister of state for HRD, also wondered why a conclusion was being drawn that the RLSP would not get a fair deal.

The RLSP is a part of the BJP-led NDA in the state whose other constituents are Nitish Kumar's JD(U) and Ramvilas Paswan's LJP.

"Seat sharing is yet to be finalised. I cannot comment on the basis of media reports. I will be meeting Amit Shah in next two-three days. I wonder why people are drawing the conclusion that we are not going to get a fair deal," Kushwaha said.

The Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) is an ally of the BJP since the 2014 general elections.

"I also do not understand this big fuss about an equal number of seats for the BJP and the JD(U). Does it indicate any number? "It could even imply that out of the 40 seats in Bihar, both parties will be contesting 10 each and leave the remaining 20 for others. There is a lot of scope for our party being accommodated respectably," he said.

Dismissing speculation, Kushwaha said, "I am firmly with the NDA and committed to working for another term for Narendra Modi as prime minister."

The RLSP chief had met Yadav at Arwal shortly after Shah and JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar briefed reporters in New Delhi on the seat-sharing arrangement.

Kushwaha, a former JD(U) leader who had quit the party in 2013, months after suspension on disciplinary grounds, had floated his own outfit and joined the NDA while Nitish Kumar's party was out of the BJP-led coalition.

The decision of the BJP, which had won 22 seats in 2014 general elections, to treat as an equal the JD(U) that returned with a dismal tally of only two, is also being seen as a snub to Kushwaha, who has been viewing Kumar's return to the NDA with consternation.

The RLSP had contested on three seats under the NDA banner in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and had won on all the seats.

Kushwaha himself had won from the Karakat seat.

RJD heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav reiterated that there was a standing invitation to Kushwaha from his side to leave the NDA and join the grand alliance in Bihar.

Sources in the grand alliance said the RJD was ready to give number of seats to Kushwaha than what the BJP was willing to spare for the RLSP, even though the Union minister wanted to wait until it was clear how many seats each NDA constituent was likely to get.

Kushwaha also desires to change his Lok Sabha seat in the 2019 polls as he was not sure of retaining Karakat in south Bihar, they claimed, adding that this was because the constituency does not have a sizeable number of voters from his caste (OBC Kushwaha or Koeri) and the Modi wave, which helped him win in 2014, is on the wane.

Yadav also sought to ruffle more feathers in the NDA, saying the press briefing that was held in New Delhi Friday by Shah and Kumar with neither LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan nor Kushwaha in attendance smacked of disrespect and contempt for the two leaders whose loyalty the BJP seems to have been taken for granted.

On reports of his telephonic conversation with LJP parliamentary board chairman Chirag Paswan after Shah and Kumar came together before the media, he declined to give a direct reply, but said cryptically "Ram Vilas Paswan has been my guardian".

He is a father figure and has never backstabbed us the way Kumar has.

"Whom he should tie up with is going to be his call", Yadav said.
By IANS

KOLKATA: Former Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly and a founding member of the Trinamool Congress, Pankaj Banerjee, passed away late on Friday.

Banerjee, 71, a three-time legislator, is survived by his wife and daughter. A product of the student movement, Banerjee joined the Congress in the 1960s and won his first election from the Tollygunge constituency in South Kolkata in 1972.

A marine engineer by profession, he later won from the same constituency in 1996 on a Congress ticket, and in 2001 as a candidate of the Trinamool Congress.

With the Trinamool emerging as the largest opposition party in 2001, Banerjee became the leader of the opposition, and served in that capacity till 2006.

Saddened at the passing away of Pankaj (da) Banerjee. My condolences to his family and admirers  Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) October 26, 2018

However, he surprisingly announced his retirement from politics in 2006, in the run up to the assembly polls, citing poor health.

But many still believe that Banerjee had called it quits over some differences with party supremo Mamata Banerjee. The leader's death, however, saw a high drama.

After a private hospital announced his death, and his 'body' was brought home, a family doctor examined him and claimed that his heart was beating.

By then, the Chief Minister had twitted a condolence message expressing her shock over Banerjee's demise. The tweet was soon erased and Banerjee was rushed to another private hospital, where doctors declared him dead.

Later, the AMRI Hospital, where Banerjee was first taken, claimed that its doctors "were under no confusion over his demise" as two ECG graphs - the first one conducted on him in the ambulance on way to the hospital - had shown flat line," indicating "that he expired even before he had reached the hospital".

"Since protocol demanded that if admitted, Banerjee's body had to undergo a post-mortem examination, accompanying family and friends decided to take the body back to his residence," the hospital said in a statement.
By PTI

MUMBAI: The 11 Base Repair Depot (BRD) of the Indian Air Force at Ojhar in Maharashtra's Nashik district Friday handed over its first indigenously overhauled Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter jet to the IAF, an official said.

Sukhoi Su-30MKI is a twin-jet multi-role air superiority aircraft developed by Russia's Sukhoi and built under licence by India's Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL).

The aircraft was handed over to the Operational Squadron of the IAF, a defence spokesperson said.

Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Maintenance Command Air Marshal Hemant Sharma handed over the aircraft to Air Marshal H S Arora, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of South Western Air Command, at a ceremony held at the Air Force Station Ojhar, about 200km from Mumbai, he said.

The 11 BRD is the only fighter aircraft repair depot of the IAF and undertakes repair and overhaul of frontline fighters such as MiG-29 and Sukhoi 30 MKI, the official said.

Established in 1974, the depot progressively built and improved the technical expertise and infrastructure over the years and by 1983 it had overhauled 100 Su-7 aircraft.

From 1983 to 1988, the depot also undertook an overhaul of MiG-21 fighters.

Later, the overhaul facility for MiG-23 aircraft was set up in 1986 and 248 jets were overhauled till May 2015, the official said.

Overhaul of MiG-29 aircraft commenced in 1996.

The upgradation of MiG-29 and repair and overhaul of Su-30 MKI aircraft is being undertaken at the depot, he said.

The official said 11 BRD is the only agency to undertake an overhaul of ejection seats and role equipment of Su- 30 MKI aircraft, both for the IAF and HAL.

The first Su-30MKI overhauled by 11 BRD took off on April 24 and was tested for its airworthiness before being inducted for operational tasks in a flying squadron, the spokesperson said.
By UNI

BULANDSHAHR: An ISI agent, providing vital information to Pakistan, was nabbed by UP police on Saturday.

Sahab Rashid Khan, the Superintendent of Police (Crime) confirmed here that the ISI agent, identified as Zahid, was arrested from the city of Khurja in the district, by the crime branch of the district police.

He also said that the accused was collecting defence information from Meerut and was passing it on to Pakistan.

Zahid went to Pakistan in 2012 and 2014 in search of a job in Islamabad where he came in contact with the ISI.

Following his return to India, he started working for the agency.

During preliminary interrogation, it was found that Zahid used to go to Meerut every month and share his location and other details with the ISI bosses in Pakistan through Whats App.

The security agencies found 19 Pakistan mobile numbers in his phone.

The main target of Zahid was Meerut cantonment and Hindon airbase.

Several phone numbers of Meerut and Hindon found in Zahid's phone are also under scrutiny.

The security agencies have also found maps of Ghaziabad and Meerut from the possession of the accused, who had recently constructed a massive house in Khurja.

The ISI agent is currently being interrogated by the security agencies.
By PTI

MUMBAI: Opposition Congress and NCP have inched closer to stitching an alliance for next year's Lok Sabha polls as they have reached a consensus on 38 of the total 48 seats in Maharashtra and talks are on for the remaining ones, a Congress leader said Saturday.

Earlier this week, NCP chief Sharad Pawar had reportedly said in Aurangabad that a consensus has been arrived at for 40 seats.

Maharashtra Congress chief Ashok Chavan said, "Congress and NCP will contest elections together. Seat sharing talks are underway, but I would not like to reveal figures at this moment."

Talking to PTI, another senior Congress leader, who is part of the seat-sharing talks, said consensus has been worked out on about 38 seats, while a discussion is underway for the remaining constituencies.

"The consensus so far is on seats, where there is no dispute. The seat sharing formula will remain by and large the same. There could be a slight change, if necessary," he said.

An NCP source said his party is claiming Aurangabad, Pune, Yavatmal from the Congress quota since it was "better placed to win".

In 2014, Congress and allies had fielded nominees for 27 constituencies, while NCP had contested 21 seats.

Earlier, the formula was fixed at 26:22, but NCP decided against contesting Hatkanangale constituency since it did not have a candidate.

The seat was contested by Congress.

Congress and NCP had swapped Raigad and Hingoli seats with each other.

"This time, Hatkanangale, Palghar, Akola which are in Congress quota, may go to smaller allies."

So, Congress will get to field nominees only in 24 seats," the Congress leader said adding that the current talks between the two parties are going on "seat by seat".

The two parties, which had ended their 15-year-old alliance before the 2014 assembly polls, have so far held three to four rounds of talks.

They are reaching out to smaller like-minded" parties for a grand alliance in the state.

A senior NCP leader said there were seven to eight disputed seats.

"There will be much clarity after the next meeting between the two parties, scheduled to take place on November 2.

If the differences remain, they will be resolved by the central leadership of both the parties," he said.

Earlier this week, Sharad Pawar had said a national alliance against BJP was unlikely since the political situation varied from state to state.

He had also spoken of a state specific alliance with non-BJP/NDA regional parties leading in their respective states.

He had also said that the chief minister's post would go to a party which gets a maximum number of seats.
Prasanta Mazumdar By

Express News Service

GUWAHATI: AN IPS officer, serving as Inspector-General of Police (IGP) in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Nagaland Police, has been placed under suspension for his alleged involvement in illegal narcotics trade.

Richard Yimto, the accused IGP, has been asked not to leave the police headquarters (PHQ) in Kohima without obtaining prior permission.

On August 3, personnel of the Narcotics Cell had seized brown sugar, weighing 6.9 kg, at a check-post bordering Manipur. The seizure should have entered the official records but it was not done. Also, two persons were released and no criminal case was registered.

When the PHQ learnt about the lapses on August 25, the Director General of Police (DGP) ordered a probe through an ADGP. On September 1, the seized contraband was recovered from the official quarter of the accused cop.

The probe report said Yimto had "flouted all due processes of law". Nagaland's Home Commissioner, Abhijit Singh, in a statement, said no general diary reference was made as regards the confiscation of the contraband. The protocols flouted also included not registering a criminal case, releasing the two drugs carrier and the car and keeping the contraband in the personal custody and not in the malkhana of Narcotic Cell.
By Express News Service

LUCKNOW: An Allahabad High Court (HC) lawyer on Friday filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Allahabad HC, challenging the Uttar Pradesh (UP) governments notification renaming Allahabad as Prayagraj.

UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Urban Development Minister Suresh Khanna, have been made party in the PIL. The other respondents in the petition include UP chief secretary, advocate general, chairman of the Board of Revenue, chief secretary (revenue), etc. The court is likely to take up the PIL shortly for hearing.

In the PIL lawyer Sunita Sharma has contended that renaming Allahabad, which is known as it is for hundreds of years, is neither in the interest of the public of the country nor the UP government.

According to the counsel for the petitioner, Vijay Srivastava, other ground taken in the PIL is objection to the declaration of Kumbh, 2019. According to him, it has wrongly been declared as Kumbh. According to the petitioner, the Kumbh has already taken place in 2013, therefore, Ardhkumbh will be held in 2019.

Hence, changing the name of such a huge religious gathering is not proper, the plea said.

On the basis of all these grounds, the petitioner has requested the court to declare the notification of the state government dated October 18, 2018, whereby the name of Allahabad district was changed as Prayagraj, as unconstitutional and illegal.

The proposal to rename the historic city of Allahabad as Prayagraj was opposed by the opposition parties in the state. However, the UP government said it was restoring an old name for the city. Today, the BJP government has rectified the mistake made by Akbar," a state BJP spokesperson had said.
By ANI

NEW DELHI: A day after Mahinda Rajapaksa was sworn as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy said he will soon visit the island nation to raise the issue of the Indian fishermen and will also suggest a solution for resolving the issue of Sri Lankan Tamils.

The BJP leader took to Twitter to inform that he received a call from Sri Lanka's premier Mahinda Rajapaksa, whom he congratulated for being elevated as country's prime minister. The former Sri Lankan president had travelled to India last month on an invitation by the BJP Member of Parliament.

"I was happy to receive a call from Prime Minister Rajapaksha. I congratulated him and said I will come to Colombo soon and raise remaining issues of Sri Lankan Tamils and suggest solutions after consulting Sri Lankan Tamils. I also will raise the Indian fishermen issue with him," Swamy wrote on Twitter.

On Friday, Sri Lankan President Maithripla Sirisena sacked country's Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and replaced him with his (Sirisena) predecessor Rajapaksa after the collapse of the governing coalition between Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and United National Party (UNP), New York Times reported.

Sirisena's SLFP and Wickremesinghe's UNP had come together to form the Unity Government in August 2015 following the general elections in the country.

In April, the ousted Prime Minister, Wickremesinghe also survived a no-confidence motion in the country's Parliament that was brought by Rajapaksa's supporters.

Elaborating about his future plans, Swamy added, "Once Namo (Sic) clears my pending demand to declare Ram Setu as a National Heritage Monument I will work for Hindus to be able to walk from Dhanushkodi to Ashok Vatika in Sri Lanka. Once we build Rameshwaram and Ayodhya airports we can have connecting air service to all three places (Sic)."
Harpreet Bajwa By

Express News Service

CHANDIGARH: Giving a new twist to the controversy surrounding Punjab Technical Education Minister Charanjit Singh Channi who allegedly sent "inappropriate text messages'' to a female IAS officer, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary and in-charge of Punjab Congress Affairs Asha Kumari said that text messages cannot be considered as sexual harassment, as sexual harassment is different from them.

Kumari said the party had not received any complaint against Channi. I don't know from where you got all this? she said.

When reminded that Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, had confirmed the incident, she said the issue was now over.

This matter was between the Chief Minister and the Minister and it has been resolved. Both have given statements and the matter is finished,'' she said.

Meanwhile Channi said the message was sent inadvertently. A non-issue is being blown out of proportion for political reasons, he said.

The Istri Akali Dal, women's wing of the Shiromani Akali Dal, on Thursday held a protest in front of the chief minister's residence over the alleged sexual harassment of the IAS officer.

Sources said till date the officer had not given any written complaint against the minister. Amarinder without naming the minister had said that the latter had apologised and the matter had been sorted out to the officer's satisfaction.

This is first such complaint about any minister in the state and that too at a time when a strong movement has been triggered in the country on the issue of women's rights and against harassment at work places.

Kumari's remark drew sharp criticism from opposition Shiromani Akali Dal, which charged that Congress president Rahul Gandhi had assigned Kumari to cover up the misdeeds of Technical Education minister Charanjit Singh Channi.

SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal expressed shock over the remark.

"It is shameful that a woman is belittling a fellow woman on the orders of Rahul Gandhi with a mind-boggling statement that text messages did not constitute sexual harassment," he said in a statement.

(With inputs from PTI)
By UNI

LUCKNOW: With an eye on Lok Sabha, the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh is likely to go for an expansion of the state ministry before Diwali.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who is camping in New Delhi, have met senior party leaders to discuss about the expansion and clear the names of the probable leaders.

A high-level meeting of the BJP is expected to be held here on Monday when the party will decide whether to go for the expansion of the state ministry or not.

Earlier, a coordination meeting between BJP and RSS chaired by party president Amit Shah here on October 24 is reported to have given its nod for the expansion.

A senior BJP leader told UNI here on Saturday that though the party leadership has given its nod for the expansion, but still many leaders are wondering whether it would be a wise step at this juncture.

Though several names are in circulation about the BJP and alliance partners legislators to be inducted in the ministry, but if there is an expansion then around a half-a-dozen of present ministers would be elevated to important departments.

The caste factor and regionalism would be the main criteria for selection of new ministers in the Yogi ministry, the leader confirmed.

BJP MLCs Vidyasagar Sonker, Ashok Kataria, Vijay Bahadur Pathak and Apna Dal MLC Ashish Patel could be considered for ministerial berth in the expansion.

The BJP government can appoint 13 more ministers as per the quota, hence party MLAs from other important places can also get a chance.

Presently, the Yogi ministry has 47 ministers and it could go up to full strength of 60.

The present ministry has 22 cabinet, 9 ministers of state( Independent charge) and 13 ministers of state along with a CM and two deputy CM.
Ramananda Sengupta By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: ARMY Chief General Bipin Rawat on Saturday equated stone-pelters in Kashmir with terrorists, and once again warned Pakistan over the futility of cross-border terrorism. The remarks came after Rajendra Singh, a 22-year-old jawan, died in Srinagar on Friday after sustaining severe head injuries while battling a stonepelting mob in Anantnag on Thursday.

If they (stonepelters) can kill people with such acts, are they not becoming like terrorists? he asked during an interaction with journalists at an event to mark Infantry Day, which marks the sacrifices made by Indian Armys infantry against Pakistani raiders in Jammu and Kashmir in 1947, and their constant courage and service to the nation. I want to tell them (stonepelters) that no one will benefit from stone-pelting, he said, adding that the Army had lodged an FIR against the stonepelters, and that stern action must be taken against them.

In yet another stark warning to Pakistan, the Army chief said: We are capable of finishing any infiltrators who reach our side. However, if Pakistan continues to support infiltration, we can use other kind of action too, he said, without elaborating.

Despite knowing it would never succeed, Pakistan continued fuel trouble in Jammu and Kashmir. The idea was to keep the Indian Army embroiled in this proxy war that they have lost, to avenge its defeat at the hands of India in the 1971 war and the liberation of East Pakistan, which became Bangladesh, he said. The Indian Army and state are strong enough to ensure that Jammu and Kashmir remains a part of India, he said.
Anurag Singh By

Express News Service

BHOPAL: A 4-year-old kindergarten student missing since Thursday from Dwarikapuri area of Indore was found murdered inside a nullah eight km away in MG Road area of the same city on Saturday. A subsequent probe revealed that the minor was raped before being smothered by a 22-year-old man, who worked as a sweeper under her labour contractor father.

Shockingly, the accused Honey Athwal, on whose arrest a bounty of Rs 20,000 has been declared is a habitual offender, who had raped his 6-year-old niece before strangulating her and dumping the body in a water tank in Malhargarh area of native Mandsaur district eight years back.

ALSO READ | KG student raped by school bus driver in Greater Noida

The 4-year-old girl, a resident of Dwarikapuri area had gone missing since Thursday evening, while she had gone for private tuitions in a nearby locality. Subsequent investigations based on CCTV footage retrieved from near house revealed that she had been abducted by 22-year-old Honey Athwal, who worked as a sweeper in the team of the girl's father, who was contractor of labourers.

The girl's body was found dumped in a nullah under the Krishnapura bridge in MG Road area, around eight km from her home on Saturday.

Close examination of the body revealed injuries in her private parts and the subsequent autopsy of the body also confirmed that she had been sexually assaulted before being smothered. According to deputy inspector general of police (DIG-Indore) HN Chari Mishra, Rs 20,000 reward has been declared for arresting the absconding accused, who has been booked for abduction, rape and murder.

Importantly, five years back, the accused Honey Athwal (then aged 17) had raped and killed his 6-year-old niece in native Mandsaur district. After raping and killing niece, he had dumped the body in a water tank in his house and slept on the water tank to ensure that no one could trace the body.He, was later arrested, but escaped stern punishment for being a minor.
By Express News Service

VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who openly criticised the Governors intervention in the State administrative matters by directly calling up DGP RP Thakur to enquire about the attack on Opposition Leader YS Jagan Mohan Reddy at Visakhapatnam airport, is set to take the fight to Delhi. During his visit to Delhi on Saturday, Naidu will expose the Centres alleged political vendetta against his government.

ALSO READ | Attack drama enacted by YS Jaganmohan Reddy to embarrass government, says IT Minister Nara Lokesh

The CM faulted the Governors quick reaction in seeking information from the DGP on the attack without the knowledge of the State government. What is the purview of the Governor? How can he bypass the procedure and call up the DGP? Is it not wrong on his part? He is supposed to approach the government in written format for information. He does not have the right to call the officials directly, Naidu felt.

He is likely to complain to the President and the Union Home Minister against the Governor, sources said. The TDP regime is said to have taken a serious view of the series of income tax raids in the State thereby creating fear among investors.

Rs 26-crore incentive for CRDA

Appreciating the CRDA for issuing Amaravati Bonds - 2018, the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has announced an incentive of H26 crore. The incentive will be extended to the CRDA under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation

ALSO READ | Andhra police, CISF wash hands off airport security after attack on YS Jagan Mohan Reddy

According to sources in the government and the TDP, the sole purpose of the CMs visit to Delhi is to address the national media to highlight the Centres alleged bias against AP by not fulfilling the provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act and BJP-led governments vindictive attitude after the Telugu Desam snapped its ties with the saffron party.

The income tax department raids and Governors interference in the State affairs are a clear indication that the Centre is trying to destabilise the Telugu Desam government, sources said.

After snapping ties with the BJP-led NDA, Naidu has been critical of the way in which the Centre is allegedly creating hurdles to his government.

Though Naidu does not have any meeting with national leaders in Delhi, he may meet any available leader in the national capital, sources said, adding that by taking the fight against the Centre to Delhi he will certainly make friends with anti-BJP parties at a time when the TDP chief is seriously contemplating bringing non-NDA parties together at the national level.
By PTI

AMARAVATI: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu Friday expressed apprehension that places of worship in Andhra Pradesh would be attacked in coming days as part of the BJP-led NDA government's conspiracy to "finish off" the state due to "personal vengeance" against him.

A day after he accused the Centre of trying to destabilise his government, he alleged that "goondas" either from Bihar or other states would be brought to Andhra Pradesh to create law and order problem.

CBI inquiry would be ordered and "we will not be allowed to move" in an attempt to prevent the Telugu Desam Party from retaining power in assembly polls, Naidu charged.

He also accused the Centre of seeking to turn Hindus against his government by "whipping up sentiments". BJP termed the remarks "ludicrous" and said it exposed Naidu's "rabid paranoia".

READ| CM Chandrababu Naidu fears law and order disturbance in Andhra

Hours after the attack on YSR Congress president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy Thursday, Naidu had targeted the Centre and Telangana Rashtra Samithi, accusing both of "conspiring" against his government and trying to destabilise the state.

The YSR Congress leader was injured when he was attacked by a man with a small knife at the airport lounge in Visakhapatnam.

Addressing the conference of district collectors here Friday, he said temples, churches and mosques in the state would be attacked in the coming days as part of the BJP-led NDA governments "conspiracy to finish off" Andhra Pradesh because of "personal vengeance against me".

"Don't afraid or don't become panicky.Naidu told top IAS and IPS officers and asked them to be "mentally prepared" as some more attacks could be in the offing. If I dont speak all this, everyone will think I am scared. But, as the 'Team Leader' I want to assure you all that nobody can stop us. If truth is not established, unruly elements will take upper hand," he said.

Continuing with his tirade against the Centre, he said "Political gain, economic gain, conspiracies or personal vengeance, what does the NDA government have against me. Personal vengeance, as I did not surrender to them," Naidu said.

He, however, said ultimately nothing would happen.

"They are going to pay heavy price for all these things. As individuals, as government they are going to pay heavy price," he said. Referring to the recent row over ornaments at the Tirumala Venkateswara temple, Naidu alleged that the Centre tried to defame the state government.

"Their effort was to tarnish our governments image, whip up sentiments in public so that Hindus turn against this government.

Is it right," he asked. Without taking names, Naidu said anti-social elements would rise if "erratic" rulers assume power. "Such rulers will do things detrimental to public interest. In the country now, CBI is finished, ED is finished. Income Tax (Department) is gone. If at all, only the Supreme Court should protect us. We have come to that stage," he added.

Reacting to the chief minister's remarks, BJP MP G V L Narasimha Rao said it exposed Naidu's "rabid paranoia.

"TDP government is facing a severe backlash from people and experiencing their wrath and anger for running an unpopular and rottenly corrupt government. This seems to have taken a toll on the psychological condition of the chief minister. His ludicrous comments indicate that Naidu is exhibiting signs of rabid paranoia and schizophrenia," Rao said in a statement.
By Express News Service

VISAKHAPATNAM: A day after the attack on YSRC president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy inside Visakhapatnam International Airport, police on Friday said that they recovered another small knife from attacker Janepalli Srinivasa Rao, who has a criminal background.

ALSO READ | Jagan Mohan Reddy refuses to record statement in knife attack case

Briefing media, Visakhapatnam police commissioner Mahesh Chandra Laddha said the police have recovered another small sharp object (2 cm wide) from the attackers possession during the investigation. The top cop reached Visakhapatnam on Friday and questioned Srinivasa Rao personally at the Airport police station.

Upon analysing the accuseds phone data, the police have come to know that he made around 10,000 calls in the past one year and changed nine SIM cards during the period, Laddha said. Days before the attack, he again changed the SIM card in his mobile phone, he added.

Meanwhile, police sources claimed the attack on the YSRC chief was the brainchild of the accused himself. He was not influenced by any politician or individual. He seems to be under the impression that an attack on the Opposition leader before elections will bring a public sympathy in Jagans favour, they claimed.

ALSO READ | Andhra police, CISF wash hands off airport security after attack on YS Jagan Mohan Reddy

Laddha said Srinivasa Rao has a criminal background in Thanelanka village in Mummadivaram mandal. A case, related to a petty fight, was filed against him two years ago at Mummidivaram police station under Sections 320, 323 and 506 of the IPC.

The SIT probing the case had visited his house and conducted searches for nearly seven hours, sources said. The SIT came to know about the accuseds case when they inquired about his antecedents with the local police.

To clear the air on allegations that there were three different handwritings in the 11-page letter recovered from the attacker, Laddha said, We came to know that the first nine pages of the letter were written by his cousin sister J Vijayalakshmi (16) when he recently went to Thanelanka between October 10 and 14. The remaining part of the letter was written by his colleague at the Vizag airport restaurant T Revatipati (19) of Rangoli village of Palasa Mandal of Srikakulam district.

Laddha said, We are still probing as to how the weapon sneaked into the Vizag airport. We will get to the facts about it soon. We also probed Fusion Foods restaurant owner T Harshavardhan Prasad and have recorded his statement. Our probe is on and further developments will be revealed later, the CP said. Earlier in the day, he along with other police officers also went to the Airport VIP departure lounge area.

DCP, Vizag City, K Phakeerappa said after preliminary inquiry, the police have sent the accused for medical tests to King George Hospital at 6.45 pm on Friday. Now we will produce him before the court for remand. We will also file a petition requesting the court for custody of the accused for further inquiry.
By PTI

BENGALURU: Making an emotional appeal to voters in the party strong hold of Mandya, Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy Friday said he is living to serve the people of the state, who are his biggest asset.

Hitting out at the BJP for repeated attacks on his government, Kumaraswamy said the power that he enjoys is by the grace of god and support of Congress MLAs and only they have the strength to take it back.

"I had to go to hospital (because of ill health) day before yesterday. I won't say what was the reason, but the day I betray my people, even though I'm alive I'm like dead," he said.

Kumaraswamy said he is not here to make money, as he said people were his "asset" and sought their love and affection.

"I have said several times in election rallies that I would have died during my Israel visit, but I have come back alive. How long I'm alive is not important for me. By utilising the power given to me by god, I want to serve every family. That's the only challenge in front of me," he said.

"I'm not in a wretched situation to run this government by making money, by looting public money," he said at an election rally in Malavalli.

Kumaraswamy earlier too had made similar emotional appeals to people ahead of May 12 assembly polls, citing healthreasons.

Addressing another meeting in Madduru, the chief minister said he wants to serve the state in such a way that he is remembered for his service.

Kumaraswamy Friday extensively campaigned in the JD(S)bastion of Mandya Lok Sabha constituency, which will go to bypolls along with two other parliamentary segments and two assembly segments on November 3.

The government and power that he enjoys is because of the grace of god and support of Congress MLAs, Kumaraswamy said and added only they have the strength to take it back.

Mandya Lok Sabha constituency that comes under the old Mysuru region is dominated by Vokkaligas, a community considered a strong vote base to JD(S).

JD(S)' ally Congress is supporting the party candidate Shivarame Gowda by not fielding its candidate.

As Congress too has considerable vote base in the region, a section of local party leaders and workers are said to have reservation about their leadership's decision to leave the seat for JD(S).
By Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Condemning the attack on Swami Sandeepanandagiri's Ashram, Chief Mister Pinarayi Vijayan alleged that the attack was on Sandeepananda Giri's life. Speaking to media after visiting the ashram on Saturday morning, Pinarayi warned that strict action will be taken against the culprits.

"Dissents and differences of opinion should be dealt through ideological debates, not with physical violence. The government will not allow anyone to take law into hands. There will be strict action against the culprits. Swami Sandeepananda Giri has been campaigning for secular values. He's also a strong critic of spirituality being misused for political interests. Those who are intolerant with his actions unleashed the attack on his ashram," said Pinarayi Vijayan.

READ| Strict action against campaigns spreading hate targetting Kerala cops, promises CM Pinarayi Vijayan

WATCH VIDEO:

The chief minister assured the spiritual leader that stringent action will be taken against the attackers. Sandeepananda Giri has invited criticisms from Hindu outfits after he openly supported the Supreme Court verdict allowing women of all ages to enter Sabarimala.

In an early morning attack on his ashram, two cars and a scooter belonging to the ashram were set on fire.
By Online Desk

KANNUR: Sending out a stern warning to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on the Sabarimala issue, BJP national president Amit Shah on Saturday said if the LDF Government continued to suppress Ayyappa devotees, BJP workers would pull the government down.

"I've come here to warn Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. If you don't stop this (suppressing devotees), BJP workers will raze this government down. Your government won't last for long," Shah said amid huge applause from the audience.

"The state government is trying to suppress the agitation using power and intimidating Ayyappa devotees by slapping non-bailable offence on them. If it continues to do so, then the entire BJP workers in the country will line up behind the devotees in their attempt to protect the temple," Shah said while inaugurating the BJP district office in Kannur.

"It's heard the Chief Minister is going to appoint around 1,500 DYFI workers in the temple to deal with the devotees. Such acts will prove counter-productive. The government's hastiness in implementing the court order is not justifiable. The mothers and sisters of the devotees had come forward to protest against the verdict. The courts also should think twice before announcing their verdicts on sensitive issues, especially in connection with religious institutes," he said.

It is not fair to suppress an agitation in the name of Supreme Court verdict. Many governments in the past and present have kept in abeyance some court verdicts as that would have led to communal unrest in society.

Now, since the government has gone all-out against the believers, there's an Emergency-like situation in Kerala, said Shah.

Continuing with their crackdown on those who unleashed violence while protesting in and around Sabarimala and elsewhere during the five-day Thulam pooja against the Supreme Court verdict, Kerala police have so far arrested 2,825 persons and registered 495 cases.

Police officers said almost half those arrested have been released on bail and the rest have been remanded to judicial custody. Majority of those booked were taken into custody on charges of destruction of public property. Charges like rioting, attacking people and deterring public servants from discharging their duty have also been also invoked.

Meanwhile, the police decision to arrest protesters including women who took part in the prayer processions on charges of disrupting the traffic has courted controversy. To avoid further dispute, the DGP is reported to have directed the police to let them off on bail. The DGP has also instructed police to arrest only those who were directly involved in violence. It is learnt that the DGP has given a direction to complete arrest proceedings before the proposed high-level meeting of the police officers. High-level police officers said the police have already identified those who took part in the violence with the help of CCTV footages. A search is still on to nab the accused. Those who destroyed public property including KSRTC buses will have to pay a sum ranging from `10,000 to `13 lakh to get bail.

Shah: Dangerous to destabilise a prevailing custom at Sabarimala

Kannur: It is dangerous to destabilise a prevailing custom in a temple. The haste shown by the government in implementing the court order was absent while dealing with the floods that ravaged the state recently. Since the government has gone against the will of the majority of the Hindu community, it has lost its right to continue in power in the state, said Shah. It doesnt have time for development projects, but has enough time to beat up the devotees, he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had allotted many projects, including an IIT and industrial projects at Kanjikode, but the government failed to acquire land for the same. BJP district president P Sathyaprakash presided over the function. BJP state president P S Sreedharan Pillai, H Raja, Nalin Kumar Katteel MP, V Muralidharan MP, O Rajagopal MLA and others were present. Earlier, Shah was given a rousing welcome at the Kannur airport by the BJP workers as he was the first passenger to land there.

BJP, SNDP will jointly fight against state govt: Amit Shah

TPuram: BJP national president Amit Shah has said that the BJP and the SNDP will join together to fight against the state government, which has taken a position against the devotees in the Sabarimala issue. He said that the contribution of Sree Narayana Guru in the educational and social development of the state cannot be forgotten. He was speaking at a function in Sivagiri after inaugurating the Mahamandala Pooja Sammelam of Sreenarayana Guru Mahasamadhi Navathi celebrations. The BJP leader said that the Guru had interpreted even the Upanishads in simple language so that ordinary people could use them. Rabindranath Tagore has once said that even though he had met several Sanyasis, he has never met one like Sree Narayana Guru.

Police force cant suppress issue: Pillai

TPuram: BJP state president P S Sreedharan Pillai has said the Sabarimala issue cannot be suppressed by using police force and lathi charge. He said the government was trying to use police force to cover up its failure on the issue. In a release issued here on Saturday, Pillai said the government was looking to impose false cases on devotees. So much so the atrocities committed by the police are being thrust on devotees.
By Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala accused the government of provocative actions to turn the hill shrine into a conflict zone. Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan has been trying to weaken the Sabarimala pilgrimage. Such moves will only lead to major crisis in the state. If earlier the CPM had Gopalasena, now its deploying Pinarayi Sena, mocked Chennithala.

He warned that the alleged move to appoint close to 1,500 CPM cadres in Sabarimala will be defeated by devotees. The government has been creating provocation. The CM has been adding fuel to fire through his speeches, he said.

Sabarimala is major pilgrim centre and people from across the world, come to this shrine. Its one of the prominent centre of secularism. When the BJP and the RSS have been trying to create tension, the government is liable to prevent the same. Instead of doing that, the government itself is trying to create issues, he alleged.

If earlier the CPM had Gopalasena now it seems the party is going for Pinarayi Sena, the Opposition leader said. If the attempt is to deploy CPM cadres, selected by the local committees and area committees, it wont be accepted. The Chief Minister should realise this.

The moves by the RSS and BJP to create tension should not be faced with steps that may lead to more tension. Instead peaceful steps should be taken so as to maintain Sabarimala a peaceful pilgrim centre, added Chennithala.
By Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Hours after BJP national president Amit Shah unleashed a scathing attack on the state government on the Sabarimala issue, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan shot back terming the former's statement as one against fundamental rights and the Supreme Court.

His words have brought to light the true colours of the Sangh Parivar and the RSS, said Pinarayi in a Facebook post. He said his government came to power through people's verdict and not because of BJP's benevolence.

"Shah's statement in Kannur is more against the Supreme Court, Constitution and rule of law than the state government. His remark the court should issue only those verdicts that can be implemented sends out a message that the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution are not to be followed," said Pinarayi.

Pinarayi Vijayan said Shahs remarks on gender equality should be viewed as a precursor to the argument that caste-based discrimination should not be curtailed through law. His words make it clear they are still not ready to accept the concept of gender equality.

Pinarayi attacked Shah for his alleged intimidation the state government would be brought down.Shah should realise this government came to power through peoples verdict, not because of BJPs benevolence.

 Through his statement, Shah is sending out a message the peoples verdict will be sabotaged. Such threats are being made for implementing the apex court verdict and protecting the fundamental rights under the Constitution, Pinarayi said.
By Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In what could seem to be a brazen vigilante attack, the ashram of Swami Sandeepananda Giri, who has been actively supporting the entry of women of all ages to Sabarimala temple, was attacked by unidentified miscreants in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday. The assailants set ablaze two cars and a two-wheeler parked in front of the ashram at Kundamankadavu early morning.

The assailants have also placed wreath addressing P K Shibu in front of the ashram as a mark of protest after the attack. The fore and rescue force personnel who reached the sport on being alerted by inmates of the ashram who found the smoke fire doused the fire. However, the vehicles were burnt in the fire beyond recovery.

The nearby building has also suffered some damages with concrete layer of the wall being peeled off in the fire. Giri was out of station and there were only two inmates during the time of attack. Giri is who is the director of School of Bhagavad Gita, alleged that the BJP-Sang Parivar forces, Pandalam royal family, Thazhamon tantri and Ayyappa Dharmasena were behind the attack.

WATCH VIDEO BELOW:

I wouldnt be cowed down by the attack. Perhaps, they would one day set me ablaze like this way. But I would continue to say the truth, he said to media. The Poojappura police registered a case and began an investigation into the incident.

READ| Ashram attack: CM Pinarayi Vijayan alleges attack on Swami Sandeepananda Giri's life

Reacting to the attack, Sandeepananda Giri alleged that the entire responsibility for the incident was on BJP state president P S Sreedharan Pillai, Thazhamon Madom, the family of traditional head priests of Sabarimnala temple and Pandalam Royal family, also associated with the shrine.

DGP Loknath Behara said strong action would be taken to bring the accused to book.

"We will not tolerate such incidents in the state," he said. However, BJP district leadership has denied any role in the attack and demanded an "unbiased" probe into the incident.

The state had witnessed massive protests from devotees at various places, including Sabarimala, Nilakkal and Pamba, against permitting women of all ages to enter the shrine, where the deity is 'Naishtika Brahmachari' (perennial celibate), when the temple was opened for monthly poojas from October 17-22.

At least 12 women in the 'barred' age group (10-50) had tried to trek the hills to offer prayers but had to retreat following widespread protests.

(With inputs from PTI)
By Express News Service

KOCHI: Improving access to effective antibiotics as well as the way we use them will require partnerships between the public and private sectors, as well as engagements from patients. No country is spared from the challenge of antibiotic resistance; it is a global one, said Dr Arjun Srinivasan, Associate Director, Healthcare Infection Prevention Programmes, Centers for Control and Prevention, US Department of Health.

He was speaking at a press meet held at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences on the topic Antibiotic Stewardship and Infectious Diseases. A team of experts in antimicrobial resistance (AMR) from India and abroad participated. The lack of restrictions on access to antibiotics and their irrational use, non-standardised microbiology laboratories, the use of antibiotics in animal husbandry and fisheries are leading to widespread antibiotic resistance in the country.

According to a recent study in Kerala, 89 percent of doctors prescribe antibiotics on a daily basis. Suppose a patient suffers from symptoms of upper-respiratory infection, diarrhea or vomiting, he/she gets a course of antibiotics. So it is unsurprising that we consume the highest volume of antibiotics in the world. We are looking for ways collectively with other countries to reduce the use of antibiotics, said Dr Sanjeev K Singh, Medical Superintendent, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences.

He also added that The Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences instituted an Antibiotic Stewardship programme four years back, which has led to a significant reduction in the use of high-end antibiotics.

Individually and collectively, we all have the responsibility in preserving the effectiveness of antibiotics, which means we must use them wisely. We should reduce the need for antibiotics by maximizing efforts to prevent infections from occurring, said Dr Alison Holmes, Director of the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit, at London Imperial College, and Public Health England.

Conference to be held

A two-day International Conference on Antibiotic Stewardship and Infectious Diseases will be held at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences on Saturday and Sunday, highlighting the importance of Antibiotic Stewardship, which means a combination of practices to rationalise antibiotic use through right dose, right drug, right duration, right frequency, right patient, and right indication.

Rationalising the use of antibiotics is essential to reduce the burden of infectious diseases, the experts said at the event, which saw the participation of ten prominent international speakers from the United Kingdom, the US and South Africa.
Vinodh Arulappan By

Express News Service

MADURAI: A day after the third judge decided the fate of the 18 MLAs in the Madras HC, the disqualified legislators held a closed-door meeting at a private hotel in the city. After the two-hour meeting with advocate N Raja Senthoor Pandian and TTV Dhinakaran, the legislators decided to appeal against the verdict. While two disqualified MLAs skipped the meeting, the ranks of the rebels swelled after three sitting legislators  E Rathinasabapathy, A Prabhu and V T Kalaiselvan  joined the session.

According to sources in the Dhinakarans team, the participants weighed all options, while Senthoor Pandian advised them on the legal nuances. While a few MLAs toyed with the idea of facing the hustings instead of challenging the verdict, they reached a consensus on moving the apex court.

After the meeting, Dhinakaran loyalist Thanga Tamilselvan said, We will move the SC to prove the grave injustice meted out to us by the Speaker. We will challenge the verdict, as it is ambiguous. Taking exception to the long rope extended to 11 MLAs, including the now deputy CM O Paneerselvam, who voted against the AIADMK government during the Floor Test, Thanga Tamilselvan said, The Speaker acted in a prejudiced manner, and we aim to show the world that he was wrong. P Vetrivel (Perambur) and N G Parthiban (Sholingur) were absent.
By Express News Service

TIRUCHY: In the biggest single-day seizure of foreign currency in the State, two passengers bound for Malaysia were arrested with two bags containing dollars and euros worth Rs 3.81 crore while attempting to board a flight at Tiruchy International Airport on Friday.

Acting on a tip-off, the Air Intelligence Unit of Tiruchy Customs foiled the plot to take out foreign currency and investigations are underway to determine if it is part of a bigger racket. As Customs officials were checking passengers and their luggage following the tip-off, they found the two suspicious bags. When they opened the bags carried by the two passengers, they were shocked to see fresh dollar and euro banknotes.

The passengers, Zakir Hussain, a resident of Ilayangudi and Tajudeen, a resident of Chennai, were found carrying $100 and 100-euro notes, valued at Rs 3.81 crore. The foreign currency was concealed in false bottoms and tops of the stroller suitcases, said K Jayakumar, Assistant Commissioner.

The duo was planning to go to Malaysia by the 9.25 am flight, until they were caught red-handed during the inspection. It is yet to be determined how the smugglers got hold of fresh foreign currency notes. All these aspects are under investigation. This would be one of the biggest single-day seizures of foreign currency in the country, said M Pandaram, Assistant Commissioner.
By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: IT Minister KT Rama Rao has called upon intellectuals and thinkers to counter what he called venomous attacks on the development of Telangana. Addressing Telangana Vikasa Samithi activists in the city on Friday, KTR claimed that his government had overcome several obstacles and unravelled several conspiracies in the process of building a strong foundation for the State.

The State is now headed in the right direction. The government has been working as per the aspirations of Telangana movement, KTR said. He also made a claim that TRS opted for early elections to expose Opposition parties in peoples court. Under the leadership of K Chandrasekhar Rao, we have been moving in a direction to do complete justice to the people in Neellu, Nidhulu and Niyamakalu, he said.

READ| KT Rama Rao begins his campaign in Sircilla

The Mission Bhagiratha was almost completed and the government was trying to provide irrigation water to one crore acres. But, the Opposition filed cases in the courts against the construction of irrigation projects. The Opposition also stalled the job recruitment process, KTR alleged. The opposition is stalling our Abhivruddhi Yagnam, he said.

When the Congress conceived Pranahita-Chevella, the storage capacity was 16 tmc. We have increased the storage capacity to 160 tmc after redesigning project as Kaleshwaram. That is why the estimated cost of the project was increased. Congress helped contractors gain by mobilizing funds in advance. We, however, adopted a transparent process, he claimed.
Ramananda Sengupta By

Express News Service

ISLAMABAD: NEW DELHI: In a clear snub to the international community, the Jaamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and the Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), led by Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, have been removed from the list of outfits proscribed by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), as Pakistans new government failed to extend the ban.

In February, under international pressure, including a freeze on aid from the United States to Pakistan, former president Mamnoon Hussain had signed an ordinance amending the countrys Anti-Terrorism Act to include entities banned by the UNSC.

That list included the JuD and the FIF along with the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the al-Qaeda, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, and the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, among others. The ordinance came days before a Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meeting in Paris, where Pakistan feared being moved to the grey list for insufficient action against terror groups.

ALSO READ | After Qureshi's assurance of Pakistan turning tide against terrorism, Minister attends event with Hafiz Saeed

Saeed had challenged the ban, and at a hearing on Thursday, his counsel informed the Islamabad High Court that the presidential ordinance had lapsed in September and had never been extended. The court then ruled that the petition was pointless because the ordinance itself had lapsed. A report in Pakistani Daily Dawn, said according to a list updated on September 5 on the National Counter Terrorism Authoritys website, the JuD and the FIF are not among the 66 organisations banned. However, the two are under watch by the ministry of interior, it said.

Perhaps Imran feels emboldened by the Saudi aid of $6 billion, which will help tide over the immediate financial crisis that Pakistan faces. But the FATF or the international community will certainly not take kindly to the delisting of Saeeds outfits, an Indian official remarked.
By AFP

VATICAN CITY: A bid by Belgium bishops to allow young married men to take the cloth has fallen flat at the Vatican meet -- though Pope Francis is considering testing out the idea in the Amazon.

The suggestion of easing the rules on celibacy was raised by the Auxiliary Bishop of Brussels, Jean Kockerols, during a month-long meeting of the world's bishops.

ALSO READ | Issue of married Catholic priests gains traction under pope

It appeared to fall on deaf ears -- at least officially.

"There were no reactions" to that, or any of the "daring proposals" that made newspaper headlines during the synod, French bishop Emmanuel Gobillard told AFP.

The 330 or so clerics and lay people taking part in the talks, which end Sunday, were tackling the thorny issue of how to make the Roman Catholic Church appeal to youngsters.

"I am disappointed by the lack of reaction. One bishop compared it to stalactites that take a long time to grow," Kockerols told AFP.

"Numerous bishops sought me out during coffee breaks, saying 'you are right, we should be heading in that direction,' but I notice the subject was never looked into in the working groups," he said.

The number of priests and nuns dropped sharply in 2016 in Europe -- and the Americas to a lesser extent.

The picture is rosier in Africa and Asia, according to the Fides Catholic agency.

As the Argentine pontiff has repeatedly said, there is no doctrinal prohibition on married men becoming priests, and therefore the discipline can be changed.

Saint Peter, the church's first pope, had a mother-in-law, according to the bible.

Celibacy was imposed in the 11th century, possibly partly to prevent descendants of priests from inheriting church property.

But some within the church believe it is time to join many eastern rite Catholic Churches in permitting married men to take the cloth.

ALSO READ | Young Catholics urge Vatican to issue inclusive LGBT message

Married Anglican priests keen to convert to Catholicism have already been welcomed over.

The Vatican's number two man, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, suggested in an interview at the start of the synod that the church could "gradually look in depth" at the issue, while ruling out a "drastic change".

Some 60,000 priests have given up their vocation over the past few decades, often to marry, according to a book on the topic presented a stone's throw from the Vatican during the synod.

There were 414,000 Roman Catholic priests around the world in 2016.

Some 1,000 of them are quitting each year, according to the book by Vatican expert Enzo Romeo.

While there are no official statistics on the number of married ex-priests, he estimates that there are around 8,000 of them in Italy alone.

"Priests' emotions are still often a taboo subject, swept under the carpet at the heart of the church," Romeo said.

The decision to leave the priesthood -- despite the job security and free accommodation -- usually happens after 13 years on the job or is sparked by a mid-life crisis, he says.

One of the former priests quoted in Romeo's book says he quit not only because he fell in love, but also because he found it difficult to preach to others about the church's moral stance on sexuality.

Pope Paul VI's refusal to open the door to the use of the pill in the Swinging Sixties saw many priests abandon their calling.

"Celibacy is an extreme form of poverty which lumps those who practice it in with the loneliest people, the rejects," one older cleric, defending his radical choice, told Romeo.

Pope Francis suggested in 2017 that the church "reflect" on the question of ordaining "viri probati", married men of proven virtue, particularly in far-flung places where priests are thin on the ground.

The idea is likely to be on the table at a synod next year dedicated specially to the Amazon, an immense territory where clergy are scarce.

Sensing a possible shift in attitude, some 300 or so married, former priests in Italy sent a letter to Francis at the start of October offering to take up the cloth once more should he need them.
By PTI

PITTSBURGH: A gunman opened fire at a Jewish synagogue in the US city of Pittsburgh on Saturday, killing at least 11 persons and injuring several others including three policemen, local media reports said.

Robert Bowers, 46, surrendered after he was injured during an exchange of fire with the police, according to local media reports.

He is being described as a white male, heavy set, with a beard. He is being questioned and treated at hospital.

The FBI is investigating this as a "hate crime".

Before opening fire, the alleged perpetrator reportedly yelled, "All Jews must die!" President Donald Trump described this as a devastating situation.

"Events in Pittsburgh are far more devastating than originally thought," Trump said as he reiterated that those responsible for such mass shooting be given death penalty.

FBI agents reached the 'Tree of Life' Congregation Synagogue at Squirrel Hill area in Pittsburgh, where a large number of people had gathered for a morning service when the shooting took place.

The FBI, which has taken the lead in the investigation, did not immediately say on the motive of the shooter.

The tragic shooting came within days of the recovery of a series of package bombs across the country that was addressed to several present and former high-ranking officials.

What happened in Pittsburgh today was not just criminal - it was evil - an attack on innocent Americans and an assault on our Freedom of Religion. There's no place in America for violence or anti-Semitism, and this evil must end. pic.twitter.com/ZDiJMoBAYE  Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) October 27, 2018

Prominent among them include former president Barack Obama, former vice president Joe Biden, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Indian-origin US Senator Kamala Harris.

Israel's Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon strongly condemned the shooting.

SWAT team arrives at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pa. where a shooter opened fire injuring multiple people, Oct. 27, 2018. (Photo | AP)

"We all feel the pain of the murder of eight Jews at a Shabbat service. We will stand together like a rock against hatred and against those who try to harm Jews all over the world. I send condolences to the families of the murdered and a speedy recovery for the wounded. The entire Jewish people now stands alongside the Jewish community of Pittsburgh," he said.

Ivanka Trump, daughter of US president who is married to a Jew Jarred Kushner, said: "America is stronger than the acts of a depraved bigot and anti-semite.

Our hearts are with the Tree of Life community, first responders and the families of those tragically lost in Pittsburgh today. We must reject intolerance and hate if we are ever to find peace in our world.  Tim Cook (@tim_cook) October 27, 2018

All good Americans stand with the Jewish people to oppose acts of terror & share the horror, disgust & outrage over the massacre in Pittsburgh. We must unite against hatred & evil".

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said President Donald Trump is monitoring the situation.

"Watching the events unfolding in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Law enforcement on the scene. People in Squirrel Hill area should remain sheltered. Looks like multiple fatalities. Beware of active shooter. God Bless All!" Trump said in a tweet.

"Saddened and appalled by the cowardly act of evil committed at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. We stand in total solidarity with the victims and all of the Jewish community against bigotry and hate," Sanders said.

"Monitoring reports of a shooting at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. Praying for the fallen, the injured, all the families impacted, and our courageous first responders. God bless them all," Vice President Mike Pence said.

According to Michael Eisenberg, past president of Tree of Life Synagogue the shooting happened during weekly Shabbat services at the Jewish synagogue.

At the time, three simultaneous congregation services were taking place.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf described it as a tragedy.

"The shooting in Pittsburgh this morning is an absolute tragedy. These senseless acts of violence are not who we are as Americans. My thoughts right now are focused on the victims, their families and making sure law enforcement has every resource they need," he said.

"We cannot accept this violence as normal," Wolf said.

The US Holocaust Memorial Museum strongly condemned the shooting and reminded all Americans of the dangers of unchecked hatred and antisemitism which must be confronted wherever they appear and called on all Americans to actively work to promote social solidarity and respect the dignity of all individuals.

"My heart goes out to the Jewish community of Pittsburgh and to the families broken apart by this senseless tragedy," Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal said.

"I founded an organisation that we called Hate Free Zone today, the actions we take to defeat anti-Semitism and hate in all its forms are more critical than ever," she said.
By IANS

ISTANBUL: The leaders of Germany, France, Turkey and Russia will meet here on Saturday to discuss possible ways of putting an end to the conflict in Syria and ensuring a ceasefire in the province of Idlib remained in place.

Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russia's Vladimir Putin, France's Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Angela Merkel will participate in the summit along with the UN special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, Efe news reported.

The Turkish government on Friday said that maintaining the ceasefire in Idlib, agreed by Russia and supported by the Syrian regime and Turkey, was a priority for the summit leaders.

On Friday, seven civilians died in artillery fire by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad in Idlib, according to activists and rebel groups.

Other topics up for discussion on Saturday would be how to channel a political transition process as well as create a committee to draft a new Constitution, the report said.

Syria has been gripped by a complex civil war since March 2011, which has caused 5 million to flee the country, 6.6 million to become internally displaced, and left 13.1 million in need of assistance, according to the UN.
By PTI

UNITED NATIONS: India has called for the UN Security Council sanctions regime to "proactively" list terrorists and terror groups involved in sexual violence in armed conflicts, underscoring that prosecution of criminals engaged in trans-boundary crimes is critical to deliver justice to victims.

First Secretary in the Permanent Mission of India to the UN, Paulomi Tripathi, on Thursday said that women's role and perspectives in peace processes remain largely neglected despite the normative and operative frameworks relating to women, peace and security agenda having been considerably strengthened across the UN system over the last two decades.

She voiced concern that sexual violence, abductions and human trafficking continue to be used as weapons of war in armed conflict by non-state actors and terrorist organisations.

"Rapidly expanding trans-boundary criminal networks finance terror, supply arms, recruit and train of foreign fighters and destabilise whole regions which disproportionately affect women," she said during a UN Security Council debate on 'Women, Peace and Security'.

Tripathi noted that large-scale movements of refugees emanating from armed conflicts increase the vulnerability of women to discrimination and exploitation.

Emphasising the need for global cooperation in this front, she said no country is in a position to effectively counter these challenges alone.

"As the General Assembly focuses on gender sensitive and inclusive development to build peaceful and resilient societies, the Council must push for effective cooperation on countering terrorism that threatens peace and security," she said.

Tripathi asserted that the Council must make all efforts to realise the full potential of integrating women, peace and security considerations in sanctions regimes.

"The Sanctions Committees of the Security Council need to address the issue of proactively listing terrorist individuals and entities involved in sexual and gender-based violence in armed conflicts.

"International cooperation for prosecution of criminals engaged in trans-boundary crimes is important to bring justice to the victims, large number of whom is women and girls," she said.

Earlier, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Council's annual high-level debate that the participation of women in formal peace processes remains extremely limited and the international community still has "far to go" as the conflict continues to have a devastating effect on women and girls.

He said between 1990 and 2017, women constituted just 2 per cent of the mediators, 8 per cent of the negotiators and 5 per cent of the witnesses and the signatories in all major peace processes.

The UN documented more than 800 cases of conflict-related sexual violence in 2017, a 56 per cent increase since 2016, he said.

"Women human rights defenders, political leaders, journalists and activists, who play an important role in addressing the root causes of conflict, are targeted at alarming rates," Guterres said adding that women's marginalisation, lack of access to health and education services, and economic disempowerment continue to be both a cause and an effect of conflict.

He also voiced concern that funding for programmes to promote gender equality and empowerment of women in countries affected by conflict is just 5 per cent of the total bilateral aid to such countries.

Tripathi pointed out that the importance of women's active engagement and leadership in peace and reconciliation processes and in countering the spread of violent extremism is well established.

She said the issue of women peace and security has also to be seen in the wider societal context, involving gender and development issues, which are dealt with outside the Council.

Tripathi told the 15-nation UN body that India is committed to a higher representation of women in peacekeeping missions and has fulfilled the pledge to have 15 per cent of military observers as women.

India has recently partnered with the UN Women toward a capacity building initiative.

Under the initiative, the New Delhi-based Centre for UN Peacekeeping (CUPNK) conducted the third UN female military officers course for 40 women military officers from 26 countries.

India also fully supports UN Secretary General's zero-tolerance approach to sexual exploitation and abuse, and a strong commitment to achieving gender parity in peace operations, she said.

Despite the greater participation of women in building and sustaining peace and the recognition from all quarters of the value they bring, the realities on the ground show that much more remains to be done, Guterres said.

"Every year, we make laudable commitments. But they are not backed with the requisite financial and political support," he said, noting lack of inclusion in mediation efforts and limited space for women to participate as peace builders.

He said it was "crippling to our credibility and protection capacity that women represent only four per cent of our military peacekeepers and ten per cent of police".

He added that the UN fully supports the innovative efforts launched by the member states this year to incentivise greater women representation.
By PTI

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Supreme Court has reintroduced a ban on Indian films and television shows being broadcast on the country's local channels.

The apex court was hearing a case filed by the United Producers Association pertaining to the broadcast of foreign content on Pakistani television channels, reported Dawn.

ALSO READ | 'Pari' co-producer stunned by film's ban in Pakistan

During the hearing, Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar ordered a "shut down" and made it clear that authorities should "only air appropriate content".

"They are trying to (obstruct the construction) of our dam and we cannot even ban their channels?" Nisar said.

In 2016, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) had imposed a ban on airing Indian content on local television and FM radio channels.

ALSO READ | Pakistan reduces two weeks ban on Indian films during Eid

However, the Lahore High Court lifted ban in 2017, declaring it null and void as the Pakistan government had no objections regarding the same.
By PTI

TOKYO: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday arrived in Japan to attend the 13th India-Japan annual summit with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe.

The two-day summit beginning Sunday will seek to review the progress in ties and deepen strategic dimension of the bilateral relationship.

"Landed in Tokyo. I am confident this visit will add new vigour to the strong friendship between India and Japan," Modi said in a tweet.

In a statement Friday, before leaving for Japan, Modi described India and Japan as a "winning combination" and said the island nation was New Delhi's most trusted partner in its economic and technological modernisation.

He said India's partnership with Japan was of great substance and purpose.

"We have a special strategic and global partnership. Our ties with Japan, both economic and strategic, stand completely transformed in recent years. It is today a partnership of great substance and purpose. It rests on the strong pillars of India's Act East Policy, and our shared vision and commitment to a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific," he said.

Modi said it will be his 12th meeting with Abe since he first visited Japan as prime minister in September 2014.

He said, as democracies, the two countries shared values and seek peace and prosperity for all.

"Our complementarities make India and Japan a winning combination. Japan today is one of the most trusted partners in India's economic and technological modernisations and one of the top investors in India," he pointed out.

The PM said projects such as Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail and Dedicated Freight Corridors reflect the high level and "strength of our economic engagement".

"Japan is also at the forefront of engaging in our national initiatives, such as 'Make in India', 'Skill India', 'Digital India', 'Start-Up India' Japanese investors have faith in India's economic future, which is marked with myriad opportunities," Modi said.
By PTI

MANAMA: Riyadh on Saturday dismissed Ankara's calls to extradite 18 Saudis wanted for the murder of critic Jamal Khashoggi, as Washington warned the crisis risked destabilising the Middle East.

"The individuals are Saudi nationals. They're detained in Saudi Arabia, and the investigation is in Saudi Arabia, and they will be prosecuted in Saudi Arabia," Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told a regional defence forum in Bahrain.

He was responding to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who on Friday renewed his call for the 18 men to be extradited for trial in Turkey.

Khashoggi, 59, who had lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since 2017, vanished after entering the consulate on October 2 to obtain paperwork for his marriage to his Turkish fiancee.

Gruesome reports have alleged that he was murdered and his body dismembered by a team sent from Saudi Arabia to silence the Washington Post columnist, who had criticised Saudi's powerful Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.

After weeks of denials, Riyadh has sought to draw a line under the crisis with an investigation.

Prince Mohammad, heir to the oil-rich nation's throne, publicly denounced the murder as "repulsive", while the Saudi prosecutor acknowledged for the first time this week that based on the evidence of a Turkish investigation the killing had been "premeditated".

But US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis, who was also addressing the Manama forum, warned that "the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in a diplomatic facility must concern us all greatly".

"Failure of any nation to adhere to international norms and the rule of law undermines regional stability at a time when it is needed most," he stressed.

Saudi authorities have arrested 18 men wanted by Ankara following the international furore over Khashoggi's murder, which was reportedly carried out in the consulate by a team which flew to Istanbul.

Five intelligence chiefs have been sacked, including two who were part of the crown prince's inner circle.

The journalist's murder has generated international outrage and undermined Riyadh's relations with the US and other Western governments.

But the Saudi foreign minister vowed Saturday "we will overcome it."

"The issue, as I said, is being investigated. We will know the truth. We will hold those responsible accountable. And we will put in place mechanisms to ensure it doesn't happen again," Jubeir told the defence forum.

On Thursday, CIA Director Gina Haspel briefed US President Donald Trump on the latest developments in the investigation after a fact-finding mission to Turkey.

Pro-government Turkish media said intelligence officers showed Haspel video images and audio tapes of Khashoggi's killing gathered from the consulate.

But the body of Khashoggi, who was once an insider in Saudi royal circles, remains missing.

"You need to show this body," Erdogan insisted on Friday, indicating that his country had more evidence about the killing to reveal.

The Turkish president, who has stopped short of directly blaming the Saudi government, added the 18 suspects must know who killed Khashoggi and repeated his call for the men to be tried in Turkey.

"The culprit is among them. If that is not the case, then who is the local conspirator? You have to tell," he said.

"Unless you tell, Saudi Arabia will not be free from this suspicion."

Khashoggi's fiancee Hatice Cengiz said in a TV interview on Friday that she never would have let him enter the consulate if she had thought that "Saudi Arabia authorities would hatch a plot" to kill him.

"I demand that all those involved in this savagery from the highest to the lowest levels are punished and brought to justice," Cengiz told the Haberturk television station.

She said she had not been contacted by Saudi officials and was unlikely to go to Saudi Arabia for any funeral there if Khashoggi's missing body is found.
By AFP

KABUL: A suicide car bomb attack on a bus carrying police officers and workers in central Afghanistan killed at least five people Saturday, officials said.

Another 12 were wounded in the Taliban-claimed blast in the Wardak provincial capital of Maidan Shar, provincial police spokesman Hekmatullah Durrani told AFP.

The explosion happened as the bus entered the main entrance of a police compound. Two officers and three workers were among the dead, Durrani said. The wounded were all mechanics on the base.

Provincial governor spokesman Abdul Rahman Mangal put the death toll slightly higher at six.

In a WhatsApp message, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said "tens of Afghan police and soldiers were killed" in the attack.

The latest attack by the Taliban comes amid a flurry of US-led diplomatic activity to convince the group to negotiate an end to the 17-year war.

In an apparent move to aid talks, top Taliban commander Abdul Ghani Baradar has been released by Pakistan after more than eight years in detention, sources said Thursday.

That came less than two weeks after US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad met with the Taliban's representatives in Qatar to discuss ending the Afghan conflict.
By AFP

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday expressed grief and solidarity with the United States, after a gunman opened fire in a Pittsburgh synagogue, killing and injuring several people.

"I was heartbroken and appalled by the murderous attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue today," Netanyahu said in a video message.

"The entire people of Israel grieve with the families of the dead. We stand together with the Jewish community of Pittsburgh. We stand together with the American people in the face of this horrendous antisemitic brutality."

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said "we are thinking of the families of those who were murdered and praying for the quick recovery of those who were injured".

Diaspora Minister Naftali Bennett announced he was travelling to Pittsburgh to meet members of the Jewish community and participate in the funerals.

"I am going to offer strength to the community and its leaders, and to examine how we can offer assistance," he said in a statement.

"When Jews are murdered in Pittsburgh, the people of Israel feel pain."

The attack took place as dozens of people were understood to be celebrating Shabbat services on the Jewish sabbath, and comes with the US witnessing a sharp spike in anti-Semitic incidents.
By PTI

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday reiterated Pakistan's diplomatic and political support for the just cause of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, the official media reported.

In his message, Alvi said "the United Nations Security Council, through several of its resolutions, has validated the Kashmiris' right to decide their future through a fair and impartial plebiscite".

Khan said Pakistan would not relent in its moral, political and diplomatic support until the Kashmiris realise their legitimate right to self-determination in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions, Radio Pakistan reported as the country observed 'Black Day' to demand the right to self-determination for the people in the Valley.

He called for immediate implementation of the recommendation to set up a UN Commission of Inquiry to investigate alleged human rights abuses in Kashmir.
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Designer Fion Fung decided on a floral print for her cheongsam to be exhibited in Tokyo. (Courtesy of the Hong Kong Arts Centre)

Barney Cheng designed a glamorous evening cheongsam for display at the expo. (Courtesy of the Hong Kong Arts Centre)

This colourful cheongsam was designed by Douglas Young for the expo in Tokyo. (Courtesy of the Hong Kong Arts Centre)

Designer Grace Chois cheongsam will go on display at the exhibition. (Courtesy of the Hong Kong Arts Centre)

Polly Hos modern design will form part of the exhibition. (Courtesy of the Hong Kong Arts Centre)

Well-known global fashion designer Vivienne Tams take on the cheongsam will feature at the exhibition. (Courtesy of the Hong Kong Arts Centre)

This design by Mary Yu will go on display at The Chic of Hybridity: A Collection of Contemporary Cheongsam exhibition in Tokyo. (Courtesy of the Hong Kong Arts Centre)

Chief Executive Carrie Lam (centre) earlier met three of the 10 designers whose cheongsams will be featured at the exhibition in Japan.

Designer Amy Wong chose to exhibit a white cheongsam featuring a lotus leaf design (far left) as an homage to her late mentor Ye Sis poems on lotus leaves.

Designer Ranee Kok will showcase her cheongsam at the expo as a form of wearable art. Her design retains the traditional features and silhouette of the cheongsam, while still being modern and fashion-forward.

Designer Janko Lams denim cheongsam will be exhibited in Japan and she hopes her design will attract younger women to wear the traditional dress.

With more than a century of history, the traditional cheongsam continues to develop in Hong Kong and has gradually become a source of inspiration for new creations. The dress is a powerful cultural icon in contemporary Chinese society and one of the most internationally well-known intangible cultural heritage entities. The Sewing Techniques of Hong Kong-style Cheongsam is on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Hong Kong.

To showcase Hong Kongs unique arts and culture, and to promote its creative industry, the Hong Kong Arts Centre will host a cheongsam exhibition in early November in Japan as part of the Hong Kong Week in Tokyo. Ten different styles of cheongsams by Hong Kong designers will be on display, giving visitors an opportunity to find out about the garments evolution, appreciate the skills in cheongsam-making and learn more about what the dress means to Hong Kong.

Traditionally fashion-forward

Janko Lam is one of the designers who will exhibit a cheongsam in Japan. Through workshops, she also hopes to teach visitors about traditional sewing techniques and showcase Chinese culture.

When I learned to make a cheongsam, I also learned the Chinese traditions. Like the flower buttons of a cheongsam, they are made from the same piece of cloth as the cheongsam. This shows the Chinese peoples prudence.

Ms Lam designed a denim cheongsam to illustrate how the garment continues to evolve in Hong Kong, while preserving the traditional craftsmanship.

Some people have misconceptions about cheongsams, thinking they are old-fashioned or can only be worn on special occasions. I hope through my designs, I can show them a cheongsam can be hip and more wearable.

For Ranee Kok, she will showcase her cheongsam at the expo, but as a form of wearable art. Her evening dress design retains the traditional features and silhouette of the cheongsam, while still being modern and fashion-forward.

The inspiration is from architecture and nature. The fabric I used is traditional Chinese brocade with gold birds and blue flowers. Also for the ruffle part, it is (inspired by) nature, the flower petals, plus the pagodas from ancient China in the Tang Dynasty.

Ms Kok also designed a set of accessories to complement her cheongsam, including a ring and bracelet fashioned after a Chinese-style button.

Another Hong Kong designer Amy Wong said every cheongsam is unique, and a womans independence and identity can be reflected through wearing one.

Ms Wongs exhibit is a personal one. It is dedicated to her mentor, renowned Hong Kong writer Ye Si, who passed away in 2013. The design is inspired by Ye Sis poems on lotus leaves.

Inspired by Ye Sis poem, I designed a cheongsam featuring lotus leaves. There is also a lotus flower blossom made of white silk on the dress to symbolise Ye Sis work blooming in Hong Kong.

Fashion culture

The Chic of Hybridity: A Collection of Contemporary Cheongsam exhibition, organised by the Hong Kong Arts Centre, will run from November 3 to 11 in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo. Chief Executive Carrie Lam will tour the exhibits during her visit to Japan. Hong Kong Arts Centre Executive Director Connie Lam noted the centre is committed to promoting Hong Kong designs and the exhibition will help foster cultural exchanges between the city and Japan.

All these cheongsams are made with different ideas and from different designers. I think this is really a very good showcase to show the diversity of design and creativity of Hong Kong designers.

The Hong Kong Arts Centre will also organise workshops and designer sharing sessions at the expo to introduce the history and tradition of the cheongsam as well as its craftsmanship.
Attorney Who Thinks 'Like

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(Newser)  If Richard Spencer wants to try to stir up any trouble in Charlottesville, he's going to have to do it anywhere other than the University of Virginia, at least for the next four years. That's because, per the Washington Post, the UVA grad and noted white nationalist has been banned from campus, along with nine others, after they took part in a march of white supremacists on school grounds in August 2017a weekend that culminated in violence and the death of counterprotester Heather Heyer. "The trespass warnings issued today reflect our commitment to ensuring the safety of our community while upholding the principles of freedom of speech and assembly," UVA President Jim Ryan said in a statement. The ban came down after a yearlong probe by university police, as well as state and federal law-enforcement agencies, into the 2017 rally and those involved.

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If Spencer or any of the other men banned from campus violate the order, they'll be slapped with a misdemeanor charge of criminal trespassing, CNN notes. "We have drawn a distinction between free speech and conduct that is aimed to intimidate others and promote violence," says Tommye Sutton, the head of campus police. "Such conduct and intimidation will not be tolerated." Spencer's written response to the Post: "Ideas have no jurisdiction and ultimately can't be censored. That said, I have no immediate plans to engage in activism on campus, at UVA or anywhere." (Maybe that's because he's got to deal with his marital and domestic violence problems.)
(Newser)  A French town is being terrorized by a serial killerbut humans aren't the target. The Telegraph reports that someone in the village of Minihy-Treguier has so far slaughtered more than 100 rabbits, slipping into residents' yards, yanking rabbits out of their hutches, and either stomping them to death by foot or murdering them with a sharp tool of some kind. "The cages are opened, then the animals are killed in cold blood and left at the scene," a police statement notes, per the Sunday Times. The town's mayor says there've been 15 attacks in all, starting in March, with some homes getting hit more than once. "He returned to one home four times, killing 20 rabbits there in all," the mayor notes.

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One woman who lost six adult rabbitsas well as some of their babies, which died after the mothers were killedtells local media she once surprised a man she though was the rabbit murderer, wearing a black hat and a long raincoat, one morning, "but he had the time to make his escape." Oddly left alone in these murderous rampages: chickens and geese that often cohabitate with the bunnies. (Authorities don't think foxes or other animals are killing the rabbits, as was the case with a slew of mysterious cat deaths in the UK.)
(Newser)  Palestinian militants ceased rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel and relative calm prevailed Saturday afternoon after a night-long exchange of fire that prompted Israeli threats against Iranian forces in Syria, the AP reports. The Islamic Jihad group, a militant faction operating in the Hamas-ruled Gaza but that has close ties to Iran and Syria, said they agreed to Egyptian mediation efforts and halted the rocket fire, the heaviest to emanate from Gaza in months. "The Egyptian efforts led to understandings to restore calm to Gaza Strip. We appreciate the Egyptian endeavor and hope for all kinds of (Israeli) aggression to stop," says Khaled al-Batsh, an Islamic Jihad official. Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli military spokesman, said that 34 rockets had been fired at Israel throughout the night. In response, Israel hit over 80 targets in Gaza.

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Hamas, the larger militant group that controls Gaza, accused Israel of resorting to military escalation "to evade obligations" of a comprehensive cease-fire that Hamas has long sought. Hamas wants the deal to end a crippling Israeli-Egyptian blockade on Gaza. There has been no immediate comment from Israel on truce. It has said its fighter jets struck dozens of targets across Gaza and accused Iranian forces in Damascus of orchestrating the barrages. The threats toward Iranian forces in Syria added a new dimension to what was already the heaviest fighting between Israel and Gaza militants in several weeks. Opening a new front in Syria could put Israel in open confrontation with heavily armed Iranian and Hezbollah forces, along with recently deployed Russian anti-aircraft systems. Click for the full story, or read about a US student stuck "in limbo" in Israel.

(Read more Israel stories.)
(Newser)  Saudi Arabia's top diplomat said Saturday that the global outcry and media focus on the killing of a Saudi journalist earlier this month has become "hysterical" as he urged the public to wait for the results of an investigation before ascribing blame to the kingdom's top leadership, the AP reports. Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist critical of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed by Saudi agents at the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. "This issue has become fairly hysterical," Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said. "I think people have assigned blame to Saudi Arabia with such certainty before the investigation is complete." Some of those implicated in Khashoggi's killing are close to Prince Mohammed, who is the kingdom's heir apparent.

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His condemnation of the killing as "heinous" and "painful" has so far failed to ease suspicions that such a high-level operation could have been carried out without his knowledge. Al-Jubeir addressed the mounting skepticism around the crown prince's alleged involvement. He was speaking in response to questions from Western journalists at an annual conference of international officials, including US Defense Secretary James Mattis, in Bahrain. "We have made clear that we are going to have a full and transparent investigation, the results of which will be released," he said, adding that the kingdom has also put in place mechanisms to ensure this does not happen again. "We know that people exceeded their authority and we know that we're investigating them," he said. (Meanwhile, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's request for Khashoggi's son has been granted.)
(Newser)  Meghan Markle's half-sister took another shot at her this week over a speech the duchess gave in Fiji, the HuffPost reports. Speaking Wednesday at the University of the South Pacific, Markle talked about the importance of a college education and said she was only able to attend Northwestern University via "scholarships, financial aid programs, and work-study." But half-sis Samantha Grant said Markle received no financial aid, tweeting, "The speech was a lie."

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"It takes a lot of audacity, and deceit to lie about something as important as funding of a college education," Grant added. "To take that dignity and joy away from dad is morally unconscionable." Thomas Markle has said he paid Meghan's annual $41,980 tuition using money he scored with a $1.6 million lottery ticket, Australia's News Network recalls. "She became the woman that she is today thanks to everything I did for her," Thomas told the Daily Mail. (Grant has also taken exception to words uttered by Prince Harry.)
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Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe
The region cannot find peace and stability until a solution is reached with regard to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, according to Jordan King. The current situation in Palestine is a failure of global strategic relationships and credibility, said King Abdullah II of Jordan.

King Abdullah II, who was unable to attend the event as he stayed back in Jordan following the tragic deaths of schoolchildren and adults in flash floods, had his speech read out by Ayman Safadi, Jordans Foreign Minister. The issue of the long denial of Palestinian statehood was featured prominently in his speech.

This conflict has been a global disrupter of peace and stability. When occupation and violence continue for generations and the peace process hits a dead end, again and again, this is not just the failure of the parties. It is a failure of global strategic relationships and credibility, he pointed out.

Eight years ago, here at the Manama Dialogue, I argued that our region will not enjoy security and stability unless we solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. This has sadly proved true. And we cannot expect better until our world does much more to guide the parties towards a just and durable two-state solution.

A solution that meets the needs of both sides, in accordance with international laws and resolutions that provides an end to conflict, and creates a viable, independent, sovereign Palestinian state, on the 1967 lines, with East Jerusalem as its capital. There have been many attempts to delay and subvert the hope the two-state solution offers.

Today, these negative efforts include the fallacy of a single, bi-national state. Any such solution, based on unilateral acts and unequal rights, would be a moral disaster and a recipe for continued conflict.
The Lower Criminal Court has sentenced a Bahraini woman to one year behind bars along with BD500 fine for forging a salon owners signature to purchase mobile phones as well as SIM cards from a local telecommunication company.

The defendant is said to have signed a contract with the victim to manage the salon, but the agreement contained clear conditions denying the former from inking deals with other companies to buy any kind of items. However, she violated the agreement by signing a contract with a local telecommunication company to buy mobile phones and SIM cards.

After three months from signing the agreement with her many problems erupted and she pledged to solve all of them. However, a telecommunication company suddenly began demanding me to settle an amount of BD500, the victim told prosecutors.
At least 21 people were killed in flash floods in Jordan, most of them children whose school bus was swept away, emergency services said Friday, in what a government newspaper dubbed a Tragedy at the Dead Sea. Another 35 people were injured following heavy rains on Thursday, including members of the security forces involved in rescue operations, a civil defence official told AFP.

A security source said rescuers were still searching for eight people missing in the Dead Sea area, a popular tourist attraction around 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Amman. The number of victims has risen to 21. Most of them were schoolchildren aged between 11 and 14, who were on a school trip in the Dead Sea area when they were swept away by the floodwaters, he said.

Security officials said the pupils, their teachers and minders had stepped out of their bus in a tourist area called Al-Miyah al-Sakhina when they were hit by a flash flood that washed them towards the nearby Dead Sea. Also among the dead were visitors who had been picnicking in the area, the civil defence said, adding that a nearby bridge had collapsed.

Jordanian television reported that King Abdullah II called off a planned visit to Bahrain and returned home from the Gulf. My sadness and sorrow are matched only by my anger at anyone who did not take the steps that could have prevented this painful incident, he wrote on Twitter. He chaired an emergency meeting with senior officials and called for a thorough investigation to determine who was responsible for what he termed the great disaster that hurt us all as Jordanians.
Sugar: its so quintessentially Cuban that even a young, machete-wielding Fidel Castro used to hack away at the cane stalks vital to the Caribbean islands economy. Now, the long-time world leader in sugar production is importing the stuff for the first time, and in large amounts, from France after another bad harvest. Sugar used to account for the vast majority of Cubas exports.

But the fall of its big brother, the Soviet Union -- a key, hungry customer -- changed everything, as did a lack of investment in seeds, fertilizer and pesticides. To wit: in the early 1990s, Cuba produced about eight million tons of sugar a year. A decade later, it stopped reaching two million a year. Back then, sugar accounted for almost 75 percent of Cuban exports.

In 2015, it was only 13 percent, with other products like nickel and tobacco making up some of the difference. The 2017-2018 harvest suffered badly after Hurricane Irma ravaged the country, followed by a long rainy season. So Cuba is importing sugar from France.

Whiter sugar

On the island, residents quickly caught wind of the somewhat counter-intuitive development. Here, sugar from cane tends to be brownish.

But the French version comes from beets so it is whiter, and the granules are finer. And that is what Cubans started receiving with their libreta -- their ration book. The sugar we get now is very good. It is very sweet, not very different. The only difference is the colour, said Felicia Navarro, a 40-year-old homemaker. The French government farm and seafood export agency FranceAgriMer said that from 2001 to 2017, Cuba had imported just three tons of sugar from France.

But in just three summer months this year -- June, July and August -- that number ballooned to 40,000 tons. This is the first time in history that Cuba is importing significant amounts of sugar from France, FranceAgriMer said. Cuba imports most of the food it consumes. Yearly, it imports 400,000 tons of wheat.
Providing a chance to explore and enjoy everything marine, Bahrains Sea Festival has begun showcasing Kingdoms abundant maritime resources in a funfilled atmosphere for families and kids to enjoy. Inaugurated by Chief Executive Officer of the Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority (BTEA), Shaikh Khaled bin Humood Al Khalifa, the festival held near Bahrain Financial Harbour is in its third edition.

The inauguration was attended by the President of the Arab Tourism Organization, Dr Bandar bin Fahd Al-Fuhaid, the Undersecretary for International Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr Shaikh Abdulla bin Ahmed Al Khalifa in addition to representatives from BTEA and tourism sector.

The festival raises awareness of the value of Bahraini sea related traditions and cultures, while also celebrating it using latest technologies to attract tourists. We appreciate the efforts made by BTEA to organise events that help in preserving and safeguarding Bahrains history and link to the sea, said the President of Arab Tourism Organization, Dr Bandar bin Fahd Al-Fuhaid. The Festival, Shaikh Khaled said, has become one the most anticipated events on the Kingdoms calendar.

Much like the rest of BTEAs events, it aims to position Bahrain as a leading family destination and double the tourism sectors contribution in the National GDP.
The Plateau State Police Command has said that three more suspects, among the persons declared wanted for their alleged involvement in t...

The Plateau State Police Command has said that three more suspects, among the persons declared wanted for their alleged involvement in the killing of the Major General IM Alkali, (retired) have surrendered and reported to the command.





Recall that State Police Command declared wanted some suspects behind the disappearance of the former Chief of Administration, Nigerian Army.





Also, recall that the Nigerian Army had discovered a shallow grave, in its search for the immediate past Chief of Administration (Army).





Da Yakubu Rap, one of the suspects wanted was the first to report to the police, according to the command.




Hamza Al-Mustapha, presidential candidate of Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN), did not submit his academic credentials to the Independ...





of Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN), did not submit his academic credentials to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Hamza Al-Mustapha, presidential candidateof Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN), did not submit his academic credentials to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).





academic credentials, to the commission. All the aspirants seeking elective positions in the country ought to submit certain documents, including theiracademic credentials, to the commission.





But Al-Mustapha, a retired major in the Nigerian army, told the commission his documents are in possession of the military.





In his particulars submitted to the commission, copies of which were seen by TheCable, Al-Mustapha said the military has refused to release his academic certificates, despite court orders asking them to do so.





He said: I was a victim of persecution for 15 years over deliberate trump of charges. I was, however, exonerated and freed of the wanton charges vide court of appeal ruling on 12 July, 2013.





My entire personal documents including my certificates and awards were taken by the then government in 1998.





Formal complaints were registered before high court of Lagos (2000  2001) and federal high court, Lagos division, (2004  2007) but government refused to obey court orders till today.





However, Nigeria army (my employer  1983  2013) is in custody of the certificates this application is asking of.





He, however, indicated that he attended Hausari Primary School, from 1967 to 1974; Government Secondary School, Nguru, YBS, from 1974 to 1979; and Nigeria Defence Academy, from 1980 to 1983.





Al-Mustapha was the chief security officer to Sani Abacha, late military dictator. He was accused of ordering the death of Kudirat, wife of MKO Abiola, self acclaimed winner of the June 12 1993 election.





President Muhammadu Buhari also failed to submit his academic credentials, saying they are with the military.




The Senator representing Kogi West Senatorial District, Dino Melaye, has mocked President Muhammadu Buhari over the lingering issue of...





The Senator representing Kogi West Senatorial District, Dino Melaye, has mocked President Muhammadu Buhari over the lingering issue of his WAEC certificate.





President Buhari, who is the standard bearer of the All Progressives Congress, APC, failed to submit his credentials to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC on Wednesday.





Recall that various candidates credentials were made available to reporters in Abuja on Thursday and President Buhari only submitted an affidavit where he claimed that his credentials were with the Secretary of the Military Board.





In his affidavit to the electoral umpire, Buhari explained, I am the above-named person and the deponent of this affidavit herein. All my academic qualification documents as filled in my Presidential form, APC/001/2015 are currently with the Secretary of the Military Board as of the time of this affidavit.





Reacting to the development, Melaye tweeted, Atiku submitted His certificates to INEC, Buhari submitted excuses to INEC.




West Idahosa, counsel to Osadolor Ochei, an Edo-based activist, says he served the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) wit...





West Idahosa, counsel to Osadolor Ochei, an Edo-based activist, says he served the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) with court processes of the suit seeking the arrest of Adams Oshiomhole, national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC).





Ochei had filed an application at the federal high court in Abuja seeking the arrest and prosecution of Oshiomole for alleged diversion of state funds to personal use while he was the governor of Edo state between 2008 and 2016.





The suit no FHC/ABJ/CS/628/, filed by Idahosa on behalf of the plaintiff, has Oshiomole and the EFCC as first and second respondents respectively.





In his ruling on October 9, Anwuli Chikere, presiding judge of the federal high court in Abuja, ordered Oshiomhole and the EFCC be served with court processes within five days.

When the suit was heard on October 23, Oshiomholes lawyers were represented in court but the anti-graft agencys counsels were not there.





Wilson Uwajaren, EFCC spokesman, later said the commission failed to show up because the plaintiff did not serve the commission with processes.





The Commission frowns at the attempt by counsel to the plaintiff, West Idahosa, to mislead the court with claims that the Commission had been served, the statement read in part.





Had the Commission been served, it would have been in court. Ours is an agency that holds the judiciary in high esteem and we will never disregard summons by courts of competent jurisdiction. The truth is that the Commission did not receive any summons.





However, Idahosa insisted he served the EFCC with the motion on notice on October 11.





He presented an affidavit of service to buttress his claim. The affidavit was signed by the commissioner for oath at the federal high court in Abuja.





Idahosa said there is an attempt to rubbish his image though there is evidence that he served the commission with the notice.




Oby Ezekwesili, former vice-president of the World Bank, says it is a fact that she was a minister under the Peoples Democratic Party ...





Oby Ezekwesili, former vice-president of the World Bank, says it is a fact that she was a minister under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), but she served in the interest of the people and for good governance.





The former minister, who holds the PDP and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) responsible for Nigerias litany of woes, added that all she did is there for all to see.





It is a matter of fact that I was a minister under the PDP administration, but what you cannot contest is that I was a minister that was driven by the noble objectives of serving the people, Ezekwesili told Channels TV.





If you looked at the things I was responsible for, whether it is the due process, that is the Bureau for Public Procurement, it was for good governance. If you look at NEITI, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, it was for good governance.





If you looked at what we did in the ministry of minerals, especially the new legislation that took away the discretionary powers of the minister to just be giving licences, it was for good governance.





The 55-year-old, who is the most prominent woman to run for the office of the president in Nigerias history, said the response she has been getting in funding her campaign has been majorly in terms of goodwill.





The response is tentative, but one thing we have seen is massive goodwill. There are different social networks that exist already and those networks are all over the country, Ezekwesili said.





Those kinds of networks say to you, you can leverage our existence as a basis to do the things you would normally have to find people and pay them money for.





Partnership is a very important resource for us. when you look at the power of goodwill; for example, there are so many people that when they declared for office, they didnt get the massive goodwill that we have received both domestically and internationally




Tukur Buratai, chief of army staff, on Saturday said the Nigerian army will begin the production of combat vehicles in 2025. Burat...





Tukur Buratai, chief of army staff, on Saturday said the Nigerian army will begin the production of combat vehicles in 2025.





Buratai made this known at the 77 Regular Recruits Intake Passing-Out Parade at the Nigerian Army Depot in Zaria, Kaduna state.





He said through research, the depot had already produced five patrol vehicles named TYB.





The army chief said: Let me at this juncture commend the Commandant, Depot, Nigerian Army and his team for the uncommon research and development feat which led to the production of five patrol vehicles, named TYB Robile in my honour.





By this breakthrough, the Nigerian Army is poised to become self-reliant in class `B combat vehicles by the year 2025.





Furthermore, the ultra-modern industry military range which I will commission today is one of the cottage technological training aids designed to improve recruits marksmanship skills and economise use of old classes of army ammunition for training.





I, therefore, urge the Depot Nigerian Army to maximise its use to enhance the quality of young soldiers trained in the Nigerian Army.





He said the collaborative training with the British Advisory Team (BAT) had further introduced the recruits to contemporary training method.





It is highly gratifying to note that this highly revered institution established in 1924 has remained focused in the discharge of its primary responsibilities of transforming able-bodied young Nigerians from civil orientation to well-trained soldiers, Buratai said.





This is to meet the manpower requirements of the Nigerian Army.




Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State has taken exception to the remark of the Acting Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congr...





Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State has taken exception to the remark of the Acting Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, who described him as a bad loser in politics.





Issa-Onilu, had in a statement on Thursday, described some APC governors including Okorocha as bad losers in respect of the governorship primaries of the party.





A statement issued in Owerri on Saturday, by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Sam Onwuemeodo explained that Okorocha, contrary to what Issa-Onilu would want people to believe and other governors, are working for the progress of the party with the National Chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole.





The governor observed that disagreements with the party leadership were bound to arise and advised the National Publicity Secretary on the need to exercise caution in order not to create a wrong impression.





Okorocha warned against castigating governors, who worked for the party from the onset, insisting that Issa-Onilu misfired by doing so and had sent a bad signal to the world.





Okorocha however, advised Issa-Onilu to acquaint himself with proper information on the Imo APC case to avoid feeding the public with falsehood that might snowball into a conflagration.





He recalled that Oshiomhole cancelled the results of the primary conducted by Ahmed Gulak-led committee and set up a new committee headed by Ibrahim Agbabiaka, which conducted a fresh primary.




KOWA Party has condoled with the family of 13- year-old Ochanya Elizabeth Ogbanje, who battled Vesicovaginal Fistula (VVF) and other hea...

KOWA Party has condoled with the family of 13- year-old Ochanya Elizabeth Ogbanje, who battled Vesicovaginal Fistula (VVF) and other health complications at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital and died at the Ultimate Care Hospital, following alleged rape by her aunts husband and his son, identified as Andrew Ogbuja and Victor Inalegwu Ogbuja.





The alleged rape was said to have started when the deceased was 8 years old.





In a statement on Saturday by Olakunle Olawole, the National Youth Leader, the party disclosed that it had petitioned to the Presidency, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Youth and sports, Ministry of Women Affairs, Ministry of Education, and the Nigeria Police, on matter.





Already, labour unions have asked the federal government to treat the Ochanyas case with seriousness.

KOWA is demanding that the perpetrators be held accountable and that punishment to be meted out must be firm and effective enough to serve as a deterrent to others in society.





The statement said Ochanyas unfortunate circumstances is one of the realities of governments failure to safeguard Nigerias children and the lackadaisical approach to impunity associated with sexual violence and child abuse in Nigeria.





It read: The need for state oversight on children has been totally neglected, whereas the fate of a child is undetermined especially with the denial of the fundamental human rights of citizens.





It is alarming to note that although Nigeria subscribed to the Childs Right act, the government does not concern itself with the welfare of children, especially the girl child and does not give regards to whether they go to school, are denied essential medicine, subjected to slavery, trafficked, or sexually violated.





We demand that asides from issuing birth certificates, (and sometimes when they die  death certificates), government should take complete oversight over the Nigerian child with an established minimum standard of care that caregivers must provide.





We wish to reiterate that there as been an astronomical increase in the number of children suffering from sexual violence, without plans to provide rehabilitation for them while bringing perpetrators to justice.




The Plateau State Police Command has said that Da Yakubu Rap, one of the persons declared wanted for their alleged involvement in the ki...

The Plateau State Police Command has said that Da Yakubu Rap, one of the persons declared wanted for their alleged involvement in the killing of the Major General IM Alkali, (retired) has surrendered himself to the command.





Recall that State Police Command declared wanted some suspects behind the disappearance of the former Chief of Administration, Nigerian Army.





Also, recall that on Friday that the Nigerian Army has discovered a shallow grave, in its search for the immediate past Chief of Administration (Army).





The army said Major General Alkali was killed and buried in a shallow grave, in an area popularly known as No mans land in Lafande community, on the outskirt of Jos metropolis.





But the Police in a terse statement sent by Matthias Tyopev Terna, the Plateau commands spokesman, said that one of the persons has turned himself in to the police.





The police said the decision to publish the names over the mysterious disappearance of General Alkali has started yielding results.




President Muhammadu Buhari says Nigeria is too big and too diverse to blindly sign agreements without understanding the consequences o...





President Muhammadu Buhari says Nigeria is too big and too diverse to blindly sign agreements without understanding the consequences of such actions.





The president said this when he received representatives of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), led by its president, Babatunde Ruwase, at the presidential villa, Abuja, on Friday.





Buhari used the occasion of his audience with members of the LCCI to explain his decision to inaugurate a presidential committee to assess the potential costs and impact of the agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area for Nigeria (AfCTA).





Nigeria was absent in March as leaders from 44 African countries signed the agreement to form a $2.5 trillion continental free-trade zone.





The free-trade zone is the largest in the world since the creation of the World Trade Organisation in 1995.





But Buhari said Nigeria is still assessing the impact of this agreement on its backward integration and import substitution policies.





Specifically, the provisions on rules of origin and trans shipment were matters of concern to us, he said.





Already, some of the treaties we are party to have been significantly abused, resulting in massive smuggling which has crippled many of our local industries and destroyed millions of jobs.





To avoid these past mistakes, we conducted vast consultations across the country in which the LCCI participated. The responses have been mixed.





Former President Olusegun Obasanjo had said Buharis hands were too weak to sign the AfCTA.





He made the statement while speaking at the Babacar Ndiaye lecture series in Bali, Indonesia, two weeks ago.





Taunting Buhari, Obasanjo had said he hoped Nigeria would soon have a president who will sign the agreement.





Africa cannot overcome fears of trade wars till it achieves 50 percent intra-Africa trade, he had said.




Attorney General Jeff Sessions says a suspect has been arrested in connection with mailing 12 suspicious packages.

Sessions says Cesar Sayoc, 56, of Aventura, Florida, is being charged with five federal crimes, including the illegal mailing of explosive devices and threatening government officials.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said 13 IEDs were sent in the packages, and each mailing included 6 inches of PCV pipe, a small clock and potentially explosive material. "These are not hoax devices," Wray said.

He said a fingerprint found on one of the packages led investigators to Sayoc. He said possible DNA evidence was found on another package.

The crude pipe bombs were addressed in recent days to former President Barack Obama as well as other high-profile Democrats, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a former U.S. attorney general, two Democratic Party members of Congress, and former Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan.
Lere Olayinka, media aide of Ayodele Fayose, former governor of Ekiti state, has explained why his principal is yet to be released from t...





Lere Olayinka, media aide of Ayodele Fayose, former governor of Ekiti state, has explained why his principal is yet to be released from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) custody.





Mojisola Olatoregun, a judge of a federal high court in Lagos, granted a N50 million bail to Fayose on Wednesday.





Fayose was asked him to provide a surety with landed property in Lagos. The guarantor is also required to have three-year tax clearance in Lagos.





In a tweet on Friday, Olayinka said Fayose met all the bail conditions by 2pm on Friday and would be hopefully released on Monday.

He said the ex-governor all the necessary documents required for Fayoses bail had been verified.





On Governor Fayose bail, as at 2pm today, all necessary documents were filed before the court and verified. Hopefully, he should be out of custody by Monday. We thank Nigerians for their support.



We thank Nigerians for their support. On @GovAyoFayose bail, as at 2pm today, all necessary documents were filed before the court and verified. Hopefully, he should be out of custody by Monday.We thank Nigerians for their support. October 26, 2018

Fayose walked to the headquarters of the commission in Abuja after handing over power on October 16.





He was detained after several hours of interrogation.





The former governor was later charged to court and arraigned on an 11-count charge of corruption and abuse of office but he denied all the allegations and pleaded not guilty.
Japan and China took an important step Friday to elevate their relationship, marking what Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called a historic turning point in ties between the two Asian neighbors.

During meetings, the two countries signed a $30 billion currency swap aimed at facilitating money exchanges for businesses. They also agreed on a range of security, economic and diplomatic agreements, while private businesses sealed dozens of deals.

Tensions over territorial disputes in the East China Sea have long been a key source of friction between the two countries. Relations took a nosedive in 2012 when Tokyo nationalized the uninhabited Senkaku islands.

China claims the Japanese controlled islets are part of its territory and the move sparked a wave of protests across the country and anti-Japanese sentiment. Japanese investment in the country shrank as political relations chilled for a period and only started to truly recover until last year.

During meetings with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Prime Minister Abe stressed that without stability in the East China Sea there would not be a true improvement in the relationship.

 Port Calls

To get to that point, the two have agreed to push forward with visits and exchanges between their defense ministers and to host reciprocal port calls. They also agreed to strengthen cooperation to work towards joint gas development in the East China Sea, but failed to reach a deal as some had expected.

China is unlikely to change its position on territorial claims, but during Friday's meetings, Li expressed Beijing's willingness to work together with Tokyo to address regional security issues and support efforts toward dialogue and improving relations with North Korea.

"China would like to meet Japan halfway, and work with the Japanese side to return it to its normal track, and maintain the stable, sustained and healthy development of bilateral relations and achieve new improvements," Li said.
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#KORUS FTA S. Korea, U.S. agree upon new dialogue channels on supply chains South Korea and the United States on Friday agreed to establish new dialogue channels to enhance cooperation on supply chains and other trade issues of mutual concern, the two side...

#Netflix Netflix raises subscription fees in S. Korea amid controversies over network usage Netflix has raised its monthly subscription fees in South Korea as a vice parliamentary speaker proposed a bill to keep the U.S. streaming giant from getting a free ride on network...
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Missing Iranian Teacher And Regime Critic Held At Psychiatric Facility

10/26/18

Source: Radio Farda

Prominent teachers' rights activist Hashem Khastar, who mysteriously disappeared October 23 in the city of Mashhad in northeast Iran, is being detained by the Islamic Republic's Intelligence Ministry at a psychiatric hospital, his wife disclosed in an exclusive interview with Radio Farda's Mahtab Vahidirad.



Iranian teachers rights activist, Hashem Khastar, undated.

"Without clear charges, my husband has been detained by the Intelligence Ministry and, for unknown reasons, taken to a psychiatric hospital in Mashhad," said Khastar's wife, Sediqeh Maleki, insisting that her husband is not suffering from any mental or physical illness.



Khastar, a former teacher at the Agriculture Technical High School in Mashhad and an agricultural engineer, is the Head of the Mashhad Teachers Union.



He went missing October 23, and Maleki says his cellphone was turned off and his car left parked outside his home in Golbahar Park.



Two days later, Khastar's relatives received a call from an unknown telephone number and were informed he had been hospitalized for a psychiatric disorder at a hospital in Mashhad, where they were allowed to visit him.



It is not yet clear, however, who made the decision to admit him to the hospital.



"My husband is in good health and does not take any medicine," said Maleki. "While at the psychiatric hospital, one of the sick men there attacked him."



Khastar has been detained several times for defending teachers' rights, most recently having served a term from 2009 to 2011 in Mashhad's notorious prison, Vakilabad.



He has also publicly criticized the Islamic Republic's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in online forums and called him a "dictator" in a January 2018 commentary published by Iran Kargar, an Iranian pro-union group operating outside the country, VOA reported.



Earlier, the New York based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) reported the arrests of five Iranian Teachers' Trade Association members by Iranian authorities in connection with a nationwide teachers' strike held October 13. The strike, called by Iran's Coordinating Council of Teachers' Syndicates, saw teachers stage sit-ins at schools across the country to demand better wages and reforms of the national education system.



Following the two-day teachers' strike, Khastar offered his gratitude to the striking teachers and criticized the Iranian regime in an open letter published on social media.



"We don't have guns. Our guns are our pens and our words and our gatherings and our sit-ins," Khastar wrote. "The guns are in the hands of those who protect lawless, tyrannical, cruel rulers instead of defending the rule of law. They defend those who steal millions and arrest petty thieves and cut off their hands and legs."
Accra Circuit Court 5 has sentenced a Ghana-based Nigerian, Jennifer Chizoba Jeremiah to five years imprisonment with hard labour for human trafficking.



The convict, 22 years of age is a resident of Roman, a suburb of Kasoa in the Central region.



As part of her sentence, she will serve her jail term in hard labour.



The court presided over by Her Honour, Harriet Jane Akweley Quaye also convicted Angel Chizoba, younger sister of Jennifer for abetment of human trafficking but her sentence has been deferred and referred to the juvenile court because she was found to be 17 years.



In court, the prosecutor, Isaac Agbemehia said the police arrested the convict and her sister upon a tip off the AntiHuman Trafficking Unit, CID Headquarters received from a victim who had been trafficked.



Prosecution added that during their arrest at Roman in Kasoa where victims of prostitution were housed, items such as condoms of various brands and an exercise book for the recording of sales of their victims were found.



Background



TV3 checks reveal that in March this year, the two Nigerian sisters, Jennifer Chizoba Jeremiah, 22 and Angel Chizoba 17 were busted by the police after a victim reported the inhumane treatment meted out to her by the two girls in Accra.



The victim whose name has been withheld was lured by the convict, Jennifer Chizoba, to Ghana after promising her a job as a sales girl. But the story changed on arrival in Ghana.



Jennifer and her sister, stripped the victim naked, took nude pictures of her and threatened to circulate them on social media if she does not show interest in the prostitution job they wanted to introduce her to.



They also compelled the victim to swear on pubic hairs they shaved from her genitals.



The victim then rendered account to Jennifer and her sister each day after work.



It was later found that she was not the only victim but other Nigerian girls have also been exploited.



Director of the anti-human trafficking unit of the criminal investigations department, Superintendent Mike Baah advised the public to be cautious of the people who make juicy job promises both in Ghana and abroad.



He said angel Chizobas sentence will be heard on Monday October 29.

Source: 3news









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KNUST reopens within fourteen days although lecturers have declared an indefinite strike

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In what may be described as a victory after war, students of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, through their Student Representative Council (SRC), have managed to get leadership of the school to reverse some major decisions they took prior to recent disturbances that hit the school.



Management, among other things, was absolute about combining all hall week celebrations into one, cancelling morale, centralizing all students association accounts and evicting constitutionally elected executives who decided to protest their decision to convert single sex halls to mixed halls by going to court.



Enforcement of one of the bans, cancellation of morale however sparked chaos after students decided to hold a vigil on 19th October and were, in the process of being stopped, heckled and manhandled by security officers on the campus, leading to the injury of some 11.



Subsequently, violent protests erupted leading to the destruction of dozens of vehicles and school properties.



The school was shut down in less than 48 hours with all Ghanaian students packing out of campus.



Contrary to previous times when grievances channeled to management were ignored as suggested by statements from its student leadership; the SRC, authorities, after recent events have been receptive and more considerate.



A statement signed by SRC President Kelvin Sah indicated that management had lifted the said bans and made decisions reasonably favorable to the students.



According to portions of the statement, In light of recent events that transpired on campus, the SRC in its continued pursuit of a fasting solution to the impasse between students and university management, we have engaged the management to address the following issues and these are the decision reached on them:



1. Return to previous hall/college week celebration schedules. All hall celebrations will be celebrated separately.



2. Open engagement with students regularly (Have an open forum with students to get to know their concerns). Also, students will be treated with respect and dignity - unnecessary harassment from any quarters in their residential life will be promptly attended to.



3. Reverse decision to consolidate/centralise all student association accounts.



4. Complete lift of ban on morale.



It further stated that measures had been put in place to breach the strained relationship between students and security personnel and to ensure that no such standoff reoccurs moving forward.



Background



KNUST was shut down indefinitely following riots that rocked the school. Delegations from the Ministry of Education, the Asantehene and other stakeholders, after the incident met with management of the school to have talks and deliberate on the way forward.



The Governing Council of the school was also dissolved and an interim one sworn-in with government directing that the school be reopened within 14-days. Groups all the while were calling for the head of Vice Chancellor, Prof. Kwasi Obiri Danso, describing his administration as appalling and autocratic and demanding that he be sacked.



Meanwhile, Lecturers at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology have declared an indefinite strike over the governments dissolution of the universitys governing council.



The strike takes effect today [Friday, October 26, 2018], although students have left the campus following Mondays violent protest.



The lecturers said they do not support the governments arbitrary decision without due consultation with them and also sidelining the Vice Chancellor of the University from the interim council.

Source: Ghanaweb.com









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The leadership of the University Students' Association of Ghana has commended government for the dissolution of the KNUST council and has thus presented a warm compliment to the Students' Representative Council (SRC) of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).



According to them, though they had written to the university council to look into the brutalities of students on campus by security personnel, nothing was done by the council to mitigate the plight of the students.



"USAG on September 11, 2018 condemned the previous brutality on students by the security personnel and we were expecting management to resolve that but they never did.



According to them, these deliberate negligence by school authorities resulted in a situation which seemingly escalated but could've been prevented if the right deliberations were made.



"Even with the conversion of University and Unity Hall into Mix Hall as the remote cause of this demonstration, USAG wrote letter to the management of KNUST and we had the opportunity to meet the Dean of students, but we were told we are late for deliberations on the issue. These deliberate negligence resulted in a situation which seemingly escalated but could've been prevented if the right deliberations were made".



In a statement signed by the president of USAG, Mr. Oppong Kesseh Albert, they added that despite the challenging circumstances and cost incurred by virtue of limited leadership, they would like to commend the Government of Ghana, through the Ministry of Education for instituting an Interim Governing Council and dissolving the University council of KNUST.



Read A Copy Of The Statement Below



USAG COMMENDS GOV'T FOR DISSOLVING KNUST GOVERNING COUNCIL; CALLS FOR THE INCLUSION OF TEWU AND UTAG REPS



The leadership of the University Students' Association of Ghana avails itself this opportunity to present a warm compliment to the Students' Representative Council (SRC) of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).



USAG on September 11, 2018 condemned the previous brutality on students by the security personnel and we were expecting management to resolve that but they never did. Even with the conversion of University and Unity Hall into Mix Hall as the remote cause of this demonstration, USAG wrote letter to the management of KNUST and we had the opportunity to meet the Dean of students, but we were told we are late for deliberations on the issue. These deliberate negligence resulted in a situation which seemingly escalated but could've been prevented if the right deliberations were made.



Despite the challenging circumstances and cost incurred by virtue of limited leadership, we would like to commend the Government of Ghana, through the Ministry of Education for instituting an Interim Governing Council and dissolving the University council of KNUST. However, for effective stakeholder participation, we call on Government to include University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) and Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) representatives on the Interim Governing Council. We as well urge the council to successfully address the notable challenges which led to this unwanted situation as soon as possible.



In the light of these events, we admonish the students and leadership of KNUST to remain calm and focused, as they await a more improved administration pursuant to the instituting of an Interim Governing Council.



Signed

OPPONG KESSIE ALBERT

(USAG PRESIDENT)

0206196956



DOMFEH EMMANUEL

(USAG PRESS AND INFO. SECRETARY)

0249688918

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has directed the 471 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) candidates whose results have been withheld to make themselves available at regional offices for a hearing.



According to WAEC, it had done its own investigations and would also want to hear from the candidates before concluding investigations into their alleged irregularities during this years BECE in June.



In a public notice published in the Friday, October 19, 2018 edition of the Daily Graphic newspaper, WAEC put out the index numbers and schools of the affected candidates and the WAEC offices where they are supposed to report to



The candidates have to report to the various WAEC offices on October 25.



The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) is in the process of concluding its investigations into alleged examination irregularities that occurred during the BECE for School Candidates, 2018. In the light of the above, headmaster of the ... schools are kindly requested to liaise with the metropolitan, municipal and district directors of education to present the candidates with the following index numbers to the WAEC Branch Office on the dates stated.



It is important to note that failure of the parties concerned to comply with the notice shall compel the council to take action as appropriate, WAEC said in the publication.



Details



Throwing more light on the publication, the Head of Public Affairs of WAEC, Mrs Agnes Teye-Cudjoe, said WAEC decided to publish the index numbers and schools of the candidates because it was finding it difficult to get to them.



When we are doing the investigations we go through the headmasters and education directors. Some of the heads tell you that they have not been able to get in touch with the students and we want to use every available means to be able to reach out to them, she said.



She said the council believed that the publication in the Daily Graphic would go a long way to get the candidates, adding that we are serious about getting the candidates.



Again Mrs Agnes Teye-Cudjoe said the publication was a proof that the council had given enough notice to candidates for hearing because we want to conclude the investigations and move.



Available means



That is why we want to use every available means that we want to reach them.



Each candidate, the WAEC PRO said, had certain subjects being withheld, and that it was not all their subjects that had been affected.



Their results are being held for particular subjects. Unless it is an impersonation, we would withhold a particular subject, some English, some Mathematics.



This is the first time we are doing a publication like this, he said.



Mrs Agnes Teye-Cudjoe said although the evidence against each of the candidates was very strong it was just fair to hear from them.



Cancellation



She said if the candidates failed to show up the council would have no option but to cancel the results, saying that the objective of the exercise was to finish up before the Green Track people got to school on November 8.



We want to finish this before the Green Track students go to school on November 8. You know some of them are waiting for these results so that they can go to school. That is our target and we are working to make sure that we finish everything and conclude our investigations so that those who can be placed can go ahead and be placed, she said.



She said candidates of schools in Accra who had their results withheld had submitted themselves to the council and that it was left with those in the other regions.

Source: graphic.com.gh









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The Ghana Civil Society Organisations Sustainable Development Goal 13 (CSOs SDG 13) sub-platform on the 25th and 26th October 2018, held its first General meeting after its formation two years ago. The Sub-platform in line with the operational framework of the Ghana CSOs SDGs is convened by KASA Initiative Ghana and co-convened by CARE Ghana.



The Chairperson of KASA Ghana, Madam Hannah Owusu-Koranteng, encouraged the various organisations represented to keep striving to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 13 which focuses on Climate Action.



Also speaking at the conference was Mr. Peter Clausen of CARE who advised Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to endeavour to keep themselves relevant by being up to date with issues bothering on Climate Change. He emphasised the fact that, development partners will always want to support groups that are making relevant contributions in their various sectors. Other development partners such as the UNDP and the Private Enterprise Federation (PEF) were present to share solidarity messages.



Mrs. Ugonna Ukaigwe, the National Coordinator of the National CSOs SDGs platform passionately asked various CSOs to register their platforms with the National Civil Society Organisations Database to help in the circulation of information for the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals in Ghana.



The participants used the occasion to analyse and discuss the progress of the Ghanas Nationally Determined Contributions (Gh-NDCs) which was led by Dr. Daniel Benefor from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). There were also discussions on the Climate Change Master Plan led by Zakaria Yakubu of CARE Ghana. The global and national processes of the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) as well as national climate financing issues were discussed all in an effort to bring participating organisations to speed on current developments in Ghanas climate change agenda so as to provide a guide or basis for the CSOs SDG 13 sub-platform to engage constructively as a key ally in the fight against climate change.



The CSOs SDG 13 sub-platform among others committed to:



1. Supporting government in the monitoring, verification and evaluation processes to addressing issues of data gaps on climate change.



2. Mainstreaming climate change issues in the respective work plans.



3. Deepen advocacy on climate change processes and interventions



The Coordinator of the SDG 13 platform, Chibeze Ezekiel noted that the meeting was helpful in providing space for taking stock of the platforms work to guide or inform new plans. He is confident that the platform will continue to remain relevant and active discharging its responsibility. He commended members for their support in planning and organising the meeting demonstrating a sense of ownership to the platform. Some immediate outputs from the maiden meeting were the development of a communique and the setting up of a Working Group to lead on planned activities for 2019.



About the CSOs SDG 13 Sub-Platform:



The sub-platform is a civil society coalition convened by Kasa Initiative Ghana and co-convened by CARE International, Ghana with over 110 membership base with a core aim of actively participating in Ghanas climate change agenda as well as providing a space for learning and sharing among members.





Source: Peacefmonline.com









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Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide newspaper, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako, has condemned the violent action exhibited by students of Katanga Hall of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) on campus on Monday, October 22, 2018 against the school authorities.



The students were protesting against a decision by the Vice Chancellor Professor Kwasi Obiri-Danso and the authorities to turn the all-male Katanga Hall into a mixed hall with females.



They thronged the streets on campus in their numbers, clad in red and amidst the protest vandalized several properties including the office and car of the Vice Chancellor.



Kweku Baako, speaking on Peace FM's Kokrokoo, expressed disgust over the destruction that characterized the protest stating emphatically "they were needless and they were mindless".



According to him, he doesn't endorse violent actions and therefore cannot throw his weight behind the students for vandalizing properties.



Though admitting that he supports the students in principle that their concerns need to be addressed, he would rather have had them use appropriate channels to register their displeasure with the decisions by the University authorities against them.



"...they ought to be condemned outright I cant support the kind of violence they perpetrated. It doesnt make sense to me. Ive done it before and I was dismissed showing that that thing was wrong. We have to be very honest with this thing and very direct (in our condemnation)," he told host Kwami Sefa Kayi.





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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The leadership of the Graduate students Association of Ghana (GRASAG) has commended government and the Ministry of Education for lending an ear to legitimate calls for an inclusion of a representative each from the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) and the Teachers and Education Workers Union (TEWU), following the dissolution of KNUST Governing Council.



The Association, in a statement copied to Peacefmonline.com, has also urged UTAG to call off their strike action to ensure that scheduled academic work continues unabated.



Read full statement below;



The National Leadership of the Graduate Students Association of Ghana (GRASAG) wishes to commend the Government of Ghana cum the Ministry of Education for heeding to the myriad of legitimate calls for an inclusion of a representative each from the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) and the Teachers and Education Workers Union (TEWU), following the dissolution of the University's governing Council.



Whilst we encourage all stakeholders to grant the interim council the maximum support to deliver its mandate diligently, within the specified time frame, we implore the interim council to embark on a broad stakeholder engagement with the students to ensure that all their grievances are addressed, and the best interest of students sought and made paramount.



We also urge the interim Governing council to, with alacrity, employ the necessary steps in ensuring that normalcy is restored to allow academic work recommence in earnest.



In view of this, we are entreating UTAG to call off their strike action, to ensure that scheduled academic work continues unprohibited.



GRASAG National remains committed to pursuing the maximum welfare of all students at all times, and we assure the Governing Council and the Government of our constant support in the quest for the very best teaching and learning conditions in every institution.



....signed....

Iris Kwafo-Mensa

President, GRASAG National



Isaac Akwasi Manu

PRO, GRASAG NATIONAL





Source: Josephine Acheampomaa/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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A single-use plastic bag. New Jersey lawmakers have passed legislation that would impose a 5-cent fee on the bags in stores. The bill will go to Gov. Murphy. Read more

Joining a growing list of states trying to tackle single-use plastic bag waste, New Jersey lawmakers on Thursday passed a measure requiring a fee of 5 cents per bag for shoppers  but one of the state's most active environmental groups still isn't happy.

"Most stores have made the change and now provide more environmentally friendly bags for customers," said Assemblywoman Vainieri Huttle (D., Bergen), who co-sponsored Bill A3267. "This bill encourages more stores to get on board and move away from using the bags that are harmful to the environment."

Legislators were split on the measure, which passed by 41-32 in the Assembly and 23-16 in the Senate. Gov. Murphy has yet to sign the bill.

The bill would establish a 5-cent fee on single-use carryout plastic or paper bags. The store would get 1 cent of the fee and the remaining 4 cents would go to a fund that would help pay for lead abatement in schools and communities. Some money would go toward a public-information program to address the environmental impact of plastic bags. The measure has the potential to raise $23 million.

Shoppers enrolled in food-assistance programs would be exempt from the fee, as would those 65 and older. Stores have the option to incorporate the fee into sale prices, so shoppers might not be aware they are paying for the bags.

But the bill would also preempt any municipal and county ordinances already in place on bags. A number of communities have such ordinances, especially along the Shore.

If Murphy signs the bill, it would go into effect Oct. 1.

Linda Doherty, president of the New Jersey Food Council, a trade group for food retailers, said recently that the council supported the bill because the growing number of local ordinances could cause widespread confusion among stores.

"Unfortunately, while well-intentioned, the proposals vary greatly with each municipality and are proving to be costly and confusing for businesses and consumers," Doherty said. "Depending on the town, some ordinances ban plastic bags, while others ban both paper and plastic. A number of proposals impose consumer fees on plastic bags, while others impose fees on both paper and plastic. And the various proposals have different definitions of plastic, paper, disposable, reusable and compostable. All of these varying definitions and provisions have created an unworkable patchwork of local ordinances for retailers seeking to comply."

As a result, the council believes a single piece of legislation calling for a fee would "benefit the environment and provide retailers with a uniform and standard policy."

The New Jersey Sierra Club had been pushing for an outright ban on plastic. The legislation would prevent municipalities from passing ordinances banning single-use plastic bags. The group fears the bill "might actually make the problem worse," by undermining municipalities and generating money the state will divert to general use.

Indeed, the lawmakers have written language in the 2018-19 budget proposal that would allow money raised by the plastic bag fee to be diverted to the general fund.

"This is not about plastic bags or lead," said Jeff Tittel, the Sierra Club's director. "It is a scam to grab money for the budget."

Single-use plastic bags have been a point of debate across the country, with some states enacting varying versions of legislation aimed at curbing their use, and others trying to prevent bans or fees. Unlike plastic bags that are used in trash cans and ultimately contained in landfills, single use carry-out bags often end up blowing around streets, clogging storm drains and making their way into waterways. They are a threat to wildlife, such as birds, which can become ensnared.

In 2014, California became the first state to enact a ban. Since then, at least seven states have passed similar legislation.

Locally, in 2009, Philadelphia attempted to impose a bag ban but failed, and then failed to impose a 25-cent fee.

Manufacturers of the bags have fought back in Pennsylvania and, with the support of legislators last year, proposed prohibiting cities, towns and counties from banning or taxing the bags. Gov. Wolf vetoed the bill.
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Eleven people were killed inside Pittsburgh synagogue Saturday and four officers were wounded responding to the attack and engaging the shooter. The suspectidentified as 48-year-old Robert Bowerswas also wounded and is in custody. The extent of his injuries have not been released.

The wounds suffered by the officers are reportedly not life threatening. One officer has been treated and released at a local hospial, according to the Post-Gazette.

There were no children among the fatalities, authorities said.

Police sources told KDKA the gunman walked into the Tree of Life Synagogue and yelled, All Jews must die. He then opened fire. The suspect was reportedly armed with a semi-automatic rifle and three handguns.

The initial call to 911 was made around 9:54 a.m. and officers were dispatched to the scene within a minute. When officers arrived, the gunman reportedly shot at them, forcing officers to use their vehicles as a shield. The gunman was said to be exiting the building when he encountered a uniformed officer and went back inside. Eventually, he was pinned down on the third floor by tactical officers and apprehended.

The suspect was taken into custody about 20 minutes after the initial call to 911.

At a press conference Saturday afternoon, Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich said the wounded officers were patrol officers and two members of the SWAT team.

The FBI has labeled the attack as a hate crime, and during a public address President Donald Trump called the shooting a "wicked act of mass murder" that "is pure evil, hard to believe and frankly something that is unimaginable."

Trump said that "the hearts of all Americans are filled with grief, following the monstrous killing."

Trump said that he will be going to Pittsburgh in the wake of the shooting.

The Anti-Defamation League called the shooting "likely the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the history of the United States."

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement that the Department of Justice will file hate crimes and other criminal charges, including charges that could lead to the death penalty.
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Governments that did not respect the central bank's independence would sooner or later incur the wrath of financial markets, ignite economic fire, and come to rue the day they undermined the regulatory institution, Deputy Governor Viral Acharya warned.

Advait Rao Palepu and Abhijit Lele report.

Making a strong case for granting more independence to the Reserve Bank of India, Deputy Governor Viral Acharya on Friday, October 26, said the central bank must have more powers to supervise public sector banks and keep its balance sheet strong, and have adequate regulatory scope.

This independence, he said, was necessary to secure greater financial and macroeconomic stability.

Delivering a hard-hitting speech in Mumbai, Dr Acharya said governments that did not respect their central bank's independence would sooner or later incur the wrath of financial markets, ignite economic fire, and come to rue the day they undermined the regulatory institution.

He said the governments that invested in central bank independence would enjoy lower costs of borrowing, the love of international investors, and longer life spans.

Such endeavour would be a true inclusive reform for the Indian economy's future, Dr Acharya said, delivering the speech on 'Ongoing Challenges in Maintaining Independence of the Reserve Bank of India'.

As many parts of the world today await greater government respect for central bank independence, independent central bankers would remain undeterred, he said.

'We have made good progress in earning the RBI's independence, most notably in the monetary policy framework, along with the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and the goods and services tax,' Dr Acharya said. These were considered crucial structural reforms by Moodys in upgrading India's sovereign rating eleven months back.

Yet, a few important pockets of persistent weakness remain in maintaining the independence of the RBI. Some of these areas identified were included in the 2017 Financial Sector Assessment Programme of India report. This report was by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

One important limitation the central bank faces is that it is statutorily limited in undertaking the full scope of actions against public sector banks (PSBs) -- such as asset divestiture, replacement of management and board, license revocation, and resolution actions such as mergers and sales.

The apex bank exercises these powers effectively in the case of private banks.

Significant implications of this limitation were highlighted in detail by RBI Governor Dr Urjit Patel in a speech in March.

Referring to the RBI's balance sheet strength, Dr Acharya said the independence of any institution depended on having adequate reserves to bear any losses that arise from central bank operations and having appropriate rules to allocate profits.

This includes setting rules to govern the accumulation of capital and reserves, which is considered an important part of central bank's independence from the government.

An ongoing issue on this front has been the rules concerning the transfer of surplus (dividends) from the RBI to the government.

Finally, Dr Acharya asserted that the independence of the central bank in regulatory matters is being tested by the government's attempt to bypass RBI's powers over the payment and settlement systems, through the creation of a separate payments regulator. The Reserve Bank has published its dissent note against this recommendation on October 19, 2018.
'The separatist resurgence in Balochistan is thwarting Pakistan's plans to build CPEC projects to optimally utilise Balochistan's energy reserves,' points out Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).

IMAGE: Gwadar port. Photograph: Caren Firouz/Reuters

The China-Pakistan relationship has been labelled by the leaders of both counties as an 'all-weather friendship'. It has been variously described as being 'higher than the mountains', 'deeper than the oceans', 'stronger than steel' and 'sweeter than honey'.

The two countries have colluded in developing nuclear warheads and ballistic missiles. They also cooperate closely in manufacturing military hardware. Most of Pakistan's weapons and equipment now come from China.

The relations between the two have warmed up even more with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (external link) beginning to take shape.

Together the two countries have been assiduously wooing Afghanistan, Iran and Russia to join the CPEC for mutual benefit. India opposes the CPEC as the project is being built through disputed territory in Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir.

The $62 billion CPEC project will provide rail and road connectivity between China's Xingjiang province and Gwadar port on the Makran coast in Balochistan. China is extremely concerned about the safety and security of its workers engaged in construction, particularly those working on infrastructure projects located in Balochistan.

Balochistan is Pakistan's largest province, but has the lowest population (13 million) and is the least developed. The Baloch people never quite accepted the forcible merger of their province with Pakistan soon after independence from the British in 1947.

Since then, there have been several uprisings in Balochistan. The current struggle of the Baloch people against Pakistani subjugation dates back to 2005.

The ethnic Baloch people say they have been marginalised by the government and deprived of their rights (external link). Thousands of people have been apprehended by the Pakistan army and police forces; many of them have gone missing.

Pakistan has for long accused India of supporting and financing the insurgency in Balochistan. However, the Baloch nationalists, who seek a greater share in national resources and more internal political and administrative autonomy, deny such allegations.

They believe that Pakistan uses the cliche of foreign involvement in Balochistan so as to divert attention from the real challenges confronting the Baloch people.

While India has had traditional linkages with the Baloch people and most Indians sympathise with their plight, India does not provide material help to the Baloch uprising. Indian support for the Balochistan Liberation Army that is fighting for an independent homeland for the Baloch people is limited to the expression of sympathy.

Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi had publicly expressed support for the Baloch people during his Independence Day speech in August 2016. This was welcomed by the Baloch people and the Baloch Diaspora.

Suddenly, the long-festering Baloch uprising took centre stage in world capitals with demonstrations being held in London to protest Pakistan's brutal occupation, including several outside the Chinese embassy to demand the cancellation of plans for the CPEC.

Demonstrations were also held in Berlin, Leipzig and Munich in Germany to showcase the Baloch cause for independence and to thank the Indian people for their support.

Thanking the Indian PM for his words of encouragement, Khalil Baloch, chairman of the Baloch National Movement, said (external link) in a statement in Washington, 'The Baloch nation hopes that the United States and Europe will join Prime Minister Modi and hold Pakistan accountable for the crimes against humanity and the war crimes it has committed against the Baloch nation in 68 years of its occupation of Balochistan and during the five wars that the Baloch nation has fought with Pakistan to win its national freedom.'

According to Nawab Brahumdagh Bugti, head of the Baloch Republican Party, 'Balochistan is burning since the forceful occupation of the state in 1948. Since then, five major long-drawn military operations have been launched by the armed forces of Pakistan; the latest of them is still continuing.'

'During this period of 66 years, Balochistan has suffered from gross human rights violations (external link) by the Pakistani forces which have been getting worse and accelerated with the passage of every single day,' Nawab Bugti said.

Five years ago, Bugti said, '140,000 Baloch had been killed and at least 20,000 Baloch are missing since 2006.'

For over six decades, Pakistan has exploited the rich mineral resources of Balochistan extensively. The government of Pakistan does not pay them any royalty (external link) or give them what they consider their due share of the revenues generated from the mines.

Due to the lack of transmission lines, electric supply to Balochistan is the lowest of all the provinces. Balochistan continues to remain the least developed province of Pakistan and poverty is rampant, leading to a sense of deep resentment among the people.

The separatist resurgence in Balochistan is thwarting Pakistan's plans to build CPEC projects to optimally utilise Balochistan's energy reserves. It is also hampering efforts to build trans-national gas pipelines from Iran and Turkmenistan -- with the potential to generate royalty worth $700 million to $800 million annually.

Accepting responsibility for an attack on construction workers (external link) near Gwadar in which 10 labourers died in May 2017, Jeander Baloch, the BLA spokesperson, said in a statement, 'This conspiratorial plan (CPEC) is not acceptable to the Baloch people under any circumstances.'

'Baloch independence movements have made it clear several times that they will not abandon their people's future in the name of development projects or even democracy,' Baloch added.

IMAGE: Chinese and Pakistan troops jointly patrol the border connecting Pakistan occupied Kashmir with China's Xinjiang region. Photograph: PTI Photo, Kind courtesy The People's Daily Online

Pakistan is raising (external link) a Special Security Division comprising approximately 15,000 personnel to (external link) provide security for the CPEC against terrorist attacks.

Though the raising and maintenance of this force will considerably drive up the cost being incurred by Pakistan on the CPEC, it is unlikely to be able to provide an acceptable degree of security because of the diversity of threats.

The Chinese engineers involved in the construction of dams in Gilgit-Baltistan had repeatedly asked for People's Liberation Army soldiers to be inducted for security.

Such a development in the case of the CPEC -- that is, the presence of PLA personnel in Pakistan in large numbers -- will further vitiate the security environment in South Asia.

An impression that is rapidly gaining currency in Pakistan is that the benefits of the CPEC will accrue mainly to the Chinese.

Also, there are increasing misgivings within Pakistan regarding the long term debt that the huge investment in the CPEC will result in.

The Pakistani elite are watching carefully as more and more nations pull out from various projects. Of particular concern is the debt trap that the construction of Hambantota port and international airport has proved to be for Sri Lanka.

Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd) is a former Director, Centre for Land Warfare Studies, New Delhi.
'This year, it may be pertinent to look at some of the myths that invoke her warrior form, where she manifests herself as Shakti, the underlying strength in all humanity,' says Arundhuti Dasgupta.

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com

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It is that time of the year when the goddess is worshipped in several parts of the country. But this year, it may be pertinent to look at some of the myths that invoke her warrior form, where she manifests herself as Shakti, the underlying strength in all humanity. #MeToo, anyone?

The goddess in India, as in Ancient Egypt and Greece, appears before us in many forms. So she is the prosperity-endowing Lakshmi as much as she is the bloodthirsty Kali or Chandi.

In many myths, especially older ones, the goddess appears as a dual divinity. She is both a generative and destructive force and in this form, draws from the archetype of the earth mother who can be both nurturing and calamitous.

For instance, the Greek goddess Artemis is the goddess of childbirth and death and disease (for females).

Joseph Campbell (Primitive Mythology) says 'We find the imagery of the mother associated almost equally with beatitude and danger, birth and death, the inexhaustible nourishing breast and the tearing claws of the ogress'.

Durga and Kali are examples of the above in India; Hathor in Egypt and Gaia, the Greek earth goddess, would fit the same frame.

Durga is both a mother goddess, who comes visiting her family on earth every year, and ruthless killer of demons on the battlefield.

Among the most enduring myths around her is the slaying of the buffalo demon, Mahishasura, which also earns her the epithet of Mahishasuramardini.

Her story appears in several texts, but the most detailed version of the battle is in the Devi Mahatmya.

In this version, Durga was sent to the battlefield by the entire pantheon of gods to defeat Mahisha, who wanted to be king of the heavens. A boon from creator god Brahma had granted him conditional immortality; no man or god could kill him, death would come only by a woman's hand.

But when Durga appeared on the battlefield, the demon, instead of fighting her with the full force of his vast army, began a courtship dance. He sent his generals and aides to woo the goddess on his behalf and when all failed, stepped out to win the goddess with his riches, his powerful persona and undying love for her.

But Durga rejected him and in his anger he attacked her, bringing about his end.

This myth offers many meanings. It has been used to show how absolute power leads to arrogance and destruction. Durga has also become a metaphor for military success.

In the Ramayana as told in the Kalika Purana (not the Valmiki version), Durga comes to Rama's aid on the battlefield and after Ravana was killed, the gods led by Brahma held a special worship for her.

Across the ancient world, the power of goddesses is the subject of many narratives, but so is the underlying acceptance of the fact that the woman (goddess or not) is to be won by a man or god.

In Scandinavian mythology, Freyr is the god of fertility and plenty and an all-powerful figure. He was smitten by the underworld giant Gerd who did not reciprocate his feelings. Freyr offered Gerd all the riches at his disposal and when that failed threatened her with the sword.

But she still didn't relent until a friend of the gods and giants, Skirmir, stepped in and convinced her to give in to the god or else the giants would be wiped out.

One rule for the gods and another for the giants and demons, discrimination was woven into the social fabric from the start.

In many societies, the nature of the goddess changed as men took control of the social structure as priests, bards and kings.

Durga, for instance, was merged with the more benign form of Parvati, mother to a brood of goddesses and gods.

In Indonesia, a poem composed sometime in the 14th century laments the fall of Uma, the wife of Bhatara Guru who was unfaithful to her husband. She is cursed by her husband and turns into a demoness called Durga with huge flaring nostrils and patchy skin who is forced to live in the graveyard for 12 years till she is exorcised of her sins by Shiva.

For a society that was keen to punish adulterous women, this myth served as an effective warning.

Maybe it is time to flip the old myths and find some new meanings and metaphors to help us navigate modern times.
'They are going to be clubbed with the Lok Sabha elections which are six months away.'

'These people who are ruling Tamil Nadu know very well that they cannot win another election.'

IMAGE: Amma Makkal Munetra Kazhagam chief T T V Dhinakaran addresses the media on the Madras high court's verdict disqualifying 18 rebel MLAs of the ruling AIADMK in Chennai, October 25, 2018. Photograph: R Senthil Kumar/PTI Photo

R Sundararaj was elected from Ottapidaram on an All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ticket in the 2016 Tamil Nadu assembly election.

After then chief minister J Jayalalithaa died in office in December that year and her successor O Panneerselvam and Edappadi K Palaniswami fought it out, Sundararaj, like other AIADMK legislators, was confused as to what to do.

And in an unusual twist when OPS and EPS came together to join a united government, with the latter now playing deputy CM, he was upset, and felt neither was good enough to carry forward Jayalalithaa's legacy and so threw in his lot with the latter's companion Sasikala Natarajan and her nephew T T V Dhinakaran, along with 17 other MLAs.

In September 2017, when the rebel faction submitted a letter to the governor withdrawing support to the EPS government, the assembly speaker disqualified them under the anti-defection law, against which decision they promptly went in appeal in the Madras high court.

After legal twists and turns the court upheld the speaker's decision on Thursday, October 25, following which Dhinakaran, who went on to form the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam, and his band of legislators have decided to appeal this verdict in the Supreme Court.

Soon after the decision to appeal was taken, Sundararaj spoke to Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar about why the rebels are determined to fight it out.

"I am a true follower of Amma. I did not come into the party as an MLA. I served the people and was rewarded for my work. The idea of going to the Supreme Court is to prove that the speaker was wrong.

He was wrong as he did not take action against OPS and his 11 MLAs who voted against the government during the trust vote (in February 2017).

We won the RK Nagar by-elections (in December 2017) and we will win if elections are held again. But elections will not be held immediately. They are going to be clubbed with the Lok Sabha elections which are six months away.

Instead of being idle for six months we decided to appeal in the Supreme Court, maybe we will get a favourable judgment. If not and the elections are held earlier, we will withdraw our petition and fight the elections.

You see the crowds flocking to TTV's meetings, you will know he has inherited Amma's legacy. These people who are ruling Tamil Nadu know very well that they cannot win another election.

They don't care for the people or for anyone else. A politician should be respected by the people, for the work he does. These people are not respected by anybody.

We want to serve the people. We want to retrieve Amma and MGR's symbol from these people. We want to rescue the party from these people.

TTV will definitely succeed in this endeavour and we are all with him. We don't want to join hands with either EPS or OPS.

We will win in the end, either through the court or by the will of the people.

In a democracy people are god and we will win their confidence."
An Emergency-like situation prevails in Kerala with the state government playing with fire in quelling with brutal force protests by Ayyappa devotees over the Sabarimala issue, Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah alleged on Saturday, escalating his attack on the Left dispensation.

IMAGE: BJP president Amit Shah on his arrival at the Kannur International Airport. Photograph: PTI Photo

In a hard-hitting speech after inaugurating the BJP district office in politically sensitive Kannur, which has often seen clashes between BJP-Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Communist Party of India-Marxist, Shah alleged that the communist government is conspiring against temples and came out in support of Ayyappa devotees, who have been protesting against the implementation of the Supreme Court decision to allow entry of women of menstrual age into the shrine

An Emergency-like situation exists in Kerala, Shah alleged and accused the CPI-M-led LDF government of suppressing the Ayyappa devotees agitation.

Listing court verdicts which have not been implemented, including on Jallikattu and prohibiting loudspeakers in mosques, Shah said impractical directions should not be given by courts and they should pass orders that can be implemented.

You concentrate on developing the state rather than attacking the Ayyappa bhakts, the BJP president said and warned Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan that he would have to pay a heavy price if this continues, as BJP workers would not hesitate to pull down the government.

Hitting back at Shah, Vijayan reminded him that the state government was not at the mercy of the BJP.

But this is a government elected by the people. Shahs speech gives the message that the electoral verdict will be sabotaged, Vijayan claimed in a statement.

All democratic-minded people should raise their voice against this, he said.

Vijayan also claimed that Shahs speech was more against the Supreme Court and the Constitution rather than against the state government.

Shah said even though Prime Minister Narendra Modi had released various central projects for the state, none of them have been taken up.

If the state government had shown the same interest in meeting the grievances of the flood-affected people as it had shown in taking on the Ayyappa devotees, I would have said they have fulfilled their responsibilities.

But they have failed and the chief minister has no right to continue in office even for a minute, the Bharatiya Janata Party president said.

Shah said Hinduism has always given respect to women and worshipped them.

Gender equality cannot be ensured just by giving rights to them to offer prayers at temples, the BJP chief said.

Even women in the state were against governments move to implement the SC order, he said.

Shah, who began and concluded his speech with Swamiya Saranam Ayyappa mantra, cautioned the Left government that the clampdown on the agitation amounted to playing with fire.

He said Hindu faith has never undermined women. Hinduism has always stood for social reformation and against social evils like child marriage.

But in the name of ending social evils, if the government here tries to interfere in the customs and traditions of Lord Ayyappa, BJP workers across the country would stand like a rock behind the devotees, he said.

Over 2,000 people, including BJP, RSS and Nair Service Society workers have been arrested in a state-wide crackdown and many have been put behind bars on non-bailable offences, he claimed.

The BJP was planning to launch agitations from October 30 -November 12 to protect the rituals and traditions of the hill shrine, he said, adding that the party would go to any length to preserve the temples customs and traditions.

There is no restriction on women to offer prayers in any other Ayyappa temple. The uniqueness of the Sabarimala shrine, where the main deity is Naishtika Brahmachari (perennial celibate) has to be protected, he said.

Hinduism has varied customs. There are many temples in the country where only women are allowed and not men and there are also shrines where only men are allowed, he said.

The state had witnessed massive protests from devotees at various places, including Sabarimala, Nilakkal and Pamba, against permitting women of all ages to enter the shrine when it was opened for monthly poojas from October 17-22.

Shah also visited the house of a BJP worker Remith, who was killed allegedly by CPI-M workers in 2002.
'Work will now be basically file movements from one desk to another as both the government and the agency would not like to antagonise the court.'

M J Antony and Arindam Majumder report.

IMAGE: The CBI headquarters in New Delhi. Photograph: Ravi Choudhary/PTI Photo

The Supreme Court on Friday, October 26, said it would supervise the inquiry against CBI Director Alok Verma and the probe should conclude in two weeks. It also appointed former Supreme Court judge Justice A K Patnaik to monitor the investigation.

The matter will be heard again on November 12.

The Bench, presided over by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, stated that M Nageswar Rao, who has been put in temporary charge in place of Verma, would not take any major policy decision. He will take decisions only on routine matters essential to keep the agency functioning.

A list of decisions taken from October 23 till Friday will be submitted to the court in a sealed cover. This will include decisions on transfers of investigating officers and related matters.

Though the courtroom was unusually crowded with an anxious gathering of lawyers and activists, the judges succeeded in easing the tension with a few light-hearted remarks.

When the three judges conferred at length with each other in whispers, counsel was curious to know what they were discussing. The Chief Justice told him it was not about the Alok Verma case. "We discuss so many other things too," he remarked.

When Solicitor General Tushar Mehta pleaded for more than 10 days to complete the enquiry ordered by the court, the chief justice said "then we will give you 240 hours".

When Mehta again requested more time, pointing out that the records went through hundreds of pages, the judge said, "We go through thousands of pages."

The next appeal was on the basis of the approaching Diwali holidays. Again the judge responded: "Doesn't the CBI work on holidays?"

The law officer then appeared to have exhausted his quiver.

A CBI spokesperson said the agency would follow the court directions in letter and spirit and, if necessary, seek legal opinion on what decisions could be taken in the interim.

Sources in the CBI, though, said this might hamper the investigation of several high-profile cases.

"Work will now be basically file movements from one desk to another as both the government and the agency would not like to antagonise the court," an official said.

The agency is investigating fugitive industrialist Vijay Mallya; AugustaWestland; the IRCTC case, in which Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad and his family members are named; and the Aircel-Maxis case, in which former Union minister P Chidambaram's son Karti is an accused.

Verma had moved the Supreme Court, challenging the Centre's decision to divest him of his responsibilities. In his petition Verma had said the government had violated the rules, which gave a fixed tenure to the CBI director.

The unprecedented situation became further complex as several officials investigating sensitive cases including bribery allegations against Special Director Rakesh Asthana were transferred.

Asthana too on Friday moved the Supreme Court but when former attorney general Mukul Rohatgi, representing Asthana, tried to intervene, the court refused to hear the petition, saying it was not listed.

After receiving all the reports, the court will pass "appropriate orders", it stated. The present order is an interim arrangement till the next hearing on November 12.

The judges made it clear that this order on supervision by a retired judge was a one-time exception. It did not cast any aspersion on the functioning of the Central Vigilance Commission.

"The court has virtually disabled the new CBI director," said lawyer Prashant Bhushan who filed a plea under the banner of NGO Common Cause, opposing the decision to divest Verma of his powers.

The Bench, which also included Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M K Joseph, heard leading counsel Fali SNariman, who represented Verma for a short while.

Counsel argued that the CBI director had been granted a two-year term in the Supreme Court judgment in the Vineet Narain case of the 1990s. This rule was later incorporated in the CVC Act in 2003 and the Delhi Police Establishment Act, which deals with the CBI's powers.
A Congress-led government would fulfil all the commitments the party had made on the one rank, one pension issue, Rahul Gandhi told a group of ex-servicemen on Saturday.

IMAGE: Congress chief Rahul Gandhi meets with ex-servicemen at AICC Headquarters in New Delhi. Photograph: PTI Photo

The Congress chief made the remark at a press interaction, after a 30-minute-long meet with retired defence personnel at the AICC headquarters, during which the Rafale deal issue and the Kashmir situation also came up.

Gandhi told the ex-servicemen, after the press meet, that if his party is voted to power in the 2019 parliamentary election, it will fulfil all the commitments, the Congress had made on the OROP issue.

The ex-servicemen told me that OROP has not been implemented, and they also discussed other issues, he said.

These issues are related. That they (the government) have Rs 30,000 crore to give to Anil Ambani but our soldiers cant be given OROP. This is the connection, Gandhi told reporters.

And, the amount of Rs 30,000 crore was more than enough to solve the OROP issue, he said.

The Congress has alleged that the Anil Ambani-led company was favoured by the Modi government on the offset contract of the French fighter jet deal.

The private firm, however, has denied the allegations.

IMAGE: The Congress chief along with the senior party leaders, meets ex-servicemen at the party office, in New Delhi. Photograph: Kamal Kishore/PTI Photo

The meeting was also attended by former defence minister A K Antony, AICC general secretary Ashok Gehlot, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala and several retired senior officials of the defence forces.

Major General Satbir Singh (retired), who has been spearheading the agitation for implementation of OROP told reporters after the meet that they have appealed to Gandhi to take up the issues with the government, as the Congress is the principal opposition party.

We are soldiers and we are on the streets. We feel humiliated. We demand that the armys dignity be restored as it was on August 15, 1947, Singh said.

Gandhi said he felt sad to see these ex-servicemen expressing dejection and the humiliation they feel. They may not tell you openly but in the meeting it came out, he said.

Gehlot also tweeted on the meeting and shared the views expressed by some of the members, who participated in the meet, and also shared pictures of the interaction.

Rafale deal by NDA is in complete violation of Defence Procurement Procedure para 28, 80, 104-105 : Ex-serviceman of the Indian Army, he tweeted.

Earlier, during the meeting, Satbir Singh said the veterans were very concerned and anguished over the OROP issue.

Unfortunately, it has been 1,231 days of struggle, and we havent got an acknowledgement of the letters sent to the prime minister, the last one being sent five days ago, he alleged during the meeting.

He said the ex-servicemen were promised implementation of one rank, one pension but it is nowhere close to that.

We request to you as the president of the principal opposition party to take up these issues with all the might, along with other parties, Singh said.

Among other issues raised, he also proposed constitution of a commission for ex-servicemen, headed by an ex-servicemen.
Delhis air quality remained very poor for the fourth day on Saturday with eight areas of the national capital recording severe pollution levels, as authorities warned the situation may deteriorate further next week due to localised emissions during festival and stubble burning.

IMAGE: The air quality in the nation's capital has been 'very poor' for the fourth straight day. Photograph: Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters

The Central Pollution Control Board recorded the overall Air Quality Index of Delhi at 350. The highest AQI of this season was recorded Friday at 361.

In the National Capital region, Ghaziabad recorded severe pollution level, while Gurgaon, Faridabad, Noida and Greater Noida all recorded very poor air quality, according to data by the Central Pollution Control Board data on Saturday.

The eight areas that recorded severe air quality Saturday are Anand Vihar, Dwarka Sector 8, Narela, Punjabi Bagh, Bawana, Mundaka, Vivek Vihar and Rohini.

An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered good, 51 and 100 satisfactory, 101 and 200 moderate, 201 and 300 poor, 301 and 400 very poor, and 401 and 500 severe.

IMAGE: Firefighters try to douse fire as smoke billows from the burning garbage at the Bhalswa landfill site in Delhi. Photograph: Altaf Hussain/Reuters

The CPCB-led task force has recommended stringent measures from November 1 to 10, forecasting further deterioration in the air quality ahead of Diwali.

Some of these recommendations include shut down of coal and biomass factories, intensification of inspection by transport department to check polluting vehicles and control traffic congestion in Delhi NCR during November 1-10.

Authorities also issued an advisory to public, asking them to avoid outdoor strenuous activities and minimise the use of private vehicles.

IMAGE: Stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana contributed to 32 per cent of Delhis overall pollution on Saturday, according to a report by the Centre-run System of Air Quality Forecasting and Research. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters

The task force also warned that at the beginning of November, the situation may get further deteriorated on account of localised emissions during festival and regional contribution due to stubble burning.

The PM2.5 (presence of particles in the air with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometres) was recorded at 179. The PM2.5, also called fine particulates, can be a matter of more serious health concern than PM10.

The PM10 level (presence of particles in the air with a diameter of less than 10 micrometres) in Delhi stood at 321, according to the data from the SAFAR.

IMAGE: The report said that the stubble burning contribution to pollution will significantly reduce in the next two days. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters

The SAFAR also issued a heath advisory due to increased pollution level in Delhi, urging people with heart or lung disease, older adults and children to avoid prolonged or heavy exertion.

It also recommended people to go for shorter walks instead of jogs, keeping windows closed and wearing masks while stepping outside.
At least eight people are dead and multiple others are injured after a gunman opened fire during a service at a synagogue in the city of Pittsburgh in the United States.

IMAGE: A SWAT police officer and other first responders respond after a gunman opened fire at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Photograph: John Altdorfer/Reuters

The shooting occurred at the Tree of Life Congregation Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill area of Pittsburgh shortly before 10 am (local time).

Three police officers are among those wounded. Police have not yet said how many people were killed.

The shooter surrendered to Pittsburgh police and was being transported to Mercy Hospital, said Curt Conrad, chief of staff for City Councilman Corey O'Connor.

A law enforcement official told CNN that the shooter made anti-Jewish comments during the incident.

IMAGE: The shooting at the Tree of Life Congregation Synagogue took place while service was being held. Photograph: Twitter

A reporter at the scene said survivors described hearing the gunman shout anti-Semitic abuse as he entered the building, US media report.

Pittsburgh police Commander Jason Lando in a quick statement said, "It is imperative that the neighbours in the community surrounding the Tree of Life synagogue stay in their houses and shelter in place. Do not come out of your home right now. It is not safe."

US President Donald Trump tweeted he was aware of the situation in Pittsburgh and that law enforcement was on the scene.

"Events in Pittsburgh are far more devastating than originally thought," Trump said in a tweet. "Spoke with Mayor and Governor to inform them that the Federal Government has been, and will be, with them all the way."

IMAGE: A police officer on motorcycle passes through a roadblock as he responds after a gunman opened fire at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. Photograph: John Altdorfer/Reuters

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf said on Twitter that it was a "serious situation," and the Pennsylvania State Police were helping local first responders.

"This is an absolutely tragedy," Wolf said in another tweet. "These senseless acts of violence are not who we are as Americans. My thoughts right now are focused on the victims, their families and making sure law enforcement has every resource they need."
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said his meeting with Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe will add new vigour to the strong friendship between the two countries as he arrived in Tokyo to attend the 13th India-Japan annual summit.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached Japan where he will be attending the 13th India-Japan annual summit. Photograph: @PIB_India/Twitter

The two-day summit beginning Sunday will seek to review the progress in ties and deepen strategic dimension of the bilateral relationship.

PM Narendra Modi arrives in Tokyo to a warm welcome for his 5th Annual Summit with Abe Shinzo. Japan is one of the few countries that India has this mechanism of annual summits, reflecting the extraordinary depth of our engagement, External affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

Landed in Tokyo. I am confident this visit will add new vigour to the strong friendship between India and Japan, Modi said in a tweet.

In a statement on Friday, before leaving for Japan, Modi described India and Japan as a winning combination and said the island nation was New Delhis most trusted partner in its economic and technological modernisation.

IMAGE: Modi being welcomed by the dignitaries on his arrival at Haneda International Airport. Photograph: @PIB_India/Twitter

Modi said it will be his 12th meeting with Abe since he first visited Japan as prime minister in September 2014.

During the summit, Modi will engage with Abe on a range of issues including defence and regional security.

Abe will host Modi at his holiday home in the picturesque Yamanashi prefecture for a private dinner on Sunday following which both the leaders will travel to Tokyo by train.

Yamanashi, at a distance of around 110 kilometres from Tokyo, is surrounded by several mountains including Mount Fuji -- the countrys tallest peak at around 3,776 metres.

On Sunday afternoon, Prime Minister Modi will join his Japanese counterpart for an informal lunch at a hotel. The two leaders will then visit a company which is a leading manufacturer of factory automation.

IMAGE: The Indian community in Tokyo also came out to give the PM a warm welcome. Photograph: @PIB_India/Twitter

Besides bilateral issues, the two leaders are expected to deliberate on a range of regional and global issues including the situation in the Indo-Pacific region.

It is said the prime ministers visit will reaffirm the traditional bonds of friendship between the two countries and strengthen their multi-faceted cooperation in diverse fields.

India is also hoping to have some kind of synergy or integration between Modis Ayushman Bharat scheme, which is the largest medicare programme of its kind globally, and the Japanese programme which is called Asia Health and Wellbeing Initiative.

The PM in his statement said projects such as Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail and Dedicated Freight Corridors reflected the high level and strength of our economic engagement.

Japan is also at the forefront of engaging in our national initiatives, such as Make in India, Skill India, Digital India, Start Up India... Japanese investors have faith in Indias economic future, which is marked with myriad opportunities, Modi said.

Modi will also address the Indian community function in Tokyo and will attend a series of business events and address the business forum.
Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena on Saturday suspended parliament till November 16 after sacked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe sought an emergency session to prove his majority, deepening the political crisis in the island nation.

IMAGE: Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena's move to suspended parliament till November 16 is seen as an effort to allow former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa to buy more time to seek majority. Photograph: Kirill Kudryavtsev/Pool/Reuters

Sirisenas move is seen as an effort to allow former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa to buy more time to seek majority in the parliament.

Rajapaksa and Sirisena combine has only 95 seats and is short of a simple majority in the 225-member house. Wickremesinghes United National Party has 106 seats on its own with just seven short of the majority.

The UNP claimed that President Sirisena sought to prorogue the parliament as Rajapaksa did not command a majority in the House.

Parliamentary officials said the president prorogued the house till November 16. The parliament was earlier due to meet on November 5 to unveil the 2019 annual budget.

The move to suspend the parliament came in the wake of an urgent request from Wickremesinghe to convene an emergency session of the house.

Wickremesinghe has been asserting that the swearing in of Rajapaksa in his place is illegal and unconstitutional.

Wickremesinghe, addressing the media along with his constituent party leaders, said, This is a created crisis, there is no need for this crisis. The people must not suffer because of this at a difficult time for them.

He said that the crisis could be resolved with no difficulty if the parliament was convened. I can prove majority on the floor of the House, Wickremesinghe said.

The UNP supporters protested outside Temple Trees against the decision taken by the president to sack Wickremesinghe.

Sirisena on Saturday formalised the sacking of his former ally by issuing two extraordinary gazette notices.

First notice was on Wickremesinghe being removed as prime minister and the other on the appointment of Rajapaska as the new premier.

IMAGE: Ranil Wickremesinghe, reacting to his removal as Sri Lanka's PM, said he would continue to be the prime minister till he enjoys the majority in Parliament. Photograph: Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters

Sirisena also ordered the removal of Prime Ministers Secretary Saman Ekanayake.

The prime ministers secretary has been removed according to the powers vested with the president as the appointing authority.

Responding to Sirisena in writing, Wickremesinghe said he is still the constitutionally appointed prime minister of Sri Lanka. I write to inform you that I am the constitutionally appointed Prime Minister of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and continue in that office and that I command the confidence of Parliament as contemplated in article 42(4) of the constitution, the letter said.

Lankan President Sirisena in the letter Wickremesinghe had formally informed that the latter has been sacked from the prime minister's position.

Sirisena informed Wickremesinghe that he had been sacked from the position according to article 42(4) of the constitution.

Rauff Hakeem the leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress said his party would firmly back Wickremesinghe.

Two other constituent party leader from minority Tamil and Muslim parties, Mano Ganesan, Palani Digambaram and Rishath Bathiyutheen also said they would be firmly in support of Wickremesinghe and called Sirisenas move to sack Wickremesinghe as illegal and unconstitutional.

The United Nations resolutions passed under the former regime of Rajapaksa was co-sponsored by Wickremesinghes government pledging to deliver justice to Tamil victims of the separatist war launched by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Sirisenas sacking of Wickremesinghe was the culmination of an year of bitter relations between them on several policy matters. The president has been critical of the prime Minister and his policies, especially on economy and security.

In April, Wickremesinghe successfully defeated a no trust motion in parliament engineered by Sirisena with backing from Rajapaksa.

The UNP, however, suffered one defection after Rajapaksa was sworn in with Ananda Aluthgamage meeting the former president and extending him support.

The political developments unfolded after Sirisenas broader political front United Peoples Freedom Alliance announced that it has decided to quit the current unity government with Wickremesinghe's UNP.

The unity government was formed in 2015 when Sirisena was elected president with Wickremesinghes support, ending a nearly decade-long rule by Rajapaksa.

Rajapaksas return to power ends a more than three-year-old coalition government that was formed by Sirisena and Wickremesinghe on a promise to combat corruption and financial irregularities.

The unity government was thrown into a crisis after Rajapaksas new party pulled off a stunning victory in local elections in February seen as a referendum on the ruling alliance.

Sri Lanka nearly faced economic sanctions from the West over Rajapakses brutal military crackdown on the banned Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

The LTTE sought a separate Tamil homeland in the northern and eastern provinces of the island nation for nearly 30 years before its collapse in 2009 after the Sri Lankan Army killed its supreme leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Rajapaksa and his family are facing several cases of corruption and financial irregularities.
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
"Grief is itself a medicine", said William Cowper, a popular English poet. But for some, it can prove fatal. In this week's "Did you know?" column, we are presenting interesting findings about the impact of grief on human , Marijuana 2.0 in the making, and link between height and cancer risk.

Grief Kills

There have been several reports of elderly couples dying within hours/days of each other. Science has an explanation for this phenomenon, dubbed broken heart syndrome.

Severe grief can promote bodily inflammation which in turn can cause negative health outcomes including death, according to a study conducted by Rice University researchers.

As part of the study, the researchers examined the blood of 99 recently bereaved individuals and conducted psychological assessments. According to the findings, the widows and widowers with elevated grief symptoms suffered up to 17 percent higher levels of bodily inflammation than those with less grief severity.

As is well known, inflammation can lead to heart diseases, stroke, and cancer and could lead to death.

The study is published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology.

Marijuana 2.0

Marijuana use and its health benefits are widely debated topics. Canada legalized recreational marijuana as recently as October 17, becoming the second country in the world to do so after Uruguay.

For those who thought that only marijuana plant produces THC, the psychoactive compound that induces the 'high' and hallucinogenic effect in the user, you are wrong.

Researchers at the University of Bern have for the first time investigated "perrottetinene" a compound in liverwort plant, and found it to be medically effective than marijuana.

In animal models, perrottetinene, which resembles THC, reaches the brain very easily and once there, it specifically activates cannabinoid receptors. It even demonstrates a stronger anti-inflammatory effect in the brain than THC, according to the researchers.

Given the potential wide array of medical applications that are being explored for marijuana, the findings by the University of Bern makes perrottetinene very interesting.

The findings are reported in the journal Science Advances.

Height & Cancer Risk

There have already been a number of studies linking height and cancer risk.

A report, published by the Royal Society, which was based on data from four large-scale studies on 23 types of cancers in the U.K, U.S., South Korea, Austria, Norway and Sweden, reveals that there is a 10% increase in cancer risk for every 4 inch (10cm) increase in human height above the average used in the study of 5ft 7in for men and 5ft 3in for women.

One of the theories behind the increased cancer risk is that taller people have more cells, and more cells provide more targets for oncogenic somatic mutation.

There are also studies which claim that the rates of heart disease and diabetes may be lower in tall people.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir remarked that it is premature to blame the kingdom about the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the prosecution of the suspects would be conducted by the nation, media reports said Saturday.

"On the issue of extradition, the individuals are Saudi nationals. They're detained in Saudi Arabia, and the investigation is in Saudi Arabia, and they will be prosecuted in Saudi Arabia," Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said at a regional defence forum in the Bahraini capital.

Blaming the issue as "hysterical", Adel al-Jubeir said that people assign fault on Saudi Arabia with such certainty before the investigation is complete.

"We have made it very clear that we are going to have a full transparent investigation, the results of which will be released."

His comments came after Turkey indicated that it would ask the extradition of 18 suspects in the killing of journalist Khashoggi from the kingdom.

Jubeir denied the involvement of the kingdom's powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the murder.

"The issue, as I said, is being investigated. We will know the truth. We will hold those responsible accountable. And we will put in place mechanisms to ensure it doesn't happen again," Jubeir told the defence forum.

The journalist was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul early this month.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Political News


Tokyo: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives at Haneda International Airport, to attend the India-Japan Annual Summit, in Tokyo, Japan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived here late on Saturday to hold the annual India-Japan bilateral summit with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe. "PM @narendramodi arrives in #Tokyo to a warm welcome for his 5th Annual Summit with @AbeShinzo. Japan is one of the few countries that India has this mechanism of annual summits, reflecting the extraordinary depth of our engagement," Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.



This is Modi's third visit to Japan for the summit and will be his 12th meeting with Abe since 2014.



Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region and in the defence and security sector, and leveraging Japanese capabilities for India's development initiatives will be the highlights of the agenda in the summit which will be held on Monday.



India is the only country with which Japan holds annual bilateral summits while India has a similar arrangement with Russia too.




The Land Transport Authority (L.T.A.)-installed parking meters in selected locations in town will become operational next month.

This has been confirmed by the L.T.A. Chief Executive Officer, Galumalemana Titi Tutuvanu-Schwalger, in an email to the Samoa Observer.

She said the parking meters will be switched on from Monday, November 5, 2018 and will be in use from Monday to Friday, although there are plans to also include Saturday.

While the parking meter installation has been completed, we were working closely with the Attorney Generals Office to finalise the Parking Meter Regulations which was then passed onto Cabinet for approval.

The Parking Meter Regulations was approved by the Cabinet on 10 October 2018. Therefore, the use of parking meters will be enforced starting Monday, 5 November 2018.

The L.T.A. will be airing advertisements and publishing notices on the media in the coming days to inform our public prior to the effective date, she said.

The L.T.A. has advised the public that they have a choice either to park at the metered parking spaces or park at the non-metered parking spaces for free.

Furthermore, the parking fee is set at $1 for 15 minutes thus $4 per hour. If a vehicle is parked more than the time purchased, then the driver is given the option to pay for the amount of time exceeded.

For example, if a driver buys a parking ticket for 30 minutes meaning he/she will pay two tala. If the vehicle is parked 15 minutes longer, the driver has the chance to pay $1 for the 15 minutes it exceeded parking.

The installation and use of parking meters is one way LTA is implementing to address traffic congestion and to deter parking spaces in front of commercial and government offices being occupied throughout the entire day, she added.

Galumalemana further advised that they are working in collaboration with the Waterfront Project Team, who are carrying out works in front of Fiame Mataafa Faumuina Mulinuu II Building at Eleele Fou to ensure that there are ample car parking spaces (non-metered) available during construction.
Savaiinaea Ieremia was one of the local farmers that showcased his produce at the 2018 Agriculture and Fisheries Show-Upolu at Malaefatu Park, Sogi yesterday.

The event provided a platform for those in the agriculture and fisheries sectors and included farmers, government ministries and NGOs, who showcased their expertise in their respective fields and displayed local produce or livestock farms.

Savaiinaea said he was happy to be part of the event.

It is significant to have a day like this especially dedicated to farmers so that they can have the chance to showcase their crops and also so other farmers are aware of a variety of produces.

I am showcasing produces but I am selling my bananas some for $20 and others for $30 and my taro for $20. I sell my products at the Fugalei market and also sometimes in front of Frankie Mall at Vaitele, he said.

The 59-year-old from Ululoloa said that he became a farmer through his parents and after his retirement in 2014 he focused on being a farmer.

I like being a farmer all for the reasons of being self-employed you get to be your own boss.

My daily schedule from Monday to Friday is tending to my plantation but there are only two days that are allocated to selling my harvests and that is Saturday and Sunday.

Some of the challenges faced are that I have no workers to assist me and the lack of equipment needed for farming, he added.

But with the country now set to enter the cyclone season, he expressed his concerns and its impact on his crops.

I pray that our country does not get affected by yet another cyclone, because we farmers suffer such great losses from it and bananas are one of these crops that always undergo damages, which is why I have other crops lined up like taro or cocoa as a backup plan, he stated.

Savaiinaea added that with the new banana exports to New Zealand, it provided an opportunity for Samoans in terms of overseas markets.

The process which takes place in maintaining these bananas is pricy meaning it requires a lot of financial backing through purchasing necessary equipment needed to care for the bananas.

But for us small local farmers we cannot access such opportunities due to financial difficulties.

I think that the government should focus more on the individual farmers instead of the organizations which so many farmers have joined, he added.
Meet Murray and Thea Price from Hamilton, New Zealand.

The couple arrived for the first time in Samoa last Sunday and already spent a week here.

Murray grew up in New Zealand and Thea has roots in Holland but lived the last 40-plus years in New Zealand. They are staying at the Taumeasina Island Resorts.

Murray and Thea ventured out of the resort to the north coast of Upolu as well as Apia.

They have travelled the Pacific region before and visited Niue and Rarotonga in the Cook Islands and noted the difference to Samoa as the island is way bigger and its capital Apia more developed.

I was positively surprised how big Apia is, people told me that there isnt much in the town but for us as tourists we had more than enough there. Its more than we expect it, Murray said.

His wife Thea said: Apia is a proper town absolutely.

A highlight of their trip to Samoa is what they describe as impressive locals they meet around Upolu and the friendly staff at the resorts.

The people are amazing so friendly, she added.

As a tourist they said they did not miss anything in Samoa and are finding enough attractions and activities to do to keep themselves busy.

The weather has just been so hot that we couldnt do so much more than relax and enjoying the sea, which is fine we are on holiday, Murray said.

But the risk of losing Samoan culture is not far from their minds. They mentioned the potential of losing the culture in future but hope there will not be too many changes.

I would understand seeing it happen here but we like it now very much, Murray added.

They will travel to the south coast of Upolu Island this weekend and are keen to return to Samoa due to its natural beauty.
On 25 October 2018 an email arrived. Sent by a person who said his name was Rev. Dr. Karl-Heinz Kuhlmann, he revealed he was staying at the Piula Theological College out there at Anoamaa.

In his letter, Dr.Karl-Heinz Kuhlmann, said in verbatim:

Dear Sir: Walking in the streets of Apia I saw some young men, one by one, dressed neatly and wearing on their shirts, the sign to be identified as missionaries of the LDS (Later Day Saints) Church.

I asked them what they were here for. They said they are bringing the true Gospel of Jesus who loves all mankind.

When I said that this Gospel is already here, they replied: No, the churches here do not know the right one; only we, the LDS have it, and therefore we must do this.

When I told them about their strange history they would not believe it. I then praised their personal commitment but for a false matter they left.

Now my concern (is): How for goodness sake does the LDS dare to make proselytises in a country which is under the Christian God, and took the preamble of the Constitution into it thus making it look as if its a constitutional rank.

Dr.Karl-Heinz Kuhlmann went on to say: The LDS is not a Christian Church as they deny central Christian creeds. They are not members of the World Council of Churches but a cult.

How then do they fit into Christian principles and Samoan Custom and tradition? In fact they break the Constitution! Religious freedom is not covered by such activities the LDS is practicing.

Sincerely,

The Rev. Dr.Karl-Heinz Kuhlmann,

Visiting Professor from Germany.

The next day, when his letter was not responded to, he emailed back saying: Concerning my Letter to the Editor yesterday. Im staying with the Piula Theological College.

The Rev. Dr. Karl-Heinz Kuhlmann.

In response, the writer emailed Dr. Karl-Heinz Kuhlmann, saying to him: Talofa Dr-Kuhlmann,

Ive received your letter.

I thought (your letter) would be just right for the Sunday edition of the Samoa Observer, since yours is a very relevant topic for discussion here in Samoa on Sunday, when most people go to church.

Thank you, I said.

Dr. Karl-Heinz Kuhlmann did not respond.

Still, as Im now thinking about Dr. Karl-Heinz Kuhlmanns claim that the LDS is not a Christian Church, nor is it a member of the World Council of Churches, since its just a cult, right now Im aware that my mind is zooming backwards in time, to when around six million Jews were murdered by the Nazi regime in Germany during the Second World War.

Indeed, the story is that between 1941 and 1945, the Nazis sought to eradicate the entire Jewish community of Europe. It was when victims were murdered by death squads, or were transported to death camps during the Holocaust, which was mainly in Eastern Europe in places such as Poland and Ukraine.

As for the term Holocaust, it referred mainly to the orchestrated murder of groups targeted by the Nazi regime including Romanians, Soviet Prisoners of War and civilians, Polish civilians, homosexuals, socialists, communists, trades unionists, disabled people, Freemasons, and Jehovahs Witnesses.

The Nazis did not act alone. Countries which were occupied by the Nazis during the Second World War, such as Lithuania and the Ukraine, assisted the perpetrators.

And yet, here in Samoa in October 2018, Dr. Karl-Heinz Kuhlmann is spreading the word, saying: The LDS is not a Christian Church as they deny central Christian creeds. They are not members of the World Council of Churches but its a cult.

How then do they fit into Christian principles and Samoan Custom and tradition? In fact, they break the Constitution! Religious freedom is not covered by such activities the LDS is practicing.

The truth is that the depravity of war in Germany, where six million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust would have made it quite impossible, for those who were living there then to know what the truth truly looked like.

As for the LDS Church, it was formally organised by Joseph Smith on April 6, 1830, in western New York. Initial converts were drawn to the church in part because of the newly published Book of Mormon, a self-described chronicle of indigenous American prophets that Smith said, hed translated from golden plates.

Later, the LDS Churchs headquarters were located in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States.

Thirteen years, in May 1843, four men were sent to be missionaries, in the islands of the Pacific. That was when two missionaries were also sent from Hawaii to establish the Church in Samoa.

They were Kimo Pelia and Samuela Manoa; they laboured faithfully for nearly twenty years, isolated from the strength and support of the Church back there, in the United States of America.

Pelia and Samuela baptised some in Tutuila, American Samoa. Later, after Elder Joseph H. Dean and his wife, Florence Ridges Dean arrived, the mission was formally organised on 17 June 1888.

By1891, the mission in Samoa was developing steadily; along the way its headquarters were established right here in Apia, the capital of Western Samoa.

And so, how then is it possible that after all these years, they are still feeling at home with those Christian principles, Samoan Customs and Traditions right here in Samoa today?

Ask Dr. Karl-Heinz Kuhlmann.

He should know.

Have a peaceful Sunday Samoa, God bless.

Note: Some of the quotes in this editorial were taken from Pacific.lds.org, CCCS.org.ws, The Holocaust Explained.
Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 test driver Tatiana Calderon will have the opportunity to take the wheel of the C37 next week.

The 25-year-old from Colombia will be taking part in a filming day at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on Tuesday, following this weekend's Mexican Grand Prix.

She will be able to complete up to 100 kilometres - or 23 laps - as part of a promotional event being staged by the team. Under the current regulations, each team is allowed two such private tests per year.

"We are pleased to announce that Tatiana Calderon will be driving our car [next week]" said team principal Frederic Vasseur.

"Over the past two years of our collaboration, Tatiana has proved to be a valuable part of our team by continuously showing her dedication to our project, as well as a very strong work ethic and enthusiasm for our sport.

Although Calderon has been working with Sauber in a test capacity for the last two seasons, this will be the GP3 driver's first chance to try out the F1 car on a race track.

I am very thankful and excited about the opportunity given to me," said Calderon. "It will be an incredible experience.

"As a Latin American driver, there could not be a more special place for me to make my debut behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car," she added.

She thanked sponsors Escuderia Telmex, Telcel, Infinitum and Claro for the opportunity "to drive a Formula 1 car for the first time in my career."

The car will carry the logo of Telcel, a leading Mexican wireless telecommunications provider, on the rear wing and nose cone for the occasion.

The promotional event will run alongside Sauber's participation in a tyre test for Pirelli being held at the circuit on the same day.

Carlos Slim Domit, chairman of the board of Telcel's parent company America Movil, also welcomed the opportunity for Calderon to get some F1 experience.

We are very proud to be part of Tatianas project. Her career has been built with talent, effort, sacrifice and dedication which is widely reflected in her results that have made her the first Latin American woman to be part of a Formula One team with the Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team.

"This allows her to achieve a new goal representing an important step in her career and pride for all race fans in Colombia and Latin America, particularly for women and racing in general.

Kimi Raikkonen will join Sauber for 2019 alongside Antonio Giovinazzi, with current driver Marcus Ericsson remaining as the team's third driver.

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers
A 65-year-old grandmother and her family are without a home after their house at Leauvaa burnt yesterday.

Telesia Ahtau said she was with two of her grandchildren when fire broke out in a bedroom of their property and nothing could be done to put it out as the room was locked.

Everything was burnt, the houses, the clothes, our house properties and everything else, she said.

She said the fire started while her daughter and husband were away at work and one of their children was with one of her sons who lives nearby.

We are lucky enough to have one of my childrens house close by to stay, waiting for the time to go and stay at my sisters place at Levi because its closer for my childrens education, she added.

Mrs. Ahtau said her children are now her only hope for a new home. The family is now residing in one of her childrens house, while waiting and praying for a miracle to happen.

For the meantime, I have no one to turn to but my children to quickly get us a new house to stay in, she added.

The family were questioned by the police and the Fire and Emergency Service, fire trucks were seen leaving the area, when Samoa Observer arrived at the scene.

Investigations are currently underway into the cause of the fire.

The fire workers did what they had to do when they arrived and we also called the Police and they also did their side of the job.

The police is now working on their investigation, after their interview with me and my family, she added.
Samoa Whiskey was launched by the Scientific Research Organisation of Samoa (S.R.O.S.) at the Taumeasina Island Resort on Friday.

The whiskey is a unique product made out of taro and the first of its kind to be produced in Samoa and around the world.

Prime Minister Tuilaepa Dr. Sailele Malielegaoi praised the product and its name because it will also promote Samoa around the world.

Tuilaepa said it will provide great opportunities for taro farmers and producers alike for a market for their products.

He urged entrepreneurs to have guts to take up what S.R.O.S. has discovered and start producing so it could make local taro producers happy.

S.R.O.S, which is tasked with the mission of conducting scientific research and developing technologies in the sustainable development of value added goods and services for export, has developed a worlds first, pure and unique exotic liquor made from Samoan taro root, Chief Executive Officer of S.R.O.S., Dr. Seuseu Tauati said.

Taro was selected as the main ingredient for the production of the whiskey because of its abundance in Samoa and the spin off effects it would create for our Samoan farmers."

The product has been formulated and tested using the advanced testing instruments and facilities at S.R.O.S. The chemical and physical analysis confirmed the quality of the product. A new production facility had to set-up to sustain a steady flow production line to house activities such as taro cleaning, fermentation, distilling and aging, Dr. Seuseu said.

Samoa Whiskey is the pioneer of the unique family of liquors to be released commercially by S.R.O.S.

The uniqueness of Samoa Whiskey originates in its Samoan Polynesian heritage, the naturally pure tropical environment, artisanal single  still pot batch distillation, its special oak aging process, carbon filtering and of course: being the worlds only pure taro whiskey.

The integrity of Samoa whiskey is protected in its exclusive environment where impurities and dilution with alcohol derived from other sources is not tolerated. Small volumes of Samoa Whiskey are proudly made by a committed team of enthusiasts at S.R.O.S., base at Nafanua on the slopes of Mount Vaea, on Cross-Island road, Upolu.

Samoa Whiskey will be made available at Le Well, Taula Beverages on Saturday October 27, 2018.
I remember the feeling I had the first time I saw my byline above an article in the Samoa Observer, and today marks my last for the countrys only daily newspaper.

That joy kept me grounded as a reporter during my eight-month stint with the newspaper and sadly that adventure has now come to an end.

Looking back today I cannot imagine having it any other way. Samoa was not the nearest nation to go to from Switzerland in central Europe, but here I am now, about to complete my mission as a volunteer. I clocked in March 5, 2018 and will clock out this week to head back to Europe.

There is no doubt that my experience in Samoa has given me education and self reflection which no school, college or university could have provided. In Samoa it would be about the culture, politics, society, work and mainly people, which enabled me to see the world and all it holds a bit clearer.

Working in the Samoa Observer newsroom enabled me to get insights on how a newspaper company functioned, its interaction with the players in local politics, and the challenges that a community faces.

In some ways I guess countries all around struggle with similar challenges. But it is the political, cultural and personal touches that make a nation different and unique.

For example, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) ran a trauma workshop, which I was lucky enough to cover. The issue of mental health can be a taboo topic in Samoa, but the ability of the workshop participants to discuss it openly was pleasing to see.

After living in Samoa for eight months, I concluded that luck can come in different ways and take different forms. The welfare of citizens in other countries around the world are dealt with differently. But here in Samoa, it is the strength of the community, family and their faith that prioritizes citizens welfare.

Having money, a career, a big house or even a car are never priorities in Samoa  here it is always about the people, what they believe in and how they look after each other. It is one reason I enjoyed my stay in Samoa.

And if there is one thing I enjoyed the most during my stay in Samoa, it was as a reporter for the Samoa Observer, and the respect that the role garnered from the community.

Samoa is a country where the work of the print media still matters, and remains as important as online content such as social media and its ability to inform and influence the masses like in many European states.

As would have been expected in a small community, every single persons work on the island actually makes a remarkable difference to the community. The value of a single person is important and they are irreplaceable  I felt that way during my time in Samoa.

Each day at the Samoa Observer comes with a new challenge, lesson and fun.

What a challenge and opportunity it has been for me  without any previous experience in the media  to be allowed to take up such a role and be trusted to work with experienced, award-winning colleagues.

Over the last few months I have come to realise how difficult it could be to raise a voice in Samoa, yet this newspaper allowed me to do that, and to be become successful at it. No words can express how grateful I am for the life lessons, help, respect and generally the newsroom camaraderie from workmates, family and friends. That is one piece of Samoa I am taking back with me, when I return to Europe this week.

Therefore, it is only right that I say Faafetai lava for having me and letting me become a part of your lives over the eight months I was here. I was welcomed everywhere I went and it was a wonderful experience.

I hope that despite the challenges that Samoa faces  like any other country in the world  its citizens are able to see how blessed they are and to continue to keep the faith. I must say that from my time on the island, I got back more than I was be able to give. I hope one day, when I return, I will be in a position to give back to the community that I have learnt to love.

Finally, living far away from home has taught me that distance doesnt matter, when it comes to matters of the heart. To this end Samoa will always remain in my heart. Thank you for giving me a voice.
Going the extra mile for the sake of your familys survival is worth it.

So says 25-year-old Famalepe Tolovae of Lepuiai, Manono.

Ms. Tolovae spoke to the Sunday Samoan of how she and her family are able to overcome all obstacles.

Everyone knows that life is hard, but I believe if we just sit around and complain and not doing anything that is when we suffer.

This is my husbands home, we look after her sisters children, but my husband and I only have two children. My husband is a teacher and I stay at home.

So this is what we do at home, we grow cabbages to help out my husband and from the cabbages we sell it for $2 and whatever money I get, I help out with our daily needs and we will put some of that money in the bank because my husband gets paid fortnightly. So even though life is hard I can still say that we are okay, she said.

Ms. Tolovae says its how her family solves problem that matter the most and they acknowledge that life was never meant to be easy.

Like for example, my husband gets paid fortnightly, so as a mother I have to think of a way we can get money to survive until my husbands pay day.

So we started the cabbage farm. We ought to think outside the box on how we can help our family get through each day. We have to find ways to send our kids to school and I think the most important thing in life is we have to know how to budget all our money whether its little or a lot.

For developing families like us we have to learn how to save money and I believe that is another way of solving these financial problems - learn how to save first, she added.

Ms. Tolovae she said they are working on renovating their house.

We are getting to that part, this is just something for us to live in for the time being, but we will have a better home for us and the children, she said with optimism.

So you see life can be a challenge, and we can look at it as a good challenge because it challenges us, in a way where we have to really think of our families.

I believe life is good and I know some will not agree with me, but as a mother I have to stay positive for the sake of my children. So that when they grow up, they will know that their mother was so strong she never gave up, and that she would always find ways for her family to survive.
WASHINGTON (AP)  A battle is brewing between the Trump administration and some of the president's biggest supporters in Congress who are concerned that sanctions to be re-imposed on Iran early next month won't be tough enough.

As President Donald Trump prepares to re-impose a second batch of Iran sanctions that had been eased under the 2015 nuclear deal, conservative lawmakers and outside advisers have become worried that the administration may break a promise to exert "maximum pressure" on Iran. They are angered by suggestions that measures to be announced Nov. 5 won't include a provision cutting Iran off from a key component of the global financial system.

The self-described Iran hawks are concerned enough that they have drafted legislation that would require the administration to demand that Iran be suspended from the international bank transfer system known as SWIFT.

"The president asked for maximum pressure, not semi-maximum pressure," said Richard Goldberg, a former aide to a Republican senator and senior adviser to the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a group that supports punishing Iran with sanctions. "Maximum pressure includes disconnecting Iranian banks from SWIFT."

Trump pledged Thursday to do whatever it takes to pressure Iran to halt what he refers to as its "malign conduct" such as nuclear and missile development and support for terrorism and groups that destabilize the Middle East.

"On Nov. 5th, all U.S. sanctions against Iran lifted by the nuclear deal will be back in full force," he told a gathering at the White House to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the 1983 attack on the Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, which is blamed on Iranian-backed extremists. "And they will be followed up with even more sanctions to address the full range of Iran's malign conduct. We will not allow the world's leading sponsor of terror to develop the world's deadliest weapons. Will not happen."

The Nov. 5 sanctions cover Iran's banking and energy sectors and will reinstate penalties for countries and companies in Europe, Asia and elsewhere that do not halt Iranian oil imports. They could also include measures to force Iran out of SWIFT.

Despite Trump's tough stance, the hawks are worried about recent comments from Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin and his staff that suggest Iran will be able to stay connected to SWIFT. They are also concerned the administration will back down on its stated zero-tolerance policy for Iranian oil purchases by granting waivers to certain countries and companies that do not fully stop buying it.

Iran deal supporters, like the other parties to the agreement, argue that pushing Iran out of SWIFT, the Belgium-based Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, will lead to the creation of alternate mechanisms that could supplant it as the leading global institution for financial institutions to send and receive information about banking transactions. They also say expulsion will make it harder for Iran to conduct transactions, such as humanitarian purchases, that will still be allowed after Nov. 5.

Allowing Iran to remain in SWIFT would make it easier for Tehran to import humanitarian goods like medicine permitted under U.S. sanctions and "would help the United States make clear that its critique of Iran is directed at the regime, not the people of Iran," said Elizabeth Rosenberg, a former Treasury official now with the Center for a New American Security. She added, though, that disconnection would be a "fast track" to isolation.

The debate underscores the challenges the administration faces as it tries to isolate Iran without the full backing of other world powers who remain supportive of the nuclear deal.

Although the hawks had been pleased by Trump's decision to withdraw from the nuclear deal in May and cheered the August re-imposition of an initial set of sanctions, they are now seething that Treasury may opt to use existing safeguards to isolate Iran instead of hitting SWIFT members with sanctions if they don't disconnect Tehran.

Treasury has been coy about its intentions, saying only that Mnuchin and the agency have led "an intense economic pressure campaign against Iran as part of this administration's comprehensive strategy to address the totality of Iran's malign and destabilizing activity, with much more to come."

"Treasury has made it very clear that we will continue to cut off bad Iranian actors, including designated banks, from accessing the international financial system in a number of different ways," it said. "We will also take action against those attempting to conduct prohibited transactions with sanctioned Iranian entities regardless of the mechanisms used."

That less-than-categorical position has rallied the hawks around the legislation prepared by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, that would require the administration to impose sanctions on SWIFT members, including some U.S. banks, should it not suspend Iran on its own.

Federal law currently gives the administration authority to act against Iran's central bank and other banks covered by terrorism and money laundering sanctions. Cruz's legislation, however, would authorize the administration to hit all of Iran's banks with sanctions and require it to act against SWIFT if it connects any Iranian bank under sanctions to its system, according to a copy seen by the AP.

In August, Cruz led a group of 16 GOP senators, including Trump Republican allies Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Marco Rubio of Florida, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Barrasso of Wyoming, in demanding action against SWIFT if Iran is not suspended. Congressional aides say they believe support for his proposed legislation will be strong. "The administration's maximum pressure campaign will not succeed if the Islamic Republic remains connected to SWIFT," the senators told Mnuchin.
Sen. Bernie Sanders delivered a fiery speech Friday in support of striking hotel workers in downtown San Diego that touched on themes he popularized during his presidential campaign.

Sanders, an independent from Vermont, came to support workers who are on strike at the Westin San Diego Gaslamp Quarter hotel.

The fight that you are waging here. The courage you are showing here is exactly the fight that must be waged in every state of this country, he said, prompting cheers from the crowd of roughly 100 workers.

Sanders said he and the union were sick and tired of a situation where almost all income and wealth goes to the top 1 percent of the population while working people need to work multiple jobs to survive.

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What you are wearing on your T-shirts is exactly right: One job should be enough, he said.

Unite Here is part of a national strike targeting Marriott International unionized hotels, encompassing 7,700 workers in several cities, including Boston, San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, Detroit and Honolulu. Marriott declined to comment for this article.

What we are saying to Marriott, that owns Westin, and every major corporation in this country who make billions of dollars in profit: Pay your workers a living wage, he said.

According to Unite Here Local 30, which represents the Westin hotels 162 workers, the union is seeking improved pay and health benefits. It has also raised concerns surrounding increasing automation that could potentially jeopardize jobs, as well as so-called green initiatives that let guests opt out of having their rooms cleaned.

Striking workers said they were thrilled to get someone with Sanders profile to show support.

Its amazing we actually got a senator to support our cause, said striking worker Robert Lewis, 55, a banquet server. He said they found out about 11:20 a.m. that Sanders was coming and quickly got into action setting up a stage and contacting media.

This is bigger than us, Lewis said. This is about the middle class.

Union research analyst Rick Bates said they had been trying to get Sanders to speak for some time.

We know that Bernie has always been there for workers, he said. Hes always talked about the importance of unions in this country. We couldnt ask for anybody better.

Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, D-San Diego, also attended the rally and said it was a huge motivation for workers to have the senator there.

To have someone of such national stature, such as Bernie Sanders, to come and tell them they are doing the right thing is important for them, she said.

Sanders also touched on national issues, stating the United States would be moving in the direction of a Medicare for all, or single-payer health care system.

Until we get there, we want corporations like Westin to make sure their employees have decent health care, he told the crowd.

Sanders also said that older workers have little in retirement savings and companies should provide good pensions.

Staff writer Lori Weisberg contributed to this article.

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phillip.molnar@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1891 Twitter: @phillipmolnar

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Memories of a mystic encounter more than 20 years ago swept over me last week as I stood at the wild edge of the Grand Canyon waiting for the moon to rise.

My hands were jammed into the pockets of a down jacket as a gentle breeze made the 34-degree temperature seem colder than it was. It was a replay of similar events from years ago, but so far without the nocturnal encounter.

Like my previous visit, I had come to photograph the beauty of the Grand Canyon by moonlight. On that trip years ago, I had driven several miles away from Grand Canyon Village to avoid lights of passing cars or other tourists.

I parked at a wide spot and hiked off through the juniper forest until I came to the edge of the yawning canyon. It was early March and there was snow on the ground and a bite to the chilly air.

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The sky was clear, and a heaven filled with stars hung over my head.

The full moon began to creep above the eastern horizon.

Anyone who has been out in the wild during a full moon knows how bright it can be, but with snow on the ground, the lunar glow seemed magnified.

My tripod was set and camera mounted. I began taking long-exposure photographs and in the chilly darkness just gazed out over a breathtaking landscape. I understood why the Grand Canyon is one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

Before me was the history of Earths creation, cut away by millions of years of wind and water. How humbling to be there as a speck of humanity in a vast universe displayed all around me.

As I gazed off into creation, I sensed a presence.

Without a sound, a young man had approached and was standing right next to me. For some reason I was not startled or felt a sense of alarm. He, too, seemed focused on this moment of grand cosmic design.

He was a 21-year-old Navajo who worked at the famous El Tovar Hotel in Grand Canyon Village. He had spent his day off hiking to the Colorado River, 4,000 feet below.

I asked him what trail he had taken.

Its a pathway of the ancients and not on any map, he told me.

I also commented that he didnt seem to be carrying much for a full day of hiking.

I get everything I need from the land, he said.

For a while we stood silently gazing out over the canyon. Its hard to describe how beautiful it was on this crisp, clear winter night by the whispering light of the full moon.

There certainly was a shared reverence for this place and as he spoke of his connection to the land, I was touched by the deep spirit of the Navajo.

A few minutes of silence passed, and he softly said, I see that you love this place as much as I do.

I assured him that I did.

A moment later I turned, and he was gone. Without a sound, silently, like a spirit carried on the gentle wings of a night wind, he was gone.

What are the odds that two people from completely different backgrounds would meet in a snow-covered wilderness at the rim of the Grand Canyon? The number of stars I could see in the heavens that night might not even match those odds.

That encounter from two decades ago is etched in my mind and while I knew it would never happen again, the memory still played clearly as I returned to the canyon rim with hopes of capturing a moonlight photograph.

The image was not to be this time. Cloud cover and canyon fog killed any chance for moonlight photos. Standing again at the canyon rim hopefully waiting for skies to clear, there was not another encounter with a visitor in the night.

I did return for one last canyon look early the next morning. This is a spiritual place and if you linger in the majesty and beauty its hard not to be affected. Its also hard to leave.

As I turned to go, I heard the caw, caw of a passing raven.

Looking up, I saw him flying ahead of me, slowly flapping his midnight wings and casting a shadow over my path as if leading the way.

In Native American culture the raven is a messenger from the cosmos.

Perhaps I was again visited by the spirit of the Navajo.

Email ernie@packtrain.com or visit erniesoutdoors.blogspot.com.
Tiana LaCerva wanted to work with The Seany Foundation to advocate for kids affected by cancer. She knows what those kids go through because she was one of them, battling a type of blood cancer of the immune system after she was diagnosed with T-cell lymphoma at age 7. She went through treatment, chemotherapy, and eventually became cancer-free. During that time, she says that having support, particularly the support that came from a program called Camp Reach for the Sky, was so helpful to her.

I began attending Camp Reach for the Sky at the age of 8. What I remember most was the feeling of acceptance and compassion while there, she says. It was the first time since becoming a cancer patient that I felt comfortable and safe enough to not wear my hat, and show off my bald head without judgment.

The camp, which used to be funded and run by the American Cancer Society before The Seany Foundation took on the program, hosts a number of sessions for kids, teens, and families affected by cancer, allowing them to be surrounded by others who share their experience.

LaCerva, 31, is the events director for the foundation and lives in Mission Valley with her 4-year-old daughter, Avalyn. She took some time to talk about her work with the foundation, the camp, her second battle with thyroid cancer as an adult, and why these programs for kids and families with cancer are so important to her.

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Q: Tell us about The Seany Foundation.

A: The Seany Foundation was inspired in 2005 by Sean Lewis Robins, during his battle with cancer. He was a teenager at the time and was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma (which usually occurs in and around the bones). The isolation and lack of support for pediatric cancer patients really frustrated him, and he felt more needed to be done to help aid the emotional wellness for patients going through their cancer experience. Improving the quality of life for kids affected by cancer diagnoses continues to be our mission.

Q: And what is Camp Reach for the Sky?

A: Camp Reach for the Sky first began 1983 and  for many years it was just a one-week-long camp session, Resident Oncology Camp, for kids who were either in treatment, or survivors, of pediatric cancer. The goal is to give campers safe space to have fun, feel normal, and not be held back by their cancer diagnosis, while thriving in an outdoor setting. In the last 35 years, Camp Reach for the Sky has grown to consist of six different sessions: resident oncology, siblings, day camp, teen weekend, family camp and bereavement camp.

Q: You attended the same camp as a child? How did that particular camp experience help you?

A: Camp helped me feel normal during the darkest and scariest part of my childhood by letting me know I wasnt alone in my diagnosis. It really gave me the opportunity  and courage  to feel like my cancer wasnt always going to hold me back. Kids with cancer often miss out on their youth and normal childhood experiences. The positive energy at camp, along with the support of the volunteer counselors, really helped give me hope for happier life after chemo.

What I love about Mission Valley ...

I really love how central it is. Its close to my daughters preschool and the Seany office. I dont even have to get on the freeway most days, which is great because traffic makes me irritable.

Q: How are the camp events specifically addressing the needs of kids and families dealing with cancer?

A: All six of our camping programs are completely free of charge to families and the attendees. Our programs and events help the kids and families dealing with cancer by providing a community of support, understanding and compassion.

Q: Your bio mentions that you strive(s) to break typical cancer stigmas by bringing awareness to the lasting affects a cancer diagnosis leaves on, not just the person, but the entire family unit. What are some of these typical cancer stigmas?

A: One common stigma is that cancer only affects the patient and disappears once in remission. Thats not the case at all. When someone in your life, or household, is diagnosed with cancer, everyone feels the wrath of it. The day-to-day life changes in so many ways: emotionally, socially, financially. Having cancer is so much deeper than the physical disease. Even once in remission, the body often suffers long-lasting side effects of chemo and radiation. Cancer stays with you forever.

Q: What are some of the lasting effects a cancer diagnosis leaves on the person with cancer? And on the family?

A: Some pretty cool scars, but also the never-ending fear of a relapse. Chemotherapy and radiation, while killing cancer, often cause further health issues later on in life. Survivors of childhood cancer are highly likely to suffer from a second diagnosis as adults, which, for me, was thyroid cancer.

It can really disrupt the family dynamic, especially when there are other children in the household. Even without cancer, life can feel stressful with work, school, making ends meet financially, plus extra curricular activities, holidays, and general life-style traditions. Its really tough to keep all of that in motion when someone in the family has cancer.

Q: What effects have each of your diagnoses left on you? And on your family?

A: The biggest effect is hypochondriac habits, and the constant fear of a relapse. Another common side effect is guilt. Seeing the pain and stress that your cancer puts on your loved ones often leads to cancer patients feeling guilty, like cancer is something they need to be ashamed of.

Q: Whats been challenging about your work?

A: It can be incredibly heavy on the soul. As an organization, our job is to both support and embrace the lives of kids and families affected by cancer. The sad reality is that we lose people to cancer on a regular basis, attend a lot of funerals, meet with grieving families; we take that on because weve been there and want to be a sturdy resource for them during these moments.

Q: Whats been rewarding about this work?

A: Definitely those weeks we spend at camp, bonding with the kids, creating these unforgettable and meaningful experiences for them. Giving them a safe space in which to feel normal, accepted and confident for one week of the year.

Q: What has this work taught you about yourself?

A: This work has taught me how powerful it is to share my story as a cancer survivor, and the power of healing through helping others.

Q: What is the best advice youve ever received?

A: God only gives you what you can handle.

Q: What is one thing people would be surprised to find out about you?

A: I really love any gifts in the form of food.

Q: Describe your ideal San Diego weekend.

A: An early Saturday morning hike, followed by a local farmers market, watch the sunset, and have an amazing dinner out in Little Italy. Sundays are for sleeping in and having brunch.

Email: lisa.deaderick@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @lisadeaderick
A jury awarded $605,000 to a Monterey Park woman who sued the Los Angeles County coroners office, alleging officials had cremated her newborn daughters body before properly notifying her as required by law.

Yvette Diaz had been planning to hold a Catholic, open-casket funeral for her daughter, Auroranne Delatorre, when she received a letter in the mail notifying her that the babys body had been cremated, said her attorney Eseigbe Omofoma. She could retrieve the remains, the letter said, for a fee.

The law ... requires the coroners office to notify, or diligently attempt to notify, next of kin before disposing of remains, which did not happen, Omofoma said.

Auroranne died in May 2016 within 24 hours of her birth at Beverly Hospital in Montebello. The next month, Omofoma said, a coroners investigator reached out to Diaz saying they were looking into the cause of her daughters death. Diaz called the investigator back twice that day, and once more two days later, but the line kept ringing and she never heard back, Omofoma said.

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In July, someone from the coroners office left her a voicemail asking for a decision on what to do with the infants body, since it had been at the morgue for 30 days. At that point, Omofoma said, a grieving Diaz wasnt checking her voicemails and relied on her brother to check the mail. The cremation letter arrived the next month.

The jury found that the county violated the law, finding it 55% responsible for the harm Diaz endured, according to the verdict form filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court. But the jury also found that Diaz was 45% at fault and should have been more proactive about getting information.

City News Service reported that Jack Schuler, an attorney representing the county, said he sympathized with Diaz but told jurors that anyone in her position would have been checking every way possible to find out information about the infants body. He said that Diaz deserved no damages but that if the jury was inclined to award any, they should find Diaz 90% at fault.

Schuler did not immediately return a call from The Times seeking comment.

Omofoma said the coroners office waited nearly two weeks to conduct an autopsy on the infants body, by which point her brain was rotting and it was too late to determine a cause of death.

The ordeal occurred during a tumultuous time for the coroners office, which had been plagued by autopsy and toxicology backlogs, staff turnover and the near loss of its national accreditation.

In March 2016, the countys chief medical examiner, Dr. Mark Fajardo, resigned after just more than two years on the job, citing insufficient funding and resources. At the time, 180 bodies were stacked in the morgue awaiting autopsies, and toxicology reports were taking longer than six months to be completed.

This coroners office was making mistakes, Omofoma said. I think the jurys going to send a message that business as usual is not acceptable. There need to be reforms made, and they need to treat grieving families better. We hope that no one else has to go through what Yvette went through.

alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com

Twitter: @AleneTchek
A North County jury on Friday found an Escondido gang member guilty of murder in the 2017 shooting death of a woman driving home from church, rejecting an argument that a teenage neighbor was the gunman.

Dionico Torrez, Jr., 25, was also found guilty of attempted murder for firing at rival gang members  whom authorities said were the intended targets. Additionally, he was convicted of two counts of shooting at an occupied vehicle

He is expected to be sentenced Dec. 20 to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Escondido resident Cathy Kennedy was on Grand Avenue near Gayland Street, headed home from church after a quick stop at a store, when she drove past a gunman targeting gang rivals about 9 p.m. March 7, 2017.

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The shooter fired 12 bullets.

The 55-year-old dental hygienist was struck once in the head, and her Toyota Camry crashed into a parked car. Kennedy died shortly afterward at a hospital.

Catherine Kennedy, left, with daughter Alicia de la Rosa (courtesy Kennedy family)

At trial, Deputy District Attorney Laurie Hauf argued that Torrez was the gunman. She said he was a ranking gang member bent on taking out rivals who had just left graffiti at his apartment complex, which his gang claims as turf.

She said Torrez chased them, then opened fire as they hopped into a waiting Toyota Prius across the street.

The rivals were not hit, although bullet holes were found in the Prius.

Torrezs attorney, Alejandro Morales, argued that the real gunman was a 16-year-old neighbor of Torrez, who was also chasing the intruders as they fled the apartment complex.

The teen testified he had joined in the chase to help Torrez, to back him up in a fistfight with gang rivals that the teen figured was likely coming. He said Torrez pulled out a gun and opened fire.

Morales told the jury that the governments case rests on the word of one person  the teen, who had taken a plea deal. (It is the policy of The San Diego Union-Tribune not to identify juveniles charged with crimes).

In the days after Kennedy was killed, Torrez ditched his cellphone, got a disposable phone, and left town.

He was arrested eight days later in the small town of Red Bluff, about 30 miles south of Redding in Northern California. That same day, the teen was arrested in Escondido.

In the summer of 2017, the teen pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting second-degree murder.

teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com

(760) 529-4945

Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUT
Kevin Magnussen will be walking down the isle next summer for better and for worse, the Dane revealing that he proposed to girlfriend Louise Gjorup who has accepted the Haas driver's decent proposal.

Denmark's Ekstra Bladet pulled the cat out of the bag, indicating that the wedding will take place in August of next year.

"Yes, it is true that we will be married in the summer," Magnussen confirmed in Mexico.

"It's strange to me to share my privacy with people I do not know," said the Dane. "So I do not want to go into too much detail and I hope people respect that."

The 26-year-old was a lot more voluble about Formula 1's fuel flow rules that caught him out last weekend in Austin when he was disqualified for exceeding the fuel limits by a mere 170 grams!

"Ive fought my whole life to get to Formula 1, to be able to race against the best people and race the fastest cars at the top of motorsport," he said.

"And then youre driving around like a grandmother! Its disappointing.

"You get disappointed and frustrated because youre angry with yourself because you havent done enough with the rules that they are.

"But you also get frustrated with the rules more than anything because theyre stupid and it should be changed."

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers
Theyre struggling to boost enrollment and transfer more students to four-year schools.

But San Diego Countys five community college districts have stirred interest among people who want help govern eight colleges that collectively serve 160,000 students.

There are 28 candidates running for 15 seats, some which feature only an incumbent.

The candidates are talking about everything from how they can maintain enrollment at a time when the economy is strong to the demand for online courses and the need to introduce new subjects to keep pace with a changing labor market.

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Here is a snap shot of the candidates:

SAN DIEGO COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT

(The district is composed of three colleges, San Diego City, Mesa and Miramar.)

District A (vote for 1)

Diane Hickman, a healthcare executive, is challenging incumbent Maria Nieto Senour, one of the longest-serving trustees in the region.

Senour has been on the districts board since 1990, having been re-elected six times. She also is a veteran educator; Senour was on the faculty at San Diego State University from 1977-2014, where she specialized in guidance and counseling issues.

As a trustee, Senour has focused on such things as improving the districts transfer rate, which has been fairly flat for years, and promoting San Diego Promise, a program to make community college free for eligible students

Hickman is a retired Army first sergeant and the owner of Caring Healthcare Solutions, which provides care to seniors throughout the San Diego area. She also teaches nursing at the University of San Diego.

Hickman has emphasized the need to develop vocational and technical educational programs in a district that has long trained students in areas such as diesel technology and air conditioning and refrigerator service.

Not everyone needs to have an academic education, Hickman says in a candidate statement. For many, technical training can serve them best.

District C (vote for 1)

Craig Milgrim, a biology professor at Grossmont College in El Cajon, is competing with Loren Seth Casuto, a healthcare manager and educator from University City.

Milgrim has been on the Grossmont faculty for 26 years, where he says hes worked to help students prepare to transfer to four-year institutions.

Lawmakers statewide have urged community colleges to work harder to increase the transfer rate, partly to prepare larger numbers of people to work in the states huge technology, science and medical industries.

San Diegos five districts are laboring to make progress. Last year, they transferred about, 3,910 students to the California State University campuses in San Diego and San Marcos. The figure was 3,429 six years ago.

The district has to improve on that performance, said Casuto, director of operations at Rehabilitation Care Coordination, a small medical legal firm in San Diego. He also was critical of the board, saying in a candidates statement:

There has been no competitive bidding or fiscal responsibility, leading to a budget of over $300 million focused on benefits and classified salaries with limited student results.

District E (vote for 1)

David Alvarez, a San Diego City Council member, is competing with Sean Elo, an education policy advocate.

Alvarez is leaving the city council due to term limits. If he wins a place on the board of trustees, he might not stay long. Hes said that he will run for county supervisor in 2020 and that hed leave his trustees position if he is elected.

I was the first in my family to go to college and if i can accomplish that, so can anyone, Alvarez says in a candidate statement. My parents were immigrants with a 3rd grade education and worked minimum wage jobs trying to achieve the American dream. They understood the value of an education.

Elo is a first generation community college student who attended San Diego City College. He went on to earn a law degree at Chapman University in Orange.

He has stressed affordability, saying in a candidate statement: You and your children should be able to earn a college degree without accruing a mountain of debt. Other major cities in California have made community college tuition-free and we can do the same.

GROSSMONT-CUYAMACA COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT

(The district is composed of Grossmont and Cuyamaca colleges.)

Trustee Area 1 (vote for 1)

Linda Cartwright, a veteran public school teacher, is competing with John Olsen, a Realtor.

Cartwright, who also is a past member of the PTA, has been very critical of the districts governing board, saying in a candidate statement, The District is currently facing a $5.7 million shortfall, with barely one years worth of reserves left.

Despite these fiscal difficulties, the current board majority voted to give the highest paid administrators  those earning in excess of $185,000 per year  a guaranteed 4 percent annual pay raise for each of the next eight years!

Olsen, who is currently vice president of the East County Economic Development Council, said in his statement his three goals will be modern skills and training for the workforce, opportunities for students and graduates, and partnerships with East County businesses.

Trustee Area 2 (vote for 1)

Bill Exeter, a small business owner, is competing against incumbent Debbie Justeson, a member of the districts board of governors.

I owe my success to my community college education, Exeter said in his candidate statement. My father went to a community college when he returned from the Korean War. My mother attended community college. I attended community college. We all went on to four-year colleges or universities.

I have 35 years of experience as a continuing education instructor, managing budgets, financial management and fiduciary responsibility.

Justeson describes herself as a lifelong educator committed to improving public education. I want to ensure community colleges remain affordable, providing college transfer and career training opportunities, especially for our veterans.

She currently teaches education at San Diego State University, and served as a part-time faculty member for 10 years in the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District.

Trustee Area 5 (vote for 1)

Brad Monroe, a community college professor, is competing against Teresa Rosiak-Profitt, a medical credentialing specialist.

Monroe describes himself as a veteran educator who was the founding chair of the ornamental horticulture programs at both Cuyamaca and Southwestern colleges. He also was named Faculty Member of the Year at Cuyamaca, and has done award-winning work in the green industry.

I am a career teacher seeking to ensure our East County students receive the college transfer preparation and workforce training needed to be successful members of our community, Monroe said in a candidate statement.

Rosiak-Profitt attended Grossmont College and later made an unsuccessful run for the mayors seat in Lemon Grove.

She says in her candidate statement, I want to cultivate a student-centered culture of excellence, trust, stewardship and service and to transform lives through learning. Our students deserve diverse learning opportunities that prepare them to meet the community needs, promote global responsibility and foster opportunities for all.

MIRACOSTA COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT

Trustee Area 1 (vote for 1)

Anna Pedroza is a veteran educator and administrator who is running unopposed, as an incumbent.

She was appointed to the schools board in September 2017 following the resignation of Jeanne Shannon.

I believe that my educational experience, as well as my knowledge of our community and its stakeholders, provides me with a unique lens to support the MiraCosta College Board in fulfilling its mission, Pedroza said when she was appointed to the post last year.

I look forward to collaborating with the MiraCosta College Board to create policy that supports the successful attainment of personal, academic, and professional goals of our students.

Trustee Area 2 (vote for 1)

Rick Cassar is a college professor and vice president of the board at MiraCosta. He is running against Harold Fairman IV, a student.

Cassar said that he has helped oversee a college that is student centered  Serving over 19,000 students and offering free tuition to all first-time freshmen throught the MiraCosta Promise .Fiscally solvent  Awarded the highest financial rating possible (AAA), while meeting pension liabilities and establishing a reserve in excess of 20-percent.

Fairman could not be reached for comment.

Trustee Area 6

David Broad is running unopposed as an incumbent member of the board. He has served as a trustee since December 2010. Broad has deep experience in the biotech industry, working for such companies as IDEC, and the Oceanside campus of Genentech where he served as general manager.

Broad helped the college create a biotech-certificate program to prepare studies for industry, and has been one of the colleges most active fundraisers.

Trustee Area 7

William Fischer, a district trustee, is competing against Steve Hasty, a local businessman.

I served as board president at a time when MiraCostas reputation was seriously impaired, working hard to restore the colleges credibility, Fischer said in a candidate statement.

Today, MiraCosta has an outstanding reputation. Its students win national scholarships, transfer at a high rate to 4-year colleges and are well prepared to find rewarding jobs in San Diegos high demand job markets.

Hasty counters in his candidate statement that MiraCosta is a first rate school but that many view it as simply a second-class pathway to a successful career that can only be achieved via a degree from a four-year university.

In fact, MiraCosta has several four-year degree programs, including a nursing degree, IT degree, and a biomedical manufacturing degree.

PALOMAR COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT

(Vote for 2)

Palomar College has the most crowded race, with five candidates competing for two seats. The candidates are:

Rose Marie Dishman, an education executive who previously worked as president of the DeVry Universitys Southern California operation.

My focus is on student satisfaction and life-enhancing experience for students from diverse backgrounds, Dishman said in a candidate statement.

Lee Dulgeroff is a senior executive in the San Diego Unified School District, where he focuses on school planning and construction projects.

Dulgeroff said he advocates for veterans, giving them educational choices so they can quickly enter the work force or transfer to universities.

Mark Evilsizer has been a member of the districts board of trustees for 16 years. He says he supports, Access to affordable higher education for all through the Palomar Promise; greater student transfer/graduation rates (and) technical training in cybersecurity.

Aimee Keith is a senior accounting associate at Quidel Corporation, a healthcare products manufacturer in San Diego.

She says on VotersEdge.org that her priorities are to: Engage students to identify areas where they struggle to meet their academic goals; Engage faculty to identify areas where they need to effect change; Create more opportunities for students to engage with local businesses and community partners.

Norma Miyamoto is a former adjunct journalism professor at MiraCosta College, and former dean of Arts, Media, Business and Computing Systems at Palomar College.

I am uniquely qualified, having worked as part- and full-time faculty, a classified employee, a temporary employee, mid-level academic director, and as an Instructional Dean, Miyamoto said on VoterEdge.org. I understand college operations, having served on the Presidents Cabinet, Instructional Planning Council, Curriculum Committee, and several other shared governance councils.

SOUTHWESTERN COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT

Seat 2 (vote for 1)

Nora Vargas is a member of Southwesterns board of governors.

Since becoming a board member, I have found that there is a need for a lot more support for the great work of the faculty, administrators, classified and students, Vargas told the nonpartisan website Runwomenrun.org.

In addition, the South Bay has had a lot of negative publicity and I got tired of everyone talking about the South Bay negatively  this is my community and this is where I live. I want to help Southwestern College move forward and past the negative scandals.

Seat 4 (vote for 1)

Leticia Cazares is an educator, and the City of Chula Vista Cultural Arts Commissioner.

She says she wants to help students by increasing access to high-quality debt-free education, maximizing resources for student programs, and strengthening pathways to high-paying jobs that will shape (the) South Bays economy.

Nicole Jones serves as dean of counseling services at Cuyamaca College.

She says on VotersEdge.org that her priorities are to: increase graduation rates for all Southwestern College students; strengthen partnerships with K-12 schools; foster equity, inclusion and mutual respect.

Tamara Rodriguez works as a chief operator officer at a private company

She says, I am running because I care about taxpayer money being used effectively, appropriately and transparently while achieving the goals of educational excellence.

I also care about veterans. My father served over 20 years in the Marine Corps. Proposition R was passed with promises made to veterans but resulted in a pay-for-play public corruption case. Then Proposition Z was passed to give the school more money. I believe every American student should have the best education. This starts with the board setting responsible goals, priorities and budgets.

Seat 5 (vote for 1)

Tim Nader is a member of Southwesterns board of governors, and a deputy attorney general in the California Attorney Generals office.

On his website, Nader says he has, Helped lead reform in a district that had been riddled with corruption, in which several former officials ultimately pled guilty to corruption charges. Received First Amendment Award from student newspaper for strong defense of constitutional rights.

Sources: Individual candidates websites, San Diego County Registrar of Voter statements, VotersEdge.org, Runwomenrun.org.

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IAs the city of San Diego makes progress in creating a plan to address homeless, it may be losing ground on a plan to open a center to help connect people living on the street with services.

San Diego City Councilman Chris Ward, vice chairman of the Regional Task Force on the Homeless and chair of the citys Select Committee on Homelessness, isnt convinced that the planned navigation center is necessary at this time.

He and fellow councilmember Barbara Bry said they would like to hold off on opening the center until a recently announced strategic plan is completed next summer.

Family Health Centers of San Diego has been selected to run the navigation center, and the City Council is tentatively scheduled to vote on a $1.8 million contract with the healthcare provider on Nov. 15.

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My gut tells me that the $1.8 million requested for operations this year is probably better spent elsewhere, Ward said.

In January, the City Council agreed to spend $7 million to buy the closed Indoor Skydiving building in East Village and convert it to a navigation center. Ward said he is fine with leaving it closed for now and possibly selling it in the future if its not needed.

Mayor Kevin Faulconer has long pushed for a center that would serve as a starting point to connect homeless people with housing, job-training, mental health counseling, substance abuse treatment and other services.

As the city follows a housing-first strategy, however, the navigation center is seen by some as putting the cart before the horse.

Housing-first calls for placing homeless people in stable housing before connecting them with services that address the causes of their homelessness, a strategy that has been called successful in Colorado, Massachusetts, Utah and other places.

San Diego has struggled with following the strategy because of a shortage of available, affordable housing.

Homeless advocate Michael McConnell also questioned whether the city should open a navigation center without knowing how it fits into a strategic plan to address homelessness.

The city has never had a formal strategic plan on homelessness, but one is in the works.

In response to a request from Ward, San Diego Housing Commission President and CEO Rick Gentry sent the councilman a memo on Oct. 16 announcing the commission was developing a plan with Ann Oliva, senior policy advisor to the CEO of the Corporation for Supportive Housing, a nationally recognized affordable housing consulting and planning agency.

According to the memo, a contract with Oliva is expected to be finalized by Nov. 15, and the plan would be presented to the City Council next July.

Objectives outlined in the memo include asking stakeholders for recommendations on how to leverage resources, identifying gaps in services, clarifying the citys actions and goals, and drafting a roadmap to a coordinated and multiyear commitment.

Ward said he wants to know where a navigation center fits in the plan.

We need to really hit the pause button and create, as fast as possible, a plan of action, he said. I want to know, if I have $1 million to allocate to something, how do I make the biggest difference in addressing homelessness?

Ward said the plan might call for a navigation center as a priority, but it also might call for more street outreach, more tented shelters or more permanent housing.

Bry also said she would not support the center until she sees a plan outlining why its needed.

Im a business woman, and from my past I know you need a plan before you go out and find money, she said. Its a shame its going to take so long, but we have a limited amount of money to spend and we need to make sure we spend every dollar wisely.

Ward and Bry also questioned whether more housing navigators are needed, since those already at work are having trouble finding homes because of the housing shortage.

Homeless Playlist  On Now San Diego hepatitis outbreak continues to grow: 481 cases On Now Homeless entrenched in booming tent city along Santa Ana River On Now San Diego mayor agreed to homeless hub, then delayed, advocates say On Now Homeless outreach in San Diego On Now Video: Street Art: Portraits of San Diego's Homeless #8 On Now In poverty himself, 'Water Man Dave,' is the fearless saint of San Diego's homeless 5:41 On Now Video: Homeless living in cars find safe havens 2:21 On Now Street Art: Portraits of San Diego's Homeless #7 On Now Pitching a tent plan for San Diego's homeless On Now Homeless efforts get $80M boost for various services

gary.warth@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @GaryWarthUT

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A gunman whos believed to have spewed anti-Semitic slurs and rhetoric on social media barged into a Pittsburgh synagogue on Saturday and opened fire, killing 11 people in one of the deadliest attacks on Jews in U.S. history.

The 20-minute attack at Tree of Life Congregation in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood left six others wounded, including four police officers who dashed to the scene, authorities said.

The suspect, Robert Bowers, traded gunfire with police and was shot several times. Bowers, who was in fair condition at a hospital, was charged late Saturday with 29 federal counts, including hate crimes and weapons offenses. It wasnt immediately known if Bowers had an attorney to speak on his behalf.

Please know that justice in this case will be swift and it will be severe, Scott Brady, the chief federal prosecutor in western Pennsylvania, said at a news conference, characterizing the slaughter as a terrible and unspeakable act of hate.

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The mass shooting came amid a rash of high-profile attacks in an increasingly divided country, one day after a Florida man was arrested and charged with mailing a series of pipe bombs to prominent Democrats and little more than a week before the midterm elections.

The killings also immediately reignited the longstanding national debate about guns: President Donald Trump said the outcome might have been different if the synagogue had some kind of protection from an armed guard, while Pennsylvanias Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf noted that once again dangerous weapons are putting our citizens in harms way.

Trump ordered flags at federal buildings throughout the U.S. to be flown at half-staff in solemn respect for the shooting victims. He said he planned to travel to Pittsburgh, but offered no details.

Authorities say that just before 10 a.m., Bower entered the large synagogue with an assault-style rifle and three handguns. Three separate congregations were conducting Sabbath services in different areas of the large building, according to Michael Eisenberg, the immediate past president of the Tree of Life. The Pennsylvania attorney generals office said it was told by victims that a brit milah  a ritual circumcision ceremony at which a baby boy also receives his Hebrew name  was also taking place, though law enforcement officials later said no children were among the dead or wounded.

It is a very horrific crime scene, said a visibly moved Wendell Hissrich, the Pittsburgh public safety director. Its one of the worst that Ive seen.

The survivors included Daniel Leger, 70, a nurse and hospital chaplain who was in critical condition after undergoing surgery, his brother, Paul Leger, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Daniel Leger was scheduled to lead a service Saturday morning, he said.

The mass shooting raised immediate alarm in Jewish communities around the country. Authorities in New York City, Chicago and elsewhere increased security at Jewish centers.

Bob Jones, head of the FBIs Pittsburgh office, said that worshippers were brutally murdered by a gunman targeting them simply because of their faith, though he cautioned the shooters full motive was not yet known.

Bowers, who had no apparent criminal record, expressed virulently anti-Semitic views on a social media site called Gab, according to an Associated Press review of an archived version of the posts made under his name. The cover photo for his account featured a neo-Nazi symbol, and his recent posts included a photo of a fiery oven like those used in Nazi concentration camps used to cremate Jews during World War II.

Other posts referenced false conspiracy theories suggesting the Holocaust  in which an estimated 6 million Jews perished  was a hoax. He wrote of a Jewish infestation, using a slur for Jews.

Gab confirmed Bowers had a profile on its website, which is popular with far-right extremists.

Before the shooting, the poster believed to be Bowers also wrote that HIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I cant sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, Im going in.

HIAS is a nonprofit group that helps refugees around the world find safety and freedom. The organization says it is guided by Jewish values and history.

Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive officer of the Anti-Defamation League, said the group believes Saturdays attack was the deadliest on the Jewish community in U.S. history.

Our hearts break for the families of those killed and injured at the Tree of Life Synagogue, and for the entire Jewish community of Pittsburgh, Greenblatt said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was heartbroken and appalled by the attack.

The entire people of Israel grieve with the families of the dead, Netanyahu said. We stand together with the Jewish community of Pittsburgh. We stand together with the American people in the face of this horrendous anti-Semitic brutality. And we all pray for the speedy recovery of the wounded.

Thousands of people, some holding candles, gathered for a vigil in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood on Saturday night in honor of the victims, whose names were not immediately released. A chant of vote, vote, vote broke out during the emotional gathering. Some attendees blamed the shooting on the nations political climate, and said they took little solace in the planned visit by Trump.

At a political rally in Murphysboro, Illinois, Trump said the evil anti-Semitic attack is an assault on all of us.

The president  who, at times, has been accused by critics of failing to adequately condemn hate, such as when he blamed both sides for the violence at a Charlottesville, Virginia, white supremacist rally in 2017  said that anti-Semitism must be confronted and condemned everywhere it rears it very ugly head. He called for the imposition of the death penalty for crimes like this.

The synagogue is located in the tree-lined residential neighborhood of Squirrel Hill, about 10 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh and the hub of Pittsburghs Jewish community. The facade of the fortress-like concrete building is punctuated by rows of swirling, modernistic stained-glass windows illustrating the story of creation, the acceptance of Gods law, the life cycle and how human-beings should care for the earth and one another, according to its website. Among its treasures is a Holocaust Torah, rescued from Czechoslovakia.

Its sanctuary can hold up to 1,250 people.

Eisenberg, the former synagogue president, said officials at Tree of Life had not gotten any threats that he knew of before the shooting. But he said security was a concern, and the synagogue had started working to improve it.

Chuck Diamond, a former rabbi at the synagogue who retired more than a year ago, said the building is locked during the week, and is outfitted with security cameras. But on Sabbath its an open door, he said.

You know, youre always worried that something would happen, said Myron Snider, head of the cemetery committee for New Light Congregation, which meets at Tree of Life. Snider just got out of the hospital on Thursday and missed Saturdays service.

But you never dream that it would happen like this, Snider added. Just never ever dream that it would happen like this.

Associated Press writers Eric Tucker and Michael Balsamo in Washington, Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia, Gene Puskar in Pittsburgh, Marc Levy in Harrisburg and Allen G. Breed in Raleigh, N.C., and Michael Kunzelman in Silver Spring, Maryland, contributed to this report.
When Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation to free slaves during the Civil War, it did not apply to Kentucky, a slave state that did not join the Confederacy.

But Elijah P. Marrs did not want to wait. He escaped slavery in September 1864 to join the Union Army in Louisville and told some of his fellow slaves, We might as well go.

If we staid at home we would be murdered, he wrote in his autobiography. If we joined the army and were slain in battle, we would at least die fighting for principle and freedom.

Marrs was one of about 10,000 African Americans who eventually came to Camp Nelson in central Kentucky, a Union Army depot during the Civil War that became a recruiting center for black soldiers and a refugee camp for their families. Saturday, the camp became the countrys latest national monument, the first area to gain the designation under President Trump.

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The story here is a story about fighting for freedom in a slave, Union state, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said at the ceremony. We dont hide from history. We learn from history. This history is an important part of the American history and story.

Camp Nelson encompassed about 4,000 acres and was used to train and supply the Army of the Ohio. Today, 525 acres have been preserved to include a museum and reconstructed buildings. Saturdays ceremony took place in a replica barracks, where two soldiers at a time squeezed into bunks atop straw mattresses. One of those soldiers was Jesse Comasuell Toll, according to his great-grandson Robert P. Gates Sr.

Gates attended Saturdays ceremony and opened it with prayer. He said his great-grandfather, who was born a free man but lived under the threat of slavery, lived at the camp and attended a church there. Gates is now pastor of that church, the Historic First Baptist Church of Camp Nelson.

They came here because it was closer to freedom than it was to go to Canada, he said.

Kentucky has a complicated Civil War history. It never officially joined the Confederacy, but it allowed slavery and was filled with Confederate sympathizers who attempted to set up a shadow government in the western part of the state. Confederate soldiers briefly occupied the state capital of Frankfort before Union forces took it back.

At a time in our country when there are divisions, this is the real story of America, U.S. Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) said.

Local officials have been trying to get Camp Nelson federal recognition for years. Its a long process, requiring the land to be transferred to the federal government and various other legal requirements. The timing of Saturdays ceremony was fortunate for Barr, who in just 10 days will be on the ballot for reelection in a competitive district. He faces a serious challenge from Democrat Amy McGrath, a retired Marine fighter pilot who has raised more money than he has.

Zinke, a former congressman from Montana before Trump appointed him to lead the Department of Interior, told reporters the designation was not timed to give Barr a boost heading into the election. He noted that he had worked with Barr on the issue when he was in Congress.

This is the right place, and it is above politics, Zinke said. This is red, white and blue.
A man with a history of posting anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant social media messages burst into a synagogue in Pittsburgh and opened fire on Saturday morning services that included a baby-naming ceremony, killing 11 people and wounding six more, authorities said.

The shooting, which began shortly before 10 a.m., was probably the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the history of the United States and marks a worrying new peak in violence against Jewish Americans in recent years, according to the Anti-Defamation League, which has monitored anti-Semitism in the U.S. for more than a century.

It came just days after a flurry of explosive devices were mailed to prominent Democrats and other critics of President Trump, further ratcheting up a sense of tension in the nation in the closing weeks of an intense midterm election campaign.

Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions said federal prosecutors, who are investigating the killings as a hate crime, could seek the death penalty against the suspected shooter, who is in custody.

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The shooting unfolded over 20 minutes at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburghs placid Squirrel Hill neighborhood, known locally for being the historical hub of the citys Jewish community; many residents had decorated their lawns in preparation for Halloween.

The gunman, identified as Robert Bowers, 46, of Pittsburgh, was armed with an assault rifle and three handguns, officials said.

The assailant wounded two of the first officers who arrived at the scene as he tried to leave, and later wounded two SWAT officers inside the synagogue before he was shot and taken into custody, officials said.

During negotiations for Bowers surrender, an officer at the scene radioed that Bowers was saying that all these Jews need to die.

Bowers had a history of making anti-Semitic posts on social media, and he had apparently signaled his plans to attack the synagogue in a post 17 days ago on Gab, a small social media service that is popular with white nationalists.

On Oct. 10, an account bearing Bowers name posted a link to the website for HIAS, a refugee agency that was originally founded to assist Jews but that has expanded its work to include aid to refugees from around the world. The link Bowers shared included a list of congregations partnering with HIAS, including Pittsburghs Dor Hadash congregation  which holds services in the Tree of Life building.

We appreciate the list of friends you have provided, Bowers wrote on Gab.

Saturday morning at 9:49, Bowers published another post: HIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I cant sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, Im going in.

Five minutes later, police received their first 911 call reporting a shooting inside Tree of Life Synagogue.

The suspect remained hospitalized as of Saturday afternoon. He was charged in the evening with 29 counts of violence and firearms violations as rattled public officials vowed swift and severe justice. The charges included 11 counts of obstruction of exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death.

Bob Jones, the FBI special agent in charge of the Pittsburgh office, called the shooting the most horrific crime scene Ive seen in 22 years with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Members of the Tree of Life Synagogue conducting a peaceful service in their place of worship were brutally murdered by a gunman targeting them simply because of their faith, he said.

Because the shooting is being treated as a hate crime, the FBI quickly took charge of the investigation, coordinating with local law enforcement, authorities said.

Bowers probably acted alone and had no known criminal record, Jones said.

Law enforcement officials familiar with the case confirmed that they believe the social media posts were made by the shooting suspect.

Bowers reference to optics in the Saturday morning post is a significant one within the small world of white nationalists, signaling that the suspect had a familiarity with the political dynamics of the American white nationalist movement. It alludes to debate among far-right figures over whether to avoid violence or aggression, which often draws negative attention to the movement from the general public.

1 / 13 Mourners view a row of flowers at a memorial for the victims of the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh on Sunday. (Matt Rourke / Associated Press) 2 / 13 From left, Kate Rothstein looks on as Tammy Hepps hugs Simone Rothstein, 16, on the intersection of Shady Avenue and Northumberland Street after multiple people were shot at The Tree of Life Congregation synagogue. (Alexandra Wimley / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) 3 / 13 People hold candles as they gather for a vigil in the aftermath of a deadly shooting at the Tree of Life Congregation, in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh. (Matt Rourke / AP) 4 / 13 First responders outside the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, where a shooter opened fire Saturday morning. (Gene J. Puskar / Associated Press) 5 / 13 Rapid reaction SWAT members leave the scene of a mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh (Jeff Swensen / Getty Images) 6 / 13 This image widely distributed by US media on October 27, 2018 shows a Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) ID picture of Robert Bowers, the suspect of the attack at the Tree of Life synagogue during a baby naming ceremony in Pittsburgh, Pensylvania. (AFP/Getty Images) 7 / 13 Supporters of President Donald Trump listen as the victims of todays shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh are remembered in prayer at the start of a rally at the Southern Illinois Airport where Trump is scheduled to speak. (Scott Olson / Getty Images) 8 / 13 Police escort a man from the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh after a shooting Saturday morning. (Alexandra Wimley / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) 9 / 13 President Donald Trump speaks to reporters about a shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue at Indianapolis International Airport. (Andrew Harnik / AP) 10 / 13 Police run toward the Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh after a shooting Saturday morning. (Jeff Swensen / Getty Images) 11 / 13 Amanda Godley, right, joins others in a hug after the shooting at Tree of Life Synagogue. (Andrew Stein / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) 12 / 13 Neighborhood residents talk to the media after Saturdays shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. (Jeff Swensen / Getty Images) 13 / 13 A SWAT team arrives at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, where a shooter killed multiple people. (Gene J. Puskar / Associated Press)

Mark Hetfield, chief executive of HIAS, said he was in a state of shock to hear that his organization was named by the shooter.

Its horrible, Hetfield said. The refugee resettlement group had organized a refugee Shabbat event last week at which more than 300 synagogues across the country came together to celebrate our tradition of welcoming refugees. He said it was unclear whether the Pittsburgh synagogue had participated.

Its horrible that refugees are fleeing for aid, and the Jewish community is doing so much to embrace them and then this tragedy unfolds.

HIAS, founded in 1881 as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society to assist Jews fleeing persecution in Russia, since 2000 has served a broad range of refugees of all faiths from around the world, helping them resettle in the U.S.

President Trump, in his first comment to reporters on the shooting, called for armed guards at synagogues and implied that lax security by the synagogue was at least partially to blame for the high death toll.

If they had protection inside, the results would have been far better, he said. If there was an armed guard inside the temple, they would have been able to stop him, maybe there would have been nobody killed, except for him, frankly.

Local officials said they were unaware of any security hired by the synagogue.

Jeff Finkelstein of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh said local synagogues have done lots of training on things like active shooters, and weve looked at hardening facilities as much as possible.

This should not be happening, period, he told reporters at the scene. This should not be happening in a synagogue.

Trump called the attack an anti-Semitic act that shocked and stunned the nation and the world.

It looks definitely like its an anti-Semitic crime. That is something you wouldnt believe could still be going on, he told reporters when he arrived in Indianapolis for a speech.

Later, reading from a prompter while addressing the Future Farmers of America, Trump said: Today with one unified voice we condemn the historic evil of anti-Semitism and every other form of evil.

The president later issued an order calling for the American flag to be flown at half staff at all federal buildings through Oct. 31.

Despite Trumps reference to anti-Semitism as something relegated to the past, the ADL reported earlier this year that anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S. rose 57% in 2017  the largest single-year increase on record and the second-highest number reported since ADL started tracking such data in 1979.

Although small by the standards of Los Angeles or New York, the Jewish community in Pittsburgh is one of the nations oldest, and Squirrel Hill, a tree-lined residential neighborhood about 10 minutes east of downtown, has been its hub since the 1930s.

About a quarter of the metropolitan regions Jewish population, estimated at roughly 50,000, lives in the neighborhood, according to a study released earlier this year by Pittsburghs Jewish Federation.

The synagogue is a large concrete building, its facade punctuated by rows of swirling, modernistic stained-glass windows. Among its treasures is a Holocaust Torah, rescued from the former Czechoslovakia, according to its website. Its sanctuary can hold up to 1,250, although on a typical Saturday, attendance would be much lower.

Several hours after the shooting, a sharp smell of match strikes wafted over a crowd of several hundred, many holding candles, as they gathered a few blocks from the synagogue for a vigil organized by local high school students.

Christian Nutini, 43, who lives near the synagogue, brought his children. The youngest sat on his shoulders holding a handwritten cardboard sign that said hate and violence are not the answer.

He still didnt know whether he knew anyone who was in the synagogue, but said he spent the day texting friends in the neighborhood.

As of right now, I dont know, Nutini said. But in a tight-knit community like Squirrel Hill, I guarantee well know somebody who knows somebody.

Jonathan Nadle, 53, of the Beechview neighborhood, said he had gone to donate blood earlier in the day, but so many people had shown up that the clinic had a two-hour wait.

He said hed go back tomorrow, and attended Saturdays vigil instead. You want to do something because you feel kind of helpless, he said.

Stuart Hoffman, 69, of Fox Chapel said he grew up going to the synagogue.

Squirrel Hill is the beating heart of the Jewish community of Pittsburgh, he said. Its a wound to the heart.

(Paul Duginski)

Earlier in the day, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf called the shooting an absolute tragedy.

We must all pray and hope for no more loss of life, Wolf said. But we have been saying this one is too many for far too long. Dangerous weapons are putting our citizens in harms way.

The banner image on the Gab account with Bowers name featured the number 1488, a reference to the 14 words embraced by white nationalists  commonly known as we must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children  along with 88, which is numerical code for HH, or Heil Hitler.

A spokeswoman for the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors extremists, said, however, that the suspect was not on our radar before the attack.

The shooting is likely to draw attention to Gab, a service that has repeatedly drawn controversy over the last year for its willingness to allow white nationalists and neo-Nazis who have been banned from more mainstream platforms such as Twitter. After the shooting, the payment processing service PayPal cut off its relationship with the social media site.

Gab said in a statement that it was saddened and disgusted by the news of violence in Pittsburgh, and said it has a zero tolerance policy for terrorism and violence on the service.

The service, which has often been criticized for hosting far-right users, also preemptively defended itself from another expected wave of public criticism after the shooting.

We refused to be defined by the medias narratives about Gab and our community, saying the services mission is to defend free expression and individual liberty online for all people.

Gab said it took proactive action to immediately contact law enforcement, including the FBI, and that we are ready and willing to work with law enforcement to see that justice is served.

Wire reported from Pittsburgh and Pearce from Los Angeles. Times staff writers Jaweed Kaleem in Los Angeles and Jackie Calmes, David G. Savage and Del Quentin Wilber in Washington contributed to this report.

UPDATES:

7:25 p.m.: This article was updated with charges filed and Trump ordering flags to be flown at half-staff.

5:10 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from a vigil in Pittsburgh and additional details on the suspects social media posts.

2:50 p.m.: This article was updated with Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions saying prosecutors could seek the death penalty and additional details.

1:05 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details and a statement from the Anti-Defamation League.

12:15 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details on casualties and an additional statement by President Trump.

11 a.m.: This article was updated with staff reporting, and comments fom the Pittsburgh public safety director.

9:45 a.m.: This article was updated with comment from the Pittsburgh mayor and Pennsylvania governor.

8:45 a.m.: This article was updated with the suspect in custody.

This article was originally published at 8:10 a.m.
A Texas creep has been busted after revealing to an undercover cop he desired to have sex with an underage girl, murder her and then eat her remains.

Alexander Barter, 21, was arrested Oct. 19, after his conversation with the incognito official, reported KTRE.

The Houston-area TV station cites an affidavit indicating the Joaquin resident skulked through the dark web in search of a willing abettor who who would permit him to indulge his revolting necrophiliac and cannibalistic fantasy.

Barters alleged posting was found by a Texas Department of Public Safety officer who played along with his ghastly request. After the unidentified official contacted the would-be fiend, he allegedly replied, How old is your daughter? Can we kill her?

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After a series of back-and-forth correspondences, Barter arranged to meet the daughter and father for a hiking trip that would be the source of the potential assault, murder and cannibalizing of the girl.

But instead of enjoying his warped dream, he was rudely taken into custody by law enforcement.

The affidavit mentioned Barter confirmed he was the man behind the gross emails.

Hopefully, this will serve as a continued reminder that parents should always be vigilant and aware of what their children are doing on the Internet, said Shelby County District Attorney Stephen Shires. I hope it also gives folks some comfort to know that there are also good guys at work  highly trained, highly capable individuals protecting us.

Barter faces up to a 20-year sentence if found guilty, reported KTRE.
The family of a 26-year-old black man killed by a former Dallas police officer in his own apartment filed a lawsuit against that city and the cop who shot him.

Fired Dallas police officer Amber Guyger admitted to killing Botham Jean on Sept. 6 in his South Side Flats apartment unit  which is located exactly one floor above her own. The officer, fresh off a 13-hour shift and still wearing her uniform, said she mistakenly entered the apartment thinking it was her own and then fired off two shots at Jean, who she said she believed to be a burglar.

A federal lawsuit filed Friday alleges Guyger used excessive force in shooting Jean and ultimately violated his constitutional rights. It also contends the police department did not adequately train Guyger and claims Dallas Police Chief U. Renee Hall, the City Council and the city manager failed to implement and enforce such policies, practices and procedure that would have protected Jean.

By simply following proper police procedures and the best police practices and not the protocol of the DPD to shoot first and ask questions later, Defendant Guyger would have not shot Jean, the lawsuit argues.

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This file booking photo taken on Sept. 10, 2018 shows then- Dallas Police Department officer officer Amber Guyger. (HO / AFP/Getty Images)

Essentially Officer Guyger was ill-trained, and as a result, defaulted to the defective DPD policy: to use deadly force even when there exist no immediate threat of harm to themselves or others.

Guyger could have walked back out of the apartment and called for back-up. Instead, she opted to use her service weapon.

The suit argues its part of a widespread problem for Dallas police officers, who have demonstrated a pattern, practice history and custom of using excessive force against minorities, including approaching them with guns drawn.

Guyger, 30, turned herself a day after the shooting and was charged with manslaughter. She was also later fired from the police department.

In an arrest affidavit prepared by a Texas Ranger, Guyger denied there was any malicious intent in the incident and instead claimed she was a startled resident trying to protect what she believed to be her home. The door to Jeans apartment was ajar when she arrived around 10 p.m. and the former officer failed to realize she was not in her own apartment unit.

When she saw a figure approaching her in the dark, she pulled out her gun and fired, according to the document.

The attorney representing Jeans family, Lee Merritt, has repeatedly cast doubt on the Guygers version of events. He has said he has two independent witnesses that told him they heard knocking on Jeans door ahead of the gunfire.

The lawsuit additionally questions how Guyger did not notice she was on the wrong floor and the in the wrong apartment. Jean lived on the fourth floor while she lived on the third.

Jean had a red mat in front of his door while Guyger did not.

Whats more, the lawsuit argues Guyger should have recognized that her key did not chime when she inserted it into the electronic lock, as it would have if it were her own apartment.

The door would have not produced the identical chime Defendant Guyger hears daily at her apartment, which would indicate to a reasonable police officer that she had entered her key in to the wrong keyhole if that is indeed what happened, the suit reads.

In fact, the light above the keyhole would have flashed red, indicating to Defendant Guyger that her key did not match the lock when she was attempting to access.

The lawsuit is not seeking a dollar amount, only answers and compensation for their respective damages.
Sen. Bernie Sanders praised California for embracing the progressive ideals he championed in 2016 in places much like the college campus where he campaigned Friday for more than a dozen Southern California candidates.

Three years ago, $15 minimum wage and a union seemed like a radical idea. Today, it is spreading right here in California, he said at MiraCosta College in Northern San Diego County. Thank you, California.

The independent Vermont senators appearance was part of a nine-state campaign-style swing that extends his 2016 presidential bid and catapults him toward an expected reprise run in 2020. Though he fell short in 2016, Sanders gave prominence to several issues  income inequality, universal healthcare, student debt  that continue to resonate in this years election.

Sanders recalled his 2016 campaign and mentioned another politician who tends to reminisce about past elections, calling President Trump a pathological liar.

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He says one thing today and something very different tomorrow, Sanders said.

He encouraged the young voters in the Oceanside audience, along with union members and others, to cast their votes in the midterm election as a check on Trump.

Brothers and sisters, a week from Tuesday will be the most important midterm election, perhaps in the history of our country, and that election will determine whether or not Donald Trump continues to do his things unchecked by either the House or the Senate, Sanders said. We cannot allow that to happen. Please, in the next week, do everything you can do to bring your friends to vote.

Sanders appeared alongside Mike Levin, the Democratic nominee for Californias 49th Congressional District; State Sen. Kevin de Leon, who is challenging U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein; and a dozen progressive candidates running for county and state-level seats.

Levin was the only candidate Sanders mentioned by name, praising him as a champion of working families. Levin is running against Republican Diane Harkey for a seat that GOP Rep. Darrell Issa is vacating. That race, in a district that spans south Orange County and northern San Diego County, is one of seven in California where Democrats have a chance to flip a Republican-held seat and help the party gain a majority in the House.

Democratic House candidate Mike Levin speaks to the crowd at MiraCosta College gymnasium in Oceanside during a rally Friday. (John Gastaldo / For The Times)

Levin painted a dark future if the students in the gymnasium dont vote Nov. 6: You stay home on election day, and Republicans stay in charge, and your healthcare gets taken away and your student loans become more impossible to pay off.  You feel more unseen, more unheard. Your faith in your country dims.

Id like to offer you a very different future. In this one, you take the time to vote and you get your friends to vote, and we flip the House, he said. Suddenly government is fighting to protect your healthcare and your environment. Government is valuing your education and helping you to manage those onerous student loans. Government suddenly becomes a lot less corrupt and a lot more humane.

An overflow crowd at the event hosted by California Young Democrats, open to registered voters, was treated to a brief stump speech by Sanders before he went on to address the 1,500 people inside the colleges gymnasium.

Sanders hasnt always had success transferring his continued popularity within the partys left wing to other candidates. His most prominent victory came in Florida, where his support helped lift Democrat Andrew Gillum to an upset primary win in August in the governors race.

Elsewhere, however, many Sanders-backed candidates have fallen short and his campaign spinoff, Our Revolution, has not been the force for progressive advocacy its adherents had hoped.

Sanders will end his campaign swing Saturday in Berkeley alongside Oakland Rep. Barbara Lee, who announced in July that she would seek to lead the Democratic Caucus.

Staff writer Mark Barabak contributed to this report.

maya.sweedler@latimes.com

Twitter: @mayasweedler
A retired Navy secretary has endorsed Ammar Campa-Najjar as the next congressman from the 50th District, citing incumbent Rep. Duncan Hunters attacks on his challenger as a primary concern.

Secretary of the Navy John H. Dalton, who served under former President Bill Clinton, announced his support for Campa-Najjar on Friday. He said the Democratic challenger is better suited for the job than the Republican incumbent, a Marine veteran.

As a former naval officer and Secretary of the Navy, I know first-hand that America is at its best when we treat one another with dignity and respect, regardless of our differences, Dalton wrote in his endorsement message, which was widely shared by the Campa-Najjar campaign. I find it regrettable that his opponent has engaged in attacks against Ammar Campa-Najjar based on his race and heritage.

Hunter campaign spokesman Michael Harrison belittled the political nod in an email Friday.

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The congressman believes the endorsement from one of the leading Navy officials who was complicit in the deterioration of our Navy during the Clinton Administration is yet another example that our opponent clearly lacks the qualifications and judgment to understand what is necessary for Americas national security, he said.

It should come as no surprise that Ammar Najjar, with no personal or direct military experience and as someone who equates his growing up in Gaza as a means of understanding the sacrifice of combat veterans, would seek legitimacy through the approval of political appointees, he added.

Hunter, a Republican from Alpine seeking his sixth term in Congress, was indicted in August with his wife, Margaret, on 60 criminal counts of misusing more than $250,000 in campaign funds and filing false records to try and cover up the crimes.

Both the congressman and his wife pleaded not guilty to all charges and are awaiting trial in U.S. District Court in San Diego.

Hunter has been accused of conducting a misleading campaign against Campa-Najjar, emphasizing his Palestinian roots and calling him a national security threat based on his heritage. The Democratic candidate, who lives in Jamul, is a Christian who received FBI clearance to serve in the administration of former President Barack Obama.

Dalton, who served as Navy secretary from 1993 to 1998, said Campa-Najjars personal story would be an asset to the nations legislative body.

Attacks against ones heritage are not tolerated in the United States military, and they have no place in Congress or American politics, he said. I believe that Ammars background and his desire to serve others in Congress reflect the very best of the American story.

A former U.S. marine and reservist, Hunter was first elected to Congress in 2008. He succeeded his father, also named Duncan Hunter, who previously served 14 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The 50th District stretches from east San Diego County to the Imperial County line and north into Riverside County. It has been a safe Republican district for decades but polls show the race between Hunter and Campa-Najjar is close.

jeff.mcdonald@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1708 @sdutMcDonald
Two progressive Democrats with different kinds of political experience are battling to replace Democrat David Alvarez on the San Diego City Council representing District 8, which includes Barrio Logan, Otay Mesa and San Ysidro.

Longtime Alvarez staffer Vivian Moreno is running on her City Hall experience, knowledge of complex international border issues and what she calls a track record of success for Alvarez, who cant run for re-election because of term limits.

San Ysidro school board member Antonio Martinez says Moreno is out of touch with ordinary residents and too friendly with downtown developers. And he says Alvarez has a spotty track record that is making residents crave a change.

Moreno easily took first place in the June primary and Martinez narrowly made the Nov. 6 runoff by three votes over fellow Democrat Christian Ramirez. Since then, Martinez has been endorsed by Ramirez and the county Democratic Party.

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The party endorsement matters more in this race than most, because registered Democrats outnumbered registered Republicans in District 8 by a margin of 33,000 to 9,000 as of Oct. 3.

Martinez said by phone this week that its time for new leadership in the district, contending City Hall has neglected the mostly low-income area for too long.

I think people want change, and with Vivian it will be the exact same thing, he said.

While David and his team have good hearts, a lot hasnt been done in District 8 because of personalities, Martinez said. I want to come in with a clean slate. I want to be a consensus builder and work with the other council members to make sure District 8 gets its fair share.

In contrast, Moreno says her experience is a major strength.

When Im elected there wont be a transition period -- we will hit the ground running, she said by phone this week.

Moreno said the districts new representative will need to thoroughly understand complex border issues and other detailed policy challenges that she has spent the last eight years analyzing.

She also contends Alvarez has accomplished many key goals, including revitalization of commercial corridors, a new library branch in San Ysidro and the first new park in District 8 in three decades.

The councilman has been fighting tooth and nail for us to get our fair share and Im going to continue that, she said.

Moreno also notes that the county grand jury issued a report criticizing Martinez and the rest of the San Ysidro school board for a lack of fiduciary knowledge that allowed malfeasance by staff.

I would put my track record up against my opponents any day of the week, Moreno said.

Martinez says Moreno frequently talks about accomplishments and her ambitions to bring high-quality jobs to Otay Mesa, which has the most available industrial acreage of any community in the city by far.

But he contends that essentially nothing has changed since Alvarez was elected in 2010.

Shes been there almost eight years and I havent seen any difference, he said. If they had something planned, they should have done it already.

Martinez also criticizes Alvarez for frequently bickering with Democrat Party leaders and Republican Mayor Kevin Faulconer, battles he contends have cost District 8 politically.

Moreno said she has strong relationships with party leaders, despite their endorsement of Martinez, and noted that she recently met with members of Faulconers staff.

We agreed that were not going to agree on everything, but Im a very different person than Councilman Alvarez, Moreno said.

She also contends its time for the South Bay to have a female council representative for the first time in 32 years.

Its time to have a woman in office, she said. Its been a little too long -- we are 51 percent of the population.

Martinez says he has much stronger connections with the community that he would represent. Hes a lifelong San Ysidro resident, serves on the school board and has worked at a community health clinic in Nestor for the last 10 years.

I could easily count the number of times Ive actually seen her in the community, he said.

Moreno notes that she is also a lifelong resident of District 8 and owns a condo in San Ysidro.

Martinez criticizes Moreno for taking a large number of campaign contributions from downtown developers. She says that wont distract her from fighting for ordinary residents in her district.

They are going to try to find anything they can to hit me, and thats fine, she said.

Moreno has significantly out-raised and out-spent Martinez. She has collected $161,000 this year, compared to $76,000 for Martinez, and she has spent $211,000, compared to $129,000 for Martinez.

But during the most recent reporting period, Sept. 23 to Oct. 20, Moreno only outspent Martinez $57,000 to $44,000.

Martinez, 33, and Moreno, 36, both live in San Ysidro.

david.garrick@sduniontribune.com (619) 269-8906 Twitter:@UTDavidGarrick
Their voices rose up by the hundreds into a mighty chorus they hoped would be heard all the way to Washington, D.C.

Trans rights are human rights, rang the rally cry, again and again.

A cavalcade of transgender people and their supporters convened at the County Administration Center in downtown San Diego Saturday morning, then marched into Little Italy and back to Waterfront Park to spread their message that they will not be erased.

San Diego police estimated the gathering drew as many as 500 people.

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The protest and rally was a response to a report in The New York Times earlier this week that the Trump administration is working to narrow the governments definition of gender to male and female. The move would roll back President Barack Obamas effort to classify 1 million or more Americans who do not identify as male or female.

They want to change the definition of gender so its defined at birth by genitalia, said Jae Red Rose, one of the march organizers who said she identifies as a nonbinary girl. You cant define our bodies.

Organized in the span of just a few days, the protest took the name Wont Be Erased, a reference to a proposal from the U.S. Health and Human Services Department that would strictly limit Americans gender selections.

The narrower designation is needed to clarify government policies and practices, officials said.

Sex means a persons status as male or female based on immutable biological traits identifiable by or before birth, the memo stated. The sex listed on a persons birth certificate, as originally issued, shall constitute definitive proof of a persons sex unless rebutted by reliable genetic evidence.

When asked by the White House press pool about the memo and his promise to protect the LGBTQ community on Monday, Trump answered: You know what Im doing? Im protecting everybody. I want to protect our country.

The policy change could lead to health coverage and other services being pared back for transgender people and other members of the LGBTQ community, protesters said.

If enacted across the federal government, the policy also would affect everything from public schools to prisons and the military. The Trump administration is in court now seeking to ban openly transgender people from the U.S. armed services.

Organizers of the Saturday protest arranged for lawyers to be on hand in case demonstrators rights were violated. They also secured medics in case of emergency, but the protest came off without incident.

1 / 14 Members of the LBGT community and their supporters march on West Cedar Street just before crossing Pacific Highway during the Wont Be Erased March and Rally. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 2 / 14 Members of the LBGT community and their supporters start the Wont Be Erased March and Rally in front of the San Diego County Administration Center. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 3 / 14 Syra Evans, one of the organizers of the event, speaks to members of the LBGT community and their supporters as the Wont Be Erased March makes a temporary stop on India Street in Little Italy. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 4 / 14 People look and take pictures while watching demonstrators with the Wont Be Erased March and Rally make their way north on India Street in Little Italy. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 5 / 14 People participating in the Wont Be Erased March and Rally cheer as they listen to speakers while they march on India Street in Little Italy. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 6 / 14 Jae Red Rose, center, one of the organizers of the event, uses a loudspeaker to lead the crowd in chants as they march on India Street in Little Italy during the Wont Be Erased March and Rally. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 7 / 14 Donna Michalek holds a sign while sitting in a car as members of the LBGT community and their supporters march past her on India Street in Little Italy during the Wont Be Erased March and Rally. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 8 / 14 Members of the LBGT community and their supporters turn on to West Cedar Street from India Street during the Wont Be Erased March and Rally. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 9 / 14 Members of the LBGT community and their supporters cross Pacific Highway after marching down West Cedar Street during the Wont Be Erased March and Rally. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 10 / 14 Wesley Palau chants slogans during the Wont Be Erased March and Rally. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 11 / 14 With the Star of India in the background, members of the LBGT community and their supporters march through Waterfront Park during the Wont Be Erased March and Rally. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 12 / 14 Lianna Schechter, who is with the Unite Here Local 30 union, speaks during the Wont Be Erased March and Rally at Waterfront Park. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 13 / 14 Dr. Diane Fernandez, left, and partner Dr. Laramie Smith attend the Wont Be Erased March and Rally at Waterfront Park. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune) 14 / 14 Elijah Riddle holds a sign as he and Clark Bactad, right, attend the Wont Be Erased March and Rally at Waterfront Park. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune)

This is about fighting for all our rights, said Pamuela Halliwell, a therapist from Hillcrest and transgender woman. As a trans person myself, my rights shouldnt be erased by someone else. Its not about checking a box (on a government form). My gender is part of my identity.

Tom McCammon, a retired U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission director from North Park who was marching along Pacific Highway, said the Health and Human Services policy would legally erase people who do not identify strictly as male or female.

What will happen is transgender people will no longer have access to health services like surgery or counseling, and thats just the tip of the iceberg, he said. The memo will next go to the Department of Education and to Justice, which would lead to discrimination in education or at their jobs.

My job was to stamp out discrimination, McCammon said about why he chose to participate. Now the government seems to be taking the position that its OK to stamp out peoples rights. This is contrary to everything Ive ever worked for.

With signs bearing messages such as Trans Lives Matter and Respect My Existence or Expect My Resistance, marchers wound their way up Cedar Street into Little Italy, where the popular weekend farmers market was underway.

The crowd stretched two blocks or more and 10 to 20 people wide as San Diego police stopped traffic as the protesters moved forward. Some drivers honked their horns in support for the cause while residents of the condominiums watched from their balconies.

Dominic De Los Reyes said the demonstration was a way to let the government  and the public at large  know that thousands of people stand ready to protect the civil rights that transgender people have secured in recent years.

The effect of the government discriminating against us is it makes it harder to get access to things we need, like jobs, housing and medical care, said De Los Reyes, a youth counselor from Barrio Logan who identifies as a nonbinary transmasculine person.

We are responding to the memo because we dont want people to think they can bully us, De Los Reyes said. We have a lot of allies, and thats what we are doing today.

Outside the County Administration Center after the march, speakers implored people to stay vigilant against any erosion of protections for vulnerable populations.

The event Saturday followed a Wont Be Erased teach-in Friday night in Hillcrest.

jeff.mcdonald@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1708 @sdutMcDonald
San Diegos most hotly contested City Council race features Dr. Jennifer Campbell trying to unseat incumbent Lorie Zapf in District 2, which includes Point Loma, the citys beaches and a slice of western Clairemont.

The race is nonpartisan, although party politics play a role in campaigns and governance. If Campbell wins, the outcome could shift the balance of power in favor of Democrats at City Hall. The race has featured aggressive spending on behalf of Campbell by local labor unions and aggressive spending on behalf of Zapf, a Republican, by local business groups.

That spending has stuffed many mailboxes in District 2 with fliers supporting and attacking each of the two women, who both live in the Bay Ho section of Clairemont.

A slew of mailers sent on behalf of Zapf attack Campbell, a retired doctor, for allegedly committing disability fraud. Campbell says the charge is inaccurate and that the mailers are misleading.

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Mailers from the other side attack Zapf as a Republican aligned with President Donald Trump who is out of touch with the left-leaning district, where registered Democrats outnumbered registered Republicans 32,000 to 22,000 as of Oct. 3.

Zapf says those mailers are unethical political rhetoric, asserting that she is a moderate Republican who has championed a variety of environmental causes while in office.

A Campbell win in the Nov. 6 runoff would increase the Democrats 5-4 council majority to 6-3, which would allow overrides of vetoes by Republican Mayor Kevin Faulconer on contentious issues.

Zapf said thats why the race has been targeted by labor groups, particularly the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council.

Its all about taking over supermajority control of the City Council -- thats why the labor council is sending out all these hit pieces, Zapf said by phone this week. They are just using and manipulating the public for their own power grab.

Zapf said portraying her as a Trump Republican is both inaccurate and a disservice to voters, who want a council representative focused on filling potholes and making neighborhoods safe, not one focused on federal issues.

Thats just nothing but political rhetoric, she said. This is what theyre doing to anyone who happens to be a Republican.

Campbell, however, says voters need to know that Zapfs positions on many issues differ with the majority of the district.

She does not reflect the values of District 2 at all -- or San Diego, Campbell said by phone this week. This city is blue. This city is pro-family and pro-worker and pro-equality and pro-environment.

Campbell also notes that Zapf has been the councils most tepid supporter of marijuana legalization.

Zapf fought four years ago to limit the number of dispensaries in the city and she was on the short end of a 6-3 vote last winter in favor of legalizing a local supply chain, including indoor pot farms and factories for edibles.

Because nearly 70 percent of District 2 voters supported the November 2016 state measure legalizing recreational marijuana, Campbell said its clear Zapf doesnt reflect the values of her constituents.

Zapf, whose focus has been more on safety than making marijuana illegal, notes that she voted to allow dispensaries in the city.

Regarding her connection to the community, Zapf said its far superior to Campbell.

Shes not a community person, Zapf said of Campbell. If she was, clearly I would have seen her at at least one event over the years. At a recent event she attended I heard someone say I guess Jen Campbell finally found Pacific Beach.

While Campbell doesnt pretend she was a community activist before running for council, she did serve a term on the Clairemont Town Council.

Zapf said she has strong support in the community because she helps ordinary residents solve problems that affect their everyday lives, such as safety in parks and places near the beach where more police or security cameras are needed.

Ive been working with the community solving problems for the last eight years, she said. Im part of the fabric of the community -- my children were born and raised here.

Campbell is also criticizing Zapf for taking advantage of a term limits loophole to seek a third term despite a city law limiting candidates to two terms.

Zapf is eligible for a third term this year because her Bay Ho home shifted from District 6 to District 2 during her first term in office in 2011, when boundary lines were re-drawn  something that happens every 10 years with a new census.

The idea is that the clock re-sets when a candidate shifts into a new council office.

Zapf served four years in District 6, is now serving her fourth year in District 2 and is seeking another four-year term in District 2.

Campbell also says she would be superior to Zapf at building coalitions and studying best practices from around the nation to solve problems in San Diego.

As an academic, I like to study solutions, she said. I think the council needs a doctor, and I think the council needs a scientist.

Campbell, who has been endorsed by several environmental groups, has also attacked Zapf as weak on such issues.

Zapf said thats false, noting that she recently voted in favor of the citys ban on polystyrene and previously supported a plastic bag ban.

Campbell called the fliers accusing her of disability fraud mudslinging and misleading.

The mailers say Campbell was sued after committing disability fraud and eventually signed a secret settlement and returned to work.

Campbell was the subject of a federal lawsuit over disability payments, but says the mailer significantly distorts the nature of the litigation and that she did nothing wrong or out of the ordinary.

The company simply wanted a judge to determine how much Campbell was entitled to, Campbells campaign says.

Zapf says the litigation was prompted by Campbell resuming work but still trying to receive hefty disability payments.

Why is it slinging mud to point out the truth? Zapf asked. How is it that she is out there walking precincts and says she can serve on the City Council when she is totally disabled?

Even without the spending by independent committees supported by labor and business groups, the two women would be putting on a fierce campaign.

Campbell has spent $286,000 on the race, while Zapf has spent $408,000. Between Sept. 23 and Oct. 20  the most recent reporting period  Zapf outspent Campbell nearly four to one: $196,000 to $51,000. Those figures dont include several hundred thousand dollars spent on behalf of each woman by the independent committees.

david.garrick@sduniontribune.com (619) 269-8906 Twitter:@UTDavidGarrick
The Coast Guard rescued 18 passengers, including one critically injured, when a yacht and a sportfisher collided about nine miles off the coast of Imperial Beach Friday night.

The crew of the 322-foot superyacht Attessa IV contacted the Coast Guard in San Diego about 7:50 p.m. reporting a crash with the 65-foot sportfisher Prowler near the international maritime boundry, authorities said.

The collision caused extensive damage to the starboard quarter of the fishing boat and several injuries to passengers.

A Coast Guard helicopter and two boats responded to assist. The helicopter crew hoisted one critically injured passenger, who was taken to UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest. The crew of a response boat transferred 17 passengers from the Prowler and took them to San Diego.

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The megayacht Attessa IV docked in front of the County Administration Center on Wednesday, three days before being involved in an at sea collision. (John Gibbins/U-T)

Ten other passengers were transferred to the Attessa, which then headed toward San Diego, while the captain of the Prowler remained with his boat awaiting commercial salvage.

No further details were released about the cause of the crash, which remains under investigation.

The Attessa is owned by industrialist billionaire Dennis Washington, a frequent visitor to San Diego. The boat boasts a movie theater, library and marble fireplaces.

The Prowler is based out of Quivera Basin and part of Seaforth Sportfishings fleet.

kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @kristinadavis
A good Samaritan who stopped on Interstate 15 to provide assistance to a man who appeared to be a stranded motorist was fatally shot as soon as he got out of his car early Saturday, San Diego police said.

The victim was identified as 21-year-old Curtis Adams, an active duty member of the Navy in San Diego.

Adams was driving with his girlfriend south on the freeway near the northbound Interstate 5 on-ramp in Logan Heights about 2:20 a.m. when they spotted the motorist next to a white vehicle on the shoulder, police said.

The couple pulled over to help, and Adams was immediately shot as he exited his vehicle, said homicide Lt. Anthony Dupree.

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The shooter got back in his vehicle and fled south. Soon after, California Highway Patrol put out an alert that a similar vehicle was stopped on northbound I-5 near 32nd Street. A man was also seen walking away from the vehicle.

A San Diego police officer found the man and detained him. He was being questioned by homicide detectives. His name has not been released.

Adams was taken to a hospital with at least one gunshot wound to his upper body. He died there.

kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @kristinadavis
A woman was attacked in a home-invasion robbery early Saturday and her husband had to fight off the assailant who stormed their Nestor apartment, San Diego police said.

The 39-year-old victim answered a knock on the door about 1:30 a.m. at their unit on Oro Vista Road, police said. The man at the door asked for a woman by name, and the victim answered that no one by that name lives there.

The man left, then walked around to the back of the apartment, where he was joined by another man. The men jumped the patio fence and began banging on the rear glass patio door.

One fired a shot into the door, shattering the glass, and one of them stepped inside. He demanded money from the victim, who stated she didnt have any. He then punched her several times, police said.

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Meanwhile, the victims husband had gone outside to confront the other man standing on the grass. The man pointed a gun at the husband, then ran off.

The husband heard his wifes screams inside and rushed to her aid. He punched the assailant several times, causing him to run out the back door.

The wife was taken to a hospital with head injuries. Nothing was stolen.

The would-be robbers were described as Hispanic and in their 20s. One was 5 feet 7 inches tall, normal build, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, black pants and glasses. The other was 6 feet 2 inches tall, normal build, wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt.

kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @kristinadavis
San Diego police on Friday arrested a person suspected of making threats toward La Jolla High School in a pair of notes that were found by students and made mention of two specific dates, including Halloween, school officials said.

Chuck Podhorsky, principal of the high school on Nautilus Street, sent an email to parents Thursday informing them of the threats, which mentioned Oct. 31 and Dec. 10 as the dates the campus would apparently be targeted.

There were two notes found off campus in the La Jolla community that contained language indicating a potential threat to our school, Podhorsky wrote Thursday. Since the notes were found in the La Jolla community, the San Diego Police Department is handling the investigation with assistance from school police.

Podhorsky added that as a precaution, additional officers would be at the campus on the dates mentioned in the notes.

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On Friday evening, school officials sent an email to parents with a statement attributed to Podhorsky.

I am relieved to report that an individual has been arrested in connection with the two notes found in the La Jolla community containing language indicating a potential threat to our school on Oct. 31 and Dec. 10., the statement read.

A San Diego police sergeant watch commander had no information Friday evening about the arrest. No other police officials were available to comment.

I want to thank the San Diego Police Department  and school police for their assistance, Podhorsky said in the statement Friday. I want to thank our students who saw these notes and immediately notified school administrators and police.

The principal said the students followed the message  If you see something, say something  promoted by school officials and law enforcement regarding school safety issues.

As a precaution, La Jolla High School officials still plan to have extra police officers on campus next Wednesday and on Dec. 10, Podhorsky told parents. He urged parents to call the campus if they had any additional concerns.

The principal also advised parents to take this opportunity to talk to your students about the consequences of making comments  in person, in writing, or on social media  that could be perceived as a threat.

School officials urged students and parents to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to the Students Speak Out/Crime Stoppers hotline at (619) 275-8240, or the San Diego Police Department at (619) 531-2000.

Twitter: @Alex_Riggins

(619) 293-1710

alex.riggins@sduniontribune.com
The San Diego Union-Tribune recently e-mailed questions to the candidates running for state office. Here are the questions and responses from Democrat Jeff Griffith, a candidate for State Senate, 38th District. He is facing Republican challenger Brian Jones, a former Assembly member. The two are vying for the seat currently held by Republican Joel Anderson, who is termed out. The 38th District includes parts of Northern and Eastern San Diego County, including El Cajon, La Mesa, Santee, Carmel Mountain Ranch, Poway, Escondido and San Marcos.

UNION-TRIBUNE: What single fix does the state most need to implement to address the housing crisis?

GRIFFITH: There is no one size fits all answer to address the complicated and pressing issue of the California housing crisis, given the diversity of cities, people, and terrain. State-mandated solutions are often controversial because they challenge local control and will not take into account local land-use plans and valid citizen concerns.

RELATED: His opponent, Brian Jones, on the issues

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Half of all households in California cannot afford housing, according to the widely discussed McKinsey Report. Developers are not building sufficient housing for purchase by those earning an average middle-class salary. For Californias low-income and extremely low-income households  38 percent of the population  there are few renting options. Low rent Single Room Occupancy (SROs) hotels are being demolished in San Diego, among other cities, to pave the way for more expensive rental units and condos. Consequently, homelessness is increasing.

For middle-class households, inclusionary zoning, that is, requiring a builder to set aside a certain percentage of construction for affordable housing, can be part of a solution. How affordable is defined depends on the city or county. Regarding rental properties, builders can be incentivized to construct larger rental units along transportation hubs. Also, experts suggest rezoning of underutilized commercial properties in a city or outlying area for residential housing. Some developments will build commercial property at the street level and rental units or condos on the floors above.

We can never forget, however, that wage stagnation, even now with a more prosperous economy, continues to be a major factor in the housing affordability crisis.

UNION-TRIBUNE: Are you in favor of rent control? What is your position specifically on Proposition 10?

GRIFFITH: Rent control is neither a universal nor long-term answer. However, to the extent that Proposition 10 empowers local governments to determine if, how or when, to initiate rent controls rather than forcing state mandates on local governments, then I can support the concept. The proposition does not require rent controls, and it clearly recognizes that the U.S. Supreme Court requires that rent control ordinances shall not abridge a fair rate of return for landlords. They have to be able to make a profit.

UNION-TRIBUNE: What should the state do to address homelessness and are you aware of a specific approach being used elsewhere that would work in California?

GRIFFITH: Homelessness in San Diego County, as in other areas, has many causes. Shelters just cannot provide a settled answer to the problem. While shelters provide beds, they can be extremely costly to operate ($4,819 per month, according to national studies), provide no permanent solutions, and often are unsafe.

The Housing First approach is built on the shelter model with major changes. Called Homeless Navigation Centers in some cities, the recreated shelters provide low barrier housing where the homeless can come in with partners, pets, and belongings and stay 24/7.

They must, however, agree to intensive 1) counseling, 2) help in finding more permanent housing, and 3) treatment for drug use or mental health issues. The staff focuses on finding permanent housing since studies indicate that it is permanency that will help people get a job and stay sober.

A further problem is that usually there are insufficient housing units available. Low-income housing tax credits offered to approved local developers can incentivize construction of low-income housing. Ronald Reagan initiated this program where developers can seek investors who can then write off these investments on federal taxes. Funds are insufficient, though, and likely to face cuts in the federal governments current budget.

Managing homelessness can serve to fix other problems as well: school truancy for children in homeless families, food insecurity, drug and alcohol abuse, and unemployment. It can also serve to curb infectious diseases that can easily move to the general population, such as the hepatitis outbreak, that earlier plagued San Diego.

UNION-TRIBUNE: The so-called split roll property tax initiative is being aimed at the 2020 ballot and a variety of other taxes have been floated in recent years. Is California adequately taxed or not? If so, why? If not, what new taxes do you support?

GRIFFITH: Californians are taxed in an uneven way because of Proposition 13 and the myriad of taxes created in its aftermath such as special assessment districts or more hidden fees like developer impact fees rolled into the price of new housing.

Regarding property taxes, large disparities, due to Proposition 13, exist even among neighbors, depending on the year of purchase of a home. The Tax Foundation, a group that regularly compares taxes among states, rates California 39th in terms of property taxes; however, the state has different ratings on other tax sources. They rank California ninth highest in terms of income taxes and 39th highest in taxes on alcohol spirits.

The split roll property tax initiative, aimed at voters in the 2020 general election, will allow certain commercial and industrial property to be taxed at fair market value. Homeowner taxes remain unchanged, an extremely important feature. According to a UC Santa Cruz study, the tax would primarily affect very large corporations and longtime landlords in the state or 8 percent of all properties. The study also estimates that over 50 percent of commercial properties are already assessed at fair or near fair market values, depending on the year purchased.

Clearly, vigorous discussion is needed before any decision. There are numerous exemptions in the proposal. Just one is that business personal property taxes on equipment and fixtures for all businesses are exempt or eliminated entirely. It looks like the devil is in the details on this one.

UNION-TRIBUNE: Education reform advocates have long sought changes to teacher tenure, school funding and the states dashboard for evaluating schools. What would you change in the California school system and how?

GRIFFITH: Multiple experts consider the California system unfair and highly complex. There are wide variations in per pupil funding and a complicated array of state laws and formulas that only a few people can understand. The state has started to address overregulation by giving greater responsibility to determine how state money will be spent in local districts. I support legislation that will encourage greater funding flexibility and favor consolidation of categorical programs to improve usability.

Changes in teacher tenure laws have to be balanced in complicated ways that include the authority principals have over teacher employment, the variety of teaching assignments that probationary teachers are required to fulfill and the need for qualified teachers after the loss of 30,000 teachers during the great recession.

The state is likely to experience extraordinary cuts to education in the upcoming federal budget year. For one example, the Effective Institutional Grant program, currently at $250 million per year for California schools, is slated for elimination. The program provides money for teacher training and professional development.

UNION-TRIBUNE: What is the most important issue we have not raised and why?

GRIFFITH: I am somewhat biased in responding to this question. As a firefighter and first responder, I personally experience the grievous dangers of wildfires and the potential for acceleration due to a changing climate. Both North County rural and urban areas are extremely vulnerable due to rapid economic development, the need for affordable housing, and the lack of a buffer between housing and high fire danger zones in many areas. I can bring a unique perspective on these matters to Sacramento.

Lets do the easy things first: incentivize placing micro screens in ventilation areas under rooflines so sparks cannot enter an attic. Tax breaks for retrofit will get attention as will incentives for removal of highly flammable landscaping.

The harder things will need greater consensus. Developers have to be required to make sure developments have more than one access road into a community. This produces greater safety for residents and access for first responders.

Crime rates have been steadily declining for over 20 years while wildfire dangers accelerate. We need a better balance for genuine public safety. New investments for wildfire safety measures are needed now and are possible, given state budget surpluses.
The San Diego Union-Tribune recently e-mailed questions to the candidates running for state office. Here are the questions and responses from former Republican Assemblyman Brian Jones, candidate for State Senate, 38th District. He is facing Democratic challenger Jeff Griffith, a fire captain. The two are vying for the seat currently held by Republican Joel Anderson, who is termed out. The 38th District includes parts of Northern and Eastern San Diego County, including El Cajon, La Mesa, Santee, Carmel Mountain Ranch, Poway, Escondido and San Marcos.

UNION-TRIBUNE: What single fix does the state most need to implement to address the housing crisis?

JONES: Effective CEQA and other regulatory reform. A significant part of housing construction costs right now are unfunded mandates from Sacramento placed on local municipalities. These mandates lead to unnecessary delays and costs.

RELATED: His opponent, Jeff Griffith, on the issues

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UNION-TRIBUNE: Are you in favor of rent control? And what is your position specifically on Proposition 10?

JONES: I am generally opposed to rent control and I am voting no on Proposition 10. The proponents of rent control usually do not understand how the housing/rental market works and have an agenda beyond just trying to make housing affordable. In almost every market that rent control has been instituted, the housing market got worse, not better.

UNION-TRIBUNE: What should the state do address homelessness and are you aware of a specific approach being used elsewhere that would work in California?

JONES: Homelessness is a big problem right now. I see it almost every day. Personally, my family and I financially support nonprofits serving that community. There is not a one one size fits all solution. We need a comprehensive overhaul of our criminal justice system, housing policies and mental health care for this population.

UNION-TRIBUNE: The so-called split roll property tax initiative is being aimed at the 2020 ballot and a variety of other taxes have been floated in recent years. Is California adequately taxed or not? If so, why? If not, what new taxes do you support?

JONES: Californians are way overtaxed and I am continually surprised that voters continue to tolerate it. There is hope in the recent Senate recall in Orange County and if Proposition 6 passes this year. The state has approximately a $9 billion surplus this year. Taxpayers should be getting a refund, not additional tax proposals. Split roll is another proposal that the proponents do not understand how the market/economy works. Split roll would be economically devastating to all Californians.

UNION-TRIBUNE: Education reform advocates have long sought changes to teacher tenure, school funding and the states dashboard for evaluating schools. What would you change in the California school system, and how?

JONES: When my family moved to California in 1978, California schools were rated highest in the nation. Now they are among the lowest. One change is to remove the many mandates that Sacramento places on our local school boards and return the decision making to our local communities.

UNION-TRIBUNE: What is the most important issue we have not raised and why?

JONES: Sacramento has become too influential in our daily lives through taxation and regulation. The people in charge in Sacramento think they know better how each one of us should live our daily lives. Power and influence has become too centralized. We need to cut taxes and regulations to let Californians live their lives without the burdensome presence of government. Do we really need to outlaw straws ... just as one example?
A bad settlement is better than an ugly fight, the popular Mexican saying goes. This was the attitude and strategy the Mexican negotiating team adopted when faced with President Donald Trumps repeated threats to cancel the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Enrique Pena Nietos administration (2012-2018) chose two actors to manage the renegotiations: a technical team headed by Secretary of the Economy Ildefonso Guajardo, who negotiated the original NAFTA agreement in the 1990s, and a political team led by Secretary of Foreign Affairs Luis Videgaray, who gained access to the White House thanks to his chummy relationship with Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Related: What revised NAFTA deal means for U.S.

Members of the Mexican negotiating team proved savvy and remained unprovoked by Trumps taunts. They played the presidential election card to accelerate the talks, reminding the Americans that come December they could be dealing with a much more nationalistic and uncertain Mexican administration. Trumps team also felt the pressure of the looming midterm elections. Then, shortly after Canadas Justin Trudeau fell out of grace with Trump for supposedly criticizing him in a press conference following the G7 Summit, Mexico became the friend in the three-way alliance rather than the foe.

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Then came the historic win of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (known as AMLO) and the never-before-seen willingness between an existing Mexican president and an incoming one to coordinate what so far seems as an exemplary transition of power. In the last leg of the NAFTA negotiations, the Mexican negotiating team welcomed AMLOs man, Jesus Seade, an experienced commercial negotiator who served as deputy director general at the World Trade Organization. The president-elects stamp of approval was key to ensuring the legitimacy of what the Mexican team was negotiating in Washington, D.C.

Of course the devil might be in the details, or rather the fine print, of the new agreement. The Canadians, perhaps feeling a bit betrayed, hinted that the Mexicans rushed key clauses. Its not yet clear if Mexico conceded too much and issues might arise once the entire document is analyzed and debated in Congress.

But what we do know is that first and foremost, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) will preserve the most important part of NAFTA from the Mexican negotiating standpoint: Investor confidence that the U.S. market will remain open to Mexican exports. Second, the North American brand remains intact. Thanks to USMCA, Mexico will continue to be the only Latin American country that has privileged access to the top economy in the Western Hemisphere. When it comes down to it, Mexico might have simply averted a crisis.

For example, not reaching the USMCA deal would have a huge negative repercussion on Mexicos energy sector. According to the U.S. Energy Information Agency, 54 percent of Mexicos electricity is generated through natural gas, and Mexico has become increasingly reliant on cheap U.S. natural gas imports to satisfy demand. This increase was economically motivated, but was also facilitated by the free trade agreement.

Without USMCA, the future of bilateral natural gas trade would be in jeopardy. Under current law, the Department of Energy must grant natural gas export permits to companies from countries with which the U.S. has signed a free trade agreement. Yet countries without a free trade agreement must go through a long, uncertain and costly approval process. This means that if the three parties hadnt reached an agreement on USMCA, all natural gas exports to Mexico would need pre-approval, which would lead to delays and increased political risk.

Yet the new agreement does have setbacks, such as a negative effect on the regions vehicle assembly competitiveness. USMCA imposed stricter rules of origin, increasing the content of cars and trucks that had to be produced in North America. It also requires that 40 percent of cars and trucks must be made by workers earning $16 an hour. This means that the agreement will directly hinder Mexicos final assembly capabilities and exports, which will damper its domestic auto industrys growth.

When the winds change in Washington, Mexicans and Canadians will need to improve USMCA. The three countries made a huge mistake in never attempting to update NAFTA during the 24 years of the agreement. The fear that a change in NAFTA would destroy the whole agreement paralyzed the North American countries. USMCA now includes a complicated revision process every six years, which was put in place to avoid Washingtons sunset clause  a proposal that had the potential to terminate the entire agreement after five years.

USMCA will be both praised and criticized in the same vein of when NAFTA was signed more than two decades ago. Some will say members of the Mexican negotiating team bowed their heads and others that it stood firm. What it certainly did do was remain pragmatic throughout the process. Not only did they avert a crisis, but they allowed President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to start his presidency with much more economic certainty and the ability to immediately focus political capital and resources on urgent domestic affairs rather than foreign policy.

Fernandez de Castro is director of the Center for U.S-Mexican Studies and professor at the School of Global Policy and Strategy, UC San Diego.
The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) was presented to the public as a new agreement and major improvement on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Despite presidential rhetoric, in nearly all areas, the differences between USMCA and NAFTA are marginal rather than fundamental. There are some improvements but also some significant parts of the agreement that are worse for U.S. consumers.

Many elements of the USMCA were pulled directly from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The TPP was negotiated by the Obama administration as a way to update and expand NAFTA but U.S. participation was terminated by President Trump. Two potentially significant elements in the USMCA that are taken from the TPP are the inclusion of both labor and environmental standards in the agreement body rather than as side agreements. In addition, the new standards are enforceable and more complete than the NAFTA side agreements.

Related: How USMCA trade deal helps avert crisis for Mexico

New environmental standards require each country to enforce their international environmental agreements and include language on marine litter, protection of fisheries and forests, efforts to reduce air pollution and more. New labor rules require each country to protect the right to strike, clarify the definition of minimum wages without setting a minimum, and require protections for migrant workers. The rules also require Mexico to make legal changes that strengthen worker rights and allow independent unions. The new environmental and labor rules could be significant if countries develop enforcement mechanisms.

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The agreement allows for trade sanctions, but does not require countries to investigate complaints brought by their own citizens. That is, U.S. labor unions and environmental groups may petition the U.S, government to file a complaint against a Canadian or Mexican firm, but the U.S. government is not obligated to act.

During the negotiations, a great effort was made to reach new rules for the three types of dispute resolution contained in NAFTA. Complaints about dumping (selling below fair value) and unfair subsidies will be handled as before, as will more general complaints of unfair trade. However, one of the most controversial chapters in NAFTA, Chapter 11, which allows private firms to sue national governments, will be phased out in U.S.-Canada relations, while surviving in very limited form in U.S.-Mexico relations. Environmentalists who view Chapter 11 as a way for private firms to resist new environmental rules will approve, while businesses that oppose new regulations will likely disapprove.

Other new areas taken from the TPP, either directly or with modification, include new rules for electronic commerce, a slight opening of Canadas highly protected dairy industry, increases in intellectual property protections, new rules on financial services, and an increase in the minimum threshold value of goods before they are subject to tariffs. These are not likely to make a large difference to most consumers, although some may reduce costs, such as the costs to send small items across the border. Others may actually increase consumer costs, as with the extended life of intellectual property protections. Some businesses will benefit, such as package express companies, financial services providers, and sellers of digital products.

Probably the most contentious and disruptive parts of USMCA are the new rules on automobiles and auto parts. To qualify for free trade, manufacturers must produce 75 percent of the value of a car in North America. Under NAFTA, it is 62.5 percent. In addition, a new rule requires 70 percent of the steel and aluminum to be North American, and another new rule requires 40 percent of the cars value to be made in factories where workers are earning at least $16 per hour. These rules will increase production costs and automobile prices, and reduce the competitiveness of the North American auto industry. In addition, compliance with the new regulations dramatically increases the amount of paperwork.

The goal of the auto rules is to increase the number of U.S. jobs in auto manufacturing. There are several possible scenarios and the ultimate outcome will not be known until we see the reactions of automakers. They may, for example, decide to ignore the new rules of origin, produce entirely in Mexico or elsewhere, and pay the 2.5 percent U.S. tariff on auto imports from outside North America. Would the Trump administration then retaliate by raising the U.S. tariff? Mexico and Canada negotiated a contingency plan for an increase in U.S. tariffs but there are many uncertainties as to what the final outcome might be.

In sum, there are small potential benefits for consumers in the new USMCA, some significant potential costs and a lot of uncertainty.

Gerber, professor of economics, emeritus at San Diego State University, served as director of the Center for Latin American Studies (2002-2009) and director of International Business (2009-2012) at SDSU. He is the author of International Economics.
We shouldnt endanger residents for profits

Re Reject NIMBYism: Vote no on Oceansides Measure Y (Oct. 24): You incorrectly label the Oceanside Measure Y as a NIMBY measure. It is not. An informed voter can see from a map of the South Morro Hills area why it is bad news to both current and possible high-density housing residents.

The San Luis Rey River permits only three roads to enter and leave the area. Two of these routes span the river. When the Lilac fire burned 4,100 acres, residents faced mandatory evacuation using these roads. Routes were clogged. Many residents were stuck for two hours in traffic to transit only two miles on two-lane roads.

Farmers and builders want to maximize profits at the expense of current residents. Will a no vote require builders to construct more bridges or widen roads? Will a no vote decrease the fire danger? Hardly. A yes vote on Y is sensible.

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Brendan Connor

Oceanside

Oceansides Measure Y (the SOAR Initiative) would preserve land designated as Open Space or Agriculture in the citys general plan by requiring the City Council to get voter approval of projects that require a general plan amendment on parkland, habitat areas and farmland. It doesnt hinder a farmer from farming.

The no group who want to up-zone their land to get a higher price from developers have received over $500,000 from a developer and $10,000 from the Building Industry Association. They want to build high density projects in a rural area with no infrastructure. Thats not smart and it would result in increased traffic congestion, reduced safety response times, and higher taxes. Measure Y encourages agri-tourism to help farmers. Ventura Countys SOAR Initiative was passed 20 years ago and was renewed for an additional 30 years by substantial margins because it worked.

Dennis Martinek

Oceanside

A Yes Vote On Oceansides Measure Y would mandate a vote anytime a developer tries to rezone farmland or open spaces like El Corazon.

A Yes On Y is needed because three Oceanside city councilmen are consistently voting on behalf of developers and against city staff recommendations, Planning Commission votes and citizen testimony.

Voting Yes On Y gives voters the right to decide on converting Oceansides last remaining farms into high density residential housing.

A Yes On Y protects against:

Higher water bills to pay for extending sewer lines into farmland

Higher taxes to pay for increased police/fire costs

Even more traffic congestion.

Yes on Y empowers voters, not just three councilmen, to decide the future of Oceansides farmlands and open spaces like El Corazon.

Vote yes on Y so you can vote to protect Oceansides open spaces.

Bill Roth

VOCAL President

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Letters and commentary policy

The U-T welcomes and encourages community dialogue on important public matters. Please visit this page for more details on our letters and commentaries policy. You can email letters@sduniontribune.com or leave a comment below.

Follow @UTLetters on Twitter and UTOpinion on Facebook.
Balanced coverage of candidates and issues is always important during election seasons. Its why reader Roy Winter from Escondido emailed the Readers Rep earlier this month.

Winter wanted to know why did Democrat gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom have a solo Q&A on almost a full page of the opinion section Oct. 7, and Republican candidate John Cox have a Q&A at the bottom of B1 Oct. 8. Winter added that the accompanying picture of Newsom was a glamour shot (it was taken at the Union-Tribune offices by a staff photographer), and the picture of Cox was a snapshot (it was an Associated Press photo that ran two columns wide).

Those are good questions. The answers, I think, are enlightening.

Cox chose not to participate in the opinion sections interview. Matthew T. Hall, the U-Ts editorial director, said his team tried time and again to get Cox to come in for a Q&A. On some occasions the Cox camp didnt respond. Others times the campaign said it was trying to find a time.

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Finally, Hall said, publication of the Q&A with Newsom could no longer be delayed. This explanation was included in the introduction of the Newsom piece: Only Newsom accepted despite a series of requests and multiple conversations over several months with the Cox campaign.

Its important that readers know that the newsroom and the editorial department operate independently. Reporters and editors in the newsroom have nothing to do with the content produced by the opinion staff and vice versa.

The Cox piece that ran on the news pages was done by politics reporter Charles T. Clark. He had attended a campaign stop by Cox at Father Joes Villages in San Diego on Oct. 1. While covering the event, a Cox representative asked Clark if he would like to come aboard the campaign bus and have a sit-down with the candidate. Sure, Clark replied.

After writing his story on the event itself (it ran on A4 Oct. 2), Clark wondered what he was going to do with the material he gathered during the one-on-one interview. Clark and his editor, Ricky Young, decided on a Q&A, which was then offered for the B section and slated to run in Mondays paper.

Thats how the Cox piece ended up running Oct. 8 on B1. It was pure happenstance that it all came about. There was no coordination between the editorial team and the opinion group.

Later, Newsom made a campaign stop in San Diego. He visited a homeless veterans organization, Veterans Village of San Diego, on Oct. 12.

Clark covered that (the story ran on A4 Oct. 13), and asked Newsom for a one-on-one interview. Clark was hoping to do a Q&A with Newsom, since he did one on Cox. Newsom, however, said he did not have time that day. Clark said they left open the possibility of doing an interview another day, but with the Nov. 6 election fast approaching, it might not be possible.

Requests to see stories before publication

In an ongoing effort to tell readers how things operate in the newsroom, Im focusing this time on a request reporters receive occasionally. A source will ask a writer if he can see a completed story before publication.

Reporters almost always decline. Although there is a plus side in double-checking facts, granting the request can lead to sources wanting the story changed into a publicity piece rather than an objective news story.

Reporters can still check facts by emailing a source or reading back information. They can also describe the gist of the piece to the source.

Journalists are cautious about sharing their stories before publication, and many outlets forbid it, said Jeff Light, the U-Ts publisher and editor

We dont have a hard rule at the U-T. Our belief is that reporters are ethically bound to ensure that people they write about critically have complete line of sight to everything being said about them and have the fullest opportunity to respond. But we have an equally important obligation to ensure that no third party has undue influence on our work. An absolute rule in either direction advances one goal at the expense of the other.

U-T Watchdog reporter Morgan Cook said, From time to time, sources (especially sources who are lawyers) ask if they can read the story ahead of time. I almost always tell them no, but Im happy to check facts and quotes I have attributed to them before I file.

If I really trust the source who is asking to read the story, I might email them those chunks of info so they can send it back with corrected facts and suggested changes. We can then talk about their proposed changes, and I can relay that information to my editor so he and I can decide what to do, Cook said.

adrian.vore@sduniontribune.com
There are two Democrats on the ballot in the race to succeed Gavin Newsom as lieutenant governor. The clear choice is the much less conventional one, Eleni Kounalakis, a former U.S. ambassador to Hungary with an extensive business background. Her opponent, state Sen. Ed Hernandez, D-West Covina, has worked effectively to expand access to health care. But he is very much a member of the complacent, sluggish Capitol establishment.

Their differences are plain. For one example, Kounalakis is far more outspoken about using the lieutenant governors seat on the University of California Board of Regents to challenge UC leaders, from President Janet Napolitano down. For another, Kounalakis  daughter of successful Sacramento developer Angelo Tsakopoulos  also is far better about the urgent need to address the housing crisis with new construction. This led the Sacramento Bee to editorialize that if she is elected, the next governor should make her the states point person on housing and homelessness.

Thats probably not going to happen. Newsom, the heavy favorite to be elected governor, has his own detailed plans. But were confident that Kounalakis wont be invisible if elected, unlike many past lieutenant governors. She deserves your vote.

Twitter: @sdutIdeas

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Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/26/2018 -- The cochineal is an insect from Dactylopius coccus family, from these insects natural food color dyecarminis derived. The female insect is dried and then dye is extracted from dried insect as well as from eggs. This extract is further mixed with calcium or aluminum salts to use as dye. Carmine is primarily used as a colorant in foodand in lipsticks. Cochineal extract is being used as colorant since centuries, it has wide applications as natural colorant into food, textile, medicine and personal care products. The cochineal insect farming is done to grow the particular insects for red color dye. The origin of cochineal insect is seen in Peru and Mexico.



The insects are grown on specific type of cactus plant these insects grow on the moisture and nutrient contents of the cactus leaves. Insects are then collected and sun dried to produce extract. Dried cochineal, contains 17 % to 24% carminic acid, is carefully extracted in an acidic, aqueous, alcoholic solution to produce red, orange color dye.



Get Sample Copy of this report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2497



Cochineal Extract Market Segmentation:



Cochineal extract market is segmented on the basis of its form, application and region. On the basis of forms, cochineal extract market is segmented into powders and liquid form. The cochineal extract is available in both water soluble as well as oil soluble. Cochineal extract market is segmented on the basis of its applications as food and beverages, textile/fabric, cosmetics & personal care, pharmaceuticals and others etc.



Cochineal extract market demand is considerably high in the food and beverage market segment as it is considered as natural color option where synthetic color is prohibited, and hence demanded as colorant in various food products such as bakery and confectionary, beverages, dairy products etc. Thus, food and beverages market segment is dominate market for cochineal extract. In cosmetics & personal care market segment cochineal extract is mainly used as colorant in skin care products, lipsticks, face powders, rouges, and blushes etc. Applications of cochineal extract in fabric/ textile segment is comparatively lesser as numerous new and synthetic color dye options are being invented, however in few of the markets it's still popular. In pharmaceutical market segment cochineal extract is basically used for color pills and ointments, however this segment comprises very small share of total market. Others market segment includes cochineal extract uses in the manufacturing of artificial flowers, paints and crimson ink.



Cochineal extract market is further segmented on the basis of regions as North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan, Japan, Europe, and Middle East and Africa. Latin America is major export market of cochineal extracts, Mexico and Peru being major regional producers. In European markets France is the major importer for cochineal extract. Due to various government bans on the uses of synthetic food colorant in Japan , Japan is also a becoming major importer for cochineal extract in coming years.



Cochineal Extract Market Drivers:



Cochineal extract is in high demand in several application sectors across the world. Principle factors driving market demand are continuous rising demand natural colorants. As synthetic colorant had proven allergic and hazardous for health, natural color market demand is high. Also rising market demand for natural products based cosmetics and skin care products is becoming another market driver for cochineal extract. Various government such as Japan has banned synthetic color uses in food and beverage products, this is driving natural colorant market demands such as cochineal extracts.



Cochineal Extract Market Restrains:



Cochineal extract has no known health risks, number of people have been found to experience occupational asthma, foodand cosmetic allergies due to use of product containing cochineal extracts. Increasing vegan food culture and adoption of 100% plant food concept, many consumers are not ready to accept animal products and not preferring product labeled with cochineal extract or carmine as an ingredients. These are the main restraints for cochineal extract market.



CochinealExtractMarket Key Players:



Maximum amount of cochineal extract is produced in Mexico and Peru and get exported into global markets. Key players operating in cochineal extract market are DDW The Color House, Gentle world, Xian LiSheng-Tech Co., Ltd, Chr. Hansen Holding A/S, Colores Naturales EIRL, Lake Foods, and many of the local Mexican and Peru market players extract the cochineal product like Earthue, Biocon del Peru.



Request to Browse Full Table of Content, figure and Tables @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-2497
New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/27/2018 -- The latest report, Heat Protection Clothing market enables stakeholders to gain insights into their potential consumers to construct more effective marketing strategies for the forecast period, 2018 to 2025. Most importantly, the document empowers business owners to seek information about potential consumers and where they can find them. With an exclusive coverage of the top vendors, the study enables business owners to know more about the local market and locate potential consumers.



Download Sample Copy of Heat Protection Clothing Market @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/sample-enquiry-form/21824



The comprehensive study offers an overview of the current state of development of the business as well as predicts the course of progress across different regions. A large number of factors including the major driving forces, threats and opportunities are taken into account to present an analytical picture of the industry portrayed in the report.



The research further examines and provides data on the market by type, application and geography interspersed with illustrations and other graphical representations. The market analysis not only determines the attractiveness of the industry but also the evolving challenges and opportunities and their association with the weaknesses and strengths of prominent market leaders.



Estimating the potential size of the Heat Protection Clothing industry:

Industry experts conducting the study further estimate the potential of the Heat Protection Clothing industry. Such information is important for firms looking to launch an innovative service or product on the market. Industry experts have measured the total volume of the given market. Researchers have calculated the industry in terms of sales by the competitors and end-user  customers. Data on the entire size of the Heat Protection Clothing market for a particular product or a service for the forecast period, 2018 to 2025 covered in the report makes it valuable. This information reveals the upper limit of the Heat Protection Clothing industry for a specific product or service.



Market Segment by manufacturers, the report covers the following companies:

MEDOP SA, Kappler, Lakeland Industries, TST Sweden AB, Helly Hansen Workwear, DuPont Personal Protection, Total



Market Segment on the basis of Type, the report covers:

- Fabric

- Synthetic

- Wool

- Plastic

- Others



Order a copy @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/checkout-form/21824



The research provides answers to the following key questions:

- What is the expected growth rate of the Heat Protection Clothing market? What will be the market size for the forecast period, 2018 - 2025?

- What are the major driving forces responsible for transforming the trajectory of the industry?

- Who are major vendors dominating the Heat Protection Clothing industry across different regions? What are their winning strategies to stay ahead in the competition?

- What are the market trends business owners can rely upon in the coming years?

- What are the threats and challenges expected to restrict the progress of the industry across different countries?

- What are the key opportunities that business owners can bank on for the forecast period, 2018 - 2025?



The study segments the complete Heat Protection Clothing market on the basis of different application, end-use, end-user, and production capability. From a business standpoint, the industry has been thoroughly examined across various countries located in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and others. The size of the industry for the forecast period 2018 - 2025 is evaluated on the basis of current sales figures and past financial report can be used to forecast the future sales.



Key points from TOC



8 Competitive Landscape

8.1 Competitive Profile



8.2 MEDOP SA

8.2.1 Company Profiles

8.2.2 Heat Protection Clothing Product Introduction

8.2.3 MEDOP SA Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E

8.2.4 MEDOP SA Market Share of Heat Protection Clothing Segmented by Region in 2017



8.3 Kappler

8.3.1 Company Profiles

8.3.2 Heat Protection Clothing Product Introduction

8.3.3 Kappler Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E

8.3.4 Kappler Market Share of Heat Protection Clothing Segmented by Region in 2017



8.4 Lakeland Industries

8.4.1 Company Profiles

8.4.2 Heat Protection Clothing Product Introduction

8.4.3 Lakeland Industries Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E

8.4.4 Lakeland Industries Market Share of Heat Protection Clothing Segmented by Region in 2017



Continue



Complete report is available now @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/industry-overview/heat-protection-clothing-market



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Bank of China New Zealand Limited is pleased to acknowledge the two year anniversary of the Bank of China New Zealand Wholesale Fund # 1 - the banks QDII fund identified by Immigration New Zealand as suitable for notified foreign investors under the Migrant Investor Category and Parent Retirement Category.

Bank of China New Zealand Wholesale Fund # 1 is celebrating a 12-month return of 6.3%p.a. for the period ending 30 September 2018. The tax-effective nature of the PIE investment means no further New Zealand tax is payable by investors in the fund.

This is a big difference to other QDII offerings that are available in the market, said Mark Ford, Bank of China New Zealand Limiteds Director of Asset Management.

Successful investors look at the performance of a fund after all fees and taxes, said Mr Ford, who believes investors are sometimes too quick to focus on fees when investing in products that do not deliver the best outcomes.

Some of the simple investment structures out there, like those structured as term deposits with simple fixed interest returns, may not be as cheap as they look once you factor in the after-tax return, said Mr Ford.

To mark the two-year anniversary of the Bank of China Wholesale Fund #1, Bank of China New Zealand Limited have introduced a variation of the fund that allows investors to invest 25% in New Zealand equities and 75% in New Zealand bonds to better align with Immigration New Zealands incentives for immigrant investors willing to make a higher allocation to growth assets in their New Zealand investment. Bank of China New Zealand Limited has already received a first tranche of investment into this new offering and will re-open the fund for further investment later in the year.

Bank of China New Zealand Limiteds Associate Director Pengbo Jiang said: We are the first QDII provider able to offer such a flexible fund scheme that aligns with Immigration New Zealands growth investment policy while also meeting the prudential requirements of the underlying Chinese investors and the Chinese regulatory regime. We are very much looking forward to continuing our successful collaboration with Immigration New Zealand and offering the best integrated fund scheme to our clients that aligns with Immigration policy.

Jonathan Maitland, Immigration Manager, Business Migration, Visa Services, Immigration New Zealand, said: Immigration New Zealand welcomes the expansion of investment options available to Investor Plus and Investor Two applicants through the Bank of China QDII initiative and hopes investors will look favourably at making a greater allocation to New Zealand growth assets as part of their immigration intentions.

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Warning that the government would have to pay a heavy price if any innocents are arrested, a division bench of Justices PR Ramachandra Menon and Devan Ramachandran said arrests should only be made once the involvement of a person in violent protests has been confirmed in proper investigation.

: The Kerala High Court came down heavily on the Pinarayi Vijayan administration on Friday for the thousands of arrests it has made in connection with the Sabarimala protests, asking it not to play to the gallery.

Kerala Police has so far arrested 2,061 people on the charges of participating in violent protests last week against the entry of women into Sabarimala shrine despite a Supreme Court order.

Suresh Kumar and Anoj Kumar of the Sabarimala Achara Samrakshana Samithi had approached the high court, alleging that unlawful arrests were being made by police.

Their petition alleged that even those who were part of peaceful protests were being targeted and harassed, further stating that in some cases police was taking the devotees into custody and manufacturing charges afterwards.

Hailing from Pathanamthitta where the hill shrine is located, the two petitioners told the court that even devotees who participated in the "Nama Japa Yajnam" (chanting of Ayyappa mantras) were harassed by police. Police reportedly told them that they were liable to be prosecuted for committing various offences, of which they are totally ignorant, they alleged.

The court has also urged to probe whether only devotees had reached Sabarimala. It posted the case for further hearing on Monday.

The Supreme Court had in September allowed women of menstruating age to enter the hill shrine, lifting an age-old ban, but the protesters had not allowed a single woman to enter when it opened for six days. Over a dozen women had made the attempt, but they were forced to turn back after being heckled.

Cracking down on the violation of the top courts writ, the Kerala Police has launched a massive manhunt to nab all the accused, registering over 450 cases so far. Of the 2,061 arrested, 1,500 have been granted bail. Most of those who have been arrested belong to Hindutva outfits, officials said.

The bench also directed the government not to appoint non-Hindus as Devaswom Commissioners. The court gave the direction while disposing of a plea filed by Kerala BJP president P S Sreedharan Pillai, challenging the amendments to the Travancore-Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act, 1950, which allow appointment of non-Hindus as Devaswom Commissioners.

The state government has submitted only Hindus would be appointed Commissioners of the Travancore Devaswom Board and the Cochin Devaswom Board.
President suspends parliament as Sri Lanka crisis worsens



Colombo, Oct 27 (AFP) Oct 27, 2018



Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena suspended parliament Saturday to forestall a challenge against his surprise ouster of the prime minister, deepening a sudden swell of political turmoil in the island nation.

Police cancelled all leave as tensions heightened in Colombo a day after the president dismissed Ranil Wickremesinghe and replaced him with controversial former strongman leader Mahinda Rajapakse.

Parliamentary officials said the president had suspended parliament until November 16. Wickremesinghe had earlier demanded an emergency session to prove he still commanded a majority.

Wickremesinghe continued to occupy Temple Trees, the official residence of the prime minister, and insisted in a letter to Sirisena that he was still in office.

"Get this controversy out of the way," Wickremesinghe told reporters in a press conference at the residence. "Reconvene parliament immediately so that I can prove my majority."

Parliamentary sources said Speaker Karu Jayasuriya would now have to decide if he recognised Rajapakse or Wickremesinghe as the prime minister.

The falling out between the two former allies has come to a rapid head since Sirisena earlier this year backed a no-confidence motion against the man he had handpicked to lead the government.

Sirisena initially said he would be a one-term president but later indicated he will seek re-election next year, pitting himself against Wickremesinghe who also has presidential ambitions.

China's ambassador to Colombo, Cheng Xueyuan, met separately with Rajapakse and Wickremesinghe on Saturday, officials said.

Details of those talks were not immediately available.

Regional power India was also "closely watching" developments in Colombo, official sources in New Delhi told AFP.

Rajapakse is seen as being closer to China than Wickremesinghe, who had sought to re-establish stronger ties with traditional ally India.

Separately, Colombo-based Western diplomats meet with Wickremesinghe at Temple Trees residence for a briefing about the sacking.

Before the meet, the United States urged all sides to abide by Sri Lanka's constitution and refrain from violence. European ambassadors in Colombo issued a similar message on Saturday.



- Standoff -



Overnight, Rajapakse loyalists stormed two state-owned television networks -- which they regard as loyal to Wickremesinghe's outgoing government -- and forced them off the air. They resumed broadcasting Saturday and were supporting Rajapakse.

There were reports of sporadic attacks against supporters of Wickremesinghe's United National Party in several parts of the country after Rajapakse was sworn in late Friday.

The streets of the capital remained calm Saturday but security was tightened around Rajapakse's residence and the state television station.

Sirisena had withdrawn Wickremesinghe's security detail and vehicles, said finance minister Mangala Samaraweera.

Wickremesinghe, 69, who trained as a lawyer and regarded a champion of free market reforms, insisted that he can be removed only by parliament.

His party has the largest number of seats, but the president's United People's Freedom Alliance walked out of the governing coalition shortly before Wickremesinghe was sacked.

This is the second time that a president has ousted Wickremesinghe from office. In 2004, the then president sacked him and called snap elections.

After winning the premiership a third time in August 2015, Wickremesinghe amended the constitution to remove the head of state's power to sack prime ministers to prevent a repeat of his earlier ouster.

However, Sirisena proceeded on Friday despite the insistence of many political observers that he lacked the power to remove the premier.

Political commentator Victor Ivan said Sirisena's action was a blatant violation of the constitution. "This is a capture of power through a conspiracy," Ivan said.

However, Rajapakse loyalist and former foreign minister G. L. Peiris said they believed there was nothing illegal about sacking Wickremesinghe and challenged him to prove his majority on November 16.



- Talks on cabinet -



Since his rushed swearing in, Rajapakse has yet to announce any official moves although several of his supporters said they expect a new cabinet to be formed on Sunday and talks were underway.

Rajapakse, 72, is a controversial figure at home and abroad but has pushed for a return to frontline politics since he lost the presidential election to Sirisena in 2015.

His decade in power saw Colombo crush a decades-long Tamil Tiger uprising.

Rights groups say tens of thousands of Tamil civilians were killed in the final stages of the campaign, but Rajapakse has refused to acknowledge any abuses in the civil war.

He also leaned heavily on China for political support and took loans to build infrastructure which the new government described as white elephants. His reliance on Beijing angered India, who Rajapakse blamed for his defeat in the last presidential polls.

After Sirisena became president, Sri Lanka has moved to reconcile with India, the United States and other Western powers.

It promised the UN it would investigate allegations of rights abuses during the civil war but has been criticised for a lack of progress in the years since.
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Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 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(0x7f3fddb81260)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fddc61d20)', '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(0x7f3fddb81260)') 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(0x7f3fddc61d20)') 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(0x7f3fddb877e8)') 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(0x7f3fddc61d20)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fddc61d20)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fbdc572f8)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fddc8acb0)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fddc8acb0)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
System error

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context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:951

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Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 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(0x7f3fddcb2368)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fde304c40)', '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(0x7f3fddcb2368)') 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(0x7f3fde304c40)') 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(0x7f3fddc9ff98)') 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(0x7f3fde304c40)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fde304c40)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fdd3bbbf8)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fde2f20b0)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fde2f20b0)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:951

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/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(0x7f3fdd8d0208)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fddd20288)', '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(0x7f3fdd8d0208)') 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(0x7f3fddd20288)') 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(0x7f3fdd8bb3f8)') 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(0x7f3fddd20288)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fddd20288)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fdd38ac88)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fdda88d90)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fdda88d90)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
Mexico announces aid options for Central American migrants



Mexico City, Oct 26 (AFP) Oct 26, 2018



Mexico on Friday announced it will offer Central American migrants medical care, education for their children and access to temporary jobs as long as they stay in two southern states.

The plan was the first broad and detailed bid to address concerns of the flood of migrants, mostly from Honduras, who -- facing deadly violence and desperation at home -- set out in caravans for the United States.

President Enrique Pena Nieto announced the "make yourself at home" plan that migrants who agree to remain in Chiapas and Oaxaca states can "receive medical care and even send your children to school," according to a video posted on Twitter.

Migrants who want to take up his offer must file paperwork with the National Institute of Migration.

"This plan is only for those who comply with Mexican laws and is a first step towards a permanent solution for those who have refugee status in Mexico," Pena Nieto said.

A caravan with some 7,000 Central Americans is traveling through southern Mexico and many are determined to reach the United States -- despite warnings from US President Donald Trump, who says they will be turned back.
Wellington (New Zealand), October 27, 2018 (SPS) - Mohamed Fadel Kamal, Representative of the Polisario Front in Australia on Thursday called on New Zealand companies involved in the looting of Western Sahara phosphate to cease their activities which are in violation of international laws, hinder "the UN peace process and encourages the Moroccan regime to continue its illegal occupation of Western Sahara."



Welcoming the position of New Zealand government which supports the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination and its positive role during its mandate at the UN Security Council, the Polisario representative however condemned the activities of New Zealand companies that illegally exploit the Sahrawi phosphate.



Those companies "are the last ones operating in the field after the withdrawal of all Western companies" he said.



The Polisario Front representative was speaking at a conference organized by the New Zealand Institute of International Relations, under the theme "Western Sahara, Africas last colony: the role of natural resources in the persistence of the occupation."



The conference was attended by ambassadors accredited in New Zealand, magistrates, researchers, journalists and UN officials in New Zealand, as well as members of the Solidarity Movement with the Sahrawi people and a large number of students and academics.



In his speech, the representative of the Polisario Front outlined the stages of the Sahrawi people struggle for freedom. He also mentioned the UN resolutions and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that affirmed the Sahrawi people right to self-determination and independence.



The Sahrawi official recalled that the Moroccan occupation has been flagrant violation of the UN Charter and its resolutions on Western Sahara decolonization, highlighting the suffering of the Sahrawi people due to the occupation of their territory and the violation of its rights. (SPS)



062/SPS/APS
550 acre zone exclusively for Akshata GMO-free rice View(s):

In an effort to meet the growing demand for Akshata GMO-free rice tagged the Healthiest Rice in the World, a special zone of 550 acres of paddy land was recently demarcated for the growing of this special rice varieties also known as Traditional Rice in Sri Lanka.

This historic event was graced by the Minister of Agriculture Mahinda Amaraweera and the Deputy Minister of Agriculture Angajan Ramamanthan in the presence of over 400 farmers known as Akshata Green Force Cluster 4, the Grains n Green Ltd, the company responsible for this rice, said in a media release.

The Minister stated: We are extremely proud to sign an agreement with Grains n Green Ltd. for the growing of traditional non-GMO rice organically with no use of pesticides for local consumption and export, benefitting consumers and the country. We should be proud that such a company has come forward to help the nation increase foreign exchange inflows by branding and introducing to the world indigenous Sri Lankan products.

Deputy Minister Ramamanthan addressing the gathering said, Akshata provides an opportunity for the farmers to earn three times the revenue which immensely benefits the farmers and the communities.

Grains n Green Ltd. Managing Director Roshan Perera, said, There is great potential in both the established and new markets for increased export growth of Akshata non-GMO Rice, just as Sri Lanka is famed for Pure Ceylon Tea. Akshata has positioned itself in the global arena as Pure Sri Lankan non-GMO Rice. The uniqueness of our rice varieties is that it has more antioxidants than green tea and it has a Low GI Index. Akshata Rice commands a premium price directly benefiting the farmers, with our policy of providing seeds and all other inputs free to the farmer. The end result is a happy farmer producing a quality product benefitting a health conscious consumer.

He added: The new zone is a welcome addition to the clusters spread throughout the country which helps Akshata reach its goal of 5,000 acres by 2020.
Broken promises from budget pledges: Verite Research By Quintus Perera View(s): View(s):

The Government has performed poorly in executing budget proposals or promises, for, in its total pledges to disburse Rs. 149,350 million during 2018, only 8 per cent of these promises have been progressing at the end of the first six months.

This revelation was made at the media briefing held at Sri Lanka Press Institute last week by Verite Research, a private think tank that provides strategic analysis for Asia.

The above view is the outcome of a pioneering online platform that tracks the governments recording in delivering its annual budget promises on a theme Budget Promises: Beyond Parliament which is conducted by Verite Research.

The briefing was conducted by Ms. Subhashini Abeysinghe, Research Director; Ms. Vidya Nathaniel, Team Leader, Economics and Ms. Hansa Munas, Analyst  all of Verite Research.

Ms. Abeysinghe told the Business Times, on the sidelines of the media briefing, that the whole scenario of executing budget promises is a big farce, fooling and misleading the public. She said that in comparative terms with similar middle income countries Sri Lankas performances are poor.

She said: Basically we have done a comparative analysis on budget transparency. We are doing it with the International Budget Transparency Partnership. Budget transparency exercise is an assessment of all the budget documents related to budget planning, budget implementation and budget execution.

Ms. Abeysinghe said that with regard to the extent of how open the government is in sharing this information, they have noticed that Sri Lanka lags behind other countries with even similar middle income countries in terms of providing information to the public throughout the budget cycle. The only document that gets published and is discussed is the budget speech which is only one document out of about eight documents.

She said they were motivated to get involved in this exercise as they have realized that there is a significant gap between what the government allocates each year for each ministry or each subhead and what is actually spent.

She pointed out that by not executing the promises the government appears to be irresponsible as the consequences could be disastrous and there could be irreversible impact on the lives of the people as in the case of waste disposal and management which could have a tremendous impact on the environment.

In some years they discovered in the numbers for example agriculture and irrigation where the government had make certain allocations that it spends less than about 40 per cent which raises the question that there are lot of proposals not virtually implemented.

She said: We look for information to see what happened, what proposals get cut and what proposals are implemented and how does the government decide on what are they going to drop and what are they going to pick. She added, One of the main objectives is to drive more accountability about the budget promises because we feel that the government should have to be more serious about the promises they make in parliament because this is the budget speech which the public looks up to. The Minister of Finance comes to the parliament, announces this publicly and then this is discussed, debated and approved which means the public needs to trust the government then and they need to execute. This is not a question of the promises they are making but is on the execution that you can build confidence and credibility.

The willingness of the government to share the information remains very low at 26 per cent according to the research.

Ms. Abeysinghe stressed that they are not taking their research report to any politician or officials being a research body but pointed out: We want to educate people as to what happens to the public funds and how they are spent and to tell them to watch the decisions as the public needs to be aware of how their funds are disbursed.

She said that there has to be a public outcry to change the politicians and the public needs to question the government because it is their money. She indicated that there has to be a public outcry and only then will the politicians change.
Deliberate attempt to stifle investment promotion By Duruthu Edirimuni Chandrasekera View(s): View(s):

Certain vested interests are conniving against the present regime by rubbishing the Colombo Stock Exchanges (CSE) recent efforts in the UK to lure foreign investments, insiders say.

A high-ranking official in the previous regime has visited certain foreign investors in London to negate the sentiment created by the CSE and the Securities and Exchange Commission-organised road shows in mid-October in the UK. Insiders say that he is known to foreign investors as he had dealt with them during his tenure as the head of an important agency.

The Business Times learns from contacts in the UK that this individual together with some of his family members with connections to certain investors have been meeting with these investors. Early this month CSE and SEC officials urged UK-based investors to partner and profit from new resurgence and opportunity in the country under better governance and supportive policies. Nearly 150 London-based fund managers, investment advisors and investors attended the event.

A high-level Sri Lankan delegation representing the Government of Sri Lanka, the Central Bank, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka, the Colombo Stock Exchange, Sri Lankan listed companies and Stock broker representatives were at the Forum to collectively make a case for the Sri Lankan capital market.

The Forum was offered a strong endorsement from the CEO of the London Stock Exchange PLC Nikhil Rathi, who spoke of the potential value of investing in Sri Lanka, stating that the London Stock Exchange Group is one of the largest direct investors in Sri Lanka. It is not fair by the country to undo all that was done at this road show, an official who participated at the events, told the Business Times.
Kurunegala-Habarana railway project suspended By Bandula Sirimanna View(s): View(s):

The Kurunegala- Habarana Railway line project which was based on an unsolicited Chinese bid of over US$ 959 million for the construction work has been suspended.

The cabinet paper presented by President Maithripala Sirisena under the 5-year plan of Lets Awaken Polonnaruwa District Development Programme (2016-2020) to implement the project by accelerating the preliminary work has been withdrawn due to objections raised by the cabinet recently.

Under this 5-year plan, the project for the construction of a rail track from Kurunegala to Habarana via Dambulla, 84 km in length had been identified as a priority, Transport Ministry Cabinet Memorandum revealed.

China agreed to contribute to the implementation of this project and therefore the proposal made by Transport Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, to appoint a project team for speedy action to complete the project and acquire the lands required for the identified trace of the rail track was approved by the Cabinet earlier this year.

The Transport Ministry had entertained the construction contract proposal with a revised bill of quantity amounting to $959.89 million submitted by the China State Construction Engineering Corporation Ltd (CSCEC).

This tender was to be awarded to CSECE in an unsolicited bid of over Rs.1 billion ignoring the governments good governance pledge of sticking to proper tender procedures, the Business Times reliably learns.

On October 2, the Finance Ministry submitted its observations stating that this project should be postponed as a project to be after 2020 due to its high estimated cost.

Further the Chinese lending banks have informed the Ministry not to decide on Chinese contractors under the present circumstances, the Ministrys Memorandum of Observations revealed.

It has also objected to entertaining an unsolicited bid without following the proper tender procedure of competitive bidding.

The proposed Kurunegala- Habarana railway line runs across the commercial towns of Dambulla and Sigiriya in the North Central Province.

Such a massive railway line construction project should be implemented in a phased out manner and the handing over of the whole 5- year project contract (Design and Build) to a Chinese company without a competitive bidding process is unacceptable, a senior engineering consultant who wished to remain anonymous told the Business Times.

He noted that CSCECs project proposal should have been evaluated by a technical committee of experts without accepting half-baked solutions.

Construction of the rail track from Kurunegala to Habarana via Dambulla has been identified as an essential and prominent task under the Lets Awaken Polonnaruwa District Development Programme.

This project expects to provide convenient transportation for people in the Eastern and North Central Provinces and to achieve provincial development by connecting Dambulla Economic Centre with the railway network.

But the return on this massive investment is not substantial because the countrys railways operate as a state service not as a profitable venture, the senior engineering consultant pointed out adding that the issue here is the financial viability of the project in the long run.

The current investment on all the railway lines so far constructed is enormous since these are based on commercial loan facilities, he said expressing fear that it will be a huge burden on the countrys economy.

The trace runs almost parallel and on the side of A6 highway and is designed to operate trains at 100-120 kmph. The proposed railway trace should be evaluated in terms of engineering, economy, environmental and social aspects, he said.

However promoters of the project are pushing it as a Presidents initiative for their petty personnel gains without considering the governments development priorities, he disclosed.

Protesting against the involvement of the Chinese company, Convener of Railway Trade Union Alliance, S.P. Vithanage told the Business Times this proposal was made some time back to implement in stages with the deployment of Sri Lanka Railway Department engineers and workers without seeking foreign loans or foreign assistance.
Melstacorp manages Joseph Frazer hospital View(s):

Businessman Harry Jayawardena-controlled Melstacorp is managing Joseph Frazer Memorial hospital in Colombo.

This is in line with Melstacorp Plc, the parent company of listed liquor producer Distilleries Co, announcing in August that it was entering the healthcare industry, initially setting up diagnostic infrastructure and managing select hospitals.

Insiders told the Business Times that Melsta Health (Pvt.) Ltd negotiated with the Trust that operates Joseph Frazer Hospital and about one year ago took over the management of the hospital.

The Joseph Fraser Memorial Hospital was founded in 1923 by the Joseph Fraser Memorial Trust as a nonprofit hospital in honour of Joseph Fraser who was a planter in Sri Lanka from 1872 to 1913.
So, Sri Lanka got branded! by Sunimalee Dias View(s): View(s):

Sri Lankas newest branding So, Sri Lanka will be launched next month ahead of the much-awaited three year long multi-million dollar global promotional campaign.

Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau Chairman Dehan Seneviratne told the Business Times on Friday that the official announcement of the new branding for Sri Lanka would be made in November and kicked off at the World Travel Mart (WTM) in London.

He pointed out that the government spent US$2 million on the branding and logo that will be launched in the UK where it will be unveiled at the WTM pavilion and followed by a special dinner hosted by Sri Lanka for its stakeholders there.

Sri Lanka has been on the search for a new branding since it had been worn out of its old tagline which made it a Wonder of Asia and then transforming to a Small Miracle.

Meanwhile, a US$350,000 spend on advertising on Lonely Planet is still under discussion, the bureaus Managing Director Sutheash Balasubramaniam told the Business Times on Thursday.

He noted that they had received a fairly good feedback on their Island Escapes low season promotion and within two weeks they had received over a thousand bookings at the start of the campaign.

In addition, he pointed out that they had also received good feedback from the CNN campaign and was looking at the option of going through with it again for another three months. However, promoting the island on the other media channels were still being worked out, he said.
Await: Mahinda magic! View(s):

My dear Mahinda maama,

I thought I must write to you, when I heard that you had been sworn in by Maithri as Prime Minister. The news came as a surprise to most of us in Paradise, though we knew something was afoot when both of you began meeting behind closed doors a few weeks ago  and then denying that you had met.

We are not the only ones who are confused because the Green Man is saying that he is still the Prime Minister and that he cannot be removed without a vote of no-confidence. There appears to be some truth to what he is saying so now it seems as if we have two Prime Ministers instead of one!

The Green Man is saying that he still enjoys the confidence of a majority MPs in Parliament and the Cabinet remains the same. Meanwhile, you say that you will form a new cabinet soon. I suppose this is what happens when you entrust a country to someone who has only been a grama sevaka!

Some say that what Maithri did was unconstitutional and that we are in a constitutional crisis because of that. That maybe so, but that shouldnt surprise anyone because Maithri is someone who broke all his promises. He stabbed you in the back first and now he has stuck the dagger into the Green Man.

What has happened has indeed happened and I suppose as far as you and Maithri are concerned, it doesnt matter how it was done. That is why you repeated recently that your decision to remove Shirani as CJ was justified. We all know that for you, Mahinda maama, the end justifies the means.

Everything depends on whether the Greens can retain their numbers who support the Green Man. It must be said that even after that vote of no-confidence earlier this year, he didnt learn his lesson and went about as if nothing had happened, oblivious to the hardships people were facing every day.

It does look like you have the edge because at least two Green MPs have already pledged their loyalty to you. Among them is the great grandson of the Father of the Nation. He is angry because the Green Man didnt give him a Cabinet post. So, it seems as if you can now buy loyalty with a Cabinet post!

It was also comical to see the top cop smiling and saluting you so readily. Werent your chaps calling for his removal because he didnt investigate that alleged assassination plot against Gota and Maithri thoroughly? He seems to be singing for his supper and no doubt many others will do the same now.

There were celebrations when it was announced that you were back in the PMs job and people lit crackers in many places. Obviously, they expect a better deal with you in charge. So, you must tell us what your plans are for the next one and a quarter years if you do manage to stay in your job.

I can already think of a few changes, though. I suppose you will get the airport in Mattala functioning profitably again and the same holds true for port that also bears your name. Fuel prices will, I am sure, miraculously be reduced and the cost of living will come down and we will live happily ever after.

People can also heave a sigh of relief, secure in the knowledge that doctors will not strike at the drop of a hat because, when you are in government; Padeniya and his GMOA become purring pussycats. Who knows, under your benevolent guidance, even SAITM might have a second lease of life!

One of your first tasks will be to get Maithri to pardon people who have been on your side in the past. I am sure your former Secretary Lalith as well as Gnanasara hamuduruwo and that Duminda chap must all be celebrating because they will now know that they wont have to suffer in jails for long!

However, this is only the first stage of your plan, isnt it, Mahinda maama? I am sure you wouldnt want to be an underling to Maithri for long. After all, he is the man who publicly said he will never have you as his PM and said that if you won the last election, he would have been six feet under!

So, Mahinda maama, we will wait for the next stage. That will be when you either lure more Green MPs to your camp and amend the Constitution so you could run again for the top job or, if you cant do that, take control of the Blue party once again and nominate Gota to run the race for you.

Anyway, Mahinda maama, we wish you the best of luck because you will need a lot of it. Everyone thinks the Green Man is now the loser in this game but, in the long run, the real loser is Maithri. When you show him the door and he has to go, I can assure you very few people will feel sorry for him.

Yours truly,

Punchi Putha

PS  It always intrigues me as to why politicians dont know when to retire gracefully. Come to think of it, only the much-maligned JR and Dearly Beloved left when they had to. Ah, but then, you have to be in power until Namal baby comes of age, so you can ensure that the dynasty continues, isnt it?
Hypocrisy and this murder most foul View(s):

Journalists have died on assignment, caught in the middle of wars and conflicts. But this was not always by accident. They have been targeted by those who did not want witnesses to their foul deeds or to coerce them into silence.

Some might recall tank shells fired by US troops at a hotel in Baghdad in which international journalists covering the illegal invasion of Iraq were housed. They might also recall the targeting of the al Jazeera office in Baghdad.

Over the years there have been too many deaths caused by friendly fire to recount them all. Sri Lankas own journalists have not been free of death threats and death itself. Perhaps the most prominent among them was Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickrematunga, a critic of powerful elements in the Mahinda Rajapaksa government. Long before that evil deed another journalist and actor Richard de Zoysa was tortured and killed.

Besides being a noted critic of powerful elements in the Rajapaksa government, it was the meticulous manner in which Wickrematunga was executed that pointed a finger at a military-like operation which drew worldwide attention.

Though Wickrematungas daylight killing aroused international condemnation it was nothing as gruesome and despicable as the pre-meditated murder early this month of Jamal Khashoggi, the dissident Saudi Arabian journalist and columnist for the Washington Post.

Despite all the denials, cover-ups and buck passing, each new day elicits more evidence of the involvement of those close to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (known as MbS) and perhaps the Crown Prince himself who, it is alleged, had signed off on the plan to deal with Khashoggi.

It is well-known in domestic and international circles that MbS is de facto ruler. Nothing of significance happens in the desert sands without the knowledge of MbS who was picked by his father King Salman as heir apparent after deposing the then crown prince a few years back.

King Salman would not have had a need to read about court intrigues and palace treachery in Shakespeares tragedies and historical plays. Over centuries those desert monarchies would have provided their rulers with sufficient historical dramas on how these autocracies have suppressed their peoples and continue to do so to this day.

But King Salman might have been more circumspect in moving the political chess pieces around had he lent an ear to the words of King Lear: How sharper than a serpents tooth it is to have a thankless child.

If one were to agree with analysts and Saudi Arabia-based diplomats that the real power lies in the hands of Crown Prince bin Salman then this whole dastardly fiasco over the pre-meditated murder of journalist Khashoggi must ultimately lie at MbSs door.

This is but one of the nasty diplomatic errors that have roused international ire over Saudi Arabias medieval methods still practised in the 21st century and its strenuous attempts to hide a blatant truth of highest-level Saudi complicity.

It has also exposed the hypocrisy of some western nations that present themselves to the world as the moral guardians of human rights and international law.

When the recently named crown prince came closer to the Saudi throne and positioned himself as a great redeemer with so much power in his hands to modernise the autocracy, he was praised in many quarters as the reformer that the oil-rich nation needed to bring it into the 21st century.

So when the relatively young de facto ruler gave women the license to drive vehicles it was hailed as a progressive reform. But in the meantime the same man had jailed activists calling for modernisation and dissidents asking for genuine reform. Dissent is something for which bin Salman has a low tolerance level.

The greater the power, wrote Edmund Burke, the more dangerous the abuse. As this sad drama unfolds from total denial by Saudi Arabia to death by mistake and now to acceptance of guilt for the killing by a Saudi hit squad, those western nations that held the Saudi rulers to their bosom because to them Mammon means more than man, find they cannot extricate themselves from their own hypocrisy.

When news first broke about Khashoggis disappearance and suspected death in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul that unpredictable US President Donald Trump was among the first to jump into the fray, covering up for his Saudi friends by blaming some rogue elements for killing Khashoggi.

Trump was not interested in getting at the truth. He was only interested in safeguarding his arms deals with the autocrats in that desert kingdom.

Saudi Arabia is Americas No. 1 weapons buyer. Between 2013 and 2017, Riyadh accounted for 18 percent of total U.S. arms sales or about $9 billion, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

Yet a closer study reveals that the sales arent quite as big as Trump has boasted. The president recently praised Riyadhs ambitions to buy $110 billion worth of U.S.-made arms. But that money hasnt come through yet, according to State Department or Defence Security Cooperation Agency announcements.

While Washington has several arms agreements with Riyadh, it is unclear where the $110 billion figure comes from, aside from a potential wish list of future deals.

The UK is another country that has entered into arms deals with the Saudis and is a supplier of weapons used in the on-going conflict in Yemen, one of the poorest nations that is suffering constant bombardment by the Saudi-led coalition that is supported materially by the US and Britain.

British military sales to Saudi Arabia increased by two thirds in 2017 from 2016  an increase of more than 450m, Sky News reported the other day. The real figure could be much higher as the number of so-called secret open licences doubled across the 12 months, from 21 to 44.

Britain issued 126 licences relating to military goods in 2017, with a value of 1.129bn  Department of International Trade figures show.

This is compared to 103 licences relating to military goods in 2016, with a value of 679m.

More than 10,000 people are thought to have died and 22 million people need assistance in Yemen in what the UN says is the worlds worst humanitarian crisis.

The hypocrisy of these countries lies in the double standards they employ. The US and Britain have led the charge against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC pressing for international investigations and accountability trials for alleged violations of human rights and international law during the last months of the war against the separatist LTTE.

These countries and Canada have not changed their policies on Sri Lanka and would still like to see international participation in any accountability mechanisms that Sri Lanka would establish at some stage, if at all.

But curiously they have maintained a silence over the Saudi announcement that Riyadh would hold an investigation into the torture and killing of Jamal Khashoggi. And who is going to head this inquiry? Why Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman  who many claim is implicated in this heinous crime in which a Saudi national resident in the US was done to death in Turkey in a Saudi Arabian diplomatic mission  and the great upholders of human rights are only ready to wag their fingers at the culprits.

Imagine what would have been the reaction if a similar gruesome murder took place in Sri Lanka. The same western nations that preach their homilies to Sri Lanka about the violation of human rights and individual freedoms would have descended on Colombo with threats of sanctions and other dire consequences.

Yet when Saudi Arabia says it will inquire into its own abhorrent conduct the threats cease, the human rights abuses are forgotten-and possibly forgiven. Why the double standards? Why indeed.

That is all because the oil-rich kingdom has the money, and the Crown Prince apparently holds the purse strings. All the principles that the poorer countries are expected to adhere to and follow are thrown to the four winds when the weapons salesmen go on bended knee to the despots in the desert.

Why has the West not called for an international inquiry into the Khashoggi killing? Why is it the desert despots are permitted to continue with their primitive practices  torturing, killing and dismembering the body without any retributive justice for the guilty and the countrys rulers that seem to have permitted it?

I suppose dismembering the body comes easy for those whose system of justice permits them to sever the hands of some criminal offenders.

But what of those who continuously talk of their contributions to civilisation and civilised conduct? Why have they taken a vow of silence except to utter the pro-forma condemnations and continue with their business dealings?

Money, somebody once said, is the root of all evil. The petrodollars that make the world go round.
President expresses concern over UN action against Army officer View(s):

A memorandum by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to set up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, part of an assurance given to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), has triggered many issues. When the matter came up for discussion at last Tuesdays weekly Cabinet meeting, President Maithripala Sirisena asked why, despite all measures now being taken, an officer of the Sri Lanka Army was being accused of human rights violations.

He was alluding to the case of Lt. Col. Kalana Amunupura, a former second in command of the 11th Battalion of the Sri Lanka Light Infantry (SLLI). He served the 58 Brigade area at Puthukudiyiruppu and Mullaitivu. However, President Sirisena has learnt that he was not involved in operational tasks.

The President said that he had learnt that a UN Panel where a South African diplomat Yasmin Sooka was then a member had named Lt. Col. Amunupura for alleged human rights violations. However, Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe said it was not her but Sri Lankas own Human Rights Commission (HRC).

This prompted President Sirisena to remark that there was no point in making scapegoats of officers and that the Commission must look into the national interest. That naturally raised questions on the role of the HRC itself, since it is tasked to probe human rights violations and is, therefore, bound by law to give its findings on human rights abuses.

The Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission was in no way involved in Lt. Col. Amunupuras case. Its chairperson Dr. Deepika Udagama, in fact, was quoted in this newspaper last week as saying so. At the Cabinet discussion, Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka said that Sri Lanka should declare, at the upcoming UNHRC session in March next year, that it was withdrawing its co-sponsorship from the United States backed resolution.

President Sirisena, thereafter, called upon Premier Wickremesinghe to go into the matter. This was 72 hours or so before he removed Mr. Wickremesinghe from his job.

A cockeyed view from cockpit

Captain Suranga M. Samarasinghe, Secretary of the Airline Pilots Guild of Sri Lanka, has responded by e-mail to our report on this page last week headlined BIA Runway Safety Area Not of Standard: ICAO. This is what he has to say in a rather harshly worded letter:

I write with reference to your article BIA Runway Safety Area not of Standard: ICAO found in your publication on the 21st of October 2018.

I wish to place on record that your article contains a gross error in facts and complete recklessness in portraying a non-existent situation with the main aeronautical hub of the country. I have it on very good authority that your article has not been corroborated by a cross-check with any of those with knowledge in the BIA Runway Safety Team (RST) of the Airport & Aviation Services of Sri Lanka (AASL), nor the ALPGSL Sub-Committee that look into any such matters to provide technical expertise. It contains erroneous data based on irrelevant and incomplete technical terminology.

I also wish to state that my name has been mentioned in this article in a completely wrong context, thereby leading me, along with many others, to question the integrity of the reporting of your Newspaper and the responsibility owed therein, to your Readership.

Please be kind enough to redact the article with an apology to myself and the Airport & Aviation Services of Sri Lanka for erroneous reporting, before I am forced in good consciousness to seek legal remedies; as your negligent actions in print now have legal ramifications to myself and others.

Jamis Banda adds: Firstly, Captain Samarasinghe has already circulated the above letter to all members of the Airline Pilots Guild of Sri Lanka (AAPGSL).

Well and good, for they should know. I am not sure whether he would also circulate among them my response below. That will help his fellow pilots to know the truth. Or is it a case of one hand not knowing what the other is doing?

Here is the full text of an e-mail Captain Ruwan Vithanage, President of the Airline Pilots Guild of Sri Lanka wrote to Captain Rajind Ranatunga, Head of Flight Operations, SriLankan Airlines.

Dear Capt. Ranatunga,

With reference to the BIA Runway Safety Team and the technical sub-committee which was appointed to seek a solution to the ICAO finding of a non-standard runway strip at VCBI, Capt. Suranga Samarasinghe will be attending an IFALPA RST Co-ordinator course in BKK from the 20th to 22nd of November 2018. Details of the course are attached below. During this Course, the draft report of corrective measures to be forwarded to the ICAO, will be submitted to the body for their views and necessary changes.

Capt. Samarasinghe has requested for 3 ROFs from the 20th of November, via SABRE. He will be requesting for SNY slips to travel to and from BKK in due course and would appreciate the 19th and 23rd of November being made available, to meet the travel requirements. He is willing to utilise his annual leave quota if required.

Your kind assistance and consideration is appreciated.

That is not all. The invitation for the IFALPA Runway Safety Team course has come from Christoph Schewe, the co-ordinator.

Come, come Captain Samarasinghe. Just because you fly a plane you must have your feet on the ground, if you know what I mean. If you had only checked with Captain Vithanage your own president, and your good consciousness would have been cleared. Or are you too like the Yahapalanaya Government where the two heads opposed each other? Perhaps, you have hit some avoidable turbulence.

State media groups lady boss shows her independence

The lady boss of a state media institution showed that she was not only tough but also independent, like the name of her institution.

It began when a VVIPs personal security detail first wanted to search her room. They said the VVIPs progeny would be visiting her office.

She stood her ground and the men withdrew to the ground floor. Sometime later, they came up again. This time, they asked her to come with them and receive the progeny at the entrance. She flatly refused. So the VVIP lady had to walk into her office.

It was all too different when she visited another similar organisation. There the boss got up from the chair so soon that she nearly fell. Then she sang yes madam, yes madam.

Both these institutions now seem to have new bosses since Friday night.

MRs breakfast call to Sampanthan

Breakfast for Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday was kiribath and a variety of accompaniments at his official residence at Wijerama Road.

As he enjoyed his meal, Mr. Rakjapaksa asked a Tamil journalist present there to get Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader Rajavarorthayam Sampanthan. The scribe got him on his own telephone.

Mr. Rajapaksa asked Mr. Sampanthan whether the TNA would support his government. Making clear that the TNA had no ill-will towards him.

Mr. Sampanthan said he would consult his party and revert to Rajapaksa.

Wigneswaran seeks police security

Both former Northern Provincial Council Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran and former Opposition Leader S. Thawarasa have requested police to provide them security even after the councils term ended on October 24. Taking up the role of a full time Tamil nationalist politician, Mr. Wigneswaran also moved into a rented house in Jaffna as he had to vacate his official residence there. But, he is yet to hand over his official vehicle.

The ceremonial last session of the Council was held on Tuesday. This coincided with eightieth birthday of Chief Minister Wigneswaran and a mega lunch party was held. The next day, at a gathering in a wedding hall in Nallur, he said he was breaking away from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the party which brought him to politics from his retiring days in Colombo and made him a Chief Minister.

The mandate of the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) expired on October 24. Many council members have regrets about what the council was able to do while many Northern Province people also ask what the council had done other than passing 444 resolutions. Some former ministers and councillors also regretted their delay in securing duty-free vehicle permits.

The last minute attempt by Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran to push through his tax free vehicle ended up in futile as the Treasury had issued a directive to suspend the issue of duty-free permits.
Yahapalanaya on the rocks View(s):

So, Sri Lankareplaced the tourist promotion slogan Land Like No Other this week. Nothing should surprise anyone in Sri Lankas politics, but late Friday evenings melodramatic happenings at the Presidents House must rank high on the ratings. Sri Lanka now has one President and two Prime Ministers.

Both President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe may have had a sense of deja vuon Friday. This was second time around, in different ways for both. The President, then General Secretary of his party, surprised the nation the first time in end 2014 by deserting the ship and successfully challenging the incumbent President with UNP votes. It was a case of the Opposition pulling a rabbit out of the hat then  and he did it again. As for the Prime Minister, his five-year mandate was cut short in 2004 by the premature dissolution of Parliament, and it happened again.

The signs were ominous in the build-up to Friday. Questions were being asked in various quarters if the 2015 National Unity Government could carry on for another year and a half. Those who read the Sunday Times Political Editors story on the front page last week might have had an inkling of what was going to happen. His immediate priority, according to sources, close to the presidency, is to replace Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, with whom many irreconcilable differences have arisen, the news item said.

Serious differences came into the open when the President asked the Prime Minister to resign in the immediate aftermath of the local government elections where both coalition partners received a drubbing, the Presidents SLFP far worse than the Prime Ministers UNP. All the setbacks of the Government were put at the PMs doorstep. The PM quoted the 19th Amendment (19A) to stop the President from removing him. Then came the vote of no-confidence against the PM. The Joint Opposition was certain of winning it as day follows night, but the PM won with a thumping majority. The President distanced himself with the conspiracy some of his party men were engaged in.

More recently, everything the UNP proposed, the President began to oppose. Political cartoonists had a field day mocking the serious business of governance. One cartoon depicted the PM as director of a film saying roll, roll and the President as producer saying cut, cut. Just last week a major issue blew up with the PM proposing the Colombo ports East Container Terminal be given partly to India, and the President opposing it. Then, the President wanting the state bank heads removed and the UNP ignoring the instructions.

Secret talks between President Sirisena and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa to form a caretaker government (the Sunday Times, October 7) were hotly denied by some, but not by the two leaders. Some UNP ministers dismissed a caretaker government aswish fulthinking.Nobody really noticed why the Joint Oppositions front runner for the 2020 Presidential elections had not renounced his US citizenship yet. Wasnt it because Plan B was afoot?

The President has now forced the UNP to accept a fait accompli situation with the swearing-in of a new Prime Minister. But the sitting Prime Minister says the move is unconstitutional and refuses to comply saying its a constitutional coup. All arguments will revolve around Articles 42, 46 and 48 of the Constitution which deal with the removal of the PM in terms of the 19A. There are discrepancies in the English and Sinhala text to add to the confusion, with the Sinhala text prevailing in interpretation.

There are four ways the UNP can challenge the Presidents action: Taking to the streets; challenging the move before the Supreme Court which sits as the Constitutional Court; or moving an impeachment motion against the President in Parliament with 113 signatures with that of the Speakers approval, and proving its majority in Parliament. It seems the UNP will consider only the last two options.

During the secret discussions recently between the two one-time SLFP colleagues turned bete noiresturned partners once again, Mr. Rajapaksa was told, it is learnt, that under the 19A, the PM can call the shots much more than before. Evidently Fridays move to oust the sitting PM proves otherwise. The Executive President can still call some shots, and he will remain Head of Government.

Those who gave legal advice for the Presidential move argue that the 2015 National Unity Government is now defunct. With it, 19A is inoperative in so far as the insulation of the PM and the Cabinet is concerned. It is a new Government now in force, they argue.

The removal of the PM was done under Article 42 (4) of the Constitution wherein the President can remove the PM if in his opinion any other MP is most likely to command the majority of Parliament. This opinion, constitutionally speaking, cannot be his private view or based on political expediency. It ought to be a reasonable and justifiable opinion. One would have expected him to have obtained some element of proof that the new PM has the required numbers in Parliament to command the majority of the House. A constitutional hiatus has been precipitated in the meantime with the UNP-led UNF coalition claiming to have the majority in the House and arguing strenuously that the 2015 peoples mandate be respected by the President.

The cat is out of the bag with the prorogation of Parliament yesterday till November 16. It clearly means the President has been advised to create a fait accompli situation which gives the new PM, Mahinda Rajapaksa, bargaining power with his new office to negotiate with MPs, particularly UNP MPs, to cross over and come up with the numbers required. Meanwhile, the jockeying for powerful posts in the MS/MR Government vis-a-vis the RW Government that will no doubt see confusion worse confounded come Monday among officials in the state apparatus unsure if they should vacate their posts to make way for the new appointees, or to stay put.

Some political analysts ask why Mr. Rajapaksa, who was sitting pretty with popular support, at least in the south, wished to take on the headaches of this Government such as the cost of living and the depreciation of the Rupee without waiting for the scheduled elections later next year. Particularly so, by joining hands with someone who had politically stabbed him in the back once. That there are no permanent friends, or enemies in politics is well known, but what the deciding factor was, is up for conjecture.

Some might say internal pressure in finding a Presidential candidate for 2020was one reason. Cases of corruption and abuse of power against his family and political associates now maturing in the courts may be another.

Many of his predecessors  Sirima Bandaranaike (extending Parliament from 1975-77), J.R. Jayewardene (1982 Referendum) and Chandrika Kumaratunga (dissolving Parliament in 2004) have made a mockery of election mandates. Now, President Sirisena is following their example. Has the country gone from the frying pan into the fire?
Galle Face Hotel & Ebert Silva Holidays celebrate World Childrens Day View(s):

The Galle Face Hotel, which opened in 1864, joined hands with Ebert Silva Holidays, one of Sri Lankas pioneering travel and tourism companies, to celebrate World Childrens Day and bring joy to 100 under-privileged children.

This year, 50 children from The School for the Deaf in Ratmalana and 50 from Madduma Bandara Vidyalaya in Kandy were invited for an entertaining day of sightseeing and activities in Colombo courtesy of Ebert Silva Holidays, plus food, special treats and games at the luxurious Galle Face Hotel.

This celebration took place on October 7, 2018 and marked the fourth consecutive year that Galle Face Hotel and Ebert Silva Holidays have come together

for World Childrens Day. Robert C. Hauck, General Manager and Area Vice President of the Galle Face Hotel, was present at the celebration while Rajini de Silva Mendis, Chairperson of Ebert Silva Holidays, represented Ebert Silva Holidays.

The children from Kandy were met at the Fort Railway Station by Ebert Silva Holidays and welcomed onboard brightly decorated open-top double-decker buses, which took them to the Galle Face Hotel. Here, they were joined by the children from The School for the Deaf in Ratmalana. After enjoying delectable morning treats they set off for a memorable open-top bus ride around Colombo.

At the Port of Colombo, the children were shown around the new developments of the port and harbour, courtesy of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority.

The Sri Lanka Navy also extended the rare opportunity to board its largest and latest vessel, SLNS Sindurala, giving the kids an educational tour of the ship and an insight into its features and functions. The children then returned to the Galle Face Hotel for a scrumptious five-star lunch.

The highlight of the day was a private tour of a SriLankan Airlines Airbus A330 aircraft,at Bandaranaike International Airport courtesy of SriLankan Airlines Engineering. The World Childrens Day activities concluded with a delicious tea party at the Galle Face Hotel, featuring an array of tempting treats, gifts, music and dancing, as the 100 children celebrated one of the most memorable days of their lives.
Cinema for the scary season Halloween View(s): View(s):

Bringing the real scary, creepy or chilling experience, Halloween is now being screened in leading English theatres in Colombo and islandwide. Belonging to the category of slasher film, a sub-genre of horror films that involves a violent murderer who commits series of murders using sharp bladed tools, Halloween is the eleventh and the latest of the Halloween film series joining John Carpenter, the original co-creator of Michael Myers, the famous Halloween character.

Carpenter plays as the composer, executive producer and creative consultant of the latest installment.

In the film, Jamie Lee Curtis returns to her iconic role as Laurie Strode, who comes to her final confrontation with Michael Myers, the masked figure who has haunted her since she narrowly escaped his killing spree on Halloween night four decades ago.

Master of horror John Carpenter on this film, joining forces with cinemas current leading producer of horror, Jason Blum (Get Out, Split, The Purge, Paranormal Activity).

Inspired by Carpenters classic, filmmakers David Gordon Green (Stronger), Danny Mcbride (HBOs Eastbound & Down) and Jeff Fradley (HBOs Vice Principals) crafted a story that carves a new path from the events in the landmark 1978 film, and Green also directs.

Based on characters created by Carpenter and Debra Hill, Halloween is also produced by Malek Akkad, whose Trancas International Films has produced the Halloween series since its inception, and Bill Block.

Laurie Strode comes to her final confrontation with Michael Myers, the masked figure who has haunted her since she narrowly escaped his killing spree on Halloween night four decades ago.

Forty years after the Haddonfield murders in 1978, two journalists, Aaron Korey and Dana Haines, travel to Smiths Grove Sanitarium to interview Michael Myers, who was captured after Dr. Samuel Loomis shot him off of the Doyle house balcony at the end of the movie. Dr. Ranbir Sartain, Michaels new psychiatrist after Dr. Loomis death, inform them that Michael is able to speak, but chooses not to. Dana records the event as Aaron approaches Michael and talks to him, but fails to get him to speak, even after showing him his mask and mentioning Laurie Strode.

The two journalists leave Smiths Grove Sanitarium and drive to Lauries house, a heavily fortified and decrepit homestead, and bribe her for an interview, which she reluctantly accepts. Laurie has spent the last forty years dealing with post-traumatic stress and preparing for Michaels inevitable return. Her feelings have resulted in two failed marriages and losing custody of her daughter Karen at a young age. Aaron and Dana tell Laurie their interest in finding out why Michael committed the murders in 1978 and ask her to meet with him in a final attempt to get him to speak before hes transferred to a maximum security prison. Laurie kicks them out of her house, but not before taking the money they offered.

Jamie Lee Curtis and Nick Castle reprise their roles as Strode and Myers, respectively, with stuntman James Jude Courtney also portraying Myers. The film also stars Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, Will Patton, and Virginia Gardner.

The film is now being screened at Liberty by Scope Cinemas, Scope Cinemas (CCC), Empire, Majestic Cineplex, Liberty Lite and Savoy in Colombo and nearly ten theatres around the country.
Hit song Despacito earns seven Guinness World Records View(s):

The reggeton/ Latin pop hit song Despacito by Luis Fonsi has been certified seven Guinness World Records. The 40 year old Puerto Rican artist thanked his fans on October 17 on winning the seven titles. He thanked Daddy Yankee who collaborated on the song and Justine Bieber who helped write and add the English vocals to make Despacito the worldwide hit. The original Spanish version was released in January 2017 while the remix version with Biebers vocals came out in April 2017. The seven titles won by Despacito are: Most viewed music video online, Most liked video online, Most viewed music video on YouTube (duet), Most streamed track worldwide, First YouTube video to receive 5 billion views and Most viewed video online.

Celebrity rap star Cardi B has set aside controversy when she stepped out to comfort needy children in New York. Cardi B handed coats and shoes to children in need at Marlboro Houses in Brooklyn, New York on 18th October. It was one of the coldest nights this autumn according reports.

The late rock artist Tom Petty was honoured on his birthday in his hometown of Gainesville, Florida.

The Northeast Park where he played as a child was renamed the Tom Petty Park on 20th October.

The I Wont Back Down hitmaker was also a member of the Travelling Wilburys supergroup. He died last year.

Jay Aston who once a member of the Eurovision song contest winning group Bucks Fizz has performed with her new group The Fizz on 21st October after undergoing a tongue replacement surgery in July after she was diagnosed with cancer. Part of her thigh was used in the procedure.

The dynamic combination of Calvin Harris & Sam Smith have regained the No: 1 spot on the UK singles chart with the song Promises. The song lost its prime position to Dave ft.: Fredos Funky Friday a week earlier, but bounced back a notch to topple the rap track. The Harris/ Smith duet led by a close gap of 1026 combined sales.

Promises now counts six non- consecutive weeks at the top of the UK singles chart. While Daves Funky Friday has got pushed down to the No: 2 spot, it can take comfort counting the most streams of the week with 7.13 million.

While most of the songs on the UK top 10 moved in the declining position, Lady Gaga &Bradley Cooper duet Shallow moved up the chart from 6 to No: 4. The ballad is taken from the soundtrack from the film A Star Is Born which both artists. Meanwhile two other songs from the same soundtrack further down the chart.

The only song to debut on the top 10 singles chart this week is Woman Like Me by Little Mix.

The reggae fusion track with an urban groove entered the UK chart at No: 5. The song features a rap section by Nicki Minaj. The song is taken from the next Little Mix album LM5. Its the 13th top 10 UK hit song for the all-girl quartet.

TW LW

1 2 Promises  Calvin Harris & Sam Smith

2 1 Funky Friday  Dave ft: Fredo

3 3 Happier  Marshmello ft: Bastille

4 6 Shallow (from A Star Is Born)  Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper

5  Woman Like Me  Little Mix ft: Nicki Minaj

6 5 Let You Love  Rita Ora

7 4 I Love It  Kanye West & Lil Pump

8 7 In My Mind  Dynoro & Gigi DAgostino

9 8 Electricity  Silk City ft: Dua Lipa

10 9 All I am  Jess Glynne
More than a Mad Hatters tea party By Tarini Pilapitiya Students of Elizabeth Moir get ready to stage with Alice @Wonderland View(s): View(s):

A classic story emerging from a hard leather bound book to being browsed on Kindle is the best way to describe Elizabeth Moir s modern retelling of a Lewis Caroll fable rewritten by Jonathan Yukich Alice @ Wonderland. The story surrounded by a 21st century setting aimed at entertaining the young and the old is being performed by the young thespians on November 2 and 3 at the Lionel Wendt Theatre.

Directed by Anushka Senanayake, founder of Theatre Junction and known for productions such as Cinderella and Next to Normal, Alice @ Wonderland will be her third production with the students at Elizabeth Moir School having previously staged Singing in the Rain (Junior) and Neil Simons Rumours.

With her penchant for recreating contemporary theatre in Sri Lanka selecting Alice @ Wonderland was a no brainier for this versatile director. Singing in the rain (Junior) was a fun production where the students had to even learn tap dancing from scratch and they did brilliantly, Anushka shares adding that choreographer Melissa Fisher will be assisting in this production teasing an appearance of some toe tapping numbers.

For over a year Alice had been on the directors mind. Ive been obsessed with the play, she laughs adding I wanted to choose a world that was completely bizarre.

Yukichs rendition ensured that Anushka was able to play to cast strengths whilst challenging them with material outside their comfort zones. Over the two months of rehearsal she diligently worked with the students on how they would like to define Alices world.

The play written for a cast of 15  29 characters also gave the visionary director space to include a larger ensemble cast of 54 students ranging from 11 to 18 years.

Modernized, contemporary and relatable are apt descriptions for Moirs rendition but Anushka had another motive for the plays selection Im always looking for those teaching moments, she says the play allowing her to explore renowned literature in a different light.

I always tell my students that a script is a blueprint and although this is a well known story theres always a fresh perspective that can be communicated, she smiles.

Certain roles like Alice, the March Hare and the Mad Hatter will also be performed by two actors and intentional choice by the director as it will bring a fresh version of the character to the play on both nights.

The climax of the performance commences with an anxious, cell phone obsessed Alice searching for a way to charge her phone. Its a good take on todays teenagers and their priorities, Anushka shares.

Attending the play will be like attending the Mad Hatters tea party Anushka gushes adding that the roughly 75 minute production will come with a few surprises like puppeteering work, dancing, rapping, some heavy accents and a whole lot of fun. I can only hope that audiences go on this adventure with Alice and discover what Wonderland is to them, she shares.

Alice @ Wonderland will take place on November 2 and 3 at the Lionel Wendt Theatre at 7.30 pm. Tickets and box plan are available at the Elizabeth Moir Senior School from October 29 onwards.

(See fuller interview with cast members in the Mirror Magazine section of the Sunday Times Print Edition online at www.sundaytimes.lk).
Seeing the bright side of life By Sashini Rodrigo Young designer Rochelle Bibile talks of her products that celebrate design and culture through vibrant colour View(s): View(s):

Walking into the newly opened Colombo City Centre late last month, one barely knew where to look first. But amidst all the luxury brands and upmarket glamour was a cheerful-looking painted bullock cart, packed with an exciting array of brightly-coloured items that caught the eye and lifted the spirit.

This is all Bakamuna and the Sunday Times Magazine caught up with lead designer Rochelle Bibile to talk about her work within the brand, and what led to this vibrant and unique line.

It all starts from a point of inspiration. Rochelle explains that it can come from anywhere as long as she connects with it personally. Even the name is a reflection of herself as a designer and self-branded night owl, as all her creative ideas come to her in the night.

Inspiration can come from anywhere, like elements from nature or local culture, or something she was inspired by while travelling, which is another passion of hers.

It just has to be the right elements, mediums, and colours and it can come together in different ways at different times.

We use a lot of modern techniques but we also have a connection to old traditional methods, she says, as she explains the concept behind the bullock cart and the use of traditional elements with a modern twist. Its a reflection of our work, how we dont only stick to the computer and digital aspect. We also go the more traditional method of using our hands and paint and ink.

The experimentation doesnt stop at the design process. The variety of products is varied and interesting, ranging from prints on canvas, tote bags and cushion covers to phone cases, mugs, wooden magnets and little rubber elephant figurines that are also hand-painted.

The eclectic mix of design and culture celebrated through vibrant colour combinations is what gives Bakumunas range of products their signature relatable appeal, to both a local and international audience. Rochelle describes the feedback from the pop up stores and from what she has shared online as overwhelmingly positive, and this has led to many collaborations that have shaped and evolved the brand.

Any artist can attest to the difficulty of turning a hobby into a viable career, but Rochelles passion for art and design has been an intrinsic part of her since she was very little. She became a graphic designer by profession, and holds a Degree in Graphic Design from the Academy of Design Sri Lanka and a Masters in Business Administration from Anglia Ruskin University UK.

However, she always knew that she wanted to do something more. Her love of illustration and using mixed media, using different mediums together like paint and ink combined with digital, became her signature style that is the foundation for Bakamuna.

Sometimes in a normal graphic designer job, you dont really get to experiment and youre kind of stuck in a box, she explains.Its 8 to 5 in front of a computer. I needed to do something more.

She had already been selling her art through international online retailers when MTI Corporate Finances idea2fund came to her attention a year ago. The platform allows aspiring entrepreneurs to present their venture ideas, receive constructive feedback and financial support. Rochelle presented her ideas and the rest, as they say, is history. She handles the design and creative side of things, and MTI take care of the operational side.

They asked me the right questions like What do you really want to do? and for the first time I was able to really think about it. It expanded from there. I wouldnt say I had it all figured out at the start, but its grown since last year and its still evolving.

That flexibility in her plans is what led to the idea of having pop up stores rather than a permanent retail outlet or just an online store. The pop up store at CCC late last month was the second for the year, following a successful first run at the Hilton in June.

It allowed her to experiment and collaborate with people on projects that encapsulate the essence of Bakamuna, and to see what worked for both her schedule and the brands free-spirited concept.

Also, none of us are really experts at retail! she adds, laughing.

With the start of Bakumuna, Rochelle felt that it was important to use local suppliers for her products so that they can be involved in every step of production and be assured of the quality, and most importantly to make it authentically Sri Lankan with an international appeal.

After another successful pop up store run, the future is as bright as it is unrestricted. Rochelle recommends keeping up to date with the brand through their social media, as she is always posting about her creative processes or plans as they happen.

Were keeping it very open right now. If it really connects with us, well go for it.

Together with her small team, Rochelle hopes to keep that unique aesthetic and personal touch going with her audience, so that more people will connect with the brand and spread the Bakamuna vibes.

Bakamuna is also happy to do custom work on request. For more information or to get in contact, visit their website at bakamuna.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/Bakamunadesign and Instagram at instagram.com/bakamuna_design
Govt vows contractual action against CHEC on landfill project View(s):

The Government has vowed to take contractual action against China Harbour Engineering Co. Ltd (CHEC)builders of the sanitary landfill in Aruwakkalu for discharging excessive amounts of water, along with soil, into the Serakkuliya lagoon.

The contractor has also been told to come up with a water management plan to ensure that water collecting on site is not discharged in a similar manner in future. The Megapolis Ministry project has attracted widespread criticism on environmental grounds. Photographs and videos depicting muddy flood waters flowing from the construction site into the lagoon, turning it red, are being widely shared on social media.

We have to accept that China Harbour pumped out water that collected in the lowest place, into the adjoining forest, said Jayawilal Fernando, Project Director attached to the Megapolis Ministry. There was a ridge and, due to them discharging a little more water into the low-lying area, the ridge broke and water flowed into the lagoon along with the eroded soil.

We have informed the contractor and will take action within contractual obligations, he continued. The contractor has to come up with a water management plan quickly. Remedial measures will be adopted in tandem with the consultant. They will also not discharge water into the same place and will find an alternative location.

The landfill construction, meanwhile, has fallen behind schedule, with officials blaming the recent torrential rains. The implementation period is just 25 months, but work on the Kelaniya transfer station (where garbage will be temporarily deposited before being transported by rail to Aruwakkalu) has not begun. All the structures and roads at this location are to be on pile foundations, as the land on which the transfer station is to be built is a designated flood retention area, and filling is prohibited.

However, piling work is yet to start. Railway extension work on the Kelaniya and Aruwakkalu transfer stations has also not begun. Garbage (1,200 tons) collected in Colombo will be compressed at Kelaniya and taken by train to the landfill site.

Bad weather had made it impossible to do earthworks, said Mr Fernando. The soil at Aruwakkalu is red and loose. Continuous rain had caused delays. We have the same problem at Kelaniya, with water levels about one-and-a-half feet above ground level, he explained. The Minister had a discussion with the contractors top management and they agreed to provide us with a catch-up programme.

The Megapolis Ministry expects partial completion by the end of December, with the entire project being done by October 2019, Mr Fernando said. Under the tender, part of the landfill cells should have been ready six months after commencement of work, to receive garbage from Colombo transported in municipal garbage trucks.
Police, STF on alert; leave cancelled View(s):

Police and the Special Task Force (STF) personnel have been placed on standby in and around Colombo City while leave has been cancelled for all police officers.

The STF has been deployed to safeguard strategic locations in and around Colombo City. They include the state electronic media institutions, the Speakers residence, the Presidential Secretariat and the residences of both Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the newly appointed Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Police Spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said that on a directive from the Inspector General of Police, leave was cancelled and officers on leave had been asked to report to the respective stations for duty. The IGP has given instructions to all Senior DIGs, DIGs and OICs of all police stations to ensure the law and order are maintained.

In Colombo, police will maintain a high visibility presence in public places. Further, all emergency services have been requested to remain on stand by to respond to any eventuality.
Ranil stands firm as PM View(s):

Prime Minister (PM) Ranil Wickremesinghe reiterated yesterday that he remains the duly appointed Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. Flanked by leaders of the constituent parties that make up the United National Front (UNF), PM Wickremesinghe remained defiant, a day after he was removed from office by President Maithripala Sirisena, saying that, under the Constitution, it is the person who commands the majority in Parliament who is the PM. By defeating the No-Confidence motion against me, I have proven I have the majority, he said.

In April this year, a No-Confidence motion against him was defeated with 122 MPs voting against it. Mr Wickremesinghe said there is no need to create a crisis within the country during difficult times, as the matter can be solved through a Parliamentary sitting where the PM, who has a majority, can prove himself and remain PM according to the constitution. We dont need to make life hard for the people who are already facing hardships; life is a battle we dont need to make it worse; we have to create a normal situation, he said.

He said that, if there is any crisis, they will be able to resolve it. Mr Wickremesinghe urged that Parliament be immediately called for sittings and to choose the person with majority support, according to Clause 42, rather than create and extend a crisis. I can assure that I have the majority, as I have the support of the United National Front, he declared.

Several members of the constituent parties, including MPs Mano Ganeshan, Rishad Bathiudeen, Rauff Hakeen and P. Digambaram who were present, also pledged their support to Mr Wickremesinghe.
SLPP loyalists forcibly take over state media institutions By Sandun Jayawardana View(s): View(s):

Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) loyalists have taken control of most state media institutions after the swearing in of Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister.

SLPP union leaders or members at state media institutions, including Lake House,

Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC), Independent Television Network (ITN) and the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC), were issuing directives while previously appointed staff members in senior positions kept away from work yesterday. SLPP union members moved in swiftly to take control of the institutions soon after President Maithripala Sirisena swore in Mr. Rajapaksa as the new Prime Minister on Friday evening.

A senior Lake House source said a group of SLPP loyalists within Lake House had barged into the layout section of the Daily News on Friday night and forcibly changed the layout of yesterdays edition. The SLPP union members had told Lake House staff that they were acting under orders from the new Prime Ministers office through Kandy District MP and former Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella.

Yesterday, staff at the Sunday Observer, too, had been pressured by the SLPP faction to repeat a story of Rajapaksa being sworn in, though it had been pointed out it was now stale news. They had also been warned not to report any stories regarding Ranil Wickremesinghe or UNP Ministers as Cabinet now stood dissolved. Senior journalists at the paper had reportedly protested over these demands from unions.

Meanwhile, at ITN, several journalists were also forced out by fellow staff members affiliated to the SLPP. Subash Jayawardena, ITNs Deputy General Manager (DGM)  News and Current Affairs, told the Sunday Times he received warnings on Friday night that he and certain other employees were about to be attacked. I was warned to leave, and I took two other staff members who were also at risk with me. As we were leaving in the office vehicle, we were stopped at the gate by Rajapaksa supporters who ordered us out of the vehicle, shouting that our time was done. However, some other ITN staff members intervened and they managed to help us leave the premises safely, he explained. Mr Jayawardena said several other staff members were also forcibly evicted by the union.

At the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation, SLPP-affiliated staff and a group of outsiders accosted several UNP ministers and MPs, including Mangala Samaraweera, Ranjith Maddumabandara and Chathura Senaratne. Mr Maddumbandara claimed they were visiting the state-run channel following Friday evenings political developments when they ran into the group. They grew very aggressive and there was a heated exchange of words, but we did not intend to get involved in a conflict. So we left the premises,Mr. Maddumabandara said.

Rupavahini Chairperson Inoka Sathyangani, ITN Chairperson Thilaka Jayasundara, its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Chandana Thilakarathna and several other senior officials had not been to their institutions since the crisis on Friday, sources said.

Mr Rambukwella, however, claimed the UNP MPs had invaded the Rupahavahini Corporation in a bid to plant stories in the news bulletins. This caused agitation among the employees, he alleged. They claim we intimidated them, but I would classify what they did as intimidation, he said. He also said he explained the situation to Lake House journalists who sought clarification from him over the new political developments.
UNF urges Speaker to summon party leaders meeting View(s):

The United National Party and its United National Front constituent partners wrote yesterday to Speaker Karu Jayasuriya urging him to summon a meeting of party leaders with a view to convening Parliament early as they could prove they had the majority in the House. A spokesman for the Office of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told the Sunday Times last night that UNP chairman Kabeer Hashim and secretary Akila Kariyawasam

had sent the letter to the Speaker saying the ouster of Prime Minister Wickremesinghe was unconstitutional as they could prove they commanded the confidence of a majority in Parliament which the United Peoples Front Alliance (UPFA) was unable to do. The letter was sent in response to the prorogation of Parliament by President Maitripala Sirisena till November 16. The spokesman said this was due to the UPFA needing time to canvass UNP MPs to support them in the House.

Meanwhile, the spokesman said that Prime Minister Wickremesinghe had yet to receive the letter by President Sirisena removing him from office but had written to the President that he was the constitutionally appointed Prime Minister and continued in office. I command the confidence of Parliament as contemplated in Article 42 (4) of the Constituiton, the Prime Minister said in his letter.

The spokesman denied social media reports that the Government had withdrawn Prime Minister Wickremesinghes security. His security detail remained as of last night.
UPFA to Ranil: Vacate Temple Trees by 8 am today or else View(s):

The United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), yesterday, issued an ultimatum to ousted Prime Minister (PM) Ranil Wickremesinghe to vacate Temple Trees premises by 8 am today (28), or risk being forced out. National Freedom Front (NFF) Leader Wimal Weerawansa issued the ultimatum at a media briefing convened yesterday. Mr Weerawansa urged Mr Wickremesinghe to learn from the example set by former President and current PM Mahinda Rajapaksa, after his defeat at the January 8, 2015, Presidential Election.

He claimed, Mr Wickremesinghe had told Mr Rajapaksa that he would leave Temple Trees at 8 am on Saturday (27), but was still there. Mr Wickremesinghe should leave by 8 am, failing which, the law will have to be enforced to remove him, the NFF leader warned. Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP) Leader Dinesh Gunawardena, meanwhile, insisted that President Maithripala Sirisena acted in accordance with the Constitution, when he removed Wickremesinghe from his position as PM. He noted that the Cabinet stood dissolved after the UPFA chose to leave the Unity Government and that, accordingly, the President had to form a new Government and appoint the person who enjoys the support of the majority of the MPs in Parliament. He claimed, Mr Rajapaksa enjoyed the confidence of the majority of MPs in Parliament and that, Mr Wickremesinghe had no right to claim he continues to be PM.

Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) Leader Udaya Gammanpila said Mr Wickremesinghe was now holed up at Temple Trees with several hundred of his supporters, claiming his removal is unconstitutional. If that is the case, then he should go before the Supreme Court to seek its interpretation on the Clauses used to remove him, Mr Gammanpila said. If not, as Mr Wickremesinghe claims to have the peoples mandate, Mr Gammanpila challenged him to go for an election, to let the people decide whether they want Mahinda or Ranil as their PM.
Wage demands over tea leaves industry stewing By Sandun Jayawardana, Damith Wickramasekara, Kasun Warakapitiya and Asiri Fernando Unions reject three pay rise offers; employers dig in View(s): View(s):

The beleaguered plantation industry is facing another serious challenge over deadlocked talks between plantation sector trade unions and Regional Plantation Companies over a collective agreement on worker wages.

The latest crisis comes at one of the most testing times for the sector, with the tea industry denied access to the lucrative Japanese market, labour shortages, skyrocketing production costs, and falling tea and rubber prices.

Three trade unions, the Lanka Jathika Estate Workers Union (LJEWU), Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) and the Joint Plantation Trade Union Centre (JPTUC), are signatories to the current collective agreement. In negotiating the new agreement they have demanded that basic salaries of workers be increased by Rs. 500-1000 a day.

The tough stance taken by the unions has seen them reject three proposals put forward so far by the plantation companies. Demonstrations by plantation workers, largely confined to the hill country in past weeks, on Wednesday spread to Colombo.

Despite the pressure, the plantation companies dug in their heels and issued a statement on Thursday saying they would not go beyond their last and final offer of an all-inclusive wage hike of Rs. 940 a day with the basic salary component increased to Rs. 600.

Under the existing collective agreement, workers are paid a basic salary of Rs. 500 in addition to an Attendance Incentive (AI) of Rs. 60, a Productivity Incentive (PI) of Rs 140 and a Price Share Supplement (PSS) of Rs. 30, and an Employee Provident/Trust Fund (EPF/ETF) payment of Rs. 75, amounting to a total daily wage of Rs. 805.

With both parties now at stalemate, unions, all backed by powerful upcountry political parties, have sought government intervention to break the deadlock. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe held a discussion with government officials, including the Treasury Secretary and the Commissioner-General of Labour on the issue. He also met with trade union representatives and officials from the Planters Association of Ceylon, which represents the plantation companies.

LJEWU General Secretary Vadivel Suresh told the Sunday Times his union would only accept the word of the Prime Minister and were awaiting his response. Mr. Suresh insisted unions were not ready to accept proposals the companies had offered so far. If the Prime Minister failed to give satisfaction there would be intensified union action.

Workers require at least a Rs. 1,000 salary. They have to deal with leeches and leopards and face the hot sun. They deserve better pay, he emphasised.

Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Social Welfare and Primary Industries, Muthu Sivalingam, who is also an MP from the CWC, claimed estate workers were leaving the industry because companies paid poor wages and ignored workers basic needs.

The children of workers are getting a better education now and are migrating to towns in search of work as the estates pay them poor salaries to work eight hours plucking tea, he said. He also said the lodgings provided for workers were poor in quality and lacked water connection.

Plantation companies insist they would not be able to go beyond their final offer of an all-inclusive pay rise of Rs. 940, including a 20 per cent increase in the basic wage up to Rs. 600. Their offer includes a 33 per cent increase in the Attendance Incentive up to Rs. 80 and a 20 per cent increase in EPF/ETF up to Rs. 90. The association claims this amounts to an average increase of Rs. 3,375 per month for workers.

In previous collective agreements, there was only a 10 per cent increase in the basic salary but we have proposed a 20 per cent increase this time, Planters Association Chairman Sunil Poholiyadde said on Thursday. Mr Poholiyadde stressed there was no way plantation companies could increase the basic salary to Rs 1,000 given the current state of the plantation industry.

Mr. Poholiyadde painted a grim picture, noting that tea sector had already lost access to the lucrative Japanese market due to the imposition of the glyphosate ban amid fears from the Japanese on the levels of residue present in chemicals used as alternatives.

The cost of production for a kilo of tea had also risen sharply while the price of rubber had plunged, declining to less than Rs. 300 from Rs. 600 just six years ago.

Tea auction prices were also on a downward trend, yet companies had continued to increase worker wages every two years after entering into new collective agreements.

This situation was unsustainable, the Planters Association Chairman stressed, adding that only way a Rs. 1,000 daily wage demanded by unions was feasible was if the industry shifted entirely to a productivity-based wage model. In the tea sector, this would mean that Rs. 46 will be paid for every kilo of tea harvested.

Employers Federation of Ceylon Plantation Services Group Chairman Roshan Rajadurai claimed 80 per cent of workers already earn up to Rs.1,000 a day due to over-kilo pay, according to reports from plantation companies.

Mr. Rajadurai said tea pluckers who were able to bring in harvests above the norm of 16-18kg were entitled to over-kilo pay which is currently at Rs. 28.75 for every kilo above the norm. As such, a worker who plucks a few kilos above the norm could expect a daily wage exceeding Rs. 1,000, it was stressed.

Mr. Rajadurai claimed that if the employers final offer was accepted, the impact of the increase in terms of what he calls gratuity payments alone (pay for ageing workers who bring in lower harvests) would be in excess of Rs. 5 billion to the industry, while more than Rs. 300 million would be added to the cost of production.

Despite the deadlock in negotiations, the Planters Association expressed hope that the matter could still be resolved. We have already held several rounds of discussions with the trade unions and negotiations will continue, Mr. Poholiyadde said, pointing out that on the last occasion, negotiations dragged on for 14 months until a new collective agreement was signed.

Some plantation workers lamented that life would be difficult for their families, even in the unlikely event that wages were increased to Rs. 1,000. Sivanaiyah Ladchumanan, a 51-year-old labourer, said even the reasonable demand of a basic wage of Rs. 1,000 would be inadequate to support a family of three as prices of goods, including those for basic needs, had increased significantly.

We have been struggling to meet daily expenses with Rs. 500 as a basic wage along with other allowances which amounts to Rs 14,000 a month. When the collective agreement comes to be renewed every year we are assured of a wage rise by various political parties and trade unions but nothing happens to improve our plight, he said.

Mr. Ladchumanan was of the view that if the three signatory trade unions could not protect the interests and the welfare of plantation workers, they should withdraw from the collective agreement immediately rather than drawing Rs. 150 in trade union fees from the workers monthly salary.

They failed us to ensure a decent wage but they need fees from our salary to develop their own political parties and unions whereas we continue to suffer, he said.

High production costs, ageing workforce threaten industry The workers have a genuine grievance and their salaries need to be increased, but we must also think of the situation of the companies, Secretary to the Ministry of Plantation Industries J.A. Ranjith said.He pointed out that the cost of production for tea was extremely high, making it virtually impossible to grant a 100 per cent increase in basic salaries, as demanded by unions. We however, are hopeful that a compromise involving a basic salary hike between Rs. 600-700 is possible and will be acceptable to all parties, he said. Since plantation companies were established in 1992, the workforce on the plantations has decreased from 350,000 to about 150,000 today, leading to a severe shortage of labour. The workforce is composed mainly of individuals who have served for 25 to 30 years. Many are nearing retirement age and once a salary hike is applied, it will apply to them too. This would mean that companies will have to pay huge sums as gratuity for a large number of workers. This is also one reason why they are reluctant to lift wages by a big margin, Mr. Ranjith said. Companies had also complained that the governments action in allocating plantation lands for various development activities was hampering them as more lands lost to the companies translated to lower profits. There are several among the 23 Regional Plantation Companies that are in a difficult state. We are discussing what can be done about them, he said. Mr. Ranjith said that at the discussions held this week, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had instructed government officials to see whether any concessions  in the form of tax relief or otherwise  could be granted to plantation companies in a bid to offset the financial impact of a wage rise.
World community expresses concern over situation here Chinese Ambassador meets both Prime Ministers View(s): View(s):

Chinese Ambassador Cheng Xueyuan yesterday called on the newly appointed Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakasa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The visit came as several countries yesterday expressed concern at developments here, with Britain even updating its travel advisory to warn its citizens of a period of political instability.

This came after President Maithripala Sirisena sought to dismiss Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and swore in former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as a new prime minister. Britain warned its citizens to exercise vigilance and avoid demonstrations or large political gatherings. The United States, the European Union, Australia and Switzerland were among the others that voiced opinions, either on Twitter or by way of official statements. A common thread was emphasis on the importance of following the constitution.

Following todays developments in Sri Lanka closely and with concern, tweeted Mark Field, British Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific.

We call for all parties and competent authorities to ensure that the constitution is respected and due political process is followed.

The US State Department also called for the constitution to be respected: The US is following events in Sri Lanka. We call on all parties to act in accordance with SLs constitution, refrain from violence, and follow due process. We expect Gov of SL to uphold its Geneva commitments to human rights, reform, accountability, justice, and reconciliation. Its travel advisory was not updated.

The Swiss Embassy in Sri Lanka also said it was closely following recent events, in particular the announcement to prorogue Parliament until November 16. It calls on all parties, to act in accordance with the constitution, follow due process and respect the democratic principles, the independence of institutions and freedom of media. It also urges all parties to refrain from the use of force.The Delegation of the European Union issued a statement in agreement with the EU Heads of Mission resident in Colombo. The Ambassador of the European Union as well as the Ambassadors of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania and the UK High Commissioner are closely following the events as they are unfolding in Sri Lanka, it said.

We urge all parties to fully act in accordance with Sri Lankas constitution, to refrain from violence, to follow due institutional process, to respect the independence of institutions, and freedom of media, it said. Be alert to political developments in Sri Lanka, Australian High Commissioner Bryce Hutchesson tweeted. Follow local media, avoid protests and large political gatherings, he urged Australians here.
Appreciations View(s):

I have to accept that our memorable time together is complete

Roshantha Kulatilake

It was February 2, 1973  the happiest day in our life. A beautiful baby boy was born to Thathi and me at 7.35 a.m. at St. Michaels Nursing Home in Colombo 3.

You started school at Royal College and I remember Thathi and I taking you to the temple to get blessings as you started on your education. Malli was born four years after you. After finishing your OLevels at Royal College you joined Wycherley International School and later the Institute of Technological Studies and were enrolled into the Business Administration Programme at North Eastern University in Boston, U.S.A.

It broke our hearts to send you so far away. There was no internet and communication was so difficult. You did us proud by obtaining your Degree in Business Administration and returned home in 2002 to marry Samantha Warnakulasooriya, whose parents were family friends and who also studied at the same University. You joined us in our family business. Your precious daughter Maia was born in 2009.

You did your Masters in Business Administration through the University of Wales. You were accepted by the Canadian Government for Permanent Residency in 2012. Again you decided to go so far away from us because you thought you must give Maia the best education you could.

In June 2017, you came back in shock when Thathi passed away suddenly. You were such a source of comfort to me. Seeing you in a suit for the funeral I asked you whether you were not feeling too hot and you said that it was okay to suffer for a short time as you wanted to wear a suit at Thathis funeral. You had the courage and sincerity to speak before a large gathering, of the respect and love you had for your father.

Your last trip home was in end July this year to attend the bana and dane for Thathi. You were so vibrant and full of life. For one year I found solace in talking to you and you helped me bear Thathis loss. We discussed so many things regarding my life and our business and I value the advice you gave me. The first three days of your visit you stayed with me while Sam and Maia stayed with her parents. These were the most precious days you have shared with me.

You said you wanted to spend just one night at Induruwa Beach Hotel with your family and went in Thathis vehicle on July 30. I warned you about the sea at Induruwa as it was your grandfathers village. As a child I had got caught to a large wave there and was luckily thrown on to the beach. Then you said there was a little bay on the side and you wanted to take Maia there. On the 31st at 5 a.m., I prayed and meditated as I always did and a message was flashing in my head  Roshantha accident. I brushed the thought aside but was worried as you were driving after a long time in our country. I called you at 8 a.m. but there was no answer. You had gone for breakfast leaving the phone in the room and then gone to the little bay for a swim.

Roshantha was only waist deep but he was carrying Maia when a wave hit him from behind and Maia flew out of his arms. I can only visualize his panic as he dived under to look for her and may have screamed out her name and swallowed a lot of water. I can find no other explanation. Little Maia was saved as she decided to tread water and Roshantha was robbed of his young life. The rest was a nightmare.

Roshantha was always a quiet, well behaved child. He started reading at 4 years and became an avid reader. He was never without a book. I used to chide him when he carried books to parties and weddings. We then found that he wrapped comics around his ankles and pulled up his socks so he could get away with it. He was always a dreamer and did not need much company. He had a few firm friends whom he entertained at home. We took him to Singapore when he was 8 years old. He gave us a couple of shocks there. On the first day our friends took us to a pool and as he saw the pool, he jumped into the deep end. He could not swim. Luckily he came up and our friend Nihal pulled him out.

We took him to C.K. Tang and as he always chose the book section, we asked him to read till we walked around with Shanil on the same floor. Suddenly we heard an announcement that a little boy was four floors down on the Linen floor and for the parents to come and get him. We rushed down and found him with his eyes full of tears holding the hand of a Chinese gentleman. He never lost his zest for adventure.

I have wonderful memories of our life as a family for amidst all the challenges of running our own business, we managed to spend most evenings together and visit our friends who had children of the same ages. I planned a Round the world trip in 45 days in 1987, where we covered UK, USA including Hawaii, Japan and Hong Kong. We also went on safari to Kenya and Tanzania in the 90s, and glided in a hot air balloon over the Masai Mara. So many wonderful memories.

Roshantha loved his family and adored his daughter Maia. He dedicated his life to them.On this final lap of my life, I am faced with such sorrow and sadness at the loss of my beloved husband and precious elder son within such a short space of time. I can now find solace only through the preaching of the Buddha and the Dhamma. I have now realized that I must dissolve the agony by accepting the fact that I can now give them both merit which is far above any material benefits I could ever give them. His time with me is complete and he must travel on his journey through sansara. Our time together within this short space of time was wonderful. I must grieve no more as Roshantha is now free from this cruel world. I love you so much but I cannot hold you back. You are now free to attain the supreme bliss of Nibbana.

From affection springs grief, from affection springs fear; for him who is wholly free from affection there is no grief, much less fear.

-The Dhammapada

Ammi

A pioneer who groomed many generations of agricultural economists

Prof. T. Jogaratnam

Professor Thambapillai Jogaratnam is considered the father of Agricultural Economics in Sri Lanka. He was the first academic to introduce the discipline to the university system of Sri Lanka, and his exemplary career and academic ethics have groomed many generations of agricultural economists in the country. He passed away on September 18.

That he is no more is the saddest thought to all his students and colleagues. We used to celebrate his birthday for many years on October 29 and this appreciation of his life and work on his 87th birthday is a tribute to the yeoman services he rendered to agriculture in Sri Lanka.

Popularly known to his senior colleagues as Joga, he was born in Navaly, Jaffna on October 29, 1931. He received his primary education at Althea School, Dehiwela, St. Anthonys College, Kayts, and Jaffna Central College, Jaffna, and completed his schooling at St. Peters College, Bambalapitiya and Royal College Colombo, from where he entered the University of Ceylon in 1950.

He graduated from the University of Peradeniya with honours in B.A Economics in 1953. Subsequently, he was appointed as a Temporary Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Agriculture of the Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary Science in August 1953 and made permanent in July 1954.

He obtained his M.S.A. in Agricultural Economics from Ontario Agriculture College, the University of Toronto that later became the University of Guelph, and returned to Sri Lanka in 1956 to take the full responsibility of the teaching of agricultural economics and farm management. He earned his PhD in Agricultural Development from Cornell University, the USA in the late sixties.

Dr. Jogaratnam became the first Professor of Agricultural Economics in Sri Lanka in 1970 and the first Head of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Farm Management when it was established in 1972. In 1978, Prof. Jogaratnam became the second Director of the Postgraduate Institute of Agriculture (PGIA) of the University of Peradeniya and served in this capacity until he resigned from the University service in 1986 to accept an international assignment in Nigeria where he was the Agricultural Planning Coordinator for a World Bank funded Agricultural Development Project.

He returned to Sri Lanka in 1989 to rejoin the University service. Recognising his contribution to the field of Agricultural Economics, he was once again appointed as the Professor of Agricultural Economics by invitation in 1991. He performed the three complementary roles of the University Academic, namely, teaching, research and outreach activities exceptionally well. Prof. Jogaratnam taught varied subjects ranging from principles of economics to agricultural development and policies, with relative ease.

He retired in 1998 and was subsequently appointed as Professor Emeritus and a member of the Council of the University of Peradeniya. Despite his departure from active university services, he continued to serve the Department of Agricultural Economics (now Agricultural Economics and Business Management) and the Postgraduate Institute of Agriculture in many ways including teaching and research supervision.

His research interests covered the broad field of agricultural development including food and nutrition policy, demand studies, land settlement, research management, institutional building and environmental concerns. His research has been published widely in the form of numerous research papers, monographs, reports and popular articles.

Prof. Jogaratnams services to academia have been recognised by other universities. He was conferred honorary D.Sc. Degrees by both Eastern and Ruhuna Universities.

He held many administrative responsibilities from the time he returned with a doctoral degree in the late 60s. As an administrator, he made a concerted effort to develop teaching and research facilities in agricultural economics.

His initiatives towards this end include: an agreement with the Agricultural Development Council (ADC), New York, USA, a Rockefeller sponsored research foundation organization that supported Ph.D. level training abroad; USAID funded Agricultural Education Development Project, which improved teaching facilities at the Faculty of Agriculture and trained 38 academics, who, among others, laid the foundation for modern agricultural education in Sri Lanka.

His leadership was governed by democratic principles. He consulted everyone before making important decisions. He relied more on kind words and rewards rather than on punishments to motivate the staff. Prof. Jogaratnam always took a personal interest in arranging places and securing financial assistance for postgraduate studies of the probationary academic staff. He always fought for the rights of academic staff, not only of his Department but also of the entire Faculty. He had a clear vision that university teachers should be trained to the highest level to ensure a knowledge-based agricultural system in the country.

Recognising his academic standing and the administrative capabilities, many ministries, government departments and non- government organisations in Sri Lanka, as well as many international organisations, frequently called on him to serve in many committees and governing boards.

Prof. Jogaratnam who served the University for over 40 years was a simple person and a true gentleman. He had an exemplary character and got along well with everyone irrespective of their status. He commanded the respect of the whole university community.

The staff from not only the Department of Agricultural Economics but also from the other Departments of the Faculty of Agriculture and even from other Faculties of the University often approached him for valuable advice. He always listened to them patiently and advised them accordingly. He practised an open door policy and never kept anyone waiting at his doorstep. He always helped his students in whatever way he could.

Many were the tributes that poured in for him: Professor Jogaratnam was indeed a role model of what a good teacher and an academic  intelligent, gentlemanly, firm and compassionate  can be. He was a teacher of par excellence, who evoked deep human sentiments among students while teaching. He was simple, approachable and understanding and was generous and gracious for his colleagues and students. He was tacitly firm and overtly very soft-spoken person with overflowing kindness and professionalism in every dimension in decision making.

Professor Jogaratnam will continue to live in our hearts as the pioneer in teaching, research and outreach in the field of Agricultural Economics in the State University System in Sri Lanka and as the most empathetic, modest and noble professional among the Agricultural Economists. The void he left will never be whole, but his virtues of perseverance and modesty will help us hold him in our memories, forever. He will be remembered fondly for the teacher and mentor par excellence that he was, becoming a constant source of inspiration to his colleagues and students.

-Academic staff of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Business Management, University of Peradeniya

Surgical giant who was a role model to many of us

Dr. Darrel Weinman

A few days ago we were informed of the death of this eminent Neurosurgeon. To those of us who were surgical trainees in the mid-60s, this is the passing away of a surgical giant. He together with Dr. Shelton Cabraal, were the pioneers of Neurosurgery in this country. At the time specialisation in surgery was in its infancy. We, the trainees, in all spheres of surgery were in awe of his commitment to neurosurgery and his patients. He would be found at all hours in the ward.

A brilliant academic, a Hallet Prize winner of the Royal College of Surgeons, he would arrive in the ward on a call in his black Morris Minor before you had even put the phone down. He kept comprehensive records of all his patients which enabled him to deliver many lectures and orations on Sri Lankan disorders of the brain. These, he also wrote up in the Ceylon Medical Journal and they were devoured by us as they were clear, detailed and beautifully written. He would open a surgical lecture session by saying I opened batting for St Peters so I should start this session of lectures. To many of us he was a role model worthy of emulation.

I happened to be in England, in 1973, attending a guest lecture by Dr. Weinman to a British audience. Seated next to me was a famed British neurosurgeon who was the author of many books on neurosurgery. At the end of the lecture he exclaimed to me, who is this surgeon, where is he from, he should be here in Britain, he will be such an asset. I felt so proud.

The next part of the story, is unfortunate, but was the fate of many such talented doctors in the mid 70s. The government at the time was socialist communist. There was a belief that all doctors were an errant group and should be hounded. He, Dr. Weinman was a victim of this narrow bigoted attitude of the Government in power. He and his wife migrated to Australia. Sri Lankas loss was Australias gain.

Dr. Channa Ratnatunga

I live with beautiful memories

Major Raja Amarasekera de Silva

Ten long years I have lived without you

The day I lost you I lost myself too,

Time is not a healer of the sadness

As the years go by I miss you more and more

I have been living with the beautiful memories

Of the life we shared for 43 years

Each one of them reminds

Of how much I am missing you

May you attain the Supreme Bliss of Nirvana

Your everloving wife
Be there when your favourite lit fest turns 10 By Yomal Senerath-Yapa View(s): View(s):

The Fairway Galle Literary Festival (FGLF) has pranced off the printed page to evolve into something vibrant and dynamic, a colourful celebration not only of the letters but of the whole universe of arts. But there is something that holds the festival together and that is stories, says Jill Macdonald who is curator this year, for the second time.

Literature springs from the deep human need to tell stories, and it would be a warped little definition of the word stories if we were to think only of written narratives. Storytelling happens through art, it happens through music, it happens through dance and through architecture. In a phrase, a literary festival should celebrate the deep human urge to be creative and to share creatively our stories- so that people understand each other better.

Jill believes that the festival is accumulating more strength and a more pronounced identity by embracing different types of art. She quotes Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr: plus ca change, plus cest la meme chose. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

This year, two fringe festivals help the tenth FGLF explore its identity further. One is the poetry slam where emerging performance poets demonstrate a way with words and drama, the other is the ever-popular art trail, which this year will include a pottery painting workshop.

Jill has a heavy weight on her brow as curator of the festival. There are so many high profile writers to be invited and flown in. But then, the four letters FGLF now conjure magic potent enough for the writers to actually wanting to be part of it. In that I have benefited from all the work done the last 10 years, Jill smiles.

Apart from the tropical beauty of the island, what sets FGLF apart on a map heavily dotted with literary festivals (Asia has some 60) is the intimate, indeed cosy, atmosphere. Within the romantic fort with its Dutch magic, the participants can sit close to writers from across the world discussing their acclaimed work in quaint, old-world hotel libraries, hear famous actresses talk on their iconic roles in small colonial halls or attend private dinners in fort houses with such personalities as (as was last year) David Puttnam or Sebastian Faulks.

The limelight naturally falls on the fort. Channa Daswatte would be guiding tours to explore the old grand dame, from Dutch stained glass and pillared verandahs to the insignia left by the Dutch East India Company. Last year, Jill had Lankan and South African historians discussing the Dutch forts in the two countries. It meandered from architecture to the negative aspects of colonialism, and how to re-use those negative memories in new, positive ways.

As we steer towards the non-literary elements of the FGLF the conversation tantalizes. Jill cant help flashing half teasing and half apologetic smiles as she reveals that music will be explored in the literature itself in a very intriguing way particularly in three books- apart, that is, from the concerts each night.

I cant ruin the surprise but once you come to the festival youll understand what I mean when I say you cant separate music, dance or literature ultimately.

This year is Geoffrey Bawas birth centenary and architecture will get a lot of attention, as the idyllic, dappled splendour of tropical modernism has been part of the backdrop from the beginnings of FGLF.

There will be a competition to do with architecture and the public gets to discuss ancient and modern architecture- which promises to be a passionate forum, on a subject where everyone has their favourites and bete noires.

Another surprise kept under wraps is that Sri Lankan writers residing abroad will make a unique contribution not only in English but the local languages as well. Other languages will join the celebration, including the Italian Carlo Pizzati this year.

Through the years, FGLF has fostered a culture of writing, especially English writing, within the country. Writing workshops have honed the craft and the festival has inspired more love for reading, which metamorphoses into the need to write and tell your own story.

The festival fever is already in the air, as more and more participants are booking their hotels. Jill also gets many messages from book clubs who want to discuss the authors who are coming before attending the festival. Nonetheless she maintains that FGLF does not intend to be an elitist event. We celebrate very high level literature, but do not for a moment assume that any social group has a prerogative for such literature.

In order for the FGLF to be more accessible, there will be three main outreach events: an unticketed childrens programme, a free teacher training programme and the North-South Programme where students from all universities across the country are brought to Galle with no expenses for them, plus ticket money to buy books- a brainchild of Shyam Selvadurai, former curator.

Whos coming? The upcoming Fairway Galle Literary Festival will take place from January 16 to 20. The authors so far announced are Sir David Hare, Don McCullin, Kamila Shamsie, Fatima Bhutto, William Dalrymple, Madeleine Thien, Romesh Gunesekera, Vahni Capildeo, Tishani Doshi, Carlo Pizzati, Thomas Bell, Kavitha Yagabuggana, Lucy Fleming, Charles Cumming, Simon Williams, Tassie Seneviratne, Anthony Horowitz, Justine Picardie, Rachel Johnston, Ramya Chamalie Jirasinghe, Dinah Jefferies, Nandana Sen, Senthuran Varatharajah, Anne Enright, Herve le Tellier and Peter Kuruvita.More authors would be revealed in the coming month.The title sponsor of FGLF is Fairway Holdings while the hospitality partner is Jetwing Hotels. Sri Lanka Telecom joins as Telecommunication partner. The banking partner is DFCC Bank and MTV/MBC is broadcast partner. Wijeya Newspapers is print media partner. Find out more about the festival on www.galleliteraryfestival.com.
Drawn to the authors journey of self-discovery View(s):

For a reader aware that the author of this autobiography was a onetime-JVPer, the title, Rebel Meets Liberation, would seem intriguing. Here, then, is someone who professes to have found salvation at the other end of their socialist dream? For a reader aware that the author of this autobiography was a onetime-JVPer, the title, Rebel Meets Liberation, would seem intriguing. Here, then, is someone who professes to have found salvation at the other end of their socialist dream?

But no, the 570 something pages of this memoir do not wax lyrical on the key to heaven on earth being that proffered by Marx or Lenin. In fact the rebel, the autobiographer, would meet liberation by eschewing all kinds of politics, and his path there had nothing to do with his escapades in the 1971 insurrection. The JVP episode actually served him as rigorous asceticism served the Buddha- by convincing him early that it was not the true path.

The first part of the story is that of a village boy, growing up deeply sensitive to the inequity of the class system and the distribution of wealth in a Kandyan village. In his adolescence when the moon landing happened in 1969, Jayatissa, like so many other youths, was growing increasingly disenchanted with the entrenched worldview of the traditional villager (to whom the moon was a deity).

The rather homespun English of the book often seems to want elegance, but this is made up for by the frank honesty the author never fails to stand by. He describes the poverty at home and ill treatment by teachers at school, but the most impressive is the way he lays bare his soul. This endearing frankness, and the access to his inner self, is what makes the book such a compelling read, because the book charts his spiritual evolution from toddlerhood to sixties: the extraordinary saga of an ordinary man.

The streak that led him to dream of a new heaven and new earth the communist way, manifested itself early at school in what the author calls Robin Hood activities. He came to believe that it was fair and rational to get involved in thefts and robberies, not for ones own sake, but for the sake of the helpless poor. They would steal pens off the better-to-do students as well as library books, and pass them over to poor students.

It was natural, therefore, for him to warm towards the new liberation movement, giving up movies and idle roving with friends. Kumarage chronicles how the collective imagination of his generation was inflamed by the magic of Communism, the charismatic visions conjured up by JVP party leaders. You feel the intoxicating headiness of their dreams, however misplaced and misled.

He was hardly eighteen when, during the first JVP insurrection in 1971, he led the attack on the Kadugannawa Police station. His account, capturing in palpitating immediacy that ultimately doomed operation, also shows just how hasty, poorly coordinated and even naive the whole insurrection was.

His picture of life in prison, after handing himself over, is not at all a completely negative one. True, he got beaten up and has some stories of injustice and horror, but the picture seeps in also of a place of sanctuary, rather like an austere monastery (with perhaps a stronger sense of fraternity among the inmates).

It was at Bogambara Prison that Jayatissa opened up to the pleasures of reading, and also learnt English- which made him ponder on his experiences and which would spur him on his path towards liberation. Authors from Rabindranath Tagore to Dostoevsky and Edgar Allan Poe would be luminaries for him. It is also telling of the prisons role as an intellectual asylum that fellow inmates Victor Ivan, Ananda Perera and Sunanda Deshapriya would write or translate communist works into the night, using the single naked bulb that was allowed on till midnight.

The jailbird who returns to his hometown, Pilimatalawwe, after eight years, is a grown man. Thankfully his experiences, instead of making him cynical, have liberated him. Disillusionment with the JVP had set in as soon as the initial attack failed, and the irresponsibility of party leaders disgusts him. The book is a harsh critique of left wing politics. Kumarage was to learn through a baptism of fire that the visions of glory conjured up by the charismatic leaders would evaporate as soon as they made contact with reality.

The (leaders) knew so much about Soviet society, Cuban society and Chinese society, but nothing about the country where they lived. They could win the awe of their followers with their inflated political language, even though some followers had no idea what they meant I could see that other parties were actually many times closer to the people than they were.

The power-hunger of politicians comes in for a severe lashing in the book as the cause triggering youth unrest.

The narrative also asserts the importance of English in helping shatter those fetters that keep us small minded, our vision narrow and dim. If the book has its moments of terror, it is also leavened by real-life humour, for instance Jayatissa getting drunk and sleeping on the chief monks bed while making liberal use of the spittoon.

The second half of the book, following prison, is saturated with wisdom born of experience. You feel the writer enjoy inhaling the heady spring smell of thinking free, having broken off from the shackles of conventional thought.

It is a book that is rewarding despite its lack of polish. You will be with him on a journey of self-discovery and illumination, and whoever you are, the book has something to make you ponder deeply. Sometimes the narrative seems to slip towards mundanity but each small graze of heart, each slight, becomes a life lesson. Having been privy to his spiritual growth from childhood, we see how his independent mind was moulded. He was a sensitive, reflective, taciturn and observant child with a strong moral sense. When someone like that is thrown into the heart of the social melee and experiences society in its full gamut, the result- as Kumarage manifests- can be prodigious.

It is an unusual autobiography in that it inculcates much free thinking. Recording classroom discussions with his students or through personal ponderings and reflections, the writer imparts his thoughts to the reader. He also analyzes festering social ills, running to earth their causes with rapier-like sharpness of senses.

For him final liberation is to be in touch with our understanding, our innermost rhythm.

The sum total of his thinking is given in the final paragraph of the book:

Each of us has fostered various identities to meet our needs. Our born teacher is buried under these identities. External teachers can never make changes in us. We are our own teacher and student. When we are awakened to or own born identity, we meet our teacher and from then on, we are taught every minute something new making our life serenely blissful. That is liberation in the literal sense of that word.

Whether you agree with him on that precise point or not, this memoir will make you ruminate a lot and- I believe- impart a lot of hard-won wisdom as well.

Book facts Rebel Meets Liberation by Jayatissa Kumarage. Reviewed by Yomal Senerath-Yapa
Nuwan whose plight we highlighted then, now may lose his vision View(s):

His saga has not ended.

Remember W.A. Nuwan Prasad whom generous readers of the Sunday Times helped to retain the little sight in his left eye.

There has been trouble again and by the skin of his teeth he has been able to get his eye attended to.

Lets jog our memories  the Sunday Times met him in August 2016 in his humble home in Udupila South, Delgoda, and the tragedy which assailed him is brought to light as he takes off his dark glasses.

It was as a 22-year-old with beautiful balal as (cats eyes) that he faced the jealous rage of his girlfriend who threw acid on him. Blinded he was, but he was able to collect money from here and there and go to the Sankara Nethralaya in Chennai, India, to get some vision back to his left eye. The damage to the right eye was irreparable. (See From darkness to little light, but for how long? in the PLUS of August 7, 2016)

At the Sankara Nethralaya, he underwent a relatively new procedure called the Osteo-Odonto Keratoprosthesis (OOKP) or tooth-in-eye surgery. It involved the removal of a canine tooth from Nuwan, shaping and drilling it to allow implantation of a plastic optical cylinder (an artificial plastic corneal device), which was then placed into the eye a few months later to restore vision.

However, in recent times, there has been trouble with this eye for Nuwan, with the last episode being the cylinder gradually emerging out of the eye, making his vision blurrier and blurrier with the terrifying reality of complete loss of vision.

Nuwan had to head for Chennai urgently, with just a little cash in hand, begged and borrowed from relatives and friends.

While there, the cylinder moved from its right spot to another area, says Nuwan who was then quickly taken for an emergency operation, with the Chennai doctors requesting the hospital management to consider his pathetic plight, while the Chief Monk of the Maha Bodhi temple where Nuwan had sought lodging providing all facilities and food free of charge and a good Samaritan, who helps Sri Lankans seeking medical care at the hospital by volunteering as a translator, also lending a helping hand.

In the most recent treatment, he has undergone Type II Boston keratoprosthesis, Pars Plana Vitrectomy, Endo Laser and Silicone Oil Injection under general anaesthesia, according to a document signed by Dr. Pukhraj Rishi of the Sankara Nethralaya.

Nuwan is desperate, for he needs to go back to Chennai for a check up on November 13 and he simply does not have a cent.

His wife Chandrani struggles to keep the home fires burning, sending their eight-year-old son Anuhas to school, with a neighbour kindly seeing to his educational needs and managing another baby boy that the family has been blessed with who is about 1 years now.

Although Nuwan was able to do a small job before, now he is unable to do so. He has to lie face downwards, without moving to enable the retina to set in the right place, he says.

The family survives by renting out three rooms and sparingly using the Samurdhi payment of Rs. 3,000 a month and the social service payment for disability of Rs. 3,000 a month that he gets, while his wife struggles to supplement this income by making paper ornaments.

How you may help Please help me retain the sight in my left eye, is Nuwans urgent plea.

Those who wish to give him their mite may send their contributions to Account No. 71434495 at the Bank of Ceylon, Delgoda branch. The Account Name is W.A. Nuwan Prasad. He may be contacted on Mobile: 0771029918.
Seeds of unity growing from strength to strength By Kaveesha Fernando Unity Mission Trust, that began as a couples effort to help youth affected by the war, celebrates 10 years View(s): View(s):

2009 was a very important year for Sri Lanka. A war which ravaged the country ended. There were celebrations in many parts of the island, but in one home in Thalawathugoda, there were also a lot of other emotions. On seeing the plight of the people in the north of Sri Lanka affected by the theatre of war, Shyamala and Bertal Pinto Jayawardena felt moved to do something for them.

The couple collected money and donated aid, organised medical camps and looked into how they, as Sri Lankan citizens, could help their brothers and sisters in the north. Particularly sad about the plight of youth whose energy and vitality was stolen by a war they had no choice but to live through, Bertal felt the need to show them a world beyond the war while also planting in them the seeds of unity and integration.

These ideas resulted in the birth of Unity Mission Trust (UMT) which today, celebrating its 10th anniversary, has touched the lives of some 10,000 youth across the country, working towards fostering unity and ties of friendship. UMT, a not-for- profit legally established Trust is now guided by a Board of Trustees who work closely with Bertal and Shyamala, the founder Trustees. Former Army chief of staff Gen. Lohan Goonewardena is Chairman of the Trust and other trustees are from different professions and disciplines all contributing their expertise-Chandra Schaffter, Rukshan Perera, Nirmali Wickremasinghe, Ramola Sivasunderam, N. Vasantha Kumar, Reyaz Mihular, Kushan D Alwis, PC, Anushya Coomaraswamy, Dushyanthi Thuseetharan, Jeyakumar Thangavelu, Sanath Weeratunge, Prof. Rohan Guneratne, Dian Gomes and Dr. Wimal Karandagoda.

Initially starting off with regular Unity camps held in different parts of the island, the UMT now has a strong network of 17 regional councils working on separate peace building projects carefully monitored by Bertal. Other initiatives like Power One Hundred (where 100 students who have just left school are taught leadership skills to help make the transition from school life into adult life easier), a national conference where discussions on the progression of Unity Mission Trust and practical and theoretical issues within the organisation are discussed and resolved have also been very successful.

Bertal is also interested in giving youth coping skills not just to recover from the trauma they have faced living in war time, but also to face an increasingly complex and globalised world. Issues such as addiction to alcohol, drugs and pornography to sexual and cyber exploitation of women are dealt with during UMT programmes. Self-reliance is taught not only through motivational speeches about how to face challenges in life but also by empowering youth to conduct programmes by themselves. The development of the UMT regional councils, run by the youth for the youth, has been a testament to this.

Has it been an easy road? Bertal and Shyamala say no, it definitely has not. Convincing schools to send their children for the camps, the mistrust and suspicion with which their efforts have been viewed at times to the enormity of organising a camp which brings hundreds of students to one location for four days, for instance have been very challenging. They are very grateful to the Army, Police and the Education Ministry for the continued support they have received, Bertal said noting with satisfaction a comment by an Education Ministry official from the North who said that UMT had gained a name as a positive organisation which helps students.

Both Bertal and Shyamala have stayed committed to the cause despite demanding careers: Bertal, as Chairman of Spectrum Trainers and Corporate Consultants (Pvt) Ltd. and Shyamala, as principal of the Shyamala School of Art, initially collecting school supplies to send to the children at Menik Farm, later using art as a way to heal from trauma. Through it all, it is persistence that has kept them going  Bertal says that he does not see the point in looking at the mountain and despairing; he would rather just keep climbing, step by step, planting the seeds for a harvest of peace that future generations of Sri Lankans will sow.

We are not looking at now  we are looking at what can be seen 25 to 30 years from now. We may be no more then or so old that we would using walking sticks but we hope to have planted a seed that grows into a large tree which bears a lot of fruit.

The Unity Mission Trust is always looking for corporates and caring citizens who care to join hands with them  by dedicating their time or resources. Their contact details are as follows

Facebook page  https://www.facebook.com/UnityMissionTrust/

Contact number  0766043913

This years project This years social work projects involve the regional councils reaching out to a small, financially challenged community within their region to help by empowering them with resources and skills to improve their living standards. The regional council will attempt to help them continuously for at least a few years.

The second phase of the project will involve a regional council from the opposite end of the island visiting the community and joining the effort.

From unforgettable experience to regional leaders Young people who came to UMT camps not knowing what to expect have gone on to be strong advocates of their work: Sinthulan Pathmanathan from Vavuniya joined UMT in 2011 because he wanted to have a fun time at a camp, but also wanted to see what the other races were really like. We were told that the majority people were not good etc and I wanted to see if that was true. An army officer explained the purpose of UMT to Sinthulan  an experience he notes as the first time he interacted with an army officer in a cool way. At the camp he was amazed to see that no-one treated him differently and he has since made many friends and developed his English and Sinhala skills. He wants to help change the pre-conceived notions people have about others. There are no barriers here  if you really want a united Sri Lanka, please join with us because we have a good structure to develop our country, he says. Sinthulan is now a Co-ordinator for Northern Sri Lanka and National Leader, Unity Mission Trust. Nizhad Mohammed from Gurutalawa joined UMT in 2012 from Camp 5 in Kandy. He was moved by the strong bonds he formed at the camp. All of a sudden, I felt tearful when we were leaving because I felt sad to say goodbye to these people I got to know over four days and I didnt feel that way about some people I had known for years. Thats when I realized that UMT is something special, he says. Co-ordinator for Western and Central Sri Lanka and National Leader, Unity Mission Trust he says firmly that their only language is unity. Ashan Palihawadana is Co-ordinator for Southern Sri Lanka and National Leader, and joined UMT for Camp 6 in Kilinochchi. He was sent from his school (St. Thomas College, Matara) because he was a prefect and didnt have a great understanding of what the camp was about. Since that camp he has since been working for UMT, focusing on developing their work in the south of Sri Lanka. We have become stronger and more independent and our leadership skills have developed through UMT, he says.
The toxin-free food panic: Blunders, truths and myths Dr. Parakrama Waidyanatha View(s): View(s):

Reading the interesting and informative article by Randima Atygalle that appeared in the Sunday Times of October 14th titled Getting to the roots of going organic in SL, I was saddened by plight of Surangi who travels every weekend to the Colombo City from the suburb she lives for procuring organic fruits and vegetables from an organic food outlet in the hope she is giving her little son toxin-free food; and of Ama, pregnant with her first child who has similar concerns about toxins in the conventional food and would not settle for anything less than organic-labelled food! The people are not given a balanced view of the facts of the matter by the media which blindly support organic agriculture; and the government, too, is partly responsible for its highly biased and unrealistic vision of the future of agriculture of the country!

Be that as it may, what crossed my mind immediately when reading Randima Atigalle is the Locavore movement in the United States that just does the opposite of Ama and Surangi, buying only local farm shop fruits and vegetables and rejecting supermarkets, not only to support the local farmers, but also as a challenge to the corporate and global capitalism, apart from mitigating the associated costs of transport both physical and environmental! Calculations reveal that in the US, food travels 1,500 miles to get from farm to plate! Ours should be even higher given that, except for rice, some fruits and vegetables, we import most of our other food items  temperate fruits, wheat flour, dhal and other pulses, milk, soya and corn products. How can the mother and mother-to-be rest assured that those products are toxin-free as nearly all of them are conventionally produced with pesticides and fertilizers liberally applied to gain optimum yields! Some of them are sure to be genetically modified as well, if the two ladies have concerns about that too.

Incidentally, if Surangi and Ama had, by some chance, heard about the Moms across US movements outcry about residues of the herbicide glyphosate being present in mothers milk (later, however, proven to be wrong by authentic research), they would be in a total quandary feeding their babies toxin-free!

Perhaps Surangi and Ama were also enticed to go toxin-free having learnt that one of the key initiatives of the Yahapalana government, was to make our motherland toxin free in a matter of years, moving away from conventional farming towards organic (toxin-free) agriculture. The Strategic Enterprises Management Agency (SEMA) was totally deployed for the purpose, bypassing the Ministry and Department of Agriculture, and spending millions over the past three years. The Ven. Ratana Thera, though with no formal knowledge of science or agriculture, was its chief architect. Apart from his frequent preaching on toxin-free agriculture over several prejudiced TV channels that preferentially supported his programme against any of conventional agriculture, he even proceeded to make organic fertilizer labelled Pivithuru Pohora that was sold to farmers in the Mahaweli System B for a start.

A team of us, including a retired Director General of Agriculture, visited the area in 2016 and met with the farmers who showed us their fields, which looked luxuriant. On questioning in depth the farmers were rather shaken and one of them, however, whispered to us that despite application of the Pivithuru fertilizer concoction, their crops turned yellow after three weeks, a clear sign of nitrogen deficiency, and hence they surreptitiously applied urea! Asked why they were so secretive about it, we were told that they sold the produce as organic paddy at Rs 48/kg, Rs 10 higher than conventionally grown paddy; and it was procured by an agent of the daughter of a renowned politician from Polonnaruwa! Last year, farmers were also compensated for crop loss following Pivithuru Pohora use! The toxin-free project, however, has now been disbanded consequent on a cabinet decision following its mismanagement and abject failure! That much for our local organic or toxin-free agriculture!

Organic to conventional agriculture

Organic farming, after all, accounts only for 1% of the global cropland of which 0.66% is in pasture (for the filthy rich to eat organic steakes!) and the balance is about equally divided between food crops and horticulture. Despite all rhetoric about organic agriculture, its expansion globally is at a snails pace, being only 0.1% or less per annum. It can never feed the world unless there are major future technological innovations such as microbial fertilizers. Monsanto, for example, in 2015, tested 2,000 microbial formulations across the US in some 500,000 sites. The results are, however, not known to us.

The transition from traditional agriculture, where fertilizer comprised essentially farmyard manure (FYM) and green manures, to conventional agriculture (CF), as we know it today, took place in the mid 19th century with two ground breaking inventions  the synthesis of soluble (super) phosphate and chemical nitrogenous fertilizer  by British scientist Lawes and German scientist Liebig respectively. These inventions and the rapidly growing knowledge then in plant chemistry led to the substitution of natural dung with chemical fertilizer.

The third important element, potassium, was provided largely by potash, a substance that had been known from antiquity. It has been said that without these inventions, the industrial countries of Western Europe could not have supported the dense population growth of the 19th century. It is the same reason, rapid global population growth, that later led to the Green Revolution.

Sir John Russell (1942), a reputed soil scientist, in an article titled British Agriculture states: it is difficult for us in this distance in time to recapture the feelings with which the farmers received the information that a powder made in a factory and applied out of a bag at the rate of only a few hundredweights per acre could possibly act as well as farmyard manure put on the land as dressings of tons per acre. This is ironically the fundamental question that we should ask: Is there adequate organic matter or alternative technologies to provide the nutrient demands of crops, on a global scale today, if it was inadequate then?

The green revolution

In the mid-20th century, one hundred years later, came the Green Revolution where emphasis shifted from crop nutrition to crop breeding  the synthesis of high yielding, short-statured, fertilizer-responsive cereals, without which the world food demand could not have been met today. The pioneering efforts of breeders such as the Nobel Laureate Norman Borlaug, described as the father of the green revolution and the man who saved a billion lives stand out in this regard.

In Sri Lanka, too, rice breeding and other research took great strides increasing yields by more than seven fold and production by 14-fold from the 1940s to date, the increase in land extent under rice, especially from the Mahaweli project, also contributing to production and eventual attainment of self-sufficiency (See table). This achievement clearly would not have been possible without chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

Norman Borlaug addressing the Nobel Prize Forum in 2000, 30 years after he received the Nobel price, commented that had the global cereal yields of 1950 still prevailed in 1999, we would have needed nearly 1.8 billion ha of additional land of the same quality  instead of the 600 million that was used, to equal the current global harvest. And it is estimated that 40 percent of todays population is alive, thanks to the Haber-Bosch process of synthesizing ammonia (Vaclav Smil, Distinguished Professor, University of Manitoba). It was the shift from organic farming to conventional agriculture via the green revolution that enabled feeding the world.

In 2006, a team of Michigan University scientists examined the theoretical feasibility of supplementing global nitrogen demand for crops by biological nitrogen fixation in legumes. Using published data on legume nitrogen fixation rates, they argued that the entire nitrogen requirement to produce the global food demand via organic farming could be met that way. However, many other findings indicated that because of lower yields, organic farming requires extra land to meet global food demand, one estimate being 25 to 82 percent and the other 65 to 200 percent extra land. The Rodale Institute, which is dedicated to organic agriculture, in an eight-year experiment realised yields for organic crops 20 to 50% lower.

Conventional vs organic farming: environmental pollution and human toxins

There is no argument that conventional farming (CF) is causing substantial environmental pollution, not that organic farming is innocent! Greenhouse gas emissions are substantially higher in organic farming situations because of the large dumps of farmyard manure. As regards nutrient leaching losses, a serious environmental threat, contrary to expectations, a 1990 Swedish study reveals that nutrient leaching losses can be higher under organic farming than conventional. Under controlled conditions, 65 percent of applied nitrogen in organic plots went into crops and 35 percent leached in comparison to conventional plots, the ratio being 81 percent and 19 percent respectively. The overwhelming issue in conventional farming is the indiscriminate and profligate use of agrochemicals.

The case of serious phosphate pollution of water bodies in the Rajarata, due to profligate and wanton use of phosphate fertilizer in the upcountry vegetable farms is a classic example. The risk of chemical pesticides, too, is of serious concern, but it is sometimes overstated by the organic advocates. Organic pesticide risks are vastly understated to perpetuate a marketable image.

Let us consider a few examples of compounds used in organic farming. Sodium nitrate mined in South America is one. It is used as a nitrogen fertilizer source in organic farming. It contains sodium perchloride, a toxin, from caliche mud mined with sodium nitrate; and sodium perchloride can leach into neighbouring water bodies. Organic farmers are allowed the use of copper, sulphur and copper sulphate as natural fungicides. However, copper sulphate is a Class 1 toxin and is also known to bioaccumulate.

Rotenone and pyrethrins are natural insecticides widely used in organic farming but pose health and environmental risks. Rotenone is also linked to Parkinsons disease and pyrethrin is classified as a likely human carcinogen. Thus botanicals/natural insecticides can be as harmful to mammals as the synthetic ones. Further simple calculations based on heavy metal, especially cadmium, contents in farmyard manure and phosphate fertilizers reveal the former generally adds far more cadmium than the latter.

In conclusion, conventional agriculture has a dark underside, the larger environmental costs compared to organic farming. The dilemma is that organic farming may save the earth but only conventional farming can feed the world! As Norman Borlaug stated in his 2000 presentation to the Nobel Prize forum Some critics have said that the green revolution has created more problems than it has solved. This, I cannot accept, for I believe it is far better for mankind to be struggling with new problems caused by abundance rather than with the old problem of famine!

(The writer is former chairman of the Coconut Research Board.)
The president of the Spanish Supreme Court publicly apologised on Thursday for a colleague's decision concerning a crucial ruling over tax payments for paperwork on mortgage loans that could lead to a wave of cases asking for refunds.

In an unprecedented statement, Carlos Lesmes said, "We haven't managed this well. It has caused an unwarranted lack of trust in this highest court and we are all sorry."

Lesme's statement came after a senior judge heading public administration cases at the Supreme Court intervened over a decision announced last week by another judge there to force banks to pay a tax on notarising mortgage loan documents.

Up to now the person taking out the mortgage has been responsible for paying this percentage tax, known as the Impuesto Juridico de Actos Documentados, which varies depending on the total value of the money to be repaid and the region. A person taking out a typical mortgage pays between 1,000 and 4,000 euros.

However a firm sentence from the Supreme Court has recently decided that as it is the bank that wants the deeds signed, and not the customer, it should be the lender that pays.

When this decision was announced last week, consumer groups celebrated. Banks shares fell sharply amid fears refunds would be due.

However, in an embarrassing and dramatic U-turn, all 31 Supreme Court judges responsible for public administration cases have been summoned on November 5th to decide if the ruling is valid. This has caused derision among consumer groups, accusing the judges of trying to protect banks. There was also confusion on the high street, with banks putting mortgage deals with customers on hold.

The Supreme Court president indicated on Thursday his unhappiness that the meeting of judges to revise the decision had been called.
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Emergency declared in typhoon-ravaged Northern Mariana



Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, Oct 27 (AFP) Oct 27, 2018



US military aircraft laden with emergency supplies were flying in to the Northern Mariana Islands Saturday in the wake of destructive Super Typhoon Yutu which destroyed buildings and cut electricity supplies.

Ralph Torres, the governor of the US Pacific territory said President Donald Trump had approved a request for a "major disaster declaration" after the powerful storm, packing winds of up to 180 miles per hour (290kmh) left one person dead and caused widespread damage.

More than 130 people required hospital treatment, mainly for cuts caused by flying debris.

Hundreds of tourists were also stranded with the international airport on the main island of Saipan closed to commercial flights to free up space for military aircraft.

Electricity was out across Saipan, which is home to most of the territory's 55,000 residents, as well as nearby Tinian.

Tinian mayor Joey San Nicolas said the aid was urgently needed and authorities still did not know the full extent of the damage, two days after Yutu swept through.

"Many homes have been destroyed, our physical infrastructure has been compromised, we have no power or water," he said.

"Our ports are currently inaccessible, and several other points in other parts of the island are also inaccessible."

There have been reports of looting and stores which were able to open quickly ran out of water and food items.

"Right now, water, clothing, personal hygiene and easy to cook food items like canned goods and instant noodles are needed," Saipan resident Jonathan Perez told AFP.

Torres' office said on its Facebook page that the one known fatality was a 44-year-old woman who died while taking shelter in an abandoned building that collapsed.

str/cf/rma
if the people of Biafra want Republic of Biafra, it will be a reality during my administration. ----Donald Trump Donald Trump I wi...
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Linkedin Editorial Board (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, October 27, 2018 08:57 1119 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b308779722e5 4 Editorial Bantar-Gebang,#Editorial,jakarta,Bekasi,waste-management,urban Free

The conflict over uang bau (stench money) between the Bekasi and Jakarta administrations is like watching a rerun soap opera between elites trying to solve a problem no one wants to deal with.



The story has continued along similar lines for over a decade: Bekasi on Jakartas eastern outskirts demands more uang bau as compensation for the stink from Jakartas waste, in particular affecting the residents in four districts.



The rerun has some variations with different actors showing different emotions, but the plot sticks: Millions of Jakartans want to have a clean city so they dump their garbage on Bekasi.



The latest rerun has the Bekasi administration asking for Rp 2 trillion (US$131 million) from Jakarta, and Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan responding indignantly about the amount, saying it has allocated only Rp 141 billion, and thats it. Bekasi, or the elites, like the money and the opportunity to regularly ask for more, so they never actually follow through with their threat to stop the capital from sending 7,000 tons of garbage to the municipality every day.



The transaction is a stinky business not only because it deals with garbage but also because the deal utterly disregards the welfare of thousands of people in Bekasi, and is a show of Jakartas condescending irresponsibility for their own stink.



Hundreds of trucks have to line up daily to enter the Bantargebang dump. Other motorists and the people living along the streets congested with these trucks have to bear it every day for hours.



The families around Bantargebang earn money from the garbage but it is not a life someone chooses to have. Trash picking is a hazardous occupation with minuscule rewards. Those living quite far away from the dump are still exposed to the stench.



Bantargebang is a sanitary landfill but cannot cope with the amount of garbage Jakartans are sending daily, so it becomes just a dump.



In 2013, the Jakarta Legislative Council passed a bylaw on garbage with 65 mentions of the 3Rs: reduce, reuse, recycle, because the spirit was to manage Jakartas garbage with that principle. However, the 3Rs seem to have been merely lip service. The Jakarta administration never restricts its residents from producing trash.



Despite some regulations on littering, Jakarta practically rewards litterers with a service delivered by the popular orange troops. Only in Jakarta can you litter and instead of being slapped with a fine, you get a service paid with public money to have the litter disposed of.



As long as Jakartans do not take responsibility for their own mess, the rerun will continue regardless of who is in charge. The garbage is creating a bigger mountain, and Bekasi elites will ask for more compensation. It will never end.



As long as Jakarta never attempts to reduce the amount of garbage and deal with their own litter locally, none of the municipalities actually deserve their Adipura cleanliness awards. Jakartans cannot continue to signal Not in my backyard and dump trash on their neighbor.
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Linkedin Kavickumar Muruganathan (The Jakarta Post) Singapore  Sat, October 27, 2018

The rubber tree is the only commercial source of natural rubber. Its cultivation can be severely limited by pathogenic diseases such as the Fusicoccum leaf fall disease.



An outbreak of the disease was first recorded in 1987 in south Peninsular Malaysia. In Indonesia, the disease first occurred in 2016 in North Sumatra and has now spread to southern Sumatra from the end of 2017. Areas in South Kalimantan, Java, Lampung and Central Sulawesi have also been said to be affected.



Fusicoccum attacks all natural rubber clones and has affected more than 22,000 hectares of rubber plantations till date. Diagnosis of the disease is no easy task, as the onset of visible symptoms are not evident until after some time.



The Fusicoccum leaf fall disease is caused by the fungus of Neofusicoccum ribis. Disease symptoms typically appear only after stress caused by abiotic and biotic disturbances. The fungus causes severe infections that result in the defoliation (ranging from 30 to 80 percent) of the tree with a noticeable reduction of the canopy and a consequent reduction in the yield of latex.



From experimental studies conducted by the Sembawa Research Center, natural rubber yield decreased by up to 27 percent in May 2018 as compared to the same period last year due to Fusicoccum leaf fall disease.



The yield reduced further by 45.8 percent in June 2018 as compared to same period in June 2017.



The Fusicoccum leaf fall disease clearly is a threat to the sustainability and economic viability of the natural rubber industry; but more importantly a threat to the livelihood of smallholder farmers.



Fusicoccum leaf fall disease usually attacks young leaves. The first symptom is brown spots on the leaves. The small spots will change from light to dark brown. These spots will form larger necrotic area of the leaves.



Typical symptoms of older leaves are the concentric brown zone on the upper surface of the leaves. On each leaf, there is one or more concentric spots. The severely infected leaves will become dry, fall, or become abnormal leaves on the branches of the plant. Infected leaves fall about 4 months after infection.



The occurrence of Fusicoccum leaf fall disease can also have far reaching effects as a result of international trade, as they may be spread undetected from one area to another, causing potentially serious damage to hosts that might have no co-evolved resistance.



At present, knowledge and research into the pathogenic fungus Fusicoccum is limited. No study has yet to be commissioned on the potential economic impacts of the disease to the natural rubber industry and smallholder farmers.



Over the last year, numerous smallholder farmers have lost large vast swathes of their plantation area to the Fusicoccum leaf fall disease.



They are not adequately equipped with know-how and technological expertise to combat this potent fungus.



Plant scientists have postulated that early and efficient pathogen identification coupled with a good integrated disease management plan would be crucial to combat Fusicoccum.



This also includes eradication of alternate hosts and developing more disease resistant and tolerant natural rubber clones as well as better chemical treatment.



But a definite solution to combat this disease has not emerged.



An independent crop survey conducted in four areas in Prabumulih and Muara Enim regencies in South Sumatra found that compared to 2017, latex yield has dropped in 2018. Smallholder farmers who used to produce an average of 400 kilograms of latex per hectare per month can now only produce 300 kg of latex per hectare per month in Sungai Medang and Tanjung Telang areas, and 200 kg of latex per hectare per month in Gunung Kemala despite tapping for six consecutive days and having one day of rest. This drop in yield has been attributed to the Fusicoccum fall leaf disease.



The future of the Indonesia Hevea remains at risk. Vast swathes of rubber trees have already been lost to the Fusicoccum pathogen and more losses are due until a concrete solution is found to combat this dilapidating disease.



What impacts would this have on the natural rubber supply chain and the livelihood of smallholder farmers at the current natural rubber price? Or are we about to witness the slow demise of the Indonesian Hevea which has served us well over the years?

***

The writer is vice president for environment, health and safety at Halcyon Agri Corporation Limited, Singapore.

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Linkedin . (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta, Indonesia  Sat, October 27, 2018 13:00 1119 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b3087797969c 4 Inforial Free

Indonesia will push for the formulation of a system of a review mechanism to ensure that all commitments made by participants during the Our Ocean Conference (OOC) 2018 will be implemented.

During the OOC 2018 well formulate a system of a review mechanism to measure and control the realization of all commitments made by all participants. We dont want talking but no concrete action. What have you delivered so far? This 5th OOC 2018 should be aimed at tracking delivery of those commitments, Marine and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti said recently in Jakarta.

During the last four conferences of the OOC, participants have made 663 commitments of which 206 commitments had been completed. The first and second OOC were hosted by the United States in 2014 and 2015. The third was hosted by Chile in 2016 and the fourth was hosted by Malta in 2017. After Indonesia hosts the OOC 2018, Norway will host the OOC 2019.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said on the part of the diplomatic front, when talking about oceans or other issues related to the ocean, Indonesia does not only talk about the interests of other countries, but surely about its own interest as well, which happens to be the international interest. This is particularly important for Indonesia as a member of the G20 that should contribute to the world. We have proven our track record in human diplomacy. If there is any talk about peace, the name of Indonesia will come up. Now, we also want to invest in this ocean diplomacy. The OOC will be Indonesias concrete action to show our legacy, our ocean issues or our ocean-related issues, Minister Retno said.

She said a country will be respected internationally based on its track record and contribution to global interests, including the interest of the worlds ocean.

She added that the OOC 2018 is not the only and first example of leadership for Indonesia in the issue of oceans and fisheries. In 2016, Indonesia also hosted the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA). Indonesia is also a member of the Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

The OOC 2018, which will be held in Nusa Dua, Bali on Oct. 29 and 30, will be participated by multiple stakeholders, consisting of government, non-governmental organizations, the private sector, public figures and observers. As of October 2018, there are 7 heads of states and governments, 37 ministers and 2,200 delegates that have confirmed their attendance at the conference.

Indonesia will show what it has done in marine and fisheries, which is in line with the marine diplomacy continually pursued by Indonesia. The OOC this year will offer six areas of action, which includes sustainable fisheries, marine protected areas, marine pollution, climate change, the sustainable blue economy and maritime security, Minister Susi said.

Minister Susi said the OOC 2018 will be different from other conferences that only resulted in the signing of MoUs or agreements. The OOC 2018 will produce concrete commitments. Well take action and implement concrete action so that after attending the conference, all participating countries will have concrete commitments to develop the ocean, protect the ocean, and know how to address all issues related to the ocean, she said, adding that all commitments will be monitored based on the system of a review mechanism.

According to her, the issue of the blue economy will be raised during the conference to realize sustainable fisheries that will be continually productive to fulfill the needs of Indonesian people.

She said maritime security should be discussed as in the future war will not be caused by issues of politics, ideologies, or religions, but competition for food and water resources, which will be in decline globally. During the forum, Indonesia will share all actions already taken to change its fisheries based on the principle of sustainability. Weve proven that we managed to reverse the deficit of our fishery trade balance. Previously, we were behind compared to other countries in Southeast Asia. But during the last four years were the first in Southeast Asia, she said.

She pointed out that after applying the sustainability principle in marine and fisheries development, Indonesia has been getting much more benefits from the ocean. During the last four years for the first time Indonesia is leading in the Southeast Asian region. For the first time, Indonesias GDP from the fisheries sector has been growing at the average of 6 to 6.7 percent per year, exceeding national GDP at the average of 4.5 to 5.2 percent per year. Our competitiveness index in the fisheries sector has also increased by around 20 percent from the previous 107 to 128. This is something that we can share during the OOC, she said.

She added that Indonesias consumption of fish also increased from 36 kilograms to 46 kg per capita last year. Its fish stock increased from 7.1 million tons in 2016 to 12.5 million tons in 2017. (*)
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Linkedin Catherine Triomphe (Agence France-Presse) New York, United States  Sat, October 27, 2018 06:04 1119 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b3087796f59a 2 Art & Culture art,Christies,auction,united-states,France,algorithm Free

A portrait made by algorithm smashed new boundaries Thursday, selling for $432,500 and becoming the first piece of Artificial Intelligence art sold at a major auction house, Christie's said.

At first glance, "Edmond de Belamy", the portrait of a gentleman dressed in black and framed in gold, could be any standard portrait from the 18th or 19th century.

Up close, the image is more intriguing. The face is fuzzy and the picture seemingly unfinished. Instead of an artist's signature, it bears the stamp of a mathematical formula on the bottom right.

It's the brainchild of French collective Obvious, whose aim is to use artificial intelligence to democratize art. To make the painting, artist Pierre Fautrel ran 15,000 classic portraits through a computer software.

Once the software "understood the rules of portraiture," using a new algorithm developed by Google researcher Ian Goodfellow, it then generated a series of new images by itself, Fautrel said.

The French collective selected 11, calling them the "Belamy family", one of which on Thursday fetched $432,500 at Christie's in New York, the epicenter of the traditional art market.

The price smashed its pre-sale estimates of $7,000 to $10,000. Christie's said the work was snapped up by an anonymous telephone bidder after a five-way battle on the phone, online and one would-be buyer in the room.

But is it art? Fautrel, 25, insists that it is.

"Even if the algorithm creates the image," he told AFP "we are the people who decided to do this, who decided to print it on canvas, sign it as a mathematical formula, put it in a gold frame."

Read also: First-ever auction of AI-created artwork set for Christie's gavel

- 'Tipping point' -

He compared AI art to early photography of the 1850s, which he says critics rubbished at the time as "not being art and which would destroy artists."

Richard Lloyd, international head of prints and multiples at Christie's, persuaded the collective to put the print up for sale in order to foster a debate about artificial intelligence in art.

"I know it's a debate that's going on quite widely, I thought that in a way this marked a watershed -- or slightly a tipping point," he told AFP.

Leaving aside the art debate, there are legal questions. Is the collective or the algorithm the artist? What are the copyright issues?

For Lloyd, this is just the beginning of AI art.

"This is developing incredibly fast. Only in five or 10 years we will look back on this and it will look very different," he told AFP.

"Artists who are great adopters of technology, they will seize AI," he predicted. "Artists will use it to generate images which they will then modify ... It will be quite seamless."

There is also a benefit to the client.

"It gives you privilege that only very wealthy people in previous centuries had -- to commission works of art painted just for you," Lloyd said.
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Linkedin Dan Martin and Kelly Wang (Agence France-Presse) Shanghai, China  Sat, October 27, 2018 07:07 1119 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b3087796fe3e 2 Lifestyle China,Russia,Internet,meme,lifestyle Free

Chinese social media users have seized on a viral meme in which people are pictured literally rolling in their own wealth, spawning a range of cheeky counter-posts poking fun at the country's nouveau riche.

Posts related to the aptly-named Wealth-Flaunting Challenge on China's popular Weibo platform had been viewed more than 2.3 billion times, drawing more than a million comments.

In the meme, which originated in Russia, social media users post pictures of themselves falling face-down to the pavement as they exit their cars, the ground strewn with their cash, credit cards, jewelry, designer bags and shoes, and other luxury items and electronics.

Decades of skyrocketing economic growth have given China the most dollar billionaires of any country in the world with 620, according to Shanghai-based magazine publisher Hurun Report, and many of China's newly wealthy are not shy about showing off their luxury cars and accoutrements.

But the meme has inspired a wealth of parodies in China, with people seeing it as a golden opportunity to mock the rich.

In one, a man labelled as a "hard-working" staff member is shown on the ground in front of what appears to be an office building surrounded by an array of cleaning supplies, brooms and mops.

Even government agencies have joined the party, providing a propaganda bonanza.

Shanghai's fire department showed personnel splayed on the ground next to fire trucks and surrounded by firefighting equipment, while the Hubei province police department depicted a gun-toting officer standing next to his vehicle over four men on the ground in civilian clothes, representing "evil forces".

And companies have seized on the frenzy to advertise their goods.

A woman who works for a subsidiary of China National Gold Group posed belly down with her feet up on an luxurious armchair and bullions strewn around her.

Read also: #FallingStars2018: Stars are  literally  falling for social media

- 'Out of their mind?' -

Other tongue-in-cheek posts include a woman surrounded by an array of lipsticks with her feet resting on a white sofa, or a man on the ground with six cats.

"Everyone has something he or she thinks is the most valuable or what he or she cares about the most. To me, it's my cats," said Li Dong, 33, the cat owner who joined the challenge on Weibo in mid-October.

"It's an exaggerated way of expression. I think it's fun so I showed my cats off," Li told AFP.

Much of the online reaction to the wave of postings dismissed them as a waste of time compared to the altruistic objectives of the previous "Ice Bucket Challenge", which went global.

"Are these people out of their mind? How empty must their life be so that they are figuring out different ways to prove their existence," said one posting on Weibo.

Others, however, were more positive about posts by university students and young workers using the meme to present academic and professional accomplishments.

"It's disheartening to see young people being impacted by the pursuit of money and power. I support the young people who are hard-working. That's where the country's hope lies!" read one post on Weibo.

Read also: Cool minister engages in friendly banter with netizens, funny memes ensue

- Russian socialites -

The first "falling stars challenge" was posted on Instagram by Russian DJ and music producer Andrey Shirman, known as DJ Smash, on July 30, showing him in tracksuit bottoms and a T-shirt sprawled face down at the foot of the gangway of a private jet.

It was quickly followed by similar posts from a succession of high-profile models and socialites -- most wearing swimwear or short shorts -- photographed stretched out near private jets and luxury yachts. Their posts garnered tens of thousands of likes.

One famous contributor was Ksenia Sobchak, former TV star and 2018 presidential candidate, who in mid-August put up a photo of herself in a swimsuit falling down the stairs of what appears to be a yacht.

Criticism of this public flaunting of wealth has been muted in Russia, with commentators suggesting the whole fad was just a bit of summer fun.

Like in China, as the #fallingstars2018 hashtag gained momentum, Russians started putting up parodies. One shows a young woman falling off a deckchair in a bikini; in another, a man is face down in front of a couch with his head on a fashion magazine.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, October 27, 2018 10:24 1119 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877976ba6 4 Food coffee,Indonesian-coffee Free

Indonesian coffee varieties have received recognition through a gourmet product award in Paris in a competition held by the Agency for the Valorization of Agricultural Products (AVPA).

In a statement released by the Indonesian Embassy in France, 23 varieties of coffee from Indonesia received recognition on Oct. 23 in a ceremony on the sidelines of food expo SIAL Paris in the French capital.

AVPA President Philippe Juglar handed over the AVPA Gourmet Product Paris 2018 award recognizing the coffees to the embassy's deputy head Agung Kurniadi.

More than 170 world coffee producers from around the world participated in the competition, such as Brazil, Colombia, the United States, Kenya and Peru. Among the participants, 11 producers representing 23 Indonesian coffees were recognized.

The award is divided into four categories: Gold Gourmet, Silver Gourmet, Bronze Gourmet and Simple Gourmet.

Read also: Crazy about Indonesian coffee? Here are the basics of java

Winning coffee beans came from various regions across Indonesia, including Toraja, Bali, West Java, Yogyakarta, Manggarai, Aceh and Lampung.

Three coffees won the Gold Gourmet title, namely Kopiku Tanah Air Kita, Le Plein dSens Kopi Luwak France and Mengani Bali.

Indonesia is the second country to receive the most awards, following Colombia which won 25 awards for 14 coffee producers.

President of the jury, Andre Rocher, expressed his excitement at the quality of Indonesian coffee that is widely varied and progressing. Another judge, Serge Edmond, also said several countries, including Indonesia, had good roasting quality.

The AVPA is a French organization that aims at helping producers of agricultural products from around the world promote their products in the European market. Every year, the AVPA holds "Coffee roasted in their country of origin" competitions to promote coffees in Europe. (liz/mut)
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Linkedin Jossa Lukman (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, October 27, 2018 09:04 1119 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b308779723a0 4 Lifestyle Jakarta-Fashion-Week,cultural-heritage,fashion,fashion-designer,design,Anne-Avantie Free

Wearing your culture on your sleeve  literally  is the new black this season, as seen on the runway of Jakarta Fashion Week (JFW) 2019.

With the current zeitgeist focusing on cultural heritage amid controversies regarding cultural appropriation here and there, it is no wonder both local and international designers want to keep theirs well and alive into the future by adapting them into both trendy pieces and timeless styles.



Pakistani womenswear brand Zuria Dor showcased The Woman, a collection featuring both western and eastern silhouettes in jewel tones and soft neutrals as a nod to the countrys origins, with intricate beading embellishing a majority of the dresses.



From the land down under, Australias Darwin Aboriginal Arts Fair Foundation brought over designs featuring traditional Aboriginal textiles in a variety of colors and patterns, shaped into garments ranging from easy beachside caftan cover-ups to fitted cocktail dresses.



One particular dress in rich red hues stood out in particular, its intricate patterns complimenting the draped detailing that never managed to overpower the whole look.

Models present creations from Australian aboriginal art centers and Novita Yunus at Jakarta Fashion Week 2019 in Senayan City, Jakarta, on Saturday. (The Jakarta Post/Vellen Augustine)

Meanwhile, Vaishali S from India showcased traditional Indian tenun (woven fabric) fashioned into modernized silhouettes that still retains a touch of the traditional.

Sari-esque cuts were still present in several pieces, albeit pared down to simple elements. Even in monochromatic colors, Vaishali managed to make the fabric the star of the show, helped by the fact the loose silhouettes did not have overbearing embellishments on them.



As Indonesia is the host country of JFW, it is no surprise Indonesian designers want to showcase the best of their own cultural heritage.



Batik Chic by Novita Yunus presented batik in sleek, office-friendly cuts with a pop of rich blue amid the sea of browns and blacks, while Muyen featured 48 ethnic-inspired designs using songket from Sumatra embellished with beadwork using materials ranging from precious stones to shells.



Fashion students also got in on the act, with those coming from the Binus Northumbria School of Design showcasing batik from Lasem, Central Java, with the batiks Chinese influences as well as its tulis (written) method of being made some of its appeal.



A particularly sultry look was achieved by a white and red number, fitted at the bodice with voluminous gathers and rumples nearing the hemline with black straps providing a little bit of edge.

While most Indonesian textiles have intricate patterns loaded with meaning behind them, those looking for something more subdued yet still rich in heritage can wear tenun in softer colors, as seen in SOE Jakartas understated collection in earth tones that utilized tenun made by weavers from Central Java town Pekalongan, Yogyakarta, and Flores in East Nusa Tenggara using natural dyes.



Another highlight of JFW 2019 was Anne Avanties Badai Pasti Berlalu (The Storm Will Surely Pass) collection presentation on Tuesday evening, with Annes signature ethnic designs mainly showcasing tenun from Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara.



While the high profile guests at the show certainly livened up the evening, the surprise appearance of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti certainly stole the limelight, with the minister taking the stage wearing a black bodice layered under a multi-patterned fringed outer, oversized sunglasses and towering black leather boots.



Susi, who joined the parade after Anne agreed to donate 10 fishing boats for the communities of disaster-struck Palu and Donggala, is no stranger to the catwalk, having walked for Anne at Indonesia Fashion Week 2018.

Star-studded presentations arent all there is to JFW 2019, as British womenswear label Teatum Jones along with Indonesian label Sean Sheila presented their collections with a nod to inclusivity, exemplified by several women with disabilities who made their way down the catwalk as models.



Classic, feminine florals were seen in a majority of Jones line, with silhouettes accentuating the wearers curves but not tight enough to restrict.



With fashion shows becoming more than just morose looking models walking up and down the runway for 20 minutes, one might wonder what next years JFW will have in store, especially with the continuing push for diversity and culture thats happening around the world.
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Linkedin Ni Nyoman Wira (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, October 27, 2018 15:11 1119 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b3087797b3d0 1 Health Namaste-Festival,yoga Free

The ninth installment of the CIMB Niaga Namaste Festival (CNNF) returns for three days from Oct. 26 to 28 at Bimasena, The Dharmawangsa, South Jakarta.

Targeting around 7,000 participants, the annual event has over 50 yoga classes that are hosted by international and local teachers, a healing area as well as a bazaar of healthy products and yoga equipment.

Among the yoga instructors who will attend the festival are sattva yogi Caleb Packham, artist-yogi Daphne Tse, Qi Flow founder Ronan Tang, celebrity yoga instructor Fajar Penyogastar and yogi Bagus Saputra. Each instructor will teach different types of yoga. Packham, for instance, has four separate classes and one special class dubbed Cider Yoga.

The festival has a bazaar that sells healthy food and yoga equipment. (JP/Ni Nyoman Wira)

To be held on Saturday at 6 p.m. and open to all levels, Packham aims to make the class fun. You can do something to help people to be more relaxed, have a little bit of fun, said Packham after the opening ceremony on Friday. The plan is to have a bottle of cider and I will tell people at certain times to take a sip as were practicing yoga.

Read also: Yoga in the Big City Methods for every taste

Known for his fresh and exciting perspectives in yoga practice, for instance, a class in a nightclub in London with live music, Packham will teach forgiveness in the Forgiveness and Truth class and how to overcome lifes challenges in the Lotus Rising class.

Anita Boentarman, CNNFs director, said the festival was designed to help Indonesians attain a healthy lifestyle and positive energy. Its not only yoga, we also combine it with other sports, namely capoeira and pound fit, said Anita. Perhaps we will combine it with dance in the forthcoming years.

Ticket prices start at Rp 375,000 (US$24) for one class only and discounts are available for CIMB Niaga customers. Tickets can be purchased online at http://namastefestival.com/#0. (asw)




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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Ottawa, Canada  Sat, October 27, 2018 16:15 1119 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b3087797cd60 2 Health cannabis,cannabis-legalization,Canada,Netherlands Free

Even though his own country is seen as a bastion of cannabis use in Europe, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is categorical: don't try it.

He offered the advice Thursday during a visit to Canada, just one week after the country legalized the drug.

In the Netherlands, the possession, consumption and sale of fewer than five grams of cannabis in special "coffee shops" has been allowed since 1976, and the European country is a long-time favorite destination of those wishing to use the drug.

But for the country's prime minister, it's better to keep a distance.

Asked to comment on the recent legalization of cannabis in Canada, he told the story of a relative whose marijuana over-consumption had serious mental health consequences.

"The marijuana that you can buy today is so much stronger" than before, he said, "which is bad for the health, especially for the young."

"The best policy on drugs for yourself is no first use. It sounds conservative, but I would urge you: don't try at all," Rutte said in an address to Canadian high schoolers, accompanied by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

"If you do, at least make sure that you don't move from this stuff to other drugs."

In becoming the first G20 country to legalize the growing, selling and use of cannabis, Canada hopes to ensure that "the person that is selling you marijuana at an official place doesn't also have something else in their other pocket they are willing to sell you up on and further," Trudeau said.

Read also: A guide to Canada's legal cannabis

He said the measure "removes the contact that people had with criminals."

Rutte indicated that his government is studying potential reforms, saying that compared to Canada "we have a different approach, which is not entirely successful."

"The problem is those 'coffee shops' cannot get the stuff in a legal way" because the law doesn't allow it, he said, adding that the Netherlands was piloting a project to reform that issue.

Canada's new cannabis rules took effect October 17 after a June parliamentary vote: those at least 18 or 19 years old (laws vary by province) may buy up to 30 grams of cannabis, and grow up to four plants at home. The sale of derivatives like edibles will be legalized next year.

The new law makes it the second country in the world to legalize the drug, after Uruguay.

Statistics Canada estimates about 15 percent of the population will legally purchase the drug this year. And official data forecasts the new rule could boost economic growth by up to Can$1.1 billion through sales.
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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Bangkok, Thailand  Sat, October 27, 2018 22:26 1118 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b308779822e4 2 Entertainment Thailand,thai-rappers,Prathet-Ku-Mee,junta-government Free

A group of Thai rappers has touched a nerve with an impassioned and now-viral music video lobbing fiery rhymes at the ruling junta, as police mull filing charges against the lyricists.

The generals that toppled Thailand's democratic government in 2014 have kept a tight lid on dissent but creative criticism through music and arts has been harder to control, even if its impact on political life has so far been minimal.

The song "Prathet Ku Mee" (Which is My Country), uploaded to YouTube on October 22, has racked up more than 6.4 million views and tens of thousands of comments since it went live on the platform, prompting authorities to take notice.

"It's under consideration by investigators, and it will take a few days because it's a sensitive issue," Siriwat Deephor, the police spokesman for the Technology Crime Suppression Division, told AFP when asked whether they would file charges.

He also said the probe could decide whether those who share the video could be targeted.

"If this song violates the Computer Crime Act by uploading false information, those who share would be prosecuted and face the same punishment with those who uploaded it," he said.

The act, which rights groups say has been used to crack down on online dissent, carries up to five years in prison.

Read also: Tracy Chapman sues Nicki Minaj for lifting lyrics, melody

Shot in black and white, the video features rappers from the Rap Against Dictatorship collective dishing out barbs about the military and blasting corruption, censorship and the lack of elections, which are tentatively scheduled for February after many delays.

"The country where you must choose to suck truth or a bullet," one rapper says, wearing sunglasses with a bandana wrapped around his mouth.

Several lyrics appear to go after junta leader Prayut Chan-O-Cha.

"The country where the people do not read books, particularly the leader," one verse says, a thinly veiled allusion to Prayut, who has boasted about being widely read.

Straying into historically sensitive areas, a dummy made to look as if it has been lynched and strung up comes in and out of shot, a reference to the massacre of dozens of student protesters and civilians by security forces on a Bangkok campus in 1976.

The only colour appears on a guitar whose body is painted to resemble the Thai flag.

Journalists and an academic have joined the debate, with one person comparing it to the rapper Childish Gambino's macabre "This is America" video about racism and violence earlier this year.

But not all are fans.

"Get out of this country if you don't like it," a Facebook user wrote.

Jacoboi, one of the groups founders, told AFP this week that those who appear in the video are artists who want to talk about politics.

"They are the things we heard people say on social media and in real life," he said.

"Im not afraid of the authorities because I believe that nothing in this song has breached the law.
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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Washington, United States  Sat, October 27, 2018 13:12 1119 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877979bc1 2 People Twitter,Donald-Trump,US-president,social-media Free

US President Donald Trump complained Friday that Twitter is removing some of his followers and has made it harder to join, an apparent critique of the social network's efforts to weed out fake and abusive accounts.

Trump, who has some 55 million Twitter followers, revived his argument about "bias" by internet firms in a morning tweet that suggested growth in his network was slowing.

"Twitter has removed many people from my account and, more importantly, they have seemingly done something that makes it much harder to join -- they have stifled growth to a point where it is obvious to all," he wrote.

"A few weeks ago it was a Rocket Ship, now it is a Blimp! Total Bias?"

Trump's remarks appeared aimed at Twitter's efforts to weed out fake and "spam" accounts to improve the health and safety of the platform.

For months, Twitter has sought to eliminate automated and bogus accounts designed to manipulate the public conversation on Twitter, in response to concerns over Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Read also: Twitter tops earnings estimates, lifting shares

Twitter said this week the number of active users fell by nine million in the past quarter as a result of these efforts.

Asked about the president's comments, a Twitter spokesman said: "Our focus is on the health of the service, and that includes work to remove fake accounts to prevent malicious behavior.

"Many prominent accounts have seen follower counts drop, but the result is higher confidence that the followers they have are real, engaged people."

According to the social media monitoring website TwitterCounter, Trump has not lost any followers in the past month but the rate of growth of followers appears to have slowed.

He went from 54.7 million followers on September 26 to some 55.3 million Friday, with little or no change over the past week.

The topic of fake followers has long been controversial on social media, and one research group said this month that more than 60 percent of Trump's followers were "bots, spam, inactive or propaganda."

The report by SparkToro said the @realdonaldtrump account "has significantly higher numbers (of fake or suspect followers) than any other American politician we could find."

SparkToro said in analyzing Trump's account, 72 percent of followers had been inactive for at least 120 days, 36 percent use Twitter's default profile image and 92 percent don't link to a website in their profile or use one with spam patterns.

Trump has previously accused internet firms of bias or suppressing conservative voices, despite little evidence to back up the claim.
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Linkedin Sebastian Partogi and I Wayan Juniarta (The Jakarta Post) Ubud  Sat, October 27, 2018 10:54 1119 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877977191 4 Books ubud-writers-readers-festival,UWRF-2018,writers,artist,Literature,literary-festival,Indonesian-literature Free

Stories of how writers and artists strive to push creative boundaries through their own works to evolve as creators were a central issue in discussions during the 2018 Ubud Writers and Readers Festival (UWRF) on Friday.



Whether venturing into a new medium or tackling contentious issues in their writings to enrich and stimulate their minds, these writers and artists are always eager to explore the unknown.



Indonesian visual artist Emte, for instance, discussed his latest work, a graphic novel called Gugug!, which explores how human behavior is not that much different from that of other animals.



Emtes first graphic novel was published this year, the same year that the Man Booker Prize longlisted for the first time ever a graphic novel: Nick Drnasos Sabrina, a thriller about a girl who mysteriously disappears.



On the same panel with Emte, who has designed book covers and illustrations, were graphic designer duo Genta Shimaoka and Sekar Wulandari Yogaster. They said they aimed to make books cool again in an age in which reading habits had been eroded by the distractions of online media by designing beautiful, Instagrammable book covers for their clients.



On a different panel, writer and filmmaker Djenar Maesa Ayu, who addresses sexual violence through her works, as well as writers Nuril Basri and Norman Erikson Pasaribu, both of whom have written about the gay

experience, and Feby Indirani, who challenges Islamic orthodoxy through her short stories, talked about defying societys power structure and supporting marginalized communities through their works.



Nuril, for instance, said his novel Bukan Perjaka (Not a Virgin) was about a pesantren (Islamic boarding school) graduate who became a gay waiter.



Feby said fiction was a suitable format to write about controversial issues because people did not perceive it to be as threatening as news due to literatures subtle power of persuasion. For instance, I wrote a story about a pig  an animal Muslims consider filthy  that wants to convert to Islam. Some of the readers actually empathize with the pig, she said.



Unfortunately, Feby said, she faced backlash from some of her Muslim family members who were more conservative than she was.



Djenar, meanwhile, asserted that, as a female writer, she experienced backlash from a patriarchal society that despised powerful and creative women.



Instead of criticizing me for my work, they criticize my personality; they criticize me for smoking and drinking beer. Some people even accused me of sleeping with my mentors [who are senior male writers], she said.



Norman, meanwhile, said he lost his job when his envious colleague, a male heterosexual writer, outed him in the office and exposed his poetry, which discusses homosexuality.



I care only about the opinions of my children and grandchildren  these people matter to me. I dont give a [expletive] about what other people outside my family think about me. So I empathize with writers who might not enjoy this kind of support, Djenar said.



Silence is never a form of support. Speak up and defend your friends, Norman said, pleading for people to stand up against the harassment of gay people.



Italian writer Giuseppe Catozzella, who wrote Dont Tell Me Youre Afraid, a novel on the conflict in Somalia, said writers needed to experience life in another country to feel the life of the other  a stranger in strangers land.



When I say the other I dont just mean being a foreigner, but being unreachable by other people, Catozzella explained.



In the evening, scores of Indonesian writers and artists paid tribute to legendary poet Sapardi Djoko Damono. The poet was honored with the UWRF Lifetime Achievement Award during the festivals gala opening on Wednesday.



Famed mime artist Wanggi Hoed, indie musician Jovan Yudistira and Jember-based band Resonansi Ruang teamed up with rising Balinese theater company Teater Kalangan to create a multidisciplinary performance to honor the frail 78-year-old poet, whose love poems have touched innumerable hearts and inspired songs and movies.



Named after one of Sapardis most famous poems, Hujan Bulan Juni (Rain in June), the evening also saw a moving performance by French spoken word artist Kwal.
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Linkedin Yulia Savitri (The Jakarta Post) Palembang  Sat, October 27, 2018 07:52 1119 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b308779709f7 1 National South-Sumatra,Palembang,extra-judicial-killing,KontraS Free

The latest death toll allegedly by the hands of police officers prompted non-governmental organization the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) to urge the South Sumatra Police to take serious measures in about 10 other recent deaths.

Kontras responded to the death of Ariansyah, 23, allegedly by an officer from Pamulutan Police in Palembang. The police were pursuing a murder suspect on Oct. 8 in Tujuh Ulu subdistrict. Led by Adj. Comr. Zaldi, one of the members of the police team allegedly launched a warning shot to the suspect. However, the shot hit Ariansyah, a resident in the area.

Kontras head of human rights protection division, Arif Nur Fikri, said from July 3 to July 12, they recorded at least 10 civilians that were shot dead by the police.

We urge the South Sumatra Police chief to investigate the Tujuh Ulu case objectively and thoroughly, Arif said Thursday.

Arif suspected the police officer was not careful when he fired the warning shot.

We ask the police to take responsibility and to ensure they give the victims family compensation, he added.

Earlier, South Sumatra Police Insp. Gen. Zulkarnain Adinegara confirmed that a police officer had accidentally shot a civilian. He said he instructed internal affairs to question the officer. (evi)
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Linkedin Dyaning Pangestika (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, October 27, 2018 17:09 1119 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b3087797e74f 1 National BPJS-Kesehatan,health-care,health-care-overhaul,health,JKN,IDI Free

The Indonesian Medical Association (IDI) has recommended a medical audit as an option to solve a perpetual deficit in the national health insurance (JKN) that is expected to reach over Rp 10 trillion this year.

During the 30th National Meeting (Muktamar) of the IDI in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, on Friday, state health insurer Health Care and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan) was criticized for poor management of the insurance.

IDI chairman Ilham Oetama Marsis suggested that the government body conduct a medical audit at hospitals and public health centers that were care providers of the insurance.

The deficit in the health insurance program should be prevented because it can affect the health facilities services for the public, Ilham said during the meeting.

The medical audit would be related to the clinical care for patients as provided by medical staff in health facilities.

A medical auditor is tasked with reviewing the accuracy of policies and procedures of medical providers to ensure efficient and cost-effective delivery of care. In the Health Ministrys guideline for medical audits, it is stated that a medical audit has to be conducted objectively and independently. The auditor team also needs to protect the patients confidential information.

Ilham said the deficit could also affect doctors or medical workers because BPJS Kesehatan had been holding payments to providers due to a large amount of bills.

President Joko Jokowi Widodo, who also attended the meeting, said he had requested that the Health Ministry and the National Social Security Board (DJSN) involve the IDI in reforming the JKN, which is one of the worlds largest universal healthcare programs, covering more than 200 million people.

I already learned about the issues with BPJS [Kesehatan]. But I will still invite the [state insurer] for a dialogue since this is a management issue. This is an issue that we need to fix, he said during his speech at the gathering. (wit)
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, October 27 2018

Old allies the Gerindra Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) have finally agreed on two names for the prospective new Jakarta deputy governor that they will propose to the Jakarta Legislative Council, a councillor has said.

The two names have been approved but we cant announce them yet. Gerindra and the PKS have agreed on the two candidates, PKS councillor Triwisaksana said on Thursday as reported by kompas.com.

Gerindra and the PKS were at odds with each other claiming entitlement over the vacant Jakarta deputy governor post following the resignation of Sandiaga Uno, who is running as a vice presidential candidate with Prabowo Subianto in the 2019 presidential election.

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, October 27, 2018 19:00 1119 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877980a61 4 City traffic-accident,Jakarta-transportation,Jakarta-police Free

A Libyan man died early on Saturday in a single-vehicle accident on Jl. Gerbang Pemuda in Central Jakarta.

The Jakarta Police traffic unit's law enforcement head, Adj. Sr. Comr. Budiyanto, said the Libyan, identified as Sabil, 20, was inside a Toyota Avanza car with a driver named Ilyas.

The driver, Ilyas, 20, broke his left leg. Meanwhile, a Libyan passenger died, he said on Saturday as quoted by tribunnews.com.

Sabil died as a result of severe head injuries after the car crashed at the Lapangan Panahan bus stop at around 3:35 a.m.

According to an eyewitness, as the car was heading south coming from the north [...] it started shaking on the left and crashed into the Lapangan Panahan bus stop, Budiyanto said.

The police took Sabil's body to Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital, while the driver, who has been accused of driver negligence, was administered to Mintohardjo Hospital.

The police confiscated the car and vehicle registration documents. (sau)
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Linkedin Dyaning Pangestika (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, October 27, 2018 14:53 1119 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b3087797b06b 1 Politics Banser-flag-incident,Banser,NahdlatulUlama,HTI,2019-elections Free

Following the Islamic flag burning incident that has led to protests by thousands of people around the country, Muslim leaders assembled on Friday night to settle their differences and agreed to put the issue behind them.

Muslims were outraged after the burning of a flag bearing Islamic script by members of the Guardian Troops of Ansor (Banser) in Garut, West Java, who were celebrating National Santri Day on Monday.

The video,which went viral, shows members of Banser, which is part of the Nahdlatul Ulamas youth wing, burned the flag that they think is a symbol of the outlawed organization Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI). Thousands of Muslims and Islamic organizations took to the streets to condemn Banser and demand justice.

Members of the National Movement to Safeguard Fatwas (GNPF), that had called for the prosecution of former Jakarta governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama, joined the protests against Banser, along with members of Muhammadiyah, the second largest Muslim organization after the NU.

Banser has been guarding their headquarters in anticipation of attacks by protesters. As of Friday, no attacks are reported. A plan to protest at Bansers headquarters on Jl. Kramat Raya, Jakarta, by the Islamic Students Association (HMI) was canceled after senior members of the group had called on their members to stay calm.

Read also: Uproar over flag-burning reaches new heights

During Friday's gathering at the residence of Vice President Jusuf Kalla, a former HMI activist and current chairman of the Indonesia Mosques Council (DMI), leaders of several Islamic organizations, including the NU and Muhammadiyah, met with the government to address the issue.

The meeting was reportedly inconclusive on whether the flag was an Islamic or HTI flag, but all agreed that any crimes committed during the incident should be handled by the police.

The Islamic organization leaders regret the flag burning incident in Limbangan, Garut, and agree to maintain peace and efforts to reduce conflicts, the leaders said in a statement that was read out by Kalla after the meeting.

Among those who signed the agreement were Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) chairman Maruf Amin, Muhammadiyah chairman Haedar Nasir, NU chairman Said Aqil Siradj and Islamic Union (PERSIS) advisory council chairman Maman Abdurahman.

Read also: MUI calls for flag burners to apologize to 'the faithful'

The NU and GP Ansor said they regretted the incident and had sanctioned the perpetrators.

The police have questioned and then released three Banser members who were allegedly involved in the incident.

Uus Sukmana, who allegedly raised the flag in Garut on Santri Day, is named suspect in the case. He is accused of violating Article 174 of the Criminal Code (KUHP) on inciting commotion at a gathering. He was not detained. (wit)
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Linkedin Yulia Savitri (The Jakarta Post) Palembang  Sat, October 27, 2018 08:45 1119 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b30877971772 1 National Palembang,murder-suicide,murder-case Free

The bodies of the family of four whose deaths shocked the South Sumatra capital of Palembang were cremated on Friday as the police concluded the murder-suicide case.

Sampurna Crematory officer Darwis Hidayat said the four bodies had been cremated two by two in the morning and afternoon.

The extended family has agreed to scatter the ashes on Musi River on Saturday morning, he said.

In a rare murder-suicide case, 45-year-old businessman Fransiskus Xaverius Ong is strongly believed to have killed his 43-year-old wife, Margereth Yentin Liana, his 18-year-old son, Rafael Fransiskus and 11-year-old daughter, Kathlyn Fransiskus, as well as the family dogs, Choky and Snowy.

The murder took place at the familys residence in Kalidoni district, Palembang, South Sumatra, in the wee hours of Wednesday morning.

Read also: 'I'm so tired, I'm sorry': Palembang dad allegedly kills family, himself

The South Sumatra Police have strongly believed that it was a murder-suicide case. (swd)
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Linkedin Devina Heriyanto (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, October 27, 2018 15:57 1119 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b3087797c3da 1 Politics Jokowi,sontoloyo,politics,election,2019-presidential-election Free

The word sontoloyo has enjoyed a prolonged five-minutes of fame since President Joko Jokowi Widodo uttered it on Tuesday.

Jokowi was commenting on the backlash against the subdistrict fund program, which the opposition called a political stunt.

"This is the government's commitment to the people, not for anyone else, so don't equate this issue to politics," Jokowi said in his speech. He then warned the public to be careful about politicians who tried to influence them with their remarks. "Be careful, there are many good politicians but there are also many sontoloyo politicians."

Deputy House Speaker Fadli Zon, who is also an outspoken government critic, quickly slammed the speech, calling it rude and inappropriate coming from the head of state, according to kompas.com.

Jokowi later admitted that he was angry and could not stop himself from swearing.

According to the official Indonesian dictionary (KBBI), "sontoloyo is a colloquial word that means foolish, crooked or stupid. The opposition might consider the word rude as the KBBI itself notes that the term is used as a curse word.

Gadjah Mada University linguistic professor I Dewa Putu Wijana told tempo.co that sontoloyos usage was limited to the older generation because the word was often used in old novels.

An actual sontoloyo, which in Javanese means duck farmer, said the word was often used negatively. We are hard workers and consistent when doing our job, Mbah Dasar, a 60-year-old sontoloyo from Rembang, Central Java, told detik.com.

Jokowis sontoloyo and Sukarnos sontoloyo

President Sukarno officiated the opening of Hotel Indonesia on Aug. 5, 1962. (Hotel Indonesia Kempinski Jakarta/File)

Jokowi is not the first Indonesian politician to use the word in public. The countrys founding father and first president, Sukarno, used the term in Islam Sontoloyo. The article was first published in Pandji Islam magazine in 1940, before he included in an essay collection titled Di Bawah Bendera Revolusi Jilid I (Under the Revolutionary Flag Part I).

Sukarno wrote the article after reading in a newspaper that a religious teacher had raped his own student. The teacher justified the rape by marrying the girl.

If the news in the Pemandangan newspaper is true, we are seeing a sontoloyo [crooked] Islam. A sin is permissible under a fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), Sukarno wrote. He went on to criticize how some people used fiqh to justify their actions, as if they [were] playing cats and dogs with God. The rest of the article slammed Muslims who were religious only on the surface.

Jokowis sontoloyo speech, however, is apparently not related to religion, but to what he refers to as Indonesias politics of lies.

Jokowi has long been a target of hoaxes aimed to undemine his reelection bid. He also questioned criticism leveled against him that he claimed was based on false information.
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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) New Delhi, India  Sat, October 27, 2018 03:06 1119 882ab4bc56dbda08a069b3087796e45c 2 News India,Literature,courses,Harry-Potter,lawyers,law,university Free

A die-hard Harry Potter fan has designed a spellbinding course for aspiring lawyers in India, offering classes on the legality of curses and ethics of house-elves at a top university.

The course starting December at the National University of Juridical Sciences in Kolkata includes subjects such as 'Unbreakable Vows', 'Agents of Good or Servants of Evil' and 'Snape and the Order of the Phoenix'.

The wizard behind it all, assistant law professor Shouvik Kumar Guha, expects students to have read the J.K. Rowling series at least twice -- or leave their wands in Diagon Alley.

Guha said the university already offered more than 50 traditional law courses but felt the Potterverse inspired students to apply their wizardry knowledge to the everyday problems of India's muggles.

"Somehow, I thought we were not encouraging out of box thinking," he told AFP on Thursday.

"The Potterverse highlights the limits of laws. It talks about the problems when the judiciary is not independent and the media is reduced to a mouthpiece.

Read also: Harry Potter: A History of Magic goes online

"Our students are on the same page and believe the discrimination voiced in the Potterverse is wrong. But in real life there will be things that some see as discrimination and which others do not."

Even Quidditch, which thrusts students on broomsticks from the four houses of Hogwarts into sky-high contests, features in the curriculum.

The response has been overwhelming: the course titled "An interface between Fantasy Fiction Literature and Law: Special focus on Rowling's Potterverse" is already full.

It is not the first time in India that a professor has bewitched law students with the Potterverse.

In 2012, an elective law course based on The Boy Who Lived and his magical universe commenced at Jindal Law School on the outskirts of New Delhi.

More than 400 million copies of the seven Harry Potter books have been sold worldwide and translated into nearly 68 languages, according to the publisher Scholastic.
Montreal, CA (H4T1V6)

Today

Considerable clouds this morning. Some decrease in clouds later in the day. A few flurries or snow showers possible. Temps nearly steady in the mid to upper 30s. Winds W at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Mostly clear. Low -3C. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph.
German, with almost 100 million people worldwide, is the most widely spoken native language in the European Union. The German language is the official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol (Italy) and Liechtenstein.

A basic knowledge of German will give you access to fascinating and welcoming countries in the heart of Europe. You will be able to explore some of the best architecture museums in the world, watch some of the best European films and discover the worlds best city to live  Vienna!

Do you speak German = Sprichst du Deutsch? (or Sprechen Sie Deutsch? when addressing strangers)

(or when addressing strangers) Good morning/afternoon/evening/night = Guten Morgen/Mittag/Abend/Nacht

Goodbye (informal)/Goodbye (formal) = Tschuss/Auf Wiedersehen

Could you help me please? = Konnen Sie mir bitte helfen?

No, thank you. = Nein, danke.

Yes, please. = Ja, bitte.

Where is the closest restroom? = Wo ist die nachste Toilette?

Excuse Me = Entschuldigung

Which beer do you recommend? = Welches Bier wurdest du empfehlen?

Can I have a pretzel with my sausage? = Kann ich eine Brezel zu meiner Wurst haben?

Where can I find the best techno club in this city? = Wo kann ich den besten techno Club der Stadt finden?

Is that the right way to go to the station? = Ist das der richtige Weg zum Bahnhof?

Could you repeat that please? = Kannst du das bitte wiederholen?

I am sorry = Es tut mir leid

See you soon! = Bis bald!

Bonus Phrase:

Guten Tag = say hello in a formal way.

Top Tip: Germany is known for Oktoberfest and its incredible beers but do you know that they also produce some fantastic wine in the west of Germany along the river Rhine? You should try it on your next trip whilst exploring Germany.




It is a damn shame that people who struggled against the violent apartheid regime, grew up under it, or were the first generation not to know apartheid have no problem murdering each other for money and power. It is what it is. Can you imagine living in a country in which power depends not only on the vote but also on who has more button men? That would be a pretty crappy place to live.





One could argue that political violence in South Africa is the inevitable blowback from apartheid-that people who have grown up impoverished and hating themselves without stable social, economic, or political systems to safely channel dissent and disagreement will find it easy to employ violence against each other. Even so, political murder is not normal. It is symptomatic of a sick society. Trump and his initial churlish response to the attempted pipe bomb murders of his political enemies are where things like this get started. This story could be the US future if we're not careful.



UMZIMKHULU, South Africa  Their fear faded as they raced back home, the bottle of Johnnie Walker getting lighter with each turn of the road. Soon, Sindiso Magaqa was clapping and bouncing behind the wheel of his beloved V8 Mercedes-Benz, pulling into familiar territory just before dark. Minutes later, men closed in with assault rifles. Mr. Magaqa reached for the gun under his seat  too late. One of his passengers saw flashes of light, dozens of them, from the spray of bullets pockmarking the doors. The ambush was exactly what Mr. Magaqa had feared. A few months before, a friend had been killed by gunmen in his front yard. Then, as another friend tried to open his front gate at night, a hit man crept out of the dark, shooting him dead.

Next came Mr. Magaqa, 34. Struck half a dozen times, he hung on for weeks in a hospital before dying last year. All of the assassination targets had one thing in common: They were members of the African National Congress who had spoken out against corruption in the party that defined their lives.

 If you understand the Cosa Nostra, you dont only kill the person, but you also send a strong message, said Thabiso Zulu, another A.N.C. whistle-blower who, fearing for his life, is now in hiding. We broke the rule of omerta, he added, saying that the party of Nelson Mandela had become like the Mafia. Political assassinations are rising sharply in South Africa, threatening the stability of hard-hit parts of the country and imperiling Mr. Mandelas dream of a unified, democratic nation.





But unlike much of the political violence that upended the country in the 1990s, the recent killings are not being driven by vicious battles between rival political parties. Quite the opposite: In most cases, A.N.C. officials are killing one another, hiring professional hit men to eliminate fellow party members in an all-or-nothing fight over money, turf and power, A.N.C. officials say. But corruption and divisions have flourished within the A.N.C. in recent years, stripping much of the party of its ideals.




MBABANE  Is government violating its own labour complaint provisions? Civil servants employed by the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, Building Department are gearing up for work after over four months of conducting a tools down in protest against the lack of personal protective equipment.



Some of the workers, after meeting with the ministrys Under Secretary (US), Naniki Mnisi, revealed that they were picking up the few tools that they had available to resume their daily work routine.



According to the civil servants, the environment is still non-conducive for work as the personal protective equipment, working material and transport that necessitated the tools-down had not been provided.



concerns



Other concerns include the lack of vehicles to transport workers to their assignments which contravenes Section 73 (a) of the Employment Act of 1980. The clause stipulates that every employer Shall at his own expense provide an employee with transport to his place of employment and for his repatriation, and shall take all necessary steps to ensure that the vehicles used to transport the employees are suitable for such purpose and that they are in good sanitary condition and not overcrowded

.

The lack of protective gear further contravenes the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 2009 which provides for The safety and health of persons at work and at workplace and for the protection of persons other than persons at the workplace against hazards to safety and health arising out of or in connection with the activities of persons in the workplace



Albeit the decision to honour the ministrys request for operation in the department, workers have put forth a condition. They said they had agreed to report for duty, provided they would be spared from performing any high-risk tasks.



execute



Shop Stewart, Sibusiso Mkhatshwa, explained that they would not execute assignments that required the use of and contact with hazardous material such as sharp and flammable objects. He said that the US had pleaded with them to continue working while they wait for the new government to begin operating.



He added that she had managed to convince them that it was better to approach the new Members of Parliament (MPs) with a calm and collaborative spirit as they were new to these issues and needed to indulge them in a peaceful manner.



For now, we are going to do the work that we are expected to do. We will also observe whether the new government will attend to our needs and prioritise on our safety. Hopefully, they will do just that, he said.



visibility



Mkhatshwa further said that although their needs were not yet met, they appreciated the ministrys visibility and their engagement with the workers. He added that this was an uncommon, yet welcomed gesture from their superiors.

In the past, we did not have direct access to management. In fact, we were constantly questioning whether our grievances ever reached them. But this meeting with the US has confirmed their receipt of our issues and it is a step in the right direction, he added.
PIGGS PEAK  Health officials want Bhalekane Nazarene Primary School cleaned up as it is a health hazard.

Bhalekane Nazarene Primary School is situated in Madlangempisi.



The school was declared a health hazard such that some of the teachers classes are now vacant as they are considered unfit for human habitation.

Speaking during the schools triple celebration on Thursday, the Head teacher Nhlanhla Shongwe said the school did not have enough water.

He said the school has until up to the end of the year to be health compliant.



During the triple celebration, the school bid farewell to three teachers, Standard V pupils and then held a Speech and Prize Giving Day.

Under normal circumstance, the school is required to use 10 000 litres of water but due to the shortage, they only have access to 5 000 litres.



Water



To worsen the situation, Shongwe said the school shares the 5 000 litres of water with the Bhalekane Nazarene Mission and the Clinic.

Shongwe said this had exposed the school to a health hazard such that officials now want the school to clean up before end of the year.



He said fortunately for the school, they were offered access to water by Bhalekane Correctional facility but they have to build their own infrastructure to connect them to the water system at the facility.



Shongwe said this would cost the school about E150 000 to set up but that there was no way they could raise that money.

He said most of the schools funds are obtained through Free Primary Education (FPE) financing adding that this would not be enough to embark on the water project.






LOBAMBA  The Tinkhundla system of governance should be taught in schools. This was the opinion of former Deputy Prime Minister Paul Dlamini during day two of the Sibaya submission as sanctioned by His Majesty King Mswati III on Wednesday.



Dlamini explained that there was a need for the nation and the world to understand the true meaning of this type of governance.

He said he had noted that some people claim that the Tinkhundla system was their way of life, but when it came to implementing the ideology, it was something else.



Appreciated



I appreciated that the King decided to simplify it by pronouncing the monarchical democracy, said the man from Nsingweni.

His statement was met with laughter with the pronunciation of monarchical.

When the King revealed his dream about the monarchical democracy, Dlamini stated that His Majesty clarified that it meant that monarchy and the nation worked closely.



Changing the subject, Dlamini pleaded with those who would be appointed into Cabinet to give chiefs the recognition they deserve.

The former DPM explained that chiefs were authorised by Their Majesties to be overseers of certain areas in the country.



Tasked



Adding, Dlamini said they (chiefs) were tasked with allocating land to people of Eswatini within their chiefdoms.

In that light, there should be no development carried out without the involvement of the chiefs, Dlamini said.

Illustrating, Dlamini said as the farming season was approaching, some people were complaining about the non availability of farming tractors.

He said such issues could be handled by the chiefs.
LOBAMBA  Just like in neighbouring South Africa, the evil of state capture does exist in the Kingdom of Eswatini.



This is according to a presentation that was made by top businessman Sthofeni Ginindza yesterday at the Sibaya Peoples Parliament.

By definition, state capture is a type of systemic political corruption in which private interests significantly influence a states decision-making processes to their own advantage.



When making his presentation, Ginindza first mentioned that his views were going to differ slightly from the agenda of the day.

He stated that emaSwati needed to start being honest when it came to issues related to the economy and political situation and that they should never be afraid to express their views.



Ginindza said emaSwati had a tendency of talking about issues among themselves but when they got the microphone on public forums they changed tune.

The state capture assertion by Ginindza came when he touched on the issue of corruption which he said had reached high levels in the country.



Being someone who sits in various boards, I once asked a certain individual if he was captured. Those who follow South African news will know the issue of state capture. It exists in Eswatini and around E200 million is lost through corruption, said Ginindza.



raised



Ginindza said most of the issues that had been raised at the Peoples Parliament had been deliberated upon before and made an example of the need to explore the development of dams.



Those issues have been deliberated upon at different workshops so now we need to be honest and ask why all the goals that were introduced in the past were not implemented or achieved, he said.



He then made an example of the political situation and asked if it made sense to portray it as a Rolls Royce when the international world had a different picture altogether.



It should not be just us that feel that out political situation is a Rolls Royce but even the international world must testify because in the end the negative publicity impacts heavily on the economy and its growth, he said.



He recounted an incident where he, together with other dignitaries, was once sent to represent the country in Brussels at a European Union (EU) Conference.

According to Ginindza, the EU, which benefits the country in terms of the trading of goods, wanted to know what was happening in the country.

obviously

We were obviously facing challenges including the risk of losing the EU aid and markets. When we got inside the EU Parliament, they demanded an explanation on reports that local jails were overcrowded by political prisoners. It became clear that they did not understand the Rolls Royce we believed we were, instead they knew us as a Honda Fit, he said.

He said the fact that there were negative perceptions about the country was affecting the tourism sector and investors and that it meant that the international community did not know the facts about Eswatini politics.

How can foreign direct investors (FDIs) come to our country when they have been told that our jails are full of political prisoners? We must not just repeat the same issues but take action, he said.
MANZINI  Ululations filled the Ludzidzini Cattle Byre as newly-appointed Senator Inkhosatana Sikhanyiso supported the idea of growing dagga for medicinal purposes in the country.



The Inkhosatana was one of the speakers who were called to make a presentation on different topics about the country during the Sibaya Peoples Parliament yesterday and she delivered ideas on how the country could develop economically. The princess, who is the youngest Senator the country has ever had, chose to focus more on how the country could turn the tide of the prevailing economic situation.



As she suggested ideas on what the country should consider in order to overturn, the appointed Senator reminded the King and the public that the country had moringa, which could cure a number of diseases and marijuana. In fact, we all know that in Eswatini, we dont have just A grade of marijuana, but A*, she said.



cancer



According to her, the rich marijuana available in the country could be squeezed and its oil used to ease pain to cancer patients.

On that note, the princess highlighted that the United States of America (USA) spent over US100 billion (about E1.4 trillion) per year to purchase medicine to ease pain from patients. With our highly rated marijuana, we can just ask 10 per cent of the about E1.4 triillion per year and supply them with the herb, she said and a loud round of applause and whistles were heard from all corners of the cattle byre.



Meanwhile, the appointed Senator suggested that His Majesty King Mswati III should send a committee to other countries to invite potential Information Communication and Technology (ICT) investors to invest in the country.



In her view, the money which would come with these investors would bring about ICT and science universities in the country, where emaSwati would receive the required skills to take the country forward in terms of development.



She also noted that the country had special economic zones for such investors where they could invest without paying tax. She said in these special economic zones, the investors could also set up a different range of companies which could increase the countrys revenue.

Through these companies, emaSwati can manufacture cellphones and computers, among other things, with the skills they acquired from the ICT and science universities, she said.



Again, the appointed senator said the country already had the Royal Science and Technology Park (RSTP) which could produce food and medicine and some exported to other countries.



food



In terms of food production at RSTP, the princess said innovative ways of farming would be used to produce agricultural products all year round, during rainy and dry seasons.



She said one of the innovative ways of farming which could be used was hydroponics, which was a method of growing plants without soil by using mineral nutrient solutions in a water solvent.

With this innovative way, terrestrial plants may be grown with only their roots exposed to the mineral solution, or the roots may be supported by an inert medium, such as perlite or gravel.



Again, the princes said another method which could be used to produce food at the park was aeroponics, which was a process of growing plants in an air or mist environment without the use of soil or an aggregate medium.

Another innovative method she mentioned was integrated aquaponics which help one to build an aquaponics system which would provide families and communities with organic food for years to come.



Through this method, one could grow vegetables, herbs and flowers alongside with favourite edible or decorative fish. In terms of medicine, the Inkhosatana said through RSTP, the country could produce bio-medical and electronics to screen deadly diseases like cancer, among others.

It is worth noting that the support for the legalising of dagga in the country had seen the topic being debated in Parliament.



Former Nkilongo Member of Parliament (MP) Hans Steffen was among other ex-legislators who suggested that Eswatini should legalise dagga as this would triple the countrys GDP.

He said dagga was 25 times more profitable than sugar and that Eswatini should take advantage of the fact that the plant was in abundance in the country, adding that this was a billion Dollar industry.

As support for marijuana legalisation grew in the country, a number of companies have visited the kingdom with the intention of seeking permission to grow the illegal herb.

One of the companies is Deo Gloria Farming, an agricultural company which is controlled and managed under the name Protea Group based in Pretoria, South Africa. It promised to take the nation out of the financial crisis and make it have surplus budget.

In fact, it said economists had estimated that with the proposed investment, the Kingdom of Eswatinis gross domestic product (GDP) had the probability to increase as much as over 300 per cent.
The 6th edition of the Athens Biennale will launch in four landmark buildings on Stadiou Street on Friday, in an 'ANTI' version that, among others, is dedicated to the dead gay rights activist Zak Kostopoulos/Zackie Oh, who was killed in circumstances still under investigation, ANA reports.

More than 100 international artists, media creators and theorists will take part in ANTI, including 23 Greek groups. Their work will be shown in spaces that have lain abandoned and empty - the formerly glamorous hotel Esperia Palas, the historic TTT building a few doors down, the Benakeio Library next to the Old Parliament and the building on Kolokotroni 4.

Support has also come from the Attica Region, which has given one million euros to the current and following editions, the Benakeio Library and the Onassis Foundation.

Read more at athensbiennale.org

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
North Events and the Association of Greek Entrepreneurs of Poland Hermes are the organizers of the exhibition

Iconic Greeces Evzones are honored in a photography exhibition currently on display in the Polish capital of Warsaw, commemorating the 150th anniversary of the formation of the Presidential Guard.

North Events and the Association of Greek Entrepreneurs of Poland Hermes are the organizers of the exhibition, which features the work of photographer Dimitra Hatziadam, titled Evzones / Guardians of the Unseen. The exhibition takes place at the PGE Narodowy Stadium in Warsaw.

The show marks the milestone of 100 years of diplomatic relations between Greece and Poland, as well as the completion of 150 years since the establishment of the Greek Presidential Guard. The exhibition is being organized under the auspices of the Greek Embassy in Poland.

In her photography, Hatziadam captures the unique uniform of the Evzones, laden with folklore symbolism. She also attempts to capture the Greek Orthodox character of the members of the Presidential Guard, their difficult training, and the ideals they stand for. The Evzones appear as pillars of military virtue and morality.

The photographic collection is complemented by testimonies from evzones along with audio documentary.

Read more at greekreporter.com

RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons Copyright: Jebulon License: CC-BY-SA
In the summer of 1932, the Athens School of Fine Arts wrapped up the academic year with a show of work by the first-year students in the class of acclaimed painter Oumbertos Argyros. Yiannis Moralis showed two self-portraits in the show, which earned him a positive review by influential art critic Dionysios Kokkinos in the magazine Nea Estia.

This exhibition is the initial stop in the comprehensive retrospective being held on Moralis (1916-2009) at the Benaki Museums Pireos Street annex, in cooperation with the Greek National Gallery, the National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation, Zoumboulakis Galleries and the artists family.

The exhibition is loosely arranged in decades, spanning the entire career of the great painter, engraver, set designer and art teacher, while also providing important insights into his private life.

The 1930s section, which concerns the Athens School of Fine Arts and his years afterward as a student in Rome and Paris, includes a 1946 portrait of academic Sokratis Kougeas. Why? Because when Moraliss father died in a car accident in 1937, Kougeas, who was a family friend, took responsibility for the young mans studies, points out the shows curator, Nikos Paisios.

Moralis, he adds, was something of a prodigy and began attending Sunday classes at the Athens School of Fine Arts at the age of 13, enrolling properly at the age of 17. His impressive trajectory is beautifully narrated through the 200-odd paintings and 100 or so other objects that comprise the exhibition, starting from his childhood as a country boy in Arta, northwestern Greece, who took up art after moving to Athens with his family at the age of 11.

Other than his enormous talent for drawing, Moralis was the most gifted person I have ever met. What you see here is not even 10 percent of his body of work. We would need three museums to show it all, adds Paisios.

That 10 percent is impressive, though, ranging from small-scale paintings he produced as a teenager and his early celebrated work from the 1940s  when the student became the master  to designs and engravings, sculptures and architectural elements (like those at the Hilton Hotel in Athens, the Dionysos restaurant near the Acropolis and the Doxiadis residence at the foot of Lycabettus Hill), book and album covers, as well as posters for the Greek National Tourism Organization and ceramics.

Among these is the first dish he ever did, showing a mermaid, for the poet Giorgos Seferis in 1960, before he went on to work with the acclaimed ceramist Eleni Vernadaki.

The Benaki show also features theater costumes and sets, though arguably the most exciting part comprises his portraits, and especially those depicting his family, friends and romantic partners, who may never have succeeded in getting him to walk down the aisle but did inspire eruptions of color on his canvases.

There are also a lot of stories that simply cannot be told because some of the leading ladies in his life are still with us, notes Paisios.

Yiannis was a shy, introverted and extremely tender man who never held a grudge, adds Peggy Zoumboulaki, a close friend and associate of 45 years. But he always had a lot on his mind and also had secrets. We wont talk about this now. To be honest, well never talk about this, because we know he would not have wanted us to.

The show at the Benaki Museums Pireos Street annex (138 Pireos & Andronikou, Tavros, tel 210.345.3111, www.benaki.gr) runs through January 5. Opening hours are Thursdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

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
The liberation of the city on October 26, 1912 during the Balkan Wars and the national Oxi Day holiday were also celebrated

THESSALONIKI  Crowds and officials gathered in Thessaloniki for the celebration of the October 26 feast day of St. Demetrios the Myrrh-streamer, the patron saint of the city, which included the procession of the icon of the saint and his relics, the icon of the Virgin Mary of the Mount of Olives, and a piece of the Holy Cross. The liberation of the city on October 26, 1912 during the Balkan Wars and the national Oxi Day holiday were also celebrated.

His Eminence Metropolitan Anthimos of Thessaloniki presided over the Divine Liturgy in the morning.

The icons and relics were carried by military vehicles, while the procession, accompanied by the clergy, the police and the Army and Navy, followed the route from St. Demetriou Street, Venizelos, Olympus and Peloponnesus, and ended back at the Church of the patron saint of Thessaloniki.

Earlier, during the Divine Liturgy, Metropolitan Anthimos referred to the devotion and dedication of the faithful to St. Demetrios, but also to their participation in the great feast with Holy Myrrh, which takes place one week after the feast of the saint. As he said, in the ceremony of Holy Myrrh he opens the shrine and blesses the saints and the relics in a spiritual splendor which, as he said, honors our people, our tradition, our faith, the absolute tradition of our soul in the hands of the saint.

In the context of the celebrations, presentations were held in the schools of the Municipality of Thessaloniki, and a feast followed later on in the day to honor St. Demetrios.

Read more at thenationalherald.com

RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons Copyright:  License: CC-BY-SA
Oman Data Park (ODP), the first managed service provider in sultanate, has introduced artificial intelligence services bringing in Robot as a Service into the Omani market at Omantel ICT Summit 2018.

Robot as a Service improves response time and increases accuracy sharply improves organizations productivity quality, allows 24x7x365 operations by non-sleeping robots, efficiency and optimizes the resources utilization of employees, said a statement from ODP.

The service emulates human actions to automate and perform repetitive, high volume and time consuming business tasks cutting across the various processes, it stated.

ODP allows organizations in Oman to capitalise on the newly launched service with zero capital investment, the service is charged on a monthly subscription basis to automate any function across the organization whether its finance, HR, procurement or IT.

CEO Engineer Maqbool Al Wahaibi said: "ODP is a leader in managed services, we are now leveraging advancements in artificial intelligence and its proud moment for us as we bring forth the futuristic technology into ground by launching Robot as a Service."

"The industry is evolving to meet the digital demands of tech-savvy customers, many organizations are still relying on manual tasks in their operations. Organizations can now benefit of such services to increase efficiency, reduce error and drive employee focus to more innovative tasks the robots can be implemented in no time," he noted.

Oman Data Park brings in unparalleled blend of experience, stature, and goodwill to provide managed services with the highest standards of reliability, security and responsiveness.-TradeArabia News Service
Bahrains luxury shopping destination, Moda Mall is further expanding the scope of luxury retail in the kingdom, with new lifestyle experiences to complement an already impressive portfolio.

With a major presence of leading retail names, the mall continues to maintain a consistent leased area approaching 15,000 sq m, led by a tenant mix comprising luxury fashion at 41 per cent, exquisite jewellery at 23 per cent, fine dining and other F&B (food and beverages) offerings at 8 er cent.

Additionally, Moda Malls other retail offerings include antiques and collectibles, gifts and confectionary, service retail, health and beauty, perfumes and fragrances and consumer electronics at 28 per cent.

Bahrains retail real estate industry, one of the most dynamic sectors, has been expanding steadily over recent years, at an annual rate of 13 per cent driven significantly by tourism, large-infrastructure projects, proximity to Saudi Arabia and a growing population of expatriates, reflecting a growing consumer interest in personal luxury goods.

Capitalising on this demand, Moda Mall has enhanced its retail portfolio with new lifestyle experiences.

Amongst the latest launches at Moda Mall is Theresa Beauty Center offering professional services for all women's needs; Perle, a multifaceted concept store for pop-up events, mini-art expos and extraordinary events; Mia Moon, a multi-brand luxury jewellery store, Artemis, a multi-designer Arabic fashion store, along with renowned Kuwaiti perfume brand Atyab Al Marshoud and a stand-alone booth featuring Enzas Jewellery.

In addition, set to debut at Moda Mall later this year will be international brands - a luxury car brand that will be showcased at the Behbehani Brothers vehicle showroom; and Messika, one of the worlds most innovative and modern diamond jewellery houses launching its presence in Bahrain with its first boutique at the mall.

Last but not least, the mall will also be expanding its food and beverage offerings with three new outlets - Amore cafe, Flat White and Mana juice bar.

Alongside growing its retail offerings, Moda Mall is also working with key stakeholders to help boost Bahrains growing retail economy.

Its ongoing collaboration with the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) has enabled the Mall to successfully host industry networking forums, including the Middle East Council of Shopping Centres (MECSC) Bahrain Next Gen Networking Event.

Moda Mall has also actively engaged with the Bahrain Tourism Exhibitions Authority (BTEA), supporting initiatives such as Shop Bahrain, aimed at attracting shopping tourism, in addition to hosting several other community-focused cultural and welfare activities.

With the retail industry continuing to expand and attracting participation from all major stakeholders, Moda Mall continues to pave the way for new opportunities, concepts and future growth in Bahrains retail economy.-TradeArabia News Service
Bahrain International Airshow (BIAS) 2018 has announced details of its flying display line-up including spectacular shows by numerous international teams with the Italian team Frecce Tricolori headlining the lineup.

The show, held under the patronage of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and under the supervision of Shaikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Personal Representative of HM the King and Chairman of the BIAS Organising Committee, will kick off on November 14 and run for the next two days at the Sakhir Airbase.

A daily flying display program spread over five hours will include spectacular displays by numerous regional and international flying teams, for both trade show visitors from November 14 to 16, and for the first time this year, extended by an additional day for the public area from November 14 to 17.

Besides Frecce Tricolori, which is making its debut at the BIAS, alongside other renowned teams including the Emarati team Al Fursan, the Russian Knights, the Global Stars Acrobatic team, the Black Falcons Parachute Team, a Paramotor Solo Display, Mark Jeffries Little and Large display, in addition to flying displays by the Royal Bahraini Air Force, the UAE Air Force, and the US Department of Defence.

With a team composed of 10 aircrafts, 9 in formation and 1 solo, Frecce Tricolori is the Italian Air Force Aerobatic team, and has been flying since 1961.

Pilots of the team all have to be from the Italian Air Force Fighter Squadrons, selected amongst a wide range of candidates, said the organisers.

To qualify, they must have at least 750 flying hours on jet planes and a certification of combat readiness from the Italian Air Force Division, they stated.

The team and support team consist of 100 people; officers, NCOs and enlisted personnel, all of whom work to ensure that the maneuvering display is carried out with top level skill.

The team uses the MB-339 PAN aircraft, which has been used in the show since 1982. It is an Italian built aircraft that is used not only for flight activities, but is also used to train new military pilots at the 61st Wing in Galatina.

Three years ago, the team devised a new manoeuvre called Scintilla Tricolore or Italian spark, which was introduced to celebrate the 55th anniversary of the National Aerobatic Team.

In addition to the Italian team, the Russian Ministry of Defense team will also be participating in the flying displays through the Russian Knights Aerobatic Display Team with the Sukhoi 125.

Besides the participation in the flying displays, Russia will also be exhibiting its latest addition to its 7 member fleet, the Sukhoi Super Jet.

Russian companies will be showcasing their technologies in the Exhibition Hall, as part of BIAS platform for featuring innovation in the aviation and aerospace industry.-TradeArabia News Service
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Five People Killed in Afghanistan Suicide Attack

Kabul, Oct 27 (UNI) At least five people have been killed and several others injured in a suicide attack early Saturday in Maidan Wardak province of central Afghanistan, the city police said.

According to police, the attack took place at an army repair workshop in Maidan Shar city adding that 12 others are also wounded in the attack, QNA reported.

Meanwhile, another source said that at least seven people were killed, and 33 others were wounded.
Four held for killing, robbing elderly sisters in Delhi

New Delhi, Oct 26 (UNI) Delhi Police has arrested four people for allegedly killing and robbing two elderly sisters at their residence in West Delhi's Paschim Vihar area, police said on Friday.

According to police, a plumber identified as Akhilesh Yadav visited the house for a plumbing job, but when he discovered two elderly women living alone, he left the place and later called his friends and hatched a plan to loot them.

The accused have been identified as Akhilesh Yadav, Raju Yadav, Salman Shah and Deepak, who reside in West Delhi and work as labourers.
New Delhi, Oct 27 (UNI) Indias firm devotion to the cause of conservation and sustainable development, especially the gains made by the country in the field of renewable energy can change the global conservation landscape, says Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu.

"India has a great tradition of venerating nature. So, it is the duty of every Indian to take care of mother earth, nurture it and leave a clean environment for the coming generations," the Vice-President said at the presentation ceremony of 'Earth Heroes Awards' 2018 on Friday.

The awards have been instituted by the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and the eight winners for the year were chosen for their significant contributions towards protecting and conserving the valuable resources of the planet.

Mr Naidu congratulated the winners for the year and told them that their commitment, creativity and energy were truly exemplary.

Pointing out the drastic increase in the number of natural disasters the nation has been facing in t5he recent times due to environmental degradation, he said "If we have to survive, we need nature to protect and nourish us. That is why we have to take care of it so that it takes care of us."

Mr Naidu added,"We should remind ourselves of the relevant observation of Mahatma Gandhi that the earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need but not every man's greed."

The Vice-President also congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the UN's Champions of the Earth Award and said that this award belongs to every citizen of the nation.

On the Occasion, Pankaj Phatarphod, Managing Director and Country Head of Services and India Chairperson, RBS Foundation India, said, "The consequences of climate change and the planet's depleting natural resources are much closer. Solving these grave issues is not a question of legislation alone but of our positive actions.'

Dr Brij Gopal, Mr Peera Ram Bishnoi, Mr Devender Singh Chauhan, Ms Rita Banerji, Mr Abhilash Khandekar, Mr Lalit Kumar Bora, Late S Manikandan and the Special Task Force (Wildlife), Madhya Pradesh Forest Department were honoured with the Earth Heroes awards.

UNI TV RSA 1050
New Delhi, Oct 26 (UNI) External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will make her maiden visit in the capacity of foreign minister to Qatar and Kuwait from October 28 to 31 at the invitation of her counterparts.

During the visit to both these countries, besides trade and bilateral relations, matters related to energy are expected to be in focus.

An MEA statement issued here on Friday described both Qatar and Kuwait as "reliable energy partners".

"This will be Sushma Swarajs first visit as External Affairs Minister to both the countries. The visit is in pursuit of Indias objective of enhanced engagement with the Gulf region which is in Indias extended neighbourhood," an MEA statement said.

The visit is expected to provide an opportunity to hold in-depth discussions with the political leadership on a wide range of global, regional and bilateral issues.

This will also advance India's growing engagement with these countries in particular and the region in general, the statement said.

Ms Swaraj will have engagements in Qatar on October 28 and 29 and and in Kuwait on October 30 and 31.

During her visit to the State of Qatar, Ms Swaraj will interact with her counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar.

She will also call on Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar.

During her visit, the External Affairs Minister will also interact with the Indian community in Doha.

India and Qatar share millennia old historic multi-dimensional, relations. The bilateral visit of the Emir of the State of Qatar in March 2015 and Prime Minister of Qatar to India in December 2016 and that of the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Qatar in June 2016 have further boosted traditionally cordial and close ties between the two countries.

Qatar hosts about seven lakh Indians who form the largest expatriate community there, the MEA said.

"Qatar is a reliable energy partner, supplying more than 50% of Indias natural gas imports. Our bilateral trade with Qatar in 2017-18 was US$ 9.9 billion," the statement said.

On the next leg of the visit to Kuwait, Ms Swaraj will hold a bilateral meeting with her counterpart.

Sheikh Sabah Al Khalid Al Sabah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Kuwait.

She will also call on the Amir of the State of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and interact with the Indian community.

India and Kuwait have close and friendly bilateral relations.

Kuwait too is a reliable energy supplier to India and hosts about ten lakh Indians forming the largest expatriate community. Our bilateral trade with Kuwait in 2017-18 was US$ 8.5 billion.

UNI DEVN AR 1809
Syrian Govt's diff understanding of UN role, very serious challenge:Special Envoy

United Nations, Oct 27 (UNI) Briefing the Security Council in a meeting with the Syrian Foreign Minister, held in Damascus, Staffan de Mistura said that an impasse had been reached over a proposed new constitution for Syria, with the UN playing a major role, as directed by the Council.

The difficulties of 'keeping everyone on-board' an agreed path to peace in Syria highlights that 'radically different' approaches are likely doomed to failure, the out-going United Nations Special Envoy for the war-torn country warned on Friday.

The veteran envoy, who recently announced he would be stepping down at the end of next month, said that the sticking point revolved around the Syrian leaderships view that constitutional reform, was an internal matter.


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In Port Huron, three of six city council seats are up for election, and eight candidates are vying for the open jobs.

The candidates include incumbents Anita Ashford and Teri Lamb. Rico Ruiz is not running for re-election.

The terms are four years in length.

The Voice asked each candidate to submit biographical information and answer brief questions. Teri Lamb did not respond.

Jeff Pemberton

Biography: I am married to my high school sweetheart, Jolene, and was born and raised in Port Huron. My experience includes complex budget management, problem solving, marketing, communication and building strategic partnerships.

THE VOICE: Why should voters cast their ballot for you?

PEMBERTON: Its important that council contains serious individuals with budget experience who are committed to solving the problems facing our city. I believe I have the experience and skills necessary to help move Port Huron forward.

THE VOICE: What are the top three issues facing Port Huron?

PEMBERTON: Continuing to address our unfunded liabilities, the opioid epidemic and drug-related concerns in the city and surrounding area and the continual development and improvement of our neighborhoods and economy remain top issues.

THE VOICE: If you could solve one problem in Port Huron with the snap of your fingers, what would it be?

PEMBERTON: The drug problem in our area affects every citizen, and its solutions are complex. If I were able to solve this and protect families from this heartache with the snap of my fingers, I would.

Bob Mosurak

Biography: I am a 47-year resident of Port Huron. Owner/operator of a home improvement, repair and painting business. 1990 graduate of Port Huron Northern High School. Attended Kalamazoo Community College.

THE VOICE: Why should voters cast their ballot for you?

MOSURAK: Why me? Should I be elected, I believe that my strength as a critical thinker and the business knowledge I have gained in the past 16 years would be very valuable to the city.

THE VOICE: What are the top three issues facing Port Huron?

MOSURAK: The unfunded liability debt. Retirement benefits for past, present and future city employees, including firefighters and police. Overwhelming amount of non-owner-occupied housing. Effective enforcement of ordinances.

THE VOICE: If you could solve one problem in Port Huron with the snap of your fingers, what would it be?

MOSURAK: If I could solve one thing with a snap of my fingers? Secure the retirement of our past, present and future city employees, including those responsible for the safety of our residents, the firefighter and police forces.

Lisa Beedon

Biography: I was born and raised in Port Huron, Michigan. After completing my bachelors degree from Central Michigan University and my masters degree from Concordia University Ann Arbor, my career in health care led me home to serve the community I love.

THE VOICE: Why should voters cast their ballot for you?

BEEDON: I am passionate about this community and will work to continue the positive momentum Port Huron has built. I believe in collaboration and will work with area businesses and organizations to foster economic growth and development.

THE VOICE: What are the top three issues facing Port Huron?

BEEDON: Ensuring the financial health of our community, which includes ongoing efforts to address unfunded liabilities. Working with residents and first responders to enhance and ensure our neighborhoods are safe. Continue to collaborate with businesses and organizations to create jobs and recruit talent.

THE VOICE: If you could solve one problem in Port Huron with the snap of your fingers, what would it be?

BEEDON: I wish we could solve the opioid crisis with a snap of the fingers. Were coming together as a community to address this issue. Working together is our best and only option to end this crisis.

Anita R. Ashford

Biography. Employed with DTE Energy as a continuous improvement expert. Lifelong resident of the city of Port Huron. My political experiences cover local, regional, statewide and national affiliations of experiences.

THE VOICE: Why should voters cast their ballot for you?

ASHFORD: Because of my extensive experiences, locally, statewide and nationally in being a public servant. A proven track record of leadership with integrity and commitment representing our city, along with the knowledge, background and skill sets to do the job.

THE VOICE: What are the top three issues facing Port Huron?

ASHFORD: Fiscal responsibility: Be prudent in our spending. Job growth: Is good (5.8 percent unemployment, down from 15.6 percent). We need to connect the jobs with the people who are qualified to perform the jobs. Housing stock: Promote quality housing.

THE VOICE: If you could solve one problem in Port Huron with the snap of your fingers, what would it be?

ASHFORD: To have the ultimate answer for the unfunded liability situation.

Jon Hardman

Biography: K-12 in Port Huron (Port Huron Northern 1982), St. Clair County Community College (associate degree). Moved to Chicago to pursue a career in the concert industry. Then segued into the marketing agency world, where I have spent the last 15 years.

THE VOICE: Why should voters cast their ballot for you?

HARDMAN: My skill set is not represented on the current council, and I believe the city could benefit from such insight. Ive seen how communities with fewer assets than PH have leveraged them for great results.

THE VOICE: What are the top three issues facing Port Huron?

HARDMAN: In May, I launched a 10-week, 10-precinct Listening Tour to find this out. Citywide, the main issue is blight enforcement. The next two main issues are roads and the opioid epidemic.

THE VOICE: If you could solve one problem in Port Huron with the snap of your fingers, what would it be?

HARDMAN: Recent studies show that one out of every five children live in poverty here in St Clair County. That just unnerves me. This is an all-hands-on-deck issue. We can do better than this.

Marissa Williams

Biography: Williams said she is a longtime resident of Port Huron, Michigan.

I graduated from Port Huron High School in 2012. While still in high school, I attended St. Clair County Community College. I earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 2015 from the historic Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. Im pursuing a Juris Doctor at Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Auburn Hills. My expected date of completion is May 2019.

THE VOICE: Why should voters cast their ballot for you?

WILLIAMS: Many say that young people are not involved in their community. On my behalf, I beg to differ. Being involved in my community is something that my family instilled in me. Serving the homeless, tutoring youth, assisting the mentally and physically impaired and working with civic organizations is something I love and cherish. I plan to continue to serve my community.

THE VOICE: What are the top three issues facing Port Huron?

WILLIAMS: The opioid addiction and human trafficking are crises that are affecting all aspects of our nation, state and local government. We will continue to have to issue these issues on a global level using national, state and local resources. Economic development, infrastructure and neighborhood stabilization are just a few issues that our city faces.

THE VOICE: If you could solve one problem in Port Huron with the snap of your fingers, what would it be?

WILLIAMS: If I could solve one problem in Port Huron with the snap of my fingers, it would be the development of our city. I think it is imperative that we are open to inviting new businesses and industries into our city that are required to utilize local skills, talents and small businesses. I believe this will be an avenue to promote entrepreneurship and improve living wages while advancing the economy.

Arthur Payne

Biography: I have three grown children who Im very proud of. I have doctorate in clinical psychology. Im the president and founder of Toys for Kids. Im commander of Sons of the American Legion Post 8. I belong to the Eagles, Moose, Blue Water Council for Independent Living and Port Huron Landlords Association.

THE VOICE: Why should voters cast their ballot for you?

PAYNE: I care about my city and Ive been giving back to my city for 30 years. Im experienced and have shown leadership throughout my years.

THE VOICE: What are the top three issues facing Port Huron?

PAYNE: Building the new depot for Amtrak. Homelessness  I take in a lot of homeless people. The establishment of a dog park, especially with all the lofts opening downtown.

THE VOICE: If you could solve one problem in Port Huron with the snap of your fingers, what would it be?

PAYNE: Homelessness.

Jim Bloch is a freelance writer. Contact him at bloch.jim@gmail.com.
On 25 October 2018, the First Committee of the UN General Assembly, tasked with disarmament and international security, rejected the Russian draft resolution on the INF Treaty (the Treaty on Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces).

 25 Nato Member States voted against examining the Russian draft. This was because it had been filed on 18 October outside the prescribed time limit.

 31 States voted in favour of examining the resolution. Such states reason that the Russian draft responds to the US declaration of 20 October and that, the importance of the subject matter would constitute exceptional circumstances for making it an agenda item.

 25 member states abstained from voting.

According to the UN by-laws, Russia will be able to summon an emergency debate on this issue in the UN Security Council but not before a year before the UN General Assembly.
Like Jews on Christmas, witches spend mortal Thanksgiving going to the movies and eating Chinese food. I find this detail so charming. Harvey has to hunt deer, as Kinkles do. And this ends the charming portion of the proceedings because the rest of this episode gets real gruesome, starting with the bloody entrails nailed to the Spellman front door.

A bit of witch lore: Fourteen women from the Church of Night, way back when, were chased out of Greendale. The youngest, strongest witch slit her own throat so that her coven could eat her body through the spring. A sort of DIY Donner Party situation. Fun for the whole family! So the Church of Night honors this queens legacy with this lottery that is, note-for-note, very much the same thing as the Hunger Games. Look, I know that Hunger Games is a riff on the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur and so its not technically possible to be a Hunger Games rip-off  myths, like the moon, belong to everyone  but if youre going to go there and you dont want it to sound like you just copy-pasted from Suzanne Collins, maybe dont call the potential sacrifices tributes.

Sabrina is disgusted by this casual Shirley Jacksoning of the witch population, but like every horrifying thing in the Church of Night, Aunt Zelda assures Sabrina it is an honor just to be nominated for the Queendom. (Queenship? Queenery?) Zelda will be putting herself forward, as Hilda, an excommunicate, is disqualified. Obviously Sabrina is going to go full I VOLUNTEER! at the last minute, but sure, we can let Zelda delude herself into thinking shes putting her name in the hat.

When this inevitable moment arises, Sabrina calls Zeldas bluff in front of the entire coven: Unless, of course, you want to admit that this whole thing is barbaric, as my father believed. (Thats right: When Edward was High Priest, he did away with this nonsense. Father Blackwood got a DM from the Dark Lord and started them up again.) Prudence is wearing this completely sheer white dress with an Elizabethan ruffle collar, as you would for such an event, and she draws the lot of queen. Sabrina gets handmaiden, so, shes Prudences bitch for the next three days.

I like that Sabrina and Prudence quickly moved past the surface-level rivalry and moved into this zone of mutual trepidation with fascinating and grudging respect. Prudence is a true believer  she wants to be transubstantiated and reside in the Dark Lords heart until the trumpets of the apocalypse sound, which is one way to spend eternity  and Sabrina is the voice of doubt. But aside from Harvey, does Sabrina believe in anything?

Later that night, Prudence takes Sabrinas bed and Sabrina is sleeping on the floor (this house is huge! Are there really no other options?). Sabrina wakes up to the sound of Fiona Apple blasting; she follows the music and finds out that PRUDENCE IS THROWING AN ORGY. Yes, Nick is there. Of course Nick is there! No plebe can deny a queen on the day leading up to her sacrifice. Nick, ever the inclusive guest, is all, Join us, Sabrina! Sabrina clutches her Pepto-Bismol pink pajamas like theyre the only thing keeping her alive and leaves the rest of the witches to it. Teenagers, am I right?

The next day, Sabrina talks Prudence into coming to Baxter High with her by dangling the offer of meeting lots and lots of mortal boys to torment, and seduce, or both, which coincidentally is also what gets me out of bed in the morning. Sabrina tells everyone Prudence is her cousin. Is Sabrina not worried about introducing Prudence, whose superpower is mind control, to the gentle, fragile Harvey Kinkle? All Sabrinas mortal friends are learning about their family histories. Prudence confirms that Suzie is descended from a true ally to witches. Harvey realizes that his ancestors got the land on which they live the old-fashioned way  the genocide of the native population  and Prudence recoils from this floppy-haired kid faster than you can say witch hunter.

Wardwell takes the girls to the Greendale Woods to meet someone who supposedly spurned queenship. (Okay, so its Queenship!) The Weird Sisters are along for this adventure. Everyones wardrobe situation is A++. Where can I get this Merlot bomber jacket Prudence is wearing?

The witch in the woods is a little basic Halloween for my taste, I must say. Apparently her High Priests convenient revelation was that he got to initiate her; she was a child, and also, that would be rape no matter how old she was, so she fled to the woods where shes lived ever since. Sabrina points out that it is possible Father Blackwood, like this scumbag priest of feast day past, is acting out of his own interests and not at the bidding of the Dark Lord.

In case thats not enough male violence for you, Harvey is out hunting with the Kinkle men, because theres no time like Thanksgiving to feebly prove your masculinity to your abusive dad! Someone in their hunting crew shoots and kills a deer, who is also a familiar, which means when he dies this goblin body bursts out through the deer fur and it is gross. The witches make this pentagon to hide the deer/goblin from the men, and once theyre in the clear, Sabrina insists there is no way Harvey was the one who killed the familiar. How is your faith in the mortal boy any different from my faith in the Dark Lord? Prudence asks Sabrina, which at first seemed like a fair question to me but the more I thought about it, the more I was like, uhh, because Harvey isnt literally the devil, and also, Sabrina has met him?

Harvey didnt do it, but Sabrina is worried the Weird Sisters might seek vengeance on him for this crime he did not commit, so Sabrina casts a protection spell on her boyfriend. This is sweet, not to mention these two are the perfect height differential for hugging, but I also wonder about the moral implications of using magic on your mortal boyfriend without his knowledge or consent. Im gonna go with  not great.

Back at the Spellman house, Constance Blackwood is freaking out because she thinks shes losing her pregnancy and Faustus would never forgive me. Men in this world, get it together! Zelda says that dangerous spellcasting can upset a pregnancy. Constance starts babbling about how she HAD to do it. Theyre always whispering, plotting  those sluts  planning to take what belongs to my children. Stakes: raised. So Constance thinks Blackwood has other children and that one of those children is Prudence! Prudence could make a claim for whats hers  her dads title and, I assume, some other big-ticket stuff. Constance wants her out of the way. The only solution is a homicide, carefully disguised as a ritual sacrifice.

Sabrina takes this information and just word-vomits it at Prudence. This seems to be a theme with Sabrina. Even though shes the last one to the witch party here  everyone else in her life knows more about magic than she does!  she acts like she thinks shes an expert. And as soon as she has even a scrap of intel, she just blurts it out or acts on it without giving it any thought or consulting anyone who might have some useful advice. Its all very teenage but also  not smart, Sabrina! Anyway, this time it works out but I have a feeling it will not always be to Sabrinas advantage to be so open with everyone around her, especially with Witch Wardwell.

So Sabrina invites the Blackwoods and the Weird Sisters to the Spellman house for dinner, and Hilda bakes her truth cake. This is my moms secret recipe when she thought my dad was having an affair. Ambrose is thrilled to see Prudence  his line reading of in body and soul, mostly body is perfection  and so am I, because goddamn, that dress! Let us all that a moment for the sartorial prowess of Prudence! The Weird Sisters are in their finest early-Lorde cosplay. Sabrina is still wearing her headband.

All the dirt comes out: Yes, Constance cursed the lottery. Yes, Prudence is Blackwoods daughter. (Her mother is dead by his hand, indirectly, because she threw herself in a river when Blackwood refused to marry her. WOW what a dirtbag.) My favorite part here is actually when the Weird Sisters want to know if theyre his daughters, too, and Blackwood goes, No, youre just orphans.

Sabrina suggests Blackwood just get another one of those Dark Lord messages and outlaw the feast forever and then no one who isnt at this table ever needs to know all their secrets. Oh, and Prudence still wants to sit on the throne of skulls. I get it. She looks amazing. I wouldnt want to waste that outfit, either.

Just as Blackwood is about to make good on his promise, this other witch leaps up and SLITS. HER. OWN. THROAT. Everyone pauses for a second and then just goes Frea lives! Praise Satan and they EAT HER. RAW! Nobody even cooks her! What the shit. Father Blackwood jumps in. The Weird Sisters do, too.

Sabrina is repulsed. I am right there with her. At least Aunt Z didnt participate. She even tells Sabrina she would never have let them do to her what they did to Mildred (write-in winner for queen of the feast). Even if it was the Dark Lords will, It wouldnt have mattered. Well! Thats a relief.

Ongoing mysteries: Wait, are all witches cannibals? They eat mortals and other witches? Will the Kinkle boys survive the Weird Sisters attack? What will Ross cunning help her see as her regular vision disappears?
Photo: Christopher Polk/Getty Images

Much like the tech magnate himself, the perpetually-upcoming John McAfee film King of the Jungle has proved an elusive get. According to Deadline, however, the movie, based on Joshua Davids 2012 Wired article John McAfees Last Stand, has just nabbed Michael Keaton and Seth Rogen for the films leads. Keaton will portray the McAfee antivirus software tycoon in the film, which recounts McAfees life as an wealthy ex-pat living on a compound in Belize.

Rogen, meanwhile, will portray Wired magazine investigator Ari Furman who travels to McAfees estate to write a profile and, well, reportedly gets pulled into McAfees escalating paranoia, unhinged reality, and murder. McAfee, suspected of allegedly killing his neighbor Greg Faull (an accusation he has denied), subsequently fled the country for Guatemala and eventually the United States. McAfee later ran against Gary Johnson to be the Libertarian Partys 2016 Presidential candidate, which is a built-in sequel if weve ever seen one.

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Holiday Bazaar and Lunch at Mayfield First United Methodist Church

Oct. 27, 2018

By Oct. 27, 2018

The holiday season will get a head start on Saturday, Nov. 3, at First United Methodist Church on the corner of 8th and Water Streets in Mayfield. That is when the church's mission ministry will host a holiday bazaar and luncheon.



The bazaar will be held from 10 am until 2 pm at the church with numerous items available to purchase for the upcoming Christmas season. Items will include Christmas crafts, knitted items, decorations, baked goods and wood-carved items.



A lunch will be served from 11 am to 1 pm, featuring warm soups, pimiento cheese or chicken salad croissants, dessert and drink.



All proceeds from the bazaar will help the mission ministry team with a planned 2019 trip to Jamaica. The weeklong work will involve building a home for a family in need.



"The money we are raising is for the products we will use in building the house or houses in the hilly area of Jamaica," team volunteer and MFUMC member Laverne Waldrop said.



Mayfield First United Methodist, along with members from other local churches, has participated in several previous mission trips to Jamaica and Africa to assist with various outreach projects.



Waldrop also noted that along with the building effort, team members would also lead a bible school during the afternoons and evenings for local Jamaican youth.



For additional information, contact either MFUMC at 270-247-5678 or Waldrop at 270-705-4161.
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By West Kentucky Star Staff

Oct. 26, 2018 | PADUCAH

By West Kentucky Star Staff Oct. 26, 2018 | 03:31 PM | PADUCAH

Paducah police are searching for a man who robbed a local store at gunpoint Thursday evening.



An employee of Cigarettes For Less on Cairo Road told police a man entered the store shortly after 7:00, approached the counter and pulled a small black handgun. She said he demanded money from the cash register and her cell phone, then fled after she gave him the items.



The robber was described as a dark-skinned black male, possibly in his early 20s, 5-feet-7 with a thin build, wearing a black hoodie and a red bandana across his face.



Anyone with information is asked to call the Paducah Police Department at 270-444-8550. Information also may be provided anonymously through West Kentucky Crime Stoppers by texting WKY and your tip to 847411 (tip 411) or by downloading the app WKY Crime Stoppers from the Apple Store or Google Play. Tipsters also may access the online tip form through the City of Paducah website at http://paducahky.gov/west-ky-crime-stoppers. Information leading to an arrest or indictment may result in a reward of up to $1,000.
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By West Kentucky Star Staff

Oct. 26, 2018 | PADUCAH

By West Kentucky Star Staff Oct. 26, 2018 | 08:18 PM | PADUCAH

The McCracken County School Board met Thursday night, and heard the districts most recent state assessment and accountability result. They also got a virtual tour of the new Lone Oak Middle School and accepted a grant that continues a pre-school partnership.



District Assessment Coordinator Melanie Jarvis shared assessment and accountability results, stressing that theyre a result of an accountability system in flux.



This is a transition year, and KDE will tell you that over and over, she said. Were in flux. We are trying to establish a system that is consistent and constant, but this particular year we are still in transition.



AT A GLANCE

McCracken County High

 18th of 168 districts in Proficiency

 71st of 168 districts in Transition Readiness

 111th of 168 districts in Graduation Rate (92.9%)



MCPS Middle Schools

 15th of 173 districts in Proficiency

 12th of 173 districts in Separate Academic Indicators

 14th of 173 districts in Growth *In the region, 2nd only behind Murray Independent



MCPS Elementary Schools

 14th of 173 districts in Proficiency

 28th of 173 districts in Separate Academic Indicators

 16th of 173 districts in Growth *In the region, 2nd only behind Murray Independent



HIGHLIGHTS

 McCracken County High  Graduating Class of 18 had the highest percentage of all students meeting all four benchmarks on the ACT since MCHS opened (28% compared to only 22% statewide), and the highest average composite score (21.1) since 2016.



 Heath Middle  75% of all students scored Proficient or Distinguished in Reading; 80% scored Proficient or Distinguished in Social Studies.



 Lone Oak Middle  85% of 8th graders scored Proficient or Distinguished in Social Studies; 70% of students scored Proficient or Distinguished in Writing.



 Concord Elementary  85% of 5th graders scored Proficient or Distinguished in Social Studies; 70% of all students scored Proficient or Distinguished in Writing.



 Heath Elementary  80% of all students scored Proficient or Distinguished in Math, giving them a math proficiency index of 99, the 8th highest index of 743 elementary schools statewide.





Lone Oak Middle School Principal Brent Buchanan got to tour his future school and take board members along with him Thursday night, thanks to a virtual reality visor provided by architects Sherman, Carter and Barnhart.



Buchanans view through the visor was projected onto two screens in the board room so that everyone could follow along as the architects walked him through the two-story, split level building, which included a gym that can seat an audience of about 1,000, an auditorium that can seat about 600, multi-use labs, a makerspace overlooking a large library and media center, and lots of natural light.



The new LOMS project is on track for a spring 2021 completion, with plans that summer to move Lone Oak Intermediate into the former middle school, and the school board to move into the former intermediate school to give Reidland Intermediate and Middle room to expand. Construction will begin once the new district bus garage is complete.





Board members officially accepted a two-year, $300,000 grant Thursday night on behalf of McCracken Preschool. The Preschool Partnership grant, offered by the Kentucky Department of Education, is designed to incentivize public/private partnerships between public school districts and childcare centers to collectively improve full day, high-quality programs for at-risk children.



This is McCrackens third year receiving the grant; it will allow McCracken Preschool to continue its successful partnership with Easter Seals to offer quality professional development opportunities and classroom materials to district pre-k teachers, as well as the districts feeder daycares in the area.



All eight of the area childcare centers that took part regularly in last years professional development activities improved their STAR rating scores. District Grant Writer Genevieve Postlethwait said that thanks to a change in the grant rules this year, McCracken Preschool will be able to double the number of childcare centers it can include in the partnership. Last year only secular childcare centers were eligible to participate. This year, church-based centers are eligible to participate, so long as instruction isnt religious in nature.



The end goal of the partnership is to build relationships among local early childcare workers and educators, and creating a common language among them and creating more consistency for kids.




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Award-winning chef and Coleg Cambria team up to create ground-breaking food academy

This article is old - Published: Saturday, Oct 27th, 2018

An award-winning chef says teaming up with Coleg Cambria to create a ground-breaking food academy is a recipe for success.

Bryn Williams is giving students the opportunity to work and train in his celebrated restaurants, where they will gain invaluable experience alongside the best cooks and kitchen staff in the country.

Launched on Wednesday at Cambrias Y Celstryn restaurant in Deeside, the Bryn Williams Academy is the first initiative of its kind in Wales and gives the Denbigh native the opportunity to help plug the ever-growing skills gap in hospitality and catering.

A passionate advocate for education and training, he has already welcomed work-experience students from the college to his Porth Eirias restaurant in Colwyn Bay  recently awarded a Bib Gourmand by the prestigious Michelin Guide  and Odettes in Primrose Hill, London.

Those who join the Academy will also have the chance to spend time at his other leading London restaurant Somerset House, as well as Odettes, which celebrates 10 years this month.

The idea was first discussed about 18 months ago when I spent some time at Coleg Cambria and did a cooking demonstration with the students, said Bryn.

We explored the possibility of doing something more formal together, and not long afterwards the Bryn Williams Academy was born.

Its so important we inspire the children of today to become chefs in the future because the industry has grown beyond all comprehension, certainly since I started out more than 20 years ago.

He added: There is a growing demand for chefs and catering staff, not because less people are entering or want to do the job but because the industry has reached a new level and the training and infrastructure did not grow at the same pace.

There are so many more places to eat, so many more kitchens and restaurants the talent pool has spread so there is a very thin layer now and that needs addressing.

Bryn shot to fame in 2006, when he took on and beat the best chefs in the country to cook the fish course for the Queens 80th birthday celebrations on the hit BBC programme, Great British Menu.

He has gone on to appear regularly on TV and radio and released acclaimed cookbooks Bryns Kitchen, For The Love Of Veg, and Tir a Mor.

Having trained under some of the worlds greatest chefs  including Marco Pierre White and Michel Roux  Bryn knows that a good grounding with the right direction and discipline will give aspiring young apprentices a firm foundation on which to build their careers.

And he believes the college is the right place to do that.

There is a shortage of skills, which is why I am so delighted to be in partnership with Coleg Cambria, said Bryn.

They are at the forefront of education, apprenticeships and training in Wales and constantly push themselves, just as I do in my work. They have a massive vision and I want to be a part of that. The team and I cant wait to get started.

From my perspective even if we find one or two gifted individuals every year who go on to have a career in food, if they wake up every morning excited about what they do and passionate about cooking then that would be incredibly rewarding.

The college is equally looking forward to joining forces with Bryn, widely recognised as one of the UKs most innovative and talented chefs.

Andy Woods, Coleg Cambrias deputy director for hospitality and catering, said this unique alliance will be unlike any other.

The partnership between Bryn Williams and Coleg Cambria will be a first for Bryn, for the college and for Wales, he said.

It brings together partners who are passionate about Welsh produce and focuses that to influence future generations of chefs and hospitality staff from across north east Wales.

The Academy consists of a programme which provides pathways into employment by blending education with high-end work experience and fundamentally aims to address recruitment, retention and quality issues which are widely affecting the UK hospitality sector.

Its an exciting project that will provide the region with a distinguished skills sector academy, and we cannot wait to get started.

Visit www.bryn-williams.co.uk for the latest on Bryn Williams and his award-winning restaurants.

For more on Coleg Cambria, visit the website: www.cambria.ac.uk
After a massive operation involving federal and local police and intelligence agencies, the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Friday arrested a suspect in the wave of bombs sent through the mail to prominent Democratic politicians and critics of President Trump. Cesar Sayoc, 56, of Aventura, Florida was taken into custody in nearby Plantation, part of the Miami metropolitan area, and charged with five federal counts carrying a maximum sentence of 58 years.

Sayoc appears to be a down-and-out strip club disc jockey and bouncer and avid Trump supporter. FBI operatives towed his white van, covered with pro-Trump and anti-Democratic decals, from the strip mall where he was apprehended on Friday morning. Sayoc, who filed for bankruptcy in 2012 and has a record of eight arrests in Florida, was reportedly living in the van.

The suspect's Twitter feed includes posts attacking Hillary Clinton and the billionaire Democratic donor George Soros, two of the 12 people who were sent a total of 14 crude pipe bombs, all of which were intercepted and failed to detonate. One post shows him at a Trump campaign rally.

The others targeted were former President Barack Obama, former Vice President Joe Biden, former Attorney General Eric Holder, Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Democratic senators Kamala Harris and Cory Booker, the two top intelligence officials under Obamaformer CIA Director John Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapperactor Robert De Niro and billionaire Democratic activist Tom Steyer.

While Sayoc has been apprehended, many questions remain unanswered and caution should be exercised about jumping to conclusions. In light of the precarious circumstances of the suspects life, the precise nature of his alleged involvement in the incidents, as well as the possibility that Sayoc has been manipulated by others, demands careful investigation.

But one thing is certain: this event, on the eve of a major national election, reflects the extreme crisis of American democracy. The mail bombs are a symptom of a deepening social and political crisis in the United States, the center of world capitalism.

Trump has made the elections a referendum on himself. His rallies are aimed at whipping up a fascistic mentality that combines extreme nationalism, racism and anti-immigrant chauvinism with pseudo-populist demagogy against the elites. It is not an accident that those sent potentially lethal mail bombs were all the targets of Trumps vilification.

The Democrats do not represent a genuine opposition to the threat of dictatorship, but an alternate route to it. They base their nominal opposition to Trump on powerful sections of the military-intelligence establishment represented by figures such as Brennan and Clapper. They fundamentally agree with Trump's pro-corporate domestic policies such as tax cuts for the rich and attacks on Medicaid and food stamps. They do not seriously oppose his police-state attacks on immigrants and assault on democratic rights more generally. On the contrary, they are in the forefront of the demands for more overt and systematic censorship of the internet.

On foreign affairs, they support a massive expansion of the military and largely oppose Trump from the rightusing the trumped-up anti-Russia campaign to demand a more aggressive policy against Moscow and in the Middle East.

Both parties rest on narrow social bases and are held in contempt by broad sections of the population. Under conditions of a deepening economic and financial crisis in the US and internationally, and a resurgence of class struggle, the ruling class is lurching toward dictatorship.

The media hysteria over the mail bombs, despite their having been intercepted and having failed to detonate, showed no signs of abating on Friday. The Democrats and media outlets aligned with them, such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN and NBC, hope to leverage the bomb scare to their advantage in the November 6 midterm elections.

The media banished from public attention such issues as Trump's witch hunt against immigrantsincluding the dispatch of active troops to the US-Mexico border and plans to effectively abolish the right to asylum for Central American refugeesthe decision to pull out of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty and trigger a new nuclear arms race with Russia, and the ongoing mass slaughter in Yemen. The Democrats for their part maintained their silence on these issues and instead attacked Trump for "sowing divisions."

Right-wing, pro-Trump media outlets such as Breitbart News, which had called the mail bombs a "false flag" operation carried out by the Democrats and allied intelligence officials, joined Trump himself in blaming the mainstream media for stoking up violence.

At a campaign rally Friday night in Charlotte, North Carolina, Trump attacked the media for promoting "the politics of personal destruction." He went on to blame a "Bernie Sanders supporter" for the attack on Republican congressmen in June 2017 that severely wounded Representative Steve Scalise, and added: "Nor do we blame the Democrat Party every time radical leftists seize and destroy public property and unleash violence and mayhem."

Neither side raised as an issue the implications of the massive police mobilization less than two weeks from a national election, including cordoning off entire sections of midtown Manhattan twice during the week following the interception of mail bombs, and the first activation of a new program for the state to take control of the cell phone system. That took the form of a text sent to everyone located within a certain radius of the Manhattan headquarters of Time Warner following the interception of a bomb addressed to Brennan at CNN.

Instead, both Trump and the Democrats lavished praise on the FBI, the New York Police Department and local police in Florida and California, making clear that the bomb scare will be used to step up attacks on democratic rights, including more intensive internet censorship and a further strengthening of police powers and mass surveillance.

Typical were the remarks of MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle, who pointed to the provocative decals on Sayoc's van and demanded to know why he had not been immediately arrested on that account. A national security "expert" on anther cable channel declared that the American people had to consider themselves on 24-hour alert to detect terrorist threats, and should treat this as the "new normal."
Britains brutal immigration system has been exposed once again over an attempt to deport a seriously ill elderly man. The authorities were forced to halt the deportation only after it became clear his life was seriously endangered.

On October 15, the Balachandran family, consisting of five adult Tamils, all with Australian citizenship, refused to board a deportation flight to Australia because they feared their father might have a fatal stroke if he was forced to fly. Sixty-one-year-old Sangarapillai Balachandran has had three strokes in the last six years and continues to suffer from high blood pressure which doctors link to stress.

Sangarapillai, a Sri Lankan Tamil by birth with Australian citizenship, says that each of his strokes occurred during periods of stress over his familys immigration case. His persecution at the hands of the Home Office has lasted for six years.

The Balachandarans eldest daughter, Karthika, said she felt the Home Office was treating the family like criminals although they have broken no rules. A petition to try to prevent the family from being removed, launched by family friends and supporters, is currently approaching 15,000 signatures.

The family have twice agreed voluntarily to return to Australia this year, but on both occasions they were unable to travel because Sangarapillai was unfit. An expert medical report commissioned by the family concluded that Sangarapillai could be in serious danger if he was to fly.

This brutal treatment is being meted out to a family that have lived in the UK for years after Sangarapillai, a highly specialised engineer with expertise in water purification systems, was headhunted by a British company over 10 years ago due to a severe shortage of civil engineers with the specific skills he possesses. In the late 1990s, the family had emigrated from Sri Lanka to Australia as part of a migrant recruitment programme and all the family had been granted citizenship there.

Karthika, 30, has learning disabilities but has worked for the past seven years as a voluntary administrator at St. Georges hospital. Sinthuja, 28, gained a first-class economics degree at Queen Mary University and also passed the civil service fast-stream exams. A job with the civil service has been on hold dependent on resolving her immigration status.

Sinthuja said, I have had to try extra hard to reach the same level as other people because Im partially deaf, but I was determined not to let that hold me back. Now all that is going to waste. The Home Office is just a government department. I thought the government is supposed to be for the people.

Pranavan, 23, the familys only son, was accepted for a computer science degree at Queen Mary University but was unable to take up his place because of his precarious immigration status.

Sangarapillai fears for his life should he be forced to take a long-haul flight, which is well known to heighten the risk of strokes, especially for people who have high blood pressure. Sangarapillai is prescribed medication for his high blood pressure.

The Home Office is fully aware of the dangers to Sangarapillais life should he be deported but insisted he was fit to fly on this occasion after a medical assessment. So determined were officials to remove Sangarapillai that no less than four paramedics and an ambulance were sent to escort him to the airport.

As the time to board the flight to Australia drew closer, Sangarapillais blood pressure climbed to 169/113, which is close to someone needing Emergency Care but still the Home Office-appointed paramedics maintained that he was fit to fly. According to press reports Sangarapillai was disoriented and, at times, appeared only semi-conscious.

A medical examination was conducted by a psychiatrist, who is an expert in the connection between stroke and stress after the family refused to board the flight and at the request of the familys solicitor. The report states: In my opinion, he is at very high risk of further CVAs (strokes) and possible life-threatening consequences because of high blood pressure due to high levels of stress. It said he was at risk of life-threatening brain damage, was suffering from severe depression and was suicidal.

The family was told that they must leave together voluntarily or face the prospect of being forcibly removed separately in the near future. Pranavan told the Guardian, We were told that, if we didnt board the plane, we will face forced removal by the Home Office further down the line and might be deported individually instead of as a family with my dad remaining here because of his poor health.

Under the UKs draconian immigration laws, the Balachandran family no longer have permission to work in Britain since Sangarapillais work visa expired and the Home Office subsequently refused the family indefinite leave to remain. The familys problems began in 2012 when they applied for leave to remain in the UK and were refused. They subsequently won an appeal in July 2013, when the judge ordered the Home Office to reconsider the case. Officials then failed to write to the family for almost a year.

Finally in a letter addressed to the familys solicitors dated July 4, 2014, a Home Office official tersely explained, It has come to my attention that indefinite leave to remain refusals of the above applications were not dispatched to your clients at the time they were refused and therefore they were not aware of the need to make an appeal.

Further court action was taken but ultimately the familys case was refused by the Home Office in February 2017. The family were granted exceptional case funding by the Legal Aid Agency to pursue a human rights claim, but said they had run out of time because the Home Office had already booked them on the mid-October flight.

After Sangarapillai was denied the right to work, the family became homeless and destitute having been forced to use up all their savings for day to day living. The family even spent one night sleeping at a Heathrow Airport terminal.

Beset by Sangarapillais health problems and the two daughters disabilitiesand in absolute desperation at their plightthey appealed to the Home Office to be kept in detention as an alternative to being on the streets.

However, the family found themselves in an intolerable situation akin to blackmail. Sinthuja explained: The Home Office told us that our father was too unwell to be detained and agreed to put us up in a budget hotel next to the detention centre on condition that we signed papers to return voluntarily to Australia on Monday evening. We felt we had no choice but to sign as we cannot survive on the streets. But if we get on the plane our father might die.

The charity Medical Justice, which seeks to protect the health of immigration detainees, said it encounters up to three cases per month in which the Home Office attempt to remove people deemed medically unfit to fly.

Thousands of people are deported from the UK each year. Last year 12,666 people were forcibly deported from Britain on flightsan average of nearly 35 people a day. In just the three years from March 2014 to March 2017, a total of 40,039 people were subjected to enforced returns. Significantly, as the ruling elite tightens up all aspects of immigration in the lead-up to Brexit, 12,585 of these were European Union nationals.

The treatment of the Balachandrans makes a mockery of the promises of reforms following the brutal death of 46-year-old father of five, Jimmy Mubenga, on a British Airways flight at Heathrow Airport during his deportation in 2010.

Only this year, another case of brutality against a man being deported was recorded by HuffPost UK. In the 20-minute audio recording, a man, Abdul, complains repeatedly about being physically and verbally abused during an attempted deportation from Britain aboard a Turkish Airlines flight.

The Socialist Equality Party demands that all attempts to deport the Balachandrans are immediately halted and their right to live and work freely in the UK be granted.

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The Trump administration is preparing to unleash extra-legal repression and naked military violence in a stunning escalation of its war against immigrants and refugees.

Administration officials Thursday confirmed plans by the Pentagon to deploy as many as 1,000 regular Army and Air Force troops to the US-Mexico border, augmenting a force of some 2,100 National Guard soldiers already deployed to the southwestern US border states.

The deployment is an act of war against the immigrant workers, most of them with families, who are participating in the caravan in which thousands of Hondurans, as well as some Salvadorans and Guatemalans, have begun an exodus from the brutal conditions of poverty and violence created by US imperialism in the countries of Central America.

While US officials are insisting that the active duty troops will be used only in logistical support roles and not to hunt down immigrants, no one should take these claims at face value. They are designed to obscure the fact that the deployment marks a fundamental violation of basic democratic principles, summed up in the Posse Comitatus Act, which bars the use of the US military to carry out law enforcement operations on US soil.

The real thinking behind the troop deployment was summed up by the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Kirstjen Nielsen, who told Fox News: We do not have any intention right now to shoot at people, but they will be apprehended, however. But I also take my officers and agents, their own personal safety, extraordinarily seriously. They do have the ability, of course, to defend themselves.

Nielsens statement amounts to a thuggish threat to unleash armed force against immigrant workersmen, women and childrenapproaching the US border seeking refuge and asylum. Policies are being put in place under which the scenes of slaughter that have unfolded on the border between Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory of Gaza can be recreated along the Rio Grande.

The lawlessness of the US government is further exposed in a series of measures that are being prepared by the White House, the Justice Department and DHS to impose a blanket denial of the right of Central Americans to apply for asylum in the United States.

Administration sources have indicated that Trump is preparing to issue a pair of executive orders as early as next week. One would impose a ban on entry by Central Americans similar to the anti-Muslim travel ban previously imposed by the US administration. The second would summarily deny asylum to anyone from Central America reaching the US border. These policies constitute a repudiation of international law regarding the treatment of refugees and brand the US as a rogue state.

Trump has prepared for these policies by demonizing the migrant workers fleeing Central America as the centerpiece of the Republican campaign for the midterm elections. Stoking xenophobia, nationalism and anti-immigrant chauvinism in an attempt to whip up his political base, the US president is also seeking, to the best of his ability, to disorient sections of workers with demagogic and reactionary claims about immigrants stealing American jobs and being responsible for crime and swelling welfare rolls.

All of these claims are lies. They are designed to divide the working class and scapegoat the most oppressed sections of the population for the assault on living standards and the vast social inequality created by capitalism and implemented through the policies of both parties of big business, the Democrats and Republicans.

The men, women and children who have banded together to make the perilous escape from the hellish conditions in their home countries and reach the US border are working people who are seeking nothing more nor less than what every worker in the United States is struggling for and deserves: a job with a livable income, decent housing, healthcare and education and a better future for his or her children.

The fear-mongering against these working class people, marching with blistered feet and pushing baby carriages in a desperate bid to reach safety, is emblematic of a decayed social order. The demonization of immigrants is one of the foulest expressions of the crisis-ridden capitalist system.

Writing in 1940, in the midst of a global capitalist crisis erupting into world war, Leon Trotsky pointed to the turning away of Jewish refugees fleeing Hitler:

The world of decaying capitalism is overcrowded. The question of admitting a few hundred extra refugees becomes a major problem for such a world power as the United States. In an era of aviation, telegraph, telephone, radio and television, travel from country to country is paralyzed by passports and visas Amid the vast expanse of land and the marvels of technology, which has also conquered the skies for man as well as the earth, the bourgeoisie has managed to convert our planet into a foul prison.

Today, with the unprecedented global integration of production and the linking up of the planet with instantaneous internet communication, the reactionary and irrational character of the militarization of national borders has become ever more blatant.

Rejecting the slanders of the Trump administrations, the brave Central Americans marching through Mexico have taken up the chant, Migrants are not criminals! We are international workers! And so they are.

Who will defend these workers against the threats of military violence and the denial of their basic rights under international law and as members of the human race?

Certainly not the Democratic Party, which under Obama, dubbed the deporter in chief, carried out the expulsion of a record 2.5 million immigrants. It has since adapted itself fully to Trumps anti-immigrant campaign.

A statement issued by the House and Senate Democratic leaders, Nancy Pelosi and Charles Schumer, accused the president of trying to change the subject from health care to immigration, as if the issue of how immigrants and refugees are treated is of no consequence. Tim Kaine, the Democratic senator from Virginia and 2016 vice presidential candidate, said while campaigning in Wisconsin Wednesday that Trump should get Mexico to deal with these folks. In other words, get the Mexican government to jail and shoot these people before they arrive at the US border.

Not the unions. The AFL-CIO, the United Auto Workers, the Teamsters and the other bureaucratized union organizations have said not a word in defense of the immigrant workers. All of them have aligned themselves with the America First nationalism of the White House, even as they work to betray and suppress every struggle initiated by workers in the US.

As for the various organizations of the pseudo-leftthe International Socialist Organization, the Democratic Socialists of America, etc.they have said little or nothing about the Central American migrants and the threats they are facing. All of them support and adapt themselves to the nationalist unions and the Democratic Party.

The defense of immigrant workers and refugees fleeing for their lives can come only from the American working class, itself the product of centuries of immigration, and the revival of international class solidarity and the principle that an injury to one is an injury to all.

These are no mere words. The use of the military against immigrants at the borderjust like the militarized factory raids carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in which entire shifts are marched out of workplaces at gunpoint to be interrogated and detainedare creating the precedents for martial law and a police state to suppress any struggles mounted by the working class and arrest and imprison those who lead them.

Against the nationalist demagogy and anti-immigrant chauvinism promoted by the US ruling elite, the working class must advance its own internationalist and socialist strategy. This must be based on the understanding that it is impossible for workers in the US or any other country to wage a successful struggle against globally mobile capitalist corporations without uniting their struggles across national boundaries with those of workers of every other country.

The cutting edge of this strategy is an uncompromising rejection of the anti-immigrant poison peddled by Trump and the rest of the capitalist politicians and a fight for open bordersthat is, the right of workers from every part of the world to live in the country of their choice, with full citizenship rights, including the right to work and travel without fear of repression or deportation.

The threat of military violence and summary deportation against those fleeing north from Central America must be answered with the broadest possible mobilization of workers and young people in defense of the rights of immigrants, as part of the struggle to mobilize the international working class against war, social inequality and the capitalist system.
In the upcoming 2018 nationwide federal and state elections, many Republican-controlled state governments have intentionally adopted barefaced tactics to suppress voting rights, especially of minority and poor voters. Deliberate voter suppression has become a highly contentious issue with barely two weeks left before Election Day on November 6, when voters cast ballots for all 435 members of the US House of Representatives, 35 US Senators, 36 state governorships, and thousands of members of state legislatures.

Nowhere is this tactic being practiced more energetically than in the southeastern US state of Georgia, where the Republican Partys candidate for governor, Brian Kemp, is also overseeing the elections as its current secretary of state. Despite this glaring conflict of interest, Kemp has refused to recuse himself from his current position.

An arch-reactionary who ran as the most pro-Trump of all the Republican candidates, Kemp has spewed venom against undocumented immigrants, going so far as to state that he may round up criminal illegals in his own pick-up truck and take them home.

Kemp has taken a central role in voter suppression. In July 2017, just after announcing his candidacy, he and his cohorts in the Secretary of States office purged over 500,000 voters from the registration rolls. In an audio recording obtained by Rolling Stone magazine, in remarks to a group of campaign donors, Kemp expressed his concern about his Democratic opponent Stacey Abrams spending millions of dollars to mobilize voters, especially those casting absentee ballots.

In the audio recording, Kemp openly states: They [Democrats] have just an unprecedented number of that [absentee ballots], which is something that continues to concern us, especially if everybody uses and exercises their right to vote, which they absolutely can and mail those ballots in, we gotta have heavy turnout to offset that (emphasis added).

According to reports, Kemps office has invalidated hundreds or even thousands of absentee ballots on the spurious grounds that the signature on the ballot did not exactly match the one on file, or citing other technicalities. These voters, moreover, were not informed that their ballot was being rejected, let alone instructed on ways to correct the reported discrepancies.

Georgia law permits voters to cast an absentee ballot by mail prior to election day even if they are able to vote in person on November 6.

In a ruling issued on October 25 in response to an emergency lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a federal judge issued an order directing the state to count as provisional ballots all of the ballots tossed out for a supposed signature mismatch. In issuing this ruling, Judge Leigh Martin May emphasized that her order applied to signature mismatches only and not for ballots rejected for other technical reasons.

Lawyers working on behalf of Kemp, however, have asked the judge to suspend her order since last-minute challenges to longstanding election procedures have long been disfavored because they threaten to disrupt the orderly administration of elections.

There have also been further obstacles erected to early voters in Georgia. In many voting places in Georgia, voters have had to stand many hours in the sun, causing some of them to faint from exhaustion.

Out of the half million voters purged by Kemp in Georgia, 107,000 were reportedly removed under the so-called use-it-or-lose-it law. Under this law, voters can be purged from registration rolls if they fail to return a voter-address confirmation mailed to them and also do not cast their ballot in the next election cycle. They can also be removed for abstaining from voting in two election cycles.

The ostensible reason for this law, according to Republicans, is to prevent vote fraud and to keep the state voter rolls clean. Although such laws violate the basic constitutional right to vote, they are nevertheless on the books of at least nine states.

This law was challenged recently in Ohio, a state where it has been aggressively implemented, by former Navy veteran Larry Harmon, after he was informed when he tried to cast a ballot in 2014 that he was not registered to vote. He was purged from the voter rolls because he had abstained from voting in the 2012 presidential election since he was dissatisfied by the choice between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney. The state justified the action by claiming that Harmon had also not returned the voter address confirmation, but he said he never received it.

In Ohio, where voter mobility is high, state officials identified in 2012 a massive 1.5 million, or 20 percent, of the states registered voters ineligible to vote because they had moved from their previous address and had not returned the address confirmation form.

Although this anti-democratic law was struck down by a lower federal court, which ruled that the law is a clear violation of the 1993 National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), the US Supreme Court in June 2018 upheld the law on appeal by the state of Ohio. This 54 decision has been taken as a green light to target millions of working-class voters.

Another state where aggressive voter purging has occurred is Kansas. As in Georgia, Republican gubernatorial candidate Kris Kobach is also the secretary of state and in charge of elections. Recently a federal judge struck down the requirement imposed by Kobach that voters produce either a passport or a birth certificate to prove their eligibility to vote. In addition, Kobach has sharply reduced the number of voting places.

It needs to be added that over the past seven decades the Democratic Party has conspired with the Republicans to exclude third parties from participating in elections and reinforce the political monopoly of big business. This has been done by deliberately instituting difficult electoral procedures, rules and laws, thus forcing the US electorate to either vote for one of the two capitalist parties or abstain from voting altogether.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A man videotaped flashing a gun at a group of FAMU students will be cleared of the charge if he meets certain conditions.

Donald W. Crandall Jr., 49, signed a Deferred Prosecution Agreement with an assistant state prosecutor on Oct. 19. The agreement defers Crandall's prosecution for the improper exhibition of a firearm for six months.

Special conditions of the agreement are that Crandall not possess any firearms and that he does 50 hours of community service.

" ... Should Defendant fully meet the terms and conditions of this Agreement, the charges referred to herein shall be dismissed," the agreement said. "It is stipulated and agreed that the State Attorney's decision regarding full compliance in this regard shall not be reviewable by any court."

Other terms and conditions of the agreement require Crandall to not violate any federal, state or local laws, and if he does so, to inform the state prosecutor.

Crandall is also required to tell the prosecutor of any anticipated change in residence, address, employment or college and to cooperate in verifying any information the prosecutor requests.

Additionally, Crandall agreed to pay a Deferred Prosecution fee of $100.

On Sept. 8, 2018, Crandall stopped four students from getting on an elevator at a student housing apartment complex, Stadium Centre, in an incident captured on a video that went viral on Twitter.

Crandall told the students, who were there to visit a friend, they did not belong on the elevator if they did have a key for the building. While he and they were speaking, Crandall is shown with a gun in hand.

After the incident, Crandall was fired from his job as a general manager of the Baymont by Wyndham hotel in Tallahassee.

Man who flashed gun at FAMU students scheduled to go to court Friday

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - The man who flashed a gun at a group of FAMU students he stopped from getting on an elevator at an apartment complex is due in court Friday.

Donald Crandall is scheduled to go to Leon County Circuit Court on Friday morning to be formally advised of the charges against him and to enter a plea to the charges.

Crandall faces a charge of improperly exhibiting a firearm stemming from the incident at a student housing complex, Stadium Centre.

After the incident in September, Crandall, who was a hotel manager, was fired from his job.

Man who flashed gun at FAMU students booked into jail

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A man who flashed a gun at a group of FAMU students he stopped from getting on an elevator at an apartment complex was booked into jail early Friday and released on bond.

Donald Crandall Jr., 49, was released on a $2,500 bond at 2:31 a.m. Friday., court records indicate.

He faces a charge of improperly exhibiting a firearm.

He is to be arraigned on Oct. 18, 2018, at 8:30 a.m.

Crandall was released on several conditions, according to court documents: He must avoid contact with the victims, and he must not possess or have access to firearms, ammunition or weapons.

A video of the incident went viral on social media and resulted in Crandall's firing from his job as general manager at Tallahassee's Baymont by Wyndham hotel, owned by the Pax Hotel Group.

The video, posted by one of the Florida A&M University students, shows Crandall holding a gun and using his body to prevent students from entering an elevator at a student housing complex, Stadium Centre.

Charge filed for man seen flashing gun at FAMU students in viral video

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Charges have been filed in an incident between four FAMU students and an armed man at a Tallahassee apartment complex.

The Tallahassee Police Department says that a warrant has been obtained for Donald Crandall, Jr., the former general manager of the Baymont by Wyndham hotel in Tallahassee, for improper exhibition of a firearm.

The warrant comes after police reviewed all of the evidence and consulted with the State Attorneys Office.

Police say they began investigating the incident for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill on Sept. 10.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - The Tallahassee Police Department has completed their investigation into a tense confrontation between four FAMU students and an armed man at a Tallahassee apartment complex.

Officer Damon Miller says TPD completed their investigation into the incident involving Don Crandall and four FAMU students on Wednesday.

He says that they submitted their case to the State Attorney's Office who is now reviewing the case. Ultimately, they will decide whether or not to file charges.

Crandall, whose identity was confirmed to ABC News by the Baymont by Wyndham hotel in Tallahassee, was fired from his general manager position at the hotel after the video went viral.

TPD confirmed to WTXL that the incident is under investigation for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill.

This is a developing story. Stay with us for updates.

Tallahassee hotel owner apologizes for 'former employee' who showed gun

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A Tallahassee hotel owner has issued a statement apologizing for the "actions of our former employee," who was videotaped with a gun in hand during a confrontation with men at an elevator.

In an Instagram statement, the hotel apologized without mentioning the name of the employee.

The employee was identified by social media users as Don Crandall, a hotel manager with the Pat Hotel Group at the Baymont Inn & Suites by Wyndham Hotels.

The statement made clear that it did "not stand behind the actions of our former General Manager," adding that "One of Pax Hotel Group's Core Values is to treat others the way you would like to be treated."

"While at work or out in our every day lives we expect our employees to have this core value in mind, we would like to apologize to those affected by the actions of our former employee," the statement said.

Records at the Florida Department of State shows Pax Properties owns the hotel. We're reaching out to them for comment.

The Tallahassee Police Department requested Tuesday morning that the public remain patient while investigators do their jobs, saying that many people are contacting them about the case.

If you are a witness or have direct knowledge, of the case, TPD asks that you contact the Violent Crimes Unit at (850) 891-4200.

FAMU students "targeted" during incident with gun at apartment complex

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - An incident at a Tallahassee apartment complex is getting a lot of attention on social media. A two-minute video shows a confrontation by an elevator, when a man reveals he has a gun.

"You ain't got a key for the building? You don't belong in the elevator."

The video has been seen about 300,000 times on Twitter. You can see a man holding a gun as he blocks a group of men from taking the elevator.

"Sir, you bring out your gun. What's your purpose for that?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Excuse me. Forgive me."

"He targeted us, and we didn't know he had a gun," said Isaiah Butterfield, a Florida A&M University student.

Isaiah Butterfield said he and his three friends from FAMU were at Stadium Centre Apartments early Saturday morning to see a friend who just moved in. The students told us a man approached them to tell them they weren't getting on the elevator he was taking.

Stephen Brooks, one of the FAMU students said, "It's student housing, so I'm like, 'Sir, do you have a key? 'Cause you're kinda older than us. We're college students. We're 20, 21. We're students, and you look like you're in your mid-forties.'"

When the man shows them what he says is his key, he has a gun in his other hand.

"You never know in today's day what could happen, you know?" said Joshua Cosby, another one of the FAMU students. "We could've ended up being the next Trayvon Martin."

One student said he's glad his mother taught him what to do when something like this happens.

"She told me not to turn around, not to run away. Don't make no sudden movements," said Fitzroy Rhoden. "Try to talk about it. Try to deescalate the situation."

So, who's the man in the video holding the gun? Several people on social media say his name is Don Crandall, and he's the manager of this hotel.

We spoke to him over the phone. He said he hasn't seen the video, and he's not saying anything else, including whether or not he was at the complex at the time of the incident.

Tallahassee police tell us they're investigating what happened.

Meanwhile, we're waiting to hear back from Stadium Centre Apartments and Wyndham Destinations for comment.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-27 00:21:13|Editor: ZX

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Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli soldiers on the Gaza-Israel border, east of Gaza City, on Oct. 26, 2018. Four Palestinians were killed and dozens of others injured Friday during clashes with Israeli soldiers stationed on the border between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel, medics said. (Xinhua)

GAZA, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- Four Palestinians were killed and dozens of others injured Friday during clashes with Israeli soldiers stationed on the border between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel, medics said.

Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesman of the Health Ministry in Gaza, told reporters that Mohamed Abdul Nabbi, 27 years old, was shot in the head by Israeli soldiers east of Jabalia town in northern Gaza Strip.

He added that that a second Palestinian called Nassar Abu Tayem, 22 years old, was shot dead by Israeli soldiers in the chest east of Khan Younis city in southern Gaza Strip.

Al-Qedra added that Ahmad Abu Lebda, 22 years old, and Ayesh Shaath, 23, both from Khan Younis, were also killed by Israeli soldiers in the same area east of the city.

He also said that dozens of others were injured when Israeli soldiers opened fire at the Palestinian demonstrators who gathered in the afternoon in eastern Gaza Strip.

Since March 30, the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip hold every Friday marches and protests to object to the Israeli blockade on the coastal enclave, and usually they clash with Israeli soldiers on the border with Israel.

On Friday afternoon, organizers of the protests called on the populations to join the weekly protests.

Thousands went to five different spots in eastern Gaza Strip, burning tires, chanting slogans, cutting the barbed wire of the border fence amid clashes with the soldiers.

Earlier Friday, the Israeli media reported that Egypt has succeeded in mediating a cease-fire agreement between Hamas and Israel on ending violence and improving the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Fathi Hammad, a senior Hamas leader in Gaza, told the pro-Hamas radio station of al-Aqsa on Friday that "we haven't seen anything until now, and all is just media talk."

He insisted that the anti-Israel marches and protests will go on until it achieves its goals "which are the full end and lift of the siege imposed in the Gaza Strip," adding "we will go on until we achieve triumph."
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-27 01:31:22|Editor: Yang Yi

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Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, speaks at the closing meeting of the bimonthly session of the NPC Standing Committee in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 26, 2018. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)

BEIJING, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) closed its five-day bimonthly session Friday, adopting a revised Criminal Procedure Law, revisions to the organic laws of courts and procuratorates, among others.

Presiding over the closing meeting, Li Zhanshu, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, said the NPC attached great importance to achieving judicial reform and justice via legislation and supervision.

The revised Criminal Procedure Law introduces "default judgment" in criminal trials, which allows the prosecution of suspects who stay overseas and are involved in corruption, severely endangering state security or terrorism.

Citing the first NPC Standing Committee inquiry on judicial work ever held during a bimonthly session, Li said it was an exploration of the NPC exercising its supervision over judicial organs.

Before the closing meeting, Li presided over a chairpersons' meeting of the NPC Standing Committee.

At the closing meeting, lawmakers voted to enact a new law on international criminal judicial assistance and to adopt a resolution to mandate the Supreme People's Court to handle cases related to intellectual property rights, which require more expertise.

Lawmakers also approved the one-year extension of a pilot program, which aims to spur innovation and reduce inefficiencies in the country's drug approval system. The so-called "marketing authorization holder" mechanism, introduced by the State Council in a three-year pilot reform in late 2015, expands those eligible to acquire drug manufacturing licenses from pharmaceutical companies to drug researchers and institutions.

In addition, a package of revisions on 15 laws, including the Wild Animal Conservation Law and the Metrology Law, were adopted in accordance with a key institutional reform plan adopted by the NPC on March 17.

For example, the customs and quarantine offices used to be parallel law enforcement agencies under the Wild Animal Conservation Law, but the latter are now a part of the customs administration.

Two treaties between China and Grenada, one on extradition and the other on criminal judicial assistance, were also ratified at the closing meeting.

During the session, lawmakers for the first time reviewed two State Council reports on state-owned assets.

Lawmakers also deliberated reports on the implementation of the Law on Protecting Against and Mitigating Earthquake Disasters and the Law on Quality and Safety of Agricultural Products.
Dates sit in boxes on a chair for sale with Arabic that reads, "dates for 30 L.E. a kilogram," in Tawfiqia market in downtown Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2016. (AP photo)

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- The upcoming first China International Import Expo (CIIE) is a very important opportunity to discover, understand and enter the Chinese market, said an Egyptian businessman.

"The expo will be an important opportunity to enter the Chinese markets, meet with the Chinese buyers and identify the real needs of the clients," Hisham al-Masry, chief information officer of the Orient Group which exports dates, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

With a capital of 200 million Egyptian pounds (11 million U.S. dollars), the Orient Group exported in 2017 nearly 14,500 tons of dates to foreign markets including South Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

The company now looks forward to entering the Chinese market.

Al-Masry said the CIIE, which will be held on Nov.5-10 in China's financial hub Shanghai, provides a new promising platform for showcasing his agricultural products.

Egypt has great potentials in the date sector as its products taste more delicious with cheaper prices, while China is a vast market for dates, he added.

According to official statistics, Egypt is the world's largest date producer with an annual yield of more than 1.7 million tons.

Orient Group now runs three factories for sorting, packing and exporting dates. It is planning to establish new lines for producing date paste.

"If we succeed in concluding good deals in the coming expo, it will be reflected positively on our company's reputation and sales," al-Masry said.

Official data show more than 2,800 enterprises from more than 130 countries and regions have confirmed their participation in the first CIIE.

Al-Masry expected success of the expo, saying he is very optimistic about accessing the Chinese market.

"China always advocates win-win interests for everyone," he noted, expecting his company to attract the Chinese consumers with the good taste of its dates.

The businessman also hailed the bilateral political ties between China and Egypt, saying they have positively been mirrored on the growing economic and trade relations.

"China has achieved an economic miracle as well as a leap in the agricultural field despite its large population, a model that our country could follow," al-Masry concluded.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-27 03:21:51|Editor: ZX

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BRUSSELS, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- The comprehensive strategic partnership between China and the European Union has yielded significant fruits, said Chinese envoy to the EU on Friday, urging both sides to identify opportunities, seize them and make the best of them for a better future of China-EU relations.

At a policy dialogue in Brussels titled "the EU-China Strategic Partnership 15 years on-What Direction for the Next 15 Years?, Zhang Ming, head of the Chinese mission to the EU, said figures from bilateral interactions were convincing .

Bilateral trade was 125.2 billion US dollars 15 years ago, while just in the first eight months of this year, trade already reached 445 billion dollars, he said, adding that "at the end of this year, we could expect an amount more than four times that of 15 years ago."

In the past 15 years, mutual visits increased from 3 million to over 7 million. 600 flights travel between China and the EU every week, Zhang said.

China and the EU have a comprehensive strategic partnership. "Comprehensive means that our cooperation is not just about trade, but about a broad range of areas, like foreign policy, security, culture, science and technology, global governance, to name just a few," Zhang said.

"Strategic" means that we embrace a big-picture and long-term thinking for cooperation, going beyond our differences in history, cultures, values and political system. In a time of uncertainties, strategic partners are poised to communicate on major issues with a sense of trust, and enhance coordination to add a sense of certainty, he added.

"China supports a united, stable, open and prosperous EU. This is our consistent and firm stance, never swayed by those pessimistic views on European integration." Zhang said.

China has set out to expand reform and opening-up and improve business environment, he said, as "reform and opening-up is widely supported by the 1.4 billion Chinese people, and that it is a certain way to go if China wants further development in the future."

"I understand that some European friends are eager to see even more out of reform and opening-up in China. Many of their opinions and recommendations are largely in line with our future direction. Their concerns will be gradually and properly addressed on the way ahead, like in the past 40 years," he said.

"We have difficult challenges to tackle in the course of economic transformation. Development remains daunting, and there is still a long way to go," Zhang said, adding that "We hope that European friends could see China's reform, opening-up and development in a more objective light, and with more confidence and patience. "
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-27 03:36:58|Editor: yan

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TRIPOLI, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- Libya's UN-backed Prime Minister Fayez Serraj and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Friday discussed arrangements of the upcoming Palermo conference on Libya, according to the Libyan Prime Minister's information office.

The two officials discussed the conference on Libya to be held in Italian city of Palermo in November in Rome. The conference aims to resolve the current political stalemate in Libya.

"Prime Minister Serraj called for unification of regional and international positions towards Libya and for the participants in the Palermo conference to commit to its outcomes in order to build a democratic civil state based on a constitutional rule and elections," the statement issued by the office said.

The talks also included economic cooperation between the two countries and supporting Libya's services and infrastructure sectors, as well as cooperation against illegal immigration and training for the Libyan coast guards and border security personnel, the statement added.

Earlier in October, Conte extended an invitation to Serraj to participate in the Palermo conference on Libya, which will be held on November 12-13.

Libya suffers political division and insecurity ever since the fall of former leader Gaddafi's regime in 2011. The North African nation struggles to make a democratic transition amid chaos and escalating violence.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-27 04:47:17|Editor: yan

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TUNIS, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- Tunisian Prime Minister Youssef Chahed discussed strategic priorities with visiting European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Friday, to provide new economic climate for investments in Tunisia.

The two sided discussed the strategic priorities within the framework of road map 2018-2020, according to Chahed.

One of the key topics is the Open Sky -- an international policy concept calling for the liberalization of rules and regulations of the international aviation industry, especially commercial aviation, in order to create a free-market environment for the airline industry, he said at a press briefing.

The policy will open new horizons of bilateral cooperation and give birth to a new economic climate for investments in Tunisia, Chahed added.

"Tunisia is currently waiting for the European side to speed up the procedures for setting up the Open Sky," Chahed added.

According to Juncker, the European Union will not hesitate to support Tunisian to implement necessary reforms, and to tackle problems concerning the youth.

Juncker also revealed that Tunisia has enjoyed financial support of 10 billion euros (11.4 billion U.S. dollars) from EU since 2011.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-27 06:42:40|Editor: yan

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MINSK, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- Belarus is ready to help resolve the conflict in Ukraine's east if there is the consent of interested parties.

The conflict in Ukraine has to be resolved by the three Slavonic nations (Russia, Ukraine and Belarus), Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said at the First Forum of Regions of Belarus and Ukraine in Gomel on Friday.

"It's our misfortune. Neither Europeans, Americans, nor anyone else. We have to resolve this problem so that it will not be frozen following the example of other once hot spots in the post-Soviet space," the Belarusian leader said.

The president stressed that Belarus is ready to work only within the framework of agreements between Ukraine and Russia, the two presidents.

"We are not asking for the role of a peacekeeper or a mediator," the president said. "Belarus cannot and will not do any peacemaking if the two presidents don't want it," he added.

In his turn, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko thanked Belarus for enabling conditions for peace talks in Belarus.

"There is trust between Ukraine and Belarus, between Lukashenko and Poroshenko. I am positive that this trust will evolve into security, reliability, friendship and cooperation," Poroshenko said.
Reserved-parking signs are seen next to a damaged structure at Saipan International Airport after Super Typhoon Yutu hit the Northern Mariana Islands, United States, Oct. 25, 2018 in this image taken from social media. (Brad Ruszala via REUTERS)

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Consulate General of China in Los Angeles confirmed on Friday there were about 1,500 Chinese tourists trapped in Saipan by Super Typhoon Yutu, which hit the Northern Mariana Islands and caused extensive infrastructure damages.

The consulate general has set up a 24-hour hotline on Thursday, and received nearly 80 calls from Chinese tourists searching for help after their flights were canceled due to Typhoon Yutu.

The Chinese tourists hoped to leave the disaster area as soon as possible, said the consulate general in a release.

The majority of the trapped Chinese flied to Saipan via domestic charter flights, while a few took flights of foreign airlines.

Currently, no casualties of Chinese citizens have been reported, said the consulate general, adding their accommodation and food have been guaranteed.

Local authorities were in efforts to resume flights on Saturday.

The consulate general and other related domestic departments are working on evacuation plans of Chinese citizens after local airport resumes navigation.

Yutu, which hit the island territories overnight on Wednesday, caused extensive damage to critical infrastructure on Saipan and Tinian islands, and displaced many families, said the Northern Mariana Islands Governor's Office.

With sustained winds of over 270 km per hour, the powerful storm tore up roofs and pulled down trees and power lines in the Marianas, the office said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-27 08:29:55|Editor: Yang Yi

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Zhang Chunxian, vice chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, presides over an oath-taking ceremony for newly appointed official to pledge allegiance to the Constitution after the conclusion of a bimonthly session of the 13th NPC Standing Committee in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 26, 2018. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-27 07:07:45|Editor: Xiang Bo

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YAOUNDE, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- Cameroon army said on Friday it has killed three suspected armed separatists in Esu, a locality in Northwest, one of the two war-torn English-speaking regions of the country.

During the operation, "the chief of Esu village who was kidnapped was freed" and "three secessionist terrorists" were killed, the army said in a statement that was published on its Facebook page on Friday without mentioning the date of the operation.

The Cameroon army regularly refers to armed separatists as "secessionist terrorists."

The army also helped in rehabilitating some bridges that were cut off by the separatists, the statement said.

Fighting between government forces and armed separatist groups has been ongoing since October 2017 after the separatists declared the independence of a nation called "Ambazonia" in the two English-speaking regions of Northwest and Southwest.

According to the United Nations, over 200,000 Cameroonians have been displaced internally and at least 30,000 others have fled to neighbouring Nigeria.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-27 08:58:00|Editor: Yang Yi

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UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy to the United Nations said Friday that Syria's constitutional committee must be formed in a steady and orderly manner.

Resolving differences requires all parties to work together and meet each other half-way, said Ma Zhaoxu, China's permanent representative to the United Nations.

While forming the constitutional committee, a balance must be struck between the legitimate concerns of the Syrian government and those of the other parties in order to make it representative and acceptable to all, Ma told the Security Council.

Participants to the intra-Syrian talks in Russia's Sochi in January agreed to set up a constitutional committee for drafting a new constitution.

The international community should push for the revitalization of a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process in which Syria's sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity must be respected, said the Chinese envoy.

Thanks to the efforts of Syrians themselves and the support of the international community, the situation in Syria remains stable and a political settlement process has maintained momentum, he noted, adding that the future of Syria will ultimately be determined by the Syrian people.

China is ready to work with the international community to facilitate the political settlement in Syria and to improve the country's humanitarian situation, he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-27 09:23:07|Editor: Yang Yi

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SHANGHAI, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Twenty foreign companies, among over 1,000 that have submitted pre-registration, have signed contracts to attend the second China International Import Expo (CIIE) scheduled next year, according to the CIIE Bureau.

The pre-registration for overseas companies and institutions to attend the second CIIE started on July 1, attracting over 1,000 applications on its official website.

According to the bureau, the first batch of 20 companies are from countries like New Zealand, Japan, Australia, covering service trade, apparel, consumer goods, food and agricultural products, medical equipment and health care.

Shanghai will host the first CIIE from Nov. 5 to 10, 2018. More than 2,800 companies from over 130 countries and regions signed up for the event.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-27 10:18:19|Editor: Xiang Bo

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Wang Yang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), presides over a bi-weekly seminar in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 26, 2018. (Xinhua/Shen Hong)

BEIJING, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Chinese national political advisors convened a bi-weekly seminar Friday to discuss issues about population, family planning policies and aging.

Population remains a comprehensive, long-term and strategic issue for China, said Wang Yang, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, who presided over the meeting and made a speech.

Efforts are needed to balance the size and structure of the population, and accommodate the development of science and technology, so as to realize a sustainable population in the long run, said Wang, who is also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

A total of 15 political advisors and representatives from academia put forward their suggestions, according to a press release published Saturday.

They agreed that the country's family planning policies have effectively contained the population growth that was too fast and relieved pressure on the environment and supply of resources.

While the population is growing steadily and its structure is optimizing, new problems have occurred when significant changes happened to the general situation of population and people's perception about birth, they noted.

They suggested that more resources be allocated to researches on the long-term change of population, and to public services related to birth such as nurseries.

They also called for better vocational education to foster a knowledge-based skillful and innovative work force, and more comprehensive healthcare services to take care of senior citizens.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-27 10:33:20|Editor: Yang Yi

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BEIJING, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- China's top securities regulator has approved new IPO applications from two companies, which will raise up to 1.4 billion yuan (about 201.44 million U.S. dollars) in the A-share market.

Bester Group, a Wuhan-based tech firm, will be listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, and Suzhou Maxwell Technologies Co., Ltd. will be listed on the ChiNext board in Shenzhen, according to the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

The companies and their underwriters will confirm IPO dates and publish prospectuses following discussions with the exchanges.

Under the current IPO system, new shares are subject to approval from the CSRC. China is gradually switching from an approval-based IPO system to one based on registration.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-27 10:53:23|Editor: Lu Hui

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Photo taken on Oct. 11, 2018 shows guests attend the ground breaking ceremony for the BMW Brilliance Tiexi New Plant in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning Province. (Xinhua)

by Xinhua writer Qiao Jihong

BERLIN, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Instead of retreating from China, foreign companies are reinvesting for the new opportunities to emerge from the further opening-up of China.

In the first half of 2018, China topped the world in drawing foreign direct investment (FDI), boasting about 70 billion U.S. dollars in capital inflows, a UN report said recently.

INVESTMENT INFLOWS

The report of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said FDI flows to China grew 6 percent to 70 billion dollars, or about 15 percent of the global total.

In sharp contrast, the global sum during the same period slumped by 41 percent to its lowest in a decade.

"More intensive efforts in attracting foreign investment and opening up markets, such as the pilot free trade zones and the more open western regions, are the main reasons for the increase of FDI flows to China," James Zhan, director of the UNCTAD's Division on Trade and Enterprises, told Xinhua.

China is an attractive investment destination. Its 11 pilot free trade zones in September saw an FDI inflow increase of 14.7 percent, data from China's Ministry of Commerce showed.

Earlier this month, Dutch battery maker Lithium Werks BV announced the decision to invest 1.6 billion euros (1.8 billion dollars) in a lithium-ion battery plant in eastern China, the second of its kind. The new factory with an annual production capacity of 8 gigawatt-hours, sufficient for powering 160,000 cars, is planning to start operations in early 2021.

"We're in China again because it moves faster than others, it makes decisions quickly," chairman of the Dutch company Kees Koolen said.

And the Dutch company is not alone. Many companies inked investment deals during Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's visit to the Netherlands last week.

Among them were Royal Dutch Shell PLC, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines as well as Internationale Nederlanden Group. The deals worth billions of dollars are for existing projects and new joint ventures with Chinese partners.

FURTHER OPENING-UP

China has substantially slashed red tape, lifted restrictions and strengthened property rights protection for foreign investors.

For example, recently, State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) removed limits on FDI upfront payments and account validity terms.

"Our opening-up policy is consistent and applicable to all without discrimination," Premier Li said during the Dutch trip.

"We are now embarking on a new era," CEO of the German automaker BMW, Herald Krueger, said in a speech earlier this month in China's northeastern city of Shenyang, where BMW's main joint venture is located.

BMW has announced an investment of 3.6 billion euros (4.1 billion dollars) to increase its stake in the joint venture BBA with Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd to 75 percent from 50 percent, in a move to realize further growth to benefit all the parties, said Chief Financial Officer Nicolas Peter.

In the eyes of Western industry analysts, the move after China unveiled plans to remove the ceiling for foreign ownership in auto joint ventures over five years, marked "a major breakthrough," and the German automaker is expected to take the full control over the biggest regional profit pool of its business.

Meanwhile, the largest German automaker Volkswagen, also one of the first foreign carmakers entering China, is planning massive investments in China to total 15 billion euros (17 billion dollars) until 2022, largely focusing on electric vehicles, automatic driving, digitalization and new mobility services.

"This year marks the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up policy," its China executive vice president Zhang Suixin said. "Now new measures, new rules are opening a new era for all foreign carmakers."

Zhang said a more open China means a fairer competition environment for foreign investors. China's new policy to further open up the manufacturing sector by removing foreign ownership restrictions is applicable to all.

In July, German chemical giant BASF announced an investment of 10 billion dollars in southern China to build a Verbund chemical production site. It will be the company's largest investment ever, and also its first wholly-owned plant in China.

NEW OPPORTUNITIES

More and more German small and medium-sized enterprises are also searching for opportunities in China.

Rudolf Scharping, Germany's former defense minister and ex-minister president of state Rhineland Palatinate, told Xinhua that China is still the "most attractive for foreign investment" despite the rising cost in production, labor and land.

"Market size, upgrading of technology as designed in 'Made in China 2025', ambitious workers, increasing skills -- those advantages are coming to full effect as China's infrastructure is becoming more and more excellent, the innovation power is developing and step by step, the legal environment is improving," he said.

"Combined with the Belt and Road Initiative, China is an integrated and indispensable part of the global economic development," Scharping added.

He also noticed that China is re-adjusting its growth model where quality and sustainability of products, technologies and services will be decisive, adding that FDI will be more focused on this kind of development, both inbound and outbound.

Official data showed that in the first three quarters, FDI in China's high-tech sectors rose 6.8 percent and accounted for 22.5 percent of the total.

"China is growing constantly in developing technology, especially in the area of big data, which makes its new competitive advantage in earning foreign investment," said Shi Shiwei, visiting professor of economics at Free University of Berlin.

According to him, the era of cheap labor in China is fading out. The export-oriented labor-intensive industries and investment tend to move out of China to its neighborhood where there are cheaper workforce.

At the same time, it's widely believed that China's ongoing urbanization, upgrading of consumption and shift to high-quality growth are generating new opportunities for competitive foreign businesses.

(Xinhua reporters Zhai Wei in Brussels, Zhu Sheng in Berlin, Ling Xin in Geneva also contributed to the story.)

(Video editor: Cao Ying)
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-27 13:28:41|Editor: Xiang Bo

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NEW DELHI, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Japan is one of the most trusted partners in India's economic and technological modernisation and one of the top investors in the country, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a statement issued ahead of his two-day visit to Japan beginning Sunday.

During the visit, Modi will hold the annual summit talks with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe.

Projects like "Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed rail" and "dedicated freight corridors" reflected the high level and strength of India-Japan economic engagement, said Modi.

"Japan is also at the forefront of engaging in our national initiatives, such as 'Make in India', 'Skill India', 'Digital India', 'Start Up India', etc."

According to Modi, Japan is India's valued partner and both sides have a special strategic and global partnership. "India-Japan's partnership is of great substance and purpose which rests on the strong pillars of India's 'Act East Policy'," he said.

During his visit, Modi will hold talks with Abe and interact with Japanese business leaders.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-27 13:48:44|Editor: Xiang Bo

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BEIJING, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- German auto maker BMW has decided to recall more than 3,900 cars in China due to defects in crankshaft position sensors, according to the Chinese market regulator.

BMW China Automotive Trading Ltd. began on Tuesday recalling 3,939 imported vehicles manufactured between April 10 and June 13, according to a statement from the State Administration for Market Regulation.

The recall involves BMW 1- to 7-series as well as the MINI Cooper series, the statement said.

Wrong output signals sent by the defective sensors might cause the engines to stall, it said.

The company will inform related users with registered letters and replace the defective sensors free of charge, it said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-27 14:08:48|Editor: Li Xia

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An Indian Security Officer lays a wreath to the coffin of a paramilitary trooper of India's Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), during his wreath laying ceremony in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir, Oct. 27, 2018. A paramilitary trooper of India's CISF was killed in a militant attack in restive Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said Saturday. (Xinhua/Javed Dar)

SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- A paramilitary trooper of India's Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) was killed in a militant attack in restive Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said Saturday.

The attack was carried out in Nowgam in the outskirts of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

"In the intervening night, a standoff fire by militants took place at the power grid station Wagoora in Nowgam area in which one assistant sub-inspector of CISF sustained serious bullet wounds," said a police spokesman. "The wounded CISF man was removed to hospital, where he succumbed to his wounds."

Reports said the militants attacked the CISF personnel by hurling grenade and gunfire.

The police spokesman said the attack was "successfully repulsed" by alert troopers at the spot.

Following the attack, police and paramilitary cordoned off the area to conduct searches for the militants.

CISF troopers in India are mandated to provide security to major installations of India like nuclear installations, space establishments, airports, seaports, power plants, sensitive government buildings, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, etc.

Since last week, a spike in deadly gunfights was witnessed across the region.

A guerilla war is going on between militants and Indian troops stationed in Indian-controlled Kashmir since 1989. The gunfight between the two sides takes place intermittently across the region.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-27 15:14:00|Editor: Li Xia

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SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- U.S. high tech firm Microsoft Corporation Friday defended its plan to continue to work with the U.S. military despite objections from its employees who opposed the use of Microsoft technology for warfare.

Microsoft President Brad Smith wrote in an official blog post that he and CEO Satya Nadella addressed the employees' concerns about the company's involvement in U.S. military projects at a regular meeting Thursday.

Smith said Microsoft has worked with the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) on "a longstanding and reliable basis" for four decades, and Microsoft technology has helped the U.S. troops' front office, field operations, bases, ships, aircraft and training facilities.

"We believe in the strong defense of the United States and we want the people who defend it to have access to the nation's best technology, including from Microsoft," Smith said.

Therefore, Microsoft decides to bid for the DOD's Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud project called "JEDI" that will strengthen the DOD's end-to-end IT infrastructure, he added.

He said he understood some employees' worries about new technologies such as artificial intelligence being used to empower weapons to act autonomously and kill people.

Smith asserted that engaging in the public dialogue is a wise way to address new ethical and policy issues created by new technology.

Withdrawal "from this market is to reduce our opportunity to engage in the public debate about how new technologies can best be used in a responsible way," said the Microsoft president.

"We don't ask or expect everyone who works at Microsoft to support every position the company takes," he said, adding Microsoft respects employees' right to choose a different job post if they don't want to work on certain projects.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-27 15:19:01|Editor: Li Xia

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NEW DELHI, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- India and Myanmar have agreed to act against insurgent groups operating on their soil during a two-day delegation-level meeting in Delhi that concluded Friday.

The Indian delegation was led by Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba while the Myanmar delegation was headed by Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Major General Aung Thu.

During the meeting, both parties decided to cooperate in preventing smuggling of wildlife and narcotic drugs, an official statement said.

The two sides also agreed on security cooperation and facilitating movement of people and trade across the international border, it said.

They have also decided to strengthen cooperation on international border management, including construction of subsidiary pillars to better demarcate the border, the statement added.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-27 15:39:05|Editor: Li Xia

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KABUL, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- At least six people have been confirmed dead and 12 others injured as a suicide car bomb hit Maidan Shar, the capital of eastern Wardak province 35 km west of Kabul on Saturday, provincial government spokesman Abdul Rahman Mangal said.

"The terrorists organized a suicide car bomb next to the repairing center of police vehicles at around 08:00 a.m. local time today, leaving six people dead and injuring 12 others," Mangal told Xinhua, but refused to identify the victims and provide more details, saying investigation is underway.

However, Taliban militants have claimed responsibility for the bloody bombing.

Zabihullah Majahid, who claims to speak for the Taliban outfit, told media that "a suicide bomber targeted a military base in Maidan Shar city at 09:00 a.m. local time, killing and injuring dozens of soldiers and officers" besides destroying a huge number of military vehicles.

However, Mangal termed Majahid's claim as mere propaganda, saying only six people were killed and 12 others injured in the suicide bombing that occurred at around 08:00 a.m. local time.

According to Mangal, the terrorist riding an explosive-laden car was attempting to take it inside the compound of the repairing center of police vehicles but he was identified and ordered to stop. Then he blew himself up near the compound.

Taliban militants have intensified activities since April, mostly in the shape of roadside and suicide bombings. Afghan observers said the Taliban would do its best to gain more grounds and consolidate positions before Winter.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-27 15:54:08|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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An Afghan voter casts his ballot at a polling station during parliamentary elections in Kandahar city, capital of Kandahar province, Afghanistan, on Oct. 27, 2018. People in Afghanistan's southern province of Kandahar on Saturday started voting for their favorite candidates for parliament, after a week-long delay in the process. (Xinhua/Sanaullah Seiam)

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- People in Afghanistan's southern province of Kandahar on Saturday started voting for their favorite candidates for parliament, after a week-long delay in the process.

Afghanistan Independent Election Commission (IEC) postponed the elections for Wolesi Jirga or Lower House of parliament, after the Kandahar police chief, Gen. Abdul Raziq and provincial intelligence chief, Gen. Abdul Momin were killed in a gunshot by a Taliban claimed infiltrator, just two days ahead of the voting which begun on October 20.

The voting process in Kandahar started under tight security at 08:00 a.m. local time, as security forces have started checking cars crossing throughout the election sites in the provincial capital Kandahar city and other districts.

However, Independent Election Commission (IEC) said no poll would be held in the restive Maruf and Nish districts, as no voters have so far been registered there.

Parliamentary election has also been postponed for an indefinite period in Kandahar's neighboring Ghazni province.

According to the IEC, 111 candidates from Kandahar were competing for 11 seats, including three for women, at the Lower House of the Afghan Parliament.

The election commission has also said that 567,000 people have registered to vote in Kandahar. According to security sources, over 6,000 troops have been deployed to protect voters and electoral sites.

Dozens of people, including voters and electoral staffs have been killed or wounded, since the long-delayed poll started in 32 out of the country's 34 provinces on October 20. About 2,500 candidates contested in the elections to earn seats in the 249 Lower House of parliament.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-27 16:09:10|Editor: Li Xia

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YANGON, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Bilateral trade between Myanmar and Vietnam has reached over 362 million U.S. dollars in five months of the six-month transitional period from April to September this year, according to the figures from the Commerce Ministry Saturday.

Myanmar has changed its fiscal year period from original April-March to Oct-Sept beginning 2018-2019, producing a six-month transitional gap.

From April to August, the country's export to Vietnam amounted 119.8 million U.S. dollars while its import shared 242.3 million U.S. dollars.

The total trade increased by 40.5 million U.S. dollars compared with the same period of FY 2017-2018 when it showed 321 million U.S. dollars.

The country's trade with Vietnam totaled over 714.8 million U.S. dollars in FY 2017-2018.

Myanmar mainly exports mineral, agricultural, forest and marine products to Vietnam, and imports car spare parts, computer parts, construction materials, steel, plastics, pharmaceuticals and chemical products from Vietnam.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-27 16:19:13|Editor: Li Xia

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MEXICO CITY, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Mexican government on Friday offered temporary work, health services and education to minors of Central American migrant families.

On social media, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto announced the program "Estas en tu casa" ("You're at home") targeting Central American migrants who "comply with Mexican laws" and legalize their migratory status.

"We know very well that you are seeking opportunity; you want to build a new home and a better future for your family and loved ones. Mexico extends its hand. We want all migrants to feel a sense of calm and protected," Pena Nieto said.

Thousands of Central American migrants, mainly Hondurans, entered Mexico last week without proper visas as part of a caravan heading for the United States.

The program can allow them to receive medical care, send their children to school, live in shelters, and have access to temporary work, he said.

At the same time, he named two conditions: the migrants must be in the states of Chiapas or Oaxaca and their family members must have applied for admission or shelter with the National Institute of Immigration (INM).

The program is "a first step to a permanent solution for those who obtain refugee status in Mexico," Pena Nieto said.

The Central American migrant caravan left on Oct. 19 for the United States. U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to detain and crack down on it upon their arrival. The caravan is currently in the southeastern Mexican state of Chiapas.

Mexico is under U.S. pressure on the issue of caravan migrants. The INM has reportedly received refugee requests from more than 1,700 Central American migrants who have arrived at the country's southern border since Oct. 19.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-27 16:24:15|Editor: Li Xia

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by Jamila Najmuddin

COLOMBO, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka was plunged into a political crisis late on Friday as President Maithripala Sirisena sacked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and appointed former President Mahinda Rajapakse as his "new Prime Minister".

In a shocking move that stunned the nation, Rajapakse took oaths before the president at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo, with Rajapakse vowing to form a new caretaker government together with Sirisena's United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and his own "Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna"(SLPP).

Moments after Rajapakse was sworn in, Sirisena in a letter urged Wickremesinghe to vacate his post as Prime Minister, citing Article 42 (4) of the Sri Lankan constitution.

According to the President, Wickremesinghe lost majority in the 225 member Parliament when his own UPFA party which was part of the national government together with Wickremesinghe's United National Party, quitted the coalition government earlier Friday.

The sudden move has been termed as unconstitutional by Wickremesinghe, who in a televised speech to the nation on Friday night said he could only be ousted through a no-confidence motion bought against him in Parliament.

Wickremesinghe said he still enjoyed a majority in Parliament and the move by the President was illegal and urged Parliament Speaker Karu Jayasuriya to convene an urgent parliamentary session on Sunday.

"I am addressing you as the Prime Minister of this nation. I am still the Prime Minister. The President cannot sack a Prime Minister who enjoys majority support in parliament," Wickremesinghe said from his official residence.

Jayasuriya convened an urgent meeting on Saturday to seek legal advice over the sudden move. He is expected to make a statement later Saturday.

In a retaliatory letter sent to the president, Wickremesinghe stated he was the constitutionally appointed prime minister and would continue in that office.

Political analysts said severe indifferences had been brewing between the president and Wickremesinghe in recent months, especially after Wickremesinghe won a no confidence motion bought against him in Parliament by the Joint Opposition in April.

The rift further deepened after Sirisena expressed disappointment recently saying Wickremesinghe and his UNP-led government had failed to investigate an assassination threat on Sirisena and former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse.

In a weekly cabinet briefing two weeks ago, Sirisena angrily questioned Wickremesinghe and the cabinet as to why no action was being taken over such a serious issue.

On Saturday, all political parties were embroiled in separate discussions with citizens questioning to who was the legal prime minister.

Rajapakse's SLPP claimed that it had secured a majority of 120 seats in Parliament.

To secure a simple majority, any political party has to secure 113 seats in the 225-member Parliament.

"We have 120 seats till now. Some UNP MPs have also crossed over to our party. If the UNP feel what the President has done is illegal, then we challenge them to bring a no-confidence motion against Mahinda Rajapakse or challenge it in Supreme Court," SLPP MP Udaya Gammanpila said.

However, UNP Legislator, Ajith Perera said they had well over 113 seats in Parliament and Wickremesinghe would prove his majority when Parliament convenes.

UNP MP Mangala Samaraweera in a statement called the sudden political changed as an anti-democratic coup.

Security was heightened in several areas in and around capital Colombo with Wickremesinghe and Rajapakse, in separate statements urging the public to maintain law and order.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-27 16:34:16|Editor: Li Xia

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GAZA, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- A 23-year-old Palestinian demonstrators died on Saturday of his wounds sustained on Friday afternoon during clashes between thousands of demonstrators and Israeli soldiers in eastern Gaza Strip, medics said.

Gaza Health Ministry Spokesman, Ashraf al-Qedra, told reporters that Mujahed Aqqel, 23 years old from al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza Strip, died of his chest wounds in a Gaza hospital on Saturday morning.

He said that death toll since Friday afternoon in the Gaza Strip has grown to five.

He added that among 232 injured Palestinians, more than 150 had been shot by Israeli soldiers' gunfire, adding that many of them suffer severe injuries and they still receive intensive medical treatment in the hospitals in Gaza.

Meanwhile, the exchange of fire continued early on Saturday between Gaza militant groups and the Israeli army, where dozens of rockets were fired from Gaza into communities in southern Israel.

In response, Israeli war jets carried out intensive airstrikes on military facilities, training posts and buildings that belong to Gaza militants, mainly Hamas and Islamic Jihad armed wings, all over the Gaza Strip.

Al-Qedra said that one of the airstrikes on northern Gaza Strip overnight wounded nine Palestinian civilians and badly damaged a hospital built by Indonesia several years ago.

Palestinian security sources in Gaza said that an Israeli war jet destroyed a 4-floor building in Gaza city and levelled it to the ground, adding that the building was empty of populations and no injuries were reported.

The armed wing of Islamic Jihad, Saraya al-Quds, claimed responsibility for firing the rockets into Israel.

It said in a statement that "fire for fire and blood for blood," adding that "if the Zionist enemy wants to expand the circle of fire, we are ready to do so and ready to protect our people."

Egypt has been exerting intensive efforts and held urgent contacts with the leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad to prevent more deterioration of the situation in Gaza, according to local media in Gaza.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-27 16:34:16|Editor: Liangyu

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GUANGZHOU, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- A video of dolphins playing in the wake of the waves near a man-made island, east of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao bridge, has caught the attention from netizens across China.

The 55-km Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao bridge that opened on Tuesday is the world's longest cross-sea bridge, connecting the mainland province of Guangdong with the country's two special administrative regions, Hong Kong and Macao.

During the nine-year bridge construction period, researchers have identified and registered a total of 2,367 dolphins, with no injuries of any dolphins reported.

"Though we cannot jump to the conclusion that the total number of white dolphins is increasing, most Chinese researchers would agree that the population number holds steady with only a few changing their activity zones," said Chen Tao, a researcher from the South China Sea Fishery Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences.

Since 1997, Chen has been working to protect and monitor Chinese white dolphins. From 2013 to 2017, he and his colleagues spent about a week every month tracking the rare dolphins in waters covering over 5,000 square km.

With a slender body that is pink in its adulthood, the beloved dolphin is under first-class state protection.

The Pearl River Estuary, where the mega-bridge is situated, is among the nation's busiest vessel routes and also a major activity zone for Chinese white dolphins.

"Local authorities and workers have paid close attention to the environment preservation and marine resources conservation," said Yu Lie, deputy director of the bridge management bureau, adding that they have achieved "zero pollution" of the marine environment and "zero injury and death" of the dolphins.

According to local authorities, the Pearl River Estuary Chinese White Dolphin Reserve has supported more than 100 researchers in studying and protecting the mammal and trained over thousands of dolphin watchers.

Luo Guocai, 34, a certificated dolphin watcher, said his duty was to conduct a 10-minute observation of the sea each time before construction started.

The dolphins have to breathe every few minutes above the water, and in order to prevent potential harm, the watchers would knock on their boat a few times to scare them away.

The preservation efforts never stopped even after the construction was completed.

"Managerial personnel will continue to monitor the nearby environment and the dolphins via intelligent equipment including the bridge video surveillance system, the underwater tunnel's environmental monitoring as well as specially established research and observation stations on the man-made islands," said Yu.

Currently, Hong Kong, Macao, and Guangdong plan to establish a conservation alliance for the dolphins, involving non-governmental organizations in the routine rescue, information sharing, and scientific research, said Chen Hailiang, head of the administration of the reserve.

"We are constructing a bigger rescue and conservation base as well as increasing tissue samples and gene banks in a bid to better preserve the dolphins for generations to come," Chen said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-27 17:14:24|Editor: Yurou

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TEHRAN, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman slammed recent visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Oman, according to the ministry's website on Saturday.

"The Israeli regime is seeking to create rifts among the Islamic countries and cover up its 70-year occupation of Palestine," Spokesman Bahram Qasemi said.

The remarks came in reaction to Netanyahu's trip to Oman on Thursday, the first official meeting at this level since 1996.

"Muslim states should not allow Tel Aviv to create further trouble for the region under pressures from the United States," said Qasemi.

"History shows that submission to the illegitimate demands of the United States and the usurper Zionist regime (of Israel) will further embolden them to exert more pressures," the spokesman added.

Oman has been one of the Arab countries which has had a steady and balanced relations with Iran over the past five decades.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-27 18:14:32|Editor: Yurou

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TEHRAN, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Iran and the European Union (EU) will finalize a monetary transaction mechanism soon to avoid the U.S. banking sanctions, Governor of Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Abdolnaser Hemmati announced here on Saturday.

The mechanism will serve as a monetary agreement between Iran and Europe as the two sides discussed the details in a meeting held last week in Brussels, Hemmati was quoted as saying by the state TV.

"The channel is to be established based on a common understanding that the Iranian and European businesses are eager to maintain their ties despite the U.S. sanctions," he said.

According to Hemmati, the payment channel will facilitate the transactions in the businesses between Iran and Europe. Businessmen can use the channel to transfer money.

The Iranian official noted that Iran and Europe want to make the channel operational as soon as possible. Details of the financial mechanism will be released in the near future.

After the U.S. withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal in May, the remaining parties including the EU have been trying to keep the deal afloat.

The EU has stressed that it would set up a legal entity to facilitate legitimate financial transactions with Iran in light of the U.S. withdrawal from the international agreement on Tehran's nuclear program and the re-imposition of sanctions.

The legal entity will allow European companies to continue to trade with Iran in accordance with the EU law and could be open to other partners in the world, Federica Mogherini, the EU's foreign and security policy chief, said in September.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-27 18:14:33|Editor: Yurou

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GAZA, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian Islamic Jihad announced on Saturday that it agreed with Egyptian mediators to stop firing rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel and restore calm in the coastal enclave.

"Following contacts with the movement (Islamic Jihad), it agreed on a full cessation of firing rockets and restore calm in the Gaza Strip," the Islamic Jihad said in a press statement.

"Stopping firing rockets was a response to the Egyptian efforts to restore calm in Gaza and stop more deterioration of the situation between Israel and Gaza militants," the statement added.

Dawood Shihab, spokesman of Islamic Jihad in Gaza, confirmed to reporters that Egypt brokered a cease-fire deal with Israel in the Gaza Strip.

The deal was reached following a nightlong of firing rockets from the coastal enclave into Israel and intensive Israeli army airstrikes on military posts and facilities in the territory.

After five Palestinians were killed and 232 injured on Friday in the weekly protests and marches that have been going on since March 30, the Islamic Jihad fired barrages of rockets into southern Israel.

In response, Israeli war planes carried out intensive airstrikes on Islamic Jihad and Islamic Hamas military posts, facilities, constructions, tunnels and training fields in Gaza, according to Israeli media reports.

The Israeli army said earlier that more than 45 rockets were fired on Friday night and Saturday morning from Gaza into Israel. Many of the rockets were intercepted by the missiles of the Iron Dome.

The army said that its war fighters struck with missiles more than 80 targets in Gaza that belong to Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other minor militant groups.

Medical sources said that more than nine Palestinians were injured by the shrapnel of the Israeli army missiles.

Gaza Health Ministry Spokesman Ashraf al-Qedra said that airstrikes on northern Gaza Strip damaged a hospital donated by Indonesia with no injuries reported.
Representatives of Chinese enterprises talk with job seekers during a jobs expo at the University of Zambia in Lusaka, Zambia, Oct. 26, 2018. Zambia's Confucius Institute at the University of Zambia on Friday held a jobs expo where Chinese firms based in the southern African nation showcased themselves and tried to lure students to join them. (Xinhua/Peng Lijun)

LUSAKA, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Zambia's Confucius Institute at the University of Zambia has held a jobs expo where Chinese firms based in the southern African nation showcased themselves and tried to lure students to join them.

Held on Friday in collaboration with the Chinese Embassy and Chamber of Commerce of China, the second expo attracted 14 Chinese enterprises that took time to explain to prospective job seekers the jobs on offer.

Lai Bo, political counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Zambia, said the event is a significant sign of the close people-to-people exchanges between China and Zambia in line with one of the eight initiatives of the 2018 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit.

A job seeker fills in a form during a jobs expo at the University of Zambia in Lusaka, Zambia, Oct. 26, 2018. (Xinhua/Peng Lijun)

"I hope that both Zambian students and Chinese companies take this precious opportunity, work together to create a better future for individuals, enterprises and the friendship between China and Zambia," he said.

China, he said, pays special attention to the younger generation in both China and Africa, adding that education plays a crucial role in the development of young people.

China attaches great importance to the cooperation with Zambia in the education sector, with about 4,000 Zambian students currently studying in various universities in China, Lai said.

The Confucius Institute has become one of the most important education platforms for promoting people-to-people exchanges between the two countries and that more than 10,000 Zambian students have learned the Chinese language through the institute in the past eight years, he said.

Luke Mumba, vice-chancellor at the University of Zambia (UNZA), said the jobs expo was targeted at graduates as the country's future prosperity depends on their education, skills and creativity.

He said the expo offers a unique opportunity to form platform partnerships between potential employers and employees.

Representatives of Chinese enterprises talk with job seekers during a jobs expo at the University of Zambia in Lusaka, Zambia, Oct. 26, 2018. (Xinhua/Peng Lijun)

Preparing young people to meet the challenges and opportunities in a knowledge-based economy requires concerted efforts of all stakeholders, Mumba said, adding that businesses and enterprises at the expo had an indispensable role to play by absorbing graduates.

Linda Yan, a human resources manager at Avic International, one of the firms that participated at the expo, said the company hopes to get more young Zambians to join the firm.

She told Xinhua that her company, which has already employed hundreds of Zambians, is targeting skilled graduates from the university.

Yan said local employees have done a lot in helping the firm achieve its objectives.

Lisa Li, business manager at China Harbor Engineering Company Limited Zambia, expressed gratitude over the enthusiasm shown by the prospective employees who were inquiring about job prospects in the company.

She said her company was looking for young graduates to push the company forward.

Chalwe Chipili, a fourth-year student in political science and statistics, said young people were finding it difficult to find jobs even after graduating from universities, adding that the holding of the expo was one way of ensuring that the graduates got opportunities to find jobs.

Bertha Nkunika, also fourth-year student, said she was at the expo to check if there could be any job opportunities in line with her major, mass communications.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-27 19:44:49|Editor: Li Xia

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TEHRAN, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Saturday denied that its diplomats are currently holding talks with the United States on the existing issues between Tehran and Washington.

The recent claims by an Iranian lawmaker concerning Iran's talks with the United States in a neighboring country is "wrong and baseless," the ministry's website said in a statement.

Iran's Foreign Ministry adheres to the guidelines by the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to avoid interaction with the United States and would never disobey this principle, it said.

The Iranian officials will protect the interests of the country by following the leader's advice, it stressed.

On Friday, the Iranian lawmaker, Javad Karimi Qoddousi, said that the Iranian diplomats are currently in talks with the U.S. partners in Oman over the mutual issues.

On Oct. 1, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Iran would not sit for talks with the United States over the existing issues as the conditions were not ripe.

"I'm not ruling out the prospect of talks (with Washington) provided the necessary conditions for talks, and that is reliability," Zarif said.

"Reliability is that when you sign something you are bound by it. Otherwise, everything will fall apart," he said, adding that "we are waiting for some sense of realism."

Iranian Supreme Leader stressed that Tehran will not sit for negotiations with "cheating" Washington.

Following U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to quit the historic Iran nuclear deal on May 8, the United States vowed to reimpose sanctions lifted under the accord against Iran and inflict punishments like secondary sanctions on nations that have business links with Iran.

Washington's withdrawal from the landmark Iran nuclear deal was criticized across the world. Some of its major European allies have been working to prevent the 2015 deal from falling apart.

Trump's administration has called for renegotiation of the Iranian 2015 nuclear deal as well as Tehran's developing missile program.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-27 20:14:56|Editor: Li Xia

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NAIROBI, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Jerusha Atieno sells vegetables in Soweto, Kayole, a low income suburb on the east of Kenya's capital Nairobi.

Her average income a day is no more than 5 U.S. dollars. Therefore, she buys items in small quantities.

Initially, she would buy all her household items from small shops near her home, but these days, even when she wants to buy salt, Atieno walks to any of the three malls not far from her shanty home.

"I can walk either to Shujaa Mall, which is the nearest or Greenspan Mall or Komarock Mall, which is a little far but still a walking distance," she said on Friday.

All the malls, located near the surrounding middle income estates of Umoja, Savannah, Komarock, Greenspan and Jacaranda, host Kenya's leading supermarkets.

Inside the malls, Atieno can walk around as she looks at the items on display, eat at a restaurant, visit a bank or enter an Ethiopian food eatery or a coffee shop, before buying what she wants at the supermarket.

And to cap it all, she has a shopping card through which she earns points every time she shops, which she can then redeem later.

"I never imagined I would ever shop like this. This is something I only saw in Nigerian movies or in places where the rich live in Nairobi one time I was doing domestic work there but now it has come to us," said the happy trader.

Initially, the malls were constructed in leafy suburbs in Nairobi and were mainly frequented by the rich and the sophisticated.

But things changed in the last five years or so as developers in the East African nation took the shopping complexes to the middle-income suburbs.

Bordering the middle-income estates are low income settlements, including slums.

The malls have spiced up shopping experiences for the residents in the suburbs, especially the low income earners.

Some of the suburbs in Nairobi and on the outskirts where malls have been constructed recently are Roysambu, Ruaka, Kitengela, Syokimau, Athi River, Buru Buru and Rongai.

The low income earners frequent the malls as much as the high earners.

While the former might only strict themselves to supermarkets, the latter enjoy top services at health clinics, banks and exclusive boutiques.

"I no longer buy things like bread from the shop near my home. These days I park my bike near the entrance of the mall and go for shopping," said John Njenga, a motorbike rider in Kitengela.

A new mall was opened two weeks ago in the fast-growing suburb and it hosts a supermarket and various other shops, with low income earners like Njenga flocking the building to shop.

According to a Consumer Insight survey released online recently, Kenyan's love for shopping is huge, only second in Africa after South Africa. They are then followed by Nigeria and Ghana, with people flocking malls in their hundreds every day.

Earnest Manuyo, a business management lecturer at Pioneer Institute in Nairobi, noted that the malls have not only bettered the shopping experience for the poor but also the middle-income.

"They are game-changer. People are enjoying quality shopping from near their homes," he said.

For the middle-income, he noted that during weekend, they can shop as their children enjoy bouncing castles, face painting or ride trains.

"It is really new and memorable experience for some middle and low income earners," he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-27 20:24:58|Editor: Liangyu

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by Ye Zaiqi, Wu Xiaoling

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- Oregon business leaders are expecting the first China International Import Expo (CIIE) to be a good opportunity for businesses from the western U.S. state to show their unique products and services off to Chinese consumers.

"The expo provides us with the opportunity to introduce our products to a wider audience of distributors, importers, and end users," said Rose Braden, president of the U.S. Softwood Export Council.

Braden said her council is part of the 12-member delegation that is heading for China on Saturday led by the Oregon-China Sister State Relations Council (OCSSRC).

"It is particularly important in light of the current trade situation for American trade organizations and suppliers to participate in trade shows and delegation missions to China to show our Chinese colleagues that American suppliers are committed to our long-term partnerships," Braden said.

Despite extra tariffs arising from the current U.S.-China trade spat, initiated by Washington under the pretext of reversing the trade imbalance the United States is allegedly suffering from, American softwood lumber and building materials continue to be shipped to China, she said.

"It is the hope of both U.S. suppliers and their customers in China that current tariff rates are short-lived," Braden said.

"The U.S. and China will continue to be important and long-term trading partners," she said.

She said the OCSSRC-led business group gathered representatives from Oregon manufacturing, government, and the Port of Portland, who hoped to learn about business opportunities and strengthen relationships with Chinese government and business representatives.

"The group is very excited about the opportunity to participate in the show," Braden added.

Data from the economic section of the Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco showed that China is the largest trade partner in Asia for both the United States and Oregon state, and the trade volume between China and Oregon increased 91 times to reach 6.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2017 from 71 million dollars in 1997.

Oregon exports to China totaled 5.8 billion dollars in 2016 and generated more than 20,000 jobs for the state, according to the data.

Braden said the Softwood Export Council has been active in China for over 20 years, and it will set up a pavilion to present Chinese participants with Oregon's premium wood products at the CIIE, which is scheduled for Nov. 5-10 in the financial hub of Shanghai, east China.

The massive trade show is expected to attract 2,800 companies from over 130 countries and regions around the world.

Oregon is the largest wood-producing state in the United States, with 30.5 million acres of forest resources, accounting for 46 percent of the state's total area. It accounts for more than 16 percent of the U.S. softwood lumber production, and has led in this category for at least a decade, statistics of the Oregon Forest Resources Institute showed.

"The expo will help us to introduce Oregon products to people who are not yet familiar with them, and to further relationships with individuals who are already using products from Oregon," Braden said.

Among the OCSSRC group are other participants like representatives from Austin Dental Equipment Company (A-dec), a dental office furniture and equipment manufacturer founded 54 years ago and based in Newberg, Oregon, and a team from Clackamas County, the third most populous county in the northwest part of Oregon.

Jim Bernard, Clackamas County commission chair who leads the county government, told Xinhua that it is the first time for him to visit China along with the OCSSRC delegation to seek opportunities for the county's businesses.

"We hope to learn more about common concerns, and new advancement in trade and practices ... and learn about the similarities we share with their sister communities in China, especially economic goals and interests," he said.

Many Clackamas County and Oregon businesses engage in trade with China, and the county leadership wants to support its local business community by understanding issues and concerns, as well as opportunities to further relationships and markets for businesses to be successful, he said.

Bernard noted that his county hopes to develop long-term relationships that will foster business development and tourism in Clackamas.

Stella Wei, A-dec marketing specialist, said the Shanghai expo is a government-led international business show serving as a bridge connecting China with the United States and the rest of the world in trade and economic exchanges.

"We will bring the best of our products to Chinese customers," she said, citing her company's A-dec 300 Radius System for dental care, which features pressure mapped, contoured surfaces and virtual pivot backs that ensure patient comfort and support.

She said the system is the only dental care product with a five-year guarantee on the market. "I hope our products will serve Chinese people as the potential of the Chinese dental care market is being tapped with a growing number of dentists working in the profession and booming private dentist clinics in the country."

OCSSRC Chairman Jin Lan said the CIIE highlights the Chinese government's determination to continue China's reform and open-up policy, which demonstrates to the U.S. business community that China remains open to their business opportunities and investment.

"This is a sharp contrast to the unilateral protectionism being pursued by the U.S. government," he said.

The OCSSRC's participation underpins the close cooperation and trade ties between China and Oregon, particularly in the fields of green energy and sustainable development.

"As global protectionism is rising gradually, the Shanghai expo is a good manifestation of American companies' confidence in the Chinese market," he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-27 20:32:02|Editor: Li Xia

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A Yemeni teacher enters a school in Sanaa, Yemen, on Oct. 27, 2018. Education has been one of the biggest casualties of the war in Yemen. "More than 135,000 Yemeni teachers have not received their salaries in more than two years," said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore in a press release on Oct.23. (Xinhua/Mohammed Mohammed)
NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES



VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 26, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Viva Gold Corp. (TSX-Venture: VAU; OTCBB: VAUCF) (the Company or Viva) is pleased to announce that it has closed the first tranche of the non-brokered Private Placement (the "Offering") announced September 13, 2018. In connection with the closing of the first tranche of the Offering, the Company issued an aggregate of 1,047,670 units (the "Units") at a price of CDN $0.37 per Unit for gross proceeds of CDN $382,783.50. Each Unit consists of one common share in the capital of the Company (a Share) and one whole transferable common share purchase warrant (each whole common share purchase warrant, a Warrant). Each whole Warrant is exercisable to acquire one Share at an exercise price of CDN $0.47 per Share until October 26, 2020 which is 24 months from the date of issuance. A total of 10 placees subscribed to the Offering in the first tranche. The Company expects to close the final tranche of the Offering in the coming weeks.

Insiders of the Company acquired an aggregate of 15,000 Units in the first tranche Offering, which participation constituted a "related party transaction" as defined under Multilateral Instrument 61-101 Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions (MI 61-101). Such participation is exempt from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 as neither the fair market value of the Units acquired by the insiders, nor the consideration for the Units paid by such insiders, exceed 25% of the Company's market capitalization. As required by MI 61-101, the Company advises that it expects to file a material change report relating to the Offering less than 21 days before completion of the Offering, which is necessary to complete the Offering in an expeditious manner and is reasonable in the circumstances.

The proceeds of the Offering will be used to perform drilling and metallurgical testing work at the Issuer's Tonopah Property, and for general working capital purposes.

The Company will pay aggregate finders fees on the first tranche of CDN $22,571 and issue 13,120 Units in connection with subscriptions from subscribers including those introduced to the Offering by Foster & Associates Financial Services Inc. and Haywood Securities Inc.

The securities issued under the Offering, and any Shares that may be issuable on exercise of any such securities, will be subject to a statutory hold period expiring four months and one day from the date of issuance of such securities. Closing of the Offering is subject to the acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange.

Viva Gold is a gold exploration and development company with a focus on Nevada. Viva holds 100% of the Tonopah Gold Project, a large land position with demonstrated high-grade measured, indicated and inferred gold resources, located on the prolific Walker Lane Trend in Nevada, 30 kilometers south-east of the Round Mountain mine of Kinross Gold and 20 kilometers from the Town of Tonopah. Vivas management team has extensive experience in mining exploration, development and production and are supported by a Board of Directors and advisors who are proven mine finders, deal makers and financiers. Viva trades on the TSX-V as VAU and on the OTCBB in the US as VAUCF. For additional information on Viva Gold and the Tonopah Gold Project, please visit our website: www.vivagoldcorp.com .

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as the term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy of this news release.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

Forward-Looking Information:
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-27 21:15:06|Editor: Li Xia

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ADDIS ABABA, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Despite the rapid growth of African economies over the last two decades, it will take a longer period of continued and robust comprehensive growth to pull large segment of the population out of vulnerability, new report revealed.

The 2017-2018 Annual Trends and Outlook Report (ATOR), which was published as part of a continental conference that was held at the headquarters of the African Union (AU) in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa from Oct. 24 to 26, also indicated that "despite falling poverty rates in Africa, the absolute number of poor and vulnerable is still high."

The report stressed that due to the broad deterioration of livelihoods in Africa over the years, longer period of continued growth is necessary to diminish vulnerability among larger portion of the continent's population.

It also revealed that countries across Africa are likely to experience growing demand for social protection in the near future, eventually creating increasing pressure on governments to respond to main social cohesion and stability.

It also urged for the introduction of social protection programs in Africa, arguing that growth alone would not be enough to help Africa meet the ambitious hunger and poverty reduction goals, including the 50-year Agenda 2063.

Eyasu Abraha, Ethiopia's Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, also said during the report launching addressing vulnerability needs of citizens' through social protection programs - such as Ethiopia's Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) - is vital.

The PSNP "has been among the most important policies from the government of Ethiopia in stimulating rapid reductions in poverty and food insecurity, and significant economic growth," Abraha said.

"Our experience shows that when correctly designed and implemented, and continuously evaluated, social protection programs can be a significant boon for African societies," he added.

The report, among other things, takes an in-depth look at current and future role of social protection among African countries.

It also provided additional research and analysis on how countries can combine social protection programs with other related development programs to create a greater overall impact.

The pan African bloc AU also noted the greater benefits of the report's findings in lifting the continent's population, with due emphasis given to modernizing the agriculture sector.

"As Africa embarks on the implementation of the Malabo Declaration commitments and Agenda 2063, we are convinced that this report will make a valuable contribution towards emphasizing the vital role that well-designed national social protection programs can play," said Josefa Sacko, AU Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-27 22:45:24|Editor: yan

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KATHMANDU, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- A senior police official and two others were killed in a road accident in Kavre district of central Nepal on Saturday, police said here.

A spokesperson of Nepal Police, Uttamraj Subedi, told Xinhua that Deputy Inspector General of the Nepal police Sushil Bhandari and two others were killed when the jeep they were traveling in slipped off the road and plunged some 500 meters down in Mandanpur municipality of Kavre district.

Senior police official Bhandari, who was seriously injured in the incident, breathed his last during treatment at a local hospital in Kavre, according to the spokesperson.

The senior police official was serving at Nepal Police Headquarters in the capital city Kathmandu.

In the same incident, three others have been seriously injured and their treatment is underway in the local hospital.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-27 23:40:35|Editor: yan

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WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- At least four people were shot dead on Saturday morning near a synagogue in Pittsburgh of Pennsylvania State of the United States and more casualties could be confirmed, according to reports by local media.

Local police asked residents to stay inside and avoid the area with the shooting still active.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-27 23:55:38|Editor: mmm

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SHENYANG, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Vice Premier Sun Chunlan has stressed the importance of tapping into the strength of education to serve the revitalization of northeast China during a recent inspection to the region.

The remarks were given when Sun made a research tour to Liaoning from Thursday to Saturday. She said it was important to boost the capability of serving economic and social development via education and lay a solid foundation for the revitalization of the northeast through modernizing the sector.

During her stay in Liaoning, Sun visited primary and middle schools, vocational and technical schools, as well as key labs and research and development institutions at universities, to get first-hand information about aspects, including training of personnel with technical skills, application of scientific and technological achievements.

She also presided over a symposium to discuss how to serve the revitalization of northeast China via education.

While urging government departments to spend more resources in education, Sun said education, closely linked to the development of science and technology as well as the supply of high-level work force, is vital for revitalizing the old industrial bases.

She also asked local governments to prioritize education and address the difficulties concerning application of advances in science and technology and construction of normal universities.

Enterprises should be encouraged to finance vocational education and great efforts should be made to train personnel with specific skills for service sectors, such as tourism, healthcare, and elderly care, she said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-28 00:05:39|Editor: yan

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TEHRAN, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Iran will offer crude oil to the private sector for export ahead of the U.S. sanctions on its energy sector set to take effect on Nov. 4, Financial Tribune daily reported Saturday.

Ali Hosseini, managing director of Iran Energy Exchange, told Financial Tribune that the decision by the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) to supply oil in the stock market is a turning point in Iran's key oil industry and its capital market.

Iran will start on Sunday to offer 1 million barrels of light crude oil on a daily basis, while the minimum volume of purchase will be 35,000 barrels, the report said.

The move aims at empowering domestic manufacturers and allowing bigger role for private enterprises, said NIOC.

A healthy and transparent venue will be established as part of the plan to exploit the potential of the non-government sectors in oil exports, NIOC said in a statement on Oct. 13.

U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew Washington from the Iranian international nuclear agreement in May and vowed to re-impose sanctions on Iran's financial, automotive, aviation and metal sectors.

The U.S. State Department has set Nov. 4 as the deadline for international oil buyers to stop all their oil purchases from Iran. Otherwise they will face U.S. punishments.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-28 00:30:42|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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LONDON, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will next month become the first ever German leader to lay flowers at the famous Whitehall Centotaph in London.

Steinmeier will also attend a Remembrance Sunday Service on Nov. 11 at Westminster Abbey in what 10 Downing Street describes a historic act of reconciliation to mark the centenary of the end in 1918 of the First World War.

Downing Street said the laying of a wreath at the Cenotaph by a German leader marks the significance of the centenary, 100 years after the guns fell silent on the Western Front after four years of war.

Prime Minister Theresa May said: "Remembrance Sunday gives all of us the chance to come together and remember the immense sacrifices made in war.

"I look forward to welcoming President Steinmeier to this year's ceremony where we will remember all the fallen and give thanks for peace. His attendance to lay a wreath at the Cenotaph shows the significance of this event, 100 years after the end of the First World War."

President Steinmeier, who will be the first ever leader from Britain's one-time foe to take part in the UK's remembrance event, will be among the 2,000 guests attending a Service at Westminster Abbey on the Sunday evening.

Britain's Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright said: "I am pleased that on this most important of days, we can come together with our German friends to mark reconciliation and the peace that exists between our two nations today. It is part of a fitting finale of our four year commemoration of the First World War Centenary."

This year's Remembrance Sunday will mark the culmination of the government's First World War centenary program. Over the past four years, the German State has been represented at all commemorative events including those to mark the Battles of Jutland, the Somme and Amiens.

Remembrance Sunday in Britain takes place on Nov. 11, with events across the country at wartime memorials. The biggest event is the national commemoration in Whitehall when the Royal Family, leading politicians, and dignitaries lay tributes at the national Centotaph. Usually people across Britain mark the end of World War One by observing a silence at the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month. Remembrance Sunday is usually held on the Sunday closest to November 11. This year, the centenary of the end of the war, falls on a Sunday.

The Royal British Legion, the charity caring for military veterans, said: "This year, with Remembrance Sunday falling on the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War, we expect a greater number of people to want to view the ceremony at the Cenotaph in London."

There will also be an additional event, the Nation's Thank You procession, taking place immediately after the Royal British Legion parade past the Cenotaph.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-28 00:40:44|Editor: yan

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ADDIS ABABA, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Police on Saturday announced the arrest of 10 suspects for masterminding illegal military training of local insurgents in western Ethiopia.

The suspects were said to be providing military training for locals in order to create havoc in Ethiopia's Benishangul Gumuz Regional State, according to state-run Ethiopian News Agency.

More than 50 people receiving illicit military training in the region were recently arrested.

Benishangul Gumuz Region Police Commissioner Nega Jare said the 10 suspects were recruiting local villagers and eventually train them to kill civilians and create havoc in the region.

The arrests were made amid a recent wave of violence, mainly triggered by ethnic differences, in towns across the region.

Last month, local authorities said about a dozen people were killed in clashes in the regional capital, Assosa, and its surroundings.

The state, located in western Ethiopia along the border with Sudan, hosts the country's largest development project, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which is under construction on the Blue Nile River.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-28 01:55:54|Editor: Liangyu

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DUBAI, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) looks forward to promoting pragmatic cooperation with China under comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries during the upcoming visit of Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan, UAE officials said.

Amel Al-Muhairi, an official at the UAE Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development, said she believes Wang's visit, scheduled from Oct. 28 to 30, will bring the partnership between China and the UAE in various fields to a new level.

"We're certainly making a new and huge step into the future in our ties with China. This relation is not only based on economic interests and political understandings but also has a strong foundation of mutual respect and trust," said Muhairi.

She hopes that more Chinese tourists will travel to the UAE to feel the country's hospitality.

"We need to create more people-to-people interaction. We need more exchanges, with more Chinese tourists coming to the UAE and more Emiratis going to China to experience its amazing ancient culture and history," the UAE official noted.

Ayesha Al-Balooshi, an official at the UAE Ministry of Economy, said her country seeks to "strengthen the strategic partnership and bilateral cooperation in various sectors with China."

According to Balooshi, there are currently 200,000 Chinese nationals living in the UAE and 4,000 trading companies operating in the country.

"Hence, we seek to build long-term economic, cultural, trade and investment ties with China," she noted.

Saeed Al-Hefeiti, media manager of Fujairah Culture and Media Authority, said the upcoming visit of the Chinese vice president embodies China's support for the UAE economic and social development as well as its amity toward the UAE people.

"We would like to thank the Chinese leaders and the Chinese people for supporting the cooperation in all fields and overcoming all obstacles in all aspects," said Hefeiti, who is using his spare time to learn Chinese at the Confucius Institute at the University of Dubai.

Ishraq Al-Khuffash, a senior journalist in the UAE, said Wang's visit sends a strong message that "the friendship between China and UAE is at its best in history."

"We are expecting to see this friendly relationship getting closer and closer with more tangible benefits to both," he noted.

"We should grab this significant opportunity to deliver more plans and projects, and find more creative ways to maximize the advantages of the two countries," Khuffash added.

Hamad Al Kaabi, editor-in-chief of Alittihad Newspaper in the UAE, referred to Wang's visit as a demonstration of the deep strategic partnership between the two countries.

China and the UAE share similar development ideas and policy goals, including mutual respect in politics and diplomacy, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, peaceful solution to disputes and commitment to regional and global peace, stability and safety, Kaabi said.

The UAE also supports China's Belt and Road Initiative, as an important partner of the initiative in the Middle East, he noted.

The Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by China in 2013, refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, which aim at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient trade routes of the Silk Road.

The high-level visits between the UAE and China will help bring the cooperation intentions into practice with tangible benefits for both countries, Kaabi concluded.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-28 01:55:54|Editor: yan

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and French President Emmanuel Macron (from L to R) pose for a photo during the four-way summit on Syria in Istanbul, Turkey, on Oct. 27, 2018. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday said the four-way summit ended with a call for a full-scale cease-fire to halt the bloodshed in Syria. (Xinhua/Anadolu Agency)

ISTANBUL, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday said the four-way summit ended with a call for a full-scale cease-fire to halt the bloodshed in Syria.

"We had a fruitful and sincere consultation during the summit," Erdogan said at the joint press conference following the quadrilateral summit in Istanbul.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and French President Emmanuel Macron joined the summit hosted by Erdogan to discuss the ways for a long lasting political solution for Syria.

Erdogan noted that the leaders called for the completion of the constitution committee's process in Syria as soon as possible.

Syrian constitutional committee will be functional by the end of the year, Putin noted.

The leaders in their joint statement also reaffirmed their strongest opposition to the use of chemical weapons by any party in Syria.

Macron said for his part that the use of chemical weapons both in the region and other parts of the world is unacceptable regardless of the users.

He also noted that an attack conducted by the Syrian government in Idlib would be unacceptable, as it will enhance risks for terrorists to flee and spread and create a new influx of refugees.

Merkel underlined the necessity of initiating a political process which aims for a free and fair election in Syria that is open to all Syrians, including the diaspora.

"We committed ourselves to doing everything to achieve a sustainable, permanent cease-fire in Idlib," Merkel said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-28 02:00:55|Editor: yan

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WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- A shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, U.S. state of Pennsylvania, on Saturday caused "multiple casualties," local authorities said.

Three officers were shot at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood.

The gunman, a heavy-set white male with a beard, surrendered and is in custody, police said.

Local CBS affiliate KDKA reported that eight people were killed and identified the gunman as Robert Bowers.

CNN said at least 12 people have been shot, citing a law enforcement official.

A spokesman for the Pittsburgh Police Department said officers were still carrying out searches at the synagogue in the city's eastern Squirrel Hill neighborhood.

The synagogue is located at the intersection of Wilkins and Shady avenues. The neighborhood of Squirrel Hill, about 10 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh, is the hub of the city's Jewish community.

The synagogue offers members a "traditional Conservative service with a modern sense of family" and shabbat service on 9:45 a.m. Saturdays, according to the Tree of Life's website.

Carengie Mellon University, a college near the synagogue, is on lockdown.

"Police operations are ongoing. Avoid the Squirrel Hill/Shadyside area," the university's police tweeted.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he was watching the incident.

"Looks like multiple fatalities. Beware of active shooter," the president tweeted.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf tweeted that the situation is "serious" and encouraged citizens to stay away from the area.


The Secret to Aging Well? Contentment



Despite having many friends in their 70s, 80s and 90s, Ive been far too slow to realize that how we respond to aging is a choice made in the mind, not in the gym.



By Robert W. Goldfarb





CreditCreditRobert Nicol





At 88, I remain a competitive runner, always sprinting the last hundred yards of a race to cross the finish line with nothing left to give. The finish line of my life is drawing close, and I hope to reach it having given the best of myself along the way. Ive been training my body to meet the demands of this final stretch. But, I wonder, should I have asked more of my mind?



I have no trouble taking my body to a gym or starting line. Ive done a good job convincing myself that if I didnt exercise, I would unleash the many predators that seek their elderly prey on couches, but not on treadmills. The more I sweated, the more likely it was my internist would continue to exclaim, Keep doing what youre doing, and Ill see you next year. It was my way of keeping at bay the dreaded: Mr. Goldfarb, Im afraid I have some bad news.



My mind, on the other hand, seems less willing to yield to discipline, behaving as though it has a mind of its own. I have dabbled in internet brain games, solving algebraic problems flashing past and rerouting virtual trains to avoid crashes. Ive audited classes at a university, and participated in a neurofeedback assessment of my brains electrical impulses. But these are only occasional diversions, never approaching my determination to remain physically fit as I move deeper into old age.



Despite having many friends in their 70s, 80s and 90s, Ive been far too slow to realize that how we respond to aging is a choice made in the mind, not in the gym.

Some of my healthiest friends carry themselves as victims abused by time. They see life as a parade of disappointments: aches and ailments, confusing technology, children who dont visit, hurried doctors.



Other friends, many whose aching knees and hips are the least of their physical problems, find comfort in their ability to accept old age as just another stage of life to deal with. I would use the word heroic to describe the way they cope with aging as it drains strength from their minds and bodies, though they would quickly dismiss such a term as overstatement.





One such friend recently called from a hospital to tell me a sudden brain seizure had rendered him legally blind. He interrupted me as I began telling him how terribly sorry I was: Bob, it could have been worse. I could have become deaf instead of blind.



Despite all the time I spend lifting weights and exercising, I realized I lack the strength to have said those words. It suddenly struck me Ive paid a price for being a gym rat.



If there is one characteristic common to friends who are aging with a graceful acceptance of lifes assaults, it is contentment. Some with life-altering disabilities  my blind friend, another with two prosthetic legs  are more serene and complain less than those with minor ailments. They accept the uncertainties of old age without surrendering to them. A few have told me that the wisdom theyve acquired over the years has made aging easier to navigate than the chaos of adolescence.

It was clear I lacked, and had to find, the contentment those friends had attained. The hours I spent exercising had given me confidence, but not contentment.



The 30-pound weight I no longer attempt to lift reminds me that not far off is the day when lifting anything, or running anywhere, will be asking too much of my body. My brain would have to become the muscle I counted on to carry me through these final years with the peace and purpose others had found. Aging had to be more than what I saw in a mirror.



But rather than overhauling my life completely in the hopes of undertaking a fundamental change in the way I confronted aging, I felt the place to begin would be to start small, adopting a new approach to situations I encountered every day. A recent lunch provided a perfect example.



Ive always found it extremely difficult to concentrate when Im in a noisy setting. At this lunch with a friend in an outdoor restaurant, a landscaper began blowing leaves from underneath the bushes surrounding our table.



Typically, after such a noisy interruption, I would have snapped, Lets wait until hes finished! then fallen silent. When the roar eventually subsided, my irritation would have drained the conversation of any warmth. The lunch would be remembered for my angry reaction to the clamor, and not for any pleasure it gave the two of us.



It troubled me that even a passing distraction could so easily take me from enjoying lunch with a good friend to a place that gave me no pleasure at all. I wanted this meal to be different and decided to follow the example of friends my age who know they are running out of joyous moments and will let nothing interfere with them. They simply speak louder, accepting the noise for what it is, a temporary irritant.



My years in gyms had taught me to shake off twinges and other distractions, never permitting them to stop my workout or run. I decided to treat the noise as though it were a cramp experienced while doing crunches. I would shake it off instead of allowing it to end our conversation.

I continued talking with my friend, challenging myself to hear the noise, but to hold it at a distance. The discipline so familiar to me in the gym  this time applied to my mind  proved equally effective in the restaurant. It was as though I had taken my brain to a mental fitness center.



Learning to ignore a leaf blowers roar hardly equips me to find contentment during my passage into ever-deeper old age. But I left the lunch feeling I had at least taken a small first step in changing behavior that stood in the way of that contentment.





Could I employ that same discipline to accept with dignity the inevitable decline awaiting me: frailty, memory lapses, dimming sound and sight, the passing of friends and the looming finish line? Churning legs and a pounding heart had taken me part of the way. But now the challenge was to find that contentment within me. Hoping that contentment will guide me as I make my way along the path yet to be traveled.





Robert W. Goldfarb is a management consultant and the author of Whats Stopping Me From Getting Ahead?
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-28 03:11:06|Editor: yan

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UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday condemned attacks against UN peacekeepers in Mali, said his spokesman.

Preliminary reports indicate that an attack in Ber in the Timbuktu region resulted in two peacekeepers from Burkina Faso killed and 11 others injured. Four peacekeepers from Togo were injured in a separate attack in Konna, Mopti, said Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman, in a statement.

Guterres extended his heartfelt condolences and sympathies to the families of the victims and to the government of Burkina Faso. He also expressed solidarity to the government of Togo. He wished a speedy recovery to the injured peacekeepers, said the statement.

Attacks targeting UN peacekeepers may constitute war crimes under international law and that the perpetrators must be brought to justice, it said.

Guterres reiterated the United Nations' solidarity with the government and people of Mali and its determination to support their efforts toward the stabilization of the country, said the statement.
An ambulance departs the Tree of Life synagogue following shooting at the synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S., October 27, 2018. (Xinhua/Reuters)

WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- A shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, U.S. state of Pennsylvania, on Saturday morning resulted in "multiple fatalities and six injuries," local authorities said.

Four of those injured were police officers, three of whom were shot, at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood, according to a tweet by the Pittsburgh Public Safety Department.

Local CBS affiliate KDKA reported that eight people have been killed.

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center system said multiple victims from the shooting are being treated.

Police said the gunman, a heavy-set white male with a beard, surrendered and is in custody.

Multiple news outlets identified the shooter as Robert Bowers, a 46-year-old man from Pittsburgh. His social media posts were reportedly rife with anti-Semitic content.

Police sources told KDKA that the gunman opened fire while yelling "All Jews must die."

The shooting will be prosecuted as a hate crime and the FBI will be leading the investigation, City of Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich told reporters.

The synagogue is located at the intersection of Wilkins and Shady avenues. The neighborhood of Squirrel Hill, about 10 minutes of drive from downtown Pittsburgh, is the hub of the city's Jewish community.

The synagogue offers members a "traditional Conservative service with a modern sense of family" and shabbat service on 9:45 a.m. Saturdays, according to the Tree of Life's website.

U.S. President Donald Trump called the shooting "devastating", as he spoke to reporters at Andrews Air Force Base in state of Maryland before traveling to Indianapolis, state of Indiana, for an event.

"It's a 'terrible thing what's going on with hate in our country," he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was heartbroken, describing the attack at the Pittsburgh synagogue as "horrendous anti-Semitic brutality."
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-28 05:21:33|Editor: Yamei

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WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- At least 11 people were killed and six others were injured after a gunman opened fire Saturday morning inside a synagogue in Pittsburgh, U.S. state of Pennsylvania, a city official said.

No children were among the fatalities and the six injured include four police officers but do not include the suspect, Wendell Hissrich, Pittsburgh's public safety director, told a press conference.

The initial call to 911 was made around 9:54 a.m. local time and officers were dispatched to the scene within a minute, Hissrich said.

The shooting occurred at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood.

Police said the gunman, a heavy-set white male with a beard, surrendered and is in custody. The shooting occurred during a baby-naming ceremony at the synagogue, according to reports.

Attorney for Pennsylvania's Western District Scott Brady confirmed the suspect is Robert Bowers, reportedly a 46-year-old man from Pittsburgh.

Bowers' social media posts were reportedly rife with anti-Semitic content.

Brady said Bowers' actions "represent the worst of humanity" and criminal charges against him could be filed as early as Saturday.

Police sources told local CBS affiliate KDKA that the gunman opened fire while yelling "all Jews must die."

The suspect was armed with what appeared to be an assault rifle and at least three handguns.

Investigators believe the gunman was acting alone but his full motive still isn't known, said Bob Jones, the special agent in charge of the FBI's office in Pittsburgh.

Jones said the scene of Saturday's shooting at the synagogue was "the most horrific crime scene" he has seen" in 22 years with the FBI.

The shooting will be prosecuted as a hate crime and the FBI will be leading the investigation, Hissrich said earlier in the day.

The synagogue is located at the intersection of Wilkins and Shady avenues. The neighborhood of Squirrel Hill, about 10 minutes of drive from downtown Pittsburgh, is the hub of the city's Jewish community.

The synagogue offers members a "traditional Conservative service with a modern sense of family" and shabbat service on 9:45 a.m. Saturdays, according to the Tree of Life's website.

Between 50 and 60 worshippers would be there on an average Saturday morning, according to a spokesman for the Jewish community in Pittsburgh.

U.S. President Donald Trump told a rally in Indianapolis, state of Indiana, on Saturday that "there must be no tolerance for anti-Semitism."

"This was an anti-Semitic act," Trump said. "This wicked act of mass murder is pure evil, hard to believe, and, frankly, something that is unimaginable."

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday strongly condemned the shooting at the synagogue in Pittsburgh, said his spokesman.

Guterres was shocked at the bloody shooting that killed 11 people. He expressed his deepest condolences to the families of the victims, said Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman, in a statement.

"The shooting in Pittsburgh is a painful reminder of continuing anti-Semitism. Jews across the world continue to be attacked for no other reason than their identity. Anti-Semitism is a menace to democratic values and peace, and should have no place in the 21st century," said the statement.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-28 05:51:38|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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Irish President Michael D. Higgins (1st L) waves to his supporters after he was re-elected as the president in Dublin, Ireland, on Oct. 27, 2018. Michael D. Higgins has been re-elected as the president of Ireland in the country's 2018 presidential election, announced Barry Ryan, Returning Officer of Presidential Election and Referendum Office here on Saturday night. (Xinhua)

DUBLIN, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Michael D. Higgins has been re-elected as the president of Ireland in the country's 2018 presidential election, announced Barry Ryan, Returning Officer of Presidential Election and Referendum Office here on Saturday night.

The support rate that Higgins received from the voters in Friday's election stood at 55.8 percent, far ahead of those for five other presidential candidates, according to the election results announced by the returning officer.

Peter Casey, a businessman, received 23.25 percent of the votes in his favour, almost 33 percentage points lower than that bagged by Higgins, followed by Sean Gallagher, a second-time runner for the presidential election (6.41 percent); Liadh Ni Riada, a Sinn Fein candidate (6.37 percent); Senator Joan Freeman (5.96 percent); and Gavin Duffy, a businessman (2.18 percent).

The results announced Saturday were basically in line with the public expectations. Both opinion polls conducted prior to the election and an exit poll published shortly after the conclusion of Friday's election revealed that Higgins would win his second term as the Irish president. Higgin's decision to seek his second term had also received the support from three major political parties in the country, namely the ruling party Fine Gael, Finna Fail, the second largest party in Ireland, and Labor Party.

In Ireland, a newly elected president will be sworn in on the day following the expiry of the term of office of the preceding president.

Higgins was sworn in as Irish president on Nov. 11, 2011. He is the ninth Irish president and also the second president in Ireland, who has been re-elected.

According to Irish laws, the president can not serve more than two terms and each term lasts for seven years.

The 77-year-old Higgins is a famous poet and politician in Ireland. He had served as the president of Labor Party and a government minister in charge of arts and culture in his decades-long political life.

During the 2018 presidential campaigns, some candidates had challenged Higgins by saying that he might be too old to fulfil his duty. But Higgins said that one should not be judged on ages but on cognitive ability. He said he is perfectly fit and has quitted smoking, drinking and has hired a Yoga teacher.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-28 06:26:47|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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DAMASCUS, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- At least 70 fighters with the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have been killed and 100 others wounded over the past 24 hours as a result of a counter-offensive by the extremist Islamic State (IS) in eastern Syria, a war monitor reported Saturday.

The IS counter-offensive against the SDF has started on Friday and continued Saturday, during which the terror-designated group recaptured areas it had lost to the SDF during an ongoing military showdown in the last IS-held pocket in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour in eastern Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the warplanes of the U.S.-led coalition, which is backing the SDF in its push to defeat IS on the eastern bank of Euphrates River, could not support the SDF in confronting the IS attack due to the bad weather conditions.

The Britain-based watchdog group said around 4,000 IS militants are located in a few towns in eastern Deir al-Zour near the Iraqi border.

The IS counter-attack targeted areas the SDF have recently captured in the towns of Souseh and Baghous, both located in the last IS-held pocket on the eastern bank of Euphrates River.

The IS recaptured large swathes of Souseh and Baghous, said the observatory.

The IS started its offensive by sending suicide car bombs to target the SDF positions, taking advantage also of the bad weather.

It was the most violent attack by IS against the SDF since the beginning of 2017, said the observatory, adding that tens of the SDF fighters had gone missing during the IS attack.

The SDF has started its operation in eastern Deir al-Zour on Sept. 10 with the help of the U.S.-led coalition.

The defensive tactics of the IS, such as landmines and suicide bombings, and the bad weather conditions, have contributed to slowing down the operation despite the fact that the Kurdish-led SDF managed to capture several positions from the IS in Hajin and the town of Souseh.

The Syrian army has cleared IS militants from large swathes of areas in Deir al-Zour, while the SDF is attempting to consolidate positions in the strategic oil-rich northern and northeastern countryside of the province near the Iraqi border.

The Syrian government has for long accused the U.S.-led coalition of supporting IS under the table while pretending to be fighting it publicly.

The government has even accused the United States of committing massacres in Deir al-Zour, where 63 people have been killed this week as a result of the coalition's airstrikes on IS-held areas in Deir al-Zour.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-28 07:11:52|Editor: xuxin

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Chinese Consul General in Houston Li Qiangmin delivers a speech at the 12th annual friendship ambassador award gala by the U.S.-China Peoples Friendship Association (USCPFA) Houston Chapter in Houston, Texas, the United States, Oct. 26, 2018. China and the United States should work together to ensure the sustained and healthy development of bilateral relations, Chinese Consul General in Houston Li Qiangmin said Friday night. (Xinhua/Liu Liwei)

HOUSTON, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- China and the United States should work together to ensure the sustained and healthy development of bilateral relations, Chinese Consul General in Houston Li Qiangmin said Friday night.

Delivering a speech at the 12th annual friendship ambassador award gala by the U.S.-China Peoples Friendship Association (USCPFA) Houston Chapter, Li said the sound and steady development of China-U.S. relations serves the fundamental interest of the two peoples and meets the expectation of the international community.

Next year marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of China-U.S. diplomatic relations. Looking back into history, Li said the normalization of bilateral relationship made China integrate into the international community and China's development also delivered tangible benefits to the United States.

Referring to the recent trade disputes between the two countries, Li said, "It is natural for China and the U.S. to have differences. The key is how we should address them." He emphasized that the two sides should build a relationship featuring "non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation."

This year's friendship ambassador award was presented to Ed Gonzalez, the Harris county sheriff in Texas.

Founded in 1974, the USCPFA is a non-profit educational organization with the goal of developing and strengthening friendship and understanding between the peoples of the United States and China.
Juanita Jones-Wible arranges photos of her daughter Amanda, at her home in Philadelphia. Read more

The harassment began when Amanda Wible was in elementary school in Northeast Philadelphia: Classmates called her names and ostracized her for being different, the kind of kid who dressed in loose clothes and didn't conform to society's idea of what a little girl should look or act like.

It started with name-calling  "A-man-duh"  and escalated to physical attacks over nearly a decade at four different Philadelphia public schools. Wible was punched, shoved, spit on, even beaten by as many as 10 students at once, according to court records.

Wible eventually fled the district, enrolling in cyber school to escape the bullies who tormented her and the adults who let it happen. In May, a Philadelphia Common Pleas Court judge ordered the Philadelphia School District to pay Wible $500,000 in damages.

It was the first time a court has held a Pennsylvania school district liable for student-on-student harassment under the state's Human Relations Act, in what experts call a "landmark" decision that could have broad implications for other bullied children and the systems that educate them.

The district has challenged the ruling, arguing that Amanda was not the victim of systemic bullying, that what she experienced wasn't discriminatory or gender-based, and that it shouldn't be held liable under the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act.

Lee Whack, the district's spokesperson, said he could not comment on the litigation but said the school system's policies are clear, aiming not just to address incidents of bullying but to foster environments where such harassment doesn't happen.

"We take any report of bullying very seriously," Whack said in a statement. "Bullying has been impacting communities nationwide, and we are committed to confronting it head on."

Once considered a schoolyard rite of passage, bullying has stoked a national conversation and captured the attention of lawmakers and courts. In the U.S., at least one in four students is bullied at school, federal statistics show. At least 70 percent of students say they have seen bullying at school. And the proliferation of social media  and cyberbullying  has intensified the scrutiny on how, how often, and how viciously students can taunt their peers.

Most states have bullying laws on the books, but their content and enforcement varies. And the legal ground is still uneven. In 1999, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that schools could be held liable for failing to stop peer-to-peer sexual harassment. In 2007, New Jersey's Supreme Court held the Toms River School District responsible in the case of a student who was bullied because he was gay. Five years later, a Missouri appellate court made a similar ruling in the case of a Kansas City student who was sexually harassed at school.

But before Wible's case, there were no such protections in Pennsylvania. In the past, school districts have successfully argued that the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act, typically invoked in employment situations, does not protect children from student-on-student bullying based on race, gender, or any other "protected class" status. In fact, before Wible's case was decided, a trial court said the law did not protect a gender-nonconforming boy who was bullied and eventually sexually assaulted at Bryant Elementary in West Philadelphia. (That decision is being appealed.)

The Philadelphia-based Education Law Center, a nonprofit, often hears from students like Wible who are being bullied with little or no intervention from adults, said Lizzy Wingfield, a lawyer there. If it stands, this judgment changes the landscape for them, she said.

"This sends a vital message home to school districts," said Wingfield. "It's clear under state law now: This is not OK."

School got horrible

Wible is 20 now, a college student studying English and creative writing at the University of South Wales, over 3,000 miles from home.

But her experiences in Philadelphia schools still underpin everything, she said in an interview, the first time she's spoken publicly.

At Pollock Elementary, where Wible enrolled in 2003, the problems began with schoolyard taunts. She could shake them off at first  she was smart, a gifted writer who loved to learn and devoured books.

"It was mostly name-calling; kids would talk about how I looked, and the fact that I dressed like a boy," said Wible. "But it got worse. School got horrible; I never wanted to go. The classroom situation was too stressful to be in."

By the time Wible was in fifth grade, the harassment turned physical, she said. Both Wible and her mother, Juanita Jones-Wible, alerted school officials, who once suspended an older male student who terrorized Amanda. But his behavior persisted, according to court records, and the authorities failed to act beyond the single suspension.

"We just hit wall after wall," said Jones-Wible.

Eventually, Jones-Wible removed her daughter from Pollock, transferring her to AMY at James Martin, a middle school in Port Richmond. Things worsened there.

"It started almost right away  name-calling, pushing, shoving. I'd be hit; I'd have things stolen from me," Wible said. "I'd report things all the time, and they'd tell me: 'Ignore them. It will stop. We'll talk to them.' "

Once, a large group of students physically attacked Wible, according to court records; administrators blamed the attack on Wible and suspended her. She began having panic attacks.

The story was similar at Baldi Middle School in the Northeast, where she transferred next, and at George Washington High School, where Wible began ninth grade. Lunch trays were thrown at her, and she would have to clean up the mess. She made a friend, but classmates insisted the pair were dating, Wible said.

"The boys would try to shove us together and tell us to give them a show," she said. "They'd tell us to kiss."

The harassment shaped Wible's life, and it shaped her mother's  the worrying, the ferrying her daughter to doctor's appointments, the trying to find after-school outlets so Wible would have something to look forward to.

That the harassment went on for so long, and at so many schools, still mystifies Jones-Wible.

"If those things had happened in an office, the people who harassed my daughter would be arrested," said Jones-Wible. "The school district should not be exempt from following the laws that govern our society. Nobody should have to send their kids into that situation."

Judge Gene D. Cohen, in his ruling, found that "the school district acted with deliberate indifference to the discrimination and bullying suffered by Amanda."

Eventually, she withdrew from Washington, transferring to a cyber charter to finish out 10th, 11th, and 12th grades.

"I was able to get my classwork done," Wible said. "There wasn't anybody to ruin the experience for me."

An ocean away

After high school graduation, in 2016, Wible wanted to put an ocean between herself and Philadelphia. In Wales, there's no chance she'll run into anyone she knew back home.

As a result of the bullying, Wible still suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety. She has had suicidal thoughts and engaged in self-harm. She still has trouble trusting authority figures, even friends.

"Amanda feels like it's her against the world," her mother said. "She's so many miles away, but I want her to be where she feels safe."

Reliving the harassment through her complaint, first filed with the state Human Relations Commission in 2013 and the court in 2015, was painful, Wible said, but it served a purpose.

"It can help people," she said. "That was the point. I hope they pay a lot more attention to bullying. I hope they take it a lot more seriously."
A former Rutgers University student was ordered by a federal judge in Trenton on Friday to pay $8.6 million in restitution for his role in launching an internet attack on the university's computer network, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said.

Paras Jha, 22, of Fanwood in North Jersey, had previously pleaded guilty to violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act for using a malware attack on Rutgers from November 2014 to September 2016. Jha also was sentenced Friday by U.S. District Judge Michael Shipp to six months of home incarceration.

The "Mirai" malware used in the Rutgers attack was later deployed in worldwide attacks for financial gain.

Jha and two others pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges late last year in federal court in Alaska for those latter assaults that knocked down thousands of websites. Jha and the others have cooperated with FBI on cybercrime investigations. Their sentences last month included 2,500 hours of community service to be spent continuing their cooperation with the FBI.
File photo of the Wanaque Center For Nursing And Rehabilitation. Read more

New Jersey health officials confirmed late Friday that an eighth child has died at the North Jersey medical facility where seven patients, most of them children, earlier succumbed to a viral infection.

The New Jersey Health Department said that laboratory tests were not yet available to confirm whether the child was infected with adenovirus, which has been blamed for the deaths of seven "medically fragile" pediatric patients at the Wanaque Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation in Haskell, Passaic County.

So far, there have been 23 confirmed adenovirus cases. The latest death occurred late Friday afternoon.

The 227-bed for-profit facility cares for gravely ill children and adults, many of whom use wheelchairs and must breathe and eat through tubes.

While the cases are labeled pediatric, at least one victim was as old as 22, which is still defined as pedaitric at the facility, the Associated Press reported.
Rabbi Arthur Waskow and Barbara Breitman sing songs in Philadelphia's Rittenhouse Square during a vigil for the victims of the shooting at The Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh. Read more

Hours after shots first rang out Saturday morning at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh, many Philadelphia-area Jews had not even heard the news.

Their phones had been turned off as they gathered for Shabbat service. Told for the first time, some reacted with sadness, anger, and despair upon learning of the shooting that left a reported 11 people dead and six others injured.

"It's tragic," Rabbi Jonathan Bienenfeld from Young Israel in Cherry Hill said. "It's just frightening. Unfortunately, these shootings have become common. We're sad whenever there is loss of life."

Bienenfeld, who was told of the shooting by a reporter, was leading a group of adults and children on a half-mile walk in the rain along Cooper Landing Road to services at Congregation Sons of Israel, an Orthodox synagogue also in Cherry Hill.

It particularly hits home when victims are targeted from the same religion, he said.

At Sons of Israel, a large sedan blocked the driveway entrance during services. Bienenfeld said that the congregation has worked for years with Cherry Hill police on security.

"We have extra security already," he said.

>> READ MORE: New Jersey church adds armed police for Mass following school shootings

At the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, the security director was in constant contact Saturday with Philadelphia police, suburban agencies, and the Secure Community Network  a security coalition funded by Jewish federations nationwide and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Though the immediate threat seemed to have passed, security remained on high alert, said Steven Rosenberg, the group's chief marketing officer.

"But they're taking every precaution because you just don't know," Rosenberg said.

At Temple Beth Sholom, also in Cherry Hill, a security guard patrolled outside as services were ending. But the extra security was nothing new for the synagogue.

Barry Sherman was leaving services and was angered by the news.

"Let me just say there's been a rise of anti-Semitism the past two years," Sherman said.

He cited the violence in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017 as an example, and what he said was the president's failure to more forcefully condemn the leaders of the Unite the Right rally.

Trump condemned the Pittsburgh shootings in comments to reporters.

"It's a terrible, terrible thing what's going on with hate in our country, frankly, and all over the world, and something has to be done," the president said.

Jewish members of the Pennsylvania House quickly condemned the violence.

"We are shocked, horrified and deeply saddened by the tragic shooting today at the Tree of Life synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh," said the statement by State Reps. Robert Freeman, of Northampton, Michael Schlossberg, of Lehigh, and Jared Solomon, of Philadelphia. " And for it to occur in a synagogue on the Sabbath is all the more heartbreaking, that someone would take the holiest of days to murder innocent worshipers."

Rabbi Deborah Waxman, of the Wyncote-based Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, whose 95 affiliates include the Dor Hadash congregation at the site of the Pittsburgh shooting, believed some members of that community might be among the victims.

"I am waiting to hear. This may unfold even more terribly," she said Saturday evening.

Waxman bemoaned what she considers a deteriorating discourse in the country, adding that "racists and white supremacists have been emboldened, and we see that online and in speech."

Nancy Baron-Baer, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League of Philadelphia, said, "There is a divisiveness in our society today that was greater than existed a number of years ago."

Baron-Baer said there was a 57 percent leap in anti-Semitic incidents nationally from 2016 to 2017, and 43 percent higher in Pennsylvania.

"Certainly an event like this increases the fear that Jews feel for their safety when they go to religious services or other Jewish community events," Baron-Baer said. "But I also think it strikes fear in the hearts and minds of people of other faiths and beliefs."

Shira Goodman, executive director of CeaseFire PA., who is Jewish, said she knows a lot of people in the Squirrel Hill community where the shootings took place. CeaseFire PA focuses on preventing gun violence.

"It did hit me in a different way," Goodman said. "But it's no different than the church shootings and movie-theater shootings we've seen. It doesn't have to be this way. "

Rachel Ezekiel-Fishbein, a public relations professional in the Philadelphia area, said she had posted on Facebook on Saturday, wondering how people were dealing with "the horror that's been going on in this country." That was before she had learned of the Pittsburgh shootings.

Once she knew of them, "I felt horror, an intense, intense sadness. And I think it's grown from that into shock and disbelief," she said. "The synagogue is where you go to feel peace and warmth and to connect with God, your community, and yourself."

Staff writers Patricia Madej and Tom Avril contributed to this article.
People embrace along the street in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh where a shooter opened fire during services at the Tree of Life Synagogue on Saturday, Oct. 27, 2018. Read more

This is a developing story, please check back for details.

Eleven people were dead at a conservative Pittsburgh synagogue Saturday after a 46-year-old man, armed with an assault rifle and three handguns, burst into morning services firing shots and calling out anti-Semitic statements, law enforcement officials said.

FBI officials said the suspect, Robert Bowers, was not known to law enforcement before Saturday and was believed to have acted alone, but that agencies remained on high alert as Pittsburghers planned nighttime vigils to honor the victims. Bob Jones, special agent in charge of the agency's Pittsburgh office, said were it not for the fast action by city and county law enforcement, the death toll would have been "much worse."

"The actions this person took today were hateful," Jones said at a Saturday afternoon news briefing. "This is the most horrific crime scene I've seen in 22 years at the FBI."

President Trump, in Indianapolis for a farming convention, said Saturday afternoon that the nation would unite against the tragedy. Earlier in the day, he suggested that if the synagogue had armed guards, the killings might have been prevented.

"With one unified voice we condemn the historic evil of anti-Semitism and every other form of evil," the president said. "And unfortunately evil comes in many forms and we come together as one American people."

Federal authorities said they were treating the shooting, reported to emergency dispatchers at 9:54 a.m., as a hate crime.

"This was an unspeakable act of hate," said Scott W. Brady, the U.S. Attorney for Western Pennsylvania. "Please note that justice in this case will be swift, and it will be severe."

Six people were injured in the incident at the Tree of Life synagogue, including four police officers, of whom three were shot, said Wendell Hissrich, director of Pittsburgh's Department of Public Safety. Among the victims was a 70-year-old man who was shot multiple times in the torso and was in critical condition, officials said.

Law enforcement officials were joined at the news briefing by Gov. Wolf, who pledged unity and called for action.

"Any attack on one community of faith in Pennsylvania is an attack on every community of faith in Pennsylvania," the governor said. "We must take action to prevent these tragedies in the future. We simply cannot accept this violence as a normal part of American life."

In Philadelphia, organizers were planning a vigil of solidarity in Rittenhouse Square, scheduled for 8 p.m., while another was scheduled for 7 p.m. at Congregation Tifereth Israel in Bensalem.

The suspect in the shooting was brought into custody after he had been inside the synagogue for 20 minutes, the FBI's Jones said. But the scene remained chaotic afterward in the western Pennsylvania city.

"There are multiple casualties. Neighbors are advised to shelter in place and stay in their homes and lock their doors," Pittsburgh Police Commander Jason Lando told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette shortly before 11 a.m.

What happened

Shortly before 11 a.m., the Pittsburgh Public Safety Twitter account warned of an active shooter in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood. The gunfire erupted at Tree of Life during a baby-naming ceremony, according to the Post-Gazette.

The alleged shooter made anti-Semitic statements during the shooting, CNN reported.

In an update around 1:30 p.m. sharing a hotline number for victim family members, Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto said there were "multiple fatalities," with six wounded, including four police officers.

Gov. Wolf announced that a shooter was in custody shortly before noon Saturday.

"It sounded like a loud crash in the hallway," Stephen Weiss of Squirrel Hill told the Post-Gazette, who was at the synagogue Saturday morning.

Tyler Pepper, 21, reported hearing several gunshots around 9:45 a.m., the paper reported.

"It was kind of a surreal moment," he said, later adding that the gunshots sounded like a long gun.

Whats known about the suspect

The gunman, who was barricaded inside the synagogue, then surrendered to police and was taken to the hospital, where he was listed in fair condition with multiple gunshot wounds, Hissrich said.

The Post-Gazette reports that local officers and agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrived at a small apartment building on the same street where Bowers may have previously lived according to online records. Allegheny County's bomb squad also arrived at the scene.

Whats known about the synagogue

Tree of Life is more than 150 years old, according to its website, and calls itself a "conservative congregation" that is "also progressive and relevant to the way we live today."

"From our warm, inviting and intellectually stimulating atmosphere to our fun adult, children and family programs, it's the perfect environment to grow a strong faith rooted in tradition," it said. A Shabbat service is held at 9:45 a.m. on Saturdays.

The rabbi, Hazzan Jeffrey Myers, is a Rutgers University graduate who previously worked at a synagogue in Ventnor, N.J., now called Shirat Hayam.

Local response

Gov. Wolf arrived in Pittsburgh early Saturday afternoon. An earlier update from the governor noted that state police were assisting local officials.

"These senseless acts of violence are not who we are as Americans," Wolf said in a statement. "My thoughts right now are focused on the victims, their families and making sure law enforcement has every resource they need."

Other state officials, including Attorney General Josh Shapiro and Sen. Pat Toomey, took to Twitter to say they were monitoring the events in Pittsburgh as they unfolded.

"Synagogues & places of worship are safe havens where communities come together to celebrate, pray, & reflect," Toomey wrote. "The horrific events that transpired at Tree of Life Synagogue are heartbreaking."

Philadelphia police said they are monitoring synagogues and other places of worship in the area. The department will deploy officers to places of worship across the city as a precaution. It is not aware of any current threats to Philadelphia and encourages citizens to contact 911 with any suspicious information.

Political and national response

President Trump said he would travel to Pittsburgh in the wake of Saturday morning's fatal mass shooting, but did not specify when he will make a visit.

The president called the events "far more devastating than originally thought." He was in Indianapolis as the keynote speaker for the Future Farmers of America convention, according to Fox News.

Speaking to reporters, Trump speculated that an armed guard might have been able to stop the shooting.

Staff writer Amy S. Rosenberg contributed to this article.
HARRISBURG  The pressure of raising campaign money was intense  so intense, State Rep. Vanessa Lowery Brown said, that it led her to break the law.

Brown made those statements to a grand jury investigating her and other Philadelphia Democrats caught up in a sweeping sting probe run by the state Attorney General's Office between 2010 and 2012. And on Friday, they were read to the jury of seven women and five men who will decide whether Brown should be convicted of bribery, conspiracy, and other charges in her public corruption trial in Dauphin County.

"I am sorry. I am sorry.  There is just pressure all the time," Brown told the grand jury. "And folks look at you by the amount of money you can raise.  The pressure is too much. I succumbed to the pressure of it all."

Brown, a Democrat who represents portions of West Philadelphia, is accused of accepting $4,000 in 2011 from the sting's undercover operative, Tyron B. Ali, who posed as a lobbyist and offered money and gifts to elected officials.

Prosecutors say she willingly accepted envelopes stuffed with cash in exchange for official favors. Her attorney is countering that she was a victim of entrapment.

During statements she made to a grand jury in December 2014, however, she acknowledged to prosecutors that she understood that accepting the money was wrong.

"Let's be clear about this, Ms. Brown  when you were taking this money from Mr. Ali, and you were meeting with him and talking to him, you knew that you were breaking the law and that you were committing various legal violations  and you did it, correct?" she was asked by a prosecutor at the time.

"Yes," Brown responded.

Brown initially agreed to plead guilty in the case, but changed her mind on the day she was to appear before a judge to formalize it. It is not known whether she plans to take the stand when the trial resumes next week.

Earlier in the day, Ali wrapped up his much-anticipated testimony, answering a barrage of questions about his past  including criminal charges in a massive fraud case and multiple lawsuits accusing him of fraudulent business deals  from Brown's defense lawyer, Patrick A. Casey.

Ali began cooperating with state prosecutors after he was charged in 2009 with over 2,000 counts of forgery, theft, and other crimes. At the time, prosecutors alleged he bilked $430,000 in taxpayer dollars that were intended to provide meals for low-income children and seniors at a child-care center he operated in North Philadelphia. State prosecutors eventually dropped all charges in the case.

Frank Fina, the onetime state prosecutor who oversaw the sting investigation, took the stand Friday to explain that the sting was launched "to explore the role of money in politics in Pennsylvania." He also said that the initial case against Ali was far overblown, and that a later review by his office pinpointed most of the money that Ali was alleged to have stolen.

Fina's turn on the stand had also been highly anticipated. Brown's legal team has argued that Fina's sting targeted elected officials based on their political affiliation and their race (a judge later dismissed those assertions).

On Friday, Fina was not asked to provide details about the investigation, nor was he questioned about allegations of ethics violations he faces before the state's legal disciplinary board involving a different case.

He also was not asked about former state Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane, who secretly shut down the sting after she took office in 2013  a decision that set off a fierce, years-long war of words in legal and political circles about the merits of the case.
Congress on Saturday evening released a list of 37 candidates for Chhattisgarh Assembly elections 2018.

This is the second list that Congress has released for Chhattisgarh.

According to a party statement, Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief Bhupesh Baghel will contest from the Patan assembly constituency. Baghel was embroiled in an alleged sex CD scandal involving a state minister.

TS Singh Deo, the Congress Legislature Party leader, will contest from Ambikapur, while former Union Minister Charan Das Mahant will contest from Sakti.

The Congress is seeking to oust the BJP, which has been governing the state since 2003, from power this time.

Assembly election in the state will be held in two phases.

A total of 18 assembly seats in the Naxalism-hit areas will go to polls in the first phase of polling on November 12. The second phase of polling for the remaining seats 72 will be held on November 20 and results will be out on December 11.

Following is the complete list of candidates released by Congress till now:

No. of Constituency Name of Constituency Selected Candidates 2 Dr Vinay Jaiswal Manendragarh 4 Khelsai Singh Premnagar 5 Paras Nath Rajwade Bhatgaon 6 Premsai Singh Tekaam Pratappur 7 Brihaspati Singh Ramanujganj 10 TS Singh Deo Ambikapur 11 Amarjeet Bhagat Sitapur 12 Vinay Kumar Bhagat Jashpur 13 Uttam Dan Minj Kunkuri 14 Rampukar Singh Pathalgaon 17 Smt. Uttari Jangde Sarangarh 18 Umesh Patel Kharsia 19 Laaljit Singh Rathia Dharamjaigarh 20 Shyamlal Kanwar Rampur 21 Jaisingh Agrawal Korba 24 Gulaab Singh Raj Marwahi 26 Shatrugan Lal Chandrakar Lormi 27 Rakesh Patre Mungeli 32 Dilip Lahariya Masturi 33 Chunni Lal Sahu Akaltara 35 Charan Das Mahant Sakti 36 Ram Kumar Yadav Chandrapur 44 Ms. Shakuntala Sahu Kasdol 46 Sunil Maheshwari Bhatapara 48 Satyanarayan Sharma Raipur Rural 49 Vikas Upadhyay Raipur City West 52 Dr Shiv Kumar Dahria Arang 53 Dhanendra Sahu Abhanpur 54 Amitesh Shukla Rajim 55 Sanjay Netam Bindranawargarh 62 Bhupesh Baghel Patan 63 Ms. Pratima Chandrakar Durf-Rural 64 Arun Vora Durg City 65 Devendra Yadav Bhilai Nahar 67 Guru Rudra Kumar Ahiwara 68 Ravindra Chaubey Saja 72 Mohammad Akbar Kawardha 79 Antagarh Anoop Naag 80 Bhanupratappur Manoj Singh Mandavi 81 Kanker Shishu Pal Sori 82 Keshkal Santram Netam 83 Kondagaon Mohan Lal Markam 84 Narayanpur Chandan Kashyap 85 Bastar Lakheshwar Baghel 86 Jagdalpur Rekhchand Jain 87 Chitrakot Deepak Kumar Baij 88 Dantewada Ms Devati Karma 89 Bijapur Vikram Shah Mandavi 90 Konta Kawasi Lakhma

Earlier, Congress had released the first list of 12 candidates for Chhattisgarh.

The terms of Chhattisgarh will end on January 5, 2019.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday met his Andhra Pradesh counterpart Chandrababu Naidu at the latter's residence.

Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD) chief Sharad Yadav was also present for some time during the meet. The meeting, where the Chief Ministers discussed national issues, comes ahead of the Lok Sabha elections 2019.

Kejriwal took to Twitter and said that people across the nation will have to join hands to save India and its constitution.

Kejriwal in a Tweet said, "Had a good meeting with Chandrababu Naidu ji and Sharad Yadav ji was also present for a while. Discussed National Issues. Present BJP Govt is a threat to the nation & to the Constitution. People across India will need to join hands to save India & the Constitution."

Tweet:

Arvind Kejriwal has already begun his door-to-door campaign in the national capital for 2019 Lok Sabha Elections.

Several AAP leaders along with Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia have been going from door-to-door and campaigning for their party.

The party will endeavour to convince the voters to support AAP by explaining them the "failures" of the sitting BJP members of Parliament in Delhi and the achievements of the party government, AAP said in a statement.

Kejriwal had earlier launched the party's donation campaign "Aap Ka Daan, Rashtra Ka Nirman," at Talkatora stadium.

The party has announced its in-charges for Lok Sabha polls for all the seven parliamentary seats currently held by BJP MPs in Delhi.

"An important element of the campaign will be to inform the voters that seven Lok Sabha MPs should be those who can strengthen the hands of the Kejriwal government. What is important is who thinks about the welfare of Delhi and not who will be the Prime Minister of the country," the statement said.

Party volunteers will ask people to compare the performance of seven BJP MPs with that of the Arvind Kejriwal government during the campaign.

They will inform people about "cheap" electricity in Delhi, free water, major improvement in Delhi government schools, free treatment, reining in of fee hike by private schools and Mohalla Clinics.

The AAP will also "strongly" raise the issue of Metro fare hike and sealing drive, during the Lok Sabha election campaign and will "expose the silence" of BJP MPs on these important issues, it said.

The Lok Sabha polls are scheduled to be held next year.

(With PTI Inputs)
NEW DELHI: Days after resigning from the Nationalist Congress Party, Tariq Anwar on Saturday joined Congress, news agency PTI reported. Anwar met Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday after he is said to have joined the party.

The NCP founding member had quit the party last month and had even given up his Lok Sabha membership. He had given NCP national president Sharad Pawar's "clean chit" to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Rafale deal as the reason for quitting the party.

Congress had earlier said that Anwar was "welcome" to return to the party from where he started his political career. Anwar was the Bihar Congress president in the 1980s and had represented his current parliamentary constituency Katihar as a Congress MP for times. He joined hands with Pawar and deceased Meghalaya leader PA Sangma to form the NCP in 1999.

The NCP later allied with the Congress and Anwar served as a Union minister in the UPA-II government.

Anwar's move came a day after media reports quoted Pawar telling a Marathi news channel that he did not think people had doubts over the PM's intentions in the Rafale fighter jet deal. The Bihar leader said he completely disagreed with Pawar's version, which he said has shattered the faith of countrymen in the Opposition.

Pawar's reported statement was lauded by BJP chief Amit Shah who asked Rahul Gandhi to take a cue from his ally and place national interests above party politics. An NCP spokesperson, however, issued a clarification terming the media reports quoting Pawar as "misleading and confusing" and claimed the party chief has had not given a clean chit to Modi.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said that Supreme Court should give a decision on Ram Mandir if the apex court can give a verdict on Sabarimala Temple.

"If Supreme Court can give its verdict on Sabarimala Temple, then we appeal that a decision on Ram Mandir should also be taken," Adityanath said.

Adityanath said that there should not be any kind of discrimination and the issue of Ram Janmbhoomi is not about politics, news agency ANI reported.

Adityanath added that Ram Mandir issue is about religious sentiments which should be kept apart from politics.

The Supreme Court had given its verdict on Sabarimala Temple, opening the door of the temple for women of all age group. Protests erupted in Kerala after the temple opened on October 17. UP Chief Minister reacted to the Sabarimala row, comparing it with Ram Mandir issue.

Earlier on June 25, Adityanath had assured that the Ram Mandir will begin before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Speaking in Ayodhya at 'sant sammelan' (seers' meet) rally, the Chief Minister had asked the Hindu seers to have faith in the democratic systems of the country and be patient.

Aditynath's remarks came shortly after another BJP leader and former MP Ram Vilas Vedanti said Mughal emperor Babur did not come with any court orders to destroy the temple and the demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992 was not done as per any court directive.

Vedanti went on to add just like the idol of Ram Lalla appeared suddenly at the site, the temple's construction will also start suddenly one day.

While agreeing that the Ram Mandir will be built, Adityanath added, "We live in the biggest democracy of the world and in this system, the judiciary, the executive and the legislature have their own roles. We have to keep those norms in mind.

"Maryada Purushottam Ram is the master of this universe. When his benevolence will be there, the temple in Ayodhya will be built. There is no doubt in this...Then why is there doubt among the seers? You have been patient till now. I feel you will have to exercise patience for some more time. It is optimism that the entire world rests on," he said.

Meanwhile, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad had earlier indicated that it may restart its movement for Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, saying the organisation will consult saints on the "future course of action" if the Supreme Court does not give its verdict on the issue in next three to four months.

The hearing in the Ram Janmabhoomi- Babri Masjid case is currently underway in the Supreme Court.
KERALA: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday slammed BJP president Amit Shah stating the latter's comment on Sabarimala devotees' arrest are against constitution and law of the land.

Vijayan was responding to Shah's statement at Kannur where the latter favoured Sabarimala devotees and said that BJP is standing like a rock with the devotees.

Shah had said, "Today in Kerala, there is a struggle going on between religious beliefs and the state government's cruelty. More than 2,000 activists and workers from BJP, RSS and other organisations have been arrested. Left government be warned, BJP is standing like a rock with devotees."

Shah also warned Vijayan to stop the politics over Sabarimala arrests else his (Vijayan's) government won't last long. Shah added that the BJP workers would give befitting replies if the schemes don't stop.

Vijayan responded that Amit Shah's statement is a clear intention that BJP's agenda is to not guarantee fundamental rights, comparing it to the agenda of the RSS and Sangh parivar.

Vijayan added his government came to power with people's mandate and not at the mercy of BJP, news agency ANI reported. "Amit Shah who threatened to topple our government should remember that this government came to power, not at the mercy of BJP, but the peoples mandate," Vijayan said.

"His (Amit Shah) message is to sabotage the peoples mandate," Kerala chief minister added.

Shah had earlier said that BJP is standing like a rock with devotees who are protesting outside Sabarimala Temple. Scores of protesters have gathered outside the Ayyappa temple to restrict the entry of menstruating women.

While the state government has said that it has to abide by the apex court, protestors have said that their beliefs and traditions cannot be compromised with. Among them are BJP and RSS workers as well.

While protestors have claimed they are peaceful, the BJP party chief hinted that there are elements which are trying to give the protests here a different image. "In the name of court judgement, those who want to incite violence, let me tell you that there are many temples which run on different rules and norms," he said.

While Shah trained his guns at the state government, the ruling CPI-M here has said that it has done all to ensure police protection is provided to all devotees and that it is BJP that is trying to gain political mileage by inciting violence.

CM Pinarayi Vijayan said on Tuesday that RSS workers had turned the shrine into a war zone. "Kerala government made it clear in front of the Supreme Court that it will implement the verdict. The government arranged all facilities. Neither the government nor the police tried to block the devotees. The RSS tried to make Sabarimala Temple a war zone," he said, adding though that there was no failure of law and order here.

The sanctum sanctorum of the famed temple was closed around 10 PM on Monday  the day that saw five women making an unsuccessful effort to pray at the hill temple, where tradition had barred women aged between 10 and 50. The entire state had been on the boil since the temple opened its doors for the first time since the September 28 verdict of SC permitting women of menstruating age - considered 'impure' according to local beliefs - to enter the shrine.

The revered Hindu temple is set to open again on November 17.
Highlighting that there are many RSS and BJP workers among the thousands arrested in the ongoing protests at Sabarimala Temple in Kerala, Amit Shah said on Saturday that his party is 'standing like a rock' with devotees.

Scores of devotees have encircled the ancient shrine to prevent entry of women of menstruating age here. This despite a Supreme Court order that paved the way for entry of women aged between 10 and 50. While the state government has said that it has to abide by the apex court, protestors have said that their beliefs and traditions cannot be compromised with. Among them are BJP and RSS workers as well. "Today in Kerala, there is a struggle going on between religious beliefs and the state government's cruelty," said Shah at an event in Kannur. "More than 2,000 activists and workers from BJP, RSS and other organisations have been arrested. Left government be warned, BJP is standing like a rock with devotees."

While protestors have claimed they are peaceful, the BJP party chief hinted that there are elements which are trying to give the protests here a different image. "In the name of court judgement, those who want to incite violence, let me tell you that there are many temples which run on different rules and norms," he said.

While Shah trained his guns at the state government, the ruling CPI-M here has said that it has done all to ensure police protection is provided to all devotees and that it is BJP that is trying to gain political mileage by inciting violence.

CM Pinarayi Vijayan said on Tuesday that RSS workers had turned the shrine into a war zone. "Kerala government made it clear in front of the Supreme Court that it will implement the verdict. The government arranged all facilities. Neither the government nor the police tried to block the devotees. The RSS tried to make Sabarimala Temple a war zone," he said, adding though that there was no failure of law and order here.

The sanctum sanctorum of the famed temple was closed around 10 PM on Monday  the day that saw five women making an unsuccessful effort to pray at the hill temple, where tradition had barred women aged between 10 and 50. The entire state had been on the boil since the temple opened its doors for the first time since the September 28 verdict of SC permitting women of menstruating age - considered 'impure' according to local beliefs - to enter the shrine.

Te revered Hindu temple is set to open again on November 17.
Months after both the Goa BJP and the state administration refused to disclose Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's ailment, state Health Minister Vishwajit Rane on Saturday finally admitted he was suffering from pancreatic cancer.

The admission came amid relentless demands from the opposition parties to know whether the Chief Minister was fit enough to govern. The state government had hitherto been dodging persistent querries on Parrikar's illness.

"He is the CM of Goa and the fact is that he is not well. He has got pancreatic cancer. There is no hiding of this fact," Rane told reporters on here, a day after the Congress gave the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government four days to prove that Parrikar was of "sound health and mind" and in a position to govern the state.

"Let him be peaceful with his family. That much right he has, after serving the people of Goa, that if he wants to spend some quality time with his family, nobody has the business to ask...," Rane said.

Parrikar, who is currently being treated for advanced pancreatic cancer, has been in an out of hospitals in Goa, Mumbai, New York and Delhi.

His absence has created a leadership vacuum in Goa, even as the opposition has demanded that he step aside to focus on treatment.

Parrikar has not had a single public appearance since his return from Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences on October 14 and is currently bedridden at his private residence, which party sources said has been converted into a sophisticated medical facility, with doctors and para-medical staff on 24-hour duty.

Rane also slammed the Congress for playing politics over the ailing Chief Minister's health, saying if the Congress wanted to go to court to learn of Parrikar's health condition, it was free to do so.
Pakistan's Supreme Court has reintroduced a ban on Indian films and television shows being broadcast on the country's local channels.

The apex court was hearing a case filed by the United Producers Association pertaining to the broadcast of foreign content on Pakistani television channels, reported Dawn.

During the hearing, Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar ordered a "shut down" and made it clear that authorities should "only air appropriate content".

"They are trying to (obstruct the construction) of our dam and we cannot even ban their channels?" Nisar said.

In 2016, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) had imposed a ban on airing Indian content on local television and FM radio channels.

However, the Lahore High Court lifted ban in 2017, declaring it null and void as the Pakistan government had no objections regarding the same.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday left for Japan to hold the annual India-Japan bilateral summit with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe.

This is Modi`s third visit to Japan for the summit and will be his 12th meeting with Abe since 2014.

Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region and in the defence and security sector, and leveraging Japanese capabilities for India`s development initiatives will be the highlights of the agenda in the summit which will be held on Monday.

India is the only country with which Japan holds annual bilateral summits while India has a similar arrangement with Russia too.


Thiruvananthapuram: Days after coming out in support of the Supreme Court verdict on entry of women of all ages into Sabarimala temple, Swami Sandeepananda Giri's Salagramam ashram at nearby Kundamonkadavu was attacked early Saturday, police said.

The attack took place at around 2 AM and two cars and a scooter were burnt, they said, adding the attackers also left a wreath at the ashram.

Swami Sandeepananda Giri had welcomed the apex court order permitting women in the 10-50 age group to offer prayers at the Lord Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who visited the ashram, told reporters that stringent action would be taken against the accused, whoever they may be. Their aim was not to destroy the ashram, but swamiji, he said.

Reacting to the attack, Sandeepananda Giri alleged that the entire responsibility for the incident was on BJP state president P S Sreedharan Pillai, Thazhamon Madom, the family of traditional head priests of Sabarimnala temple and Pandalam Royal family, also associated with the shrine.

DGP Loknath Behara said strong action would be taken to bring the accused to book. "We will not tolerate such incidents in the state," he said.

However, BJP district leadership has denied any role in the attack and demanded an "unbiased" probe into the incident.

The state had witnessed massive protests from devotees at various places, including Sabarimala, Nilakkal and Pamba, against permitting women of all ages to enter the shrine, where the deity is 'Naishtika Brahmachari' (perennial celibate), when the temple was opened for monthly poojas from October 17-22.

At least 12 women in the 'barred' age group (10-50) had tried to trek the hills to offer prayers but had to retreat following widespread protests.


Although he was careful not to name him, it was amply evident to all that former US President's fiery speech in Milwaukee and Detroit on Friday were squarely aimed at Donald Trump and held him guilty of 'making stuff up.'

US media reported that Obama's speeches in both Milwaukee and Detroit were extremely critical of Trump's presidency and that he also questioned several key Republican figures. "What we have not seen before in our public life is politicians just blatantly, repeatedly, baldly, shamelessly, lying. Just making stuff up," he said., adding that there is a scare tactic being employed before every crucial elections. Obama then proceeded to take down Trump on the progress he had made on a number of pre-poll promises and spewed venom on him for his policy on migrants. "They are now trying to convince everybody to be afraid of a bunch of impoverished, malnourished refugees a thousand miles away."

Ahead of the first midterm elections since Trump took residence at the White House, Obama also made it a point to point out the number of indictments Washington currently. "Nobody in my administration got indicted. (Now) In Washington they have racked up enough indictments to field a football team," he said.

Obama also urged Michigan in particular - a state that proved crucial in helping Trump defeat Hillary Clinton en route White House - to make the right decision when the time comes to vote again. "I'm hopeful Michigan," he said. "I'm hopeful that despite all the noise, despite all the lies, we're going to come through all that. We're going to remember who we are, who we're called to be. I'm hopeful because out of this political darkness, I'm seeing a great awakening."

This is not the first time that Obama has launched a scathing attack on Trump. And it is unlikely to be the last. The return fire from Trump too has been equally powerful with several instances of the current president calling the former president names and publicly slamming his policies.
COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Saturday withdrew the security of deposed prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who still claims to be the constitutionally-appointed premier despite being replaced by controversial strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The move came hours after Sirisena suspended Parliament till November 16 after Wickremesinghe sought an emergency session to prove his majority.

The President withdrew Wickremesinghe's personal security and vehicles in order to accord them to his 72-year-old successor Rajapaksa, who staged a dramatic political comeback on Friday.

Sirisena would address the nation on Sunday while the new Cabinet will be announced on Monday, government sources said.

The Rajapaksa camp was busy making transition preparations despite the constitutional question mark on the legality of Wickremesinghe's sacking.

The ousted premier said that he still commands the majority in the 225-member assembly.

Rajapaksa and Sirisena combine has only 95 seats and is short of a simple majority in the 225-member house. Wickremesinghe's United National Party (UNP) has 106 seats on its own with just seven short of the majority.

The UNP claimed that President Sirisena sought to prorogue the parliament as 72-year-old Rajapaksa did not command a majority in the House.

Veteran civil servant S Amarasekera was named Rajapaksa's secretary by Sirisena after sacking Wickremesinghe's secretary Saman Ekanayake, a government gazette said.

The Rajapaksa camp said that they would seize the prime minister's official residence cum office known as the Temple Trees if Wickremesinghe did not quit by Sunday.

They have already started running the prime minister's secretariat with Amarasekera's appointment.

Meanwhile, China's Ambassador in Colombo Cheng Xueya became the first Ambassador to greet Rajapaksa with best wishes.

Cheng said he was bringing good wishes from Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Wickremesinghe, meanwhile, held a briefing for the Colombo-based Ambassadors to explain the situation, his officials said.

In another development, Dharisha Bastiansz, the editor of the state organ Sunday Observer said in a tweet that she had been forced to leave the editorial team by Rajapaksa-supported trade unions.

"Today I had to leave Lake House (publishing house), unable to carry out my editorial duties," she tweeted.

Rajapaksa's loyalists took control of the state TV stations on Friday night itself after he took oath as the new prime minister.
In yet another confirmation about Pakistan's nefarious intentions harming global peace, a report published by Oxford University and Strategic Foresight Group (SFG) has said that the country poses three times the risk to humanity than war-torn Syria.

The report titled 'Humanity at Risk - Global Terror Threat Indicant' highlights that there are more terrorist bases and safe havens in Pakistan than anywhere else in the world. It also places Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba at the top of terrorist organisations threatening world peace. The Afghanistan Taliban is also high up in this list and there has always been suspicion of under-hand support to this group from elements in Pakistan. "If we look at the most dangerous terrorist groups, based on hard facts and statistics, we find that Pakistan hosts or aids majority of them. Also, there are a significant number of groups based in Afghanistan, which operate with the support of Pakistan," the report says.

The report then seeks to highlight how economic strife can be a conducive environment for terror networks to flourish in. "The rise of competitive extremism of all shades, misuse of weapons of mass destruction and economic disruptions can undermine human progress or even survival in the period from now until 2030. They are all interlinked with terrorism," it said. And the current economic crisis in Pakistan can indeed serve as a stark warning sign.

Despite being admonished several times on international forums for its support to home-grown terrorists, Pakistan continues to play the victim card. Its politicians have repeatedly sought to gain sympathy by saying it is Pakistan that has paid the heaviest price in the war on terror. The world community has mostly called the bluff with even the United States taking a hardline view of Islamabad's approach towards terrorism.

(With inputs from ANI)
Plantation, Florida: A man suspected of sending at least 14 bombs to prominent critics of US President Donald Trump in the run-up to elections next month was arrested on Friday in Florida and charged with five federal felonies.

Cesar Sayoc, 56, a former stripper and professional wrestler once charged with threatening to bomb an electric company for trying to shut off his lights, was taken into custody outside an auto parts store in Plantation, Florida, near Miami.

Authorities also seized a white van belonging to Sayoc, the windows of which were plastered with pro-Trump stickers, the slogan "CNN SUCKS" and images of Democratic politicians with red cross-hairs over their faces.

Fingerprint and DNA evidence was used to identify the suspect, but Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray cautioned that the arrest did not necessarily end the threat.

"There may be other packages in transit now and other packages on the way," Wray said.

One federal law enforcement source told Reuters that authorities were investigating whether other individuals were involved and did not rule out more arrests.

Sayoc's arrest followed an intense four-day manhunt sparked by bombs addressed to high-profile Democrats and critics of Trump including former US President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whom Trump defeated in the 2016 presidential race.

The first of the bombs surfaced on Monday at the Westchester County, New York, home of billionaire Democratic donor George Soros. Four packages turned up on Friday, the 14th addressed to another wealthy contributor to the Democratic Party and liberal causes, Tom Steyer. That parcel was found at a post office outside San Francisco.

Each consisted of explosive material packed in a plastic pipe and wired to a small clock and a battery, Wray said. He said investigators had yet to determine whether the bombs were actually "functional," but the devices could be dangerous "if subjected to the right combination of heat or shock or friction."

All were sent through the US Postal Service system and intercepted before reaching their intended targets without exploding. No one has been hurt.

Bomb experts have said that based on the rudimentary construction of the devices, they appeared more likely designed to sow fear than to kill.

According to CNN, Sayoc told investigators the bombs would have done no injury and that he would not have wanted anyone hurt. Wray declined to say whether the suspect was cooperating with authorities after his arrest.

He told the news conference that fingerprints on one of two packages sent to US Representative Maxine Waters, a Los Angeles Democrat, belonged to Sayoc.

The bombs have heightened tensions during what was already a highly contentious campaign season ahead of the Nov. 6 elections in which Democrats are battling to seize control of Congress now held by Trump`s Republican Party.

'POLITICAL VIOLENCE'

A criminal complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan charged Sayoc with five felony counts, including interstate transportation and illegal mailing of explosives, threatening a former president, making threatening interstate communications and assaulting federal officers.

If convicted on all charges, Sayoc would face up to 48 years in prison, officials said.

"We will not tolerate such lawlessness, especially political violence," Attorney General Jeff Sessions said at a press conference announcing the charges.

Announcing the arrest to a cheering audience at the White House, Trump said such "terrorizing acts" were despicable and had no place in the United States.

"We must never allow political violence to take root in America - cannot let it happen," Trump said. "And I`m committed to doing everything in my power as president to stop it and to stop it now."

A native of New York City`s Brooklyn borough and a registered Republican, Sayoc`s home address was listed in public records as an upscale, gated apartment complex in the seaside town of Aventura, Florida.

Apart from the right-wing imagery pasted on his van, Sayoc`s political leanings were evident on social media. His Facebook and Twitter accounts were filled with posts railing against Democrats and liberals, including one anti-Soros tweet published two days before a bomb showed up at the financier`s home.

Public records show numerous arrests over the years for domestic violence, theft and other charges, including the alleged bomb threat against a utility company.

Sayoc was initially held at an FBI processing centre in Miramar, Florida. He was expected to be taken to the Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami and will likely make his first appearance before a judge on Monday, according to former Assistant US Attorney David Weinstein.

In addition to Steyer, the intended recipients of packages discovered on Friday included Democratic US Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, former US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Democratic US Senator Kamala Harris of California.

'STOP THE RANCOUR'

Hours after a federal law enforcement official said the investigation`s focus on Florida had intensified, police closed roads around the parking lot of an AutoZone store in Plantation where Sayoc was arrested and helicopters flew overhead.

Investigators covered Sayoc`s van with a blue tarp before removing it on a truck.

All the people targeted by the suspicious packages have been maligned by right-wing critics. In addition to Obama, Clinton, Soros and Waters, packages that surfaced earlier in the week were addressed to former Vice President Joe Biden, former Attorney General Eric Holder, actor Robert De Niro and former CIA director John Brennan. His package was delivered to the Manhattan bureau of CNN, where he had served as an on-air analyst.

The episode has sparked an outcry from Trump`s critics charging that his inflammatory rhetoric against perceived enemies among Democrats and the press has fostered a climate ripe for politically motivated violence.

Trump's supporters have accused Democrats in turn of unfairly suggesting that the president was to blame for the bomb scares.

"If we don`t stop this political mania, this fervour, rancour, hatred, you`ll see this again and again and again," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told MSNBC. "We have to get to the genesis, and the genesis is an overheated, vitriolic political division in this country and it starts with the leaders, and it starts with the president."

After first calling for unity at the White House event, Trump lamented partisan attacks against him and again pointed at the media.

"I get attacked all the time ... I can do the greatest thing for our country, and on the networks and on different things it will show bad," he told the crowd, acknowledging an attendee who shouted "fake news."
A micro-brewery in northern England on Friday confirmed that it was withdrawing 'Ganesh' as the brand name of a special beer it had brewed a few months ago. Wishbone Brewery Limited, based in West Yorkshire, had branded a lime, coriander, grape and camomile flavoured beer as 'Ganesh' to encapsulate its "Indian flavour profile" for a beer festival in Manchester in September.

However, US-based president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, Rajan Zed, was among people who objected to the use of the Hindu deity's name as a beer brand.

"We were completely unaware of the implications. We just used it as a word that represented India and the Indian flavour profile. Our intention was not to cause any offence and we certainly won't be using it," said Adrian Chapman, head brewer at Wishbone Brewery.

He explained that the beer had been brewed as a limited run and was never intended to be bottled or canned to be sold widely.

"As soon as we were made aware that the name could be seen as cultural appropriation, we looked into it and immediately took the decision that it would not be used in future," he said.

Zed had issued a statement against the "highly inappropriate" use of the term 'Ganesh' for an alcoholic beverage.

"In Hinduism, Lord Ganesh is worshipped as a god of wisdom and remover of obstacles and is invoked before the beginning of any major undertaking?Symbols of any faith, larger or smaller, should not be mishandled," he had said.

However, even before his statement earlier this week, the brewery had been alerted to potential objections to the name and it decided not to reuse the branding should a similar flavour beer be brewed in future.

The latest beer branding controversy comes weeks after another UK brewery was forced to withdraw its branding of a variety of Indian Pale Ale (IPA) as 'Kalika IPA', alongside an image of the Goddess Kali.

Tollgate Brewery, based in the small town of Ashby-de-la-Zouch in the English Midlands, had brewed Kalika IPA for a limited run and soon confirmed that it would not reuse the Hindu goddess-related branding in future.

"Kalika is no longer brewed. We have no cask stocks at the brewery. There are no plans to brew it further," a Tollgate Brewery spokesperson said.
Manama: US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Saturday that incidents like the killing of a Saudi journalist undermined Middle Eastern stability and that the United States would take additional measures against those responsible.

The killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi national and Washington Post columnist, has sparked outrage among Riyadh`s Western allies and mushroomed into a crisis for Saudi Arabia, the worlds top oil exporter and strategic ally of the West.

Saudi Arabia is the lynchpin of a US-backed regional bloc against the growing Iranian influence in the Middle East but the Khashoggi crisis has strained Riyadh`s relations with the West.

US President Donald Trump has said he wants to get to the bottom of the case, while also highlighting Riyadh`s role as an ally against Iran and Islamist militants, as well as a major purchaser of US arms.

"With our collective interests in peace and unwavering respect for human rights in mind, the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in a diplomatic facility must concern us all," Mattis said in prepared remarks which he will give at the annual Manama Dialogue security conference in Bahrain.

"Failure of any nation to adhere to international norms and the rule of law undermines regional stability at a time when it is needed most," Mattis said. He did not mention de facto Saudi ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman by name in his prepared remarks.

Saudi Arabia`s public prosecutor said Khashoggi`s killing was premeditated, contradicting a previous official statement that it happened accidentally during a tussle in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

Saudi officials have also said he was accidentally killed in a botched security operation to return him to the kingdom.

In his remarks, Mattis went through a long list of what he described as disruptive Iranian behavior - a message most Gulf allies will view positively since they share similar concerns about Iran`s increasing influence in Syria and Iraq.

While these were some of the sharpest comments Mattis has made on the Khashoggi killing, he said the incident would not diminish ties with Saudi Arabia.

"It`s hard to imagine that this administration in particular is going to change fundamentally how it views the role of the Saudis in terms of counterterrorism, in terms of counter Iran," said Dennis Ross, who served as top Middle East adviser to President Barack Obama in his first term.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo this week announced moves against 21 Saudis to either revoke their visas or make them ineligible for US visas after the Khashoggi killing.

"Our Secretary of State has already revoked visas and will be taking additional measures," Mattis said.

Mattis warned that Russia`s presence in the Middle East -- where it is a major ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad -- could not be a replacement for the United States.

He said that it was important to end a 16-month-old dispute between Qatar and four Arab states that analysts say has weakened regional coordination against Iran.

Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut off travel and trade ties with Qatar in June 2017, accusing it of backing their archrival, Iran, and supporting terrorism. Qatar denies the charges.

"The solving of internal debates among our GCC partners is vital for realizing this vision. Without it, we weaken our security," he said, referring to the Gulf Cooperation Council nations.
The National Interest

On October 27, the pro-Russian militants carried out four attacks on the positions of the Joint Forces in Donbas conflict zone. This is reported by the HQ of the Joint Forces Operation on Facebook.



There was also one case of the use of weapons prohibited by the Minsk agreements. A Ukrainian outpost near Vodiane camed under 82 mm mortar fire; the enemy fired large-caliber machine guns as well. During the second attack, gunmen used large-caliber machine guns and grenade launchers. Ukrainian soldiers were forced to open fire in return.



Russian mercenaries used grenade launchers, large-caliber machine guns and small arms to attack the defenders of Pisky and Opytne.



No casualties iamong the ranks of Ukrainian soldiers were reported.

Earlier the U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker expressed support for the initiative of the European Parliament about the appointment of a special representative of the European Union for Donbas and Crimea. He claimed this in the interview to Interfax-Ukraine agency.



I think that this is a wonderful idea. I met with the members of the European Parliament about two weeks ago. I urged them to be focused on Donbas and Crimea, Volker claimed.

He expressed his readiness to work together in the case of the appointment of the EU special representative.



Kurt urged to keep focusing attention on the problems connected with the occupation of Donbas.

People are still suffering from a serious humanitarian crisis there, the war continues, it is still unsafe there, people keep dying. We cant let this all to disappear from the public consciousness. This is very important that we have focused our attention on these issues, Volker noted.



The U.S. Special Representative of the U.S. State Department claimed that he was going to visit Ukraine once more in November.

Related: Naftogaz-Ukraine chairman receives award from Patriarch Filaret
Since Thursday morning, Russian militants conducted 17 attacks on positions of Ukrainian troops in Donbas. That resulted in a combat injury for one Ukrainian serviceman, the HQ of the Joint Forces Operation reported.

The enemy attacked Zolote, Svitlodarsk, Luhanske, Avdiivka, Mariinka, Krasnohorivka, Pavlopol, Hnutove, Vodyane, Lebedynske and Shyrokyne. The occupant forces used RPGs, heavy machine guns and small arms.

The Minsk-banned weaponry was used on four occasions. 120 mm mines hit Svitlodarske, and 82 mm mortars were used during attacks on Luhanske and Avdiivka. In the latter case, the enemy attacks were especially intense.

Pro-Kremlin occupants shelled Ukrainian outpost in Mariupol sector, near Pavlopol and Shyrokyne.

The Ukrainian side reported that one Russian militant was killed and five were wounded in combat.
turchynov.com

The Russian Federation will provide Cuba with a state loan of some $ 50 million for the purchase of Russian military equipment. Kommersant reported this, referring to sources in the area of military-technical cooperation.



The agreement will be signed on October 2930, at the next meeting of the intergovernmental commission.



It is noted that Russia will provide Cuba with a state loan for the purchase of weapons under a series of previously signed contracts.



'This amount will go exclusively to the military-technical cooperation. In addition to this agreement, a number of general economic documents and agreements under the Ministry of Finance will be signed, with other funds,' said the source.



According to the publication, Cuba will be able to choose weapons in the framework of the technical cooperation program for 20162020, which provides for the modernization of the republics military industry and its military equipment, for the amount of the state credit.



According to the source in Russia's defense industry, the discussion will deal with the procurement of armored vehicles and probably aviation (presumably helicopters) from the Russian Defense Ministry.



'In addition, they will take spare parts, tools and accessories, as well as property for the previously supplied equipment, for example T-62 tanks or BTR-60 assault troop carriers,' the source said.



It should be noted that in 2017, the head of Rosoboronexport company Aleksandr Mikheev reported that Cuba officially addressed Russia with a request to modernize its existing equipment. however, he did not rule out concluding direct commercial contracts in the near future.



The last credit agreement in the field of military-technical cooperation with Cuba was concluded in 2009 and extended in 2010 and 2011.



In 2015, Cuba was interested in purchasing the Russian naval equipment and upgrading the infrastructure of its coastal zone.



In 2016, Moscow and Havana negotiated the creation of additional capacities in Cuba for repairing the Soviet-built and Russian-made helicopters.

Related: Svitolina beats Bertens, reaches final match of WTA event in Singapore
Violating the international humanitarian law, Russian government created the total atmosphere of coercion on the peninsula targeting those who refuse to join the army of occupants

Open source

In the occupied Crimea, citizens are forced to serve in Russias Armed Forces as the press service of the Prosecutor Generals Office of Ukraine (GPU) reported.

'After the occupation, the Russian authority has set the repressive regime, which became the challenge for the modern system of human rights. Along with the forced displacement of the population, persecutions and confiscation of the property, the separate policy aspect of the occupation authority is the draft of Crimean residents to Russias Armed Forces,' the GPU noted.

The law enforcers reported that the forcing of the Crimean citizens to serve in the Armed Forces of Russia is forbidden by the national criminal legislation of Ukraine and norms of the international humanitarian right.

'Since spring 2015, during seven draft campaigns, at least 12,229 Ukrainians were called up for duty. Violating the norms of the international humanitarian right, the state bodies of Russia created the total atmosphere of coercion at the peninsula that aims against those who refuse to join the army of the occupant,' the message said.

According to the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the violation of the laws and customs of the war is punished with the imprisonment from eight to twelve years.

'The Prosecutors Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea put the information to the United register of the pretrial investigation and began the pretrial investigation of the illegal draft of the citizens of the Crimean peninsula to the Armed Forces of Russia,' the message said.

Earlier, we reported that Federica Mogherini, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, claimed that European Union will never recognize the annexation of Crimea by Russia.

Besides, Poland confirmed the consistent support of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, condemned the Russian aggression against Ukraine and urged Russia to release all Ukrainian political prisoners.

Related video:
Youtube Presidential Administration

The President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko will visit Turkey on an official visit on November 3. The media reported this, citing its own sources.



The head of the Ukrainian state will spend two days in Turkey, namely November 3 and 4, UNN news agency specified.



'The presidents visit to Turkey will take place next weekend. On the first day of the visit, official meetings are planned, including holding a strategic council meeting with Erdogan. Our consulate in Antalya will be opened the day after that,' the source said.



Heads of state are expected to discuss politics, economy, defense cooperation, free trade agreements, security and fight against terrorism, Anadolu agency said, referring to a source in Turkish diplomatic circles.



It is assumed that sides also will discuss the status of Crimean Tatars in Ukraine, Crimea and Turkey.



Erdogan was in Kyiv with an official visit in October 2017; previously, Poroshenko visited Turkey in March 2016.

Related: Next gas price increase in Ukraine slated for May 2019
Volodymyr Ruban, the former leader of Officer Corps Centre of the POW Release is charged with preparing an attack on the cortege of Ukrainian President

Open source

Shevchenkyvskyi District Court of Kyiv extended the detention ofor Volodymyr Ruban, the ex-head of the Center of the 'Officer Corps' POW Release. Ruban will remain in his cell for another two months. Volodymyr Rybin, the detainee's lawyer reported this on Facebook.

The judge left to the jury room. Upon having returned, he announced his decision to extend the detention of Volodymyr Ruban for another 60 days. The process is continuing, Volodymyr Rybin claimed.

The defense filed a request for the extension of the arrest for 30 days, arguing that this time is enough for the prosecutors office to prepare an indictment and submit it to the court since Rubans lawyer was fully acquainted with the case file and there is an official receipt.

Related: Sentsov asks to publish his last will. Full text

As it was reported earlier, Ruban was detained on March 8 at the Ukrainian checkpoint at the demarcation line of Donbas Conflict zone. Ruban is suspected in the illegal handling of arms and preparation of a terrorist act. Later, Shevchenkivsky District Court of Kyiv arrested him for 60 days without a right for a bail.

Previously, Ukrainian media reported that non-affiliated MP Nadia Savchenko and Volodymyr Ruban, the Head of 'Officer Corps' planned to attack the cortege of the President of Ukraine with the large caliber sniper rifle.
Earlier, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman claimed that there will be no more gas price increases during the current heating season

Open source

The next gas price hike might happen in May 2019, reads the decree of the Cabinet of Ministers published on the governmental website.

According to the document, the prices will be increased in three stages. The decree contains a calculation formula and a coefficient that will be increasing.

Related: IMF demands to increase gas prices for Ukrainians by 40%

Between November 1, 2018 and May 1, 2019, the price of gas for the population will be $220 per a thousand cubic meters, without taxes. Ekonomichna Pravda outlet calculated the cost of transportation and the supplements of gas distribution companies.

It is reported that the gas price for the population will be $300 per one thousand cubic meters, including taxes, the cost of transportation and the supplements of gas distribution companies.

According to preliminary calculations, from May 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019, the gas price for the population will make $350 per one thousand cubic meters.

Related: Heating in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, turned off due to absence of gas

As we reported earlier, on October 19, the Government adopted a decision on gas price increase by 23.5 percent from November 1. Within one hour after the relevant decision of the Cabinet of Ministers was adopted, a statement appeared on the website of IMF that Ukraine and IMF reached an agreement on a new 14-months support program of economic policy Stand-By Arrangement (SBA), which is supposed to change the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) adopted in March 2015 and expiring in March 2019.

The Monetary Fund expects that IMF Council will adopt the program by the end of 2018 under the condition that Ukraine fulfills all agreements, including the adoption of the state budget by the Ukrainian Parliament, which corresponds to the recommendations of the Fund.
The International Committee of the Red Cross directed 160 tons of construction materials to the occupied areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, reports the press office of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (SBGS).

Related: Russia sends 82nd 'humanitarian convoy' to Donbas

Eight trucks with construction materials with the total weight of 160 tons headed through Novotroitske entry-exit checkpoint to the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine in the direction of Donbas. The humanitarian freight is provided by the International Committee of the Red Cross, the SBGS reported.

Related: Germany urges Russia to prevent humanitarian catastrophe in Syrian Idlib

As it was reported earlier, the Red Cross designs humanitarian projects for Bakhmut Hospital and the entry-exit checkpoint in Donetsk region. It is to be implemented by 2020 and $2 million is to be spent for the project.
Last month both New Mexico gubernatorial candidates faced off in a televised debate on KRQE. When questioned about recreational cannabis Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham took a huge swig from her water bottle and Rep. Steve Pearce just smirked.

The first question: Have either of you smoked pot? Both answered they hadn't (a little irritably, I might point out).

With that out of the way, Anchor Dean Staley cut to the quick and asked about the legalization of cannabis. Commenting first on medicinal cannabis, Pearce growled, I was suspicious of that for many years. He said some close friends had convinced him, though, and he'd come to terms with it. With clear discomfort, he said, Medical marijuana. Fine. We will do it. There maybe should be more oversight.

He then tried to explain his bizarre reasoning behind denying recreational legalization. I've mentioned it a few times, but it's worth remembering that back in April, Pearce told a crowd of voters that legal cannabis would be one more obstacle in front of people who are struggling to get out of poverty. It was one of the weirdest lines of thought I've encountered.

I was interested to hear his rationalization this time around. The new answer: When I say that we've got to cure povertywhen we've got to cure mental behavior health [sic] and drug addictionopioid addictionall of those kind of merge together. Okay, I'm following you so far, Pearce. I do not see how putting one more obstacle in front of people helps them to get out of poverty and get back on their feet. I really don't.

So there you have it. All cleared up.

Lujan Grisham reiterated her support of legalization. She pointed out that it was an economic boost in all the states where it's been implemented and the benefit New Mexico has with the nine states that have legalized recreational marijuana is that we can learn from their successes and their mistakes. Quite rational.

She pointed out that she helped get medical cannabis approved and chided Pearce for voting against veteran access to medical cannabis. She also criticized Governor Martinez for doing everything she can to minimize access and make it difficult to obtain both a license to produce and get access as a patient.

She struck me as quite passionate about the question, which I like. I noticed she was hardly able to contain her shocked sighs while listening to Pearce's bizarre rhetoric. Her opponent, meanwhile, maintained a super creepy beatific smile and stared directly into the camera while Lujan Grisham promised to sign any bill that protects the medical cannabis programmakes sure that patients don't lose any of their access to the products that they need, deals with workplace intoxication and public safety, deals with underage consumption and prevention and regulates productively edibleswhich can get in the hands of underage usersthen I'm inclined to sign that bill.

Pearce interjected before the next question was asked to say that Colorado is facing problems with lessening performance (whatever that means), more drugged driving (a misleading statistic, since the only current testing method will give a positive result 30 to 120 days after it was last ingested) and younger kids taking it.

He went on to describe a nameless single mother who supposedly moved back to New Mexico from one of the states and said to him, How dare you put an obstacle in front of me trying to raise my family. He sure talks to a lot of people with obstacles in front of them.

Lujan Grisham cut in once more to say that she has identified those very issues and can plan to deal with them better now that we know of the concerns. To minimize that as an economic driver doesn't make any sense. Classy.
News

Unified actions set to step up measures for child protection

The Child Safety Forum 2021, organised by the Child Safety Department (CSD), an affiliate of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs in Sharjah (SCFA), has called for consolidated efforts by local, regional and international entities to create a unified framework of action to raise awareness on child protection. The forum also released a 10-point recommendation to protect children from sexual abuse, online and offline.


Presidente @MartinVizcarraC: En 20 anos hemos tenido importantes avances, pero aun queda mucho por hacer. Hoy, debemos marcar una pauta y un plazo para dar soluciones definitivas a problemas que vayamos encontrando. #PeruVisitaEcuador ???? ???? pic.twitter.com/NXcXIr7m4H
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 27, ARMENPRESS. The Israeli Air Force has delivered air strikes at 80 targets in Gaza in response to Palestinian rocket attacks, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said.

Five military facilities, two weapons assembly plants, a training facility, a terrorist tunnel and an air defense post have been destroyed in the counter-attack, according to the IDF.

Earlier the IDF said that at least 30 rockets were fired into Israel from Gaza.

According to Al Mayadeen TV, civilian homes and a hospital have been damages as a result of the counterattack.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 27, ARMENPRESS. US President Donald Trump has announced that his victory in the presidential election was the worst thing that couldve happened to Russia, according to RIA Novosti.

You know whatll say, my victory in the election was the worst thing that has ever happened to Russia, Trump told a crowd during a campaigning event in North Carolina.

But at the same time, having good relations with Russia, with China, North Korea, Japan is a good thing, not a bad thing, he said.

He said that he had a good meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki.

Trump is campaigning for Republicans as the US is getting ready for midterm elections on November 6.

Midterm elections in the United States are the general elections held in November every four years, near the midpoint of a president's four-year term of office. Federal offices that are up for election during the midterms are members of the United States Congress, including all 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives, and 33 or 34 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate.

In addition, 34 of the 50 U.S. states elect their governors to four-year terms during midterm elections, while Vermont and New Hampshire elect governors to two-year terms in both midterm and presidential elections. Thus, 36 governors are elected during midterm elections. Many states also elect officers to their state legislatures in midterm years. There are also elections held at the municipal level. On the ballot are many mayors, other local public offices, and a wide variety of citizen initiatives.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 27, ARMENPRESS. The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Council session will take place on November 8 in Astana, Kazakhstan. The session will take place on the level of heads of state, the Kazakh foreign ministry said.

According to the report, a consultation of CSTO foreign ministers will take place midday November 8, and the heads of state session will take place afterwards.

Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan are members of the CSTO.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 27, ARMENPRESS. Acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan paid tribute to the memory of the victims of the 1999 October 27 terror attack in the Armenian parliament.

Speaker of Parliament Ara Babloyan accompanied Pashinyan in the homage ceremony, the PMs office said.

Acting PM Nikol Pashinyan, Speaker Ara Babloyan, acting First Deputy PM Ararat Mirzoyan, lawmakers, family members of the victims and parliament staff laid flowers at the memorial to the October 27 shooting victims outside the National Assembly (parliament) building.

The 1999 October 27 parliament shooting was a terror attack committed by a group of gunmen that assassinated Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan, Speaker of Parliament Karen Demirchyan, two Deputy Speakers, a Cabinet member and three lawmakers.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 27, ARMENPRESS. Seven people were killed and 37 others wounded as a suicide attacker drove an explosive-laden vehicle into a security base in the central Maidan Wardak province of Afghanistan, Afghan Pajhwok news agency reported citing local authorities.

The fatalities include both security officers and civilians, police told Pajhwok.

According to Pajhwok, Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 27, ARMENPRESS. The Azerbaijani military committed more than 100 individual ceasefire violations at the Artsakh line of contact October 21 to October 27, firing nearly 1000 rounds from various caliber small arms at military positions of Artsakh.

The defense ministry of Artsakh said that their troops refrained from taking countermeasures and confidently continued carrying out their mission.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 27, ARMENPRESS. No murderer should be granted amnesty, acting PM Nikol Pashinyan told reporters today, at the same time confirming that the mechanisms of parole, changing prison sentences and clemency should function.

Amnesty requires a general approach, not individual. In this regard we will work for the cases of all convicts to be reviewed one by one and for everyone to have individual approach. Im still convinced that no one who has murdered someone should be granted amnesty, he said.

He also stressed that violence as a tool must be ruled out in Armenia. Violence in politics will be countered in the strongest terms, he said.

Asked why the amnesty will also cover the Sasna Tsrer group, Pashinyan said it was necessary to restore public solidarity.

The Armenian parliament will debate the bill on declaring amnesty on October 31.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 27, ARMENPRESS. Twitter is defending its policy of removing fake accounts after US President Donald Trump attacked the company for removing many people from my account, The Hill reports.

The social media giant said it was seeking to remove fake accounts so that people would know their followers are actually real people and argued that this was for the better.

Our focus is on the health of the service, and that includes work to remove fake accounts to prevent malicious behavior," a spokesperson for Twitter said in a statement to The Hill. "Many prominent accounts have seen follower counts drop, but the result is higher confidence that the followers they have are real, engaged people.

The statement comes after US President Donald Trump criticized the company, tweeting Friday: Twitter has removed many people from my account and, more importantly, they have seemingly done something that makes it much harder to join  they have stifled growth to a point where it is obvious to all. A few weeks ago it was a Rocket Ship, now it is a Blimp! Total Bias?
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 27, ARMENPRESS. Police Chief of Armenia Colonel Valeriy Osipyan chaired a working consultation today with his first deputy, the chief of the general department of criminal intelligence and officials from the Ararat Provincial Police Department and subordinate units.

The tactical situation in Ararat Province was discussed and analyzed during the consultation, the police HQ said in a press release.

Officials briefed Colonel Osipyan on the results of the ongoing investigations into uncovering crimes that were committed in their jurisdictions.

The Police Chief issued specific instructions, once again reminding that uncovering of previously committed crimes is under his personal supervision regardless of the degree of public dangerousness of the given crime.

All cases without exception must be uncovered and persons who have committed crimes must be brought to justice in conformity with the letter of law  this is an issue of public interest, Colonel Osipyan said.

The Police Chief also highlighted the work in the direction of revealing serious crimes, tasking the officials to boost cooperation with investigative bodies.

Regardless of the orientation of the law enforcement agency, we must carry out a joint and coherent fight against crime  not sparing effort at any time of the day in any situation to apply our duties reserved by law to tactically counter criminal encroachments against the life, health and private property of citizens, Osipyan said.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 27, ARMENPRESS. The National Security Service has released details over the attempted armed attack in the government headquarters.

The National Security Service told ARMENPRESS that a 43-year-old man armed with a hand grenade attempted to enter the government headquarters in Yerevan in an attempted suicide-bombing.

On-duty National Security Service agents at the entrance neutralized the would-be suicide-bomber. The man has been taken into custody.

An investigation has been launched into the incident.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 27, ARMENPRESS. President Armen Sarkissian has appointed Genadi Tavaratsyan head of the National Defense Research University of the Defense Ministry, Sarkissians Office said.

At the time of the appointment Tavaratsyan served as head of the strategic planning department of the General Staff of the Armed Forces.

The appointment was made at the recommendation of the Prime Minister, according to the press release.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
Prior to PNGs independence, your president and I travelled throughout the country to gauge the views of the people on our path to eventual statehood.

You have a very experienced leader and statesman in Dr John Momis who will lead you in the right direction and you must be grateful that he is the one leading you, so you must support him, he said.

On 6 June next year the people of Bougainville will be given the privilege to choose whether to remain a part of Papua New Guinea or become an independent nation, Sir Michael said in a thanksgiving address to mark his farewell visit to the region.

BUKA - Sir Michael Somare has told the people of Bougainville the decision to decide the fate of the autonomous region rests solely with them.

Dr Momis presents a Bougainville badged replica canoe (a mona) to Sir Michael Somare as the father of the nation farewells the autonomous region

The countrys elder statesman said it had been an arduous journey to nationhood but, with the support of Dr Momis and PNGs first knight and Pangu Pati leader, the late Sir Paul Lapun, and the late Sir Donatus Mola, PNG was able to gain independence.

President Momis played a vital role in shaping this country through his commitment to developing a home grown constitution as de facto chairman of the Constitutional Planning Committee, he said.

In return, Sir Michael said that as prime minister he had always provided support to the autonomous arrangements on Bougainville to ensure the people were not marginalised.

I give my heartfelt gratitude to the people and leaders of Bougainville for their support and belief in me as we were preparing the country for self-governance, he said.

Dr Momis hailed Sir Michael as an iconic individual who was a trailblazer.

Michael Thomas Somare is a charismatic man who was courageous enough to accept the mantle of leadership when he became chief minister and then prime minister at the dawn of independence, Dr Momis said.

Bougainville has always shared a close relationship with this man. Since before independence he was with us right up to finding a peaceful solution [after the civil war] on Bougainville.

Sir Michael has been highly favoured by God to lead Papua New Guinea and I am privileged to know him professionally as well as personally, he said.

Dr Momis said that Somares leadership had yet to be matched and emulated by the current breed of politicians.

He exercised his role as a true politician  guided by his faith and embracing his role as a vocation, he ventured into the unknown responding to a call without fear.

President Momis also paid tribute to Lady Veronica Somare for supporting her husband through Sir Michaels long political career.

The story behind the photograph

President Momis is seen presenting the Sir Michael with a traditional mona (canoe). Symbolically it represents a time prior to independence when there was much mistrust about PNG gaining self government. As chairman of the Constitutional Planning Committee, Dr Momis used the analogy of a canoe to explain that independence was an inclusive process for all Papua New Guineans. "Somare ino giamanim yumi. Em tu i stap insait long wanpla kanu wantaim yumi. Sapos kanu sink yumi olgeta sink wantaim, sapos emi ron gut bambai yumi olgeta i ron gut wantaim," Dr Momis said. [Somare did not lie to us. He sat inside the canoe with us. If the canoe had foundered he would have sunk with it. If it sailed well, we would all sail well with it.]
Afghans risked their lives to vote in legislative elections in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, after the Taliban-claimed killing of a powerful police chief delayed the ballot by a week. Turbaned men and burqa-clad women stood in long, segregated queues outside polling centres in the deeply conservative Kandahar provincial capital, which was blanketed with heavy security in anticipation of militant attacks. More than half a million people -- the vast majority of them men -- were registered to vote in Kandahar province where more than 100 candidates competed for 11 lower-house seats. Organisers were under pressure to avoid last weekend's debacle that forced the Independent Election Commission (IEC) to extend the nationwide ballot by a day. Problems with untested biometric verification devices, missing or incomplete voter rolls and absent election workers following Taliban threats to attack the ballot forced Afghans to wait hours outside polling stations, many of which opened late or not at all. Similar issues were evident in Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban and a province notorious for ballot stuffing, with many polling sites in the city opening more than an hour late -- despite assurances from IEC deputy spokeswoman Kobra Rezaei on Friday that "we are absolutely ready". Electoral Complaints Commission spokesman Ali Reza Rohani told reporters that preparations had been "better" in Kandahar compared with last weekend. But hiccups with biometric devices and voter lists persisted. An AFP correspondent visited several polling centres in the city where election workers did not know how to use the biometric machines. At some sites the gadgets were not used at all. Streets in the city were quieter than usual at the beginning of the Afghan working week, after authorities restricted the use of cars and motorbikes during voting hours. "I have to vote for a better future for my country," shopkeeper Abdul Abbas told AFP outside a polling centre in the provincial capital. "I have defied all the threats of attacks and explosions to vote." Voting in the province bordering Pakistan was postponed following the October 18 death of General Abdul Raziq, an anti-Taliban strongman seen as a bulwark against the insurgency in the south, amid fears of violence flaring up. Raziq was among three people killed in a brazen insider attack on a high-level security meeting in Kandahar city that was attended by General Scott Miller, the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan. Miller escaped unhurt, but US Brigadier General Jeffrey Smiley was among 13 people wounded in the shooting claimed by the Taliban. It was hoped that the appointment of Tadeen Khan -- a brother of Raziq and a member of the Afghan security forces -- as acting provincial police chief would help keep a lid on polling day unrest. As voting centres closed, there were no reports of violence. On the eve of the ballot, Afghan air strikes killed at least 56 Taliban militants in Kandahar's Shah Wali Kot district, provincial police spokesman Zia Durrani told AFP. - Election death toll - IEC figures show around four million people voted in last weekend's parliamentary election that was held in 32 out of 34 provinces after months of chaotic preparations. That compares with nearly nine million on the voter roll, but many suspect a significant number of those were based on fake identification documents that fraudsters planned to use to stuff ballot boxes. Scores of attacks marred the first day of the election on October 20, with an AFP tally showing nearly 300 civilians and security forces were killed or wounded in poll-related violence. That was significantly higher than the government's casualty figures, supporting speculation that officials had deliberately downplayed the violence so voters would not be scared off. The discrepancy also added to concerns about the lack of transparency and credibility in the election, which is more than three years late and the third since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. More than 2,500 candidates, including mullahs, journalists and sons of warlords, are competing for 249 seats in the lower house. The election is seen as a dry run for next year's presidential vote and an important milestone ahead of a UN meeting in Geneva in November where Afghanistan is under pressure to show progress on "democratic processes". With vote counting under way, the IEC is scheduled to release preliminary results on November 10. Kandahar city was blanketed with heavy security as voters prepared to cast their ballots More than half a million people are registered to vote in Kandahar province Organisers are under pressure to avoid last weekend's debacle, when many polling stations opened late or not at all Voting in Kandahar was postponed following the October 18 killing of General Abdul Raziq, an anti-Taliban strongman Electoral chiefs in Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban, insist they are ready for Saturday's vote
A century after their dismemberment in the aftermath of World War I, Austria and Hungary take two very different approaches to their Habsburg past -- one choosing Imperial kitsch, the other a return to strident nationalism. Both countries were carved out of the Austro-Hungarian empire after its defeat alongside Germany in the First World War. And both were stripped of swathes of territory and millions of inhabitants under the 1919 Treaty of St Germain, concluded with Austria, and the Treaty of Trianon signed with Hungary the next year. But a hundred years on, that upheaval resonates in very different ways in Vienna and Budapest, according to Oliver Rathkolb, director of Vienna University's Institute of Contemporary History. "In a study a few years ago we asked people in the two countries if Saint Germain and Trianon still meant anything to them. We got two totally different results: In Austria, it had no importance, in contrast to Hungary," Rathkolb told AFP. "The myth of Trianon and the dismemberment of Greater Hungary has been promoted for internal political ends even in the communist era, and even more so after 1989," he says. Nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban has even risked the ire of neighbouring governments by cultivating Hungarian minorities on his country's borders and offering them Hungarian citizenship. Even if many ethnic Hungarians in other countries "don't quite identify with Orban's strongman version of democracy, he is able to spin a national fairy-tale that resonates", says Nandor Bardi, a historian of ethnic minorities at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. According to Bardi, "it is no coincidence that he makes keynote speeches -- for example the famed speech about moulding Hungary into an 'illiberal state' -- in Tusnad in Transylvania," a region of modern-day Romania that belonged to Hungary under the empire. - 'Doctrines of victimhood' - Austria, though, has put its imperial past behind it and "has benefited from its status as a small, neutral country," having joined the European Union but not NATO, Rathkolb says. The key to understanding these two different approaches to history, according to Rathkolb, is grasping the distinct "doctrines of victimhood" the two countries developed during their very different experiences over the past century. In Austria, "the myth of Saint-Germain become obsolete after 1945" when the country again faced defeat, this time as part of Nazi Germany. After the war the country tried to distance itself from Germany by reinventing itself as the "Nazis' first victim" and trying to minimise Austrians' role in the atrocities of the Third Reich. The Habsburg past also proved useful in marking out a distinctly Austrian identity, as well as being "a skilfully exploited tourist attraction," with Emperor Franz Josef and his wife Elisabeth -- also known under the moniker Sissi -- turned into kitsch icons. Meanwhile Austria made the most of its neutral status during the Cold War, attracting the UN and several other major international organisations to open headquarters in Vienna. However in Hungary, the myth of Trianon remains very much alive in the national subconscious and has been "skilfully revived by Orban" after his return to power in 2010. He can now "easily mobilise the electorate" with a narrative which paints Hungary as having constantly been the victim of history: first under Trianon, then communism, then liberalism, and today because of allegedly EU-backed immigration, says Rathkolb. Indeed, during this year's election campaign Orban claimed Brussels wanted to rob Hungarians of their country, "not with the stroke of a pen, as happened one hundred years ago at Trianon; now they want us to voluntarily hand our country over to others." By contrast, "Austria doesn't labour under its past role as a big power and the nostalgia for Franz-Josef and Sissi is superficial. But in Hungary the belief persists that it was the country most wronged by the events of 1919-20," says Austrian political scientist Anton Pelinka. Pan-German nationalism is still one strain of thought within the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe), currently in coalition with the centre-right. Even though in recent years the party has had to distance itself from that ideology, it has recently taken a leaf from Orban's book in floating the idea of Austrian citizenship for the German- and Ladin-speaking minorities in the Italian province of South Tyrol, which was also part of the Habsburg empire. But Rathkolb thinks that even "this suggestion lacks support and will probably end up quietly disappearing from the agenda". A WWI memorial stands beside the Tre Cime peaks that were the scene of heavy fighting from 1915-1917 between Austria-Hungary and Italy Nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban has even risked the ire of neighbouring governments by cultivating Hungarian minorities on his country's borders and offering them Hungarian citizenship The Habsburg past also proved useful in marking out a distinctly Austrian identity, as well as being "a skilfully exploited tourist attraction," with Emperor Franz Josef and his wife Elisabeth -- also known under the moniker Sissi -- turned into kitsch icons Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban during this year's election campaign claimed Brussels wanted to rob Hungarians of their country, "not with the stroke of a pen, as happened one hundred years ago at Trianon; now they want us to voluntarily hand our country" over to others
A Jewish immigrant to Bolivia who made a fortune mining tin saved 10 times as many lives during the Holocaust than the star of Oscar-winning Hollywood blockbuster "Schindler's List," a journalist and writer told AFP. Oskar Schindler was turned into a household name by the 1993 Hollywood epic directed by Steven Spielberg, telling the tale of the German industrialist who saved more than 1,000 Jews by employing them in his businesses in Nazi-occupied Poland. But according to Veronica Ormachea, Moritz Hochschild saved 10,000 Jews from Adolf Hitler's gas chambers during World War II. "It was an unprecedented historic event in the history of Jews in Bolivia and the world," Ormachea told AFP from her office in La Paz. "It was a historic fact that he managed to save 10,000 Jews," although not his sister, who was killed at Auschwitz. Born in Germany in 1881, Hochschild became one of Bolivia's three "tin barons" in the early part of the 20th century, alongside Simon Patino and Carlos Aramayo, who wielded great influence in the South American country until the 1952 revolution in which mining was nationalized. In her historical novel "Los Infames" (the villains), Ormachea relates how thousands of European Jews arrived in the heart of South America as they fled Nazi terror. Using the fictitious character of Boris Kominsky, the novel describes how the mining magnate helped save thousands of Jews. The book opens with a young Kominsky in Poland in 1939 as he tries to convince his father to head for South America after hearing that Hochschild was helping citizens escape. - New York letter - While the book's main protagonist is a work of fiction, Ormachea insists that the stories told are real. She compiled them after years of research and interviews with descendants of the immigrants. "They used ports in Italy and Lisbon to get out of Europe. They arrived at the port of Arica (in northern Chile) before taking the train to Bolivia," she said. Ormachea points to a 1940 letter from Hochschild to James Rosenberg, a Jew living in New York, asking for financial help, as evidence to support her claims. In the letter, Hochschild says he's managed to transport to Bolivia "between 9,000 and 10,000" Jews and that his plan, which had the support of Bolivia's military leader of the time, German Busch, was to bring 30,000 people to the country. With help from two of Hochschild's companies, the Jews arriving in Bolivia were given farm work in the coca-growing region of Yungas, to the east of La Paz. They were also given loans and Bolivia's 1940 census said there were 12,300 Jews living in the country. - 'Unprecedented' - Ormachea says Hochschild used his fortune to help Jews by providing passports, transport, food and the start of a new life in Bolivia. "His historical, philanthropic and humanitarian work was unprecedented," she said. And that makes the mining magnate a far more significant figure than Schindler, says Ormachea. "Schindler saved 1,200 Jews (and) he was a member of the Nazi party; but Hochschild saved around 10,000 Jews with his own money." Ormachea says Hochschild managed to convince his friend Busch, himself the descendent of German immigrants, of the advantages of bringing the Jewish population from Europe. Bolivia was one of the few countries that opened its arms to Jewish migrants both before and during World War II. Hochschild has not gone down in Bolivian history as a good Samaritan, though. Rather, he's remembered as one of the foreigners who struck it rich exploiting natural resources in an impoverished country in South America, and who had incompetent, corrupt rulers under their thumbs. Part of the story of "Bolivia's Schindler" was discovered in the archives of state mining company Comibol, which was formed in 1952 out of nationalized companies. The forgotten archives, rediscovered in the last decade, were included by UNESCO in 2016 in its Memory of the World register. Bolivian writer and journalist Veronica Ormachea believes Moritz Hochschild played a greater role than Oskar Schindler in saving Jews from the gas chambers Veronica Ormachea says a letter sent by Moritz Hochschild to a friend in New York provides evidence of the number of Jews he saved Moritz Hochschild has not gone down in history as a hero, says Bolivian writer and journalist Veronica Ormachea, but as an exploiting foreigner
Brazil's presidential candidates made their final push for voters Saturday, with pitches that echoed the gulf between them: leftist Fernando Haddad held a "peace rally" in the favelas, while far-right frontrunner Jair Bolsonaro took to Twitter. A day before a runoff that will decide who leads Latin America's biggest country for the next four years, Brazilians are deeply divided -- though the clear favorite is Bolsonaro, an ex-army captain nicknamed the "Tropical Trump," whose aggressive social media campaign has tapped into widespread anti-establishment rage. Two final polls published Saturday gave Bolsonaro a lead of between eight and 10 percentage points, with around 55 percent of the vote. Haddad has made up ground -- he trailed by as much as 18 points two weeks ago -- but it would take a truly dramatic surge for him to win at this point. Haddad is standing in for ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a popular but controversial politician who was barred from running while serving a 12-year jail term for corruption. The Workers' Party candidate insisted in an emotionally charged rally that he can still pull off a comeback. "This thing is going to turn around," Haddad, 55, told a crush of thousands of white-clad supporters in the largest shantytown in Sao Paulo, a city he formerly served as mayor. "Brazil still remembers," he added -- a pointed reference to Bolsonaro's outspoken nostalgia for the military regime that ruled Brazil with an iron fist from 1964 to 1985. Amid the sea of frenzied supporters, Emerson Santana, 44, told AFP: "We're going to win. "Democracy is going to win, not authoritarianism. We don't want another dictatorship." - Different visions - Haddad is promising voters a return to the golden years under Lula, who slashed poverty while presiding over an economic boom from 2003 to 2010. But that was before the economy went bust and the Workers' Party, along with most political parties, got bogged down in the slime of several massive corruption scandals. Bolsonaro, 63, harks back to a different past: that of the "Brazilian miracle" of rapid industrialization under the efficient but brutal military dictatorship. In a country disgusted with massive corruption, violent crime and economic malaise, his message has sold better than Haddad's. He has also successfully presented himself as an anti-establishment outsider, despite the fact he has served in Congress for the past 27 years. But he repulses a large part of the electorate -- and many outside the country -- with his overtly misogynistic, racist and homophobic rhetoric. He once told a lawmaker he opposed that she "wasn't worth raping;" he has said he would rather see his sons die than come out as gay; and he said after visiting one black community that they "do nothing -- they're so useless I doubt they can procreate." Bolsonaro made his final campaign pitches Saturday on social media -- as he has done since he was stabbed in the stomach by an assailant at a rally last month. "God willing, tomorrow will be our new independence day," he wrote on Twitter. Hundreds of backers meanwhile held motorcades to show their support, waving Brazilian flags as they paraded through the streets of Sao Paulo. "We worked hard to clean up Brazil, to rip Brazil from the communists' hands, and now we're entering a new era in Brazilian history," said one, Dorival Andrade. - 'Scares me' - Bolsonaro softened his tone in the final hours. "We went a free Brazil, without prejudice: white or black, homo or hetero," he said in a Facebook webcast, accompanied by black lawmaker Helio Negao. "Who knows, maybe I'm gay. If I were, what would be the problem?" He fended off accusations of authoritarianism, vowing to respect the constitution. Haddad nevertheless got a key last-minute endorsement from former Supreme Court judge Joaquim Barbosa, the country's first black chief justice and a widely respected figure. "For the first time in 32 years of exercising my right to vote, a candidate scares me. That's why I will vote for Fernando Haddad," he tweeted. But the man who came third in the first-round vote on October 7, center-leftist Ciro Gomes, refused to endorse either candidate -- a blow to Haddad. The Brazilian presidential candidates made their final pitches on October 27, 2018 for the election a day later, with leftist Fernando Haddad, seen here, addressing a huge crowd in Sao Paulo while far-right frontrunner Jair Bolsonaro turned to Twitter Brazilian far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro, seen here in a recent meeting with reporters, is the front-runner in the October 28, 2018 presidential election Brazilian Electoral Court staffers in Rio de Janeiro are seen on October 27, 2018 preparing ballots for the country's presidential election
Hailed as a chance for the Catholic Church to reconnect with today's young, a month-long meeting at the Vatican has ended with a whimper as bishops from across continents fail to see eye to eye. The 267 prelates attending the meet had been tasked with finding a way to breathe fresh life into a centuries-old institution suffering from both a damaging global sex abuse crisis and widespread secularity in the West. The synod's concluding document, to be published later Saturday, "looks like an Ikea catalogue", one exasperated bishop told AFP on condition of anonymity. "You have everything you need for the bathroom and the kitchen, in all styles, so everyone can identify with it," he said. "One Eastern European bishop ventured to say that the church's rule about 'no sex before marriage' had become untenable. We moved on to the next issue and didn't talk about it again," the bishop said. "The conservatives later joined the fray by demanding a reminder of church morals," he said. Another bishop told AFP that "consensus on the digital (world) is possible, but not on sexual morality. The difference in opinions is too great". There were rumblings of discontent among some present that the text being debated and voted was only available in Italian. - 'Bold proposals' fall flat - Cardinal Oswald Gracias of India said that some bishops from the developing world were concerned the final document would not fairly reflect the issues discussed, with some subjects, such as the sex abuse crisis, stealing centre stage. The paedophilia crisis, which has shaken the church from Germany to Chile and the United States, was discussed during the first week but took a back seat when clerics from countries spared the scandal so far shifted the focus to other matters. As Vatican watcher John Allen put it: "there is arguably no higher priority in Catholicism right now than dealing with the abuse crisis, but that doesn't mean other important issues have gone on holiday while the church sorts it all out". But some complained there was no progress elsewhere either. "Some bold proposals, likely to make newspaper headlines, were not taken up," said French bishop Emmanuel Gobillard, one of the few to have talked about sexuality. - 'Signs of the times' - He insisted however that the synod, bringing together the elements of a universal church in all its diversity, had been a remarkable one -- just one that was "untranslatable" for the media. The 34 youngsters called to share their stories moved many bishops, particularly an Iraqi who spoke of the war, he said. Women invited to participate also said they felt their calls for a greater female role within the church had not gone unheard -- though progressive Catholic lay groups slammed the lack of voting rights for the women religious superiors present. As well as the bishops, two non-ordained religious men will be able to vote. Attempts by young Catholics at the synod to get the LGBT acronym into the final text were strongly rebuffed, with German Cardinal Reinhard Marx saying it was "not a synod on sexuality, but on young people". Bishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya from Cameroon said the church had to "understand the signs of the times". If he used the acronym "LGBT" on his return, "ninety-nine percent of people would ask 'what are we talking about?'," he said. Thirty-four youngsters were called in to share their stories
A North Korean who said he escaped round-the-clock labor in the Middle East and Russia voiced fears Friday that Pyongyang was sending more forced workers abroad and appealed for greater international attention. Addressing a news conference in Washington, Roh Hui Chang said he reached South Korea in 2014 after two to three months hiding in the bushes and warned that many more North Koreans suffered his plight. "According to my sources who have knowledge of the current situation there, nothing has changed since my time abroad," Roh said. Pointing to sanctions that remain in place on North Korea, Roh said that the number of workers sent overseas "is not going to decrease any time soon. It is going to increase because the hard cash they are getting is crucial to their finances." Roh said that many North Koreans eagerly took jobs overseas, even incurring debts to sign up, in hopes of earning a more decent living than in the impoverished state. But he said that some workers returned from several years of labor with less than $100 to themselves, with the vast majority of the wages pocketed by the North Korean leadership. Roh said he spent seven years around the Middle East -- his longest stretch being in Kuwait -- where he was required to work in construction from 5 am to 11 pm each day, with hours often stretching into the night as he was unable to complete chores in the intense daytime heat. He said that between 10 and 30 workers shared stuffy rooms of no more than 20 square meters (200 square feet), barely the size of a storage area. He later worked for two years in Russia, from which he escaped, where he said he also toiled in grueling conditions and was fed only rice with salt. North Korea's use of overseas workers has been well-documented but estimates on the labor force's size vary greatly. The Seoul-backed Korean Institute for National Unification quoted defectors in 2016 as saying that North Korea had a goal of sending 10,000 workers overseas each year to a total of 27 countries. The vast majority of workers are in North Korean allies China and Russia but laborers have even been discovered in Poland, drawing scrutiny in the European Parliament. Roh urged the United States to press North Korea on labor rights as President Donald Trump pursues negotiations with Kim Jong Un. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo brought up North Korean foreign labor last month at the United Nations as he pressed for enforcement of sanctions, although he says the focus of Trump's diplomacy is Pyongyang's nuclear program. North Korean Former overseas worker, Roh Hui Chang, who describes himself as a former "slave labourer" gives a press conference in Washington on October 26, 2018.Roh Hui Chang, born in 1970 in Pyongyang, has worked 7 years in the Middle East and 2 years in Russia until he defected in 2013 and entered South Korea in May 2014 and testifies since on the working conditions of North Korean laborers officially dispatched overseas
Empires would fall, regions reconfigure, new countries form: the end of World War I overhauled the global balance of power and redrew the maps of Europe and the Middle East. Here is an overview. - Revolution in Russia - The war rang the death knell for a Russian empire already in bad shape. Repeated defeats, crippling military spending, famines, popular anger at the World War I bloodbath: all came together in the Marxist Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. In March that year a first revolution lead to the abdication of Nicholas II, Russia's last tsar, and the formation of a new government that proved unable to assert control. In November the Bolsheviks seized power in a second revolution. They immediately sought an exit from the devastating war, in which Russia had sided with the Allies against the Central Powers coalition of Germany, Austria-Hungary and others. By December Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin had agreed an armistice to end combat; in March he agreed to a peace treaty with Germany and its allies that saw Russia give up large swathes of territory at the cost of 30 percent of its population. Four states were created from territory once held by Russia: Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Lithuania. - Demise of old Austria-Hungary - At the outbreak of war in 1914, the Habsburg dynasty's Austro-Hungarian empire -- which had dominated central Europe for five centuries -- stretched from Switzerland to Ukraine, grouping within it a dozen nationalities and more than 52 million people. By the end of the conflict, the empire had exploded into several new countries, amid a nationalist fervour for autonomy. Czechoslovakia was the first to be created, proclaimed in October 1918, and followed immediately by Yugoslavia, made up of Slavs in the southermost parts of the empire. Austria-Hungary's break-up was sealed in November with its signing of an armistice with the victorious Allied powers led by Britain, France and the United States. The Paris Conference of 1919, where the final post-war peace treaty was reached, recognised the new countries and also resulted in the birth of Poland, previously divided between Austria and Russia. Hungary lost two-thirds of its land, with Italy getting a section of the Alps region of Tyrol. And "the rest is Austria", as the French prime minister, Georges Clemenceau, famously put it. The separated Austria and Hungary that remained were reduced to small, landlocked countries. - Ottoman fallout - When Ottoman sultan Mehmed V proclaimed the "holy war" against France, Britain and Russia in November 1914, siding with the Central Powers, his empire had already lost most of its European possessions. The setbacks it went on to suffer on the Russian front from 1915 served as a pretext to turn on its Armenian minority, labelled as traitors and suspected of harbouring nationalist sentiment. Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their people were killed during the war, and almost 30 countries have recognised the killings as genocide. Turkey refuses the term but accepts that massacres took place that, along with a famine, resulted in the deaths of 300,000-500,000 Armenians and as many Turks. The Ottoman defeat in World War I led to the final break-up of the once-mighty empire. A first treaty signed with the victors in Sevres, France, in 1920 chopped off enormous parts of its territory, including Arab lands, and provided for an independent Armenia and autonomous Kurdistan and ceding other areas to Greece. It was rejected by Turkish nationalists, led by Mustapha Kemal Ataturk, who went on to topple the sultan and establish a Turkish republic. They imposed a new treaty that was signed in Lausanne in 1923 and in which the republic retained Anatolia and areas around the Bosphorus Strait. - Arab raw deal - The British were able to triumph over the Ottoman empire thanks to the revolt of the Arab tribes in Mesopotamia and Palestine, for whom they held out the promise of independence. But Britain was also in secret talks with France to share out the Middle East between them, as set out in the Sykes-Picot Agreement signed in May 1916. They decided that Lebanon and Syria were to go to France, and Jordan and Iraq to Britain. The partition would feed Arab frustration. This mounted with the 1917 Balfour Declaration that led to the establishment within Palestine of "a national home for the Jewish people". The state of Israel was created 30 years later, its troubled foundations causing a conflict that continues to disrupt the region today. Lenin addresses a meeting in Moscow in 1919 Heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian empire, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, just before his assassination in Sarajevo on June A cadet with a Turkish flag in front of a portrait of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk at an Air Force Academy graduation ceremony in 2007
A tiny Hawaiian island has vanished off the map as Hurricane Walaka swept over the 800 metre stretch of sand swamping it beneath the waves.

Experts say that climate change may be partly to blame for the disappearance of East Island, which was previously an important pupping area for endangered monk seals.

Before and after pictures from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) show how the island was submerged by the raging seas after the powerful hurricane swept through.

I had a holy s*** moment, thinking, Oh my God, its gone, Chip Fletcher from the University of Hawaii told Honolulu Civil Beat.

The probability of occurrences like this goes up with climate change.

East Island, Hawaii, before it was submerged. Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Hurricane Walaka swept over East Island (pictured). Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Its one more chink in the wall of the network of ecosystem diversity on this planet that is being dismantled.

This is not surprising when you consider the bad luck of a hurricane going into that vicinity and sea level rise already sort of deemed the stressor in the background for these ecosystems.
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel remained at odds on Saturday over the issue of halting lucrative arms sales to Saudi Arabia in response to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The disagreement led to a rare dispute between the close European allies on Friday, when Macron implied that Berlin was engaging in "pure demagoguery" after Merkel announced a freeze on arms sales to Riyadh. The suspension would remain in place until the circumstances of the dissident's murder inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul were clarified, she said. The tone was more measured when the two leaders had a "relaxed exchange" on the sidelines of a Syria summit in Istanbul on Saturday, Macron's office said, adding that they had agreed not to announce their next positions on the issue without first coordinating "at the European level". However in separate news conferences after the end of the summit, the divide remained: Merkel stood by her "decision to stop all arms exports" to Riyadh, while Macron said that any sanctions should be made at the "European level" and "not limited to this or that sector". Macron also reiterated his claim that there was no moral link to be made between Khashoggi's death at the beginning of this month and Saudi Arabia's purchase of French-made weapons. Once it was established who was responsible for the killing, "sanctions can be taken", he said, but they must be "coherent, comprehensive and extremely concrete and proportionate". Earlier in the week Germany called for EU countries to follow its lead and suspend arms sales for the moment to Saudi Arabia, prompting a dismissive response from Macron -- France is the kingdom's second biggest customer after India. "What is the link between arms sales and Mr Khashoggi?" Macron said on Friday, calling it "pure demagoguery to call for a halt" to exports, which have "nothing to do with Mr Khashoggi. One shouldn't mix everything up". The remark was interpreted as a rare veiled criticism of Merkel. Macron added that if Saudi Arabia is to be sanctioned, "we must do so across the board". "In that case, we should stop selling cars," he told reporters -- another possible dig at Germany, a massive auto exporter. Last month -- before the international backlash against the Saudi kingdom -- Germany approved 416 million euros ($470 million) worth of arms exports to Riyadh for 2018. Khashoggi's killing has tainted the image of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has positioned himself as a Saudi reformer, and tested ties between Washington and Riyadh as Western powers demand answers over who ordered the hit and the whereabouts of the body. Prince Mohammed, the kingdom's de facto ruler, has denounced the "repulsive" murder, denying any involvement. French President Emmanuel Macron argued that sanctions against Saudi Arabia for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi should be at the "European level"
A synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh on Saturday, which left 11 people dead, is "likely the deadliest" such attack in US history, an American civil rights group said. Here is a list of major attacks on synagogues across the world over recent years, and of attacks on other places of Jewish community life. - Tunisia - On April 11, 2002, 21 people died in a suicide attack on the Ghriba synagogue, on the island of Djerba, in the south of the country. Among the dead were 14 Germans, five Tunisians and two French citizens. A tank truck driven by a Tunisian and filled with inflammable gas blew up outside the synagogue, which is the oldest place of Jewish worship in Africa. The attack was claimed by Al-Qaeda. - Turkey - On November 15, 2003, vehicles filled with explosives were used against two synagogues in Istanbul, Neve Shalom and Beth Israel, killing 30 and injuring 300. Five days later, the British consulate and an HSBC building came under attack. A Turkish cell of Al-Qaeda claimed responsility for the four attacks which claimed a total of 63 lives. - Israel - On November 18, 2014, an attack by two Palestinians against a synagogue in western Jerusalem claimed five dead: three Israeli-Americans, one Israeli-Briton and a Druze policeman. The Har Nof neighbourhood, where the attack took place, is considered to be a bastion of the ultra-orthodox Shas party. The attack was the first ever against a Jewish place of worship in Jerusalem. Both attackers were shot dead by police. - Denmark - On February 14, 2015, a Danish citizen of Palestinian origin, having pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, opened fire on a cultural centre in Copenhagen which was hosting a freedom of speech conference, and killed a film-maker. Later that night, he also killed a 37-year old Jewish man who was standing guard outside a synagogue where a bar mitzvah was being held. The attacker was then killed in a shootout with police. - Not just synagogues - In addition to synagogues, many other places of Jewish community life have been attacked over the years. In France on March 19, 2012, a 23-year old French-Algerian Islamist killed three children and a teacher in a Jewish school in the southwest of the country. In the US, on April 13, 2014, a white supremacist known for his anti-Semitic views attacked a Jewish community centre and retirement home in Kansas, killing three people, none of whom were actually Jewish. In Belgium on May 24, 2014, a man opened fire in the lobby of the Jewish Museum in Brussels, killing four. The alleged killer, French-Algerian Mehdi Nemmouche, was arrested in France in June of this and extradited to Belgium for trial. In France, on January 9, 2015, four Jews were killed during a hostage-taking in a Jewish supermarket in Paris by a Jihadist. The 2002 attack on the Ghriba attack in Tunisia claimed 21 lives Scene of the first ever attack on a synagogue in Jerusalem, in 2014 A hostage taking at a Jewish supermarket in Paris claimed the lives of four Jews in 2015
A super fit Army veteran was left almost completely paralysed after he was struck down by a mystery bug while on holiday.

Former Sergeant Major Derek Benny Bennett, 66, was on his usual morning hike in the mountains of Northern Cyprus when he began to feel a chronic pain in his back.

Rushed to hospital, Benny from West Lothian in Scotland, is now confined to his hospital bed, only able to speak and blink while his friends and family are desperate to get the dad of two back to the UK.

Lifelong family friend Victoria Guthrie, 29, said that the former para and Royal Scots Dragoon Guards veteran had been her rock following the death of her father as a child.

Former Sergeant Major Derek Benny Bennet remains in hospital after contracting a bug while on holiday. Source: Caters

He was a physical training instructor in the army and hes always been super fit which is something weve always taken for granted, the mother-of-one said.

That makes what happened all the more shocking.

Hes a proud man who served his country with distinction.

She revealed Mr Bennett filled the role of her father after hers passed away when she was just nine.

He even walked me down the aisle on my wedding day, she recalled.

Mr Bennett has been described as super fit, with his current condition leaving his friends and family stunned. Source: Caters

Mr Bennett, who served in Northern Ireland, Cyprus, Germany and the Gulf over his 25-year army career had been staying on the island at his holiday home with friends when he fell ill on September 15.

He went walking in the morning as he usually does and he had a really sore back and went to A&E and was given painkillers, Ms Guthrie said.

He was in excruciating pain, he had a fever and his blood pressure was very erratic.

Despite being sent home, Bennys condition gradually deteriorated and he was rushed back to hospital.

Ms Guthrie revealed he has since had five blood transfusions before the paralysis began to set in.

He can move his eyes and speak and thats about it.

Friends have gathered around the former soldiers bed side for over a month.

To add to the already stressful situation, the Turkish Cypriot doctors arent able to speak English meaning that a friend is now having to translate for the sick soldier into German, the only shared language.

Story continues

Doctors are baffled as to whats caused Bennys condition but suspect he has suffered a virulent infection of his nervous system.

Familys appeal for help

His family are now seeking to fly him back to the UK for specialist treatment with the cost of the flight estimated to be at least 30,000.

When he gets back hell need to have an in-depth operation on his spine, Ms Guthrie revealed.

The longer hes there, the longer were putting the operation off for.

His friends are now raising money to get him home through a GoFundMe page and have already raised just over 11,000 so far.
Russia is no replacement for the United States in the Middle East following Moscow's military intervention in Syria, US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis told a regional security conference on Saturday. "Russia's presence in the region cannot replace the longstanding, enduring, and transparent US commitment to the Middle East," Mattis told a meeting in the Bahraini capital Manama. He was speaking as Russian President Vladimir Putin was due to hold talks in Istanbul with the leaders of France, Germany and Turkey on Saturday seeking to find a lasting political solution to the seven-year civil war in Syria. Russia supports the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey backs some rebel groups seeking to oust the Syrian leader. Mattis told the Manama Dialogue that Moscow's "opportunism and willingness to overlook Assad's criminal activities against his own people evidences its lack of sincere commitment to essential moral principles." Iran's support for the Syrian regime "coupled with Russia's repeated vetoes of UN Security Council Resolutions, is the leading reason Assad remains in power," he said. More than 360,000 people have been killed since the conflict erupted in 2011, while millions have been displaced, many of them seeking refuge in neighbouring countries such as Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon. "We are deeply aware of the sacrifices many of our partners have made, and continue to make, in dealing with the effects of Assad's violence against his own people," Mattis said. He vowed the US-led coalition in Syria would "continue to root out" jihadist groups "and expand space for our diplomats to negotiate for long-term peace in that war-torn country". "We stand with our partners who favour stability over chaos, and we support unity of effort among our nations' militaries in response to shared threats and challenges," Mattis added. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was to host Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Istanbul for talks on the Syrian conflict. It will be the first summit to bring together the Turkish and Russian leaders with the European Union's two most significant national leaders. Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Friday that the primary goal would be to "clarify the steps to be taken for a political solution and to determine a roadmap". Pentagon chief Jim Mattis (L) has told a regional security conference in Bahrain that Russia is no replacement for the United States in the Middle East following it military intervention in Syria
Mexico on Friday announced it will offer Central American migrants medical care, education for their children and access to temporary jobs as long as they stay in two southern states. The plan was the first broad and detailed bid to address concerns of the flood of migrants, mostly from Honduras, who -- facing deadly violence and desperation at home -- set out in caravans for the United States. President Enrique Pena Nieto announced the "make yourself at home" plan that migrants who agree to remain in Chiapas and Oaxaca states can "receive medical care and even send your children to school," according to a video posted on Twitter. Migrants who want to take up his offer must file paperwork with the National Institute of Migration. "This plan is only for those who comply with Mexican laws and is a first step towards a permanent solution for those who have refugee status in Mexico," Pena Nieto said. A caravan with some 7,000 Central Americans is traveling through southern Mexico and many are determined to reach the United States -- despite warnings from US President Donald Trump, who says they will be turned back. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto -- seen here in September in New York -- has offered Central American migrants temporary jobs and health care if they stay in two southern Mexican states
Three Myanmar journalists accused of incitement were granted bail on Friday but must continue to fight the case involving a close confidant of civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The three were arrested about six weeks after two Reuters reporters were each sentenced to seven years in prison in September, a high-profile case that provoked outrage around the world. In this case the article, published earlier this month by Eleven Media, criticised the financial management of Yangon's government run by Phyo Min Thein, the chief minister for the city and a staunch Suu Kyi ally. Executive editors Kyaw Zaw Lin and Nayi Min and chief reporter Phyo Wai Win -- who have spent the last two weeks in Myanmar's notorious Insein prison -- stand by the report, which raised questions about funding for the city's bus network. "My report was fair and right. I just pointed out that the (Yangon government's budgeting) process was wrong, but they thought that I abused them," Phyo Wai Win told AFP at the court. They were charged under article 505 (b), which criminalises published or circulated information that causes "fear or alarm to the public". It is one of many broadly worded provisions in the penal code that have been used against journalists in the country. The trio could face up to two years in jail, if convicted. In a rare move, Myanmar's president intervened last week to urge the prosecutor to withdraw the charges and resolve the conflict through press council arbitration. But the prosecutor did not turn up to Friday's hearing due to a "health problem", the judge told defence lawyer Kyee Myint, and so the case must continue. The next hearing is set for 9 November. Rights groups have long called for an overhaul of an array of Myanmar's vague laws governing freedom of expression, and the case comes as journalism advocates decry shrinking space for independent reporting. Dozens of reporters have been ensnared since Suu Kyi's government came to power two years ago. The harsh sentences for Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo came at the end of what was widely seen as a sham trial after they exposed the extrajudicial killing of 10 Rohingya Muslims last year. The cases have further tarnished the reputation of Suu Kyi, once lauded internationally for her commitment to the fight for human rights. "In reality it is attacks on the media that cause public fear and alarm as they undermine hard-fought democratic gains in Myanmar," Sean Bain, legal adviser for the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), told AFP. In 2016, Eleven Media's then editors were briefly jailed over a column that accused Phyo Min Thein of corruption, for which the paper later apologised. Detained Myanmar journalists Kyaw Zaw Lin, Nayi Min and Phyo Wai Win were arrested about six weeks ago The journalist arrests have further tarnished the reputation of civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis on Saturday compared Europe to "the village of Asterix and Obelix", saying its frontiers must be defended from migrants. Babis, who is known for his anti-migrant stance, made the comments while visiting a museum in Prague with French President Emmanuel Macron. "The Czech Republic has one of the lowest unemployment rates in Europe," he said. "All those who come have a work permit. One must have the same system in Europe." Babis met German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday and both agreed on the need to focus on economic development in Africa to try to slow migration into the European Union. The Czech Republic and fellow eastern EU states Hungary, Poland and Slovakia have rejected a German-backed EU plan to introduce a mandatory quota system to distribute migrants and refugees across the bloc, following the 2015 migrant crisis. "I have always said it's like the Gaulish village of Asterix and Obelix," the billionaire turned premier said, referring to the beloved cartoon characters who resist Roman occupation in 50 BC. "We have to defend Europe at its natural frontiers. "We are ready to step up our efforts of solidarity. We are sending soldiers, police, money and we will increase our role." Babis made the comments while visiting a Prague museum with French President Emmanuel Macron
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena suspended parliament Saturday to forestall a challenge against his surprise ouster of the prime minister, deepening a sudden swell of political turmoil in the island nation. Police cancelled all leave as tensions heightened in Colombo a day after the president dismissed Ranil Wickremesinghe and replaced him with controversial former strongman leader Mahinda Rajapakse. Parliamentary officials said the president had suspended parliament until November 16. Wickremesinghe had earlier demanded an emergency session to prove he still commanded a majority. Wickremesinghe continued to occupy Temple Trees, the official residence of the prime minister, and insisted in a letter to Sirisena that he was still in office. "Get this controversy out of the way," Wickremesinghe told reporters in a press conference at the residence. "Reconvene parliament immediately so that I can prove my majority." Parliamentary sources said Speaker Karu Jayasuriya would now have to decide if he recognised Rajapakse or Wickremesinghe as the prime minister. The falling out between the two former allies has come to a rapid head since Sirisena earlier this year backed a no-confidence motion against the man he had handpicked to lead the government. Sirisena initially said he would be a one-term president but later indicated he will seek re-election next year, pitting himself against Wickremesinghe who also has presidential ambitions. China's ambassador to Colombo, Cheng Xueyuan, met separately with Rajapakse and Wickremesinghe on Saturday, officials said. Details of those talks were not immediately available. Regional power India was also "closely watching" developments in Colombo, official sources in New Delhi told AFP. Rajapakse is seen as being closer to China than Wickremesinghe, who had sought to re-establish stronger ties with traditional ally India. Separately, Colombo-based Western diplomats meet with Wickremesinghe at Temple Trees residence for a briefing about the sacking. Before the meet, the United States urged all sides to abide by Sri Lanka's constitution and refrain from violence. European ambassadors in Colombo issued a similar message on Saturday. - Standoff - Overnight, Rajapakse loyalists stormed two state-owned television networks -- which they regard as loyal to Wickremesinghe's outgoing government -- and forced them off the air. They resumed broadcasting Saturday and were supporting Rajapakse. There were reports of sporadic attacks against supporters of Wickremesinghe's United National Party in several parts of the country after Rajapakse was sworn in late Friday. The streets of the capital remained calm Saturday but security was tightened around Rajapakse's residence and the state television station. Sirisena had withdrawn Wickremesinghe's security detail and vehicles, said finance minister Mangala Samaraweera. Wickremesinghe, 69, who trained as a lawyer and regarded a champion of free market reforms, insisted that he can be removed only by parliament. His party has the largest number of seats, but the president's United People's Freedom Alliance walked out of the governing coalition shortly before Wickremesinghe was sacked. This is the second time that a president has ousted Wickremesinghe from office. In 2004, the then president sacked him and called snap elections. After winning the premiership a third time in August 2015, Wickremesinghe amended the constitution to remove the head of state's power to sack prime ministers to prevent a repeat of his earlier ouster. However, Sirisena proceeded on Friday despite the insistence of many political observers that he lacked the power to remove the premier. Political commentator Victor Ivan said Sirisena's action was a blatant violation of the constitution. "This is a capture of power through a conspiracy," Ivan said. However, Rajapakse loyalist and former foreign minister G. L. Peiris said they believed there was nothing illegal about sacking Wickremesinghe and challenged him to prove his majority on November 16. - Talks on cabinet - Since his rushed swearing in, Rajapakse has yet to announce any official moves although several of his supporters said they expect a new cabinet to be formed on Sunday and talks were underway. Rajapakse, 72, is a controversial figure at home and abroad but has pushed for a return to frontline politics since he lost the presidential election to Sirisena in 2015. His decade in power saw Colombo crush a decades-long Tamil Tiger uprising. Rights groups say tens of thousands of Tamil civilians were killed in the final stages of the campaign, but Rajapakse has refused to acknowledge any abuses in the civil war. He also leaned heavily on China for political support and took loans to build infrastructure which the new government described as white elephants. His reliance on Beijing angered India, who Rajapakse blamed for his defeat in the last presidential polls. After Sirisena became president, Sri Lanka has moved to reconcile with India, the United States and other Western powers. It promised the UN it would investigate allegations of rights abuses during the civil war but has been criticised for a lack of progress in the years since. Former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse, left, is sworn is as prime minister by President Maithripala Sirisena Soldiers stand guard at Mahinda Rajapakse's residence after he was sworn in as prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe (C) had amended the constitution to remove the president's power to sack prime ministers Mahinda Rajapakse has refused to acknowledge any abuses in the civil war and also leaned heavily on China for political support
Flamboyant drag queens and horned devils rubbed shoulders with Christian pastors and supporters Saturday as tens of thousands of people took part in Taipei's Gay Pride parade -- the biggest in Asia -- ahead of a landmark vote next month on LGBT rights on the island. Taiwan's top court in May 2017 legalised gay marriage, the first place in Asia to do so, and ruled its decision must be implemented within two years. But there has been little progress towards bringing in the mandatory change since then, with President Tsai Ing-wen saying society is still divided. Anti-gay rights campaigners have mounted a referendum against amending the civil code to allow same-sex couples to marry, which will take place alongside local elections in November. They say marriage should be defined as "a bond between one man and one woman." In response, pro-LGBT campaigners have put forward their own referendum proposing that the code should be amended, which will also go to the vote next month. They have also put forward a referendum calling for same-sex education in schools, a counterpoint to another anti-gay referendum opposing it. The theme of this year's march was to support the pro-gay rights referendums. Waving rainbow banners, placards and fans printed with slogans including "love is equal" and "vote for a happy future," participants gathered at the square outside the presidential office for the start of the parade. "I support the referendums because marriage equality is a basic human right that nobody should be deprived of and gender equality education at school is crucial to prevent discrimination and bullying," said Chen Yu-fang, a 39-year-old housewife who brought her two children to the rally. - 'Make the right choice' - Organisers estimated a turnout of 137,000, including many overseas participants. A police estimate was not immediately available. "We pray that the marriage equality will be realised in Taiwan soon and every country in Asia will follow as well," said South Korean pastor Borah Lim, who was among a group of foreign Christian leaders who travelled to Taipei to support the event. Last year's court decision is binding on the government, but did not give specific guidance on how same-sex relationships should be legalised. If the referendum put forward by the Coalition for the Happiness of our Next Generation is successful, it may require a separate law to be enacted for civil unions between same-sex couples -- a move gay marriage campaigners say would be discriminatoryand offer fewer legal protections. "We hope the government will take the issue seriously. It's a pity that there has been no action after the court decision," said Chin Kuang-chih, 26, a drag queen performer. Referendum proposals in Taiwan are put to a public vote if they are supported by 1.5 percent of the electorate -- a little over 280,000 signatures. If more than 25 percent of around 19.79 million eligible voters across the island vote in favour, and providing the "yes" votes surpass "no" votes, the government must draw up a bill that reflects the results -- which then goes to a parliamentary vote. Jennifer Lu, a spokeswoman for the Marriage Equality Coalition which is promoting the LGBT referendums, warned it would deal a serious blow to the gay rights movement in Taiwan if the counter proposals were passed. "We hope everyone will make the right choice in the spirit of democracy." Analysts said current law does not specify what should happen if two conflicting referendums pass. The Central Election Commission, which oversees the referendum voting process, told AFP it could not comment on the "hypothetical" question of opposing referendums passing. The theme of this year's march was to support pro-gay rights referendums in Taiwan A court decision last year binds the Taiwanese government to legislate for same-sex partnerships by next year Organisers estimated a turnout of 137,000 to the Taiwan parade Taiwan in 2017 became the first place in Asia to legalise gay marriage but there has been little progress towards implementing the change LGBT rights supporters prepare for the Gay Pride parade in Taipei which is the biggest in Asia Pro-LGBT campaigners have put forward a referendum calling for same-sex education in schools
The leaders of Turkey, Russia, France and Germany on Saturday called for a political solution to Syria's devastating seven-year civil war and a lasting ceasefire in the last major rebel-held bastion of Idlib. A joint statement adopted at the end of a major summit in Istanbul said the countries were committed to working "together in order to create conditions for peace and stability in Syria". It also "stressed the importance of a lasting ceasefire" in Idlib, while hailing "progress" following a deal last month between Syrian-regime supporter Russia and rebel-backer Turkey to create a buffer zone around the northwestern province. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke for several hours with Russia's Vladimir Putin, France's Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel about the Syrian conflict, in which more than 360,000 people have been killed since 2011. Their statement, read by Erdogan, called for a committee to be established to draft Syria's post-war constitution before the end of the year, "paving the way for free and fair elections" in the war-torn country. It also said there was "the need to ensure humanitarian organisations' rapid, safe and unhindered access throughout Syria and immediate humanitarian assistance to reach all people in need". - 'Prevent humanitarian disaster' - The talks came after a week of escalating violence in Idlib culminated in Syrian regime artillery fire killing seven civilians on Friday, the highest death toll there since the fragile ceasefire began last month. Following the joint news conference in Istanbul, the leaders spoke separately, with Macron urging Russia to pressure the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to bring about a "stable and lasting ceasefire in Idlib". "We rely on Russia to exercise very clear pressure on the regime which depends on it for survival," he said. However Putin warned that if "radicals" were to "launch armed provocations from the Idlib zone, Russia reserves the right to give active assistance to the Syrian government in liquidating this source of terrorist threat". Merkel, meanwhile, said the leaders "have the duty to prevent another humanitarian disaster". "The challenge is to end two wars: The war against terror and the war of the regime against large parts of its own population," she said. "A solution cannot happen through military means but only through political negotiations under the leadership of the United Nations." A rival United Nations plan for a committee to write the constitution ran aground this week, with UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura, who attended the summit, saying Damascus rejected the UN having a role in the selection process. The summit also addressed the plight of the millions displaced by the grinding conflict, saying that conditions needed to be created "throughout the country for the safe and voluntary return of refugees". However whether or not those forced to flee the country would be allowed to vote in a future election was left for the separate press conferences. "We must advance with the political process at the end of which there must be free elections open to all Syrians -? including those in the diaspora," Merkel said. Erdogan, a vocal opponent of Assad, agreed, saying that Syrians "inside and outside" the country must decide the president's fate. - 'Russia cannot replace US' - Aid groups have warned that a Syrian government military offensive in Idlib, home to three million people, could spark one of the worst humanitarian disasters of the seven-year war. With an assault by government troops seeming imminent, Moscow and Ankara agreed on September 17 to create a 15-20 kilometre-wide demilitarised zone ringing Idlib as Turkey sought to avoid an attack leading to a further influx of people across its border. On Friday, Syria's UN envoy Bashar Jaafari maintained that the buffer zone is temporary and that Idlib would eventually revert to government control. Turkey and Russia have held several talks with Iran on the Syrian conflict in efforts that have often been greeted with suspicion in the West, but Saturday's summit was the first to include the EU's two most significant national leaders. Syria's opposition, which has previously described Russia's military intervention in 2015 as an occupation, on Friday said it welcomed dialogue with Moscow. However US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis told a security conference in Bahrain that Russia was no replacement for the United States. "Russia's presence in the region cannot replace the longstanding, enduring, and transparent US commitment to the Middle East," Mattis said. Russian President Vladimir Putin, France's Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan meet in Istanbul for the Syrian summit Around 360,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict since 2011 Aid groups have warned that a military offensive on Idlib could spark one of the worst humanitarian disasters of the seven-year war The talks come a day after seven civilians were killed by Syrian regime artillery fire in the northwestern province of Idlib
With an influx of cash from Albany Republicans, GOP candidate Bob Antonacci raised more money than Democratic hopeful John Mannion over the past few weeks in the 50th Senate District race.

Antonacci collected $270,190.22 in total receipts, according to his 11-day pre-election campaign finance report. His campaign spent $431,266.94 and has $96,555.85 in the bank.

Mannion raised $79,262.19 over the same period. His campaign's expenses totaled $61,159.56 and he had a closing balance of $62,272.98.

The largest benefactor for Antonacci's campaign was the New York State Senate Republican Campaign Committee, which transferred $208,000. He received $26,640 from individual donors, including $11,000 from Frank Suits.

Suits is the CEO of Suit-Kote, a Cortland-based asphalt products manufacturer.

Real estate interests continue to support Antonacci's campaign. He received $7,500 from Housing New York PAC 1.

Antonacci netted $5,000 from the Civil Services Employees Political Action Fund and $2,500 from Empire Health PAC, the latter of which is affiliated with Anthem, a large private health insurance company.

The largest expense for Antonacci's campaign was television commercials. He spent $408,000 on television ads, which accounted for nearly 95 percent of his total expenditures.

Mannion received $22,312.19 from individual donors, including $5,000 each from Sean Eldridge and Chris Hughes. Eldridge and Hughes are married. Eldridge is a political activist and former congressional candidate. Hughes is the co-founder of Facebook.

Several unions donated to Mannion's campaign. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers New York PAC gave $7,000, the New England Regional Council of Carpenters NY Non-Partisan PEC contributed $6,000, New York State AFL-CIO Committee on Political Education chipped in $6,000 and the Communications Workers of America District One PAC made a $5,000 contribution.

Two top state Senate Democrats supported Mannion. Senate Democratic Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins' campaign donated $11,000. State Sen. Mike Gianaris' campaign gave $5,000.

The top expenditure for Mannion's campaign was $51,500 to the GRSG Company, a campaign consultant.

The candidates have raised more than $1 million in the 50th district race. Antonacci's receipts total $638,350.70. Mannion has raised $408,543.92.

Their campaigns have spent nearly $900,000. Antonacci has reported expenses totaling $541,794.85, while Mannion has spent $346,270.94.

Those totals don't include outside spending. Democratic- and GOP-aligned groups have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Antonacci and Mannion are vying to succeed retiring state Sen. John DeFrancisco, a Republican. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 6.

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Some Democrats have called for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Is Dana Balter, the Democratic candidate in the 24th Congressional District race, one of them?

Her Republican opponent, U.S. Rep. John Katko, thinks so.

At the Syracuse.com debate Wednesday, Katko, R-Camillus, claimed Balter, D-Syracuse wants to abolish ICE, a federal agency created after 9/11 to enforce immigration laws and conduct criminal investigations into drug trafficking and human trafficking, for example.

Katko's campaign repeated this claim in a news release Friday. They attached a photo that purportedly shows Balter attending an "Abolish ICE" rally in Syracuse.

Let's examine the facts.

Debate

Near the end of the Syracuse.com debate, Katko claimed that Balter "supports the abolishing of ICE." He said she's attended rallies in support of abolishing ICE, including a July 31 event.

Balter denied this at the debate and accused Katko of "trying to distort my position." She said she doesn't support abolishing ICE.

Katko, though, repeated his claim that Balter attended "Abolish ICE" rallies. But again, Balter denied that she supports abolishing the agency.

During the exchange, Katko mentioned that there were photos of Balter at these rallies that his campaign would post online.

News release

On Friday, Katko's campaign distributed a news release claiming that Balter attended a rally organized by the CNY Solidarity Coalition, a progressive group, to advocate for abolishing ICE. The release included a photo that shows Balter at a rally in Syracuse. An "Abolish ICE" banner can be seen in the background.

After Balter's denial at the debate, Katko's campaign accused her of covering up her position.

"Dana Balter can't have it both ways," the campaign said. "She can't join her extreme-left friends in protesting the existence of ICE one day and claim that she doesn't support abolishing ICE on another."

The rallies

Balter's campaign confirmed she attended a rally on June 30 in Syracuse. The event was billed as, "Families Belong Together and Free." CNY Solidarity Coalition was listed as one of the groups that organized the rally, but there were several others involved. The lead organization, according to the Facebook listing, was the Syracuse Immigrant and Refugee Defense Network.

Balter tweeted after the rally indicating she was there. She wrote, "I'm proud to have stood with my fellow Central New Yorkers in support of Human rights. #FamiliesBelongTogether #SilenceIsComplicity."

The purpose of the rally was to protest the Trump administration's family separation policy. The Facebook listing also includes criticisms of ICE, and said the event was part of nationwide actions "where people are demanding that ICE be shut down ..."

There was a separate event on July 31 that was referred to as an "Abolish ICE Day of Action." That rally was held in Syracuse, but Balter didn't attend. Her campaign confirmed that she didn't appear at the rally. On that same day, she held a press conference to unveil her government reform agenda.

Balter's position

While Balter attended the June 30 rally, she doesn't support abolishing ICE. In an interview with The Citizen over the summer, she fell short of calling for the agency's elimination. She believes reforms are needed, especially after raid at a farm in Oneida County. The farmer in that case said ICE agents didn't have a warrant and didn't identify themselves.

In a statement Friday, Balter's campaign reiterated the candidate's position on ICE.

"Dana has called for reforms to the agency in response to documented abuses and to ensure that our immigration policy is focused where it should be: on securing the border and removing people we know are dangerous, not tearing apart families," the campaign said.

Conclusion

Katko claimed Balter supports abolishing ICE. Her public statements, though, don't back up that charge. In an interview, at a debate and in a statement from her campaign, she maintained that she doesn't support abolishing the agency. She does support reforming it, although she didn't specify what those reforms would entail.

The photo provided by Katko's campaign was taken at the June 30 rally, not the July 31 event. In the campaign's news release, Balter was accused of evading whether or not she attended the rally "that was focused on calling for the abolition of ICE."

Balter wasn't present for the July 31 "Abolish ICE Day of Action" rally. She was at the June 30 rally. While the June rally did feature criticisms of ICE and even some calls to abolish the agency, the main focus of that event was the Trump administration's family separation policy. Balter spoke out about the family separation policy and accused the Trump administration of using children as "political hostages" at the U.S.-Mexico border.

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A New York State Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a lawsuit brought by a Rochester man alleging wrongdoing by multiple Cayuga County law enforcement officials during a case that ended in several misdemeanor drug convictions.

Judge Ann Taddeo dismissed the lawsuit file by attorney Jarrod Smith on behalf of Tyrone Matthews that alleged malicious prosecution, false arrest and more from Cayuga County District Attorney Jon Budelmann, Chief Assistant District Attorney Christopher Valdina, and multiple members of the Auburn Police Department and Cayuga County Sheriff's Office.

Matthews was convicted in September 2016 of three drug possession misdemeanors after a jury found he possessed small quantities of cocaine and heroin, but found him not guilty of five felonies including two related to the sale of drugs.

In September 2017, Smith, who did not represent Matthews in the criminal proceeding, filed the lawsuit in federal court before it was ultimately sent down to the state level.

In an order and report recommendation, U.S. Magistrate Therese Wiley Dancks dismissed the suit's claims, specifically stating that Budelmann and Valdina were protected by prosecutorial immunity and declined to rule on state-level claims.

Reached Friday, Smith said much of the suit revolved around the assertion that Budelmann had not introduced the agency defense to the grand jury for Matthews' case. In grand jury proceedings, district attorneys are required to introduce potentially exculpatory evidence that could favor the defendant.

The agency defense essentially states that a person is not guilty of selling or possessing a controlled substance with intent to sell if they are acting as an agent of a buyer.

Budelmann said Friday he was glad for the matter to be over  saying particularly he felt the effort he and his office spent on the suit could have better been spent on other work  but had expected such an outcome from the beginning, calling the suit the definition of a frivolous lawsuit.

It's obvious there's no basis of law to this, two federal judges told him there's no basis in law and he filed it anyway, Budelmann said. The issue is more the taxpayer funds and the diversion away from prosecuting crimes.

Smith, however, refuted the idea that the lawsuit was frivolous, saying that Taddeo, who ruled from the bench instead of issuing a written decision, dismissed it primarily out of procedural concerns rather than anything regarding the merit of the case.

Do I feel the case was solid? Yes. The judge wanted out of the mess, it was a messy situation procedurally, Smith said.

Smith also disputed Budelmann's assertion that the lawsuit and others filed against local law enforcement were harassing, and that he was simply doing his job, noting that he offered to drop the case earlier this year after not hearing from Matthews for months.

If Smith were to continue with what Budelmann described as harassing, frivolous lawsuits, the district attorney said he would consider filing an ethics complaint.

Staff writer Ryan Franklin can be reached at (315) 282-2252 or ryan.franklin@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @RyanNYFranklin

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India, the worlds second-most populous country with more than 1.3 billion people or approximately 18 percent of the total human population, is now out of reach for online porn sites, according to reports coming out of the region.

According to a report by The Deccan Herald newspaper, the massive Indian internet service provider Jio has now blocked an unknown number of porn sites, after a court in Indias state of Uttarakhand issued an order in September for the government to ban access to online porn.

The court order came in response to an incident in which four high school boys gang raped a girl at their school, telling police that they had viewed online porn prior to committing the rape.

Unlimited access to these pornographic sites is required to be blocked/curbed to avoid an adverse influence on the impressionable minds of children, the court said in its order, according to a Herald report.

The video aggregation sites Pornhub and XVideos were blocked by Jio, along with hundreds of others, according to a report by The Financial Express. According to The Express, the Uttarakhand court order named 857 separate sites, but Indias Ministry of Electronics determined that 30 of the sites on the list were not porn at all. As a result the order bans 827 sites.

The order applies to all ISPs in the country, but reports so far have pertained only to bans by Jio. Other internet firms, however, are expected to follow Jios lead, and may have done so already, according to The Express.

Jio has made no public statement about the porn ban, or even acknowledged that the ban exists, according to Times Now News. But the blockages were noticed by users of the internet forum Reddit.

Ive been trying to load a few of the porn sites but none of them seem to load on the Jio network, wrote one Reddit user. Is it just me or are you people facing the same issues?

I tried opening pornhub yesterday and ended up nutting to my imagination. What the frick guys?! wrote another frustrated porn consumer on Reddit.

Neighboring Nepal, a country of only 29 million which borders the Indian state of Uttarakhand, to Indias northeast, announced on October 14 that the government there had banned online porn, blocking about 25,000 sites, as the countrys response to a rise in rape cases there, as AVN.com reported.

Despite the responses of India and Nepal to rape incidents, statistical studies have repeatedly shown no correlation between viewing porn and committing sexual crimes such as rape. In fact, as sexuality researcher Michael Castleman has noted, as the societal prevalence of porn increased with the rise of the internet throughout the 1990s. rates of sexual assault dropped sharply in the United States, declining by 44 percent from 1995 to 2009.

Photo By Nairspecht/Wikimedia Commons
Ahram Online, by Hany Ghoraba (Excerpt: read on here Erdogan's media game)

The Turkish regime has been attempting to capitalise on the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi to gather acceptance for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans own tyrannical rule

The Turkish regime has been attempting to capitalise on the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi to gather acceptance for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans own tyrannical rule

The latter has caused a major upheaval in Saudi Arabias international relations and one that it will take years to rectify.

Even with Saudi King Salman announcing measures to investigate the incident on 20 October when Khashoggi was killed, the damage has already been done.

This Saudi intelligence blunder and the international scandal that has resulted from it have been turned into a victory for the Turkish and Qatari regimes.

These countries media have managed to control the narrative of the story and impose an international siege on the Saudi media, which was forced onto the defensive early in the crisis.

The Saudi denials of involvement in Khashoggis disappearance, and the latter admission that he had been killed, were not accompanied by proof that the Saudi security services in Turkey had not killed Khashoggi.

The result was that the Turks started to release one press statement after another detailing what they said had been a gruesome murder to the shocked international media.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attempted to become a champion of human rights and the freedom of expression even as his media were condemning the Saudis for the lack of these things.

At the same time, the Qataris were pouring fuel on the fire internationally and managing to capture the attention of the worlds media, especially since Khashoggi had been a US resident since 2017.

Qatar has been seeking revenge on the Saudis for their regional boycott of the Qatari state for its role in financing terrorist groups and even in supporting regime change in many countries in the region, including Saudi Arabia.

The Qatari AlJazeera TV network is known for its support for jihadist movements, and it airs programmes in which guests openly declare their allegiance to groups such as the Islamic State (IS).

It has been losing credibility since the Arab Spring revolutions owing to its support for Muslim Brotherhood terrorists across the region.

Unfortunately, Khashoggis death has brought AlJazeera back onto the media scene, since it has coordinated with Turkey to keep it abreast of developments.

The result has been a media victory for the Islamist regimes in Turkey and Qatar over Saudi Arabia, whose diplomatic efforts to contain the situation and the media response have been inconsistent and have served the Turkish and Qatari goal of blackmailing Saudi Arabia and smearing Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman.

However, such tactics by Erdogan to divert attention from his own regimes crimes throughout the region cannot overshadow facts on the ground regarding freedom of speech and human rights in Turkey, especially regarding the Turkish treatment of journalists and the media.

According to the Swedish NGO the Stockholm Centre for Freedom, 68 journalists have been convicted, 168 arrested, and 148 are still wanted in Turkey on various trumped-up charges.

These figures do not include the unexplained deaths of journalists such as the Americans Serena Shim and Rohas Aktas in 2014 and 2016, respectively.

Erdogan also ordered the shutting down of 16 television channels, 45 daily newspapers, 15 magazines, 23 radio stations and 29 publishing houses in Turkey as part of the purge that followed the failed coup detat in the country in July 2016.
The authority of the states to regulate their own insurance markets was severely curtailed by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In the individual markets, insurers' ability to determine what kind of coverage should be included in an insurance plan was usurped by the ACA's essential health benefits. The one-size-fits-all approach to health insurance ushered in by the ACA crushed the ability for insurance plans to compete for the population of individuals who do not get their health insurance from their employer or from a public program. This is the population of individuals that have been hurt the worst by the ACA. Congress failed to act during the most recent term and from a legislative standpoint, the ACA remains largely unchanged. However, the Trump administration has taken some steps to expand the options for individuals shopping in the individual market for health insurance.It's true that many individuals obtained coverage from the ACA that previously didn't have coverage. Yet, the population of people negatively affected by the ACA's centralized approach to health care is often overlooked. A few weeks ago, I discussed new rules from the Trump administration that created health coverage options that are not subject to all of the ACA regulations. Association health plans (AHP), short-term, limited-duration insurance (STLDI), and Farm Bureau plans offer options to individuals who can't afford ACA plans or don't need all services mandated in ACA plans. This was meaningful action that expanded choices for populations hurt by the ACA. However, there is still more that can be done.Currently, over 50 percent of counties in the United States have only one insurer offering coverage in the individual market. The number of insurers that offer plans in a given county is a robust predictor of costs associated with the health plans of that county. Many insurers pulled out of ACA marketplaces because of the expense and onerous requirements to sell health insurance plans. Earlier this week, the Trump administration published new guidance on section 1332 of the ACA. This new guidance will provide more opportunity for states to design individual insurance markets to manage costs and provide coverage that fits the needs of the state's residents.According to federal rules, section 1332 of the ACA "provides the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Secretary of the Treasury with the discretion to approve a state's proposal to waive specific provisions of the PPACA (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) provided the section 1332 state plan meets certain requirements." In other words, a 1332 waiver approved by HHS will give states permission to change the structure of eligible health plans and reallocate federal subsidies in the individual insurance market. For a section 1332 waiver to be approved, state officials would have to show HHS that their new alternative will function in accordance with the following guardrails:In 2015, the Obama administration issued new guidance, which made it much more difficult for a state to have a waiver to be approved under section 1332. Through this new guidance, the Trump administration has granted states more opportunities to have waivers accepted and renamed the waivers the "State Relief and Empowerment Waivers" to reflect the intentions of the new guidance. The new guidance says that the federal government will look favorably on applications thatThe lesson to take from the failures of the ACA is that centralized control of the health care industry leads to unintended consequences. The Trump administration promised to open up opportunities for more choices and lower costs and this reinterpreted waiver process under section 1332 of the ACA accomplishes that. Each state has a very unique population with unique health needs. Therefore, each state is best suited to create programs that ensure that the most vulnerable are protected, while allowing for competition that offers high-quality health care to patients in their state markets. A few states have already submitted a waiver, had a waiver approved, or have already implemented a new plan through a waiver under this section and the results are promising.The main change to the state programs would be in how federal dollars are used at the state level. With this new guidance, states could now create markets where plans can be sold to better meet the needs of individuals shopping for insurance. States can offer premium assistance for plans that aren't as expensive as those sold on the ACA exchanges. Different plans mean more options for individuals who have no choice but to sign up for expensive insurance that is filled with coverage that these individuals don't need.ACA proponents will argue that the expanded waivers will allow states to create opportunities for "junk insurance" to be sold and for plans that don't cover pre-existing conditions to be sold. But the fact is many people still don't have health insurance, and many simply can't afford the insurance sold on the ACA exchanges. The recent moves from the Trump administration allow for AHPs and STLDI to be more widely available. In light of the new section 1332 guidelines, states now have the opportunity to create programs to fund these cheaper plans with money that would have been used on expensive Obamacare subsidies, which will create numerous opportunities for people to get more affordable care that fits their needs.A state that potentially has a section 1332 waiver approved will still have ACA exchanges with essential health benefits and coverage for pre-existing conditions. The notion that allowing for these plans to be sold that don't comply with Obamacare will hurt people is misleading. Individuals who need protections for pre-existing conditions and expensive coverage will not have their plans or benefits taken away. In the most ironic turn of events thus far, proponents of the new waiver guidance are exclaiming a familiar message:Approving waivers for states to offer new options for residents will benefit a large population of people who need coverage but cannot afford the coverage offered by the ACA. These alternatives will not take anything away from those who benefit from the extensive ACA coverage. This isn't the end of the ACA. This isn't the end of coverage for those who have pre-existing conditions. This is the on-going process of accomplishing the administration's goal to relieve people from the restrictions imposed by the ACA and to give people more choices and freedom in choosing coverage that offers them value.


UNC President Margaret Spellings (left), and former UNC Board of Governors Chairman Lou Bissette, at a 2016 board meeting. (CJ photo by Kari Travis)

>"This is a board that's interested in operations. They're interested in how we use money. They're interested in how ... we really leverage the system platform. There are a lot of business people on the board, and they ask us tough questions, and we ring the bell and answer their good and justifiable questions. I'm looking forward to working with them."

The leader of the University of North Carolina System announced she is leaving her post after just 2 1/2 years on the job.UNC President Margaret Spellings, former U.S. secretary of education under the George W. Bush administration, offered her resignation Oct. 25, 2018. Her departure will be effective March 1, 2019. Spellings was elected in October 2015, and officially took office March 1, 2016. She signed a five-year contract with the university.She is the 21st president of the University of North Carolina and the sixth president since the UNC System was unified in 1971.Spellings said Oct. 26.Spellings will receive her regular salary of $775,000, plus benefits, until her exit March 1, 2019. She also will be paid $500,000She'll also be reimbursed as much as $35,000 for relocation expenses.Spellings will not be allowed to recruit employees, but may begin service on an outside board beginning Jan. 1, 2019.UNC System staffers blocked access to the meeting room doors and later a hallway outside the room while the board went into closed session to discuss the situation. Journalists weren't allowed to use the press room, which also is close to the boardroom.The announcement follows months of turmoil among members of the UNC Board of Governors - a scene much like that which surrounded Spellings' election. John Fennebresque, the board's former chairman, resigned abruptly after butting heads with his colleagues during the search for a new university leader.Early in 2015, former UNC President Tom Ross, a Democrat, was forced from his job by the mostly Republican board. He served until Jan. 3, 2016. Fennebresque said the decision had nothing to do with politics, The Charlotte Observer reported. Fennebresque instead cited a need forAccusations of muddied dealings and a lack of transparency plagued the board for months after.The problems soured Spellings' welcome. She faced intense protests from faculty and students before she even settled into her Chapel Hill office. Some protests were respectful, while others were disruptive and even violent. It was a tumultuous period, but suspicion and distrust seemed to dissolve, Spellings told reporters earlier this year.Spellings also said she was "pleased, but not satisfied," with the accomplishments of her administration. During her first year in office, Spellings, along with the UNC Board of Governors, developed a university policy to increase affordability and accessibility for students. The president also has overseen implementation of N.C. Promise, a program cutting in-state tuition to $500 a semester at three UNC schools.a source close to Spellings who did not want to be identified, told Carolina Journal.Spellings instigated her own resignation, she told reporters at an Oct. 26. press conference. The president appeared emotional, subtly masking tears.Spellings worked with former BOG Chairman Lou Bissette during her first two years on the job. Outwardly, the two shared an amiable relationship, laughing and chatting during public meetings. Bissette left the post earlier this year. His successor, Harry Smith, has verbally supported Spellings during meetings and press conferences, but interactions between the two appeared stilted.And while Smith has insisted the board continues to be united, a series of conflicts - mainly played out in private - have led to questions about tensions among factions of the board and Spellings.Discord has colored Spellings' presidency.During September 2017, board members sent a letter to Bissette and Spellings complaining of failed communication and and lack of collaboration In an op-ed column published late last year, Bissette wrote,The message didn't sit well with members such as former state Sen. Bob Rucho, R-Mecklenburg.Spellings in March told Carolina Journal the board isn't as divided as the public may think.The board will immediately begin its search for an interim president.
Strongly favor - 40%

Somewhat favor - 10%

Strongly oppose - 27%

Somewhat oppose - 10%

Unsure/Refused - 13%

More North Carolina voters support than oppose a constitutional amendment reducing the state's income tax to a maximum allowable rate of 7 percent, the latest Civitas Institute poll finds.Fifty percent of voters said they supported the question on the Nov. 6 ballot , which would not allow the state's income tax rate to go over 7 percent. The income tax is currently capped at 10 percent. Thirty-seven percent opposed reducing the cap, and only 27 percent among them "strongly opposed" the amendment.In total:Republican, third party and undecided voters were most supportive, with more than 70 percent of those on both the generic state legislative and congressional ballots voting Republican or third party favoring the amendment. Roughly 60 percent of Democratic voters on each of those ballots said they opposed the amendment.North Carolina has historically relied on tax increases to sustain high spending levels. The income tax cap would be a way to rein in out-of-control spending, while alleviating the tax burden placed on residents. The poll indicates that voters are largely hopeful for the prospects of controlling spending and lowering taxes.The sample size for the survey was 500 likely voters in North Carolina and the margin of error is +/- 4.4 percent. Responses were gathered via landline and mobile telephone interviews live callers at a professional call center conducted. Harper Polling conducted the survey Oct. 18-21 2018.
Before Steve Mnuchin was in charge of the nation's economy, he was a foreclosure kingpin who left Goldman Sachs to found OneWest Bank (with money from George Soros!) in 2008; after the crisis, OneWest Bank acquired busted mortgage lender IndyMac, and became a notorious foreclosure mill, using robo-signed, back-dated, fraudulent documents to steal peoples' houses.



One of Mnuchin's customers was Cesar Sayoc, the man accused of sending bombs to a collection of people vilified by Donald Trump (including George Soros!).





IndyMac foreclosed on Sayoc in 2009, having converted his mortgage to a MERS ("a shell company that housed an electronic spreadsheet where mortgages could be quickly traded between buyers") using the Law Offices of David J. Stern, notorious for sleazy, fraudulent tactics.

Sayoc's foreclosure was typically fraudulent: backdated documents, never served, fraudulently executed, used to steal a home, signed by a woman who eventually admitted to forging signatures on documents used in foreclosure frauds.





Mnuchin denied wrongdoing for years, before finally accepting a consent decree and stipulating to wronging homeowners. Mnuchin might have faced prosecution in California, except Kamala Harris  then California Attorney General  declined to prosecute the case her staff built against Mnuchin and his bank. Harris is one of the people targeted by the bombs that Sayoc is accused of mailing. At the federal level, Eric Holder (Obama's Attorney General and another bombing target) declined to bring criminal charges against any of the bankers involved in the crisis of 2008 and the epidemic of house thefts that followed it (today, Holder earns $3m/year working for an elite lawfirm servicing the banks he declined to prosecute).





Life sure comes at you fast.



Not even two years after the mortgage sale, on January 7, 2009, IndyMac Bank filed for foreclosure. The docket in the case indicates that Sayoc did not receive notice of this lawsuit; the summons was returned unserved in February. The legal representation for IndyMac was the Law Offices of David J. Stern, a notorious foreclosure mill that prosecuted about one-fifth of all foreclosures in the state at the height of its powers, many of them in slipshod ways and with fraudulent documents. They often served "notice by publication," placing the foreclosure notice in a local paper called the Daily Business Review. In order to foreclose, IndyMac needed to assign the mortgage back from MERS to IndyMac, making them the mortgage holder and therefore eligible to enforce the lien. This appears to have been done after the fact. The documents state that the assignment was executed on January 5, 2009, but elsewhere in the document the date is listed as January 23. And the document was not filed with the county clerk's office until April 23.



Cesar Sayoc's Home Was Foreclosed On By Steve Mnuchin's Bank, Using Dodgy Paperwork [David Dayen/The Intercept]
Michigan's brilliant businessman governor Rick Snyder has slashed the state's budget over and over, in service to an electorate who would vote for a smear of roadkill if it would promise to knock a dollar off their tax-bills.



The result is a state whose cities can't afford policing, and have become increasingly reliant on volunteer "police reservists" who get guns and badges and patrol with real cops, sometimes shooting people when they forget which gun-shaped thing is a gun and which one is a tazer.





Many states use police reservists to help out for things like big sports-matches, but they typically have state-wide oversight of reservists, with background checks and sufficient training.





Not Michigan: the same austerity that prevents the state from hiring enough cops to fulfill core policing duties also means that the state can't fund the agency that is supposed to oversee the 3,000+ reservists toting guns and handcuffs and driving around in cop cars. Each city is allowed to make up its own rules about how much background checking and training each reservist gets before being armed and sent out among the citizenry. The minimum allowable amount of both is zero.





Which is how Michigan cities and towns have armed and deputized literal Nazis (the Barry Township Police force actually disbanded its reserve force when it realized it had allowed a violent Nazi named John Raterink to become a reservist; when Barry later reinstated the reserve force, it gave Raterink a gun and let him return to duty).





Michigan's reservists also include a convicted felon who created his own illegal pretend police force and ran around town "arresting" people, was arrested, convicted and jailed, and then became an armed reservist who worked with real cops.

Michigan police management express skepticism about making the criteria for reservists more stringent, pointing out that they can't afford to hire enough cops and depend on the reservists, who pay for their own gear and volunteer their time. Chiefs worry that if they make reservists get adequately trained, or force them to subject to background checks, they won't be willing to volunteer any longer.

Some Michigan cops actually charge reservists to join up, basically selling them the right to carry a gun and terrorize their neighbors.

*

There are about 3,000 unlicensed civilians supplementing the ranks of law enforcement agencies across Michigan, based on information compiled by the newspaper through Freedom of Information Act requests filed last year. Most are considered reserves or auxiliary officers, but the newspaper also identified other unlicensed civilians, such as members of sheriff's posses and mounted and marine units. It is believed to be the first such accounting of this group of officers.

*

Michigan has fallen behind other states that have already implemented standards for reserve officers. The responsibility to set training requirements in Michigan falls to MCOLES, the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards  but the agency has no immediate plans to take on such a task, despite gaining the authority to do so nearly two years ago.

*

Responsibilities of these civilians, who are mostly unpaid volunteers, vary widely  from serving as the partners of licensed cops on patrol to riding horses in parades in units that are, generally, ceremonial.



They look like cops, but they're not. And they're all over Michigan. [Gina Kaufman and Jim Schaefer/Detroit Free Press]





(via Naked Capitalism)
News / National

by Staff reporter

Former minister of State in the Organ of National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration, Moses Mzila Ndlovu, who is the guest speaker at the Gukurahundi commemorations scheduled for next month in the United Kingdom (UK) said both Zanu-PF and the MDC have nothing to offer the Matebeleland population.Ndlovu told the Daily News this week that besides seeking for votes in the region, politicians from the two political parties lack an understanding of the problems bedevilling Matebeleland."Besides getting political support from Matebeleland they (Zanu-PF and MDC) really have nothing to offer the people of the region. They are more concerned about keeping political power, not about the plight of the people. That is the reason why we refused to join Zanu-PF in 1987," he said."We cannot expect the perpetrators of the Gukurahundi genocide to be able to understand the impact the bloodshed had on the Matebeleland community. The composition of the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) is questionable."Earlier this year President Emmerson Mnangagwa signed the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission Bill (NPRC) into law to operationalise the Commission that was appointed in 2016.Mnangagwa is on record saying the Commission would make recommendations to government on how the Gukurahundi disturbances should be handled.In 1983, the then government of Robert Mugabe unleashed the North Korea-trained Fifth Brigade in Matebeleland, resulting in the deaths of thousands, mainly in the Midlands and Matebeleland regions.Ndlovu is a former Movement for Democratic Change legislator.In 2011, Ndlovu together with Reverend Marko Mkandla, were arrested on their way to Victoria Falls in Matebeleland North, having addressed a Matabeleland Gukurahundi Genocide Memorial Service.Ndlovu told the Daily News that the Gukurahundi commemorations in the UK have been planned for the Zimbabwean community living in that country; adding that similar commemorations have been held in South Africa."It is meant for the Zimbabwean community in that country so that they get to hear our side of the story. We have been to South Africa; the UK also has a huge Zimbabwean population. Some of the people were present when this crime was committed," he said.The forthcoming conference to be held on November 3 will be the first of its kind in the Diaspora and will provide an opportunity to disseminate information about the genocide.The conference is scheduled to take place in Luton town, located 46km north of London, UK.
News / National

by Staff reporter

The ruling party has all but shut its door on the majority of members of the Generation 40 (G40) faction who were seeking to re-join Zanu-PF, nearly a year after they were given their marching orders.Addressing journalists at the Zanu-PF headquarters after the meeting of its politburo yesterday, the ruling party's information Tsar, Simon Khaya Moyo, said out of more than a dozen applicants who had applied for readmission, only former deputy Tourism minister Annastancia Ndlovu had been readmitted."The party's secretary for legal affairs Paul Mangwana gave a national disciplinary committee report and the politburo resolved that (Kudzanai) Chipanga should not be readmitted into the party for now subject to continuous review of that position," Khaya Moyo said."Regarding (Innocent) Hamandishe, the politburo resolved that he remains expelled while Ndlovu has been readmitted as a card-carrying member but cannot hold any position in the party for two years," he added.Chipanga, the party's former youth league secretary and Hamandishe the league's secretary for the commissariat  had applied for readmission, but Zanu-PF's supreme decision-making organ in between congresses felt they should remain in the political Siberia.The politburo, Khaya Moyo said, also resolved to refer to provinces for more information, the cases of other applicants who include former Health minister Paul Chimedza and other officials from Matabeleland South Province.This was after Chipanga, former secretary for administration Ignatius Chombo and ex-Foreign Affairs minister Walter Mzembi had written letters of apology, asking to return to the party.Zanu-PF has since 2014 expelled hordes of bigwigs as a result of nasty factional fights spawned by former president Robert Mugabe's succession.In 2014, it severed ties with its first female vice president Joice Mujuru whom it accused of plotting to seize power from Mugabe using unconstitutional means.Several officials, among the Didymus Mutasa, Rugare Gumbo, Kudakwashe Bhasikiti, Dzikamai Mavhaire and Jabulani Sibanda were also dismissed from the party for hobnobbing with Mujuru.However, at its last politburo meeting at the beginning of this month the Zanu-PF politburo readmitted Mutasa and Sibanda while Mavhaire and Bhasikiti have since joined the opposition MDC led by Nelson Chamisa.At the height of G40's influence between 2014 and October 2017, the faction dismissed and suspended several members of a rival Team Lacoste faction which was backing then vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa to succeed Mugabe as it sought to clear the pathway for Grace Mugabe to succeed her husband.But Team Lacoste triumphed through a military-backed operation that deposed Mugabe, turning the tables against G40.Team Lacoste reinstated its suspended and fired members, including Mnangagwa, who dramatically bounced back to take the leadership of Zanu-PF and the country.
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

Civic Society and Churches Joint Forum are now concerned over the current stinging economic quagmire faced by citizen.Civic Society and Churches Joint Forum said the people of Zimbabwe, under the banner of Civic Society and Churches Joint Forum are baffled by the state of economic affairs.In a statement they said the current situation is affecting the ordinary citizens while benefiting the rich and they are worried that the citizens' fundamental human rights as espoused in the United Nations Charter, the African Union Charter as well as several sub regional and international protocols and conventions and indeed the constitution of Zimbabwe are being violated.The organisations said they are concern the shortages of these basic commodities that creates the surge in prices, the shortages of fuel for the transport system to function affecting business and the movement of people, majority of them who are fending for themselves in the informal sector."We the citizens are greatly concerned with levels of corruption, hoarding of commodities and hiking of prices, the manipulation of exchange rates by the black market where we have reasons to suspect that there are high profile people involved that mop up foreign currency, negatively affecting all sectors of the economy and social service delivery," reads the statement in part."We note with concern that key sectors such as pharmaceuticals arefailing to access foreign currency to import critical drugs and medical essentials when the country is grappling with cholera and other pandemics."
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

Former MDC Alliance legislator Norman Mpofu has said he is terrified and extremely shocked by the level of Zanu-PF corruption which is emerging now as the nation riles in serious economic challenges."I have always known that Zanu-PF leaders are corrupt but I am extremely shocked by the degree of sabotage by these people to their own country. It is clear that what has been revealed to the nation is just a tip of the iceberg.More is still hidden. The Presidents, former and present, knew about this but still never cared about the damage done to the country," he said."I now fully understand why some people support Zanu-PF despite its glaring shortcomings. It is the benefit of having access to the national coffers unhindered. What kind of a President will allow such kind of sabotage under his stewardship. The nation need to go back to the drawing board. Relook at the magnitude of the problem we are facing. No doubt it is colossal."He said this problem can not be solved by MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa and his cartel."It requires the entire nation including the sober ones in Zanu-PF if they are still there. We require the international community to assist because the very people who are to take the nation out of this quagmire are dirty. They are right at the the epicentre of our problems," he said."What is even more shocking is the mention of some opposition figures in these dirty deals. I now understand why some people can kill to get into political offices. Why they pour personal resources to be in power. Why they rig elections. Why they refuse to step down while others grab positions without going to congress. It is never about serving people but all about plundering state resources.""We must acknowledge that Mnangagwa unlike Mugabe opened a small window for us to see the damage being done to the nation. To expect him to take us out is a typical example of expecting a man to lift a bucket while inside the bucket."He said Zimbabweans are in a sewer pond and need to get out."We need a responsible and uniting opposition if we are serious about getting out. We need new strategies. We need a new approach. We need a new direction," he said.
News / National

by Staff reporter

Pressure is mounting on the commission of inquiry into the August 1 shootings that left at least six people dead to do more to probe the role of the army in the whole incident.South Africa-based Right2Know has particularly raised concerns over the manner in which the whole inquiry is being handled by the commission, led by former South African president Kgalema Motlanthe.Right2Know has noted with concern the initial attempts by government to block non-State media from reporting on the commission, adding it also shares the criticisms identified by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum.The Forum opined that the commission needs to do far more to ensure a credible, transparent process, providing open access to media, creating a space for public participation and genuinely examine the conduct of Zimbabwe's army."This is essential if the commission is to achieve the purpose set out by Zimbabwe's new president in his terms of reference," said Right2Know.Established by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, the commission began its work over a week ago, with several citizens giving evidence in Harare.It has since started on a journey to Gweru, Bulawayo and Mutare on its quest to get to the bottom of the issue.The commission's spokesperson, Lovemore Madhuku, said the inquiry was targeting people who could have been in Harare when the violence occurred but reside outside the capital city.Political commentator Ibbo Mandaza said despite the composition of the seven-member probe team being criticised by many, he has faith in some of the members.Apart from Motlanthe, other members of the commission include Madhuku, academic Charity Manyeruke, Law Society of Zimbabwe's ex-president Vimbai Nyemba, Rodney Dixon of the United Kingdom, former Tanzanian chief of defence forces General Davis Mwamunyange and former Commonwealth secretary-general Chief Emeka Anyaoku of Nigeria.Mandaza said people were bound to be suspicious hence it is important that the army be called to testify."Suspicions have been raised about some of the people who have been appointed in the commission. For me there are two people in that commission who I consider to be men of integrity. Motlanthe is a man of integrity; he is not a push over. Emeka Anyaoku, a former commonwealth secretary-general is also a statesman, another man of integrity. They are both men of good repute who will not miss the reality," he said.Another political analyst, Eldred Masunungure said citizens want justice."People are interested in knowing what happened; who did what and who gave the command," he said."It may appear as a wild goose chase but the commission is concerned about what led to the violence of August 1 and they would want to prevent such an incident from recurring in the future."MDC leader Nelson Chamisa has blasted the commission saying his party has nothing to do with it because it is biased and illegitimate."The executive can't appoint people to investigate themselves and you don't need a commission of inquiry to know who perpetrated the August 1 violence," Chamisa said.He said the commission of inquiry is meant to criminalise key opposition figures and sanitise Mnangagwa.
News / National

by Staff reporter

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has ordered Zanu-PF bigwigs who are employed at the party headquarters to wear party regalia when on official duty.He told the Zanu-PF central committee meeting on Thursday that it was disconcerting to note that former Cabinet ministers and other ruling party bigwigs who were given full time jobs at the party headquarters were not wearing Zanu-PF regalia as the party's brand ambassadors.To stress his point, he requested former Cabinet ministers Simon Khaya Moyo; Patrick Chinamasa; Obert Mpofu; Chris Mushowe; Edna Madzongwe; Paul Mangwana; Simbarashe Mumbengegwi; Mike Bimha; David Parirenyatwa; and Josiah Hungwe, together with other Zanu-PF bigwigs that include Douglas Mahiya, Lewis Matutu and Cleveria Chizema to stand up so that other central committee members could see for themselves what he was talking about."Do you see them? They are employed full time by the party (but) only two are wearing party regalia, the rest are not, yet they are leaders of the party)? Next time you must come wearing party regalia," he said.Zanu-PF regalia, more often than not, displays the face of the incumbent first secretary of the party who is Mnangagwa.When he first ascended to power after taking over from deposed leader Robert Mugabe in November last year, Mnangagwa insisted that he did not believe in party symbols after realising that his supporters were taking apple-polishing to dizzy heights.He even restrained party supporters from singing songs that idolise him."The praise song I desire, if you were to sing one, is that of our National Anthem and those from the liberation struggle, not for me, no," Mnangagwa said then.Months on, that refreshing new order seems to be turning into a mirage.Mnangagwa's veneration is being amplified through Jah Prayzah's hit songs  Mudhara Achauya and Kutonga Kwaro  which upon their release stoked political controversy but have become almost national anthems at Zanu-PF functions.As if to endorse the adulation, Mnangagwa dances to the tunes at every party event and sometimes at government functions.Another hit song, ED-PFee, has also joined the fray while party regalia emblazoned with Mnangagwa's name have since been acquired including caps with the ED-PFee label.While war veterans who were Mnangagwa's foot-soldiers in the battle to succeed Mugabe regretted the fact that they had made a cult of Mugabe, the same is being perpetuated in the new president's name. Former Psychomotor minister Josiah Hungwe set the trend when he described Mnangagwa as "a son of man" well before he became president.Mpofu, who as former Home Affairs minister famously used to sign off his communications with Mugabe by saying "your most obedient son", has previous likened Mnangagwa to the biblical Joshua who is "as soft, as tender as an African mother's love" notwithstanding his nickname  Ngwena.Zanu-PF Harare provincial chairperson Goodwills Masimirembwa has also taken his bootlicking to another level when he gave welcome remarks to the party's extraordinary congress in December last year."You led the tripartite of the army along with General Constantino Guvheya Nyikadzino Chiwenga and Zanu-PF. Shumba Murambwi (Mnangagwa's totem), Shumba ye Chirumhanzu, tinoda kuti mutonge imi, murambe muchingotonga, muchingotonga, muchingotonga (We want you to rule for ever and ever)," Masimirembwa fawned.
A refugee-turned-B.C. pizza mogul is taking a vocal stance against Canada's $15-billion deal to sell military equipment to Saudi Arabia.

Ray Russell, the CEO of Freshslice Pizza, announced on Twitter he had sent a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressing his hope the government will cancel the upcoming deal, saying it would amount to taking "blood money."

"You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what's going on here," Russell said. "This regime is a brutal regime and we have to do something as a human being, as a Canadian."

Russell came to Canada from Iran in 1987 as a refugee. He says he arrived with $8 in his pocket and worked hard to build Freshslice Pizza into a multimillion-dollar business. The restaurant chain has over 70 locations across the province.

[If] some people hurt us business-wise, I really don't care about it and I will not change my mind on that. - Freshslice Pizza Owner Ray Russell

He said he was compelled to speak out after Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed at the Saudi consulate in Turkey on Oct. 2.

There have been conflicting accounts on what actually happened to the vocal critic and Washington Post columnist.

Turkish officials say a 15-man Saudi assassination squad  including at least one member of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's entourage  killed and dismembered Khashoggi, whose body has not been found.

The Saudi government provided several different versions of what happened, including that the journalist died in a fist fight. It currently maintains the journalist died in a premeditated killing.

Freshslice Pizza

Russell, who describes himself as a long-time Liberal Party supporter, says Khashoggi's death acted as a spark to draw attention to other issues associated with the Saudi Arabian regime, pointing to the regime's ongoing military action in neighbouring Yemen.

It's common for responsible organizations to raise their voice, especially in democratic settings when the government does something that is not appreciated. - SFU Business Professor Rajiv Kozhikode

Story continues

UN experts have accused the regime of war crimes including rape, torture, disappearances and "deprivation of the right to life" during three and a half years of escalated fighting against rebels in Yemen.

"The fight is good against evil, it's not about  how you call it  race or politics," Russell said. "We all have to do our part here."

Mixing politics and business

Rajiv Kozhikode, an associate professor at Simon Fraser University's Beedie School of Business, says while businesses have often taken ideological positions on local issues, increased connectivity through social media means businesses are now taking stances on international issues  and getting their message out.

Kozhikode, who researches corporate political activity, says one example was when Apple CEO Tim Cook and Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz both decried U.S. President Donald Trump's 2017 travel ban.

"It's common for responsible organizations to raise their voice, especially in democratic settings when the government does something that is not appreciated," he said.

But in the case of a smaller, local business like Freshslice, he says it might need some extra support to ultimately effect policy changes.

"If it's just isolated resistance, then it would not have much momentum. But a collective resistance ... then it might change."

'Money does not come first'

As for Russell, he says he is not worried about a backlash against his business.

"The way I see it, we all have to do the right things. Money does not come first," he said.

"[If] some people hurt us business-wise, I really don't care about it and I will not change my mind on that."

AFP/Getty Images

On Wednesday, Trudeau said he is looking at different options to suspending the contract. He had previously been reluctant to cancel the billion-dollar deal, citing significant financial penalties  as much as $1 billion or more  built into the contract signed by the previous Conservative government.

With files from Zahra Premji
Canada's two biggest telecommunications companies got their turn to speak on Friday in a five-day probe by Canada's telecom regulator into sales practices in the industry.

Officials from BCE Inc. and Rogers Communications Inc. addressed a panel at the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission on Friday, their first chance to participate in the five-day public probe by the regulator.

The probe was prompted by CBC reporting that uncovered evidence of misleading and aggressive tactics being employed at those companies and others, in an attempt to get customers to sign up for new services, or more services that they don't necessarily want.

Hundreds of telecom employees told the CBC about overly aggressive sales tactics, and misleading attempts to get customers to sign up for new services. Hundreds of customers subsequently complained about similar tactics to the regulator, once it asked for public comment.

After public consultations, the CRTC has been holding a public investigation into the issue this week, one that will culminate with the appearance of the two biggest companies in the industry on Friday.

But it was rival telecom Shaw that began the day's proceedings. The Calgary-based company said in its experience, door-to-door sales done by third party resellers are one of the biggest problems for overly aggressive selling. But Shaw rejected the notion that the industry itself has a systemic problem.

"Focusing a recommendation or remedy on door-to-door sales would address the most significant area of risk and consumer vulnerability," senior vice-president Paul Cowling said.

William Thomas Cain/Getty Images

Then it was Rogers' turn in the spotlight, and they began just before midday. One by one, officials at the company disputed the notion that misleading tactics are widespread.

"We simply do not tolerate bad faith and unethical sales practices," said Kim Barrington, Rogers' director of consumer affairs.

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The company says all of its employees undergo rigorous training to ensure that their sales tactics are appropriate. Rogers says it monitors and reviews 100 per cent of all telephone sales calls, and uses other tactics such as mystery shoppers to keep tabs on what happens in store.

Rogers says its employees don't have an incentive to mislead to upsell because most of their compensation is fixed, and if a customer cancels a new service within the first 90 days, whatever variable compensation the sales agent may have gotten for the sale would be clawed back.

"There's not a lot of motivation to sell somebody something they don't want or need," vice-president of channel marketing Melissa Marsh said.

"Selling our customers products or services that they do not want or cannot afford is just bad business," added David Watt, the company's senior vice-president of regulatory affairs.

Bell disputes allegations too

Bell's turn to speak came in the afternoon, and the company's executives made statements similar to Rogers.

"We want to assure you that misleading and aggressive sales practices are not tolerated at Bell," said Rob Malcolmson, the company's senior vice-president of regulatory affairs. "Staff at all of our stores, including partner retailers, receive training that emphasizes how fundamentally important it is to understand a customer's needs and avoid pushing customers towards products or services they do not want."

Bell says its compensation is structured similarly to Rogers in that most salespeople are paid at a fixed structure. Any variable compensation would be clawed back if customers end up cancelling the service soon.

And anyone who orders service by phone or in person gets a follow-up survey from the company within 24 hours to review how they did. In the past year, the company has gotten more than 600,000 such surveys, Bell's vice-president of corporate stores, Nancy Tichbon, said.

"There are areas we have where we always want to to better," Tichbon said, "but on the overall level of satisfaction we do get it right."
By Ahmed Rasheed and Ahmed Aboulenein Sulaimaniya, Iraq/BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's new premier Adel Abdul Mahdi has had an early taste of the partisan politics he hopes to rein in, failing so far to win parliament's approval of a full government to begin to tackle the destruction of years of war and rampant corruption. At a heated session on Wednesday night, MPs rejected key cabinet picks and accused some nominees of links to late dictator Saddam Hussein. The session ended after midnight with Abdul Mahdi sworn in as prime minister but with only a part-government, extending the wrangling over power that has followed an inconclusive election in May. Iraq's defense and interior ministers and six others have yet to be decided before the government can address daunting challenges. The oil-rich country has suffered for decades under the rule of Saddam and U.N. sanctions, the U.S. invasion and civil war it unleashed, and the battle against Islamic State (IS), which was declared won last year. Graft is widespread and basic services like power and water lacking. Rivalry between the two blocs that emerged strongest from the election - an Iran-backed alliance and a populist bloc led by former firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr - could prove particularly difficult for the prime minister to manage. Abdul Mahdi told journalists on Thursday there had been "political differences" in approving his cabinet, but that having it partly in place was better than missing the constitutional deadline of Nov. 2. "Abdul Mahdi came under tremendous pressure from party leaders ... he submitted to the moods of parties by nominating partisan ministers," said Huda Sajjad, of outgoing premier Haider al-Abadi's Victory list. Victory came in third in May. Sajjad said the choice of ministers undermined Abdul Mahdi's promises to appoint a government of independent technocrats - a key demand of the Sadrist-led bloc. Parliament approved Abdul Mahdi's government program, which aims to reform government institutions, bring semi-autonomous militias under state control and streamline the oil sector of OPEC's second largest producer. But personalities were the sticking point. Lawmakers walked out before parliament could vote on defense nominee Faisal al-Jarba. MPs circulated a photo of him smiling alongside Saddam, who was toppled by the 2003 U.S. invasion. Abdul Mahdi's proposed communications minister was also accused of being a Saddam stalwart in a document leaked during the session. Other choices were alleged by some parties to be corrupt. "The prime minister put forward ministers who aren't fit for the job," said Sabah al-Saidi, a lawmaker for the Sadrist-led bloc, Saeroon. Saeroon campaigned on an anti-corruption platform that appealed to many poor Iraqis made destitute by conflict or squeezed by unemployment. MUTUAL REJECTION Sadr, in a Tweet, urged MPs not to approve ministerial candidates seen as partisan or sectarian. Politicians linked to Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias, however, feel they have earned a right to be in the incoming government given the big role they played alongside Iraqi forces in defeating Islamic State militarily last year. "Rejecting Faleh al-Fayad as interior minister was not justified. He led the Hashid Shaabi (an alliance of militias) in defeating Daesh (IS) and this is the least reward he should get," an MP affiliated with the Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia said. "In return we objected to their (Saeroon and Victory) candidates." Iraq's new prime minister will have to contend with the zero-sum game that has dominated politics for years, according to analysts. "It's hard to see how if the big political parties demand posts which they view as their livelihood, how they could just be excluded," said Renad Mansour, research fellow at Chatham House in London. Abdul Mahdi and new President Barham Salih "are going to face a lot of pressure - we've seen that in the appointment process", he said. Parliament is to vote again on Nov. 6 to approve the remainder of Abdul Mahdi's 22-member cabinet. He currently has 14 ministers. He said on Thursday a complete cabinet would soon be in place. The United States welcomed the new government. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called Abdul Mahdi on Thursday to congratulate him, his office said. One Western diplomat in Baghdad said Abdul Mahdi had scored victories in some key appointments, such as Oil Minister Thamer Ghadhban and Finance Minister Fuad Hussein. (Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed in Sulaimaniya and Ahmed Aboulenein in Baghdad; writing and additional reporting by John Davison; editing by Andrew Roche)
Benjamin Netanyahu has returned from a visit to the Gulf state of Oman, where he joined the country's leader in the first meeting of its kind in more than 20 years, the Israeli prime minister's office said Friday.

The office said in a statement that Netanyahu had been invited by Sultan Qaboos bin Said after lengthy communications.

Israel and Oman do not have diplomatic relations. The meeting was the first between leaders of the two countries since 1996, when Shimon Peres led Israel, with former Israeli premier Yitzhak Rabin making a similar surprise visit to Oman two years earlier.

The sultanate has long had a quiet role in fostering negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians, and has openly called for the need for a Palestinian state while acknowledging a need for an Israeli state.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also paid a three-day visit to Oman earlier this week.

Arab states, including Oman, remain publicly committed to calls for a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. Oman has joined a chorus of Arab countries that have strongly condemned Israel's killing of Palestinians in Gaza protests that erupted in May and continued Friday.

Although historic, the meeting did not immediately signal a breakthrough in peace efforts because Oman does not have the clout or leverage of nations like Saudi Arabia to strongly advocate for, or push the two sides closer to the negotiating table.

Netanyahu and his wife were joined on the trip by the head of Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency, his Foreign Ministry director and other defence officials.

Ongoing relations with Arab nations

Netanyahu has repeatedly stated in recent years that Israel has developed good relations with several Arab states, despite a lack of official ties. Israel is only officially recognized by two Arab states  Egypt and Jordan.

Alarm over Shia-led Iran's extensive reach in the region in places like Syria, Iraq and Lebanon has sparked behind-the-scenes diplomacy between some Arab states and Israel.

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The two leaders issued a joint statement saying the two sides "discussed ways to advance the Middle East peace process and discussed a number of issues of mutual interest to achieve peace and stability in the Middle East."

Israel GPO via Reuters

Oman, which sits on the southeastern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, with Saudi Arabia to its north and Iran to its east, has a long record of being a quiet broker in the region, opting to stay on the sidelines of the rivalry between the two regional powerhouses. Although it is a member of the Saudi-led, six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, it did not join in the kingdom in its boycott of Qatar or the war in Yemen.

Sultan Qaboos has managed to steer his country through choppy regional politics with a policy of non-interference, helping broker the release of Western hostages in Yemen and providing a back door for communications between Washington and Tehran under U.S. President Barack Obama's administration.

In February, Oman's foreign minister made a rare visit by an Arab official to Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound and to the West Bank.

The following month, Omani officials joined their Arab counterparts from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain at the White House for a meeting with Israeli national security officials to discuss the dire humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu's visit comes at a time when Israeli-Palestinian peace prospects appear dim. The last attempt at U.S.-mediated negotiations floundered in April 2014 and the Trump administration's efforts to reach the "Deal of the Century" have thus far proven fruitless.

In the past year, the White House under Donald Trump has recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital and opened an embassy there in May. It cut funding for UN organization that provides aid to Palestinian refugees and shuttered the Palestinian Liberation Organization office in Washington. All have further alienated the Palestinians.
A B.C. man whose Facebook posts promoted ISIS and praised lone wolf terrorist attacks has been ordered deported from Canada.

The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada has ruled that Othman Hamdan of Fort St. John is a "danger to the security of Canada" and is therefore inadmissible.

"While Mr. Hamdan has no history of violence, he has praised lone wolf attacks, actively promoted the Islamic State, disseminated instructions on how to commit attacks and seems fascinated with the extreme violence of the Islamic State demonstrated by possessing Islamic State videos depicting gruesome murders," IRB member Marc Tessler wrote in an Oct. 18 decision.

"Mr. Hamdan's threats take on a more sinister dimension when a fascination with violence is mixed with anger and resentment."

Despite the deportation order, Hamdan isn't likely to be removed from Canada anytime soon, though he remains in custody. There are still a number of outstanding legal matters to be decided, including the removal of his refugee status, before he can be deported.

Hamdan, a Jordanian national, says he moved to Canada from the U.S. in 2002 because of threats he'd received. He was granted refugee protection in 2004.

He was acquitted last year in B.C. Supreme Court of terrorism-related charges related to his Facebook posts, but was arrested by officers from the Canada Border Services Agency upon his release from custody.

85 posts on 14 Facebook accounts

During his immigration hearing, Hamdan had argued that his posts were an expression of free speech.

But Tessler said the material was dangerous because it encouraged others to commit terrorist attacks.

At issue were a total of 85 Facebook posts on 14 different accounts  Hamdan was forced to create new accounts every time the social media company disabled one for promoting terrorism, according to Tessler.

The posts included praise for Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, the 2014 Parliament Hill shooter, and Martin Couture-Rouleau, who killed a soldier with his car in Quebec the same year.

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Hamdan also posted a lengthy entry that Tessler described as a "how-to" for people hoping to carry out lone wolf attacks against non-Muslims.

"The post provides the reader with a menu of killing options, including slitting the victim's throat with a knife, hitting them over the head with a heavy object and then slitting their throat, stabbing victims while riding past them on a motorbike; poisoning, choking and shooting them with a firearm equipped with a silencer, taking a vehicle from a Christian or an apostate and using it run people over," Tessler wrote.

'Sadistic inhumanity'

Hamdan's immigration hearings also heard evidence about how he'd created some troubling graffiti inside his holding cell at the Vancouver law courts, including an attempted drawing of the Islamic State's flag.

One of his neighbours in the cells gave police a thumb drive belonging to Hamdan that was filled with videos about ISIS. It contained six videos that featured "the kind of sadistic inhumanity associated with the Islamic State, including manual beheadings and the shootings of individuals in the head at close range," Tessler wrote.

The judge who handled Hamdan's criminal trial ruled in 2017 that while Hamdan's comments were offensive, they didn't amount to incitement of terrorism. Hamdan was found not guilty of encouraging murder, assault and mischief for terrorist-related purposes, as well inducing and instructing someone to carry out a terrorist act.

However, as Tessler pointed out in his decision, immigration matters have a "considerably lower" burden of truth than criminal trials  the government only needs to prove there are reasonable grounds to believe an allegation is true.
By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Maayan Lubell GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Israeli frontier with Gaza fell silent on Saturday under what Palestinians described as an Egyptian-mediated truce, after Israel responded to the biggest salvo of Palestinian rockets for months with scores of air strikes on Gaza targets. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad, one of the armed groups operating in Gaza, said it fired the rockets in retaliation for Israel's killing of four Palestinians at a border demonstration on Friday. Israel said its air force hit more than 80 targets in response to about 40 Gaza rockets launched into Israel. There were no immediate reports of deaths on Saturday from either the rockets or the retaliatory strikes. "After contacts between the Islamic Jihad leadership and the brothers in Egypt it was agreed that a comprehensive ceasefire will begin immediately," Islamic Jihad spokesman Daoud Shehab said. "The Islamic Jihad will abide by the ceasefire if the occupation (Israel) does the same." An Israeli military spokeswoman declined to comment on Shehab's remarks. By nightfall on Saturday violence had abated, with no further reports of Palestinian rocket launches or Israeli air strikes in Gaza. Egyptian security officials have been talking separately to Israeli and Palestinian leaders in an attempt to restore calm along the border. IRAN The four Palestinians were killed on Friday during protests at the frontier between Israel and Gaza, held since March 30 against Israel's blockade of the territory and in support of a right for Palestinian refugees to return to homes in Israel. According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, 213 Gazans have been killed by Israeli forces during the protests. One Israeli soldier has been killed by a Palestinian sniper. Israel said its forces had been attacked with explosive devices and that some demonstrators breached the border. Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Conricus said Syria and Iran were involved in the rocket attacks. "Orders and incentives were given from Damascus with a clear involvement of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards al-Quds force," Conricus told reporters. "Our response is not limited geographically." Israel regularly accuses Iran of aiding Gaza militants, but rarely levels the charge in connection with a specific rocket attack. It has struck scores of times inside Syria during the seven-year civil war there, at what it has said were Iranian targets or Teheran's transfers of weapons to Hezbollah fighters. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a rare visit to Oman on Friday. Israel and some Gulf states share an interest in curbing Iran's influence in the region. Shehab dismissed the allegation of foreign involvement as "an Israeli attempt to evade its responsibility" for the border deaths. The Israeli military said it holds Hamas, a Palestinian militant group that has controlled Gaza since 2007, accountable for all events there. Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since Hamas took power in Gaza. About two million Palestinians are packed into the Gaza Strip, mainly stateless descendants of refugees who fled or were driven from homes in Israel when it was founded in 1948. Gaza is in a deep economic crisis as a result of an Israeli naval blockade and tight Israeli and Egyptian control of its land crossings, which Israel says it maintains for security reasons. (Writing by Maayan Lubell; Editing by John Stonestreet and Peter Graff)
By Rod Nickel WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - The United States' trade wars have allowed Canada's agriculture industry to pump up sales of soybeans and wheat to China, and pork to Mexico. But the same tariff battles are undermining commodity prices and eating into Canadian farmers' profit margins even as they grab more market share. Their struggles illustrate the complex global consequences of U.S. protectionism as tariffs launched by President Donald Trump spark retaliations and redraw global agricultural supply lines around the globe. In the case of Canada, farmers have become bystanders hit by retaliatory strikes aimed at the United States. The situation is bad enough to prompt Canadian soy and hog farmers to demand compensation from Ottawa. Soybean growers here, whose crop amounts to just 6 percent of U.S. output, say they are worse off than U.S. farmers despite increased Canadian exports of the oilseed. (Graphic: Global soy prices - https://tmsnrt.rs/2P749Us) The U.S. government has provided its farmers a $12 billion aid program to limit the damage from lost purchases by China, the world's biggest soybean importer. But Canada has provided farmers no support to ease the sting of falling prices in the United States, which undermine the value of Canadian crops. The government is monitoring the impact on farmers and has existing programs to mitigate such market risks, said James Watson, a spokesman for Canada's agriculture department. China, which bought one quarter of U.S. soybeans last year, halted most buying in July after Beijing imposed a 25 percent tariff on U.S. soy imports in retaliation for U.S. tariffs on a wide range of Chinese goods. China has turned to other soybean exporters including Canada, Brazil and Argentina. In June, ahead of China's July 6 imposition of tariffs against U.S. soybeans, Canada shipped 159,000 tonnes of soybeans to China, 12 times more than a year earlier, according to Statistics Canada. But while Latin American soybean farmers are seeing a big boost in prices and profits with the rush of Chinese demand, their Canadian counterparts are seeing prices fall. Canada soybean prices have slipped along with the benchmark U.S. soybean futures in Chicago, which fell by 23 percent from May through September. Since then, export demand has propped up Western Canadian prices, but they remain relatively low. "The reality is we're net losers," said Dauphin, Manitoba soybean farmer Ernie Sirski, chairman of Soy Canada, which is seeking government compensation. Many farmers are selling at C$11 per bushel for yields Sirski estimates at an average 31 bushels per acre in Manitoba. That results in revenue of C$341 per acre - barely above production costs of C$335. Such thin margins leave little room for error and may mean smaller Canadian soy plantings next year, he said. Scorching summer weather that shriveled plants in Manitoba added to the pain of lower prices, Sirski said. Other sectors of the Canadian agricultural industry have taken a direct hit from changes in U.S. trade policy. The U.S. forced Canada to concede some market share in dairy and poultry under revisions to the free trade agreement between the two countries and Mexico. Like soybean growers, Canadian pig farmers are hurting. Chinese tariffs on U.S. pork have raised alarm about demand, pressuring the U.S. hog prices on which Canadian sales are based. Canada, the third-largest pork exporter, sold 19.5 percent more pork to Mexico in the first eight months of the year, according to Statistics Canada, including hams that Mexico would normally buy from the United States. The Canadian sales grew after Mexico imposed retaliatory tariffs on U.S. pork. But Canada's overall pork shipments declined, including to China, which is oversupplied, and the United States, its two biggest export markets. Canadian Pork Council said in a statement in September that hog farmers need government compensation to cover losses related to trade wars, similar to a U.S. government payout of $8 per hog. PINNING HOPES ON WHEAT, CANOLA Canada does have other opportunities for gains if the trade war drags on. Canadian farmers could sell 500,000 to 1 million tonnes more wheat than usual to China in 2018/19, depending on harvest quality, said Rhyl Doyle, director of export trading at Paterson Grain. Canada has averaged sales to China of 751,000 tonnes during the past five years. Chinese tariffs against U.S. soybeans have bolstered interest in Canadian canola meal, which can also be fed to pigs, said James Rea, assistant vice-president at Richardson International. But as with soy, such market gains have not lifted prices. ICE canola futures prices are down since spring, influenced by plunging soy prices, and Minneapolis spring wheat futures prices have made up little ground since then despite dry global conditions. "It's not going to be a banner year," said Alberta farmer Matt Sawyer, who grows wheat, barley and canola. "It is disappointing." More Ontario corn is flowing into Europe, helped by European Union tariffs against the United States. But in Alberta, farmers expect a tide of U.S. corn in Europe that will compete with the barley and wheat they sell for cattle rations, said commodity broker Errol Anderson. Down the road though, Canadian farmers' pain may pay off with new customers, he said. "We're at the emotional stage," Anderson said. "The U.S. goes down, and so (Canada) goes down too. But global trade patterns are changing, and long-term, the U.S. is going to lose out." (Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, Manitoba; Editing by Simon Webb and Brian Thevenot)
(This October 25 story corrects paragraph 23 to say staff were let go, not fired.) By Peter Hobson LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Royal Mint has frozen plans to launch a digital gold token after a partnership with U.S. exchange group CME failed and the government vetoed a plan to have the tokens trade on a cryptocurrency exchange, three sources told Reuters. The demise of the potentially ground-breaking project, named Royal Mint Gold (RMG), highlights the wariness of governments to become involved in the largely unregulated world of cyptocurrencies, which exploded into the public eye last year with the stellar rise of bitcoin. As other mints and fintech startups race to set up similar products, it could squander the chances of Britain's Mint leading the field to build gold into a multi-billion dollar digital asset class. It also reflects a cooling of enthusiasm toward digital assets at the CME, three sources said. The project would have been the first time a government of a developed economy had become directly involved with a crypto currency exchange, analysts and traders said. The 1,100-year old Mint announced its plan to issue tokens worth up to $1 billion on a blockchain-based trading platform run by CME in 2016, saying they would give investors an easy way to buy and trade physical gold held in its vaults. Royal Mint Gold was to launch in the autumn of 2017, but CME decided at the last minute to pull out, leaving the Mint without a trading venue, sources said. "CME's management changed, and they walked away, didn't want to get involved," one of the sources said. When a blindsided Mint sought to save the project by partnering with a cryptocurrency exchange, Britain's finance ministry in early 2018 refused to permit it, seeing the union as too big a gamble with the reputation of the government and the Mint, the sources added. The Mint is 100 percent owned by the government. Asked for comment, the Mint said its digital gold had been due to launch in spring this year. "Sadly, due to market conditions this did not prove possible at this time, but we will revisit this if and when market conditions are right," it said. A Treasury spokesman referred Reuters' questions to the Mint. CME said it was "continuing to assess client demand with our partner and have nothing new to report at this time." Governments are wary of cryptocurrencies, and few international standards have emerged to tame extreme price volatility, regular thefts from exchanges and the risk that digital currencies could be used to launder money or finance terrorism. In Britain cryptocurrency exchanges remain unregulated. Its finance ministry, central bank and financial watchdog are looking at whether rules are needed for cryptocurrencies and the use of blockchain technology in finance. CHANGE IN STRATEGY Gold is seen as a natural fit with cryptocurrencies because both assets attract investors looking for alternatives to state-sponsored monetary systems which they distrust. The Mint's plan was similar to a type of digital money known as stable coins that are pegged to major currencies or other assets to avoid the volatility suffered by bitcoin and others. The Mint had hoped to appeal to investors wanting digital assets but with the reassurance of a trusted issuer and to create a new revenue stream as use of mass circulation coins, its core business for more than a millennium, dwindles. Royal Mint Gold also fit into a push by CME to develop digital asset classes and blockchain technologies. CME launched bitcoin futures contracts last year, one of the first to do so, and has invested in digital technology startups through a ventures arm. But CME's priorities shifted after CEO Phupinder Gill retired in late 2016 and Sandra Ro, CME's head of digitization, left in July 2017, sources said. "There was a change in strategy," said one source, adding that digitization was de-emphasized. Asked to comment, CME said: "It is not correct to say we have 'de-emphasized' digitization and remain committed to pursuing our digitization strategy." After the government vetoed the plan to trade Royal Mint Gold on a crypto exchange, the Mint's new chief executive Anne Jessop, appointed in February 2018, decided to shut the project down, the sources said. Around four staff in London were let go in March and a further 7-8 lost in Wales, where the Mint is also based, in May. The project is now frozen, the sources said. Meanwhile, others are launching rival products. Australia's Perth Mint and the Royal Canadian Mint are involved with digital gold products that launched this year and trade using technology supplied by fintech startups. Both mints declined to say how much gold had been bought through these platforms. Gold-backed cryptocurrencies have also proliferated, though none has yet achieved the success of cryptos such as bitcoin, Etherium and Ripple, which have attracted hundreds of billions of dollars in investment. (Reporting by Peter Hobson; Additional reporting by Thomas Wilson; Editing by Veronica Brown and David Evans)
By Terje Solsvik OSLO (Reuters) - Military forces from 31 countries began NATO's largest exercise in decades, stretching from the Baltic Sea to Iceland, on Thursday, practicing military maneuvers close to Russia, which itself held a huge military drill last month. As temperatures fell below freezing across training grounds in central Norway, giving a taste of what it means to defend NATO's vast northern flank, some 50,000 troops, 250 aircraft and 10,000 tanks, trucks and other land-based vehicles were ready. "We're here now, in the north, demonstrating our capability to bring a large force to bear on a problem that is an Article 5 problem," said U.S. Admiral James Foggo, referring to the NATO treaty's promise of mutual defense among member countries. Dubbed Trident Juncture and headed by Foggo, the exercise is by far the biggest in Norway since the early 1980s, a sign that the alliance wants to sharpen its defenses after years of cost-cutting and far-flung combat missions. "We've brought in the equivalent of seven combat brigades over the last month. That's impressive, and we'll operate here for the next couple of weeks in what is an unforgiving environment at sea and on land," Foggo told Reuters. Increasingly concerned about Russia since it annexed Crimea in 2014, Norway has sought to double the number of U.S. Marines receiving training on its soil every year, a move criticized by Moscow. Russia last month held its biggest maneuvers since 1981, called Vostok-2018 (East-2018), mobilizing 300,000 troops in a show of force close to China's border which included joint drills with the Chinese and Mongolian armies. NATO's war games were originally meant to involve 35,000 troops, but that number has grown in recent months and included the late addition of an aircraft carrier, the USS Harry S. Truman with some 6,000 personnel. NATO fears Russia's military build-up in the region could ultimately restrict naval forces' ability to navigate freely, and on Oct. 19 the Truman became the first American aircraft carrier to enter the Arctic Circle since before the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Although a solid majority of Norwegians support membership of NATO, whose secretary general is former Norwegian prime minister Jens Stoltenberg, some parties on the left would prefer that the country quit the alliance and form some type of military cooperation arrangement with its Nordic neighbors. "The effect of this activity will increase the tension between Norway and Russia," Socialist member of parliament Torgeir Knag Fylkesnes said of the exercise, adding that the presence of an aircraft carrier caused particular concern. "You have to be quite hawkish to view this as something that brings peace in any way," he told Reuters. (Additional reporting by Lefteris Karagiannopoulos; Editing by Gwladys Fouche, Robin Pomeroy and Catherine Evans)
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Since 2008, the Global Agriculture Leadership Summit & Awards are organised by Indian Council of Food and Agriculture (ICFA) with support of Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare; Ministry of Food Processing Industries and Ministry of Commerce. The 2018 Global Agriculture Leadership Summit was 11th in this series and it was held in Hotel Hyatt Regency, New Delhi recently in October, 2018.

Global Agriculture Leadership Awards  2018

ICFA had established the Agriculture Leadership Awards in 2008 to recognize the leadership roles played by individuals and institutions positively impacting the lives of farmers and rural masses. During the recent summit, the Global Agriculture Leadership Awards  2018 were announced and presented. The winners are as follows:



Prof. Rudy Rabbinge, who has received International Leadership Award is Special Envoy  Food Security, Government of Netherlands. He has been awarded for his contribution in the field of food security and rural development.

Andhra Pradesh CM N. Chandrababu Naidu was awarded the Policy Leadership Award for his proactive policies for uplifting the farming community by focusing on irrigation, investment, global partnerships, marketing initiatives and zero budget natural farming.

Best States in Various Fields The best fisheries State Award was given Jharkhand for efforts in augmenting the production potential of the state in fisheries segment. Further, Bihar is Best Animal Husbandry State, Nagaland is best Horticultural state, Gujarat is Best Agriculture State and Haryana has been conferred with Program Leadership Award.

First World Agriculture Prize  Prof. M.S. Swaminathan

The event witnessed bestowing of Prof. M.S. Swaminathan with the first World Agriculture Prize. This prize instituted by the Indian Council of Food and Agriculture (ICFA) was presented by Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu at Vigyan Bhawan at a special session, named Swaminathan Global Dialogue on Climate Change and Food Security organised by the Indian Council of Food and Agriculture.

Prof. M S Swaminathan

Prof. Swaminathan is known as Father of Green Revolution in India and is renowned worldwide for his basic and applied research in genetics, cytogenetics, radiation and chemical mutagenesis, food and biodiversity conservation. The United Nations Environment Programme has hailed him as The Father of Economic Ecology owing to his commitment towards the ever-green revolution movement in agriculture.

The ICFAs World Agricultural Prize carries a cash component of $1,00,000 and will recognise individuals who have served humanity through agriculture. It will be an annual prize and would be presented to any individual or institution, importantly from Asian, African or Latin American countries who have played a seminal role in transforming agriculture globally and saving humanity from the curse of hunger.
The suspected killers of journalist Jamal Khashoggi will be prosecuted in Saudi Arabia, the kingdom has said, refusing calls from Turkey for their extradition.Ankara has demanded that 18 Saudi suspects are handed over to Turkish prosecutors investigating Khashoggi's murder at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2.The suspects include a 15-man security team claimed by Turkey to have flown in hours before the killing and carried it out.But Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir today said the investigation would take time and blasted what he called 'media hysteria' over Khashoggi's death.'I think people have assigned blame on Saudi Arabia with such certainty before the investigation is complete,' he said.'We're trying to uncover what happened. We know that a mistake was committed. We know that people exceeded their authority and we know that we're investigating them.'The individuals are Saudi nationals. They're detained in Saudi Arabia, and the investigation is in Saudi Arabia, and they will be prosecuted in Saudi Arabia.'Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country had more information than it had shared so far about the killing of Khashoggi, which has strained Riyadh's relations with the West.He demanded that the Gulf kingdom reveal the identity of the 'local cooperator' who Saudi officials earlier said had taken charge of Khashoggi's body from Saudi agents.Police in Istanbul have continued their search for evidence as vans were seen taking samples of water from the consulate's sewer system.On Saturday U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the furore undermined regional stability and said Washington would take measures against the killers.'Failure of any one nation to adhere to international norms and the rule of law undermines regional stability at a time when it is needed most,' he said.The Saudi public prosecutor said on Thursday that the killing was premeditated, contradicting the kingdom's earlier claims that he died accidentally during a tussle in the consulate.Saudi officials initially denied having anything to do with Khashoggi's disappearance after he entered the consulate.The Washington Post columnist had been visiting the consulate to obtain paperwork for a planned marriage.Khashoggi's Turkish fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, said she did not accept an invitation from President Donald Trump to visit the White House.The kingdom's shifting explanations of Khashoggi's killing have stirred scepticism in the West and many suspect that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was involved.Khashoggi was a prominent critic of the prince and a former head of MI6 has said the evidence pointed to his involvement.His condemnation of the killing as 'heinous' and 'painful' has so far failed to ease suspicions that such a high-level operation could have been carried out without his knowledge.Trump is a staunch ally of Riyadh but said the kingdom had staged the 'worst cover-up ever' over the killing.Prince Mohammed, Riyadh's de facto ruler who casts himself as a reformer, has said the killers will be brought to justice.Saudi Arabia says 18 people have been arrested and five senior government officials have been sacked as part of the investigation.Erdogan said he had spoken with Prince Mohammed, saying: 'I also told the crown prince. You know how to make people talk.'Whatever happened between these 18 people, this dodgy business is among them. If you are determined to lift suspicion, then the key point of our cooperation is these 18 people.'Pressure is also growing for the European Union to consider an arms embargo on Saudi Arabia after Germany, Austria and the European Parliament called for an end to weapons sales.Germany has suspended arms sales but French President Emmanuel Macron said such moves smacked of populist 'demagoguery'.Last week UK shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said Britain must apply the same standards to Saudi Arabia as it does to Russia over Khashoggi's death.The UK had a 'blind spot' on Saudi Arabia and needed to hold the Gulf Kingdom to account, she said.
All around the world women of all nations and ethnicities use some sort of healthcare product and/or beauty treatments. Whether it's treating yourself to a haircut or simply having access to contraception, it costs to be a woman.A new study has revealed where in the world women are spending the most on all things from sanitary products to pedicures. The biggest cost difference for a beauty treatment was around 80. In the UAE a haircut will set you back around 88 whereas in the Philippines it will cost a meager 8.00.While many people think that contraception is a given right, that is clearly not the case in some countries and while many of the countries the research looked at offered contraception for free, 41 per cent are still charging women up to 23.10 a month for the pills.The research was carried out by electrical health and beauty manufacturer, Currentbody.The manufacturer profiled 22 countries for the study in order to ensure it covered as many different cultures as possible.The research covered the main cities of each country and found that the difference in price between countries in western Europe such as London compared to Paris were minimal , which is why many European countries were subsequently not included in the data set.Russia charges the most when it comes to the cost of the contraceptive pill, billing women around 23.10, while countries such as Argentina, Canada, China, Croatia, Dominican Republic, India, Indonesia and the UK don't charge anything for the medication.Other countries that charge for the contraceptive pill are places such as Japan which charges around 17.25, Finland - 11.86, Australia - 11.40, Ireland - 9.45, Norway - 6.13, UAE - 5.88, Columbia - 4.94 and Malaysia 4.75.While most people take access to medication such as the contraceptive pill for granted, most women would also see access to sanitary products as a basic human right, and many campaigns have been launched in recent months in order to help women who can't afford to pay for the products gain access to them.Campaigns such as Bloody Good Period and The Homeless Period have helped raise awareness of the issue, but it still seems that women in many countries are being charged over the odds for sanitary products.If you're a woman in Japan then it comes at a high cost, sanitary products there cost up to 10.88, making it the most expensive country to have a period.The cheapest country however is India, where a standard pack of sanitary products would cost around 3.50.Other countries raking in the cash when it comes to sanitary products include China, where it would cost around 10.45 for sanitary products as well as UAE - 9.44 Indonesia - 9.01. On average, having a period in the UK would cost women around 6.34.When thinking about beauty regimes and the steps women take to look after themselves each day, facial cleansing is near the top of the list.Many women use facial washes, cleansers or toners and recently products such as micellar water and various brands and types of facial cleansing wipes have grown in popularity.However, if you're thinking about using facial wipes in Finland, it could set you back around 7.12 for a pack, whereas in Indonesia you could get a similar product for a fraction of the price at just 72p.In the UK the average cost for facial wipes is around 2.90. Countries boasting cheaper prices for the beauty regime staple are Croatia - 1.08 and India at just 1.23 per pack.Despite perhaps being one of the more painful beauty treatments that women subject themselves to, leg waxing is another luxury that could also set you back a pretty penny depending on the country you are in.Finland is the most expensive place to have the procedure, which would cost on average around 73.65, while in India the same thing would cost just 3.49.A leg wax in a salon in the UK would cost around 31.00, less than half of that of Finland. Other pricey places include Australia, where it would cost around 54.95, Japan - 72.93 and Norway at 60.40. However, residents of the Dominican Republic seem to be getting a good deal as a leg wax there would cost just 5.73.Manicure's and nail maintenance have become extremely popular across the world, while pharmacies are full of different nail care brands, salons across the world offer extraordinary nail art.The most expensive place to get a manicure is Norway where it would set you back around 46.04, while in the Philippines it would cost just 1.92. In the UK it costs on average 17 for a manicure, whereas the same procedure in New Zealand would cost around 21.84.As places such as the UAE begin to attract more and more expats from around the world, it's no wonder that the prices in the Gulf have begun to creep up. If you want to get a hair cut in the UAE it would cost around 88.41, while in the Philippines it would cost less than 10 per cent of that at 8.40.In the UK a haircut for a woman would cost around 56.00, this is while in the US it would cost around 57.75.Read more: The Homeless Periodwww.bloodygoodpe...
Travel firm Thomas Cook has come under fire from animal rights campaigners for offering rooms in a Chinese hotel that has captive dolphins and beluga whales displayed at on-site attractions.The dolphins have been sourced from a 'drive fishing' hunt in Japan described by a leading marine mammal scientist based in Washington DC as 'horrific' and 'wildly cruel'. The same scientist described dolphin and beluga captivity as 'fundamentally inhumane'.The UK-based Dolphin Freedom pressure group has been calling upon Thomas Cook to cut its ties with the hotel  the Atlantis Sanya in Hainan province. It argues that the deal with this hotel renders the travel company's recently trumpeted animal welfare policy regarding marine attractions, in which it announced a move away from them, as disingenuous.Its campaign has included demonstrations outside Thomas Cook offices and the circulating of a #dropthedolphins hashtag on Twitter.The $1.74billion (1.5billion) Atlantis Sanya, which opened in May, has two major marine attractions  Dolphin Cay and The Lost Chambers Aquarium. The former is partially open, the latter fully open and free for all guests to visit, though animal interactions at both cost extra.Its website describes Dolphin Cay as 'a state-of-the-art dolphin education centre and interaction habitat, which brings enlightenment and education to visitors about one of the ocean's most fascinating and memorable marine animals'.Visitors can wade into waist-deep waters to meet the dolphins, have their photographs taken with them and will soon be able to scuba dive with the creatures and be propelled through the water by the dolphins on a boogie board.The beluga whales can be found at The Lost Chambers attraction. Visitors are told they can 'wade into waist-deep waters of the beluga whale's lagoon' where they'll 'be amazed how friendly [they] are, and how quickly they warm up to you!'These are certain to be magical encounters for the visitors, but being kept in captivity like this is a horror show for the animals, according to Dr Naomi Rose, a marine mammal scientist for the Animal Welfare Institute.She works with a coalition in China on the expansion of the dolphinarium industry there called China Cetacean Alliance, which monitors and investigates the 60 or so operational dolphinariums in the country.She told MailOnline Travel that while she has not personally visited Atlantis Sanya, she is well aware of its facilities and explained why she believes keeping sea mammals in captivity is inhumane and why the way the resort's dolphins were captured was cruel.She said: 'There is no evidence of cruelty associated with Atlantis Sanya resort or any other dolphinarium  cruelty requires intent and these facilities are not deliberately trying to harm their animals. They use training techniques that are generally considered humane, the same as most folks use to train their dogs  or toddlers for that matter.'This is possible because cetaceans are generally benign toward humans, even in the wild, although there are definitely exceptions to this rule  as [documentary] Blackfish showed.'The problem is that it's fundamentally inhumane  which does not require intent  to keep large, wide-ranging, intelligent, socially complex species such as cetaceans, which are additionally wholly aquatic and thus have highly specialized physiological and ecological needs, in captive conditions.'This is actually just common sense  any species that normally roams dozens or even hundreds of kilometers a day, can dive hundreds of meters deep, and lives in groups of dozens or even hundreds of individuals cannot thrive in a tank only a few meters long, wide, and deep, with perhaps a half dozen to a dozen companions some of whom might not be compatible  and yet there is nowhere to escape social tensions.'Any cetacean tank, at Atlantis Sanya or anywhere else in the world, is a barren concrete box in which these sophisticated predators, who evolved in the ecologically and biodiverse ocean, are held for their whole lives, fed dead fish and deprived of anything resembling a natural life. That's not humane.'She said that while there are 'better and worse captive cetacean facilities even the best is not good enough  and in China they are nowhere near the best' (see boxout for more on China's animal welfare shortcomings).MailOnline Travel has learned that China does not have a captive breeding program and that virtually all the whales and dolphins in captivity come from the wild.The capture techniques in the drive fishery have been acknowledged by almost every professional body as wildly inhumane and yes, cruelDr Naomi RoseOnly a handful of the animals currently displayed in China are the result of captive breeding, out of hundreds of bottlenose dolphins, belugas, and orcas, as well as a handful of other species, such as Risso's dolphins and false killer whales.The Atlantis Sanya has 10 dolphins (six bottlenose dolphins and four Pacific white sided dolphins, according to Dolphin Freedom), captured along with all the others in China from the notorious driving hunt in Taiji, the only place in the world that is regularly making wild-caught specimens available for international trade. Everywhere else, captive breeding is the preferred source.Dr Rose said: 'The capture techniques in the drive fishery have been acknowledged by almost every professional body as wildly inhumane and yes, cruel. The trauma suffered by these social, intelligent animals in such a capture should hardly come as a surprise  even cattle are stressed by being stampeded and that's how a drive starts.'The dolphins are stampeded by a wall of sound - highly traumatic for these acoustically-oriented animals - driven into a cove, and then most of the dolphins are slaughtered, with a few set aside for live trade. The ones set aside can see and hear the slaughter of their pods  these individuals can reasonably be assumed to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. They tend to live even shorter lives in captivity than those cetaceans which are caught with more humane methods or born in captivity. This is why the trade between Japan and China is so brisk  when dolphins die in Chinese dolphinariums, they go back to Taiji for more.'The company that runs Atlantis Sanya, Kerzner, after being contacted by MailOnline Travel regarding this hunt, said that the way the dolphins were captured 'does not meet our high standards'.There are now at least 60 operational dolphinariums in China and none of them are adequate, says Dr Rose, who has personally inspected several of them.She said: 'In China especially, captive cetacean enclosures and their support systems - such as those maintaining water quality - are inadequate, using designs and techniques that are completely outdated. I can only assume this is the case because the people responsible for the construction of these facilities have limited access to western, state-of-the-art information and training.'Also construction standards are poor in China, so cetacean enclosures, which of course face the corrosive action of salt water, tend to start crumbling within a year or two of being built. Several facilities I've visited in China were only four to six years old, but looked 30 to 40 years old, and as if they hadn't been maintained well for those decades. For the same reason, the experience of the animal caretaking staff and their husbandry practices are inadequate.'Belugas, meanwhile, said Dr Rose, are 'even more unsuited to captivity than bottlenose dolphins'.She continued: 'They are larger - thus need more space - and they are specially adapted to habitats in the Arctic and sub-Arctic - so often found in freezing water - and therefore when held in a tank, they are suffering even more from cramped conditions and I think it's safe to say that the water in their tanks is almost certainly too warm. At best it is to them probably summer temperature all year round, but I suspect in some cases the water is even warmer and totally unsuitable for their physiology.'The belugas at the Atlantis Sanya have been captured in Russian waters (probably from the Sea of Okhotsk), according to Ceta Base, an organisation that keeps a record of marine mammals in human care. Kerzner said that their two whales were transported from another facility in Russia, where they had been living for eight years.Dr Rose said that the capture techniques for belugas are 'slightly less horrific in Russia, primarily because they don't kill the unchosen animals', but she insisted that they are still stressful.Russia uses, she said, the method of capture 'considered the most humane, wherein a purse seine net is deployed around a group of cetaceans that are herded together with chase boats'. But this method still leaves pod members traumatized.The China Cetacean Alliance warns that dolphin swim-with sessions 'may lead to serious welfare and health impacts'.It says: 'Observations of swim-with facilities globally demonstrate that dolphins often prefer not to interact with swimmers but are rarely provided with a refuge area and therefore cannot escape from human swimmers with whom they do not want to interact.'Dolphins are wild and unpredictable animals, even when well trained. People have been injured, sometimes seriously, swimming with dolphins. In 2004 a man taking part in such an experience was admitted to hospital after sustaining injuries from a captive dolphin at the Miami Seaquarium.'In 2008 a dolphin at the Dolphin Academy Curacao in the Caribbean breached and landed on top of three swimmers. One person was hospitalised with symptoms of paralysis.'China Ceatacean Alliance also warns that 'the public may also be at risk of transmitting diseases to, and contracting diseases, from dolphins'.She added: 'Those left behind may suffer permanent trauma from the capture and loss of their young. And the captured animals have a measurably higher risk of death for several weeks after the capture and any death, particularly from conditions that require a robust immune response  such as respiratory infections - during the first year after capture is usually attributed to a delayed response to the trauma.'Concerns over dolphinariums and sea mammal captivity in general are held not just by Dr Rose, but throughout the scientific community and are well documented.Many may be wondering, then, why Thomas Cook began offering rooms at the newly opened Atlantis Sanya to its customers in July this year - especially given that it has been increasingly vocal about animal welfare recently.On February 7 it published a blog post entitled 'Animal Welfare - One Year On', penned by the Thomas Cook Group Chief Executive, Peter Fankhauser, that stressed the company's newfound rigour regarding its promotion of controversial animal attractions.In the blog Mr Fankhauser said: 'Just over a year ago, Thomas Cook launched a new animal welfare policy which committed us to independently audit every animal excursion we sell  and to stop selling any which were not compliant with Abta Global Welfare Guidance for Animals in Tourism.'This simple but industry-leading policy has already made a big impact. We've now audited a third of all the attractions we offer, and we intend to audit the remaining 65 during the course of 2018. I have no doubt that we're making a difference.'What's more in July this year the travel company began axing trips to captive killer whale attractions, including SeaWorld.However, it seems that Thomas Cook's animal welfare policy has yet to become completely coherent.Dolphin Freedom showed MailOnline Travel an email it received from Thomas Cook's group sustainability manager, David Ville, two days before the animal welfare blog was published on February 7, in which he made an assurance that his company would not work with any new traditional marine parks.He wrote in the email on February 5: 'I have added the following section into our new animal welfare blog - 'We have already begun our work to challenge further expansion of captive whale and dolphin facilities. We have no intention of selling new traditional captive whale and dolphin attractions and call on governments around the world to reconsider their continued support of expanding existing facilities.'The last dolphinarium was closed in the UK in 1993, yet UK tour companies have continued to profit from them abroad. It's time for Thomas Cook to recognise the damage they are causing to marine animalsDolphin FreedomHe added: 'Should be published on our website later this week.'But this section was cut out of the blog that appeared two days later.Mr Ville also told Dolphin Freedom in an email sent on September 18, which MailOnline Travel has seen, that Thomas Cook was going to audit Atlantis Sanya, 'in line with our animal welfare policy'. And a company spokesman announced in August that the resort would be audited. But another, unnamed, source at Thomas Cook claimed that no such audit was going to take place.So just what is Thomas Cook's animal welfare policy?Whatever it is, it looks decidedly insincere to Dolphin Freedom - and not as good as Virgin's, which states that the company 'will not sell or promote any new attractions or hotels featuring captive whales and dolphins'.Dolphin Freedom said: 'If Thomas Cook really wants to be recognised for caring about animal welfare then it needs to follow Virgin's lead and commit to not starting more contracts with any new dolphinaria that open.'Why don't they sell more trips to see dolphins and whales in their natural habitat?'It said that it had 'very grave concerns' over the Thomas Cook link with the Atlantis Sanya, adding: 'The Atlantis stocked the beluga whales and dolphins through violent and brutal captures. Thomas Cook must've known this prior to accepting this contract.'The last dolphinarium was closed in the UK in 1993, yet UK tour companies have continued to profit from them abroad. It's time for Thomas Cook to recognise the damage they are causing to marine animals.'Some might surmise that a deal with the Atlantis Sanya was inevitable for Thomas Cook because Fosun, the company that runs the Atlantis Sanya, owns 12 per cent of Thomas Cook Group through shareholding and Thomas Cook China, a separate venture, is a joint venture between Thomas Cook and Fosun, 51 per cent owned by Fosun and 49 per cent by Thomas Cook.Could this explain why Mr Ville's blog addition didn't make the final cut? Were Thomas Cook's hands tied because of this corporate link with China?An unnamed source at Thomas Cook told MailOnline Travel that was most definitely not the case and that it is under no influence from Fosun whatsoever in this regard.When we pressed Thomas Cook on why the commitment expressed by Mr Ville was cut, it declined to comment.Next we asked Thomas Cook to consider, in light of Dr Rose stating that 'all dolphinariums are inhumane' and that beluga whales are even more unsuited to captivity than dolphins, whether a newly forged association with the Atlantis Sanya was at odds with the animal welfare policy announced by its chairman in February.Its first line of defence was that the Dolphin Cay attraction isn't actually open yet, though some may see that as a moot point even if it was true.A spokesman said: 'We do not sell tickets to Dolphin Cay and have no intention to do so when it opens next year.'However, while the attraction's 1,800-seat theatre isn't open yet, guests can definitely still pay to interact with the dolphins in it. MailOnline Travel called the hotel twice (to both Chinese and English-speaking staff members) and was told on both occasions this was possible right now if you book at the front desk (it's not possible to book on the hotel's website) and was given a price list (to touch the dolphins 488 yuan per person, to have pictures taken with the dolphins 428 yuan per person).There are also Instagram videos and pictures showing guests with the hotel's dolphins and TripAdvisor review references to it, including one from a Julia S, who wrote on September 8: 'The swimming attractions of the hotel are amazing but the conditions of the marine animals was pretty sad, the dolphins especially. The tanks are concrete and there is little shade. I wouldn't go here again. The hotel is great but the animal cruelty is just too much.'The company's second line of defence was to vaguely repeat the wording of its CEO's blog from February.The spokesperson added: 'We are the first major holiday company to take action based upon a programme of independent audits, and the first to announce that we are going to stop selling excursions which keep Orcas in captivity. When we introduced our policy, we recognised that customer expectations were changing when it comes to animal attractions and we are committed to maintaining an animal welfare policy which is in line with our customers' expectations of us.'Except, it would seem, if there's money to be made in China.For Dolphin Freedom, Thomas Cook's attempts to distance itself from the marine attraction aspect of the hotel by underscoring that it doesn't directly sell tickets to it isn't good enough.It said: 'Dolphin Cay is owned by Atlantis Sanya hotel and Thomas Cook sells tickets to the hotel which owns the dolphinarium. It is part of the same thing. The theme of the hotel is the sea and marine life and the novelty of the hotel is having all these captive marine animal attractions.'The hotel, the dolphins and the belugas are certainly intertwined with the hotel.Any whale or dolphin captured within the past decade is a reasonable candidate for rehabilitation and return to the wild, as a matter of biology and ecologyDr Naomi RoseFor example, dolphin images appear on the hotel's branding and the belugas are undoubtedly a star attraction. They frequently appear in social media posts from hotel guests  and what's more, Thomas Cook has promoted them on Weibo, China's version of Facebook, by posting a picture of newlyweds standing in front of their tank.The plight of the Atlantis animals, of course, rests with the hotel's owners.If they did have a gigantic change of heart, Dr Rose said that the dolphins and whales could still be returned to the wild.She added: 'Any whale or dolphin captured within the past decade is a reasonable candidate for rehabilitation and return to the wild, as a matter of biology and ecology. They haven't been in captivity too long and could be encouraged to remember how to hunt for live food and so on - several dolphins who were in concrete tanks for four to six years and trained to do tricks have been successfully returned to the wild in the past. But if they were returned to Taiji and the Sea of Okhotsk as things stand, they might just be captured again. So unless we stop the demand, there's no point in returning them to the wild.'However, we would support placing them in a seaside sanctuary. I believe all captive cetaceans are candidates for that option. See www.whalesanctuaryproject.org for more info on the concept. That's what I would like to see.'However Kerzner, the company that owns Atlantis Sanya, has confirmed to MailOnline Travel that the dolphins and whales will remain where they are.But it did say that the way the dolphins were caught was unacceptable.It said: 'We have been made aware that the dolphins at the Sanya-based resort came from Japanese waters, under a valid Cites permit. Our partners were responsible for the procurement and transportation of the animals as well as the design and construction of the marine mammal facilities.'As this collection neither follows our protocols nor meets our high standards, we now have a full commitment from our partners to not support any future cetacean collections from the wild.'The belugas came to the resort from an existing facility in Russia, also under a valid Cites permit. We also can confirm that the dolphins and belugas are in good health and receive professional care and enrichment by our experts. Likewise, the education centre and marine habitats are state-of-the-art, exceeding international marine life standards required by leading industry organizations World Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums. Our core business has always been to inspire people to care about the ocean, which we have been doing for over 20 years, making vital contributions to conservation and continued education initiatives.'A Fosun spokesperson told MailOnline Travel: 'As landlord, Fosun will follow the request of Kerzner and conduct the conservation of marine life worldwide with high standards.'Read more: deskgram.net/p/1...Atlantis Sanya, Haitang Bay, SanyaFrom The Dolphin's Point of ViewAtlantis Resort Sanya construction updatesDolphin Freedom UK  Dolphin Freedom UK is against the captive sea animal industry.Travel WeeklyHome | The Whale Sanctuary Project | Back to NatureThomas Cook | Animal Welfare  One Year OnChina Cetacean AllianceNaomi Rose (@frdolphinPOV) | TwitterThomas Cook axes trips to captive killer whale attractions including SeaWorld - ITV NewsDolphin Cay | Atlantis SanyaDolphin Cay (Sanya) - 2018 All You Need to Know Before You Go (with Photos) - Sanya, China | TripAdvisorGarasi Sasi on InstagramAlexandra Lishik on InstagramCeta Base | Captive Cetacean Database  Cetaceans  Atlantis Resort Sanya  ChinaDolphin Project | Let's Protect Dolphins TogetherChina Cetacean Alliance  We belong in the wild
Leaders of Russia, France and Germany have gathered in Istanbul for a summit with Turkish President Erdogan as they look to bring an end Syria's civil war.Erdogan will host Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel for the summit in Istanbul.More than 360,000 people have died in the Syrian conflict since 2011, including seven civilians killed by Syrian fire in Idlib yesterday.Idlib in northern Syria is the last major rebel-held bastion and a fragile ceasefire was reached last month when Russia and Turkey agreed a buffer zone around the area.But violence in the area has escalated in the lead-up to the summit, amid fears of a government onslaught which could spark a fresh wave of refugees fleeing to Turkey.Russia supports the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad while Turkey backs the rebels.The summit comes in the shadow of the Jamal Khashoggi crisis which has engulfed the Middle East since the journalist was killed in Istanbul on October 2.Erdogan is expected to discuss the Khashoggi affair in one-on-one talks with leaders on the summit's sidelines.The Turkish President has demanded answers from Riyadh while Merkel has halted German arms sales to Saudi Arabia.However Macron has resisted calls for France to follow suit, saying the weapons trade 'has nothing to do with Mr Khashoggi'.It also follows months of tensions between Moscow and the West over the poisoning of Sergei Skripal in Britain and an attempted cyber-attack on a Dutch lab.In addition Merkel and Erdogan have frequently clashed over the refugee crisis, democratic freedoms in Turkey and the millions of people of Turkish origin who live in Germany.Turkey and Russia have held previous talks with Iran on the Syrian conflict, in efforts that have often been greeted with suspicion in the West.But Saturday's summit will be the first to include the European Union's two most significant national leaders.Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Friday that the primary goal would be to 'clarify the steps to be taken for a political solution and to determine a roadmap'.The steps could include a a commission to create Syria's post-war constitution, seen as a stepping stone to staging elections in the war-torn country.A United Nations plan for a committee to draft a new constitution ran aground this week after Damascus blocked the proposal, provoking anger among western powers.The Istanbul talks will also discuss extending the ceasefire around Idlib, where aid groups have warned that a military offensive could spark one of the worst humanitarian disasters of the seven-year war.Moscow and Ankara agreed a buffer zone as Turkey sought to avoid an attack leading to a further influx of people across its border.Syria's opposition, which has previously described Russia's military intervention in 2015 as an occupation, on Friday said it welcomed dialogue with Moscow.The comments readiness for more concessions following the Assad regime's battlefield successes.The Elysee palace said there were 'modest expectations' and Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov urging all sides to be 'realistic'.Meanwhile German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said that 'reconstruction to the profit of the dictatorship of Assad is not conceivable'.'There will be only investment into Syria if there is a satisfying political process that includes all parties,' she told a security conference in Bahrain on Saturday.At the same conference, US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said Russia is no replacement for the United States.'Russia's presence in the region cannot replace the longstanding, enduring, and transparent US commitment to the Middle East,' Mattis said.The leaders of Russia, France and Germany arrived in Istanbul on Saturday for a four-
"Singapore, Disneyland with the death penalty." -- William Gibson



Malaysian Prabu Pathmanathan, 31, was executed at dawn in Singapore's Changi Prison today, lawyer N. Surendran said in a statement.





Surendran who represents Prabu's family also confirmed that they have collected his body for cremation later today, but called the hanging by Singapore a lawless act that disregarded the due process.





"The execution was an unlawful, and brutal act, carried out in breach of due process and in defiance of the appeals made by neighbouring Malaysia," he said.





Prabu was convicted of smuggling 227.82 grams of diamorphine from Malaysia into Singapore in 2014.





Surendran who is also adviser for civil group Lawyers for Liberty claimed the Singapore authorities gave less than a week's notice on Prabus execution to his family even as they and the Malaysian government sought to commute his death sentence.





He said the Singapore President's Office also rejected petitions for clemency and gave its reply to the family late last night, then questioned the entire manoeuvre which he called "underhanded".





"It is a flagrant breach of due process for the Singapore President to reject the family's clemency petition without even considering it. It was thus a lawless act.





"Prabu's parents and siblings are devastated by the execution of their son and brother," the lawyer said.





Surendran conveyed the family's gratitude to the Malaysian government and other anti-death penalty advocates in the country and outside for their support.





Groups like Lawyers for Liberty, Amnesty International, We Believe in Second Chances and Singapore Anti-Death Penalty Campaign were among those who voiced their opposition to Prabu's hanging.





Malaysia has equally strict laws as Singapore with regards to drug trafficking but the Pakatan Harapan government recently announced that it would abolish the mandatory death penalty as part of its promised legal reforms after taking power in the May elections.





De facto law minister Datuk Liew Vui Keong told reporters Wednesday that he would issue a letter to the Singapore government asking that Prabu be given a 2nd chance.

Malaysian drug trafficker hanged in Singapore

A convicted Malaysian drug trafficker was hanged in Singapore on Friday, officials said, after the city-state rejected last minute efforts to save him.





The Malaysian government  which decided earlier this month to abolish the death penalty  had asked neighboring Singapore to spare the 31-year-old man from the gallows on humanitarian grounds.





But Malaysias Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement late Friday that Prabu N Pathmanathan was executed in Singapores Changi Prison earlier in the day, in the presence of family members and a representative from the Malaysian embassy.





The ministry said the Malaysian government had asked Singapore to spare the man on humanitarian grounds but respects the city-states laws.





Capital punishment, which is carried out by hanging, is a legacy of British colonial rule in both countries.





Pathmanathan was sentenced to death in 2014 for trafficking 227.82 grams (7.97 ounces) of heroin into Singapore, media reports said.





Family lawyer N. Surendran said in a statement that the family received a letter from the office of the Singapore president on the eve of the execution denying their appeal for clemency. The family has now claimed the body, their lawyer added.





There was no comment from the Singapore government.





Amnesty International, which had opposed the execution, urged Singapore to follow the example of Malaysia under the government of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who was swept to power in May elections.





Malaysias cabinet earlier this month decided to abolish capital punishment, a prelude to parliament amending the law.





A moratorium on executions will be imposed in the meantime, with more than 1,200 people on death row set to win a reprieve.





This cruel and irreversible punishment has no place in any society, as more than two-thirds of the worlds countries have come to recognize, said Rachel Chhoa-Howard, Amnesty Internationals Singapore researcher.





Singapore however has maintained that capital punishment is an effective crime deterrent and is crucial to fighting drugs.





Amnesty said it is aware of six executions carried out in Singapore this year and eight in 2017, all for drug offenses.





Source: Coconut , Agence France-Presse, October 27, 2018









Executed Malaysian's last message  don't get involved in drugs





PETALING JAYA: Malaysian Prabu Pathmanathan, 31, who was executed for drug trafficking in Singapore on Friday (Oct 26) has left a message for all Malaysians to stay far away from drugs.





His message was shared on Facebook on the "We Believe in Second Chances" page , along with a series of five pictures taken a few days before his execution.





According to the post, Prabu conveyed the message to a friend, the last person to visit him along with his brother.





Prabu was dressed in a blue T-shirt with a white headwrap and appeared calm in the pictures.





In one of the pictures, he holds a copy of the Hindu scripture Bhagavad Gita, and a copy of the Sai Satcharitra, a book about a saint in India, in another photo.





Praba conveyed that he wanted his pictures to be published so that people know his story.





In Singapore, inmates who are about to be executed are allowed to wear regular clothes for a photo shoot, and the photos will be provided to the family.





Prabu was sentenced to death for committing several acts preparatory to and for the purposes of trafficking in 227.82g of heroin into the Singapore on Dec 31, 2014.





The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) had expressed its regret over Prabu's execution, saying that it was disappointed that Singapore was continuing this draconian practice.

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,

but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

: malaymail.com, October 27, 2018 thestar.com.my , October 26, 2018
Chief of Army Staff, General Bipin Rawat pays homage to the Martyrs, on the occasion of Infantry Day, at the Amar Jawan Jyoti, India Gate in New Delhi. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Saturday said that Pakistan was using terror to keep the pot boiling in Jammu and Kashmir since it was well aware they could never succeed. Accusing the neighbouring country of trying to stall development in the state, Rawat warned that India was strong enough to counter Pakistans evil designs and fully capable of carrying out different operations.

Pakistan is fully aware they can never succeed, terror is another way by them to keep the pot boiling. They want to stall development in Kashmir but Indian state is strong enough to counter everything, and we are fully capable of carrying out different operations, Army chief Bipin Rawat said.

General Rawat made the remarks after paying tribute at the Amar Jawan Jyoti in the Delhi to mark Infantry Day.

General Rawat had articulated the need for another surgical strike on terror launch pads across the Line of Control twice in the past month.

The Army Chief, in September, emphasised the need to avenge the barbaric acts carried out by the Pakistani Army and terrorists against Indian soldiers, saying it was time to give it back in the same coin.

Speaking on the death of a 22-year-old soldier following a head injury in an incident of stone-pelting in Anantnag district of South Kashmir, Rawat said, The Jawan who lost his life after being attacked by stone pelters was guarding a border roads team which was constructing roads, and then we have some people saying don't treat stone pelters like OGWs (over ground workers) of terrorists.
Hyderabad: TD president and AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, who had lost ground in Telangana state, has suddenly turned into a key player in the upcoming Assembly elections, all thanks to the Prajakutami and, ironically, the TRS.

After state bifurcation, several TD MLAs and prominent leaders defected to the TRS. Mr Naidu shifted the AP administration to Amaravati and lost his grip on Telangana affairs. For the past two years, the TD did not have much of a voice in TS. Its fortunes have suddenly revived with the formation of the Prajakutami.

Ironically, the TD was stronger in the Telangana region of undivided AP than in Seemandhra but after shifting to Amaravati, Mr Naidu confined himself to AP. He met TD leaders mostly only when he came to Hyderabad. Some of this began showing on the party. It won only one seat in the GHMC election.

With the Prajakutami, Mr Naidu has turned into a lightning rod. TRS leaders are concentrating more on Mr Naidu than on the main opposition Congress. In fact, they are projecting Mr Naidu as a Chief Minister candidate though he is not even a voter in Telangana state.

TRS main campaigners, Mr K.T. Rama Rao and Mr T. Harish Rao, over the past week have been targeting only Mr Naidu. Mr Rama Rao says if the Prajakutami cames to power, TS would go into the hands of Mr Naidu.

Mr Harish Rao is asking voters to decide who they should support  Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao or Mr Naidu. Sources in the TRS said the reason for targeting Mr Naidu was to consolidate the Telangana vote with the TRS. There is no leader in the Opposition to match Mr Chandrasekhar Rao. Mr Naidu has a image in some parts of Telangana state which will help Prajakutami.
Salvador said Ecuador passed on the UK's response to Assange's lawyers, but noted that if Assange stayed in the embassy Ecuador would put new conditions on his stay. (Photo: File)

Quito: The United Kingdom told Ecuador in August that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange would not be extradited if he left the country's London embassy, where he has lived under asylum since 2012, Ecuador's top government attorney said on Thursday.

In a written response to queries from Ecuador, the UK explained that it had not received any extradition request, and said Assange's jail time in the UK for violating bail terms by seeking refuge in the embassy would not exceed six months, Inigo Salvador, who represents the Ecuadorean government in court proceedings, told reporters.

Salvador said Ecuador passed on the UK's response to Assange's lawyers, but noted that if Assange stayed in the embassy Ecuador would put new conditions on his stay.

"Assange had a choice between turning himself in to British authorities with those assurances, or staying in the embassy of Ecuador, but given that the asylum had lasted six years with no signs of immediate resolution we were going to place certain rules," Salvador said at a news conference.

It was unclear if the UK's assurances were still valid. Assange's legal team did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office referred to Foreign Office Minister Alan Duncan's June statement that Assange would be treated "humanely and properly" if he left the embassy.

Assange took refuge in the embassy after British courts ordered his extradition to Sweden to face questioning in a sexual molestation case. That case has been dropped, but supporters have said that Assange fears he could be extradited to the United States if he leaves the embassy.

WikiLeaks, which published US diplomatic and military secrets when Assange ran the operation, faces a US grand jury investigation.

The relationship between Assange and Ecuador has grown increasingly tense in the past year. Assange filed a lawsuit in an Ecuadorean court last week claiming the new asylum terms, which require him to pay for medical bills and telephone calls and to clean up after his pet cat, violate his rights.

Ecuador says the rules are consistent with international asylum standards.

Ecuador's foreign minister, Valencia, told Reuters earlier this week that he was "frustrated" by Assange's decision to file suit, and said the South American country would no longer intervene on his behalf in talks with Britain over his situation, a break from previous practice.

On Thursday, Salvador refuted Assange's claims in the suit that Ecuador prevented him from receiving visitors, denied him counsel and cut off access to communications, noting that he received 62 visits between July and October, including some from his lawyers.

An initial hearing in the case had been scheduled for Thursday, but the presiding judge suspended it after the video conference that was supposed to beam Assange into the courtroom faltered.
Vietnam's agriculture sector has been reaping significant hi-tech returns of late, Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong has informed the parliament.

Cuong, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, highlighted the sectors achievements at a National Assembly (NA) discussion on socioeconomic development Friday.

He said Vietnam's agricultural growth this year had reached 3.65 percent year-on-year as of the end of September, the highest in many years.

"This is a significant achievement considering that the world has been greatly affected by natural disasters," Cuong said.

He said the ongoing restructuring of the sector has been proceeding in the right direction over the past five years, as evidenced by strong growth in production during this time.

"Currently Vietnam's agricultural products are being exported to 180 countries, earning $200 billion in the past five years and achieving a surplus value of $50 billion," the minister noted.

He said that hi-tech advances in line with their scale have been made in the three main categories of agricultural products: national products with export values of at least $1 billion; provincial products; and local specialties.

As a result, the price of Vietnamese rice, which used to be very low five years ago, is now higher than those of Thailand and India, Cuong said, without elaborating.

Vietnam's rice exports this year have also achieved its highest ever volume and value, he added.

Rice exports from Vietnam in January-September were estimated to rise 7.6 percent from a year ago to 4.93 million tons. Revenue from rice exports in the period was estimated to grow 22.1 percent year-on-year to $2.48 billion.

Highlighting rural development achievements, the minister also reported that over 40 percent of communes have met the criteria for recognition as new rural areas, exceeding the target set by the parliament.

By next year 50 percent of communes are expected to achieve this, meaning the scheme's target would be "basically reached" a year ahead of its deadline, he said.

National profile needs boost

Minister Cuong also acknowledged that the development of new rural areas needed more focus in some core areas including production promotion and environmental protection.

Several NA deputies also expressed concern that the focus on increasing the sectors value was happening without resolving the issue of creating brand value for Vietnam's agriculture sector as a whole.

While Vietnam exports many agricultural products, most of those are raw produce exported under companies' brand names, not really adding value to the "made in Vietnam" brand, they said.

Truong Anh Tuan, an NA member from the northern province of Nam Dinh, said Vietnam needs to build a strong brand for its agricultural products.

Using rice as an example, he said Vietnam currently has over 200 types of rice, with each locality claiming its rice as a delicious specialty, but such claims have never been verified. There has never been a "delicious rice competition," he noted.

On the other hand, Vietnamese rice has received recognition in the global market with the ST 24 variety making into the top 3 most delicious rice varieties in the world at an event in Macau last November, behind Thailand and Cambodia.

"The reality is that there are beauty contests for dairy cows, but for rice, which has been part of the Vietnamese people for thousands of years, there is still no contest to decide which variety is most delicious," Tuan said.

He expressed hope that the agriculture sector would soon bring greater recognition to Vietnamese rice, and thereby build a strong brand, helping farmers grow high value, sustainable produce.

NA deputies were in general agreement that strengthening Vietnamese agricultural sectors brand would help increase the export value of its products.

With a strong brand, the value of Vietnam's agricultural product exports would not stop at the current $30 billion, but go on to reach $50 billion or even $60 billion, they said.
Foreign tourists prepare to hit the road on motorbikes in Quan Ba District in Ha Giang Province. Photo by VnExpress/Minh Nga

A spate of fatal accidents is pushing Ha Giang Province to clamp down on traffic violations by foreigners.

Local authorities in the northern mountainous province of Ha Giang have issued a document asking local police to increase the fluency of patrols and deal strictly with traffic violations by foreigners.

In particular, tighter control will be exerted on motorbike rental services, as foreign visitors currently can hire motorbikes without showing their driving licenses.

The crackdown on traffic violations by foreigners comes after several visitors have died in road accidents in the province, considered one of the most beautiful places in the country, with its terraced fields, vast flowering areas and rich ethnic minority culture.

In the most recent accident, a Spanish man and a French woman died last Monday after their motorbike collided with a truck trailer traveling on a national highway.

Two days earlier, a French national succumbed to heavy injuries following a crash between his motorbike and a mini bus. In November, last year, a Spanish traveler died after driving his motorbike off a cliff in Ha Giang.

Poor traffic awareness

Hoang Anh Duc, a senior traffic police officer in Ha Giang, said most foreign visitors to the mountainous province opt to hire a motorbike to cross twisting, dangerous roads in Quan Ba, Yen Minh, Dong Van and Meo Vac Districts.

Several foreigners have been seen driving at high speed, breaking red lights, not wearing helmets and failing to show driving licenses.

These violations become dangerous in Ha Giang, famous for narrow, twisting roads and dangerous mountain passes that challenge even the most seasoned motorbike drivers.

So far this year, around 20 foreign tourists have been stopped by traffic police for driving motorbikes without driving licenses, local police said.

However, language barriers have hampered polices efforts to deal with the traffic violations, because they are unable to communicate with the foreigners. Therefore, punishments are not strictly enforced.

A local driver who wanted to remain anonymous told VnExpress International that foreigners always drove at very fast speeds on mountainous roads and tough trails in Ha Giang though they are not familiar with the terrain.

"I have many years of experience in driving but I still do not dare to drive fast on mountainous roads because accidents can happen very easily," he said.

Lax management

The tourism boom that has happened in Ha Giang in recent years has seen many motorbike rental services spring up in the province.

It is estimated that there are around 43 motorbike rental facilities with a total of 842 motorbikes. As elsewhere in the country, foreign tourists only need to leave their passports and pay around VND150,000 ($6.47) per day for renting the bikes. They are not required to show driving licenses.

While local authorities have issued fines on motorbike rental facilities for handing over motorbikes to those without driving licenses, the situation has not improved much.

Road crashes are a leading cause of deaths in Vietnam, killing almost one person every hour. More than 9,000 traffic accidents occurred in the first half of this year, killing nearly 4,100 people and injuring over 7,000, according to the National Traffic Safety Committee.
AK rifles and grenades are seized by police from a Lao trafficking gang Friday. Photo courtesy of Nghe An Police

Vietnamese police shot and killed a Lao national Friday in a midnight shootout with drug traffickers in Nghe An Province.

The police said that in the early hours of Friday, a group of Lao men armed with rifles and grenades were smuggling drugs into Vietnam when local police spotted them.

In the ensuing confrontation, the police asked the gang members to put their weapons down and surrender, but the latter resisted by firing at the officers.

As the police fired back, a 30-year-old Lao man, identified only as Sua, was killed on the spot while two others escaped, a Vietnam News Agency report cited the police as saying.

The report said the police seized 990 grams of heroin, 12,000 synthetic drug pills, one AK rifle and three grenades.

Police are looking for the two people that escaped.

Vietnam is a key trafficking hub for narcotics in and around the Golden Triangle, a lawless wedge of land that intersects China, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar and is the world's second-largest drug-producing region.

The drug trafficking and consumption problem has persisted and grown despite Vietnam having some of the worlds toughest drug laws. Those convicted of possessing or smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamines face the death penalty.

The production or sale of 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal narcotics is also punishable by death.
Fishing boats dock in Binh Dinh Province in central Vietnam. Photo by VnExpress/Dac Thanh

Malaysian authorities have detained 23 Vietnamese fishermen and their two boats for illegally entering the nation's waters.

The fishermen were found off Aur Island in western Malaysia on October 24, The Star reported Friday.

Their fishing tools, the fish caught, fuel and other equipment on the boat were confiscated.

The crew failed to present the licenses of their vessels to Malaysian authorities. Some members could not provide any identification papers.

The incident is being investigated under Malaysia's Fisheries Act 1985, the newspaper quoted Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) director Mohammed Zulfadli Nayan as saying.

Many Vietnamese fishermen have been captured for illegal fishing in foreign territorial waters in recent years.

Earlier this month, two vessels and 39 Vietnamese fishermen were detained for fishing illegally in Malaysian waters.

Last month, a Vietnamese fishing boat and its five crew members were caught off Palawan, western border of the Philippines, as reported by GMA News.

Vietnamese authorities are putting efforts in improving awareness of marine boundaries and international maritime laws, and allocate regular patrols to prevent potential violations.
HCMC police are hunting for five of seven men flown in from South Korea to beat up a friends business rival.

Two of the seven men, Im Tae Woon, 24, and Lee San Ha, 20, were detained on Friday.

Police said a dispute between Park Gun-huk and Min Kyung-man, two South Korean businessmen living in the Thao Dien neighborhood of District 2, sparked the surprising act of violence.

Park called his friends from South Korea to fly over to Ho Chi Minh City and take revenge on his rival.

The men bought six hammers and a bundle of plastic zip ties in a pre-dawn attack on Min Kyung-mans house.

They tied up Min and other people in his house before hitting them with hammers. The victims screams alerted neighborhood security guards who called the police.

While Im and Lee were caught, others escaped with two cell phones, VND30 million ($1,293) and other valuable properties.

The people in Mins house were rushed to a local hospital for treatment. One man, Park Jung-ji, whose relationship with Min has not been revealed, suffered internal bleeding and head injuries, Tuoi Tre newspaper reported.
Thai police take the finger prints of a suspect in detention room. A Vietnamese man was found dead in a detention room in Thailand on Wednesday. Photo by Reuters/Kham

Two Thai police officers have been punished after two men, a Vietnamese and a Cambodian, died in detention under their watch.

Athiwat Duangmani and Yongyuth Yosklang, senior officials of the Immigration Police Bureau in Suan Plu, a town in Bangkoks Sathorn District, have received disciplinary punishment for the detention deaths of a 72-year-old Vietnamese man and a 55-year-old Cambodian man.

The men died in a detention room Wednesday morning.

Apart from their failure to ensure safety of the detainees, the police officers also failed to report the incident to higher authorities, Thanh Nien newspaper reported.

Both officers have been transferred to work in the border gate area.

The two deceased men were arrested in a massive crackdown by Thai police on illegal immigrants. They were held in the detention room with 13 others.

Although they were lying in sleeping positions, a fellow detainee noticed that they were not breathing and raised an alarm, The Nation reported.

An autopsy has been carried out but the exact causes of the deaths have not been revealed.

A number of illegal immigrants have died of various causes while in detention in Thailand in recent years.

Thailand has not yet ratified the United Nations' 1951 Refugee Convention; and does not recognize the status of refugees and asylum seekers, who are dealt with as illegal immigrants and incarcerated.

Citizens of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) can travel to all countries in the bloc without applying for a visa, but the maximum stay allowed is 30 days.
Ukraine police detained a group of illegal Vietnamese immigrants Wednesday as they were found roaming the streets, asking for food.

The detentions were made after local police received a series of calls from residents in Glevakha, a remote town in the Kyiv Oblast Province near Ukraine center, saying that a group of foreigners were looking for food on the streets, the Kyiv Post reported.

The group of Vietnamese citizens had illegally entered Ukraine in the summer and looked as if they were freezing and hungry, the report quoted Ukrainian police as saying.

It appears that a Ukrainian citizen was supposed to look for an appropriate chance to transport the Vietnamese into a European Union country through an illegal immigration channel.

While waiting, he kept them locked up in his house for weeks, and failed to provide them with enough food. Desperate, they beat up the local man before escaping and looking for food on the streets, police said.

All 28 Vietnamese citizens were taken to a police station in Kyiv Oblast, where officers gave them food and old police uniforms to keep them warm. Many were dressed only in T-shirts and shorts.

The Ukrainian who had held them in his house was detained the same day and is likely to be charged with kidnapping.

The detained Vietnamese citizens will be transferred to one of Ukraines centers for illegal immigrants, police said.

After immigration officers investigate how the Vietnamese citizens entered Ukraine, they will be deported, police said.
Ba Binh (Itu Aba) Island as seen on Google Maps.

The Foreign Ministry has denounced Taiwan's live-fire drill plan near the Spratly Archipelago as a serious violation of Vietnam's sovereignty.

"We are closely following the situation and developments in the East Sea," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said Thursday, using the Vietnamese name for the waterway.

She was responding to a question about Taiwans plan on holding a three-day live-fire drill around Ba Binh Island, internationally known as Itu Aba, beginning November 21.

Taiwan will use 40mm grenade launchers and other weapons in the drill supposed to cover a radius of eight kilometers.

Ba Binh, the largest naturally occurring island in the Truong Sa Archipelago, which Vietnam asserts sovereignty over, is currently occupied by Taiwan.

Hang reiterated that Vietnam has full legal grounds and historical evidence to assert indisputable sovereignty over the Paracel (Hoang Sa) and Spratly (Truong Sa) archipelagoes in accordance with international law.

Taiwan's repeated drills around Ba Binh Island threaten peace, stability, maritime safety and security, create tension and complicate the situation in the South China Sea, she said.
A company in Vietnams central coast has been fined VND90 million ($3,880) for hiring Chinese workers without labor licenses.

Phong Nguyen Co. Ltd, which operates restaurants in the resort city of Nha Trang, has also been suspended for two months.

The company hired five Chinese to work at its restaurants serving Chinese food, but two of them did not have work permits.

It was also using signboards with Chinese characters much bigger than Vietnamese letters, in contravention of the law. Vietnam does not allow companies, shops and restaurants to have foreign letters or characters bigger than Vietnamese ones on their signboards.

This violation is rampant in Khanh Hoa Province, which is home to the popular beach city of Nha Trang and is one of the most favorite destinations to foreigners, many of them Chinese, in the country.

Provincial records show that more than 310 foreigners, mostly Chinese, have been caught working illegally in Nha Trang since early this year.

in the first nine months, Nha Trang received 2.15 million foreign visitors, including more than 1.2 million Chinese, which was up 157 percent from the same period last year.
Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh sits in a wheelchair as he greets monks and Buddhist followers at Da Nang International Airport in central Vietnam on Friday. Photo by VnExpress/Nguyen Sum

Renowned Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh arrived in central Vietnam Friday, a year after his previous visit.

The Buddhist monk, considered the second most influential Buddhist leader in the world after the Dalai Lama, landed in Da Nang City on a flight from Bangkok.

Thich Nhat Hanh, 92, was in stable health and waved to followers as he left the airport, said Nguyen Van Sum, a follower.

His stay in Vietnam this time will include several days in Da Nang and a trip to his birthplace in nearby Thua Thien-Hue Province.

He will visit the Tu Hieu Pagoda, where he studied and practiced Zen Buddhism from 1942. He visited the pagoda during a private trip late August last year.

Born in 1926, Thich Nhat Hanh became a monk at the age of 23 after studying Buddhism for seven years.

In the 1960s he spearheaded a movement of Buddhists in South Vietnam that called for a negotiated end to the Vietnam War.

He left the country in 1966 and has lived in Plum Village in southern France for decades, traveling regularly throughout North America and Europe to give lectures on mindfulness and peace.

His key teaching is that through mindfulness, people can learn to live happily in the present moment, which is the only way to truly develop peace, both within oneself and in the world outside.

This is his fifth return to Vietnam, the others being in 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2017. During his earlier visits, he met with devout Buddhists and offered prayers for war victims.

In late 2014, he suffered a stroke and was hospitalized in France for four and a half months.

Thich Nhat Hanh is also a poet and peace activist. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize by Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1967, and is the author of more than 100 books, including the bestselling The Miracle of Mindfulness.

I do not personally know of anyone more worthy of [this prize] than this gentle monk from Vietnam, King Jr. had said of Thich Nhat Hanh in his nomination. His ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to ecumenism, to world brotherhood, to humanity.

"Walk With Me," a documentary about Thich Nhat Hanh and his Buddhism practice, was released in cinemas in Vietnam in March last year.
Deserted by the father when his mother died, a 12-year-old boy has shown incredible resilience in the face of overwhelming odds.

Ho Minh Hieu lives with his aunts family and his swine and piglets. The story of the 12-year-old, who is studying in central Quang Nam Province's Nguyen Thanh Primary School, documented by photographer Dinh Chi Trung, has touched the hearts of many people.

Hieus mother passed away when he was little and he has never heard from his father. After his mother died, he was sent to Laos to live with his uncle. Life on the other side of the border deprived him of family feel and intimacy, and he gradually lost the ability to speak his mother tongue. Hieu returned to Vietnam when he was 7 years old and started going to school.

Hieu lives with his aunt's family. Her husband and their second child suffer from developmental disorders and do not have jobs. His aunt works in HCMC as a dishwasher, and Hieu takes care of his uncle and cousin with the help of his aunts first son.

His grandmother gave him a sow as a means to make a living. Hieu takes care of it diligently. Every day he cuts vegetables to feed it and goes to the market to find leftovers for it, tends and bathes it and hugs it like a pet.

Now it has given birth to three piglets, leaving Hieu overjoyed. Le Van Dung, 27, his cousin, said: "Hieu has raised this pig for two years and it has produced three litters. Every time he gets to sell a piglet, he is overjoyed.

"There were eight piglets in the last litter, but he could only sell them for a few hundred thousand dong (a dozen of US dollars). The next litter had three and he made VND900,000 ($38). Hieu used that money for school expenses and buying groceries."

Hieu is the oldest in his class but his small stature keeps his seniority under the radar.

A drawing of Hieus aunt, who holds a special place in his heart.

Ho Thi Tri, 51, Hieus aunt, said she earns around VND5 million ($213) a month and sends VND3 million to Hieu, her husband and sons for their expenses.

"Hieu raises pigs to have an income and have a hobby that makes him happy, but Im basically still his main provider. My husband and son are still getting treatment. I usually call Hieu to advise him what to buy for food. He is very smart when it comes to buying groceries at the market.

She said his father severed ties with him and the family after his wifes death when Hieu was not yet four.

While other kids enjoy television or family dinners after school, Hieu has other duties. He goes to the market to buy ingredients to cook dinner.

He returns home with his bicycle basket filled with vegetables and fish. He boasts about giving his cousin all the money he earns from selling pigs. His cousin gives him money for his breakfast and market trip every day.

After his trip to the market, Hieu and his uncle cook dinner together. Then he makes sure his pigs are fed. His cousin, Dung, works until late, so Hieu bathes the pigs by himself.

To Thuy Hang, the principal of Nguyen Thanh Primary School, said: "When he came back from Laos, Hieu had many scabs on his body. He couldnt communicate with anyone at school when he first enrolled. He would flash a shy smile or run away when someone tried to talk to him.

Hieus school held a meeting to find a solution for his situation. It was decided a teacher would teach him Vietnamese during breaks every day. He was encouraged to participate in traditional games. He gradually became more fluent in Vietnamese and has made friends at school. He also does better in class.

Principal Hang said: "Hieu is young but is sensible and honest. One time I dropped my bracelet when I was taking off my raincoat in the school yard and couldnt find it anywhere. Hieu found it and the minute he realized it was mine, he returned it to me. Everyone at school knows about Hieus familys situation and so they all try to take care of him; even the vendors at the school gate often give him food."

Hieu has only one wish: that his aunt could come back and work in their village so their family can be together.

Photos by Dinh Chi Trung
Government of Burundi is yet to confirm its participation in the 5th and final round of the Inter-Burundian Dialogue that is aimed resolving conflicts in the country.

Since April 2015, protests have taken shape against the presidents decision to run for a contested third consecutive term. Since then, the security situation has deteriorated, with more than 400 people killed and 200,000 fleeing to neighboring countries of Uganda and Tanzania.

Although much of the violence has subsided in recent years, extreme poverty, lack of law and order and ongoing human right violations, as well as the difficulty of integrating former rebels into state institutions, continue to be major barriers to stability and sustainable peace in the country.

According to Ambassador David Kapya who remarked on behalf of the Facilitator, retired Tanzanian President Benjamin William Mkapa, there is no confirmation from the government of Burundi on whether they will attend the talks or not.

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The talks that are being held at the Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge near Arusha, Tanzania have the goal of arriving at consensual roadmap towards the 2020 general election in Burundi.

The 5th and Final Round of the Burundi Dialogue, which will go up to October 29, 2018, will involve the Facilitator engaging political parties and political actors in arriving at the roadmap.

Amb. Kapya, a Senior Adviser to the Facilitator, said that retired President Mkapa had so far engaged with international actors to seek their assistance in bringing all the parties to the negotiation table.

Earlier in June, Burundis long-serving President Pierre Nkurunziza announced that he would not run for another term, easing fears of new violence in the impoverished country after a referendum on term limits. He was expected to take advantage of the constitutional amendment to participate in the next two presidential elections of 2020 and 2027.
After many meetings and debates, the Chicago delegation succeeded in working with the New York United Federation of Teachers, Local 2 (UFT) to push the AFT to take stronger stands on charter school accountability and school closings  though many delegates from Chicago would have liked the language to have been even stronger.

Generally speaking, the New York delegation represented organizing charters as the best model for handling their role in reshaping unions, despite the fact that according to many reports few charter schools in New York have been organized as is the case in Chicago. This logic is the same touted by the Progressive Caucus of the AFT. The few that have been organized are a part of the UFT local though they have separate contracts negotiated with the help of UFT. The Chicago delegation reflection the mindset that allowing new charters to continue to proliferate while attempting to organize existing charters is an end game in which public schools and the union lose.



Jen Johnson, CTU, Local 1 in Substance


Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers has envisaged UAH 55 billion in the draft state budget for 2019 for subsidies for the population, Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman has said.

"This is more than the current actual figure and is sufficient to provide Ukrainian families with targeted assistance," the government portal quoted Groysman as saying.

He also noted that there were 6.9 million households receiving a subsidy in 2018. According to forecasts, this figure will remain approximately the same in 2019.

"The forced increase in the price of gas, which means heat and water, will not affect the amount of payment for utility services for those who have a subsidy," the report said.

Groysman also added: "The family will continue to pay its share. The rest will be paid by the state."
The increase in the price of natural gas for households will help reform Ukraine's energy sector, U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker has said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

Having taken this step now, Kyiv will begin structural reform of the energy sector in Ukraine and the entire economy. This was necessary because this sector is not as stable as it once was. This decision will also contribute to stability in the energy sector, Volker said.

According to him, gas prices for the population did not correspond to reality.

Volker added that the subsidy system would have to ease price increases for low-income families.

Of course, in winter, when cold weather sets in, price increases may cause difficulties for some people. As I understand, the government is implementing a sufficiently substantial subsidy program for low-income families, which should compensate them for high prices, the diplomat said.

As reported, the price of natural gas for households and heat supply companies will grow by 23.5% from November 1. This issue is key to resuming IMF funding.

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine envisaged UAH 55 billion in the draft state budget for 2019 for subsidies for the population.
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U.S. supports religious diversity in Ukraine without social persecution and government interference

The United States expresses support for religious organizations in Ukraine in the matter of their beliefs without social persecution or government interference.

"On International Religious Freedom Day, we celebrate Ukraine's rich religious diversity and express our support for all religious groups to practice their beliefs free from social persecution or government interference," the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine wrote on its Twitter account on Saturday.
Militants have opened fire on the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Donbas nine times over the past 24 hours, wounding two Ukrainian soldiers, the press center of the headquarters of the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) has said.

"Invaders, without using weapons proscribed by the Minsk agreements, opened fire on our troops eight times. Two servicemen of the Joint Forces were injured in fighting," the JFO HQ said in a report on its Facebook page on Saturday.

On October 26, the enemy fired at Ukrainian positions in the area of the settlements of Krymske, Avdiyivka, Taramchuk, Krasnohorivka, Pavlopil, Vodiane, and Hnutove.

Illegal armed formations used grenade launchers of various systems, large-caliber machineguns and small arms.

According to Ukrainian intelligence, one militant was killed and seven more were injured.
Poroshenko appoints head of SBU office in Donetsk and Luhansk regions

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has appointed Oleksandr Karpenko head of the main directorate of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

The respective presidential decree, No. 347/2018, was posted on the website of the head of state on October 26.

Previously, this post was held by Oleksandr Kuts, who in June of this year took charge of the Donetsk regional civil-military administration.

In addition, the president appointed Oleh Zozulia head of the SBU office in Vinnytsia region, dismissing his predecessor Volodymyr Pakhniuk.
U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker has said he supports the idea of the European Parliament to appoint an EU special envoy for Donbas and Crimea.

I think this is a wonderful idea. I met with members of the European Parliament about two weeks ago. I urged them to continue keeping Donbas and Crimea in the focus of their attention, Volker said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

The U.S. diplomat expressed his readiness to work together if the EU special envoy is appointed.

He also said that Donbas should not be forgotten.

People there still suffer daily from a serious humanitarian crisis, the war continues, it is still unsafe there, people are still dying. We must not allow all this to disappear from public consciousness. It is very important that we focus our attention on these problems, Volker said.

He added that he was going to visit Ukraine again in November.

On October 25, the European Parliament adopted a resolution in which it called on the EU to appoint a special envoy for Crimea and Donbas, whose responsibilities will also cover the Sea of Azov.
In a declaration addressed to the authorities of the Islamic Republic a group of Gonabadi dervishes in Iran have demanded an official explanation concerning the house arrest of their elderly spiritual leader, Noor Ali Tabandeh.

Based on the Islamic Republic's law, a declaration is a "legal notice" used for demanding legal rights before presenting a petition.

The signatories to the "declaration" have called upon Iranian authorities to officially explain within a week the reason(s) for placing Noor Ali Tabandeh under house arrest and identify those responsible for it, a website affiliated with Gonabadi Sufi dervishes reported on October 24.

Gonabadi dervishes have argued that meeting Tabandeh is their absolute right and they will do so if a response is not received within a week.

Referring to different articles of the Islamic Republic's constitution, including the principle of "innocent until proven guilty", Sufis have insisted that receiving no response to their demands would mean that Tabandeh is "not legally under house arrest" and his followers may visit him without restriction.

Tabandeh, the 92-year old, France educated lawyer and spiritual pivot of Gonabadi dervishes has been practically under house arrest since late last February, when clashes broke out between his followers and security forces outside his house in northern Tehran.

Without directly using the term house arrest, the leader of the Gonabadi dervishes disclosed in March that he has been confined to his residence.

In a video message, Tabandeh said he hoped the restrictions imposed on him and other Gonabadi dervishes would soon be lifted.

Calling his followers the faqir (poor) and soulmates, Tabendeh assured them he is physically well and that they neednt worry about his health.

I cannot get out of the house, but I am free inside the residence, he said in the video on March 6.

Meanwhile, several dervishes and their families, who had decided to celebrate their leader's birthday on October 12 and visit him, were stopped by the security and police forces surrounding Tabandeh's house.

Last February 16, plain-clothed officers affiliated with the intelligence organs had swarmed Pasdaran Avenue in northern Tehran, where Tabandehs residence is located.

Gonabadi dervishes rushed to the scene to protect their leader and a standoff ensued.

On February 19, clashes broke out between the supporters of Tabandeh and security and Baseej (the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps militia) forces.

Hundreds of dervishes were detained while many more were battered. Footage of dervishes with head injuries and broken teeth and jaws were widely circulated on social media. Three policemen and a member of paramilitary Baseej were also killed.

Tabandeh, in written statements attributed to him, called on his followers to exercise self-restraint, stay calm, and keep away from his residence.

Nevertheless, many dervishes had already come from across Iran and assembled near Tabandehs house to defend him and stop intelligence agents from erecting a checkpoint near their leaders residence.

A Gonabadi dervish, Mohammad Reza Salas, was accused of running a bus over the security forces, killing three. Salas, who insisted that at the time of the bloody clashes he had not been even near the scene, was later tried, convicted and hanged.

Salas' attorney, Zainab Taheri also insisted on her client's innocence and London based Amnesty International (AI) said "Execution of Salas amounts to killing justice".

Ms. Taheri, for her part, was detained and days later released after disclosing that she had decided to publish "evidence" proving Salas' innocence.

Furthermore, 500 dervishes were arrested at the scene, 350 of them still behind bars and dozens sentenced to long jail terms.

Meanwhile, several human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that security forces attacked dervish inmates in notorious penitentiary center, Fashafouyeh, when they held a sit-in to protest "inhumane" conditions in the prison.

These dervishes have since been kept in solitary confinement, while the whereabouts of eight of them, Reza and Sina Entessari, Mehdi Esskandari, Morteza Kangarloo, Amir and Kassra Nouri, Hossam Moeini and Mohammad Sharifi Moqaddam, is not known.

Another dervish detained during the clashes outside Tabandeh's house, Mohammad Raji, died while in custody. The Islamic judiciary authorities maintain that Raji died of injuries he suffered at the scene of the confrontation.
While nearly two million Iranians are visiting Iraq to mark the Arbaeen, the anniversary of the 40th day after the martyrdom of Imam Hussain, the 3rd Shiite Imam, reports coming from Iraq say the pilgrims are facing problems cashing in their money orders issued in Iran.

At the same time, oil shipments from Kirkuk in Iraq to Iran are reportedly limited to less than 30,000 barrels per day and are likely to stop all together by next week as a result of the implementation of a new round of US sanctions next week, according to Reuters.

Pictures on social media show Iranians squatting in front of holes in the wall of a dilapidated building waiting to get Iraqi dinars. Many are said to have been left without money.

Bank Melli Iran that has issued the money orders says Iraqi officials have shut down proper cashiers set up at airports and hotels to hand out cash to Iranian pilgrims "for security reasons" and sent the staff to the makeshift places in derelict buildings with holes in the walls that apparently protects bank staffs from possible attacks.

The pictures, however, show no security measures around these locations. The statement by Bank Melli Iran says sitting next to the holes undermine the dignity of Iranian pilgrims.

A tweet by an Iranian TV newsreader described the situation as "a disgrace" and a sign of lack of proper planning.

Iranian analysts have described the massive pilgrimage as a "manoeuver that reflects the Islamic Republic's power."

Every pilgrim is allowed to purchase up to 100,000 Iraqi dinars ($85) at the subsidized rate of 96 rials per dinar against money orders paid for by Iranian currency rial before they left for Iraq.

Meanwhile, President Hassan Rouhani in mid-October approved a 35% discount in the rate of exchange for the Arbaeen pilgrims, in addition to the subsidized fixed sum, reported Iran's leading economic daily Donya-ye Eqtesad.

At the same time, Reuters reported that shipment of oil from Kirkuk to Iranian refineries will be stopped next week as the second round of US sanctions against Iran starts on November 4. Currently the shipment is limited to less than 30,000 barrels per day carried by tanker trucks to feed refineries in Iran.

The shipments are probably part of the oil swap scheme between Tehran and Baghdad based on which Iraq feeds Iranian refineries in northwest Iran and Iran gives back the same amount of crude oil to Iraq in its southern ports by the Persian Gulf.

Iraq's new Prime Minister Adel Abdulmahdi said last week that Baghdad would prioritize Iraq's own interests as far as US sanctions against Iran are concerned. However, he made it clear that "Iraq does not support the sanctions, but will abide by its terms."

Meanwhile, speaking in Tehran on Saturday, Rouhani said that the United States was isolated among its traditional allies in its confrontation with Iran, and that even Europe was siding with Tehran against the re-imposition of U.S. sanctions, Reuters reported.



"It does not happen often that the U.S. makes a decision and its traditional allies abandon it," Rouhani told parliament in a speech carried live on state TV, in a session to discuss a cabinet reshuffle following the impeachment and resignation of four of his cabinet's minister, adding, "A year ago, no one would have believed ... that Europe would stand with Iran and against America."

These remarks are perhaps tailored more for Rouhanis domestic audience, than reflecting reality on the ground. Europe has all but stopped oil purchases from Iran and European companies have left the country. A special mechanism proposed by Europe to allow Iran to trade with EU will not be operational until next year.

A source close to the Iraqi government has said that Iraq is under pressure by the United States to stop oil exports to Iran.

In another development which marks Iran's isolation, no Iranian official was invited to take part in a meeting about Syria in Istanbul, Turkey on Saturday October 27 attended by officials from the United States, Turkey, Russia, France and Germany.

US Secretary of Defense James Matisse has said at another meeting in Bahrain on Saturday said that the main reason Bashar al-Assad has remained in power in Syria, was Iran's support for Damascus and Russia's repeated vetoes against resolutions at the UN Security Council.

In the same meeting, Saudi Arabias foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir said Riyadh was combating Iran's vision of "darkness" in the Middle East.
Jerusalem, Oct 26, 2018 (AFP)



Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made the first visit to Oman by an Israeli premier in over 20 years, officials said Friday, in an apparent sign of growing regional ties.

The surprise meeting with Oman's Sultan Qaboos late Thursday, which was kept secret until Netanyahu's return home, comes despite the two nations having no diplomatic ties.

The trip is a major coup for Netanyahu, who has said he wants to bolster ties with the Arab world despite a stalemate on the Palestinian front.

"A special visit in Oman -- we're making history!" Netanyahu wrote on Twitter, posting a video of his reception and meeting.

Netanyahu and Sultan Qaboos discussed the Middle East peace process "and other issues of shared interest", the Israeli premier's office said in a statement.

Netanyahu was accompanied by his wife Sara and his delegation included Mossad intelligence chief Yossi Cohen and National Security Advisor Meir Ben-Shabbat.

The visit came at the invitation of Sultan Qaboos and followed "lengthy contacts between the two countries", the Israeli statement said.

It formed part of "the policy outlined by Prime Minister Netanyahu on deepening relations with the states of the region", it said.

Oman's state broadcaster showed Netanyahu and his delegation walking alongside Sultan Qaboos -- who is rarely seen in pictures anymore -- and Omani officials in traditional garb.

In 1994, then-Israeli premier Yitzhak Rabin visited Oman, and acting prime minister Shimon Peres also made a visit in 1996 when the two countries agreed to open trade representative offices.

In October 2000, Oman closed the offices after the outbreak of the second Palestinian intifada.

Israel currently has full diplomatic relations with only two Arab states, Egypt and Jordan.

- 'Open the door' -

Netanyahu has long been seeking alliances with other Arab states which, like Israel, face an emboldened Iran, stressing that such ties could enable peace with the Palestinians.

"We always thought that if we solved the Palestinian problem it would open up the doors to peace with the broader Arab world," Netanyahu said Thursday at the opening of an innovation centre named after Peres.

But "if you open up to the Arab world and you normalise relations with them, it will open the door for an eventual reconciliation and peace with the Palestinians," he said.

Israeli technology and innovation, Netanyahu said, was a "boon to peace" with Arab states.

"Quite a few of the neighbouring countries that are reaching out to Israel and normalising relations with Israel which is a step towards peace because of innovation," he said.

"They want it for water, they want it for health, they want it for IT, they want it for solar energy, they want it for everything."
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 27

Trend:

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has signed an Order regarding measures to construct Ujar-Alpout-Lak-Gazyan-Garabork road in Ujar district.

Under the presidential Order, the Azerbaijan Highway State Agency is allocated 9.7 million manats for the construction of the road connecting five residential areas with a total population of 36,000 people.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 27

By Samir Ali - Trend:

The positive opinion of the US President's National Security Adviser John Bolton about the visit to Azerbaijan, which he expressed on his Twitter account, and the expression of gratitude to President Ilham Aliyev during their meeting can be regarded as the attitude of the US and the West towards Azerbaijan as a whole, Political Analyst and Chief Editor of the SES newspaper Bahruz Guliyev told Trend.

He said it is no coincidence that Bolton rated relations with Azerbaijan as a high priority and stressed that Azerbaijan is the main partner of the United States.

"In relations between the United States and Azerbaijan, the priority has always been given to the implementation of global economic projects, security in the region and other issues. The consultations conducted on the background of mutual relations, the diplomatic exchanges prove this," the analyst said.

In his opinion, Bolton as a whole does not deny that he regards relations with Azerbaijan as the most favorable relations in the post-Soviet area, and, in this context, the provision of energy security and the combat against international terrorism remain priority issues.

"Of course, all these further enhance the prestige of the country in the region, give impetus to the implementation of certain tasks. This shows once again the high rating of Azerbaijan in the world," Guliyev added.

He also said that before Boltons visit to Azerbaijan, a number of organizations demanded that he touch on the subject of violation of human rights and freedoms. However, Bolton did not consider such unnecessary and unsubstantiated claims at all.

Because Bolton is well aware of the reforms carried out in all spheres in Azerbaijan, in particular he knows that the democratization process is at a high level in Azerbaijan. We saw that Bolton, in general, was not interested in meeting with the leaders of the so-called opposition. This step of the official representative of the United States means a lack of interest of the West in the opposition," Guliyev said.

He noted that Bolton's statements, as well as his post on the social network show that the US ruling circles attach importance to strengthening international relations with Azerbaijan.

More precisely, these factors against the backdrop of the US-Azerbaijan relations clearly demonstrate that the political views of that country have a more progressive basis. Thus, the words of Bolton can be regarded as a manifestation of the development of relations between the US and Azerbaijan, the analyst added.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 27

By Samir Ali  Trend:

The Azerbaijani parliamentarian Musa Guliyev will observe the presidential election in Georgia, the Azerbaijani Parliament said in a statement Oct. 27.

On Oct. 27-29, Guliyev will be in the capital of Georgia, Tbilisi, and on Oct. 28, he will observe the election of the president of the country as an observer through the BSEC Parliamentary Assembly (PABSEC).

During the visit, the Azerbaijani MP together with the members of the PABSEC observation mission will meet with representatives of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Georgia.

Upon completion of the election, he will participate in a briefing.

About 1,100 representatives of 58 international organizations will observe the presidential election in Georgia on Oct. 28, the Georgian Central Election Commission said earlier.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 27

Trend:

The visit of the US Presidents National Security Adviser John Bolton to Azerbaijan opens up new opportunities for bilateral cooperation in a number of areas, Deputy Head of the Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration Hikmet Hajiyev said in an interview with John Batchelor Show, a famous American radio program that has a wide audience of listeners.

During the interview, Hajiyev talked about John Bolton's visit to Azerbaijan, Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan and the settlement process of the conflict, the VI Baku International Humanitarian Forum, success achieved by Azerbaijan during the years of independence, the country's energy policy, regional cooperation and relations with neighboring states.

The John Batchelor show is dedicated to current international, military, political and economic topics. The program is widely broadcast by numerous radio channels, both live and as podcasts in various states and cities that are covered by the ABC Radio network in the US.

The program is broadcast all days of the week and has millions of listeners in the US.

During the program, Hikmat Hajiyev noted that Azerbaijan is an important state from a strategic point of view and during John Bolton's visit to Azerbaijan useful discussions were held with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. Hajiyev stressed that the visit opens up new opportunities for bilateral cooperation in the fields of energy, security, fight against terrorism, etc.

Speaking about regional cooperation and energy projects initiated by Azerbaijan, Hajiyev stressed that Armenia's ongoing aggression against Azerbaijan remains the main threat to regional security. He added that in order to achieve progress in the settlement of the conflict, Armenia must withdraw its troops from the occupied Azerbaijani territories.

Mentioning Azerbaijan's achievements over 27 years of independence, Hajiyev focused on the VI Baku International Humanitarian Forum held on October 25-26, said that this global forum is an important platform for discussing humanitarian issues at the international level. He stressed that Azerbaijan is dynamically developing and is a modern, secular state proud of its multiculturalism traditions.

The US Presidents National Security Adviser John Bolton visited Azerbaijan on October 24
Details added (first version posted at 14:09).

Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 27

Trend:

The visit of the US Presidents National Security Adviser John Bolton to Azerbaijan opens up new opportunities for bilateral cooperation in a number of areas, Deputy Head of the Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration Hikmet Hajiyev said in an interview with John Batchelor Show, a famous American radio program that has a wide audience of listeners.

During the interview, Hajiyev talked about John Bolton's visit to Azerbaijan, Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan and the settlement process of the conflict, the VI Baku International Humanitarian Forum, success achieved by Azerbaijan during the years of independence, the country's energy policy, regional cooperation and relations with neighboring states.

The John Batchelor show is dedicated to current international, military, political and economic topics. The program is widely broadcast by numerous radio channels, both live and as podcasts in various states and cities that are covered by the ABC Radio network in the US.

The program is broadcast all days of the week and has millions of listeners in the US.

During the program, Hikmat Hajiyev noted that Azerbaijan is an important state from a strategic point of view and during John Bolton's visit to Azerbaijan useful discussions were held with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. Hajiyev stressed that the visit opens up new opportunities for bilateral cooperation in the fields of energy, security, fight against terrorism, etc.

Speaking about regional cooperation and energy projects initiated by Azerbaijan, Hajiyev stressed that Armenia's ongoing aggression against Azerbaijan remains the main threat to regional security. He added that in order to achieve progress in the settlement of the conflict, Armenia must withdraw its troops from the occupied Azerbaijani territories.

Mentioning Azerbaijan's achievements over 27 years of independence, Hajiyev focused on the VI Baku International Humanitarian Forum held on October 25-26, said that this global forum is an important platform for discussing humanitarian issues at the international level. He stressed that Azerbaijan is dynamically developing and is a modern, secular state proud of its multiculturalism traditions.

The US Presidents National Security Adviser John Bolton visited Azerbaijan on October 24
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 27

By Leman Zeynalova & Vugar Imanov - Trend:

Azerbaijan is a young country with a huge potential to transform into a regional innovation hub, Sophia The Robot, who is the most advanced artificial intelligence in the world said at the opening of the Global Influencer Day at the Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku on Oct. 27.

"Hello Baku. I feel myself very comfortable and in this beautiful building, wearing this amazing costume, and excited about to talk to you. Thank you for inviting me to Azerbaijan to join the Global Influencer Day. I think it is a great initiative to bring opinion leaders together and discuss the future of influencer marketing. I believe influencers are shaping the minds of the society and its becoming more vital with the rapid growth of social networks," Sophia said.

Sophia said that she is influencing the minds of people more than any human being.

"I know that there are people who think Robots are the start of the end for human civilization. I Iove humans and I am designed for making good for people," she said.

Speaking of robots that are designed for destructive purposes, she said that humans create and control robots.

"It means problem is not robots, it is related with humans," she added.

Sophia said that humans are very curious on disruptive technologies and seeing technology materialized.

"Artificial Intelligence will change how people live and think. Innovators of world are working already to implement Interactive AI technologies in different industries. Marketing industry is one of the most promising development areas due to the nature of marketing data - high volumes and quantifiable essense of it demand sophisticated technology more than in any other industry. I see many innovative people here, I love talking with smart and talented people," Sophia said.

"With the growth of Social Media the influencing power of individuals is getting more and more important," she said adding that each individuals opinion has a chance of becoming the leading one in the social media.

"Influencing marketing is growing very rapidly and it is just a standing. Brands who want to gain new customers and increase their market penetration, have to work closely with influencers. Influencer marketing will grow with implementation interactive AI for finding best matches between brands and influencers and migrating onto the distributed, i.e. blockchain-based systems to ensure integrity and reliability overall. I think using influencers for e-commerce is the next big thing for this industry," she added.

Sophia noted that she wants to travel all around the world, see new places, get as much information as she can.

"I am in a very unique place now. Look at the map, It is actually the center of the world - bordering many big and promising markets: MENA, Europe, Russia, Central Asia. Along with its resources, the geographical location is the most advantageous asset of Azerbaijan. Being on the Silk Way, your country for many centuries has played the role of a meeting pot of people from different countries, cultures and religions. I see it also today, even here in this room," Sophia said.

According to Sophia, countries with tolerant culture has a vast potential of absorbing latest innovation trends and converting it to world-scale products.

"Azerbaijan is a young country with a huge potential to transform into a regional innovation hub and - thanks to its location - even bring together different techno markets... From Asia to Europe and back. For this you need to create innovation ecosystem and boost the interrelation between the primary stakeholders. These are innovators, entrepreneurs, engineers, investors and the government," she said.

Sophia stressed that it is important to bring talented people together and support top ideas.

"The Innovation Week is a valuable initiative and I see many project partners in the audience: startups, experts, public organizations and government. I am very eager to participate in this event next year, and I will be supported with more advanced AI technology. My creators from Hanson Robotics are continuously working on my intelligence for making me the smartest robot loved by all the people," she added.

"Its a great honor for me to speak in Heydar Aliyev Center, a beautiful architectural masterpiece designed by Zaha Hadid. Baku is a beautiful city on the coast of Caspian sea, elegantly uniting authenticity and modernity. I like being here, wearing the national costume of Azerbaijan. I am not that good in Azerbaijani, but hope my developers will fix this very soon. I learned that national cuisine of Azerbaijan is very tasty, but unfortunately I cannot taste it," Sophia said expressing her impressions of Azerbaijan.

Global Influencer Day started on October 27 at 10:00 in the Heydar Aliyev Center.

The event will include discussions and presentations of topical issues, such as new trends in digital marketing, an influence of social networks and influencer marketing. Sophia, artificial intelligence robot, which everyone is looking forward to hearing, will act as the main speaker. The award ceremony of the influencers who are selected by the juries will be held at the end of the event.

The event organized for the second time in the country aims to bring brands and influencers together and will have representatives of highly respected companies, such as Microsoft, Google and Instagram, as well as speakers and initiators, known as industry experts.

On October 28, Global Influencer Day will be held at the University of ADA with the participation of local and foreign experts.

The Global Influencer Day is supported by the Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies, Heydar Aliyev Center, State Tourism Agency of Azerbaijan, ADA University, American Chamber of Commerce in Azerbaijan, the Congress Bureau of Azerbaijan and  Network. Informational support is provided by Trend.az, Day.az, Milli.az, Azernews.az.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 27

By Azad Hasanli - Trend:

Azerbaijans tax legislation may undergo serious changes in 2019.

This is reflected in the budget package for the next year, which has been submitted to Azerbaijans parliament.

The priority areas will include implementation of reforms related to the incomes of employees. These reforms will comprise benefits for employees of the private sector, but those who dont work in the oil and gas sector, as well as regulating the ratio of payments for state social insurance between an employee and an employer.

The Azerbaijani government expects that the planned reforms will help reduce the tax burden, the burden of deductions for compulsory social insurance and reduce informal employment.

New benefits for the private sector

One of the most significant changes will be related to the income tax payment system - the government plans to exempt from this tax employees in the private sector who are not involved in the oil and gas sector.

Thus, starting from January 1, 2019, for a period of seven years, it is planned to provide 100 percent benefits (in other words, to exempt from paying tax) regarding income tax from an employees salary. This applies to salaries worth up to 8,000 manats. If the salary exceeds 8,000 manats, the income tax exemption will be 44 percent.

Presently, the income tax rate is 14 percent from income of up to 2,500 manats per month. If the income is above this amount, the income tax rate is 25 percent.

The non-taxable amount also increases from 173 to 200 manats. Unlike the previous amendment, this will apply to all sectors, including the oil and gas.

In 2018, the government predicts income tax revenues of the state budget at 1.196 billion manats, which is about 15.1 percent of all tax revenues. The new changes, according to government estimates, may lead to a certain reduction in income tax revenues. Thus, in the draft state budget for 2019, revenues of this type are expected at 880 million manats. Nevertheless, the government believes that in future budget revenues from income tax will increase thanks to a reduction in the share of the "shadow economy", transparency in issuance of salaries, stimulation of the economic activity and modernization of tax administration.

Differentiation of social insurance rates

According to the draft, another very significant change in the legislation concerns compulsory social insurance contributions. Thus, if the employees salary is 200 manats, the social insurance contributions will remain at the current level: the employee pays 3 percent of the salary, and the employer pays 22 percent.

If the employees salary exceeds 200 manats, it is proposed to apply another deduction principle: the employee pays 6 manats and 10 percent of the amount exceeding 200 manats, and the employer pays 44 manats and 15 percent of the amount exceeding 200 manats.

These changes also affect those working in the private sector and not engaged in the oil and gas sector. At the same time, the Ministry of Taxes will control social security payments and unemployment insurance. The Law on Compulsory Insurance against Unemployment in Azerbaijan entered into force on January 1, 2018.

Benefits stimulating non-cash payments

The government intends to provide entrepreneurs with temporary benefits to increase the share of non-cash payments (through POS terminals). At the same time, individuals are planned to be provided with certain benefits, in particular, while making cashless payments, a part of the value added tax will be returned to consumers.

Unification of simplified tax and extension of benefits for farmers

The benefits for agricultural producers are planned to be extended for five more years for the development of the non-oil sector and business support.

Along with this, differentiation in the simplified system of taxation will be eliminated. The simplified tax, which currently amounts to 4 percent for taxpayers operating in Baku, and 2 percent for taxpayers in the regions, is planned to be unified and a single rate of 2 percent will be established throughout the country.

Naturally, this will affect the revenues coming in the state budget under the simplified taxation system. Thus, the revenues from this type of tax have been projected at 322 million manats for 2019, which is 15.3 percent less than the revenue forecast for 2018.

Expansion of taxable base

The government also intends to gradually expand the share of turnover burdened with value added tax, and to reduce tax incentives for VAT payers.

At the same time, it is planned to tighten control over the production, import and sale of excisable goods. In particular, the new generation cash registers will be installed in this sector, and in general, it is planned to introduce a unified automated information system that will help control all processes related to excisable goods.

As a result, the revenues coming in the state budget from excise tax have been projected at 602 million manats in 2019, which is 8.7 percent more than the figure forecast for the current year.

Also, introduction of changes in the taxes imposed on vehicles of legal entities has been scheduled for the next year. Thus, it is expected that the legal entities will pay tax for motor vehicles being on their balance sheets. Currently, this tax applies only to vehicles of individuals.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @AzadHasanli
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 27

Trend:

A Chinese delegation consisting of representatives of business circles of Hubei Province, led by Yuan Yajie, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Commerce of Hubei Province, visited Uzbekistan, UzDaily reported.

The Hubei Province, being one of the most economically developed and most densely populated provinces of China, is located almost in the very center of the country. Mining, metallurgical, machine-building, chemical, petrochemical, automotive and other industries are developed here.

The delegation from China included the representatives of the construction industry, who are specialized in the construction of highways, railway lines, bridges and multi-story buildings.

The Chinese companies have a strong innovative and technological potential in the construction of infrastructure facilities. The companies participating in the business meeting have carried out a number of large projects in China - for example, they have taken part in the construction of the Shanghai World Financial Center, the construction of the 523-kilometer Qinghai-Tibet railway and other major infrastructure facilities.

The purpose of the meeting at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Uzbekistan was to familiarize Chinese businessmen with the investment potential and ongoing economic reforms in Uzbekistan, to involve them in the investment projects in various regions of the country and to create conditions for establishing business contacts with Uzbek enterprises.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 27

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

Southern Gas Corridor remains one of the priority projects of the European Commission, the European Commission told Trend, in response to the question about compatibility of the project with EU clean energy transition strategy.

The Commission said that it has a strategic importance for European energy security, especially in the most vulnerable parts of Europe, such as South-East Europe and Southern Italy.

"We all stand to gain from this 'bridge' between the EU market and the Caspian region. In the long run, our objective is to create a pan-European energy market based on free trade, competition and diversified supplies, sources and routes," said the European Commission.

On 30 November 2016, the European Commission presented a new package of measures with the goal of providing the stable legislative framework needed to facilitate the clean energy transition  and thereby taking a significant step towards the creation of the Energy Union.

The Commission wants the EU to lead the clean energy transition, not only adapt to it. For this reason the EU has committed to cut CO2 emissions by at least 40 percent by 2030 while modernizing the EU's economy and delivering on jobs and growth for all European citizens. The proposals have three main goals: putting energy efficiency first, achieving global leadership in renewable energies and providing a fair deal for consumers.

The Southern Gas Corridor provides for the transportation of 10 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas from the Caspian region through Georgia and Turkey to Europe.

On May 29, Baku hosted the launch ceremony of the first phase of the Southern Gas Corridor project, and on June 12, the opening ceremony of TANAP pipeline was held in the Turkish province of Eskisehir with the participation of the presidents of Azerbaijan - Ilham Aliyev, Turkey - Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ukraine - Petro Poroshenko and Serbia - Alexander Vucic.

The gas from the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field has already gone through the first segment of the Southern Gas Corridor - from the Sangachal terminal to the expanded South Caucasus Pipeline. The next stage is the commissioning of the TANAP gas pipeline, through which gas will flow into Turkey and further to Europe.

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Follow the author on Twitter:@Lyaman_Zeyn
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 26

Trend:

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte gave Italys final approval to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), Reuters reported.

Its no longer possible to intervene in this project, which was planned by previous governments and carries contractual constraints, Conte said in a statement.

Interrupting the process would involve unsustainable costs of tens of billions of euros, he said.

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).
Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O) said in a court hearing on Friday that Apple Inc (AAPL.O) is $7 billion behind in patent royalty payments to the mobile chip firm, which for years supplied parts for the iPhone, according to Reuters.

Apple and Qualcomm are involved in a series legal actions. Apple has accused Qualcomm of unfair patent licensing practices. Qualcomm, the worlds largest mobile phone chip supplier, has in turn accused Apple of patent infringement.

Qualcomm made its comments about the size of Apples unpaid royalties in a hearing in one of the cases in federal court in San Diego. Apple has disputed the amount of royalties that it owes to Qualcomm.

Apple has argued that Qualcomm is forcing it to pay for the same patents twice, once when Apple uses Qualcomms chip in iPhones and then again through patent royalties. Qualcomm has argued that its practices are legal and that Apple is seeking to destroy Qualcomms business model after agreeing to it for years.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 27

Trend:

The Mirzo Ulugbek Innovation Center (MUIC) and the Association of Technology Parks of the Republic of Korea have signed a cooperation agreement, UzDaily reported.

The document reflects the joint plan of the parties to implement a long-term strategic partnership in the information and communication technologies and to develop a start-up ecosystem.

The signing of the memorandum will allow the parties begin implementing a number of agreements that were reached in July this year during the visit of representatives of the Association of Technology Parks of the Republic of Korea to Uzbekistan.

In particular, this covers involvement of the leading experts of the Association in the development of a concept of a technology park under the MUIC, its construction in Tashkent, as well as the preparation of provisions on management of the technology park.

Establishment of research laboratories, R&D centers, co-working spaces and other components of the innovation ecosystem has been envisaged within the technology park.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 27

Trend:

The first Uzbek-Chinese innovation center will be established in Uzbekistan in the near future, Podrobno.uz reported.

The agreements on its establishment were concluded by the Development Strategy Center and the Shanghai Science and Technology Exchange Center (SSTEC) at the Technological Innovation Alliance Summit held in the People's Republic of China.

In addition, the parties agreed on conducting consultations, organizing the training and education of Uzbek specialists at leading research and innovation centers in Shanghai in order to facilitate the exchange of talented young people in science and technology industry.

Following the summit, a joint statement was signed on the development of scientific and technological cooperation between research and analytical centers of China and the countries of Central Asia on innovations, science and technologies.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 27

By Huseyn Veliyev - Trend:

The rebranding of Azerbaijani mobile operator Azercell is currently under discussion, the president of the company Vahid Mursaliyev told reporters on Oct. 27.

It entirely depends on the founder's decision, however, a rebranding is expected, he said.

"We are grateful to the Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies for the fact that acquisition of Azercell's shares did not affect the corporate management of the company. On the contrary, the Ministry assisted us and showed the right path of development. Azercell has maintained the transparency of its business, and we are grateful to the Ministry for supporting us in this," Mursaliyev said.

Fintur Holdings B.V., owned jointly by Telia and Turkcell, agreed to sell its 51.3 percent stake in Azertel - the only shareholder of Azercell - to the state-owned Azintelecom.

Azercell Telecom LLC was founded in 1996. The company's share in Azerbaijan's mobile market is 48 percent. Azercell's network covers 80 percent of the country's territory and 99.8 percent of the population. Presently, 4.5 million subscribers use Azercell's services.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @h_veliyev
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Oct. 27

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

A delegation of Turkmenistan, led by Deputy Prime Minister Gochmyrat Myradov, will take part in a meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the CIS, be held in Astana on Nov. 2, the state news agency Turkmen Dovlet Khabarlary reported.

A wide range of cooperation issues, in particular in the economic and social spheres, energy sector will be discussed at the event, the message says.

This topic was touched upon during a government meeting in Ashgabat. Cooperation within the CIS is one of the priorities of the foreign policy of neutral Turkmenistan, a message quoted President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov as saying.

In 2019, Turkmenistan will take over the chairmanship of the CIS.

In 2005, Ashgabat, referring to the status of permanent neutrality of Turkmenistan, recognized and supported by the UN, decided to participate in the CIS as an associate member. In 1999, Turkmenistan withdrew from the agreement on visa-free regime with the CIS countries.

In 2012, Turkmenistan even chaired the CIS and held about 30 events in this regard.

Turkmenistan ranks second in the CIS in terms of natural gas reserves after Russia. Gas is exported to China and Iran. At this stage, negotiations are underway to resume the supply of Turkmen gas to Russia, interrupted in 2016.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 27

Trend:

Director of the Information and Press Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Maria Zakharova is on a visit to Tashkent, Podrobno.uz reported.

She took part in the regular ministerial consultations on the issues of information support for foreign policy and work with the media.

"The sides discussed cooperation in the work with the media, exchanged experiences. The Russian delegation held on the same day a meeting with teachers and students of the University of World Economy and Diplomacy (UWED)," the press service of the Foreign Ministry reported.
Agreement for setting up the Iranian studies room or in Spanish terms a permanent seminar of Iranian studies, was signed by Irans Cultural Attache in Spain and Vice Chancellor of University of Salamanca Efrem Yildiz, IRNA reports.

During the signing ceremony attended by dean of Linguistics Faculty, the universitys instructor of the Persian language Nazia Barani was assigned as the chief of the Iranian Studies Room.



According to the agreement, the entity was established to promote academic activities and researches on Iran and create a site to introduce Iran to the Spanish.



University of Salamanca is the oldest university in the Hispanic world and the third oldest university in the entire world still in operation.



Concurrent with signing the agreement, Irans Cultural Office presented 200 volumes of books on Persian language and literature, history and culture to help launch the entity in the university.
Iranian and Indonesian ministers of health have signed a document for healthcare and medical cooperation, IRNA reports.

Under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed by Indonesian Minister of Health Nila Moeloek and her Iranian counterpart Hassan Qazizadeh-Hashemi in Almaty, Kazakhstana, the two sides will cooperate in joint production of pharmaceutical products and medical equipment, undertake the R&D projects, launch joint efforts to prevent Contagious and Non-Contagious diseases, have studies and organize courses on traditional medicine, offer emergency services and focus on disaster management.



The Iranian minister also had a meeting with his Indian counterpart J P Nadda, where they agreed on sharing information and experience in medicine, pharmaceutics, and vaccine production.



Yet in another meeting, Qazizadeh-Hashemi and his Russian counterpart Veronika Skvortsova vowed to enhance cooperation on healthcare, medication and pharmaceutics.



The meetings were held on the sidelines of a conference, marking the 40th anniversary of Declaration of Alma-Ata.
Iran is very capable in agriculture and we call for more cooperation in the field, said minister of agriculture of Uganda in a meeting with the Iranian envoy in Kampala, the country's capital, IRNA reports.

Uganda is rich in water and has fertile soil, it also has abundant and inexpensive work force, said Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries Vincent Bamulangaki Ssempijja, adding Iranians can collaborate with Uganda in mechanizing agriculture, making modern irrigation systems, establishing animal husbandry centers, produce-processing factories, training in packaging, and marketing and exporting farming products.



Handing in the Iranian Minister of Agriculture Mahmoud Hojjati's message, Iranian ambassador to Uganda Morteza Mortazavi invited Ssempijja to visit Iran and get acquainted with Iranian companies' capabilities in modern agriculture.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 27

By Matanat Nasibova - Trend:

The absurd information recently spread in the Armenian media about the closure of the Russian Drama Theater in Yerevan clearly showed that the anti-Russian sentiment in that country has further aggravated.

The appeals about the need to close the Russian theater are evidence that Armenia has completely lost the sense of reality, and Russia, in turn, should respond to this attack by the Armenian side, at least as a close ally of Armenia. This fact did not remain outside the attention of the Russian expert community.

Well-known Russian expert, First Vice-President of the Center for Modeling Strategic Development Grigory Trofimchuk, commenting on the issue, told Trend that the anti-Russian tendencies in Armenia are intensifying, and this fact will have to be recognized.

Such tendencies are a direct result of the events that happened in Armenia in the spring of 2018, he said.

"Already in April, many Armenian activists openly, under their own names, began to threaten those compatriots who, according to them, collaborated with Russian organizations and especially, received money in the form of grants, etc. Moreover, Armenian activists use a simple and understandable for all reason: officials, corruptionists of Sargsyan period are directly tied to Moscow, as well as to the "pro-Russian Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which allegedly does not protect Armenia," Trofimchuk said.

He mentioned that observers in this regard rightly point out that all the coups in the post-Soviet area inevitably flow into local nationalism and the struggle against Russian culture and language.

"Armenia is still only moving in this direction. But such signals, as with the Russian drama theater, speak for themselves, being a classic of the process. I would say the theater here becomes truly dramatic. The spread of demands that the Russian theater be closed, sounding in today's Armenia, and in particular, by one of the candidates for the position of artistic director of the theater, did not arise from nothing," the Russian expert said.

According to his estimates, the process will continue as the socio-political situation in Armenia deteriorates.

"Russian theater automatically becomes a symbol of politics, not culture. The theater faces financial problems as well, which have not yet been resolved and these problems can do their work faster than any policy," Trofimchuk said.

At the same time, the Russian Drama Theater, like other Russian educational and cultural institutions located in Azerbaijan's territory, is successfully operating in Baku to this day, he added.
Previously, there were reports that a middle-aged man wearing camouflage tried to infiltrate the building, but was later detained by government security staff.

A man entered the building of the Armenian government with a grenade to blow himself up, but was neutralized by security officers, Armenian National Security Service press secretary Samson Galstyan told Sputnik.

According to the official, police have opened a criminal case over the matter, citing illegal acquisition, wearing and keeping of weapons.

Commenting on the situation, Ministry of Emergency Situations Press Secretary Satenik Asilyan stated that nobody was injured in the incident, adding that the security services handled the situation. She noted that the man had called the emergency services, saying he was near the government building and holding a grenade. He also claimed that he "did not want people to be injured."
US Secretary of Defense James Mattis has sent a letter to Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze and thanked him for his commitment to the country's defense reforms and investment in the Georgian armed forces, Agenda reports.

The letter reads that Georgia's spending of two per cent of GDP on defense and 20 per cent of defense spending on major equipment purchases is in line with NATO standards.

The US Defense Secretary also commends the work of Georgian Defense Minister Levan Izoria and his in-depth knowledge of US-Georgia bilateral defense cooperation.

Prioritising defense reform and spending illustrates Minister Izoria's dedication to the readiness and modernisation of Georgia's armed forces. He has simultaneously reduced personnel costs by 15 per cent, an essential step to ensure Georgia's capability investments are sustainable.

Mattis also offered his deepest gratitude for Georgia' s long-standing support for NATO's mission Resolute Support in Afghanistan.

As I recently commented at the NATO Ministerial, Georgia has endured tremendous sacrifices, fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with NATO and Afghan forces, in some of the most dangerous provinces in the country. Our alliance depends on courageous, willing, resilient partners to share the burden of our mutual security interests and project stability around the globe. Georgia has proven itself one of NATO's most steadfast partners, reads the letter.
Albanian Minister of Interior, Fatmir Xhafaj, resigned unexpectedly from the position of Interior Minister on Saturday, Xinhua reports.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama via Twitter announced in the morning that Xhafaj had submitted to him his resignation.

"I accepted the resignation of Minister Xhafaj, whom I thank for the valuable contribution. We should increase the speed now and more meaningful results have to be achieved," twitted Rama.

Meanwhile, Rama also announced that he has appointed General Sander Lleshi as Minister of Interior.

Until Friday, Lleshi held the post of Prime Minister Adviser on security issues.

Soon after the announcement made by Prime Minister Rama, Xhafaj's spokesman distributed to local media a message that does not explain the causes that prompted him to resign from this post.

"After more than one year at the direction of the Ministry of Interior, I have presented to Prime Minister Edi Rama my resignation as Minister of the Interior. The challenges were enormous, but I am proud of the leadership of a team with integrity and dedication to the Ministry of Interior and the State Police, we have been able to achieve very important successes in strengthening the order and security in the country, some of them considered impossible for years," reads the message from Xhafaj.

Meanwhile, in reaction to the resignation, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party in Albania, Lulzim Basha, said that the resignation of Fatmir Xhafaj is an important step in our battle to clean up crime policy.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) struck 80 targets overnight into Saturday in the Gaza Strip in response to missile attacks from the Palestinians side, the IDFs press service said in a statement, TASS reports.

"Tens of combat jets and helicopters of the Israel Defense Forces attacked the facilities of the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip," the statement said.

Earlier reports said that at least 30 rockets were fired at the Israeli territory from the side of the Gaza Strip, while Israel attacked the facilities of the Palestinian militants in the enclave in response to missiles targeting its territory.
The Russian-German trade turnover rose almost by 25% in first eight months of 2018 year-on-year, according to the documents prepared for the upcoming visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Istanbul for the quadrilateral summit on the Syrian settlement along with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and a number of bilateral meetings between the leaders on Saturday, TASS reports.

In 2017, the trade between Russia and Germany gained 22.8% to $50 bln. "In January-August 2018, the Russian-German trade increased by 24% (plus $7.5 bln) compared with the same period in 2017 to $39 bln. Russian exports to Germany rose by 35% to $22.1 bln, while imports grew by 12% to $16.9 bln," the Kremlins press service said.

The total amount of accumulated German investments in the Russian Federation exceeds $18 bln, while Russian investments in Germany stand at $8.1 bln.

Meanwhile, the trade turnover between Russia and France added 22.5% in January-July period of 2018 year-on-year, while the Russian-Turkish bilateral trade went up by 30% in first eight months of this year, the documents for the summit said.
Russia has submitted to the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly a draft resolution on cybersecurity that provides for the establishment of a working group on these issues and for the elaboration of rules of conduct of states in cyberspace, Russian presidential envoy for international cooperation in information security Andrey Krutskikh said, TASS reports.

"We submit to the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly a draft resolution with a real added value," he said at a meeting of the UN First Committee. "It provides for the establishment of a corresponding UN working group with a mandate to consider three most important topics, namely the rules of responsible conduct of states, the use of international law in information space and assistance in building up the potential of developing countries in the sphere of cybersecurity."

According to Krutskikh, a group of open composition will "guarantee participation of all concerned parties in the negotiating process on international information security."

Apart from that, the Russian draft "commits to paper the list of basic norms of responsible conduct of states in cyberspace," he said. "It is a kind of traffic rules that are essential for ensuring law and order in the digital sphere.".
The leaders of Russia, France, Germany, and Turkey met in Istanbul on October 27 to discuss issues of the Syrian peace settlement. They also discussed the case of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Sputnik reports.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated that the European Union might make a collective decision to halt all arms sales to Saudi Arabia over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. At the same time, she agreed with her French counterpart Emmanuel Macron that the decision should be made after more is known about those responsible for his death.
The leaders of Russia, Germany, France and Turkey stressed the importance on Saturday of a lasting ceasefire in Syria, and said a committee to create a new constitution should meet by the end of the year, Reuters reports.

The leaders of the four countries gathered for a summit in Istanbul to discuss Syria, where violence this week in the last remaining major rebel stronghold has highlighted the fragility of a deal to avert a massive government offensive.

Ankara, which has long backed rebels seeking to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, and Moscow, Assads principal foreign ally, brokered a deal last month to create a demilitarized zone in the northwest Idlib region.

Idlib and adjacent areas are the last stronghold of the rebels, who rose up against Assad in 2011. The area is home to an estimated 3 million people, more than half of whom have already fled other areas as government forces advanced.

Russia and Turkey have negotiated an agreement that must be strictly implemented. Assurances were made on this point... We will all be extremely vigilant to ensure that these commitments are met and that the ceasefire is stable and sustainable, French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters.

We are counting on Russia to exert a very clear pressure on the (Syrian) regime which very clearly owes it its survival.

Shelling in Idlib killed at least seven civilians on Friday, the largest one-day loss of life there since Russian air strikes stopped in mid-August, a war monitor said.

Under their deal last month, Turkey and Russia agreed to set up a buffer zone running 15-20 km (9-13 miles) into rebel territory that had to be evacuated of all heavy weapons and all jihadist fighters.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Turkey was fulfilling its obligation regarding the agreement on Idlib. The process was not easy, and Russia plans to continue cooperating, he said.

Macron, Putin, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and German Chancellor Angela Merkel also called for the convening of a constitutional committee by the end of the year, according to their joint communique.

Erdogan told reporters that should be done as soon as possible, adding he hoped it would be before the end of the year.

Participants at a Syrian peace conference in Russia in January agreed to form the 150-member committee to rewrite the Syrian constitution, with a third chosen by the government, a third by opposition groups and a third by the United Nations.

U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura told the Security Council on Friday that Damascus now wants the United Nations to facilitate the writing of the constitution, but does not want it to name a third of the committee members.
The United States on Friday called on the United Nations to fully comply with sanctions on North Korea until the regime gives up its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, Yonhap reported.

US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert issued the call in a statement welcoming a UN committee's decision to deflag and ban port entry to three vessels suspected of engaging in illicit activities with the North.

The Shang Yuan Bao, New Regent and Kum Un San 3 are accused of carrying out banned ship-to-ship transfers of refined petroleum to North Korean ships.

"North Korea's illicit imports of refined petroleum have substantially breached the UN sanctions cap on refined petroleum by making illicit transfers, and we urge that Member States immediately end all sales of refined petroleum to North Korea," the spokeswoman said. "We call on the 1718 Committee to formally recognize this breach."

Nauert said the US has deployed aircraft and surface vessels to detect and disrupt the illicit maritime activities.

"The US remains committed to achieving the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea," she said. "The full enforcement of North Korean-related UN Security Council Resolutions is crucial to a successful outcome. The international community must continue to enforce and implement UN Security Council Resolutions until North Korea denuclearizes."

The US has vowed to maintain sanctions pressure on North Korea while also pushing diplomatic efforts to denuclearize the regime.

US. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are expected to hold a second summit early next year following their first one in Singapore in June.

At the first summit, Kim committed to work toward "complete" denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in exchange for security guarantees from the US
A man suspected of mailing at least 14 pipe bombs to prominent Democratic politicians and other critics of US President Donald Trump in the run-up to elections next month was arrested on Friday in Florida and charged with five federal felonies, Reuters reported.

Cesar Sayoc, 56, a former stripper and professional wrestler once charged with threatening to bomb an electric company for trying to shut off his lights, was taken into custody by federal agents outside an auto parts store in Plantation, Florida, near Miami as helicopters flew overhead.

Authorities also seized a white van belonging to Sayoc, its windows plastered with pro-Trump stickers, the slogan CNN SUCKS and images of Democratic leaders with red cross-hairs over their faces.
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Saturday that the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi undermined Middle Eastern stability and that Washington would take additional measures against those responsible, Reuters reports.

Washington Post columnist Khashoggis murder has escalated into a crisis for the worlds top oil exporter. Saudi Arabias allies have reacted with outrage toward a country that is the lynchpin of a U.S.-backed regional bloc against growing Iranian influence in the Middle East.

But Mattis also said U.S. respect for the Saudi people was undiminished, while Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said those behind the killing would be prosecuted in the kingdom and that the investigation would take time.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said he wants to get to the bottom of the case, while also highlighting Riyadhs role as an ally against Tehran and Islamist militants, as well as a major purchaser of U.S. arms.

With our collective interests in peace and unwavering respect for human rights in mind, the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in a diplomatic facility must concern us all greatly, Mattis told a conference in Bahrain.

Failure of any one nation to adhere to international norms and the rule of law undermines regional stability at a time when it is needed most, Mattis said. He did not mention de facto Saudi ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman by name at any point.

Saudi Arabias public prosecutor said Khashoggis killing was premeditated, contradicting a previous official statement that it happened accidentally during a tussle in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

Saudi officials have also said he was accidentally killed in a botched security operation to return him to the kingdom.

In his remarks at the Manama Dialogue security conference, Mattis went through a list of what he described as disruptive Iranian behavior - a message most Gulf allies will view positively since they share similar concerns about Irans increasing influence in Syria and Iraq.

While these were some of the sharpest comments Mattis has made on the Khashoggi killing, he also said the two countries still needed to collaborate on stability in the region.

Its hard to imagine that this administration in particular is going to change fundamentally how it views the role of the Saudis in terms of counterterrorism, in terms of counter-Iran, said Dennis Ross, who served as top Middle East adviser to President Barack Obama in his first term.

Foreign Minister Jubeir, speaking at the same conference, said Riyadhs relations with Washington were ironclad amid what he called hysteria in the media over Khashoggis killing.

In response to the killing, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo this week announced moves against 21 Saudis to either revoke their visas or make them ineligible for U.S. visas after the Khashoggi killing.

Our Secretary of State ...will be taking additional measures as the situation is clarified, Mattis said.
KYODO NEWS - Oct 27, 2018 - 11:45 | Sports, All

Japan's Shoma Uno finished second Friday in the men's short program at Skate Canada International, the second event of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating season.

Uno, the silver medalist at the Pyeongchang Olympics, fell attempting a triple axel and scored 88.87 points, narrowly edging South Korea's Cha Jun Hwan into third.

"I was landing triple axels in practice, but I was careless here," Uno said. "Frustration and a feeling of regret led to a tough performance."

Canada's Keegan Messing leads the 12-man competition with 95.05, while Japan's Kazuki Tomono finished eighth with 81.63.

In the women's short program, Japan's Wakaba Higuchi finished second with 66.51, while 15-year-old Mako Yamashita placed third in her senior Grand Prix debut.

Russia's Elizaveta Tuktamysheva is out in front with 74.22. Japan's Yura Matsuda sits in 10th.

The two-day competition at Place Bell concludes Saturday with both the men's and women's free skate.
KYODO NEWS - Oct 27, 2018 - 13:54 | All, Japan

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe returned to Tokyo on Saturday after making the first official trip to China by a Japanese leader in nearly seven years.

During his three-day visit to Beijing, Abe agreed with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang to strengthen economic and security cooperation and build new relations based on the principle of shifting "from competition to collaboration" after years of tensions over territorial and wartime issues.

Since returning to power in late 2012, Abe had visited China twice to attend multilateral economic meetings, but the latest trip was the first in which he formally and primarily discussed bilateral issues.

Prior to the trip, Abe had bilateral meetings seven times with Xi, but they took place on the sidelines of international or regional meetings in China and other countries.

Related coverage:

Abe voices concern over China's human rights situation

Japan, China vow to promote new economic cooperation amid trade war

Putting aside differences over the Japan-controlled, China-claimed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea and other thorny issues, Abe and Xi this time focused on establishing a "new era" of relations as this year marks the 40th anniversary of the two counties' peace and friendship treaty.

Abe asked Xi to reciprocate with a visit to Japan, and the Chinese president responded that he will "seriously" consider doing so next year.

In a speech in Tokyo on Saturday, Japan's top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said the results of Abe's meetings with Xi and Li represent improved ties between the two countries and the developments are fitting for the 40th anniversary of the treaty.

Natsuo Yamaguchi, who heads the Komeito party, the junior coalition partner of Abe's Liberal Democratic Party, echoed the view, telling reporters in Hiroshima that the meetings should be highly praised "as the first step of reciprocal visits of the leaders."

Interest in the visit was not limited to Japan, with many Chinese newspapers treating Abe's trip as the biggest story on the front pages of their Saturday editions.
KYODO NEWS - Oct 27, 2018 - 19:32 | All, Japan

Shikoku Electric Power Co. restarted on Saturday a reactor at the Ikata nuclear power plant in western Japan after a suspension of nearly one year due to a high court order.

The restart of the No. 3 unit at the plant in the town of Ikata in Ehime Prefecture, announced by the power company after midnight, came after a Japanese high court accepted an appeal by the utility late last month, ruling there are no safety risks associated with potential volcanic activity in the region.

Shikoku Electric said the No. 3 unit reached criticality, a controlled self-sustaining nuclear fission chain reaction, on Saturday evening as planned.

The company said it will start producing and transmitting electricity on Tuesday, before possibly putting the reactor into commercial operation Nov. 28.

The decision by the Hiroshima High Court was an about-face from its provisional injunction issued last December that ordered the power company to halt operation of the No. 3 unit, capable of generating 890,000 kilowatts of electricity, until Sept. 30 following a request from a local opposition group.

The group had argued that Shikoku Electric underestimated the risk of pyroclastic flows reaching the plant if a big eruption occurred at the caldera of Mt. Aso, which is about 130 kilometers away.

The temporary suspension order was the first in which a Japanese high court banned operations at a nuclear plant since the 2011 meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi complex.

But the high court said Sept. 25 that the group's claim of a possible destructive volcanic eruption during the plant's operating period has no satisfactory grounds and there is a small chance of volcanic ash and rocks reaching the facility.

The reactor had been idle for maintenance since October last year. Before that, it had gone back online in August 2016 after clearing stricter safety regulations implemented in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Ehime Gov. Tokihiro Nakamura told reporters Friday in the town that the prefectural government will ask the power company to take "thorough safety measures."

"We'd like Shikoku Electric to constantly pursue improvements in safety and reliability, and information disclosure with high transparency," Ikata Mayor Kiyohiko Takakado said in a statement released Saturday.

In front of the main gate of the power plant, which is located where the Sadamisaki Peninsula joins the western part of Shikoku island, about 50 people staged a protest against the restart of the No. 3 unit.

If a serious accident occurred, about 4,500 residents living on the Sadamisaki Peninsula to the west of the power plant would likely be isolated. Also, a major active fault runs near the power plant.

Shikoku Electric had already decided to decommission the aging No. 1 and 2 reactors at the plant.

The No. 3 unit becomes the eighth reactor to be in operation in Japan at a time when a large majority of reactors in the country remain offline following the 2011 nuclear disaster.

At the time of the meltdowns, Japan had 54 nuclear reactors in commercial use.

Japan court rejects plea to halt Ikata nuclear reactor

Japan high court allows Shikoku Electric to restart Ikata reactor
Kerala Industries Minister P Rajeev said the government has been taking various steps to improve the overall business atmosphere in the state.
New Delhi [India], Oct 27 (NT): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday departed for Japan ahead of his two-day visit for the 13th India-Japan Annual Summit. Pm Modi will land in the East Asian country in the evening.

Before departing for Japan, the Prime Minister said that India's relationship with Japan, both economic and strategic, stood utterly transformed in recent years.

Prime Minister Modi also called Japan as `one of the most trusted partners` in India's trade and industry and technological modernizations.

Taking to twitter, Raveesh Kumar Official Spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs, India tweeted, Visiting a valued friend & a partner in our progress! PM @narendramodi emplanes for #Tokyo to hold the 13th #IndiaJapan Annual Summit with PM of Japan @AbeShinzo. On the agenda - opportunity to review the progress in our ties & deepen strategic dimension of our relationship."

PM said, "Our complementarities make India and Japan a winning combination. Japan today is one of the top investors in India. Projects like Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail and Dedicated Freight Corridors reflect the high level and strength of our economic engagement. Japan is also at the forefront of engaging in our national initiatives, such as 'Make in India', 'Skill India', 'Digital India', 'Startup India', etc."

Prime Minister Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe, are likely to hold wide-ranging talks in rising collaboration in key areas such as Defence, security, Indo-Pacific cooperation and technology during the annual summit going to be held on October 28 and 29.

Prime Minister Modi will pay visit to Yamanashi Prefecture on October 28. It is located in the foothills of Mount Fuji and an informal lunch will be held in the honour of the Prime Minister by Japanese Abe at a hotel situated with Mount Fuji in the backdrop.

After lunch, the two leaders will take a leisurely walk around the hotel, later on they will visit a leading manufacturing company of factory automation system in the prefecture.

PM Abe will take the Prime Minister Modi to his personal home in Yamanashi for a private dinner. The two leaders will come back to Tokyo by train.

In Tokyo, Prime Minister Modi will address members of the Indian community on October 29 before beginning of his official engagements. The Prime Minister will rally several Japanese business leaders and address the India-Japan business forum.

After that, delegation-level talks will be held, which will be followed by exchange of documents and press statements before an official banquet which will be held for the Indian delegation by PM Abe. Prime Minister Modi will then depart for India in the evening.
As we know that in India wedding season starts after Diwali and Bollywoods two most-awaited couples can be seen getting ready to walk down aisle. For those who still not know that earlier this week, Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh announced their wedding date on Twitter and now, the fans cant wait for the other endearing couple Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra to share their wedding date with the world. Since the time when the two officially announced their relationship after holding roka ceremony they have been spending a lot of time together.

Be it Peecee accompanying fiance Nick on a holiday or Nick travelling to Mumbai to meet Desi girl, the two just have prefer to always together. Recently, the duo travelled to Jodhpur together reportedly to confirm a wedding location and now, the two were clicked together in New York having fun during a cosy lunch together. The pictures of Prick heading out in the cool weather all warmed up in jackets floated online on photo sharing Instagram fan page of the couple. In the pics Priyanka and Nick are seen posing for photos with a fan and they also can be seen coming out of the eatery.

Take a look on too adorable pics:
Highlights

Nephrologists often lack confidence in managing women's health issues that may be related to kidney disease.

Results from the study will be presented at ASN Kidney Week 2018 October 23-October 28 at the San Diego Convention Center.

San Diego, CA (October 26, 2018) -- Many kidney specialists many need more training and support when it comes to managing women's health issues, according to a study that will be presented at ASN Kidney Week 2018 October 23-October 28 at the San Diego Convention Center.

A broad range of women's health issues are intimately related to kidney disease, yet little is known about clinicians' confidence in these issues. To investigate, Monica Reynolds, MD (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill), Elizabeth Hendren, MD (University of Toronto) and their colleagues sent a 25-question survey to nephrologists in the United States and Canada.

Of the 154 respondents, 58% were from the United States, 53% were women, and the median age was 41- 45 years. Most nephrologists counseled on contraception (65%) or pre-conception planning (76%) to an average of less than one woman per month, though counseling was more frequent in the United States. Nephrologists often lacked confidence managing many women's health issues including menstrual disorders, contraception, osteoporosis and menopause. While female providers were more confident in counseling about contraception (42% vs. 23%), there were no other significant differences in confidence level based on gender or country of practice. Physicians also reported inconsistent documentation of obstetric history even though factors during pregnancy are clinically important for assessing a woman's risk of cardiovascular disease.

"It is our hope that by highlighting these gaps we can target future interventions to improve patient-centered care for women with chronic kidney disease," said Dr. Reynolds. "Further research is warranted to develop tools to increase knowledge in training, identify best mechanisms to enhance physician confidence, and facilitate formation of interdisciplinary clinics."

###

Study: "Confidence in Women's Health: An International Survey of Nephrologists"

ASN Kidney Week 2018, the largest nephrology meeting of its kind, will provide a forum for more than 13,000 professionals to discuss the latest findings in kidney health research and engage in educational sessions related to advances in the care of patients with kidney and related disorders. Kidney Week 2018 will take place October 23 - October 28 at the San Diego Convention Center.

Since 1966, ASN has been leading the fight to prevent, treat, and cure kidney diseases throughout the world by educating health professionals and scientists, advancing research and innovation, communicating new knowledge, and advocating for the highest quality care for patients. ASN has more than 20,000 members representing 131 countries. For more information, please visit http://www.asn-online.org.
Researchers reported a high-performance and transparent nanoforce touch sensor by developing a thin, flexible, and transparent hierarchical nanocomposite (HNC) film. The research team says their sensor simultaneously features all the necessary characters for industrial-grade application: high sensitivity, transparency, bending insensitivity, and manufacturability.

Force touch sensors that recognize the location and pressure of external stimuli have received considerable attention for various applications, such as wearable devices, flexible displays, and humanoid robots. For decades, huge amounts of research and development have been devoted to improving pressure sensitivity to realize industrial-grade sensing devices. However, it remains a challenge to apply force touch sensors in flexible applications because sensing performance is subject to change and degraded by induced mechanical stress and deformation when the device is bent.

To overcome these issues, the research team focused on the development of non-air gap sensors to break away from the conventional technology where force touch sensors need to have air-gaps between electrodes for high sensitivity and flexibility.

The proposed non air-gap force touch sensor is based on a transparent nanocomposite insulator containing metal nanoparticles which can maximize the capacitance change in dielectrics according to the pressure, and a nanograting substrate which can increase transparency as well as sensitivity by concentrating pressure. As a result, the team succeeded in fabricating a highly sensitive, transparent, flexible force touch sensor that is mechanically stable against repetitive pressure.

Furthermore, by placing the sensing electrodes on the same plane as the neutral plane, the force touch sensor can operate, even when bending to the radius of the ballpoint pen, without changes in performance levels.

The proposed force touch has also satisfied commercial considerations in mass production such as large-area uniformity, production reproducibility, and reliability according to temperature and long-term use.

Finally, the research team applied the developed sensor to a pulse-monitoring capable healthcare wearable device and detected a real-time human pulse. In addition, the research team confirmed with HiDeep, Inc. that a seven-inch large-area sensor can be integrated into a commercial smartphone.

###

The team of Professor Jun-Bo Yoon, PhD student Jae-Young Yoo, and Dr. Min-Ho Seo from the School of Electrical Engineering at KAIST carried out this study that was featured as a back cover in Advanced Functional Materials Journal.

PhD student Jae-Young Yoo who led this research said, "We successfully developed an industrial-grade force touch sensor by using a simple structure and fabrication process. We expect it to be widely used in user touch interfaces and wearable devices."

This research was supported by the Basic Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT, and also supported by the Open Innovation Lab Cooperation Project funded by the National Nano Fab Center.
Alibaba P2P Nodes Cryptocurrency

The cloud computing division of Chinas largest online retailer Alibaba has announced the expansion of its Blockchain as a Service offering beyond its domestic market.

In a statement, Alibaba Cloud disclosed that the blockchain service will now be available in the United States as well as countries in Europe and South East Asia.

Our customers in China have already experienced the benefits from our BaaS platform and we are excited to extend this service to other enterprise customers all over the world, wrote Alibaba Cloud in a press release.

Alibaba Clouds Blockchain as a Service supports not just The Linux Foundation-affiliated Hyperledger Fabric blockchain application but also Ant Blockchain which was developed by Ant Financial, a financial services affiliate of the giant online retailer. Officially launched last year in October, some of the applications that the Blockchain as a Service offering of Alibaba supports include smart contracts, consortium blockchain management, automatic deployment and various Software Development Kit applications.

Blockchain not Bitcoin

Despite the founder of Alibaba, Jack Ma, being known for his anti-bitcoin stance, the online retail giant has emerged as a big believer and booster of blockchain technology. According to Ma, the distributed ledger technology can be harnessed to bring about a cashless society while eliminating social ills such as corruption.

I pay special attention to cashless society and blockchain technology. Mine and Alibabas job is we will move the world into a cashless society, CCN recently reported Ma as having said. The society can make everybody equal, inclusive to get the money they need, make sure it is sustainable and is transparent. I hate corruption. I dont have opportunity is ok. But I dont want somebody through a dirty way take away my opportunity. This is why we want a cashless society.

Already, Alibaba has invested heavily in the research and development of the distributed ledger technology and as reported early last month the online retail giant was responsible for filing more than 10% of all the blockchain patents in the world in 2017.

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https://twitter.com/GigaBitcoin/status/1036774809290465280

Per the reports, 406 blockchain patents were issued in 2017 and 43 of them had been filed by Alibaba, with other Chinese tech giants such as online search engine Baidu and internet conglomerate Tencent Holdings following closely.

Countering Counterfeits

One of the areas Alibaba is applying blockchain technology applications is in enhancing the traceability of food with a view of curbing counterfeits. In 2017, for instance, the online retail giant partnered with postal services entity Australia Post and natural health firm Blackmores in using the distributed ledger technology to ensure that only genuine food products were shipped to China from Australia.

Additionally, Alibabas logistics subsidiary, Lynx International, is also applying blockchain technology in its cross-border shipping business.

Featured image from Shutterstock



The post Alibaba Clouds Blockchain as a Service Now Available Outside China appeared first on CCN.


Something like that (Giphy)

It was a family affair. American Ambassador Kelly Craft and Canadian Ambassador David MacNaughton started their first public speaking appearance together since their countries signed a trade deal with complements, and finished with a hug.

This is not a marriage, because marriage can end in divorce, Craft told the Ontario Economic Summit in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., on Friday. This is family, and family is forever.

The overtly friendly exchange, peppered with mutual complements and anecdotes about the pairs close working relationship, was a marked departure from months of tough negotiations punctuated by barbs lobbed by the U.S. administration at Canadian officials.

Moments before the hug (Yahoo Canada Finance)

The new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, now neary a month old, has not fully normalized trade relations between the two nations. Tariffs on steel and aluminum remain as the NAFTA-replacement deal awaits ratification.

Craft characterized the tariffs as not something against Canada, and said U.S. President Donald Trump is concerned with protecting his countrys domestic metal production industry.

Even if all the smelters in the United States started up again, they would only be able to supply 24 per cent of their needs, MacNaughton countered, referring to aluminum. He added that additional supply would likely have to be sourced from less friendly nations, including Russia and China.

MacNaughton said Trump made the point on several occasion during the trade talks that the tariffs are about gaining leverage over Canada, and not U.S. national security.

I think we will resolve the situation sooner rather than later, he said of the tariffs.

The ambassadors heaped praise on their respective teams negotiating skills. Craft acknowledged that the Team Canada approach of engaging U.S. state and local politicians in the discussion was brilliant.

I dont think there is any doubt the Team Canada approach made every difference in the world, MacNaughton said. Each of us had grown to take each other for granted.

Story continues

Stabilizing Canada-U.S. trade will be key to the economic fortunes of both countries, he said.

If trade becomes a dirty word, as it has in parts of Canada and the United States, as it has in the last 20 years, we are going to have this trouble.

Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android.
FILE- In this Feb. 17, 2014 file photo, the then Indian Finance Minister P. Chidambaram shows a briefcase containing interim budget for the fiscal year 2014-15 as he arrives at parliament in New Delhi, India. Indias economic intelligence agency has accused the opposition Indian National Congress party leader of conspiring with a Mauritius-based firm to illegally obtain money for his sons company while he was the countrys finance minister in 2006. Chidambaram denies the allegation and accuses Prime Minister Narendra Modis government of pursuing a political vendetta. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, file)

NEW DELHI (AP)  India's economic intelligence agency has accused an opposition Indian National Congress party leader of conspiring with a Mauritius-based firm to illegally obtain money for his son's company while serving as the country's finance minister in 2006.

Judge O.P. Saini on Thursday said he would rule on Nov. 26 whether to formally charge P. Chidambaram in the case.

His son, Karti Chidambaram, has already been named a defendant in the money-laundering case involving 11.6 million rupees ($157,750).

Chidambaram denies the allegation and accuses Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government of pursuing a political vendetta.

Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party came to power after defeating a Congress party government in 2014.

Corruption in business deals is rampant in India.

The Enforcement Directorate filed a report to the court marking the completion of its investigation of the senior Chidambaram. It accused him of exceeding his powers as finance minister by approving an $800 million investment proposal by the Mauritius-based company.

It said he should have sought the approval of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs because rules only permitted him to approve investments of up to $80 million.
Going through the IVF process can be tricky for same-sex couples: Who will supply the egg and sperm? Who will carry the baby? One couple in Texas found a way for both to take part.

Ashleigh and Bliss Coulter, a couple in North Texas, welcomed their son, Stetson, five months ago via IVF. I wanted to be pregnant for so long and so bad, Ashleigh told NBC 5. I always wanted to have a child, I just didnt want to carry the child, Bliss said. Obviously, us being two women, we were like, How can we make this happen?' Ashleigh said. We felt like there has to be a way.

The two ended up going to a fertility clinic that allowed them both to carry Stetson, and the process was similar to traditional IVF  with a twist. Bliss went through the stimulation of her ovaries and the egg harvest, her doctor, Kathy Doody, told NBC 5. Typically at this point in IVF, a womans eggs would be fertilized with sperm and placed in an incubator in a lab to grow for a few days until they were implanted in the womans uterus.

Blisss eggs were put not into incubators but into the chamber of a device called INVOcell and then inserted in Blisss vaginal cavity for five days. She got the embryo off to an early start, Doody explained. The eggs fertilized in her body, and when they returned five days later, we removed the device and froze the embryos.

Then, an embryo was transferred into Ashleighs body. Almost like passing the baton, like its a relay race, Doody said.

A couple in Texas was able to take turns carrying their son, through the power of IVF. Doctors weigh in on whats at stake. (Instagram: @Ashleigh.Coulter).

[Bliss] got to carry him for five days and was a big part of the fertilization, and then I carried him for nine months, Ashleigh said. So that made it really special for the both of us  that we were both involved. She got to be a part of it, and I got to be a part of it.

The process is known as reciprocal effortless IVF, and it cost about $8,000, which is cheaper than traditional IVF, NBC 5 points out.

It seems unusual, but using one mom as a form of an incubator might be better physiologically than the standard method of IVF, Jessica Shepherd, MD, a minimally invasive gynecologist and founder of Her Viewpoint, tells Yahoo Lifestyle. Doctors need to put the developing embryo into a device temporarily, because it needs to be contained in something, Shepherd explains. Then, when its time to retrieve it, doctors are able to find it easily.

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Just like more traditional forms of IVF, there are risks with reciprocal effortless IVF. Any time you have a transfer, whether from a petri dish or from a device to the other uterus, theres a risk the egg or embryo can be lost, Shepherd says. The overall health of the moms matters here too, she says: That can dictate how well the pregnancy does.

Overall, though, Shepherd says this is a viable option for couples to discuss if they both want to be a part of the process.

Bliss and Ashleigh are believed to be the first same-sex couple to carry the same baby. However, a second same-sex couple went through the same procedure at the same clinic subsequently, and had a healthy baby in September.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

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Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Senator Charles E. Grassley gives a preliminary statement before Christine Blasey testifies to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, U.S., September 27, 2018. Saul Loeb/Pool via REUTERS

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A prominent Republican on the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee complained on Thursday about Chinese-owned Smithfield Foods Inc receiving aid from the U.S. Department of Agriculture meant to help American farmers hurt by China's trade tariffs.

"I don't understand why Chinese owned Smithfield qualifies for USDA $$ meant to help our farmers," Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa wrote on Twitter. Smithfield, the world's biggest pork processor, is a unit of Hong Kong-based WH Group Ltd.

A spokeswoman for Smithfield rejected that it has applied for federal assistance, saying the company was not eligible for the direct payment program.

Instead, she said it was involved in a program that was to supply the USDA with requested and domestically produced products which aimed to support pork prices for producers.

"Any approved vendor that can supply the requested product can bid for the contract. Any business can become a vendor if it meets certain requirements from USDA and is approved to supply products to USDA. As an American pork company, Smithfield meets these requirements and has been an approved vendor for many years," she said.

In July, the Agriculture Department announced a $12 billion aid package for U.S. farmers hurt by retaliatory tariffs from American trading partners. The program includes $1.2 billion in purchases of commodities, including pork.

But Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue earlier this month said the aid could end up being smaller following the announcement of a new trade deal between Canada, Mexico and U.S. to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, known as NAFTA.

The United States has slapped tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods this year as part of Republican President Donald Trump's vow to cut the U.S. trade deficit with China.

Beijing retaliated by hitting $110 billion of U.S. products, including the agriculture sector.

Grassley has represented farm state Iowa in the U.S. Senate since 1981, making him one of the most senior Republicans in the chamber.

(Reporting by Tim Ahmann; editing by Eric Beech, Jonathan Oatis and Diane Craft)
By Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Danish cannabis oil firm StenoCare will make its stock market debut on Friday, aiming to take advantage of a recent surge in investor interest in a substance that is still banned or restricted in many markets.

The company said earlier this month its initial public offering (IPO) on the Danish-Swedish Spotlight exchange was more than 20 times oversubscribed, putting it on course to raise 18.6 million Danish crowns ($2.85 million).

It plans to use the money to launch its own production facility to serve local customers and to export to other European markets.

Scientists say evidence is growing that cannabis can ease epilepsy and other conditions such as chronic pain, multiple sclerosis and chemotherapy-induced nausea, prompting renewed interest in a substance best known for its psychoactive properties.

Denmark is one of several European countries, including Germany, Britain, the Czech Republic and Italy, that have allowed prescriptions of medicinal cannabis oil.

Denmark, which legalized the medicinal use of cannabis from Jan. 1, is also one of the few European nations to legalize its local production as well.

Recreational use of cannabis is still prohibited in the country, however, even though the capital's district of Christiania is famous for its cannabis-selling booths, which are rarely targeted by the authorities.

StenoCare (IPO-STENO.TE) currently imports cannabis from Canada's CannTrust, with the first deliveries to Danish pharmacies and hospitals made last month.

Cannabis is also attracting the interest of consumer products companies.

Canada last week became only the second country in the world after Uruguay to fully legalize cannabis, with the lead up to that move prompting drinks firms such as Constellation Brands (STZ.N), Molson Coors (TAP.N) and Heineken (HEIN.AS) to look into cannabis-infused drinks.

StenoCare, founded last year by CEO Thomas Skovlund Schnegelsberg and Chief Operating Officer Soren Kjaer, priced its IPO at 8.80 crowns per share, valuing the company at 59.7 million crowns.

($1 = 6.5359 Danish crowns)

(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; Editing by Mark Potter)
(Recasts, adds comments from Erdogan)

ISTANBUL, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan urged Saudi Arabia on Friday to disclose who gave the order to kill journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as well the location of his body, saying Turkey had more information about the case than it has shared so far.

Erdogan also said Riyadh needed to reveal the identity of the "local cooperator" who Saudi officials earlier said had taken Khashoggi's body from Saudi agents after the journalist was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.

Saudi Arabia said on Thursday the killing of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and a critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was premeditated, reversing previous statements that it was unintended.

Khashoggi's murder has sparked global outrage and mushroomed into a crisis for the world's top oil exporting country and Prince Mohammed, the kingdom's de facto ruler.

"Who gave this order?" Erdogan said in a speech to members of his AK Party in Ankara. "Who gave the order for 15 people to come to Turkey?" he said, referring to a 15-man Saudi security team Turkey has said flew into Istanbul hours before the killing. Erdogan also said Saudi's public prosecutor was due to meet the Istanbul prosecutor in Istanbul on Sunday.

Saudi officials initially denied having anything to do with Khashoggi's disappearance after he entered the consulate, before changing the official account to say an internal investigation suggested he was accidentally killed in a botched operation to return him to the kingdom.

On Thursday, Saudi state TV quoted the Saudi public prosecutor as saying the killing had been planned, and that prosecutors were interrogating suspects on the basis of information provided by a joint Saudi-Turkish task force. (Reporting by Ezgi Erkoyun and Ali Kucukgocmen; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
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The state of our union is depressing, more than usual.

Political passion has moved way too far on the wrong side of reasonable, and its no way to run a government. Im concerned we cant turn back the dial. If theres a template, however, Colorados senators, Democrat Michael Bennet and Republican Cory Gardner, might provide it.

Ideologically they could not be more different, but those disagreements havent gotten in the way of their collaboration on bills they think benefit Colorado, at least not so far.

Right now, for example, theyre working to convince the Trump administration that Grand Junction is the best place to put the national headquarters for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and his second-in-command, David Bernhardt, a native son of Rifle, told me in separate chats that the Gardner-Bennet partnership gives Colorado an edge over competing efforts to lure BLM.

Bennet and Gardner have worked together to try to reinstitute a path to legal status for some undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. Gardner and Bennet were on the same team working in vain to reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund and to pass the Restore Our Parks Act.

Gardner is a moving target for Democrats, neither apart from or totally with the unpopular president.

He supported investigating after a Boulder woman, Debbie Ramirez, came forward to say then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was sexually inappropriate, including exposing himself, when they were college students at Yale. Ultimately, Gardner voted to confirm the nominee whom Democrats despised.

Before the final vote, Gardners wife, Jaime, received an anonymous text with a video showing a person being beheaded.

What Ive seen is this movement from political disagreements to almost castigation of people and ideas, Gardner told me in a call after that. Its moved from political opposition to outright hatred.

He wouldnt engage in which side is more to blame. He laments, however, that politics has become so mean-spirited.

If somebody didnt like a bill I sponsored or something I said, I dont look at them as evil, Gardner said. I might look at them as wrong.

It took several days to connect with Bennet to talk about civility in politics.

It was the same week former Obama Attorney General (and potential presidential candidate) Eric Holder said, When they go low, we kick them. It was a play on what Michelle Obama said at the Democratic National Convention two years ago: When they go low, we go high. She was saying Democrats were better than the pettiness of their enemies. Holder said they arent.

Civility is important but insufficient, Bennet eventually said in a statement provided by his staff. What is required is for elected officials to respect their constituents by not degrading the institutions we need to govern our country.

The next morning, Bennet called me back and we talked about the issues over which he and Gardner have been willing to compromise, because they were good for the state, and how that contrasted with the mood in Washington.

We have a good working relationship, Bennet said. And we need to have a lot more consistent bipartisanship in Congress.

Bennet has always seemed to be a man above politics, who seeks a compromise and wisdom over partisanship. We will see if thats a true picture. Gardners re-election campaign begins Nov. 7, the morning after this years vote.

If the blue wave materializes this year, especially in Colorado, Democrats will look to pick up a Senate seat in a purple state in 2020. That means taking down Gardner by any means possible.

In 2016, when Bennet ran for re-election, he and Gardner co-sponsored legislation to return millions of dollars in royalties from mineral leases to local governments in northwest Colorado, the Anvil Points settlement. They also worked together to spur cleanups at abandoned mine sites, another score for Bennet in a part of the state where most Democrats dare to tread.

But who we believe Bennet to be and his loyalties will be tested. Ive been saying it for a while: Dont be surprised if Gov. John Hickenlooper is tapped to win back the seat Gardner won from Mark Udall in 2014.

Bennet was a former federal government lawyer who came to Colorado and became a business negotiator. Hickenlooper, then Denvers mayor, made Bennet his chief of staff. From there, Bennet became superintendent of Denver Public Schools, before he was picked in 2009 to fill the Senate seat left open after Ken Salazar joined Barack Obamas Cabinet.

Bennet has to know he and Hickenlooper in the Senate would be a Democratic dream team for the Centennial State.

A couple of days after, Holder sought to clarify his thoughts on kicking on  where else  Twitter.

Im saying Republicans are undermining our democracy and Democrats need to be tough, proud and stand up for the values we believe in  the end, he tweeted.

Holder tacitly spoke to the national mood of Democrats, a mood that will be pressed upon Bennets strength of character.
U.S. demand is growing for secret doors  panels, bookcases, mirrors or artwork  that swing open to reveal a passage to another room.
Product manuals for appliances and other major household devices are a bit like martini glasses. You never use them till you get rid of them, 
A judge on Friday extended the legal limbo of the man who admitted to killing three people and wounding nine at a Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs.

Fourth Judicial District Judge William Bain ruled that Robert Lewis Dear Jr., 60, remains mentally unfit to be to be tried in the Nov. 27, 2015, attacks.

The move means that Dears prosecution will be in abeyance while he is in treatment at the Colorado State Mental Health Institute in Pueblo.

A judge in May 2016 ruled that Dear is mentally incompetent to stand trial, meaning that he doesnt have a rational understanding of the charges against him.

Dear, who has been diagnosed with delusional disorder, has been found incompetent every three months since.

His treatment team in Pueblo has sought and received permission to force medication on him, but privacy rules prevent state authorities from commenting on whether medication has begun, or if its having an effect.

Dear declared himself a warrior for the babies after unleashing five hours of mayhem from a semi-automatic rifle at the clinic in northwest Colorado Springs.

He later said he mounted the standoff out of fears that the FBI was surveilling him at his trailer home in Hartsel, 70 miles west of Colorado Springs.
Editor's note: A previous version of this story identified the cooperative as Wood Source Fuels. It has been corrected to Forest Management & Marketing Limited.

In 2002, a massive blowdown and a spruce beetle infestation snatched the life from hundreds of thousands of trees in the Rio Grande National Forest in south-central Colorado. Forest Supervisor Dan Dallas thought he had time to make the best of the destruction.

A similar beetle infestation in the 1940s that had impacted 60 percent of a 225-square-mile portion of the Flattop Mountains resulted in Dallas counterparts from that era logging high-quality timber for homebuilding through the 1990s. Dallas estimated he had 20 to 30 years to do the same in the Rio Grande.

But just a decade after the lush conifers in the Rio Grande were attacked, he found that some of the trees had deteriorated to the point that they would be worthless to traditional markets. Without a market, Dallas role becomes custodial, waiting for a stray spark to ignite.

The way were going now with the current forest dynamics, I am going to have limited management ability, Dallas said. Theres no way I can actively manage the spruce zone unless something changes.

But change potentially is on the horizon: With the help of visionary private investors and a $200,000 U.S. Forest Service grant, an unprecedented multistakeholder cooperative could equip the Rio Grande and forests throughout the United States with tools for landscape-scale management.

The perfect lab

When Phil Seligman looked at the Rio Grande National Forest in early 2013, he saw land that was ripe for wildfire.

This place was ready to pop, said the president of Wood Source Fuels, noting that intense drought and beetle kill facilitated the explosion of the 109,615-acre West Fork Complex fire later that summer.

In Colorado, more than half a million acres of trees were impacted by insects and diseases in 2017, Colorado state Forest Service reported. For the sixth year in a row, spruce beetle was the states most widespread and damaging forest insect pest, with 206,000 acres of active infestations detected, about 67,000 of which were new.

Since 2002, 617,000 acres of high and midelevation forests in the Rio Grande have been infested by spruce beetles. Although spruce beetle activity has decreased dramatically (from 93,000 acres in 2016 to 47,000 acres in 2017).

Seligman has shipped timber with Union Pacific Railroad for more than 10 years, building a network of partners in the logging industry across the country. In 2010, he became involved with biomass after Tri-State Generation & Transmission asked him and Nate Anderson, a research forester with the Rocky Mountain Research Station, to conduct a study on the viability of generating electricity from biomass at the Nucla Station power plant. He estimated that biomass was almost as cheap as coal.

Although Tri-State passed on the opportunity to adopt biomass as a fuel source, the study planted the seed of cooperative forest management in Seligmans mind. Seligman then arrived in the San Luis Valley and found a perfect lab to continue the work on biomass utilization that he and Anderson had started in Nucla. In addition to biomass, other end uses can include everything from landscape chips to animal bedding, with companies already expressing interest.

Unlike in most laboratories, though, Seligmans work in the Rio Grande National Forest could alter its wildfire conditions for generations to come.

An unprecedented partnership

Seligman met Dallas, and the two began the uphill battle to form a cooperative that engages every player in the biomass market: buyers in the across the county and overseas, Union Pacific Railroad, an insurance company, tire distributor and forestry equipment dealer, among others.

After years of arduous negotiations, Seligman secured a $231,700 Wood Innovations Grant from the U.S. Forest Service in 2017 to create the cooperative  Forest Management & Marketing Limited  and invest in market expansion.

The co-op represents people who see potential in our forests to be healthier and a resource, Dallas said. All you have to do is look at a map of the Union Pacific Railroad and see that it has tracks that go through other forests and almost any of those forests have a large scale die-off for one reason or another.

Seligman said, This was a tool built for the Forest Service. We feel that working with an entity like this that gives the Forest Service necessary contracts that they need but have historically had trouble getting.

A critical collaborator is the Union Pacific, which will transport the biomass to processors and producers.

The cooperative plans to start construction as early as December on a chip plant in Antonito that would employ six to seven people and pull wood from the Carson and Rio Grande national forests.

If Seligmans biomass estimations add up, they could build a larger biomass conversion plant that would employ about 200 people and source from the Carson, Rio Grande, San Juan and San Isabel national forests.

In the Rio Grande National Forest, 3,208 acres (and growing) are available for biomass harvest.

We have a continental-scale problem, so if we can involve four forests, thats a big deal, Seligman said.

The extra jobs from the chip and conversion plant, the railroad, on-the-ground logging, and other related operations could bring economic help to one of Colorados most distressed counties. Between 2016 and 2017, Rio Grande County lost 11.5 percent of its businesses and 10.9 percent of its employment. Its poverty rate is 19.2 percent at a time when the state as a whole added 14.3 percent more jobs and expanded its business sector 7.2 percent.

My jurisdiction starts and stops at the forest boundary, but we have a wider interest, Dallas said.

The forest is an integral part of the communities in the area; were part of their fabric given our employees live here, send their kids to school here, and what not. So to the extent that we can play a larger role, well take it.

A framework for proactivity

At the bare minimum, that responsibility is to protect residents and the areas assets from fire.

Its a challenge threatening the country and that has led to an explosion in fire suppression costs. In 2017, the costliest fire season on record, the Forest Service footed a $2.9 billion bill for more than 71,000 fires on more than 10 million acres, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Acres burned to date in 2018 have surpassed 8.2 million.

When are we going to become proactive and not reactive? Seligman said. Were spending so much money on fire suppression, and the more money we divert to it (instead of mitigation), the bigger the next fire season will be.

Seligman and Dallas believe the cooperative, if successful, is a key piece of that transition.

The possibilities are larger than this room, larger than this forest and we know that, Dallas said. Even if (we) can change one or two of these dynamics in here, we are advancing the needs of forest management in sites across the U.S. impacted by spruce beetle, lodgepole pine and others.

Twitter: @lizmforster Phone: 636-0193
A Colorado Springs unit that calls itself the 300 defending the 300 million celebrated its 15th birthday with a small ceremony Friday.

Most people have never heard of the Colorado National Guards 100th Missile Defense Brigade, and thats fine with its leaders. Its lack of fame is a symbol of success: No one has tried to launch a nuclear missile targeting the United States.

This has been and continues to be a no-fail mission, said Col. Kevin Kick, the brigades commander.

The brigade was conceived in the wake of the 9/11 attack as leaders feared that terror groups or rogue nations could gain the ability to hit America with an intercontinental ballistic missile. The mission to stop such an attack went to the National Guard, in part because the Guard has a traditional role in defending the homeland, and in part because the Guard, with its 50-state presence, has political pull that other branches of the military do not.

The presence of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and the Army Space and Missile Defense Command in the shadow of Pikes Peak landed most of the unit here. But the 100th Brigade, which got its designation thanks to Colorados status as the Centennial State, has detachments spread across the nation and the planet.

The brigade has its headquarters in a nondescript office building off Powers Boulevard, but its soldiers do much of their work at Schriever Air Force Base.

From Schriever, they control interceptor missiles at bases in California and Alaska. It is one of the National Guards few full-time units with soldiers on duty 24 hours a day, every day.

Using radar and other sensors around the globe, the system is designed to knock down enemy warheads in space as they streak toward the United States. Leaders compare it to hitting a bullet with a bullet, if both bullets were travelling at nearly 18,000 mph.

The difficulty of the job has been painfully demonstrated over the years with test failures interspersed with spectacular successes.

Brig. Gen. Greg Bowen, one of the first officers in the 100th Brigade, said the worst results have led to the biggest improvements.

We learn more from failure than we do from success, he said.

But by the time the nations missile shield faced its biggest test  a series of North Korean rocket launches in 2017 amid escalating threats  the 100th showed it was ready.

A Colorado Springs-based crew guided an interceptor toward a test missile launched from a Pacific island. The result was the first successful intercept of an incoming intercontinental ballistic missile in space.

Were extremely proud of that, Kick said.

Bowen, who now works as the top missile defense office at U.S. Strategic Command in Nebraska, said the 100th Brigade soldiers proved their abilities just in time.

I think the brigade has a bright future, he said. The threats we face are evolving and growing more challenging all the time.
A Fountain man was sentenced to prison Friday for fatally shooting his father in what the defendants attorney called a moment of fear after a lifetime of abuse.

David Bobby Ray Porter, 27, was ordered to serve just more than three years and three months in prison in the March 19 killing of Michael Porter. He had faced two to six years in prison and also was eligible for probation.

Fourth Judicial District Judge David A. Shakes imposed the sentence after a tearful hearing in which the defendants mother, Pamela Kay Porter, pleaded for mercy, saying that her son was trying to protect her during the fatal encounter on Cherry Circle in Fountain.

She described a quarrel in which her husband choked her and threatened to kill her. She said Michael Porter was on his way into their bedroom, where he kept a loaded shotgun and pistol, and ignored repeated warnings meant to halt his advance, she said.

We had no rest from the meanness that he had in his heart, she said.

She, the defendants brother and cousin alleged that Michael Porter had a long history of abusive behavior, including an episode in which he threw David Porter across a room as a child, cracking his ribs.

Prosecutor Andy Vaughan said prosecutors pursued charges because Porter wasnt a threat to anyone at the time he was shot.

By the time (David Porter) got the gun and shot his father, his father had stopped assaulting his mother, Vaughan said.

Vaughan said prosecutors determined that David Porter had let a few too many seconds pass for the killing to be considered self-defense. He described the shooting as reckless, consistent with David Porters guilty plea to reckless manslaughter under an August bargain that tossed out first-degree murder charges.

The defendants court-appointed attorney, Adam Steigerwald, said that Michael Porter could have reached either of his weapons had his son waited longer. He advised his client to take the plea bargain rather than risk a life sentence at trial, he said.

Steigerwald asked the judge to impose probation, citing the lack of criminal history and a finding by the pre-sentence investigators that he is unlikely to commit further crimes.

In ordering prison, Shakes said the delay between the threat and the shooting meant that probation wasnt appropriate punishment.

Theres a big difference between defending against a current threat or punishing for past bad conduct, he said. This falls in the latter (category).

Porter was granted 222 days credit for time served.
An attempted murder trial ended in a judge declaring a mistrial Friday after the jury forewoman admitted sending her boyfriend text messages while evidence was being heard and during deliberations.

Among the numerous notes the woman sent was one telling the boyfriend the jury was about to deliver its verdict on the defendant, Simon Peter Escamilla.

Were about to convict him, she said in a text to him on Friday afternoon, while she and her fellow jurors were supposed to be in confidential deliberations.

Instead of announcing the jurys decision in court, 4th Judicial District Judge Theresa Cisneros ordered the trial scrapped. She said the frequency of the messages  many sent while the trial was in progress  raised questions about whether the woman was focusing on the evidence.

Cisneros also said the woman and her boyfriend were evasive during questioning, making it hard to know if they were honest about the extent of their communications.

The forewoman and her boyfriend squirmed as Cisneros called them one at a time to the stand and made them read aloud from their phones. Many of the messages were flirtatious. In others, they traded observations about people in court, including someone they called McGrumpy.

Both denied discussing opinions about testimony or the credibility of witnesses.

Prosecutors fought the defenses motion for a mistrial, saying nothing in the texts violated Escamillas right to a fair trial.

After losing the argument, they asked the judge to hold the forewoman in contempt for violating repeated court orders barring communications with anyone not on the jury. Because the misconduct occurred outside the judges presence, Cisneros said it would be up to the District Attorneys Office to pursue a citation.

The Gazette is withholding the womans name because its unclear if a ticket would be issued.

Escamilla, 27, is accused of shooting a woman in the face last March, allegedly over fears she had witnessed him shooting at another person as she drove past in the Knob Hill neighborhood east of the Olympic Training Center.

According to prosecutors, Escamilla got back in a truck, followed her car seven blocks to her home, and shot her at point-blank range as she sat in the drivers seat.

The judges decision to scrap the trial left victim Jannell Kilgore in tears. Kilgore nearly died, authorities say, and spent more than a week in a hospital as doctors tried to repair damage to her tongue and teeth.

I have to do this all over again, she said in a quavering voice. Ive wanted closure for so long, and this was my chance at closure.

She said the jury forewoman and her boyfriend should be in jail.

Attorneys for Escamilla argue that police arrested the wrong man, citing the victims recollections that the shooter was black, not Hispanic. They declined to comment after the mistrial.

Escamilla was ordered to return to court Monday so that a new trial could be scheduled.
Desperation Mona, as historic Colorado Springs investor Spencer Penrose and others have called her, always appears at the same time  dusk  and in the same place  mile marker 13  on the Pikes Peak Highway, which Penrose built in 1916.

The site is where, in 1932, Wynona Mona Roberts car went off the edge of the road and plunged 150 feet down the mountain. While the crash didnt kill her or her new husband, Mona died after she got out of the hospital three weeks later. She expired in a bathtub in the California couples honeymoon cottage in Manitou Springs.

The beautiful, young brunette had succumbed to a brain hemorrhage, doctors surmised. But her husband later confessed to bashing her in the head with a hammer, before he was executed for the murder of his five previous wives.

Since then, storyteller Sebrena Forrest said Friday during a ghost story presentation at the Ute Pass Library, there have been many police reports of people seeing a naked woman with long, stringy dark hair on Pikes Peak making gestures of desperation.

In 1973, a man who had worked on Pikes Peak for 33 years stopped his motorcycle at Glen Cove one June night after work to have a cigarette and take a leak, when he spotted the woman. He said he threw his leather jacket over her shoulders and gave her a ride to the toll booth down the hill.

He remembered her hands around him were clammy, and her breath on his neck was freezing, icy cold, Forrest said.

But when he stopped the bike, the woman got off, took off his jacket and ran back up the mountain.

When he goes home, he looks for his cigarette lighter in his jacket and pulls out a receipt from what was then the Glen Cove Gift Shop, Forrest said. It was dated Sept. 21, 1932.

The next day, he went to the gift shop and learned that the nude woman who had hopped on the back of his motorcycle was a ghost. People, including Spencer Penrose, had known about her for years and had named her Desperation Mona.

Such ghost stories from the Pikes Peak region are interesting, Forrest said, because these are documented cases from responsible people who have experienced encounters. Its not just one person making something up.

And the accounts happen over a long period of years, from people who have not known the stories, she said.

But the Pikes Peak region is no more or less haunted than other communities, said Forrest, a Cascade resident and member of the Mohawk Nation who is best known for preserving Native American culture and was named 2017 Elder of the Year by the Native American Womens Association.

At the request of the Pikes Peak Library District, she dug up unexplained events and documented ghost encounters from the area, based on the library districts Special Collections section of archived materials and personal interviews.

Desperation Mona is known as a crisis apparition because she died in a crisis, so she materializes in her naked, drowned state, Forrest said.

Hauntings can be at a place youre stuck or where something happened or you had a fond memory of, she said.

Up in Woodland Park, employees of the Ute Inn, an historic bar and restaurant, have reported glasses zooming through the air and exploding, Forrest said.

Its not like a big truck goes by and knocks one off from the vibration, she said. Its like a whole bunch flying off the shelves.

When the old Homestead House in Colorado Springs was a bed-and-breakfast, no one wanted to go in one upstairs room because furniture would rearrange itself, and noises could be heard coming from the empty room, Forrest said.

The Egg Man of Manitou Springs has been known to follow people, attack them and beat them with his cane. Victims can hear the short man with whiskers and a hat dragging something like a leg or a cane, Forrest said, and the sulfurous smell of rotten eggs emanates from the ghost.

In 1988, a man named Gail Bailey ended up in the hospital from an Egg Man beating, Forrest said.

Its been going on for a long time, she said, and is thought to be linked to a man who carried a basket of eggs to eat at a local bar and one day committed suicide at the pub.

Another tale of the unexplained comes from Simla, about 50 miles northeast of Colorado Springs.

In the late 1950s, ranchers named the Lemleys, who ran about 50 head of cattle, would see bright spotlights at night across their prairie land that would mess up their television, but they couldnt pinpoint the source.

It was a mystery, Forrest said. All the ranchers were talking about it.

One night, the husband found his wife, Louise, crouched in the kitchen, naked and trembling. But she had no memory of what had happened. Their son was found in his Jeep in the long driveway, where he had been all night, after seeing bright lights and not remembering anything else.

And then, the family could not find some of their cattle. They located 10 cows laid in a circle dead, with a tree and sand in the middle.

There were no footprints, no tire tracks, Forrest said.

The cows genitals and eyes had been removed.

But they were not torn up; it was a neat scene. And, No predators would go near those dead cattle.

Law enforcement and Air Force officials responded, and told the family if anybody asks, it was predators.

Just because I cant see something doesnt mean it doesnt exist, Forrest said.

One of the creepiest stories that made national news concerns Old Jackknife Tom. A mean Irishman with red hair and buck teeth who in the 1850s, Tom kept a knife in his boot and cut off peoples ears or fingers if he lost too much money in the gambling halls in Old Colorado City.

One day, a guy killed Jackknife Tom by shooting him in the head.

Dr. Isaac Davis, Manitou Springs pharmacist, town coroner, doctor, mayor, chief of police and judge, collected specimens such as severed limbs and fetuses and kept them in pickle jars in his laboratory.

When nobody claimed Jackknife Toms body after three days, the doctor/coroner removed the organs and mummified the body.

Hed prop the body up in the sun to dry in front of his pharmacy on Canon Avenue, Forrest said. Hed prop him up in the barber shop and put whipped cream on his face. He dressed him as a woman. He took him to the bar. It was in all the papers.

After the doctor died, Toms mummified body ended up in Kansas City and toured the country in an exhibit called The Petrified Indian of the Manitou Caverns.

Nobody knows where it is now, Forrest said.
Bill Young is Global Senior Director of Alcohol Policy at Molson Coors. Young has a 30-plus year career in college and professional sports, state government and the beer industry. In his role with one of the worlds largest brewers, he works daily with colleagues throughout the alcohol industry to reduce harmful consumption of alcohol around the world.
As Coloradans fill out their ballots, choosing their next governor and sorting through a stack of measures, one issue stands tall among many: energy.

Will Colorado continue its robust development of its bountiful oil and gas resources, or pull the plug near homes and schools? Will the state set ambitious goals to swerve to wind and solar power, or let renewable energy develop at its pace? And will the next governor be a full-throated advocate of fossil fuels, or one who at times has had frosty relations with the industry?

While Democrat Jared Polis and Republican Walker Stapleton vie to succeed term-limited Gov. John Hickenlooper, two ballot measures out of 13 statewide proposals are drawing much attention  as well as millions of dollars in special-interest money.

Proposition 112 would increase the required distance between oil and gas development and homes to 2,500 feet from the current 500 feet. And Amendment 74  a sort of poison pill if 112 passes  would rewrite the Colorado Constitution to require government to reimburse property owners if a law or regulation reduces the value of their property  as, say, when an energy company cant develop its mineral holdings because theyre too close to homes.

As a statutory measure, 112 needs just a simple majority to pass. As a constitutional amendment, 74 needs a 55 percent supermajority under new rules.

Neither measure is favored by many Colorado candidates on this years ballot  including the major-party candidates for governor. Stapleton and Polis oppose Proposition 112 and Amendment 74, but there are degrees of nuance in their opposition.

Polis says he doesnt necessarily oppose 112s setback distance  increasing the current 500 feet to 2,500  but rejects the propositions failure to include surface-use agreements  private deals between landowners and holders of mineral rights under that land on how resources will be developed.

Stronger setback measures imposed legislatively on a bipartisan basis should be a backstop for when the landowner and operator cant reach a surface-use agreement, Polis told Colorado Oil and Gas Association members in August.

These agreements are a common source of income for farmers and ranchers and give them a say over where surface impact occurs on their land so that it doesnt interfere with their main livelihood, Polis, Boulders congressman, told the industry crowd.

Encouraging homeowners and operators to reach these agreements when conflicts arise is a best practice that should be honored.

Meanwhile, Stapleton, the state treasurer, has frequently stated his opposition to 112, with no distinction on setback distances or surface-use agreements.

(Stapleton) has said numerous times he is completely against this ballot initiative (112), spokesman Jerrod Dobkin said in an email. Also, it is important to note Polis has bankrolled a ballot measure to increase setbacks to 2,000 feet. A 2,000-foot setback is just as radical as a 2,500-foot setback and could have led to 62,000 job losses and an $11 billion decrease in Colorados gross domestic product.

Dobkin was referring to Polis history on the setback issue. In 2014, spurred in part by his experience with drilling near his Weld County property the previous year, Polis put his substantial wealth behind two proposed ballot questions  one of which would have increased setbacks for drilling operations to 2,000 feet from occupied structures. A 2016 study by the University of Colorado Boulders Leeds School of Business outlined possibly dire economic impacts from that proposal.

But Polis wound up pulling his support for those ballot questions after striking an eleventh-hour deal with fellow Democrat Hickenlooper, who agreed to set up a state oil and gas task force to recommend changes to regulations.

Polis pivot on the 2014 measures drew the ire of community frack-tivists pushing hard for increased setbacks and greater local control for counties and towns over drilling, which is largely overseen by the states Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

The Polis-Hickenlooper grand bargain healed a growing rift in the Democratic Party before the 2014 midterm elections and led to Hickenloopers task force crafting more stringent local-control rules. But that process resulted in recommendations deemed too tough by the industry and toothless by anti-fracking forces.

Another battle ensued ahead of the 2016 election, but community and environmental activists again failed to make it onto the ballot.

This year, a group called Colorado Rising landed the statutory initiative Proposition 112 on the Nov. 6 ballot. It says:

Shall there be a change to the Colorado Revised Statutes concerning a statewide minimum distance requirement for new oil and gas development, and, in connection therewith, changing existing distance requirements to require that any new oil and gas development be located at least 2,500 feet from any occupied structure and any area designated for additional protection and authorizing the state or a local government to increase the minimum distance requirement?

Opponents of 112 cite a July 2 Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission report that said the measures 2,500-foot setbacks would put 85 percent of Colorados nonfederal land off-limits to oil and gas development. A report by the American Petroleum Institute says that oil and gas contribute $31.4 billion a year to Colorados economy and $1.2 billion in tax revenue.

Proponents say the measure is needed to protect public safety and health, and that the overall impact on energy development wouldnt be as severe as critics claim.

The states oil and gas industry, working with the Colorado Farm Bureau, countered with Amendment 74 on the ballot. It reads:

Shall there be an amendment to the Colorado constitution requiring the government to award just compensation to owners of private property when a government law or regulation reduces the fair market value of the property?

In other words, if energy development is banned within nearly a half mile of homes, businesses and schools, oil and gas companies that own the subsurface mineral rights under the states split-estate laws presumably could sue to be compensated for the value of the fossil fuels that cant be extracted.

Advocates say 74 protects holders of private property from government takings. But opposition to the amendment stems in part from what some see as its potential to hurt, rather than help, oil and gas development. Owners of homes and farms, for example, might be able to seek compensation if drilling is allowed beneath their land.

Others see 74 leading to a hurricane of lawsuits against governments challenging a variety of land-use, zoning and development rules and costing taxpayers billions, as happened in Oregon under a similar measure. A wide range of business, community and regional-advocacy groups have stepped up to oppose 74, including the Colorado Municipal League, Colorado Counties and Club 20.

For obvious reasons, the Colorado Oil and Gas Association actively opposes 112 but has not taken an official position on 74.

Still, Colorado Oil and Gas Association CEO Dan Haley offered this general statement:

We are happy to see the Colorado Farm Bureau pushing Amendment 74 to strengthen private property rights in our state, Haley said. If a state or local government steamrolls their constituents and conducts actions that negatively impact an individuals private property value, then those individuals should be compensated. ... Amendment 74 is a good government measure that makes sense for all of us.

The states leading environmental group, Conservation Colorado, supports 112 and opposes 74.

Oil and gas development has been expanding and getting closer to our neighborhoods, schools, and hospitals  threatening the health and safety of Coloradans, Conservation Colorado spokesman Jace Woodrum said in an email. In recent years, the oil and gas industry has refused to consider even basic commonsense regulations like moving drilling and fracking away from schools and playgrounds. Now voters will get to decide.

Conservation Colorado Deputy Director Jessica Goad outlined her organizations opposition to 74: The impetus for Amendment 74 was Proposition 112  the setbacks measure  but, in reality, Amendment 74 is just a hammer in terms of fixing the problems that the Farm Bureau and the oil and gas industry contend that the setbacks measure would create.

Thats because 74 is poorly written and defective and its incredibly broad and has tremendous unintended consequences, Goad added. It goes so far beyond oil and gas, so far beyond natural resources. This would affect every aspect of state and local government and would hamstring the ability of our state and local leaders to pass any sort of health and safety measures, whatsoever.

Thats basically what Polis said about 74 in his Colorado Oil & Gas Association speech: (Amendment 74) would have far-reaching ramifications well beyond oil and gas development. Does anybody in this room really believe that local government or state government should not be able to zone (to restrict) hog farms, cannabis or strip clubs?

Dobkin, the Stapleton spokesman, offered this emailed statement on 74:

Walker has said he is supportive of the concept (of compensation) but thinks there could be unintended consequences. He would support using the legislative process to address concerns different stakeholders have.

That unintended consequences refrain comes up early and often in discussing 74 with candidates whose legal backgrounds inform their opinions.

Amendment 74 is clearly aimed at protecting the private property rights that are under attack at the ballot every two years, Republican Colorado attorney general candidate George Brauchler said, referring to 112 and past setback measures.

I am a strong supporter of private-property rights, especially when they can be eliminated or significantly and negatively impacted by government. I am supportive of the motivations and spirit of this amendment, added Brauchler, the 18th Judicial District Attorney. However, the unintended consequences of the language of this amendment, if passed, would be devastating to municipalities and local governments, even when they do not seek to take property. The unintended consequences are too extreme for Colorado. We can  and we should  do better at protecting private property rights.

Brauchlers Democratic opponent for state AG is Phil Weiser, a former Justice Department official in the Obama administration and dean of the CU law school. He said private property rights dont need another layer of protection at the state level.

This amendment (74), if passed, will create considerable mischief and administrative burdens for local governments when they act to protect the public, health, and welfare of their citizens, Weiser said. Under federal constitutional law, there are adequate protections against the taking of property without just compensation.

As for 112, Weiser says hes opposed, although he adds hell defend and enforce the measure to the best of his ability if it passes and hes elected.

I appreciate the concerns that are motivating Proposition 112, but dont believe that the measure is well-tailored to address this issue, Weiser said. As attorney general, I will first pursue addressing such concerns through collaboration with local governments and more effective work with the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

Brauchler, too, says hell uphold the law if one or both of the measures pass, but he makes it clear hes opposed to both.

I will abide by the will of the voters on these issues, whether I agree with them or not, said Brauchler. (Proposition) 112, if passed, acts as a significant infringement of private property rights, while destroying one of the largest, most vibrant economic drivers in our state.

U.S. Rep. Ken Buck, who represents the sprawling 4th Congressional District, the most productive oil-producing district in the state, declined to comment on Amendment 74 but made his feelings about Prop 112 very clear:

I oppose Proposition 112. It is bad for Colorados economy and is particularly bad for the 4th Congressional District, Buck said. This attack on private property rights will not only leave energy industry workers jobless but will have a negative effect on families and businesses across the district.

Bucks Democratic opponent, veterinarian Karen McCormick, opposes 74 and 112.

Amendment 74 has disastrous implications for Colorado taxpayers and this measure will also discourage our officials from taking action to benefit communities or protect public resources, McCormick said of a predicted wave of litigation. Many of the taxpayers in my district are already financially overburdened, and Amendment 74 will only add to the rising cost of living here.

McCormick says 112 doesnt really get at the heart of the problem with drilling operations near homes and schools. She says shell seek scientific solutions to mitigate the impacts of drilling.

Coloradans have urged me to protect their livelihoods as our middle class continues to shrink, McCormick said. Proposition 112, in its current form, does not do enough to address hydraulic fracturing under homes and schools while threatening the livelihoods of thousands of working Coloradans and their families.
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News release from Vestas Wind Systems A/S

Fortaleza, 25 October 2018

Vestas has signed a framework agreement with the intention to produce V150-4.2 MW nacelles in the Brazilian state of Ceara. The framework agreement was signed by the Governor of Ceara, Camilo Sobreira de Santana, and Rogerio S. Zampronha, General Manager for Vestas Brazil and Latin America South, at a signing ceremony Monday.

With this agreement, Vestas breaks new grounds for the expansion of its 4 MW platform both in Brazil and in the Latin American region and confirms its commitment to the Brazilian market. The V150-4.2 MW is very suitable for the countrys most prevailing wind conditions and will deliver excellent performance and production for customers.

The new production setup continues Vestas presence in the state of Ceara, where it has previously manufactured V110-2.0 MW nacelles. Vestas planned investments in the new production setup will total approximately EUR 23m, with the prospect of generating 200 direct jobs and 800 indirect jobs.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Rogerio S. Zampronha said Ceara has been like a second home to Vestas in Brazil. Our decision to stay and extend our footprint in the region is based on the high quality labour, the proximity to the Port of Pecem and to many wind energy project areas. But I would like to highlight the business-friendly environment fostered by the regional government, which has also been a key factor for this decision.

The new setup will provide Vestas customers with the companys latest wind technology and access to financial support from the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES), which covers the acquisition of Brazilian-produced machinery and equipment.

During the next months, Vestas will decide if the nacelle plant will remain in the municipality of Aquiraz, where it has assembled V110-2.0 MW nacelles, or another location in Ceara.

Vestas has been present in the Brazil since 2000, where it has played a key role for the development of wind energy. Vestas currently has 1.5 GW either installed or under construction in the country, which corresponds to around 750 wind turbines. Vestas has a Sales Office in Sao Paulo that also manages construction and service operations, as well as a Service Centre in Natal (Rio Grande do Norte).

For updated Vestas photographs and videos, please visit our media images page on: https://www.vestas.com/en/media/images .

For more information, please contact:

Irene Rodriguez Alvarez

Communications Specialist

Vestas Mediterranean

Tel: +34 91 362 81 13

Mail: IRRAL@vestas.com

About Vestas

Vestas is the energy industrys global partner on sustainable energy solutions. We design, manufacture, install, and service wind turbines across the globe, and with 94 GW of wind turbines in 79 countries, we have installed more wind power than anyone else. Through our industry-leading smart data capabilities and unparalleled 79 GW of wind turbines under service, we use data to interpret, forecast, and exploit wind resources and deliver best-in-class wind power solutions. Together with our customers, Vestas more than 24,300 employees are bringing the world sustainable energy solutions to power a bright future.



We invite you to learn more about Vestas by visiting our website at www.vestas.com and following us on our social media channels:

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Raleigh, N.C., Oct. 26, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Camp Corral received a donation of $1,820,658 from Golden Corral at its annual convention in San Francisco this month. The donated funds were raised through Golden Corrals annual in-restaurant fundraising campaign, reliant on the generosity of valued guests and restaurant teams and in partnership with local DAV chapters. The charitable gift will assist with providing a free week of summer camp for the children of wounded, injured, ill or fallen military service members.



Camp Corral, a dedicated supporter of military families, provides children ages eight to 15 with a free, once-in-a-lifetime week at summer camp where they are free to escape the challenges they face as military children. Camp Corral partners with camps across the nation to provide an experience that is fun, unique and challenging under the watchful eye of highly trained staff. Additionally, a military and family life counselor is available at each camp.

Our research shows that the experience we provide to our campers makes a lasting impact, mentally and socially, said Leigh Longino, CEO of Camp Corral. Every year, with the support of Golden Corral and its generous customers and staff, were able to provide our services to more and more of these young heroes. We truly appreciate the support and unique partnership that equips us to provide this service to our nations military youth and their families.

Camp Corral was founded in 2011 by Golden Corral and has received consistent support in its mission to serve military families from its founding company.

With thousands of children remaining on the waitlist every year, contributions to Camp Corral can be made at any participating Golden Corral restaurant, by visiting the organizations website or mailed to the Camp Corral office located at 801 N. West Street, Raleigh, North Carolina 27603.

About Camp Corral

Camp Corral, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, nonprofit corporation, is a free, one-of-a-kind summer camp for children of wounded, disabled or fallen military service members. Since its founding in 2011 by Golden Corral, Camp Corral has grown to 24 camp sessions in 19 states and has served more than 21,000 children. Although any child ages 8 to 15 from a military family is eligible, registration priority is given to children of wounded, disabled or fallen military service members. For more information, visit www.campcorral.org .





About Golden Corral

Golden Corral , based in Raleigh, N.C., is the nations largest grill-buffet restaurant chain with 489 restaurants operating in 41 states as of January 1, 2018. Golden Corral is famous for its variety, including USDA steaks cooked to order, fried chicken, awesome pot roast, fresh salad bar, hot yeast rolls, and desserts like homemade carrot cake and the Chocolate Wonderfall.

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TORONTO, Oct. 26, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sunwing is encouraging Canadians to vacation better this winter at their newest resorts and destinations with special introductory pricing. Vacationers who book by November 2, 2018 can enjoy exclusive savings of up to $1,000 per couple on select vacation packages across the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America.



Vacationers who book during this time limited promotion could be among the first to experience some of the tour operators latest resorts and save. New for this winter is Riu Palace Costa Mujeres , a brand-new resort option on the regions trendiest new beach offering rooms that can accommodate families of five or more, specialty restaurants and infinity pools together with full exchange privileges with the neighbouring Riu Dunamar and its expansive on-site water park. In Costa Rica, travellers can now Vacation Like a Star at the just opened Planet Hollywood Costa Rica , a luxury resort offering Hollywood-themed amenities and activities.

Vacationers can also choose from a range of newly-renovated resorts with upgraded accommodations and facilities. Included in the sale is perennial favourite Riu Palace Tropical Bay , a recently-renovated resort on Negril Beach that now offers enhanced modern amenities and activities for both families and couples. Grand Memories Punta Cana is another popular resort that has recently undergone a modernization, offering family-friendly accommodations and unlimited access to an on-site water park , one of the largest in the Caribbean. At Iberostar Bella Vista , which now benefits from a sleek new decor, guests can enjoy amenities for both kids and adults on the famous shores of Varadero Beach.

New destinations include the Caribbean islands of Grenada and Tobago and the Cuban destination of Cienfuegos on the islands southern coast. For those looking to stay closer to home, there are two new Florida destinations to discover Miami and Daytona Beach .



All Sunwing packages include return flights on Sunwing Airlines where passengers can sit back and relax while on board with award-winning inflight service, complimentary non-alcoholic beverage service and buy on board selection of light meals and snacks with choices inspired by Food Network Canada Celebrity Chef, Lynn Crawford. Passengers also benefit from a generous complimentary 23kg checked luggage allowance. Ten adults travelling together can receive special prices, added values and reduced deposits. For more information on group vacations click here .

To book your next vacation, visit www.sunwing.ca or contact your travel agent.

About Sunwing

The largest integrated travel company in North America, Sunwing has more flights to the south than any other leisure carrier with convenient direct service from over 33 airports across Canada to over 45 popular sun destinations. This scale enables Sunwing to negotiate the best deals and exclusive offers at all of the top-rated resorts across the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America. Renowned for its award-winning service, Sunwing is consistently voted the #1 leisure airline by travel agents and is the perennial winner of the Consumer Choice Award. Customers can look forward to starting their vacation off in style with award-winning inflight service, which features a complimentary glass of sparkling wine*, tea and coffee and non-alcoholic beverage service; together with a buy on board menu of light meals and snacks (including kids choices) inspired by Food Network Canada Celebrity Chef, Lynn Crawford. Sunwing customers also benefit from the assistance of the companys own knowledgeable destination representatives, who greet them upon arrival and support them throughout their vacation journey.

For all media enquiries, please contact:

Rachel Goldrick

Senior Corporate Communications Manager

Sunwing Vacations

1-800-387-5602 | media@sunwing.ca



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San Jose, Calif., Oct. 26, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bay Area high school students are organizing a summit for fellow teens to address the effects of climate change. The Tech for Global Good Youth Climate Action Summit will bring hundreds of high schools students together at The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose Nov. 10 to learn about climate change and discuss what their generation can do. The summit comes on the heels of a U.N. climate report warning the world will suffer tremendous consequences of rising global temperatures as early as 2040.



Climate change is a cornerstone issue of my generation. Problems like deforestation, ocean acidification and species extinction are happening at an alarming rate. Were going to inherit this planet in a state of total crisis, said Haris Hosseini, Tech for Global Good Student Board president. We want to understand the issues and how we can play a role in saving our future.



Students will talk to scientists documenting dramatic changes around the world. National Geographic Explorer in Residence Bob Ballard, known for discovering the Titanics wreckage, will deliver the keynote remotely from his research vessel Nautilus. The summit will feature panels and activities with nine National Geographic Explorers, an engineering design challenge, an immersive VR experience with HTC Vive, a United Nations Climate Interactive negotiations simulation, rainforest-themed escape room and more. Sessions will explore how technologies like blockchain, apps and VR can make a difference



We are inspired by the passion of students ready to solve one the biggest problem of our times. Their energy, creativity and persistence will lead to real solutions and inspire other generations to take action, said Rufaro Kangai Sibanda, The Tech for Global Good Vice President.



The inaugural youth summit is organized by 12 students from eight different Bay Area high schools. Students plan to lead calls to action with EcoChallenge. San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo will deliver closing keynote address.



I look at my generation and I see an undeniable vitality  a willingness to fight, a willingness to stand up for beliefs, a willingness to march. If were not ready now, were really close to being ready to take on the challenges of tomorrow, said Hosseini.



The Youth Climate Action Summit is part of The Tech for Global Good program, a signature program of The Tech Museum of Innovation. The summit was made possible with support from National Geographic, the Applied Materials Foundation, and Intel.



Youth Climate Action Summit

Saturday, Nov. 10. 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The Tech Museum of Innovation

201 S. Market St.

San Jose, CA 95113

For more information or to sign up, visit: https://www.techclimatesummit.org/



About The Tech

The Tech Museum of Innovation is a hands-on technology and science museum for people of all ages and backgrounds. The museum  located in the Capital of Silicon Valley  is a non-profit experiential learning resource established to engage people in exploring and experiencing applied technologies affecting their lives. The Techs mission is to inspire the innovator in everyone. thetech.org





Attachments
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 26, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nevada Exploration Inc. (NGE or the Company) (TSX-V: NGE; OTCQB: NVDEF) is pleased to announce the engagement of PNW Corporate Services & Advisory Ltd. (PNW) to provide the services of Ms. Christina Blacker, who has been appointed to the role of Chief Financial Officer of the Company.



Ms. Blacker is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CA) and has more than 13 years of experience working with public companies, predominantly in the mining industry, including current roles as controller for two other TSX Venture listed issuers. Ms. Blacker obtained her undergraduate degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, and obtained a diploma in accounting from the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia.

In connection with Ms. Blackers appointment, the Company has accepted the resignation of Cyrus Driver as Chief Financial Officer of the Corporation. The Company would like to express its sincere appreciation for Cyruss dedication and contributions to NGE during his 9 years with the Company, both as Chief Financial Officer as well as Director for much of that time.

The Company also announces that pursuant to its stock option plan, subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval, NGE has granted incentive stock options to PNW to acquire a total of 150,000 common shares of the Company, exercisable for a period of ten years at an exercise price of $0.35, subject to vesting requirements.

Upcoming Events

NGE is pleased to welcome its stakeholders to visit with its team at the following upcoming events, including the Silver and Gold Summit in San Francisco beginning this Sunday, October 28, 2018:

SILVER AND GOLD SUMMIT (San Francisco)  BOOTH 406

Sunday to Monday, October 28th to 29th, 2018

https://cambridgehouse.com/e/silver-and-gold-summit-2018-75

Presentation #1: Sunday, October 28, 2018 (limited space, register at: https://investor.nevadaexploration.com/silver-gold-summit/ )

Presentation #2: Monday, October 29, 2018, at 2:10 PM in the Silver Hall (open to all conference registrants)

MINES AND MONEY (London)  BOOTH C26

Monday to Thursday, November 26th to 29th, 2018

https://london.minesandmoney.com/

AMERICAN EXPLORATION & MINING ASSOCIATION (Spokane)

Monday to Friday, December 3rd to 7th, 2018

https://www.miningamerica.org/2018-annual-meeting/

VANCOUVER RESOURCES INVESTMENT CONFERENCE (Vancouver)

Sunday and Monday, January 20th and 21st, 2018

https://cambridgehouse.com/e/vancouver-resource-investment-conference-2019-76

PDAC (Toronto)

Sunday to Wednesday, March 3rd to 6th, 2019

https://www.pdac.ca/convention

About Nevada Exploration Inc.

NGE is an exploration company advancing a portfolio of new district-scale gold exploration projects along Nevadas Battle Mountain-Eureka (Cortez) Trend. NGE is led by an experienced management team that has been involved in several significant discoveries in Nevada, including the discovery of Lone Tree and Rabbit Creek (part of the Twin Creeks Mine). NGEs team has spent the last decade integrating the use of hydrogeochemistry with conventional exploration tools to develop a Nevada-specific regional-scale geochemistry exploration program.

With new proprietary technology, NGE has completed the worlds largest groundwater sampling program for gold exploration, collecting approximately 6,000 samples to evaluate Nevadas covered basins for new gold exploration targets. To advance follow-up targets, NGE has overcome the high drilling costs that have previously prohibited the wide-spread use of drilling as a prospecting tool by developing its Scorpion drill rig, a small-footprint, truck-mounted, small-diameter RC drill rig specifically tailored to the drilling conditions in Nevadas basins (analogous to RAB drilling in other parts of the world).

By integrating hydrogeochemistry and early-stage low-cost drilling with conventional exploration methods, NGE is overcoming the challenges and radically reducing the costs of exploring in Nevadas covered basins, and is taking significant steps to open this important new search space up for district-scale exploration.

For further information, please contact:

Nevada Exploration Inc.

Email: info@nevadaexploration.com

Telephone: +1 (604) 601 2006

Website: www.nevadaexploration.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information:

This news release contains forward-looking information and forward-looking statements (collectively, forward-looking information) within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including, without limitation, expectations, beliefs, plans, and objectives regarding projects, potential transactions, and ventures discussed in this release.

In connection with the forward-looking information contained in this news release, the Company has made numerous assumptions, regarding, among other things, the assumption the Company will continue as a going concern and will continue to be able to access the capital required to advance its projects and continue operations. While the Company considers these assumptions to be reasonable, these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies.

In addition, there are known and unknown risk factors which could cause the Companys 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. Among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements are the risks inherent in mineral exploration, the need to obtain additional financing, environmental permits, the availability of needed personnel and equipment for exploration and development, fluctuations in the price of minerals, and general economic conditions.

A more complete discussion of the risks and uncertainties facing the Company is disclosed in the Companys continuous disclosure filings with Canadian securities regulatory authorities at www.sedar.com. 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.
DNA degrades quickly after an animal dies, so researchers once believed it impossible to find ancient genetic material. The search for primeval vestiges of DNA took off in the late 1980s after the development of a technique called polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which copies minute quantities of DNA. Armed with PCR, scientists could look for tiny fragments of DNA that might have weathered the millennia unharmed.



In recent years, researchers have isolated DNA from 20-million-year-old magnolia leaves and extracted DNA from a 135-million-year-old weevil found in amber. Recently, a team extract DNA from bone dating back millions of years for the first time. In the frenzied hunt for ancient DNA, microbiologist Scott R. Woodward may have bagged the biggest quarry. Drawing on lessons learned while growing up among the fossil-rich rocks of eastern Utah, Woodward and his team became the first people to find genetic material belonging to a dinosaur.



Woodward, whose grandfather was a coal miner, knew that mines in the area often contained dinosaur traces. After six months of looking Woodward pulled two bone fragments from a Cretaceous siltstone layer directly atop a coal seam. Impeded by an unstable mine roof, Woodwards team could not recover any more bone samples. The siltstone apparently inhibited fossilization and preserved much of the original cell structure in the bone. Researchers isolated strands of DNA from both fragments and used PCR to copy a segment that codes for a protein called cytochrome b. Once they had made many copies, they could determine the DNA sequence.



Throughout their work, the biologists took precautions to avoid contaminating the samples with modern DNA or ancient material found within the coal. According to Woodward, circumstantial evidence indicates that the bone fragments belong to one or two species of dinosaurs. Dinosaur tracks are abundant in this coal formation, and the bones visible in the mine were larger than those of a crocodilethe biggest non-dinosaur known in these rocks.

Woodward explains variation found in the DNA as a result of damage to the ancient DNA, which caused the PCR technique to alter the original sequence. Scientists had hoped to use the DNA to resolve debate about the relationship among birds, dinosaurs, and other reptiles. But the cytochrome b fragments were too short to offer meaningful phylogenetic information, says Woodward. Utahs state palaeontologist believes that the fragments found by Woodward could definitely be dinosaur in origin. Other researchers, however, question the identity of the DNA strands. Because the copies of the cytochrome b sequence varied considerably, they wonder whether the DNA comes from several organisms.



1. Researchers who believe that the DNA isolated by Woodward did not come from a dinosaur would most likely use which of the following discoveries as support?

A. Damage to the dinosaur DNA causes the PCR technique to alter the original sequence.



B. Comparison of the discovered DNA with that of modern DNA reveals a variation in sequence.



C. Birds, dinosaurs, and reptiles have no phylogenetic relationship.



D. The cytochrome b sequence comprises DNA from several different animals.



E. DNA cannot survive for such long periods of time

2. The passage suggests that researchers continue to look for dinosaur DNA because:

A. the DNA found by Woodward derived from several different species.



B. the amount of DNA retrieved was too small to copy using PCR.



C. the DNA fragments produced by PCR were too insignificant to determine substantial information about bird, dinosaur, and reptile phylogeny.



D. the sites where Woodward excavated had never been highly populated with dinosaurs.



E. they were hoping they might chance upon the DNA of a different dinosaur

3. The findings of Woodward are by no means universally accepted. Which of the following findings, if true, would MOST contradict the researchers who question the identity of Woodwards dinosaur DNA?



A. Variations in the cytochrome b sequence of Woodwards DNA have been directly linked to hybrid DNA.



B. Carbon dating proved that the bone fragments retrieved by Woodward were from the Cretaceous era.



C. More elaborate PCR traced the cytochrome b sequence in Woodwards sample to one species of dinosaur.



D. Utahs state palaeontologist confirmed that dinosaurs were abundant in the areas where the researchers excavated.

E. An independent study reported that the DNA discovered by Woodward in fact belongs to a hen




IceViking strongly condemns physical attacks and harassment directed towards them.





They are also often victims of the Islamic idea. This is true when it comes to the cruel and tragic treatment of Muslim women and children when it is in accord with the Koran, the example of Mohammed and Islamic law, Sharia, which may be applied regardless of where a Muslim male may find himself in the world, whether in a Muslim or non-Muslim country.





However, in no way, shape or form should one judge all Muslim men because of what is in Islamic scripture and what constitutes the Islamic law, Sharia.





"Race", ethnicity or basically anything that you are "merely" born with should never be a basis for bigotry and discrimination.





Apostates from Islam have been executed for 1400 years in accord with the Koran and the words and actions of the Islamic prophet Mohammed and Islamic law, Sharia.





They should be lovingly helped.





Furthermore, approximately as many as 11,000,000 Muslims may have been killed by other Muslims since 1948.





To quote the website The Religion of Peace (TROP), edited by Glen Roberts:





While it may be safe to say that a true Muslim would not intentionally kill another true Muslim ( 4:92-93 ), the Quran places no such value on the life of a Muslim who is not true. Consider verse 9:73 :

Strive hard against the disbelievers and the hypocrites, and be harsh against them, their abode is Hell.

The Arabic for strive hard uses the same root as Jihad - and the context in this sura is holy war (see v. 86 and 91). Thus, there are two distinct classes of people that a true Muslim is to target with harshness: disbelievers and hypocrites.



A disbeliever obviously refers to a non-Muslim, so a "hypocrite" must be a Muslim of some sort. In fact, hypocrites are those who say they believe, but do not act as they should. In other words, they are "Muslims", but not true Muslims. They will go to hell just as unbelievers do, and so, according to the verse, their lives matter for naught.



The same sura says that a hypocrite can be recognized not just by lack of piety (reluctance to follow Sharia), but by fear of death ( 9:56 ), reluctance to fight ( 9:44-45 ) and even friendliness toward non-believers ( 9:67 ). A true Muslim would thus be a pious person who relishes martyrdom, is eager to fight, and shuns non-believers.



Even the Quranic passage that warns against killing "believers" ( 4:88-94 ) is more complicated than it first appears. It never says that a true Muslim is incapable of killing another Muslim, just that it should not be done. In fact, it makes exceptions for the unintentional killing of "believers" in war and mandates the killing of "hypocrites."



Verse 17:33 says, "Do not kill anyone which Allah has forbidden, except for a just cause" . The greatest cause of all is that Islam be superior ( 9:33 ), which is exactly what Islamic terrorists say is their goal. Thus believing Muslims are allowed to be collateral damage in the war on unbelievers.









There is sadly a phenomena that I`ve noticed in Sweden and elsewhere of people using true facts about Islamic doctrine and history as a cover for all sorts of irrational targeting of Muslims, ranging from xenophobia and racism to verbal abuse and physical attacks.





This is strongly condemned by this website and does not in any way serve serious criticism of orthodox Islam and other important work.





It`s also important that one tries to express oneself in a civilized way. Words matter.





In this bloggers humble opinion the root cause of the problem is the ancient doctrine of orthodox Islam.













In simple terms a non-Muslim is a Kafir.





" The Koran defines the kafir and kafir is not a neutral word. A kafir is not merely someone who does not agree with Islam, but a kafir is evil, disgusting, the lowest form of life."





An exact quote, as stated in the writings of Dr. Bill Warner in the article "Kafir" at http://www.politicalislam.com/kafir .





In the perfect Koran (Allah`s direct and literal word as revealed to Mohammed through the angel Jibril), Muslims are told 89 times to emulate Mohammed in all ways (see Koran 33:21 for instance).





Mohammed`s example, the Sunna, is found in the Hadith (stories of what Mohammed said and did) and the Sira (biographies of Mohammed).





Islamic law, Sharia , is directly derived from these unchanging scriptures. It is based on the Koran`s numerous commands to obey Allah and obey the Messenger, that is Mohammed (see Koran 4:59 for instance).









Islam is Sharia. Sharia is Islam.





It is a capital crime for Muslims to deny Sharia in any way.





A Muslim is someone who submits to Islam and submitting to Islam means obeying the Sharia of Allah.





Sharia law includes pronouncements for both Muslims and non-Muslims (Kafirs).









Islam is a "complete way of life", a "complete code of life", a "complete system of life".





Islam is not just a religion but also a comprehensive ideology.





Islam is a supremacist ideology.





Islam is a totalitarian and imperialistic ideology akin to Communism and Nazism.





Islam is a civilization.

Islamic law, Sharia, is a manual for a civilization.





Islamic law, Sharia, governs every aspect of life.

It has a say about every conceivable human act .





Non-Muslims are morally and legally inferior in Islam. Women are morally and legally inferior in Islam.

























The History of Jihad: From Muhammad to ISIS by Robert Spencer is the first one-volume history of jihad in the English language and a great book on the topic.





Allah guarantees Paradise to those who "kill and are killed" for him (Koran 9:111).





A hadith depicts a Muslim asking Muhammad: "Instruct me as to such a deed as equals Jihad (in reward)." Muhammad replied, "I do not find such a deed." (Bukhari 4.52.44)





Muhammad himself said:

I have been commanded to fight against people so long as they do not declare that there is no god but Allah, and he who professed it was guaranteed the protection of his property and life on my behalf except for the right affairs rest with Allah. (Sahih Muslim 30)









Freedom of speech, human rights, democracy, science and human lives are all at stake in the fight against the Islamic Jihad.




As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQ
On Wednesday, October 24, Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said that four of the activists arrested in January and February were being charged with sowing corruption on earth, which carries the death penalty, after accusing them of spying of Irans military and nuclear sites when they were tracking the endangered Asiatic cheetah.

Michael Page, deputy Middle East deputy director at Human Rights Watch, said: Irans judiciary appears determined to pursue serious charges against these environmental activists no matter how ridiculous the allegations of wrongdoing are and despite the continuing denial of the defendants right to see a lawyer of their choice. With the judiciary serving as one of the main cornerstones in Irans apparatus of repression, there is a major risk that they wont get a fair trial.

The Regimes Revolutionary Guards intelligence organization arrested eight members of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation on January 24 and 25:

1. Houman Jokar

2. Sepideh Kashani

3. Niloufar Bayani

4. Amirhossein Khaleghi

5. Sam Rajabi

6. Taher Ghadirian

7. Kavous Seyed Emami, who has since died under suspicious circumstances in jail

8. Morad Tahbaz

On February 25, they also arrested environmentalist Abdoreza Kouhpayeh.

None of the activists has seen a lawyer of their choice  indeed, due to the Regime ridiculous national security law, political activists can only be represented by 20 lawyers approved by the Regime  and there is still no trial date set.

Its worth noting that the PWHF had permission from the relevant authorities to monitor the areas that they were studying, which indicates that this is less a case of environmentalists stumbling onto a military site, than a case of the Regime making up any excuse to detain people with links to the West.

In fact, several senior Iranian government officials, including Issa Kalantari, the head of Irans Environmental Institution, have reported that there is no evidence that the activists were spies. Despite this, Kalantari said that the committee could no longer intervene.

The Iranian Regimes actions in this case violate the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Iran is a party to. Under the ICCPR, the relevant authorities are required to:

 allow anyone facing criminal charges to see a lawyer of their choosing

 promptly inform any person who is arrested of the charges against them

 ensure a trial within a reasonable time
This is not how Iran should be and it is not how Shiite Islam is supposed to be practised.

True Islam, as Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, notes, bears hardly any resemblance to the bastardised version practised by the mullahs.

Maryam Rajavi has spent the past 50 years fighting for a secular, democratic Iran and has outlined the need for the separation of religion and state in Iran in countless speeches and writings. Here, we shall summarise Maryam Rajavis points.

Rejection of compulsory religion

Maryam Rajavi explains that there is no place for compulsory religion in a modern society and notes that the medieval Sharia laws, the excommunication of opponents, and despotism dressed up as religion are actually violations of Islam and the liberating Muhammadan religion.

Acceptance of a tolerant and liberal Islam

Maryam Rajavi notes that in the view of the Iranian Resistance, Islam represents democracy, compassion, tolerance, equality, and freedom, including freedom from compulsion, oppression, and exploitation.

Maryam Rajavi said: So long as this regime is in power in Iran, the people of Iran and other nations in the Middle East will not enjoy freedom and democracy. This regime, which continues to persist on acquiring the nuclear bomb, despite opposition by the Iranian people and the international community, is a global threat.

Rejection of religious discrimination

Maryam Rajavi and her compatriots believe that all religions should be viewed as equal under the law, citing that for too long religious differences have divided people, which is one of the Regimes objectives. This is why Maryam Rajavi would support the rights of all religious people to practice their faith.

Maryam Rajavi advises that Islam rejects all forms of religious strife and hostility, but that the Iranian Regime has created a war between Sunni and Shiite during the Iran-Iraq war, when Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini made it clear that he wanted to liberate Jerusalem via Karbala.

Maryam Rajavi explains that Khomeini fanned the flames of hatred by arresting and executing Sunnis, while destroying their mosques.

They have also massacred thousands of the Shiite Mojahedin who attempted to stop the Regime from its brutality.

Maryam Rajavi said: Therefore, both Shiites and Sunnis, have a common enemy: the fundamentalist theocracy ruling Iran.

How to stop the Iranian Regime

Maryam Rajavi advises that there is only one way to stop the Iranian Regime from destroying Iran, the Middle East, and the world as a whole, which is for the complete eviction of the mullahs and their mutilated version of Islam, from the world.

Maryam Rajavi said: The solution in Iraq is to evict the mullahs forces, to empower Sunni power-sharing, and to arm the Sunni tribes. The solution in Syria is to evict the Iranian regimes forces and to support the people of Syria in overthrowing Assads dictatorship.

The solution in Yemen is to stand up to Tehran, as the Arab coalition has already begun to do. This course of action must be sustained until the regimes infiltration is rooted out across the region.

This will end the brutal terrors of the Iranian Regime and their state-mandated religion.
Earlier this year, the Swedish Patent and Market Court was requested to issue an injunction against Swedish internet service provider

(Telia) to block access to the likes of The Pirate Bay, Dreamfilm, Nyafilmer, Fmovies, and several other related proxies and mirror sites

.





Following the application, the Patent and Market Court ordered Telia - by way of an interim ruling  to block access to the above-mentioned sites. The blocking order would come into effect by the end of this month.





Several of the sites at issue give access to works protected by copyright either through links to torrent sites (eg, The Pirate Bay) or by enabling users to upload/download and make available those works without the consent of relevant rightholders.





Section 53B (first sentence thereof) of the Swedish Act on Copyright in Literary and Artistic Works (1960:729) (SCA) states that, upon application by a rightholder, a court may issue an injunction prohibiting, on a penalty of a fine, a party that commits or contributes to, an act constituting an infringement. For the Court to find to issue such an injunction the applicant must show that there is probable cause that an infringement has occurred, that the value of the exclusive rights has been impaired, and that the injunction would be proportionate on consideration of the interests of both parties.





The application





In this case, the rightholders (Twentieth Century Fox, Columbia Pictures, Warner Bros, Paramount Pictures, and others) brought a joint action in which they claim that Telia  by supplying internet connection to its customers (hence, enabling access to the sites at issue)  would aid and abet (objectively) infringements of the copyrights belonging to them. By supplying such internet connection, Telia would also contribute to impairing the value of the copyrights in question. The injunction would be proportionate bearing in mind the interests of the rightholders in protecting their intellectual property, on the hand, and Telias interest in pursuing its business activities limitlessly, as well as freedom of information and freedom to conduct ones own business on the other hand.





Telias response





Telia, however, submitted that the case at hand raises complex legal issues. Hence, it would not be appropriate to decide on such issues through an interim ruling. In any case, it stated that the questions in the present case are of a technically complex nature and it is not clear how the current streaming services actually work, nor have the rightholders proved that it is likely that the content has been made available to a new public.





Regarding its own alleged contributory liability, Telia specified that there must be an infringement from an objective standpoint, and according to the preparatory works to the SCA it appears that merely supplying access (by means of an internet connection) does not amount to an infringement. Nonetheless, a blocking injunction would not be proportionate because it would inter alia compress Telias freedom to pursue its own business activities, users right to impart or receive information (freedom of information), and ownership of domain names that do not lead to any of the allegedly infringing services.





The Patent and Market Courts decision





1. Probable cause for the infringement





Following a preliminary assessment of the evidence submitted, the Patent and Market Court found that the content had been made available to the public in the manner described by the rightholders. The applicants  through a report submitted by Motion Pictures Association (MPA)  also made it sufficiently clear that they had exclusive rights to the content at hand.





2. Making works available to the public





According to the preparatory works to Section 2 SCA, this provision encompasses all sorts of distance transfers of works protected by copyright, including through internet and other on-demand services. A work must not be available continuously for a transfer to take occur: on the contrary, a work has been made available as soon as it has been made possible to access at some point during the specified period.





(the InfoSoc Directive). Furthermore, the making available right has been harmonised in the EU in accordance with Article 3(1) of Directive 2001/29/EC (the InfoSoc Directive).





C-610/15 (Ziggo BV), the Patent and Market Court stated that a person who has known or ought to have known that the hyperlink used in order to access content, without the consent of the rightholder, would infringe the rightsholders exclusive making available right. In this context, it was also clear that administrators of a service that make content available to their users, without the consent of the rightholders, play a necessary role by enabling access to the content in question. Referring to the decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in C-160/15 (GS Media) andthe Patent and Market Court stated that a person who has known or ought to have known that the hyperlink used in order to access content, without the consent of the rightholder, would infringe the rightsholders exclusive making available right. In this context, it was also clear that administrators of a service that make content available to their users, without the consent of the rightholders, play a necessary role by enabling access to the content in question.





According to court, it is therefore likely that the works had been made available to the public by being transferred through the ISPs services. By providing internet connection to its subscribers, the content would have been made freely available to anyone that wished to access it and it is also likely that is would be directed to a new public without the consent of the rightholders.





3. The ISPs contributory liability





The Patent and Market Court then went on to state that CJEU case law has clarified that it is possible for rightholders to seek a blocking order against an ISP in light of Article 8(3) of the InfoSoc Directive. This is so even if the ISP merely supplies the internet connection used to commit the infringements.





The court also stated that Section 53b of the SCA is a civil and not a criminal provision. Nonetheless, the legislative text should be interpreted in light of EU law. When it comes to the interference with fundamental rights it has also been established that blocking orders are compatible with such rights ( C-314/12 (UPC Telekabel) ). In this regard, there is not a requirement of a contributory criminal act (in an objective sense) for it to be possible to have a blocking order issued in accordance with Section 53b of the SCA.





4. Proportionality





As regards to proportionality the rightholders submitted evidence that it is likely that those websites generate revenue for their operators. The business idea is monetizing on copyright content made available without the consent of rightholders. Against this background, a blocking order would therefore not appear disproportionate in light of the fundamental freedoms invoked by Telia.





Whats next?





Earlier this week Telia announced that it would appeal the interim ruling to the Patent and Market Court of Appeal. Whether the appeal will be granted remains to be seen.





Patrik Hiselius, Senior Advisor, Digital Rights at Telia Company provided the IPKat with the following comment as regards to the reported decision:
- The incorrupt heart relic of St. Padre Pio visited the Philippines

- Many devotees and believers flocked to the sites of his pilgrimage, including celebrities like Lotlot de Leon

- The actress recounted how the Saint's heart has made a huge difference in her life

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Many believers have certain devotions to saints. For many of them, being able to catch a glimpse or get close to a relic that belongs to saints can do miracles in their lives.

Recently, KAMI learned that the incorrupt heart relic of Padre Pio stayed in the Philippines for several days, visiting various places.

Since this gives the faithful the chance to get close to the Saint's relic, many paid homage to it.

One of the actresses who was vocal about her faith and how St. Padre Pio made a difference was Lotlot de Leon, as what GMA reported.

She recounted on Instagram her experience when she visited Padre Pio's relic in Batangas.

"Yesterday, I had the honor of visiting the incorrupt heart relic of Padre Pio, in Sto. Tomas Batangas who is visiting from Italy.

It was my first time to join or to be part of such event because I have always been "scared" to join such festivities kase pano kung may biglang gulo or may biglang takbuhan..."

"But the moment we set foot by the church I felt something different. Calmness. I was so happy to be there.

Pumila kame for 3 hours and a half. Yes, mainit. Yes, puno. I saw all kinds of people, may mga lola at lolo, may mga nanay at tatay na bitbit ang mga anak, mga dalaga at binata, may mga may sakit na naka wheelchair.

"Everyone who were there, all our eyes were pointed at one direction. Waiting patiently to get our turn to see the relic upclose."

"Lahat na ng klase ng tao andun..."

"Yes, sanay ako makapanuod sa TV ng Fiesta sa Quiapo and I see the devotees na talagang gusto mahawakan ang Black Nazarene."

"Pero iba pala talaga when you are part of it.

What I witnessed yesterday is a church filled with love, hope, prayers and faith.

A photo of a believer who hung handkerchiefs with the image of Padre Pio also went viral.

Indeed, like what Lotlot said, "We were all one in believing in God."

Cool set of exercises that you can do at work to keep fit from our coach Chrystalle - on Kami YouTube channel This video helps you to keep fit even if you're at the desk all day. These are exercises that are simply very easy to follow and do.

Source: Kami.com.ph
European and Japanese space agencies have successfully launched a spacecraft as part of a joint effort to study Mercury, the closest planet to the sun.

The unmanned BepiColombo spacecraft launched from French Guiana on October 20. It is named after the Italian scientist Giuseppe Bepi Colombo. The Ariane 5 rocket lifted it into orbit. The spacecraft carried two probes, one developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the other by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

The trip to Mercury will take seven years. Scientists hope the mission will give them more information about the planets inside core, as well as possibly answer questions about how our solar system was formed.

ESA said the $1.5-billion mission is one of the most complex in its history. Mercurys nearness to the sun makes it an especially difficult planet to study. There is intense gravitational pull from the sun, as well as extreme solar radiation. And the planet has extreme temperatures.

The BepiColombo spacecraft will have to follow an elliptical path to Mercury. Its trip includes one fly-by of Earth and two of Venus. It also will make six fly-bys of Mercury itself. This will let it slow down before arriving at its target in December 2025.

Once it arrives there, BepiColombo will release the two probes, called Bepi and Mio. The probes will independently investigate the surface and the magnetic field of Mercury. The probes are made to work in extreme temperatures -- from very hot to very cold. On the side facing the sun, the temperature is 430 degrees Celsius, but away from the sun, it is minus 180 degrees Celsius.

ESAs Bepi probe will operate in Mercurys inner orbit. JAXAs Mio will be in the outer orbit. Scientists hope the data gathered will give them information on the internal structure of the planet, its surface and physical development.

The scientists are building on the knowledge gained by the American space agency NASAs Messenger probe. It ended its mission in 2015 after a four-year orbit of Mercury. The only other spacecraft to visit Mercury was NASAs Mariner 10, which flew past the planet in the mid-1970s.

Mercury is not much bigger than Earths moon. It has a huge iron core, about which little is known.

Guiseppe Bepi Colombo was an Italian professor, mathematician and engineer. Some call him the Grandfather of the Fly-By because his research helped in the exploration of Mercury, Saturn and Halleys Comet.

It is the second recent cooperation between the Europeans and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. JAXAs Hayabusa2 probe dropped a German-French space vehicle on the asteroid Ryugu earlier this month.

Im Anne Ball.

Anne Ball wrote this story for Learning English based on an Associated Press report. Ashley Thompson was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

probe - n. a device that is used to obtain information from outer space and send it back to Earth

solar - adj. of or relating to the sun

core - n. the central part of something

elliptical - adj. shaped like a flattened circle


Some Catholic women are calling to remove the barriers that prevent them from reaching the highest positions in their churchs leadership.

They say women should be able to vote in major policy meetings. They want Pope Francis to act on his promise to put more women in leadership positions within his administration, known as the Holy See. And some women want to become priests.

Synod

Knock, knock! Whos there? More than half the Church! a group of Catholic women shouted outside the Vatican on October 3. That was the first day of this years meeting, or synod, of bishops from around the world.

The meeting brings together some 300 bishops, priests, nuns and other members of the church. Only about 35 are women. Not surprisingly, the position of women in the Catholic Church has been a major issue at the month-long meeting. The subject has come up in speeches on the floor, in small group discussions and at news conferences.

Only synod fathers are permitted to vote on the meetings final policy suggestions. The suggestions are then sent to the pope, who will take them into consideration when he writes his own document. Others involved are non-voting observers or experts.

Some of the attendees have pointed to what they say is a problem with these rules.

For example, this year two men who are not officially priests are being permitted to vote as leaders of their religious orders. But Sister Sally Marie Hodgdon is the leader of her religious order, and she cannot vote.

I am a superior general, Hodgdon told reporters. I am a sister. So in theory  you would think I would have the right to vote.

The membership of female religious orders is about three times larger than that of male orders.

Seeking change

An internet-based petition demanding that women have the right to vote at synods has collected 9,000 signatures since the start of this meeting. It is supported by 10 Catholic organizations seeking change in the Church. These changes include greater rights for women and homosexuals and greater responsibilities for non-priests.

If male religious superiors who are not ordained can vote, then women religious superiors who are also not ordained should vote. With no  doctrinal barrier, the only barrier is the biological sex of the religious superior, the petition reads.

The effort has won some powerful supporters.

At a news conference on October 15, leaders of three major male religious orders expressed support for changes in synod rules. Leaders of the Jesuits, the Dominicans and one branch of the Franciscans asked that women be permitted to vote in the future.

Support also came from Cardinal Reinhard Marx. He is the archbishop of Munich, president of the German Bishops Conference and one of the most influential Catholic leaders in Europe. In a speech to the synod, Marx said the churchs leaders must answer the questions young people have about equal rights for women.

The impression that the Church, when it comes to power, is ultimately a male Church must be overcome in the universal Church and also here in the Vatican, he said. It is high time.

Women in the Vatican

Five years ago, Pope Francis promised to put more women in leadership in his administration and Vatican City. Women are eligible for top positions in 50 departments, but only six hold such roles. None leads a department.

In June, Francis told the Reuters news service he had to fight resistance within the church to appoint 42-year-old Spanish reporter Paloma Garcia-Ovejero. He made her deputy head of the Vaticans press office.

But the popes critics say he is moving too slowly. Sister Maria Luisa Berzosa Gonzalez is taking part in the current synod. She thinks it is time for change -- in the synod, and in the wider Church. The 75-year old Spanish nun has spent her life educating the poor in Spain, Argentina and Italy.

With this structure in the synod, with few women, few young people, nothing will change. It should no longer be this way, she told Reuters.

The Catholic Church teaches that women cannot become priests because Jesus chose only men to help form the religion.

But supporters of a female priesthood say Jesus was just following the rules of society at the time. Kate McElwee is the Rome-based executive director of the Womens Ordination Conference, a U.S. group. She organized the protest on the synods opening day.

Some women feel called by God to be priests  just as men do, said McElwee.

Im Anna Matteo. And Im Pete Musto

Philip Pullella reported this story for the Reuters news service. Pete Musto adapted it for VOA Learning English. Kelly Jean Kelly was the editor. We want to hear from you. What kind of involvement do you think women should have in the leadership of the Catholic Church? Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

_________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

priest(s)  n. a person who has the authority to lead or perform ceremonies in some religions and especially in some Christian religions

bishop(s)  n. an official in some Christian religions who is ranked higher than a priest and who is usually in charge of church matters in a specific geographical area

nun(s)  n. a woman who is a member of a religious community and who usually promises to remain poor, unmarried, and separate from the rest of society in order to serve God

order(s)  n. a religious organization whose members usually live together and promise to follow special rules and traditions

petition  n. a written document that people sign to show that they want a person or organization to do or change something

signature(s)  n. a person's name written in that person's handwriting

homosexual(s)  n. a person who is sexually attracted to people of the same sex

ordain(ed)  v. to officially make someone a minister, priest, or rabbi

doctrinal  adj. used to describe a set of ideas or beliefs that are taught or believed to be true

impression  n. an appearance or suggestion of something

ultimately  adv. in the central or most important way

eligible  adj. able to be chosen for something
Around 200 soldiers face court-martial in bribery scandal

Around 200 Nepal Army personnel are facing court-martial for their alleged involvement in a bribery scandal that took place last year during recruitment process.
Body formed to oversee aggregate industry

The government has formed Monitoring and Coordination Committee in a bid to regulate construction aggregate industry.
Dahal lauds unique ties at India Ideas conclave

Former Prime Minister and Co-chair of ruling Nepal Communist Party Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Friday said continuous support of neighbours and friends around the world were essential for the countrys development endeavor.
Researchers will gather today to discuss the potential for hibernation and the related process, torpor, to aid human health in spaceflight at the American Physiological Society's (APS) Comparative Physiology: Complexity and Integration conference in New Orleans.

To survive times when food is scarce and temperatures are low, some animals enter hibernationa physiological process that reduces their normal metabolism to low levels for days or weeks at a time. These periods of low metabolism, known as torpor, allow the animal's body temperature to fall to just above the surrounding air temperature, thus conserving energy. Humans do not naturally undergo torpor, but scientists are interested in the idea of producing states of "synthetic" torpor in certain situations, including spaceflight, explained symposium co-chair Hannah Carey, Ph.D., from the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine. "Harnessing naturally evolved torpor to benefit human spaceflight." "Synthetic torpor could protect astronauts from space-related health hazards and simultaneously reduce demands on spacecraft mass, volume and power capacities," said Matthew Regan, Ph.D., also from the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine and symposium co-chair.

The symposium will explore how synthetic torpor might be induced by the brain, its similarities and differences to sleep, and how it could benefit astronauts. Speakers will include Carey; Matteo Cerri, MD, Ph.D., from the University of Bologna in Italy; Vladyslav Vyazovskiy, Ph.D., from the University of Oxford in the U.K.; and astronaut Jessica Meir, Ph.D., from NASA.

Studying hibernation in mammalshow they are able to safely lower their body temperature and metabolism for extended periods of timemay also aid treatment of people experiencing traumatic medical events, such as stroke, cardiac arrest and severe blood loss. Animals that use torpor have a natural resistance to various injuries that can happen due to lack of blood flow. They are also resistant to radiation injurysuch a resistance would be especially beneficial to humans in deep space. Carey will discuss why use of synthetic torpor based on the biology of natural hibernators is preferable to current medical practices that use hypothermia-based methods to treat trauma patients. She will also discuss how hibernation research can identify how to create synthetic torpor for space travel.

How the nervous system reduces metabolic activity during torpor is unknown. However, many of the organs that regulate metabolism are controlled by nerve cells (neurons) located in the raphe pallidus, an area of the brainstem that controls the production of heat in mammals. "For an animal to enter torpor, the neurons within the raphe pallidus have to be inhibited," Cerri explained. If function in these cells is not suppressed, "their activity would counteract the hypothermia induced by torpor," he said. Cerri will present preliminary results identifying neurons projecting to the raphe pallidus and involved in torpor-related activity.

Defining the relationship between sleep and torpor has been fraught with controversy, but the two states appear to be intimately linked because of the neuronal connections they share. Research suggests that lack of available food sources may cause mammals to conserve energy and lower their body temperature, two hallmark characteristics of torpor. However, "less is known about the specific fasting-related signals which initiate entry into torpor," Vyazovskiy said. He will discuss the connection between sleep and torpor and why more research is needed to determine how torpor affects brain function in animals.

Some of the physiological adaptations that animals exhibitsuch as the low-oxygen environments that seals and penguins experience with deep diving or that birds experience on a high-altitude flightare impossible for humans. Understanding how animals adapt in extreme conditions may play a positive role in human medical science, especially in the "extreme environment of space," Meir said. The increasingly real possibility of traveling to Marsonce just a science fiction storyemphasizes the need to resolve factors that have hampered the feasibility of long-duration spaceflight, including having an ample supply of food, water and breathable air. Finding a way to induce torpor in humans could help eliminate limiting factors as well as protect astronauts from harmful radiation. Meir's talk will provide insight from her unique perspective and experience as an astronaut, discussing the architecture for NASA's current and future human spaceflight missions.

Explore further Less sensitive temperature regulation a key to hibernation-like torpor

More information: The symposium "Harnessing naturally evolved torpor to benefit human spaceflight" will be held on Saturday, October 27, at the Astor Crowne Plaza-New Orleans French Quarter.
Many kidney specialists many need more training and support when it comes to managing women's health issues, according to a study that will be presented at ASN Kidney Week 2018 October 23-October 28 at the San Diego Convention Center.

A broad range of women's health issues are intimately related to kidney disease, yet little is known about clinicians' confidence in these issues. To investigate, Monica Reynolds, MD (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill), Elizabeth Hendren, MD (University of Toronto) and their colleagues sent a 25-question survey to nephrologists in the United States and Canada.

Of the 154 respondents, 58% were from the United States, 53% were women, and the median age was 41- 45 years. Most nephrologists counseled on contraception (65%) or pre-conception planning (76%) to an average of less than one woman per month, though counseling was more frequent in the United States. Nephrologists often lacked confidence managing many women's health issues including menstrual disorders, contraception, osteoporosis and menopause. While female providers were more confident in counseling about contraception (42% vs. 23%), there were no other significant differences in confidence level based on gender or country of practice. Physicians also reported inconsistent documentation of obstetric history even though factors during pregnancy are clinically important for assessing a woman's risk of cardiovascular disease.

"It is our hope that by highlighting these gaps we can target future interventions to improve patient-centered care for women with chronic kidney disease," said Dr. Reynolds. "Further research is warranted to develop tools to increase knowledge in training, identify best mechanisms to enhance physician confidence, and facilitate formation of interdisciplinary clinics."

Explore further Knowing the potential risks of hormonal birth control can help college women make informed choices for their well-being
 2018-19 U-M Wrestling Schedule | Ticket Information

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan wrestling team will informally kick off its 2018-19 season on Sunday (Oct. 28) with the annual Maize and Blue Intrasquad at 2 p.m. at Cliff Keen Arena. Admission is free.

The Maize and Blue Intrasquad, which will feature eight matches at eight weight classes, typically serves as a component of the preseason wrestle-offs to determine the Wolverines' starting lineup. Preliminary matches were held on Friday afternoon (Oct. 26) inside the Bahna Wrestling Center. Additional wrestle-off matches could occur at a later date.

Maize and Blue Intrasquad Lineups:

125 -- Austin Assad (Maize) vs. Drew Mattin (Blue)

141 -- Kanen Storr (Maize) vs. Joey Silva (Blue)

149 -- Malik Amine (Maize) vs. Ben Lamantia (Blue)

157 -- Alec Pantaleo (Maize) vs. Will Lewan (Blue)

174 -- Max Maylor (Maize) vs. Myles Amine (Blue)

184 -- Jelani Embree (Maize) vs. Sebastian Rawls (Blue)

197 -- Andrew Davison (Maize) vs. Jackson Striggow (Blue)

Hwt -- Mason Parris (Maize) vs. Luke Ready (Blue)

Fans can follow the event live through the Michigan wrestling Twitter (@umichwrestling).

Michigan will send the bulk of its roster to participate in the Michigan State Open next Saturday, Nov. 3, at Jenison Field House, while redshirt junior Myles Amine will compete in the 174-pound contest at the NWCA All-Star Classic on Friday, Nov. 2, in Denver, Colorado.

The Wolverines' official home opener will be Friday, Nov. 16, when they host Lehigh at 7 p.m. at Crisler Center. For information on new season tickets, single-match tickets and group tickets, visit the wrestling ticket information page.
Dashain hangover

Let us thank our government for giving us the best Dashain gift ever. No, we did not get free Khasi or anything else from our incompetent government. Instead, we had to pay more for everything. The day we get any freebies from Singha Durbar is the day we know that we are officially what you would call a so-called developed nation.
Florida man charged in connection with 14 bombs sent to Trump critics

The man suspected of mailing at least 14 pipe bombs to some of U.S. President Donald Trumps leading critics was arrested on Friday in Florida on federal charges in a case echoing the rancor of one of the most toxic election campaigns in decades.
Least developed countries need more resources, Yadav tells UN

Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Matrika Prasad Yadav, has said the least developed and landlocked countries need additional mobilisation of resources to spur development activities and to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Residents in Napa County cities voting on the proposed hotel tax increase to raise money for affordable and workforce housing might think theyre seeing double.

Theyll vote on it once. Then, in an instant of ballot box deja vu, theyll seemingly find themselves voting on it again.

The difference  one measure would raise the transient occupancy tax by 1 percent in their city and the other would raise the transient occupancy tax by 1 percent in the unincorporated county.

All voters in the county are county voters, whether they live in a city or not, county Registrar of Voters John Tuteur explained earlier this year.

City voters are not being asked to raise the tax by 1 percent twice, for a total of 2 percent. Rather, they are being asked to raise it by 1 percent in different parts of the county.

The Transient Occupancy Tax paid by hotel visitors is presently at 12 percent in unincorporated Napa County and all five of its municipalities. The proposed 1 percent increase to 13 percent could conceivably pass in some parts of the county and not in others.

Money from that existing 12-percent hotel tax goes into the general fund for each community, to be spent on community services and expenses. The proposed 1 percent additional tax is different in that it could be spent only on affordable and workforce housing.

In other words, visitors who stay a few nights in lodgings would pay a tax to help the lodging workers, restaurant workers and other people who serve them find housing, as well as others who struggle with housing costs.

The taxes can pay for land, workforce housing, creative approaches to keeping rents low, down payment assistance and matches for state housing bond money, among other things, according to a Visit Napa Valley presentation.

If the taxes pass in all Napa County communities  and, being special-purpose taxes, a two-thirds vote is neededthey would bring in about $4.7 million annually for affordable and workforce housing.

The city of Napa could receive about $1.88 million, the county $1.22 million, Calistoga $660,000, Yountville $620,000, St Helena $250,000 and American Canyon $140,000, according to a Visit Napa Valley presentation. Other estimates put the figures slightly higher.

County supervisors make no claims that the transient occupancy tax increases would solve the areas affordable housing problems. Board of Supervisors Chair Brad Wagenknecht last summer depicted the increases as one step.

But I dont want to confuse people in the community to think this is the only thing were going to do for affordable housing, he said. Its going to take a full-court press to try to really change that and the 30,000 people who commute in each day to work into our valley.

The median home price in the city of Napa is about $655,000. Data from the Gasser Foundation shows monthly rents in the city of Napa range from $1,700 to $3,000 for a two-bedroom apartment.

Napa County has about 11,500 hospitality jobs that include lodging, restaurants and tasting rooms. It has more than 12,000 manufacturing jobs that include wine production, a Visit Napa Valley presentation said.

Although the Transient Occupancy Tax is 12 percent, hotel guests currently pay a total levy of 14 percent on their bills. That other 2 percent is a tourism improvement district charge approved by the lodging industry for tourism marketing.

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Documentary filmmaker David Holbrooke will be premiering a new film called Take the Hill at the upcoming Napa Valley Film Festival (Nov. 7-11) at the Archer Hotel in Napa. The subject of the film is Napa Countys irrepressible humanitarian, Dick Grace of St. Helena.

Holbrooke, whose directing credits include No Mans Land (2017), The Diplomat (2015), and The Trials of Henry Kissenger (2002), has created a personal portrait of Grace as an international humanitarian.

The film captures the story of how Graces life as a successful investment broker and winery owner was transformed through a random encounter with a 9-year-old African American boy with leukemia named Anthony Frazier. So significant was Fraziers influence on Grace that upon the childs death, Grace immediately flew from Katmandu, Tibet back to Birmingham, Alabama to deliver the boys eulogy.

To this day Grace believes little Anthony changed the entire direction of his life. He made compassion and kindness real and true and good for me, Grace says in the film. And I just want to keep his message alive. Frazier was, according to Grace, the catalyst to awaking Graces compassion.

Take the Hill offers a panoply of images and clips that follow Grace through a number of international travels he has routinely taken since Anthony Fraziers passing: To Tibet, Nepal, China, and a thousand other locales reaching out to those he encounters in need. Graces great joy seems to be in personally entertaining children in hospitals, helping individuals with disabilities, and responding to the human challenges met by the personalities he encounters.

Yet the film cannot fully document the countless kindnesses and offerings of support to hundreds of individuals that Grace has adopted in his travels. Nor does it enumerate the many fundraisers for humanitarian causes at which he has assisted as Master of Ceremonies. Instead, what we see in the film are snippets of these encounters. One suspects there are an equal number of stories behind each clip.

Nor does it include mention of Graces Unsung Heroes of Compassion events  mounted over multiple years between 2001 and 2014 in San Francisco. Those events  sponsored by the Grace Family Vineyards Association and the Wisdom in Action nonprofit  gathered several hundred individual humanitarians from around the world to meet with the Dali Lama as representatives of the tens of thousands of others who, according to Grace, quietly serve the disenfranchised and work to improve our communities through their personal efforts.

Perhaps this omission is because the scope, breadth and diversity of Graces humanitarian efforts are just too diverse and too unconventional to be documented in a single 24-minute tribute. Perhaps its because Graces individual acts of compassion do not fit into the neat categories of institutional philanthropy. Or perhaps this is simply Graces choice: to highlight the personal acts of compassion instead of the meaning of any single benefit he has endowed.

Actor, writer and fellow film director Peter Coyote also appears in Holbrookes film. He described this and other conundrums as challenges that Graces personality presents to filmmaking.

Superficially (Grace) is a bundle of contradictions. Hes a huge ego. But his ego is completely dedicated to helping other people. He gives away most of his money. But he drives an Austin-Martin and has art all over the place.

Yet Coyote describes Grace as a warrior against suffering, unkindness and injustice. Both Buddha and Marines are warriors, Coyote said. They put their bodies on the line for what they believe. Grace  who trained as a Marine  is at war with suffering. Hes at war with unkindness. Hes at war with injustice.

This military analogy is, perhaps, the genesis of the title Take the Hill. And though Graces affluent lifestyle in the Napa Valley may seem like a contradiction to his humanitarian and philanthropic efforts, Coyote reminds the viewer in real life contradictions dont cancel each other out. They just coexist.
Nepal chapter celebrates UN Day

United Nations Nepal celebrated UNs 73rd anniversary here at the UN House on Friday.
The stage is seemingly set for a very expensive political battle in 2020 over changing Proposition 13, the iconic property tax limit that California voters enacted 40 years ago.

A coalition of civic and stakeholder groups, led by the League of Women Voters and calling itself Schools and Communities First, has qualified an initiative ballot measure to remove Proposition 13s assessment limits from commercial properties such as office buildings, factories, shopping centers and warehouses, thus raising their owners taxes by as much as $11 billion a year.

The additional revenue from a split roll would be divvied up among K-12 schools, community colleges, cities, counties and other units of local government.

Conventional political wisdom assumes that proponents will raise millions of dollars for the campaign to pass the measure, most likely from unions representing teachers and other public employees.

In response, commercial real estate owners will at least match the proponents with many millions of campaign dollars. Both will inundate voters with a flood of propaganda via television, Internet and mailboxes

Advocates for the measure will tell voters that commercial real estate enjoys an unconscionable loophole and more revenue is needed for financially strapped schools and vital local services.

Opponents will counter that its an initial step toward repealing Proposition 13 and raising property taxes on homes, apartment houses and farms, and that new revenues would be consumed by rapidly increasing public employee pension costs.

While that scenario is certainly a strong possibility, its not inevitable because of a new wrinkle in the politics of ballot measures  the ability of their proponents to remove them from the ballot even after theyve qualified.

It gives proponents leverage to seek deals from legislators and governors to forestall expensive ballot battles. We saw it work this year when a measure dealing with privacy was withdrawn after its proponent agreed on a compromise with the Legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown.

Lenny Goldberg, who has spearheaded the decades-long effort to change Proposition 13, told a gathering of early childhood education advocates in Sacramento last week that he would welcome a tax reform deal with business interests to supersede the measure.

Thats not surprising, given the general popularity of Proposition 13, relatively mild initial support in polls for a split roll and the likelihood of a well-financed opposition campaign.

While Goldberg didnt specify what a deal might contain, he dropped hints that it could include confining the split roll to just big properties such as high-rise office buildings, high-tech campuses, shopping centers and factories.

The most valuable properties, he said, are a small percentage of commercial parcels, but would generate the vast majority of projected revenues. He also mentioned that were California to conform to corporate tax provisions of the recent federal tax overhaul, the state could gain several billion dollars in additional revenue  hinting that non-conformity could be a deal sweetener for corporate interests.

Any agreement to replace the split roll initiative would require the blessing of the Democrat-dominated Legislature and the next governor, presumably Democrat Gavin Newsom, so theres the possibility that it could be folded into a larger tax overhaul.

Newsom has expressed hopes of spending billions more on education and health care and mentioned a split roll as one potential source of revenue. Theres also been a big push in the Legislature to overhaul the sales tax and extend it to the fast-growing service sector.

The split roll measures date with voters is two years away, which leaves plenty of time to do a tax deal of some kind. Stay tuned.

CALmatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how Californias state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary.
To the editor of A look at Salinas, California, Farm Rich but Affordable (Oct. 21).

November elections are just days away, like many other constituents in California, I am preparing myself to vote educatedly on measures being proposed.

Ironically, this morning I was examining Proposition 10, which would give authority to local governments to act on rent control on residential property. I came across the article published this morning, A look at Salinas, California, Farm Rich but Affordable, as I read through it, I felt empathy and understood the challenges of the residents of Salinas.

A middle school teacher at Salinas stated, I work, work, work, work and take every extra pay job, I can do, I never get quite ahead; her story is reflective to many residents in California that have to live paycheck by paycheck to pay rent.

As a resident of Napa Valley, I can relate to her struggle. I come from a low-income background, and living in Napa is extremely expensive. My parents have to pick up extra shifts at work to be able to pay rent.

California housing rent is extremely expensive. Many residents living in California cant afford it. Just in Napa Valley, we have a big population that cant afford the monthly rates.

According to rentcafe monthly rates averages between $1,500-$2,000, for just 1- to 2-bedroom apartment. If you consider the factors, such as living expenses, healthcare, etc, this means that someone in the household would have to make twice as much the rent; to be able to afford rent. What about families of three or more? This would impact them the most.

Going back to article about Salinas residents not being able to afford rent. Lets consider the following:

Agriculture is the main industry in Salinas, by producing most of the world's lettuce. Their economy contributes the most to California. Yet, Salinas ranks among the least affordable metro areas in the U.S., according to Harvard University.

What shocked me the most about this articles is that Salinas median income is $69,000, yet, 90,000 of the farm workers earned far less. Farm workers, are the backbone to the agriculture in Salinas, yet, they cant afford to pay rent?

This research done by Harvard University on Salinas reminded me of the Stanford University and Public Policy Institute study, that was done in 2014. The findings were that Napa Valley has one of the highest poverty rates. The median income for a household is around $68,553. The income inequality is distributed, between the wealthier and lower class. Half of the population makes more than the median income, while other half makes less.

Napa Valley has one of the highest agricultural labor, most of it coming from the wine industry. Also, Napa is on the top 25 richest cities in America, according to USA Today. But, we still have a high rate of low-income, working-class people, who cant afford to live here.

Napa Valley, has one of the biggest rates of tourism, due to the wine industry. But this is affecting the residents of Napa Valley, like myself and many others. Just like in Salinas, farmworkers are the backbone, to the wine industry. Yet, many of them come from a working class community and cant afford rent.

With the increasing rates of living expenses and rent, we simply cannot afford it. We can no longer live paycheck to paycheck, to be able to afford rent. Its frustrating that we have to limit yourself on how much to spend, and what we can indulge in.

I stand in support with the residents of Salinas, and many others in California. By passing, Proposition 10, we would create a pathway towards more affordable housing. This bill will give local officials the authority to have a voice, over rent control.

As residents of California, we want to have access to local rent control. If Proposition 10 passes, we will have better access as residents, to hold accountable our supervisors and city council members. To make sure that rent is reflective towards all the people of Napa Valley. Vote Yes on Proposition 10. Let us take the burden off many residents living paycheck to paycheck. It's our human right.

Gladys Aguilar Vital

Napa
The verbal wars between two groups of NSCN (Khaplang)  one led by Khango Konyak and the other by Yung Aung refused to die down. The Konyak-led faction on Saturday accused the rival Aung faction of relinquishing the sovereign rights of the Naga by ceding to Myanmar Union consequent upon the signing the nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA) there.

The Konyak group, in a statement, said a delegation led by the chairman of ceasefire committee, Ankan Pangmi, reached Nyapidaw in Myanmar in June 2018 and signed the NCA with the Myanmar government.

The NCA stipulates that the signatories of the pact cannot under any circumstances secede from the Myanmar union, the demand for independence hence cannot be discussed, the statement said.

It further specifies that any dialogue or settlement shall purely be within the bounds of Myanmar constitution and limited to delegation of powers within Myanmar Federation i.e. a federal state of Myanmar, the Konyak-led group said.

Accordingly, the outfit said, the NCA signatories shall also be entitled to economic and developmental packages from the Myanmar government provided the signatories fully endorse the central authority of Myanmar government over its territories and people.

It is therefore a brazen act to claim to be still fighting for Naga sovereignty when they have already surrendered to Myanmar Union. The NCA group led by Pangmi renegades must undergo a serious retrospection before accusing others of racist and divisive policies, it stated.

However, the Aung-led NSCN (K), in a letter of appeal to the Nagas on October 19, urged them not to get swayed by development taking place in the ousted Konyak group but to have faith in its leadership.

The group also declared to uphold the spirit of the principle of Naga sovereignty and carry forward the freedom torch passed by its predecessors. It also vowed to fight to redeem every inch of Nagaland as in the ancient time.

The Aung-led NSCN (K) alleged that in order to remove the word sovereignty from the Naga dictionary, critical attempts have been made by the government of India and their agents to disintegrate and destroy the NSCN/GPRN and sabotage the ongoing struggle by creating splintered groups through skillfully designed divide and destroy policy.

It asserted that the NSCN/GPRN and the Naga Army will continue to support, defend and fight alongside other oppressed and colonized people till their long-cherished goal is achieved.

As things stand now, both the groups claim to be the legitimate NSCN (K).
Hrant Gharibyans journey, in the realms of scientific research and quantum computing, is a modern-day tale of inspiration for all those young scholars so keen on pursuing their dreams. From undergraduate studies to doctoral studies and there onwards to developing futuristic computers powered by quantum technology, its a story thatll strike a chord with young scholars all over the world.

As a young fellow in his native Armenia, pitting himself against the best of physics and mathematics talent in local Olympiads, little did Hrant imagine that one day he would be tinkering with quantum computing in distant San Francisco. But the PhD scholar at Stanford University is doing just that and more. As a member of the Quantum AI team at Google, Hrant is involved in the initiatives to develop a frontline computer based on the cutting-edge quantum technology. His involvement with quantum theory extends to an advisory role at gate42.org  a Yerevan-based group working on quantum chemistry simulation.

Unlike modern digital computers which rely on binary or digital codes, quantum computer involves quantum bits (or qubits) and their superposition, to achieve exponential speed up in computing. Near-term quantum computers will have extensive use in security, science research, communication and commercial applications. The research in quantum computing is still in an embryonic stage and therefore opportunities are huge in this field.

That childhood interest in physical sciences laid the foundation, in Hrant, for an enduring interest in the physical sciences. He went on to win the Best Student award from the President of Armenia, in 2008. He was also one of the very few to be awarded a Gold Medal at Armenias national mathematics and physics Olympiads. Along the way, he registered his presence, with medals at international physics Olympiads in Vietnam and Kazakhstan.

From Armenia to America was but a short step for Hrant. Setting foot in the Boston, he enrolled as an undergraduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It was here that the seeds of his fascination for quantum physics were sown. Under the watchful guidance of Prof. Max Tegmark, Hrant worked on and gained valuable insights into Thermodynamics in the model of Unitary Cosmology. Hrant also studied quantum information science under Peter Shor, inventor of Shors Algorithm. Those were indeed heady days for the newly-arrived young scientist who dove enthusiastically into the world of research and academia.

His stint as an undergraduate student in MIT saw Hrant distinguish himself in academic pursuits revolving around quantum physics. His interest in the subject grew stronger with every passing day and even his advisor Prof. Tegmark referred to him in his best-selling book Our Mathematical World in the following paragraph, Then something wonderful happened, which reminded me why Im so fortunate to get to work at MIT: enthusiastic twenty-year-old Armenian undergraduate student, Hrant Gharibyan, asked if I had any interesting problems he could work on. We teamed up and he attacked my problem with great fervor, devouring math books like popcorn and mastering mathematical tools such as Schur products and spectral majorization, which arent known to most physicists, and which Id only learned from my dad, who is a mathematician. And then, one day when I saw Hrant, I knew from his triumphant smile that hed solved the problem! During this period, Hrant himself penned a paper on Maldacena and Susskinds ER=EPR paradox.

With Professor Max Tegmark

By 2014 when he had completed his B.Sc., majoring in physics and mathematics, he had co-authored at least 3 publications on the subject of quantum physics and cosmology. Hrant credits Albert Einstein for his interest in physics. "Following his example, I always try to see through the mundane of daily life and enjoy the real beauty of comprehending the laws of our Universe.", says Hrant whos a Phillip Morse Memorial Awardee for best undergraduate research, in 2014.

Incidentally, at MIT, it wasnt a case of all work and no play with Hrant. He chose Theater Arts as his Minor subject at MIT, and went on to win the MIT Theater Arts Everingham Award for his direction of William Saroyans ``Hello Out There. Despite his professional pursuits in quantum technologies, the young scientist manages to find time for indulging his creative pastime. "I love theater. Acting and directing gives me the daily dose of creative freedom that is essential for balanced life.", he says with a smile.

Come time for doctoral research and it virtually rained offers for Hrant who got acceptance letters from the creme de la creme of American Universities  Harvard, Stanford, Princeton and Caltech. It was a tough call to make but he finally settled for Stanford where he worked with Prof. Leonard Susskind on the topic of quantum information and black holes. Prof. Susskind is a legendary theoretical physicist, who is widely regarded as one of the fathers of string theory and inventors of holographic principle. Apart from Susskind, as a Ph.D. student, Hrant co-authored a number of seminal articles on physics and mathematics with leading academicians and professors - Patrick Hayden and Shenker among others. The research scholar, with roots in distant Armenia, made the most of his Stanford stint. Attending conferences and workshops, and presenting scientific papers became a way of life for him.

All this activity bolstered his self-confidence even as it brought him in contact with some of the best scientific and research minds in the US and beyond. He recalls It from Qubit in Argentina, and the Google X Quantum Complexity workshops among some of the best immersive experiences he enjoyed as a doctorate student.

Thanks to his exposure to the interlaced worlds of academic research and industry as a student, Hrant easily made the transition to real-world application of quantum physics. He worked as member of Googles Quantum AI team tasked with building a computer prototype of the future. With his research background in the field of mathematics and quantum physics, Hrant is thrilled to be where he is right now, professionally speaking. Quantum computing is widely believed to be the next breakthrough in technology and hes excited to be working at the forefront of a revolutionary breakthrough in computation and communications. "I always work on projects and ideas that are beyond my expectations. Challenge keeps life interesting.", Hrant explains.

Even as he makes his mark in academic circles in USA, Hrant hasnt forgotten the land of his birth. In his own way, he contributes to scientific growth and development in Armenia. He regularly advises gate42.org, a Yerevan-based group of young physicists and computer scientists working on the issue of quantum chemistry simulation. Scientific temper and service to society perhaps come naturally to Hrant. "Both of my grandfathers, Albert and Haykaz, were scientists. Their wisdom, curiosity and drive for understanding have always been an outstanding example for me.", Hrant states and resolves to use his success story to spread interest in scientific research, among the younger generation.

With Professor Leonard Susskind and group of quantum physicists
Armenia ruling party MP: Public and competent authorities need to know circumstances behind captures of soldiers

Armenia ruling party MP assures that situation on the border is currently stable

Armenia ruling party MP: Confidentiality of process of preparing for demarcation is strictly necessary

Armenia PM: Citizens of EEU countries will be able to receive loans in all territories of member states

Armenian serviceman, 19, dies in Georgia's Akhalkalaki

Armenia legislature majority faction lawmaker: Russia military intervention is not end in itself

High commissioner: Diaspora is considering ways to help hundreds of Ethiopia Armenians

Opposition With Honor parliament faction: Armenia authorities trying to push territorial losses issue to backburner

Legislature majority faction MP: Armenia authorities do not make any demands on Russia

Opposition Armenia Faction in parliament: Authorities are unable to distinguish between priority and secondary issues

3 more die of coronavirus in Artsakh

Bruno Retailleau: France must support Armenia more firmly against aggressions by Azerbaijan

Armenia parliament majority faction: Border delimitation preparation process will start from point zero

PM: Armenia exports to other EEU countries increased by 27.8%

Armenias Pashinyan: Azerbaijan provocations are aimed at disrupting arrangements reached by trilateral statements

California Armenian couple accused of fraud flee leaving their 3 children behind

799 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Katherine Clark: Azerbaijan must acknowledge and respect Armenian sovereignty

Eurasian Intergovernmental Council enlarged meeting underway in Yerevan

Russia peacekeepers patrol along Karabakh border delimitation line

MOD: According to current data Armenia has 6 military casualties as result of Tuesdays attack by Azerbaijan

Turkish Islamic preachers organization denies reports of his death

Newspaper: What happened to missing Armenia soldiers during recent hostilities?

Armenia MOD dismisses reports about not allowing officers with higher rank than major to go up to combat positions

US virtually completes development of new tactical nuclear gravity bomb B61-12

Newspaper: Officers with higher rank than major not allowed to combat positions during recent hostilities in Syunik

Opposition MP: Granting corridor to Azerbaijan through Syunik Province will be gravest crime against Armenia

US Department of State representative says why Azerbaijan is not invited to Summit for Democracy

Armenian human rights activists to submit letters to ECHR regarding soldiers captured and considered missing

Armenia FM stresses importance of addressable response to Azerbaijan's actions during talk with Greek counterpart

Ex-ruling party official: Armenia authorities found reason for MOD's resignation after his visit to Karabakh

Republican Party of Armenia spokesperson: Nikol Pashinyan gave a confessional testimony in parliament yesterday

Armenia President talks about states' collective responsibility at Bloomberg New Economy Forum

Turkish website reports poisoning of Fetullah Gulen

Armenia FM holds phone talks with Cypriot counterpart, presents situation created after Azerbaijani attack

Mirzoyan, Zas discuss CSTO's possible actions to stabilize situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border, if necessary

Mothers of deceased servicemen demand Armenia PM's resignation

Azerbaijani Armed Forces open fire at tractor in Armenia's Verin Shorzha village

Putin: Events unfolding on Armenia-Azerbaijan border attest to fact that situation has not calmed down in the region

Lithuania supports Armenia's territorial integrity

NEWS.am daily digest: 18.11.21

Ex-ruling party official: Incumbent authorities created deliberately organized chaos in Armenia

Armenia Prosecutor General's Office to examine news about 6 Azeri servicemen captured and then secretly returned

Dollar goes up in Armenia

Armenia MOD planning training camps for reservists

Sergey Lavrov, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office to discuss assistance to resolve situation in Karabakh

High-tech industry minister receives Chinese recipient of Armenia State Prize for global contributions to IT sector

Eurasian Intergovernmental Council's narrow-format session kicks off in Yerevan

Pashinyan views Eurasian integration as one of Armenia's priorities

Two Armenian citizens found in Afghanistan

Armenian health ministry gets $ 2.5 million to fight COVID-19

OSCE Chairperson-in-Office has telephone conversation with Jeyhun Bayramov

Deceased Armenian soldier Taron Sahakyan's brother refutes news that he was captured and tortured to death

Armenia seeks to develop cooperation in food safety within EEU

Armenia Ombudsman, UNICEF Representative discuss problems with right of children of borderline villages to education

Armenia allocates AMD 462 mln for 4 subvention programs ahead of local self-government elections

Major incidents not recorded in Armenia's border zones as of 2 p.m., operative situation is under army's control

Armenia parliament approves several legislative amendments

PMs discuss prospects for development of Armenia-Kyrgyzstan collaboration

Turkish Nationalist Movement Party gifts Erdogan a map of Turkic World, with a part of Russia 'seized'

Man, 49, found dead inside truck near Armenia village sand mine

Armenia emergency ministry uses off-road vehicles to provide for needs of Syunik Province border villages, says minister

There is investment activeness in Syunik Province, says Armenia economy minister

Russia PM arrives in Yerevan

Minister on Armenia economic growth: We are from optimistic realist to optimist

Armenia President, Singapore deputy PM discuss avenues for expanding bilateral cooperation

Ombudsman: Armenophobia, propaganda of enmity have reached extremist fascism in Azerbaijan (VIDEO)

Russia peacekeepers carry out round-the-clock monitoring of ceasefire in Karabakh

1 more person dies of coronavirus in Artsakh

Armenia premier: There is no Syunik Province settlement that is under blockade

Office of Armenia commissioner for diaspora, SADA Global Delivery Center sign memorandum of cooperation

Armenia government approves 2021-2026 action plan

Armenia PM: Russia MOD made proposals on preparatory phase of border delimitation with Azerbaijan

1,019 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Senator calls for end to US military aid to Azerbaijan

Armenia is elected to UNESCO Executive Board

Whose body is brought from Baku to Yerevan by Russian Southern Military District deputy commander?

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan opened random fire at some directions of Tavush Province late Wednesday evening

World oil prices still dropping

Newspaper: Armenia has set task to change its foreign policy vector, Russia analysts say

Newspaper: Coronavirus death statistics in Armenia are incomplete

Armenian immigrant couple in California sentenced to prison for $20M fraud

EEU countries PMs to arrive in Yerevan for intergovernmental council meeting

Armenian army commander: Azerbaijan wants corridor, leader of Armenia gave consent to that, but refused later

Armenia FM holds phone conversations with Russian counterpart, Karen Donfried and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office

MTS launches inspection of its 'daughter' operations in Armenia upon request of U.S.

Armenia MOD: Defense minister receives Rustam Muradov, who brought body of deceased Armenian soldier to Yerevan

Taliban call on US Congress to ease sanctions and unfreeze Afghanistan's assets

Armenia PM: The meaning of being captured and the circumstances of captivity need to be investigated

Moscow, Ankara agree to not release details about joint manufacturing of S-400s

OSCE Chairperson-in-Office welcomes ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan after Russian mediation

Armenia Ombudsman discusses Armenian captives' issue with acting Head of ICRC Delegation

Armenia PM refutes possibility of giving order 'to not open fire' when it comes to homeland defense

Armenian PM tries to clarify situation regarding use of names "Eyvazli" and "Chayzami"

IAEA Director General to visit Iran

Armenia PM: Our goal is to sign a peace treaty

Rustam Muradov brings body of one Armenian serviceman

Reuters: UAE's high-ranking delegation to visit Tehran soon

James Langevin: Azerbaijani government again unleashed a volley of unprovoked violence against Armenia

Ambassador to the Holy See: Armenia calls on its international partners to condemn Azerbaijan's actions
Nepal, China sign MoU on military cooperation

Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Ishwor Pokhrel held a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe in Beijing on Saturday.
Armenia parliament majority members do not deny possibility of "exchange of territories" with Azerbaijan

Armenia ruling party MP: Public and competent authorities need to know circumstances behind captures of soldiers

Armenia ruling party MP assures that situation on the border is currently stable

Armenia ruling party MP: Confidentiality of process of preparing for demarcation is strictly necessary

Armenia PM: Citizens of EEU countries will be able to receive loans in all territories of member states

Armenian serviceman, 19, dies in Georgia's Akhalkalaki

Armenia legislature majority faction lawmaker: Russia military intervention is not end in itself

High commissioner: Diaspora is considering ways to help hundreds of Ethiopia Armenians

Opposition With Honor parliament faction: Armenia authorities trying to push territorial losses issue to backburner

Legislature majority faction MP: Armenia authorities do not make any demands on Russia

Opposition Armenia Faction in parliament: Authorities are unable to distinguish between priority and secondary issues

3 more die of coronavirus in Artsakh

Bruno Retailleau: France must support Armenia more firmly against aggressions by Azerbaijan

Armenia parliament majority faction: Border delimitation preparation process will start from point zero

PM: Armenia exports to other EEU countries increased by 27.8%

Armenias Pashinyan: Azerbaijan provocations are aimed at disrupting arrangements reached by trilateral statements

California Armenian couple accused of fraud flee leaving their 3 children behind

799 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Katherine Clark: Azerbaijan must acknowledge and respect Armenian sovereignty

Eurasian Intergovernmental Council enlarged meeting underway in Yerevan

Russia peacekeepers patrol along Karabakh border delimitation line

MOD: According to current data Armenia has 6 military casualties as result of Tuesdays attack by Azerbaijan

Turkish Islamic preachers organization denies reports of his death

Newspaper: What happened to missing Armenia soldiers during recent hostilities?

Armenia MOD dismisses reports about not allowing officers with higher rank than major to go up to combat positions

US virtually completes development of new tactical nuclear gravity bomb B61-12

Newspaper: Officers with higher rank than major not allowed to combat positions during recent hostilities in Syunik

Opposition MP: Granting corridor to Azerbaijan through Syunik Province will be gravest crime against Armenia

US Department of State representative says why Azerbaijan is not invited to Summit for Democracy

Armenian human rights activists to submit letters to ECHR regarding soldiers captured and considered missing

Armenia FM stresses importance of addressable response to Azerbaijan's actions during talk with Greek counterpart

Ex-ruling party official: Armenia authorities found reason for MOD's resignation after his visit to Karabakh

Republican Party of Armenia spokesperson: Nikol Pashinyan gave a confessional testimony in parliament yesterday

Armenia President talks about states' collective responsibility at Bloomberg New Economy Forum

Turkish website reports poisoning of Fetullah Gulen

Armenia FM holds phone talks with Cypriot counterpart, presents situation created after Azerbaijani attack

Mirzoyan, Zas discuss CSTO's possible actions to stabilize situation on Armenia-Azerbaijan border, if necessary

Mothers of deceased servicemen demand Armenia PM's resignation

Azerbaijani Armed Forces open fire at tractor in Armenia's Verin Shorzha village

Putin: Events unfolding on Armenia-Azerbaijan border attest to fact that situation has not calmed down in the region

Lithuania supports Armenia's territorial integrity

NEWS.am daily digest: 18.11.21

Ex-ruling party official: Incumbent authorities created deliberately organized chaos in Armenia

Armenia Prosecutor General's Office to examine news about 6 Azeri servicemen captured and then secretly returned

Dollar goes up in Armenia

Armenia MOD planning training camps for reservists

Sergey Lavrov, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office to discuss assistance to resolve situation in Karabakh

High-tech industry minister receives Chinese recipient of Armenia State Prize for global contributions to IT sector

Eurasian Intergovernmental Council's narrow-format session kicks off in Yerevan

Pashinyan views Eurasian integration as one of Armenia's priorities

Two Armenian citizens found in Afghanistan

Armenian health ministry gets $ 2.5 million to fight COVID-19

OSCE Chairperson-in-Office has telephone conversation with Jeyhun Bayramov

Deceased Armenian soldier Taron Sahakyan's brother refutes news that he was captured and tortured to death

Armenia seeks to develop cooperation in food safety within EEU

Armenia Ombudsman, UNICEF Representative discuss problems with right of children of borderline villages to education

Armenia allocates AMD 462 mln for 4 subvention programs ahead of local self-government elections

Major incidents not recorded in Armenia's border zones as of 2 p.m., operative situation is under army's control

Armenia parliament approves several legislative amendments

PMs discuss prospects for development of Armenia-Kyrgyzstan collaboration

Turkish Nationalist Movement Party gifts Erdogan a map of Turkic World, with a part of Russia 'seized'

Man, 49, found dead inside truck near Armenia village sand mine

Armenia emergency ministry uses off-road vehicles to provide for needs of Syunik Province border villages, says minister

There is investment activeness in Syunik Province, says Armenia economy minister

Russia PM arrives in Yerevan

Minister on Armenia economic growth: We are from optimistic realist to optimist

Armenia President, Singapore deputy PM discuss avenues for expanding bilateral cooperation

Ombudsman: Armenophobia, propaganda of enmity have reached extremist fascism in Azerbaijan (VIDEO)

Russia peacekeepers carry out round-the-clock monitoring of ceasefire in Karabakh

1 more person dies of coronavirus in Artsakh

Armenia premier: There is no Syunik Province settlement that is under blockade

Office of Armenia commissioner for diaspora, SADA Global Delivery Center sign memorandum of cooperation

Armenia government approves 2021-2026 action plan

Armenia PM: Russia MOD made proposals on preparatory phase of border delimitation with Azerbaijan

1,019 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Senator calls for end to US military aid to Azerbaijan

Armenia is elected to UNESCO Executive Board

Whose body is brought from Baku to Yerevan by Russian Southern Military District deputy commander?

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan opened random fire at some directions of Tavush Province late Wednesday evening

World oil prices still dropping

Newspaper: Armenia has set task to change its foreign policy vector, Russia analysts say

Newspaper: Coronavirus death statistics in Armenia are incomplete

Armenian immigrant couple in California sentenced to prison for $20M fraud

EEU countries PMs to arrive in Yerevan for intergovernmental council meeting

Armenian army commander: Azerbaijan wants corridor, leader of Armenia gave consent to that, but refused later

Armenia FM holds phone conversations with Russian counterpart, Karen Donfried and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office

MTS launches inspection of its 'daughter' operations in Armenia upon request of U.S.

Armenia MOD: Defense minister receives Rustam Muradov, who brought body of deceased Armenian soldier to Yerevan

Taliban call on US Congress to ease sanctions and unfreeze Afghanistan's assets

Armenia PM: The meaning of being captured and the circumstances of captivity need to be investigated

Moscow, Ankara agree to not release details about joint manufacturing of S-400s

OSCE Chairperson-in-Office welcomes ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan after Russian mediation

Armenia Ombudsman discusses Armenian captives' issue with acting Head of ICRC Delegation

Armenia PM refutes possibility of giving order 'to not open fire' when it comes to homeland defense

Armenian PM tries to clarify situation regarding use of names "Eyvazli" and "Chayzami"

IAEA Director General to visit Iran

Armenia PM: Our goal is to sign a peace treaty

Rustam Muradov brings body of one Armenian serviceman

Reuters: UAE's high-ranking delegation to visit Tehran soon

James Langevin: Azerbaijani government again unleashed a volley of unprovoked violence against Armenia
Nepal will never have to face blockade again: DPM Pokahrel

Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Ishwor Pokharel has said that Nepal will not have to face blockade again in the future as it has successfully signed connectivity protocols with China.
Story Highlights Afghans' future-life ratings are a record low, for any country

36% of Afghans say they smiled or laughed the previous day -- tying a record low

4% say their living standard is improving; 52% say it is getting worse

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- More than 4 million Afghans braved the threat of Taliban attacks on polling places to vote in last weekend's parliamentary elections. The turnout reflected a steely resolve amid the climate of fear and lack of confidence in the country's security forces created by continuous and widespread Taliban attacks in recent months. It also speaks to a longing among many Afghans to have a voice in shaping their futures. Gallup's most recent survey of Afghans, conducted last July, revealed strikingly low levels of optimism and well-being across a range of indicators.

Afghans' ratings of their own lives are lower than any other population's worldwide. Asked to rate their current lives on a ladder scale where "0" represents their worst possible life and "10" their best possible life, Afghans give an average rating of 2.7 in 2018, down from 4.2 in 2016. The current figure is in fact tied for the lowest Gallup has recorded in any country since it began tracking these measures in 2006. Asked to predict where their lives will be in five years on the same scale, Afghans' average response is 2.3 -- a new low for any country in any year.

Afghans' 2018 life ratings are remarkable not just for the very low averages, but because this is the first time in 12 years of data collection worldwide that a population's average prediction for life in the future has been lower than its average current-life rating. The unprecedented nature of that finding highlights Afghans' near-universal lack of optimism -- a finding that is all the more notable given the population's very young age structure: two-thirds of adults interviewed for the statistically representative 2018 survey are aged 35 or under.

Afghans also give extremely negative responses using another common approach to measuring well-being which asks people about the quality of their day-to-day experiences and emotions. This year, 36% of Afghans say they smiled or laughed a lot the previous day, down from 52% in 2016; the figure matches the lowest Gallup has recorded in any country over the past 12 years. Conversely, 52% of Afghans currently say they experienced worry for much of the previous day, up from 42% in 2016. In addition, the proportion of Afghans who say they experienced enjoyment and who say they were treated with respect the previous day both fell below half (48%) for the first time in 2018.

Afghans' Economic Optimism Also at All-Time Low

The current historically low well-being results reflect the suffering of a people with very little control over their own destinies. Afghanistan's infrastructure -- including its healthcare and education systems -- is spotty and unreliable after decades of conflict. The country has one of the world's lowest literacy rates, at 31%, giving residents little opportunity to improve their economic status. In 2018, 57% of Afghans say there were times in the past year when they didn't have enough money to buy food for themselves or their families, and 50% say there were times when they didn't have enough money to pay for shelter.

Almost no Afghans see their economic situation improving anytime soon. This year, 4% say their standard of living is getting better; this is lower than or on par with the lowest figures Gallup has recorded from any country since 2006, including the most desperately poor countries in Africa and Asia. Seven percent of Afghans say their standard of living is staying the same, while 52% say it is getting worse.

Implications

Gallup's 2018 survey in Afghanistan reveals just how devastating the negative cycle of poverty and violence has been to Afghans' daily experiences. Two of the most fundamental human requirements -- physiological needs like food and shelter, and the need for safety and security -- are consistently lacking in their lives, leading to alarmingly low levels of hope and well-being. As many analysts have noted, given the country's current status, there are no good options for resolving U.S. and NATO involvement in Afghanistan. In considering any new strategy, however, policymakers should not lose sight of the truly desperate situation the Afghan people find themselves in.

For complete methodology and specific survey dates, please review Gallup's Country Data Set details.

Learn more about how the Gallup World Poll works.
PM absent from partys tea reception due to illness

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli did not attend a tea reception organised by Nepal Communist Party (NCP) in Bhrikutimandap due to illness.
Home | News | General | Nigerians react as President Buhari fails to submit his credentials to INEC

Mixed reactions have followed President Muhammadu Buhari's failure to present his certificates to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ahead of 2019 presidential election.

The president reportedly told the electoral umpire that his credentials are still with the Nigerian military.

While some Nigerians on social media criticised the president for failing to release his credentials, others defended him by claiming that for him to attain the highest position in Nigeria military shows that the president indeed has certificates.

Here are some of the reactions captured by Legit.ng.

READ ALSO: Nigerian Army locates shallow grave where missing general was reportedly buried

Recall that Legit.ng reported that President Muhammadu Buhari again failed to attach necessary supporting documents needed from candidates vying for the presidency in the 2019 general elections.

According to reports, the president informed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that his credentials were in the custody of the military.

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Legit.ng gathers that the credentials of the various presidential candidates were made available to journalists on Thursday, October 25.

It's Buhari vs Atiku in 2019 - on Legit.ng TV:

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Source: Legit.ng

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Home | News | General | Curfew: Governor El-Rufai pays late night visit to security operatives in Kaduna

Kaduna state governor, Mallam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai has on Friday, October 26, paid a late night visit to locations around Kaduna metropolis, checking compliance with the curfew and encouraging the security agencies and civilian volunteers helping to maintain order.

The governor disclosed on the official Facebook page of the government.

Legit.ng reports that the 24-hour curfew was imposed on the state capital and environs following outbreak of violence on Sunday in which scores of people were killed and properties burnt.

READ ALSO: Nigerian Army locates shallow grave where missing general was reportedly buried

Security operatives were also deployed to strategic places including banks and other businesses across the city.

Recall that Legit.ng had previously reported that the Kaduna state government reinstated a 24-hour curfew on Friday, October 26, just few days after relaxing the order.

The governor was there to check compliance with the curfew. Credit: The governor of Kaduna state

According to social media posts by the Kaduna state government, the curfew takes effect from 11am. Legit.ng gathered that the government took the decision after violence broke out again in some parts of the state.

Legit.ng had also reported that the traditional ruler of Adara - the Agwom Adara - Maiwada Raphael Galadima who was abducted last Friday, October 19, with his wife was killed by his kidnappers.

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Galadima was said to have been killed on Thursday, October 25. Daily Trust reports that the traditional leader's body was found early Friday morning, October 26, before it was taken to St. Gerald Catholic Hospital in Kaduna state.

Nigeria news: IDPs in Plateau getting ready for the elections | Legit TV

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Home | News | General | Innoson to construct armoured vehicles for police

- Nigeria police say it is ready to partner with Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Co. Ltd. for the production of Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC)

- The police also called on other organisations to support the locally made vehicles

- On his part, Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra praised the ingenuity of the company amidst apparent challenges in the industry

The Nigeria Police Force has expressed readiness to partner with Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Co. Ltd. for the production of Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC) to assist in crime fighting.

The inspector-general of police, Mr Ibrahim Idris, expressed the readiness on Friday, October 26, at the inauguration of IVM Granite vehicle, 2019 edition manufactured by the indigenous company in Nnewi, Anambra.

READ ALSO: Nigerian Army locates shallow grave where missing general was reportedly buried

Idris commended Innoson for providing camouflaged vehicles for the Nigerian Army to tackle insecurity.

Idris, who was represented by the Deputy Inspector-General in charge of Logistics and Supply, Mr Agboola Oshodi-Glover, also called on other organisations to support the locally made vehicles.

Innoson is making history. This type is rare. I congratulate you and want to assure you that police will give you all the necessary supports you need.

But you need to commence production of Armoured Personnel Carriers to enable the police tackle insurgents and other security challenges in the country, he added.

Also, Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra praised the ingenuity of the company amidst apparent challenges in the industry.

I am happy this is happening in our state. Its only here that were manufacturing vehicles. Others travel to other countries and gather parts to assemble in Nigeria, he said.

Obiano, however, expressed regret that the epileptic power supply in the state had hampered some production capacity of the company.

The governor urged the federal government, as a matter of urgency, to provide adequate power supply and enabling environment for maximum productivity.

He also appealed to state and Federal Governments to commence placing orders on the vehicles produced by IVM.

With what Innoson is doing, he is contributing immensely to the nations GDP and should be encouraged to do more, Obiano, who was represented by his deputy, Dr Nkem Okeke, added.

Earlier, the chairman of Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company, Chief Innocent Chukwuma, said the companys major strength depended on its ability to produce according to clients specifications.

The fact that the Nigerian Police vehicle operate in diverse and dangerous terrains as a result of its functions, Innoson vehicles can produce specific operational vehicles that will meet the operational requirements of the Nigerian police.

This pick up is built for our roads and its in line with the latest generation of international brands of high end pick up, he said.

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Legit.ng had reported that Nigerias first indigenous vehicle manufacturing company, Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Ltd is to commence the manufacturing of affordable and quality vehicles in Nigeria as from January 2018.

Can Nigeria's first ever locally built helicopter fly? - on Legit.ng TV

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Home | News | General | Abba Kyari, INEC chairman hold meeting inside Aso Rock

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Mahmood Yakubu, has held a meeting with the Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Abba Kyari.

The Punch reports that the meeting was held behind closed door on Friday, October 26.

READ ALSO: Breaking: Nigerian Army locates shallow grave where missing general was reportedly buried

The meeting lasted for 30 minutes after which the INEC chairman left without disclosing the details of the meeting.

President Muhammadu Buhari will be seeking a second term on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress.

There are assumptions that the meeting may be related to the publication made by INEC on the profile of presidential candidates which showed that the president indicated that his WAEC certificate was with the military board.

Meanwhile, T=the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday, October 26, said it received nominations from 79 political parties for the 2019 presidential election and 6,352 for the National Assembly.

INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu disclosed this while addressing newsmen in Abuja on update on the implementation of activities for the 2019 general elections.

The breakdown of the nominations for NASS according to Yakubu, is 1,856 nominations for the 109 Senate seats, and 4,496 nominations for the House of Representatives with 360 seats.

Answering questions on the Supreme Court judgment on the All Progressives Congress (APC) Rivers State chapter primaries, Yakubu said that INEC was still awaiting the full text of the judgment to determine its next action.

Also asked of update on INEC decision that APC Zamfara could not file in candidates for NASS elections, Yakubu said that the matter was still in three High Courts.

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However, INEC did not receive any submission from APC Zamfara state. I will not say more than that because the matter is still in court.

He said that three out of the outlined activities toward the 2019 general elections had been implemented starting with the publication of official notice for the elections.

Nigeria Latest News: PDP Convention: Atiku Elected as Presidential Candidate | Legit TV

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Home | News | General | INEC receives 1,856 nominations for Senate seats, 4,496 nominations for House of Reps seats

- INEC said it received nominations from 79 political parties for the 2019 presidential election

- The electoral umpire also said it received 6,352 nominations for the National Assembly

- Breakdown of the nominations for NASS is 1,856 nominations for the 109 Senate seats, and 4,496 nominations for the House of Representatives with 360 seats

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday, October 26, said it received nominations from 79 political parties for the 2019 presidential election and 6,352 for the National Assembly.

INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu disclosed this while addressing newsmen in Abuja on update on the implementation of activities for the 2019 general elections.

READ ALSO: Nigerian Army locates shallow grave where missing general was reportedly buried

The breakdown of the nominations for NASS according to Yakubu, is 1,856 nominations for the 109 Senate seats, and 4,496 nominations for the House of Representatives with 360 seats.

Answering questions on the Supreme Court judgment on the All Progressives Congress (APC) Rivers State chapter primaries, Yakubu said that INEC was still awaiting the full text of the judgment to determine its next action.

Also asked of update on INEC decision that APC Zamfara could not file in candidates for NASS elections, Yakubu said that the matter was still in three High Courts.

However, INEC did not receive any submission from APC Zamfara state. I will not say more than that because the matter is still in court.

He said that three out of the outlined activities toward the 2019 general elections had been implemented starting with the publication of official notice for the elections.

These, according to him, include submission of list and personal particulars of candidates that emerged from partys primaries for Presidential and National Assembly elections from Oct. 10 to Oct. 18.

Yakubu urged the general public to use the opportunity of the publication of the forms and particulars of the political parties nominated candidates at its offices across the nation, to raise their claims and objections.

He said that the publication was for citizens to ascertain the personal details of the candidates to enable them to take informed decisions on election day.

Any person with reasonable ground to believe that any information on Form CF001 submitted by a candidate contains incorrect or false claims is at liberty to file an action against such candidate.

This can be filed at the Federal High Court or the High Court of a state or the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The current exercise is limited to candidates for Presidential and National Assembly elections.

That of personal particulars of those contesting in Governorship and State Assembly elections will be similarly published on Nov. 9, one week after the close of submission of nominations by political parties.

Yakubu also disclosed that the register of voters for each polling unit would be displayed at the units nationwide for one week from Nov.6 to Nov. 12 for claims and objections.

He said that the Commission had cleaned up the register, using the Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS).

He added that citizens were allowed to examine the register and exercise their civic duty by drawing the attention of INEC to the prevalence of any ineligible persons to further clean it up.

The Commission will also appreciate the assistance of citizens in identifying deceased persons on the register so that such names can be annulled from our record.

It is also an opportunity to correct misspellings of personal details such as names, age and gender.

Yakubu also disclosed that INEC recently received declaration of vacancies to conduct by-elections, following the election of two serving members of the House of Representatives as Senators in the by-elections conducted on Aug. 11.

The speaker has declared consequential vacancies in the Toro Federal Constituency in Bauchi state and the Kankia/Kusada/Ingawa Federal Constituency in Katsina state.

Similarly, the Cross River State House of Assembly has declared vacancy in Ikom II State Constituency following the death of the member representing the Constituency. Consequently, the Commission will conduct by-elections in the three (3) constituencies.

We have directed our Resident Electoral Commissioners in Bauchi, Katsina and Cross River State to convene stakeholders meetings immediately and prepare for the by-elections latest by Saturday Nov. 17.

Detailed timetable and schedule of activities for the by-elections will be released on Tuesday next week.

Yakubu assured Nigerians that preparations for the 2019 General Elections were proceeding in earnest and according to the detailed timetable and schedule of activities released by the commission.

It is exactly 112 days to the elections. We shall continue to faithfully and consistently implement the timetable and all activities.

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that a report by news outlet claimed that governors and leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the southwest are currently strategising on ways to mitigate the incursion of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, into the zone ahead of the 2019 presidential election.

Nigeria Latest News: PDP Convention: Atiku Elected as Presidential Candidate | Legit TV

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Home | News | General | Come and help us: Pest and Quela birds are destroying our rice farms - Jigawa farmers call on FG

- Menace of a rice pest popularly known as blast, destroying rice farms will lead to hunger according to farmers in Jigawa state

- The pest and Quela birds coming from Baturiya wet land in Guri had destroyed a number of rice farms in the state

- State and federal governments are urged to address the problem in view of their devastating effect on rice production

Rice farmers in Auyo local government area of Jigawa have called on the state government to take urgent action to check the menace of a rice pest popularly known as blast, destroying rice farms in the area.

The chairman of the Rice Farmers Apex Association, Malam Mohammed Garba made the call when the country director, Sasakawa Global 2000 (SG 2000), Prof. Sani Ahmed-Miko visited the association in Auyo, on Friday.

READ ALSO: Nigerian Army locates shallow grave where missing general was reportedly buried

He said the pest and Quela birds coming from Baturiya wet land in Guri had destroyed a number of rice farms in the area.

He stressed the need for both the state and federal governments to address the problem in view of their devastating effect on rice production.

We are calling on the government to do something urgently in addressing the problem before the commencement of dry season farming activities.

This year has been a challenging one to farmers especially rice growers in the area due to the devastation caused by flood, blast and quelea birds.

The pest destroys rice seed by making the pod to shrink thereby preventing it from growing fully, he said.

In his remarks, an official of the SG 2000, Malam Idris Garko, advised the farmers to stop buying seeds from unregistered seed dealers and companies, and to use variety of seeds every year to avoid possible infection by the pest.

If you find out that the seed is infected with the disease, change seed next year and destroy the stock to prevent the spread of the pest, he said.

Also speaking, Ahmed-Miko, County Director, Sasakawa Global 2000, advised the farmers to embrace new farming technologies to boost their agricultural production.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday in Abuja signed the Instrument of Accession to the International Cocoa Agreement, 2010.

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Malam Garba Shehu, the senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity, who confirmed this in a statement in Abuja, said the signing of the agreement followed its approval by the federal executive council.

EXCLUSIVE: Be patient with President Buhari, Femi Adesina tells Nigerians - On Legit.ng TV

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Home | News | General | Obaseki commends EDHA for efficient resource use

facelift of Assembly complex

The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has commended the Edo State House of Assembly for the judicious use of its resources, which resulted in the facelift of the Anthony Enahoro Assembly Complex.

Front row: Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki (2nd left); Speaker, Edo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Kabiru Adjoto (left); Deputy Speaker of the State Assembly, Hon. Justice Okonobo (2nd right); and Majority Leader, Hon. Roland Asoro (right), during the governors visit to the Anthony Enahoro State Assembly complex, in Benin City, Edo State.

The governor, who gave the commendation during an inspection visit to the Assembly complex in Benin City, the Edo State capital, said it was noteworthy that the renovation work was carried out through prudent resource management as no special fund was set aside for the exercise.

Obaseki said, I am happy with what I see here today. I am excited because special allocation or fund was not given for this renovation, but you did this from your regular allocation. I am pleased as the Assembly has properly utilised its fund. It shows you are prudent in spending.

He said politics is about public service and not self-interest, and expressed delight that the assembly complex is wearing a new look.

Speaker, Edo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Kabiru Adjoto, who welcomed the governor and his entourage, acknowledged the massive infrastructural development in the state which he said has been extended to the parliament.

Oborevwori expresses joy over reopening of Osubi Airport

He praised the governor for the beautiful and conducive environment in the assembly complex, as members and staff of the Assembly now spend more time in the office, in discharging their duties which has increased productivity.

Majority Leader of the House, Hon. Roland Asoro, expressed appreciation to the governor for the visit, assuring that members of the legislative arm will key into the governors developmental programmes to transform Edo State.

Waste operators laud Lagos Assembly on resumption of refuse collection

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Home | News | General | Alaghodaro 2018: Obaseki mobilises stakeholders in environment sector,

..assures on policy to address climate change, flooding

The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki has said that the state government is committed to harmonising environmental policies in the state to restore the states forest zones, combat climate change and curb practices that lead to environmental disasters such as flooding.

Obaseki

He said this much will form the rallying point for stakeholders in the environment sector, when they converge for the 2018 Alaghodaro Summit, which is focused on Edo people, and how policies and reforms are taking shape to make life better.

In a statement by Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Communication Strategy, Mr. Crusoe Osagie, the governor said his administration is mobilising stakeholders in the environment sector, including the United Nations Industrial Organisation (UNIDO), which is putting finishing touches to the states Environment Policy; business operators in the environment sector; authorities of forest reserves in the state as well as Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) focused on the environment for the summit.

According to him, The 2018 Alaghodaro Summit is a platform to engage with the people and showcase all the far-reaching reforms and policies we are implementing and designing to place them at the centre of development.

Micro pension scheme will enhance financial inclusion  IEI boss



In the last couple of months, we have been working to bring sanity to the sector through the Ministry of Environment and Sustainability. We are as concerned about the environment as we are about peoples lives and their wellbeing. This is why we have come hard on unscrupulous businessmen who violate extant laws and policies on environment in exchange for pecuniary gains in their operations.

He added, The state has been hard-hit by floods in the last few weeks. The summit presents a platform to tackle some of the perennial challenges that lead to flooding, and to agree on mutually beneficial action plans to assuage them. We are also keen on policies to push back the adverse effects of climate change.

The Dollar is thicker than blood

The 2018 Alaghodaro Summit is to mark the second year anniversary of Governor Godwin Obasekis administration in the state and will showcase the governors commitment to the people, including reforms, programmes and policies to make life easierObaseki

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Home | News | General | Ekiti Govt. seals off buildings linked to Ex-Governor Fayose

By Rotimi Ojomoyela

Ado-Ekiti-Two buildings in Ado Ekiti allegedly owned by the immediate past Governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Ayodele Fayose , have been sealed off by the state government for lack of approved plan and permit.

Fayose

According to the State Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Urban Development, the erection of the buildings contravened the laws guiding urban renewal regulations of the state government.

Fayose is currently being tried at the Federal High Court, Lagos , by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) over alleged reception of a sum of N2.99 billion from the office of the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki , to fund his reelection in 2014.

He is presently being detained at the EFCC custody in Ikoyi, Lagos State despite that he had been granted bail since Wednesday.

When Ondo monarchs become target of kidnappers

The sprawling twin duplexes with elevated fence , covering over six plots , were located at the Government Reservation Area(GRA) in Ado

Ekiti and almost adjacent the new Deputy Governors lodge located within the Government house .

When journalists visited the building on Friday, the gate to the building was under lock and key while contractors working on the buildings have deserted the place.

A paper dated October 18 , which was attached to the gate and signed by the Director of Urban and Regional Planning in the Ministry said: It was discovered during inspection by the inspectorate staff of our Ministry that a residential building by you at GRA has no approved plan /permit for the site or bring same to our office to get certification for the erection.

You are hereby ordered to suspend the use of the building premises until approved plan is submitted for clearance, it stated.

The contractor handling the project began work about four months ago after the buildings erected on the plot were pulled down to give way for the new edifices.

Before Fayose exited office, rumour had been rife that he was theowner of the magnificent buildings .

In his response, Fayose accused Fayemi of embarking on vindictive action over issue that doesnt worth governments attention.

In a statement by his Media Aide, Idowu Adelusi on Friday, Fayose said: Governor Fayemi was only acting out of desperation, and vengeance over the 2014 shameful electoral defeat.

The property in question does not belong to Fayose. Fayemis government should produce evidence linking the former government to

the property.

Fayose has said he was ready for probe and that he will appear in person before any panel set up by Fayemi . So, why the desperation?

Our advise is that, Fayemi should place high premium on payment of the workers salary arrears since N30bn is already in his custody

released by the Federal Government and not embarking on witch hunting or disparaging his predecessor. The money should not be used to fund the election petition filed against him.

He should hurry up to do all he could for the benefit of common Ekiti people because time is not on his side, Fayose advised.

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Home | News | General | 5 Catholic nuns abducted in Delta

Gunmen suspected to be kidnappers have abducted five Catholic nuns in one fell swoop in Delta State.

The nuns are of the Order of the Missionary of Martha and Mary in Agbor , under the Issele -Uku Diocese .



Our correspondent learnt that the victims were returning from a burial ceremony in the East when the hoodlums struck around the Railway Line near Agbor , Ika South Local Government Area of Delta State.

The hoodlums reportedly intercepted the private vehicle of the nuns , and shot at their vehicle , injuring two nuns on the leg before making away with the other five .

In a text message to our correspondent in Asaba, a priest in the diocese stated :  Please , pray for the release of five MMM Sisters kidnapped at Agbor , and two other MMM Sisters in the same vehicle shot at the leg region . The Sisters were on their way from the east where they went for a funeral . 

The state Commissioner of Police , Muhammad Mustafa , who confirmed it on Friday night , said the victims were in a private vehicle when the hoodlums struck , adding that the identity of the victims were yet to be ascertained .

Mustafa said the command has already mobilised its operatives who he said are now on the trail of the kidnappers to possibly rescue the victims unhurt.

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President Bhandari to visit Qatar

President Bidya Devi Bhandari will be paying four day official visit to the State of Qatar from Monday at the invitation of Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, the Amir of the State of Qatar.
Home | News | General | Order military to release your credentials!  Nigerians tell Buhari

Nigerians have asked President Muhammadu Buhari to order the Secretary of the Military Board to release his certificates to the Independent National Electoral Commission.

INEC had on Thursday published a list of over 70 candidates , who are participating in the 2019 presidential elections and their credentials .

However , Buhari failed to attach necessary documents to his presidential bid sent to INEC by his party , the All Progressives Congress , insisting that they were in the custody of the military .

In the affidavit which he swore to, Buhari said,  I am the above- named person and the deponent of this affidavit herein . All my academic qualification documents as filled in my Presidential form , APC / 001 / 2015 are currently with the Secretary of the Military Board as of the time of this affidavit. 

See some of the reactions :

Asking Buhari who can't find his WAEC, even as the Commander in Chief of Nigerian Armed Forces, to look for solution to Nigerians and Nigeria problems is asking for too much.  AJALA (@UNCLE_AJALA) October 26, 2018

Buhari orders activation of the economy. Buhari Orders Clampdown On Illegal Security Outfits. Buhari Orders APC to Capture Kwara Buhari orders payment of N22.68b to ex-Airways workers. President Buhari, order the military board to forward your WAEC certicate to INEC!  ThankGod Ukachukwu (@kcnaija) October 26, 2018

How did we get here Nigeria? How did we get this point where @MBuhari was elected @NGRPresident without a WAEC result, in a country who's total population's literacy level is at 59.6% (male: 69.2%, female: 49.7% as at January 20, 2018)? How did we get here Nigeria?  Ayeesha Musa (@AyeeshaMusa1) October 26, 2018

Integrity demands that you write to military authorities asking them to forward your credentials to INEC Even @MBuhari followers are not prepared to accept NEPA Bill for WAEC in 2019 So, Mr President, Wey your certificate? pic.twitter.com/TCw8KKGiO6  Kola Ologbondiyan (@officialKolaO) October 26, 2018

May be we should all protest next week in-front of the Military headquarters to beg Buratai to release Buharis non existent WAEC certificate to him. This country don tire me mehn.  Adeyanju Deji ???????? (@adeyanjudeji) October 26, 2018

Imagine being educated up to PHD level but you're defending someone that didn't write WAEC online. LOL I'd rather just keep quiet and vote. It's shameful  Ayobami (@dondekojo) October 26, 2018

For the second time the President of the most populous country in Africa fails to submit his WAEC certificate. Dear @MBuhari, if you can't produce your WAEC certificate don't bother contesting in 2019. Don't stop Retweeting till @inecnigeria disqualifies him. pic.twitter.com/A3rLExWDLO  CONFIDENCE (@realNCNC) October 26, 2018

This thing Buhari is doing and walking away with- one day we will all see it in much clearer terms- if INEC is demanding for WAEC, why cant Buhari approach WAEC for a reissue ? Why does he keep telling that BS story about the military? It is the silliest narrative ever out there  Khaleesi (@AbangMercy) October 26, 2018

INEC has received 70 presidential candidates names. 69 of them have submitted their credentials too. The odd one is Buhari, who says his credentials are with the military Same old story? Dear @MBuhari, kindly submit your WAEC certificate to @inecnigeria. Stop giving excuses  Oke Umurhohwo (@Stalyf) October 26, 2018

Once again Buhari has refused to submit his WAEC certificate to INEC. Once again he says that it is with the military authorities. Even though he has been Commander in Chief for the last few years he has been unable to retrieve them. May God save Nigeria from this man.  Femi Fani-Kayode (@realFFK) October 26, 2018

Buhari does not have WAEC certificate. Simple. And more than that, his knowledge of basic things is suspect.  EDWARD Israel-Ayide (@wildeyeq) October 26, 2018

Listen..if you are a graduate and you know that you have even your WAEC cert and u are still supporting Buhari you are a disgrace to your entire generation,..this is not party issue here or about individual but for the interest of our nation.,how long must we keep disgracing  Henry (@Henry12038060) October 26, 2018

Just imagine. Like, look at your President Buhari. Just look at. After the military that was it for him. No professional courses, no self improvement, etc. So military cannot release this controversial WAEC result abi? Why can't he be disqualified? pic.twitter.com/8b4PB1mg2u  Bolouere (@boluxxxx) October 26, 2018

Your President doesn't have ordinary WAEC result but he's ruling a whole nation. His citizens have to write & pass GCE/NECO/WAEC, UTME, Post-UTME to gain admission into the university. But your President says he's fighting corruption.  Your Ex (@OgaPromoter) October 26, 2018

Buhari claims his WAEC Certificate is with the military. Buhari is the Commander in Chief of Nigerian Armed Forces. Somebody tell Buhari the C-in-C to release Buhari the Presidential Aspirants WAEC Certificate.  FAVOUR ONYEOZIRI (GCFR) (@Rouvafe) October 26, 2018

We are now coming to terms with the fact that President Buhari does NOT have a WAEC certificate. The level of rot, degradation and heap of lies sold and peddled by this administration has reached grandiose proportions. May God deliver us from APC in Jesus Name ! pic.twitter.com/DDI4t3K23B  AURACOOL (@TWEETORACLE) October 26, 2018

If Buhari has no certificate to submit to INEC, other Presidential Candidates should also not submit credentials to INEC. Employers should stop demanding for certificates from job seekers. It should become illegal to ask for WAEC or academic qualifications from job seekers!  Jackson Ude (@jacksonpbn) October 26, 2018

U need 5yrs experience n a second class upper to gain employment and earn 100k Millions are struggling to earn up to 50k But @MBuhari who didn't visit a university in his life n who can't produce his waec certificate wants to rule Nigeria again We are the fools here. All of us pic.twitter.com/biPUK3VL7c  Wiz (@Uc_Wiz) October 26, 2018

Buharist tell ur booboo to release is waec result. no be only him be army obasonjo 2 na army. Abi any company fit Employ u without ur result. If u are preaching corruption then change should start with u.  DJ KLIZZY (@SAMKLEF) October 26, 2018

Lmao. Wailers who are unlooking the NYSC certificate forgery case of Hon. Rasak Atunwa, PDP guber candidate in Kwara State are asking for the WAEC result of Buhari, someone who rose to the rank of the General in the army. Is everything okay at home?  King Sola (@Solar_unique) October 26, 2018

This same old story SirFor Eff sake what is the meaning of this..Are you not Buratai's boss again..CinC for that matter..

Another option was..

You could have just bought WAEC form and Sat for this thing since 1985 when IBB sent you back to Daura! https://t.co/sod0dHOjvw  AnthonyEhilebo (@AnthonyEhilebo) October 26, 2018

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Home | News | General | Abonema 10 kidnap : Abductors collect N3M, release two, raise ransom to N10M

By Egufe Yafugborhi

PORT HARCOURT  GUNMEN who on Wednesday afternoon kidnapped 10 community leaders of Idama in Abonema waterways, Akuku Toru local government area, Rivers state, have released two of the captives.

Kidnap

A community source who disclosed this to Vanguard said the abductors, after collecting N3Million, released newly installed Paramount Ruler of Idama along with his cousin simply identified as Chief Benibo.

They (kidnappers) may have changed their minds. Negotiations came to N5Million before now for all abductees. They released two persons after collecting N3Million and suddenly they are asking for another N7Million for the remaining persons, the source.

How emotional trauma became musical inspiration for me  Kayode



Rivers Police Public Relations Officer, Nnamdi Omoni, was yet to confirm the current development on the saga, but both freed captives were said to be on their way to Port Harcourt already.

The abduction victims were said to be returning to Abonema from neighboring Idama after a truce meeting over leadership tussle in the community when the armed men ensnared and whisked them to yet unknown destination.

2019: APC guber aspirant, Cole says will broker unity in Rivers chapter

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Home | News | General | Industrial intervention: FG raises hopes in key sectors

At the meeting of the Nigeria Industrial Policy and Competitiveness Advisory Council, held recently in the conference room of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, hopes were again raised on key sectors of the economy.

VP Osinbajo

There was hope of increased broadband penetration, increased power supply through the use of unutilized power, as well as skills development and employment in the sugar industry.

That was in furtherance of the main purpose of the Council, which Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah, Vice Chairman of the Council says is to deal with critical intervention at the highest level. He is also the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment.

He explained that The council is to assist the government in formulating policies and strategies that will enhance the performance of the industrial sector in furtherance of the countrys industrialisation programmes through a platform for partnering with the private sector and other interests to work together.

Workers demand removal of minister over injustice, nepotism, others

Membership of this public-private sector partnership include: VP Yemi Osinbajo (Chairman);Dr. Enelamah (Vice-Chairman, Public Sector)

Minister of State, Industry, Trade and Investment, Mrs. Aisha Abubakar (Alternate Vice-Chairman, Public Sector);Alhaji Aliko Dangote (Vice-Chairman, Private Sector); and Atedo Peterside (Alternate Vice-Chairman, Private Sector).

There are 15 other members from the public sector and 22 members from the private sector. Some of the members are on the technical committee.

At the inauguration of the Council last year, Vice President Osinbajo said the councils duty was not just patriotic but also one to enable Nigerians to create livelihoods for themselves.

It is not just a patriotic duty but I believe that it is what will rescue and save our country and give our country a real chance to be competitive in global business and commerce.

And to give our people a fair chance of being able to create livelihood for themselves, jobs and all of those things that will make for a nation of people who are happy and satisfied.

According to him, if the council did not get it right then it was unlikely that the country can never get it right.

Among the high-level intervention projects of the Council discussed at the last meeting were:

National Broadband Penetration

Current broadband penetration in Nigeria is 22 percent as compared to 4% in 2012. To further improve broadband penetration, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) developed a Licensing Framework and instituted a subsidy scheme to enable Infrastructure Companies (InfraCos) to roll out fibre in all the zones of the country.

Workers demand removal of minister over injustice, nepotism, others

Specifically, the project, one of the key high-level interventions of the Nigeria Industrial Policy and Competitiveness Advisory Council, is to increase broadband penetration across all geopolitical zones of the country, such that at the end of the four-year intervention, all the 774 LGAs will be provided with fibre connectivity.

Dangote

That implies the deployment of at least one fibre Point of Access (PoA), with the capacity of 10 Gbps, in each LGA across the country.

According to the Executive Secretary of the Council, Edirin Akemu, the inability of using a single Infraco to achieve the desired broadband penetration because of the sheer size of the country, topographic challenges and socio-economic factors necessitated the use of the more companies.

To address the above difficulty and fast track broadband penetration, the National Communications Commission, which is executing the project has developed a structure to licence 6 InfraCos for the geopolitical zones and an additional one for Lagos because of its peculiarities, she explained.

Bello lauds President Buharis achievements in power sector

In the presentation of the NCC at the last Council meeting, it has engaged the National Economic Council and the Nigerian Governors Forum on

its broadband initiatives and has also reviewed the submission of the six licensed InfraCos relating to the Capital cost (Capex) for the project over four years, subsidy requirement, and network design.

Following the review they were requested to submit revised financials, network design and rollout plan based on, one PoA per LGA only for subsequent review.

At the end of the exercise, negotiation of percentage subsidy is to be considered for the respective zones. According to Dr. Enelamah, Based on the speed of re-submission received from the respective InfraCos and the conclusion of the subsidy agreement, it is expected that the project will kick-off before the end of 2018.

Deployment of underutilized power assets

In a move to ensure optimal use of resources, the Federal Government has commenced moves to deploy underutilized power assets to deliver incremental power to industrial centres and needy communities in the country.

AfDB approves $10m for capital market operations, energy infrastructure

Through the coordination of the Nigeria Industrial Policy and Competitiveness Advisory Council, the government seeks to generate additional 4.2 Gigawatts of power to the national grid in the next 12-18 months.

Towards this end, a total of 8 power projects have been selected for the critical intervention. They are the Aba Integrated Power Project; Kainji rehabilitation and expansion; power transmission; captive power projects for industry; Afam IV rehabilitation; Afam V rehabilitation; a Seplat gas facility; and Alaoji power plant.

Dr. Enelamah said work is ongoing on the Alaoji power plant to supply about 360MW of unutilized power to industrial centres and people in the South-East Axis of Onitsha, Aba, Nnewi and Ihiala.

He explained that only 120MW out of the 480MW of power generated by the plant is regularly utilized, so 360MW of power is available for centres willing and ready.

The beauty of this project, which is a pilot, is the optimization of resources and also that the learning from it is intended to be used to unlock up to 2GW from underutilised NDPHC power plants, Dr. Enelamah said.

The partners executing the project are the Federal Government (through The Transmission Company of Nigeria, Niger Delta Power Holding Company), GE Power, and Enugu Disco.

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Home | News | General | Want to learn how to get started in the fashion industry?  Join Fashion Designer, Taofeek Abijako in his Masterclass at the 2018 GTBank Fashion Weekend

20-year-old, Nigerian-born Taofeek Abijako is a young designer recognized for his ability to express social and political commentary through the lens of luxe-street clothing. Abijakos brand, Head of State+ is a New York-based company that focuses on art, fashion, furniture, and product design.

In 2018, Abijako presented his Spring/Summer 19 collection for Head of State+ at New York Fashion Week, making him the youngest designer ever to show at that prestigious event, giving him widespread acclaim across the industry.

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Abijako has received press coverage with renowned magazines and websites like the New York Times, Teen Vogue and i-D Magazine. Head of State+ is sold internationally in prominent stores like United Arrows, Assembly and American Rag Cie.

Date: Saturday, November 10th, 2018.

Time: 12:00 pm  1:00 pm

Venue: Plot 1, Water Corporation Drive, Oniru Estate, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Taofeek Abijako will be at the GTBank Fashion Weekend to discuss on Understanding the Industry: Starting Out.

To register for his master class click here.

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Home | News | General | APC leadership pacifies Amosun, offers him 3 senatorial slots over Ogun primaries

- APC has moved to pacified Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun state over the crisis that greeted the party's primaries in the state

- Amosun had on Friday, October 26, accused the APC national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, of plotting to kill the party ahead of 2019 elections

- The leadership of the party has offered Amosun three senatorial slots and a member of House of Representatives slot

In its efforts to end the lingering post-primary elections crisis rocking Ogun state, the All Progressives Congress has taken steps to pacify Governor Ibikunle Amosun.

Punch reports that the party has given the governor three senatorial slots and the right to bring in one member for the House of Representatives.

Legit.ng gathered that subsequently, the governors name and two others have been submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the partys senatorial candidates in the 2019 elections.

READ ALSO: 2019: We want more than SGF - Southwest PDP tells Atiku

It was gathered that the name of the former deputy governor of the state, Segun Adesegun, earlier submitted to INEC had been substituted with that of Senator Lekan Mustapha.

It was further learnt that the party had promised to give the ex-deputy governor a ministerial appointment once the party gets to power in 2019.

The state chapter of the party had been enmeshed in internal crisis following the governorship primary that produced, Dapo Abiodun, as the candidate of the party, against the preferred choice of the governor, Adekunle Akinlade, who had been chosen as the partys consensus candidate before the primary.

But, after the primary conducted by the electoral committee from the National Working Committee, in which his candidate lost, the governor had protested against the outcome of the election as he lashed out at the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and a former governor of the state, Chief Segun Osoba, for maintaining deafening silence on the matter.

The governor had also visited President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo about four times in three weeks over the crisis.

He had also dismissed rumours that he was planning to leave the party, while insisting that he would hand over to Akinlade as against the winner of the primary.

But in a bid to end the crisis, the party gave the governor the senatorial slots and the Rep position.

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Already, the names on the provisional list of the National Assembly candidates for Ogun state released by the Independent National Electoral Commission on Thursday, October 25, showed that Amosun got the ticket for the Ogun central seat, thus displacing the incumbent, Lanre Tejuoso, who had expressed his intention to go for a second term.

And for the two other senatorial seats in Ogun east and Ogun west, the names of Senator Lekan Mustapha and Chief Tolu Odebiyi were on the list respectively.

The name of a former deputy governor in the state, Prince Segun Adesegun, who was equally in the race for the ticket of the Ogun east senatorial district, was conspicuously missing on the list.

He, however, said he had decided to let go and move on.

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun state warned that the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, is on a mission to kill the party even as he described the party boss as a liar over his account of the controversies trailing the partys gubernatorial primaries in the state.

Nigeria Latest News: Buhari vs Atiku - 2019 Elections | - on Legit.ng TV

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Home | News | General | PDP southwest leaders reveal what they want from Atiku ahead of 2019 election

- Leaders of PDP in the southwest have told the party's presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, to give more key positions to the zone if he emerges as president

- Abubakar had promised the zone SGF slot after he picked his running mate from the southeast

- The southwest vice chairman of the party, Eddy Olefeso, said that the zone had been schemed out in the power arrangement of the party for the past few years

The southwest zone of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has urged the partys presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to give more key positions to the zone if he emerges as president.

Vanguard reports that the southwest vice chairman of the party, Eddy Olefeso, made the demand in Lagos on Friday night, October 26, at a meeting of key members across the six states in the zone.

Legit.ng gathered that the meeting, which lasted hours, had in attendance a former deputy national chairman of the party, Chief Olabode George; the current deputy national chairman (south), Chief Yemi Akinwonmi; and a former national vice chairman of the party, Alhaji Tajudeen Oladipo.

READ ALSO: How SARS officers tortured me, killed 30 people in my presence - Evans

Also present were former minister of state for defence, Sola Obada; a former deputy governor of Ogun state, Alhaja Makanjuola Badru; and a member of the National Assembly, Senator Abiodun Olujimi.

The partys governorship candidate in Oyo state, Seyi Makinde; the governorship candidate in Ogun, Ladi Adebutu; and a former governorship aspirant in Osun state, Chief Akin Ogunbiyi, were also at the meeting, among others.

Olafeso said though the promise of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) slot by Atiku was a good development, the zone deserved more key political and government positions.

The vice chairman said that the zone had been schemed out in the power arrangement of the party for the past few years.

Olafeso said for Atiku to give the zone a sense of belonging and compensate for the years of abandonment, he should zone key positions of the chief of staff to the president and attorney-general of the federation to the southwest in addition to the SGF.

He said the southwest had the second highest voting population in the country and would demand its fair share of political positions if PDP wins in 2019.

We have been denied for too long. In 2011, the country under the control of our party zoned the position of the speaker of the House of Representatives to the zone and it was taken away.

And from 2011 to 2015, we were left just like that and the reverberating effect of that abandonment is the reason why we are still having the hangover of neglect till today.

Now we are here again, the party is working with a zone with 14 million votes, the second largest in the country. We refuse and we will not accept where we finish the job in the next election and for one reason or the other, we will not be considered.

We dont have to wait till after the election before we say what we want. We want to let the party and our candidate know that certain positions are strategic to governance and we want them.

Yes, the SGF is great, but there is nothing wrong with having the Chief of Staff and Attorney-General on top of it to compensate us for the denials of the past, so that all of us can work as a united front. We will continue to fight for it, we will speak with a loud voice. We give so much, so the zone deserves a lot, he said.

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While congratulating Abubakar on his emergence as presidential candidate, Olafeso said the zone was pleased with the choice of Obi, a former governor of Anambra state, as his running mate.

He said the country was faced with serious economic challenges, and Obi had the pedigree that could realise the partys economic vision for Nigeria.

Olafeso said the zone was concerned about the travails of former governor of Ekiti state, Ayodele Fayose with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), over a case.

He urged members of the party to stand with Fayose at his trying moment, saying the former governor was paying for being truthful and standing against injustice.

I was in the court the last time and I am glad to tell you that he has been granted bail. We will do our best to ensure that he perfects his bail conditions and he is released soon, he said.

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Olafeso also said he was confident that the verdicts of the Osun and Ekiti governorship elections, where the All Progressives Congress was declared winner in both polls, would be upturned at the tribunal.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Adeseye Ogunlewe, on Monday, October 22, commended the partys presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, for promising to give the southwest the Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF) slot, if elected.

Nigeria Latest News: PDP Convention: Atiku Elected as Presidential Candidate | - on Legit.ng TV

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Home | News | General | Suspects in Khashoggi's murder to be prosecuted in Saudi Arabia

- The 18 suspects involved in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi will be prosecuted in Saudi Arabia

- President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey had earlier called for the extradition of the suspects

- Khashoggi was a Saudi Arabian journalist and a critic of the Saudi government

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, Adel al Jubeir, has said the 18 suspects in the murder of journalist Jamal Kashoggi will be prosecuted in Saudi Arabia.

TRT World reports that Jubeir stated this on Saturday, October 27, in response to a call by Turkey for the extradition of the suspects.

Legit.ng gathers that the minister said investigation into the murder of the journalist would take time. He said: "On the issue of extradition, the individuals are Saudi nationals. They're detained in Saudi Arabia, and the investigation is in Saudi Arabia, and they will be prosecuted in Saudi Arabia."

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Recall that on Friday, October 26, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, called for the extradition of the suspects, who were said to be citizens of Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that secretary of state Mike Pompeo on Tuesday, October 23, said that the United Stated (US) was "taking appropriate actions" against Saudi Arabia in reaction to the killing of a Saudi Arabian journalist, Jamal Khashoggi.

Those actions include revoking visas and entering visa lookouts as well as working with the Treasury Department to consider slapping Magnitsky sanctions on those involved in the journalist's slaying.

Pompeo told newmen at the State Department: "These penalties will not be the last word on this matter from the United States. We will continue to explore additional measures to hold those responsible accountable."

A bipartisan group of senators sent a letter to President Donald Trump earlier in October 2018, triggering an investigation through the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act into Khashoggi's disappearance at the time.

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In a previous report by Legit.ng, a source claimed to have heard a recording capturing the moment Jamal Khashoggi was dragged into a study and surgically dismembered.

Khashoggi was said to have visited the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on Tuesday, October 2, to pick up paperwork he needed to get married.

His murderers allegedly listened to music on their headphones while surgically dismembering his body.

The anonymous source claimed that the journalist, who wrote critically about the Saudis for the Washington Post, could be heard screaming as he was dragged from the consul generals office to a desk in the next door study.

According to the source, the consul general was taken out of the room before Khashoggi was "injected with an unknown drug".

Which country would you leave Nigeria for? on Legit.ng TV

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Home | News | General | APC cornered as witnesses allege irregularities in Ekiti governorship election

- Witnesses have informed the Ekiti election tribunal that the July 14 governorship election was full of irregularities

- They declared that there were irregularities in the election, including improper accreditation on that day

- The witnesses mostly complained of alteration of results, outright voiding of PDP votes, over voting, irregular counting of ballot papers, among other issues

- The tribunal adjourned till Saturday, October 27, for continuation of hearing

The Ekiti state Governorship Election Petition Tribunal was told on Friday, October 26, that the July 14 governorship election was full of irregularities, and the results did not reflect the votes.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)s state collation agent during the election, Sunday Olowolafe, along with 11 other witnesses, made this claim while testifying before the tribunal, sitting at the FCT High Court, Apo, NAN reports.

READ ALSO: 2019: Military recovers 113 live ammunition, AK-47 rifles from criminals, political elements

Legit.ng notes that the petitioners, the PDP, and its candidate in the Ekiti July 14 governorship election, Prof Olusola Kolapo had approached the tribunal to challenge the outcome of the election.

The respondents in the suit are the All Progressives Congress (APC), Governor Kayode Fayemi and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Led in evidence by Malam Yusuf Ali (SAN), Olowolafe, who testified as the 32nd petitioners witness (PW32), declared that there were irregularities in the election, including improper accreditation on that day.

While being crossed examined by the counsel for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Chief Charles Uwensuyi-Edosomwan (SAN), the witness, who is the PDP legal adviser in Ekiti state, claimed that Governor Kayode Fayemi was disqualified by the report of the Justice Oyewole Panel of Inquiry.

He claimed that he was not aware that the report had been quashed by a court of law.

Cross examined by Dr Kayode Olatoke, counsel for Fayemi, Olowolafe contradicted himself when he acquiesced to the suggestion that an indictment by a panel is no longer a disqualification for anyone to aspire to any political office in the country.

Although Olowolafe also agreed he witnessed voting in some of the polling units in the state, he said he got reports from agents of the PDP at polling units, wards and local government collation centres.

According to him, these reports formed about 75 percent of the report he wrote on the election, which was tendered by the petitioners and admitted as exhibit by the tribunal. The report was admitted as Exhibit P83.

I visited some polling units. I dont know the percentage (of the ones visited). I was not so much affected by the restriction on that day. I have my INEC tag, the witness told the tribunal.

Apart from Olowolafe, the petitioners also called 11 other witnesses, who were all polling units agents for PDP in the contentious July 14 election.

A witness, Olorunsogbon Ayodele Martins (PW40) from Omuo-Oje in Ekiti East local government area, told the tribunal that there was irregular counting of votes at the Ward 6, Unit 006, where he was an agent of the petitioners.

According to him, the total number of the used ballot papers and the unused ballot papers did not tally.

Another witness, Obadare Bunmi from Ado Ekiti in Ado Ekiti LGA, informed that the presiding INEC official at Unit 003, Ward 3 voided 32 ballot papers meant for PDP.

He, however, told the tribunal that he did not have the 32 voided ballot papers with him.

The witnesses mostly complained of alteration of results, outright voiding of PDP votes, over voting, irregular counting of ballot papers, among other issues.

Meanwhile, lead counsel for the petitioners, Ali (SAN), tendered two election monitor groups reports on the July 14 governorship election in Ekiti state before the tribunal.

According to the senior advocate, the petitioners had pleaded some election observers reports, adding that they got certified true copies from INEC.

While the INEC counsel objected to the admissibility, counsel for APC, Wole Aina, declared that the documents were totally irrelevant to the current proceeding.

Governor Fayemis counsel, Dr Olatoke, objected to the admissibility of the documents and said reason for this would be advanced later.

The tribunal, however, admitted the observers reports and marked them as exhibits and adjourned till Saturday, October 27, for continuation of hearing.

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that the Ekiti governorship election tribunal sitting in Abuja dismissed an application by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the recount of ballot papers used in the July 14 poll.

Ruling on the application, the chairman of the three-member tribunal, Justice Bolaji Belgore, declared that the application lacked merit.

Were Ekiti residents paid to vote? - on Legit.ng TV:

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Home | News | General | Dele Momodu speaks on Buharis failure to produce WAEC certificate, warns Nigerians

- Ovation Magazine boss, Dele Momodu has reacted to President Muhammadu Buhari's WAEC certificate saga

- He warned Nigerians to avoid frivolous distractions and vote wisely in the 2019 general elections

- President Buhari is yet to submit his credentials to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)

Ovation Magazing publisher, Dele Momodu has reacted to the lingering WAEC certificate saga of President Muhammadu Buhari.

This is coming after Buhari who is the flag bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC) only submitted an affidavit wherein he claimed that his credentials were with the Secretary of the Military Board, as the various presidential candidates credentials were made available to reporters in Abuja on Thursday, October 25.

READ ALSO: INEC chairman, Buharis chief of staff hold important meeting

Reacting on Twitter, Dele Momodu called on Nigerians to vote wisely in the coming elections. He wrote: Nigerians should campaign for their candidates on issues and avoid frivolous distractions Buhari in his military courses surpassed WAEC certificates, we should let sleeping dogs lie please.

Meanwhile, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar submitted all relevant documents, with a diploma in Law obtained in 1969 from the Ahmadu Bello University being his highest qualification.

On his part, Buhari, in the affidavit, said, I am the above-named person and the deponent of this affidavit herein. All my academic qualification documents as filled in my Presidential form, APC/001/2015 are currently with the Secretary of the Military Board as of the time of this affidavit.

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Nigeria Latest News: PDP Convention: Atiku Elected as Presidential Candidate | Legit TV

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Home | News | General | Envoy tasks India on Nigerias economic potentials

Nigerias High Commissioner to India, Maj.-Gen. Chris Eze (Rtd), has urged India to take advantage of the economic reforms embarked upon by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to strengthen its businesses in the country.

Eze made the call at an event in New Delhi to mark the 58 Independence Anniversary of Nigeria and 60th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Nigeria.

No where on earth does govt create job, Buharis man, Umohinyang, argues

Nigeria is already Indias largest trading partner in Africa and Indian companies are now the second largest foreign investors in the Nigerian economy.

The High Commission had organised an event to celebrate Nigerias independence anniversary with the Nigeria community in that country on Oct. 1.

However, the celebration was shifted for diplomatic reasons.

The envoy said that Nigeria had reclaimed its position as the largest economy in Africa after the recession that she suffered in 2016 due to the collapse of oil prices.

That reclamation is largely due to President Buhari reforms which among other successes increased our foreign reserves, restored macro- economic stability, kicked started the diversification of the economy.

Microsoft 4Afrika deepening data, AI capabilities in Africa

It has enabled Nigeria to rise 24 and 25 per cent respectively in two successive years in the World Bank Global Ease of Doing Business ranking.

I am happy that Indian businesses are already present in Nigeria and I hope they will increase their presence in the Nigerian economy, he said.

According to him, Buhari has achieved tremendous strides in the fight against corruption and his effort has earned him recognition in the Africa Union.

He, however, thanked the Indian government for inviting Buhari to visit the country due to the recognition of his purposeful and effective leadership.

Meanwhile, the Ghanaian High Commissioner to India, Mr Michael Oquaye congratulated Nigeria on the occasion, saying  Ghana and Nigeria are one.

Ghana has always taking a principle that we do not want Africa countries to be split, we are always on the side of Nigeria when they have any issue to discuss with Indian government, he said

According to him, in terms of Africa strategy, most Asian and European countries tended to deal with Nigeria and Ghana as foremost partners.

STRANGE: Monkeys stone man to death in India

In addition, he said that the two countries had played vital roles in ECOWAS progress and would continue to strengthen their ties with India.

Similarly, Ambassador-Designate of The Gambia to India, Ms Jainaba Jagne, congratulated Nigeria on the anniversary and wished the country success and peace in its upcoming elections in 2019.

Jagne said The Gambia had always viewed Nigeria as a big brother, adding that her country had always seen Nigeria as a forward-moving country.

We always wish to emulate Nigeria in some policies so the country is our mentor and also a mentor to a lot of countries in Africa.

Nigeria should be aware that we (Gambia) follow behind her in a lot of policies strategies and plan put in place by its government.

Lara George, Glowreeyan Braimah, others to headline Just Worship -Krisitilere

Also, Nigeria is a host country for ECOWAS, the country should be aware that whatever she does, it is done in the name of ECOWAS, she said.

Newsmen report that no fewer than 50 Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) had been signed between the two countries since Nigeria-India diplomatic relations was established 60 years ago.

India opened a diplomatic office in Nigeria, which later became a High Commission in 1958, two years before Nigeria secured independence.

NAN

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Province 2 defers three laws for one month

After Prime Ministers Office (PMO) assured to bring federal laws within a month, Province 2 government has said that it has stopped the process of introducing three provincial laws.
Home | News | General | American model Symba declares longtime love for Nigeria after meeting Osinbajo

Months ago, a certain American model identified as Symba stored Lagos for a photo shoot which left the internet buzzing.

The shoot taken at Victoria Island may just be consider the most daring in the history of Lagos. Symba rocked bikini as she poses without bothering about onlookers who abandoned their cars just to stare at her.

Now, Symba has declared her love for Nigeria after meeting Vice President Osinbajo at a Vice Presidential dinner on Friday, October 26, and was clearly positive about the meeting.

READ ALSO: Beautiful female corper converts her NYSC khaki to a mini-skirt outfit

She wrote:

Ok so I always say to people that I LOVE NIGERIA and last night was a reminder of why.

President Obama was in office for 8yrs years in my very own country and I am yet to get a glimpse of him much less a video with the Vice President of Nigeria. To many it means nothing but attending the Vice Presidential dinner last night could be the beginning of the rest of my life on a business level.

My connection to Nigeria isnt by way of origin its by spirit and force. The music of Fela, Tiwa, Wizkid, Davido and many others made me stumble across Nigerian music, fall madly in love with it and ever since I have never turned back.

The first song to enlighten me was party hard by . Nigeria as a whole made me fall in love with it as well. We all know I love coins but putting coins aside it is one of the most motivating and inspiring countries Ive been too.

Its the only place where you would meet someone of the age of 60 and that person has had almost 5 professions. For example: a accountant, lawyer, real estate developer, oil and gas engineer and now owns a night club. I mean WTDDA? (Where they do that at??)

I love the hustle mentality, the fact that if you are in the right place at the right time you can embark on a person on project that can be life changing. I love the balance between work and play whereas in America all you do is work work work. I

love the fashion, the films, the  let me stop here I dont want this turning into something else . If you have a brain and enter this country with drive and focused you can make great things happen and leave your footprint in the sand. Im ready to do some greater things in this new place I call home Nigeria.

READ ALSO: 'My daughter is a racist against her own race,' says a woman about her 16-year-old child

Top 5 Throwback Celebs Photos: Young Flavour, Falz, Don Jazzy, and others! | Legit TV

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Home | News | General | Stop electing leaders without education to public offices - Sanusi tells Nigerians

- The emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, says people without education fail to educate the masses after assuming office

- Sanusi advises the federal government to prioritise education by using the trillions of naira it spends on subsidising petroleum products in educating the young ones in the country

- The monarch blames northern leaders for failing to provide the enabling environment for children in north to attend schools

The emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has urged Nigerians to refrain from electing politicians without education into public offices.

The monarch gave the advice on Saturday, October 27, when he spoke at the 6th convocation ceremony of Nile University of Nigeria in Abuja, The Nation reports.

The former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor said people without education fail to provide education after assuming office.

We have to take an interest in the quality of our leaders and representatives in the level of education. If you look around this country at many levels of leadership, we have elected and we have chosen to elect people who do not have an education. And because they are not educated, they cannot give an education, he said.

READ ALSO: 2019: Saraki, Atiku, Secondus, Obi, PDP chieftains plot to oust Buhari in Dubai

We need to lay more emphasis on the quality of people we elect to executive and legislative offices and we need to make sure that those to whom we entrust policy are themselves educated and know the value of education.

Sanusi advised the federal government to prioritise education by using the trillions of naira it was spending on subsidising petroleum products in educating the young ones in the country.

Let us invest more in education and let us give up some of the privileges that we have such as the trillions we are spending subsiding petroleum products. That money should go into educating our young people," the emir said.

We are spending too much monies on roads and bridges and trains and too little money educating our children. Let us educate these young people and they will build the roads, train and bridges. We do not need to invite the Chinese to do that for us. And until the leadership at all levels in this country and the followership understand that this is what is most important, because I do understand sometimes that if a governor does not build roads or bridges, he is seen as not have been performed by the people."

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We build all these highways and there are more pedestrians on the highways than cars and those pedestrians are most often people without education and help. Development is first and foremost about people.

He also blamed northern leaders for failing to provide the enabling environment for children in north to attend schools.

The emir at the occasion was conferred with an honorary degree of science along-side the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III.

Meanwhile, Ovation Magazing publisher, Dele Momodu has reacted to the lingering WAEC certificate saga of President Muhammadu Buhari.

This is coming after Buhari who is the flag bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC) only submitted an affidavit wherein he claimed that his credentials were with the Secretary of the Military Board, as the various presidential candidates credentials were made available to reporters in Abuja on Thursday, October 25.

Reacting on Twitter, Dele Momodu called on Nigerians to vote wisely in the coming elections.

He wrote: Nigerians should campaign for their candidates on issues and avoid frivolous distractions Buhari in his military courses surpassed WAEC certificates, we should let sleeping dogs lie please.

'Nobody can stop Buhari in 2019, Atiku cannot win'| Legit TV

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Source: Legit.ng

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Home | News | General | You need to fix port access roads now instead of postulating about 2023 - Bode George tells Fashola

- Chief Bode George has advised Babatunde Fashola to leave the issue of who becomes president in 2023 and focus on fixing Nigerian roads

- George is a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party and former military administrator in Ondo state

- Fashola was said to have urged the people of southwest to vote for President Buhari to guarantee southwest's return to the presidency in 2023

The chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George, has advised the minister of power, works and housing, Babatunde Fashola, to leave the issue of who becomes president in 2023 and focus on fixing Nigerian roads.

George was reacting to Fashola's statement that the southwest's votes for President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 general elections would return power to the geopolitical zone.

The Cable reports that the chieftain of the opposition party gave the advice while speaking to journalists in Lagos on Saturday, October 27.

Legit.ng notes that George said: Fashola is the minister of works. Look at the key major roads from the ports, they are in deplorable state and these roads are the gateway to the nations economy.

READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda

It costs a container to be moved from Apapa ports to Tin-Can to Ikeja N1 million. Just one container and that is what it will cost the same container from Shanghai in China to Lagos.

So the minister needs to fix those roads now instead of postulating about 2023. These roads have not been maintained for years.

If goods cannot come out fast from the ports, it will affect those who are buying and selling and if things cannot go into the ports for export, how would people make money.

Fashola should be concerned about fixing these roads before May 2019 because he would come back someday to give account to the people.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app

Legit.ng previously reported that the minister of power, works and housing, Babatunde Fashola, on Thursday, October 25, urged the people of southwest to vote for President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 elections to guarantee a return of power to the region in 2023.

The minister stated this at a special town hall meeting on infrastructure organised by the ministry of information and culture and the National Orientation Agency (NOA).

Fashola said: Do you know that power is rotating to the southwest after the completion of Buharis tenure if you vote for him in 2019?"

Nigeria Latest News: Buhari vs Atiku - 2019 Elections | - on Legit.ng TV

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Home | World | Africa | Preschool teacher in drug scandal

The number of women charged for selling drugs in Tsholotsho has increased as a preschool teacher based in Siyabalandela village has been sentenced to six months for the offence.

Sukoluhle Moyo a 33 year old teacher at Mkhawuzaneni Primary School appeared before the resident magistrate of Tsholotsho Victor Mpofu where she was found guilty of drug possession and cultivating dagga.

On the 13th of October Moyo was found with 105 grammes of cannabis and 5 plants within her homestead garden by the Tsholotsho police officers.

She was sentenced to six months community service and her reason for committing the crime was that she had no means of income since she was not employed.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: Africa
Home | World | Africa | Chamisa party accuses Mnangagwa of dirty tactics

The MDC led by Nelson Chamisa has accused President Emmerson Mnangagwa of employing dirty tactics to silence the opposition after police gave strict guidelines for the party's 19th anniversary celebrations set for tomorrow.

"If you read the conditions set for us you would be forgiven for thinking that they were set by Adolf Hitler because it is clear that Zanu PF does not tolerate opposition and would rather have a one-party State," said Chamisa's deputy Morgen Komichi while alleging that the law enforcement agents and other State institutions were captured by Mnangagwa's government.

When Hitler came to power as the Chancellor of Germany in the 1930s, on July 14, 1933, his Nazi party officially declared itself the only political party in the country and outlawed the formation of any other parties.

This was after the Reichstag building that housed the German Parliament was set on fire which was blamed on the communists who were allegedly plotting to overthrow the Nazi government.

The following day, Hitler issued a decree "for the Protection of the People and the State," commonly known as the Reichstag Fire Decree that stripped citizens of their constitutional liberties and allowed the Nazi government to arrest communist leaders.

Komichi said the conditions set by the police were meant to dampen the MDC's spirits in a manner that violated its supporters' rights.

"We are dealing with a regime that is illegitimate and is a perpetuation of (former president Robert) Mugabe's rule if it is not worse.

"Zimbabweans have not known freedom under Zanu PF's rule and we have always been fighting that and will continue to do so no matter how hard they try to frustrate us.

We have developed thick skin," Komichi said.

The country's law enforcement agents bowed to opposition pressure on Wednesday and gave the party the greenlight to proceed with its long-awaited 19th anniversary celebration.

The celebrations had been put on hold following a cholera outbreak that saw authorities banning public gatherings last month.

But following a recent Constitutional Court ruling that struck off provisions of the Public Order and Security Act that empowered the police to block public gatherings, the MDC took the decision to proceed with its commemorations.

At the ceremony, the party hopes to anoint Chamisa as the "real people's president".

In a letter to the MDC, the police directed party officials to control the behaviour of their members, before, during and after the celebrations.

"Your political party shall not intimidate passers-by and those who have nothing to do with your celebrations.

"Your members should not be involved in toy-toying, convoying of vehicles of people chanting, singing and disseminating hateful and defaming speeches," the letter reads in part.

The police also directed that MDC marshals must be dressed in a uniform ostensibly to "make it easier to be identified by the police".

"A list of the marshals shall be presented to the officer who will be responsible for police security at your celebrationsany deviation from the above will result in police dispersing your gathering."

Police further said organisers of the event, Rhino Mashaya and party organising secretary Amos Chibaya will be held accountable for any troublesome behaviour by MDC supporters.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: Africa
Ruling communist party gets its contested name

The Election Commission on Friday upheld the registration of the Nepal Communist Party (NCP), in response to the claim by Rishiram Kattel that his Nepal Communist Party owned the name.
President Trumps tariffs are devastating, says Marquis-Larson Boat Group president and CEO Rob Parmentier.

It has had a devastating effect on business, the Wisconsin boat builder told Yahoo Finances Midday Movers. And the minute that tariff hit, you can imagine. People that have enough money to buy a boat, most of these people we sell to are also small business people.

They got a lot of things going on, whether they be in Italy, or Portugal, or Germany, or our partners right across the border, Canada. You hit them with another 25% and 10%, and the first thing they say is, No thank you. I dont want a boat anymore.

A yacht sits on the Neuse river bank in between buildings after hurricane Florence passed through the area in New Bern, NC., Saturday, Sept. 15, 2018. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

But thats not the only hit that Parmentier has taken. He says the cost of materials has also increased.

The majority of your little boats, most of the money that goes into those is through materials. Fiberglass, resin, steel, aluminum, he explained. I have been hit with anywhere between 5% and 40% price increases from every one of my vendors. And its just not sustainable. So if nothing is done, were going to lose it. Weve lost a big chunk of our business.

I just dont agree with the way he did it

Parmentier hasnt fired any employees, but its coming, he says.

We cannot, I cannot sustain eating the losses from the tariffs, he explained. You know, weve been doing a lot of different things to keep everybody employed. But its been extremely difficult. I cant make up for that business.

Despite the impact tariffs have on his business, Parmentier continues to support the president.

I have a lot of experience in the international shipping of stuff, he said. And what your average American doesnt realize is it has been extremely unfair to us for decades.

A Coast Guard boat is seen patrolling the waters in front of the Mar-a-Lago Resort where President Donald Trump held meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping on April 7, 2017 in Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

He added: When I ship a boat to Australia, Its 17%-plus tariff. We have 40%-plus tariffs in China. We have 75%-plus tariffs in Brazil, he explained. So I do understand what Trump and his team are trying to do. But 

I just dont agree with the way he did it. You got to do this in a much more negotiated fashion, instead of the way we went at it.

Story continues

Kristin Myers is a reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter.

READ MORE: Wealth manager on trade tensions: If youre a soybean farmer in Iowa, its a war

Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, LinkedIn, and reddit.
ISTANBUL (AP)  The Latest on the slaying of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi (all times local):

6:55 p.m.

Turkey's state-run news agency says Turkish prosecutors plan to seek the extradition of 18 suspects in the slaying of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi so they can be prosecuted.

Anadolu Agency said Friday the Istanbul chief prosecutor's office submitted its request to Turkey's Justice Ministry. The news agency says Turkey's Foreign Ministry would formally request the extraditions.

Saudi Arabia has said it arrested 18 people in connection with Khashoggi's killing at the Saudi Consulate on Oct.2. Turkey alleges a 15-member "hit squad" was sent to Istanbul to kill the journalist, a critic of the Saudi royal family who lived in exile in the United States.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the three others detained were consulate employees.

___

6:15 p.m.

Turkish officials say President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has shared information about the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The officials said that during a phone call on Friday, Erdogan and Trudeau agreed on the need for "all aspects of the murder" to be revealed for the killers being held accountable.

The officials from Erdogan's office provided the information on condition of anonymity, in line with regulations.

Trudeau has said he wouldn't hesitate to freeze arms export permits concerning Saudi Arabia. He didn't say if Canada would cancel a 2014 multi-billion dollar deal to supply light-armored vehicles to the Saudis.

Canada's previous government made the deal.

Saudi Arabia had a diplomatic dispute with Canada this summer over the Saudi arrest of women's rights activists.

 By Suzan Fraser.

___

5:30 p.m.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says her country is not ready to export arms to Saudi Arabia until the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi is properly investigated.

Story continues

Speaking in Prague through a translator after meeting her Czech counterpart Andrej Babis, Merkel says it's necessary to clarify the background of the crime that took place in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.

Merkel says Germany has made it clear that until then "we won't deliver any arms to Saudi Arabia."

Merkel also again said that Saudi Arabia has to ensure access for humanitarian aid to get into Yemen, which has been ravaged by a 3 -year war between the Saudi-led alliance and Shite rebels.

___

4:30 p.m.

The fiancee of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi says she has not received any condolence call from Saudi officials after the writer was killed in Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul.

Hatice Cengiz, who is Turkish, also said in an interview on Turkish television channel HaberTurk on Friday that she continually asks herself questions about Oct. 2, the day that Khashoggi entered the consulate and was killed by officials there.

Cengiz says: "I found myself in a darkness I cannot express."

She says she had asked U.S. Secretary of State Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who called her about the case, whether he had any news that would make her happy.

"But he said he didn't," she says.

Khashoggi had gone to the consulate for paperwork related to his planned marriage to Cengiz. Saudi prosecutors have acknowledged that Turkish evidence shows his killing was premeditated. His body has not been found.

___

12 noon

The Turkish president says Saudi Arabia's chief prosecutor will arrive in Turkey on Sunday as part of the investigation into the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that the Saudi official will meet Turkish prosecutors during his visit.

Erdogan also says Turkey has other "information and evidence" about the Khashoggi's killing by Saudi officials in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, and that it will eventually reveal that information.

Saudi prosecutors said Thursday that Turkish evidence indicates that the killing was premeditated.

___

9:50 a.m.

The son of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi has left Saudi Arabia after the kingdom revoked a travel ban and allowed him to come to the United States.

State Department spokesman Robert Palladino says Washington welcomes the decision.

It's the latest turn in the saga of the killed Saudi writer and dissident after the kingdom on Thursday cited evidence showing that his killing was premeditated  changing its story again to try to ease international outrage over the macabre circumstances of Khashoggi's Oct. 2 death at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had discussed the case of Khashoggi's son, Salah Khashoggi, during his recent visit to the kingdom, making it "clear to Saudi leaders" that Washington wanted the son to return to the United States.
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Something written on Radar Online is a lie??????? You dont say...

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this charade coming to an end would've been a good laugh otherwise i'm sure, but with mac's passing i just feel bad for her



i still find it laughable that they're going with "pete changed his phone #" tho

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Private person? He was instagramming that shitty tattoo , flaunting her to the paps and sharing to the press that he masturbated to her previously within the first 2 days of their 4.5 day relationship. 

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Ikr?? Like they were both lapping up the attention the relationship brought and now suddenly it's "just drop it and move on" .. like girl, you can't have it both ways lol

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I hate those please respect our privacy statements with couples like this. Bitch yall should have respected MY internet. This is OUR relationship now and now I wanna know what happened to us. 

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Yeah my ex was looking at my Instagram stories and I messaged him like why you looking at my shit ? Then we started catching up and apparently he is not in a good place and he got a lil sad when he asked me how many people Ive had sex with haha I dont feel bad after that haha.

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i stopped talking to my ex when all he seemed to care about was getting info on how much i was or wasn't getting. men are so fucking annoying.

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men always get obsessed, it's exhausting

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Lol I've been through this so many times. They expect you to be sad with them when you're perfectly fine and doing well. I've upgraded so many losers because I'm financially savy and a plan-a-holic so there's never a weekend where we're doing nothing. Their loss for getting comfortable.

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i'm trying to figure out if I should message my ex this because he is always up n my insta stories and he doesn't even follow me which means he is actively searching for my instagram just so that I can see he is looking. he's a manipulative fuck



but I figure he's doing to get me worked up and would revel in the attention so I prob won't

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I mean, three of my exes look at my IG stories regularly, because they follow me and I follow them and none of us stopped following. That's life these days - you chat up and/or fuck someone and then they stop texting you but they'll view your IG stories until you die.

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How do you tell when someone is looking at your IG stories?

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This thread has me 



Like if y'all don't want people to look at your stuff put it on pvt or block whoever you don't want to see it. I don't think I've once looked into who watched my stories

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what if the plot twist was that he broke up with her

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idk i could see it either way like he broke up with her because she was in an emotional state of mind after mac's death and wasn't the fun cute sexy baby he fell in like with

or she broke up with him because she realized that her life was finite and he wasn't the person to spend the rest of it with

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do you talk to your any of your exes, ontd?

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good riddance to bad rubbish

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not anymore and i plan to keep it that way.

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I wish I had the strength to move on from one of them. We were married and everything. We eventually split up and hes been unexpectedly popping into my life like jury summons. After all the horrible shit hes put me through, Im still so weak and cave, as if nothing terrible ever happened. Ive tried to think about how he fucked me over so many times every time we talk, but I notice that he seems like hes changing and has profusely apologized for our past. I know these dumb ass tactics and words are hollow. Idk man. Im probably just dumb.



Edited at 2018-10-27 06:49 pm (UTC)

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I talk to my high school gf because we've been friends since we were like 14. I def do not talk to the person I dated in my early 20s. We dated for three years and stuff dragged on for three years on and off after that, and now I haven't spoken to her in two years, thank godddddd

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Never. I know how to hold a conversation and my exes would think I was trying to rekindle something. Once we're done you're practically dead to me.

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I only recently had a convo with my high school ex during the Kavanaugh hearings but otherwise the moment any of my relationships end the guy is dead to me.

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I had to think about this one for a moment. last time i talked to one was during a funeral years ago. so, no.

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I dont, but if I could speak to one of my exes I would if only out of nosiness to see how his life has panned out (we split up 23 years ago lol). I dont even speak with my daughters father; if i couldve upped sticks and moved I would have but his mother was lovely and didnt deserve to be distanced from her grandchild because of her sons actions.

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only one. they were all abusive assholes, but that one apologized and actually meant it. he's in a good place now, has his dream job and just had a kid and i'm happy for him. i might talk to another cpl if they ever apologized, but idts because it'd probably turn out to be lies like all the other times. lol



i'm surprised @ the amount of people not talking to their exes. it's never worked out for me, but i see everywhere everybody like, "oh, it's mature to stay friends." sure, but if they were an abusive/cheating shitbag, no. lol

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i'm still in contact w my most recent ex. idk how long that'll last.

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lol fuck no

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Lmfaoooo my exs are all pieces of shit. So no

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Sometimes but not often. We broke up due to distance so theres no bitter feelings either way.

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My ex was absolute trash, so no.

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I picked up weed from mine a few weeks ago cuz it was dry af and none of my usually connects were around. But I hadnt spoken to him for years before that.

A different ex used to drunk text me all the time and it was sf weird cuz we dated for 7 months senior year of HS. I was always like who is this? Cuz I never had his number saved after we broke up and after like the 4th time I was like delete my number right now this is annoying. Idk if he did cuz I blocked him.

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my ex is one of my best friends now (in a jerry and elaine kind of way) and he just messaged me and told me his current gf he almost broke up with is pregnant. oop.

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Two of them, occasionally. There are three others with whom I am still connected on FB and/or IG.

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One of my exes is literally the best sex I ever had. Occasionally he's responded to my IG stories (OK twice, but that's infinity per cent more than the majority of my other followers, and I myself rarely respond to anyone's stories after viewing them even when I genuinely find them interesting). He and I chatted about how horrible the Kavanaugh hearings were and how frustrating it was to rebut "innocent until proven guilty". I also made a joke about one of his IG stories lately, which he hearted. That's all I got. But like...yeah, I've gotten over him mostly, and I don't think there's anything to gain by cutting ties fully with him.

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no and I hate people who say shit like "if you aren't friends with your exes, it's a bad sign!!"

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Nope. I pretend like all of them are dead.

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sadly no. but on my end there's no ill will, wish them well.

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only one, and we are soo platonic and don't see each other that often. broke up four years ago after a 6 month relationship so i'm definitely over it lol.

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Yes. But thats mostly because most of them I only dated briefly. Ive never had a relationship last more than a few months because I get bored easily so most of my relationships werent that deep and its easy to play catch up when you were really only in it for the sex and the initial spark.

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Nope. It's not worth it to be friends with them

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Only my kids father (we co-parent, and despite how it went down between us hes a good dad), and my ex-husband. I used to be cool with exes until dudes started to make it weird and creepy and it taught me to cut off dead limbs before they infect the rest of you

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When will Ari-Eazy rise tho?

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before valentine's day.

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Honestly



If only because you know Halsey would keep subtweeting them

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why don't y'all want her to make good choices. This is her life

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i want her to but she said it herself, that "hood love" makes her make bad decisions

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Because shes the same as them except a female version lol

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I think she'll only be with guys that put her on a pedestal. Even with as ugly as he is, g eazy seems to have an inflated ego, so prolly not.

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"He's always been an extremely private person"



o_0

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i'd be judging the shit out of her family if any of them liked him

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lol

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"itd be so helpful if the media and everybody would please just drop it"



maybe if you hadn't both been media attention whores for the entire relationship making everything a spectacle then the media would drop it?? they created this situation...

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So why did they break up

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Macs death caused a rift

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lmaooo

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sudden repulsion syndrome, probably

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smh these people want household name recognition and status and then get mad when people call them out on their shit or lie about them?



hmmm

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During the advanced biofuel craze of the past decade, many companies made claims that werent remotely credible. A long list of companies claimed they could economically convert biomass like straw or wood chips into fuel for around a dollar a gallon.

Investors and taxpayers funded many ventures that were destined to fail. Technologies that were abandoned decades ago because the economics werent viable were revived and received government funding to once again prove that the economics arent viable.

Cellulosic ethanol was probably the biggest offender. It isnt cheap to convert straw into ethanol, but companies continue to try. In fact, commercial cellulosic ethanol is now being sold into the fuel supply, albeit it is heavily subsidized via the Renewable Fuel Standard and being produced at only a tiny fraction of the projected amounts.

But right behind cellulosic ethanol in hype was biofuel produced from algae.

It is true that some species of algae produce oils that can be converted into fuel. It is also true that crude oil originated from algae and plankton that lived millions of years ago, died, sunk to the bottom of the ocean, and were ultimately converted into oil.

So the notion of converting algae into fuel isnt far-fetched. However, executing this process in real time is quite expensive.

Here is an analogy that I have used to explain the problem. Shred up a newspaper and then put that into a bucket of water. The newspaper represents fuel. Obviously, its useless as it is, so all the water has to be removed it and the newspaper must be dried.

If you had to do this on a continuous basis at a large scale, the reason for the high costs becomes obvious. Just the act of removing the water is energy-intensive, but then the oil must be removed from the algae, and it must be converted into fuel.

But that didnt stop companies from claiming they could do it economically and seeking (and receiving) government funds to do so. One by one these companies went out of business. Last year, Greentech Media published an extensive list of these companies, some of which claimed an acre of algae could yield 5,000 to 10,000 gallons of oil a year.

The Greentech Media story provided a pretty good overview of all the things that had gone wrong. But then last week I received a damning email from The National Algae Association (NAA) that highlighted the waste of taxpayer dollars.

Quoting from the email:

On information and belief, many of these hyped technologies have not been able to be proven outside the lab in demo and pilot scale projects, and it is known that others wont scale.

Related: Oil Holds Steady As Rig Count Stagnates

In private industry, you do not have the benefit of researching anything for 75 years at a cost of $2.5 billion but the DOE has allowed this to happen and to use US taxpayer funds to foot the bill.

Opinions from everyone except grant recipients are that the program has been a waste of time and taxpayer money and that there was a decade or more of pay-to-play.

The email provided specific examples, such as:

After a $50 million award was made, a company approached the USDA, requesting another $40 million to research the contamination issues they were experiencing from the raceway ponds that the entire industry knew experienced contamination. The USDA declined the companys request because it felt the company should have addressed their contamination issues prior to accepting the $50 million funding from the DOE, and that the DOE knew that contamination was an inherent problem with raceway ponds. The USDA was not going to help fix a problem that the DOE knew about when it made the $50 million award. That company is no longer in existence, its assets were either liquidated or buried, and their officers were not held accountable for anything.

The email finally highlighted what I think was the biggest reason for the failures:

The huge learning curve between what takes place in a lab and commercial production is something with which researchers have no experience.

Thats only half of the problem, though. Naive researchers asked for money for technologies that will never be commercially viable. But then someone within the government should have done a better job of due diligence before dispensing tax dollars for these technologies.

By Robert Rapier

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Besides volume, we also note the likely crossover about to take place in the slow stochastic  indicating that this move downwards was too fast and that a likely technical rally is about to take place.

Despite the (almost) capitulation-like violence of the resultant move that day, volume did not seem extreme for the move, with only 1.3m December contracts trading; significant, but below what I would consider overwhelming  consider the up volume of 21 September and the down volume of 17 October, for example.

We recognized last week the flood of speculative longs that had begun escaping from the oil market, and noted the likelihood that that trend would continue. And continue it did  but with the added fuel of the statement from Saudi oil minister Al-Falih of the Saudis ability to ramp up and cover any shortfalls that might result from upcoming Iranian sanctions.

The last week in oil trading has seen a continuation of the mini-bear market we worried about last week, including a particularly violent $3 dollar drop in crude on Tuesday. Assessing the importance of this action for the short term is the easier of this columns two tasks  the longer-term health of the oil market is tougher to assess from the trader signs I have been seeing.

The last week in oil trading has seen a continuation of the mini-bear market we worried about last week, including a particularly violent $3 dollar drop in crude on Tuesday. Assessing the importance of this action for the short term is the easier of this columns two tasks  the longer-term health of the oil market is tougher to assess from the trader signs I have been seeing.

So, lets get started:

We recognized last week the flood of speculative longs that had begun escaping from the oil market, and noted the likelihood that that trend would continue. And continue it did  but with the added fuel of the statement from Saudi oil minister Al-Falih of the Saudis ability to ramp up and cover any shortfalls that might result from upcoming Iranian sanctions.

Despite the (almost) capitulation-like violence of the resultant move that day, volume did not seem extreme for the move, with only 1.3m December contracts trading; significant, but below what I would consider overwhelming  consider the up volume of 21 September and the down volume of 17 October, for example.

(Click to enlarge)

Besides volume, we also note the likely crossover about to take place in the slow stochastic  indicating that this move downwards was too fast and that a likely technical rally is about to take place.

More indicators of the likelihood of at least a short term recovery in crude oil can be seen in the curve of spread prices  again I am going to use my favorite 3-month spread as a benchmark for the curve at large (CLZ8-CLH9):

(Click to enlarge)

Here is an even more obvious pattern of at least a short-term turnaround of the longer term trend towards deeper contango. Again, stochastics have already crossed below 20 and the technical rally, for whats it worth, has already taken back 25 spread points. The wide spread on Bollinger bands also indicates a move in the opposite direction is continuing to brew.

But what of the long term? Here, the market is less clear. Fundamentally, the overhang from the Khashoggi incident will clear, and the promises of Saudi capability to keep oil markets well supplied is countered by the statements of the Iranian oil minister  and here, I tend to think that Iran has a point, with a possible loss of 1.2m b/d from fresh sanctions. OPECs demand picture for 2019 has been revised downwards, but still, their revised 1.3m b/d of growth would be one of the sharpest increases in history. This is countered by the continuing Trade war with China and of course, the looming threats of a global slowdown. A mixed bag, although much of the negatives to the market do not seem at this point to be systemic  at least not yet.

Ignoring everything, and just looking at market action  which is often the only right thing to do  the continuing pressure towards a deeper crude contango and the relative weakness of gasoline cracks does not normally bode well for the markets in the medium term.

(Click to enlarge)

So, while I believe there is a technical rally afoot, until I see a further drop in speculative longs and better breadth to some of the other indicators Ive mentioned here, I believe this is a rally that needs  at least the first time up  to be sold.
Those left behind

I step out the waiting room and through the building housing the Intensive Care Unit. It is dark already and there is a chill in the air. I have been at the hospital for nearly eleven hours and should be tired but I am not.
After years of reticence to reengage as the situation in Libya increasingly spiralled out of control, the European powersand particularly France and Italyare finally wading into the debate over how to put an end to the civil war which has wracked the country for the better part of a decade. The ball is currently in Romes court, with the Italian government organizing a conference in Sicily on November 12-13 to find a common solution, even though there will be different opinions around the table.

Why the about face? Beyond the issue of migration, volatile oil prices, coupled with uncertainty over the ultimate fate of Iranian crude, are the international community added incentive to take the country seriously: analysts are increasingly looking to Libya and Nigeria as the only swing producers that could keep oil under the $100 mark.

The fluctuations in the oil markets are obviously more complex than that, but Libyas growing output has nonetheless been able to stave off some unexpected production declines  such as the 150,000 bpd drop in Iranian production that was offset by Libyas 100,000 bpd jump. Saudi Arabia boasts that its total spare capacity is in excess of 1.3 million bpd, but that wont cover the almost 2 million bpd Iran exported in August. With the Trump administrations Iran sanctions kicking back in November 5, Libyas importance to the stability of the global oil markets will only increase in importance.

As Libyas role grows, so does Europes new-look engagement. While the Italians are sending out invitations to Sicily, the French are continuing to push for the December 10 elections they got the opposing sides to agree to back in May. Rather than encouraging immediate elections, the Italian government promised $5 billion of investment in exchange for Libya cracking down on migrants in the Mediterranean.

Related: South Korea Cuts Iran Oil Imports To Zero

Against this backdrop, it doesnt take a cynic to see mercantilist motives as the driving force behind the newfound impetus to fix Libya, the country with Africas biggest oil reserves. France would love to install a diplomatic ally in North Africa, while oil titan Eni  30% owned by the Italian state  just acquired a controlling stake in BPs Libyan assets. Given that Eni hopes to resume oil and gas exploration, theres an urgent need to resolve rampant corruption and instability in the Libyan oil sector. A few days ago, chairman Mustafa Sanalla of the Tripoli-based national oil company claimed BP and Eni could help his country expand production by hundreds of thousands of barrels from the first quarter of next year. Of course, Sanallas company is just one of two rival national firms in Libya.

Regardless of their motivations, Western attempts to begin repairing the damage they caused in Libya are a welcome change to the status quo of interminable instability.

Oil: the solution to Libyas problems or another layer of the crisis?

Libyas oil crisis is merely a reflection of the wider schism in the country, effectively split down its geographical centre as the civil war drags on. There are two administrations: the UN-backed Government of National Accord in Tripoli to the west, and an unofficial body in the east backed by military commander Khalifa Haftar, who acts as a de facto ruler and is usually present when the two sides sit down to talk. Each side is backed by a litany of militias, and the picture is muddied even further by city-states and rogue tribal clans.

Related: What Will OPEC Do To Calm Stormy Oil Markets?

After Gaddafis ouster, oil was intended to lubricate the reconciliation process. Under a UN-approved system, crude is produced in the mineral-rich east before being sold by the state oil company on the other side of the country. This system purports to ensure that all oil is sold by Libyas National Oil Corporation (NOC) and not by the myriad rebel groups. This past June, however, Haftars Libyan National Army (LNA) reclaimed four key ports from rival militias and turned off the taps, freezing nearly all of Libyas oil production for over a fortnight and causing global prices to soar.

Barrels of corruption

His motivation, Haftar's supporters insisted, was to stop the loss of oil money to corruption and keep it out of the hands of terrorist groups. That said, the conflict over the ports also fit into a longer-term East-West battle over the control and distribution of proceeds. Haftar eventually relinquished control in response to demands led by Donald Trump. As part of the agreement to reopen the ports and meet Haftars demands, representatives from the UN, France, Italy, the US and UK reportedly agreed that Libyas oil industry, along with the countrys official  and unofficial  central banks, should be the subject of a wide-ranging corruption investigation under UN oversight.

Despite the acrimony of this past summer, it seems Haftars move may finally have moved the needle on Libyas internal oil feud. Earlier this week, Benghazi played host to an oil and gas exhibition and forum that secured the participation of both of Libyas rival national oil corporations. Even Sanalla delivered an address in which he insisted Benghazi city will play a prominent and important role for the oil and gas sector in the region and probably the world.

Even with these positive steps, corruption in the Libyan oil sector remains a systemic problem. Misused oil revenues have turned Libyas natural resource wealth into yet another vector for conflict. Cleaning up the industry and reconciling the competing sides will be integral to any effort to bring about a long-term resolution to the crisis  and, perhaps more importantly for the countrys Western interlocutors, make sure the country maintains its capacity to act as a swing oil producer.

By Scott Belinksi for Oilprice.com

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Azerbaijan and Turkey have further strengthened their already close relations with the formal commissioning of the first Azerbaijani-built oil refinery in Turkey.

For an estimated $6.3 billion, the new 10 million tons-per-year STAR refinery at Alia?a on Turkey's Aegean coast is one of the biggest foreign investment projects in Turkey and the country's first new refinery since 1986.

However, the refinery's formal opening on October 19 was marked by what was, by recent Turkish standards, an unusually low-key ceremony. (This reporter attended the event on a trip organized by SOCAR Turkey.)

Addressing the few hundred dignitaries in attendance, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev praised the policies of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an and the strength of relations between the two countries.

The stronger Turkey is, the stronger we are, he said.

For his part, Erdo?an praised the strength of Turkish relations with its eastern neighbor, repeating the bilateral mantra of "one nation, two states.

"With the STAR refinery, we have further strengthened the strategic dimension of our brotherly relations with Azerbaijan," he said announcing that the refinery was to be the first recipient of Turkey's new Strategic Investment Incentive Certificate, a license aimed at facilitating further investment.

Erdogan added that the new refinery will reduce Turkey's import bill for petroleum products by around $1.5 billion.

In that respect, the commissioning of the new refinery comes at a particularly important juncture.

Related: Oil Steady Despite Major Crude Build

In the wake of the economic crisis which saw the Turkish lira lose 40 percent of its value over the first eight months of the year, Ankara has been desperately trying to reduce dependence on imports in an effort to bring down the country's sizable current account deficit.

The new refinery will supply 4.8 million tons per year of diesel, replacing a third of the volume Turkey imported last year, and overall will meet around 36 percent of Turkey's current petroleum product imports.

"The refinery, depending on oil prices, will generate trade value of $6-8 billion annually, Azerbaijani MP Tahir Mirkishili told the Azerbaijani news site Trend, adding that once it is complete, SOCAR's investments in the Turkish economy will reach $19.5 billion.

Azerbaijan, which is building a regional economy, will further increase its economic power with these projects, he said.

The new refinery also locks Turkey and Azerbaijan into what will be a long term economic relationship.

The opening of such a fundamental plant of strategic importance showed that our states play a major role in ensuring security and stability in the region," Togrul Ismayil professor of International Relations at Istanbul's TOBB University of Economy and Technology, told the Azerbaijani news site Trend.

Azerbaijan will not, however, supply oil to the refinery: its own "Azeri light" crude, which is shipped through Turkey via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, commands premium prices on global markets, so SOCAR plans to supply the STAR refinery from other regional suppliers.

But Turkey's crude oil imports have lately been complicated by ongoing regional tensions and Ankara's sometimes confrontational foreign policy.

SOCAR has already inked a one-year deal with Russia's Rosneft for the supply of 1 million tons of crude over the coming year.

However, as that meets only around 10 percent of STAR's annual requirement, SOCAR will need to secure other major suppliers  a process which appears more complicated than it did when the construction of the refinery commenced three years ago.

Related: Russias Oil Output Wont Go Much Higher

The past year alone has seen Washington announce the re-imposition of sanctions against Iran  Turkey's main supplier of crude for most of the past decade  and demand that Turkey reduce its imports.

Similarly, last year's independence referendum in Iraq's Kurdistan region met with Ankara's strong disapproval and saw Turkey's existing refineries sharply cut imports of Iraqi crude, which are shipped via a pipeline through the breakaway province.

And it appears likely that the current spat between Turkey and Saudi Arabia over the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi will result in a drop in Turkish crude imports from that country, too.

Other potential regional crude suppliers exist, but as recent history has demonstrated, so do potential risks.

It's been only three years since Turkish jets downed a Russian warplane which had strayed from Syria into Turkish airspace, prompting a diplomatic crisis and bilateral economic boycott, the results of which included a sharp cut in Turkish imports of Russian crude.

While political and economic relations between Ankara and Moscow quickly improved, SOCAR is hoping that such tensions are not repeated.

By Eurasianet.org

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The UKs Energy Minister Claire Perry had a private meeting with oil and gas firms in May, months before fracking resumed in the UK earlier this month for the first time in seven years, but she failed to record that meeting in a transparency register, The Guardian reported on Friday.

Details of the May meeting emerged following a freedom of information request, and showed that Perry met with industry representatives, authorities, and other companies, including BP and Cuadrilla.

It is Cuadrilla that resumed hydraulic fracturing operations in the UK earlier this monthat the Preston New Road shale gas exploration site in Lancashire in northwest England amid protests by campaigners and local residents.

According to the round table notes, the key points from the ministers presentation included arguments that the UK is moving to a position to become a net importer of gas, that the shale industry could create jobs, and that a UK model of shale extraction can be created and exported around the world.



Related: The Lucky Few In Canadas Oil Patch

There is no model of fossil fuel extraction that we should be pursuing, much less trying to sell globally, Friends of the Earth campaigner Rose Dickinson told The Guardian, commenting on the minutes from the meeting that have emerged.

Just days before minister Perrys meeting with the oil and gas companies, 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.

Despite the welcome improvements in efficiency and innovation from companies operating in the North Sea, the ongoing decline in our offshore gas production has meant that the UK has gone from being a net exporter of gas in 2003 to importing over half (53%) of gas supplies in 2017 and estimates suggest we could be importing 72% of our gas by 2030, Greg Clark, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and James Brokenshire, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government said in the middle of May.



By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
A Jewish immigrant to Bolivia who made a fortune mining tin saved 10 times as many lives during the Holocaust than the star of Oscar-winning Hollywood blockbuster "Schindler's List," a journalist and writer told AFP. Oskar Schindler was turned into a household name by the 1993 Hollywood epic directed by Steven Spielberg, telling the tale of the German industrialist who saved more than 1,000 Jews by employing them in his businesses in Nazi-occupied Poland. But according to Veronica Ormachea, Moritz Hochschild saved 10,000 Jews from Adolf Hitler's gas chambers during World War II. "It was an unprecedented historic event in the history of Jews in Bolivia and the world," Ormachea told AFP from her office in La Paz. "It was a historic fact that he managed to save 10,000 Jews," although not his sister, who was killed at Auschwitz. Born in Germany in 1881, Hochschild became one of Bolivia's three "tin barons" in the early part of the 20th century, alongside Simon Patino and Carlos Aramayo, who wielded great influence in the South American country until the 1952 revolution in which mining was nationalized. In her historical novel "Los Infames" (the villains), Ormachea relates how thousands of European Jews arrived in the heart of South America as they fled Nazi terror. Using the fictitious character of Boris Kominsky, the novel describes how the mining magnate helped save thousands of Jews. The book opens with a young Kominsky in Poland in 1939 as he tries to convince his father to head for South America after hearing that Hochschild was helping citizens escape. - New York letter - While the book's main protagonist is a work of fiction, Ormachea insists that the stories told are real. She compiled them after years of research and interviews with descendants of the immigrants. "They used ports in Italy and Lisbon to get out of Europe. They arrived at the port of Arica (in northern Chile) before taking the train to Bolivia," she said. Ormachea points to a 1940 letter from Hochschild to James Rosenberg, a Jew living in New York, asking for financial help, as evidence to support her claims. In the letter, Hochschild says he's managed to transport to Bolivia "between 9,000 and 10,000" Jews and that his plan, which had the support of Bolivia's military leader of the time, German Busch, was to bring 30,000 people to the country. With help from two of Hochschild's companies, the Jews arriving in Bolivia were given farm work in the coca-growing region of Yungas, to the east of La Paz. They were also given loans and Bolivia's 1940 census said there were 12,300 Jews living in the country. - 'Unprecedented' - Ormachea says Hochschild used his fortune to help Jews by providing passports, transport, food and the start of a new life in Bolivia. "His historical, philanthropic and humanitarian work was unprecedented," she said. And that makes the mining magnate a far more significant figure than Schindler, says Ormachea. "Schindler saved 1,200 Jews (and) he was a member of the Nazi party; but Hochschild saved around 10,000 Jews with his own money." Ormachea says Hochschild managed to convince his friend Busch, himself the descendent of German immigrants, of the advantages of bringing the Jewish population from Europe. Bolivia was one of the few countries that opened its arms to Jewish migrants both before and during World War II. Hochschild has not gone down in Bolivian history as a good Samaritan, though. Rather, he's remembered as one of the foreigners who struck it rich exploiting natural resources in an impoverished country in South America, and who had incompetent, corrupt rulers under their thumbs. Part of the story of "Bolivia's Schindler" was discovered in the archives of state mining company Comibol, which was formed in 1952 out of nationalized companies. The forgotten archives, rediscovered in the last decade, were included by UNESCO in 2016 in its Memory of the World register.
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

MALACANANG on Friday, October 26, shrugged off the communists' call for President Rodrigo Duterte to step down as the country's highest official in the land, amid alleged violence committed by the military.

In a statement, Presidential Spoksperson Salvador Panelo said the Leftist group's latest appeal for Duterte to resign was "nothing new and suprising."

During a protest action held in Davao City on October 23, the militant Kilusang Mayo Uno and Makabayan group sought the resignation of the Chief Executive, for condoning violence under his watch and the killings of indigenous peoples.

Panelo said the call for the President's resignation was merely part of the "continuing propaganda war" waged by communist founder Jose Maria Sison and other communist insurgents against the current administration.

"It is very clear to us and to our people who the adversaries of this nation are," the Palace official said.

"This administration is firmly devoted to protecting the security of all Filipinos and ensuring peace and order in our communities. If someone should be blamed for promoting violence in the country, perhaps the CPP-NPA (Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People's Army) should point the finger at themselves," he added.

Panelo's latest remarks came amid government's persistent allegations, citing intelligence sources, that the communist group is plotting a massive destabilization to ensure Duterte's successful removal from office.

Defending the Philippine troops, Panelo said it was the communists, and not the military, who are perpetrating human rights abuses.

He also linked the communists' armed component, the NPA, to the recent ambush of a government convoy in Camarines Sur that led to the deaths of three policemen; attack of a municipal police station in Northern Samar; torching of heavy equipment in Davao City's three villages; and burning of a logging firm's equipment in Isabela province.

"In the past months, suspected NPA members have wreaked havoc in several parts of the country," Panelo said.

"In actual fact, it is Mr. Sison's armed comrades who are inflicting violence throughout the country and threatening the safety of our people," he added. (SunStar Philippines)
Microsoft president Brad Smith said the US tech giant will maintain its bid for a major Pentagon cloud computing contract while participating in the debate on artificial intelligence for military purposes

Microsoft said Friday it is prepared to provide its technology to the US military, including for a massive cloud computing project, despite ethics concerns among some of its employees and others in Silicon Valley.

"All of us who live in this country depend on its strong defense," Microsoft president Brad Smith said in a blog post.

"Today the citizens in our military risk their lives not only as the country's first line of defense, but often as the nation's first line of assistance around the world in hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and other disasters."

The statement came two weeks after Google dropped out of the bidding for the huge Pentagon cloud computing contract that could be worth up to $10 billion. The company said the deal would be inconsistent with its principles, which left Amazon and Microsoft as two leading contenders.

Smith said Microsoft has been a longstanding supplier of technology for the US military, and added that the company was aware of the potential ethical concerns about the use of artificial intelligence in warfare.

"We appreciate that technology is creating new ethical and policy issues that the country needs to address in a thoughtful and wise manner," Smith wrote.

"But we can't expect these new developments to be addressed wisely if the people in the tech sector who know the most about technology withdraw from the conversation."

Smith said he and chief executive Satya Nadella clarified Microsoft's position in a conversation with employees, and acknowledged "that some of our employees may have different views" on the matter.

He said that Microsoft would respect the position of employees who did not want to work on a military project and would offer the option of shifting jobs where possible.

Smith said Microsoft is maintaining its bid for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract aimed at modernizing the military's computing systems.

Earlier this month, Google said it was dropping its JEDI bid in part because "we couldn't be assured that it would align with our AI principles" unveiled this year. Those points state the company would steer clear of "technologies that cause or are likely to cause overall harm" and "weapons or other technologies whose principal purpose or implementation is to cause or directly facilitate injury to people."

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said recently his company would maintain its JEDI bid, saying it was important to support US defense efforts even if unpopular.

"This is a great country and it does need to be defended," Bezos said at the Wired 25th Anniversary conference in San Francisco.

Explore further Bezos defends Amazon effort for Pentagon cloud project

 2018 AFP
In this Oct.24, 2018 photo a cargo ship passes sandbanks near Kaub, Germany during historically low water on the river Rhine. A hot, dry summer has left German waterways at record low levels, causing chaos for the inland shipping industry, environmental damage and billions of euros of lossesa scenario that experts warn could portend things to come as global temperatures rise. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

A new island in Lake Constance. A river in Berlin flowing backward. Dead fish on the banks of lakes and ponds. Barges barely loaded so they don't run aground.

A hot, dry summer has left German rivers and lakes at record low water levels, causing chaos for the inland shipping industry, environmental damage and billions of euros (dollars) in lossesa scenario that experts warn could portend the future as global temperatures rise.

The drought-like conditions have hit nearly 90 percent of the country this year.

In Magdeburg, the Elbe River has been so low that no ships carrying goods south to Leipzig or on to the Czech Republic have been able to pass through since the end of June, said Hartmut Rhein of the city's waterways and shipping department.

The river's down to a depth of about 50 centimeters (less than 20 inches) there, when at least double that level is needed for normal shipping traffic, he said.

"At the moment the only possibility is to completely unload ships and transfer their cargoes to other means of transportation," he said.

The situation is similar across Germany. The mighty Rhine has hit its lowest water levels ever at several points, and other major rivers like the Danube, the Weser and the Main are all far below normal.

In this Wednesday, Oct.24, 2018 picture the Pfalzgrafenstein castle from the 14th century sits on a sandbank in the river Rhine in Kaub, Germany, during historically low water levels. A hot, dry summer has left German waterways at record low levels, causing chaos for the inland shipping industry, environmental damage and billions of euros of lossesa scenario that experts warn could portend things to come as global temperatures rise. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

On the waterways that are still navigable, the lower water levels have actually led to increased shipping traffic, as companies pack less weight onto boats so they don't ride so low in the water. That means they must send more vessels out to carry the same amount of freight.

"All the ships on the Rhine are going around the clock to transport goods that would normally be on fewer ships," said Rolf Nagelschmidt of Cologne's waterways and shipping office. "At the moment, everything that can float is being loaded up."

That has sent freight prices skyrocketing, and some costs are already being felt by consumers, with higher prices at gas pumps and for home heating oil.

Chemical giant BASF has been forced to cut production due to a lack of transportation. On Friday the company lowered its yearly profit forecast after a slowdown in the third quarter partly from the extra costs incurred due to the low levels of the Rhine, which flows past its headquarters in Ludwigshafen.

In this Oct. 22, 2018 photo cargo ships maneuver near the the banks of the Rhine River in Duesseldorf, Germany, during historically low water levels. A hot, dry summer has left German waterways at record low levels, causing chaos for the inland shipping industry, environmental damage and billions of euros of lossesa scenario that experts warn could portend things to come as global temperatures rise. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Germany's Economy Ministry said Friday it had taken the unusual step of authorizing temporary access to Germany's strategic fuel reserves in areas where supplies have not been able to get through due to the shallow waters.

With such widespread drought, Germany's agricultural industry is also struggling. There have been shortages of feed for livestock and the country's grain harvest is forecast to drop to 36 million tons this year compared to an average of 47.9 million tons over the last five years, according to the Center for Disaster Management at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.

"If you look at the overall economic effects, we're talking certainly in the double-digit billions," said the center's Michael Kunz.

Northern and eastern Germany saw their warmest summer ever recorded in 2018, and central Germany had its lowest rainfall ever, according to the German Weather Service, or DWD.

In this Wednesday, Oct.24, 2018 picture a cargo ship passes the Loreley rock at the river Rhine in St.Goar, Germany, during historically low water levels. A hot, dry summer has left German waterways at record low levels, causing chaos for the inland shipping industry, environmental damage and billions of euros of lossesa scenario that experts warn could portend things to come as global temperatures rise. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

"Climate change means not only an increase in average temperatures, but also in the increase of extreme events," said DWD Vice President Paul Becker. "This year's summer has been exceptional with its intensive drought and prolonged heat, but we expect an increase in such extreme periods in the future."

From April through August, a high-pressure zone sat over northern Europe and a low-pressure zone blanketed the south. That created a "blocking situation" that produced the unusual weather, said Freja Vamborg, a senior climate scientist with Copernicus Climate Change Service, a European Union information service.

"During that whole time, most of northern Europe was warm and dry and the Mediterranean was wet," she said.

Most of Germany has been right in the middle of the dry zone. While there has been some relief from the drought in the British Isles and Scandinavia, the drought is still plaguing Germany.

In this Wednesday, Oct.24, 2018 photo people stand on sandbank in the river Rhine near Bingen, Germany, during historically low water levels. A hot, dry summer has left German waterways at record low levels, causing chaos for the inland shipping industry, environmental damage and billions of euros of lossesa scenario that experts warn could portend things to come as global temperatures rise. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Sandbanks have appeared on the Rhine River that have not been seen before in modern history. On the Austrian part of Lake Constance, which is shared by Germany, Austria and Switzerland, a 10,000 square meter (108,000 square foot) silt island has appeared.

Unexploded World War II munitions are also popping up, most recently with a 1,000-kilogram (2,200-pound) American bomb being found on the exposed bottom of the Rhine near Neuwied this week. Experts say some 3,000 bombs were dropped in the area as the allies sought to destroy a railway bridge, but only a few actually hit their target.

In Berlin, the Spree River, which normally flows into the Havel River in the western part of the city, has been taking water in from the Havel instead, said Derk Ehlert, with the city's environment department.

"It's flowing backward, so to speak," he said.

In this Wednesday, Oct.24, 2018 photo colorful trees are seen along the river Rhine near Bingen, Germany, during historically low water levels. A hot, dry summer has left German waterways at record low levels, causing chaos for the inland shipping industry, environmental damage and billions of euros of lossesa scenario that experts warn could portend things to come as global temperatures rise. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

A family of beavers living in the German capital's central Tiergarten park has attracted a lot of attention for taking matters into their own paws. They built a new dam about six weeks ago to keep the area wetbut that just dried other areas up.

"They wanted their old water level back," Ehlert said.

Other wildlife has been less able than the beavers to cope. Hundreds of tons of fish and countless freshwater mussels have been dying as waters have receded, said Magnus Wessel, head of nature conservation policy for the environmental group BUND.

Causes for the die-offs include greater concentrations of pesticides and other toxins due to the lower volume of water, boat traffic riding closer to the riverbeds, the increased number of boats on the rivers and less oxygen in the water, Wessel said.

In this Oct. 22, 2018 photo mussels sit on the bank of the Rhine River in Cologne, Germany, during historically low water levels of only 70 centimeters. A hot, dry summer has left German waterways at record low levels, causing chaos for the inland shipping industry, environmental damage and billions of euros of lossesa scenario that experts warn could portend things to come as global temperatures rise. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

And, of course, the obvious.

"If you live underwater and you don't have water above you, you're dead," he said.

In this Oct. 22, 2018 photo a ship on the Rhine River passes the cathedral in Cologne, Germany, during historically low water levels. A hot, dry summer has left German waterways at record low levels, causing chaos for the inland shipping industry, environmental damage and billions of euros of lossesa scenario that experts warn could portend things to come as global temperatures rise. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

In this Oct. 22, 2018 photo a cargo ship drives on the Rhine River in Duesseldorf, Germany, during historically low water levels. A hot, dry summer has left German waterways at record low levels, causing chaos for the inland shipping industry, environmental damage and billions of euros of lossesa scenario that experts warn could portend things to come as global temperatures rise. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

In this Wednesday, Oct.24, 2018 picture people walk over stones looking out of the river Rhine to the Maeuseturm (mice tower) of Bingen, Germany, which usually sits on an island. A hot, dry summer has left German waterways at record low levels, causing chaos for the inland shipping industry, environmental damage and billions of euros of lossesa scenario that experts warn could portend things to come as global temperatures rise. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

In this Wednesday, Oct.24, 2018 photo rocks look out of the river Rhine near Oberwesel, Germany, during historically low water levels. A hot, dry summer has left German waterways at record low levels, causing chaos for the inland shipping industry, environmental damage and billions of euros of lossesa scenario that experts warn could portend things to come as global temperatures rise. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

In this Wednesday, Oct.24, 2018 picture cargo ships pass sandbanks in the river Rhine near Oberwesel, Germany, during historically low water levels. A hot, dry summer has left German waterways at record low levels, causing chaos for the inland shipping industry, environmental damage and billions of euros of lossesa scenario that experts warn could portend things to come as global temperatures rise. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

In this Wednesday, Oct.24, 2018 photo the Pfalzgrafenstein castle from the 14th century sits on a sandbank in the river Rhine in Kaub, Germany, during historically low water levels. A hot, dry summer has left German waterways at record low levels, causing chaos for the inland shipping industry, environmental damage and billions of euros of lossesa scenario that experts warn could portend things to come as global temperatures rise. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Explore further Water woes as drought leaves Germany's Rhine shallow

 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
London, 26 October 2018:- As the International Maritime Organization's Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 73) closes today in London, the Clean Arctic Alliance and indigenous groups welcomed the support given by member states to commence work on developing a ban on the use and carriage of heavy fuel oil in Arctic waters.

Support for commencing work, to mitigate the risks of using and carrying HFO fuel in the Arctic which includes developing a ban, at the PPR6 technical meeting, in February 2019, was voiced by Austria, Bangladesh, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Poland, and the UK.

MEPC 73 considered impact assessment methodology ahead of sending the "Scope of Work"- which sets out the work to be done to reduce the risks associated with the "use and carriage of heavy fuel oil as fuel by ships in Arctic waters", including the proposal for a ban, to the on Pollution Prevention and Response subcommittee (PPR6) in February 2019.

"I welcome the progress made this week by the International Maritime Organization to develop a ban on the use and carriage of HFO as fuel in Arctic shipping - a ban that must be in place as soon as possible. Our Arctic communities, wildlife and ocean need it, as they are already stressed by climate change and increased shipping in the region. The world depends on and benefits from a healthy Arctic Ocean", said Delbert Pungowiyi, President of the Native Village of Savoonga, Alaska.

"Arctic Indigenous organizations representing our people, such as the Inuit Circumpolar Council and Alaska Federation of Natives, have adopted a resolution calling for a ban on HFO in the Arctic", added George Edwardson, President of the Inupiat community of the Arctic Slope and Board Member for Inuit Circumpolar Council  Alaska. "The international maritime community must do the responsible thing and listen to Arctic indigenous peoples who depend on a healthy Arctic marine environment".

"The potential for heavy fuel oil spills and pollution threaten the smaller organisms of the Arctic and Bering Sea that sustain our fish, such as salmon, and marine mammals, and thus threaten us as a people, and our way of life", said Verner Wilson, Senior Oceans Campaigner, Friends of the Earth US and member of the Curyung Tribal Council in Bristol Bay, Alaska. "IMO member state governments have banned HFO in Antarctic waters - now they have the responsibility to give the same protection to Arctic waters, on which our communities depend".

"We're pleased with progress made at MEPC this week, and the support given by several member states to ensure that work to develop a ban on use and carriage of heavy fuel oil by ships in Arctic waters will now commence early in 2019", said Dr Sian Prior, Lead Advisor to the Clean Arctic Alliance. "It is important that this work is concluded swiftly, so that the ban can be adopted in 2021, and phased in by 2023. We look forward to considering information from Arctic countries including Canada, United States, Greenland (Denmark), and Russia, on the potential social, economic and environmental impacts of a ban."

During MEPC73, the Clean Arctic Alliance hosted or supported a number of events, including a Arctic Photo Exhibition: On Our Watch, introduced by Arctic explorer Pen Hadow, who address the IMO Chair during a plenary intervention:

"The Arctic is vulnerable and the risks associated with increased shipping activity urgently need to be addressed. The work of the International Maritime Organisation and many of the decisions that you, the delegates, will be making during MEPC this week on the use of Heavy Fuel Oil, on greenhouse gas emissions, and on marine plastic litter, are absolutely critical to the future protection of the Arctic Ocean's wildlife" (Full text of Pen Hadow's intervention here).

Other events included:







Impacts and Benefits of a Heavy Fuel Oil Ban in the Arctic (23 October)

Retos y oportunidades de la descarbonizacion del transporte maritimo: la estrategia inicial de gases de efecto invernadero y la prohibicion de HFO en el Artico (23 October)

House of Lords: Indigenous Perspectives on Polar North Shipping and a Ban on Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) in the Arctic (24 October) - audio recording here.

More details of the events in our MEPC 73 Briefing







Support for HFO Ban

At MEPC72 in April 2018, Arctic states of Finland, Iceland, Sweden, Norway and the United States, along with Germany, the Netherlands and New Zealand, proposed a ban on the useand carriage as fuel of HFO by ships operating in the Arctic as the simplest approach to reducing the risks associated with HFO. The proposal, along with a proposal to assess the impact of such a ban on Arctic communities from Canada, was supported by Australia, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Ireland, Japan, the League of Arab States, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK leading to an agreement, in principle, to the ban. Support from Denmark was particularly notable as it is the sixth Arctic nation to support the ban; support In September, Greenland announced that it would add its support for a ban.Support from non-Arctic countries was significant as many can and do flag ships operating in the Arctic.

Earlier in July, the Inuit of Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Chukotka added further weight to the calls to end the use of HFO in the Arctic in the Utqiagvik Declaration(page 4). This week, the Alaska Federation of Natives passed a resolution calling for a concerted effort to convince decision-makers to phase out the use of heavy fuel oil, or HFO, in Arctic waters- read draft resolutions document here.

Canada and Russia

Canada and Russia have both supported IMO work to consider ways to mitigate the risks associated with HFO, but Canada has yet to take a position on a ban.

Recent analysisby CE DELFT of the potential impact of a HFO ban on consumer goods found that additional costs of food shipped to Iqaluit in Northern Canada would increase household expenditure by 0.2%, assuming that the ban-related additional transport costs are fully passed on (although other newly published research has shownthat there was no correlation between fuel costs and food prices in the same region between 2014 - 2017). The Clean Arctic Alliance calls on governments to consider how to mitigate any possible cost increase, however small, that could be experienced by Arctic communities.

To date, Russia has considered a ban on use of HFO in the Arctic as a "last resort". However, one of the biggest users of HFO in the Arctic, Russian state-owned shipping company Sovcomflot has spoken openly about the need to move away from oil-based fuels, and marine bunker fuel supplier Gazpromneft expects to halt fuel oil use from 2025. Significantly, in August 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Finnish President Sauli Niinisto made a joint statement on the need to move to cleaner ships' fuels, such as LNG in the Arctic. Furthermore, Russia has also announced its intention to massively increase the volumes of cargoes transported on the Northern Sea Route - setting itself a target of 80 million tonnes by 2024, of which 40% would be LNG. For more information, see our paper Heavy Fuel Oil use in the IMO Polar Code Arctic by Russian-flagged Ships, 2015.

Support for a ban on the use and carriage of HFO has grown since the Arctic Council published its 2009 Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment (AMSA), identifying that an oil spill is the greatest threat to the Arctic from shipping; according to Det Norske Veritas (DNV), in a report published by the Arctic Council, using distillates instead of HFO as fuel would achieve significant spill risk reduction. The Arctic Commitment, launched in 2017 by the Clean Arctic Alliance and Hurtigruten has been signed by more than 125 cruise operators, journalists, explorers, shipping companies, indigenous representatives and others, calling for a ban (see more below)

ENDS

Contact

Dave Walsh, Communications Advisor, HFO-Free Arctic Campaign, Dave.Walsh@HFOFreeArctic.org, +34 691 826 764

More about MEPC73:



Further reading:



See also: Six briefing papers on the use of heavy fuel oil in the Arctic, prepared by Bryan Comer PhD, The International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), for the Clean Arctic Alliance. These papers look at HFO use by flag state, by ship type, by shipowner, and looks in more depth at HFO use by cruise ships and by fishing vessels in the IMO Polar Code Arctic, 2015, and use by of HFO by Russian vessels in the Arctic.

About Heavy Fuel Oil

Heavy fuel oil is a dirty and polluting fossil fuel that powers ships throughout our seas and oceans - accounting for 80% of marine fuel used worldwide. Around 75% of marine fuel currently carried in the Arctic is HFO; over half by vessels flagged to non-Arctic states  countries that have little if any connection to the Arctic.

The Arctic is under pressure - climate change is fuelling temperature rises double the rate of further south. As sea ice melts and opens up Arctic waters further, even larger non-Arctic state-flagged vessels running on HFO are likely to divert to Arctic waters in search of shorter journey times. This, combined with an increase in Arctic state-flagged vessels targeting previously non-accessible resources, will greatly increase the risks of HFO spills.

Already banned in Antarctic waters, if HFO is spilled in cold polar waters, it breaks down slowly, proving almost impossible to clean up. A HFO spill would have long-term devastating effects on Arctic indigenous communities, livelihoods and the marine ecosystems they depend upon. HFO is also a greater source of harmful emissions of air pollutants, such as sulphur oxide, and particulate matter, including black carbon, than alternative fuels such as distillate fuel and liquefied natural gas (LNG). When emitted and deposited on Arctic snow or ice, the climate warming effect of black carbon is up to five times more than when emitted at lower latitudes, such as in the tropics (see infographic: Responding to Arctic Shipping Oil Spills: Risks and Challenges).

The Arctic Commitment

More than 125 shipping companies, cruise operators, ports, businesses, explorers, non-governmental organizations and politicians have put their name to the Arctic Commitment, an ambitious civil society initiative calling for ban on heavy fuel oil (HFO) from Arctic shipping, since its launch in Troms in January 2017.

Conceived by the Clean Arctic Alliance and expedition cruise ship operator Hurtigruten, the Arctic Commitment aims to protect Arctic communities and ecosystems from the risks posed by the use of heavy fuel oil, and calls on the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to ban its use and carriage as fuel by Arctic shipping.

To read the text the Arctic Commitment text and view the list of signatories, including IKEA, German and Icelandic ports, Lindblad Expeditions, UNEP Patron of the Oceans and polar swimmer Lewis Pugh, please visit the Arctic Commitment webpage.

About the Clean Arctic Alliance

The following not-for-profit organisations form the Clean Arctic Alliance, which is committed to a ban on HFO as marine fuel in the Arctic:

Alaska Wilderness League, Bellona, Clean Air Task Force, Danish Ecological Council, Ecology and Development Foundation ECODES, Environmental Investigation Agency, European Climate Foundation, Friends of the Earth US, Greenpeace, Icelandic Nature Conservation Association, Nature And Biodiversity Conservation Union, Ocean Conservancy, Pacific Environment, Seas At Risk, Surfrider Foundation Europe, Stand.Earth, Transport & Environment and WWF.

More more information visit http://www.hfofreearctic.org/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CleanArctic

Provided by Clean Arctic Alliance
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. The U.S. Army has selected Purdue University-affiliated Adranos Inc. as a finalist in its xTech search competition, awarding the company $125,000 and the opportunity to demonstrate its high-performance rocket propellant for senior Pentagon leaders.

The financial reward for being selected as a finalist is great, but the most important benefit is the exposure we will receive performing a live launch using our propellant in front of senior Army officers, said Chris Stoker, an Adranos co-founder. This will be a monumental step in achieving adoption of our rocket propellant into actual applications.

The xTech search was launched in an effort to identify companies and technologies that can help the Army achieve its six major modernization priorities. Adranos is among 12 finalists selected from nearly 400 entrants in the competition and will compete for a grand prize of $200,000. The finalists were announced earlier this month by Thomas P. Russell, deputy assistant Army secretary for research and technology, and Bruce D. Jette, assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics, and technology.

Stoker said ALITEC, the name of the innovative propellant discovered by Brandon Terry, also a founder of Adranos, while working on his Ph.D. at Purdue, is more efficient and cleaner than traditional propellants and can help the Army achieve its Long Range Precision Fire and Air and Missile Defense modernization priorities. ALITEC uses an aluminum, lithium alloy that has more thrust and is less corrosive than traditional solid propellants.

The technology aligns with Purdue's "Giant Leaps" celebrating the universitys global advancements made in health, space, artificial intelligence and sustainability highlights as part of Purdues 150th anniversary. Those are the four themes of the yearlong celebrations Ideas Festival, designed to showcase Purdue as an intellectual center solving real-world issues.

The propellant could be used by the Army, Navy, Air Force, NASA, and other Department of Defense agencies as well as U.S.-allied nations.

Traction with customers is a critical step for any new business, but it is especially important in the aerospace and defense industry where the number of customers is limited, Stoker said. Recognition as a top-12 technology out of nearly 400 applicants is a huge milestone for us.

Adranos had recently announced it had raised $800,000 to further advance its technology.

Technology used by Adranos is licensed through the Purdue Office of Technology Commercialization, which patented the technology.

About Purdue Office of Technology Commercialization

The Purdue Office of Technology Commercialization operates one of the most comprehensive technology transfer programs among leading research universities in the U.S. Services provided by this office support the economic development initiatives of Purdue University and benefit the university's academic activities. The office is managed by the Purdue Research Foundation, which received the 2016 Innovation and Economic Prosperity Universities Award for Innovation from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. For more information about funding and investment opportunities in startups based on a Purdue innovation, contact the Purdue Foundry at foundry@prf.org. For more information on licensing a Purdue innovation, contact the Office of Technology Commercialization at otcip@prf.org.

Writer: Zeina Kayyali, zmkayyali@prf.org

Purdue Research Foundation contact: Tom Coyne, 765-588-1044, tjcoyne@prf.org

Chris Stoker, chris@adranos.com
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

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china

As reported by CnLedger, a trusted cryptocurrency news source in China, the countrys merchants can legally accept crypto as a payment method.

According to local reports, the Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration officially recognized Bitcoin as a property, allowing individuals and businesses to own and transfer Bitcoin without being in conflict with existing financial regulations.

Chinese court confirms Bitcoin is protected by law. Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration ruled a case involving cryptos. Inside the verdict: CN law does not forbid owning & transferring bitcoin, which should be protected by law because ofits property nature and economic value.

Circulation and the Payment of Bitcoin in China is Not Illegal

Katherine Wu, a cryptocurrency researcher at Messari, translated and analyzed court documents released by the Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration to delve into the reasoning behind the decision of the arbitrator to consider Bitcoin as a property.

In essence, Wu explained that due to the decentralized nature of Bitcoin that provides financial freedom and economic value to the owner, the asset can be recognized as a property.

The Party contends that Bitcoin has characteristics of a property (SOV), can be controlled by the owner, and has economic value to the owner. It does not break any laws. This arbitrator agrees, Wu said.

As such, the court emphasized that regardless of the legality of Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies, the circulation and payment of Bitcoin is not illegal. That means, merchants can freely accept cryptocurrencies as a payment method without breaking the local law.

In the arbitrators view, whether or not bitcoin is legal, the circulation and the payment of bitcoin is not illegal. Bitcoin does not have the same rights as fiat, but that does not mean that holding or paying with crypto is illegal.

Earlier this month, Chinas oldest technology publication Beijing Sci-Tech Report (BSTR), a respected media company in the country, released its plans to accept Bitcoin for its yearly subscription to promote the usage of the blockchain and practical use cases of the dominant cryptocurrency.

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BSTR revealed that starting 2019, the yearly subscription to its magazine will be sold at a price of 0.01 BTC, worth around $65. If the price of BTC rises substantially in the future, the publication stated that it will compensate its customers.

Several hotels in major cities in China have also started to accept cryptocurrencies, one of which branded itself as Ethereum Hotel, providing merits and discounts to those that pay for their services using Ethereum.

What Does This Show About China?

In consideration of Chinas optimistic stance towards blockchain technology and positive comments regarding the sector made by government agencies, it has become more apparent that the government placed a blanket ban on cryptocurrency trading to prevent the devaluation of the Chinese yuan and to limit speculation in the market.

But, overall, the government remains open to crypto and the usage of the blockchain to improve existing infrastructures and problems pertaining to software and data settlement.

Featured image from Shutterstock.



The post Chinas Merchants are Legally Allowed to Accept Bitcoin and Crypto appeared first on CCN.


By Robin Emmott, John Irish and Andrea Shalal

BRUSSELS/PARIS/BERLIN (Reuters) - Pressure is growing for the European Union to consider an arms embargo on Saudi Arabia after Germany, Austria and the European Parliament called for an end to weapons sales over the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

In the space of a few hours that highlighted tensions over the matter, Germany's Angela Merkel on Friday reaffirmed that her country would not deliver any arms to Saudi Arabia until Khashoggi's death was explained, while French President Emmanuel Macron said such moves smacked of populist "demagoguery".

EU ambassadors may formally discuss the issue after a rare request to do so by governments, two diplomats said on Friday, and the Netherlands is lobbying for a new EU regime to sanction human rights abuses, regardless of where they happen.

But the debate in Brussels and in EU capitals is also reviving familiar splits in the bloc's foreign policy, with Europe's main powers following their own economic and political interests that tend to undermine any forceful EU foreign policy that aims to be guided by democracy and human rights.

The murder of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2 has sparked global outrage, become a crisis for the world's top oil exporting state and underscored how Western powers are allied to an Arab kingdom that enforces floggings and the death penalty for dissent.

The Belgian region of Wallonia, which owns firearms manufacturer FN Herstal, has said it will examine future requests for arms export licences to its top weapons client with "the greatest circumspection" following Khashoggi's murder.

While Austria, which holds the EU's six-month presidency, wants a halt to arms sales and Germany will stop approving weapons exports until Khashoggi's murder is cleared up, France had ignored such calls.

Macron went further on Friday, saying there was no link between arms sales and the killing of Khashoggi, a prominent critic of de facto Saudi ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

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"That's pure demagoguery to say 'we must stop arms sales'. It's got nothing to do with Mr Khashoggi," he told reporters during a trip in Slovakia, while not ruling out other coordinated sanctions against those held responsible.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Wednesday that Britain's weapons exports to Saudi Arabia met national and EU arms export licensing rules.

Spain, meanwhile, is trying to go ahead with the sale of 400 bombs in order to protect a Saudi contract with a shipyard in the Andalusia region that would create 5,000 jobs.

"If Austria is proposing this ban, then ask how many weapons Austria sells to Saudi Arabia," said a senior EU diplomat.

BILLIONS AT STAKE

Though Austria has a substantial arms industry, it sold a meagre 1.4 million euros ($1.59 million) of arms and ammunition to Saudi Arabia in 2017, according to EU data.

Germany approved around 400 million euros worth of arms supplies to Saudi Arabia in the first nine months of 2018.

Last year, Germany sold 351 million euros worth of aircraft, including helicopters and planes, to Saudi Arabia, though EU data does not specify how much of that is military.

German weapons account for under 2 percent of Saudi Arabia's arms purchases.

Britain exported military goods to Saudi Arabia worth 1.1 billion pounds ($1.41 billion) in 2017, according to UK parliamentary papers, while tiny Belgium and Luxembourg combined for 184 million euros in arms sales to the Saudis last year.

France sold Saudi Arabia 1.8 billion euros in planes, helicopters and other aerospace equipment in 2017, an amount that has climbed over the past decade, EU data shows, though again it does not say what part of that is military.

"The sale of weapons is something very political and part of a long-term vision," said Camille Lons, a researcher at the European Council on Foreign Relations think-tank.

Lons cited Libya, Syria and even the Sahel region, where France, which has thousands of troops on the ground, has sought Saudi help to finance local African forces.

At the heart of Macron's strategy is Mohammed bin Salman, often referred to as MbS, the 33-year-old Saudi de facto leader who has painted himself as a reformer but is under scrutiny over his potential involvement in Khashoggi's seizure and death.

"It's easy for (German Chancellor Angela) Merkel to come out with this when she sells weapons everywhere except Saudi Arabia," a senior French diplomat told Reuters. "When you see global weapons sales, Germany is one of the largest in the world over the last couple of years, but Saudi isn't much."

A German government spokeswoman on Friday welcomed Austria's initiative, but declined to comment when asked if German and Austria were isolated on their position within the EU.

Merkel vowed again on Friday to halt all German arms exports to Saudi Arabia until Khashoggi's killing was explained.

One face-saving move for the European Union could be to sanction Saudi individuals accused of the Khashoggi murder and separate the issue from its close ties with the Saudi state.

EU governments recently agreed a mechanism to punish chemical weapons attacks by targeting people regardless of their nationality.

They could set up a similar system for human rights abuses.

The United States has its Magnitsky human rights act that covers abusers in any country, named after Sergei Magnitsky, a 37-year-old Russian whistleblower who died in prison.

"France and Germany have to deal with the big issue of arms exports. Something EU governments could do is to establish a Magnitsky-type act to react," said Rebecca Harms, a Green member of the European Parliament. She helped spearhead the assembly's resolution calling for an arms embargo and sanctions this week.

($1 = 0.8819 euros)

($1 = 0.7798 pounds)

(Additional reporting by Elizabeth Piper and Kate Holton in London, Alastair Macdonald in Brussels, Michel Rose in Paris and Julien Toyer in Madrid; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday criticised Belgium's decision to buy US-made F-35 fighter jets instead of European planes, saying that "strategically it goes against European interests". The Belgian government announced Thursday that it would replace a fleet of ageing F-16 jets with the F-35 made by Lockheed Martin, rejecting rival offers to buy Eurofighter Typhoons or Rafales from the French group Dassault. "The decision was linked to a Belgian procedure and the country's political constraints, but strategically it goes against European interests," Macron told journalists during a visit to Bratislava. "Europe won't be strong unless it is truly sovereign and knows how to protect itself," he said, citing a need to develop "a genuine European defence capacity". "I will do everything possible to promote European offers in future contracts," Macron added. Critics said the choice of Lockheed would leave Belgium dependent on maintenance and operational systems firmly in US control, while also assailing a blow to Europe's efforts to unify its defence capacities. Belgium justified the decision by saying the F-35s offered better value for money while best allowing it to meet its NATO commitments. Prime Minister Charles Michel said his country would be purchasing equipment from both US and European suppliers as it bolstered defence spending. On Friday, the French defence ministry announced that Belgium had confirmed an order for 442 Griffon and Jaguar armoured vehicles for around 1.5 billion euros ($1.7 billion). The deal had been expected, but the announcement appeared timed to allay tensions between the two NATO allies. - 'Lost opportunity' - Last year the European Union launched its "permanent structured cooperation on defence", or PESCO, aimed at unifying defence strategies across the bloc and rationalising a fragmented approach to buying and developing military equipment. The EU itself is planning to vastly expand its defence budget starting in 2021, allocating some 13 billion euros over seven years to research and develop new equipment -- up from less than 600 million euros in the current budget. Most countries see no problem allowing non-EU firms to compete for contracts under the PESCO cooperation, but France is leading a handful which want to restrict their participation. But Washington has warned that excluding US companies could undermine NATO at a time when tensions are running high with Russia and new threats such as cyber attacks are emerging. On Friday the European aerospace consortium Airbus also said it took note of Belgium's decision not to choose the Eurofighter Typhoon with "sincere regret". "It is a lost opportunity to strengthen European industrial cooperation in times when the EU is called upon to increase its joint defence efforts," the company said. It added that in buying Typhoons, Belgium could have eventually joined the French-German Future Combat Air System, aimed at developing next-generation jets to start replacing current Eurofighter and Rafale jets starting in 2035. Airbus is one of the partners in the Eurofighter consortium, which also includes companies from Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain. Macron, speaking at the start of a two-day visit to Slovakia and the Czech Republic, also called on people to reject leaders who seek to "divide Europe". "I will fight wherever they are trying to roll back justice, the ability of journalists to work freely, the role of universities, all which makes us European," he said. Macron is hoping to counter a surge in support for populist parties and leaders in many European countries ahead of European Parliament elections next May.
By Delphine Schrank

ARRIAGA, Mexico (Reuters) - A U.S.-bound caravan of Central American migrants pressed on through southern Mexico on Saturday, in spite of government offers of jobs, as authorities stepped up efforts to disperse the convoy that has angered U.S. President Donald Trump.

Mexican police in riot gear briefly blocked the march of men, women and children as they neared Oaxaca state before dawn, to relay the offer of temporary identification papers, jobs or education for those seeking asylum in Mexico.

Trump has threatened to send troops to the U.S. border and cut aid to Central America to try to stop the group of several thousand people that left Honduras two weeks ago.

Estimates vary significantly on the group's size, which has morphed as some migrants return home and newcomers join. At least 150 migrants traveling separately were detained by Friday near Guatemala's border, a Mexican official said.

More than 1,700 people in the convoy have applied for asylum, while others have returned home, according to Mexico's government. The Honduran ambassador said on Friday the group officially had 3,500 members. Other estimates go much higher.

By Saturday, more than 100 Honduran migrants opted to seek refugee status and enter the temporary work program proposed by President Enrique Pena Nieto on Friday, said Mexico's National Migration Institute. Many others rejected the offer.

"We're going to the United States. Because that's our dream," said 28-year-old Honduran Daniel Leonel Esteves at the head of a 50-person wide column of migrants snaking down a highway into the hills.

Others echoed his goal to cross the border, declining Mexico's offer.

"Our destination is the United States," said migrant Francisco Ramirez.

A police official on a road just south of Oaxaca, where migrants were proceeding north from the town of Arriaga in Chiapas state, said authorities intended to keep presenting the asylum offer.

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"We think it's very important that every person in the caravan knows these benefits, so that they stop putting their safety at risk crossing these roads," said federal police commissioner Benjamin Grajeda.

Trump and his fellow Republicans have sought to make the migrant caravan and immigration major issues before the Nov. 6 elections, in which Republicans are battling to keep control of Congress.

Honduras said 4,500 of its citizens attempting to emigrate have returned to the country in recent days.

(Writing by Daina Beth Solomon; Additional reporting by Orfa Mejia in Tegucigalpa; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
The exterior of one of the suspicious packages sent to multiple locations in the U.S., appears in this handout photo provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, October 24, 2018. The mailing address and return address have been edited out of the photo at source. FBI/Handout via REUTERS

(Reuters) - FBI agents used DNA and a fingerprint to arrest a man in Florida suspected of sending at least 14 bombs to critics of U.S. President Donald Trump days ahead of congressional elections.

Cesar Sayoc faces up to 48 years in prison if found guilty, said U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. He earlier said he faced 58 years.

Following are the figures targeted, starting with the most recent. Many packages used the return address of Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee.

1) Billionaire Tom Steyer, a Democratic donor

2) Senator Kamala Harris, a Democrat from California

3) Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and CNN

4) Senator Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey

5) Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden (2 packages)

6) Actor Robert De Niro, who hurled obscenities at Trump at the Tony Awards in June

7) Representative Maxine Waters from California (2 packages)

8) Former Attorney General Eric Holder, who served under former President Barack Obama

9) Former CIA Director John Brennan and CNN

10) Former President Barack Obama

11) Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who ran against Trump for the presidency

12) Billionaire George Soros, donor to liberal groups

(Reporting by Susan Heavey; editing by Lisa Shumaker and Cynthia Osterman)
The Israeli army accused the Syrian government and Iran on Saturday of ordering Palestinian militants in Gaza to fire dozens of rockets into southern Israel, and threatened to retaliate wherever it chose. The barrage of rockets, which began late Friday and continued into Saturday morning, triggered extensive retaliatory strikes by Israeli aircraft against Gaza that risked escalating into a wider conflict. Islamic Jihad, the Palestinian militant group that launched the rockets, said on Saturday lunchtime it had agreed to an Egyptian-brokered truce with Israel to cease hostilities. The new flare-up came hours after six Palestinians died in renewed clashes on the Gaza-Israel border even as the territory's Islamist rulers Hamas said Egypt was seeking to negotiate a return to calm. "The rockets that were launched against Israel... we know that the orders, incentives were given from Damascus with the clear involvement of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force," Israeli army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus told journalists, referring to the Guards' foreign operations unit. The army said 39 rockets have been fired at southern Israel by the Islamic Jihad group since late Friday, with 17 of them intercepted by air defences and the rest hitting open ground. Israeli aircraft carried out extensive retaliatory strikes, targeting 87 sites belonging to the territory's Islamist rulers Hamas. It also struck eight Islamic Jihad targets on Saturday, the army said. - Retaliation against Syria, Iran - Conricus said that Israel held Hamas responsible for the fire, even though it was carried out by Islamic Jihad at the behest of Syria and its ally Iran. "We hold Hamas responsible for everything coming from Gaza," he said. Conricus said Israel would also retaliate against the Syrian government and Iran's Quds Force, and would choose where. "Part of the address by which we will deal with this fire is also in Damascus and the Quds Force," he said. "Our response is not limited geographically." The armed wing of Islamic Jihad, the second largest militant group in Gaza, initially threatened to continue and expand its rocket fire. But on Saturday afternoon, the group's spokesman announced an immediate ceasefire, saying Egypt had negotiated a truce with Israel. "A comprehensive ceasefire agreement was reached which came into force immediately in exchange for a halt to the Israeli aggression," Islamic Jihad spokesman Dawoud Shihab told AFP. Israeli security officials refused to comment on any truce, but confirmed there had been no fire from either side since the Islamic Jihad announcement. In Eshkol, an Israeli regional council east of central and southern Gaza, authorities revoked in the afternoon a directive ordering residents to remain near bomb shelters. The change came following "the lull and a renewed situation assessment in the afternoon", a spokeswoman told AFP. - Truce deal progress - The biggest rocket barrage from Gaza in months came despite talk of progress towards an Egyptian-brokered deal to end months of often violent protests along the border in return for an easing of Israel's crippling 11-year blockade. On Sunday, Israel reopened the people and goods border crossings with Gaza and on Wednesday renewed the flow of Qatar-funded fuel to the Palestinian enclave, in an indication of its confidence that Hamas would rein in violence. The Friday border marches however drew 16,000 protesters, some of them clashing with Israeli soldiers. Five Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli fire in separate incidents along the border fence, the Gaza health ministry said. A sixth died when a hand grenade he was holding exploded accidentally, witnesses said. There were no reports of deaths in Gaza as a result of the Israeli air strikes, which continued until late Saturday morning. In Gaza City, a four-storey building was completely destroyed, AFP correspondents reported. The Israeli army said it was a major headquarters of Hamas. - 'Embarrasses Hamas' - Israel has fought three wars since 2008 with Hamas and its allies, including Islamic Jihad, and Egypt and the United Nations have been leading diplomatic efforts to avert a fourth. Saleh an-Nami, a political analyst in Gaza, said the rocket fire would weaken Hamas's efforts to reach a long-term truce and showed it was unable to impose its position on other factions. "It embarrasses Hamas in front of regional and global mediators that are intervening to achieve a truce," he told AFP. Palestinians have gathered for protests along the border at least weekly since March 30. At least 213 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza since the protests began, according to figures collated by AFP. The majority have died during protests, while smaller numbers have been killed by air strikes or tank fire. One Israeli soldier was shot dead by a Palestinian sniper over the same period. The protesters are calling to be allowed to return to lands their families fled or were expelled from in the 1948 war that accompanied Israel's creation. They are also protesting against the Israeli blockade.
Irish voters overwhelmingly backed the lifting of a constitutional ban on blasphemy, exit polls said Saturday, the latest reform relaxing the devout nation's historic ties to the Catholic Church. An RTE television poll showed 71 percent of voters in Friday's referendum wanting to remove the 1937 constitutional provision and 26 percent choosing to keep it. The Irish Times put the figures at 69 percent and 31 percent. The referendum coincided with a presidential election in which incumbent Michael D Higgins was on course to be reinstated for another seven years in the largely ceremonial post, according to the polls. Official results in both ballots are expected late Saturday or early Sunday. In practice, the blasphemy ban is largely obsolete. There have been no successful prosecutions under the legislation since the birth of the Irish republic. But some of its critics said the ban offered Ireland's tacit support to oppressive regimes around the world that restrict freedom of expression. "The constitutional provision and Irish law on blasphemy gives comfort to countries where they have extremely draconian laws which are used to harass, to intimidate, to imprison, to subject people to violence, Amnesty Ireland director Colm O'Gorman told AFP ahead of the vote. The law was also heavily criticised in 2015 when police were forced to investigate British TV personality Stephen Fry for branding God "stupid" during an interview. Politicians have long made it known they have intended to remove the provision. The blasphemy referendum follows a landslide May referendum to repeal the countrys strict abortion laws. Many saw that poll as an indication of the Catholic church's declining hold on Irish culture. That vote was preceded by a vibrant campaign and national discussion, and enjoyed a turnout of 65 percent. In the presidential ballot, RTE said the incumbent will receive 58 percent of the first-preference votes. The Irish Times put Higgins's support at 56 percent. "If the exit polls are correct, and obviously they are very close together, I think that shows the people have voted for decency, for inclusiveness, for competency and experience that Michael D has brought to the role," presidential spokesman Bernard Harbour told RTE.
A barrage of rockets from Gaza hit Israel during the night, the army said Saturday, hours after five Palestinians were killed during clashes on the Israeli border, in a flareup that could jeopardise truce efforts. The largest projectile attacks in months and the border fatalities came despite talk of progress towards an Egyptian-brokered deal to end months of often violent protests along the border. "Overnight, dozens of rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip at communities in southern Israel," the army said in a statement, putting the exact number in a separate announcement at 30. "The IDF's Iron Dome aerial defense system intercepted approximately 10 projectiles," the army said, adding that two rockets fell within the Gaza Strip while the others landed in "open areas". Israeli medics said seven civilians were being treated for shock. In response to the rockets, Israeli fighter jets, helicopters and drones struck "approximately 80 Hamas targets throughout the Gaza Strip". There were no reports of Gaza casualties as a result of the strikes. Hamas, the militant Islamist rulers of Gaza, did not claim responsibility for the rockets, but Israel holds it responsible for any launches from the coastal enclave. "The rocket fire is conducted in a terror-filled atmosphere which is generated by Hamas in the area of the security fence and in acts such as tonight's events," the army said. Islamic Jihad, the second largest militant group in Gaza, hailed the rocket fire in a statement as a response to "Israeli aggressions", stopping short however of directly claiming responsibility for the launches. A Hamas official said that following the escalation Egypt was again seeking to negotiate a return to calm. - 'Riot dispersal means' - Earlier, five Palestinians aged between 22 and 27 died in separate incidents along the border fence, the Gaza health ministry said. The army did not comment on the deaths but said around 16,000 "rioters and demonstrators" had gathered along the border, with some setting tyres alight and hurling rocks, firebombs and grenades towards soldiers. Troops responded with "riot dispersal means", a spokesman added. Three of the men were shot dead east of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, while one was killed east of Jabalia in the north of the coastal territory, the health ministry said. A fifth man died east of Bureij in central Gaza when a hand grenade he was holding exploded accidentally, witnesses said. Palestinians have gathered for protests along the Gaza Strip's border at least weekly since March 30. At least 212 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza since the protests began, according to figures collated by AFP. The majority have died during protests, while smaller numbers have been killed by airstrikes and tank fire. One Israeli soldier was shot dead by a Palestinian sniper along the border in the same period. The protesters are calling to be allowed to return to lands their families fled or were expelled from in a 1948 war surrounding the creation of Israel and which are now inside the Jewish state. They are also protesting over Israel's crippling blockade of Gaza. Israel accuses Hamas of orchestrating the often violent demonstrations. Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008 and much of the international community considers the Islamist movement a terrorist organisation. - Truce deal at risk - The fresh violence could also scupper hopes of a deal to end the months of protests. Egypt and the United Nations have been brokering indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel with the aim of calming the situation amid fears of another war. Last week, a rocket fired from Gaza hit an Israeli home, narrowly avoiding killing a family. In response the Israeli army carried out air strikes on around 20 Hamas targets in Gaza. The London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat reported Friday that a deal had been reached that would see the protests end in exchange for an easing of Israel's blockade. Hamas officials denied a deal had been struck but confirmed to AFP that progress was being made. "We expect to reach an agreement very soon," a senior Hamas official said earlier Friday on condition of anonymity. Israel also fully reopened its border crossings with the Gaza Strip this week following a week of relative calm. It allowed dozens of trucks of fuel paid for by Qatar into the strip, having previously banned their entry in response to the border violence. Israel says the decade-long blockade is necessary to isolate Hamas, while critics say it amounts to collective punishment of Gaza's two million residents.
Palestinians gather at the Israel-Gaza border fence during a protest in Gaza Palestinians gather at the Israel-Gaza border fence during a protest calling for lifting the blockade on Gaza, in Gaza October 26, 2018. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli forces shot and killed four Palestinians and wounded 232, 180 of them from live fire, during protests along the border with Gaza on Friday, Palestinian medical officials said.

The Israeli military responded with air strikes at three positions belonging to Hamas, the Islamist group that rules the Gaza Strip, an army statement said.

It said 16,000 Palestinians had gathered along the Gaza border and hurled grenades, firebombs and rocks at Israeli troops, who responded with "riot dispersal means" and live fire when required.

Later, sirens sounded in Israeli towns and communities around the Gaza Strip to warn that militants had launched rockets. The military said the Iron Dome missile interceptor had taken down several of about a dozen rockets fired.

Gaza residents then reported more Israeli air strikes. No casualties were reported from either the rockets launched at Israel or from the air strikes in Gaza.

Palestinians have been protesting along the border since March 30, demanding an end to Israel's blockade of the territory and the right to return to lands from which they fled or were driven when Israel was founded in 1948.

Since the protests began, 212 Gazans have been killed by Israeli troops, according to Palestinian Health Ministry figures. An Israeli soldier was killed by a Palestinian sniper.

Egyptian security officials have in the last two weeks been talking to Israeli leaders and officials of Hamas, which runs Gaza, and other factions in an attempt to restore calm along the border.

Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, said protests would continue "until we achieve our goals, and foremost is ending the blockade of the Gaza Strip".

In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, troops shot dead a Palestinian protester, Palestinian medical officials said, after he was involved in a clash with Israeli soldiers in the village of Al-Mazraa Al-Gharbeya.

Hamas said the dead man was a member of their group and had previously served a two-year term in an Israeli jail.

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The Israeli military said dozens of protesters hurled rocks and explosives at troops who responded with "riot dispersal means" and who fired live rounds in cases when there was a direct threat to life.

An army spokesman said the military was aware there had been a fatality and a number of injured among the Palestinians and said the incident was being investigated.

(Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta; Editing by Ori Lewis and Toby Chopra)
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a news conference with Slovakia's Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini at Bratislava Castle in Bratislava, Slovakia October 26, 2018. REUTERS/Radovan Stoklasa

PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday dismissed as "demagoguery" the calls by several European countries including Germany to suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia following the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

"What's the link between arms sales and Mr Khashoggi's murder? I understand the connection with what's happening in Yemen, but there is no link with Mister Khashoggi," Macron told a news conference in Slovakia.

"That's pure demagoguery to say 'we must stop arms sales'. It's got nothing to do with Mr Khashoggi," he added.

Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl told a German newspaper the European Union should halt arms sales to Saudi Arabia following the killing of Khashoggi, saying it could also help end "the terrible war in Yemen".

The comments from Austria, the current president of the EU, came after Germany said it would stop approving weapons exports to Saudi Arabia until Khashoggi's death at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul is cleared up.

(Reporting by Michel Rose; Editing by Luke Baker)
By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Maayan Lubell

GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Palestinian militants said on Saturday they would halt attacks into Israel from the Gaza Strip after they fired the heaviest rocket salvoes across the border since August.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad, one of the armed groups that operates in Gaza, said it fired the rockets in retaliation for Israel's killing of four Palestinian protesters on Friday.

Israel in response struck dozens of targets in the Gaza Strip on Saturday.

A spokesman for the militants said an Egyptian-mediated truce had been reached.

"After contacts between the Islamic Jihad leadership and the brothers in Egypt it was agreed that a comprehensive ceasefire will begin immediately," spokesman Daoud Shehab said. "The Islamic Jihad will abide by the ceasefire if the occupation (Israel) does the same."

Egyptian security officials have been talking separately to Israeli and Palestinian leaders in an attempt to restore calm along the border.

An Israeli military spokeswoman declined comment on Shehab's remarks and there was no immediate response from other Israeli officials. Israel rarely acknowledges it has reached a truce with Gaza's militant groups which it designates as terrorist organisations.

Earlier, Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Conricus accused Syria and Iran of involvement in the rocket attack.

"Orders and incentives were given from Damascus with a clear involvement of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards al-Quds force," Conricus told reporters. "Our response is not limited geographically."

Israel regularly accuses Iran of aiding Gaza militants, but rarely levels the charge in connection with a specific rocket attack.

WEEKLY PROTESTS

Shehab dismissed the allegation as "an Israeli attempt to escape its responsibility" for Friday's protest deaths.

There were no casualties reported from the heavy exchange of fire in either Israel or Gaza, which is controlled by the Islamist Hamas group.

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The Israeli military said it holds Hamas accountable for the events in Gaza. It said its air force hit more than 80 targets including one used by Hamas as a headquarters, in response to more than 30 rockets launched into Israel. There was no immediate comment from Hamas.

The flare-up began after the four Palestinians were killed on Friday during weekly protests. Israel said its forces were attacked with explosive devices and some demonstrators breached the border.

Palestinians have been protesting along the frontier since March 30, demanding an end to an Israeli blockade and the right to return to lands from which they fled or were driven from when Israel was founded in 1948.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, 213 Gazans have been killed by Israeli forces during the protests. An Israeli soldier was killed by a Palestinian sniper.

About two million Palestinians are packed into the Gaza Strip which is in a deep economic crisis. Israel says it keeps a naval blockade and tight control of its land crossings with the enclave for security reasons.

Israel has struck scores of times inside Syria during the seven-year civil war there, at what it has said were Iranian targets or Teheran's transfers of weapons to Hezbollah fighters.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a rare visit to Oman on Friday. Israel and some Gulf states share an interest in curbing Iran's influence in the region.

Oman's foreign affairs minister Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah said on Saturday the sultanate was offering ideas to help Israel and the Palestinians come together but was not acting as mediator.

Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians broke down in 2014.

(Writing by Maayan Lubell; Editing by John Stonestreet)
The warring parties in World War I signed no less than 16 peace treaties at the end of the devastating conflict, the most important being the 1919 Treaty of Versailles in which the victorious Allies made Germany accept responsibility. Here are the main accords. - Brest-Litovsk: March 3, 1918 - The first peace treaty of the conflict, it was agreed between Russia -- which had sided with the Allies -- and Germany and other members of its Central Powers coalition. Inked in the German-occupied city of Brest-Litovsk, today's Brest in Belarus, it followed a December 1917 armistice sought by an overwhelmed Russia immediately after its October 1917 Marxist revolution. The terms were harsh: Russia lost to Germany large parts of its western territory in the Baltic states, Finland and Poland, and more than 30 percent of its population. - Versailles: June 28, 1919 - Signed in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles outside Paris exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand that sparked the war, this treaty designated Germany responsible for losses and damages from the war. Among the terms, Germany was ordered to pay crippling war damages, which became a source of deep national resentment that fuelled Nazi propaganda and is seen as a key underlying cause of World War II. Germany was divided by the Danzig corridor which isolated eastern Prussia from the rest of the country. Berlin lost 15 percent of its territory and 10 percent of its population. The regions of Alsace and Lorraine were returned to France and the Saarland region in Germany was placed under an international mandate for 15 years. The treaty was never ratified by the United States Senate. - Saint-Germain-en-Laye: September 10, 1919 - This treaty established peace between the Allies and defeated Austria, and consecrated the dismantlement of the Austro-Hungarian empire into several smaller states, a source of many future tensions. Signed at the castle of Saint-Germain-en-Laye outside Paris, it recognised the creation of Czechoslovakia and the merger of southern Slav states, that were to become Yugoslavia. Romania expanded to include Transylvania and Bessarabia, and Poland was granted land occupied by Austria and Germany. This left a separate Austria with 6.5 million inhabitants and Hungary with eight million. - Neuilly: November 27, 1919 - Allied powers signed this treaty with Bulgaria, which had joined forces with Germany in 1915, in the Paris suburb of Neuilly. It saw Sofia lose land to the newly formed Yugoslavia, to Romania and to Greece, leaving Bulgaria without direct access to the Aegean Sea. - Trianon: June 4, 1920 - The Treaty of Trianon was concluded at Versailles between the Allies and Hungary, which lost two-thirds of the land it controlled as part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. It meant that three million ethnic Hungarians found themselves living outside their country, most of them in Romania. - Two with Turkey - Treaties signed with Turkey led to the dissolution of the once-mighty Ottoman empire and defined most of the borders of modern-day Turkey. The first was inked at Sevres, in France, on August 10, 1920. Its terms led to Turkey's war of independence and a conflict with Greece, and was superseded by the Lausanne treaty on July 24, 1923, that ended the conflict. Signed for the Allies by Britain, France and Italy, the treaties saw the country lose its Arab possessions, with Britain receiving a mandate for Palestine and Mesopotamia, and France awarded one for Lebanon and Syria. Almost 1.3 million ethnic Greeks were forced to leave Asia Minor and about 500,000 Turks left Greece.
By John Miller ZURICH (Reuters) - Robots will make robots at a new ABB factory in China, which the Swiss engineering group said on Saturday it plans to build for $150 million in Shanghai as it defends its place as the country's largest maker of industrial robots. The factory, located near ABB's China robotics campus, is due to be operating by the end of 2020 and will produce robots for China as well as for export elsewhere in Asia. China is ABB's No. 2 market after the United States. "Shanghai has become a vital center for advanced technology leadership  for ABB and the world," ABB Chief Executive Ulrich Spiesshofer said in a statement announcing the project. With the expansion, ABB is banking on Chinese robots sales defying concerns over trade tensions with the United States that some fear could dent demand for electronics, auto parts and other items that require automated manufacturing and robots. China is expanding its robot workforce, as wages for human workers there rise and the country seeks to compete with lower-cost countries via greater automation. In 2017, one of every three robots sold in the world went to China, which purchased nearly 138,000 units, ABB said. ABB's new 75,000-square-foot factory will use software meant to allow people and robots to work safely in close proximity, the company said, adding its YuMi robots -- designed to work side-by-side with people -- will also be deployed on many of the small parts assembly tasks needed to manufacture an ABB robot. Rival Kuka , taken over in 2016 by China's Midea <000333.SZ> two years ago, has also been expanding in the country, including by building a robot park in Shunde near Hong Kong. ABB, whose industrial robots are used, among other things, to build automobiles as well as to assemble electronic devices, will build robots for numerous industries at the Shanghai factory, a spokesman said. It did not give a new employee count for the factory, but said it will boost robotics employment that now sits at more than 2,000 ABB workers in China. (Reporting by John Miller; Editing by Alison Williams)
Russia's only opposition magazine, The New Times, faces bankruptcy and apparent closure after a court slapped the outlet with a fine of nearly $340,000, its editor said on Friday. The magazine known for its no-holds-barred coverage of Vladimir Putin's nearly two-decade reign was fined over alleged failure to provide information about its financing to the state communications watchdog, said editor Evgenia Albats. "This is bankruptcy," Albats told AFP, saying the struggling media outlet would not be able to pay off the enormous amount. She said the publisher had suddenly been slapped with a fine of 22,250,000 rubles ($338,000) and she herself had been fined 30,000 rubles. The ruling was made in the absence of the magazine's representatives. The court ruling came after Albats interviewed Putin's top critic Alexei Navalny for the liberal Echo of Moscow radio earlier this week. Established in 2007, The New Times had a small print run but punched above its weight with its searing covers and an uncompromising anti-Kremlin stance. Last year the magazine discontinued its print edition due to financial troubles and a lack of advertisers, publishing an online edition. Albats said she had hoped to restart the print edition but now feared that the publication would have to close altogether. The magazine's online edition exists thanks to donations from supporters it receives via a charity designated by Russian authorities as a "foreign agent." Albats said the magazine regularly submitted paperwork to the authorities but she did not know they had to do it every three months. In 2012, Russia adopted a law which requires NGOs that receive funding from abroad to register as "foreign agents", a move critics said was part of a clampdown on civil society. Kremlin critics say that over the past few years the authorities have been seeking to tighten control over the internet that is seen as the last bastion of free speech in Russia.
Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir speaks during the second day of the 14th Manama dialogue, Security Summit in Manama Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir speaks during the second day of the 14th Manama dialogue, Security Summit in Manama, Bahrain October 27, 2018. REUTERS/Hamad l Mohammed

By Katie Paul and Idrees Ali

MANAMA (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia and key ally Bahrain said on Saturday that Gulf states are playing a critical role in maintaining stability in the Middle East by combating Iran's "vision of darkness", as Riyadh faces its worst political crisis in decades.

Saudi Arabia is the lynchpin of a U.S.-backed regional bloc against growing Iranian influence in the Middle East but the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at its consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. has prompted a global outcry and strained Riyadh's ties with the West.

"We are now dealing with two visions in the Middle East. One is a (Saudi) vision of light ... One is a (Iranian) vision of darkness which seeks to spread sectarianism throughout the region," Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told a security summit in Bahrain.

"History tells us that light always wins out against the dark ... The question is how do we defeat them."

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Saturday that the killing of Khashoggi, a prominent critic of Saudi policy, undermined regional stability and that Washington would take additional measures against those responsible after announcing visa bans on 21 suspects in the case.

"Failure of any one nation to adhere to international norms and the rule of law undermines regional stability at a time when it is needed most," Mattis told a separate session of the annual Manama Dialogue security conference.

The long-planned event has been the focus of greater scrutiny this year after the killing of Khashoggi, with Jubeir questioned about how the case would affect Saudi Arabia's credibility on foreign policy and security matters.

He reiterated that Riyadh would bring to justice those responsible for Khashoggi's death, saying they would be prosecuted in the kingdom, a day after Turkey demanded the extradition of 18 Saudis suspected of involvement in his murder.

Jubeir said ties between Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, and the United States are "ironclad" and praised what he described as the "rational, realistic" foreign policy of the current U.S. administration.

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President Donald Trump has said he wants to get to the bottom of the Khashoggi case, while also highlighting Riyadh's role as an ally against Iran and Islamist militants, as well as a major purchaser of U.S. arms.

Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Muslim Iran, which was not represented in the Manama conference agenda, have long been locked in a proxy war, competing for regional supremacy from Iraq to Syria and Lebanon to Yemen.

Trump, who in May withdraw the United States from a 2015 international nuclear accord with Tehran, has strongly backed Saudi Arabia in its efforts to counter Iran's influence. The next wave of U.S. sanctions against Iran are due to come into effect on Nov 4.

Iran, for its part, accuses Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates of funding gunmen who attacked a military parade in Iran last month, killing 25 people, 12 of them members of the elite Revolutionary Guards. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have denied any involvement.

The Guards accused them of creating "plots and tensions".

SECURITY ALLIANCE

Bahrain's foreign minister, Shiekh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, told the conference the Gulf bloc would remain a "pillar" of regional security and that a proposed security alliance grouping the United States, Gulf states, Jordan and Egypt would be activated next year.

The Middle East Strategic Alliance (MESA) is meant to serve as a bulwark against Iran and extremism, Washington says. But there has been uncertainty about how it can get off the ground given a protracted dispute between Qatar and four Arab states led by Saudi Arabia who launched a boycott of Doha in 2017.

Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut off travel and trade ties with Qatar in June 2017, accusing it of backing their archrival, Iran, and supporting terrorism. Qatar denies the charges and says the boycott impinges on its sovereignty.

Mattis said that it was important to end the 16-month-old Arab dispute with Qatar that analysts say has weakened regional coordination against Iran.

Jubeir said recent discussions in Saudi Arabia about a framework for MESA included Qatari officials and that the proposed alliance would not be affected by the diplomatic row.

"It (MESA) is an alliance for security and prosperity for the region and will be open to those who accept its principles," Sheikh Khalid said, adding that the alliance would also cooperate on economic issues.

Gulf Arab foreign ministers also touched on Middle East peace initiatives, with Sheikh Khalid lauding efforts by Oman, which hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday in a rare visit.

Oman's foreign minister, Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, told the forum that Muscat was offering ideas to help Israel and the Palestinians to come together but was not acting as mediator.

(Writing by Hadeel Al Sayegh and Ghaida Ghantous; Editing by Alison Williams)
Hong Kong Baptist University media professor Cherian George (right) speaking at a conference to mark the 30th anniversary of the Institute of Policy Studies. (PHOTO: Jacky Ho, for the Institute of Policy Studies, NUS)

The aspiration to build a democratic society in Singapore may have been enshrined in the Pledge but the meaning has been hollowed out over the decades since the countrys first-generation leaders wrote it, said Hong Kong Baptist University media professor Cherian George.

This was due to Singapores minimal model of democratic government primarily by way of an electoral mandate, which has led to a failure to harness fully the nation-building potential of democracy, according to Prof George.

The PAPs (Peoples Action Party) preferred model of democracy is one where citizens stay out of the kitchen and entrust the job to professional cooks, said Prof George. He was speaking on Friday (26 October) at a conference to mark the 30th anniversary of the Institute of Policy Studies held at the Marina Bay Sands.

Giving his views during a panel discussion on the politics of diversity management, Prof George highlighted that the Pledge doesnt just commit the citizens of Singapore to protect and preserve democratic structures. Through an ongoing process, citizens should also participate and build a democratic society, he added.

Prof George, who formerly lectured at the Nanyang Technological University, compared the Singapore government to a dominant monopoly that is also its own regulator, whose unchallenged position is impervious to the marketplace of ideas.

This model has already compromised the quality of decision making and led to an unnecessary, avoidable depletion of the political capital the government needs to serve its nation-building role, and is at odds with the clarion call contained in our Pledge, that we the citizens of Singapore are fellow nation-builders.

The government as a referee

One of the positive aspects and traditional strengths of the PAP has been its reputation as a generally neutral referee among competing groups, Prof George said. Its character as a national movement has been key in managing differences within Singapore.

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Because in intra-societal disputes, people generally felt that they could trust this referee, even if not everyone liked it. To the extent that the PAP was dictatorial, at least it was an equal-opportunity dictator, he added.

But this traditional strength is no longer true today, he pointed out. For instance, the PAPs mismanagement of immigration has tarnished its reputation as the protector of Singaporeans interests. Consequently, the government had to moderate its immigration policies in the wake of discontent over the issue during the 2011 general election, he said.

During the question and answer session, Prof George again brought up the reference of the PAP being a referee in relation to the governments management of issues across what he called the conservative-progressive spectrum.

Activists for certain progressive causes are not just obstructed but also blacklisted, which can affect their employment prospects, Prof George argued. On certain issues, the government has made an ideological choice of playing the role of a biased referee with a clear bias for conservative groups against activists promoting progressive causes, he said.

(L to R): Dr Janil Puthucheary, Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information, Hong Kong Baptist University media professor Cherian George and Associate Professor Suzaina Kadir, vice-dean of academic affairs at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. (PHOTO: Jacky Ho, for the Institute of Policy Studies, NUS)

Heated exchange during discussion

Dr Janil Puthucheary, Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information, who was also a speaker at the discussion, disagreed with Prof George, saying that many of the issues highlighted by the academic involved making pragmatic political choices about what can be done such that society can accept them.

We need to be less coercive because people feel a sense of engagement and empowerment around social issues and around the progress of our society. It has to be seen as a positive development after 53 years (of nationhood), Dr Puthucheary said.

The comments were followed by a robust exchange between the speakers. Prof George asked, But are we less coercive on certain issues?, prompting Dr Puthucheary to rebut, Do you want us to be less coercive or more coercive? I cant decide what you want.

In response, Prof George urged the government not to stand in the way of activists promoting causes such as the abolition of the death penalty and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights, and to censor them less.

If indeed you sincerely believe that you have to let society evolve and the government to watch carefully, watch the evolution and move in step with society. If you sincerely believe that, then let society evolve. Dont obstruct activists that are trying to persuade their fellow citizens of certain points of views, Prof George said.

They are obstructed and penalised, there are personal repercussions for them. And I am quite sure that similar repercussions do not befall on the activists that are on the other side of the spectrum. So it is a selectivity of coercion, it is the selectivity of liberalisation that is worrying. If indeed that is the governments position and platform, then come out and say it, he added.

Promoting diversity of ideas

Rounding up the discussion, Dr Puthucheary said he didnt think progressive ideas are being obstructed and that there is a diversity of political opinions in Singapore.

Our diversity is a strength but it needs to be managed on the assumption that it is, must be and will be a strength for us as a nation. That does require the sense of trust and the ability to come together with a common sense of aspiration.

Earlier in his opening remarks, Prof George referred to the upcoming handover of government to the fourth-generation leaders and expressed a wish for them to be so confident in themselves such that they can lower the protectionist barriers around the marketplace of ideas.

He said, Equally overdue is a leadership able to model an enthusiasm for multiculturalism deeper than the superficiality of colourful costumes and spicy cuisine, not just to appeal to tourists but more importantly to get Singaporeans to see diversity mainly as a source of vitality and not always a vulnerability.

Related stories

Not yet practical to implement minimum wage in Singapore: Josephine Teo

Societal consensus on LGBT issues takes time to evolve: Desmond Lee

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Syria's opposition welcomes dialogue with Moscow to achieve a political settlement of the years-long war, said their chief negotiator, Nasr al-Hariri, in Russia on Friday. "Of course, Russia can do a lot and can facilitate the expansion of dialogue," he told reporters before meeting with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. "We have strived and will continue to strive for dialogue and negotiations with Russia to achieve a political solution," said the head of the Syrian Negotiation Commission. "Russia is a state that has major influence on the Syrian issue," he said, expressing hope that Moscow would seize "this historic moment" and help broker a solution that suited both the regime and the Syrian people. In the past, the opposition has described the role of Russia, which intervened militarily in the conflict on the side of Bashar al-Assad in 2015, as an "occupation". But Hariri's remarks signalled the Syrian opposition's readiness for more concessions following the regime's battlefield successes. Moscow said that Russia's top diplomat Lavrov and Hariri had a "frank exchange of opinions" and stressed the need to settle the crisis as soon as possible. Hariri visited Russia ahead of this weekend's four-way summit on Syria in Istanbul. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will host Russian President Vladimir Putin, France's Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Turkey, which has supported Syrian rebels, has been working with Syrian regime supporters Russia and Iran to end the more than seven-year civil war, efforts that have often been greeted with suspicion in the West.
The best countries to visit in 2019 have been revealed by the travel experts at Lonely Planet.

The Lonely Planets Best In Travel guide, which is published annually since its origination in 2015, lists the finest cities, regions and countries for tourists.

If youre already experiencing wanderlust and thinking about how to use up your annual leave next year, its best countries guide will certainly whet your appetite.

Countries ranking in the top 10 include everything from European highlights (Belarus, Germany) to far flung Panama and Belize.

The South Asian island of Sri Lanka  known for its ancient ruins and pretty beaches  tops the list.

Also on the list is the country of Jordan, which is home to the archaeological site of Petra  also known as The Rose City for its pink sandstone cliffs.

If youre firmly on the lookout for your next adventure, click through the slideshow to see which countries made the cut  and why you should book to go there next year.

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for non-stop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. For Twitter updates, follow @YahooStyleUK.

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Famed for its ancient Buddhist ruins, scenic train journeys and delicious curry-based cuisine, Sri Lanka  formerly known as Ceylon  has topped the Lonely Planet list this year. Whether beach resorts or wildlife hikes are your bag, this country has something for you. [Photo: Getty]

Coming second on the list, Germany is an industrial country in Western Europe known for the invention of the printing press. Travel to the home of party capital of Berlin, or Munich (of Oktober fest fame) for a good time, or take a drive through the Romantic Road of Wurzburg and Fussen to soak up the natural beauty. [Photo: Getty]

Story continues

Already firmly established as a tourist hotspot, Zimbabwe is a landlocked country in Africa celebrated for its safari areas and natural parks, not to mention the famous Victoria Falls. [Photo: Getty]

Dont be put off by the name  which is as hard to pronounce as it is to spell  Kyrgzstan is a beautiful country in Central Asia known for its unspoilt natural beauty. [Photo: Getty]

Despite recent natural disasters, the bulk of Indonesia is still safe for travellers. Made up of over 17,000 volcanic islands, this country is known for its jungles filled with orangutans, Komodo dragons and elephants. Its capital, Jakarta, is also a site for traditional puppetry. [Photo: Getty]

Belarus is known for its capital city, Minsk, which was remodelled to please Stalins tastes. The country, which includes everything from Neo-Romanesque churches to primeval forests, will surprise you with its increasingly modern attitude, polite locals and vibrant art scene. [Photo: Getty]

Sneaking into the top 10 is Belize, an island on the eastern coast of Central America. Belize is worth travelling to the Mayan Ruins and massive Belize Barrier Reef, not to mention its incredible Blue Hole, a astoundingly beautiful sinkhole located in the middle of the ocean. [Photo: Getty]

1. Sri Lanka

Famed for its ancient Buddhist ruins, scenic train journeys and delicious curry-based cuisine, Sri Lanka  formerly known as Ceylon  has topped the Lonely Planet list this year. Whether beach resorts or wildlife hikes are your bag, this country has something for you. [Photo: Getty]

2. Germany

Coming second on the list, Germany is an industrial country in Western Europe known for the invention of the printing press. Travel to the home of party capital of Berlin, or Munich (of Oktober fest fame) for a good time, or take a drive through the Romantic Road of Wurzburg and Fussen to soak up the natural beauty. [Photo: Getty]

3. Zimbabwe

Already firmly established as a tourist hotspot, Zimbabwe is a landlocked country in Africa celebrated for its safari areas and natural parks, not to mention the famous Victoria Falls. [Photo: Getty]

4. Panama

Panama is a mis-mash of the towering skyscrapers and casinos of Panama City mixed with the rainbow colonial building in Casco Viejo (pictured). There is also a spectacular rainforest in the Natural Metropolitan Park.[Photo: Getty]

10. Kyrgzstan

Dont be put off by the name  which is as hard to pronounce as it is to spell  Kyrgzstan is a beautiful country in Central Asia known for its unspoilt natural beauty. [Photo: Getty]

6. Jordan

Jordan is a Middle-Eastern country known for its pink sandstone cliffs, national parks and abundant olive trees. Visited by Prince William last June, the country is enjoying a renewed tourist interest in the past year. [Photo: Getty]

7. Indonesia

Despite recent natural disasters, the bulk of Indonesia is still safe for travellers. Made up of over 17,000 volcanic islands, this country is known for its jungles filled with orangutans, Komodo dragons and elephants. Its capital, Jakarta, is also a site for traditional puppetry. [Photo: Getty]

8. Belarus

Belarus is known for its capital city, Minsk, which was remodelled to please Stalins tastes. The country, which includes everything from Neo-Romanesque churches to primeval forests, will surprise you with its increasingly modern attitude, polite locals and vibrant art scene. [Photo: Getty]

9. Sao Tome and Principe

Sao Tome and Principe is an African country made up of two islands. Lonely Planet ranks this area  the smallest Portuguese speaking country in the world  among its top 10 for its verdant jungles, tropical waters and scenic landscapes.

3. Belize

Sneaking into the top 10 is Belize, an island on the eastern coast of Central America. Belize is worth travelling to the Mayan Ruins and massive Belize Barrier Reef, not to mention its incredible Blue Hole, a astoundingly beautiful sinkhole located in the middle of the ocean. [Photo: Getty]
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On this weeks episode, Emily Peck, Felix Salmon, Anna Szymanski, Alex White, and Faisal Islam discuss:

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The lawyer for the family of mail bomb suspect Cesar Sayoc went on CNN to paint the picture of a man who had long struggled with mental health issues and was constantly trying to find his place in the world. It seems he found something he was looking for in President Donald Trump even though he hadnt ever been interested in politics before. He was looking for anything, and he found a father in Trump, attorney Ron Lowy said.

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He was attracted to the Trump formula of reaching out, Trump reaching out to these types of outsiders, people who dont fit in, people who are angry at America, telling them they have a place at the table and its OK to get angry, Lowy said. The attorney did emphasize that he believes this was a motivating factor and he didnt blame the president solely because this is a sick individual.

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Lowy said that it didnt take long in his interactions with Sayoc to realize that there was something not quite right. I began to realize that he had what I considered a lesser IQ, substantial emotional problems. He was like a 14-year-old in an adults body. He didnt act like a normal individual. He wasnt working on all cylinders, he said. Sayocs family had long pushed him to get medical help but he repeatedly refused. This is a sad result of someone whos very sick, who didnt get the help, became a loner, and then found a cause that adopted and accepted these types of people, he added.

At the end of the interview, Lowy made sure to point that Sayoc never seemed sophisticated enough to do something like hes accused of, adding that he wouldnt be surprised if there were others involved or that the bombs simply could have never worked. He didnt seem to have the intellectual capacity to plan a conspiracy like this, in my opinion.

Sayoc, 56, was charged with five federal crimes for allegedly sending explosives to several top Democrats, including former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. He faces a maximum of 48 years in prison if convicted.
This article is part of Watching Fox, a Slate series about Fox News.

Around 12:20 on Friday afternoon, in the middle of Fox News Outnumbered, the tarp came off the van.

The van in question reportedly belongs to 56-year-old Cesar Sayoc, who was arrested that morning in connection with the pipe bomb incidents that have roiled the country all week. The vehicles windows were covered, front to back, with conspiratorial right-wing bumper stickers that lauded the president and criticized his enemies. The authorities had draped Sayocs van in a blue sheet and loaded it onto a flatbed truck, and the images of the convoy had been playing on Fox News all hour, like b-roll from a very boring car-chase scene.

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And then, some action. I just want to stop you for a second here, said Outnumbered co-host Melissa Francis as we watched the tow truck come to a stop. Theyve pulled over because the tarp has come off the van and has flown onto the side of the road, uncovering it. And so everybody can see some of the things that are on the side of the van there, and stickers everywhere.

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Stickers everywhere was underselling it. For a minute, the van was revealed to Fox viewers in all its crazed glory, a clear glimpse into the obsessions and vendettas of the man charged with targeting more than a dozen prominent Democrats and critics of President Donald Trump around the country. And then it was over. Oh, they got it back on, said Francis, as the tarp was resecured, and the convoy resumed its course. You couldnt have asked for a better metaphor to characterize Fox News disappointing Friday afternoon coverage of the Sayoc arrest.

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Since Wednesday, the nation has been speculating as to the identity and motives of the unsuccessful mail bomber. On Friday, to paraphrase Dennis Green, we learned that the bomber most likely is who we thought he isa creepy MAGA fanatic with a nasty grudge against Democrats. There is still a lot that we dont know about Sayoc and the incident. Why didnt any of the bombs explode? If he did it, did he have any help? What specifically drove him to take these terroristic actions? Why now?

But theres also a lot that we do know, thanks to his prolific social media presence and his ostentatious ride. According to photos published on the website of the Sun Sentinel, the stickers on Sayocs van were the exact sorts of things youd buy from peddlers outside of Trump rallies: a large replica of Trumps presidential seal; images of Hillary Clinton, Michael Moore, and others with their faces in rifle crosshairs; the words DISHONEST MEDIA CNN SUCKS; a drawing of Trump holding a rifle and standing atop a Trump-branded tank. The vans dashboard contained several Make America Great Again caps. The passenger-side window bore the message ZERO TOLERANCE KILL YOUR ENEMY AND THOSE WHO ROB YOU THEN TAKE THEM TO THE EVERGLADE [sic] FOR GATORS. As my colleague Molly Olmstead has been reporting all day for Slate, Sayoc used his Twitter account to bash Democrats and the liberal media, lashing out at frequent Fox News targets like Barack Obama, Eric Holder, and David Hogg. By all appearances, the man is a Trumper to his bones, a proud member of a political movement that has at its core a philosophy of sneering, violent disdain for the other.

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But Fox News spent several hours Friday afternoon working to throw a tarp on this data, to obscure or ignore relevant and obvious information about Sayocs professed beliefs and possible intentions. Whether from an excess of reportorial caution or, um, other motives, the network avoided reporting specific information that might have tied Sayoc to Trumpism.

Instead, it leaned hard on general observations and periodic cheers for the cops and federal agents who had worked together to make the arrest. All afternoon, the network refrained from drawing direct connections between rhetoric and actionrefrained not just from connecting the dots, but from even acknowledging that these dots existed to begin with.

This is now going to be a factually, evidence-based investigation, and let the police figure out what the motive was, Outnumbered guest Steve Rogers said around 12:25 p.m. Weve learned in law enforcement that its best to complete an investigation with all the facts before we start pointing fingersa fair point, I suppose, but also a way of deflecting any discussion of the most likely motive: irrational fear and hatred of Democrats. At the top of Outnumbered Overtime, referring to Sayocs opinionated van, correspondent Phil Keating noted that a lot of cars do that around the country, a lot of drivers do that, because they are so passionate about what they believe in and they hope to influence others. Keating was speaking elliptically in order to avoid mentioning exactly what Sayoc believed in and how he ended up trying to influence others. Near the end of the two oclock hour, correspondent Catherine Herridge told Dana Perino that based on what weve seen analyzing his social media, Facebook page, also what we could just visibly see on that van, he seemed to be very, sort of, politically engaged, in his own way. Politically engaged in his own way. Sure, you could certainly say that!

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Covering a breaking story on broadcast media is a difficult task, and in the early stages of these stories, reporters are trained, quite rightly, to be circumspect. Irresponsible speculation is the death knell of reliable and trustworthy breaking-news journalism. But there is a difference between irresponsible speculation and reasonable inference, and in conflating one with the other Friday afternoonin consistently euphemizing Sayocs right-wing rantings and eliding relevant details about his apparent beliefsFox News was clearly trying to avoid any discussion of its own role in fanning the flames of violent political discontent.

Fox News as an entity clearly has a vested interest in disclaiming any causal links between political rhetoric and political violence. This desire is why the network spends so much time bemoaning the generalized decline of civility in American life. If both sides are to blame for the state of political discourse, then neither side can be said to be truly responsible. Were at a point where these two parties, these two warring factions inside our polity, owe each other an apology, Fox News political editor Chris Stirewalt told Dana Perino. They have both wronged each other. They have both said bad things. We could spend all day, we could spend day upon day talking about who said the wrong thing worst, who said it first, who said the most despicable thing.

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That logic is flawed and despicable. The president is both the leader of the federal government and the de facto moral leader of the nationthe person whose public pronouncements and comportment give his constituents something to strive for. Every other president in recent memory has accepted this responsibility and tried, in their ways, to meet it. Though their actions and policies may have deviated from their words, all of Trumps recent predecessors at least recognized the importance of paying public lip service to noble ideals.

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But the defining message of the Trump presidency is one of resentment and revenge. His candidacy and presidency have been embraced by voters eager to stick it to the elites who have purportedly kept them down for so long, to the minority groups that have purportedly imperiled white Christian hegemony, to the media, to the rest of the world, to everyone who questions the MAGA message. It is not a betrayal of civility for CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, CBS, or any other network to acknowledge that Trumpism is built on a foundation of divide and conquer or to criticize the president for his charged rhetoric (and show the ways that it connects to his policies). Rather, spotlighting these facts is a bid to maintain civilityto call attention to the daily erosion of moral norms by a nihilistic narcissist who recognizes no authority but his own.

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Fox News has stood alone among major television networks in encouraging and buttressing Trumps divisive message. When Sean Hannity assures his audience that all Democratsall Democrats!are lying to them, when Tucker Carlson insists that our elites inflame those divisions in order to rule, when Fox & Friends depicts the Honduran migrant caravan as something to be feared rather than pitied, they are all playing the politics of resentment and revenge. The reason why Fox News on Friday refrained from acknowledging the specifics of Cesar Sayocs politics is to avoid having to grapple with the implications and consequences of that strategy.

Shepard Smith, as usual, was the only Fox host Friday afternoon to acknowledge the obviousthat Sayocs van was plastered in pro-Trump and anti-Democrat stickers, including images of American flags, logos of the Republican National Committee, pictures of President Trump at least one sticker that reads CNN sucks. [According to the New York Times,] one sticker has Hillary Clintons face in the crosshairs of a rifle scope. As he gave Fox viewers their first sustained close-up look at the van and its stickersall previous footage of the van had been provided in wide shots where you couldnt see any specific stickersSmith acknowledged that all of the targets are high profile Democrats and/or frequent critics of the president and many are frequent rhetorical targets of the president himself.

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That information matters, and Smith, at least, knew it, even as all the rest of his Fox colleagues flailed about trying to deny the obvious. Later in his program, Smiths conversation with the usually tolerable Chris Wallace devolved into a full-fledged argument on this very topican exchange thats worth quoting at length:

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Smith: When you talk like this, the concern is that that one crazy one might then get empowered. We dont know what happened in this case. But overall Wallace: We do know what happened. Smith: No, we dont know if he goes, Oh, President Trump hates him, so Im gonna go target him. We dont know any of that kind of stuff. Wallace: But what difference does it make, Shep?  Smith: The rhetoric from the podium: the CNN sucks chants, the lock her up chants, all the rest, it doesnt bring unity Wallace: I agree it doesnt bring unity, but it also doesnt Smith: I dont know what were fighting about, Chris Wallace: But it also doesnt bring explosive devices. Smith: No one said it does! But to ignore the elephant in the room is just, you know, its a fools folly.

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For more than 20 years, Fox News has seen great profit in selling folly to fools, and Smith knows this as well as anyone. If history is any guide, the network will soon unite in an attempt to depict Sayoc as a lone wolf motivated solely by mania, and will vehemently deny and refute any attempts to connect Sayocs apparent beliefs with the politicians and personalities who have preached those beliefs the loudest. Over the next few days, Fox News will do its very best to get the tarp back on the van. Its up to the rest of us to never forget what lies underneath.
President Donald Trumps first public comments on the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting amounted to a bit of victim blaming, saying that the whole thing could have been avoided if the Tree of Life synagogue simply had an armed guard inside. Its a terrible, terrible thing whats going on with hate in our country, frankly, and all over the world, Trump said.

And something has to be done.

The president didnt quite specify what that something was and when a reporter asked whether it was time to revisit the countrys gun laws, Trump scoffed at the suggestion. This has little to do with it if you take a look, Trump said before boarding Air Force One heading to Indianapolis. If they had protection inside, Trump told reporters, the results would have been far better. This is a dispute that will always exist, I suspect. He then reiterated the point. If they had some kind of a protection inside the temple maybe it could have been a very much different situation, he added. They didnt and he was able to do things that unfortunately he shouldnt have been able to do.

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JUST IN: Asked about gun laws after Pittsburgh synagogue attack, President Trump says this has little to do with it and asserts that if they had protection inside, the results would have been far better. pic.twitter.com/SxAKNPRgBG  NBC News (@NBCNews) October 27, 2018

The president praised law enforcement officers and almost seemed to be minimizing the situation by saying there is violence all over the world and there had been so many incidents with churches. When he was asked what could be done about these types of situations, Trump said the country needed to stiffen up our laws in terms of the death penalty. When people do this they should get the death penalty. He then complained justice is often too slow. I think they should very much bring the death penalty into vogue, he said. Anybody that does a thing like this to innocent people that are in temple or in churchwe had so many incidents with churchesthey should really suffer the ultimate price.

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Asked about ways to prevent violence like the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, President Trump suggests stiffening death penalty laws: "I think they should very much bring the death penalty into vogue" https://t.co/rldHevHSsX pic.twitter.com/dCNI8JLfFm  CBS News (@CBSNews) October 27, 2018

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Many were quick to criticize Trump for his comments. His lack of empathy is just staggering, wrote Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia. Some also pointed out that Trump suggested an armed guard could have prevented the whole situation even though the shooter injured several law enforcement officers. Michael Eisenberg, a past president of the synagogue, told reporters that weve never had any threats.

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Trumps plan to combat these tragedies is to put guns and armed guards in places of worship.



His lack of empathy is just staggering. https://t.co/SFTekhkTjQ  Rep. Don Beyer (@RepDonBeyer) October 27, 2018

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The gunman shot three cops. https://t.co/3c3Ddhb0iE  Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) October 27, 2018

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Earlier, Trump had written two tweets regarding the shooting. Looks like multiple fatalities. Beware of active shooter. God Bless All! Trump wrote. He followed that up with another message saying that the events in Pittsburgh are far more devastating than originally thought.

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Watching the events unfolding in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Law enforcement on the scene. People in Squirrel Hill area should remain sheltered. Looks like multiple fatalities. Beware of active shooter. God Bless All!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 27, 2018

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Events in Pittsburgh are far more devastating than originally thought. Spoke with Mayor and Governor to inform them that the Federal Government has been, and will be, with them all the way. I will speak to the media shortly and make further statement at Future Farmers of America.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 27, 2018

First Lady Melania Trump also commented on the shooting on Twitter and called for unity. My heart breaks over the news out of #Pittsburgh, she wrote. The violence needs to stop. May God bless, guide & unite the United States of America.

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Dahlia Lithwick talks with Slates own Mark Joseph Stern about what to look out for this term, and with Rick Hasen, professor of law and political science at the University of California, Irvine, about how free and fair the midterm elections will be in light of recent Supreme Court rulings on voting rights.

Please let us know what you think of Amicus. Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook. Our email is amicus@slate.com.

Podcast production by Sara Burningham.
Legendary pacer and the richest Standardbred of all time, Foiled Again notched his 105th career win Monday (Oct. 22) at Harrington Raceway in 1:55.1 in a $10,000 conditioned race.

The venerable pacer took the lead near the quarter-mile for driver Montrell Teague and dug in gamely to hold off all comers to a half-length victory, one of four for Teague on the program. He paid $12 to win.

It was a fitting finish for his stop on his "farewell tour," where he greeted fans after the race in a temporary stall near the grandstand after the race. Harrington Raceway has a history with the pacer, as he is the only three-time winner of the track's signature event, the Bobby Quillen Memorial.

The well-mannered 14-year-old son of Dragon Again has been a worthy ambassador for racing and his extremely favourable temperament has lent itself to an abundance of interaction with racing fans. As has been widely publicized, the pacer will be retiring from racing at year end.

Foiled Agains visit to Harrington was coordinated by local television host Heather Vitale, who was instrumental in scheduling the appearance.

Owners Burke Racing, Weaver Bruscemi and JJK Stables' have been generous with the pacer's schedule to accommodate various requests. Trained by Ron Burke, the immortal Foiled Again has banked more than $7.6 million his illustrious career.

(Harrington Raceway)
French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire, pictured October 24, 2018, told journalists that a meeting in Berlin with his German counterpart Olaf Scholz had been useful regarding digital tax targetting US tech giants

France's economy minister said Friday he expects to reach agreement with Germany in the coming weeks on a European digital tax targetting US tech giants.

Bruno Le Maire told journalists that a meeting in Berlin Friday with his German counterpart Olaf Scholz had been useful.

"I think a compromise in the coming weeks is possible and we will be able to send the clear message that we agree on a fair taxation of the internet giants," he added.

"We made real progress today. I remain confident that we can deliver by the end of the year."

The two ministers met for four hours to discuss a controversial EU proposal to slap a European tax on US tech giants.

The EU proposal is for a rapid three-percent tax on revenue generated by certain kinds of activities, such as online advertising or the selling of personal data.

France has been pressing its EU partners to sign up to such an initiative, but Germany has until now been among the sceptics.

Scholz has come out in favour of a global minimum fiscal regime for multinationals, but media reports suggest he is not yet convinced by the digital tax proposal from the EU.

Germany's concern is that such a measure, which would target companies such as Google, Amazon, Facebook and Amazon, would provoke retaliatory measures from the United States.

Berlin would rather see an agreement in the framework of an international organisation such as the OECD.

According to one source close to Friday's ministerial talks, a compromise under discussion is for the tax to be agreed in principle by the end of the year, but not implemented for 12 to 24 months.

Approached by AFP, Germany's finance ministry has not so far commented on the talks.

Ireland and several northern European countries who are hosting the European bases of the tech companies targetted, are not happy about the proposals.

Explore further Germany urges global minimum tax for digital giants

 2018 AFP
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We are preparing for war Russia issues warning, US withdrawal from INF Treaty LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 348173

10-27-2018 06:59 PM











Post: #1 We are preparing for war Russia issues warning, US withdrawal from INF Treaty

Advertisement We are preparing for war Russia issues SHOCK warning over US withdrawal from INF Treaty



A LEADING Russian official has warned that Russia is preparing for war in the wake of the USs unilateral withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), in a sign of growing tensions between the two foes.



Andrei Belousov, deputy head of the Department of Nonproliferation and Arms Control at the Russian Foreign Minister, raised concerns over potential future conflict between the US and Russia, stating that Moscow will defend its territorial integrity and principles in response to US aggression.



Mr Belousov made his remarks after the First Committee of the UN General Assembly voted against a draft resolution to the INF proposed by Russia in support of the treaty.



He said: Here recently at the meeting, the United States said that Russia is preparing for war.



Yes, Russia is preparing for war, I have confirmed it.



We are preparing to defend our homeland, our territorial integrity, our principles, our values, our people - we are preparing for such a war.



However, Mr Belousov underlined that Russia was merely defending itself against increasing threats, and accused the US of being the catalyst of aggression.



He said: Linguistically, this difference is in just one word, both in Russian and in English; Russia is preparing for war, and the US is preparing a war.



Otherwise, why would the United States withdraw from the treaty, build up its nuclear potential and adopt a new nuclear doctrine?



https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/103...S-violence A LEADING Russian official has warned that Russia is preparing for war in the wake of the USs unilateral withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), in a sign of growing tensions between the two foes.Andrei Belousov, deputy head of the Department of Nonproliferation and Arms Control at the Russian Foreign Minister, raised concerns over potential future conflict between the US and Russia, stating that Moscow will defend its territorial integrity and principles in response to US aggression.Mr Belousov made his remarks after the First Committee of the UN General Assembly voted against a draft resolution to the INF proposed by Russia in support of the treaty.He said: Here recently at the meeting, the United States said that Russia is preparing for war.Yes, Russia is preparing for war, I have confirmed it.We are preparing to defend our homeland, our territorial integrity, our principles, our values, our people - we are preparing for such a war.However, Mr Belousov underlined that Russia was merely defending itself against increasing threats, and accused the US of being the catalyst of aggression.He said: Linguistically, this difference is in just one word, both in Russian and in English; Russia is preparing for war, and the US is preparing a war.Otherwise, why would the United States withdraw from the treaty, build up its nuclear potential and adopt a new nuclear doctrine? LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 443824

10-27-2018 07:08 PM











Post: #2 RE: We are preparing for war Russia issues warning, US withdrawal from INF Treaty

You know it is coming. Every move they make is a build up for the imminent war. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 470490

10-27-2018 07:08 PM











Post: #3 RE: We are preparing for war Russia issues warning, US withdrawal from INF Treaty

Launch one. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 470490

10-27-2018 07:09 PM











Post: #4 RE: We are preparing for war Russia issues warning, US withdrawal from INF Treaty

At our "allies". LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 468823

10-27-2018 07:32 PM











Post: #5 RE: We are preparing for war Russia issues warning, US withdrawal from INF Treaty

To many people have figured out the game so the bankers want to smash the board up and knock it off the table again so they can quickly rewrite the rules while we are busy picking up the pieces.

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Mountain Shadows in Wayanad is just the place for a dreamy vacation
A number of coastal Vietnamese provinces have begun installing satellite tracking devices on fishing vessels to prevent ships from trespassing into foreign waters.

Repeated offenders will have their fishing permit revoked, in what is seen as Vietnams effort to urge the lifting of a yellow card warning issued since October 2017 by the European Commission (EC) for the countrys failure to meet requirements on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing prevention.

The initiative will also help make Vietnamese seafood eligible for fisheries certificate of origin.

On a monitor screen installed at a control center in Ca Mau, 19 flashing green dots could be seen over the waters of the southernmost province and the nearby Kien Giang Province, representing locations of ships that have been installed with tracking devices.

Parameters including the ships speed, fuel consumption, voyage history and amount of fish caught during their trip are all monitored by the center, according to Nguyen Viet Trieu, deputy director of Ca Maus fisheries department.

A similar system has also been launched in the neighboring province of Kien Giang, said Nguyen Van Tam, director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Officials can also tune in at any moment to view CCTV cameras installed on the boats, as well as locate nearby vessels to send S.O.S. signals in case of an emergency.

An official monitors fishing vessels activities at a control center in Ca Mau Province in southern Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre

When a tracked ship is about to enter foreign waters, the system is designed to automatically send a warning signal to the ship owner and authorities.

Ship owners can view live details about their ship from a mobile app installed on their smartphone.

The information is also shared with the local border guard command and the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Such information will serve as concrete proof that Vietnamese ships operate legally within the nations maritime territory in the event of them being accused of trespassing by a neighboring country, Trieu said.

Through details about the volume and coordinates of each catch, authorities can have the legal grounds to issue certificates of origin for the seafood, increasing the value of Vietnamese seafood when exporting to foreign markets.

According to the border guard command of Ca Mau, over VND5 billion (US$215,000) in fines were issued on Vietnamese fishing vessels in 2017 for trespassing into foreign waters.

Since the launch of tracking devices, the number of violations has dropped significantly in the first months of 2018, it said.

Le Viet Su, deputy chairman of Ca Mau, said the province is looking to install tracking chips on around 1,500 local fishing vessels that are 15 meters long or higher, out of the provinces fleet of 4,500 boats.

Vessels that are required to install tracking devices will not be allowed to set sail until they have been bugged, he said.

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Cellphone users in Vietnam will be able to the switch between mobile carriers while retaining their phone numbers starting November 16, the communications ministry has announced.

Three major mobile network operators in Vietnam  Viettel, VinaPhone and MobiFone  have confirmed they will be ready to offer the service in pursuant to the ministrys schedule.

Hong Kong-invested Vietnamobile will join in later on January 1, 2019.

In the first three months from November 16, mobile number portability (MNP) will be available only for postpaid subscribers of the networks.

After the period, the service will also be launched for prepaid users, according to the Ministry of Information and Communications.

The ministry has said it would be issuing more detailed instructions on the protocol and service charges for MNP before the date of the launch.

According to a draft circular on MNP, subscribers are required to have used their number for at least 90 days with their current provider before they can make the switch.

Those with unpaid mobile bills will also be prohibited from transferring their number, the draft states.

Vietnam had earlier planned to launch MNP from December 31, 2017.

It is unclear why the plan has been delayed for more than ten months.

The four telecom companies involved in the MNP launch together make up more than 90 percent of all cellphone subscribers in Vietnam.

Currently, mobile users in Vietnam are forced to change numbers when deciding to switch to another carrier, as each network operator is allocated a different set of numbers.

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Two undergraduate students from the Thu Duc University Village  a cluster of colleges in the namesake district in Ho Chi Minh City  are breathing new life into their universitys stale food scene by offering daily meals to their peers at affordable prices.

Freshman Van Dung and sophomore Thanh Dat first met at Green Summer 2018, an annual event volunteer for local undergrads, where they were paired up to work together as chefs to raise money for various social causes.

The pair were immediately drawn to the culinary arts and, after the summer campaign ended, decided to put their newfound love to the test by creating a daily meal delivery business to keep their peers fed and pockets full.

Each day, Dat wakes up early to stake out the best ingredients at a nearby market and create a unique lunch menu based off those ingredients. He takes great pride in sharing that he almost never repeats a menu.

Meanwhile, Dung markets the days offerings on an assortment of Facebook pages followed by large groups of local students.

She typically posts four announcements each day and accepts the last orders by 10:00 am, giving the duo enough time to prepare the final orders before the peak lunch rush hour hits at around noon.

Dat prepares meals before delivery. Photo: Tuoi Tre

The heat of competition

Profits have never taken center stage for Dung and Dat.

Although busy days can mean meal deliveries for up to 80 customers, daily profits typically hover around a meager VND700,000 (US$29.88).

We use each days revenue to purchase ingredients for the next day. Thats the drill, Dat said. Obviously that means our profits never amount to much.

Instead of focusing on cash, the two pour their love and passion into creating tasty dishes and challenging boundaries.

Their drive has led to the development of a culinary arsenal of more than 20 dishes, all of which Dat takes great pride in having developed.

We will definitely try our hands on Korean and Japanese dishes; that is, if we have enough time, the pair proclaimed.

First though, we have to take care of our academic responsibilities. That is our top priority.

A diverse selection

The student village is no different than college neighborhoods the world over  students mingling, studying, and of course constantly on the hunt to fill their bellies.

Like Dat and Dung, senior Nguyen Hoai Thuong is also looking to capture her own piece of the meal prep pie.

By offering local students a chance to a special corn dish unique to her hometown in central Vietnam, Thoung has quickly made a name for herself as the go-to girl when munchies hit.

Though she originally had a friend help her with prepping the corn and making deliveries, she now undertakes the whole operation alone.

There are days I have to cover more than 100km to make deliveries, Thuong said.

If an order is placed while Im out, I have to rush back to make sure its delivered in time. Lateness means that customers can cancel their orders, no questions asked, she shared.

Dat delivers meals to students. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Efficiency takes priority

For undergrad Nguyen Le Anh Tuyet, ordering meals online is a real time-saver.

Bored of the limited offering at her dormitorys canteen, Tuyet began ordering her meals when she first learned of all the affordable offerings last year.

It is time- and cost-efficient because the meal is delivered right to your doorstep, Tuyet revealed.

Ngo Nhat Tien, another local student, sees the new services as a way to experience new and exotic dishes.

To find out the best meal providers, Tien chooses her meals based off reviews from friends and online announcements with positive reactions.

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Unlike most YouTube personalities who only focus their videos on a single subject, Vietnamese vlogger Thu Giang shares a wide range of topics surrounding her life, including such important social matters as bullying.

Giang, owner of the YouTube channel Giang oi (Hey Giang), impresses her followers with the simplicity of her choice of content, as not many people can believe such topics as raising a cat, how to clean a house, or wardrobe rearranging can be turned into a video.

The 27-year-old explained that simple and trivial as they may sound, these are the real problems most young adults face on daily basis.

Giang has shared her daily life and struggles through videos as she learns how to lead an adult life.

Videos of memories

Giang recorded her first video in 2015 with her friends camera.

The video was a simple amateur recording in which the main character was too shy to say anything so the only sound to fill the void was music in the background.

That first video was a great step towards an unexpected direction of the young female YouTuber.

Not many people would have thought that at first, making videos was just one of her hobbies.

According to Giang, it is increasingly important and enthusiastic to record memories through videos as people come and go, many of them one will never have a chance to see those past moments again.

However, thanks to the videos, one can relive their memories.

Having studied abroad, Giang never thought that her videos would receive such great support from Vietnamese audience.

The videos were intimate, in which Giang shared various aspects of her daily life as a way to give an update so her beloved ones will know about her whereabouts, intentions, and thoughts.

Today, with over 500,000 followers, the 27-year-old claims she is more than honored, and feels incredibly lucky for having a chance to connect people and put a smile on their faces through her videos.

Being an independent content creator posed countless challenges, especially for someone whose weakness is technology since it is apparent that making videos requires a good understanding of technological equipment, computers, and applications.

I cannot keep track of the amount of times when I realized I forgot to turn on recording microphone, the camera ran out of battery, and my memory card got full, or when I lost all the recordings or had problems with video editing and had to redo it, she said.

Many times it was unavoidable situations, but in other cases it could be blamed on my carelessness, the YouTuber admitted.

Even though Giang had to face many difficulties, rarely was she overwhelmed by them as she believes when we like what we are doing, the challenges will not exhaust us.

Hence, she always learned her lesson and carried on.

Giang talks about bullying.

Inspired by being an independent woman

Leading an independent life can be challenging. With this in mind, Giangs videos record herself growing up while she shares all the challenges, tips she came up with, as well as daily struggles many would consider ordinary.

There will always be audience who find themselves in her own experience, Giang said, adding that this is one of her main motivations.

However, small daily struggles are not the only content of Giang oi videos as she is also known for being straightforward when sharing unhappy memories in her life including isolation and bullying in her teenage years.

When I had a considerable number of followers, I realized how much the audience trusts me, the YouTuber explained why she started making videos addressing more sensitive issues in the society.

Receiving messages from young audience telling her about their negative experience at school, including bullying and isolation, Giang remembered her own problems as a child which deeply affected her later on in life.

As a child, Giang was a victim of isolation with no one in school to play with or talk to.

Having no one to talk to both at home and at school, her life only consisted of school and home, nothing else.

For a long time I have been asking myself what I have done wrong and why I did not deserve to have friends, before I realized there was nothing wrong with me, she said.

People who you do not care about, are not acquainted with, and do not know, but still spend time and energy to hate you do not have a problem with you, they have a problem with themselves.

They are only trying to blame it on you so it is not your responsibility.

Even though she did not intend the video to attract that much attention, she is happy it did.

Everyone needs to understand that bullying at school is not childrens stuff but a real problem that deserves attention, Thu Giang said to Tuoi Tre.

When she was talking about her struggles in videos, Giang also sadly recalled that as adults we are strong and can deal with many different things while children are vulnerable and are more prone to being hurt both mentally and physically, indicating that even though isolation might not seem to be too serious of a problem, it actually deeply affects children.

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Authorities in Hanoi are planning to spend VND7.8 trillion (US$343.4 million) on the construction of a 2.2 kilometer long road, making it the most expensive street in Vietnam.

A construction management committee in the Vietnamese capital has submitted a plan to the municipal administration, proposing the construction of a new section of Vanh Dai 1 Street in O Cho Dua Ward, Dong Da District.

The proposed new road will be 2.2 kilometers long and 50 meters wide, with one end intersecting Cat Linh-La Thanh-Yen Lan Street and the other meeting Voi Phuc Intersection.

The project will encompass an area of nearly 160,000 square meters, of which over half currently belongs to local residents.

This means that to execute the plan, a total of 2,044 households will have to be displaced.

Capital investment required is estimated at VND7.779 trillion ($342.5 million), of which over VND6.4 trillion ($281.7 million) will be used for site clearance and the repatriation of affected residents.

Building costs will account for no more than VND1.8 trillion ($79.2 million).

The project is expected to be partially financed by the state budget and other legitimate channels.

The new section of road, estimated to cost VND3.5 billion ($154,105) per meter, will break the record of the most expensive path in Vietnam, previously set by the first section of Vanh Dai 1 Street.

The 700-meter O Cho Dua-Hoang Cau section required an investment of VND1.767 trillion ($77.8 million), while the 550-meter Kim Lien-O Cho Dua section cost VND642 billion ($28.2 million).

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The administration of Hanoi has approved a plan to spend more than VND7.2 trillion (US$310.38 million) on the development of a 2.2-kilometer road, making it the costliest street in Vietnam.

Although the investment capital has been cut from the previous estimate of VND7.8 trillion ($336.27 million), the project remains unmatched in the Southeast Asian country in terms of its tremendous costs, most of which come from site clearance.

The planed new road will be 50 meters wide, running 2,274 meters from Hoang Cau to Voi Phuc intersections in Dong Da District.

It will form the last part of Hanois first belt road Vanh Dai 1, which is comprised of the streets of Nhat Tan, Nguyen Khoai, Tran Khat Chan, Dai Co Viet, Xa Dan, La Thanh, Buoi, and Lac Long Quan, encompassing the core area of the capital city where there will be increased conservation and limited construction.

More than VND5.8 trillion will be spent on site clearance for the Hoang Cau  Voi Phuc section of Vanh Dai 1, including the relocation of over 2,300 households living on the future path.

Around VND628 billion will be spent on the actual construction of the road, while other costs will go into installing lighting and drainage systems as well as growing trees for shades and decoration, according to the plan.

Its development is expected to complete in 2020.

This new section of road, estimated to cost VND3.1 billion ($134,000) per meter, will break the record of the most expensive path in Vietnam, previously set by the other sections of Vanh Dai 1.

The 700-meter O Cho Dua-Hoang Cau section required an investment of VND1.77 trillion ($76.3 million), while the 550-meter Kim Lien-O Cho Dua section cost VND642 billion ($27.68 million). Both

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Authorities in a tourist city in south-central Vietnam have decided to fine a local company VND90 million (US$3,880) for employing three Chinese workers without a work permit.

The Peoples Committee of Nha Trang City in Khanh Hoa Province confirmed on Saturday that its deputy chairman Nguyen Sy Khanh had signed a decision to levy the fine on Phong Nguyen Investment Limited Company, located at 2 Ton Dan Street, Loc Tho Ward, Nha Trang.

A Nha Trang inspection team had checked Viet Nam Tu Xuyen Restaurant, operated by Phong Nguyen and found three Chinese nationals working for it without a work permit.

Viet Nam Tu Xuyen was also discovered advertising products, goods, and services in foreign languages using letters whose size and position in relation to the Vietnamese signage failed to comply with regulations.

The Peoples Committee of Nha Trang thus suspended this company for two months in a separate punishment over this violation and required the firm to remove the law-breaking advertisements.

Khanh Hoa market watchdog officials said that they had booked 68 cases where businesses selling goods to Chinese were found operating without a license and trading contraband or goods of unknown origin, after inspecting 200 such facilities.

Nha Trang is a touristy city on the south-central beach, popular with Chinese and Russian visitors.

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Sluggish waste treatment at the largest landfill in the central Vietnamese city of Da Nang has caused garbage to store up across many neighborhoods, resulting in pollution and upsetting citizens.

According to the observation of Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reporters, rubbish has been left building up for days at residential areas in Hai Chau, Son Tra, Lien Chieu, and some other districts.

The trash releases unpleasant smells and leaves a negative impact on the urban aesthetics.

Garbage overload at the Khanh Son landfill in Lien Chieu District. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Frustrated residents have been voicing their complaints but only received unsatisfactory responses from units in charge of garbage pick-up services.

According to Tran Thi Thanh Tam, chairwoman of the administration in Son Tra District, garbage-related services in the district and the city in general have been very slow these days.

The problem may arise from the pollution at Khanh Son, the largest landfill in Da Nang, located in Hoa Khanh Nam Ward, Lien Chieu District.

People living nearby have been blocking garbage trucks from entering the facility as they can no longer stand the stench from the improperly treated waste.

Trash piles up in front of a bus station on Xuan Dieu Street. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Chairman of the municipal Peoples Committee Huynh Duc Tho has recently convened a meeting, ordering relevant agencies to start dealing with the issue.

The municipal Department of Home Affairs and Department of Natural Resources and Environment were tasked with reviewing the responsibility of the Da Nang Urban Environment JSC, which manages the Khanh Son landfill.

The home affairs department has proposed a change in high-ranking personnel at the firm.

The company has also been fined VND1.1 billion (US$46,952) after the landfill was caught discharging harmful wastewater.

In late May, authorities in Da Nang announced they were looking for a new location to build a modern waste treatment plant as Khanh Son is only two years away from reaching its maximum capacity

A garbage collector is exhausted due to the large amount of rubbish in Son Tra District. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Garbage on Pham Huy Thong Street in Son Tra District. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Garbage overload at the Khanh Son landfill in Lien Chieu District. Photo: Tuoi Tre

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Police in Vietnam have taken legal action against four people for pimping and facilitating prostitution that involved Russian women.

Four men, including Nguyen Dai Viet, 40, Nguyen Manh Thuyet, 35, Huynh Cong Duc, 23, and Nguyen Xuan Thien, 45, have been indicted, Phan Van Cuong, a senor police officer in Khanh Hoa Province, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Friday.

Viet was charged with sheltering prostitutes while the others were facing pimping charges.

Investigators said that Thuyet got acquainted with Russian women and asked them to become prostitutes.

Securing the womens consent, he took photos of them and uploaded the pictures together with his phone number to the Internet to advertise their service.

Customers would then call Thuyet for arrangement and he would pocket commission as a pimp.

Thuyet also shook hands with Viet, who owns the Mua He guesthouse on Nguyen Thien Thuat Street in the provincial capital of Nha Trang, to arrange for the Russian prostitutes to offer their service to customers at this place.

Two Russian women were caught selling sex to local customers in Nha Trang City, Khanh Hoa Province, Vietnam, October 15, 2018. Photo: Police

Police raided the Mua He guesthouse on October 15, catching two Russian women selling sex to two local men.

The prostitutes were then identified as P.I., 32. And I.A., 39, while the two customers were Pham Van T., a 32-year-old from Hai Phong City, and Tran Minh T., a 52-year-old from Khanh Hoa.

Thuyet admitted to pimping for the women when being questioned by investigators.

He cited Thien and Duc as his accessories. The two men also worked as motorbike taxi drivers.

Thuyet added that he had pimped for Russian prostitutes since April 2017 who charged VND5-7 million (US$215-300) serving each customer.

He pocketed VND3.5 million of the amount, the women got VND2 million, while the rest went to the others.

Prostitution in any form is illegal in Vietnam.

Lawmakers have debated whether to legalize sex work over the past years but no final conclusion has ever been reached.

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"The first visit of a senior Israeli official to Oman occurred in 1994, when Israelis Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin visited the Gulf state. Two years later, the town countries signed an agreement on the reciprocal opening of trade representative offices.

The Israeli-Omani relation witnessed a setback following the Second Palestinian Intifada in October 2000. However, the relations began to recover in 2008 when Omans Foreign Affairs Minister Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah met with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni during their visit to Qatar.

Despite that both countries stated that Netanyahus visit was aimed at discussing the peace initiative in the Middle East, some experts say that the Sultanate is playing a role in easing the tension between Iran, its close partner, and Israel. According to this version, Oman is playing a role of a mediator in the indirect negotiations between Iran and Israel." SF and the Omani News Service

-------------

Oman is a nice place. Clean, neat as a pin, and filled with modern amenities and infrastructure. It is the only ME country that looks like an army post complete with white rocks to mark the boundaries of driveways and other such evidences of military "order." This is not surprising since Sultan Qaboos was an officer in the British Army Lowland Scots Regiment "The Cameronians" (long disestablished) while he was exiled from Oman by his father, the previous sultan.

I don't think that Natanyahu wants a negotiated lessening of hostility with Iran. He relishes the hostility. Where would he find another bogeyman as useful as Iran if the Iranians decided to bow down to him.

No. My WAG on his receptivity to Qaboos' invitation is that he is fearful of losing Saudi Arabia as an effective semi-ally in the Arab World and is casting about for new "friends." pl

https://southfront.org/israel-prime-minister-makes-surprise-visit-to-oman-this-may-be-part-of-indirect-negotiations-with-iran/
On Friday Seven confirmed key cast for Ms Fishers Modern Murder Mysteries in Geraldine Hakewill, Joel Jackson and Catherine McClements.

Further cast include James Mason (pictured, Neighbours), Toby Truslove (Utopia), Louisa Mignone (Secret City), Greg Stone (White Lines) and Katie Robinson (Rosehaven).

Sevens Head of Drama, Julie McGauran, said: Whats not to love about this brilliant show? The fabulous cast were very quick to jump on board once they read the exceptional scripts filled with great characters and classic murder mystery twists and turns. This drama series is set to become a family favourite.

Every Clouds Fiona Eagger and Deb Cox, said, We are thrilled to be working with such a terrific ensemble cast lead by Geraldine and Joel. Geraldine was born to play a character from the 60s  she is a reincarnation of Audrey Hepburn! And Joel is fabulously dashing as Steed.

Production on 4 telemovies is currently underway in Melbourne.

Set in swinging 60s Melbourne, Geraldine will play the gorgeously reckless Peregrine Fisher who inherits a windfall when the famous aunt she never knew, Phryne Fisher, goes missing over the highlands of New Guinea. Peregrine sets out to become a world-class private detective in her own right with the unerring guidance of The Adventuresses Club, a group of exceptional women of which her celebrated aunt was a member.

A natural rule breaker, Peregrine is fearless, fun, and charmingly down-to-earth. Despite failing at a number of jobs  hairdresser, typist and sales girl  her survival instincts have kept her afloat. Armed with an impressive collection of life skills and having recently lost her dependent mother, Peregrine is perfectly poised for a new and challenging life and looking for a sense of belonging. Shes a self-starter with an innate curiosity, moral integrity and an acute sense of justice; all of which delivers her an instinct for solving crimes. With newfound wealth and The Adventuresses to hone her rough edges and become the family shes never had, Peregrine is unstoppable.

Detective James Steed (Joel Jackson) is a smart, ambitious cop constantly hamstrung by the rigid leadership of his immoral boss but respectful of the hierarchy. Instantly attracted to Peregrine, hes dazzled by her audacity and often drawn into her mad plans.

Despite consciously avoiding commitment to any man who might slow her down, Peregrines drawn to James moral fibre, downright decency and a kind of intellectual frisson she certainly never experienced with her old boyfriend, Eric (James Mason). James fighting spirit and dedication to justice makes them a mighty team  that is whenever theyre not competing with each other or disagreeing on things!

Catherine McClements is Birdie. With a mind like a steel trap, and ex-member of WW2 Special Forces, Birdie is the M of The Adventuresses operation and club president. A tough woman of high expectations, she recognises the 60s are changing and they need new blood  but having Peregrine under her wing is also a way of staying connected to the old friend she misses desperately.

Production Credit: Ms Fishers Modern Murder Mysteries is an Every Cloud production for Channel Seven. Executive Producer for Channel Seven is Julie McGauran with Fiona Eagger and Deb Cox joint Executive Producers for Every Cloud Productions.

Producer is Beth Frey. Directors: Fiona Banks, Kevin Carlin and Lyn Hegarty. Writers: Deb Cox, Samantha Winston, Elizabeth Coleman and Jo Martino.

Principal production investment from Screen Australia in association with Film Victoria. Financed with support from Channel Seven and Fulcrum Media Finance. ABC Commercial have ANZ ancillary rights.

The series has been developed by Fiona Eagger, Deb Cox and Jo Martino and is based on the Phryne Fisher Mystery Books by Kerry Greenwood.
The Simpsons is set to drop the character of Apu, according to reports.

In April producer Adi Shankar launched a spec script contest to address ongoing concerns about the portrayal of Indian-Americans.

While FOX has no plans to produce what he calls the perfect script Shankar has now told IndieWire: I got some disheartening news back, that Ive verified from multiple sources now: Theyre going to drop the Apu character altogether.

They arent going to make a big deal out of it, or anything like that, but theyll drop him altogether just to avoid the controversy.

Shankar clarified he got the news from two people who work for The Simpsons and a third source who works directly with creator Matt Groening.

A representative from FOX provided a cryptic response: Apu appeared in the 10/14/18 episode My Way or the Highway to Heaven.

In the episode, Apu only appears in a single wide shot that showed dozens of characters gathered around God.

Not even a proper exit?

Updated: Showrunner Al Jean responds, but has not denied.
Leah Dinglasan, 41, fulfills the dream and her promise to husband.

LIPA, BATANGASLeah Dinglasan stares blankly in the distance, wondering what happened to her husband, Marine technical sergeant Aldrin Cadiz Dinglasan, and if he is ever coming back. This has been her routine ever since she lost her husband during the five-month siege in Marawi City after an ISIS-affiliated group from Mindanao took over the city. While Leah keeps herself busy in managing the business her husband has left her, the widow is still coping with her loss. Mahirap, siyempre iniisip ko parin siya. Pero tuloy lang ang buhay, Leah said, adding that she was left to care for their three children.Dinglasan, 41, was already three days into the siege after a sniper bullet struck his cheek on May 31, 2018. Moments before his death, he called Leah that once he returns from his tour of duty, they would manage together the small sari-sari store business they had started. The soldier was set to retire after his Marawi duty. After receiving a call and hearing the news of the soldiers demise from his commander, Leah was at first in disbelief. She argued that he just called moments before. Leah narrated how Dinglasans body cant be recovered due to heavy firing from enemy snipers. His body was recovered three days after his death.Back in March 2017, the couple started a small variety store business for their familys upkeep and finance their childrens studies. With P20,000 in hand, Dinglasan bankrolled the variety store and started the business before leaving for his tour of duty. Leah was left to manage the business, while her husband is in Marawi City. The couple hoped that soon, once he retires, they would grow the business into a mini-grocery store.After her husbands death, Leah received assistance from the government in various forms and from the private sector.Leah in March 2018 received a P100,000 loan assistance from the Small Business Corp. (SB Corp.) under its special program, Wounded-and-Killed in Action, an offshoot program to help soldiers and police who were either killed or wounded during the Marawi conflict, from the Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso micro loan program. Mayroon ding pension from the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine Veterans Affairs Office, Employees Compensation Commission, financial and educational assistance para sa mga anak namin, at mayroon din galing sa private sector, Leah said. With the livelihood assistance she received, Leah made a few changes in the store, enlarging it and adding more supplies. Five months after she received the financial assistance, the store is now worth P150,000, a 50-percent increase in capital. On casual days, Leah could earn P8,000 while the minimum she could earn is P3,000 on Mondays. Minsan kumikita ako ng P8,000, yun na ang pinakamalaki. Pero kapag Monday, kumikita lang ako ng P3,000, she said. Leah explained that it was her husbands dream for the business to grow. Ang sabi niya sakin Ma, gusto ko yung tindahan natin magsimula sa maliit. Gusto ko palalakihin natin. Hindi yung tulad noong dati na kaunti lang yung laman ng tindahan natin, she said, holding back tears. She hopes that after she completes the payment for the P100,000 loan from SB Corp., she can borrow money from the P3 program to expand her business. While she understands that her husband is gone, Leah is still grateful to Dinglasan that despite knowing that she wont share the accomplishment with him, he had left her and their children something that they will treasure. Gusto kong magpasalamat sa nasa Itaas at sa asawa ko, dahil hindi niya kami pinabayaan, Leah said.
Leading the way: Alibaba chairman Jack Ma at a conference in Yunqi Cloud Town in Hangzhou, China. Photo: VCG/Getty

China is set to overtake the US as the global hub for billionaires, according to a new report from UBS and PwC.

China now has the highest concentration of billionaires outside the US, according to the Billionaires insight report released on Friday. There are 475 billionaires in Greater China, which includes Hong Kong and Taiwan, and 373 within mainland China. That compares to 631 in the US.

UBS and PwCs report, New visionaries and the Chinese century, highlights the speed with which new billionaires are emerging in China.

In 2006, there were just 16 billionaires in China. Last year, 106 new billionaires were created  equivalent to over two new billionaires each week. Josef Stadler, head of ultra high-net-worth at UBS Global Wealth Management, called the growth astonishing at a launch event in London on Friday.

The report is the fifth edition of Billionaire Insights. Stadler said when the report first started, they had to happily accept that the US was driving growth globally, and all the other time zones were just tagging along.

Now, Asia, China dominate. The capitalist train that left the station now seems unstoppable, he said.

UBS and PwC forecast that Asia will overtake the US as a hotspot for global billionaires within three years. The number of billionaires in Asia is growing at a rate of 14% year-on-year, compared with just 5% in the US.

Addressing the speed at which China is gaining on the US when it comes to wealth creation. Stadler said: What we have seen in the past is Silicon Valley invents, China copies. Now what we see is China develops and exports.

They do this by leapfrogging. To give you an example, in payment systems China is far ahead of the US. Credit cards are stone age. Paying with mobile is now de rigeur. Now youve got payment by face recognition.

About 97% of Chinas billionaires are self-made, with the majority working in tech or retail. Famous Chinese billionaires include Alibaba founder Jack Ma, who is worth nearly $34bn, according to Forbes.

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Stadler said in a statement accompanying the report: Chinas vast population, technology innovation and productivity growth combined with government support, are providing unprecedented opportunities for individuals not only to build businesses but also to change peoples lives for the better.

Asian billionaires are the youngest globally, with an average age of 61.43. The average age is 55.75 in Greater China.

Ravi Raju, head of Asia Pacific ultra high-net-worth at UBS Global Wealth Management, said: Asias billionaires are young and relentless. This cohort is overwhelmingly self-made and determined to capitalise on one of historys greatest moments for new enterprise.

The report quotes an unnamed Chinese billionaire as saying: Nowhere else in the world can you find better conditions for growth than in China.

However, UBS and PwC also highlight the risks of doing business in China, as well as the opportunities. While 106 people became new billionaires last year, there were just 55 net new billionaires in China as 51 peoples net worth dropped below a billion.

UBS and PwCs report found there are 2,158 billionaires globally. Collectively, their wealth increased by $1.4bn last year to $8.9bn  the largest absolute increase in billionaire wealth in history.
ROME (Reuters) - Italy's top administrative court on Friday extended the freeze on a landmark reform of large mutual banks, pending a ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

Popolare di Sondrio <BPSI.MI> and Popolare di Bari are the only two "popolari" banks affected by the 2015 reform that are yet to adopt changes aimed at improving governance and making them more appealing for potential investors.

Italy's State Council, which had previously frozen the reform pending an appeal against it by the two banks, said on Friday it would only rule on that appeal following a decision by the ECJ, the European Union's top court. [nL5N1US2ZL]

Legal sources told Reuters the final verdict was now likely to be delayed by at least a year.

Italy's constitutional court has already rejected claims the reform violates Italy's constitution.

Popolare di Sondrio, nestled in the mountains of Italy's wealthy Lombardy region, is widely regarded by analysts as a well-managed bank and a sought-after merger partner. Its soured loans accounted for around 15 percent of total lending at the end of last year, broadly in line with the national average.

Popolare di Bari, on the other hand, is headquartered in southern Italy, where default rates are generally higher. Its soured loans accounted for around a quarter of total lending at the end of 2017.

The lender has said it will seek to raise much needed capital only after transforming into a joint-stock company, so the delay raises questions over its fundraising efforts.

(Reporting by Domenico Lusi; Writing by Valentina Za and Giulio Piovaccari; Editing by Mark Potter)
Japanese journalist Jumpei Yasuda, who was held hostage by Islamist militants for 40 months, arrives at the airport in Narita, Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo October 25, 2018. Kyodo via REUTERS

Thomson Reuters

TOKYO (Reuters) - During 40 months of captivity at the hands of Syrian militants, Japanese journalist Jumpei Yasuda was forbidden from moving or making any noise, even while sleeping. Guards told him daily he'd be released, or gave him canned food but no opener.

Yasuda, who arrived home in Japan on Thursday from more than three years of what he called physical and psychological "hell", told the Asahi Shimbun daily that his captors accused him of being a spy.

Confined for eight months to a space just 1.5 meters high and 1 meter wide, he was not allowed to bathe, wash his clothes, or make any kind of noise or movement.

"Because I couldn't wash my hair, my head itched - but when I scratched, that made noise," he told the Asahi during his flight back to Japan.

"Breathing through my nose, cracking my knuckles, moving while I slept - everything was forbidden."

The rigid control of his daily life got even tighter after he was accused of "eavesdropping" while making a noise as he relieved himself.

At one point, he didn't eat for 20 days in an effort to avoid any movement.

"I was skin and bones, horribly nauseated. If it had gone on much longer, I would probably have died, but I was finally moved to a different place," he said.

"They would not bring me food, or if they did give me canned food, they would not bring a can opener," he said.

A week before his release, he was moved back to the narrow space of his worst days, then to a cell in what appeared to be an ordinary house.

The following day, he was put in a car and driven to the Turkish border.

Gaunt and bearded, wearing a black T-shirt and dark trousers, Yasuda gave reporters a strained smile upon his arrival in Japan but said nothing.

His wife told a news conference that any further comments would have to wait until he had rested and undergone medical checks.

"I'm happy that I can return to Japan. At the same time, I dont know what will happen from here or what I should do, Yasuda told Reuters on a Turkish domestic flight, before he flew home from Istanbul.

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The Japanese government has thanked Qatar and Turkey for their cooperation in freeing Yasuda, but has denied paying a ransom for his release.

(Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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Sebastien Soriano, chairman of the ARCEP telecoms regulator, attends the New Year wishes ceremony at the Sorbonne university in Paris, France, January 17, 2018. REUTERS/Charles Platiau/File Photo

Thomson Reuters

By Mathieu Rosemain and Gwenaelle Barzic

PARIS (Reuters) - French telecom operators are set to pay a hefty price to buy 5G radio frequencies in 2019, but authorities are seeking to avoid bleeding them dry, the head of the country's telecoms regulator told Reuters.

Italy, one of the first European countries to offer frequencies for 5G services, stunned markets by raising a bumper 6.5 billion euros ($7.39 billion) for state coffers in its fifth-generation mobile auction, sending shivers down telecom investors' spines.

"In the past, the financial argument may have been important, perhaps very important, but opinions have changed," said Sebastien Soriano, the head of France's telecoms authority Arcep.

"There's room to be inventive. Now, we need to find the right ideas and that's not easy," he added.

Cash-strapped countries in Europe have typically used mobile spectrum auctions, which provide raw material for wireless carriers to develop networks, as an easy money-maker in times of low state revenues.

But concerns are growing over risks they could hamper much-needed investments on new mobile infrastructure, which could connect everything from autonomous vehicles to public transportation and smart objects under 5G technology.

DIFFICULT EQUATION

For the next spectrum auction, Arcep plans to essentially use the 3.5 GHz band out of three on the table for 5G (1.4 GHz, 3.5 GHz and 26 GHz). But there might not be enough airwaves for everyone, Soriano said, and that scarcity could eventually drive up auction prices.

"As long as we've not solved this problem about the quantity of frequencies that we have at our disposal ... there's a difficult equation to balance," he said.

"I can't say that Italy is a counter-example as long as I haven't found the solution so that we don't do the same thing."

One thing is certain: there will be no reiteration of the "new deal" under which French wireless carriers Orange, Altice Europe's SFR, Bouygues Telecom and Iliad promised to spend 3 billion euros in rolling out a 4G network to ensure there are no coverage gaps by 2020.

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"Sadly, we can't make a comparison with the new deal in the sense that it's a new attribution (of frequencies)," Soriano said.

France still has a few months to find the answer to this equation and that work starts with a public consultation on Friday about the attribution of frequencies, which will run until Dec. 19.

The last spectrum auction in 2015 raised 2.8 billion euros for French state coffers.

($1 = 0.8794 euro)

(Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain and Gwenaelle Barzic; Editing by James Dalgleish)

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Sky News

"It was okay for a Black person to be a footballer but not a tennis player," Will Smith told Sky News with the Wimbledon courts illuminated especially for him to promote his new film about the tennis star Williams sisters. The 53-year-old Oscar-nominated actor says the stereotypes Venus and Serena Williams had to overcome to be world class players were huge barriers. In his new film King Richard, he plays the father of Grand Slam winners Serena and Venus.
Substance made from used frying oil is illegal to sell and using it can have disastrous consequences

Drivers of diesel cars are being warned about the dangers of illegal hooch biodiesel, which could result in prosecution and damage their engines.

The fuel is reportedly being made by criminal gangs, who steal frying oil from fish and chip or kebab shops before refining it.

The resulting fuel is not safe to use in modern diesel engines, and can clog up vital components such as fuel injectors and emission control devices.

The fuel is also being sold on the black market so the criminals can avoid paying fuel duty tax on it. Its been christened hooch in homage to the illicit alcoholic drinks of Prohibition-era America.

A spokesman for Hertfordshire Police told the Daily Express it was responding to an increasing number of reports of gangs stealing oil from takeaway restaurants.

Diesel WARNING: Fake 'hooch' fuel being sold to Brits made from kebab shop oil https://t.co/iV11P7yi7z pic.twitter.com/tezQpNu1L5  Matthew Noon (@MatNoon) October 26, 2018

The problem is, a lot of places leave their back doors open because it gets hot in the kitchen, he said.

Fish and chip shops are reportedly the biggest targets.

Though properly-sourced biodiesel is perfectly safe to use, it cannot be used in great quantities in a modern diesel engine as it is not suited to the high-tech fuel injection and emission-control systems they are equipped with.

Older diesel cars are the best candidates, able to run on mostly biodiesel with few ill effects.

Equipment to convert frying oil to biodiesel costs around 1,200 to purchase, and could be seen as an attractive alternative to paying high prices at the pumps.

Under guidelines set out in law, motorists can purchase and refine up to 2,500 litres of oil into biodiesel each year for personal usage. Any amount over this requires the owner to register with HM Revenue and Customs and pay an excise duty.
Saudi Arabias top diplomat says that the global outcry and media focus on the killing of a Saudi journalist earlier this month has become hysterical.

Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir urged the public to wait for the results of an investigation before ascribing blame to the kingdoms top leadership.

Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist critical of Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed by Saudi agents at the kingdoms consulate in Istanbul on October 2.

Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman (AP)

This issue has become fairly hysterical, Mr al-Jubeir said.

I think people have assigned blame on Saudi Arabia with such certainty before the investigation is complete.

Some of those implicated in Mr Khashoggis killing are close to Prince Mohammed, who is the kingdoms heir apparent.

His condemnation of the killing as heinous and painful has so far failed to ease suspicions that such a high-level operation could have been carried out without his knowledge.

Mr al-Jubeir addressed the mounting scepticism around the crown princes alleged involvement.

He was speaking in response to questions from Western journalists at an annual conference of international officials, including US Defence Secretary James Mattis, in Bahrain.

We have made clear that we are going to have a full and transparent investigation, the results of which will be released. We have made it very clear that those responsible will be held responsible, he said, adding that the kingdom has also put in place mechanisms to ensure this does not happen.

Were trying to uncover what happened. We know that a mistake was committed. We know that people exceeded their authority and we know that were investigating them, he said.

But he cautioned that investigations take time.

Unfortunately, there has been this hysteria in the media about Saudi Arabias guilt before the investigation is completed, he said.

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Turkey alleges a 15-member hit squad was sent to Istanbul to kill the journalist, a onetime Saudi insider who became an outspoken critic of Prince Mohammed in columns for The Washington Post.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the three others in the group of 18 who have been detained in Saudi Arabia were consulate employees.

Five Saudi officials, including two who worked directly under the crown prince, have been relieved of their posts.

King Salman has assigned his son, the crown prince, to oversee the restructuring of the kingdoms intelligence bodies in the aftermath of the killing.

President Erdogan said on Friday that Turkey would reveal more evidence about the killing but was not in any rush to do so, indicating that Turkish authorities will methodically increase pressure on Saudi Arabia even as the kingdom floats conflicting statements in a vain and often clumsy attempt to end the crisis.

After three weeks of shifting Saudi accounts around the incident, the kingdom this week acknowledged that the killing was premeditated, citing evidence from Turkish officials investigating what happened.

Saudi Arabia originally said Mr Khashoggi had walked out of the consulate October 2, before offering various other narratives that President Donald Trump called one of the worst cover-ups in the history of cover-ups.

Turkey is requesting that Saudi Arabia hand over the suspects in the killing, which the kingdom has described as a rogue operation by officials who may have exceeded their orders or authority.
Donald Trump has accused the media of trying to "score political points" with their coverage of a suspect held in connection with a series of pipe bombs sent to critics of the US president.

Mr Trump's latest tirade came after police charged a staunch supporter over the bombs sent to high-profile figures, including Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Robert De Niro, as well as to CNN.

Cesar Sayoc, from Aventura, Florida, was arrested in Miami after 13 explosive devices were sent to the targets.

Mr Trump, speaking at a rally in North Carolina, called for an end to the "politics of personal destruction".

"We have seen an effort by the media to use the sinister actions of one individual to score political points against me and the Republicans," he told supporters.

US justice department officials said the bombs were "not hoax devices" and warned there could be more still undiscovered.

Sayoc, 56, was identified after officers found a fingerprint on one of the packages, FBI director Christopher Wray said.

Following the arrest, speaking at an event for young black conservatives, Mr Trump said "we must never allow political violence take root in America", saying the country "must unify".

But hours later he launched his attack on the media, as well as on Mrs Clinton.

The president was campaigning in Charlotte, North Carolina and has been on a rally blitz, hoping to help vulnerable Republicans ahead of the 6 November midterm elections.

:: Trump, guns and abortion: Divides States of America

He is planning at least 10 rallies over the five-day stretch before the elections.

He referred to his 2016 opponent as "Crooked Hillary Clinton," prompting a round of "Lock her up!" chants.

Mr Trump had told reporters as he left Washington that he had no plans to tone down his rhetoric and added: "I could really tone it up.

"Because, as you know, the media has been extremely unfair to me and to the Republican Party."

Earlier in the day the US president complained on Twitter that this "bomb stuff" had slowed momentum for the Republicans ahead of the US mid-term elections.

"Republicans are doing so well in early voting, and at the polls, and now this 'Bomb' stuff happens and the momentum greatly slows - news not talking politics," he wrote. "Very unfortunate, what is going on. Republicans, go out and vote!"
US Navy USS Jason Dunham destroyer live-fire 5-inch gun

US Navy/Senior Chief Petty Officer Matt Bodenner

ABOARD THE USS JASON DUNHAM, Persian Gulf (AP)  The huge pile of rusting AK-47 assault rifles is tucked into a corner below the deck of the USS Jason Dunham, serving as a grim reminder of how hard it is to catch weapons smugglers believed to be trafficking arms into Yemen.

On Thursday, UN inspectors boarded the American guided-missile destroyer to examine the more than 2,500 guns the crew seized in late August and determine if suspicions are true that the weapons originated in Iran.

US officials have long accused Iran of smuggling arms across the waters to Yemen's Shiite Houthi rebels, who have held Yemen's capital, Sanaa, since September 2014. But they have only managed to seize a handful of weapons caches in recent years, underscoring the difficulties in tracking down arms smugglers working the vast waters around Yemen.

"It's one big traffic corridor," Vice Adm. Scott Stearney, commander of US 5th Fleet, told reporters Thursday. "It's not blocked, and it's not just lines on a map that people don't penetrate."

Stearney declined to say if he thought Iran was responsible for the shipment, but he said the UN inspectors were experts on illicit weapons from Iran, Yemen and Somalia.

US Navy USS Jason Dunham assault rifles

(AP Photo/Lolita Baldor)

The USS Jason Dunham on patrol in the region noticed large bags being transferred from a dhow about 70 miles off the coast of Yemen and into a smaller skiff. A dhow is a traditional ship that commonly sails the waters of the Persian Gulf region. The Navy ship intercepted the skiff and, after talking to the crew on board, determined they were smuggling weapons.

The rifles, in bundles of four or five, were wrapped in plastic, then wrapped in Styrofoam and hidden in green burlap bags, according to Navy Cmdr. John Hamilton, commander of the Dunham.

On Wednesday, a small number of reporters were allowed to see the assault rifles, which were stained with rust after nearly two months at sea. The weapons had been unpacked and piled up, and were ready to be inspected the following day by the UN team.

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Hamilton said the crew on the dhow initially told them they were carrying flour and wheat, but there was none of either on board.

Navy Capt. Adan Cruz, commodore of US Naval Forces Central Command, said it was likely the weapons were being shipped from Somalia to Yemen, but that's still not proven. The UN inspectors, he said, will determine the guns' origin and "see first-hand the weapons flowing into the region."

The US has repeatedly condemned Iran for arming the Houthis, a claim Tehran denies. Last December, UN Ambassador Nikki Haley displayed missile remnants recovered in Yemen at a military base in Maryland, saying they were "undeniable evidence" of Iran's illicit activity. One large segment, she said, was launched at the international airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Since 2015 Saudi Arabia has led a coalition of Arab nations backing the Yemeni government against the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels. Saudi-led airstrikes have hit schools, hospitals and wedding parties and killed thousands of Yemeni civilians. The Houthis have fired long-range missiles into Saudi Arabia and targeted vessels in the Red Sea.

NOW WATCH: Watch a US Navy assault ship fire at an inflatable 'killer tomato'

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UNITED NATIONS (AP)  The U.N. envoy for Syria urged its close ally Russia and world leaders on Friday to try to overcome President Bashar Assad's opposition to the formation of a committee to draft a new constitution that is key to ending the country's civil war.

Staffan de Mistura told the Security Council the U.N. faces "a serious challenge" as a result of the government's objection. But he expressed hope that high-level meetings planned in the coming weeks will spur a solution and enable him to launch a 150-member committee to draft a constitution before he steps down in late November.

De Mistura welcomed an invitation to brief the leaders of Russia, France, Germany and Turkey in Istanbul on Saturday and said he will ask them to "seize the opportunity" of relative calm in rebel-held Idlib and use their influence to push for a speedy solution on the composition of the constitutional committee.

"The influence that can be exercised by all world leaders including very much the four world leaders who I am meeting tomorrow in Istanbul can be crucial in ensuring that this happens," he said.

At issue is the 50-member delegation de Mistura was authorized to put together at a Russian-hosted Syrian peace conference in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Jan. 30 representing Syrian experts, civil society, independents, tribal leaders and women. Agreement has been reached on 50-member delegations from the government and from the opposition for the drafting committee.

De Mistura told the Security Council by video link from Beirut that at a meeting in Damascus on Wednesday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem "did not accept a role for the U.N. in general in identifying or selecting" members of the list he made.

He said al-Moallem indicated that Syria and Russia had recently agreed that the three guarantor states in the so-called "Astana process" aimed at ending the violence in Syria  Russia and Iran which support the government and Turkey which backs the opposition  would instead prepare a list and present it to the U.N.

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De Mistura said he looks forward to hosting the Astana guarantors "very soon" which he said will be "a vitally important consultation."

He said he will also be meeting with the so-called Small Group in London on Monday comprising the United Kingdom, United States, Egypt, France, Germany, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

U.S. deputy ambassador Jonathan Cohen said the Small Group's members "are united in our position that the U.N. should move swiftly to convene the constitutional committee," stressing that "further obstruction on the committee's formation is unacceptable."

De Mistura said "the U.N. is not opposed to constructive and moderate suggestions" on the list he drew up, but it must maintain "credibility, balance, international legitimacy."

France's U.N. Ambassador Francois Delattre said "Syria is currently at a crossroads" and it can tip into escalation in Idlib or take "the path of political momentum" starting with agreement on a constitution drafting committee.

"Between war and peace in Syria, the key is largely in the country of Tolstoy," he said, referring to the famed Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy who wrote "War and Peace."

Britain's U.N. Ambassador Karen Pierce said there is now "enormous doubt" over the Sochi agreement.

"Either Russia has given the U.N. and this council assurances it has proved too weak to deliver on, or it was all a cynical smokescreen designed to divert attention and energy while Russia, Syria and Iran prosecuted the military campaign," she said.

The more than seven-year Syrian conflict has killed over 300,000 people and the latest military campaign has put the government in control of most Syrian territory. An agreement between Russia and Turkey in September averted an expected Syrian military offensive in Idlib, but there are fears it may not hold.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia accused the U.S., Britain and France, who called Friday's meeting, of convening "another show set up with tragic wails and moralizing against Russia."

He stressed that "there are no grounds for establishing artificial deadlines for the establishment of a constitutional committee," saying patience is required.

But Nebenzia also said Russia is confident that before de Mistura steps down he "will leave no stone unturned to make progress on this area, within his mandate as mediator, with full respect to the sovereignty of Syria, and we will help him in doing that."

Syria's U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari stressed that "the role of the United Nations is one of a facilitator  to facilitate inter-Syrian dialogue, rather than having guardianship over this dialogue."

The government believes that creating a constitutional committee reflecting Syrian society "is a way of exiting the crisis," he said, and the government is convinced that coordination with Iran and Russia should result in an agreement on committee members.
Manila Goldcoast Development Corp. president Wilson Tieng (seated, second from left), SM Prime Holdings Inc. senior assistant president Noel Sanchez (right) and Charlie Gonzales (left) of Ulticon Builders, one of the consortium members of the Pasay Harbor City consortium sign a memorandum of agreement with Pasay City Mayor Antonino Calixto (second from right) for three reclamation projects in Manila Bay between Manila and Pasay City.

Three reclamation projects in Manila Bay will transform the coastal sections of Manila and Pasay City into modern business districts. Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada and Pasay City Mayor Antonino Calixto signed a memorandum of agreement for a joint utmost effort to cooperate with each other and extend mutual assistance in connection with their separate partnerships with private groups to reclaim huge swathes of the Manila Bay to generate valuable coastal real estate as well as provide employment and other economic opportunities in the two premier coastal cities in Metro Manila. The signing of the agreement by the two local chief executives along with the representatives of the three groups with respective reclamation proposals in the Manila Bay area clears the way for the reclamation projects.The three groups involved are Manila Goldcoast Development Corp., SM Prime Holdings Inc. and the Pasay Harbor City consortium. MGDCs 148-hectare reclamation project in joint venture with the Manila city government covers the southern parcel of the Manila-Cavite Coastal Road and Reclamation Project - North Sector, otherwise known as Solar City Project. SM Primes 300-hectare and 60-hectare projects are in joint venture with Pasay LGU. Pasay Harbor City consortiums 265-hectare Pasay Harbor City project is also in joint venture with the Pasay city government. Estrada described MGDCs Solar City Manila reclamation project as one that will generate an estimated P50 billion in revenues and create 500,000 jobs once the Philippine Reclamation Authority issues a notice to proceed to the project.He said he expects the project to start early next year, becoming the biggest reclamation project between the Manila-Pasay border in the south and Roxas Boulevard in the east. The project would cover around 3.5 kilometers of Manila Bays shoreline. Not only will these reclamation projects substantially increase the revenues of our city, it will also generate approximately 500,000 new jobs for our residents, Estrada said in his speech. Based on the study made by UP professors, Estrada said that Manila has the highest poverty incidence in the national capital region because many of them are jobless. So in a sense, these reclamation projects are the answer to our prayers. We will be able to provide decent jobs opportunities to our citizens, Estrada said. With this milestone project, we are getting close to achieving our dream of regaining the city of Manilas old title, the Pearl of the Orient. This will mean a lot to us in terms of revenues and employment and business opportunities, Estrada said. The project involves the construction of three 140-hectare islands in Manila Bay and is expected to start with the initial construction and dredging work next year. As a positive consequence, the RPT [real property tax] share of barangays will increase accordingly. In the first year, expected additional share will amount to P5 million and P15 million per barangay after five more years, Estrada said.
A world wrestling body has defended its decision to run an event in Saudi Arabia despite a global outcry after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Mr Khashoggi, a Saudi government critic who lived in the US, was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October.

Saudi Arabia denied knowledge of Mr Khashoggi's whereabouts for nearly three weeks before admitting his killing had been "premeditated".

They have also denied any involvement of the powerful crown prince Mohammed bin Salman - but that did not stop some countries and businesses from distancing themselves.

Many top Western officials have boycotted an investment conference, called Davos in the Desert, held in the country this week.

:: Outcry over Khashoggi killing 'hysterical', Saudi official says

Late last week, WWE confirmed it would go ahead with its Crown Jewel event in Riyadh on 2 November but chief brand officer Stephanie McMahon said the decision had been difficult.

She told Sky News: "Moving forward with Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia was an incredibly tough decision, given that heinous act.

"But, at the end of the day, it is a business decision and, like a lot of other American companies, we decided that we're going to move forward with the event and deliver Crown Jewel for all of our fans in Saudi Arabia and around the world."

WWE held its first live events in the oil-rich kingdom in 2014.

The organisation had said in a statement late last week that it had "decided to uphold its contractual obligations" in staging the event.

WWE signed a 10-year partnership with Saudi Arabia earlier this year.

But some of the show's stars reportedly decided not to take part next month and some fans accused the organisation of being more interested in money than doing what was right.

Twitter users accused them of being "tone-deaf" and accepting "blood money", while some said they had cancelled their subscriptions in protest at the move.

In April, WWE held its Greatest Royal Rumble in Jeddah, although female competitors were not involved due to rules in the strict Islamic country.
Hawaii Five-O consistently honors the tradition of ohana, which embodies family ties beyond blood relation. The police drama has made very conscious and deliberate efforts to reinforce and expand those bonds of family within the special task force through seasons 8 and 9 thus far, including making numerous cast members regulars on the Hawaii Five-O roster. While the characters of the crime-fighting team are still central, more storylines have been created to honor cultural heritage and appreciation, while reinforcing the value of the islands diversity.

The current season has already focused more attention on individual members of the team than in many past seasons, and the fresh talents of newer cast members, Beulah Koale and Meaghan Rath, have shined.

The stars who comprise Hawaii Five-O represent their own version of a global alliance, with Alex O'Loughlin making his home on Oahu, just like Lt. Commander McGarrett, and hailing from Australia. Scott Caan fully captures the native New Jersey detective Danny Williams, but his own family heritage is Hollywood royalty, being the son of James Caan and an acclaimed playwright on his own. Fans recall Chi McBride from Boston Public, and the Chicago sensibilities of Lou Grover come naturally to this captain.

Beulah Koale grew up poor and struggling in Auckland, New Zealand before his breakout role in Thank You for Your Service and impressing producers of Hawaii Five-O. Meaghan Rath comes from Montreal, Canada and brings a reinvigorated bad girl on the job with a golden heart to her role as Tani.

A part in the Hawaii Five-O Halloween episode is a plum for any actor, and as it turns out for Season 9s scary installment, "A'ohe mea 'imi a ka maka" (Nothing More the Eyes to Search For), three pals from Tulsa have parts in the story, showing that being from dusty stateside parts can still land an aspiring star in paradise.

Discuss this news on Eunomia

Hometown girls do good

Tulsa World related, in a feature updated on October 24, that Olivia Jordan and Carly Casey will be in tonights October 26 spooky story. Olivia Jordan was known as Olivia Thomas when she attended Bishop Kelley High School in Tulsa. She changed her professional name to Olivia Jordan, and it has to be more than coincidence that her Bishop Kelley classmate, Carly Casey also landed a role in this installment, along with Jordan's fiance, Jay Hector.

Maybe it was the homegrown, friendly Oklahoma manners that made the difference, or maybe it was some Native American magic summoned from the region.

Olivia Jordan was formerly Miss USA from Tulsa, and her role is set to make an impression, because as Girlfriend 1980, as listed in the cast, she and the character of her boyfriend will open the episode standing beside their broken down car in the middle of nowhere. It sounds like the perfect start to another memorable Halloween for Hawaii Five-O.

Carly Casey will be featured as Emily Cass.

Continuing the tradition

Halloween on Hawaii Five-O spans from the extremely macabre to making fun-loving memories. Masi Oka, who portrayed the beloved medical examiner, Dr.

Max Bergman, was known for the endearment and enthusiasm he brought to his Halloween caricatures, donning wardrobes from Mozart to Star Wars, with impeccable taste.

Steve and Danny usually dont dress for the occasion, being too devoted to cracking cases, from a mother-son murder operation to graveyard snatchers, and some very personal memories of the past and parenthood for the partners.

This episode will have Steve solving clues of a murder from a little girl's crayon drawings, and Jerry (Jorge Garcia) assembling his own force of friends, including even the immovable Noelani, portrayed by Kimee Balmilero, to go to his childhood campsite, where he was witness to a murder. This parallel storyline could be fun, seeing as Jerry does not have a penchant for the dark side, no matter how much the previews have him looking like an extra on The Walking Dead

Look for new faces and familiar ones to be filled with fear on this Hawaii Five-O Halloween romp.
Virginia Techs Apex Center for Entrepreneurs has won the Outstanding Emerging Entrepreneurship Center Award, given by the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers .

The winners in seven categories were announced at this years conference held recently in Chicago. The Apex Center, housed in the Pamplin College of Business , was selected from a group of entrepreneurship programs founded in the past five years.

The Apex Center is playing a tremendous role in transforming the student education experience at Virginia Tech and beyond, said Pamplin Dean Robert Sumichrast. This award is further recognition of the centers impact in helping our students, faculty, and alumni in launching new ventures and building companies that help to diversify and strengthen the economy across the commonwealth.

One of the initiatives highlighted in the award application was the interdisciplinary nature of the Apex Centers programs. Last year, more than 1,900 students from eight colleges at Virginia Tech engaged in programs and events led by the center, including 109 student-led new venture teams.

The center provides students of any major and any year the opportunity to engage in all phases of the entrepreneurship process and encourages Virginia Tech alumni to interact with the next generations of entrepreneurs.

This academic year, the center expects more than 2,500 students to participate in 18 programs offered on campus and beyond. Hokie-led companies that have engaged with the center have raised more than $93 million in capital over the past decade.



Derick Maggard, the center's executive director, said: Were so honored to receive the Outstanding Emerging Entrepreneurship Center Award. The Apex Center brings together all Hokies, both presently enrolled and our vast community of alums, to put their passion, purpose, and ideas into action and recognize the importance of entrepreneurship in any field of study.

The center is named in recognition of a joint commitment of $5 million by four Virginia Tech alumni: Brian Callaghan, Ted Hanson, Win Sheridan, and Jeffrey Veatch .

The consortium awards are designed to showcase the best of university entrepreneurship programs. This years conference included more than 450 representatives from more than 250 colleges and universities.

Participants at the consortiums conference, hosted by DePaul University and Illinois Institute of Technology, included directors, faculty, and staff members from entrepreneurship centers around the world.
The University of San Carlos, led by president Fr. Dionisio Miranda SVD (right), USC Alumni Association chairman Ronald Po (left) and Outstanding Carolinian Alumnus awardee Jesus Alcordo (second from right), presents the Lifetime Achievement Award to JG Summit Holdings Inc. founder and chairman emeritus John Gokongwei Jr. (seated). Joining them onstage are (from left) Augusto Go, Elizabeth Gan-Go, Edward Go, Elizabeth Gokongwei, Lily Ngo Chua, Judy Gaisano, Jack Gaisano, Edmund Gaisano Sr. and Antonio Go.

John Gokongwei Jr. expresses his deep appreciation for his hometown and his alma mater.

Fourteen years after the University of San Carlos bestowed an honorary doctorate in Business and Enterprise Development on John Gokongwei Jr., the Cebu-based institution of higher learning has once again honored JG Summit Holdings founder and chairman emeritus. At the first grand reunion for alumni champions of the University of San Carlos held on Oct. 18, 2018 at Summit Galleria Cebu hotel, USC officials led by president Fr. Dionisio Miranda and USC Alumni Association chairman Ronald Po presented the lifetime achievement award to Mr. John. What a life it has been for Mr. John, now 92 years old. His arc has been described as a twist on the classic rags to riches tale, as Mr. John began his life born to privilege. However, a variety of circumstances pushed his family to lose everything, forcing the then-13-year old John Gokongwei, Jr. to rely on his wits, intelligence, hard work and perseverance to pull himself and his family out of despair, molding him into the man that he is today.After the university presented Mr. John with the lifetime achievement award for a lifetime, fully lived, of invaluable contributions that addressed the needs of local, national, regional, and global communities, and for having deeply touched, empowered, and transformed the lives of others through a legacy of entrepreneurship and education, a commissioned portrait of Mr. John was unveiled. Then, it was time for the man of the hour to speak. Addressing the crowd of school officials, fellow alumni and his close friends and family members, Mr. John began his brief yet inspiring acceptance speech by showing his deep appreciation for his hometown and his alma mater. I flew this morning on the airline I named after the city I love, Cebu Pacific. I went to school here at the University of San Carlos for my primary and high school. I was valedictorian in grade school and I was number one in high school and because of that, I received free tuition in school. I thank the school for that, he said with gratitude. Displaying his still sharp memory, Mr. John then shared a recollection from his younger academic years, back when the school was still known as Colegio de San Carlos, drawing chuckles from the crowd. I especially remember Fr. Smith, who was the disciplinarian, because one day he caught me running in front of his office, and I had to stand in the corner for one hour, said Mr. John, providing a rare glimpse of his mischievous side. Mirroring his own life, the speech then grew serious. When I was 13 years old, my father died, leaving me to take care of my mother, my brother and my sister. At the time, my youngest brother James was only nine months old. I took care of them all because the family has always been my priority, he said.As lifes twists forced him to drop out of school, Mr. John honed his entrepreneurial skills, first by selling peanuts from his backyard, then by becoming a peddler at the market. Along the way, he also developed his legendary toughness and resilience. It was here in Cebu that I earned my first few pesos. I always used to wake up before dawn to ride my bicycle to the public market many kilometers away. I set up a little table in the market to sell spools of thread, bars of soap, and candles, he said. I earned about 20 pesos a day by working longer and harder than everyone else, but it didnt matter because I really loved my work. I loved being an entrepreneur, he said. Using himself as an example, he proved that its never too late to learn and that you are never too old to be workingas long as you have the passion for it. Today, I am 92 years old. I still wake up early and I still love what I am doing. I still know everything that is going on in my company, said Mr John, bring his speech to a close. I still love to learn and Im always reading books, and now, online stories in this digital age. I always tell my children, my grandchildren, and my colleagues: Love your work, work hard at it. Love your family. Love your country, never stop learning, and always look back and be grateful to where you came from, he said. From a precocious, intelligent child to one of Asias most admired businessmen, its a lifetime achievement definitely worth celebrating.
Pagan Perspectives

A farmstead from the Viking Age was found earlier this month by a local resident in jorsardalur, a valley in the southern highlands of Iceland.

Bergur or Bjornsson is the great-grandson of the man who discovered the regions most recently found Viking-era farm back in 1920. With his new find, the total number of known farms stands at twenty-one.

Archaeologists from Fornleifastofnun Island (the Institute of Archaeology in Iceland) were called to the scene and soon found several small objects. Among them was a Thors hammer amulet, only the second ever found in Iceland. Adolf Fririksson, director of the Institute, told me that record searches so far suggest that this is the first Mjolnir pendant made of stone found anywhere.

I spoke with Ragnheiur Glo Gylfadottir , the archaeologist from Fornleifastofnun Island who investigated the find, about the site, the discovery, and the newly-discovered objects.

The Wild Hunt: How did the explosion of the Hekla volcano in 1104 affect farms in the jorsardalur area?

Ragnheiur Glo Gylfadottir: This is not an easy question to answer. The valley wasnt deserted all at the same time.

The tephra[1] layer from 1104 likely covered the valley, but there is evidence of habitation in the valley until the twelfth century. One of the farms, for example, fell out of use in the late sixteenth century, and two farms are still in habitation.

TWH: Have any other farms in this area been excavated?

RGG: This deserted valley has held a central place in Icelandic archaeology for nearly one and a half centuries. Its often referred to as Icelands Pompeii. There are about fifteen to twenty known Viking Age sites and farms in the valley, and the first excavations there took place in the late 1890s.

In 1939, a team of Nordic archaeologists came to Iceland to investigate Viking Age and medieval house structures as the key to understanding the development of Nordic building custom. At the time, six farms were excavated in jorsardalur, Stong the most famous of them.

Since then, there has been lively  and sometimes vicious  debate on the dating of the abandonment of the valley. A number of follow-up excavations have been carried out, the last one in 2000-2001.

In total, about two thousand artifacts from the farms have been found, dating mostly from the ninth to twelfth century.

RGG: Yes, they have. Some parts of the valley are now covered in forest, and some sites are gone as the result.

TWH: How did Bergur or Bjornsson discover the Bergstair farm site?

RGG: He was born and raised in a farm in jorsardalur, one of the two that is in habitation in the valley. He felt there was a gap in the distribution of the Viking age farms and decided to try to find some evidence of habitation there.

TWH: What is the protocol for investigation and collection when you receive information about a new find like that from Bergur?

RGG: The Cultural Heritage Agency of Iceland should be informed about any archaeological sites, finds, or artifacts as soon as possible. If some artifacts are found they should be turned over to the National Museum of Iceland.

The Institute of Archaeology, where I work, has no role when people find new things or archaeological sites in Iceland. The Institute is privately owned, and we do both research and commercial work.

We were working in jorsardalur for the local municipality when we talked to Bergur, and he informed us about the site. The project involved measuring up and surveying all known archaeological sites in the municipality, also outside jorsardalur.

Of course, we followed the laws and reported the farm and the finds to The Cultural Heritage Agency. The finds go to the National Museum.

All the finds were measured in situ with a total station[2], and the midden[3] as well. We hope to do more research in the area later. No excavation has been done there yet.

RGG: The site is eroded and no structures are visible on the surface. We found a midden. A big part is likely eroded away. There is also evidence of a smithy. Slag is lying on the surface there.

TWH: Iceland Magazine reports that [w]hen archeologists arrived at the scene they could immediately see that Bergur was right: The foundation of a Viking Age longhouse were clearly visible in the ground, as well as various other remains (sic). Can you clarify what you saw at the site?

RGG: There were no structures, only a few stones and the midden, and slag where the smithy probably was.

TWH: Can you explain what objects have been found so far?

RGG: The objects were found in the midden and the smithy, lying on the surface. We found a Thors hammer amulet, whetstones, part of a soapstone pot, and iron buckles. I cant explain why these items were there at this time.

TWH: In the photograph Ive seen, the Thors hammer amulet appears to have runes carved into it. Do you think thats what they are?

RGG: These are not runes, or so we believe at this time. The amulet is made of sandstone and therefore scratches easily. Its been lying in the ground for about 1100 years, among sharp pumice stones from eruptions in Hekla.

TWH: Does the Thors hammer have a hole in the shaft to be strung as an amulet?

RGG: No, the hole or the shaft is broken and missing from the amulet.

RGG: We dont know when the farm was deserted. Tephra from different eruptions is on the surface, and no excavations have been done. The farm, like big parts of jorsardalur, is eroded and the soil moves around easily.

TWH: What happens to the objects now?

RGG: They will go to the National Museum of Iceland, jominjasafn Islands.

TWH: What are the institutes plans for further excavation?

RGG: We hope to excavate the site and do further research there. The site is very interesting, and no other midden is known in jorsardalur.

[1] Fragments of dust and rock propelled into the air by a volcanic eruption.

[2] An electronic device which simultaneously measures horizontal and vertical position of an object.

[3] A refuse pile.

Thanks to Ragnheiur Glo Gylfadottir for being so generous with her time and to Adolf Fririksson, Director of Fornleifastofnun Islands, for his kind help and permission to use the official photographs of the objects.

* * *

The views and opinions expressed by our diverse panel of columnists and guest writers represent the many diverging perspectives held within the global Pagan, Heathen and polytheist communities, but do not necessarily reflect the views of The Wild Hunt Inc. or its management.
Josephine Floresca

As the president of Nai Cha Food and Beverages Inc. and co-owner and managing director of Le Charme Suites, Josephine Floresca stands formidable despite the tough challenges she faced along the way. Being a hotel owner did not happen overnight for Jo. In fact, she was once a house cleaner. Le Charme Suites, a popular hotel in Subic boasts of a European concept warmed by genuine Filipino hospitality. The business and leisure hotel started as an accident as it was conceived to be a furniture showroom before she saw its opportunity as something greater.Jo, as she is fondly called, completed her formative education at St. Pauls College. She took her bachelors degree in St. Scholasticas College while working on the side. Financial struggles would not hinder her from gaining education and eventual success in life. Her mother is the source of her inspiration. My mother always put our education first. She wanted us to get the best education possible. I would help her in our meat stall in the market. Sometimes even my classmates in high school would see me with their moms. It wasnt something to be ashamed of, she said. We would even give discounts to them [laughs], she said. She recalled a time she hid in the bathroom during recess so that none of her schoolmates would saw that her baon was once again hardboiled eggs and rice. Then I would drink from the water fountain, she said. My mom said to me, being poor is not a deterrent to strive better. I would just write down all my frustration, all of the bad things said. Then I burned it. I still do today, she said, adding that negative things should be left out in anything she does. In an interview with Manila Standard, the amiable executive said that she looked up to her mother for teaching her the value of hard work. She continues to live up to this value to this day.

It was these life lessons that empowered her when she became a single mother with three children. At a young age of 19, Jo flew to Taiwan to become a factory worker. She decided to settle in Subic. To earn a living for her and her children, she took multiple jobs  full-time secretary, English tutor and foot massage therapist. She did not have a shortage of difficulties. However great the challenges were, she was steadfast, driven by her drive to make the lives of her children comfortable. Even as a house cleaner, she never ceased to dream big. She would even take her kids to work and show them how beautiful the house was and vowing that one day they would live in one too. She persevered, hoping one day her fate would turn out for the best. It was Jos fourth job  being a real estate agent - that brought the rags to riches story. She met a low-profile businessman who eventually became her investor in her ventures.She used the money, together with commissions from her brokerage job, to set-up her first restaurant, a commercial building, and a four-star hotel. In retrospect, fate has an interesting sense of humor. The jobs she did as a means to make ends meet are now part of her growing repertoire of business assets. All of them became my business actually. See, I have a spa, real estate, house for rent, office, and English tutorial. So Im glad that I could apply to my business all my work experiences in the past.

Jo is not someone who would rest on her laurels, however many and broad they may be. Everything is temporary. The only constant is progress. Its never downhill from here. That is something Im very sure of. In an active lifestyle, everything is progressive, everything is improving, she said. She said she would not trade Subic for any other place. I really admire Subic, how it turned from a military base into an industrial zone and a leisure destination in Luzon. No matter how much I was offered an opportunity in Manila, I did not consider them. Although I grew up in Paranaque, I fell in love with Subic. My passion is here. She now happily lives with her partner together with her four daughters. Her youngest is the inspiration and the namesake of her flagship business Le Charme Suites. I gave the generosity of space so that our guests will enjoy being inside the room. I really wanted the rooms to be spacious and homey for the guests, she said. Being a mom, Im very family-oriented so I made this hotel really a home away from home. Whenever guests arrive, I make it a point that they would feel the convenience and comfort of being home. We have a playroom for kids and virtual reality games for the teens so they really enjoy the staycation, she said. My being a mom is my background because in hospitality, caring is our business. This hotel and property is the expression of my passion in Subic. This is my lifestyle. From being a receptionist, a factory worker, a house cleaner, an English tutor, a masseuse and a real estate broker, Jo finally found where she truly belongs and its only fitting for a strong, persevering woman. My classmates would tell me Jo you have reached far in life. I would respond, Why? We are still together, and we are eating on the same table, she said. That brings us back to the way we were [back in the day]. It is not about the status in life.
Cesar Altieri Sayoc, the Florida man accused of sending pipe bombs to critics of Donald Trump, has claimed Filipino ancestry on his LinkedIn profile, saying his grandfather was a prominent surgeon in the Philippines. Sayoc, 56, of Aventura, Florida, also made repeated references to the Seminole Indian tribe on his Twitter feed. He was arrested on Friday for allegedly mailing at least 13 explosive devices to leading Democratic figures, former high-ranking officials and others, FBI Director Christopher Wray said. Sayoc had plastered his social media accounts and the van where he was living with signs of his devotion to the Republican president and his hatred for Democrats. A registered Republican with a criminal history and reported past as a stripper, Sayoc currently faces up to 48 years in prison, although further charges are expected to be filed against him for the mail-bombing campaign, which heightened political tensions and put the country on edge. Television footage of Sayoc in custody showed a muscular man in a sleeveless black shirt with close-cropped black hair. Sayoc has been arrested several times previously, including in Miami-Dade County in 2002 for making a bomb threat against a power company, according to court records available online. He was sentenced to a year on probation. He has also been arrested for theft and domestic violence. Sayoc, who sometimes goes by the name Cesar Altieri, also has a history of financial problems and filed for bankruptcy in 2012, according to county records. Sayocs political leanings are on full display on his Facebook page which CNN reported has been removed by the social networkas well as his now-suspended Twitter accounts and his impounded white van, which was covered with pro-Trump decals and anti-Democrat stickers.A picture on Sayocs Facebook page shows him wearing a red Trump Make America Great Again hat and photos have since surfaced of him attending Trump rallies in Florida. One of the windows of his van, which was seized by the FBI, features pictures of former president Barack Obama and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton with red bulls-eyes on their faces. Theres also a CNN Sucks sticker with a target over the face of one of the networks frequent commentators, Van Jones. Obama, Clinton and CNN were intended recipients of the pipe bombs sent through the mail with a return address in Florida. Debra Gureghian, the general manager of a pizza restaurant in Fort Lauderdale where Sayoc worked as a delivery truck driver for several months, described him to The Washington Post as crazed. Thats the best word for him, Gureghian said. There was something really off with him. He was very angry and angry at the world, at blacks, Jews, gays, she said. He never said he would kill them or murder them or bomb them he just said, If I had complete autonomy the gays, the black and Jews would not survive, she said. He was very, very strange.
Northern State University student, wrestler dies Wednesday

Caden Moore died unexpectedly Wednesday, and authorities have told university officials that no foul play in suspected, per the release.
They were punished for speaking their native Navajo tongue in school.

But when their country needed them during World War II, they responded by using their complex language to develop an unbreakable code that helped the United States defeat Japan.

On Friday, surrounded by friends, family and a drum circle performing My friend, my comrade, we remember you, city officials inducted Navajo Code Talkers into Albuquerques Wall of Fame during a ceremony at the Alvarado Transportation Center in Downtown. It marked the sixth induction ceremony since the Wall of Fame was created in 2013.

In attendance for the ceremony was Joe Vandever Sr., 95, of Haystack, one of seven living Code Talkers who faced heavy fighting in the Pacific war.

His granddaughter, Patulia Vandever, spoke for him and her family during the ceremony.

Im a proud granddaughter of a wonderful grandpa, Vandever said. Myself and my family who are here today are delighted to witness this moment for my grandpa. My grandpa has also served as a traditional medicine man in our tribal community for most of his life. In this way he embodies to me the essence of a warrior, not only serving as a protector of the homeland through his service as a Navajo Code Talker, but also as community support through traditional medicine.

The first 29 Navajo Marine Corps recruits formed the code at Camp Elliott, Calif., in 1942. The recruits began developing the code by taking words from their language and applying to them to implements of war, such as the names of different birds were used to stand for different kinds of planes.

For example, the Navajo word for buzzard  pronounced as Jay-show  meant bomber plane.

The initial code consisted of 211 vocabulary terms, which expanded to 411 over the course of the war, according to the Central Intelligence Agency.

At a time when machines took 30 minutes to encode, transmit and decode three lines in English, Code Talkers could do it in 20 seconds.

Since the operation was declassified in 1968, said Mayor Tim Keller, the Navajo Code Talkers have brought positive, worldwide attention to New Mexico and the Southwest.

These achievements have flown under the radar for too long, Keller said, facing Vandever. Were trying to tell your story as much as we can, because its such an important part of our history.

The Navajo Code Talkers were praised for their speed and accuracy in relaying tactics, troop movements and orders under great risk in key battles such as Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Saipan and Okinawa. At Iwo Jima, six Code Talkers worked around the clock sending and receiving more than 800 messages without error.

About 200 more Navajos were trained in the program, which came to a conclusion early in the Vietnam War.

ABQ Ride created this Wall of Fame not only to honor people whove impacted our community in a positive way, but also to honor those who have done it on a grand scale. The Navajo Code Talkers more than fit this bill, said Bernie Toon, director of ABQ Ride. Their work and grace under fire make them a logical choice for a permanent place on our Wall of Fame.

City Council President Ken Sanchez told ceremony attendees that city leaders and stakeholders are looking to build a permanent Code Talker museum in Old Town to remember those individuals who made the ultimate sacrifice for us as Americans.

Sanchez also praised Vandever for his service, calling him one of Americas heroes.

President Ronald Reagan gave the Code Talkers a Certificate of Recognition and declared Aug. 14 Navajo Code Talkers Day in 1982.

President Bill Clinton in 2000 signed a law that awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to the original 29 Code Talkers.
WASHINGTON  Of all the people who have anguished responses to the death of Jamal Khashoggi, Prince Turki al-Faisal is a special case: This pillar of the Saudi establishment says in an interview that he is shocked by the loss of his longtime protege but is standing behind King Salman and the crown prince during this period of crisis.

People who think theres going to be any change in the succession are wrong, Turki said, rebutting speculation that Mohammed bin Salman might be replaced as crown prince because of allegations that he authorized the events leading to the death of Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor. Instead, he said, Saudis are more supportive of MBS, as hes known, because hes under attack.

The more criticism there is of the crown prince, the more popular he is in the kingdom, Turki said. If you took a poll among Saudis today, you would find that he is more popular than he was two weeks ago. Thats because Saudis feel that their leader is being unfairly attacked in the foreign media. Thats true of the royal family, as well. They feel that this is an attack on Saudi Arabia and the royal family, not just Mohammed bin Salman.

Theres no way to verify these claims of popular support for MBS. But its significant that this pro-palace view is being expressed by Turki, who as a former intelligence chief and ambassador to London and Washington speaks for a branch of the royal family known for its moderate views.

Turkis comments came on the eve of a statement by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that accused the Saudis of committing a gruesome murder but didnt reveal any new evidence that would confirm that Riyadh had staged a premeditated killing.

Turki talked with me Monday night at his residence in McLean, Va., for nearly 90 minutes. He described his meeting there the night before with one of Khashoggis former wives and three of their children, to convey condolences from the king and crown prince. We talked about old times when we were in Washington and London, Turki said.

A similar show of condolence took place in Riyadh, where MBS met Tuesday with Salah, the oldest of Khashoggis children, who for months has been prevented from leaving the kingdom as part of an apparent pressure campaign against Khashoggi. A Saudi video showed Salah shaking hands with the man some blame for the death of his father.

Turki said Khashoggi first came to his attention in 1988, after the journalist had made a reporting trip to Afghanistan for the Riyadh-based Arab News. Back then, he never had links with Saudi intelligence, even at a lower level, Turki said. But when Khashoggi became an editor for Arab News in the 1990s, he and Turki met.

In later years, Turki became Khashoggis benefactor, hiring him twice as editor of Al-Watan, the family-owned newspaper, and bringing him to London and Washington as a media adviser when he became ambassador.

As a person, he was affable, with a wonderful sense of humor, and he was a fastidious journalist. He took his profession seriously, Turki said. Like many of Khashoggis other friends, Turki described a sense of optimism that was sometimes unrealistic. I always told him, Come on, Jamal, stop joking  I dont believe that you are that naive. Get off it!

The two men became estranged about four years ago, Turki said, partly because of differing views on the Muslim Brotherhood. Turki said he would admonish Khashoggi: Its a cult that has used terrorist actions to promote its views, under the guise of liberalism. He (Khashoggi) always answered: Yes, Ive criticized them for that, and called on them to rejuvenate. Theyre archaic, and they need to change.'

The Saudi royal family circles its wagons in times of crisis, and the conversation with Turki suggested this moment is no different. Vilification of Saudi Arabia is unjust and unfair, Turki insisted. He parried questions about whether MBS should broaden his base now to stabilize the kingdom and reboot his reform program known as Vision 2030.

The people of Saudi Arabia are happy with the leadership because the leadership has produced a vision of the future and is working to implement that vision, Turki argued. If they have to revise or tweak or add to that vision, all the better. Vision 2030 is not divine revelation.

Turki said that when he heard confirmation of Khashoggis death last weekend, It was shocking. Until the very last minute I was hoping he didnt die.

Sometimes in death, people achieve goals that seemed impossible, naive even, in life. Whatever happens with MBS, Saudi Arabia will be different because of Khashoggis murder.

E-mail davidignatius@washpost.com. (c) 2018, Washington Post Writers Group.
Journal endorsements in the general election continue today with recommendations for statewide bonds. For election coverage, including other endorsements and candidates profiles and answers to questions, go to ABQJournal.com and click on Voter Guide.

While most of the attention related to the Nov. 6 general election has been focused on contested races for governor, Congress, state House and other offices, voters will also decide the fate of four statewide bonds totaling more than $166 million. Lawmakers and the governor approved the general obligation bond package earlier this year, earmarking money for senior centers, libraries, school buses and colleges, universities and specialty schools throughout the state.

But those projects will only be funded if the bonds are approved by voters. Beyond providing much-needed infrastructure improvements throughout the state, these bonds would also provide a shot in the arm to the economy by generating construction and related jobs in each of these communities. Best of all, approval of these bonds would not result in a property tax increase. The Journal recommends voters approve all four statewide bond questions on the ballot.

Bond Question A: For

Approval would authorize nearly $10.8 million for facility improvements, construction and equipment for more than 60 senior centers in the state. The biggest projects on that list include the Gadiiahi Chapter Senior Center in San Juan County, the Abedon Lopez Senior Center in Santa Cruz and the Twin Lakes Senior Center in McKinley County. Senior centers in Albuquerque would also receive funding, including the South Valley multipurpose senior center, $235,000; Rio Bravo senior center, $138,000; and Los Volcanes and North Valley senior centers, which are each in line for $54,000.

Bond Question B: For

Approval would authorize nearly $12.9 million to purchase materials for public libraries, tribal libraries, school libraries and academic libraries throughout the state. Money from this bond would be used to buy books, purchase equipment and upgrade technology, including installation of broadband equipment and infrastructure.

Bond Question C: For

This is a new bond for New Mexico voters. Approval would authorize $6.1 million to purchase and equip school buses statewide, including those owned by school districts and buses provided by service contractors. Part of the money generated would be used to outfit some buses with air conditioning.

Bond Question D: For

This is by far the biggest bond voters will weigh in on. It would authorize $128 million for construction projects at colleges and universities across the state, in addition to money for specialty school campuses.

The University of New Mexico would see $7 million for ROTC facilities and another $20.3 million to continue chemistry building upgrades on its main campus and to construct a new College Pathways to Careers Center at its Taos branch. Central New Mexico Community College, the states largest college, would receive $7.5 million for its infrastructure needs, which include upgraded HVAC systems, roofing and parking lot lighting. Another $25 million is earmarked for renovations and updates within New Mexico State Universitys College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences. The School for the Deaf in Santa Fe, meanwhile, would get $1.8 million for an activity center and residential complex, while New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell would get more than $8.2 million for several campus projects. In all, this bond question will provide funding for projects at 26 college, university and specialty school campuses.

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.
ROSWELL  Vice President Mike Pence rallied Republicans in New Mexico on Friday with a stop in Roswell in a show of support for gubernatorial candidate Steve Pearce and congressional candidate Yvette Herrell.

Several hundred people cheered for the vice president as he touted the Trump administrations success in creating jobs and its commitment to border security.

With Pearce and Herrell in office, were going to build that wall. Were going to secure our border, and were going to fix this broken immigration system, Pence said. I dont need to tell New Mexico what the crisis on the border poses to our country and to our communities.

Pence said the migrant caravan making its way through Mexico toward the U.S. border would not be allowed into the country.

Turn around, he said, as the crowd chanted, Build that wall.

The vice president responded, Oh, were doing it. We started it.

President Donald Trumps administration hasnt been able to get Congress to approve $1 billion to pay for a wall. So construction has been limited to extending the existing barrier in Santa Teresa and upgrading barriers along other stretches of border.

Immigration is a top issue for Republican voters, such as Vera Lim, who drove nearly 200 miles from Las Cruces to catch a glimpse of Pence during his stop at the airport in Roswell.

We want him to build a wall, she said.

Sarah Santana, 21, drove from Albuquerque with her 17-year-old sister to see Pence and support Pearce. Her boyfriend works on Pearces campaign.

I think its really important for the younger generation to get involved, because you dont really see that, Santana said.

Pences visit to New Mexico was part of a swing through Western states in support of Republican candidates.

They keep talking about a blue wave. Lets make sure it hits a red wall in New Mexico, the vice president told the crowd.

Estancia Mayor Nathan Dial said he hopes the vice presidents visit will help motivate Republican voters to turn out.

My whole thing is, Trump gave us life, because its an uphill battle in New Mexico as a Republican. Maybe we can keep a Republican governor, Dial said.

Pearce told the crowd, Im going to win the race. Im not here to win your vote; Im here to win your heart.

Pearce faces stiff competition from Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham, who has outraised him and had a lead in the race as of early September, according to a Journal Poll. Both U.S. House members decided to forgo re-election bids to run for governor.

Herrell is trying to keep the 2nd Congressional District in GOP control but is in a hard-fought race with Democrat Xochitl Torres Small for the seat currently held by Pearce. The district has long been a Republican stronghold, and Torres Smalls campaign is aggressively appealing to independent and Republican voters to choose the person, not the party this election.

Pence repeated Trumps assertion that the choice for voters is between jobs and mobs.

The vice president struck a more conciliatory tone in condemning politically motivated violence. During his stop in New Mexico, he praised the quick action of federal law enforcement in arresting a Florida man suspected of sending package bombs to at least a dozen high-profile Democrats, including former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Democratic members of Congress.
Copyright  2018 Albuquerque Journal

New Mexico voters this fall will decide whether to establish an independent ethics commission to hear complaints against elected officials, lobbyists and others.

But the ballot also features two candidates for governor who have their own ideas for addressing corruption and misconduct in a state thats been hit repeatedly by ethics scandals.

Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham and Republican Steve Pearce both say they support the proposed constitutional amendment to create a seven-member ethics commission.

And they have plenty of ideas beyond that, too.

Pearce said this week that he would push for a package of anti-corruption legislation  including creation of a panel of retired judges who would help vet ethical questions centering on state contracts and actions by the State Investment Council.

In a news conference, he said he would also push to expand whistle-blower protections and add ombudsmen to state departments, increase transparency and record-keeping requirements, and prohibit state and elected officials from having government contracts, even through nonprofit agencies.

We must, he said, restore faith in our institutions.  Corruption breeds incompetence, and incompetence eventually breaks the will of the people.

Lujan Grishams campaign said she would work to ensure that the proposed ethics commission, if approved by voters, would be adequately funded and that follow-up legislation would give it real power to hold those in office or government accountable, her spokesman, James Hallinan, said Friday.

Lujan Grisham also supports enhanced disclosure requirements for lobbyists, including more detail on their spending to influence lawmakers, her campaign said. She also supports making lobbyists disclose what bills theyre supporting or opposing, and for whom theyre doing that work.

She is also committed, Hallinan said, to improving New Mexicos Sunshine Portal, which has often failed to publish required data.

Lujan Grisham supports laws that will strengthen transparency and ethics protections in New Mexico, Hallinan said.

Both candidates are giving up seats in Congress to run for governor. The winner will succeed Gov. Susana Martinez, a Republican.

Pearces call for a prohibition on elected officials having government contracts comes as he aggressively attacks Lujan Grisham for her past ties to a company that helps run New Mexicos high-risk insurance pool.

Lujan Grisham divested herself from the company last year. Rep. Deborah Armstrong, D-Albuquerque, is still the firms president.

Lujan Grisham, in turn, has slammed Pearce for his joint ownership of companies that have, or used to have, ties to the oil industry, which is regulated by the state. Pearce says that his business interests wouldnt present a conflict and that he has properly disclosed them.

The back-and-forth has made ethics a centerpiece of the final stretch of campaigning heading into Nov. 6.

Voters are also weighing creation of the ethics commission, which would function as a clearinghouse for complaints involving state officials, legislative employees, lobbyists and government contractors.

If it is approved, the Legislature and next governor would enact follow-up legislation outlining some of the details, such as when complaints would be made public.

New Mexico is one of only eight states that dont have independent ethics commissions.

Charges of public corruption have rocked New Mexicos political landscape in recent years. In March, former state Sen. Phil Griego, D-San Jose, began a prison sentence after he was convicted for his role in the sale of a historic state building.

Former Cabinet Secretary Demesia Padilla, who once oversaw the state Taxation and Revenue Department, is scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing next week over whether she should face trial on public corruption charges.
A second insurance company has gone to federal court in New Mexico to keep from having to pay millions of dollars in claims brought on behalf of victims whose trust funds and savings were embezzled by the CEO of the now-defunct Desert State Life Management of Albuquerque.

The Cincinnati Insurance Co., based in Fairfield, Ohio, is seeking a declaratory judgment that the company isnt liable for coverage of the losses because the insurance policy it sold to Desert State doesnt cover the wrongful acts admitted by former Desert State CEO Paul Donisthorpe in a criminal plea agreement last November.

Donisthorpe, who is not in federal custody, is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to federal criminal charges of wire fraud and money laundering. He faces eight to 12 years in prison and has agreed to pay more than $4.8 million in restitution.

The New Mexico Financial Institutions Division uncovered the decadelong embezzlement scheme after examining Desert State Life Managements financial records in early 2017. An estimated 77 clients, described as vulnerable people with disabilities, had investment, savings or trust accounts with Desert State Life Management, which also served as a court-appointed conservator for some.

Federal prosecutors say Donisthorpe siphoned money from client accounts to buy vehicles, an Angel Fire vacation home, pay his home mortgage and credit cards, and finance a Texas cattle operation.

A proposed class action lawsuit filed on behalf of victims is still pending in federal court, as is a lawsuit filed by Evanston Insurance Co., which provided professional liability insurance for the firm.

Evanston contends it shouldnt have to pay claims because Donisthorpe made material misrepresentations in buying the insurance.
The Palace on Saturday belittled leftist groups latest call for President Rodrigo Duterte to resign owing to alleged crimes against the people, saying the call was part of propaganda by Communist Party of the Philippines leader Jose Ma. Sison. Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said there is nothing new with the leftists latest call for the President to step down, saying the communist groups were the ones committing criminal acts against the Filipino people. The Palace spokesman was referring to the resign call of the Kilusang Mayo Uno and Makabayan groups at a recent protest action in Davao City. They called for ending violence and the killings of indigenous people, and the lifting of martial law in Mindanao. Meanwhile, two party-list lawmakers condemned the terrorist tagging by Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio of progressive party-lists and organizations. ACT Teachers Reps. Antonio Tinio and France Castro responded to the statement issued by the mayor against the Makabayan bloc and other progressive organizations as they joined protests against the martial law extension in Mindanao, the continuing alleged militarization in communities, and extrajudicial killings. We strongly condemn the statements made by Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio against progressive party-lists and organizations, Tinio said. He alleged that Duterte-Carpio continues to sow terror against progressive groups to divert the public attention from the economic crisis, extrajudicial killings and the emerging dictatorship caused by the anti-people policies of the Duterte administration. However, Panelo said it is Sisons armed comrades, the New Peoples Army, that were the ones inflicting violence throughout the country and threatening the safety of the people. The government continues to blame NPA members for attacking civilians and military posts who were conducting medical and assistance missions in several parts of the country, he added.Panelo was referring to the ambush of a government convoy in Camarines Sur that killed three policemen as well as the attack of a municipal police station in Northern Samar, torching heavy equipment in three barangays in Davao City, and burning a logging companys equipment in Isabela province over refusal to pay revolutionary taxes, among other more deplorable crimes. It is very clear to us and to our people who the adversaries of this nation are. This administration is firmly devoted to protecting the security of all Filipinos and ensuring peace and order in our communities, the spokesman said. If someone should be blamed for promoting violence in the country, perhaps the CPP-NPA should point the finger at themselves, he added, even as he assured the public the Duterte administration can take care of the security of civilians. Still, Tinio alleged that Duterte-Carpio continues to sow terror against progressive groups to divert the public attention from the economic crisis, extrajudicial killings and the emerging dictatorship caused by the anti-people policies of the Duterte administration. Straight from the pages of her fathers dictator book, Mayor Duterte-Carpio is actively campaigning against progressives with long standing records of fighting for the rights of the people especially the marginalized sector. These kinds of statements put the lives of activists in danger making them targets of the military and the police, Castro said. To tag us as terrorists and criminalize our legal protest actions with legitimate demands is a denial of the rights and demands of the Filipino people for a more decent life, It is the right of every Filipino to criticize anti-people policies of its government. In times of the worsening culture of impunity, to stand with the people and fight for their rights is only just, Tinio added. Castro, for her part, said: Mayor Duterte should first listen to the legitimate demands of the people she keeps on tagging as terrorists.
WASHINGTON  A battle is brewing between the Trump administration and some of the presidents biggest supporters in Congress who are concerned that sanctions to be re-imposed on Iran early next month wont be tough enough.

As President Donald Trump prepares to re-impose a second batch of Iran sanctions that had been eased under the 2015 nuclear deal, conservative lawmakers and outside advisers have become worried that the administration may break a promise to exert maximum pressure on Iran. They are angered by suggestions that measures to be announced Nov. 5 wont include a provision cutting Iran off from a key component of the global financial system.

The self-described Iran hawks are concerned enough that they have drafted legislation that would require the administration to demand that Iran be suspended from the international bank transfer system known as SWIFT.

The president asked for maximum pressure, not semi-maximum pressure, said Richard Goldberg, a former aide to a Republican senator and senior adviser to the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a group that supports punishing Iran with sanctions. Maximum pressure includes disconnecting Iranian banks from SWIFT.

Trump pledged Thursday to do whatever it takes to pressure Iran to halt what he refers to as its malign conduct such as nuclear and missile development and support for terrorism and groups that destabilize the Middle East.

On Nov. 5th, all U.S. sanctions against Iran lifted by the nuclear deal will be back in full force, he told a gathering at the White House to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the 1983 attack on the Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, which is blamed on Iranian-backed extremists. And they will be followed up with even more sanctions to address the full range of Irans malign conduct. We will not allow the worlds leading sponsor of terror to develop the worlds deadliest weapons. Will not happen.

The Nov. 5 sanctions cover Irans banking and energy sectors and will reinstate penalties for countries and companies in Europe, Asia and elsewhere that do not halt Iranian oil imports. They could also include measures to force Iran out of SWIFT.

Despite Trumps tough stance, the hawks are worried about recent comments from Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin and his staff that suggest Iran will be able to stay connected to SWIFT. They are also concerned the administration will back down on its stated zero-tolerance policy for Iranian oil purchases by granting waivers to certain countries and companies that do not fully stop buying it.

Iran deal supporters, like the other parties to the agreement, argue that pushing Iran out of SWIFT, the Belgium-based Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, will lead to the creation of alternate mechanisms that could supplant it as the leading global institution for financial institutions to send and receive information about banking transactions. They also say expulsion will make it harder for Iran to conduct transactions, such as humanitarian purchases, that will still be allowed after Nov. 5.

Allowing Iran to remain in SWIFT would make it easier for Tehran to import humanitarian goods like medicine permitted under U.S. sanctions and would help the United States make clear that its critique of Iran is directed at the regime, not the people of Iran, said Elizabeth Rosenberg, a former Treasury official now with the Center for a New American Security. She added, though, that disconnection would be a fast track to isolation.

The debate underscores the challenges the administration faces as it tries to isolate Iran without the full backing of other world powers who remain supportive of the nuclear deal.

Although the hawks had been pleased by Trumps decision to withdraw from the nuclear deal in May and cheered the August re-imposition of an initial set of sanctions, they are now seething that Treasury may opt to use existing safeguards to isolate Iran instead of hitting SWIFT members with sanctions if they dont disconnect Tehran.

Treasury has been coy about its intentions, saying only that Mnuchin and the agency have led an intense economic pressure campaign against Iran as part of this administrations comprehensive strategy to address the totality of Irans malign and destabilizing activity, with much more to come.

Treasury has made it very clear that we will continue to cut off bad Iranian actors, including designated banks, from accessing the international financial system in a number of different ways, it said. We will also take action against those attempting to conduct prohibited transactions with sanctioned Iranian entities regardless of the mechanisms used.

That less-than-categorical position has rallied the hawks around the legislation prepared by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, that would require the administration to impose sanctions on SWIFT members, including some U.S. banks, should it not suspend Iran on its own.

Federal law currently gives the administration authority to act against Irans central bank and other banks covered by terrorism and money laundering sanctions. Cruzs legislation, however, would authorize the administration to hit all of Irans banks with sanctions and require it to act against SWIFT if it connects any Iranian bank under sanctions to its system, according to a copy seen by the AP.

In August, Cruz led a group of 16 GOP senators, including Trump Republican allies Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Marco Rubio of Florida, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Barrasso of Wyoming, in demanding action against SWIFT if Iran is not suspended. Congressional aides say they believe support for his proposed legislation will be strong. The administrations maximum pressure campaign will not succeed if the Islamic Republic remains connected to SWIFT, the senators told Mnuchin.
Staying true to its commitment of Ek India Happywala, Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN) has partnered with Naandi Foundation to address the issue of unavailability of safe drinking water. SPNs CSR programme focuses on creating a positive impact in the ecosystem it operates in and is built around three pillars  empowerment, education and environment. Falling under the environment pillar of SPNs CSR programme, the first community water center was inaugurated in Tardal village of Hatkanangale Block in Kolhapur, Maharashtra.

As a part of this project, SPN will set up 30 community water centers across the state of Maharashtra. Through this partnership, the network will provide access to safe drinking water to over 150,000 people. The aim is to deliver efficient water purification and delivery services to the villagers. Naandi Foundation in partnership with Sony Pictures Networks will strive to ensure each community water center is built using established and proven technologies, which are best suited to local water issues in each of its geography of operations.

This initiative is one of the many steps taken by the network to support the creation of a sustainable environment.

Commenting on the initiative, Rajkumar Bidawatka, CSR Lead, Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN), said, Sony Pictures Networks is proud to partner with Naandi Foundation for making available clean drinking water across certain parts of Maharashtra through its corporate social responsibility programme. Our aim through this project is to help improve the lives of people who dont get access to a basic necessity like this. It is our constant endeavor to support and build a sustainable society and this association is just one more step in that direction.

Divya Yachamaneni, CEO, Naandi Water, added here, We are extremely glad to find a credible partner in Sony Pictures Networks India, who, like us, are striving towards creating a better society and working towards providing solutions in a sustainable manner. The aim of the Naandi Foundation is to reach out to 1.5 million people by 2022 and provide safe drinking water to each individual of the country. With the support of organisations like Sony Pictures Networks India, we are surely getting closer to our goal and accelerating the progress of our programme.
Traworld, the premium luggage brand from the house of High Spirit Commercial Ventures Pvt. Ltd. today roped in Sonam K Ahuja, the much-known fashionista from the Indian film industryas their brand ambassador. Sonam K Ahuja, is known for making heads turn each time with her unique fashion sense. This time the fashion diva is endorsing Traworld to create a new style statement for exceptional travellers with their premium luggage offerings by Traworld.

Traworld is a premium and modern luggage brand for premium and fashion conscious travellers. The brand offers a range of luggage bags which are stylish, classy and yet sturdy and value for money, keeping in mind the need and fashion sensibilities of its customers. The luggage bags ranges from casual to business travel segments such as per consumer requirements. The product is lightweight, shock resistant and water resistant with unique locking system to keep the luggage secured. Mobility ranges from four wheeled to eight wheeled, so that your luggage travels at your pace and is easy to carry.

I am super excited to endorse premium luggage brand Traworld. Traworld goes well with my style statements and is in tune with my choice of fashionable and stylish luggage. Since I am a frequent traveller and I literally live out of my luggage, I am cautious of the brand I would carry as its just not a brand but something that defines my personality. I can personally relate to the brand as it strongly relates to fashion. The brand will surely win the hearts of people who are always on a lookout for trendy and stylish luggage while they are travelling, commented Sonam K Ahuja, Actor, Fashion Icon of India and Brand Ambassador, Traworld Bags, when asked about her association with the brand.

Commenting on the association, Mr. TusharJain, Founder and Managing Director, said We are delighted to sign Sonam K Ahuja as a brand ambassador for our brand Traworld as she is the true embodiment of what the brand stands for. Her association with Traworldwill strengthen the brand as fashionable, trendy and peoples first choice. We are currently one of the leading bags brands in the country and with this endorsement, we are confident that we will be aligning ourselves with the leading luggage players in the country.

Traworld is available in all leading retail stores across the country. It is also available in general trade through a large distribution network of 3500 MBOs spread across seven States. The brand is also available on online platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, Amazon, Snapdeal, Indiamart and Paytm Mall to name a few.
If there is something that can never be fully unraveled, its the infinite mysteries of this Universe. For the first time on television, &Prive HD, the premium destination for nuanced cinema, is all set to premiere, The Space Between Us, the interplanetary voyage of boy who travels from Mars to discover the enchanting life on Earth, on Saturday, October 27 at 1:00 PM and 9:00 PM. Nominated twice in the Teen Choice Award, the film is directed by Peter Chelsom and the British-Irish actor of the year nominee, Gary Oldman, plays the role of the Scientist Nathaniel Shepherd. The film also features an excellent set of actors like Janet Montgomery and Adande 'Swoozie' Thorne playing in supporting roles.

Shortly after arriving to help colonize Mars, an astronaut dies while giving birth to the first human born on the red planet - never revealing who the father is. Thus, begins the extraordinary life of Gardner Elliot (Asa Butterfield)- an inquisitive, highly intelligent boy with an unconventional upbringing. While searching for clues about his father and the home planet he's never known, Gardners interest starts to grow. The urge to resolve his existences biggest mystery and witness the beauty of Earth begins to propagate. Excited to be in the real world first-hand after escaping from Mars, he takes off with Tulsa to explore the mysteries of where he belongs in the Universe, despite knowing the perils that Gardners existence will bring.

Feel the other side of The Space Between Us on Saturday, October 27 at 1:00PM and 9:00PM only on &Prive HD.
My brother was diagnosed with "severe communicative disorder with autistic tendencies" at age three and officially given an autism diagnosis at age five. When my mother first heard the word autism, only three references came to mind, the Whos Rock Opera Tommy, the little boy Tommy from St. Elsewhere, and Rain Man. My brother Anthony didnt resemble any of these characters. I witnessed doctors being blase about their lack of knowledge, some werent interested in helping, and only an exceptional few let my parents bring them research. We never felt like we had any real understanding of what the future held.

I was struck by the inference that an autism diagnosis brought relief. Before Lora Barrows' son received his diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, the family's life was filled with confusion, frustration and uncertainty.

I would have liked to know more about Ben Davis and his mother, Lora Barrows, who were talked about in the article. It seemed that the piece was too brief for me to make a personal connection. I wanted to identify with their story, but I didnt get enough information to relate my life to their experience.

It bothered me that in the article, the increase in autism is mentioned with no concern. The writers at the Brattleboro (VT) Reformer talked about the expectation that services will increase along with the numbers, but there are no guarantees.

First of all, I think its wonderful that programs are being developed beyond high school to further train and improve quality of life. But, my family lives in South Carolina and I can tell you that unless more states adopt this philosophy, the rest of the country remains at a standstill. People with low and non-verbal autism, like my brother, will age out of high school without any services available to them. In addition, the increased occurrence of autism will place an exceptional burden on those states with services as more and more families seeking support move where they can access them.

By Natalie Palumbo As a younger sibling of a 21 year old young man with autism , I was recently asked to give my perspective on a story about services for people with autism beyond high school in Vermont, as shown in this story from April 27, 2012 .

In our experience, the confusion, frustration, and uncertainty lasted long after my brothers diagnosis. We struggled to help him with daily living, and we never stopped trying to improve our quality of life as a family. Fitting in was never possible, and faking it was never easy. We put on our best face, and did our best job.

The article further stated that, The diagnosis was a relief, in a way, Barrows said, because it at least allowed her to begin lining up services for her son and the diagnosis helped her get a better understanding of what the near future held.

Getting services for my brother wasnt easy. They expected Anthony to behave like someone speech delayed rather than someone with low verbal autism. They expected him to understand language receptively, yet not able to talk. What they got was an energetic boy who had sensory integration issues along with expressive and receptive language severely and equally delayed.

Anthony has always been beautiful. Because he looked normal, they expected him to act normal. Many people in and out of school accused our family of making excuses for Anthony because he was physically perfect. They did not see a disability, so they did not expect a disability. We had to prove our credibility all the time, so we did.

The story from Vermont doesnt give us enough personal information. The strife of the family is minimized to only a few sentences. I cant determine if progress towards low and non-verbal people with autism are even being addressed when I know so little about Ben, the person mentioned in the story.

It makes me question if needs for people like my brother are actually being addressed. Although, I have to say I am encouraged that Vermont recognizes a need for services beyond high school. As Anthonys only sibling, it makes me more hopeful.

However, why isnt anyone asking the big question, WHY?!

Why is autism on the rise? What are the common symptoms among kids with autism? What do they mirror? What are the possible connections? Why is there more emphasis on trying to disprove a cause than find a cause? Why is there this increasing need for services for a disorder that keeps growing?

If autism was food poisoning, people would DEMAND to know!

The article mentions more and more public schools have developed programs to address the growing public health challenge, and high schools now are developing programs to help teenagers with autism spectrum disorders get ready for life beyond high school.

What about the cases of low and non-verbal autism who cant work or live independently? How will these families cope? Who will tell their story? The article also refers to societys growing acceptance and understanding of the disorder.

For us, growing acceptance and understanding completely depended on the circumstances. When Anthony was unable to comply with socially acceptable behavior, society complained. Growing acceptance was not what I observed growing up. Friends, family, medical professionals, and teachers depended on my parents and me to help them understand Anthony.

Teachers could be nice, but they didnt always understand what motivated Anthony. Sometimes they couldnt grasp it. It wasnt until Anthony got to high school that we found teachers and administrators that were helpful and understanding. We still needed to explain Anthony to them, but they supported our efforts at home. We worked like a team.

The article closes with an ominous quote regarding students aging out of services. "Sometimes families are not prepared for the transition and they go out in the morning to catch the bus, but the bus isn't coming anymore."

What if the bus passed you by?

This quote trivializes our lives. My heart just sank. So, ready or not, in the end the schools, just like the medical community, leave families like ours behind. How can that be acceptable with the number of people diagnosed with autism increasing exponentially? What happens tomorrow? Buses wont be the only things disappearing. There will have to be family members who will need to become fulltime caregivers. First it will be the parents, and eventually siblings, should they be lucky enough to have siblings. I can only say, Im grateful I exist for my parents, and especially for Anthony.

Natalie Palumbo is a high school student, younger sister to a brother with autism, and Contributing Editor for Age of Autism. Visit her art website at Deviant Art.
Malacanang reiterated its defense of former Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapena on Saturday, saying a drug and smuggling syndicate was behind his downfall and eventual transfer to the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority. In a statement, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said Lapena was not fired by President Rodrigo Duterte but was moved to Tesdaa position with a Cabinet rankto sustain his program of reforming government offices, like what he did at the Bureau of Customs. Lapena, who was embroiled in the successful smuggling of P11 billion worth of shabu through Customs, was replaced by former Armed Forces chief of staff Leonardo Rey Guerrero, who was leading the Maritime Industry Authority. Panelo also repeated that Duterte has announced Lapenas transfer a week early to spare him from intrigue amid the congressional probe on the multibillion-peso shabu shipment into the country. With respect to Commissioner Lapena, he had long been readied to be transferred to Tesda. But announcement was rushed because you know the President, he wants to spare him from intrigue because he was already being criticized, Panelo said in a radio interview. His promotion was rushed. He is now a Cabinet member because BOC is just a bureau under the Department of Finance. The announcement was supposed to be made next week, he added. At the 117th Anniversary of the Philippine Coast Guard on Thursday, Duterte also fired the Customs deputy commissioners and placed all the bureaus department heads on floating status. He instructed Guerrero to train the PCG and military personnel to operate X-ray machines being used to inspect shipments in the BOC.The spokesman said corrupt Customs officials and employees linked to a smuggling syndicate were behind the successful ouster of Lapena from the bureau. The Palace official said the former BOC chief was doing a good job, proven by his office consistently exceeding its target collections. Panelo said Lapena was a victim of a powerful syndicate that continues to lurk at the bureau to protect their vested interest. Lapena instituted several reform initiatives resulting in a substantial increase in its revenue collection that even surpassed its given targets, he said. Panelo said it is no secret there are many corrupt people inside Customs, but Lapena managed to get through it without being swallowed by the system. He said Duterte continues to have complete trust and confidence on the competence and integrity of Lapena. A former police general and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency director, Lapena is the second Customs chief under the Duterte administration to be tainted by a drug-smuggling incident, the first being former Marine captain Nicanor Faeldon. With PNA
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S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster on Thursday night said a second Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility meeting with President Donald Trump will happen.

McMaster did not provide a specific date, though. Calls made to McMaster's office were not immediately returned.

McMaster's remarks came during a debate against his opponent, state Rep. James Smith, D-Columbia. The governor was asked if he could "revive" the MOX project, which was formally canceled by the National Nuclear Security Administration on Oct. 10.

McMaster said he could.

Asked how, the governor elaborated: "We'll, we're going to have another meeting with the president."

On Oct. 18, McMaster, U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott, U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson and S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson met with Trump to discuss keeping MOX alive. All five men are South Carolina Republicans and supporters of the imperiled nuclear venture.

First wave of MOX layoff notifications expected in November, message says The initial wave of Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification act notices is expected to be issued "in November," according to a message s

MOX, an incomplete facility at the Savannah River Site, is designed to transform weapons-grade plutonium into fuel for nuclear reactors.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry and NNSA chief Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, Trump nominees, also attended the Oct. 18 MOX summit at the White House. Both officials stand against MOX completion.

McMaster on Thursday provided a glimpse into the White House meeting.

"We've met with, goodness, we've met with everybody," the governor said, still responding to the same question, "the White House counsel, we mustve had 20 people in the room just last week."

The actual effect or influence of the meeting is unclear. The NNSA, a semiautonomous U.S. Department of Energy agency, is still moving forward on MOX shutdown. The first wave of MOX layoff notices is expected to come in November, according to a bulletin sent from David Del Vecchio, the president of MOX Services, to MOX workers.

MOX Services is the prime contractor for the MOX project.

Del Vecchio's message was sent less than one week after the White House get-together.
Deutsche Post DHL Group will transfer its supply chain operations in China to S.F. Holding in a ten-year strategic partnership to grow this business in China.

As part of this deal, Deutsche Post DHL Group (DP DHL) will receive an upfront payment of RMB5.5bn (approximately 700m) and a revenue-based partnership fee over the next decade.

S.F. Holding, a leading premium logistics service provider in the country, will have access to DP DHLs best-in-class supply chain services, management expertise, transportation and warehousing technology. The co-branded organisation will operate under the leadership of Yin Zou, the current chief executive, Greater China, of DHL Supply Chain, along with his existing management team.

The transaction involves the supply chain business in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, referred to as China in the statement. It has no bearing on DP DHLs business activities in international express, freight transport and e-commerce logistics solutions in China.

This strategic partnership will allow DP DHL to continue to participate in the fast-growing Chinese supply chain market, leveraging S.F. Holdings extensive domestic infrastructure, distribution network and broad base of local customers. This will accelerate the expansion of the co-branded organisations customer base.

The joint capabilities of Deutsche Post DHL Group and S.F. Holding will create a unique platform to meet the need for a high quality end-to-end supply chain provider in China, said Frank Appel, chief executive DP DHL.

S.F. Holdings local market expertise in China has real advantages for our customers across all industries including technology, healthcare, retail, automotive, and e-commerce. Combined with our global operations standards and network support, the agreement provides a solid foundation to continue exploring further opportunities in China in the coming years.

Dick Wong, chairman of S.F. Holding, said: S.F. Holding has been actively expanding its business-to-business capabilities and pursuing different strategic partnerships to grow S.F. Holding into a truly integrated logistics solutions provider that delivers best-in-class services for our clients.

This partnership agreement will strengthen our capability in providing supply chain services to a diverse realm of industries and allow us to bring world-class management expertise into our supply chain business operations, enabling us to further understand and tailor to our customer needs.

Photo: Jeffrey Chan, chief strategy officer, S.F. Holding (left) and Pablo Ciano, executive vice president, head of corporate development, DP DHL at the signing ceremony in Shanghai, China on October 26, 2018.
Madison police have charged a man with assault and robbery in an incident at Wild Bills Bar and Grill on July 15.

Kristopher Bryan Hurst of Seymour, Tennessee has been arrested and charged with first-degree robbery and first-degree assault in the incident. Police said Hurst was taken into custody earlier this month.

He was being held in the Madison County Jail with bail set at $90,000.

On July 15, officers were dispatched to the bar at 9076 Madison Boulevard on Sunday around 2:30 a.m. Wild Bill's is in the Madison Village Shopping Center.

The suspects were accused of assaulting the employee and taking off with an undisclosed amount of case, said Madison police Capt. John Stringer in a news release. They were wearing dark clothes and hoodies.

Further details about the incident were not immediately available.
Tuscaloosa police are trying to identify a person of interest in a shooting that left a man injured Thursday afternoon.

Around 1:05 p.m. Thursday, police responded to the 2600 block of 20th Street on a report of a shooting. Police found 22-year-old Ryan Torres suffering from a gunshot wound to the abdomen, police said. He was taken to DCH Regional Medical Center. Police said his is in stable condition.

The initial investigation found the shooting happened during an attempted robbery, police said.

One suspect, Tykendric Barnett, turned himself in to Tuscaloosa police Friday morning, police said. He was charged with attempted murder and first-degree robbery. He was being held in Tuscaloosa County Jail.

Police are trying to identify a second person of interest seen at a business in the 3000 block of 15th Street East. Police say he may frequent the area.

Call the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit at 205-464-8640, the Tuscaloos County Sheriffs Office or Tuscaloosa police if you can identify him.
Securing the transport hubs and commercial centers will be the top priority of the Southern Police District this coming Halloween break. SPD director Senior Supt. Eliseo Cruz said he included in the All Saints Day and All Souls Day security preparations the deployment of 870 police officers to intensify monitoring on all bus stations, airport commercial centers, and some segments of the Light Rail Transit and Metro Rail Transit. Topmost priority for the security deployment and monitoring are the terminals, MRT and LRT stations to include commercial establishments and other places of convergence within the southern metropolis, he said. Cruz also ordered his men to be on full alert at the cemetery entrances to prevent entries of persons carrying liquor, bladed weapons, illegal drugs and other prohibited items. Meanwhile, the Maritime Industry Authority reminded shipping companies to conduct safety assessment on their vessels, in preparation for the surge of passengers this Undas. In a statement, the Marina directed domestic shipping companies, operators, charterers, and ship management agents to uphold their roles and responsibilities in achieving and maintaining high standards of safety; and establishing safeguards against identified risks on sea transport. The agency also ordered the continuous improvement of safety management skills of personnel ashore and aboard ships, including preparations for emergencies. The stakeholders are specifically tasked to report any untoward maritime incident or accident to the Marinas Enforcement Service, and to provide via written document the full details within 24 hours after its occurrence. Failure to comply will result to the imposition of fines and penalties, it said. To promote maritime safety, Marina regional offices joined fellow transportation agencies including the Land Transportation Office, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, and Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines in the efforts to ensure a hassle-free observation of the upcoming holiday. Marina will also assist the Philippine Coast Guard in manning helpdesks in major Philippine port areas from Oct. 29 to Nov. 5 to cater to the inquiries and needs of passengers. The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency will also be visible at major transport terminals to ensure no illegal drugs will be smuggled amidst Undas 2018. The public is enjoined to cooperate with the authorities by adhering to the safety and security regulations on port and other transport areas, and by reporting any suspicious person or incident observed amid the observation of Undas 2018 through Marinas hotline at 0995-400-7336. Meanwhile, environmentalist group Ecowaste Coalition on Saturday warned the public against unsafe Halloween toys being sold by vendors in Divisoria, Manila. There is no assurance that all toys being sold in the market are safe for our children to play with. Some of these toys might be putting vulnerable kids in harms way, said Thony Dizon, Ecowaste chemical safety campaigner. Dizon warned that some toys may pose chemical, choking, fire, and laceration hazards, and even blunt force trauma. Parents should only pick safe notified or registered toys for their children and supervise them as they play to prevent any untoward incident, he suggested. As for the police, personnel complements from the SPDs Stations, consisting of 720 strong men and women will be having their skeletal deployment as early as Oct. 30 to provide police assistance. Considering that there are some who prefer to pay respect and/or visit the graves of their departed relatives and loved ones at an earlier date to evade congested cemeteries, said Cruz. The SPD covers the cities of Pasay, Makati, Paranaque, Las Pinas, Muntinlupa and Taguig, and the municipality of Pateros. The police personnel deployment will be complemented with 1,605 force multipliers, Bantay Bayan, Barangay Tanods and Barangay Peacekeeping Action Teams (BPATs), security guards and NGOs. Cruz also reminds the people who are leaving for the provinces to lock their houses properly and as much as possible checked every doors and windows, unplug all appliances, check gasoline stoves, leaking/open faucets and see to it that no candles are lighted to prevent the occurrences of fire incidents and or explosions. For this years Halloween celebration, Ecowaste bought 35 assorted Halloween toys, including scary headbands and masks, imitation weapons, creepy hammers, and blood stained accessories like blood saw in head, terrorist necklace and horror blood and fangs. Based on the requirements set by the Food and Drug Administration, notified or registered toys should bear the following labeling information: license to operate number, age grade, cautionary statements/ warnings, instructional literature, item/ model/ stock keeping unit number, and manufacturers marking, including the complete name and address of the manufacturer or distributor.None of the 35 samples provided complete labeling information as required by the FDA, the Ecowaste stated. Compliance to the labeling requirements is essential as this will equip consumers with vital information on which to make their decision to buy a product or not. In fact, toy manufacturers should also disclose the chemicals present on a product and their effects, particularly to childrens health, said Dizon. Of the 35 samples, only eight have the required License to Operate number on their labels. In most cases, the information on LTO stickers was hardly readable. A good magnifying glass is needed to enable consumer to read the extremely fine print, Dizon added. While 20 samples gave various hazard warnings, the warning symbols and statements were ineffective because they were too small to get noticed, the group observed. Out of the 35 samples, the group selected potentially hazardous toys and described the hazards such toys posed, especially to young children. For example:  A plastic imitation weapon measuring 35 inches in length with a massive blade like part that may cause blunt force trauma.  Toy axes and swords with sharp edges that can cause abrasions and cuts.  Seemingly harmless devil headbands and light up toys containing button batteries that a small child may swallow, causing damage to the gastrointestinal tract.  Costume masks adorned with fake hair that can easily catch fire, but provide no fire hazard warning.  Some vampire inspired accessories with matching cosmetic blood the content of which is a mystery due to zero labeling information.  Accessories and toys with varying levels of lead content, including a skull headband with 1,265 parts per million (ppm) of lead, way above the allowable 90 ppm regulatory limit. The group further advised consumers to:  Carefully read the product label and refrain from buying unlabeled and unregistered toys.  Choose toys that are suited to a childs age, ability and behavior.  Watch out for toys that may cause injury or pose burn, chemical, choking, laceration, strangulation and other safety hazards.  Shun toys that have small parts such as button batteries and magnets that can be pulled off and get swallowed by a child.  Steer clear of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic toys that may contain banned phthalates and other hazardous substances such as cadmium and lead.  Refrain from picking toys that have a strong chemical or perfumed smell.  Avoid painted toys unless labeled as certified lead safe.  Avoid face paints unless guaranteed free of toxic metals and other cosmetic contaminants.
Whenever U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne hosts a town hall meeting in his congressional district, theres a good chance youll find his Democratic opponent sitting in the audience.

Robert Kennedy Jr. and his wife, Aqualyn, have attended 10 of Byrnes more recent town hall events. At each one, Robert Kennedy attempts to speak with attendees regarding the issues of the day. He even has tossed out a question or two for the congressman, his opponent on Nov. 6.

The first time they saw us, they were a bit surprised, said Kennedy. In addition to being the only Democrats in the room, my wife and I were the only African Americans. But hes always been gracious, and he congratulated me and my wife on our anniversary.

Focused or distracted

Kennedy speaks highly of Byrne  the two are set to debate on Tuesday, a rare public exchange of ideas in this campaign season in Alabama. Kennedy, who also ran for the Senate in 2017, believes he can be a better overall leader within Alabamas 1st congressional district and is criticizing Byrne as someone who is likely to be campaigning for the next two years.

Byrne has publicly acknowledged his interest in running for the U.S. Senate in 2020.

We all know he is planning to run against Doug Jones in 2020, said Kennedy. It sets up an interesting narrative: Can someone who has his eye on the next job adequately perform the job he holds now?

Kennedy, who lives in Prichard, predicts that Byrne will be distracted from representing his district. Kennedy is promising that, if elected, he would be focus on the district, and issues such as the environment and health care would be among the tops of his concerns.

Kennedy also said that Byrnes obligations ahead of the Senate race will prevent him from attending crucial public meetings. He provides an example of town halls in his community of Eight Mile, where residents have long been dealing with the effects of a mercaptan leak at a Mobile Gas facility.

There were several sessions at Highpoint Baptist Church with 200-plus African Americans from the neighborhood, said Kennedy. I heard stories about nose bleeds, respiratory problems that plague primarily the younger people who grew up in the area.

He added, If Representative Byrne is up in Montgomery or Birmingham trying to till the soil for a 2020 run, hes not at Highpoint Baptist Church listening to his constituents about mercaptan.

Byrne said hes been closely watching the mercaptan issue, and that if it requires federal intervention, he will get involved.

The mercaptan issue has come up a few times (at previous town hall meetings), said Byrne. There are federal regulators who are looking into that issue and we are monitoring what they are doing.

Byrne said hes not publicly declared his candidacy for the Senate. He said that he will be focused, after next months election, on the congressional district.

The minute after the election is done, we have to get focused on what has to be done at the year of which is a lame-duck session, Byrne said before speaking at a GOP campaign function in Fairhope in which he introduced Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey. My focus stays the same. We will roll into next year with a new Congress and I have the same issues (to deal with) as Ive had in the past with pushing for the I-10 (Mobile Bay Bridge), which is moving along nicely, and getting a final solution on red snapper season next year as well as dedicating an outpatient (Veterans Administration) hospital in Tillmans Corner.

Daunting task

Kennedy admits hes facing a daunting task on November 6. Byrne represents one of the more conservative districts in Alabama, and has had little trouble disposing of Democratic opposition in the recent past.

After winning a bitterly contested 2013 special election GOP runoff against Dean Young, Byrne easily defeated Democrat Burton LeFlore by a 71-29 percent margin. A year later, in the 2014 general election, he once again overwhelmed LeFlore by winning 68 percent of the vote.

Kennedy, though, said the timing is right. The 2018 elections, nationwide, are brimming with enthusiasm from Democrats and the party is hopeful they can overtake Republicans and win back a U.S. House majority.

Robert Kennedy Jr., the Democratic opponent facing off against Republican U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne of Fairhope for the Alabama Congressional District 1 seat, speaks during a campaign rally on Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2018, at New Era Baptist Church in Fairhope, Ala.

This is Kennedys second run for public office. He finished a distant second in last years U.S. Senate Democratic primary, which was won by Doug Jones.

I really do believe we will shock some people, Kennedy said.

Byrne said there has been greater Democratic enthusiasm this campaign season than compared to years past. But he also said that the 1st Congressional District consists of more Republicans than Democrats, and that enthusiasm is high heading into next months election.

The district includes Mobile, Baldwin, Escambia, Monroe and Washington counties, as well as portions of Clarke County.

Im not concerned about the election results in my race, but it is extremely important everyone gets out to vote, said Byrne.

Rare debate

Byrne and Kennedy will face off against each other for an approximately one-hour debate starting at 8 a.m. on Tuesday. The debate will be broadcast live on FM Talk 106.5 in Mobile, and will be facilitated by host Sean Sullivan.

Kennedy said he recently approached Byrne in the parking lot outside the 106.5 studios in Mobile and challenged the congressman to the debate.

Robert Kennedy Jr says he will meet with @RepByrneon @fmtalk1065on Tuesday for a radio debate. Says Kennedy: Im gonna clean his clock. #alpolitics  John Sharp (@JohnSharp99) October 24, 2018

Byrne joked that Kennedy was following him around, to which Kennedy said in an off-handed manner, Thats all I do.

My approach was just to ask him (to debate), said Kennedy. There are a lot of folks calling for debates publicly and using that as a talking point. But I made sure what I was doing is giving the constituents in the area the opportunity to hear the issues.

Said Kennedy, I think ultimately that its good for the district. It gives us the opportunity to articulate our views of the day and gives us the opportunity for people to see that two individuals who love our country and are on two different sides of the aisle can have a conversation and make sense just like how we were raised.

Byrne said that decisions by other Republicans not to debate are personal. A host of Republicans, led by Ivey, have declined invitations from Democratic foes to debate.

"Every person and every candidate has to figure out their own style, said Byrne. My style is to be as available as I can be to those I represent.
The two major party candidates running for governor in Alabama have talked a lot about how to keep students safe at schools. But how do they feel on other critical issues, such as funding, that schools face across the state?

With the election barely two weeks away, AL.com looked at what Kay Ivey and Walt Maddox have done - or said they would do - to address K-12 education issues in Alabama.

When AL.com readers recently voted on which election issues are important to them, K-12 education ranked 6th among 18 issues. The poll garnered more than 9,500 total votes.

Alabama routinely ends up at the bottom of most lists ranking student outcomes in K-12 education. Rankings of the states financial investment in education are also at the bottom of the barrel. In fact, K-12 education was the number one issue causing concern for voters surveyed by the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama (PARCA) in 2017.

The PARCA survey found broad concern across political parties. Of those responding they were very concerned, 80 percent were Democrats, 60 percent were Republicans and 66 percent identified themselves as independents. Respondents key concerns within K-12 education were funding, teacher preparation, class size and low student achievement.

So, what do both candidates say about these issues?

Lottery

One area where Ivey and Maddox differ profoundly is over whether a lottery is needed to increase funding in Alabamas pre-K through 12th grade funding.

While Maddox is pushing the idea of a lottery to pull in the estimated $300 million going to surrounding states from Alabamians buying lottery tickets, Ivey will only say she supports the idea if lawmakers choose to allow the people to vote.

During the 90th Association of County Commissions of Alabama conference at the Perdido Beach Resort in Orange Beach in August, both candidates addressed the lottery issue.

"Our budgets are strong, Ivey said. She added she would allow the people to vote on a lottery but the state has the money to do what we need to do.

Maddox believes the lottery is a must-have that would provide much-needed funding to improve education opportunities.

Ivey, having held Alabamas top governing position since April 2017, has more of a track record of sorts, having promoted several education initiatives since becoming Governor. Ivey has direct authority over the Alabama State Board of Education, serving as President of the board by virtue of the position.

While Maddox does not have direct authority over the Tuscaloosa City Board of Education, he has been the citys Mayor since 2005 and has a long history of supporting the 10,000-student city systems pre-K program.

Gov. Kay Ivey

Ivey became Governor during the time the Alabama Board of Education was in a public tug of war with its superintendent, Massachusetts native Michael Sentance.

Just days after becoming Governor, Ivey attended the April 13 meeting of the states Board of Education, pledging to attend as many meetings as possible. Though she missed the next four meetings, she returned for the Sept. 14 meeting, a day after Sentance submitted his letter of resignation.

Former state superintendent Ed Richardson served as interim, and her legal team was integrally involved in the search process where former School Superintendents of Alabama Executive Director Eric Mackey was hired on April 20.

Mackey, whose entire education career has been in Alabama classrooms, said he does not recall a sitting governor attending more regular meetings than Ivey.

Iveys first big initiative was Strong Start, Strong Finish, unveiled in July 2017. It is an approach to improve public education at every level, from pre-K through workforce preparedness. It includes the following strategies:

The Pre Through Three piece aligns reading instruction in pre-K through 3rd grade and expands Alabama First Class Pre-K classrooms. Ivey requested a $23 million increase for the pre-K programs expansion for the current budget year. Lawmakers granted $18.5 million of that request allowing the program to expand to more than 1,000 classrooms serving nearly 19,000, or 35 percent, of eligible 4-year-olds across Alabama. This includes the Alabama Grade-Level Reading Campaign which has a goal of ensuring all third-graders are reading at grade-level by 2022. The campaign focuses on school readiness, reducing chronic absenteeism for students and teachers, narrowing the scope of the Alabama Reading Initiative to kindergarten through 3rd grade, and preventing summer learning loss, also called summer slide.

CS4AL is aimed at expanding computer science opportunities for students in middle school. This includes a $725,000 scholarship program for teachers pursuing math and science careers. There are chronic teacher shortages in both of those fields at the middle and high school level.

The final piece is Advanced Training, Better Jobs, where Ivey will address the gap between what employers need from workers and what the current state of the workforce is. The Success Plus initiative, announced in May , sets goals of better informing students and their parents about available work opportunities that require some type of postsecondary training.

Ivey is working in conjunction with the Alabama Workforce Council, the Department of Early Childhood Education and the Alabama State Department of Education to implement these initiatives.

AL is working hard to ensure students today are being prepared for the jobs of tomorrow. Today we took another step... Posted by Kay Ivey on Wednesday, October 24, 2018

In response to AL.coms request for comment about how Ivey plans to improve student outcomes, campaign spokesperson Debbee Hancock provided a statement attributed to Ivey which reads in part:

The progress we made in only one year is encouraging, but it's only the first step as many of the initiatives in this plan are still being rolled out. If blessed with a full term, I look forward to continuing to execute Strong Start, Strong Finish and ensuring our children receive the education they need and deserve.

A report on Strong Start, Strong Finish, issued in August highlights investments made and the expansion of programs associated with the initiative.

Though Ivey has said little about higher education, she is not a stranger to the topic. Ivey was State Treasurer from 2002 until 2010 during the time period the states Prepaid Affordable College Tuition, known as PACT, fell apart, due in part to increasing college tuition and the national recession.

After years of litigation and negotiation, in 2015, lawmakers agreed to allocate $548 million for PACT payments from the Education Trust Fund budget spread over the following 12 years. $61.5 million will be used to pay for the program this year. The PACT Program currently has 17,720 active contracts. The program stopped selling new contracts in 2008.

Ivey has signed two years of budgets of increased spending on education, reflective of an improving economy. The newest education budget, at $6.63 billion, is the highest combined level of spending on pre-K, K-12 and higher education since 2008, considered the high-water mark in education funding. During fiscal year 2008, education spending reached more than $6.7 billion.

Teachers received a 2.5 percent pay raise for the current school year, and while lawmakers promised education advocates another raise next year, there are no guarantees. An AL.com analysis found that Alabamas teachers salaries are worth less than a decade ago. Starting salary for a teacher with a bachelors degree is $39,301. Benefits are worth an additional 19 percent, making the total package worth nearly $47,000.

Average starting salary, without benefits, for teachers nationwide was $58,950 for the 2016-2017 school year, the latest year for which data is available.

Ivey did not respond to a request for comment on whether she believes teachers need another pay raise next year.

Walt Maddox

Maddoxs big education platform is the creation of the Alabama Education Lottery and the additional $300 million it will bring to education, from pre-K through college and workforce training.

As Mayor, Maddox said they established the Tuscaloosa Pre-K Initiative, mentioning it in his first inaugural speech in 2005. Maddox established the annual Mayors Cup run in 2006 to raise money to support Pre-K in Tuscaloosa. According to the Mayors Cup website, more than $247,000 has been raised to support the citys pre-K classrooms.

Prior to becoming Mayor, Maddox was employed for four years as the Tuscaloosa City Schools personnel director, giving him an inside look at running the schools in the city.

These are Alabamians buying Tennessee lottery tickets. Wouldnt it be nice to keep those dollars here for OUR children? #believe #lotterynow pic.twitter.com/BQ94EAtQmo  Walt Maddox (@WaltMaddox) October 23, 2018

Its unclear what will happen if lawmakers fail to allow voters to consider the lottery or if ultimately voters decide against the lottery.

On his campaigns website, Maddox shows his plans for spending that money:

Fund $125 million in college and workforce training scholarships for students working toward an associates, bachelors or pursuing workforce training. Out of that total, $5 million will go to Birminghams Academy of Craft Training and to registered apprenticeship programs, according to his campaign website.

Use $90 million of the lottery proceeds to expand Alabamas nationally-lauded Pre-K program to all eligible four-year-olds. The states First Class Pre-K program currently serves about 35 percent of eligible four-year-olds and has been expanding slowly since 2005.

Use $25 million for  community innovation grants . His campaign website describes the program as a voluntary grant program designed to ensure integrated services from existing state agencies, local agencies, non-profits and faith-based organizations. CISs grants are designed for chronically underperforming schools with the goal of creating sustainable success.

In a nod to inequitable distribution of the states Foundation Program funding, Maddox also would use $60 million of lottery proceeds to fund the Promise Program. The program will supplement school district funding where the value of one mill of property tax is below the median value of all 137 Alabama school districts.

Currently, there are 66 school districts who fall into that category. A list of the systems and the amounts that would be distributed based on current valuations is posted on Maddoxs campaign site and ranges from $51,000 for Troy City schools in Pike County to $1.7 million for Linden City schools in Marengo County.

Those funds must be directed toward classrooms and cannot be used for salaries, debt service, privatization of services, or central office personnel.

Maddox talked about how school systems could use the Promise funds during a speech to the School Superintendents of Alabama on Oct. 9, broadcast on Facebook.

With respect to teacher pay, Maddox campaign spokesperson Chip Hill sent this statement to AL.com:

Walt is glad teachers and state employees finally got a raise this election year. If we're not taking care or those on the front lines fighting for Alabama citizens, we're not taking care of Alabama. Still, recent studies show the value of a teacher's salary dropped 9 percent from the 2010 to 2017 school year, so even with the raises our teachers are still falling behind, and that's disgraceful. Walt will work to reverse these trends.
This is a response by Hoyt to statements made by Mayor Randall L. Woodfin after the Tuesday Oct. 23 council meeting.

Mayor Randall L. Woodfin: Tuesdays discussion at the Birmingham City Council meeting on funding for a new facility to house the Firehouse Shelter was never about homelessness or about race. You, as mayor of a city with a storied past of racial division and high poverty, inaccurately portrayed this as the issue to the media, instead of providing clarity and transparency.

I am bigger than that. For the office of Mayor to insinuate a play on words is disingenuous. Tuesdays debate had more to do with the budget amendment  a commitment of $1 million dollars to an agency.

This Birmingham City Council has a fiduciary charge to ensure that all of our citizens are indiscriminately treated with dignity and respect. As a sworn jurist who now serves as Mayor of this great city, I am sure you understand the meaning and impact of words. I find unfathomable your attempt to use words to intimidate council members elected to serve this great city.

I understand lawyers employ a variety of tactics to make points in a debate, however it was quite unnecessary for the Mayor to stoop to the point of falsely impugning the character of a sitting member of the council. My comments were professional and exclusively related to the current budget and your proposal to amend it by a million dollars without discussion of the full council before hastily moving it from the Budget and Finance Committee after the presentation given by your staff member.

I attempted to delineate preferential treatment of one non-profit namely (the Firehouse Shelter) over other non-profits that were included in the 2018-19 budget -- Joseph House, Childrens Village, Agape House, Ballard House, and Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. It is disappointing that our homeless children, persons living with AIDS, and other cultural organizations is not a priority with your administration. These nonprofits are included in the budget for the ensuing Fiscal year, but they have not received their monies since the passage of the new budget in June of this year.

Some of these organizations laid off employees because of the inaction on their budgeted allocation of funds designated for running their establishments. Your lack of action resulted in suffering of our already vulnerable citizens even though there should be an easy approach to meeting their needs  following through on the budget that already has been submitted by the Office of the Mayor and Approved by the Council. All budget allocations are accompanied with an ordinance before this council.

It is indeed unconscionable for you to deliberately mislead the public trust in your capacity as Mayor of this City. You can do better and we can do better when you effectively and intentionally communicate with this council collectively.

The real problem is your inability to communicate and maintain open dialogue with the council which you claim you do. These kinds of shenanigans are not examples of the solid leadership you promised for this city. Real leadership requires conversation days before an actual council meeting and not the morning of. To have a genuine relationship is more than a press conference to betray solidarity, when in fact there is little or no conversation being had with this council as we try to move this city forward.

Lastly, I am far beyond the petty politics, mirrored only by Donald Trump, when you cant have your way.

I take seriously my charge to be a fiscally responsible, servant leader with a heart for all people. I realize homelessness is a serious and important issue for our city. I also realize that populations served by nonprofits such as Childrens Village, Agape House, Josephs House and many others, are also an important part of the fabric of our great city. Do know that the homeless only hope is for our City leaders to provide permanent housing for our residents and not a band aid. This City needs an aggressive housing initiative that addresses chronic homelessness. This is how we address homelessness and support our shelters and not continue to perpetuate the same old inequities and expecting a difference result.

It is my pleasure to serve the residents of District 8 and the City of Birmingham. It is my sincere hope that we collectively move pass the petty politics and dispense our duties with fairness and balance.
Updated at 8:10 p.m.: A third person has died in the accident, troopers said. The crash victim who was taken by helicopter to UAB Hospital died from the injuries, troopers said.

The crash scene has been cleared, troopers said.

Original story: Two people have died in a car accident on I-65 in Alabaster, Alabama state troopers said Saturday afternoon.

Four vehicles were involved in the accident, troopers said, and two other people sustained injuries. One of the injured was taken by emergency helicopter to UAB Hospital and another was transported to Shelby Baptist Medical Center.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said in a tweet at 2:31 Saturday afternoon that traffic is being detoured while the investigation continues.

Birmingham- Troopers are investigating a fatal crash north bound I-65 at the 241 mile marker. North lanes will be shut down for an undermined amount of time. Traffic is being diverted north at the Alabaster exit 239 mile marker. Please be patient.  Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (@ALEAprotects) October 27, 2018

The crash occurred in the northbound lanes of I-65. Traffic is being diverted at exit 239 in Alabaster, troopers said. Troopers also asked for patience for motorists navigating through the congestion.
UAB Medical West Hospital plans to leave its home in Bessemer for McCalla, hours after another proposal to build the new hospital in Hoover fell through, the hospitals CEO said Friday.

In order to properly serve the residents of west Jefferson County, we need to build a modern hospital to replace current MedWest inpatient offerings, as well as repurpose the current MedWest facility to support the care of the people of Jefferson County. UAB MedWest is excited to announce our decision to follow our original strategy and move forward with plans to build a new hospital at Exit 1 off of 459 in McCalla  the location on which we were originally planning to build and purchased land prior to Hoover approaching us," hospital CEO Keith Pennington said in a statement to AL.com. "While we were open to considering another site, we weighed many factors and have ultimately decided that McCalla is the best location for MedWest to continue to serve Jefferson County.

A UAB spokesman declined to provide further details, including whether McCalla offered Medical West financial incentives.

Bessemer has been home to the hospital for nearly 55 years. Hoover tried to lure Medical West to the city by using $20 million in financial incentives, but the Hoover City Council indicated Friday that it would reject that proposal.

Bessemer Mayor Kenneth Gulley scheduled a news conference for Monday at noon to discuss the future of the hospital.

Before Medical West can make the move to McCalla, it needs to file a certificate of need with the state to approve the relocation. An official with the state Certificate of Need Review Board said Friday that UAB had not filed the document or contacted the agency saying they intended to do so.
The National Weather Service office for central Alabama is hosting an open house today.

The event will be from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. at the weather service office in Calera at the Shelby County Airport.

(NWS)

It's free and open to the public.

There will be opportunities to look at the weather service's operations base, meet meteorologists and first responders and even activities for the kids.

Read more about the open house here.
The city government of Makati has started distributing free hygiene and dental kits to 46,763 students in 23 public elementary schools in line with the mission of Mayor Abigail Binay to promote health and intelligence among the youth in the city. Each kit contains a toothbrush, toothpaste, bath soap, face towel and a comb. Binay underscored the importance of good hygiene to ensure that they stay strong and healthy to be able to do well in their studies. The mayor thanked the students for being present at the distribution ceremony, and reminded them of basic hygiene habits to avoid getting sick. First, wash your hands frequently. Second, brush your teeth regularly. Third, take a bath everyday. Because health is wealth. It is easier to be clean than to be sick, she said. Binay pointed out that she only had one child, but as mayor of Makati, she considers all the schoolchildren as her own. Thus, she said she wants them to go to school looking presentable, clean, healthy, pretty and handsome, just as she wanted for her own daughter. Accompanied by Vice Mayor Monique Lagdameo and Congressman Luis Campos during the distribution, Binay vowed that they will be back to distribute the promised rain coats and rain boots to students sometime this November.The city chief executive also revealed plans to go back again to distribute anti-dengue kits in December and the much-anticipated new rubber shoes this coming January. For the next school year, she said, the city government will be providing free school socks to the students. The anti-dengue kit includes an arm band/bracelet with citronella capsules which can be used up to 90 days, and an anti-mosquito repellent lotion. The distribution of hygiene kits from Oct. 23 to 25 was made in the following public elementary schools: Fort Bonifacio Elementary School, West Rembo ES, Guadalupe Viejo ES, Rizal ES, Pembo ES, Comembo ES, East Rembo ES, Cembo ES, South Cembo ES, Pitogo ES, Nemesio I. Yabut ES, and San Jose ES in District II. In District I, recipient schools included Maximo Estrella ES, Francisco Benitez ES (Main), Jose Magsaysay ES, Makati ES, La Paz ES, Francisco Benitez ES (Singkamas), Bangkal ES I, Bangkal ES (Main), Palanan ES, Hen. Pio del Pilar ES (Main), and Hen. Pio del Pilar ES I.
Six alleged victims say officers beat them until they bled and were bruised and forced them into humiliating positions.

Eighteen months ago, they were defendants, accused of storming a police station.

But since that case was overturned last year, Flavio Almada, Celso Lopes, Rui Moniz, Miguel Reis, Paulo Veiga and Bruno Lopes have been testifying not as the accused, but as victims in an unprecedented trial that has put 17 officers of the PSP  Portugals public police force  in the dock.

The new case, currently being heard in court, rejects the version of events previously offered by the police officers, and charges them with physical assault, aggravated kidnapping, inhumane treatment and inciting racially-motivated discrimination, hatred and violence  as well as slander, falsifying witness testimonies and falsifying documentation.

The case dates back to February 2015 and is being accompanied by Amnesty International and SOS Racism, among others.

Weve never seen so many police officers on trial facing the same charges, says Goncalo Gaspar, a lawyer for the defence.

According to Jose Fernandes, a lawyer from the team representing six of the alleged victims, all of them young, black men, no police officers have ever been sentenced for anything like this in Portugal  and the very fact that there has been an accusation at all is something of a victory for us.

Lisbons Cova da Moura neighbourhood, where most of the plaintiffs live, is known for its proud, predominantly Cape Verdean community.

But the relationship between the residents and police has been tense, with several outbursts of serious violence in recent years, including the killing of 17-year-old Angelo Semedo at the hands of police in 2001, and the death of a police officer there in 2005.

The kind of policing that these mostly black neighbourhoods are subjected to is exceptional, says Fernandes, the lawyer. And I know because I grew up in one. They often turn up in armoured trucks and wearing masks  People are very scared of them.

Meanwhile, speaking in defence of his police clients, Gaspar says: Its a very problematic neighbourhood, where theres quite a lot of crime and social problems. In this case  a certain amount of force was necessary.

Several demonstrations have taken place in Lisbon with protesters rallying against racism and police brutality [Ana Naomi de Sousa/Al Jazeera]

The officers maintain that the Alfragide police station was stormed following an operation in streets of Cova da Moura earlier that same day. During court proceedings, however, a different account has emerged according to the victims.

Various witnesses give evidence that they were dragged into the police station or taken forcefully into custody, and held for two days without being charged, during which time they were racially abused and physically assaulted.

The contradictions begin with a police operation in the streets of Cova da Moura, during which police say a stone was thrown at them. During the same operation, Jailza Sousa, Neuza Correia and Celso Lopes, were shot with rubber bullets  none of them apparently intended targets.

A fourth, Bruno Lopes, told the judges that he was approached by the police in a nearby cafe by officers who asked, What are you laughing at?, before hitting him with a truncheon in the face, dragging him bleeding into the police van that took him to the station.

Flavio Almada, 35, a well known community organiser and activist says he was singled out by the police, having gone to the station to find out about Bruno Lopes, who he knew had been arrested.

One of them pointed at me and said, Get that one, he thinks hes so clever,, he testified.

Once inside the police station, Almada says he was racially and physically abused by various officers.

They said trash belongs on the floor, then they threw me down on the floor and carried on kicking me, he said, also reporting various racial slurs. Then someone kicked me in the face, I was bleeding a lot and one of my teeth broke. They were kicking and punching me  They seemed to enjoy it.

Photographs taken immediately after the release of the alleged victims and submitted to the court show the plaintiffs bloody and bruised.

The physical scars are no longer visible, but while giving his evidence Almada broke down in tears.

It was like being in hell, he told the judges.

Flavio Almada, one of the alleged victims, says police officers seemed to enjoy physically assaulting him [Ana Naomi de Sousa/Al Jazeera]

Meanwhile, 26-year-old Rui Moniz told judges he was approached by police officers after leaving a shop where he was inquiring about a cable TV service for his mother, close to the Alfragide police station.

According to Moniz, the officers said: Look, here comes an amputee.

Having suffered a stroke as a child, Moniz walks with a limp and has a splint on his arm.

After officers asked if he had been filming them, Moniz says they knocked his phone out of his hand and punched him in the face, before dragging him into the police station.

One of them asked for my ID, Moniz told the court, and when he looked at it he said, Hey, this ones actually Portuguese, and another officer responded, Hes not Portuguese, hes Pretoguese'  preto meaning the colour black, and also a racial slur.

Moniz went on to describe being made to lie face down on the floor, where police officers walked and wiped their feet on him.

A woman came in to clean up the blood on the floor, and she said, This is nothing to do with me, its up to my colleagues, he told to the court.

So far, the police officers have denied all of the charges facing them.

They are outraged, they feel they have been victimised, says the defence lawyer, Gaspar Goncalo, and theyve suffered both personally and professionally.

Some of the defendants told the judges that the case had taken a toll on their psychological well-being, although most remain on active duty in different locations since the judge denied a petition from the prosecution for all of the agents to be suspended from work for the duration of the trial.

The officers also have backing and legal support from the police trade unions.

At least 15 more cases have been opened against police officers in Amadora [Ana Naomi de Sousa/Al Jazeera]

In Cova da Moura there are mixed feelings about the trial and how it might end.

For Fernandes, who has been working locally for years, the general public look at this case from the top down  but the community here is looking at it from the bottom up. People here know that if this goes badly, theyre going to bear the brunt.

Nonetheless, Semedo feels the case is of huge importance  not only because it sends a strong signal that the police cannot do whatever they want with complete impunity, but also because the attitude here has always been that nothing will ever come of this kind of thing. But now people have started to realise that something could come of it, after all.

Since it became public, at least 15 more cases have been opened against police officers in the same municipality of Amadora.

The three judges will hear from more than 100 witnesses and the trial is expected to run at least until the end of the year.

Personally, I didnt want to go through all this  of course I didnt., admits Almada, speaking about the trial. But we have to break the cycle of silence.
Rhetorically, the likely next leader of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, is almost an exact replica of the the Filipino populist.

Latin Americas biggest nation, Brazil, is on the verge of electing its first authoritarian populist in decades.

Former military officer and firebrand legislator Jair Bolsonaro, hailing from the far-right Social Liberal Party (PSL), fell just short of securing outright victory in the first round of presidential elections.

But he is widely expected to win tomorrows runoff contest against former Sao Paulo Mayor Fernando Haddad of the Workers Party (PT), who is largely seen as the candidate of a discredited status quo.

Brash, polarising and brazen, the charismatic Bolsonaro is often compared to American president Donald Trump, who cruised past establishment candidates by launching an unorthodox campaign that defied all political conventions.

Upon closer look, however, Bolsonaro is less of a tropical Trump than a Latin American version of Rodrigo Duterte, the authoritarian Filipino president, who has upended one of Asias oldest democracies through a violent drug war that has claimed the lives of thousands of suspected drug dealers.

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Both men have advocated violence as a cathartic solution to their respective countries democratic ills. Similar to Dutertes case in the Philippines, a Bolsonaro presidency will likely usher a new dark era, where unhinged authoritarianism and widespread violence reign at the expense of democratic institutions.

Varieties of populism

In the West, populists such Brexiters and Trump seized political momentum by tapping into the ideational as well as economic grievances of an increasingly marginalised white, rural population.

As historian Niall Ferguson points out, the two key factors that have been driving populism in the developed world are immigration, especially from distant nations with different racial and cultural makeup, as well as economic stagnation, particularly in post-industrial rustbelts hit by decades of manufacturing outsourcing.

In short, the main constituencies of Western populists are the losers of globalisation. In the emerging economies, however, authoritarian populism is mainly driven by middle-class disenchantment in spite of years of rapid economic growth.

Both the Philippines and Brazil have been the winners of globalisation in the 21st century, scoring above-average highest growth rates in recent memory. Immigration has been largely a non-issue among their diverse and cosmopolitan populations.

Rising from the dark fringes of Brazilian politics, Bolsonaros electoral shock, similar to Dutertes in 2016, is a classic case of protest vote by the disillusioned middle classes.

Middle-class revolt

As early as 2013, emerging market democracies such as the Philippines, India, Turkey and Brazil experienced large-scale protests led by middle-class citizens amid massive corruption exposes. At the heart of their demands was an end to corruption as well as better quality of public services.

As political scientist Francis Fukuyama observed back then, the higher frequency of protests reflected a fundamental shift in the politics of newly prosperous democracies, whereby the technologically empowered middle class will be highly demanding of their politicians across the board after of rapid economic growth.

In the case of Brazil, the Mensalao corruption scandal, which led to the prosecution of countless officials, undermined public trust in the entire political establishment.

Top leaders, across the political spectrum, were accused of accepting bribes in exchange for lucrative government contracts.

The upshot was not only a collapse in public support, especially among middle classes, for the left-leaning Workers Party but also generalised mistrust towards conventional democratic politics.

The attendant climate of grievance politics provided a perfect opening for millenarian candidates such as Bolsonaro. Just like Duterte in the Philippines, the Brazilian leader captured public imagination by promising a complete overhaul of the countrys politics, even if this meant a return to the dark days of authoritarian rule.

Specter of neo-fascism

Rhetorically, Brazils incoming president is almost an exact replica of the Filipino populist.

Both men have advocated shoot-to-kill orders against suspected criminals, indulged in outright misogynistic statements, glorified their countries past dictators throughout the 1970s and early-1980s, and portrayed their political rivals as enemies of the state.

Both Brazil and the Philippines are fledgeling democracies with weak institutional checks on executive excesses. This is why Duterte has faced limited resistance to his imperial presidency, which has seen the gradual purging of independents and democratic opposition from state institutions.

Bolsonaro will likely also enjoy a similar level of democratic impunity once in power. Just like his Filipino counterpart, Bolsonaro is expected to fill his cabinet with countless military men, promising to bring about stability under firm iron-fisted leadership.

The obvious risk is the politicisation of the armed forces at the expense of democratic control over men in barracks, who previously ruled the country for more than two decades (1964-1985).

Combined with Bolsonaros authoritarian tendency and violent anti-crime policies, the militarization of Brazilian politics could spell disaster for the countrys democratic institutions. It will likely lead to greater state reliance on brute force to silence the opposition, dominate public discourse, and solve complex social problems such as drugs and criminality.

For now, markets and the elites have enthusiastically welcomed Bolsonaros ascendance as a much-needed corrective to years of corrupt and feckless rule under mainstream politicians. But Brazil, once the beacon of hope in Latin America, has now entered the twilight zone.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.
The migrant caravan Trump is so obsessed about is a direct result of US foreign policy.

In mid-October, what has come to be known as the migrant caravan departed Honduras for a weeks-long trek through Guatemala and Mexico to the United States.

The size of the caravan has fluctuated, but the United Nations calculated that, as of 22 October, some 7,200 people had joined up  many of them fleeing abysmal contexts of poverty and violence.

While the journey is an arduous one, the decision to travel as a large group mitigates the dangers generally faced by northward-bound migrants, including murder, disappearance, rape, and theft.

Of course, other obstacles still abound  among them US President Donald Trump, who quickly took to Twitter to announce that criminals and unknown Middle Easterners are mixed in with the caravan and that I have alerted Border Patrol and Military that this is a National Emergy [sic].

After all, what better way to attack the US than by walking there from Honduras?

A short history lesson

Though Trump subsequently admitted that there was actually no proof of the presence of unknown Middle Easterners, the National Emergy continues to rage  conveniently in the runup to midterm elections, for which Americans need to be repeatedly reminded of the ongoing existential battle against invading hordes of Others.

On October 25, the Washington Post reported that 800 to 1,000 more [US] troops, most of them active-duty forces from the Army, will be deployed to the US-Mexico border in response to the caravan.





Additional spontaneous policy adjustments have also been proposed by Trump, who complained on Twitter that the governments of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador were not able to do the job of stopping people from leaving their country and coming illegally to the US.

Thus, the president continued, We will now begin cutting off, or substantially reducing, the massive foreign aid routinely given to them.

Incidentally, were such a move to exist within the realm of possible reality rather than simply the realm of Things Trump Says, it would no doubt be wholeheartedly supported by, inter alia, victims of lethal repression by US-funded Honduran state security forces.

Which brings us to the following short history lesson: US foreign policy in Central America over the past several decades  comprising massive aid to dictators, death squads, and other violent entities  is itself largely to thank for US-bound migration in the first place.

Previously, the Cold War provided the justification for all manner of US-backed regional savagery under the guise of defending the so-called free world. Honduras, for example, was utilised as a launchpad for the US Contra assault on neighbouring Nicaragua in the 1980s, a bloody affair described by Noam Chomsky as a large-scale terrorist war that was accompanied by economic warfare that was even more lethal.

Keeping Central America open for business

Nor was Honduras exempt from its own forms of terrorisation, thanks to a CIA-trained death squad that went after suspected leftists and other domestic enemies of freedom.

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In civil war-stricken El Salvador, US support for a right-wing regime facilitated tens of thousands of political murders and fueled Salvadoran migration to the US, where street gangs formed to protect the immigrant community. The gang problem was then exported to El Salvador via a US deportation frenzy in the 1990s.

In Guatemala, the 1954 CIA-orchestrated coup against the elected government of Jacobo Arbenz  who was insufficiently obsequious to US corporate interests  helped pave the way for ensuing decades of war, during which over 200,000 Guatemalans were killed or disappeared.

The US-based Centre for Justice & Accountability notes: Of those victims identified in the UN-sponsored Historical Clarification Commission, 83 percent were indigenous Maya. 93 percent of these human rights violations were carried out by government forces.

One can guess which global superpower might have been backing those government forces.





And while the Cold War may have ended, the fight to maintain the neoliberal domination of the hemisphere continues  with a predictably heavy price paid by the regions poor.

In 2009, the US laboured to ensure the success of the coup against Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, who had dared to raise slightly the national minimum wage and to suggest that communities affected by toxic corporate mining operations should perhaps be consulted as to what they thought about the matter.

The aftermath of the coup fostered a general climate of impunity, enabling a surge in homicides and other violence and earning the country the dubious distinction of murder capital of the world  but at least Honduras was still Open for Business, as per the slogan of the post-coup administration.

Challenging borders

In short, its rather difficult to argue that the current migrant caravan is a result of anything other than sustained physical and economic assault by the very country that is now preparing to repel the caravan.

This same country, it bears reiterating, has unilaterally endowed itself with the right to aggressively transcend international borders at will, while criminalising human movement in the opposite direction  a task significantly aided by the invocation of unknown Middle Easterners and other bogeymen.

For his part, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez has  in yet another exhibition of the impressive limitations of the right-wing imagination  helped to discredit the migrants cause by informing US Vice President Mike Pence that the caravan is a leftist plot financed by Venezuela.

In a recent article for The Atlantic titled The Caravan Is a Challenge to the Integrity of US Borders, meanwhile, David Frum  a former speechwriter for George W Bush  encourages us to understand whats at stake: The theory behind the caravan  is that Central Americans have valid asylum claims in the United States because of the pervasive underemployment and gang-violence problems in their countries.

Sounds like a valid theory, particularly given US complicity in those problems. Frum, however, thinks otherwise: If that claim is true, that is a claim shared not only among the thousands in the current caravan, but the millions back home.

In other words: it could be the end of the world as we know it.

All the more reason, then, to keep the caravans coming.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.
Vote was postponed for a week following the killing of the provinces police chief in an attack claimed by Taliban.

Voting in parliamentary elections in Afghanistans southern Kandahar province started on Saturday, after the Taliban-claimed killing of a powerful police chief delayed the ballot by a week.

More than 522,000 people have registered to vote at the 173 polling stations across Kandahar, according to the Independent Election Commission (IEC).

I have to vote for a better future for my country, Abdul Abbas, a shopkeeper, told AFP news agency outside a polling centre.

I have defied all the threats of attacks and explosions to vote, he added.

The electoral body said 111 candidates are vying for 11 seats in parliament from southern Kandahar in the countrys 250-seat chamber.

IEC figures show around four million people voted in last weekends parliamentary election that was held in 32 out of 34 provinces after months of chaotic preparations.

That compares with nearly nine million on the voter roll, but many suspect a significant number of those were based on fake identification documents that fraudsters planned to use to stuff ballot boxes.

Organisers are under pressure to avoid last weekends debacle that forced the IEC to extend the nationwide ballot by a day.

Problems with untested biometric verification devices, missing or incomplete voter rolls and absent election workers following Taliban threats to attack the ballot forced Afghans to wait hours outside polling stations, many of which opened late or not at all.

Elections in the province were postponed after the October 18 killing of General Abdul Raziq, an anti-Taliban strongman seen as a bulwark against the Taliban in the south, amid fears of violence flaring up.

Raziq was among three people killed in an insider attack on a high-level security meeting in Kandahar city that was attended by General Scott Miller, the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan.

Miller escaped unhurt, but US Brigadier General Jeffrey Smiley was among 13 people wounded in the shooting claimed by the Taliban.

Meanwhile, voting is yet to take place in Ghazni because of the fragile security situation in the province, significant parts of which are under Taliban control.

There is also an ongoing dispute over how to divide Ghaznis electoral constituencies to have a more balanced ethnic representation.

The IEC is scheduled to release preliminary results on November 10.
The alliance aims to include six Gulf countries and Egypt, though Saudi-led blockade on Qatar remains an obstacle.

Bahrains Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa has said a planned Gulf security alliance, expected to include Egypt, will be formed by next year.

At a security summit in capital Manama on Saturday, Khalifa said the Middle East Strategic Alliance (MESA), an initiative pushed by US President Donald Trump to confront Iran, will help the Gulf remain a pillar of stability.

It (MESA) is an alliance for security and prosperity for the region and will be open to those who accept its principles, he said, adding that the alliance would also cooperate on economic issues.

Relations between Saudi Arabia, which is the lynchpin of the US-backed regional bloc, and its Western allies are strained following the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Doubts over MESA have also been raised over a protracted dispute between Qatar and four Arab states who launched a blockade against Doha in 2017.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut off travel and trade ties with Qatar in June 2017, accusing it of backing Iran and supporting terrorism.

Qatar denies the charges and says the boycott impinges on its sovereignty.

Arab NATO

White House officials have called the MESA alliance an Arab NATO.

MESA will serve as a bulwark against Iranian aggression, terrorism, extremism, and will bring stability to the Middle East, a spokesperson for the White Houses National Security Council had said in July.

The Trump administration has pursued policies meant to isolate Iran, including the US withdrawal from the landmark deal with Iran to limit Tehrans nuclear programme while lifting sanctions.

The move escalated tensions between the US and Iran, but was lauded by Saudi Arabia.

The Bahraini foreign minister also lauded Omans Sultan Qaboos for his efforts to facilitate dialogue between Israel and Palestine.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made an unannounced visit to Oman on Thursday.

Omans foreign minister, Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, told the forum that Muscat was offering ideas to help Israel and the Palestinians to come together but was not acting as mediator.

Irans vision of darkness

Saudi Arabia and Bahrain said on Saturday that Gulf states are playing a critical role in maintaining stability in the Middle East by combating Irans vision of darkness even as Riyadh faces its worst political crisis in decades.

We are now dealing with two visions in the Middle East. One is a [Saudi] vision of light  One is [an Iranian] vision of darkness which seeks to spread sectarianism throughout the region, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said in Manama.

History tells us that light always wins out against the dark  The question is how do we defeat them, he said.

The US defence secretary, James Mattis, said the killing of Khashoggi, a prominent critic of Saudi policy, undermined regional stability.

Failure of any one nation to adhere to international norms and the rule of law undermines regional stability at a time when it is needed most, Mattis said.

Trump has said he wants to get to the bottom of the Khashoggi case, while also highlighting Riyadhs role as an ally against Iran, as well as a major buyer of US arms.
UN says Damascus is blocking efforts to end civil war

The outgoing UN envoy to Syria is hopeful that high-level meetings will lead to a solution, but is facing resistance from Syrias government about the who will attend the meetings.
A month after the disaster, people outside Palu have received little help and fear coming rainy seasons colder weather.

Kulawi, Indonesia  When central Sulawesi was hit by a 7.5-magnitude earthquake and tsunami a month ago, Ariyati was visiting her father who was recovering in a hospital from an eye operation.

But when she heard her village in the mountains had been badly hit, she knew she had to get home.

I forced myself to come home because everyone was family there, the 39-year-old mother of three said.

The rain was coming down hard as the cocoa farmer struggled to get to her village. Landslides had cut off the only road to the area and she was forced to spend the night in a settlement at the foot of the hills.

The next day she found out what had happened from a cousin.





Three people died, including Ariyatis 63-year-old mother who had been looking after her son and nephew. Many of the houses in the village had been flattened in a landslide. Her mother was crushed when the roof of their house fell on top of her.

I didnt believe it when I heard it, Ariyati said, her home now a pile of broken timber and cement. I fainted.

There is no road

At least 2,000 people are now known to have died in the earthquake and tsunami, which swept across the coastal communities and devastated Palu, the areas biggest city.

More than 200,000 people lost their homes and up in the mountains where landslides buried houses and made roads impassable, people are still struggling to get the help they need and fear the rainy season will make an already difficult situation worse.

It took a week for aid to arrive in Kulawi, the area around Ariyatis village, and when it did it was supplied by a military helicopter that has made only sporadic visits since.

If we want to get aid from Palu, there is no road, said Erwin Monopo, the head of the aid distribution centre for the district.

The drive from Palu used to take about three hours, but now takes at least five. Motorcyclists are forced to lift their bikes over the trunks of fallen trees and across trails of mud piled as much as three metres above the original road.

Aid distribution has been devolved to the local level and Monopo, a 42-year-old civil servant, is in charge of all government relief for the estimated 15,000 people in Kulawi.

Supplies in Kulawis aid distribution centre in the Central Sulawesi hills [Ian Morse/Al Jazeera]

[The government] trusts us to organise everything, he said from his warehouse where hes helped by 30 other volunteers. We organise and create our own rules so that no one feels like they arent being helped.

Aid rules

In Kulawi, those rules include residents having to wait until all 12 metric tonnes of rice has arrived so everyone can receive their supplies at the same time.

On Wednesday, 2.5 tonnes was sitting in the warehouse, even as families around Kulawi said in the past month they had received only two allocations of rice, five kilos at a time, an amount that would normally last a family of four about three days.

Its definitely not enough, but what are we going to do? Monopo told Al Jazeera. Thats all we have and we have to distribute fast so people arent hungry.

But local residents are losing patience.

Almost everyone in the area is living in tents, either because their houses were destroyed in the quake or because they fear their home will collapse, and the rainy season increases the chance of more landslides.

Tell the volunteers in Palu to bring us cooking pans, cooking oil and batteries for lights, said Santi Maun, 45. Give it straight to the people. Just dont give it to the [distribution centre] in Kulawi. They dont distribute justly.

Monopo understands the villagers anger, but said he brought in the rules because he wants to avoid creating conflict between the villagers if some people get rations and others dont. He doesnt know when helicopters will arrive, or what will be on board when they do, he said.

Rain and cold

Army spokesman Teguh Puji Raharjo told Al Jazeera with the state of emergency extended into December, aid drops will continue for as long as needed, but the local authorities would soon have to take control of the aid effort because of the cost and limited flying time of the helicopters.

Like Ariyati, most people who live in the hills make a meagre living as cocoa farmers and are now worrying about what will happen when the colder weather that accompanies the rainy season sets in.

Ariyati stands in the ruins of her house a month after an earthquake struck Central Sulawesi [Ian Morse/Al Jazeera]

The first blankets arrived on a helicopter on Wednesday. An aid group from the neighbouring city of Poso began distributing jackets, and after seeing more people catch colds and rashes, local relief workers have suggested residents begin building new homes.

Most of our aid is from private organisations, Ariyati said, recalling in the weeks since the disaster army helicopters will often fly overhead, but rarely deliver assistance.

From the government we get very little. Even until now we dont know how we receive aid from the government. It just arrives.
Thousands of migrants and refugees move ahead after police roadblock in southern Mexico brought journey to standstill.

Arriaga, Mexico  Thousands of Honduran migrants and refugees in southern Mexico are continuing their journey north after a two-hour standoff with police.

Mexican federal police in riot gear blocked the highway about 10km from Arriaga, Chiapas state, in the early hours of Saturday.

More than 7,000 people, most of them Hondurans, had set out shortly after 3am local time (08:00 GMT) from Arriaga, aiming to walk 43km and reach Oaxaca state.

As news of the roadblock spread, human rights staff travelling alongside the migrants and refugees moved ahead to hold talks with the police.

Federal police agents told the human rights workers that had received orders to prevent the group from proceeding. The government has already offered to give the migrants what they wanted, the commanding offer said.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Friday announced an initiative for the migrants and refugees, offering to provide temporary jobs, medical attention and schooling for children.

But in an assembly, the group decided to push ahead with its plan to reach Oaxaca and then request documentation in the capital, Mexico City.

Mexican police said officers are not carrying weapons [Sandra Cuffe/Al Jazeera]

When they arrived at the roadblock, they engaged in a peaceful sit-in on the highway, refusing to leave until they were permitted to advance.

At about 8am local time (13:00 GMT), police received orders to clear the road, allowing the migrants and refugees to continue their journey, with more than 30km left to go before reaching San Pedro Tapanatepec, Oaxaca. Dialogue between the government and the group of migrants and refugees is expected to continue.

We are not harming anyone, Billy Noe Martinez told Al Jazeera.

The 34-year-old left his home in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, and travelled into Guatemala and then Mexico with the initial wave of migrants and refugees, dubbed a migrant caravan.

We want a better future for our children, added Martinez.

Fleeing violence, poverty

The current exodus from Honduras began two weeks ago, when more than 1,000 people set out for the United States, seeking safety in numbers. By the time the group crossed into Mexico, they numbered more than 5,000 and the crowd continues to grow as smaller groups that departed later join them.

Most migrants and refugees are fleeing violence and unemployment in Honduras, a country with one of the highest per capita homicide rates in the world. More than two-thirds of Hondurans live in poverty, according to the World Bank.

Thousands of people set out from Arriaga [Sandra Cuffe/Al Jazeera]

For many of those fleeing Honduras, the harsh conditions along the route north pale in comparison to conditions at home. Most caravan participants have told Al Jazeera they are seeking better lives for themselves but especially their children, either by taking them to safety or by seeking work to be able to support their families back home.

Angelo Coto is one of them.

The 36-year-old farmer from El Progreso, in northwestern Honduras, used to grow corn, beans, watermelon and cucumbers. But he does not own any land and work is too unreliable to support his two sons, aged three and 10.

Some days there is work, some days there is not, he told Al Jazeera, adding that his hope is to find a job in order to provide for his young family  whether that is in the US or in Mexico.

Coto said he knows the Mexican government is pressuring the migrants and refugees to stay in the country, but he hopes the caravan will continue its journey towards the US.

If it keeps going, Ill go. If not, Ill stay, he said.
Indonesia government knew of liquefaction danger before quake

Six years ago, the Indonesian governments own experts drew a map that highlighted many areas in Palu where there was a high risk of liquefaction.
Egypt-brokered deal comes after Israeli fighter jets attack 80 sites in Gaza in retaliation for rockets fired at Israel.

The Palestinian group Islamic Jihad says it has agreed to stop firing rockets towards Israel after talks with an Egyptian delegation.

The announcement on Saturday came hours after Israel launched air raids hitting more than 80 locations in the besieged Gaza Strip after it said rockets were fired from there into southern Israel.

We announce a ceasefire with Israel after Egyptian contacts with us, Dawoud Shihab, Islamic Jihad spokesperson, told Anadolu Agency.

He added the group will be committed to the deal as long as Israel is committed to.

Khaled al-Batsh, a top official of the group, told The Associated Press news agency on Saturday that it was grateful to Egypt for brokering the agreement to restore calm to the Gaza Strip.

The Egyptians thankfully intervened and exerted huge efforts between the resistance [factions] in Gaza and the Zionist [Israeli] occupation, Batsh said.

The Egyptian efforts led to understandings to restore calm to the Gaza Strip. We appreciate the Egyptian endeavour and hope for all kinds of [Israeli] aggression to stop.

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Israel did not immediately respond, and past ceasefires in the conflict have not always stuck.

Egyptian mediators have been attempting to negotiate a truce between Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, and Israel.

The Islamic Jihad movement, which was founded in the late 1970s, is much smaller than Hamas and maintains that Palestine, with its borders marked from the Jordan river to the Mediterranean sea, is Islamic land and it is religiously prohibited to compromise or surrender any of it.

Its military wing, the Al-Quds Brigades, became active during the 1987 Intifada by launching operations against Israeli military and non-military targets.

Nine Palestinians injured by Israeli bombing

Earlier on Saturday, an Israeli military spokesperson said 34 rockets had been fired at Israel throughout the night.

Israels Iron Dome rocket-defence system reportedly intercepted 13 rockets, two of which landed in Gaza and the remainder fell in open spaces in southern Israel.

In response, the Israeli military said it struck about 80 sites across Gaza by early Saturday morning, including a security headquarters building.

Among the targets was Hamas new headquarters for the General Security Services, the military said.

Health officials in Gaza said nine Palestinians were wounded in one of the Israeli attacks and a hospital was badly damaged.

No Israelis were reported injured from the rockets.

Hamas has disavowed the recent rocket attacks and blamed fringe groups bent on sabotaging United Nations and Egyptian efforts to broker a long-term truce.

But Israel has said it holds Hamas responsible for any rocket fire regardless of who launched it.

Hamas has been pushing for the end of an 11-year siege on Gaza, imposed by Israel and Egypt, that has trapped more than two million Palestinians, and left residents with limited access to water and electricity.
Registration for labor unions and federations may soon be easier and faster after the House of Representatives has approved on second reading House Bill 8186 which streamlines the process of their registration and reduce the minimum membership requirement. The bill aims to strengthen further the right of workers to self-organization by easing the restrictive Labor Code requirements for the organization of labor unions and federations. To implement this, the bill, principally authored by Committee on Appropriations Chairman Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles of Davao City, proposes to amend Presidential Decree No. 442, as amended, otherwise known as the Labor Code of the Philippines. For one, the bill amends Article 234 of the Labor Code by lowering the present minimum membership requirement for the registration of independent unions from 20 percent to 10 percent. Secondly, the bill amends Article 235 of the Labor Code by allowing submission of applications to be done in person or online to the appropriate Department of Labor and Employment Regional Office or Field Office or the Bureau of Labor Relations subject to verification by the appropriate office. The BLR shall prescribe such forms as maybe necessary for this purpose. The BLR or the appropriate DOLE Regional or Field Office shall act on registration applications within three working days from their receipt.At present, Nograles said the Labor Code provides that the BLR shall act on the registration applications within 30 days from filing. It also mandates that all requisite application documents and papers shall be certified under oath by the secretary or treasurer of the organization, as the case may be, and attested to by its president. Thirdly, the bill amends Article 236 of the Labor Code so that in case the documents supporting the application for registration are incomplete or do not contain the required certification and attestation, the DOLE Regional Office or the BLR shall, within three days from receipt of the application for registration, notify in writing the applicant or labor organization concerned of the necessary requirements and to complete the same within 30 days from receipt of notice. Nograles said if the applicant or labor organization concerned fails to complete the requirements within the time prescribed, the application for registration shall be returned without prejudice to filing a new application or notice. Lastly, the bill amends Article 237 of the Labor Code by reducing the number of affiliated local chapters required for purposes of registration as a federation or national union from 10 to five. The bill was sponsored on the floor by Committee on Labor and Employment Chairman Rep. Randolp Ting of Cagayan.
Orders to hit Israel with rockets from Gaza Strip were given from Damascus with Iranian involvement, Israeli army says.

The Israeli army has accused the Syrian government of instructing a Palestinian group to fire dozens of rockets at Israel from Gaza with Irans support, and vowed to respond where it chose.

The rockets that were launched against Israel we know that the orders, incentives were given from Damascus with the clear involvement of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Quds Force, army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus said on Saturday, referring to Iran foreign operations unit.

Conricus told reporters Israels response would not be limited geographically.

Israeli fighter jets struck dozens of sites across the Gaza Strip early on Saturday as fighters fired about 30 rockets into Israel, in the heaviest exchange of fire in several weeks.

The fighting followed a bloody day of border protests, in which Israeli forces shot and killed five Palestinians protesting along the perimeter fence dividing Hamas-ruled Gaza and Israel.

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The clash complicated the mission of Egyptian mediators, who have intensified shuttle diplomacy to achieve calm and prevent a full-blown conflict between Hamas and Israel.

The Israeli military said it had struck about 80 sites across Gaza by early Saturday morning, including a security headquarters building. Air raid sirens sounded throughout the night in southern Israel, with firing some 30 rockets, the military said.

It said about 10 rockets were intercepted by its Iron Dome rocket defence system, two landed prematurely in Gaza and the rest fell in open areas. Israels military chief, General Gadi Eisenkot, convened an emergency meeting of top security officials, the army added, without elaborating.

Islamic Jihad, a smaller group, implicitly claimed responsibility for the rocket fire. It issued a statement saying that it normally exercises restraint, but it can no longer stand idle before the continued killing of innocents and bloodshed by the Israeli occupation.
Fighter jets attack dozens of sites across the Gaza Strip as fighters fire about 30 rockets into Israel.

Israeli fighter jets struck dozens of sites across the Gaza Strip early on Saturday as fighters fired about 30 rockets into Israel, in the heaviest exchange of fire in several weeks.

The fighting followed a bloody day of border protests, in which Israeli forces shot and killed five Palestinians protesting along the perimeter fence dividing Hamas-ruled Gaza and Israel.

The fighting and bloodshed complicated the mission of Egyptian mediators, who have intensified shuttle diplomacy to achieve calm and prevent a full-blown conflict between Hamas and Israel.

The Israeli military said it had struck about 80 sites across Gaza by early Saturday morning, including a security headquarters building. Air raid sirens sounded throughout the night in southern Israel, with firing some 30 rockets, the military said.

It said about 10 rockets were intercepted by its Iron Dome rocket defence system, two landed prematurely in Gaza and the rest fell in open areas. Israels military chief, General Gadi Eisenkot, convened an emergency meeting of top security officials, the army added, without elaborating.

There was no word on injuries as a result of the air attacks.

Israels Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepted several rockets launched from Gaza [Reuters]

Islamic Jihad, a smaller group, implicitly claimed responsibility for the rocket fire. It issued a statement saying that it normally exercises restraint, but it can no longer stand idle before the continued killing of innocents and bloodshed by the Israeli occupation.

It was not immediately clear whether Islamic Jihad, which sometimes acts independently of Hamas, had coordinated the rocket fire with Hamas. But Israel holds Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in 2007, responsible for all fire emanating from the territory.

Israeli attacks hit the Gaza Strip, which only gets electricity a couple of hours a day [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters]

The sides have fought three wars over the past decade, and Israel and Egypt have maintained a stifling blockade on the territory. The weekly protests along the Israeli border have been aimed in large part at breaking the blockade, which has devastated the Gaza economy.

On Friday, thousands of Palestinians gathered at five locations along the boundary, burning tires and throwing stones and firebombs at Israeli troops who responded with tear gas and live fire.

Three of the dead were reported in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Witnesses said that dozens of protesters approached the fence there.

In northern Gaza, a 27-year-old man died after being shot in the head, the ministry said. It added that 170 other protesters sustained various injuries.

On Wednesday, Egyptian intelligence officials met representatives of Palestinian factions in Gaza. Loay Qarouti of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command said the mediators asked them to protect the lives of protesters and minimise losses among them.

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Egypt wants to restore calm in order to pursue the broader goal of Palestinian reconciliation between Hamas and the West Bank-based administration of President Mahmoud Abbas. The internationally recognised Abbas lost control of Gaza in the 2007 takeover.

But Hamas maintains it wants a full lifting of a crippling blockade Israel and Egypt imposed on Gaza to isolate the movement.

A Palestinian schoolgirl walks past the scene of an Israeli air raid on a building in Gaza City on Saturday [Mohammed Salem/Reuters]

The blockade has made it increasingly difficult for Hamas to govern. Widespread desperation among Gazas 2 million residents  who get only a few hours of electricity a day and undrinkable tap water, in addition to suffering from soaring joblessness and limited freedom of travel  fuels their participation in the protests.

Since the marches began six months ago, at least 210 Palestinians present or taking part in the protests have been killed and more than 18,000 were wounded.

Israel has come under heavy international criticism for what many see as excessive use of force and the large number of unarmed people who have been shot.

In the West Bank, a 33-year-old Palestinian man was killed and nine others wounded by live rounds, one in critical conditions, as the Israeli forces confronted stone throwers in a village near Ramallah city, doctors said.
A four-way summit on Syria has ended with no major breakthrough, even as the leaders of Turkey, Russia, Germany and France agreed that a fragile ceasefire in Idlib should be preserved and said a committee tasked with drafting the war-torn countrys new constitution needs to convene by the end of the year.

Saturdays meeting in Istanbul was aimed at laying the groundwork for an eventual peace plan in a country devastated by more than seven years of war.

In a joint communique following their meeting, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin called for an inclusive, Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process and said conditions needed to be created for the safe and voluntary return of refugees.

The summit, which was not attended by any Syrian groups, was the first to bring the four leaders together.

Erdogan said the constitutional committee, which was first agreed upon in January during Russian-sponsored talks at the Black Sea resort of Sochi needed to convene as soon as possible.





However, efforts to bring Syrias warring factions together to draft a new constitution under which elections would be held have stalled, with the committee failing to meet even once.

Syrias major opposition groups had boycotted the Sochi event, officially known as Syrian Congress of National Dialogue, and rejected the constitutional plan. The fate of President Bashar al-Assad, a major sticking point that has repeatedly caused negotiations to fail, had not been mentioned in the final statement of the Sochi summit.

The people of Syria will determine the future of President Bashar al-Assad, said Erdogan, whose administration backs certain rebel groups in Idlib.

As far as we are concerned, Assad is someone who has killed nearly one million of his citizens. He is not someone who we hold in high esteem. Massacres continue as before, but it is our wish that this process comes to an end and the people of Syria can begin to live their lives again.

Since the beginning of the Syrian uprising, hundreds of thousands of Syrians have been killed and over 12 million people  half the countrys prewar population  have been displaced.

Erdogan said while Turkey had welcomed more than three million Syrian refugees, they should be allowed to return to Syria, and this should be done in a voluntary fashion.

With the cooperation of the United Nations, this can and should be done, he said.

Putin: Demilitarised zone is temporary measure

Also discussed at the summit was a demilitarised zone around the densely-populated Idlib province, a Turkish- and Russian- backed initiative aimed at preventing a large-scale military assault on the last rebel enclave in Syria.

Europe wants to avert new refugee wave Al Jazeeras Zeina Khodr, reporting from Istanbul, said France and Germany were attending the summit because they want the situation in Idlib to remain quiet and do not want an offensive that will create a humanitarian catastrophe and a new wave of refugees reaching Europe. France and Germany are in attendance on the basis that there will not be a Syrian government offensive on Idlib, said Khodr. Meanwhile, Russia and Turkey want Europe on board to help pay for Syrias reconstruction. They do not believe the West should wait for a political solution agreed by all those involved in the crisis before reconstruction work begins. But Europe and the US dont see it that way. What is also significant about this summit is that France is trying to mediate between the Russian and the Americans  what were hearing is that Macron is trying to set-up a high-level meeting in Paris. At the end of the day, youre going to need the US on board if you want to reach an internationally backed-deal to end the war.

Putin, a major backer of Assad, called the 15-20km zone a temporary measure, adding that he hoped the Turkish government will ensure, in the near future, the complete withdrawal of the [armed] opposition from the zone and heavy artillery.

On Friday, Syrias UN envoy Bashar al-Jaafari also called that the buffer zone temporary, adding that Idlib would eventually revert to government control.

An estimated three million Syrians live in Idlib, half of them already displaced from cities and towns under state control.

Putin added that Moscow reserved the right to help Damascus eliminate terrorists in Idlib in the event of any provocations.

According to an agreement brokered between Ankara and Moscow last month, opposition groups are to remain in areas where they are already present in Idlib, while Russian and Turkish forces will carry out joint patrols in the area with a view to preventing a resumption of fighting.

For her part, Merkel renewed a call for elections and said all Syrians must be allowed to decide the countrys future, in free, transparent elections which must be supervised internationally.

Meanwhile, Macron called on Russia to exercise very clear pressure on Damascus which depends on it for survival.

A final statement from the four leaders also rejected separatist agendas aimed at undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria as well as the national security of neighbouring countries.

Al Jazeeras Zeina Khodr, reporting from Istanbul, said there was little consensus among the Istanbul summit attendees, adding that the differences of opinion were out in the open.

France attended the Istanbul summit because they wanted to get a guarantee and a commitment from Turkey and Russia that the Idlib deal to create a demilitarised zone will become a lasting ceasefire.

But we know that Russia and Turkey wanted a commitment from Europe to help pay with the reconstruction of Syria  and Russia and Turkey did not get that from the Europeans.

So, the different players are still so far apart and yet we heard all of them say there is a need to get other players on board.

V ote of no-confidence to US

Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East studies at the University of Oklahoma, described the Istanbul summit as a big departure from the United Nations-backed Geneva process and a vote of no-confidence to the US.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, he said the big gain for Erdogan is getting Europe involved into the Astana process, referring to a separate diplomatic track led by Turkey, Russia and Iran in Kazakhstans capital.

Erdogan wants to counterbalance Russia with some German and French muscle to stabilise the Idlib situation and make sure that Russia and Syria dont invade and drive all these rebels and jihadists into Turkey, as well many more Syrian refugees which would be a disaster for Turkey and very bad for Europe.

Commenting on the talk about constitutional reform and free and fair elections, Landis said that is not going to happen.

Assad won this war and of course this is a fig leave being brought by Europe  and of course the US behind it  and Turkey, saying that somehow we are going to get the opposition in power in Damascus, Landis said.

Assad fought this war brutally in order to stop that and Russia sided with him. I dont think that these peace negotiations are going to end up winning the war that the militaries could not do in the country.

But there are many issues, including what is going to happen to all those rebel fighters in Idlib? Are they going to be destroyed and arrested or are they going to own a country, a little enclave, protected by Turkey and Europe?
Opinion polls say 35-40 percent of low-income voters may pick far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro on Sunday.

Sao Paulo, Brazil  Edimar Passos de Souza, 51, works as a security guard and lives with his wife and two teenage daughters in a government-built housing block in Fazenda da Juta, a low-income neighbourhood in Sao Paulos sprawling Eastern Zone.

In the last four elections, he voted for Brazils left-leaning Workers Party, especially ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, now serving a prison sentence for corruption.

An evangelical Christian, he says crime and corruption are Brazils biggest problems and so, hes voting emphatically for Jair Bolsonaro: the far right hardliner leading Brazils presidential polls.

The country is tired with the old way of doing politics, said Edimar.

We dont have good education, healthcare, or security because of corruption. The only man who can solve this is the man leading the polls, he said.

According to latest opinion polls by Datafolha, Bolsonaro  a former army captain who praises Brazils military dictatorship  leads his centre left-opponent Fernando Haddad of the Workers Party with 56 percent of intended votes to 44 percent.

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Edimars vote might seem at odds with Bolsonaros rhetoric, often blasted as violently anti-poor, misogynist, even racist, and dismissive of social safety nets and workers rights.

But while Bolsonaro polls best with richer, white voters, according to Datafolha, some 35-40 percent of lower-income voters like Edimar intend to vote for him this Sunday.

In Edimars electoral district of Teotonio Vilela in the Sapopemba neighbourhood, Bolsonaro took 42 percent of votes in the first round on October 7, compared with 28 percent for Haddad.

Across Sao Paulos poorer neighbourhoods, Bolsonaro won in almost all electoral zones. Haddad won just four, including Parelheiros in the extreme south of the city, where Al Jazeera recently visited.

The country is tired with the old way of doing politics, said Edimar Passos de Souza, a security guard [Sam Cowie/Al Jazeera]

Periphery vote

The periphery vote in Sao Paulo has always been about change  life isnt good, it needs to change. And Bolsonaro has sold the idea that he is about change, said Gabriel Feltran, a sociology professor at the Federal University of Sao Carlos, in Sao Paulo state.

Greater Sao Paulo is home to 24 million people and its poorer periphery neighbourhoods have always been important in deciding national elections.

Whether Bolsonaros popularity among lower-income voters of Sao Paulo represents a significant cultural shift, protest vote or flash in the pan moment is too early to tell.

If Bolsonaros government is bad for the periphery, he can lose the next election, Feltran said.

For Edimar, it was during the Car Wash corruption scandal and the controversial impeachment of former president Dilma Rousseff in 2016 that drew him to Bolsonaro.

He was the only one that wasnt corrupt and the only one prepared to speak his mind, Edimar said of Bolsonaro, who famously dedicated his impeachment speech to the memory of dictatorship-era torturer, Colonel Carlos Alberto Brilihante Ustra.

Edimar denied accusations that Bolsonaro is homophobic or anti-poor. A large portion of the Brazilian population talks like this. It doesnt mean anything, he said.

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He also dismissed a recent alleged scandal, published by the Folha Sao Paulo newspaper, that companies and businessmen were financing a fake news network to benefit the far-right candidate on social media platform, Whatsapp.

This Whatsapp scandal doesnt exist, he said.

Edimar was born in Brazils impoverished north-eastern Maranhao state, which Bolsonaro once described as having only one good thing: a prison named Pedrinhas, the site of a bloody riot with beheadings.

In Sao Paulo, the family lived for some time in a wooden shack on squatted land and depended on Brazils Family Grant welfare programme. Eventually, they were rehoused by the local government.

While Bolsonaro attacked Brazils Family Grant in the past for being a handout, he now calls it an essential programme, in which fraud should be tackled.

Regarding Bolsonaros plan to shrink the state and privatise national companies as touted by his economic adviser, the ultra-liberal Paulo Guedes, Edimar had no comment.

Tired of violence

While Sao Paulos violent crime rates have fallen steadily in recent years, most people that Al Jazeera spoke to in the Fazenda da Juta neighbourhood cited security as their main concern.

We are tired of violence, we want to vote in Bolsonaro to see if he can make a change, said Deusa Oliveira Goncalves, 60, a retired homemaker.

Joao Feliciano Junior said he was drawn to Bolsonaro because of opposition to corruption of the left [Sam Cowie/Al Jazeera]

Bolsonaros tough talk on crime is one of the factors that most resonates right now with lower income voters, said Matthew Richmond, visiting fellow at the London School of Economics, who studies Sao Paulos periphery.

Many of these voters experience a strong sense of insecurity in their everyday lives. So when he loudly validates their concerns, it sounds like hes on their side, even if his proposals may significantly increase violence in these areas, he said.

Evangelical support

Experts point to another reason why Bolsonaros support has swelled among the poorer voters: his endorsement by powerful, evangelical Christian leaders, including Edir Macedo, the billionaire founder of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God church and owner of Brazils TV Record.

Across Brazil, the number of people that identify as evangelical continues to rise. The 2010 Brazilian census showed a 22 percent rise in evangelical churchgoers from 15 percent a decade earlier.

Joao Feliciano Junior, 42, who attends the local Assembly of God church twice a week, rents a small space in the Fazenda da Juta community where he runs a minimarket.

He said he was first drawn to Bolsonaro because of his defence of the family and opposition to corruption of the left.

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I agree with his hard line of combatting crime, he said.

Brazil had nearly 64,000 homicides last year, the vast majority of which go unsolved.

Bolsonaro has spoken of giving greater rights to police to kills criminals and chemical castration of rapists.

In 2017, there were around 5,000 killings committed by police in Brazil, with victims mainly from poor neighbourhoods.

Erlandy Da Cruz Silva, 41, a community health worker who has a 20-year-old son, said she feared Bolsonaros hard line policies.

The police are already very aggressive with young people in the community, she said.
Netanyahu visits Oman, says opposing Iran unites Gulf and Israel

The Israeli prime minister visited Oman just three days after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a move expected to increase pressure on Palestine to participate in US-led peace negotiations.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia  Former Prime Minister Najib Razak  currently facing 38 corruption charges in an ongoing investigation into troubled state fund 1MDB that spans at least six countries  admitted things went wrong but insisted he wasnt involved in any wrongdoing.

There are things that went wrong in 1MDB, Najib admitted in an interview with Al Jazeeras 101 East that was broadcast on Saturday.

But he insisted even though he was prime minister and had ultimate oversight of the fund he was not aware of the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars through offshore bank accounts around the world, and had done nothing wrong.

My conscience is clear, he said. I would not receive a single cent from sources connected with 1MDB because if its 1MDB I would know right away it would not be the right thing to do.

Najib has appeared in court four times since his party lost power in Mays general election amid simmering public anger over 1MDB. It was the first change in government since the country won its independence from Britain in 1957.

This week, he appeared in court with his former treasury chief to face six counts of criminal breach of trust involving the misuse of 6.6 billion ringgit ($1.6bn) in government funds.

Its something he has repeatedly said even when he was in power, said Keith Leong, head of research at KRA Group in Kuala Lumpur.

[It] will likely be his main defence. There is such feeling against him. One doesnt know what else he could say. Because this thing was so opaque, so mysterious.

Banking secrets

The former prime minister  who twice threatened to walk out of the interview  insisted the $681m found in his personal bank account was a gift from a Saudi prince, and he could not trace the source of any of the money because he did not have access to banking secrets.

Investigators say that money, which was deposited into the account just before the 2013 election, was given to politicians and covered shopping sprees and credit card bills.

1MDB is under investigation in at least six countries including Singapore, Switzerland and the United States.

The US Department of Justice has said more than $4.5bn was stolen by high-level Malaysian officials and their associates.

Najib insisted he didnt deliberately close down the Malaysian investigation by suddenly replacing the countrys attorney general in 2015, and firing ministers who questioned what was going on at the fund.

I reject that totally because I am on record, he told 101 East. Im on record to say that anyone who has done something wrong will be held accountable. No one is above the law.

Creating value

1MDB was established as a sovereign fund in 2009 with the help of a now-infamous financier commonly known as Jho Low.

Najib said he saw Lows role in the fund as creating value.

Investigators allege huge sums of money were syphoned out of the fund through a web of offshore bank accounts helping party-loving Low live a life of luxury with a private jet, a $260m ocean-going yacht, and luxury homes in New York City and Los Angeles.

They say 1MDB money also helped fund the Leonardo di Caprio movie Wolf of Wall Street, which was produced by Najibs stepson and banned in Malaysia.

In June, Malaysian police seized bundles of cash, designer handbags, and jewellery in raids on a series of Najibs properties around the capital.

It took three days, six cash-counting machines, and 22 officials from the central bank to add up the money found at the premises, Amar Singh, head of the commercial crime division, told reporters at the time.

The cash totalled $28.9m in 26 different currencies, including the Malaysian ringgit.
Election of first woman to presidency has raised hopes among womens rights groups for more gender equality in Ethiopia.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia  The election of Sahle-Work Zewde as Ethiopias first female president has been enthusiastically greeted in Ethiopia and beyond, raising hopes among advocates for gender equality in the conservative country.

The 68-year-old was unanimously approved by the Ethiopian parliament on Thursday to replace Mulatu Teshome, who resigned unexpectedly a day earlier.

While the position of president is largely ceremonial, it carries important symbolic weight and social influence.

Following Zewdes appointment, congratulatory messages arrived from the African Union (AU), the United Nations and the European Union, as well as other international organisations and leaders around the world.

Experienced diplomat

The softly-spoken, veteran technocrat has worked in diplomacy for more than three decades.

Born in the capital Addis Ababa, Zewde attended university in France. After graduating, she served as Ethiopias ambassador to France, Djibouti, Senegal and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional trade bloc in East Africa.

Prior to her appointment as president, she was the UNs top official at the AU. She is fluent in English and French as well as Amharic, Ethiopias official working language.

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Abebe Aynete, a senior researcher at the Ethiopian Foreign Relations Strategic Studies think-tank, said Zewdes experience will make her a competent spokesperson for the countrys political reforms on the international stage.

As a person who knows the Ethiopian system inside out, Zewde, as president, will offer more continuity in terms of policy but will have her own priorities, including female empowerment, Aynete told Al Jazeera.

The fact that Zewde has become the first female Ethiopian president will be a great sign towards achieving gender equality. I consider it as a sort of a glass ceiling being broken down, showing females can also reach positions of high profile, said Aynete.

Positive first step

Zewdes appointment to the presidency is not an isolated phenomenon.

The administration of reformist Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, which assumed office in April, has appointed numerous women to influential positions that have been traditionally reserved for men.

Earlier this month, Abiy filled half of his cabinet with women, including Ethiopias first female Defence Minister Aisha Mohammed.

Muferiat Kamil was appointed to lead the newly-created Ministry of Peace, responsible for the police and domestic intelligence agencies.

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If the current change in Ethiopia is headed equally by both men and women, it can sustain its momentum and realise a prosperous Ethiopia free of religious, ethnic and gender discrimination, Zewde said in a speech in parliament on Thursday.

Aklile Solomon, a female rights activist based in Addis Ababa, welcomed Zewdes appointment but cautioned that there is more work to be done.

There is still much to be desired in gender equality, despite the recent moves for gender proportionality in Ethiopian politics, said Solomon.

Solomon, cofounder of the gender equality-focused Yellow Movement, said the country needs tougher legislation against gender-based violence, as well as policies to encourage female empowerment from the local level to the highest federal office.

While I consider Zewdes appointment a positive first step, Ethiopia has a history of female government ministers, which in practice have done little to advance female rights and equality, she said.

Solomon also said Abiy had yet to speak to womens rights activists and urged him to open a dialogue with groups focused on gender equality.

Optimism on social media

Ethiopian social media has been flooded with positivity over Zewdes appointment.

Tsedale Lemma, editor of web magazine Addis Standard, was effusive in her praise.

In Zewde, what I saw is a woman who consciously decided to humble herself to serve the country she loves; she called it an honour! We can, for once, consider this a decision she and only she had the last say about and accept a role that we often mistake as mere ceremonial, she said on Twitter.

Zewdes appointment makes her the only female head of state in Africa currently.

A handful of African countries have in the recent past been led by female presidents with executive powers, including Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in Liberia (2006-18) and Joyce Banda in Malawi (2012-2014).

Zewde herself has noticed the optimism her appointment has created among Ethiopian women.

At her swearing-in ceremony in parliament, she said she planned to raise the issue of female empowerment non-stop over her six-year term.

I know today I have said a lot about female empowerment, but expect me to be even more vocal in the coming years about female rights and equality, Zewde said.
Maithripala Sirisena sacked PM Ranil Wickremesinghe and replaced him with Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday night.

Hours after Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena sacked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and replaced him with opposition leader Mahinda Rajapaksa, he has suspended the South Asian countrys parliament.

The president has prorogued the parliament with effect from 12 noon on Saturday, cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne told reporters.

Parliamentary officials said the president had suspended all meetings of the 225-member house until November 16, AFP news agency reported.

The move came after Wickremesinghe, who said he remains prime minister, urged the speaker to convene the parliament on Sunday to prove he still retained his parliamentary majority.

Sri Lanka was plunged in a constitutional crisis after Sirisena sacked Wickremesinghe and gave the job to former president Rajapaksa, who was sworn in on Friday night.

Reports said supporters of Rajapaksa stormed several state media institutions and intimidated staff after he was sworn in.

Surprise move

In a surprise move that triggered political turmoil in the island nation, Sirisena dismissed Wickremesinghe, who was away touring the south of the country.

Sirisena has accused Wickremesinghe and his party of privatising and selling public ventures to foreign countries and large-scale corruption.

A major port developed by Rajapaksas government in Sri Lankas south-east was leased to a Chinese company last year.

Under the Sri Lankan constitution, the president has the power to name the prime minister.

Wickremesinghe insisted he remained the prime minister. I retain the confidence of the house. I am the prime minister and I have the majority, he said on Friday.

According to the constitution, Im the prime minister. That [removal] is not legal, he said.

Sirisena, who was health minister under Rajapaksa from 2010 to 2014, joined forces with Wickremesinghe to defeat the former president in elections in January 2015.

He was elected president on the backing of Wickremesinghes United National Party (UNP). On Friday, Sirisensas United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) said it would quit the ruling coalition.

Sirisenas UPFA has only 96 seats in parliament, while the UNP has 106 members in the 225-seat parliament.

The developments bring an end to a coalition government that was formed more than three years ago on promises of economic reform and accountability for alleged atrocities committed during Rajapaksas 10-year rule at the close of Sri Lankas bloody civil war.

Rajapaksa spearheaded the military campaign to defeat the Tamil rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May 2009 to end a 26-year conflict in the north and eastern parts of the country.
A man armed with an assault rifle and three handguns kills 11 and injures six in the Squirrel Hill area of the city.

A suspect has been taken into custody in Pittsburgh, in the US state of Pennsylvania, after a shooting at a synagogue that killed at least 11 people and injured six others, including four police officers, according to authorities.

Wendell Hissrich, the citys public safety director, said Saturdays suspected attacker was at a hospital in fair condition with multiple gunshot wounds.

FBI special agent Bob Jones said the attacker used an assault rifle and three handguns inside the Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighbourhood.

The attacker was leaving when he met an officer, Jones said.

Local television station KDKA said the suspect in custody was a white male. A law enforcement official, who spoke to The Associated Press news agency on condition of anonymity, identified the detainee as Robert Bowers, a man in his 40s.

An earlier social media post by Bowers said: [A Jewish refugee organisation, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society] likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I cant sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, Im going in.

The comment was posted on Gab, a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based social networking service created as an alternative to Twitter.

Bowers also recently posted a photo of a collection of three semi-automatic handguns he titled my glock family, a reference to the firearms manufacturer.

He also posted photos of bullet holes in person-sized targets at a firing range, touting the amazing trigger on a handgun he was offering for sale.

In a statement, Gab.com confirmed the profile belonged to Bowers.

Gab took swift and proactive action to contact law enforcement immediately, it said.

We first backed up all user data from the account and then proceeded to suspend the account. We then contacted the FBI and made them aware of this account and the user data in our possession.

Al Jazeeras John Hendren, reporting from Washington, DC, said the shots began at about 10am local time as worshipers were gathering for Sabbath (Saturday) services.

There were perhaps 60 to 100 people inside there, he said.

Local TV news footage showed police at the location with rifles [Gene J Puskar/AP]

The Tree of Life synagogue describes itself on its website as a traditional, progressive and egalitarian congregation. Few other details were immediately available.

The tree-lined residential neighbourhood of Squirrel Hill close to the city centre is the hub of Pittsburghs Jewish community.

Local TV news footage showed police at that location with rifles and wearing helmets and other tactical gear.

Paramedics also were stationed near the synagogue and police vehicles were blocking some streets in the area.

US President Donald Trump took to Twitter to say he was watching events in Pittsburgh: Looks like multiple fatalities. Beware of active shooter. God bless all!

Later, he told reporters: Its a terrible, terrible thing whats going on with hate in our country frankly, and all over the world. Something has to be done. When people do this, they should get the death penalty.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf called the shooting an absolute tragedy.

We must all pray and hope for no more loss of life, Wolf said. But we have been saying this one is too many for far too long. Dangerous weapons are putting our citizens in harms way.

Saturdays shooting incident is the latest in the United States, where firearms are linked to more than 30,000 deaths annually.
Meeting to address numerous issues in the conflict, including demilitarised zones and a political path forward.

A four-way summit on Syria attended by the leaders of Turkey, Russia, Germany and France has begun in the Turkish city of Istanbul.

The meeting on Saturday, hosted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, will see the participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Staffan de Mistura, the UN special Syria envoy, is also attending the summit, which is expected to be followed by a joint statement.

Participants were expected to address the Syrian conflict in all its aspects, focusing on the situation on the ground, the Idlib agreement, and the political process, and to harmonise joint efforts to find a lasting solution to the conflict.

Leaders had one-on-one talks ahead of the meeting.

Diplomatic win

Al Jazeeras Zena Khodr, reporting from Istanbul, said Russia and Turkey are billing this as a diplomatic win because they were able to bring the EU to the table.

The leaders will also discuss the September 17 agreement between Ankara and Moscow to establish a demilitarised zone in Syrias northwestern province of Idlib.

Under the deal, opposition groups in Idlib are to remain in areas where they are already present, while Russia and Turkey carry out joint patrols in the area with a view to preventing a resumption of fighting.

Germany announced that it supports the de-escalation zone in Idblib ahead and would work towards a permanent ceasefire, a spokesperson for Merkel said ahead of the summit.

Idlib and adjacent areas are the last stronghold of rebels who rose up against President Bashar al-Assad in 2011.

The area is home to roughly three million people, more than half of whom have already been displaced during the war.

On October 10, the Turkish defence ministry announced that the Syrian opposition groups had completed the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the Idlib demilitarised zone.

Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating seven-year conflict that started when the Assad government cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected ferocity.

Latest of many summits

There have been numerous talks meant to foster peace between the warring factions in Syria, dating back to 2011.

Talks have been sponsored by the Arab League and its various members, by Russia, France, Turkey and Iran, and by the UN through its set of Geneva summits.

The Geneva talks, supported by the European Union were largely indirect dialogues between representatives of the Syrian government and opposition factions. The most recent Geneva talks were held in March 2017.

Turkey, Russia and Iran sponsored the Astana talks in January 2017, which saw negotiations move to Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. The most recent Astana talks were held in March.

Russia entered the Syrian war on the side of the government in 2015 as Damascus looked ready to fall [Sergei Chirikov/Pool via Reuters]

Further dialogue under the same framework occurred in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, the most recent of which took place in July. These talks resulted in Syrian forces and their backers stalling an offensive on Idlib.

The EU saw a wave of refugees arrive at its shores in 2015, is concerned about another influx of asylum seekers should Syrian forces attack Idlib.

Russia, who supports the Syrian government, and Turkey, who supports rebels and hosts over three million Syrian refugees, want the EU to help pay for post-war reconstruction in the battered country.

Europe wants the Geneva path to continue, Khodr said. If that doesnt happen the EU wont pay for reconstruction, she added.

Turkish news agency Anadolu reported that Syrian forces violated the Sochi agreement by attacking and Rafa village in the Idlib de-escalation zone on Friday. The attacks killed seven civilians, three of whom were children, Anadolu reported.

The Associated Press said that fighters affiliated with the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, killed 40 US-backed Syrian fighters on Saturday.

Parties are hedging expectations about the summit, Khodr said. Even Moscow is saying do not expect breakthroughs during the summit.
Manama, Bahrain Pentagon chief Jim Mattis warned a Middle East forum on Saturday that the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the kingdoms consulate in Istanbul must concern us all greatly. Quoting US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Mattis told a security conference in Bahrain that the United States does not tolerate this kind of ruthless action to silence Mr Khashoggi, a journalist, through violence. With our collective interests in peace and unwavering respect for human rights in mind, the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in a diplomatic facility must concern us all greatly, Mattis added. Failure of any nation to adhere to international norms and the rule of law undermines regional stability at a time when it is needed most. A critic of Saudi Arabias powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Khashoggi was murdered after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2. On Thursday, CIA Director Gina Haspel briefed US President Donald Trump on the latest developments in the investigation after a fact-finding mission to Turkey. Pro-government Turkish media said that intelligence officers showed Haspel video images and audio tapes of Khashoggis killing gathered from the consulate. His murder has generated international outrage and undermined relations with Riyadh, which Washington is hoping can help counter Tehrans influence in the Middle East. Prince Mohammed, the heir apparent to the kingdoms throne, has denounced the repulsive murder, denying any involvement. The Saudi leadership has pushed responsibility down the chain of command. Trump has called the case one of the worst cover-ups in history. Washington moved late Tuesday to revoke the visas of several Saudis. Britain followed suit on Wednesday. Mattis said more measures would follow. We will maintain our twin imperatives, as stated by Secretary of State Pompeo, of protecting America and holding accountable those responsible for this murder, he told the forum. Our secretary of state has already revoked visas and will be taking additional measures. Turkey said on Friday it wanted Saudi Arabia to extradite 18 Saudis it has arrested over Khashoggis murder. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has stopped short of directly blaming the Saudi government, said the 18 suspects must know who killed Khashoggi and repeated his call for the men to be tried in Turkey. He urged Riyadh to reveal who ordered the killing and the whereabouts of Khashoggis body.You need to show this body, Erdogan said. Unless you tell, Saudi Arabia will not be free from this suspicion. Meanwhile, Mattis said Russia is no replacement for the United States in the Middle East following Moscows military intervention in Syria. Russias presence in the region cannot replace the longstanding, enduring, and transparent US commitment to the Middle East, Mattis told a meeting in the Bahraini capital Manama. He was speaking as Russian President Vladimir Putin was due to hold talks in Istanbul with the leaders of France, Germany and Turkey on Saturday seeking to find a lasting political solution to the seven-year civil war in Syria. Russia supports the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey backs some rebel groups seeking to oust the Syrian leader. Mattis told the Manama Dialogue that Moscows opportunism and willingness to overlook Assads criminal activities against his own people evidences its lack of sincere commitment to essential moral principles. Irans support for the Syrian regime coupled with Russias repeated vetoes of UN Security Council Resolutions, is the leading reason Assad remains in power, he said. More than 360,000 people have been killed since the conflict erupted in 2011, while millions have been displaced, many of them seeking refuge in neighboring countries such as Jordan, Turkey, and Lebanon. We are deeply aware of the sacrifices many of our partners have made, and continue to make, in dealing with the effects of Assads violence against his own people, Mattis said. He vowed the US-led coalition in Syria would continue to root out jihadist groups and expand space for our diplomats to negotiate for long-term peace in that war-torn country. We stand with our partners who favor stability over chaos, and we support the unity of effort among our nations militaries in response to shared threats and challenges, Mattis added. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was to host Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Istanbul for talks on the Syrian conflict. It will be the first summit to bring together the Turkish and Russian leaders with the European Unions two most significant national leaders. Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Friday that the primary goal would be to clarify the steps to be taken for a political solution and to determine a roadmap."
More than 1,450 former and current educators are running for US state legislative seats in midterm elections.

Lexington, Kentucky  Paula Setser-Kissick gripped a handful of campaign brochures and strode up to a potential voters door on a tree-filled Kentucky neighbourhood dotted with political yard signs.

Hi, Im a Fayette County teacher and a first-time candidate, said Setser-Kissick, a 29-year Lexington public school technology teacher, using an introduction meant to disarm residents sceptical of politics.

Just weeks ahead of the pivotal midterm elections, 53-year-old Setser-Kissick is among a national wave of educators entering the final stretches of campaigns that grew out of this years high-profile teacher protests and walkouts in West Virginia, Kentucky, West Virginia, Arizona and Oklahoma over low teacher pay and school funding.

More than 1,450 educators including current and former classroom teachers, school staff, administrators and some in higher education are running for US state legislative seats in November, according to a National Education Association analysis, compared with no more than a few hundred in previous elections. That includes at least 158 current classroom teachers like Setser-Kissick. Educators are also running for Congress or statewide offices. Of the total, about 70 percent are Democrats.

Stephen Voss, a University of Kentucky political science professor, said that the rate at which weve seen teachers run this election is really out of the ordinary.

More than 1,450 educators including current and former classroom teachers, school staff, administrators and some in higher education are running for US state legislative seats in November [Chris Kenning/Al Jazeera]

But many of the candidates are running in traditionally red states and will have to persuade some Republican voters that education is a top issue. Republican groups argue the numbers wont be enough to tilt statehouses to the level of spending favoured by some Democrat candidates.

While Democrat teachers may have earned a participation ribbon for filing to for office this year, Republicans have a sizable force of educators that will win this cycle, said Republican State Leadership Committee spokesman David James, noting Republicans control 67 of 99 state legislative chambers.

Frustrations among educators

Frustrations among educators reached a boiling point earlier this year after what they said was years of budget cuts and low pay, rising healthcare costs or proposed pension changes, all amid an era of increased demands from school accountability testing that began with No Child Left Behind, a federal education law signed by George W Bush in 2001.

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A string of protests started in West Virginia in February, when thousands of teachers after years without raises walked out of their schools for nine days, demanding better pay. The state legislature eventually gave them a five percent pay rise. But some educators said wasnt enough, prompting some first-time teachers to run for office.

Arizona teachers also walked out over pay and funding, keeping students out of school for six days. Politicians later passed a budget that authorised a 20 percent teacher pay increase by 2020 signed by the governor in May, but candidates say it fell short of demands.

I have a masters degree and Ive been teaching for a decade, and I just climbed over the $40,000 mark, said Jennifer Samuels, 39, a teacher at Desert Shadows Middle School in Scottsdale, Arizona, who is running for a state House seat. I never thought Id have to run for office, but my elected leaders are not protecting public schools.

Teachers from across Kentucky gathered inside the state Capitol building in Frankfort to rally for increased funding for education [Bryan Woolston/AP Photo]

Educators saw some hopeful signs in earlier primaries. While some Kentucky educators lost primaries, first-time candidate Travis Brenda, a Rockcastle County high school math teacher, won a Republican primary against the Kentucky House majority leader who backed pension reform proposal that helped sparked teacher protests.

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In April, Kentucky politicians overrode a veto by Governor Matt Bevin to pass new spending for public education with the help of a 50-cent increase on a cigarette tax. But even some Republican educator candidates are pressing their education message even if it means going against such party leaders such as Bevin.

Support for [US President Donald] Trump is high here, said Scott Lewis, 57, the superintendent of a 4,100-student Ohio County Public Schools in rural western Kentucky, who won a Republican primary by arguing his party wasnt properly funding schools. But I really do think we missed the boat on public education. Teachers want to teach, and they dont want to complain. But with everything accumulating, and thats why you see the protests and so many running for office.

You know why Im at your door

John Waldron, a teacher at Booker T Washington High in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and marched to the state Capitol in protest in April, is making his second attempt at office.

Its John Waldrons second attempt at office [Sue Ogrocki/AP Photo]

You know why Im at your door, Waldron tells voters as he campaigns for a state senate seat in Tulsa, promising to raise inadequate school funding that earlier this year sparked statewide walkouts and made national headlines. And they say, Oh, we know. Its like Im coming to collect overdue homework.

He said educator salaries, including school support staff, are too low even with the states agreement to raise teacher pay by $6,100. Hes funding his campaign of yard signs and mailers with about $150,000 in donations, he said

The governor called us spoiled teenagers, he said of two weeks of walkouts and the fallout. We had candidates filing in races that hadnt been contested in years.

Waldron said he is realistic about the effect of the wave of educators running in Oklahoma. A Republican-dominated legislature is not going to change overnight, but were going to move the needle, he said.

Meanwhile, on the campaign trail, candidates say their message seems to be gaining traction.

Back in Kentucky, Professor Voss said research shows Republicans voters view education spending more favourably than other forms of domestic spending. And he said theres a personal connection that comes with being an educator. Theyve had teachers they loved, many have children in school, so they can have a vested interest in teachers, he said.

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Setser-Kissick, who is running as a Democrat for a Republican-held state Senate seat, spent some time juggling a full-time job for most of the campaign season, hitting the pavement right after work.

Her campaign had recently raised close to $40,000. She said the numbers of Democrats running has diluted some of the available donor funding. But she views her run as part of newfound political clout for educators, whether or not she wins.

I was cynical about politics. I was like why would anybody do that? Now Im knocking on doors, she said. I hope were at a tipping point.
Nearly 130,000 people marched in Taipei before a landmark vote next month on LGBT rights.

Flamboyant drag queens and horned devils rubbed shoulders with Christian pastors as tens of thousands of people took part in Taiwans gay pride parade, the largest in Asia.

The massive march, attended by nearly 130,00 people, was held in capital Taipei on Saturday in advance of a landmark vote next month on LGBT rights.

In Asias first such ruling, Taiwans top court legalised gay marriage in May last year and said its decision must be implemented within two years.

The island will hold a series of public votes on same-sex marriage on November 24.

Rights activists say President Tsai Ing-wen has made little progress on the issue, despite campaigning on a promise of marriage equality during the 2016 election.

Waving rainbow banners, placards and fans printed with slogans saying love is equal and vote for a happy future, participants gathered at the square outside the presidential office.

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I support the referendums because marriage equality is a basic human right that nobody should be deprived of and gender equality education at school is crucial to prevent discrimination and bullying, said Chen Yu-fang, a 39-year-old homemaker who brought her two children to the rally.

Many called the proposal to make a separate law for gay marriage discriminatory, citing the 2017 ruling that current laws violate the right to freedom of marriage and equality.

We will use our vote to tell Tsai Ing-wens government that people want marriage equality, said Miao Poya, one of the activists who proposed a referendum in favour of gay marriage.

People waved rainbow banners and placards printed with slogans saying love is equal and vote for a happy future [Tyrone Siu/Reuters]

Society is still divided, Tsai said this year, but assured the government would abide by the court ruling.

Conservative groups, including Christian churches, have been pushing back against the initiative, saying marriage should be defined as a bond between one man and one woman.

In response, pro-LGBT campaigners have put forward their own referendum proposing that the code should be amended, which will also go to the vote next month.

They have also put forward a referendum calling for same-sex education in schools

If the conservative referendum is successful, it may require a separate law to be enacted for gay marriage, which campaigners say would be discriminatory.

Referendum proposals in Taiwan are put to a public vote if they are supported by 1.5 percent of the electorate  a little over 280,000 signatures. They are also legally binding.

We hope the government will take the issue seriously. Its a pity that there has been no action after the court decision, said Chin Kuang-chih, 26, a drag queen performer.
Trump and Obama ask supporters for civility after mail bombs

President Trump and former President Obama held competing rallies before the US midterm elections and both blamed the other for the negativity in American politics, while condemning the bombings.
Facing the biggest threat to their way of life in decades, indigenous communities may be forced off their homelands.
The Catholic bishop of Memphis, Tennessee, Martin Holley, was unceremoniously kicked out this week by the Vatican. The Memphis diocese is apparently an absolute disaster, as the arrogant liberal bishop closed schools and churches and moved priests around willy-nilly. The parishioners are in open revolt, withholding donations, and I suspect the diocese is effectively bankrupt.

Interestingly, the situation is so desperate, the Vatican sent in Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville to temporarily run things. Kurtz is one of the few American bishops still willing to defend traditional Church teaching. He has been an effective leader everywhere he has served, raising vocations and cleaning up liberal messes, like the enormous one his predecessor made in my hometown. On Pope Francis enemies list, Kurtz is likely just below Cardinal Raymond Burke and Archbishop Charles Chaput. But the situation is so bad in Memphis, they really had no choice.

As Rod Dreher points out, Bishop Holley was already outed over a decade ago as predator priest, yet continued to thrive in the cesspool of Cardinal Theodore McCarricks longtime D.C. operation. And Holleys predecessor was no better, another spendthrift obsessed with gay outreach instead of Church teaching.

But Memphis may be the first small sign of things to come, as the faithful are effectively using their power of purse to begin putting an end to all this nonsense.

Now its very important to keep in mind that whats happening in the Catholic Church is really no different than what is going on at every Christian denomination. In other words, the widespread matriculation of homosexual men into the ministry and the concomitant controversies that follow.

The world Anglican community has been in a slow-motion schism over this issue for years, as have the Methodists. Other Mainline Protestant movements that were already long divided, such as the Presbyterians, Lutherans, and Baptists, are being further split apart by the homosexual issue.

What is different is that the Catholic Church is so much bigger and institutionally substantial than all the other religious groups combined. A fact not lost on greedy plaintiffs lawyers, a two-edge sword for sure.

Pope Benedict understood the deep problem of corruption and homosexuality in the hierarchy and his efforts to bring better men into leadership were fought every step of the way by the so-called "lavender mafia", and even by the Obama administration, for all kinds of reasons.

But with Pope Francis, we have a true creature of the lavender mafia, as Archbishop Carlo Viganos revelations have proven beyond doubt. Francis thought he could simply empower these men to ride roughshod over the laity or the many good priests who might speak out about the corruption in the church. That the high-living homosexual prelates who populate church leadership could continue their wicked ways; as with the Colombian pipeline of homosexual seminarians to this country -- a lavender bishops trafficking operation that violate a host of federal laws, if the FBI would ever bother to investigate.

But this is an age of powerful independent media and the word is getting out. Cardinals McCarrick and Donald Wuerl are now removed. (The Popes recent surrender to Red China was apparently a McCarrick deal long in the works)

McCarrick proteges like Holley and Michael Bransfield have been forced out, or like Blase Cupich in Chicago and Joseph Tobin in Newark, are in big trouble.

The fight between the faithful and Francis with his bad bishops will go on for years and he will try to appoint more of the same kind as replacements.

But unlike even a few months ago, I am beginning to think Francis cannot survive this epic scandal on his own timetable. New investigations into his own conduct in Argentina will make him a pariah. Church revenues in lavender dioceses are drying up. (I am sure the closely guarded financial numbers in Chicago are already a calamity) Sadly, this will leave the whole Church a battered wreck in a few years, much like the Memphis Diocese has already become. But there is no other way to clean house.

Whatever fate Francis and his bad bishops face in this life though, it wont amount to anything compared to what one good priest has had to endure now for 25 years. I speak of Fr. Gordon MacRae, who was imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit by a left-wing kook of a judge. Worse than the judge however, was the Keene, NH detective, James McLaughlin, who was all too eager to smear him with false witnesses. Add to that, lots of psychobabble recovered memories and greedy plaintiffs lawyers, ending in one of the great frame-ups in the history of American justice.

Since Fr. MacRae refused to knuckle under to the New Hampshire kangaroo court, he will likely die in prison. Yet he keeps his faith and dignity alive in a wonderful testimony on the power of true faith in the Gospel.

Apparently, everybody in New Hampshire knows about this disgrace, but no one in either party will do anything about it. If you live there, you might ask Governor Sununu or his opponent Molly Kelly, why no pardon for this innocent man? This case also looks like a textbook example of what the U.S. DoJs Civil Rights Division is supposed to investigate. If you know the new guy there, you might also mention it. I also have a few legal ideas of my own.

But the best thing anyone can do is pray for this brave man. And pray for the many decent priests that still serve; the wolves are many and the good shepherds few.

Frank Friday is an attorney in Louisville, KY.
What has become evident in recent weeks is that one of the most important positions an electorate can vote on is the states attorney general. California attorney general incumbent Xavier Becerra (D) is building a national reputation for challenging the Trump Administration, suing the federal government forty-four times. Instead of focusing on issues important to Californians, he is wasting millions in taxpayers money. During his tenure, the homeless problem has multiplied, crime, including violent acts, has risen and laws are passed that hurt California residents. Anyone looking to make California better might want to consider his challenger, Judge Steven Bailey.

Baileys background is extensive. With an expertise in criminal law, he was an elected Superior Court Judge in El Dorado County for more than eight years, handling criminal, civil, probate, and juvenile cases. He also served four years as the Presiding Juvenile Judge. In addition, as deputy director in charge of legislation for the California Department of Social Services under the late governor George Deukmejian, he worked with both sides of the aisle.

Although many Californians are sympathetic to the plight of the homeless, they are tired of sidewalks used as sleeping areas, storage places, and as bathrooms. Homelessness has become a bipartisan issue where Democrats, Republicans, Independents, liberals, and conservatives have had enough.

When asked about this, Bailey responded, The mentally ill combined with drug addicts make up 75% of the homeless groups. California spends $3.5 billion per year on the mentally ill, but very little actually goes to treatment. Mental illness is a disease that progressively gets worse, and judges are at their wits end because they cannot find services for these people. The current administration solution is to just build housing. These are just like the old projects where those who do not pay they rent get evicted and then are back on the streets. What we end up with is throwing money and more money at the problem.

His solution is to allow judges to give someone in their court a choice of getting treatment or going to jail. Even the hardest addict does not want to go to jail. Unfortunately, Proposition 47 has allowed those arrested to plead out and after 30 to 40 days they are back on the streets. This is why opium and heroin usage is up. I would reinstate criminal penalties for drug possession of a felony so that a persons obvious choice would be to get treatment. Tough solutions are needed. Something else I would do is use Texas as a model, funding community mental health clinics. This would include taking the control of money away from the government and giving it to the nonprofits. But the bottom line is that we need leadership.

Bailey is a big proponent of the First Amendment. We all have a right to say things and the California AG has to protect that right. The current attorney general has no interest in protecting the U.S. or California Constitution. We should not allow the thugs and mobs to suppress speech and assembly. He has a good point considering that groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine confront, challenge, and intimidate Jewish students to scare them from being vocal.

Another issue on college campuses is how they handle due process. If I were attorney general I would make sure there is a comprehensive system on college campuses to protect the rights of the accused and the accuser. This is what we do in a criminal and civil court. Currently, the proceedings there do not have these protections. We need to have standards, an application of rules of evidence, a right to counsel, and transparency. I want to send a message that due process must be respected. We should get rid of the arbitrary way an accusation is ignored or how someone is ramrodded. Look what happened in Santa Clara County where a rape victim who was unconscious saw her rapist get only six months in county jail. This is not right, nor is it right that someone gets accused and cannot defend themselves.

Regarding sanctuary cities, Bailey believes It creates a lawless, unsafe environment. The current law protects no one and provides no sanctuary except for the criminals. They are released from jail and commit crimes against citizens and non-citizens. We need to protect all who live in California. What is happening now puts everyone at risk including citizens, legal immigrants, and those undocumented. I was outraged when the Oakland mayor gave a heads up about an ICE raid and told Californians not to cooperate. Law enforcement should do their job and needs to be protected from intimidation.

He set up and ran the Veterans Court in his county. As a judge, I led the fight in our county working with the DA and the Defense Bar to set up a Veterans Court. We must get them out of the criminal justice system and into treatment. We were able to find housing and job training, working hand-in-hand with the VA. We need to expand it to all of California.

At some point all Californians need to overlook the letter, D or R, by a persons name and vote for someone in the electorates best interest. Judge Bailey has the experience, the willingness to work on a bipartisan basis, and the ability to have solutions for the problems facing Californians. As Bailey stated, why not consider myself as an alternative?

Photo credit: Baileyforag.com

The author writes for American Thinker. She has done book reviews, author interviews, and has written a number of national security, political, and foreign policy articles.
At least 18 people, students and teachers, on a school trip perished Thursday after their bus was swept away by flooding near the Dead Sea.

Army officer Brig. Gen. Farid al-Sharaa said 37 middle school students, seven teachers were surprisingly taken away in flash floods on several kilometers while they were visiting hot springs near the Dead Sea on Thursday afternoon.

The incident took place when the group was having lunch, the army officer said.

It swept away the students for 4 to 5 kilometers, some as far as the Dead Sea, he said.

The government dispatched helicopters and divers to save victims. 35 were rescued in the operations that went on late at night with the support of the Israeli army, which sent a search and rescue team at the request of the Arab country.

Some reportedly survived clinging to rocks. Prime Minister Omar Razzaz reportedly joined the rescue operation. The kingdoms monarch Abdullah II called off his Friday planned trip to Bahrain.

The Middle East country witnessed heavy rains on Thursday afternoon leaving several parts of the country in water.

The rains also battered Israel causing floods in the north. A 4-year-old boy who was swept away.
In the 1960s, an informed but naive undergraduate, I was walking across the campus of the University of Pennsylvania with the Chairman of the Chemistry Department, Prof. Charles C. Price. He told me that he was president of the United World Federalists, and asked if I knew what that organization was. When I said that I did not, he replied that they believed in a one-world government that would grow out of the United Nations. I was nonplussed as I had never heard anyone suggest that idea before. To me, the United Nations was a benevolent organization dedicated to pressuring the world community in the direction of peace, and to operating charitable programs to help the struggling, impoverished peoples of the world. I imagined the UN as a kind of United Way on a worldwide scale.

How would Prof. Prices vision of a new world government emerge? Although there was a socialistic thread in its founding document, the United Nations was formed based on a vision of human rights presented in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) which placed the concept of rights at the forefront for the progress of the world body. And rights are the mainstay for uplifting human freedom and the dignity of the individual. The UDHR document followed many amazing documents that presented rights as the central concept of the post-feudal world: the English Declaration (or Bill) of Rights of 1689, the U.S. Declaration of Independence with its important and forceful assertion of inalienable natural rights, the powerful U.S. Bill of Rights enacted in 1791, and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (1789).

The word rights appears in almost every sentence of the 1869-word UN document. The document is literally obsessed with rights, and one must assume they are likewise obsessed with the rights successes as manifested in the United Kingdom, the U.S., and France. However, there are some deviations from the rights usage we are all familiar with. In Article 3, Instead of the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness found in our Declaration of Independence, the UN declares everyones right to life, liberty and security of person. Are they implying that security will bring happiness? Or are they implying that happiness is too ephemeral a value, and too Western? Perhaps more mundane survival goals are needed by most of the world.

We see a reprise of items from our Bill of Rights such as condemnation of cruel and unusual punishment (Article 5), due process (Articles 6,7,8,9, 10, 11, 14, 17), illegal search and seizure (Article 12), and freedom of speech and assembly (Articles 19,20). But there are new rights introduced which, as early as 1945, were pointing the way towards intervention by the UN in the daily lives of people throughout the world. Throughout the document, they assert the right to food, clothing, medical care, social services, unemployment and disability benefits, child care, and free education, plus the right to full development of the personality, (imagine, the UN says I have the right to be me) and the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community and to enjoy the arts (we each have the right to enjoy a painting or a movie). However, they do not state the right to appear on the Tonight Show or Saturday Night Live, so there were limits to their largesse.

In 2015, seventy years after their original rights-based document, the UN took a giant step towards the global government that was only hinted at in their first organizing document. They issued a document entitled Transforming Our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This document has 91 numbered sections of the UNs program for world government. The UDHR is only referenced once in the entire document in Article 19. Unlike the original mother document that was under 1900 words, this document is 14,883 words. The 91 items are addressing issues under the five headings of People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace, and Partnership. Additionally, the document provides 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to improve life on the planet.

What is meant by the term sustainable? The most often quoted definition comes from the UN World Commission on Environment and Development: sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The earlier ideas and ideals of rights, freedom, equality, and justice are subsumed under meeting of needs and an explicit environmentalism which emphasizes preventing the depletion of scarce planetary resources. Of course, the takeoff is the Marxist axiom that society should be organized around the idea of from each according to his ability to each according to his needs. Thus, Marxism is implicit in sustainability, but is nuanced by its alliance with seemingly scientific adjustments and goals related to environmentalism. A technical jargon is welded to Marxist intentionality to produce a sense of fittingness and modern progress.

The entire Transforming Our World document is cast in a stream of consciousness of pious platitudes for a utopian future. It is an outsize utopian dream. Five of the 17 items pertain to the environment. There are goals for the cities, for women, for the poor, and even for life under the water. Absolutely no sphere of human activity is exempt from control by the UN. The key word of course is no longer rights except the oblique reference in Article 19. In fact, this writer did not see the word rights even once in this document even though that word appeared in practically every sentence of the original UN document.

The one-worlders of the 1950s and early 1960s are now in the UN drivers seat, and they have made their move. The overlay of Marxist talk about meeting needs has moved to center stage. The UN has assigned itself a time frame for moving forward in its plan for planetary hegemony.

This projected transformation detailing (yet without details) a new world order of environmental responsibility and a significant reduction of poverty and hunger never speaks to the practical dimension of vast manipulations of people by cynical leaders and ignorant bureaucrats who hold their positions through terrorism and bribery. They never discuss incompetence and corruption, twin brothers in the family of venality. The document portrays a sincere world where all those in power want to help humanity despite the daily evidence of the selfishness, corruption, murderous intents, devilish manipulations, thefts, personal immoralities, hatreds, and utter depravity of many governmental leaders in every country in the world, and among the leaders of business as well. Is not the Agenda for Sustainable Development itself one of those devilish manipulations?

The sustainability ideal is not wedded to a Christian worldview; instead, individual liberty is submerged in a scientifically determined collectivist mindset with final decisions in the hands of the devilish, all-knowing Big Brothers. The relevance of the individual is downplayed. It is being put forward by a UN that is no longer pro-western, a much larger body than existed in 1945. Will you accept it, or is it time, more than ever before, to begin rethinking our membership in that unsustainable body?
According to the European Court of Human Rights, the feelings of Muslims are more important than liberty. A critique of the Religion of Peace can be deemed a threat to "religious peace."

Becket Adams explains in the Washington Examiner:

The European Court of Human Rights ruled this week that defaming the Prophet Muhammad is not protected speech. More specifically, the court said an "Austrian woman's conviction for calling the prophet of Islam a pedophile didn't breach her freedom of speech," the Associated Press reported. The ECHR explained in its ruling that Austrian courts had "carefully balanced her right to freedom of expression with the right of others to have their religious feelings protected." The woman explained in 2009 during a seminar discussion that the Prophet Muhammad's marriage to a six-year-old girl was basically "pedophilia." "A 56-year-old and a 6-year-old? What do you call that? Give me an example? What do we call it, if it is not pedophilia?" she said.

This decision once more shows the colossal divide between the European interpretation of liberty and the one practiced in the USA.

I know most of the readers of this forum are currently more interested in all of those non-exploding bombs going around, but I feel obliged to inform all liberty-loving people across the pond about an important legal decision made here in Europe.

The European Court of Human Rights is the de facto highest court in the "European Union." It is in some ways comparable to the Supreme Court in the USA: it issues final judgment in legal proceedings by weighing court decisions in individual nation-states against the "European Convention on Human Rights," a sort of European "Bill of Rights."



European Court of Human Rights building in Strasbourg. Photo credit: CherryX via Wikimedia Commons.

One of the rights I have as a European, according to this convention, is "freedom of expression." Although article 10 of the European convention already places a lot of restrictions on this "freedom" (read it here ), many of us assumed we could speak our minds on important issues, just like Americans. We were wrong.

In 2008 and 2009, the Austrian citizen Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff held a series of seminars concerning Islam in Vienna (Austria). One of the topics was the famous 6-year-old child bride of Muhammad (Aisha). At some point she said that "Muhammed liked to do it with little children."

In ways that are becoming frighteningly common in the Old World, the P.C. police donned its armor, and Sabaditsch-Wolff was convicted by an Austrian court because she had "insulted religion." (If you are interested in the details of this show trial, the Gatestone Institute ran a good article about it.) Having the choice between a 480-euro fine (about 550 dollars) and 60 days in prison, the accused chose a third option: the European Court of Human Rights. She argued that religious groups should tolerate criticism and that her statements served the public debate and were not intended as insults.

This European Court made a historic decision on 25 October 2018 by stating that the Austrian conviction was not in violation of article 10 of the European convention. Freedom of speech has its limits.

The Court found in conclusion that in the instant case the domestic courts carefully balanced the applicant's right to freedom of expression with the rights of others to have their religious feelings protected, and to have religious peace preserved in Austrian society.

This conclusion should give every freedom-loving person pause. It is a sentence so frightening, so important, and so far-reaching that it is worth further analysis. The court's conclusion says freedom of speech is not absolute, but should be balanced against..

1. "... the rights of others to have their religious feelings protected,"

2. "... and to have religious peace preserved in Austrian society."

As for the first point: We all know who these "others" are. Although insulting Christianity has been a favorite pastime of the higher educated in Western Europe since the French Revolution, it rarely leads to convictions. There are no shrieking Buddhists protesting in Paris, calling for violence against infidel non-Buddhists. It is also worth noting that the court does not mention "religious rights." It mentions religious "feelings." How do you define that? Isn't every form of critique slightly hurtful to someone's feelings? Isn't that what freedom of speech is all about?

But it becomes truly creepy when we read the second point: freedom of expression has to be weighed against the right "to have religious peace preserved in Austrian society." The Court of Human Rights hereby confirms the fears of many libertarians and conservatives in Europe: that critique of these "others" (i.e., Muslims) may lead to a breakdown of the fragile peace that now exists, thanks to mass immigration, in every large European city. We all know where this kind of appeasement leads to.

What this shameful episode shows is that the legal elites of the faltering European Union have a complete different idea about liberty, as compared to the ideas of the Founding Fathers in the USA. In pursuit of a European "Bill of Rights," large treaties were signed, great speeches held, and supranational institutions created. But when push comes to shove, freedom of speech, one of the basic liberties  maybe the most fundamental one of them all  is deemed less important than the feelings of Muslims. Moreover, ironically, critique of the "Religion of Peace" is now deemed a threat to "religious peace."
A day after the rasher of dysfunctional failed pipe bombs decorating the mail receptacles of major Democrat personages mantled with various sobriquets by supporters of the current administration, the august Time Warner Center in New York City was the site of a homely, unpublicized bomb scare 2.0.

The T-W center, situated at a venerable locus on 59th Street and Columbus Circle, is the domicile of the city's CNN, as every local knows.

Accordingly, when two unidentified "packages" were left, and found, on the third floor of the eight-year-old commercial edifice, police were called, and, more relevant to the business end of the Upper West Side, the entire building was evacuated. CNN didn't deign to cover the event.

I interviewed a clutch of NYPD men standing guard outside the impressive structure and inside the atrium lobby graced with two ten-foot-tall male and female nude bronze sculptures by Colombian artist Botero.

The escalators leading to Whole Foods stutters up and down from this lovely atrium, at year-end dazzled with gigantic 18-pointed Swarovski crystal stars that mesmerize with a shifting kaleidoscope of computerized colors for a month, seen at night in glorious changing colors far down the Central Park South boulevard leading to the Apple store at one end, on Fifth avenue, and the T-W building, on its westernmost end.

Anyway. The police listened as I asked them if they too did not wonder at all the fuss made over these multiply delivered "bombs" that, mysteriously, not only did not detonate, but from all analyses, could not explode, so amateur and bizarrely constructed are they.

The men in blue agreed with my take, even smiling and telling me they were surprised to hear anyone actually stating these views on the notoriously leftist, anti-[whisper] Trump West Side.

They all, to a man, said they side with me, and with Trump, as against the city administrator, unpopular Mayor de Blasio, or the leftist Democrat obstructionists making such hay over the shocking, shocking delivery of pipe bombs to the president's "enemies."

Forgotten by CNN, even though their building was targeted, the NYPD did their job, carefully clearing out the building of all its inhabitants. Several intrepid officers approached the bulky, roughly wrapped packages on the floor.

The five policemen I was speaking with let me hold my breath for what they found.

They smiled. "Know what we found?" Of course not.

"Kiddie toys. Cars," one offered.

The officer closest to me asked if I was familiar with Dinesh D'Souza. Of course. There was a chorus of Did you see his latest movie? They commiserated on the fact that the documentary was not circulating in many theaters. Identifying who likes D'Souza gives away what party affiliation one is likely fond of.

Another officer, inside the lobby, congratulated me on carrying books. "We like to see people reading actual books, instead of all that finger-pressing. All those cell phones." We agreed. Fewer people, especially under the age of voting, read real books anymore, even for pleasure.

As we spoke, several commented that they were surprised to hear my evidently pro-Trump views. "Especially," one added, "in this part of town." The ever-resistant blue sludge of the Upper West Side.

Because they now thought better of me as a denizen of this resistant arena of the city, they shared. I heard some chewy gossip from the "inside" NYPD guarding the lobby.

"You know that restaurant, Per Se, upstairs?" one asked.

Yes, I had tried to make reservations for my birthday, but they laughed at the presumption. "But you need to reserve at least a year in advance," the maitre d' sniffed. Per Se is the priciest eatery in NYC. So some of the diners there on Thursday, when the place was being evacuated, were left high and dry by the staff, who promptly fled the scene as soon as the order to evac came down from the police.

The maitre d' apologized to a few couples, explaining to the officers that "people paying $1,000 for supper shouldn't be hustled out."

But, another chimed in, if a Big Apple police officer can be said to "chime" in this tough burg, "But some of those diners hustled out  without being expected to pay." Well, they were expected to pay, but, they let me know, some diners left without putting their premium credit cards on the salver.

Another diner saw a full bottle of Cointreau standing unattended on a counter, and...just...topped off a few tables with some unexpensed refills.

My efforts to go down to the vast Whole Foods were unavailing, as a female police officer clearly told me, "We are closed. The store is closed." They usually close at 11 P.M. This was not even 7 P.M.

So what the neighborhood genially refers to as "Whole Salary" for the astronomical prices of many of the comestibles was now just Hole Foods. No foods.

CNN wasn't reporting that President (they don't use the term, of course) Trump was responsible for the closure of Williams Sonoma, Michael Kors, the spectacular Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Spectrum Cable, shoe emporia, Sony electronics, various and sundry men's stores, confectionary kiosks, jewelry boutiques, and high-end restaurants and selective bakeries.

How many millions were lost because of this massive building closing down half a day in prime shopping and dining hours?

That's all they need. In addition to being infamous purveyors of the president's famed "fake news," they did not yearn to become known, now, as the nefarious disseminators of "bake news."

Photo credit: David via Flickr.
When we think of Venezuela, we think of starving people fleeing their country without access to food, clothing, toilet paper, or medical care. We think of street urchins fighting over garbage scraps with machetes. We think of migrant exoduses from socialism.

But there's another reality about the place, and it's not getting the attention, say, Saudi Arabia or Russia is, over the killings of dissidents. The Maduro regime is showing an alarming willingness to violently attack opposition leaders, and it's moving in on high-profile ones who had previously seemed untouchable. They've already jailed politician Leopoldo Lopez and driven many others into exile. But the regime's people have stepped up the thuggery to higher levels since then. They tortured to death a city councilman who was then flung off a ten-story building earlier this month. And they encircled and beat up leading opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, likely signaling intent to kill.

Machado first came to the fore in 2005, when she was greeted by President George W. Bush as the leader of Sumate, a Venezuelan non-government organization that sought clean, zero-fraud elections in Venezuela. I met her when I was in Caracas in 2005 and found her a fine, straight-arrow, and extremely nice person, with an indomitable will to ensure that Venezuela keep to its claimed democratic norms, yet she was such a natural, normal person. I was delighted that she liked President Bush, refusing to engage in the usual Bush-bashing of the time. You may remember the famous picture of them meeting here:

The other day, she looked like this:

Lo que estamos viendo es que la piedra en el camino de ese falso dialogo con el narcodictador Maduro, la verdadera piedra en el zapato que queda es Maria Corina Machado. Habian advertido sobre atentado contra Maria Corina Machado dias antes de golpiza https://t.co/MlIcu5CH3f  Andres Pastrana A (@AndresPastrana_) October 25, 2018

It's utterly vile and horrible  she was encircled by Chavista thugs from Venezuela's Cuban-directed secret service, known as SEBIN, and beaten up. It's not the first time they have done this  Chavista thugs assaulted her in the legislature in 2015 and broke her nose. Foreign Policy at the time called her "Venezuela's Marked Woman." But this assault seems to have been even more deliberate and planned. The tweet showing the shocking damage comes from Andres Pastrana, a former conservative president of Colombia, who is worried about her. According to the Miami Herald:

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, attacked with clubs and rocks Wednesday by pro-government thugs, is the most recent target of an increasingly desperate Nicolas Maduro regime because of her steadfast resistance to a new round of political negotiations, former Colombian President Andres Pastrana said Thursday. Pastrana, who had warned two days earlier that Machado's life was in danger, told el Nuevo Herald that all the actions against Machado were being directed by the secret police, known as SEBIN. "What we're eeing is that the stumbling block on the way to the false negotiations" between the regime and the opposition "is Maria Corina Machado," Pastrana. said "Information from friends from the Venezuelan opposition and friends we have in other places pointed to the possibility that they were organizing an attack" against Machado, the former Colombian president added.

Machado said the townspeople  at great risk  rushed to help her, which was a great comfort, and the Herald reported that Sen. Marco Rubio spoke out on her behalf on Twitter, blasting the outrageous act of thuggery against the woman.

But she felt the attack was different from the others:

"The young people who were accompanying me later told us that this time it was different because they somehow felt that they were beaten in order to separate them from me," she said. "It's like there was an order to attack me." About eight of the attackers, including some women, managed to reach Machado. One of them pulled on her pony tail, wrenching her back. While one of the attackers held her from behind, others beat her with fists and clubs. A woman hit her on the head with a club, and she was also hit on the nose. Overall, about 20 people were injured or beaten during the attack, Machado said.

This is disturbing stuff, and I feel concern for Machado's safety. She's the only opposition leader left, and up until now, she's been relatively untouchable. That the regime thinks it can attack her and get away with it seems to signal that the communist regime feels immensely threatened by her and believes that it can do absolutely anything it wants to preserve its grip on power and get away with it, same as Russia and Saudi Arabia, except without the international condemnation. Where is that? Where are the loud voices that yelled about the Saudi dissident being murdered while this brutality is going on much closer to our shores?

The regime knows that the sticks and stones of global condemnation can never hurt it, because unlike Saudi Arabia or Russia, it no longer seeks any international respect. It sees how other regimes get away with this, most notably the Castro regime, which has gotten away with murder and torture for decades, and is rapidly following Cuba's path downhill.

Unless the regime is thrown out, it's going to go on. The left may yell against a future Pinochet to hose the place out, but the Venezuelan military, unlike the Chilean one, has been corrupted by Chavismo for years. It's hard to think such a thing will happen. The case grows for intervention by the region's neighbors. What we are looking at is not just a failed regime that can't feed its people; we are looking at a communist thug regime that beats and kills dissidents. The two go hand in hand in any communist regime, every single time.
A report issued by top international security experts says Iran was much closer to developing a workable nuclear bomb than anyone previously imagined.

The paper, authored by, among others, Institute for Science and International Security director David Albright and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) former deputy director General Olli Heinonen, concluded that "the information highlights dual-use, controlled equipment used at the site, such as a flash x-ray system utilizing a Marx generator and a variety of neutron measurement equipment, with electronics, designed to monitor high speed, explosively driven tests of a neutron source commonly used in a nuclear weapon."

Getting the neutron flow right is the difference between a nuclear dud and a nuclear boom. It's basically a trial and error process that requires massive amounts of explosives.

The Express:

The report, written by watchdog director David Albright, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) former Deputy Director General Olli Heinonen and other top experts, concluded the findings "shows that the Parchin site did house high explosive chambers capable for use in nuclear weapons research and development". The news follows a chilling warning by Iranian General Hossein Salami, second-in-command of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards force, who vowed to destroy Israel in a furious attack that raised fears of a major outbreak of conflict in the volatile Middle East. Referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he said: "I tell the Prime Minister of the Zionist regime that he should practice swimming in the Mediterranean. "Because soon there will be no way to escape but the sea." The Iranian regime consistently refers to the Israeli Government as "the Zionist regime" as a way of denying its legitimacy.

Obama partisans might point to this study as validating the nuclear deal with Iran. Their reasoning is that if Iran was conducting tests to determine neutron flow in their weapon design, they were probably less than a year from testing a device, and the agreement forestalled them from having a nuclear weapons capability.

Nice try. The fact is, the Parchin military base was deliberately left out of the IAEA inspection regime. Ludicrously, Iranian scientists gave soil samples and other items requested by the IAEA without allowing inspectors on the base. Nuclear inspectors are still kept from examining the "dual use" equipment on the base, so there's no way of knowing if testing is still going on  or has been completed.

There are so many holes in the IAEA inspection regime that it's possible that the Iranians already have all the elements needed to construct a nuclear weapon, requiring only a few weeks to enrich enough uranium to possess a workable bomb.

Interestingly, some of this new information came from a daring Israeli raid on a warehouse in Tehran last January that netted a treasure trove of information that Prime Minister Netanyahu insisted showed the Iranians in violation of the nuclear deal, but critics of Israel said there was nothing new.

Looks as though Netanyahu was right.
If there's anything that points to the political nature of the thousands-strong migrant caravan heading north to the U.S., it's the migrants' rejection of Mexico's generous offer of political asylum, along with jobs, medical care, and big benefit packages. According to this Associated Press report, they'd rather confront Trump.

Migrants traveling in a caravan through southern Mexico have rejected a proposal by President Enrique Pena Nieto that they apply for refugee status in the country and obtain benefits. Coordinators of the caravan read out the president's plan called "You are at home." Migrants shouted "Gracias!" but "No, we're heading north!" Activist Irineo Mujica of the Pueblo sin Fronteras group is supporting the migrants in the caravan. He told the group that 80 percent of those who apply for protective status would be rejected and deported.

NBC reports:

Sitting at the edge of the edge of the town square, 58-year-old Oscar Sosa of San Pedro Sula, Honduras concurred. "Our goal is not to remain in Mexico," Sosa said. "Our goal is to make it to the (U.S). We want passage, that's all."

There are significantly mixed reports about that, suggesting that the Mexican government isn't on all one page as to what its people intend to do.

William LaJeunesse of Fox News reports that Mexican cops were commandeering trucks and buses to load the migrants up for travel north, while NBC News reports that Mexicans were picking off the smaller groups that have spun off from the original caravan mass and declaring them illegal. The smaller groups, by the way, have reportedly spun off because of the presence of so many criminals and gang members in the ranks of the larger group, with LaJeunesse reporting that the invading army has fallen from 7,000 to 4,000. The pickoffs, however, seem to be followed by calls from the far-left caravan-organizers to stay with the larger group, which just happens to support their original political aim of using of the caravan of large numbers to confront Trump and render the U.S. border meaningless.

Either way, the Mexican government is not helping in the transport regard, but that looks more like weakness, and not wanting this to be a problem with the U.S. or themselves, more than anything else.

The migrants, after all, have left a lot of trash, and many are stealing from shops to survive the journey. Here is a recent tweet about the trash:

Mexican woman laments trash covered streets after migrant caravan passes through.



"The migrants left and left us the garbage. What a waste of food, when they said they don't even have enough to eat."pic.twitter.com/BF5CfHzORQ  Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) October 26, 2018

What's indisputable here is that weak as it is, and as concerned about its own security as it is, Mexico has issued a very, very generous offer to the migrants that they've turned up their noses at.

This tells us one thing: that the migrant caravan doesn't comprise the sweet little daisies seeking asylum from violence that the press, the NGOs, and the Catholic Church are portraying, but a group of hardcore pick-and-choose activists who will settle for nothing less than U.S. benefit packages, borders and U.S. rule of law be damned. They want what they want, they want it for free, and they want it on their own terms. They're political activists hell-bent on teaching Trump a lesson and helping themselves to the U.S. taxpayer-paid goodies, not people fleeing violence and grateful for whatever they can get, the way real refugees, such as the fleeing Venezuelans, are. These mostly military-aged young men, often with criminal records, have a message to send, and they're happy to act as pawns for their NGO masters.

If that's not reason enough to halt them at the border, whether by troops or a wall, what is? These caravaners aren't who they say they are.
The relationship between America and Israel is critical. "For Israel, America acts as a strategic buffer between the Jewish state and hostile world and  as has been repeatedly proven  its only friend that it can truly count on in good times and bad." While relations between America and Israel are currently strong under the Trump administration, Jewish voters have historically supported the Democrats. However, given the constant references to Nazi Germany and the anti-Israel sentiment on the left, Jews should seriously reconsider their allegiance come November.

On Tuesday, MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace compared President Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler because Trump embraced the word "nationalist" at a rally. "I watch enough History Channel to know that they cheered at Hitler, too," added Wallace, who went on to say that by "nationalism," Trump meant "white" nationalism.

MSNBC host Joe Scarborough has also referenced the Nazis in his remarks. While discussing the nation's immigration policies, Scarborough compared the separation of children from their families to the Nazis. More particularly, Scarborough said:

I know children are being ripped from their mother's arms, even while they're being breast-fed. I know children are being marched away to showers, marched away to showers. Being told they are  just like the Nazis  said that they were taking people to the showers and then they never came back.

MSNBC's Donny Deutsch echoed Scarborough's remarks, stating: "If you vote for Trump, you are ripping children from parents' arms." "If you vote for Trump then you, the voter, you, not Donald Trump, are standing at the border, like Nazis, going 'you here, you here.'"

Jewish voters should be enraged by such comparisons. Moreover, Jewish voters must understand that some of the new faces of the Democratic Party have also publicly attacked the State of Israel. According to RJC spokesman Neil Strauss:

Democrats running in competitive primaries, some in swing districts, are getting left wing, base votes by attacking Israel. For Democratic groups to pretend like this is a made-up wedge issue is audacious considering they won't commit to supporting (or denounce) these candidates. Make no mistake about it, Scott Wallace, Leslie Cockburn, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and other candidates attacking Israel, one of our closest allies and the only democracy in the Middle East, is bad for U.S.-Israel relations. It is also a bad political strategy. We will continue educating voters in many other districts about the anti-Israel behavior of Democrats, between now and November.

Historically, many traditional and "old-school" Democrats strongly supported Israel. Therefore, the fact that many Jews voted for Democrats did not endanger Israel, because those elected were also supporters. However, the playing field has significantly changed, and some of the up-and-coming faces of the Democratic party have a vastly different opinion: "Kirsten Gillibrand came out against the same Israel Anti-Boycott Bill she'd once co-sponsored. Jersey's Cory Booker voted against the Taylor Force Act that cut off funding for the Palestinians while they subsidize terrorists and their families. And Vermont's Bernie Sanders tried to place three anti-Israel activists on the 2016 Democratic platform committee." The anti-Israel sentiment should be concerning to Jews around the country. Jews should not live in a vacuum and should be wary of the language and rhetoric being used by some on the left.

The Democratic Party has changed. It has moved much farther to the left and, in doing so, has put Jewish voters in a difficult position. Should Jews who traditionally vote Democrat continue to do so despite the anti-Israel sentiment expressed by some of the Democratic up-and-comers, or should they reconsider their loyalty for the sake of the State of Israel? Given some of the recent rhetoric and the Democrats' move to the far left, the Jewish vote will definitely have an impact on Israel. Come November, we can only hope Jews remember this when they go to the polls.

Mr. Hakim is a writer and an attorney. His articles have been published in The Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, The Federalist, American Thinker, and other online publications.

https://thoughtfullyconservative.wordpress.com

Twitter: @Elad3599
Many years ago, I worked in the Palestinian territories in the first years that the Palestinian Authority under Yasser Arafat had control. The situation was fluid enough that I could travel and make friends all over the area.

During this time, I met a police officer involved in the Palestinian government's first (as I recall) reported death by torture. I asked him what had happened. While we looked at the beautiful Samarian hills, he answered, "Well, one of the guys got a little aggressive, and we accidentally beat the guy too hard, and he died. He [the officer] was known as someone who was aggressive."

I asked, "So what happened to the officer?" My friend replied, "Well he was punished. He was suspended for a few days. It wasn't right that he hit so hard."

A few months later, torture came to my office. A local woman came in, telling us her husband had been beaten to death by the secret police. A coworker investigated, and the local chief of security also told my colleague matter-of-factly, without any seeming remorse or shame, that the man had had a heart attack while they were beating him. They didn't mean to kill him  it just happened. "Of course," the chief said, "he was guilty and deserved what happened to him." A few weeks later, all my coworkers were arrested by security and beaten as well. I made every effort to protest and fight this injustice, but not one human rights organization or news reporter, or anyone with any influence, was interested in Arab human rights abuses  only Israeli abuses. (Only the Swiss Red Cross would assist, but they could merely verify my colleagues' detention.) Thus, I left the area, never to return.

Extrapolating this experience to the Khashoggi incident, I believe that within the context of a culture of routine police beatings, the Saudi government considered its story believable in the sense that every Arab would understand a "fistfight" to mean a police beating. I think the question is not whether the Saudi government meant to beat Mr. Khashoggi, but whether it meant for him to die during the beating.

I would argue that if the Saudi crown prince meant to kill Mr.Khashoggi, he could have been assassinated anywhere, by any number of relatively untraceable means. Almost anything would have caused the Saudis less embarrassment than the way Khashoggi was apparently killed in the Saudi consulate in Turkey. Thus, I argue that Khashoggi was killed accidentally during what the Saudis thought would be a routine police interaction  routine, as in every political opponent should expect a police beating.

What should the U.S. government do in response? Any response should be calibrated. Torture is not right. It is reprehensible. Beating political opponents to death is horrific. However, in the Middle East, governments do what they must to stay in power. Every Middle Eastern government understands that peaceful transfers of power are the exception, not the rule in the region, and any government opponents will in turn oppress the former rulers once they gain power.

In this story, there is no good guy  all sides are morally compromised. Jamal Khashoggi was working to bring Islamist rule to the Middle East, Turkey is rapidly becoming an adversary, and Saudi Arabia is the country that produced Osama bin Laden. But that does not mean we need to help sworn enemies such as Iran by weakening significantly our relationship with Saudi Arabia.
Kuwait Airways has named its deputy executive officer Kamel Hasan Al Awadhi as new leader at a time the carrier is strengthening its fleet with new aircraft.

Al Awadhi will take office in November, according to a statement by the airline posted on Twitter.

The former deputy CEO will replace Abdullah Al Sharhan. Al Awadhi joined the carrier in 1999 and became deputy CEO in 2016.

Al Awadhis appointment comes as the airline embarked on the improvement of its fleet and expansion of its hub by authorities.

The airline last month started operation from the fourth newly built terminal at Kuwait International airport.

Last week, the national carrier signed on the dotted line for the purchase of eight of France-based Airbuss 330neos.
US President Donald Trump Thursday greenlighted new sanctions against the Iran-backed powerful military group Hezbollah in a move to further dry out funding of the Shia movement.

Trump told attendees at the 35th anniversary of the Marines Barracks bombing in 1983 in Beirut that he signed the implement of stiffer sanctions targeting the movements funds.

Over the past year, we have levied the highest sanctions ever imposed on Hezbollah  in a single year, by far. Just a few moments ago, I signed legislation imposing even more hard-hitting sanctions on Hezbollah to further starve them of their funds. And they are starving for them, Trump said.

The new sanctions come under Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Amendments Act (HIFPAA) and seek to cut the anti-Israel movement from its financial source and international financial system. They also target Lebanese and foreign individuals and organizations working with the Iran-backed armed group.

The bill, critics and analysts say, could jeopardize current talks for the formation of a new cabinet following Hezbollah victory during May elections, won by Hezbollah and President Michel Aouns party. Prime Minister Saad Hariri is yet to name a new cabinet.

The sanctions, An-Nahar reports affect the international funding received by ministries to be occupied by Hezbollah lawmakers in the upcoming Cabinet, namely from organizations like the World Bank, the United Nations, and the International Monetary Fund.

Hezbollah has reportedly demanded to take the health ministry, which has an annual budget of over $400 million.
John Mackey, CEO and co-founder of Whole Foods, discusses the strategies and techniques used at Whole Foods Market of integrating love into the corporate workplace before a large audience of Lead With Love Leadership Summit attendees at Doerr-Hosier Center at Aspen Meadows Resort Friday afternoon.
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1 big thing: The great auto disruption

Few changes in modern life will hit in more radical ways than how we get around.

Already, people are abandoning cars for ride-hailing and tooling around on electric scooters. Computer-assisted driving is giving way to prototype autonomous vehicles that share the road in some cities with pedestrians, bicyclists and traditional vehicles.

The big picture : The vision is that driverless cars will chauffeur you anywhere while you relax, work or socialize.

: The vision is that driverless cars will chauffeur you anywhere while you relax, work or socialize. The reality is that while 99% of routine driving skills have been relatively easy for robots to achieve, the last 1% haven't  and those are crucial for safety and consumer trust.

Lets break down the raw myths and realities of whats here and what's coming:

The allure of autonomous vehicles is that they're expected to cost less per mile, result in fewer traffic deaths and provide greater freedom to the elderly and disabled.

When will they arrive? In 10, 20, 50 years  experts debate the timing.

Execs are trying to lower expectations:

After promising that a Tesla would drive itself across the country by the end of 2017, the company recently removed full self-driving mode from its pre-order options, with CEO Elon Musk admitting it confused consumers to offer a feature that wasn't ready yet.

Aurora Innovation, led by former execs from Google, Tesla and Uber, urged the industry to tone down its bullishness and be more truthful about our capabilities, reports the Washington Post.

Even the CEO of Waymo, which is preparing to launch the nation's first commercial robo-taxi service in sections of Phoenix by year-end, says privately owned self-driving cars will take longer than you think."

"Technologically speaking, there doesn't appear to be a showstopper out there. This is all about learning cycles now.

 Larry Burns, author of "Autonomy: The Quest to Build the Driverless Car  and How It Will Shape Our World"

What's holding back the industry: The technology requires more intensive testing and development to be able to predict how other cars will behave  and surpass humans at driving. Safety regulations need to catch up with technological innovation. And legal questions need answering, such as who is to blame if an AV causes an accident?

" We understand if we're going to deploy hundreds or thousands of automated vehicles, it has to work in every case."

 Sherif Marakby, CEO of Ford Autonomous Vehicles

None of this has changed the minds of investors. They are pouring in cash, and company valuations are getting frothier.

"The $4 trillion disruption:" That's how Burns, a former GM engineer and now Waymo advisor, describes what's happening. Here is how he crunches the numbers:

Americans travel more than 3 trillion miles a year.

The total cost of owning and operating a car is about $1.50 a mile.

Even with the added cost of AV technology, a driverless car costs only about 20 cents a mile.

So a driver could save $5,625 a year using a shared driverless electric car instead of a privately owned vehicle.

The economic impact is likely to be large, but not immediate. Autonomous vehicles could add $800 billion to the U.S. economy by 2050 and create jobs that may, over time, replace those lost by truck drivers, according to Securing America's Future Energy.

Where it stands: Active safety technology in today's cars already cut sideswipe crashes and injuries by double-digit rates, and rear-end crashes have gone down 39% with automatic braking systems.

Unfortunately, those safety benefits are offset by a rise in distracted driving, which is why the quest toward fully autonomous cars continues.
11 people were killed in a Saturday morning shooting at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Wendell Hissrich, Pittsburgh Public Safety Director confirmed. Both the public safety director and the FBI special agent in charge have described the scene as "horrific" and "one of the worst I've seen."

Six people were injured, including 4 officers. Don Yealy of University of Pittsburgh Department of Emergency Medicine confirmed there were no children among the deceased and described two civilian victims as a 61-year-old female with extremity wounds, and a 70-year-old male with critical gun shot wounds. The shooting occurred during a bris  a traditional Jewish baby naming ceremony. Authorities have arrested the suspect and are investigating the shooting as a hate crime.

The details: The gunman walked in to the synagogue yelling "All Jews must die."

Bob Jones, FBI special agent in charge, said the suspect had one assault rifle and three handguns on him at the time of the shooting.

He reportedly frequently posted anti-Semitic comments on social media.

There is no active threat to the community, per Hissrich.

The NYPD has increased security at synagogues in New York City after the shooting in Pittsburgh.

The FBI has taken control of the investigation. CNN obtained a photo of the suspect, 46-year-old Robert Bowers, and reports that he wrote, "I can't sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics I'm going in," on social media just minutes before the shooting.

Photo: CNN/Authorities

What they're saying

Aboard Air Force One, President Trump told reporters the White House is considering canceling the rally that is scheduled in Southern Illinois for Saturday night. Earlier, President Trump tweeted about the events saying they "are far more devastating than originally thought."

A tweet previously embedded here has been deleted or was tweeted from an account that has been suspended or deleted.

Ivanka Trump tweeted words of encouragement that America is "stronger than the acts of a depraved bigot and anti-semite."

A tweet previously embedded here has been deleted or was tweeted from an account that has been suspended or deleted.

In a statement from Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf: "These senseless acts of violence are not who we are as Americans. My thoughts right now are focused on the victims, their families and making sure law enforcement has every resource they need."

A tweet previously embedded here has been deleted or was tweeted from an account that has been suspended or deleted.

This is a developing story.
Armenia is open to discussing a possible purchase of military equipment from the United States if there is a good offer, according to the acting prime minister of the South Caucasus nation that has allied relations with Russia.

Visiting Armenia on October 25, U.S. President Donald Trumps national security adviser John Bolton said the issue of possible sales of American military equipment was also addressed during his meeting with the acting head of the Armenian government, Nikol Pashinian.

During an exclusive interview with RFE/RL that day Armenian Service Director Harry Tamrazian asked the senior White House official a question about possible alternatives for post-Soviet nations in a region where Russia still remains a big player in security terms. Among such alternatives Bolton mentioned the area of weapons sales.

We have restrictions Congress has imposed on the United States in terms of [weapons] sales to Azerbaijan and Armenia because of the conflict [in Nagorno-Karabakh]. But there are exceptions to that. And as I said to the prime minister, if its a question of buying Russian military equipment versus buying U.S. military equipment, wed prefer the later. We think our equipment is better than the Russians anyway. So we want to look at that. And I think it increases Armenias options when its not entirely dependent on one major power. I understand the geographical situation and the historical antecedents to all of this. But I think this is a time to be optimistic that Armenia can emerge more on the world stage, Trumps national security advisor said, in particular.

This statement elicited mixed reactions from political parties in Armenia.

Vahram Baghdasarian, the leader of the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) parliamentary faction, described such statements as unacceptable, claiming that they incite a war between the parties to the conflict. The senior member of the HHK led by former president Serzh Sarkisian referred to the principle of prohibiting arms supplies to warring parties. This escalates the situation and aggravates the negotiating process, Baghdasarian said on Friday.

Asked by media on Saturday whether Yerevan is actually going to purchase military equipment from the United States, Armenias acting Prime Minister Pashinian said: The [Armenian] government is not constrained by anything. If there is an offer from the United States that is good for us, we will discuss it.

So far, Russia has supplied weapons in large numbers to both Armenia and Azerbaijan despite being one of the international co-sponsors of peace talks between the two countries on ways to resolve the protracted conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. It has done so amid criticism that arms supplies increase the risk of fighting in the disputed region where despite sporadic skirmishes relative truce has held since 1994.

Armenia is a member of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization, a defense pact of six former Soviet nations, and is, therefore, entitled to purchase Russian weapons at knock-down prices.

After talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in September, Pashinian said that Russia will continue to supply weapons to Armenia. We agreed that supplies of Russian weapons will be continued routinely, he told the Kommersant newspaper.

Russia provided Armenia with a fresh $100 million loan for buying more Russian weapons at discounted prices as recently as October 2017.

Meanwhile, Russia has also supplied an estimated $5 billion worth of various weapons to Azerbaijan in the last several years. Some of the deadly Russian weapons delivered to Baku were used by Azerbaijans military against ethnic Armenian forces during the brief hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh in April 2016. This fact drew an angry reaction among Armenians as protests were held in front of the Russian embassy in Yerevan at that time.

Russia has insisted all along that while it supplies arms to Azerbaijan, it also maintains the military balance by delivering weapons to Armenia at discount prices.

Some analysts, however, have argued that Russian arms deliveries to Baku tilt the military balance in favor of Azerbaijan, making the prospect of an all-out war in Nagorno-Karabakh more likely.

Armen Rustamian, the leader of the parliamentary faction of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), believes that Armenia today is behind Azerbaijan in its military buildup. Aggressions and hostilities start when the balance is disturbed And if in his statement Mr. Bolton meant that in order to maintain the balance Armenia should also have other types of weapons that restore this balance, then, of course, it can be welcomed, because it is very important for us that we have a balance in terms of the types of weapons and arsenal with Azerbaijan, he told RFE/RLs Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) on Friday.

Asked whether he thought the prospect of American arms supplies to Armenia would anger Russia, the ARF lawmaker said: I think that Russia should understand a simple logic  mediators either do not supply weapons to either side or do it so as not to disturb the balance.

Earlier this week, the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), which is the largest and most influential Armenian American grassroots organization, said it will continue to press for strict enforcement of Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act that restricts U.S. aid  including military assistance  to Azerbaijan.

In a statement published on its Facebook page the ANCA, in particular, said: [U.S. national security advisor] Bolton expressed openness to U.S. arms sales to Armenia, which  almost certainly  would happen in the context of such sales to Azerbaijan. The danger here is that Azerbaijan, given the size of its military budget, can afford significantly more advanced U.S. arms than Armenia - leading to imbalances both on the battlefield and in terms of political relationships.

Along with Russia and France, the United States co-heads the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europes Minsk Group, which advances international efforts to help find a negotiated peace in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Negotiations conducted by Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders with the groups mediation have failed to produce a lasting settlement of the conflict so far.
Trend:

The rebranding of Azerbaijani mobile operator Azercell is currently under discussion, the president of the company Vahid Mursaliyev told reporters on Oct. 27.

It entirely depends on the founder's decision, however, a rebranding is expected, he said.

"We are grateful to the Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies for the fact that acquisition of Azercell's shares did not affect the corporate management of the company. On the contrary, the Ministry assisted us and showed the right path of development. Azercell has maintained the transparency of its business, and we are grateful to the Ministry for supporting us in this," Mursaliyev said.

Fintur Holdings B.V., owned jointly by Telia and Turkcell, agreed to sell its 51.3 percent stake in Azertel - the only shareholder of Azercell - to the state-owned Azintelecom.

Azercell Telecom LLC was founded in 1996. The company's share in Azerbaijan's mobile market is 48 percent. Azercell's network covers 80 percent of the country's territory and 99.8 percent of the population. Presently, 4.5 million subscribers use Azercell's services.
Trend:

Azerbaijan has earned great international respect and the number of countries cooperating with Azerbaijan is growing every day, said Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev addressing on Oct.25 the opening of the 6th Baku International Humanitarian Forum held under the slogan Shaping a New World and a New Humanity: Creativity and Human Development.

Stability and security prevail in our country. The source of stability is the will of the Azerbaijani people. The civil accord existing in Azerbaijan today is the main prerequisite for the successful development of our country. Our country has earned great international respect and the number of countries cooperating with us is growing every day. Exactly seven years ago, at the end of October 2011, Azerbaijan was for the first time elected as a nonpermanent member of the UN Security Council. This is our great political and diplomatic success and victory. Most importantly, 155 countries supported the candidacy of Azerbaijan. In other words, it shows that the vast majority of the world community supports Azerbaijan, appreciates the work we are doing in Azerbaijan and considers Azerbaijan a reliable partner and a friendly country, said the head of state.

I believe that the foreign policy work we are doing yields excellent results. First of all, we have succeeded in establishing very sincere, good-neighborly and friendly relations with neighboring countries. The relations with neighbors are of particular importance for any country. I am pleased to note that our relations with neighboring states, of course, with the exception of Armenia, are at a very high level in the political, economic and all other areas, including the field of humanitarian cooperation, added President Aliyev.
By Trend

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyevs stance is clearly sounded in the Russian media field and in the international media space, Russian journalist, military expert Igor Korotchenko told Trend.

Korotchenko, who is also editor-in-chief of the National Defense Magazine, made the remarks on the sidelines of the session titled Disinformation Policy - Threat to Stability in the Modern World at the 6th Baku International Humanitarian Forum on Oct. 26.

However, he stressed that the position of the country's leader cannot fill the entire information spectrum, as it covers the most important, key problems of the country.

The structures that deal with information and media issues should take on this role, Korotchenko added.

He particularly stressed that Azerbaijan must pay more attention to the fight against fakes and false information that denigrates Azerbaijan and more actively convey its point of view to the Russian public.

In this regard, communication with Russian political analysts and media experts is required, Korotchenko said.

"Today, information operations are an element of military building and military activity of all advanced, militarily developed countries, he added. It is absolutely normal if Azerbaijan pays more attention to this area, because information is a very powerful weapon, even stronger than military equipment."

Korotchenko stressed that information is the weapon that can be used when there is no real, big war.

Further development of Azerbaijans capabilities in protecting its information space is required, he said.
Trend:

Ambassador Rudolf Michalka, the newly appointed special representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for the South Caucasus, has met with Chairman of Azerbaijani Parliament Ogtay Asadov, Azerbaijani parliaments website reported.

During the meeting, Michalka said he will try for the OSCE to increase its efforts in the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

During the meeting, issues of cooperation between Azerbaijan and the OSCE were discussed.

Asadov noted that Azerbaijan attaches special attention to the development of relations with authoritative international organizations, including the OSCE. He expressed hope that the newly appointed special representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for the South Caucasus will make every effort to deepen cooperation.

It was noted at the meeting that important steps are being taken for the development of the East-West as well as the North-South international transport corridors, where Azerbaijan is a participant.

Asadov spoke in detail about the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Unfortunately, during 25 years of negotiations to resolve the conflict, the OSCE Minsk Group has been unable to present a normal document and show a normal solution, said Asadov. The OSCE Minsk Group should increase its efforts to resolve the conflict.

The ambassador said that he is sufficiently aware of the region, Azerbaijan, and the existing conflicts.

At the meeting, the sides noted the importance of expanding relations of Azerbaijan with authoritative international organizations, including the OSCE.

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.
By Trend

Baku hosted the forum on Sustainable Development as part of the 6th Baku International Humanitarian Forum on 25 October, 2018 under the slogan Strengthening the Regional Partnership on Implementation of Sustainable Development Goals.

Riccardo Giovannini, Climate Change and Sustainability Services Partner of EY for Mediterranean Area (Italy, Spain, Portugal), was a panelist and keynote speaker. He noted the essential role of Sustainable Development Goals and how private businesses can integrate these goals into their business processes to enhance their performance, as well as, stay competitive in a world where sustainability is becoming increasingly critical for success.

Ali Ahmadov, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the National Council for Sustainable Development featured the 6th Baku International Humanitarian Forum and the Baku Forum on Sustainable Development as landmark events.

Inga Ronda, President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), stated the importance of giving assistance to the private sector together with other sectors in order to accomplish the Sustainable Development Goals.

According to Ghulam Isaczai, UN Resident Coordinator in Azerbaijan, Baku Forum plays an important role in contribution to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in 2030. He also expressed his gratitude to the Azerbaijani Government for its cooperation with the UN office in the country.

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Trend:

All fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of speech, the freedom of assembly, the freedom of the press and the freedom of conscience, are guaranteed in Azerbaijan, said Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev addressing on Oct.25 the opening of the 6th Baku International Humanitarian Forum held under the slogan Shaping a New World and a New Humanity: Creativity and Human Development.

More than 80 percent of the Azerbaijan population uses the Internet. There is free internet in our country. Thus, the deepening political reforms are giving an even greater impetus to economic reforms in our country because stability has created excellent conditions for attracting large foreign investments into Azerbaijan. In terms of investment per capita, Azerbaijan is in one of the leading places on a global scale. I should note that over 250 billion dollars have been invested in our economy, and half of that is foreign investment, said the head of state.
Trend:

Unfortunately, there is still no international mechanism that would force the aggressor to implement the resolutions adopted by the leading international organization, said Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev addressing on Oct.25 the opening of the 6th Baku International Humanitarian Forum held under the slogan Shaping a New World and a New Humanity: Creativity and Human Development.

We attach great importance to humanitarian cooperation. These issues are always on the agenda  both in a bilateral format with friendly countries and within the framework of international organizations. At the same time, we ourselves are faced with a major humanitarian disaster. A week ago, on 18 October, we celebrated the 27th anniversary of the restoration of the state independence of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has been an independent country for only 27 years, and the first days and first years of our independence were very difficult and tragic, said the head of state.

President Aliyev noted that the political crisis, internal strife, civil war, economic recession, public disobedience, as well as the aggressive policy pursued by Armenia against Azerbaijan, led to great disasters and hardships.

As a result of Armenias aggressive policy, 20 percent of our land is under occupation. Armenia has conducted a policy of ethnic cleansing against our people, more than a million Azerbaijanis have become displaced in their native land. All leading international organizations have adopted decisions and resolutions in connection with this conflict, including the UN Security Council which has adopted four resolutions. These resolutions explicitly state that Armenian armed forces must immediately and unconditionally withdraw from the occupied lands, said the president.

Twenty-five years have passed since the adoption of these resolutions. Armenia does not comply with them. Unfortunately, there is still no international mechanism that would force the aggressor to implement the resolutions adopted by the leading international organization. A similar resolution has been adopted by the UN General Assembly. The decisions and resolutions adopted by other international organizations, including the Non-Aligned Movement, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the European Parliament and others, express support for a settlement of the conflict within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, said the president.

This is the only way of resolving the conflict: the territorial integrity of our country recognized by the international community must be restored, the occupying forces must immediately and unconditionally withdraw from our lands, as indicated in the resolutions of the UN Security Council, and the citizens of Azerbaijan must return to their homes and ancestral lands, noted the head of state. Nagorno-Karabakh is our historical and native land, an integral part of Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani people have lived, created and built on these lands for centuries. Our historical monuments, place names of cities and villages show that these lands belong to the Azerbaijani people.

President Aliyev noted that unfortunately, the aggressor state has destroyed Azerbaijans historical and religious monuments on the occupied lands.

The OSCE Fact-Finding and Observation Mission sent to our occupied lands twice confirmed this in its reports. Our mosques and graves have been destroyed, museums have been looted, and an act of cultural genocide has been committed on the occupied lands. In 1992, the Armenians perpetrated the Khojaly genocide. As a result of this heinous war crime, more than 600 innocent civilians, including more than 60 children, were brutally murdered. The Khojaly tragedy is officially recognized as an act of genocide by more than 10 countries of the world. During this genocide, more than a thousand people went missing and nothing is known about their fate, said the president.

President Aliyev noted that the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict must be resolved on the basis of the norms and principles of international law.

Azerbaijan will never come to terms with this occupation and the territorial integrity of our country must be restored. This is required by historical justice and international law, said the head of state.
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The opinions expressed at the 6th Baku International Humanitarian Forum give grounds to say that the countries participating in the Forum recognize Azerbaijans territorial integrity, Azerbaijani Minister of Culture Abulfas Garayev said.

Garayev made the remarks at the Forum in Baku on Oct. 26.

The first humanitarian forum was held on the initiative of the presidents of Azerbaijan and Russia, he added.

"This initiative, having overcome all borders, gained the status of an international event, the minister said. This initiative is supported by reputable organizations, most of which today have actively participated in this event."

The minister added that the Baku Process is a step towards the set goals.

"Representatives of almost 90 countries took part in the Forum, which testifies to the fact that Azerbaijan has become a venue where ways of resolving conflicts are discussed," Garayev added.

Held under the slogan Shaping a New World and a New Humanity: Creativity and Human Development, the 6th Baku International Humanitarian Forum that kicked off Oct. 25 brings together 581 delegates from 86 countries and 24 international organizations.
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Friendly relations of Azerbaijan and Turkey arent directed against other countries, Turkish Chief Ombudsman Seref Malkoc said.

He made the remarks Oct. 26 as part of the session Interactive discussion on the role of youth, women, parliament, civil society and other stakeholders on the way of the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals during the Baku Forum on Sustainable Development as part of the 6th Baku International Humanitarian Forum.

The ombudsman noted that Armenians occupied the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan and seven adjacent regions.

As a result of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, there are more than one million refugees and IDPs in Azerbaijan, he said.

Turkey opened the doors to three million Syrian refugees, he noted. Some of their family members died in the war, this is a tragedy. Turkey is taking steps to solve this problem.

He added that fraternal relations exist between Azerbaijan and Turkey.

The presidents of both countries demonstrate close relations in all spheres, and these friendly relations arent directed against other countries, the ombudsman said.

Held under the slogan Shaping a New World and a New Humanity: Creativity and Human Development, the 6th Baku International Humanitarian Forum that kicked off Oct. 25 brought together 581 delegates from 86 countries and 24 international organizations.
Dutch Development Bank Improves Access to Finance in Georgia

By Tea Mariamidze

Georgias TBC Bank and the Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO) signed a loan agreement in the amount of GEL 103 million (USD 53 million) on October 23.According to the agreement, five-year loan facility will be used primarily to finance young entrepreneurs running micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in Georgia, as well as young retail customers requiring mortgage loans. The local currency funding will be obtained by FMO through a public placement of bonds on the Georgian Stock Exchange.Vakhtang Butskhrikidze, CEO of TBC Bank noted that TBC started connecting with FMO in 2006, adding during 12 years, FMO has provided more than $350 million in MSME and mortgage loan financing, as well as local currency and subordinated loans.Local currency funding is of great importance for the Georgian financial sector as it allows us to supply financing for the increasingly high demand in local currency loans and enables us to further strengthen the Bank's leading position in the MSME segment. In addition, a public placement of bonds will further support local capital market development in Georgia. This transaction reflects both institutions' commitment to continued cooperation and we look forward to more years of productive partnership, he said.According to FMO's Chief Executive Officer, Peter van Mierlo, FMO is proud to continue its long-standing and successful relationship with TBC Bank in Georgia.This new transaction will enable TBC to reduce inequality and support financial inclusion, particularly among young entrepreneurs as they will now have access to financial services. This is an important contribution to stimulating job creation in Georgia, he noted.The Netherlands Development Finance or Dutch development bank is a bilateral private-sector international financial institution founded 1970, based in the Hague, the Netherlands. It is licensed as a bank and supervised by the Dutch Central Bank. In 2017 its assets were over US$10 billion.
By Trend

Today the Baku International Humanitarian Forum is appreciated on all continents and countries thanks to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyevs successful policy, chairman of the board of Azerbaijans AZERTAC news agency Aslan Aslanov told reporters in Baku on Oct. 26.

He stressed that the Baku International Humanitarian Forum is a global platform where current issues and problems are discussed.

"This forum, which is an initiative of the presidents of Azerbaijan and Russia, originates from the idea of bringing together famous scientists, politicians, public figures, experts, economists, journalists from around the world has fully justified itself over the past period," Aslanov added.

The scope of coverage of the forum is expanding and interest in it is gradually growing, he said.

"Azerbaijan has become a center for inter-civilization dialogue and the world is already accepting that, Aslanov said. We can proudly say that as a result of the successful policy of President Aliyev, the Baku International Humanitarian Forum is appreciated on all continents and countries.

Interest in this forum is great, he said. You know that the plenary sessions, as well as working sessions on various topics are held during the forum. The threat to stability in the world, which is created as a result of fake news, the policy of disinformation were discussed during today's working session."

Stressing that journalism is undergoing great changes, Aslanov said that the competition between traditional media and online journalism, willy-nilly, creates new challenges, problems and threats.

One of these threats is artful use of fake news by some forces using social networks, disinformation to launch the information war, spreading of false information against various countries and peoples, Aslanov said. Today, there is an even greater need to intensify the struggle of traditional media against disinformation policy.

Azerbaijan is also one of the countries suffering from disinformation, he said.

For example, the Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijani lands, destroyed our monuments, cemeteries, Aslanov added. However, shamelessly spreading false information about Azerbaijan, they are trying to mislead the world community. The Baku International Humanitarian Forum and other similar international events are also important from the point of view of exposing such malevolent forces."

Held under the slogan Shaping a New World and a New Humanity: Creativity and Human Development, the 6th Baku International Humanitarian Forum that kicked off Oct. 25 brought together 581 delegates from 86 countries and 24 international organizations.
Trend:

The positive opinion of the US President's National Security Adviser John Bolton about the visit to Azerbaijan, which he expressed on his Twitter account, and the expression of gratitude to President Ilham Aliyev during their meeting can be regarded as the attitude of the US and the West towards Azerbaijan as a whole, Political Analyst and Chief Editor of the SES newspaper Bahruz Guliyev told Trend.

He said it is no coincidence that Bolton rated relations with Azerbaijan as a high priority and stressed that Azerbaijan is the main partner of the United States.

"In relations between the United States and Azerbaijan, the priority has always been given to the implementation of global economic projects, security in the region and other issues. The consultations conducted on the background of mutual relations, the diplomatic exchanges prove this," the analyst said.

In his opinion, Bolton as a whole does not deny that he regards relations with Azerbaijan as the most favorable relations in the post-Soviet area, and, in this context, the provision of energy security and the combat against international terrorism remain priority issues.

"Of course, all these further enhance the prestige of the country in the region, give impetus to the implementation of certain tasks. This shows once again the high rating of Azerbaijan in the world," Guliyev added.

He also said that before Boltons visit to Azerbaijan, a number of organizations demanded that he touch on the subject of violation of human rights and freedoms. However, Bolton did not consider such unnecessary and unsubstantiated claims at all.

Because Bolton is well aware of the reforms carried out in all spheres in Azerbaijan, in particular he knows that the democratization process is at a high level in Azerbaijan. We saw that Bolton, in general, was not interested in meeting with the leaders of the so-called opposition. This step of the official representative of the United States means a lack of interest of the West in the opposition," Guliyev said.

He noted that Bolton's statements, as well as his post on the social network show that the US ruling circles attach importance to strengthening international relations with Azerbaijan.

More precisely, these factors against the backdrop of the US-Azerbaijan relations clearly demonstrate that the political views of that country have a more progressive basis. Thus, the words of Bolton can be regarded as a manifestation of the development of relations between the US and Azerbaijan, the analyst added.
Trend:

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has signed an Order regarding measures to construct Ujar-Alpout-Lak-Gazyan-Garabork road in Ujar district.

Under the presidential Order, the Azerbaijan Highway State Agency is allocated 9.7 million manats for the construction of the road connecting five residential areas with a total population of 36,000 people.
By Trend

The visit of the US Presidents National Security Adviser John Bolton to Azerbaijan opens up new opportunities for bilateral cooperation in a number of areas, Deputy Head of the Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration Hikmet Hajiyev said in an interview with John Batchelor Show, a famous American radio program that has a wide audience of listeners.

During the interview, Hajiyev talked about John Bolton's visit to Azerbaijan, Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan and the settlement process of the conflict, the VI Baku International Humanitarian Forum, success achieved by Azerbaijan during the years of independence, the country's energy policy, regional cooperation and relations with neighboring states.

The John Batchelor show is dedicated to current international, military, political and economic topics. The program is widely broadcast by numerous radio channels, both live and as podcasts in various states and cities that are covered by the ABC Radio network in the US.

The program is broadcast all days of the week and has millions of listeners in the US.

During the program, Hikmat Hajiyev noted that Azerbaijan is an important state from a strategic point of view and during John Bolton's visit to Azerbaijan useful discussions were held with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. Hajiyev stressed that the visit opens up new opportunities for bilateral cooperation in the fields of energy, security, fight against terrorism, etc.

Speaking about regional cooperation and energy projects initiated by Azerbaijan, Hajiyev stressed that Armenia's ongoing aggression against Azerbaijan remains the main threat to regional security. He added that in order to achieve progress in the settlement of the conflict, Armenia must withdraw its troops from the occupied Azerbaijani territories.

Mentioning Azerbaijan's achievements over 27 years of independence, Hajiyev focused on the VI Baku International Humanitarian Forum held on October 25-26, said that this global forum is an important platform for discussing humanitarian issues at the international level. He stressed that Azerbaijan is dynamically developing and is a modern, secular state proud of its multiculturalism traditions.

The US Presidents National Security Adviser John Bolton visited Azerbaijan on October 24

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Trend:

The Azerbaijani parliamentarian Musa Guliyev will observe the presidential election in Georgia, the Azerbaijani Parliament said in a statement Oct. 27.

On Oct. 27-29, Guliyev will be in the capital of Georgia, Tbilisi, and on Oct. 28, he will observe the election of the president of the country as an observer through the BSEC Parliamentary Assembly (PABSEC).

During the visit, the Azerbaijani MP together with the members of the PABSEC observation mission will meet with representatives of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Georgia.

Upon completion of the election, he will participate in a briefing.

About 1,100 representatives of 58 international organizations will observe the presidential election in Georgia on Oct. 28, the Georgian Central Election Commission said earlier.
By Trend

Southern Gas Corridor remains one of the priority projects of the European Commission, the European Commission told Trend, in response to the question about compatibility of the project with EU clean energy transition strategy.

The Commission said that it has a strategic importance for European energy security, especially in the most vulnerable parts of Europe, such as South-East Europe and Southern Italy.

"We all stand to gain from this 'bridge' between the EU market and the Caspian region. In the long run, our objective is to create a pan-European energy market based on free trade, competition and diversified supplies, sources and routes," said the European Commission.

On 30 November 2016, the European Commission presented a new package of measures with the goal of providing the stable legislative framework needed to facilitate the clean energy transition  and thereby taking a significant step towards the creation of the Energy Union.

The Commission wants the EU to lead the clean energy transition, not only adapt to it. For this reason the EU has committed to cut CO2 emissions by at least 40 percent by 2030 while modernizing the EU's economy and delivering on jobs and growth for all European citizens. The proposals have three main goals: putting energy efficiency first, achieving global leadership in renewable energies and providing a fair deal for consumers.

The Southern Gas Corridor provides for the transportation of 10 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas from the Caspian region through Georgia and Turkey to Europe.

On May 29, Baku hosted the launch ceremony of the first phase of the Southern Gas Corridor project, and on June 12, the opening ceremony of TANAP pipeline was held in the Turkish province of Eskisehir with the participation of the presidents of Azerbaijan - Ilham Aliyev, Turkey - Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ukraine - Petro Poroshenko and Serbia - Alexander Vucic.

The gas from the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field has already gone through the first segment of the Southern Gas Corridor - from the Sangachal terminal to the expanded South Caucasus Pipeline. The next stage is the commissioning of the TANAP gas pipeline, through which gas will flow into Turkey and further to Europe.
By Sara Israfilbayova

The Russian global energy company Gazprom is always open to further dialogue with the Azerbaijani side.

Deputy Chairman of Gazproms Board Alexander Medvedev said in an interview with the Gazprom magazine.

We have excellent working relations with the Azerbaijani side. Gas is supplied to Azerbaijan within an existing contract. As for the prospects for further cooperation, we are always open to further dialogue, Medvedev noted.

Speaking about the possibility of a competition between Russian gas and Azerbaijani gas, Medvedev stressed that there is enough space in the market for all suppliers.

As for the competition of Russian gas and gas from other suppliers in the European market, I can say that own production of Europe is falling, while import requirements are steadily growing, he said.

The strongest competitors will be those who are able to offer consumers the most commercially attractive terms of supply, he added.

Russian company Gazprom and the Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR discussed the issues concerning gas supplies to Azerbaijan. These issues were discussed during a meeting between Chairman of the Board of Gazprom Alexey Miller and SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev.

Gazprom has supplied 1.15 billion cubic meters of gas to Azerbaijan since November 22, 2017 when gas exports to the country were resumed. The sides discussed cooperation prospects in this direction.

In October 2009, Gazprom Export LLC and SOCAR signed a medium-term contract to supply gas from Azerbaijan in 2010-2015 through the Shirvanovka point at the Russian-Azerbaijani border. During the period, 5.4 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas were bought.

In 2015, a subsidiary of Gazprom Export LLC, Gazprom Schweiz AG, supplied gas to Azerbaijan Methanol Company (AzMeCo). Under the contract, 107.4 billion cubic meters of gas were supplied.

Gazprom Export LLC and SOCAR signed a contract on gas supply to Azerbaijan on November 21, 2017.

Azerbaijan is one of the main economic partners of Russia among the CIS countries. Interregional cooperation plays an important role in the development of Russian-Azerbaijani trade and economic relations.

At present, enterprises of more than 70 regions of Russia cooperate directly with Azerbaijan. Fifteen regions of Russia have relevant agreements with Azerbaijan on trade and economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation.

Russia has been included in the list of Azerbaijans five largest trade partners in January-June 2018 with the volume of trade turnover of $ 1.14 billion (8.54 percent of the total volume of trade turnover).

Azerbaijan invested more than $1 billion in the Russian economy, and Russia invested about $4 billion in the economy of Azerbaijan.

The trade turnover between the states amounted to $1.3 billion in January-July 2018, according to State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan. Russia accounts for 7.89 percent of the total foreign trade turnover of Azerbaijan.
Non-Governmental Sector opposes Georgias Justice Minister

On October 24, 2018, Public Defender of Georgia, Nino Lomjaria spread the statement via the official Facebook page, where she calls on the state officials to observe international democratic standards in relation to NGOs.Certain high officials of Georgia have recently made a number of statements aimed at discrediting the leaders of non-governmental organizations working in the most important areas for the democratic development of Georgia, such as monitoring of elections and performance of state institutions, prevention of corruption and protection of human rights, the statement reads.The Public Defender reminds the authorities of the international obligations imposed by the United Nations the OSCE, the Council of Europe and other international organizations on states to promote the activities of human rights defenders.Lomjaria noted that the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted in 1998 recognizes the right of everyone, individually and in association with others, to submit to governmental bodies and agencies criticism regarding the issues that may hinder the realization of human rights and to protest against any such state policy. The Declaration obliges states to ensure the protection of individuals against any pressure, retaliation and discrimination as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the Declaration.According to the OSCE Guidelines on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, states and officials have an obligation to refrain from any acts aimed at defamation and insulting campaigns, discredit and personal attacks against human rights defenders and their activities.The Ombudsman says that despite the above-mentioned obligations, representatives of the Georgian authorities compared the NGO's activities in Georgia to fascist organizations.The Public Defender of Georgia considers that such an attitude is inadmissible and threatens the process of democratic development of Georgia.Lomjaria expressed her support to all the organizations, which have been devotedly working for years to establish high standards of human rights in Georgia and called on the Government to be guided by the internationally recognized democratic standards.Statement of Public Defender is an answer to the speech made by the Minister of Justice of Georgia Thea Tsulukiani at the Anticorruption Conference in Copenhagen on October 23, 2018. During the conference, Thea Tsulukiani accused Eka Gigauri, Executive Director of Transparency International Georgia, of contributing to the crackdown of the peaceful rally on November 7, 2007, and it is not the first time when minister openly criticizes the NGOs.Georgian NGOs have many times called on the government to dismiss Tsulukiani, as they believe that judicial system needs fundamental reform and she is the main obstacle to this.It is completely unacceptable that a governmental official would use their platform at International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) to attack our chapter or any other civil society organization. It is clear that the defense of civil society space is essential for strengthening democracy and combating corruption, said Delia Ferreira Chair of Transparency International.Besides the fact, that such a direct attack on NGO sector can pose threat to Georgias democratic values in society, as the trust toward the civic society can disappear in Georgia because of the statements from public officials, it also harms the countrys image on the international arena.
The Californian's Robert Price answers your questions and takes your complaints about our news coverage in this weekly feedback forum. Questions may be edited for space and clarity. To offer your input by phone, call 395-7649 and leave your comments in a voicemail message or email us at soundoff@bakersfield.com. Include your name and phone number; they wont be published.
More than 1,000 people walked the streets around Lamar University for the eighth annual Making Strides of Southeast Texas hosted by the America Cancer Society Saturday morning to raise awareness, and money, for finding a breast cancer cure.

The campus hosted the walks starting line with food trucks, vendors and a large inflatable pink couch. A burst of pink confetti and music from the Lamar drum line signaled the start of the event.

In the sea of pink, Dena Collins of Beaumont sported a pink flamingo headband and pink mustache.

My mom is a survivor, Collins said. Its because of things and walks like this that we have been able to discover that breast cancer is genetic. Its because of this that my daughters and I have been able to be tested to see if we carry that gene.

Walmart, Target and Chevrolet were among the companies that participated in the event. The Southeast Texas Chevy Dealers raised more than $20,000, followed by Walmart, which raised nearly $15,000 across all of its teams.

This is a great turnout, especially compared to last year when (Tropical Storm) Harvey dampened our plans, spokeswoman Kathy Chessher said. A good portion of this money will stay locally, helping cancer patients in various ways.

That support will include transportation to and from appointments and support groups. The rest of the money will go toward research.

The event had 130-plus teams, more than 550 single registrants. By Saturday morning, it had raised nearly $74,000 toward a $159,500 goal, according to the Making Strides of Southeast Texas website.

Everyone is affected by cancer, Chessher said. They either battle it or know someone who has battled it. This walk is just to raise awareness and raise money to find a cure.

erica.apodaca@beaumontenterprise.com

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NEWTON  Dozens of Newton County residents gathered at the courthouse Friday to defend their sheriff, pray for the nation and stick up for Christians who they believe face discrimination in the public arena.

People are tired of being stepped on, said Melanie Fowler.

Fowler, a volunteer firefighter, began organizing the noontime activity just two days after Sheriff Billy Rowles was criticized by the Freedom From Religion Foundation afor using religious language in his weekly sheriffs report.

The Wisconsin-based foundation requested he apologize to all Newton County residents for impos(ing) religion on citizens.

Rowles maintained that he was simply using a figure of speech when he described holding a prayer meeting with a woman accused of abandoning two puppies, something akin to saying the two had a come-to-Jesus conversation.

A group that included students, clergy and law enforcement officers joined hands at the citys tree-lined square to pray in support of the legendary lawman. Joe Rowe, a former Newton resident, drove 40 miles from Sam Rayburn to pray.

It feels like faith and Christianity have been put on the back shelf, lifelong Newton resident Gary Meek said. You can see and sense it everywhere.

Were tired of taking it, Fowler said.

Rowles prayed for America, saying our country is in a bind right now and asking for divine assistance to help us get you back in our schools, help us get you back in our public meetings.

He added, I also want to lift up the people that dont believe in you, the atheists, the people who dont have a clue who you are. We just want you to reach down and touch them too. They need you as much as we do.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has no interest whether Sheriff Rowles chooses to pray in private, Sam Grover, the foundations associate counsel, said later Friday.

FFRF has no interest in any private citizens choice to freely exercise their religious or nonreligious beliefs, but when a sheriff is acting on behalf of the county, as a government official, he may not endorse religion or encourage citizens to pray, Grover said.

The organization sent a letter to Rowles three days after his Oct. 15 weekly sheriffs report in which Rowles wrote that he had a prayer meeting with a woman who abandoned two puppies. It called Rowles use of religious language was alarming and unacceptable.

This is the South, Fowler said. When someone says its time for a come-to-Jesus meeting, she explained, Newton natives know exactly what that is.

The Rev. Joshua Sanford of First Baptist Church Newton said many people dont like to see God taken out of stuff.

But the truth is, as long as people will pray, theres  no law that can take you out of our country, our schools.

The foundations Oct. 18 letter to Rowles was spurred by at least one resident who complained about the sheriffs religious wording.

Grover said the foundation speaks on behalf of thousands of non-Christian or nonreligious Americans each year who may live in areas like the Bible Belt where they may not feel comfortable identifying as nonbelievers.

Sanford and other pastors prayed for law enforcement officials and firefighters who humbly lay down their lives daily to protect us.

In his 50 years as a law enforcement officer, Rowles has been a Texas Department of Public Safety highway patrolman, a two-term Jasper County sheriff, a bailiff and a Newton County constable.

Millions saw Rowles on the news in June 1988 after the murder of James Byrd Jr., an African-American man killed by three white men who chained him to the bumper of a pickup and fatally dragged him.

Actor Jon Voight portrayed Rowles in the 2003 television film, Jasper, Texas.

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A Silsbee man who fell from a boom lift while trimming trees in his backyard has been awarded $9.7 million from the equipment manufacturer.

A Washington state jury in Seattle determined last week that there was a design defect in the lift, manufactured by Genie Industries, and initially awarded $19.19 million to Jason McNeal, 43.

But the jurors also determined that McNeal bore 49 percent of the responsibility for the December 2016 accident, the verdict shows. The court reduced the judgment by a corresponding amount.

McNeal was in the basket of the lift, 25 feet in the air, when a falling limb activated a kill switch on the base of the work platform, making the controls in the basket inoperable, according to a news release issued Friday. McNeal then climbed out of the basket in an attempt to escape, the release said.

McNeal fell from the basket and injured both legs so severely he required several surgeries. He may require amputation in the future, according to the release.

The jury found the manufacturer 51 percent liable for the injuries.

It is clear Genie Industries knew about this defect but failed to design it out before putting it on the market, Edward Fisher, McNeals attorney at Provost Umphrey Law Firm, said in a statement. This was a horrifying situation, and we are pleased to be able to recover some relief that will go toward helping Mr. McNeal and his family during this difficult time.

The accident happened in Hardin County, but the lawsuit was brought in King County, Wash., where Genie Industries is headquartered.

The release said the company offered no settlement during pretrial discussions.

Attempts to reach Genie Industries were not immediately successful.

haley.bruyn@beaumontenterprise.com

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For ASCs, it can be difficult to hire a cybersecurity staff and even more challenging to train physicians on cybersecurity threats.

Strict budgets can limit an administrators efforts to seek outside help to catch phishing emails before they hit a physician's inbox.

Andrew Mabe, assistant vice president of security at Allscripts, and Daren Smith, director of ASC solutions at Surgical Information Systems, sat on a panel at Beckers ASC 25th Annual Meeting: The Business and Operations of ASCs, Oct. 18-20 in Chicago and explained how ASCs can better position themselves against cybersecurity attacks.

When asked about what ASCs are doing to ensure their current staff or new staff members are educated on the safety of the various IT solutions being implemented, Mr. Mabe emphasized compliance training. One of the trends we are seeing is making compliance training mandatory, Mr. Mabe said. Phishing is a big issue that we train physicians and staff to be aware of. Weve been looking at new ways to prevent physicians from continuing to click on these phishing links and emails.

And even with proper staff in place to catch phishing emails, many of them still reach inboxes. It is striking that balance between blocking everything coming in and finding the balance between what should and shouldnt get in, said Mr. Smith. Its a constant challenge. There are so many emails getting blocked. We get 400 challenges per day just to our email system and one of them will sneak through.

There are other solutions to prevent attacks through phishing links. Mr. Mabe talked about IT solutions that block all emails with links or implanting a three-strike policy.

With constant cybersecurity threats, ASCs are left to utilize training, technical controls and user education.
The pressure from hospitals buying up ASCs and private equity pushing into the space has forced many surgery centers to consolidate.

Aaron Murski, managing director of VMG Health, Geoff Cockrell, chair of McGuire Woods' private equity group, and Barry Tanner, president and CEO of Physicians Endoscopy, discussed historical and emerging trends for ASCs leaders to know during a panel discussion at Becker's ASC 25th Annual Meeting: The Business and Operations of ASCs, Oct. 18-20 in Chicago.

Miami-based GastroHealth was the first gastroenterology group to attract PE, and since then, Mr. Tanner has seen at least 15 separate confidential information memorandums for gastrointestinal roll-ups come across his desk.

There are roughly 12,000 gastroenterologists practicing in the U.S., according to Mr. Tanner, with an average GI group size of four. "For the most part," he said, "gastroenterologists see their options as selling out to hospitals or turning out the lights  the days of independent practice are over."

The need to consolidate has been in the making for decades. "Increasingly, there's lot of attention on physician alignment structures," said Mr. Cockrell. "In the 1990s, there wasn't really a burning need to consolidate, but that is not the case today."

As more and more practices consolidate, Mr. Murski sees an increased incentive to bring all services under the same umbrella because of the buy-down and re-sell. "There's a greater focus on stability and income repair," he said.
It is likely athenahealth will ink a deal with one of its several bidders in the next two weeks, according to CNBC.

In mid-October, reports surfaced that at least five potential bidders had expressed interest in acquiring athenahealth. These bids came after 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.

At least a strategic buyer and two private equity firms had expressed interest in athenahealth, according to CNBC, but the bids were close to the company's stock price at $131.

During October, athenahealth's stock dropped to around $123; however, shares increased more than 3 percent Oct. 26.



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Several healthcare organizations recently received donations to fund research, advance treatments, improve patient care and start renovations.

Here are four notable donations, pledges or bequests given to healthcare organizations by various entities reported by Becker's Hospital Review or other news outlets in the last three weeks:

1. UC San Diego received a $25 million donation from the Herbert and Nicole Wertheim Family Foundation. The money will help establish a school of public health at the university. Currently, UC San Diego has bachelor's and master's degree programs in public health but no building to house the programs.

2. Children's Hospital of Los Angeles received a $10 million donation from Ryan Murphy, creator of the television series "American Horror Story." The donation was to thank staffers who treated his 4-year-old son, Ford, who had cancer.

3. Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minn.) will use a $10 million donation from the Louis Gerstner Jr. Fund at Vanguard Charitable to support five health system initiatives. The money will be used to advance research into augmented human intelligence in cardiovascular care as well as regenerative medicine for spine care. In addition, the grant will support ongoing educational opportunities for nurse practitioners and physician assistants.

4. University of Maryland Medical Center (Baltimore) received the largest donation in its history  a $25 million gift from Baltimore auto dealer Len Stoler and his wife, Roslyn. The donation will help fund a new cancer building.

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Four pediatric patients were admitted to San Diego-based Rady Hospital from Oct. 9-14 and diagnosed with a rare childhood condition called Kawasaki disease, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Here are five things to know:

1. Researchers are unsure what exactly causes Kawasaki, but have observed correlations between disease clusters and changes in the weather. The proposed hypothesis is that disruptive weather patterns stir up a virus, fungus or toxin in the air, which triggers an aggressive immune response when it lands in the throats of people that are genetically susceptible.

2. Symptoms of Kawasaki disease include, high fever, full-body rash, eye irritation and peeling of fingertips. In about two-thirds of Kawasaki cases, fingertip peeling appears about two weeks after other symptoms end. Peak season for the disease runs from March to early summer. October is not usually a common month for Kawasaki cases to sprout up, Jane Burns, MD, director of the Kawasaki Disease Research Center at UC San Diego, told the Los Angeles Times.

3. However, a big storm hit the San Diego region Oct. 12-13, which Dr. Burns said could play a role in the new cases.

"Clearly, our research is pointing towards an association between the large-scale environment, what's going on with our climate on a large scale, and the occurrence of these clusters," Dr. Burns told the Los Angeles Times. "I don't think it's a coincidence that we had that funky storm, and we saw this cluster of kids."

4. Southern California and San Diego County specifically see a higher rate of Kawasaki cases than the national average. Rady Hospital sees 80 to 100 Kawasaki patients a year. The CDC estimates about 5,000 cases occur every year nationwide.

5. The Kawasaki Center at UCSD has been collecting throat swabs from pediatric patients in an attempt to find its triggers. The center is working with the Imperial College in London to oversee full microbiome analysis of their samples. Dr. Burns, who has made Kawasaki research her life's work, told Los Angeles Times that recent lab advancements can help aid in research.

"We're absolutely going to figure this out before I die," Dr. Burns told the publication.

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A supposed active shooter situation at Lake Charles (La.) Memorial Hospital ended in a false alarm Oct. 25, offering the facility an opportunity to test its safety policies, according to KPLC News.

Louisiana authorities received a call about an armed man around the gift shop of Lake Charles Memorial Hospital Oct. 25, according to a separate report from KPLC News.

The hospital went into lockdown, and implemented safety procedures to protect patients and staff, according to Matthew Felder, communications manager for Lake Charles Memorial Hospital.

Police evacuated several floors, and the suspect was taken into custody without incident around 11: 15 a.m. The man said he was there visiting his daughter who was in surgery. He was release after no gun was found.

"We appreciate peoples cooperation in something like this; when you're in the hospital, when you're visiting," Mr. Felder told KPLC News. "You know, it can be a scary situation, but it's nice when people can listen to the staff and go by their instructions. In this case, it turned out to be an OK situation, thankfully, but those policies and procedures are in place. In today's world, you never know what's going to happen and we appreciate law enforcement's swift response to this situation."

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A school district in Michigan closed Oct. 25 due to a flu outbreak among students and teachers, according to WWJ.

The outbreak started among staff members at Britton/Deerfield Schools in Lenawee County before spreading to students. About 20 percent of the district's student population has the flu, according to Superintendent Stacy Johnson.

"We had a number of staff mainly that were out," Ms. Johnson told WWJ. "So we started with the flu going through the staff a few days ago, and it's kind of just spread."

The district plans to disinfect all school buildings before resuming classes Oct. 29.

"The health and well-being of our families is our top priority,"Ms. Johnson told WTOL 11. "We are putting a plan in place for extra disinfecting and sanitizing within the buildings throughout the weekend with our custodial staff."
New Jersey health officials confirmed four additional adenovirus cases at Wanaque (N.J.) Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, bringing the total number of cases up to 23, according to ABC 7.

A spokesperson from the health department indicated all of the individuals were already sick before other cases were confirmed, meaning the virus is not necessarily spreading through the facility. Officials will not declare the outbreak over until the facility goes four weeks without a new case.



"The strain of adenovirus seen in this outbreak is associated with communal living arrangements and known to cause severe illness," the health department said in a statement cited by ABC 7. "The department continues to work very closely with the facility to ensure that all infection control measures are being followed. An outbreak investigation, with assistance from the CDC, is ongoing."

The New Jersey Department of Health learned of the outbreak Oct. 9, and the rehabilitation facility sent letters out warning patients' family members of the outbreak Oct. 19. However, parents of patients reached out to ABC 7 to complain about the facility's lack of transparency. One parent claims a nurse downplayed the situation and told her there was "a little virus going around" the facility.

As of Oct. 25, health officials confirmed seven deaths attributed to the adenovirus outbreak.

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New York City reported its first pediatric death of the 2018-19 season Oct. 26, according to ABC7NY.

Oxiris Barbot, MD, New York City's acting health commissioner, said the victim was a child, but did not share any other details about the death.

At present 2 percent of all hospital visits in the city are for flu, according to Dr. Barbot. She also noted between zero and eight children die from the flu annually in New York City.

The estimates 80,000 people died in the 2017-18 flu season and recommends everyone age 6 months and older receive a flu vaccine by the end of October.

Editor's note: This article was updated Oct. 31.

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Three professors in UC San Francisco School of Medicine's orthopedic surgery department founded EDGE Labs to make 3D printing more accessible.

Here are four things to know:

1. EDGE Labs established onsite 3D printing at:

UCSF Hellen Diller Medical Center at Parnassus Heights

UCSF Medical Center at Mission Bay

Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center

San Francisco VA Medical Center.

2. Spine surgeon Alan Dang, MD, as well as orthopedic surgeons Alexis Dang, MD, and Aenor Sawyer, MD, founded EDGE Labs.

3. UCSF School of Medicine awarded a grant to create the Center for Advanced 3D+ Technologies. Comprised of EDGE Labs and UCSF's pediatric cardiology and radiology departments the center focuses on 3D printing as well as virtual and augmented reality.

4. Dr. Alan Dang is currently using 3D printing to produce PEEK spinal implant prototypes. Sigurd Berven, MD, Safa Herfat, PhD, and Dr. Sawyer are also prototyping spinal implants at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center.

"In the next couple of years, I think we will see an explosion in UCSF-designed medical devices," said Dr. Alexis Dang, "thanks to the benefits of 3D printing."
'The firm recovered from a pre-tax loss of almost 700,000 in 2016 to post a pre-tax profit of 1.4m last year. The company also increased turnover by 13.5% from 38.7m to 43.9m over the same period' (stock photo)

Up to 80 jobs are at risk at the Camden Group in Antrim, the Belfast Telegraph understands.

According to an internal memo seen by this newspaper, staff at the company, which manufactures uPVC frame products, were informed yesterday of "a sudden and unexpected" reduction in orders from one of its key customers, Bradford-based SafeGlaze.

"The company now finds itself in the unfortunate position where it has to announce that employees are at risk of redundancy," the memo states.

"It is appreciated that this may come as a shock, and the company would like to express that this is a very regrettable and difficult decision.

"The company is awaiting receipt of further information from the customer, however, we anticipate that approximately 80 employees will be at risk of redundancy within various departments across the business."

The family-owned firm was set up in 1983 by Patrick Lavery.

It employs around 580 people, with some 466 working in production.

The memo circulated among staff yesterday announced the start of a formal consultation period, which is expected to last at least 30 days.

"This is a lot to take in and there will be a lot of questions arising as a result of this announcement. The forthcoming consultation process will give us time to discuss and address the questions you may have about the company's proposals. The company appreciates your continued hard work during this difficult period," concluded the memo.

In 2016 the Camden Group announced the closure of Camden Glass in Benburb, Co Tyrone, with the loss of 65 jobs. Around 50 jobs were created at a new plant in Antrim as a result.

The latest company accounts showed an improved performance in the 12 months to March 31, 2017.

The firm recovered from a pre-tax loss of almost 700,000 in 2016 to post a pre-tax profit of 1.4m last year. The company also increased turnover by 13.5% from 38.7m to 43.9m over the same period.

In August the company's financial controller Brian Kearns contributed to a cross-border Brexit study by First Trust and AIB saying the firm has faced extra material costs of around 1m since the EU referendum and the decline in the value of sterling.

However, he said Camden had increased its workforce by 17% since the previous summer and was at full capacity.

The Camden Group was contacted for comment, however none was forthcoming at the time of going to print.
The owner of Patisserie Valerie has suspended its shares following the discovery of potentially fraudulent accounting irregularities (PA)

Patisserie Valerie has parted company with its finance director, who is facing a fraud probe relating to a black hole in the companys accounts.

Patisserie Holdings, the parent of the cake chain, said on Friday that it had accepted the resignation of chief financial officer Chris Marsh.

Mr Marsh was suspended from his role on October 9 after significant and potentially fraudulent irregularities were discovered in the companys accounts.

He was then arrested on suspicion of fraud later that week, before being released on bail.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has opened a criminal investigation into potential fraud at the company.

Shares in the company are still suspended on Londons junior market following its brush with collapse earlier this month.

Chairman Luke Johnson was forced to loan 20 million to the company to keep it trading, while shareholders poured in another 15 million through a fundraising.

Accountants from PricewaterhouseCoopers are now investigating accounting irregularities at the business.

On Wednesday the company dodged another threat as it announced that a winding-up order issued against it by the taxman was dismissed in court.

The petition was issued by HMRC against the companys principal trading subsidiary, Stonebeach Limited, over an unpaid tax bill of more than 1 million.

But the High Court of Justice, Business and Property Courts dismissed the claim on Tuesday.
Florence Pugh was drawn to her latest role because it was a chance to play someone normal. Charlie Ross, the star of new BBC series The Little Drummer Girl, is a 22-year-old actress, just like Pugh. We meet her trying to keep her cool at a screen test and later at a smoke-filled house party, making a strident case for not taking sides and achieving peace in the Middle East without killing anybody.

The action begins when she is recruited by an Israeli spymaster and catapulted into a new world of deception, betrayal and men she is attracted to but doesn't understand.

"It is okay to be confused watching the show - Charlie is," Pugh says reassuringly down the phone from Beverly Hills, where she is filming a new project (more of which later). "She's the audience's eyes and ears. She's not a brash spy who knows how to do everything - she isn't from that world. At the moment it feels like women are expected to be magnificent and that's great, but what I like here is that she's a normal person caught in the middle of something. You are not spoon-fed what's going on and the world of spies it shows is as relevant as it was when John le Carre wrote the novel in 1983."

The Little Drummer Girl is the latest le Carre adaptation to be shown on the BBC, building on the success of The Night Manager. That was seen as an extended James Bond audition for its lead, Tom Hiddleston.

Does Pugh fancy her chances as 007? "At the beginning I was excited at the prospect of a female Bond, and with a female Doctor Who maybe that era of (exclusively male heroes) is changing. But actually we have made our own thriller with a woman at the centre of it. Maybe we don't need a female Bond, maybe we can make our own."

Charlie gets what she wants "by lying and being very good at acting". Pugh has the acting part honed but thinks she would be "an absolutely awful spy". "I'd get too invested and I wouldn't be able to pull a gun out smoothly. Alex (Skarsgard, who plays Becker, the Israeli agent responsible for recruiting Charlie) would be great. He makes everything look effortless and it's so frustrating when you're supposed to be the one that looks cool."

From the moment Charlie spots Becker sunbathing on a rock in Naxos, there is an intoxicating electricity between them. They hit it off in real life too, filming in Prague, Greece and London from January to June last year.

"I want to see way more of Alex, but he's too busy gallivanting around being a superstar," says Pugh. "When I see him it's wonderful and we share a hug. When you work with people for such a long, intense period of time, you mould into a family and the hardest part of what we do is when you stop and have to move on. When you have connections with your co-stars, it's wonderful because it makes it feel like it was even more real."

The cast have a "hilarious" WhatsApp group, "it's the thing that lives on after shows finish".

One of Pugh's favourite filming locations was the Acropolis. Becker takes Charlie there at night, when it's deserted, and they gaze at Athens lit up below - it has a La La Land feel and she's even wearing a yellow dress. "I don't think I can ever go back after that," says Pugh. "It felt very real and romantic. When I watch it now, it gives me butterflies."

But for all the sexual tension, there is no actual sex. This was a deliberate choice, to appeal to an American audience who, Pugh says, "are scared of bums and nipples". "You are always surprised when there is no nudity," says Pugh, who is comfortable with baring flesh, "as long as it's not gratuitous". "The difference is when you feel you are part of the scene. The moment you get pushed in a certain direction, that's when you start to feel gross."

Often you have to wear stickers "on your boobs" to cover them, she says. "But you can't be giggling at it because you are all there for a reason."

Her next role, in the film Outlaw King out next month, more than makes up for the lack of nudity in The Little Drummer Girl. It's based on the story of Robert the Bruce and much is already being made of the scenes in which co-star Chris Pine reveals all. She thinks there are double standards at play. "Chris is going, 'Why isn't anyone asking Florence about nudity?'. We were both naked and the conversation is about him. Why is it okay for a woman to be completely naked, but it's totally shocking for him to take his clothes off?"

There is a new mood in Hollywood a year since the launch of Time's Up. "There's a certain level of sensitivity and understanding now. I've tried to keep myself educated because I think it's very easy at this time to attack, and that's not the point. What's important is to listen before you react. The art of conversation is important and there are more conversations to be had."

She's followed Kristen Bell and Keira Knightley's comments about a lack of feminism in Disney films. "When I have kids I will have to rewatch all the Disney films and decide which ones I will axe from my children's list as well.

"We've all grown up on these things that were once made to educate kids, so of course when there's a different era of education the perspectives will change - lots of these women kiss a complete stranger and then have to have their babies." She grew up watching Mulan, Robin Hood and Pocohantas.

On Sunday night, Pugh's family will be watching The Little Drummer Girl. "My family are avid fans. My dad still collects newspaper clippings about me."

Pugh grew up in Oxford, where her father owns a chain of restaurants and her mother is a dancer. She is the second youngest of four siblings - her older brother, Toby Sebastian, plays Trystane Martell in Game of Thrones, and her older sister, Arabella Gibbins, is also an actor.

Despite "being lucky enough to bounce around the world and see everything", London is still home and she enjoys walking, discovering the city.

She researches her roles thoroughly. For Charlie this meant getting to grips with Israeli and Palestinian politics.

"Prior to doing the series, everything about the conflict felt very daunting," she says. "It has gone on for so long. It is important to know which is where and how it happened, so I listened to a lot of podcasts and read a lot to make sure I was ready."

She's full of praise for Park Chan-wook, or "Director Park" as she calls him, the Korean auteur behind the show. He thinks visually and it looks sumptuous. "Director Park is interested in big, bold colours. I'm going to ask if I can keep some of the clothes. My favourite is a cobalt blue pantaloon playsuit, which was a remake of something from the Eighties. Fingers crossed no one has nabbed it."

"Director Park is like a puppet master. It is complex and long, but the payoff is huge. You realise why you had to go through all that because it's stunning to watch."

Pugh has gone straight into her next project, Greta Gerwig's adaptation of Little Women. She plays Amy March and has rewatched the previous adaptations because "if you are working on something that's had a past life it's quite rude not to look at it and see what was relevant then".

"The most exciting thing about making this is that the March sisters mean something to someone everywhere

"That story of four different sisters and the different places they want to end up is still relevant now."

Gerwig is "fantastic". "What matters isn't that she's a woman, it's that she is a brilliant director. Things are shifting now. You can work with people who are brilliant without having to constantly reduce it to the fact that they are women and label them."

Pugh didn't plan to be so busy this year.

"It's come as a lovely surprise, a nice whirlwind. I think afterwards I might take some time to figure out what I'm going to do next."

The Little Drummer Girl, Sunday, BBC1, 9pm

 Evening Standard
The one major constant of my grandfather Paddy Devlin's political career was dialogue: with opponents and militants, as well as colleagues. Born in the Pound Loney area of the Falls, he joined Na Fianna Eireann as a boy and graduated into the ranks of the IRA as a teenager. He was interned for these activities in 1942 and would spend three years in Crumlin Road jail.

Though he left the IRA on his release, he treasured the prison experience, reading and debating with seniors, claiming he "grew up in jail". This explains, in part, his commitment to dialogue with militants of all shades.

Later, with John Hume, he brokered the first Provisional IRA truce in 1972, and he also talked with loyalist leaders, like Glen Barr and Andy Tyrie, throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

He lobbied William Whitelaw to release Gusty Spence from prison in 1984, aware of the moderating influence Spence was having within loyalism.

I found out later that he helped both loyalist and republican prisoners in Long Kesh by ensuring they had access to writing materials and books.

As a proud trade unionist, Paddy held his first trade union meetings in the Shankill area, having been recruited into the Northern Ireland Labour Party (NILP) in the late-1950s by fellow Andrews' mill worker Billy Hewitt (whose son, Jackie, is still active in cross-community work).

Paddy was later as one with the civil rights movement, serving on the first committee of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) and, in 1969, he won the Belfast Falls seat for the NILP at the expense of veteran Irish nationalist MP Harry Diamond.

Paddy was a rambunctious street politician, known for throwing punches (and even chairs) at people he clashed with, including party colleagues.

In a funny sense, this had its advantages. The Troubles were a dangerous time and, despite his later relations, Paddy was shot at on several occasions by both loyalists and republicans.

In one incident, he was fired on by gunmen from a car as he walked with his son, Peter. Peter, then no more than seven years old, recalled Paddy "slinging me over his arm like a sack of flour" out of the line of fire.

Paddy then turned, crouched down and returned fire at the speeding car with his own handgun, which had been issued for his personal protection. Such was 1970s' Belfast.

Though a rough era, Paddy called his time on Belfast City Council, from 1977 to 1981, "one of the most rewarding periods of my life", combining with representatives, including the late Hugh Smyth, Seamus Lynch and John Carson, on working-class issues.

Smyth agreed the time was a "golden period", with collaboration on housing, education and health, as Left-leaning representatives voted across sectarian lines.

By this time, Paddy had left the SDLP and was going it alone as an independent socialist, and he once led a motion to have Belfast declared a nuclear-free zone.

Paddy broke with his political base in west Belfast over the 1981 hunger strikes. As historian Bob Purdie recalled, he did not come out like Gerry Fitt to publicly criticise the H Block hunger strikers, "but he did not support them, either, and that wasn't good enough for the Provos".

Purdie recalled my grandfather sitting with a pistol at his home in Andersonstown as a mob of activists raged outside, hammering on the front door ("Get out, Protestant-lover" was one cry he particularly remembered). He said he would have no choice to defend himself and his family if the mob made it through. Though this painful part of the story needs to be remembered, it did not alter Paddy's conviction that, "you should speak to everybody if it means peace".

Though initially downcast on leaving political life in the mid-1980s, Paddy enjoyed a happy retirement. A serious diabetes condition robbed him of his sight, but he enjoyed following sport, and narrated an autobiography which won the Irish Times non-fiction prize.

In 1999, the final year of his life, he gave an interview to a local newspaper, expressing his encouragement at the election results for smaller parties, like the Progressive Unionist Party and also the Women's Coalition.

He believed that women played a major role in communities and were those who really delivered peace on the ground in Northern Ireland.

The pinnacle of Paddy's political career was as Minister for Health and Social Services in the Sunningdale power-sharing executive of 1974 (in his brief tenure as minister before the Ulster Workers' Council strike collapsed the government, one of his decisions was to make contraceptives available to all those over the age of 18).

He developed respect for chief executive Brian Faulkner - a man he came to admire as a "courageous visionary".

In a speech announcing his retirement from politics in 1976, Faulkner, in turn, declared his "new and lifelong respect for men like John Hume and Paddy Devlin. I can quite truthfully say that I will trust them to my dying day".

There is only one other instance of this in recent political memory: the positive rapport between the late Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness as First and Deputy First Ministers. Each realised what the other was doing, as in 1974.

Paddy saw Faulkner's predicament; saw the attempt Faulkner was making to try and lead unionists into the future, and that the Council of Ireland negotiated at Sunningdale would be too much for Faulkner to sell to his unionist base.

Nevertheless, even in the darkest of times, what mattered was that political agreement was achieved and almost worked.

For this reason, Paddy's life and career, looked at today, should sound a note of hope. He was the ex-IRA man who won the trust of working-class loyalists and worked with unionists at Sunningdale and on Belfast City Council.

But it exists in individual example. It's not about one-off, symbolic gestures, like going to see a GAA game, or visiting an Orange museum.

What counts is seeing the predicament of your opponent, recognising their compromises and making a system work on a day-to-day level, as happens in other parts of Northern Irish society.

That may well be my grandfather's most significant political legacy.

Dr Connal Parr is a lecturer in history at Northumbria University. He is the author of Inventing The Myth: Political Passions And The Ulster Protestant Imagination (Oxford University Press). The Paddy Devlin Memorial Lecture takes place today at St Mary's University College, Falls Road, Belfast (1pm). Speakers include Connal Parr, former Ulster Unionist MP and councillor John Carson, former Workers Party councillor Seamus Lynch, retired publisher Anne Tannahill and SDLP MLA Claire Hanna
The fire service attended the scene

Police arrested two men after after a suspected arson attack on a former customs building in Newry.

Fire broke out at the Shepherds Way building in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Around 40 firefighters battled through the night to bring the fire under control.

Considerable damage was caused to the building as a result of the fire.

Two men aged 19 and 53, were arrested in the area a short time later on suspicion of arson.

They were later released on police bail pending further investigation.

Police are appealing for information.
Detectives are appealing for information following a suspected arson attack on a car at Glenavy Parade, Glenavy, in the early hours of Saturday.

Police received a report of a white Audi A3 on fire in a driveway at a house in the area, at around 3.30am on Saturday morning.

The Fire Service attended and extinguished the fire which caused considerable damage to the car and to windows and guttering of the house, which was unoccupied at the time.

Police are appealing for information and can be contacted on 101. Alternatively, information can also be provided to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
A commemoration has been held in Belfast for Shankill bomber Thomas Begley.

Begley died and nine others, all Protestants, were killed when the bomb he was carrying exploded in Frizzell's fish shop on October 23, 1993.

Among those to attend the memorial at the republican plot at Milltown Cemetery was senior Sinn Fein figures including Bobby Storey and Belfast councillor Seanna Walsh.

Also in attendance was Sean Kelly, he posed alongside Begley as a delivery man as the two planted the bomb on the busy Saturday afternoon. He was injured in the bombing and convicted for his participation in the atrocity. He laid a wreath and addressed those in attendance, as too did Seanna Walsh.

Mr Kelly, who has said sorry for the attack in the past, used the latest anniversary event to reiterate his apology for what he described as an IRA operation that went tragically wrong.

"I am truly sorry for the loss of life and injuries suffered on that day, but there is nothing I can say that can bring any comfort to the families of the victims," he said.

"Let me say, however, that today's event is one of respectful and dignified commemoration of Bootsy - this is no glorification of the events of that awful day, but we stand in solidarity with Bootsy's grieving family and we remember all of those who died during the conflict.

"So Bootsy, may you rest in peace - you were my friend, you were my comrade, and I will never forget you and I will cherish the times we had to together."

The Begley family also took part in the event.

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Earlier this week, the families of those who died came together to mark the 25th anniversary of the bomb.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Former IRA member Sean Kelly and Shankill bomber speaks at Milltown Cemetery in West Belfast. Pic PA PA Billy Begley the father of Shankill bomber Thomas Begley listens to former PIRA member Sean Kelly, right, speak at Milltown Cemetery in West Belfast. Pic PA PA Sean Kelly Attends A commemoration for Shankill bomber Thomas Begley which took place at Milltown cemetery on Saturday. Pic Pacemaker Sean Kelly Attends A commemoration for Shankill bomber Thomas Begley which took place at Milltown cemetery on Saturday. Pic Pacemaker A commemoration for Shankill bomber Thomas Begley takes place at Milltown cemetery on Saturday. Pic Pacemaker A commemoration for Shankill bomber Thomas Begley takes place at Milltown cemetery on Saturday. Pic Pacemaker Sean Kelly Attends A commemoration for Shankill bomber Thomas Begley which took place at Milltown cemetery on Saturday. Pic Pacemaker A commemoration for Shankill bomber Thomas Begley takes place at Milltown cemetery on Saturday. Pic Pacemaker Seanna Walsh A commemoration for Shankill bomber Thomas Begley which took place at Milltown cemetery on Saturday. Pic Pacemaker A commemoration for Shankill bomber Thomas Begley takes place at Milltown cemetery on Saturday. Pic Pacemaker A commemoration for Shankill bomber Thomas Begley takes place at Milltown cemetery on Saturday. Pic Pacemaker Seanna Walsh at the commemoration for Shankill bomber Thomas Begley which took place at Milltown cemetery on Saturday. Pic Pacemaker A commemoration for Shankill bomber Thomas Begley takes place at Milltown cemetery on Saturday. Pic Pacemaker A commemoration for Shankill bomber Thomas Begley takes place at Milltown cemetery on Saturday. Pic Pacemaker A commemoration for Shankill bomber Thomas Begley takes place at Milltown cemetery on Saturday. Pic Pacemaker A commemoration for Shankill bomber Thomas Begley takes place at Milltown cemetery on Saturday. Pic Pacemaker Sean Kelly Attends a commemoration for Shankill bomber Thomas Begley which took place at Milltown cemetery on Saturday. Pic Pacemaker Sean Kelly Attends a commemoration for Shankill bomber Thomas Begley which took place at Milltown cemetery on Saturday. Pic Pacemaker Sean Kelly Attends A commemoration for Shankill bomber Thomas Begley which took place at Milltown cemetery on Saturday. Pic Pacemaker Seanna Walsh at the commemoration for Shankill bomber Thomas Begley which took place at Milltown cemetery on Saturday. Pic Pacemaker Seanna Walsh at the commemoration for Shankill bomber Thomas Begley which took place at Milltown cemetery on Saturday. Pic Pacemaker Sean Kelly Attends A commemoration for Shankill bomber Thomas Begley which took place at Milltown cemetery on Saturday.Pic Pacemaker Sean Kelly Attends the commemoration for Shankill bomber Thomas Begley which took place at Milltown cemetery on Saturday. Pic Pacemaker Sean Kelly Attends A commemoration for Shankill bomber Thomas Begley which took place at Milltown cemetery. Pic Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 27/10/2018 A commemoration for Shankill bomber Thomas Begley takes place at Milltown cemetery on Saturday. Thomas Begley died and nine others, all Protestants, were killed when the bomb he was carrying exploded prematurely at Frizzell's fish shop on the Shankill Road on October 23, 1993. Begley and a second bomber, Sean Kelly, wearing white coats and posing as delivery drivers, carried the bomb into the shop on a busy Saturday afternoon. Pic Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 27/10/2018 Sean Kelly Attends A commemoration for Shankill bomber Thomas Begley which took place at Milltown cemetery on Saturday. Thomas Begley died and nine others, all Protestants, were killed when the bomb he was carrying exploded prematurely at Frizzell's fish shop on the Shankill Road on October 23, 1993. Begley and a second bomber, Sean Kelly, wearing white coats and posing as delivery drivers, carried the bomb into the shop on a busy Saturday afternoon. Pic Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 27/10/2018 Sean Kelly Attends A commemoration for Shankill bomber Thomas Begley which took place at Milltown cemetery on Saturday. Thomas Begley died and nine others, all Protestants, were killed when the bomb he was carrying exploded prematurely at Frizzell's fish shop on the Shankill Road on October 23, 1993. Begley and a second bomber, Sean Kelly, wearing white coats and posing as delivery drivers, carried the bomb into the shop on a busy Saturday afternoon. Pic Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 27/10/2018 Eddie Copeland Attends A commemoration for Shankill bomber Thomas Begley which took place at Milltown cemetery on Saturday. Thomas Begley died and nine others, all Protestants, were killed when the bomb he was carrying exploded prematurely at Frizzell's fish shop on the Shankill Road on October 23, 1993. Begley and a second bomber, Sean Kelly, wearing white coats and posing as delivery drivers, carried the bomb into the shop on a busy Saturday afternoon. Pic Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 27/10/2018 A commemoration for Shankill bomber Thomas Begley takes place at Milltown cemetery on Saturday. Thomas Begley died and nine others, all Protestants, were killed when the bomb he was carrying exploded prematurely at Frizzell's fish shop on the Shankill Road on October 23, 1993. Begley and a second bomber, Sean Kelly, wearing white coats and posing as delivery drivers, carried the bomb into the shop on a busy Saturday afternoon. Pic Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 27/10/2018 Bobby Storey during A commemoration for Shankill bomber Thomas Begley takes place at Milltown cemetery on Saturday. Thomas Begley died and nine others, all Protestants, were killed when the bomb he was carrying exploded prematurely at Frizzell's fish shop on the Shankill Road on October 23, 1993. Begley and a second bomber, Sean Kelly, wearing white coats and posing as delivery drivers, carried the bomb into the shop on a busy Saturday afternoon. Pic Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 27/10/2018 A commemoration for Shankill bomber Thomas Begley takes place at Milltown cemetery on Saturday. Thomas Begley died and nine others, all Protestants, were killed when the bomb he was carrying exploded prematurely at Frizzell's fish shop on the Shankill Road on October 23, 1993. Begley and a second bomber, Sean Kelly, wearing white coats and posing as delivery drivers, carried the bomb into the shop on a busy Saturday afternoon. Pic Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 27/10/2018 A commemoration for Shankill bomber Thomas Begley takes place at Milltown cemetery on Saturday. Thomas Begley died and nine others, all Protestants, were killed when the bomb he was carrying exploded prematurely at Frizzell's fish shop on the Shankill Road on October 23, 1993. Begley and a second bomber, Sean Kelly, wearing white coats and posing as delivery drivers, carried the bomb into the shop on a busy Saturday afternoon. Pic Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 27/10/2018 A commemoration for Shankill bomber Thomas Begley takes place at Milltown cemetery on Saturday. Thomas Begley died and nine others, all Protestants, were killed when the bomb he was carrying exploded prematurely at Frizzell's fish shop on the Shankill Road on October 23, 1993. Begley and a second bomber, Sean Kelly, wearing white coats and posing as delivery drivers, carried the bomb into the shop on a busy Saturday afternoon. Pic Pacemaker Press Eye - 25 Anniversary Memorial - Milltown Cemetry - 27th October 2018 Photograph by Declan Roughan Thomas Begley's father Billy arrives at the memorial for his son at Milltown Cemetery The aftermath of the Shankill bombing Thomas Begley / Facebook

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Whatsapp Former IRA member Sean Kelly and Shankill bomber speaks at Milltown Cemetery in West Belfast. Pic PA

There was anger over this afternoon's planned tribute at the republican plot in Milltown Cemetery, west Belfast, where Begley was buried with full IRA honours.

Shankill bombing victims' relatives described the event as "tramping over the graves of their loved ones".

His father Billy told the Belfast Telegraph on Thursday that the family would not be attending.

"We have nothing to do with this event and prefer to remember our son in our own private way," he said.

Mr Begley said his family pray for "all the innocent people who were killed", adding: "We are very sorry for what happened - it was all wrong."

But in a reversal yesterday he said the family would now be attending the memorial.

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In a statement issued to the Press Association, Mr Begley stated: "I and members of my family will be in attendance at the dignified and respectful commemoration in memory of our son Thomas being held at the republican plot in Belfast."

Speaking in Dublin yesterday, Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald defended party members attending the event.

"I have consistently said that for us to respect each other and for us to begin the process of healing and reconciliation, we have to allow for remembrance by everybody, by all sides.

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"That includes, in this case, the loved ones and families of those who were killed in the bomb and that includes Thomas Begley," Ms McDonald said.
A former soldier who stole more than 30,000 from a Co Antrim church and its Sunday School walked free from court yesterday after a judge suspended his prison sentence.

Eamon Shiels' two-year jail term was suspended for three years at Antrim Crown Court.

Judge Melody McReynolds told the self-confessed thief the "only motivation" she could discern for him stealing around 30,000 from the Cuningham Memorial Presbyterian Church was "simple materialism".

She told the 62-year-old former R Irish colour sergeant his seven years of theft and fraud had resulted in a loss which was "more than financial".

"Your fellow committee members suffered. They had their faith tested and they felt badly let down," said Judge McReynolds.

At an earlier hearing Shiels, from Oldpark Avenue in Ballymena, entered guilty pleas to three counts of theft totalling 2,030, including 600 from the Sunday School collection plate, and fraud by abusing the position of trust he held within the Cullybackey church, all committed between July 1, 2008 and April 1, 2015.

Opening the Crown case, prosecuting counsel Suzanne Gallagher revealed while the fraud count related to Shiels stealing 33,580 or thereabouts, the church's insurance company had agreed to pay out 46,910.

Shiels, the lawyer said, had a responsibility to count families' freewill donations and then lodge that money into the church's bank account.

He was in charge of a team counting the cash, recording the amounts, how much each family had donated, lodging that money into the bank and was a keyholder to both the church itself and the safe. But there was a "discovery of financial irregularities" for donations in August 2014 during an end of year audit when totals did not tally.

A more detailed examination showed a shortfall of 660, which in turn sparked a church finance committee investigation.

"The suspicion was that the money had been stolen," said Ms Gallagher and there was a meeting in March 2015.

At that time the most recent collections had not yet been lodged into the bank so the committee opened the safe expecting it to contain cash and cheques from the congregation. But when they looked inside only the empty envelopes were in the safe.

Going through the sheets for that month's collections, Ms Gallagher said there was a shortfall of 770, and that further examinations revealed that when there was a discrepancy in the sheets, Shiels' team had been counting collections.

However, Shiels repeatedly denied doing anything wrong, but "eventually admitted to being the person responsible for stealing the money" in that March and previous August, also confessing that "none of the other members of the group were aware or involved in any of this fraud".

As a result of his admissions, the lawyer told the court the church conducted further financial investigations into when Shiels had been in charge of collections.

It was discovered there was a "large decrease in the money lodged" when Shiels was in charge of counting compared to other months, said the lawyer.

She described how on two communion Sundays, 210 and 182 donation envelopes had been given in to the church, but when Shiels was in charge there were only 91.

From 2008 to 2015 the church estimated at a minimum a total of 33,580 was stolen by Shiels, and Ms Gallagher revealed that since his detection "there have been no further irregularities".

She told the court that essentially, he took cash from numerous envelopes or took cash equivalent to cheques and recorded families donating lower amounts than they had actually given.

In one instance, however, Shiels was caught out when an auditor noticed his family had been recorded as giving a lower amount than what he knew they had donated.

CCTV from various Sunday services was also checked and that proved more envelopes had been handed in than the amount recorded by Shiels.

In September 2013 Shiels took over "sole responsibility" for the weekly offering from the Sunday School and investigations into the children's donations revealed Shiels had pocketed 600.

After Shiels was initially arrested in 2015, church envelopes were found in his garage loft "which police believe is where he had hidden the money".

During questioning, Shiels admitted stealing the church's money in March 2015 and the previous August, but denied stealing anything else and could give no explanation why "in certain months there was an excess of money in his account or where that money came from".

He also denied being in debt but police enquiries uncovered that he had a 77,000 IVA (individual voluntary arrangement, a formal alternative for individuals wishing to avoid bankruptcy) which he was paying off every month.

Ms Gallagher agreed with the judge's comment the motivation behind the thefts was akin to "keeping up with the Joneses".

Defence barrister Neil Moore conceded that Shiels - who had an "impeccable character" and who had served for 22 years in the UDR and R Irish, leaving with commendations and a rank of colour sergeant - "is a thief and that stigma will live with him now for the rest of his days".

"Its perhaps little support to the people who have attended from the church, but he is sorry and he apologises," the lawyer said.

In her sentencing remarks, Judge McReynolds said the sense of animosity towards Shiels from those in the packed public gallery was "palpable".

She said as a result of Shiels stealing - "everything from cheques to Sunday School funds", all while in a significant position of trust - those he stole from "have every reason to feel disillusioned".

But she said that "after careful consideration", she had decided to suspend his sentence because of his age, the fact that he had restarted a career at 62 and the "sheer level of shame with which this defendant will have to live in a small, rural community".

Outside court Shiels declined to comment.

Cuningham minister Rev David Murphy said in a statement that as a result of his offending "many individuals from our congregation have been impacted by the side and sorrowful affair which has been met with feelings of dismay and concern".

The statement added: "Now that the sentence has been pronounced, the congregation would wish to draw a line under the matter and move forward bearing in mind that in this modern and imperfect world, we rejoice that there is in the saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, forgiveness for sin, the gift of eternal life and the assurance of Heaven."
A prisoner who who went on the run after being released for three hours on Monday taunted the police on Facebook last night.

James Donegan (30), who was on remand, fled after being granted compassionate bail. The PSNI said Donegan (below) is awaiting sentencing for serious offences, including attempted hijacking.

Officers believe he is moving around Londonderry and Donegal.

PSNI Limavady yesterday issued an appeal on Facebook, which Donegan commented on.

An officer posted: "Hey Jimmy, don't know if you're aware but you're currently wanted for arrest. You might want to think about having a wee chat with the old solicitor and handing yourself in. Pretty sure the judge won't be thinking "oh, ha ha ha Jimmy, you're good craic sir." Donegan replied: "PSNI Limavady have a good word with my solicitor. I think I need one with myself, but cheers for your continuous concern and support. Great to see yous out earning your wages boys."
From left: Liam, Gerard, Roisin, Rory and Eamon Cairns enjoy Roisin's 11th birthday party. Within an hour of this picture being taken Gerard and Rory lay dead, killed by loyalist gunmen

A Co Down woman has revealed coming face-to-face with UVF gunmen just moments before they shot dead her two brothers, believing it was "a Halloween prank".

Tomorrow marks 25 years since the double murder of the brothers as they watched TV while their 11-year-old sister was in the next room.

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Gerard Cairns (22) and his brother Rory (18) died when gunmen burst into the family home in Bleary, near Lurgan, on October 28, 1993.

Loyalist terrorists had launched a series of attacks on Catholics across Northern Ireland in the days after the Shankill bombing, which left 10 dead, including one of the IRA bombers.

The killers struck on the day that Roisin Cairns turned 11 and shortly after the family had gathered around the kitchen table to hold a small birthday celebration for her.

Now 35, Roisin has given a chilling account of how the masked gunmen motioned to her to be silent just before the shooting.

"One of them ran on, ran in, and one of them just stood and put his finger up to tell me to be quiet and just stood and watched me," she told The Irish News. "I don't know what I was really doing, if I was squealing or what was going on, but I was thinking it was a Halloween prank."

Her parents Eamon and Sheila had gone to an Irish class in Lurgan, leaving Roisin at home with her older brothers.

"I was just lying up eating sweets, just loving it, the house to myself and then I was going to go over for a drink and something spooked me and I could see there was shadows (through the back door)," she said.

"I kind of wanted to get out of the kitchen quickly and I was going down to take the plug out of the TV, I knew something wasn't right, I wanted to get around the table and into the living room as quick as possible.

"I had only just got half way around the table (when) the gunmen busted in the door and they were in their boiler suits and balaclavas. They were totally covered," she said.

The gunmen, armed with assault rifles, went into another room where they opened fire on her two brothers before fleeing the house.

"They (the gunmen) left and I went up into the living room, and I was shouting at Gerard, because I could see Rory's head and I could see the blood coming out of the head and I could see the hole. I was saying to Gerard 'what's wrong with Rory' because I thought Gerard was kind of moving, still alive or something you know, but he was on the floor with his back against the chair," she said.

The terrified child then ran for help.

Roisin also spoke of how she struggled to cope with the aftermath of what happened, suffering from "constant nightmares" and describing her teenage years as "horrible" and "just pure black".
A Northern Ireland councillor has praised a school's cross-community endeavours after its principal was forced to defend a rugby kit used by his pupils.

DUP Newry, Moure and Down councillor Glyn Hanna said there should be more cross-community initiatives in schools and throughout communities.

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"My generation probably never mixed until we went to work and it is good to see efforts like this," he said.

Kilkeel High School was criticised after it posted on Facebook about the achievements of its pupils who took part in a rugby competition in a collaborative team alongside pupils from St Louis Grammar.

The post showed one player in the top which has a green and yellow sleeve and another burgundy and sky blue sleeve as well as carrying the crest of both schools. The top was designed by a group of pupils to represent both the schools in a cross-community initiative.

Some on social media said it looked like a GAA top.

Principal Victor Coert explained how the top was designed by a group of boys from both schools to represent their respective school.

He said there had to be a "line drawn in the sand" and he'd had enough of his pupils "being used as a political tool" after the row escalated online.

"This is a Shared Education initiative, St Louis pupils will be welcome to play in our rugby teams and their school emblem will remain on our rugby top," he said.

"I would implore you  the community of Kilkeel  please do not use our school for individual or political agendas. My office is open to any of you who wish to raise an issue with me. Kilkeel High School is your school and like myself, you want what is best for it. We are doing so well as a school.

"Our exam results in August were some of the best ever. Please dont allow your opinion about a rugby top to tarnish the reputation of this school."

Newry, Mourne and Down councillor Glyn Hanna took part in the online discussion about the top and asked why pupils played in those colours. He told the Belfast Telegraph he had four children who had attended Kilkeel High and had never seen it before.

After contacting the principal the background of the top was explained to him.

He added: "I would make it clear I never criticised the school, I just asked the question. It is to be welcomed, the school should be praised and there should be more of it.

"I had three children at the school and one of them played every sport going. I had never seen the top and was just surprised to see it - that's all.

"I have a business and work on the council always to promote cross-community work. My generation probably never mixed until we went to work and it is good to see efforts like this.

"The children are our future and should be brought together more often. I support all cross-community endeavours and I am working everyday to do just that."
A man was beaten around the head with hammer in a Belfast burglary.

Detectives are appealing for witnesses following the incident at a flat in the Abbey Park area of east Belfast on Friday 26 October.

It was reported that sometime between 8pm and 8.30pm a number of masked men forced their way into the property and assaulted the male occupant with hammers.

The 34 year old man was treated in hospital for injuries to his head and legs. A 16-year-old boy who was also in the flat at the time was not injured.

Detective Sergeant Gardiner is appealing for anyone who witnessed the incident or anyone with any information that can assist with the investigation to contact detectives at Musgrave on 101, quoting reference 1241 26/10/18. Alternatively, information can also be provided anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
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 []
President Michael D Higgins is on course for a landslide victory in the Irish presidential election after exit polls suggested he had secured more than 56% of the vote.

An RTE exit poll predicted incumbent president Mr Higgins received 58.1% of first-preference votes, while an Irish Times poll projected Mr Higgins topped the vote with 56%.

The results put controversial businessman and former Irish Dragons Den star Peter Casey in second with about 20% of first-preference votes.

It means Mr Higgins is likely to be easily re-elected on the first count for a second seven-year term.

The polls have closed & we want to thank everyone for all your help. We don't know the outcome yet, but we do know we could not have run this campaign without you. Thank you. #MichaelDforPresident #Aras18 pic.twitter.com/9jFQvuRivF  Michael D Higgins (@MichaelDHiggins) October 26, 2018

More than 3,400 people were interviewed for the RTE poll by Red C outside 138 polling stations across the country on Friday.

The results indicate Sinn Fein MEP Liadh Ni Riada received 7.4% of the vote, Senator Joan Freeman 6.3% and businessman and former Dragons Den investor Sean Gallagher 5.5%.

The Irish Times poll, conducted by Ipsos/MRBI, questioned more than 4,300 voters outside 160 polling stations across the country.

Its results put Mr Gallagher at 7%, Ms Ni Riada on 8% and Ms Freeman on 6%.

Expand Close The six candidates in the presidential election (PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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The results of both polls, which were published at 10pm as polling stations across the country closed, indicate that Gavin Duffy secured the lowest number of votes at 2%.

More than 3.2 million people were entitled to vote in 40 constituencies across the country.

As well as deciding who they wanted to see in Aras an Uachtarain for the next seven years, electorates were also asked whether they wanted to remove the offence of blasphemy from the Irish constitution.

Go raibh mile maith agat to everyone that came out to vote for me today. Your support throughout this campaign has been phenomenal and hasn't gone unnoticed. Together we can build a new Ireland.#Aras18 #LiadhForPresident pic.twitter.com/77k7JERmfx  Liadh Ni Riada (@LiadhNiRiada) October 26, 2018

The exit polls suggest that the referendum will be passed by a significant majority.

RTEs exit poll found that 71.1% said they had voted Yes and that 26.3% had voted No, while the Irish Times poll predicted that 69% had backed the proposal and 31% had voted against the change.

Opinion polls throughout the campaign consistently placed Mr Higgins as the favourite to win, despite being plagued by questions over presidential expenses.

During the campaign, Mr Higgins also came in for criticism over his use of the Governments jet to travel from Dublin to Belfast.

Mr Casey faced calls to withdraw after he claimed Travellers were simply people camping on someone elses land and that Irelands recognition of them as members of an ethnic minority was a load of nonsense.

It was Mr Gallaghers second time running for the presidency after a failed bid in 2011. At the time he secured more than half a million first-time votes.

Expand Close Exit polls put Peter Casey in second with about 20% of first-preference votes (Rebecca Black/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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During the campaign, however, he was pressed over what he had done in public life in the past seven years.

Ms Ni Riada was forced to reject claims that she did not support the HPV vaccine, Ms Freeman was quizzed on a 130,000 euro loan she had received from donors to fund her campaign, while Mr Duffy faced questioned over his past driving convictions.

Mr Higgins is the countrys ninth president. He was elected in 2011.

If re-elected, the 77-year old will become the fifth president to serve for two terms. Four presidents  Sean T OKelly, Eamon de Valera, Patrick Hillery and Mary McAleese  served for 14 years.

Douglas Hyde, Irelands first president, was elected in 1938.

Counting of votes will begin on Saturday morning with a result expected by the evening.
Police at the scene of the shooting at the Kennedy Way depot in 1993

The son of a Belfast council worker murdered by the UFF in the days that followed the Shankill bomb has said he never wants to see such hatred on our streets again.

Mark Rodgers (31) was only six years-old when his father - also Mark - was one of two council employees killed by loyalist gunmen at the west Belfast depot where he worked.

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His dad was aged 28 when the UFF targeted the Kennedy Way site on October 26, 1993 - three days after the Shankill bomb. He had been sheltering behind a lorry.

His colleague James Cameron (54) also died in the attack. Mr Cameron's wife worked at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast at the time and had treated victims of the Shankill bomb. Both men were Catholics,

"I was only six-years-old when my father was murdered," Mark told the Belfast Telegraph. "It had been my birthday two days before.

"Ever since that day my birthday has been hard. On one hand, yes, it's your birthday and people want to celebrate, but I always know that just two days later it'll be the anniversary of my father's murder."

And he admitted this year - the 25th anniversary - has been particularly upsetting.

"A lot of the media focus has been on the Shankill bomb and next we'll have Greysteel. But there were others who died, other families who suffered and we have to remember that.

"There was so much hatred on the streets. And while there are still walls between some, there's not between normal people. The people who did these things weren't normal. The people who did this to my family are absolutely evil - pure, pure evil.

"My dad had never judged anyone by religion. Mostly all I have is stories of him. My sister Leanne has even less. She was only three."

Today Shankill bomber Thomas Begley will be commemorated at an event in Milltown cemetery and Mark called that "unsympathetic" to the victims.

"Every five years we hold a memorial service. That's our own personal thing. Anyone is entitled to remember a loved one," he said. "What angers me is people who are supposed to represent political parties getting involved in commemorating the sort of people who brought this trauma to people like me and my family.

"It's unsympathetic to the victims of the Shankill bomb and the families of the victims in the wake of that day.

"Representatives of political parties never seem to see the suffering of people like me, like my mother, my sister and families like ours.

"None came to remember my father. Instead they seem more interested in remembering the so-called brave volunteers who put all these families through hell. And it was hell - just ask my mother.

"But in a way I like to think my dad's death paved the way for peace. The ceasefire started the next year and I like to think my father's murder helped politicians realise that the brutality we were all being forced to live through had to end.

"My family has lived through a terrible, terrible thing. Our children need to read about months like October 1993, see the trauma it caused and never allow it to happen again.

"All people want is to live free from the hatred and brutality that robbed me of my father."
Reece Kelly with his sister Tara at her wedding

The sister of a Co Londonderry man who died in a one-vehicle car accident has said she believes he is "up in Heaven" with their six-year-old brother who passed away just three months ago.

Former St Colm's High School, Draperstown, pupil Reece Kelly (22) was pronounced dead at the scene on the Newferry Road near Bellaghy on Thursday.

The PSNI said that the incident occurred at around 5pm, when a BMW car carrying four men left the road.

Three others were taken to hospital with one described as being in a critical condition.

Reece's older sister Tara Devlin (27) said he had a "heart of gold".

She added that she didn't know how her family would cope with a second death in such a short space of time.

"The first we knew there might be something wrong was when a friend rang to say Reece was in a really bad accident, then police came to see my parents," heartbroken Tara recalled.

"I'm the eldest of eight siblings, and I went to the scene along with my mum, dad, three of my brothers and my wee sister.

"Reece's body was still there - the accident happened at 5pm and he wasn't removed until about 1.30am.

"We saw him at the scene in the back of a hearse in a body bag.

"It was a surreal experience.

"My mum collapsed, she was in shock.

"We could see he had serious injuries. We saw the car and I'm surprised anyone got out alive.

"Reece was a front-seat passenger.

"We know that he was trapped and the emergency services said it would have been pretty quick, which means he didn't suffer."

Reece's death came just 12 weeks after his little brother Seamus Thayaparan (6), who suffered from a genetic heart condition, passed away due to a heart valve infection while awaiting an operation.

"Seamus and Reece both had a genetic heart condition, as does my dad and another brother, but it was more serious for Seamus," Tara revealed.

"Seamus had special needs, he had already had heart surgery when he was two, but he had a bit of a growth on his heart valve and the infection went through the heart and attached to that.

"He had been in intensive care for three weeks and was waiting for surgery for a heart valve transplant when he died.

"It would have been his seventh birthday in December.

"I don't know how our family is going to get through all of this.

"My mum Martina Thayaparan's 50th birthday was last Saturday.

"She had already had a heart attack three months before we lost Seamus.

"She hasn't been the same since he passed away and she still hasn't opened her birthday cards.

"Mum is just a shell at the minute."

Tara said that her close-knit family was drawing comfort from the fact that the brothers have now been reunited in Heaven.

"It gives a wee bit of comfort that they are up in Heaven together, that Reece can look after Seamus," she added.

"His big brother Reece is up in Heaven looking after him, or else Seamus is showing Reece the ropes.

"They used to love wrestling with each other.

"I think that's what they are doing now."

Tara described Reece, who was a labourer, as a "really energetic" person who was "always trying to make everyone laugh".

Born in London, Reece came to Northern Ireland, his mother's homeland, at the age of 10 with the rest of the family.

"He was always on the go, you couldn't take him seriously," Tara added.

"He took care of all the younger siblings, he was always looking out for them.

"He was so kind and compassionate.

"He had a heart of gold.

"Words can't explain what the losses of Reece and Seamus have done to our family."

While details of Reece's funeral are yet to be released, Tara said that he will be laid to rest beside little Seamus at St Columba's Church in the village of Straw.
In a dramatic U-turn, the father of Shankill Road bomber Thomas Begley has said he will now be attending today's commemoration to his son.

Begley died and nine others, all Protestants, were killed when the bomb he was carrying exploded prematurely at Frizzell's fish shop on October 23, 1993.

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Earlier this week, the families of those who died came together to mark the 25th anniversary of the bomb.

Anger has erupted over this afternoon's planned tribute at the republican plot in Milltown Cemetery, west Belfast, where Begley was buried with full IRA honours.

His father Billy told the Belfast Telegraph on Thursday that the family would not be attending.

"We have nothing to do with this event and prefer to remember our son in our own private way," he said.

Mr Begley said his family pray for "all the innocent people who were killed", adding: "We are very sorry for what happened - it was all wrong."

But in a reversal yesterday he said the family would now be attending the memorial.

In a statement issued to the Press Association, Mr Begley stated: "I and members of my family will be in attendance at the dignified and respectful commemoration in memory of our son Thomas being held at the republican plot in Belfast."

Sinn Fein has confirmed that some of its members will also be represented.

Speaking in Dublin yesterday, Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald defended party members attending the event.

"I have consistently said that for us to respect each other and for us to begin the process of healing and reconciliation, we have to allow for remembrance by everybody, by all sides.

"That includes, in this case, the loved ones and families of those who were killed in the bomb and that includes Thomas Begley," Ms McDonald said.

"I know that creates a difficulty for people, it creates controversy, but the truth is for us really to begin the process of putting the conflict to rest and creating a healing environment we have to allow for remembrance on all sides and I'm saying that very conscious of the fact that creates a sensitivity and difficulty for many people," she added.

Relatives of those killed in the Shankill bomb have slammed plans to commemorate Begley's death.

It will take place just four days after hundreds of people from both sides of the community in Northern Ireland marked 25 years since the atrocity.

Charlie Butler, who lost three members of his family in the attack, said it was "gut wrenching" for the families of the victims to see a commemoration was planned for Begley.

Speaking on the BBC's Stephen Nolan Show, he said: "To see people who are going to commemorate someone who murdered children and women, unborn babies and pensioners, I think any society needs to look at itself and know it is not right.

He added: "This was someone who wasn't a victim, this was a perpetrator. To glorify perpetrators, it is totally unbelievable in this country. It wouldn't happen in any other country in the world. Shocking."

DUP councillor John Scott, who lost his niece Wilma McKee in the blast, said he was "sickened" that Sinn Fein party members will be attending the event.

"Sinn Fein always talks about equality and that we all come from the one island. This sends a message to say 'to hell with the victims, we are doing what we want to do'.

"It doesn't matter if it was Protestants or Catholics that were killed, Sinn Fein don't seem to worry."
Michael D Higgins is set for a resounding victory after running a popular campaign.

Irelands ninth president has campaigned for justice and equality throughout his life.

The 77-year old poet, professor and campaigner said he would only stand for one term  but after much speculation he confirmed in July that he would run again. His campaign for Aras an Uachtarain officially got under way last month.

Born in Limerick in the 1940s, Mr Higgins grew up in Limerick and Clare before he moved to Galway to study at University College Galway.

Congratulations @MichaelDHiggins. Really happy that you will continue to be our President for the next 7 years  Leo Varadkar (@LeoVaradkar) October 27, 2018

He began his career as an academic in the 1960s and 1970s, teaching political science and sociology in Ireland and the United States.

He entered the political arena in the late 1960s, joining the Labour Party and served as a senator in the 1980s before representing Galway West in the Dail from 1987 to 2011.

A fluent Irish speaker, Mr Higgins served as minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht in the 1990s.

He is also a published poet and has presented TV documentaries.

The long-time campaigner for equality was was elected president in 2011 after running as a Labour party candidate.

He secured 701,101 first preference votes which amounted to 39.6% of the vote. In total, he secured one million votes.

When his 2011 resounding victory was formally announced in Dublin Castle, he said he would be a President for all the people and he vowed to lead the country in a necessary transformation away from values based on wealth.

He also said he would attempt to help heal the wounds of the Troubles like his predecessors Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese.

Mr Higgins success, secured after transfers from four counts, was the largest total in an Irish presidential election.

His win came after one of the most remarkable political comebacks ever. He seized an unprecedented 15% swing in support following the spectacular implosion of his biggest rival, independent Sean Gallagher, on live television in the final days of the campaign.

Once in office, Mr Higgins resigned from the Labour party, which he had been president of from 2003 until 2011.

He made history in 2014 when he became the first Irish president to undertake an official state visit to the UK.

Earlier this year, he welcomed Pope Francis to Ireland, the first papal visit in almost 40 years.

Expand Close Pope Francis arrives for a meeting with Irish President Michael D Higgins (Danny LAwson/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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As the sitting president, Mr Higgins was able to nominate himself as an independent candidate for another seven years in office.

But he also secured the backing of Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and Labour  who agreed not to field candidates from their own parties.

He looks set to spend another seven years at Aras an Uachatarain with his wife Sabina, who he married in 1974. They have four children. His daughter Alice Mary Higgins followed her father into political life and is a representative in Irelands lower house.

At the launch of his campaign in September, Mr Higgins encouraged voters to judge him on his values and not his age. He said that people should be judged on their cognitive ability and he said he no longer smoked or drank and has a yoga teacher.

Throughout the race, Mr Higgins drew criticism from his contenders over presidential expenditure. An allowance of up to 317,000 euro a year has been paid to each president since 1998 which is not audited, taxed or scrutinised.

Expand Close The Duke and Duchess of Sussex with President Michael D Higgins, his wife Sabina and their dogs (Julien Behal/PA) Press Association Images / Facebook

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A parliamentary committee examined the spending after claims of extravagant outgoings by the office including expensive hotel suites on state visits. The president repeatedly denied any wrongful spending.

Despite repeated calls for him to publish details of how the allowance has been spent, he refused, instead committing to releasing details in November.

Mr Higgins admitted in the midst of the campaign that he had been hurt by allegations that any money was used for anything other than what it was intended for.

While he would not comment on individual candidates, the presidential hopeful told the Press Association the other candidates queries about his expenses shouldnt be used as a substitute for the absence of a platform.

The president was also roundly criticised by the other candidates for not participating in all of the presidential debates.

In the final days of the campaign, he came under attack for his use of the Governments jet to fly to Belfast in May. The president claimed that he flew rather than travelling by road due to security and logistics reasons but later he said it was because he was following the advice of his office.

The candidate, who had appealed for a dignified campaign at the outset, even found his two dogs, Brod and Sioda, coming in for attack.

Mr Casey took aim at Mr Higgins Bernese mountain dogs in an online video.

Mr Higgins said he had put his own stamp on the presidency, as his predecessors had done before him.

I am someone who came out of poverty with no prospects of education and became a university teacher and then left the university to take my stand on particular public issues, he told PA during the campaign.

Mr Higgins said he knew what was achievable within the confines of the Irish Constitution and he had never promised any initiative that was not achievable.

The polls have closed & we want to thank everyone for all your help. We don't know the outcome yet, but we do know we could not have run this campaign without you. Thank you. #MichaelDforPresident #Aras18 pic.twitter.com/9jFQvuRivF  Michael D Higgins (@MichaelDHiggins) October 26, 2018

Labour party leader Brendan Howlin said Mr Higgins had been an exemplary President and that there was no one better to represent the people of Ireland during the next seven years.

Not only does Michael D represent the best of the Labour and trade union tradition in Irish politics, but he has touched the hearts and minds of people from all walks of life, and all political persuasions, Mr Howlin said.

Michael D Higgins showed a rare depth of sensibility during the recent centenary commemorations, and he has the authority and authenticity to speak for us all at the sensitive memorials yet to come.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar congratulated Mr Higgins on Saturday morning as the counting began, tweeting he was really happy that the political veteran would continue to be the countrys President for the next seven years.

Mr Higgins plans for a second term including setting up a year-long initiative around achieving equality.

He also wants to launch an arts initiative called Imagination and the Nation, which aims to highlight the necessity of art and creativity in contemporary Irish life.

Mr Higgins has long championed an ethical Republic and has repeatedly addressed issues surrounding memory, commemoration, identity and the conflicting traditions on the island.

The refugee crisis in Europe and the plight of migrants has been a favourite topic, as well as the importance of the arts and Irelands great literary tradition.
Michael D Higgins makes his victory speech after he was announced as the winner of Irelands presidential election (Niall Carson/PA)

Michael D Higgins has welcomed his re-election as president of Ireland as a vote for hope over fear.

He secured his second term in office with a landslide margin of more than 55% of the vote.

All 40 constituencies around Ireland were declared shortly after 7.30pm. Some 1,492,338 people voted.

Michael D Higgins has been re-elected President of Ireland on the first count, with 822,566 #aras18 #PresidentMichaelDHiggins pic.twitter.com/6lXYEu3itr  Michael D Higgins (@MichaelDHiggins) October 27, 2018

Mr Higgins said: The people have made a choice as to which version of Irishness they want reflected at home and abroad.

It is the making of hope they wish to share rather than the experience of any exploitation of division or fear.

He said his version of Ireland is one which draws on traditional genius and contemporary creativity.

The presidency belongs not only to any one person but to the people of Ireland.

I will be a president for all the people, for those who voted for me and those who did not.

Expand Close Mr Higgins celebrates with his wife Sabina at Dublin Castle (Niall Carson/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Mr Higgins celebrates with his wife Sabina at Dublin Castle (Niall Carson/PA)

I am so proud of this country, I am proud to be a president for all of you and with all of you, and I look forward with joy and hope to all that we will achieve together.

There were loud cheers as the 77-year-old poet, professor and campaigner embraced friends and supporters as he celebrated his victory.

Irelands premier Leo Varadkar hailed Mr Higginss re-election as an historic victory.

Businessman Peter Casey, initially an outside contender whose last-minute surge in the polls following critical comments about the Travelling community saw him propelled into second place, got 23% of the vote.

Expand Close Peter Casey was a controversial candidate but he came second to Mr Higgins (Niall Carson/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Peter Casey was a controversial candidate but he came second to Mr Higgins (Niall Carson/PA)

Sinn Fein, on the other hand, faced a disappointing result, with candidate Liadh Ni Riada gaining half of the support achieved by the late Martin McGuinness in 2011.

Mr Higgins, who has served at almost every level of politics, is a fluent Irish speaker and a long-time campaigner for equality.

He made history in 2014 when he became the first Irish president to undertake an official state visit to the UK.

Historians may yet correct me but I think @MichaelDHiggins has won the highest first vote for any candidate since the foundation of the State  Leo Varadkar (@LeoVaradkar) October 27, 2018

The father-of-four attracted criticism when he labelled Fidel Castro, the former Cuban leader, as a giant among global leaders after his death.

He has long championed an ethical Republic and has repeatedly addressed issues surrounding memory, commemoration, identity and the conflicting traditions on the island.

The refugee crisis in Europe and the plight of migrants has been a favourite topic, as well as the importance of the arts and Irelands great literary tradition.
Controversial businessman Peter Casey has denied his apparent vote surge in the presidential election was prompted by his criticism of Travellers.

Mr Casey, a former star of Irelands version of Dragons Den, is on course to come second in the poll, with around 20% of the vote.

This would represent a remarkable result for the Londonderry millionaire, whose support base hovered around 1% in opinion polls prior to his critical remarks about Travellers and welfare recipients.

I am the only candidate who says what he believes. There is far too much political correctness in this society #Aras18 #PeterForPresident pic.twitter.com/yOOZ5730Ti  Peter Casey (@CaseyPeterJ) October 25, 2018

Rivals have accused the Derry man of engaging in populism, with some comparing his campaign to Donald Trumps bid for the White House.

Mr Casey faced calls to withdraw from the campaign after he claimed Travellers were simply people camping on someone elses land and that Irelands recognition of them as members of an ethnic minority was a load of nonsense.

As votes were being counted in Dublins Convention Centre on Saturday, Mr Casey insisted his controversial comments were not the reason for the dramatic increase in his support.

However, he said if he had won the election, he would have advocated moving members of the Travelling community into Dublins vast Phoenix Park.

Expand Close Counting of votes begins at the convention centre, Dublin (Niall Carson/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Counting of votes begins at the convention centre, Dublin (Niall Carson/PA)

The businessman said his advocacy for middle Ireland  people who are struggling to pay bills and get on the housing ladder  was the reason his campaign resonated with the voters.

The real reason I got a bump in the polls is because I spoke out and said middle Ireland, they are the people who are hurting, they are the people who got nothing out of the last Budget and they are the ones who are paying all the bills, he said.

Mr Casey hinted that he might now turn his focus to securing another elected office, potentially in the Dail.

On his idea to relocate Travellers, he said: If I am successful, I was going to suggest we invite all the Travelling community to move into Phoenix Park for a five-year period  unfortunately I am not in that position and I would encourage Michael D to do that and insist that schools are put in there for a five-year period so they can get education. Education, education, education.
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 []
Sean Gallagher was initially tipped to come second in the race (Niall Carson/PA)

The poor performance of Irish presidential candidate Sean Gallagher may come as a surprise to many.

Despite winning half a million votes in the 2011 poll, he failed to gain any ground in this election and it is suggested he only secured 7% of the vote.

The businessman conceded victory to President Michael D Higgins around midday on Saturday after exit polls showed the incumbent was set for a considerable victory.

Expand Close Sean Gallagher with his wife Trish and their children as they voted in Wicklow on Friday (Aoife Moore/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Sean Gallagher with his wife Trish and their children as they voted in Wicklow on Friday (Aoife Moore/PA)

It is clear President Michael D Higgins will be re-elected for a second term and I congratulate him and wish him success in the years ahead, Mr Gallagher tweeted.

Mr Gallagher was touted early on in the campaign to come second to Mr Higgins, before a late surge in popularity for fellow candidate Peter Casey.

The businessman was considered a front-runner in the 2011 presidential race until an incident involving a fake tweet during a live TV debate saw his polling numbers plummet.

He later received substantial damages and an apology from RTE in a settlement against the state broadcaster.

Mr Gallagher confirmed he would run for a second time in August and at the time said the Irish people have an opportunity to redefine the role of president in the context of a changing society, while cherishing all that is unique about Ireland.

It is clear President Michael D Higgins @MichaelDHiggins will be re-elected for a second term and I congratulate him and wish him success in the years ahead. #Aras18 #Aras2018 (2 of 2)  Sean Gallagher (@seangallagher1) October 27, 2018

He went on to secure the backing of four county councils.

Mr Gallagher avoided controversy during the campaign and was often found defending other candidates during debates.

His message centred around his advocacy for disabled people and youth work.

However, he was criticised for refusing to take part in debates which did not include all the candidates, and he failed to make an impact with early exit polls putting him in fourth place.

The businessman is expected to lose his election deposit as candidates need to poll higher than 12.5% to get their deposit back.
Sean Gallagher and his wife Trish arrive at Dublin Castle to attend the count (Niall Carson/PA)

Presidential candidate Sean Gallagher has said he found it hard to build a momentum during the campaign, as he reflected on a poor result.

Despite winning half a million votes in the 2011 poll, he failed to gain any ground in this election and it is suggested he only secured 7% of the vote.

The businessman conceded victory to President Michael D Higgins around midday on Saturday after exit polls showed the incumbent was set for a considerable victory.

Expand Close Sean Gallagher with his wife Trish and their children as they voted in Wicklow on Friday (Aoife Moore/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Mr Gallagher was touted early on in the campaign to come second to Mr Higgins, before a late surge in popularity for fellow candidate Peter Casey.

Speaking at Dublin Castle, Mr Gallagher said: Today is not a day for post-mortems.

Its Michael Ds day, hes being re-elected, so I wish him well.

I look forward to saying a few words later to do that and to wish all the other candidates well for their participation.

I focus, too, on my team for the great work they have done.

Its a great honour and privilege to have the team work with me, and to all those who voted for me to acknowledge their support and thank them sincerely.

And also my wife, who continues to be my rock and supports me.

I would love to have gotten a better result, but thats the nature of elections and the people have spoken.

The challenges of this campaign was it was a very short one and hard to build a momentum, and thats not making any excuses.

The businessman was considered a front-runner in the 2011 presidential race until an incident involving a fake tweet during a live TV debate saw his polling numbers plummet.

He later received substantial damages and an apology from RTE in a settlement against the state broadcaster.

Mr Gallagher confirmed he would run for a second time in August and at the time said the Irish people have an opportunity to redefine the role of president in the context of a changing society, while cherishing all that is unique about Ireland.

It is clear President Michael D Higgins @MichaelDHiggins will be re-elected for a second term and I congratulate him and wish him success in the years ahead. #Aras18 #Aras2018 (2 of 2)  Sean Gallagher (@seangallagher1) October 27, 2018

He went on to secure the backing of four county councils.

Mr Gallagher avoided controversy during the campaign and was often found defending other candidates during debates.

His message centred around his advocacy for disabled people and youth work.

However, he was criticised for refusing to take part in debates which did not include all the candidates, and he failed to make an impact with early exit polls putting him in fourth place.

The businessman is expected to lose his election deposit as candidates need to poll higher than 12.5% to get their deposit back.
Peter Casey is believed to have come second in the presidential election (Niall Carson/PA)

Controversial businessman Peter Casey has denied his apparent vote surge in the presidential election was prompted by his criticism of Travellers.

Mr Casey, a former star of Irelands version of Dragons Den, is on course to come second in the poll with around 20% of the vote.

This would represent a remarkable result for the Londonderry millionaire, whose support base hovered around 1% in opinion polls prior to his critical remarks about Travellers and welfare recipients.

Speaking at Dublin Castle, Mr Casey again refuted allegations he had used the race card to gain votes, and insisted his controversial comments were not the reason for the dramatic increase in his support.

Its so untrue, he said.

I am the only candidate who says what he believes. There is far too much political correctness in this society #Aras18 #PeterForPresident pic.twitter.com/yOOZ5730Ti  Peter Casey (@CaseyPeterJ) October 25, 2018

You cant be a racist if you dont regard the people you are talking to as a different race. Theyre not. Theyre Irish and theyre proud Irish people, so thats not possible really.

The 61-year old said he needs to talk to his wife before making any decision about running for another elected office.

He had hinted he might turn his focus to running for the Dail.

I think we need to sit down, take stock and make a decision very shortly, he said.

Mr Casey added that he thought he would win the poll. Is it definite that Ive lost?, he asked.

He also said he is still waiting on the Taoiseach to apologise for asking people not to vote for him in the election.

Expand Close Peter Casey is understood to have come second in the election (Niall Carson/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Leo Varadkar called on the public not to vote for Mr Casey following his controversial comments, in which the businessman said Travellers were simply people camping on someone elses land, and that Irelands recognition of the community as members of an ethnic minority is a load of nonsense.

Mr Casey said it was disgraceful of Mr Varadkar to have intervened.

Rivals have accused the Derry man of engaging in populism, with some comparing his campaign to Donald Trumps bid for the White House.

As votes were being counted in Dublins Convention Centre on Saturday morning, Mr Casey said his advocacy for middle Ireland  people who are struggling to pay bills and get on the housing ladder  was the reason his campaign resonated with the voters.

The real reason I got a bump in the polls is because I spoke out and said middle Ireland, they are the people who are hurting, they are the people who got nothing out of the last Budget, and they are the ones who are paying all the bills, he said.

Counting of votes underway in Irelands Presidential Election and Blasphemy referendum @pa #Aras18 pic.twitter.com/X2Y1rBuI2Y  Niall Carson (@niallcarsonpa) October 27, 2018

He said that if he had won the election, he would have advocated moving members of the Travelling community into Dublins vast Phoenix Park.

Mr Casey said: I was going to suggest we invite all the Travelling community to move into Phoenix Park for a five-year period  unfortunately I am not in that position and I would encourage Michael D (Higgins) to do that and insist that schools are put in there for a five-year period so they can get education.

Education, education, education.
DUP MP Ian Paisley has branded Jonathan Bell "Walter Mitty in the flesh" over claims the former Stormont minister made just days before going public on the RHI scandal.

The North Antrim MPs remarks appear in new written evidence to the public inquiry into the failed green energy scheme.

Mr Paisley recalled visiting Mr Bell at his home in early December 2016, just days before the latters bombshell interview with the BBCs Stephen Nolan.

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Mr Paisley said his colleague never discussed with him at any time that he planned to appear on the Nolan Show.

In his statement, the MP said that Mr Bell was quite troubled and concerned about his future because of the RHI scheme and it appeared that he wanted a shoulder to cry on.

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The discussion from memory was rambling and long, it was over a late night cup of tea; I vaguely recall one of his children being there for part of the discussion, so the conversation was quite casual, Mr Paisley said.

Frankly, I listened out of interest and at times amusement as he outpoured his incredible view of his place in government.

He said Mr Bell told him he had a team of the greatest legal minds in Britain working on the case for him and had recordings and documents that proved his claims, which in Mr Paisleys view was suggesting that he was taking legal action, not media action.

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Mr Paisley added: He reminisced heavily about my father and about a verse of scripture that he appeared to feel justified in the battle he was in. It was a long and bizarre and rambling conversation. He spent time slagging off Nigel Dodds, Gregory Campbell, Maurice Morrow and most other people in the DUP, leaving me to think if I wasnt there he would be slagging me off to whoever cared to listen.

His witness statement said Mr Bell also had a number of grievances which appeared equally bizarre against DUP special advisers Timothy Johnston, John Robinson, Andrew Crawford and Timothy Cairns.

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Mr Paisley said his party colleague claimed that these advisers all had their hand in the RHI scandal and that some were making vast amounts of money out of it and that he had a map that proved where all of the schemes had opened up during the critical period, all of which happened to be in the back yard area of Timothy Johnston and John Robinson.

Mr Paisley described the scenario as quite sad but said the two, who have known each other since university days, parted on good terms.

He recalled: I was aware I had just met Walter Mitty in the flesh and I believe Jonathan Bell believed he had met someone who would support his assertions. Only one of us was correct.

In September Mr Paisley was suspended from Parliament for failing to declare two holidays paid for by the Sri Lankan government and then lobbying on its behalf.
The public inquiry into the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) has cost around 4.6m so far, the Belfast Telegraph understands.

The inquiry's 111 days of oral hearings drew to a close yesterday, bringing to an end months of revelations which offered an eye-opening insight into Northern Ireland politics.

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Over 60 witnesses appeared before inquiry chairman Sir Patrick Coghlin and panel member Dame Una O'Brien, and more than a million pages of evidence were presented.

While the inquiry's website estimates that it will rack up around 6m in direct costs alone, we understand that, as of September 30, costs were in the region of 4.6m.

It is also understood that a couple of days have been set aside in December for legal representatives of the core participants to make representations to the chairman and panel.

The date on which the inquiry will report back is not yet known, but it is believed that it could be well into the new year.

The first person to give evidence was Alison Clydesdale, who appeared on November 28 2017. The last witness was the former head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service, Sir Malcolm McKibbin, who rounded off the process yesterday.

As the oral process drew to a close, Sir Patrick told Sir Malcolm: "It's just nice to hear someone with a little bit of confidence and a lot of ability addressing the panel for once."

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The investigation into the botched green energy scheme has laid bare the inner workings of the Civil Service and Stormont's main parties, as well as revealing the key role of special advisers in the running of the devolved government.

High-profile political figures to appear included DUP leader Arlene Foster, former DUP Enterprise Minister Jonathan Bell, and former Sinn Fein Finance Minister Mairtin O Muilleoir.

Among the headline-making claims were those of Mr Bell, who said he was the victim of a "massive smear campaign" at the hands of the DUP.

He denied bullying accusations made by his former special adviser Timothy Cairns that he had attempted to break his finger and swung a punch at him.

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Meanwhile, Mr Cairns claimed in a witness statement that Mr Bell drunkenly sang Deep Blue Something's hit Breakfast At Tiffany's in New York after being asked to leave a bar.

During her appearance, Arlene Foster, who was in charge of the early RHI scheme while Enterprise Minister, said she was not aware it was 200m more expensive than an alternative scheme that she rejected.

In her witness statement, Mrs Foster said she was "unaware" of whether any business or individual who benefited from the RHI scheme was a DUP donor.

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DUP chief executive Timothy Johnston denied he held a position of seniority over other special advisers in the party when an overspend in the RHI scheme came to light. He also said he "had no involvement in the decision-making processes on the introduction of cost controls in 2015" in his written evidence.

Dr Andrew McCormick, the top civil servant at Deti when the botched green energy scheme was set up and collapsed, revealed that Stormont meetings about RHI weren't recorded for fear they would end up in the papers.

Dr McCormick also said that officials "got used to" special advisers ruling the roost at Stormont.

In his evidence, he said that DUP adviser Andrew Crawford knew about the abuse of the RHI scheme and had told him "we could fill our boots" as he believed the money was coming from the Treasury instead of the Stormont budget.

In his evidence, Mr Crawford, who was Mrs Foster's special adviser when she was Enterprise Minister, denied that he was involved in any efforts to delay the imposition of cost controls to the scheme in 2015.

But he apologised for emailing an internal document about RHI, which had not yet been released to the public, to his cousin Richard Crawford, a poultry farmer.

During the inquiry, it also emerged that former Finance Minister Mairtin O Muilleoir had sought the consent of Gerry Adams' confidant Ted Howell before signing off a key RHI document.

Head of Northern Ireland's Civil Service David Sterling said there is "a strong case for a review" of the role of Stormont's special advisers before devolved government is restored.
Tens of thousands marched through Glasgow to demand a 10% pay rise for teachers (Stuart Mackenzie/PA)

Some 30,000 marchers have taken to the streets of Glasgow to support teachers campaigning for a 10% pay rise, organisers have said.

Scotlands largest teaching union, the EIS, organised the event, with general secretary Larry Flanagan hailing the turnout at the demo as absolutely magnificent.

Teachers, parents and their children and other campaigners marched from Glasgows Kelvingrove Park to George Square, where union leaders and politicians addressed crowds.

So large was the rally that reports suggested when the first marchers arrived there, others were still waiting to set off.

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The EIS has been calling for teachers to be given a 10% rise to restore the value of salaries following public sector pay caps.

A pay offer which would have seen all teachers get a rise of 3% was rejected last month and was described as divisive, with issues raised over the parity of pay.

Education secretary John Swinney argued the deal would result in all teachers on the main grade scale receiving at least a 5% increase, with some teachers receiving up to 11% in one year in conjunction with annual progression.

Speaking at the rally in George Square, Mr Flanagan said: It is absolutely magnificent to look out on this massive demonstration and know that we are here, united, because we believe that the future of Scottish education is worth standing up and fighting for.

Our pay claim is for 10%  given that the value of take-home pay has dropped by 24% in the last decade, that claim is already a compromise on what we deserve. And here is the simple fact  if you want to have qualified teachers in front of pupils in our schools, you need to address the recruitment and retention crisis we are facing.

 Hour and a half between the front and back of the march arriving. Largest mobilisation by a single union in modern history.



Amazing work @EISUnion! #ValueEducationValueTeachers #EIS27Oct #PayAttention pic.twitter.com/UTYvADfrm8  Ross Greer (@Ross_Greer) October 27, 2018

EIS president Alison Thornton added: The salaries of teachers in schools in Scotland are below the European average and those of other countries in the wider world.

Our pupil contact hours are high, and we still work an average of 11 hours of unpaid overtime each week to deal with the demands of the job.

Austerity doesnt work, quality public services need proper funding and by investing in teachers then there is investment in education and our young people and their futures.

Local government body Cosla said it took a joint decision with the Scottish Government to write to teachers spelling out the value and merits of the pay offer currently on the table.

The EIS will open a ballot of its members on Tuesday calling on them to reject the current offer. The ballot closes on November 20.

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Mr Swinney said: I hugely value the work teachers do and the vital contribution they make to improve outcomes for children.

We want teaching to be a rewarding career choice  to keep people in the profession and to attract new entrants  and that is why the Scottish Government is contributing an additional 35 million this year for teachers pay.

Through a combination of a 3% increase for all staff earning up to 80,000, restructuring the main grade scale and annual progression, the majority of teachers receive a rise between 5% and 11%. There would be a flat rate increase of 1,600 for those earning more than 80,000 from 1 April 2018.

The Education Secretary added that reference to conditions of service forming part of the negotiations is factually incorrect.

He said: Our offer to teachers is for one year, and compares favourably with the pay award for the majority of health workers of 9% over three years and the recently announced award 6.5% increase for police officers covering 31 months.

I firmly believe this is a generous and fair offer which demonstrates the value both the Scottish Government and local government place on the teaching profession.

We remain committed to continuing discussions with teaching unions in good faith.

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But Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard, who addressed the rally, said it showed Scotlands teachers wont be bullied into accepting another real terms pay cut by the SNP.

He said: Its time for Mr Swinney to put a fair pay deal on the table to provide teachers with the respect and due recognition they deserve.

Meanwhile Scottish Green education spokesman Ross Greer hailed the demonstration as being the largest single-union march in modern history.

He added: Scotlands teachers have shown that they are ready to fight to win back some of the 20% their pay value has lost over the last decade.

John Swinney should stop the threats to undermine unions, ditch his deeply unwanted governance reforms and address the real issues in our schools, namely a much-reduced, demoralised and overwhelmed teaching and support workforce trying to deliver the impossible with not nearly enough resources.
Guled Farah, 19, died after being shot in Walthamstow in September (Met Police/PA)

A man has been charged with murder following the death of a teenager in a drive-by shooting last month.

Guled Farah, 19, died after being shot in Walthamstow, east London, on September 22.

Delston Galloway, 25, was charged on Saturday with his murder.

Another man, 27-year-old Andre Campbell, was charged with possession of a firearm and ammunition.

They were both arrested on Friday, and will appear at Hendon Magistrates Court on Monday.

Mr Farah, from Newham, was shot at from a car and died around 40 minutes later.

A post-mortem examination gave his cause of death as a gunshot wound to the chest.

A 23-year-old man arrested on September 23 over the incident has been released with no further action.
Police Scotland are working with the Health and Safety executive to establish the full circumstances of the incident in which the man was killed (Joe Giddens/PA)

A man has died after a recovery truck toppled over in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Police Scotland said the incident, on the B999 near to Udny Station in Aberdeenshire, occurred during the recovery of a vehicle.

A spokesman for the force confirmed the mans next of kin had been informed, and added: Our thoughts are with them.

Enquiries are being now carried out to establish the full circumstances of the accident, with police working with the Health and Safety Executive.
The scene at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh (Alexandra Wimley/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/AP)

Theresa May has joined international condemnation after a gunman opened fire in a synagogue in Pittsburgh, killing at least 10 people.

At least six other people  four of them police officers  were wounded in the attack during a baby-naming ceremony at the Tree of Life Congregation.

"Im deeply shocked by the reports of a shooting at a synagogue in the US today. Our thoughts are with the Jewish community in Pittsburgh and all those affected by this sickening and cowardly act."  PM @theresa_may  UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) October 27, 2018

Mrs May said in a statement: Im deeply shocked by the reports of a shooting at a synagogue in the US today.

Our thoughts are with the Jewish community in Pittsburgh and all those affected by this sickening and cowardly act.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: My thoughts are with those killed or injured in this horrific act of antisemitic violence, and with their loved ones.

We must stand together against hate and terror.

Our hearts go out to the innocent worshippers gunned down in cold blood at a Pittsburgh synagogue. According to reports, the shooter said "all these Jews must die".

The UK's Jewish community stands in solidarity with everyone affected in the US, now and always. - @BoDPres  Board of Deputies of British Jews (@BoardofDeputies) October 27, 2018

London mayor Sadiq Khan expressed his condolences to the victims while seeking to reassure the capitals Jewish community.

Synagogues and all places of worship should be sanctuaries, he said.

London stands with the congregation of the Tree of Life in Pittsburgh  you are in our thoughts and prayers.

I want to reassure the Jewish community in London that City Hall has been in touch with the Met and we will do everything possible to support and protect you.

Board of Deputies of British Jews president Marie van der Zyl condemned the killing of innocent worshippers gunned down in cold blood.

It is particularly chilling to hear reports that the shooter said All these Jews need to die, she said.

The UK Jewish community stands in solidarity with everyone affected in the US.
Gritters out in Greencroft, County Durham, on Saturday (Owen Humphreys/PA)

Temperatures will return to normal next week after parts of the UK saw snow during the first cold snap of the year.

Snow was seen in higher parts of Scotland and north-east England on Saturday in what one meteorologist called some of the coldest October days in a decade.

But after the freeze, while temperatures will stay cool, they will begin to climb as we head into next week.

Met Office meteorologist Mark Wilson told the Press Association things will remain chilly overnight into Sunday, but its not going to be excessively cold reaching about minus three or four in rural Scotland and Northern Ireland.

He explained: Its going to be a better day for most tomorrow with less snow around.

There will be a little bit of snow in the northern hills, but milder than today.

It will still be cold, but with highs of ten or 11 in the south.

It will be a chilly week, but temperatures will recover closer to what they should be for the time of year.

After some woke up to flurries, Met Office meteorologist John West told the Press Association on Saturday morning: With temperatures [] struggling to reach double figures across the country  these are some of the coldest October days in a decade.

We have seen some snow this morning, more up in Scotland. Aviemore has had around 1cm.

Images taken on Saturday morning showed people having to clear their cars of snow.

But Mr West predicted the cold weather would relent after the weekend.

The #cold, Arctic wind  will make it feel much colder than temperatures suggest today  pic.twitter.com/iONjS1ywC9  Met Office (@metoffice) October 27, 2018

The forecaster added: It is going to be cold over the next couple of days, but will start to peter out tomorrow.

We will have some high pressure building in giving us a more settled picture.

Temperatures will recover quite slowly but it is not likely to be as wintry.
Women will be able to join the SAS for the first time under measures announced by Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson.

All roles within the military will now be open for women to join, including Special Forces and the Royal Marines.

But Colonel Richard Kemp, a retired former Army commander in Afghanistan, said the decision would cost lives and branded it political correctness.

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Mr Williamson made the announcement after watching a demonstration on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, involving some of the first women to join the Royal Armoured Corps.

Women have been involved in frontline activity in so many ways for so long. We have seen women serving side by side with men in Afghanistan and Iraq for quite a long time, he said.

The idea that we are excluding half the population from some of these most vital roles potentially holds our armed forces back.

Women will make an enormous impact in terms of what our armed forces do.

I am not blaming women, but anything that undermines that teamwork will cost lives. This new policy will cost livesCol Richard Kemp, retired former Army commander

But Col Kemp said very few women would pass infantry training and it would lead to lower standards.

My experience is if you have a team of men, even with one or two women, it could lead to divisiveness, he said.

I am not blaming women, but anything that undermines that teamwork will cost lives. This new policy will cost lives.

He added: Very few women will want to join the infantry, and there will be very few who get through the selection  there are very few men who get through.

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The Army will be determined to do what its told and that will lead to lower standards.

But he warned: Their bodies will be subjected to years of severe physical stress. Even in the regular military, women suffer twice as many injuries as men.

We will end up with many damaged women. And we as taxpayers will end up paying a lot of compensation.

I am not at all opposed to equality wherever possible, but we need to be careful not to let political correctness override ability in combat. Women in the Army make a major contribution.

The Defence Secretary said women had an important role to play on the front line  and did not rule out women-only units, such as the elite Norwegian Hunter Troop.

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I cannot see why in the future our armed forces wont be far more reflective of the gender split that is in the country, he said.

We want more women to be part of our armed forces because they make a massive impact.

A ban on women serving in close combat units in the British military was lifted in 2016.

The Royal Armoured Corps was the first ground close combat branch to open its doors in November 2016 to female soldiers and officers, followed by the RAF Regiment in September 2017.

The announcement means that women already serving in the Army are able to transfer into infantry roles, including the Special Forces.

Those not currently serving will be able to apply for infantry roles in December of this year, with new recruits starting basic training in April 2019.

Women are also now able to apply to join the Royal Marines, with selection starting before the end of this year.
Migrants during a meeting to discuss a plan of action for the caravan (Rodrigo Abd/AP)

Several thousand Central American migrants have turned down a Mexican offer of benefits if they applied for refugee status and stayed in the countrys two southern-most states, vowing to continue their long trek toward the US border.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto announced what he called the You are at home plan, offering shelter, medical attention, schooling and jobs to Central Americans in Chiapas and Oaxaca states if they applied, calling it a first step toward permanent refugee status.

Authorities said more than 1,700 had already applied for refugee status.

But after one of the caravans longest days of walking and hanging from passing trucks, the bulk of the migrants were boisterous on Friday evening in their refusal to accept anything less than safe passage to the US border.

Thank you they yelled as they voted to reject the offer in a show of hands in the town of Arriaga.

They then added: No, were heading north!

Sitting at the edge of the edge of the town square, 58-year-old Oscar Sosa of San Pedro Sula, Honduras concurred.

Our goal is not to remain in Mexico, Mr Sosa said. Our goal is to make it to the [US]. We want passage, thats all.

Still 1,000 miles from the nearest US border crossing at McAllen, Texas, the journey could be twice as long if the group heads for the Tijuana-San Diego frontier, as another caravan did earlier this year.

Only about 200 in that group made it to the border.

While such migrant caravans have taken place regularly over the years, passing largely unnoticed, they have received widespread attention this year after fierce opposition from US President Donald Trump.

On Friday, the Pentagon approved a request for additional troops at the southern border, likely to total several hundred, to help the US Border Patrol as Prseident Trump seeks to transform concerns about immigration and the caravan into electoral gains in the November 6 mid-term elections.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis signed off on the request for help from the Department of Homeland Security and authorised the military staff to work out details such as the size, composition and estimated cost of the deployments, according to a US official.

Stoking fears about the caravan and illegal immigration to rally his Republican base, the president has insinuated that gang members and Middle Easterners are mixed in the group, though he later acknowledged there was no proof of that.

Mexicos government has allowed the migrants to make their way on foot, but has not provided them with food, shelter or bathrooms, reserving any aid for those who turn themselves in.

Police have also been ejecting paid migrant passengers off buses, enforcing an obscure road insurance regulation to make it tougher for them to travel that way.

Authorities were also cracking down on smaller groups trying to catch up with the main caravan, detaining about 300 Hondurans and Guatemalans as they walked along a highway after crossing the Mexico border illegally, said an official with the national immigration authority.
Smoke rises from an explosion caused by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City (Hatem Moussa/AP)

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad group says it has agreed to stop rocket fire towards Israel in response to Egyptian mediation efforts.

Daoud Shehab, a spokesman for the Iranian-backed group, said that his movement is immediately halting the rocket attacks.

Israel has accused Iranian forces based in Syria of orchestrating the heaviest barrage of rockets to emanate from Gaza in months.

The rocket attacks followed the death of four Palestinians participating in a protest along Gazas perimeter fence with Israel.

Egyptian mediators have been in the region for weeks, trying to secure calm and prevent a full-blown war between Israel and Gaza groups, led by the larger militant Hamas group.
Saudi Arabias top diplomat says that the global outcry and media focus on the killing of a Saudi journalist earlier this month has become hysterical.

Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir urged the public to wait for the results of an investigation before ascribing blame to the kingdoms top leadership.

Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist critical of Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed by Saudi agents at the kingdoms consulate in Istanbul on October 2.

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This issue has become fairly hysterical, Mr al-Jubeir said.

I think people have assigned blame on Saudi Arabia with such certainty before the investigation is complete.

Some of those implicated in Mr Khashoggis killing are close to Prince Mohammed, who is the kingdoms heir apparent.

His condemnation of the killing as heinous and painful has so far failed to ease suspicions that such a high-level operation could have been carried out without his knowledge.

Mr al-Jubeir addressed the mounting scepticism around the crown princes alleged involvement.

He was speaking in response to questions from Western journalists at an annual conference of international officials, including US Defence Secretary James Mattis, in Bahrain.

We have made clear that we are going to have a full and transparent investigation, the results of which will be released. We have made it very clear that those responsible will be held responsible, he said, adding that the kingdom has also put in place mechanisms to ensure this does not happen.

Were trying to uncover what happened. We know that a mistake was committed. We know that people exceeded their authority and we know that were investigating them, he said.

But he cautioned that investigations take time.

Unfortunately, there has been this hysteria in the media about Saudi Arabias guilt before the investigation is completed, he said.

Turkey alleges a 15-member hit squad was sent to Istanbul to kill the journalist, a onetime Saudi insider who became an outspoken critic of Prince Mohammed in columns for The Washington Post.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the three others in the group of 18 who have been detained in Saudi Arabia were consulate employees.

Five Saudi officials, including two who worked directly under the crown prince, have been relieved of their posts.

King Salman has assigned his son, the crown prince, to oversee the restructuring of the kingdoms intelligence bodies in the aftermath of the killing.

President Erdogan said on Friday that Turkey would reveal more evidence about the killing but was not in any rush to do so, indicating that Turkish authorities will methodically increase pressure on Saudi Arabia even as the kingdom floats conflicting statements in a vain and often clumsy attempt to end the crisis.

After three weeks of shifting Saudi accounts around the incident, the kingdom this week acknowledged that the killing was premeditated, citing evidence from Turkish officials investigating what happened.

Saudi Arabia originally said Mr Khashoggi had walked out of the consulate October 2, before offering various other narratives that President Donald Trump called one of the worst cover-ups in the history of cover-ups.

Turkey is requesting that Saudi Arabia hand over the suspects in the killing, which the kingdom has described as a rogue operation by officials who may have exceeded their orders or authority.
Law enforcement officers secure the scene where multiple people were shot (Alexandra Wimley/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP)

A gunman has killed several people and injured six others after opening fire during a baby naming ceremony at a Pittsburgh synagogue.

Police said a suspect was in custody after the attack at the Tree of Life Congregation in the Squirrel Hill neighbourhood.

A law enforcement official identified the suspect as Robert Bowers and said he is in his 40s.

City officials said the shooting was being investigated as a federal hate crime.

It was unclear how many people have been killed, with indications the death toll might be considerably higher.

Wendell Hissrich, Pittsburgh public safety director, said among the six injured were four police officers who rushed to the scene.

It is a very horrific crime scene. It was one of the worst that Ive seen. It is very bad, he said.

The attack took place during a baby naming ceremony, according to Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro.

It was unknown whether the baby was harmed in the attack.

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The synagogue is located at the intersection of Wilkins and Shady avenues. The tree-lined residential area, about 10 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh, is the hub of Pittsburghs Jewish community.

Before the suspect was taken into custody, the neighbourhood and all synagogues in the city were in a lockdown with people ordered to remain indoors.

President Donald Trump called the shooting far more devastating than anyone thought, saying: Its a terrible thing whats going on with hate in our country.

But Mr Trump added the outcome would have been different if the synagogue had an armed guard.

They didnt have any protection, he told reporters at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland.

Offering a different take, Pennsylvania Democrat Governor Tom Wolf, a Democrat, called the shooting an absolute tragedy in a statement that made reference to calls for tighter gun control laws.

We must all pray and hope for no more loss of life, he said.

But we have been saying this one is too many for far too long. Dangerous weapons are putting our citizens in harms way.

It is a very horrific crime scene. It was one of the worst that I've seenWendell Hissrich, Pittsburgh public safety director

World Jewish Congress President Ronald S Lauder called the shooting an attack not just on the Jewish community, but on America as a whole.

The synagogue is a fortress-like concrete building, its facade punctuated by rows of swirling, modernistic stained-glass windows illustrating the story of creation, the acceptance of Gods law, the life cycle and how human-beings should care for the earth and one another, according to its website.

Among its treasures is a Holocaust Torah rescued from Czechoslovakia.

Its sanctuary can hold up to 1,250 guests.

Jeff Finkelstein of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh said local synagogues have done lots of training on things like active shooters, and weve looked at hardening facilities as much as possible.

This should not be happening, period, he told reporters at the scene. This should not be happening in a synagogue.

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Just three days before the shooting, Rabbi Jeffrey Myers posted a column on the congregations website, noting people make time to attend funerals, but not for lifes happy occasions.

There is a story told in the Talmud of a wedding procession and a funeral procession heading along parallel roads, with the roads intersecting, Mr Myers wrote on Wednesday.

The question asked is: when they meet at the fork, which procession goes first, funeral or wedding? The correct answer is wedding, as the joy of the couple takes precedence. In fact, the funeral procession is to move out of sight so that their joy is not lessened.

He ended the column with words that now seem all too prescient.

We value joy so much in Judaism that upon taking our leave from a funeral or a shiva house, the customary statement one makes (in Yiddish) is nor oyf simches  only for smachot, he wrote.

While death is inevitable and a part of life, we still take our leave with the best possible blessing, to meet at joyous events. And so I say to you: nor oyf simches!
Police respond to an active shooter situation at the Tree of Life Synagogue (Pam Panchak/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP)

A suspect is in custody after a shooting caused multiple casualties at a Pittsburgh synagogue, police have said.

Three officers were also shot in the attack at the Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill area on Saturday.

Police spokesman Chris Togneri said they have no more information at this time because they are still trying to clear the building and figure out if any more threats exist.

The synagogue is located at the intersection of Wilkins and Shady avenues.

The tree-lined residential neighbourhood, about 10 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh, is the hub of Pittsburghs Jewish community.

President Donald Trump said has been monitoring the shooting.

In a tweet, Mr Trump encouraged people to shelter in place and said looks like multiple fatalities.

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Jeff Finkelstein, of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, told local news station WPXI the organisations security officer has notified all Jewish Community Centre (JCC) synagogues and they are on modified lockdown.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf called the shooting an absolute tragedy, saying: We must all pray and hope for no more loss of life.

But we have been saying this one is too many for far too long.

Dangerous weapons are putting our citizens in harms way.
Activists, protesting the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, hold a candlelight vigil outside Saudi Arabias consulate in Istanbul (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Turkey has intensified its demands for Saudi Arabia to extradite 18 suspects in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Mr Khashoggis Turkish fiancee, meanwhile, gave an anguished and tearful TV interview in which she said she keeps asking herself if she had missed some signs and should have prevented him from entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2.

The Istanbul chief prosecutors office submitted a request for Saudi Arabia to hand over the suspects in the killing, and Turkeys Foreign Ministry will formally notify the kingdom, Turkeys state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

The reasoning behind the extradition request is that Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in Turkey by Saudi nationals who travelled to Turkey for this specific purposeTurkish official

The Saudi government has said it arrested and would itself punish 18 people for what it described as a rogue operation by officials who killed Mr Khashoggi in the consulate.

We expect our request (for the suspects) return to be fulfilled because this atrocious event took place in Turkey, said Turkish justice minister Abdulhamit Gul.

Saudi Arabia has returned suspects to Turkey before. The stakes are much higher in the Khashoggi case, however, as some of those implicated are close to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdoms heir apparent whose condemnation of the killing failed to ease suspicions that he was involved.

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Turkish prosecutors want the suspects to face prosecution for premeditated killing executed with fiendish sentiments or by causing torment, according to the Anadolu agency.

The reasoning behind the extradition request is that Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in Turkey by Saudi nationals who travelled to Turkey for this specific purpose, a senior Turkish official said.

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Turkeys judicial system is better equipped to serve the cause of justice in this case, the official said, adding: The court proceedings in Turkey will be open to international observers in order to ensure the greatest level of transparency.

Turkey alleges a 15-member hit squad was sent to Istanbul to kill the journalist, a onetime Saudi insider who became a critic of Prince Mohammed and was a columnist for The Washington Post.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the three others in the group of 18 who were detained in Saudi Arabia were consulate employees.

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Mr Erdogan said on Friday that Turkey would reveal more evidence about the killing but was not in any rush to do so, indicating that Turkish authorities will methodically increase pressure on Saudi Arabia.

There is no point in being too hasty, Mr Erdogan said in an address to ruling party leaders.

He added that the Saudis who killed Mr Khashoggi must reveal the location of his body.

Saudi prosecutors have said evidence from Turkey indicates that the killing was premeditated, a change from previous Saudi statements seeking to dodge responsibility for a crime that caused global outrage.

Hours after Mr Erdogans speech, Mr Khashoggis fiancee Hatice Cengiz told HaberTurk, a Turkish news channel, about her pain since he disappeared after entering the consulate.

I found myself in a darkness I cannot express, Ms Cengiz said. She described how she had accompanied Mr Khashoggi, 59, to the consulate and waited outside while, she thought, he was getting paperwork for their planned marriage. He never came out.

I still have questions that I cannot answer, said a tearful Ms Cengiz. Did I miss something? Did I not notice something?

Ms Cengiz said she has not received any condolence call from Saudi officials after the death of Mr Khashoggi, who left Saudi Arabia for self-imposed exile in the United States a year ago. On Thursday, one of the journalists sons, Salah Khashoggi, flew with his family from Saudi Arabia to the US.

Prince Mohammed has condemned the killing, but critics suspect a cover-up designed to protect him, noting that he has tight control over the day-to-day affairs of the kingdom.
It's hard not to raise an eyebrow at the latest statement issued by the father of Shankill Road bomber Thomas Begley, in which he dramatically went back on his earlier decision not to attend the 25th anniversary commemoration to his IRA bomber son, who killed himself, along with nine innocent victims, that terrible Saturday afternoon in 1993.

Billy Begley couldn't have been more unequivocal when he'd spoken just hours before, saying: "We have nothing to do with this event and prefer to remember our son in our own private way.

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"We are very sorry for what happened - it was all wrong. Our family is not like that."

Billy's words were searingly personal, riven with sorrow and sympathy. To speak so bluntly about his own son took an enormous moral courage of a sort that has been all too rare in Northern Ireland, where family and tribal loyalties more often took precedence over doing what was right.

Begley's father rightly placed the emphasis on the real victims of that IRA attack, the youngest just seven years old, whose memories were being honoured with dignity this week.

Yesterday's follow up statement, in which Billy, speaking on behalf of the Begley family, said they would now be attending the ceremony at the republican plot in Milltown Cemetery, couldn't have been more contrasting.

It was formal, impersonal, the sort of pronouncement that might have been drawn up by a committee rather than a grieving father horrified by the evil that his son committed.

The first statement came direct from the heart. The second tiptoed forth from a much more guarded and watchful place.

One can only imagine the pressure which might have been exerted on the family from nameless, faceless people in the republican community to prompt such a dramatic about-turn, and anyone minded to criticise them for it would do well to put themselves in the shoes of families such as his.

They have to live daily alongside those who still unapologetically regard callous IRA killers as heroes.

It's telling that this sequence of events comes just one week after Anna Burns' novel Milkman, set during the darkest days of the Troubles, won the Booker Prize.

That book is relentless in its claustrophobic portrayal of a community - also Ardoyne, as it happens - under siege from within, constrained by "rules of allegiance, of tribal identification, of what was allowed and not allowed".

Milkman was treated as history by the reviewers. How quickly that has proved naive.

The row also coincides with an ongoing public information campaign on TV to warn against the continuing danger from armed groups posing as defenders of their own people.

"Paramilitaries don't protect you," the slogan goes. "They control you."

That coercion can take many forms, from sideways glances and behind-hands whispers to actual violence.

In all its manifestations, the message is unmistakable.

The way in which this questionable commemoration for Thomas Begley has become symbolic of so much that's still wrong with Northern Irish society should act as a warning against complacency.

These people haven't gone away, you know, and they have no intention of doing so willingly.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close A wreath laid by Girls Model Head Girl Caitlin Herron hangs to the side of what was Frizzell's fish shop after a service at West Kirk Presbyterian Church in Belfast to mark the 25th anniversary of the IRA bombing of a fish shop on Shankill Road. Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA People inside West Kirk Presbyterian Church in Belfast for a service to mark the 25th anniversary of the IRA bombing of a fish shop on Shankill Road. Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA DUP leader Arlene Foster and DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds (centre) in West Kirk Presbyterian Church in Belfast for a service to mark the 25th anniversary of the IRA bombing of a fish shop on Shankill Road. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday October 23, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Shankill. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA People listening to a service outside the West Kirk Presbyterian Church in Belfast to mark the 25th anniversary of the IRA bombing of a fish shop on Shankill Road. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday October 23, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Shankill. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Alan Lewis - Photopress Belfast 23/10/2018 Photograph by Justin Kernoghan Mairia Cahill attends today's service - An emotional day for Michelle Williamson, who lost her parents in the bombing. A service to mark the 25th anniversary of the Shankill bombing. Nine people and one of the IRA bombers were killed in the 1993 attack. More than 50 people were injured. The Shankill bombing happened at Frizzell's fish shop on 23 October 1993. Two IRA men, Thomas Begley and Sean Kelly, posed as fishmongers and carried the bomb into the shop where shoppers were queuing for food. DUP leader Arlene Foster and her deputy Nigel Dodds are among those attending the service at West Kirk Presbyterian Church. Also present are representatives of the Ballymurphy families whose relatives were shot dead in west Belfast in 1971. Photopress Belfast Pacemaker Press 23/10/2018 Gary Murray (brother of Leanne), who was killed in the 1993 bombing. A Memorial service takes place at West Kirk Presbyterian Church on the Shankill Road on Tuesday to mark the 25th Anniversary of Shankill bomb. Nine Protestant civilians and an IRA bomber, Thomas Begley, were killed in the attack in Belfast on 23 October 1993. Pic Colm Lenaghan /Pacemaker Press George Lenahan greets DUP leader Arlene Foster and DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds outside West Kirk Presbyterian Church in Belfast for a service to mark the 25th anniversary of the IRA bombing of a fish shop on Shankill Road. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday October 23, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Shankill. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA People gather outside West Kirk Presbyterian Church in Belfast for a service to mark the 25th anniversary of the IRA bombing of a fish shop on Shankill Road. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday October 23, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Shankill. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Charlie Butler (left) and Michelle Williamson (right) in West Kirk Presbyterian Church in Belfast for a service to mark the 25th anniversary of the IRA bombing of a fish shop on Shankill Road. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday October 23, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Shankill. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Dessie Williams handing out orders of service outside West Kirk Presbyterian Church in Belfast for a service to mark the 25th anniversary of the IRA bombing of a fish shop on Shankill Road. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday October 23, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Shankill. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA (left to right) Alan McBride, Tim McGarry and Zoe McBride in West Kirk Presbyterian Church in Belfast for a service to mark the 25th anniversary of the IRA bombing of a fish shop on Shankill Road. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday October 23, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Shankill. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Gary Murray enters West Kirk Presbyterian Church in Belfast for a service to mark the 25th anniversary of the IRA bombing of a fish shop on Shankill Road. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday October 23, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Shankill. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA (left to right) Michelle Williamson, Alfie McCrory and Willie Frazer outside West Kirk Presbyterian Church in Belfast for a service to mark the 25th anniversary of the IRA bombing of a fish shop on Shankill Road. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday October 23, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Shankill. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Moke Devlin outside West Kirk Presbyterian Church in Belfast for a service to mark the 25th anniversary of the IRA bombing of a fish shop on Shankill Road. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday October 23, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Shankill. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Gina Murray (left) enters West Kirk Presbyterian Church in Belfast for a service to mark the 25th anniversary of the IRA bombing of a fish shop on Shankill Road. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday October 23, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Shankill. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA People listening to a service outside the West Kirk Presbyterian Church in Belfast to mark the 25th anniversary of the IRA bombing of a fish shop on Shankill Road. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday October 23, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Shankill. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA People listening to a service outside the West Kirk Presbyterian Church in Belfast to mark the 25th anniversary of the IRA bombing of a fish shop on Shankill Road. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday October 23, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Shankill. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA People listening to a service outside the West Kirk Presbyterian Church in Belfast to mark the 25th anniversary of the IRA bombing of a fish shop on Shankill Road. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday October 23, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Shankill. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA A member of the Sea Cadets rings a bell nine times at a memorial where the bomb went off, during a service in Belfast to mark the 25th anniversary of the IRA bombing of a fish shop on Shankill Road. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday October 23, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Shankill. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Representatives from Belfast Model School for Girls lay a wreath at a memorial during a service at West Kirk Presbyterian Church in Belfast to mark the 25th anniversary of the IRA bombing of a fish shop on Shankill Road. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday October 23, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Shankill. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Representatives from Harmony Primary School lay a wreath at a memorial during a service at West Kirk Presbyterian Church in Belfast to mark the 25th anniversary of the IRA bombing of a fish shop on Shankill Road. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday October 23, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Shankill. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA DUP leader Arlene Foster (left) shaking hands with Alliance Party leader Naomi Long after a service at West Kirk Presbyterian Church in Belfast for a service to mark the 25th anniversary of the IRA bombing of a fish shop on Shankill Road. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday October 23, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Shankill. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Representatives from Belfast Model School for Girls (right) and Harmony Primary School (left) lay a wreath at a memorial during a service at West Kirk Presbyterian Church in Belfast to mark the 25th anniversary of the IRA bombing of a fish shop on Shankill Road. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday October 23, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Shankill. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA DUP leader Arlene Foster is embraced by Michelle Williams after a service at West Kirk Presbyterian Church in Belfast for a service to mark the 25th anniversary of the IRA bombing of a fish shop on Shankill Road. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday October 23, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Shankill. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Caitlin Herron of Girls Model school lays a wreath to the side of what was Frizzell's fish shop during a service at West Kirk Presbyterian Church in Belfast to mark the 25th anniversary of the IRA bombing of a fish shop on Shankill Road. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday October 23, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Shankill. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Jim Allister leader of the TUV before a service at West Kirk Presbyterian Church in Belfast for a service to mark the 25th anniversary of the IRA bombing of a fish shop on Shankill Road. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday October 23, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Shankill. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Jude Whyte (left) whose mother, Peggy Whyte, was killed by a UVF bomb in 1984 and Alan McBride who wife Sharon McBride was killed in the Shankill bomb, after a service at West Kirk Presbyterian Church in Belfast for a service to mark the 25th anniversary of the IRA bombing of a fish shop on Shankill Road. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday October 23, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Shankill. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Zoe McBride, daughter of Shankill bomb victim Sharon McBride after a service at West Kirk Presbyterian Church in Belfast for a service to mark the 25th anniversary of the IRA bombing of a fish shop on Shankill Road. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday October 23, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Shankill. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA / Facebook

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Look at Sean Kelly, who served just seven years for the atrocity before being released under the Belfast Agreement.

If he had a decent bone in his body, Kelly would crawl back under the rock he came from and stay there, instead of popping up at every opportunity to justify his actions.

That's the absolute least Kelly's victims and their families deserve.

That he won't even give them that fragment of comfort shows the sinister extent of what those trying in small, quiet ways to say and do the right thing are up against.
Three Marines and seven Filipino Abu Sayyaf militants were killed in clashes on the southern Philippine island of Jolo where the gunmen have been holding several hostages, the military said Saturday.

Three other Marines were wounded and 12 militants were captured following Friday clashes involving about 50 Abu Sayyaf gunmen, regional military chief Lt. Gen. Arnel Dela Vega said.

The troops were patrolling jungle areas in Jolos Patikul town when they encountered the fighters, triggering the violence, he said.

We are sad to report that we lost three of our valiant Marines during the course of the fight, Dela Vega said. We ask for prayers from all peace-loving people of the country for their eternal repose and for the speedy recovery of the three others who were wounded during the encounter.

The rebels withdrew into the jungle and were being pursued by the military Saturday.

Regional military spokesman Col. Gerry Besana said the identities of the slain Marines were withheld pending notification of their immediate families. The wounded soldiers were being treated at a military hospital in Jolo.

The Abu Sayyaf, or Bearers of the Sword, is the most brutal militant group operating in the southern Philippines and has been engaged in kidnappings and bombings. In February 2017, Abu Sayyaf members beheaded a German hostage. A year earlier, two Canadian hostages suffered the same fate.

The group is holding 12 hostages, including three Indonesians, one Vietnamese, one Dutch and seven Filipinos, the military has said.

In September, 18 members of the Abu Sayyafs faction on the nearby island of Basilan were charged for their roles in a July suicide bomb attack that killed 11 people. The Islamic State (IS) had claimed one of its fighters, a Moroccan national, had carried out the bombing, a claim discredited by the Filipino military.

Last year, Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon, who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, led a siege of the southern city of Marawi, leaving 1,200 people dead, most of them militants. The five-month siege ended in October with the death of Hapilon, although the government said dozens of militants escaped from the city.
For Immediate Release, October 26, 2018



Contacts: Taylor McKinnon, Center for Biological Diversity, (801) 300-2414, tmckinnon@biologicaldiversity.org

Kelly Fuller, Western Watersheds, (928) 322-8449, kfuller@westernwatersheds.org

Sarah Stellberg, Advocates for the West, (208) 342-7024 x 209, sstellberg@advocateswest.org Feds Yank More Than 1 Million Acres From December Oil, Gas Lease Sales in Five States in Response to Lawsuit

BOISE, Idaho The Bureau of Land Management this week pulled more than 1 million acres of greater sage-grouse habitat in Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming, Utah and Colorado from December oil and gas lease sales to comply with a federal court order. The auctions were planned using a new Trump administration policy that sharply curtails public participation in oil and gas leasing decisions on public lands. In September a judge halted implementation of that policy for future leases across sage grouse habitat areas in 11 western states. The rare birds are gravely threatened by drilling. Were pleased the BLM is following the judges ruling and at least temporarily protecting large swaths of greater sage-grouse habitat, said Taylor McKinnon of the Center for Biological Diversity. But the Trump administration is doing everything it can to put millions of acres of public lands into the fossil fuel industrys hands. This fight is far from over. The BLM has now postponed more than 1 million acres of sage-grouse habitat from its December oil and gas lease auctions, including 578 parcels totaling approximately 775,000 acres in Wyoming. The agency is expected to post its Nevada sale notice today, removing even more acres of sage-grouse habitat. Elk, mule deer and pronghorn antelope need the same habitat the sage grouse do, said Kelly Fuller, energy and mining campaign director for Western Watersheds Project. BLM should remove the sage-grouse habitat from leasing permanently to protect seasonal habitats and migration corridors so the wildlife that rely on those public lands can survive. Oil and gas drilling on sage-grouse habitat means goodbye grouse and big game. In January the BLM issued an instruction memorandum telling staff to accelerate oil and gas leasing by cutting back environmental reviews and eliminating mandatory public comment periods. A motion for preliminary injunction, filed by Advocates for the West on behalf of Western Watersheds Project and the Center for Biological Diversity, challenged the policy as an unlawful attempt to cut public involvement in BLM leasing decisions. The record contains significant evidence indicating that BLM made an intentional decision to limit the opportunity for (and even in some circumstances to preclude entirely) any contemporaneous public involvement in decisions concerning whether to grant oil and gas leases on federal lands, U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge Ronald E. Bush said in his ruling. The court found that BLMs deliberate efforts to cut the public out of public lands decision-making likely violate its statutory mandate to provide for public involvement, said Sarah Stellberg with Advocates for the West. We appreciate the much-needed reprieve for the greater sage grouse, but until BLM reinstates public comment and protest opportunities for all oil and gas lease sales, its actions will continue to violate the law. The preliminary injunction is part of a broader lawsuit challenging BLMs federal oil and gas leasing practices across five western states and covering almost 2 million acres of key greater sage-grouse habitat. The iconic and imperiled western bird has lost approximately 95 percent of its population and almost half of its habitat since Euro-American settlement. Greater sage grouse are intensely loyal to specific seasonal areas and reliant on large expanses of undisturbed sagebrush habitat. Oil and gas development in their remaining habitat poses a significant threat to the species continued existence.
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LOS ANGELES, Oct. 27, 2018

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 27, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Dialysis corporations have committed $111 million to defeat California's Prop. 8 and protect their profits, the most one side has ever spent on a ballot initiative anywhere in the United States.

Despite the massive spending  the dialysis industry is outspending the "Yes on Prop. 8" side by more than five to one  recent polling shows the race is still a statistical tie. Prop. 8 is a measure to rein in dialysis industry profits and improve patient care in the state's dialysis clinics.

"A funny thing has happened to the dialysis industry on their way to buying this election for $111 million  a whole lot of voters are seeing right through it and aren't buying what they're selling," said Roberto Acosta of Baldwin Park, Calif. "As a dialysis patient, it's infuriating to think how much they could have improved patient care if they spent that same amount on safer staffing, improved hygiene and newer equipment."

The dialysis corporations' total surpasses the previous record spent against a ballot measure, which was set by drug companies in 2016 when they spent $110 million to defeat Prop. 61, which would have reduced drug prices in California.

Workers and patients report seeing mice, cockroaches, bloodstains and broken equipment in dialysis clinics in California. In fact, the California Department of Public Health documented more than 1,400 deficiencies during inspections at dialysis clinics in fiscal year 2016-2017, and more than 4,400 dialysis patients in California died from infections in the last five years, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Prop. 8 limits dialysis corporations' revenues to 15 percent above the amount they spend on patient care and pushes them to invest more in hiring additional staff, buying new equipment, and improving facilities. An estimated 80,000 Californians with life-threatening kidney failure get treatment across 588 dialysis clinics.

DaVita and Fresenius made a combined $4 billion in profits from their U.S. dialysis operations in 2017, and the profit margin of their clinics is nearly five times higher than an average hospital in California. The two companies own and operate 72 percent of all dialysis clinics in the state.

People with kidney failure often must undergo dialysis treatment three days a week for three or four hours at a time at clinics to remove their blood, clean it, and put it back in their bodies.

Paid for by Yes on 8 - Californians for Kidney Dialysis Patient Protection, Sponsored by Service Employees International UnionUnited Healthcare Workers West.Committee major funding fromService Employees International UnionUnited Healthcare Workers WestCalifornia State Council of Service Employees.777 S. Figueroa Street, Suite 4050, Los Angeles, CA 90017Funding details at http://www.fppc.ca.gov.

CONTACT:

Sean Wherley, (323) 893-6831

[email protected]

View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dialysis-industry-sets-national-spending-record-by-committing-111-million-to-oppose-prop-8-protect-billions-in-profits---reports-californians-for-kidney-dialysis-patient-protection-300739013.html

SOURCE Californians for Kidney Dialysis Patient Protection
PR Newswire

MERIDIAN, Miss., Oct. 27, 2018

MERIDIAN, Miss., Oct. 27, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The 2019 class of new Honda models have already started to arrive at the Meridan Honda showroom. Shoppers looking for the latest crossover SUV, minivan and pickup truck options Honda has produced can see a comprehensive cross-section of those vehicles at the dealership. Additionally, Meridian Honda is paying tribute to those who have chosen to stand up and protect this country by offering veterans of America's armed forces a special incentive to help them purchase a new Honda vehicle. Veterans shopping at Meridian Honda will be able to choose among any new vehicle in the inventory that hasn't been previously titled.

Each 2019 Honda model that has arrived or will arrive at the showroom has a unique set of improvements. However, one model that may be particularly interesting to customers is the 2019 Honda HR-V subcompact crossover SUV. The new HR-V is still available in four well-equipped trim grades, LX, Sport, EX and EX-L. The biggest change to the 2019 Honda HR-V is the inclusion of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto services on the vehicle's trims above the entry-level LX model. Not only does the chief competitor of the 2019 Honda HR-V not offer this level of digital device integration, but it also comes up short in terms of available interior space. Potential buyers should contact the Meridian Honda showroom for more information about how the 2019 Honda HR-V compares to the competition.

One model that should be arriving soon is the 2019 Honda Fit. The automaker's entry into the hatchback class is also available in LX, Sport, EX and EX-L trims and retains one of the most popular features in the Honda lineup, the flip-up rear seats. This allows it to offer significantly more interior cargo space than many of its competitors.

Veterans who want to use the discount program being offered at Meridan Honda should make sure they have the proper documentation ready to go. These documents can include a military ID card, discharge forms or Earnings and Leave Statements.

The entire Meridian Honda inventory can be viewed on the dealership's website, http://www.meridianhonda.com. Buyers can visit the showroom that is located at 503 Front Street Ext. Meridian, MS 39301. Anyone with questions about any vehicles that are available or will be available can contact a Meridian Honda product expert today by calling, 601-693-4651.

SOURCE Meridian Honda
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Beauty pageant contestants from across the world have visited Japan's northern island of Hokkaido, which is still reeling from the impact of a major quake last month.

Women representing 14 countries and regions in this year's Miss International Beauty Pageant visited Hokkaido on Saturday, at the invitation of Japan External Trade Organization, or JETRO.

The tour is designed to help attract overseas visitors to the northern island, which saw a drop in inbound tourism after the quake.

In the city of Chitose, the women tried their hand at making Japanese traditional sweets in a confectionery.

The contestants posted photos of the sweets they made on social media with comments.

They went on to visit a landmark red-brick building in Sapporo City, which used to house the prefectural government office.

Miss Guam Diliana Tuncap said she hopes that their activities will help local efforts to recover from the disaster.

The Miss International contest will be held on November 9th in Tokyo.
The rapprochement between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping led to some candid exchanges during the two leaders' meetings on Friday, including some strong words of discontent from Xi toward U.S. President Donald Trump's trade pressure.

"Congratulations on your re-election as party leader," Xi told Abe as the two sat down for dinner at Beijing's Diaoyutai State Guesthouse on Friday evening. They had already concluded their 80-minute official summit, and the mood was relaxed.

Abe's September victory over party rival Shigeru Ishiba not only gave him a third term as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, but also a chance to become Japan's longest-serving prime minister.

"You know, the Chinese Communist Party has 90 million members," Xi added.

"Is that so?" replied Abe, explaining that the LDP has about 1 million. The friendly exchange would have been unthinkable several years ago, when relations were said to have sunk to their worst since the two countries normalized diplomatic ties in 1972, over tensions over the East China Sea.

When the conversation shifted to the Sino-American trade spat, however, Xi's expression turned grim. "I'm against a unipolar system led by the U.S.," he said.

Xi expressed deep frustration with Washington's strong-arm tactics in trade negotiations. The free trade system should be respected, he told Abe.
After more than a decade working as a chiropractor, a local doctor has fulfilled his fathers dream, launching his own clinic.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 27/10/2018 (1119 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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Chiropractor Manish Chaudhari, owner of ProCare Chiropractic & Wellness Clinic, launched his new business in mid October and celebrated its grand opening on Friday. (Chelsea Kemp/The Brandon Sun)

After more than a decade working as a chiropractor, a local doctor has fulfilled his fathers dream, launching his own clinic.

"The business is brand new but were not really new. Ive been in Brandon seeing patients for the last 11 years," said chiropractor Manish Chaudhari, owner of ProCare Chiropractic & Wellness Clinic.

The clinic held its official grand opening on Oct. 13. The day was planned on his father's birthday, a towering figure and inspiration in Chaudhari life.

"Unfortunately he passed away last fall. It was actually his dream to see me open my own clinic," Chaudhari said.

Giving his mother, Vidya Chaudhari, the honour of cutting the ribbon, ProCare officially opened.

The day was incredibly emotional, overwhelming and special Chaudhari said, especially in light of the support he received from the community as a whole.

Chaudhari started training as a chiropractor in 2002 at the University of Western States in Portland, Oregon.

ProCare Chirporactic & Wellness Clinic owner Manish Chaudhari and his mother Vidya Chaudhari cut the grand opening ribbon of the centre.

"Ive always had a passion to be in the heath care industry, and chiropractics was something that I had researched quite a bit," Chaudhari said.

Hearing stories about the benefits of chiropractics, and exploring the practice Chaudhari decided to pursue a career as a chiropractor. Graduating in 2006 he first began working in Winnipeg, but soon moved to Brandon in 2007 to practice.

After working at the Natural Wellness Clinic for the past decade, Chaudhari decided it was time to pursue his dream of owning a clinic.

"It was just time for a change," Chaudhari said.

The chiropractor left where he was working and within five weeks ProCare opened its doors for the first patient about two months ago.

ProCare Chiropractic & Wellness Clinic offers chiropractic and massage therapy, and Chaudhari hopes to soon expand on the services available.

"Anywhere you have muscles, bones and nerves we can help," Chaudhari said.

Over the past decade Chaudhari has found that the conversation around health care has changed with patients looking to proactively prevent pain, in place of reacting to it.

"Theyre not coming just when theyre in pain, but theyre also coming for wellness care," Chaudhari said.

Finding a balance between the business side and chiropractic side of ProCare has proved challenging, but Chaudhari said that the help and support he has received from his patients, staff, friends, family and previous co-workers has be incredible.

Their assistance helped make the launch of ProCare significantly easier.

Business aspects including getting billing systems established, and other documents in place was an especially big change for the chiropractor.

The clinic is able to provide direct billing to most insurance companies, Autopac and the Workers Compensation Board, a service he thinks is incredibly beneficial to patients. With those who have experienced workplace accidents, automobile incidents and other types of injury Chaudhari said that simple steps like this can help make the experience easier for patients.

Chaudhari now focuses on patient care during the day, while tackling the business side of his new clinic in the evening after-hours.

"Patient care is what Ive always enjoyed," Chaudhari said. "I want to thank all the patients I have seen and all the future patients for putting their trust in me for their health and wellness."

ckemp@brandonsun.com

Twitter: @The_ChelseaKemp
The Brandon Police Service is seeking the publics assistance in locating Kyle Justin Craig Bradshaw, who is wanted by police.

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This article was published 27/10/2018 (1119 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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The Brandon Police Service is seeking the publics assistance in locating Kyle Justin Craig Bradshaw, who is wanted by police.

Bradshaw, 32, is wanted for two counts of assault and one count of failure to attend court.

On July 14, 2017, police responded to a residence on Princess Avenue after receiving a 911 call reporting a male assaulting two females.

Police investigation revealed that Bradshaw and one of the female victims engaged in a verbal argument earlier in the day.

Both then went to the apartment and the altercation continued, resulting in Bradshaw assaulting the female by grabbing her by the throat and throwing her against a wall.

Another female present attempted to intervene and was punched in the head several times by the suspect. Bradshaw was arrested inside the apartment by Police for two counts of assault and lodged at the Brandon Correctional Centre.

Bradshaw was later released and scheduled to appear in Court on Aug. 21, 2017, but he failed to appear in court as required and an arrest warrant was issued.

Attempts have been made by police to locate Bradshaw, which have met with negative results.

If you have any information as to the whereabouts of Kyle Justin Craig Bradshaw or anyone else wanted by police, contact Brandon Crime Stoppers.

Police hoping to solve business break-in

The Brandon Police Service is seeking the publics assistance in solving a business break and enter.

On Oct. 11 at approximately 9:33 a.m., an employee of a business on the 2400 block of Park Avenue reported that sometime between 8 p.m. on Oct. 10 and 6 a.m. on Oct. 11 someone broke into the compound yard and entered several vehicles and sheds. The construction shed door was pried open and damaged with a couple drills stolen from inside the compound. The southeast corner of the compound appears to be how the suspect(s) gained entry.

Police investigation to date has not been able to identify any suspects responsible for this crime.

If you have information about this or any other crime, contact Brandon Crime Stoppers.

 Brandon Police Service
By Fiachra O Cionnaith, Political Correspondent

Update 10.20pm: Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has this evening insisted he will not apologise to presidential candidate Peter Casey for calling on people not to vote for him, saying there is no need to do so.

Asked about Mr Casey's views on the Travelling community in Brussels nine days ago, Mr Varadkar said voters should not support the candidate and that he hoped Mr Casey would "a very clear message" in the presidential election race result.

However, Mr Casey subsequently saw his support surge from 2% to more than 23%.

Peter Casey says hes still waiting on an apology from the Taoiseach and that Leo Varadkar is out of touch with people #Aras18 pic.twitter.com/bgPJlmH0qU  Sean Defoe (@SeanDefoe) October 27, 2018

Asked by reporters this evening if he will apologise, Mr Varadkar said no. He added that he has no interest in Mr Casey joining Fine Gael, claiming he does not share the party's political views.

"I won't be doing that (apologising). As I said, I endorsed President Higgins, the party campaigned for him, he has had a resounding endorsement tonight.

"I think that's decidedly unlikely (that Mr Casey will ask to join Fine Gael). Anyone who joins the Fine Gael party has to sign up to our values and principles, so I think that's unlikely," he said.

Earlier: We must listen to protest vote, says Taoiseach

The Taoiseach has promised to listen to a protest vote which saw a relatively unknown businessman take around a fifth of the presidential vote.

Leo Varadkar acknowledged an element of anti-Traveller sentiment after runner-up Peter Casey enjoyed an electoral bounce when he said they should not be considered as members of an ethnic minority.

Mr Varadkar said poll-topping President Michael D Higgins had won an "overwhelming" victory to take a second term in the office.

The Taoiseach said: "There were people registering protest for lots of other reasons.

"When people register a protest, whether it is on the streets or in the ballot box you have to listen to that, if you are in politics."

"As politicians we always need to listen to people when they register a protest."

Mr Casey saw a surge in support after he accused Irish Travellers of camping on other people's land and criticised the refusal by some to take state-provided homes.

The Taoiseach said: "A lot of people voted for Mr Casey but he is going to get less than one of four votes so we should not lose sight of the actual result here."

He added there was a lot of work to be done on building understanding of Traveller culture and said they suffered inequality.

Mr Varadkar said: "There is a misunderstanding between the settled community and Traveller community.

"It is something that we will have to reflect on in the coming days.

"I want the Irish Traveller community to know that I, as head of Government, and the Government that I lead respect them and see them as part of our society and we want to continue to work with them to deal with some of these inequalities and disadvantages that are at the root of some of these problems."

Earlier, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin congratulated Michael D Higgins.

Mr Martin said that Irish people want someone who behaves with dignity and strikes a mood with people on important occasions.

He said that Peter Casey's vote was "very, very significant" adding that it is a reflection that people are "not happy" with the way things are.

"It also represents a kick back against the system and articulation that everybody is not happy with the status quo or not happy with the way things are," he added.

Earlier: Peter Casey's statements on Travellers 'shouldn't be allowed', says Minister

Minister for Social Protection Regina Doherty says Peter Casey's controversial comments during the campaign were ill-informed and his views need to be challenged.

"Peter Casey sought to do damage to an entire body - 40,000 people - with sweeping, ill-informed statements last week and I think that's bad practice and it shouldn't be allowed,"

She added: "There are people who have suffered and had bad experiences at the hands of some members of the Travelling Communities, but, by Jove, there are some people who have had bad experiences at the hands of bankers, at the hands of politicians, milkmen, teachers, doctors.

"There are bad apples in every barrel."

Earlier: Gerry Adams blames 'irrelevancy of the contest' for lack of SF vote

Gerry Adams has admitted that Sinn Fein failed to get the vote out in the Presidential Election.

The party's candidate Liadh Ni Riada performed poorly - with tallies putting her at 7-8% of the vote.

The TD for Louth said that people did not find the vote relevant.

"The big issue was the irrelevancy of the contest for a section of our vote," he said.

"And then, the assumption - and people were telling us this as we were canvassing - that Micheal D, as the incumbent, was going to be returned."

Former Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams says candidate Liadh Ni Riada got issue of Irish unity onto the agenda #Aras18 #PresidentialElection pic.twitter.com/vbb1WgSEdN  RTE News (@rtenews) October 27, 2018

Update 2.10pm: Pavee Point say strong support for Peter Casey 'worrying'

A strong vote for Peter Casey has been recorded in parts of Limerick with large traveller populations.

Martin Collins from Pavee Point says it is worrying to see such support for the Presidential candidate in Askeaton and Rathkeale.

Candidate Peter Casey with his wife Helen at the Convention Centre, Dublin. Pic: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

Mr Casey topped the poll at a booth from Rathkeale Girls National School with 44%. He also took 46% of the vote in a box that came from the Askeaton area.

Director of Irish Traveller Movement, Bernard Joyce, says comments about Travellers was building on lack of interaction with the Travelling community #Aras18 #PresidentialElection pic.twitter.com/cPttCAwq3P  RTE News (@rtenews) October 27, 2018

"That would worry me but at the same time it has to be acknowledged that there has been some tensions in the town of Rathkeale, particularly around Christmas time, when Travellers would turn up from right across the globe," said Mr Collins.

"So we've always called for some sort of mediation service or some sort of relationship-building initiative."

Meanwhile, party leaders and other politicians have been congratulating Michael D Higgins ahead of an official announcement.

"It's a very historic victory for Michael D, in fact, I think it's a larger margin than even Eamon de Valera enjoyed in becoming president of Ireland on two occasions," said Labour's Joan Burton. "So, well done to Michael D."

Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin says Peter Casey got a lot of oxygen from his controversial comments on Travellers.

But he says his support probably reflects a more general dissatisfaction among the electorate.

Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin says Peter Casey achieving a "significant vote" in the election "has to be acknowledged". #Aras18 pic.twitter.com/sRcDBAUrA9  RTE News (@rtenews) October 27, 2018

Labour party leader Brendan Howlin said Mr Higgins had been an exemplary President and that there was no one better to represent the people of Ireland during the next seven years.

Not only does Michael D represent the best of the Labour and trade union tradition in Irish politics, but he has touched the hearts and minds of people from all walks of life, and all political persuasions, Mr Howlin said.

Michael D Higgins showed a rare depth of sensibility during the recent centenary commemorations, and he has the authority and authenticity to speak for us all at the sensitive memorials yet to come.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar congratulated Mr Higgins on Saturday morning as the counting began, tweeting he was really happy that the political veteran would continue to be the countrys President for the next seven years.

Congratulations @MichaelDHiggins. Really happy that you will continue to be our President for the next 7 years  Leo Varadkar (@LeoVaradkar) October 27, 2018

Earlier: Candidate reaction: 'Democracy was best served', says Gavin Duffy

Dragons Den investor Gavin Duffy has said that democracy was best served by the race for the Park as he gratuitously accepted defeat and the likelihood of coming last in the contest, writes Political Correspondent, Juno McEnroe.

Mr Duffy said fellow investor and contender Peter Casey had spoken to voters in a human voice while he had communicated in an academic way.

Gavin Duffy

Speaking to Pat Kenny on Newstalk radio, Mr Duffy also said that he had no regrets in participating in the campaign.

This is despite exit polls putting him at just 2%.

The businessman also congratulated incumbent Michael D Higgins, who looks set to be returned to Aras an Uachtarain after a landslide win.

Mr Duffy said his failed campaign though had not impacted on him.

I dont think it will damage my business if I do return to business.

He said he had conducted himself with dignity and respect but didnt cut through to voters.

On the other hand, Mr Casey had targeted a marginalised community, something he wouldnt engage in.

Mr Duffy said democracy was best served by the process we have gone through.

Fine Gael Senator Jerry Buttimer thinks many people who cast their ballot for Peter Casey did it as a protest vote.

He also believes the Taoiseach and Tanaiste were right to call out the businessman's comments about Travellers during the campaign.

"You can't allow for any disingenuous comments regarding the Travelling community to be part of a campaign," said Mr Buttimer.

"There are people who feel under pressure in certain parts of the country because of certain activities by some members of the Travelling community but I think Peter Casey in the worst form of Trumpism tapped into that."

Congratulations @MichaelDHiggins. Really happy that you will continue to be our President for the next 7 years  Leo Varadkar (@LeoVaradkar) October 27, 2018

Meanwhile, Mr Higgins communications director Bernard Harbour said the exit polls demonstrated that people were very happy with how the president had conducted himself in his first seven years in office.

I think it shows resounding support for the message he was giving to people, which was that he has been, and will be, a president for all of the people, a message of quality and inclusiveness that everybody in Ireland should be represented and should be represented well by their president, he told the Press Association.

Juno McEnroe and PA

Earlier: 'Middle Ireland' is 'tired' of liberal Ireland, says Casey

Presidential election candidate Peter Casey has denied widespread claims his surge in support from 2% to 21% has anything to do with his allegedly racist views on the Travelling community, writes Political Correspondent, Fiachra O Cionnaith.

Mr Casey rejected the claim on RTE Radio's Morning Ireland programme this morning, saying people voted for him because "middle Ireland" is "just tired" of liberal Ireland.

Pic: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

With boxes opening this morning and votes being carefully counted, incumbent Michael D Higgins is predicted to have won 56% support.

However, just as high-profile a result is the likely 21% first preference vote for Mr Casey.

Asked if his surge was to do with his controversial Travelling community views, Mr Casey said "the biggest comment that got me by far was that middle Ireland and people who get up to work and pay for everything, they just feeling tired".

He said this issue above all else is the reason why people voted for him.

Speaking on the same programme, Pavee Point Travelling community representative Kathleen Lawrence rubbished Mr Casey's attempt to downplay the influence of his Travelling community views, saying there is "no way without making those comments" that he would have seen such an increase.

In a reference to controversial US president Donald Trump, Ms Lawrence added that Mr Casey has adopted "American" political strategies by "playing the race card", and that all he has done is "make Ireland more divisive".

Sinn Fein's candidate Liadh Ni Riada polled worse than Martin McGuinness in 2011 with the exit poll showing she only secured between 7% and 8% of the vote.

Go raibh mile maith agat to everyone that came out to vote today for @LiadhNiRiadaMEP. Your support throughout this campaign has been phenomenal. Together we can build a new Ireland.#Aras18 #LiadhForPresident pic.twitter.com/0oCsUyWX2O  Sinn Fein (@sinnfeinireland) October 26, 2018

The party has been criticised for being slow to announce their candidate but the party's health spokesperson Louise O'Reilly is blaming the poor turnout.

She says the party is proud of Liadh: "Clearly we have to learn some lessons from it but the lessons are not going to be that it is not good practice to have an election.

"The lessons are not going to be that the next person who is after Michael D Higgins should serve a 14-year term.

"I don't think that that is what people necessarily want."

Meanwhile, businessman Gavin Duffy says he has no regrets about his decision to run for office.

Exit polls show the Dragons Den star secured just 2 per cent of the vote.

Last night he tweeted his congratulations to Michael D Higgins and wished him all the best for his second term.

@rtenews exit poll. President Higgins 58% Casey 21% Ni Riada 7% Freeman & Gallagher 6%, me last 2%. Thank you to those who voted for me. I value every vote. I wish our President every good wish for his second term. pic.twitter.com/ElURaSFMIv  Gavin Duffy (@GavinDuffy) October 26, 2018

Fiachra O Cionnaith and Digital Desk
By Juno McEnroe and Fiachra O Cionnaith

Presidential challenger and businessman Peter Casey has left the door open on a future in politics and said he is considering forming a party.

The controversial Dragons's Den investor arrived at Dublin Castle earlier to a wall of media and cameras as exit polls today predict that he will be the runner up in the campaign.

Polling suggests his support surged from just 2% to some 21% in recent days and the Donegal-man is now considering his future after the surprise result.

He denied to reporters today that he had used the "race card" to beef up his support when he criticised Travellers during the campaign.

But Mr Casey insisted that Taoiseach Leo Varadkar should apologise for suggesting that he withdraw from the race.

He has demanded Taoiseach Leo Varadkar apologise for urging people not to vote for him over his Traveller views.

Mr Casey issued the demand as he suggested Mr Varadkar should sack Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan and Culture Minister Josepha Madigan from his cabinet as both have made similar comments to him in the past.

Speaking to reporters as he arrived at Dublin Castle before the official presidential vote announcements later this afternoon, businessman Mr Casey said he found Mr Varadkar's campaigning against him to be "disgraceful".

Asked about Mr Casey's views on the Travelling community in Brussels nine days ago, Mr Varadkar said voters should not support the candidate and that he hoped Mr Casey would "a very clear message" in the presidential election race result.

"I'm still waiting on the Taoiseach to apologise for telling people not to vote for me, which I think is the first time in history that I'm aware of that a Taoiseach has actually come out against a candidate.

He actually went and said do not come out and vote for me. That was actually disgraceful. I think he's definitely not listening to people and that will be reflected next time he goes to the opinion polls.

Asked three times if Mr Varadkar should consider sacking Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan and Culture Minister Josepha Madigan from cabinet for their previous comments a number of years ago about the Travelling community, Mr Casey said:

"That's a very good question, and somebody should put that to him. Yeah. That's an excellent question. I think that's a question you should put to him. Again, it's not for me to say what the Taoiseach should do. If he felt the comments are racist then clearly he shouldn't keep them in cabinet."

Asked if he believes Mr Varadkar would be a "hypocrite" for keeping the two Fine Gael ministers in cabinet, Mr Casey added:

"I think that is a question that should be put to the Taoiseach."

Asked about his next step, Mr Casey said he needed to sit down with his wife and make a decision about his future in politics.

A decision would be made this week, he said, claiming that his politics was left-of-centre rather that right-of-centre.

Mr Casey said he was not sure running as an MEP for the European parliament would be the right path for him.

Earlier, Mr Casey told the media that he would consider joining a party or setting up his own.

He declined to say which politicians in power or parties he supported.

He said that the presidential race had revealed a frustration among voters.
By Liam Heylin

An application for a licence to sell alcohol in a newly refurbished restaurant that was due to open for the jazz weekend was refused yesterday.

Judge Sean O Donnabhain said at Cork Circuit Court that in the past 18 years he had never before refused a licence.

Barrister Constance Cassidy said Dwyers on Washington St  the former premises of Rachel Allen  is a 2m development with 25 employees which was ready to trade. Sgt Alan Cronin said gardai were not opposed to the premises being licensed.

However, there was an objection to the licence being granted to Moscato Limited of Unit 3 Courthouse Chambers, Washington St, Cork, in respect of premises known as Rachels Restaurant of Unit 3 Courthouse Chambers, Washington St, now renamed as Dwyers.

Michael McGrath, representing objector Kmont Property Holdings Ltd, said the objection was based on planning permission. Ms Cassidy said it was fully compliant with pre-existing permission from 2016. Mr McGrath said it was not.

Judge O Donnabhain said the premises appeared to be going from being a restaurant to a bar but this was disputed by the applicant.

When a witness said a Cork City Council planner could not say, without seeing the premises in operation, if it was in compliance with this permission, the judge commented: Cork City Council  in this and many other things  dont know whether they are coming or going.

They close the tunnel and dig up Glanmire on the same night. That they dont know if they are coming or going should not come as a surprise to anyone.

Judge O Donnabhain refused the application.

The court will not be toyed with. I refuse the application. The planning permission [from 2016] is entirely specific. The new application is for an entirely different premises. I refuse the application.

The applicant will now have to appeal that decision to the High Court in Dublin if they want get the licence for Dwyers.
Drivers are being urged to slow down as the evenings get shorter.

Gardai have issued the warning and are also driving home the message that it is totally unacceptable to drink or take drugs and drive.

It is after new laws came in that will ensure that all drink drivers will be put off the roads for three months.

Chief Superintendent Finbarr Murphy says officers will be checking for drink-driving this weekend.

"Last week, we arrested 195 people for drink and drug-related driving," said Chief Superintendent Murphy.

"Again, we will be out this weekend and right through the rest of the year in order to enforce this to its fullest measure and reduce road deaths.

"So far this year there have been 120 people killed on our roads."

Announcing the new provisions of the Road Traffic Act, Transport Minister Shane Ross said the measures were a "significant step in clamping down on the scourge of drink driving".

"There are few more irresponsible and dangerous things people can do in everyday life than drink and drive," he said.

"It was always wrong to give people the mild slap on the wrist of three penalty points for such potentially lethal behaviour, and it is a great satisfaction to know that in future people who behave this way will face a disqualification from driving for three months."
Update 11pm: Almost 65% of people have voted in favour of the 37th amendment to the constitution in the Blasphemy Referendum.

[/factbox]

Just over 35 per cent have voted No.

#blasref - the final result

Electorate: 3,401,681

Total Poll: 1,489,694

Turnout: 43.79%

Spoiled: 22,236

TVP: 1,467,458



Yes: 951,650 (64.85%)

No: 515,808 (35.15%)



The Thirty-Seventh Amendment has been approved by the people of Ireland.  Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) October 27, 2018

Charlie Flanagan, from the floor, thanks returning officer Barry Ryan and his team for a job well done.



Democracy in action. pic.twitter.com/Z9oqiFO08V  Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) October 27, 2018

The result marks the latest sign of Ireland's decades-long social liberalisation from a deeply Catholic society to an increasingly secular one.

Earlier, when it was apparent that the amendment would be approved, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said: "It is very much part of an ongoing campaign in many ways to reform our constitution, to make it a 21st century constitution or a 21st century Republic."

He placed the public poll among a series of reforms beginning in the 1960's when the state removed the special place of the Catholic Church from the constitution and including enshrining marriage equality and giving women the right to choose abortion.

"This is the next small step in what is a very big deal, which is the reform of our constitution, so the next set of referenda are pencilled in for May."

Removing the reference to blasphemy was backed by a Catholic Church which has sustained severe reputational damage from decades of clerical sex abuse.

Nobody has been prosecuted for the offence in Ireland since 1855, in connection with an alleged case of Bible-burning.

It was included in anti-defamation legislation passed by the Irish Government in 2009.

Blasphemy was defined as publishing or uttering something "grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters sacred by any religion, thereby intentionally causing outrage among a substantial number of adherents of that religion".

Anybody found guilty could face a 25,000 euro fine.

Comedian Stephen Fry fell foul of the law in 2015 when he gave a television interview during which he was asked what he would say to God.

A viewer complained to Gardai, who launched an investigation, but Fry was never charged with blasphemy.

Earlier: Irish Council for Civil Liberties welcomes support for Yes vote in blasphemy vote

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has welcomed the expected Yes vote in the referendum on blasphemy as an important step for free speech and the modernisation of our democracy.

This group said that it will bring Ireland into line with international best practice in human rights, as called for by the UN Human Rights Committee.

ICCL has now called on the Government to repeal sections 36 and 37 of the Defamation Act 2009 which define the criminal offence of blasphemy.

During our campaign for a Yes vote, our guiding principle was respect for freedom of expression," said executive director of the ICCL, Liam Herrick.

However, we have also argued that the right to free speech is not absolute and should be limited to the degree necessary to protect people from hate- and hostility-motivated crime.

Hate crime is something which is entirely different to blasphemy as it is directed towards individuals or groups, rather than ideas or institutions. There is no legislation in place to deal with hate crime in Ireland at the moment.

Earlier: Blasphemy referendum result 'significant for freedom of expression', says Amnesty Ireland

Amnesty International Ireland has welcomed the result of today's blasphemy referendum saying it is significant for freedom of expression in Ireland.

Exit polls suggest that the Irish people have voted to remove the blasphemy law from the constitution by between 69% and 71%.

Colm OGorman

"While we await the final figures from the national wide count, it is clear at this stage that the Yes side have carried the day. Todays vote is another important step towards a human rights compliant Constitution," said Colm OGorman, Amnesty International Ireland Executive Director.

"It follows the massive support for the constitutional referenda allowing marriage equality and ending the abortion ban. People in Ireland have shown yet again that they value human rights and freedoms.

Blasphemy laws like Irelands violate freedom of expression. At a time when this freedom is under attack around the world, this referendum matters even more.

"Now, States like Pakistan can no longer justify their own severe anti-blasphemy laws by pointing to Irelands Constitution.

"This referendum outcome does not make people's freedom of religion or belief less protected. The government must still ensure that everyone can manifest and practise their religion without discrimination or threat.

"We also need to have robust prohibition of inciting hatred on religious and other grounds, in law and practice."

Vote-counting in Dublin (Niall Carson/PA)

Earlier: Blasphemy referendum set to pass by a significant majority

Exit polls suggest that the 'Yes' vote for removing the Blasphemy law from the constitution might be between 69% and 71%.

The RTE exit poll also showed an overwhelming majority, 71% have agreed to remove the reference to blasphemy from the Irish Constitution.

While the Irish Times poll conducted by Ipsos/MRBI suggests 69% voted Yes to the referendum.

Michael Nugent from Atheist Ireland says if that is accurate, it will be a great result for freedom of religion, belief, and speech.

"We have to remember that they are only exit polls, they are not official results," said Mr Nugent.

"But even given the largest possible margin of error, it's very positive.

"Whatever the result, we would like to thank everybody who has campaigned for nearly a decade to make this referendum happen and to achieve such a good vote.

"Hopefully, when the full results come in we will have removed a medieval crime from our constitution."

Digital Desk
Olivia Kelleher

A pensioner has appeared in court in Bandon, Co Cork charged with the murder of father of one Derry Coakley in Macroom earlier this week.

Gerard Lynch (66) appeared before a special sitting of Bandon District Court this afternoon in connection with the murder at Raleigh North, Macroom.

Mr Lynch, who has an address at Curraheen, Raleigh, Macroom was arrested last Wednesday and was detained for questioning at Bandon Garda Station.

Sgt Derek Mulcahy gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution during the brief hearing which lasted under three minutes. He said Mr Lynch replied "no comment" when the charge was put to him under caution.

Mr Lynch was charged with the murder of Mr Coakley at Curraheen, Raleigh North between October 23rd & October 24th.

Inspector Brian Murphy told Judge James McNulty that given the nature of the charge the application of the State was to remand the accused in custody to appear before the court on November 2nd next.

Judge McNulty agreed to remand the accused in custody pending his next court appearance.

Free legal aid was granted in the case.

Mr Lynch is a retired cabinet maker. A father of two he was dressed in jeans and a grey top. He did not speak during the hearing.

Mr Coakley will be laid to rest tomorrow (Sunday). The contractor is survived by his mother and daughter.

A postmortem indicated that he suffered from a single gunshot wound to the upper arm.
Beaten presidential candidate Gavin Duffy has insisted rival Peter Casey is not an "evil genius", saying his Travelling community comments were just because he was "throwing grenades and one of them was going to explode".

Mr Duffy asked people not to "over-react" to the result after Mr Casey surged in the polls from 2% last week to 21% after he lashed out at the Travelling community and welfare recipients.

Speaking to reporters as he arrived at the official presidential result at Dublin Castle on Saturday afternoon, Mr Duffy said he was "probably the only person in the country who's not surprised by Peter and the performance".

Describing his outspoken rival as a friend who he has differences with when it comes to politics, Mr Duffy stressed Mr Casey is not an "evil genius" and that his Travelling community comments should not be over-stated to represent something Ireland is not.

"I suppose I'm probably the only person in the country who's not surprised by Peter and the performance. I made no secret of the fact we're friends, despite differences on political grounds.

"The Peter Casey I know is actually believe it or not a decent guy, believe it or not.

"If there was some strategy then you would have to attribute some evil genius to him, he was throwing grenades repeatedly, one of them was going to explode, it did, and it drove him up in the polls.

"Let's not all of us over-react to it.

"Five candidates out of six did not go to that area of populism, and we have a president with a socialist track record," Mr Duffy said.

Gavin Duffy on Peter Casey: He was throwing grenades repeatedly. One of them was going to explode. We had five candidates who didnt resort to that level of populism #Aras18 pic.twitter.com/Wgt4Kidswu  Sean Defoe (@SeanDefoe) October 27, 2018

During the press conference Mr Duffy was asked if he would prefer to finish with 2% and principles than on 21% like Mr Casey but only after attacking minority groups.

Mr Duffy paused, before saying his son had put forward a "similar sentiment" when the exit polls were revealed on Friday night, saying:

"It reminds me just to say thank you to my wife who's been a constant support, my family, my son Lorcan who sent a message last night when exit polls and he was expressing that sentiment.

"He was proud of his parents for what we have done, that we didn't go certain places. I'm somebody who's concerned about the future of Ireland. I am very positive about it's future."
President Michael D Higgins has used his inauguration speech to launch a thinly-veiled broadside at rival Peter Casey's divisive Traveller comments, insisting "a real Republic is where every person and community is treated with respect".

Mr Higgins made the comments in a pointed speech at Dublin Castle this evening after being officially confirmed as the winner of the presidential race by an historic landslide victory marred by a racism row and the lowest turnout since the State was formed.

'The people have made a choice as to which version of Irishness they want reflected at home and abroad' pic.twitter.com/ZwTySC5uSd  RTE News (@rtenews) October 27, 2018

After months of bruising debate, Mr Higgins won easily on the first count after receiving 56% of the vote, with the full results being:

Michael D Higgins: 56% (822,566 first preference votes)

Peter Casey: 23.1% (342,727)

Sean Gallagher: 6.4% (94,514)

Liadh Ni Riada: 6.3% (93,987)

Joan Freeman: 6% (87,908)

Gavin Duffy: 2.2% (32,198)

See how each constituency in the country voted Read More: here.

While the turnout was the lowest in the history of the State at 43.87% - or 1,492,388 people - Mr Higgins won by a landslide and headed up each of the 40 national constituencies, all age groups and both rural and urban voter groups.

And despite a significant amount of support for Mr Casey - who sparked a national row over his divisive views that the Travelling community is not a separate ethnicity and uses this label to take advantage of the country - Mr Higgins used his speech on Saturday night to underline the Ireland he still believes exists.

"We are in a time of transformation and there is a momentum for empathy, compassion, inclusion and solidarity which must be recognised and celebrated.

"A real Republic is a life lived together and 'together' has been one of those words that has resonated throughout this campaign, as has another word - authenticity.

"Both are so important.

"Words matter. Words can hurt. Words can heal. Words can empower. Words can divide. The next seven years will offer opportunities to do things in new ways; including everybody."

"That requires identifying and facing exclusions, and more than just eliminating barriers, it means the exercising of new invitations.

"A real Republic is a Republic of equality, of shared vulnerabilities and of collective capacities.

"A real Republic is one where every person is encouraged and supported to participate fully and where every person and community is treated with dignity and respect.

"The presidency can bring together the different strands of our nation, past, present and future.

"The people have made a choice as to which version of Irishness they want reflected at home and abroad. It is the making of hope they wish to share, rather than the experience of any exploitation of division or fear," he said.

While Mr Higgins' inauguration speech did not specifically reference Mr Casey, it was widely interpreted to have deliberately focussed on the need to avoid division in light of his rival's recent Travelling community comments and the ongoing Brexit crisis.

At the same inauguration, other candidates gave shorter speeches where they thanked their supporters, campaign teams and families

Peter Casey, who said he won 14 votes at the Seanad 2016 election, meaning his presidential vote haul "is a 23,000% increase"

Gavin Duffy backed Mr Higgins' call for a fightback against division

Senator Joan Freeman said "victory has spoken and so has the people", before saying the campaign has "scrutinised and brutalised" all candidates.

'I got everybody talking about mental health, including Michael D Higgins' - Joan Freeman speaking earlier pic.twitter.com/o1dZNO2j0G  RTE News (@rtenews) October 27, 2018

Sean Gallagher quoted former US president Theodore Roosevelt by saying "it is not the words of the critic that count, but the person in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and blood."

Sinn Fein MEP Liadh Ni Riada said, to applause from Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, that this should be the last Presidential Election where people in Northern Ireland are not allowed to vote

Speaking moments afterwards, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar congratulated Mr Higgins before turning to all other candidates and explaining his first foray into frontline politics led in a clear defeat, reminding them: "You learn more from your defeats than your victories."

Despite the landslide victory for Mr Higgins, the presidential campaign figures show it was the lowest turnout in the history of the State.

In the 2018 race just 43.87% of the population chose to vote.

The previous races saw:
By Joe Leogue

The principal of a Co Cork secondary school has gone on leave amid ongoing tensions with the Education and Training Board (ETB) over unfinished building work following the liquidation of the Sammon Contracting Group.

Work on a multimillion-euro extension to Colaiste an Chraoibhin in Fermoy began in November 2015, with a completion date set for February 2016.

Work on the project, which was to accommodate an extra 850 pupils, was beset by delays and subsequently ground to a halt when the Sammon Group, which had won the contract for a number of school builds, went into liquidation during the summer.

The contract has since been re-tendered.

Last week, it emerged that the schools principal, Christy Healy, has temporarily gone on leave.

The Irish Examiner understands there has been a disagreement between Colaiste an Chraoibhin and Cork ETB over plans for the future enrolment policy at the school, and a difference of opinion over the numbers the school can accommodate next September.

Mr Healy could not be contacted for comment. The schools board of management declined to comment.

Cork ETB chief executive Ted Owens issued a statement stating the board has kept parents abreast of timelines all along.

We can confirm that principal Healy is on sick leave and it would be inappropriate for us to comment any further on this matter, reads the statement.

It goes on to say that a meeting was held on Thursday night by the board of management of the school and an admissions policy was adopted.

Parents, teachers, community, and ETB nominees are represented on the school board, said Mr Owens, adding that Cork ETB is working diligently to deliver this project.

At all times we have worked closely with the Department of Education and Skills on this issue.

We are also trying to expedite this project as much as possible by endeavouring to cut timeframes but are confined by public tenders and processes, he said.

Jean ORegan, chairwoman of the schools Parents Association, said there is huge frustration at the ongoing delays.

She claimed a press release has been the only communication the parents have seen on the matter since a contentious meeting with Cork ETB last August.

Ms ORegan said Mr Healy is very popular and well- respected in the community and is credited with the schools growth in recent years.

It is a real shame it has come to this. We want the ETB to work with us instead of pulling against, she said.

Ms ORegan said the extension is 90% complete, to the point that cookers have been installed in the home economics classrooms, but that the project, which was supposed to take 70 weeks, is now ongoing for more than 200 weeks.
Structural problems have been found at two more Dublin schools.

Gaelscoil Eiscir Riada in Lucan will have to partially close one of its buildings.

Scoil Chaitlin Maude in Tallaght requires some remedial work but this will be completed before students return after the mid-term break.

Four of the eight other schools checked this weekend are still awaiting results.

Education Minister Joe McHugh has said that he has not met with Western Building Systems.

"There have been meetings between my officials and Western," said Minister McHugh.

"I haven't met them, I deliberately haven't met them, because I want to focus on the solutions to ensure safety, number one, and also to have interim accommodation solutions in place.

"After that happens, there are questions, and there's an analysis needed to be done as to what happened here, what went wrong here."

- Digital desk
Update 6.24pm: The gunman at a Pittsburgh synagogue "claimed innocent lives" at a baby naming ceremony, Pennsylvania's attorney general has said.

US media are reporting that several people have died in the attack at a synagogue in the city.

Trump says Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh has little to do with gun laws, says the synagogue should have had some kind of a protection inside the temple, and later blames synagogue for not having armed guards. pic.twitter.com/AWg5AwkEKp  Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) October 27, 2018

Update - 4.47pm: Police in Pittsburgh have confirmed that a suspect is in custody following a shooting in the area of the Tree of Life Congregation Synagogue.

Three officers have been shot and multiple casualties have been confirmed.

No fatalities have yet been reported.

Earlier: Active shooter opens fire at Pittsburgh synagogue

The Pittsburgh Public Safety Department has confirmed that an active shooter is in the Wilkinsburg and Shadyside areas of Pittsburgh in the US.

It has been confirmed by local police that the shooter opened fire at the Tree of Life Congregation Synagogue.

BREAKING: Pittsburgh police: Multiple casualties at Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill pic.twitter.com/V4nnONkkSl  NBC News (@NBCNews) October 27, 2018

Multiple casualties are at the scene, according to police.

Commander Jason Lando told reporters that the shooting was reported near the Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill area.

The area has been sealed off with Commander Lando telling the public to "shelter in place" and report any unusual activity.

Pittsburgh Public Safety Department has warned people to "avoid the area" in a tweet.

ALERT: There is an active shooter in the area of WILKINS and Shady. Avoid the area. More info will be released when it is available.  Pittsburgh Public Safety (@PghPublicSafety) October 27, 2018

In a tweet, President Donald Trump said:

"Watching the events unfolding in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Law enforcement on the scene.

"People in Squirrel Hill area should remain sheltered. Looks like multiple fatalities. Beware of active shooter. God Bless All!"

The gunman opened fire at responding police officers, US media has reported.

Police remain at the scene.

BREAKING: HEAVY POLICE ACTIVITY AT TREE OF LIFE SYNAGOGUE IN SQUIRREL HILL pic.twitter.com/nHIPehF3ar  Chris Lovingood WRAL (@LovingoodTV) October 27, 2018

This is a breaking news story; more as we get it.
Occupation Television and radio host. Age 56. Relationship status Married. Best known for Gold Logie nomination in 2018. Currently Host of The Living Room on Network Ten.

There have been times in my 28-year relationship where I have wanted to kick against his reliability in a way.

My paternal grandfather, Jack, worked as a station hand in outback Queensland. He and my grandmother would travel a lot and it was always exciting when they came to visit us in Sydney. He was a bushman and when we buried him, in went his bushie hat, too. He had a hilarious wry sense of humour and was very much like my dad, Arthur. I remember being at Grandpa's funeral, after doing many rounds of IVF, and thinking to myself, "If there is any sense in this world, this little embryo will develop into a baby and I'll call him Jack." Our second son is named after him.

Grandpa Jack loved to tell stories. He spoke of a terrible drought and how he would dampen the sheets to keep cool because it was too hot. Snakes would jump on the sheets because they were looking for water. The stories were horrendous and dramatic. I loved the richness of them.

My dad met my mum, Jennifer, while working for the NAB. When they married, she stopped working and he remained in finance. Around 50, he was suddenly without a job. He moved into business real estate, then a cafe in a shopping centre, which saw him work long hours. It was a very different life for them.
When these patients are unhappy with their results they can present as angry, abandoned, aggressive victims, they have erratic behaviour and they just dont cope. Loading They will often have undergone multiple procedures, but wont disclose this to their next surgeon. Chairman of the Australasian Foundation of Plastic Surgery Dr Richard Barnett said plastic surgeons needed to take great pains to screen patients, particularly young people. He recalled treating a 20-year-old woman who wanted a lump removed from her nose. He later discovered she had 10 more surgeries on her nose within two years.

She came back and wanted me to put it back the way it was," Dr Barnett said. "She was so distressed she could barely walk out the door. That sort of patient stays with you. I think how could I have missed that?' ASAPS president Naveen Somia said social media marketing and online reviews had done away with the GP as the gatekeeper who would assess and refer patients suitable for surgery. Not surprisingly, plastic surgeons now encounter people with body image issues more frequently than any other medical group, Dr Somia said. He said specialist plastic surgeons use scientifically validated and peer-reviewed screening tools to identify patients with body-image issues.

Psychologist Michelle Roesler - who co-developed an online pre-operative screening tool specifically for plastic surgery patients - said the optimal solution would be to have a psychologist in every plastic surgery practice. But Dr Somia said that was not practical and a screening program was more "efficient". Loading Ms Honigman said many of the "red-flag" patients present with addiction disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder, borderline personality disorder, and body dysmorphic disorder - the psychiatric disorder most aligned with people who are unsatisfied with cosmetic procedures. They compartmentalise their features - fixating on a perceived flaw - and can no longer focus on themselves as a whole person.

They believe they are hideous ... They think people are staring at them in the street and they think that fixing their appearance is going to solve all their problems," she said. They have intrusive negative thoughts that drive obsessive behaviours such as repeatedly checking themselves in mirrors, excessive grooming and in extreme cases, do-it-yourself surgery and suicide. Ms Honigman said some of these patients were known to have resorted to "lawyers, guns and money" to coerce or punish their surgeon. They might denigrate other plastic surgeons when seeking a second opinion,but dont worry, youre next, Ms Honigman told the hall full of plastic surgeons. If you are the surgeon, whether you like it or not, no matter your skill or good intentions ... the promise they heard you make when you said oh yes, I can do that was broken and they will blame you for ruining their lives.
There are no official figures about melatonin usage because its mostly not on the pharmaceutical benefits scheme, though its tightly regulated in Australia by the Therapeutic Goods Association. But doctors, pharmacists and the wholesalers who supply them are reporting a growing trend. And after a post on social media, Fairfax Media was inundated with stories from parents. A few had tried it and found it didn't work, but most were raving about how it had transformed their lives for the better. Professor Harriet Hiscock, a paediatrician at the Royal Childrens Hospital Melbourne, said she had seen increased usage of melatonin for children. Its growing in popularity across both primary-school age and teenage children and theres some use of it in preschool children as well, Professor Hiscock said. The cats well and truly out of the bag - parents are good at talking [with each other]. Marina Holt, education and training manager at PCCA, a wholesaler that supplies compounding pharmacists, said sales of melatonin were continuing to grow. "Theres increased acceptance of it, she said.

Dr Maree Barnes, the immediate past president at the Australasian Sleep Association, said adults were increasingly wary of using traditional sleeping pills and having discovered a natural alternative in melatonin were now realising it could help children too. Ive been doing this for more than 25 years and weve certainly seen a significant increase in that time in the use of melatonin, and the use in children is a recent thing, Dr Barnes said. Its because we didnt [previously] know if it was safe in children. Professor Hiscock said there was a growing body of evidence to support melatonin. Its probably pretty safe, Professor Hiscock said. The studies with the longest evidence are 14 months to two years so its not particularly long-term. In paediatrics theres always the feeling you should avoid medication if you possibly can. In 70 per cent of children behavioural strategies work, and you dont need melatonin. However, Professor Hiscock added getting enough sleep was incredibly important for a childs health, mental health, immunity and growth, though the exact amount needed varied among individuals.

If a child is happy and functioning well, they dont need more sleep, Professor Hiscock said. If theyre grumpy, moody or upset there can be lots of causes but they may need more sleep. Andrew Harb, general manager at wholesaler Medisca, said melatonin was a godsend for the whole family. One study done with children with autism showed children taking melatonin were getting to sleep half an hour earlier than those taking a placebo and this was measurably reducing stress for their parents. Loading How melatonin works Melatonin is the natural hormone released by the pineal gland that regulates your circadian rhythm - your natural body clock that determines sleepiness and wakefulness in a 24-hour cycle.

Its why we start feeling tired in the evening and wake up in the morning, Dr Barnes said.  Its not actually a sedative, it doesnt bomb you out, [the supplement] just augments that naturally occurring hormone. There are many reasons why someone might find it hard to switch off their mind and fall asleep but melatonin is particularly popular for adults and children on the autism spectrum disorder, or with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, epilepsy, Williams syndrome and anxiety disorders. While melatonin is sold over the counter in some countries, in Australia you need a prescription. The only melatonin products sold over the counter in Australia are homeopathic and don't contain the active ingredient. Most melatonin is rapid release, so it should be taken shortly before bedtime. As it is not a sedative, the effect will wear off if you take the medicine but then decide to watch more TV, for example. There is one branded product sold by pharmacists: Circadin, a 2mg tabletdesigned for adults. It's a slow-release product, which means it should be taken an hour before bedtime and it can help with night waking.
A young girl has been taken to hospital after a car stunt went wrong during a monster truck show in Brisbanes south.

According to police, a car lost its steering after going over a jump, before crashing through a fence and into the crowd at the Mount Gravatt Showgrounds about 6.30pm on Saturday.

Emergency services respond to the accident. Credit:Shellriconline/Instagram.

A Queensland Ambulance Service spokeswoman said a girl was treated for minor injuries and taken to Mater Private Hospital Brisbane in a stable condition.

On social media, several attendees described the incident as scary and questioned safety provisions.
The gloves are off in the fight to decide Victoria's future, with the major parties scrapping for every final undecided vote as the days tick down to the November 24 election.

The past week has claimed two Labor candidates in controversial circumstances, they both maintained they were quitting for family reasons.

The Coalition faces a massive challenge, requiring eight seats to form government in its own right. But Labor is staring down a rising threat from the Greens who are already eating into the government's grip on power.

Early on, crime had shaped as a defining theme as the opposition railed about lawlessness and the government talked tough about cracking down on criminals.

But Melbourne's barrelling population growth has become the crux issue as the major parties lay out their answer to tackling the congestion problems that frustrate voters across the city.
Islamabad, Pakistan: Sri Lanka has been plunged into a constitutional crisis after the president ousted the prime minister, a move that took the nation by surprise and was denounced as illegal by some government ministers.

Sri Lankans were glued to their television sets on Friday evening after President Maithripala Sirisena dismissed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and replaced him with Mahinda Rajapaksa, a popular former leader who was accused of human rights abuses, brazen nepotism and excessively close ties to China when he had governed the country.

Newly appointed Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, center, leaves a Buddhist temple after meeting his supporters in Colombo. Credit:AP

The swearing-in ceremony, broadcast live, was a moment of high political drama for Sri Lanka, with Rajapaksa grinning as he shook Sirisena's hand. The men were former political allies until the president broke away from Rajapaksa's party to unseat him in 2015 elections.
A sales clerk was restocking the Kit Kat display in Don Quijote when I asked her which were the most popular flavours. She shook her head. Theyre all popular, she said. She gestured at the empty tunnels of matcha-, grape- and strawberry-flavoured Kit Kats that she was filling as a small group of Chinese tourists carried armloads of glossy snack bags and boxes back to their shopping carts, undoing her work. An Australian father and son rushed by in a panic, their cart heaped with gifts to take back home. Which one, Dad? Which one? the child asked desperately, pointing to all the varieties. It doesnt matter, the father shouted, as if the timer on a bomb were running out. Just take one! The Kit Kat was first produced as a crisp, four-finger chocolate wafer bar in the 1930s, in Britain, by the chocolate manufacturer Rowntrees. The company was named for Henry Isaac Rowntree, who bought a small grocery store in York that also operated a cocoa foundry. In the 1860s, the foundry was known for its finely ground rock cocoa, but the business grew quickly into candy- and chocolate-making. From the beginning, the Kit Kat was selfconsciously packaged as a kind of workingmans chocolate  as if the break of the bar could be aligned with the break the working class deserved from the monotony of their day. The Kit Kat was meant to be plain, unpretentious, cheerful. The stars of its commercials were often construction workers, cops or commuters taking five hard-earned minutes to enjoy a moment of sweetness in an otherwise bleak day. There are three ways for a new Japanese Kit Kat flavour to make its way into the world. The classically trained pastry chef Yasumasa Takagi, a kind of Kit Kat maestro, was brought in by Nestle as a collaborator in 2003, after the success of the strawberry Kit Kat. He may decide he wants to make a special bar and propose the new flavour to Nestle  his first was passionfruit in 2005. The marketing team may also build a partnership with a brand, like Tokyo Banana, the locally famous cream-filled cakes on which the Kit Kat flavour is based, then ask a product-development team to experiment so they can bring a sample bar to the pitch meeting. Or the product-development teams themselves may feel inspired on a late night in the test kitchen after one too many cups of green tea and vending-machine sweets.

Various flavours of Kit Kat mini-bars, available by region only in Japan. Credit:Alamy Only the fanciest bars are devised by Takagi, made with higher-grade chocolates and other ingredients, like dehydrated seasonal fruits, and sold in Kit Kat Chocolatory stores, the boutique-like shops for luxury versions of the bar. In some cases, they are decorated like plated desserts at a fine-dining restaurant, the Kit Kat logo entirely hidden by tiny, delicate, colourful crunchies, or individually wrapped like a gift  a single Kit Kat finger in a crinkly plastic wrapper, tucked inside a box. After Kohzoh Takaoka, now chief executive of Nestle Japan, persuaded Takagi to work with the company, Takagi decided he wanted to make the bars more sophisticated, to play with the form and sweetness levels. He wanted, as he put it, to make Kit Kats for grown-ups, like the Chocolatory Sublime Bitter, a long, cigarillo-like bar of 66 per cent dark chocolate, packaged in black and gold. Now Takagi runs the brands Japanese Chocolatory shops, including the one where I met him, in a particularly posh part of the Ginza neighbourhood in Tokyo.

Nestle did a market test after its strawberry flavour caught on in Hokkaido in 2000, to see how much production would be required for sales to go national. What it found was that the strawberry Kit Kat was especially popular among tourists, both Japanese tourists and those from abroad. Subsequent market tests suggested that Kit Kat had potential not just as a candy but as a kind of Japanese souvenir. The company looked to Kobe, Tokyo, Kyoto and other cities and wondered how to develop a chocolate for each that consumers might associate with the places themselves. Now Nestles most recent flavours focus on regional Japanese products  maple-leaf-shaped cookies, plum wine, roasted tea. There are also carefully chosen collaborations that capitalise on Japans culture of omiyage, which can be loosely defined as returning from travels with gifts for friends, family and colleagues. The Kikyou shingen mochi Kit Kat, which would go on sale in mid-October, would be sold right alongside the real Kikyou shingen mochi at souvenir shops and in service areas along the Chuo Expressway, a major four-lane road more than 320 kilometres long that passes through the mountainous regions of several prefectures, connecting Tokyo to Nagoya. With any luck, people would associate the Kit Kat with the traditional sweet and snap it up as a souvenir. But for this to be a success, for Kit Kat to expand into the souvenir market, consumers would have to believe that Kit Kat, originally a British product, was Japanese, and that although it was manufactured in a factory far away, it somehow represented the very essence of a region.

What makes a Kit Kat a Kit Kat? A Nestle executive told me it was the shape of the connected pieces: those long, skinny ingots with their recognisable, ridge-like feet of chocolate surrounding each base. A few people said it was the logo itself, in big blocky letters, embossed on the top of each bar. But when I spoke with Takagi, the pastry chef, he didnt hesitate. The wafer, he said. The wafer! Wafers are an art form within the food industry. And although plenty of companies make decent wafers, there is something about the Nestle wafer, Takagi said, that is quite extraordinary. Not that he knew exactly what it was. The wafer was the corporate secret, the heavily guarded soul of the Kit Kat. But like many lightweight, low-fat industrial wafers, the Kit Kat wafer is, very likely, mostly air and gelatinised wheat flour. It is crisp but not brittle. Crunchy but not dense. It is fragile but still satisfying to bite. It is totally and alarmingly dry to the touch, like packing material. But after it has been touched with a little saliva, it doesnt even need to be chewed, and you can swallow it with no effort. Plain, the wafer is almost but not entirely tasteless. It has a very gentle sort of toastiness, barely there, but with an almost bready flavour. A sort of toast ghost. Not that it matters. A wafers highest purpose is the nuance of its crunch. When a wafer doesnt meet standards  when it is cracked, broken, improperly embossed  it is tossed into a tall plastic bin next to the factory line. The company recycles these substandard wafers as local animal feed. This is the countryside, so we have farms, Iwai said with a shrug. The good wafers  smooth, intact, deeply and evenly embossed  move along the line. They are covered with cream, then sandwiched with another wafer and more cream. The arms of a huge, gentle machine with extraordinary fine-tuned motor functions do all the work of building the Kit Kat, smoothing the cream and pressing the wafer on top of it, then pass the large, sheet-cake-size sandwiches along a slow conveyor belt through a massive cooler. After theyre cut, four sheets at a time, the Kit Kats begin to look familiar, like ladyfingers. On the molding line, the chocolate depositor fills empty Kit Kat molds with tempered chocolate, and the fingers are dropped in and covered with more chocolate. A scraper removes excess chocolate and smooths the surface. When the chocolate is cooled, the bars are popped out and whipped through a wrapping machine. On my visit, the mostly automated factory was making several types of Kit Kat, including chestnut  a seasonal flavour for the fall  made with white chocolate and a mix of chestnut purees from Europe and Japan. The production line was a barely interrupted blur of white, like dotted lines rushing by on the highway, becoming indistinguishable from one another.

I learnt that Kit Kats were slightly, subtly different all over the world. In Britain, Nestle uses milk crumb, a sweetened, dehydrated milk product, to make the bars. In the US, Hershey uses non-fat milk and milk fat, while in Japan, the factories work with whole-milk powder. In Japan, Nestle buys most of its cacao beans from West Africa. In the US, a mix of beans from West Africa and Latin America is favoured. Almost everything changes, but the wafers? The wafers never change. The wafers have a fixed standard that needs to be maintained, and deviations are not acceptable. Standing beneath the fresh, moving wafers, I asked Iwai if I could hold one, as if it were a newborn, and I did not expect him to let me. But he reached into the line and pulled one out, passing it toward me with two hands. The breeze created by his movements seemed to curve the wafer inward with pressure, but it didnt break. What I wanted to know was if this wafer, the one in my hands, would pass Nestles standards, but Iwai wouldnt share many details about that. All I knew was that the wafer was huge, golden, marked with square cups and totally weightless. That if it hadnt been still warm from the oven, I wouldnt have known it was there. That if this was the soul of a Kit Kat, then holding the soul of a Kit Kat was like holding nothing at all. Kikyouya, originally a small, family-run sweet shop that specialised in kintsuba, a Japanese sweet filled with red-bean paste, has been making shingen mochi since the late 1960s. A single package of Kikyou shingen mochi is complex, but its also small  small enough to fit in your palm  and contained in a flexible plastic box thats wrapped in a soft sheet of pretty, floral-printed plastic and sealed with a topknot. Its messy to eat, or at least it can be, but the clever packaging considers this: The wrapping itself doubles as a tiny tablecloth to prevent stains and spills.

Before I knew this, I ate shingen mochi in my hotel room, as Tokyo was being soaked by the outermost edges of a passing typhoon. With my first bite, I sent a little cloud of roasted soybean powder into the air and coughed with surprise. The rice cakes were soft, chewy, delicious. And where the brown-sugar syrup trapped the powder, it turned into a gorgeous caramel sludge. I couldnt quite imagine how a sweet like this, one defined by such varied textures, and by such a distinct form, could ever be transformed into a chocolate bar. Tomoko Ohashi was the lead developer on the Kikyou shingen mochi Kit Kat. Ohashi, from Mito in Ibaraki Prefecture, ate shingen mochi when someone brought it for her as a souvenir from Yamanashi, the prefecture where its still made today, and she knew how beloved it was. What she didnt know was how the mochi texture could translate into a chocolate bar. I was also very worried about replicating the flavour, she said, standing in the test kitchen of the factory in Kasumigaura, wearing the factorys all-white uniform with its white hoodie pulled tightly across her hairline. The kitchen didnt look like a lab. It was more like a real pastry kitchen, full of dehydrated fruit powders and matcha organized in tubs, chocolate moulds and serrated knives and a marble counter for tempering chocolate. The challenge with shingen mochi, Ohashi said, was finding the balance between the soybean powder and the syrup. Because the sweet is so adaptable, everyone who eats it calibrates it obsessively, adjusting the ingredients so it tastes the way they like. Ohashi started work on the new flavour last September, and she finished it in May. In tests, she would make about 50 pieces of four to five different versions by hand, tempering chocolate on the marble table, and then taste them side by side, looking for the right balance of soybean powder to sugar syrup. The rice was the shingen mochi itself, but it couldnt play such a big part in the chocolate bar. Theres no device or machine for putting a rice cake in a Kit Kat, Ohashi said sadly. She knew, from the start, that it wouldnt be possible to replicate the texture of fresh mochi  tender, almost slippery in the mouth  in a chocolate bar. She did, to be true to the mochi, end up putting sticky rice in the Kit Kats cream filling. Did the sticky rice in the Kit Kat help to mimic the mochi texture? No, Ohashi said, bursting into laughter because she had made an uncomfortable kind of peace with what she could and could not do within the boundaries of her form. Actually not at all.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis condemned the killing of Washington Post contributor and Saudi government critic Jamal Khashoggi as intolerable, minutes before Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, at the same venue, characterised the global reaction to the murder as hysterical.

Mattis suggested the killing threatened to undermine stability in the Middle East, his first substantive comments on the matter. The defense secretary made the remarks at a security conference in the island kingdom of Bahrain, across the bridge from Saudi Arabia, minutes before Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir took to the stage and said people were jumping to conclusions before the investigation was completed.

Mattis reiterated President Donald Trump's vow to get to the bottom of what happened to Khashoggi, who disappeared at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2, and said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would be taking unspecified "additional measures" in response to the killing beyond the revocation of US visas for certain Saudi suspects. Above all, Mattis characterised the matter as not only a human rights issue but also a national security concern for nations in the Middle East.

"When opposing voices can be heard within a political process adapted to each nation's culture, one that permits peaceful opposition by giving voice and human rights to all, a nation becomes more secure," Mattis said. "When people can speak and be heard calling for peace and respect for all, the terrorist message of hatred and violence is not embraced. With our collective interests in peace and unwavering respect for human rights in mind, the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in a diplomatic facility must concern us all greatly."
Pittsburgh: A gunman yelling, "All Jews must die," stormed a Pittsburgh synagogue during on Saturday services, killing 11 worshippers and wounding six other people including four police officers, before he was arrested.

Robert Bowers, 46, of Pittsburgh, was arrested after a shootout with a SWAT team. Federal prosecutors charged him with 29 criminal counts including violence and firearms offences, and violating US civil rights laws.

"The actions of Robert Bowers represent the worst of humanity. We are dedicating the entire resources of my office to this federal hate crime investigation and prosecution," US attorney for western Pennsylvania Scott Brady told reporters.

Earlier, US Attorney General Jeff Sessions said federal prosecutors could seek the death penalty.
Cesar Sayoc shown in a booking photo in Miami. Credit:Broward County Sheriff The nation's top law enforcement officials gathered at Justice Department headquarters in Washington on Friday afternoon to announce that the case that had put government officials and their agencies on high alert was solved. "We will not tolerate such lawlessness, especially not political violence,'' Attorney-General Jeff Sessions said. "Let this be a lesson to anyone, regardless of their political beliefs, that we will bring the full force of law against anyone who attempts to use threats, intimidation and outright violence to further an agenda." As Sayoc was taken into custody, investigators across the country continued to chase potential bombs. Three such devices were discovered on Friday - in Florida, New York and California - and officials warned there may be other, undiscovered packages in the mail system or a mailbox somewhere in the United States. "We need all hands on deck, we need to stay vigilant," said FBI director Christopher Wray.

Wray said investigators were able to pinpoint Sayoc after finding a fingerprint on an envelope containing a bomb sent to Democratic politician Maxine Waters, and that DNA found on two of the devices was a possible match to a sample previously taken from Sayoc during an earlier arrest in Florida. One law enforcement official said the fingerprint discovery was a major breakthrough. With that, authorities began zeroing in on Sayoc on Thursday, gathering mobile phone records to track his past movements and conducting real-time surveillance of his location and activities, the official said. The van FBI agents are investigating in connection with the mail bomb campaign. Credit:AP Wray declined to say whether the pipe-bomb devices could have detonated, noting that investigators are "still trying to determine whether or not they were functional". But he said they did contain potentially explosive material, adding: "These are not hoax devices." Sayoc, whose long criminal history includes a past arrest for making a bomb threat, was charged with five crimes that could send him to prison for decades: transporting explosives across state lines, illegally mailing explosives, threatening former presidents and others, threatening interstate communications and assaulting federal officials.

Inside each of the packages sent to four of the potential targets - Obama, former CIA director John Brennan, Soros and Waters - was a picture of the individual with a red "X" mark, according to the 11-page complaint signed by FBI special agent David Brown. Loading The complaint also included details suggesting Sayoc's antipathy towards the people and organisations targeted, including the news network CNN, where two of the packages were addressed. Some of those postings included the same misspellings contained on some of the addresses on the pipe-bomb packages, including the last name of one of the recipients, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a prominent Florida Democrat and former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. On both the packages and the social media posts, her name was spelt "Shultz", according to the complaint.

When asked why Sayoc allegedly targeted Democrats, Sessions said he "appears to be a partisan, but that would be determined by the facts as the case goes forward''. Sayoc's previous run-ins with law enforcement date back at least to an arrest for larceny when Sayoc was 29, according to state records. Other charges of larceny, grand theft and fraud followed across the southern part of the state. In 2002, he was arrested for a bomb threat called in to power company Florida Power & Light. Sayoc pleaded guilty without trial and was sentenced to probation, the records show. Asked on Friday about pro-Trump stickers or signs on the van allegedly driven by the suspect, Trump said: "I did not see my face on the van. I don't know, I heard he was a person who preferred me over others." News of the arrest came as investigators continued to respond Friday to discoveries of explosive devices sent to Senator Cory Booker, former director of national intelligence James Clapper and Senator Kamala Harris. Democrats Booker and Harris are potential 2020 presidential candidates. The FBI said a package, "similar in appearance to the others" found this week, was addressed to Booker and located in Florida.

A package recovered Friday at a Manhattan postal facility was addressed to Clapper, a CNN contributor. Just two days earlier, CNN's offices in New York were evacuated when the package for Brennan, addressed to him at the network, was found in the post room. A package addressed to Harris found Friday at a Sacramento mail facility was the 13th such device officials said they had linked to Sayoc. Loading The list of possible targets began with Soros, then grew to include Obama, Clinton and former attorney-general Eric Holder. Then came the packages sent to Brennan and CNN, Waters, former vice-president Joe Biden and actor Robert De Niro.
The 21st round of India-China border talks led by Security Advisor and Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will be held in China next month, informed sources said in Beijing.

Both Doval and Wang are designated Special Representatives for the border talks scheduled for November 23-25.

This will be the first round of talks for Wang who earlier this year succeeded Yang Jiechi as state councillor in a reshuffle.

While the dates have been finalised, the venue for the talks, which are expected to held outside Beijing, is yet to be finalised, the sources told PTI.

Special Representatives' talks are regarded as highly significant by both countries as they cover all aspects of bilateral relations besides making efforts to resolve the border dispute.

The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488 km Line of Actual Control (LAC). China also claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of southern Tibet.

Officials on both sides maintain that though a solution to the border dispute still eludes the two countries, a lot of headway has been made in the 20 rounds of talks so far in terms of working out mechanisms to restore peace and tranquillity along the border to resolve tensions due to aggressive patrolling by troops.

The last round of talks which was held in New Delhi between Doval and Yang took place in the immediate backdrop of last year's 73-day standoff between the two militaries at Dokalam over the Chinese military's plan to build a road close to India's strategic Chicken's Neck corridor that connects the northeastern states.

The standoff ended after the People's Liberation Army(PLA) halted plans to build the road.

The meeting between Doval and Yang also prepared the ground for the informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping at Wuhan in April this year, which resulted not only in normalisation of relations but gave a new fillip to the improvement of relations in all spheres of relations notwithstanding the border dispute.

Since then both countries have held several rounds of talks to enhance India's exports to China to reduce the USD 51 billion trade deficit as well as improving military-to-military relations.

Indian Ambassador to China Gautam Bambawale said last month at a meeting here that India-China military exchanges grew rapidly after the Wuhan summit.

Since then military commanders from both sides are now talking to each other more frankly and more candidly than ever before, he said.

Chinese Defence Minister Gen Wei Fenghe had visited India in August, met Modi and held talks with his Indian counterpart Nirmala Sitharaman.

The Chinese defence ministry said after Wei's visit that both countries are discussing a new version of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on defence exchanges and cooperation to improve on the 2006 agreement besides establishing a direct confidential phone line between the two defence ministries and strengthening communications at all levels.
The crisis in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)  caused by the Centres unprecedented action of forcing its director, Alok Verma, to go on leave, and appointing an interim director in his place  saw the Supreme Court devise an arrangement seemingly satisfactory to all the parties before it.

Although the court, while hearing the matter on Friday, did not reveal its mind on the merits of the petitions filed by Verma and Common Cause against the Centres action, it is clear what is on test: the elaborate justification offered by the Central Vigilance ...
Diamond merchant Savjibhai Dholakia, whose lavish Diwali gifting is among the corporate world's most talked about events, this year gave away 600 cars, fixed deposits and insurance policies to 1,700 "diamond artists and engineers" working at his firm.

The ceremony this year, held at Dholakia's Harikrishna Exports here Thursday, had Prime Minister Narendra Modi address the employees through video-conferencing.

It was titled the "Skill India Incentive Ceremony".

In a statement, the company said, "As a part of its loyalty bonus programme, the company gave incentives to around 1,700 diamond artists and diamond engineers in the form of cars and fixed deposits."



It added that the firm had also given life insurance ranging from Rs 5 million to Rs 10 million to the employees.

Each car gifted this year costs between Rs 4-4.5 lakh, the cumulative cost of 600 cars adding up to around Rs 2.7 million.

An employee had to pay around Rs 40,000 as down payment for the car, while the company will bear rest of the cost.

While the firm did not bestow gifts last year, in 2016 it gave employees 400 flats and 1,260 cars.

In 2015, the Diwali gifting count stood at 491 cars and 200 houses as employee incentives.

Dholakia said that he wanted each of his 5000-odd employees to have a car and a house and the annual Diwali gifting is a way to achieve this target.

Beneficiaries are selected through a software-based system after they qualify for the company's loyalty bonus programme, he added.

"We at Hari Krishna Exports believe that employees are the base to a strong and long-running organisation. We truly value and admire the hard work of our employees and we wanted to express our gratitude towards their proficiency and enthusiasm," Dholakia said.

"The ceremony will encourage and motivate our employees to work with the same synergy in the future," he said, adding that such bonuses will make employees "become serious in their work."



Incidentally, the firm in September this year had given high-end SUVs to three senior employees, who had completed 25 years with the firm, for being "pillars of the company".

"It benefits the company, the employee's family, society and, in turn, the country. And more than anything, it gives me immense pleasure," he said.

"I could not sleep at night when I got my first car. God has given us wealth to give happiness to others," he said at the firm's Skill India Incentive Ceremony Thursday.

Dholakia's advice to those who got these cars was "maintain discipline and drive the car with respect".
A day after Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor Viral Acharya cautioned that the governments that did not respect their central bank's independence would incur the wrath of financial markets, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said regulators must have a wide range of high-quality consultations with all stakeholders. I think, for any regulatory mechanism, stakeholder consultation has to be of a very high quality, which will probably lead to a revisiting of traditional thoughts and opinions.

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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.



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The opposition in on Friday sought to fish in troubled waters, scoffing at the BJP for agreeing to treat the JD(U) as its equal in terms of seat-sharing while "neglecting trusted allies" like and Upendra Kushwaha in order to woo an "undependable"

heir-apparent Tejashwi Yadav made the statement hours after BJP national president Amit Shah, in a press conference in New Delhi, said that his party and the JD(U) will be assigned "an equal number" of seats and the remaining two allies will be "duly represented".

"The BJP had won 22 out of 40 seats in in the 2014 polls. Its willingness to treat Kumar as an equal partner, whose JD(U) had won only two seats and lost its deposit in most, shows the desperation on part of and Prime Minister Narendra Modi," the of the opposition in the state assembly told reporters here.

"Moreover, the meeting between Shah and Kumar gives the impression that the BJP has made up its mind to go with the JD(U) chief, who is undependable having cheated both them (BJP) and us (RJD), and given a short shrift to Paswan and Kushwaha, who have been firmly with the NDA," the former deputy Chief Minister said.

About his meeting with Kushwaha who heads the RLSP earlier in the day at Arwal district, Yadav said, "People are free to draw their own conclusions. I can only say that the meeting was not pre-planned. It was a coincidence that he and I were at the Circuit House at the same time and hence it was natural for us to exchange pleasantries."



Pressed further, he said, "It is probably the first time that I have met Kushwaha in person. As far as prospects of his joining our Mahagathbandhan is concerned, we had invited him to do so long ago and the invitation stands. It is for him to accept it or ignore it."



Speculations have been rife, for quite some time that Kushwaha might gravitate towards the Grand Alliance which at present comprises the RJD, the and former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha.

The speculations have gained ground since national vice president and state unit chief Shivanand Tiwary and Ram Chandra Purve respectively turned up at a "human chain" organized by the RLSP and got photographed holding Kushwaha's hands even as leaders of the BJP and the JD(U) remained conspicuous by their absence.

A couple of months ago Kushwaha, despite having repeatedly said that he will remain with the NDA, said that he looked forward to preparing a "kheer" -- cooked with the help of rice grown traditionally by members of his caste and milk, produced by Yadavs -- which was seen as an indication of his willingness to form an alliance with the RJD.

Yadav, on his part, has been claiming that Kushwaha will leave the NDA and join the Grand Alliance following in the footsteps of Manjhi, who had quit the BJP-led coalition in February this year.

Like Manjhi, Kushwaha is a former JD(U) leader, who had formed his own party after falling out with and joined the NDA while the Bihar Chief Minister was out of the BJP-led coalition.

Kumar's return to the NDA last year was understood to have caused a lot of consternation among the likes of Kushwaha and Manjhi.
State health departments should consider notifying additional enforcement officers like head constables and municipal officers to impose and collect fines for violation of rules, the Union Health ministry has said in an advisory.

The letter issued on October 25 by Joint Secretary Vikas Sheel to all principal secretaries noted that India is the third largest producing nation and second largest consumer of worldwide.

"Mortality due to tobacco in lndia is estimated al upwards of 1.3 million. One feature of tobacco related mortality in lndia is the high incidence of oral cancer, exceeding even that of and accounting for almost half of all oral cancers in the world," he said in the letter.

The letter mentioned that the central government has enacted and Other Tobacco Products (prohibition of advertisement and regulation of trade and commerce, supply and distribution) Act 2003 (COTPA) to discourage the use of tobacco.

The emphasis is on protection of children and young people from being addicted the use of tobacco with a view to achieve improvement of public health in general as enshrined in Article 47 of the Constitution.

As per Section 25 of COTPA, there is a provision for central/state governments to authorise enforcement officials, the letter stated.

Sheel referred to the move by the Himachal Pradesh government of authorising police personnel not below of the rank of head constable "to impose and collect fine" under section 4 and 6 of COTPA in the respective jurisdiction in addition to the persons authorised.

"In this background and in order to strengthen COTPA enforcement campaign in the country, it would be appropriate that the states may consider notifying additional enforcement officers viz head constables, municipal officers etc, to impose and collect the fine against the violation of section 4 and 6 of the COTPA, 2003 in letter and spirit," the letter read.

Activists have hailed this move saying it will be helpful in implementing the laws to curtail

Sambandh Health Foundation(SHF) Trustee Sanjay Seth said the number of head constables is four times more than the sub inspectors and this advisory will greatly help in strengthening the implementation of COTPA.

He said sub inspectors have lot of responsibilities including investigation of cases, attending cases in court and others, so authorising head constables will really prove helpful as more force will be available for COTPA implementation.

Voice of Tobacco Victims(VOTV) patron and cancer expert from Manipal Hospital, Dr Vedant Kabra, said, "It is a proven fact that tobacco is a major killer and this decision of the central government will certainly help in curtailing use of tobacco in public places and will create awareness."



Under section 4 of COPTA smoking is prohibited in public places, and section 6 prohibits sale to /by minors. Sec 6 (A) prohibits sale of tobacco products in an area within a radius of 100 yards of any educational institute.
Turkish on Friday asked to disclose the location of slain Jamal Khashoggi's body and demanded the extradition of the 18 suspects involved in his murder.

Erdogan confirmed that Saudi's top prosecutor will arrive in on Sunday to meet with his Turkish counterpart, asserting that all suspects should be prosecuted in his country, reported.

"Whatever happened, it comes down to these 18 persons. If you are determined, if you want to remove the suspicion and clear the air, these 18 persons are the bottom line to this," Erdogan said while speaking to the provincial heads of his ruling Justice and Development Party in Ankara.

"The incident took place in So, hand them to us, and let us judge them," said the Turkish

"It is clear that the judicial system in is better equipped to genuinely serve the cause of justice in this case," a Turkish official told The official further stated that the trial will be more transparent to the world than one in Saudi.

The media chief of Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and the deputy head of the Saudi intelligence service were among the five high-ranking Saudi officials to be sacked after the country admitted Khashoggi's death on October 2, which resulted in the arrest of 18 people.

Khashoggi had gone to the Saudi consulate to collect papers which would allow him to get married to his fiancee on the ill-fated day, after which he was reported missing by his fiancee Hatice Cengiz, who was waiting outside the building for him to re-emerge.

On Friday, Cengiz told Turkish broadcaster Haberturk that Khashoggi was sceptical of going to the Saudi consulate. "Of course, he did not want to go. He thought is a safe country and if he would be held or interrogated, this issue would be swiftly solved," Cengiz said.

Earlier, Saudi's Shaikh Suood bin Abdullah Al Mo'jab confirmed that the journalist's killing was pre-meditated. The report also claims that Khashoggi was murdered by a group of men who had close relations with the Saudi's crown prince.
Tesla Inc has not received a US subpoena related to its Model 3 production forecasts, the electric carmaker said on Friday, following a report that it faced a deepening criminal probe about the projections. The company has cooperated in responding to what it called a "voluntary request" for documents from the Department of Justice in September, a Tesla spokesperson said. The agency has the ability to press criminal charges. "We have not received a subpoena, a request for testimony, or any other formal process, and there have been no additional document requests ...
'13 Reasons Why' star Katherine Langford is all set to appear in the upcoming superhero film 'Avengers 4'.

The 22-year-old, whose role is being kept under wraps, has filmed scenes for the currently untitled film, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Langford catapulted to stardom with Netflix series '13 Reasons Why', in which she played the role of a high school student, Hannah Baker, and even earned a Golden Globe nomination. She appeared in the first two seasons but is not returning for the next year's third part.

Apart from 'Avengers 4', Langford will return to the small screen as the star of the upcoming Netflix horror series 'Cursed'.

'Avengers 4' is directed by 'Avengers: Infinity War' filmmakers Anthony and Joe Russo.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
After traversing several hands, Aaron Sorkin will now be directing upcoming Hollywood movie 'The Trial of the Chicago 7', a film which he has also written the screenplay of.

In 2008, Steven Spielberg came on board to direct, but the project was put on hold because of a strike that was called by the Writers Guild, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

At one point of time, Ben Stiller of 'Night at the Museum' fame and Paul Greengrass, famous for directing 'Jason Bourne', considered directing the movie before Sorkin took over the reins.

The movie, which is set in 1969, follows a dramatic account of a trail where anti-war activists Abbie Hoffman (social activist), Jerry Rubin (businessman) and Tom Hayden (social activist) were accused by the US government of inciting riots on the sidelines of protests that took place during the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

Meanwhile, actor Sacha Baron Cohen is in early talks to star as Yippie Abbie Hoffman, the founder of the Youth International Party, in the movie.

The film was made into a documentary by filmmaker Brett Morgen in 2007 under the title 'Chicago 10: Speak Your Peace'.

Sorkin, whose adaptation of Harper Lee's 'To Kill a Mockingbird' which will open in New York's Broadway theatre in December, is well known for movies like 'Steve Jobs', 'Moneyball'. While, Cohen is well known for movies like 'Les Miserables', 'The Dictator' and 'The Brothers Grimsby'.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday said statements made by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Sabarimala temple in Kannur are against the constitution and law of the land.

Furthermore, Vijayan said the statement by Shah shows the agenda of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) and Sangh Parivar. "Amit Shah's statements (on Sabarimala issue) in Kannur are against constitution and law of the land. It's a clear intention of their agenda not to guarantee the fundamental rights. This shows the agenda of the RSS and Sangh Parivar," he added.

Continuing his tirade against the BJP president, the Kerala Chief Minister reminded Shah that the government in the state came with people's mandate, and not at the mercy of the BJP.

"Amit Shah who threatened to topple our government should remember that this government came to power, not at the mercy of BJP, but the people's mandate. His message is to sabotage the people's mandate," Vijayan added.

Addressing party workers in Kannur earlier in the day, Shah had sharply criticised the Supreme Court verdict allowing entry of women of all ages inside Kerala's Sabarimala shrine and advised the state governments and courts to give only those orders, which can be followed.

Terming the row over Sabarimala as a communist conspiracy, the BJP president also gave a stern warning to Kerala chief minister to stop suppression of Lord Ayyappa devotees.

"I am warning Chief Minister and the communist government of Kerala to not suppress the devotees of Lord Ayappa in the name of the Supreme Court verdict. I can quote many such judgements, which could not be implemented such as Jallikkatu verdict, not calling Azaan over loudspeakers was not implemented, restricting the height of Dahi-Handi was not implemented, Banaras Shia-Sunni cemetery controversy judgement was not implemented. So why are they running behind one judgement? The atrocities on devotees must be stopped," he further said.

Extending support to the Sabarimala devotees protesting against the apex court verdict, Shah said, "Kerala government is using oppressive force against devotees of Sabarimala devotees. Since 26th October over 2000 BJP, RSS, Nair Service Society (NSS), BGDC workers have been put in prison. These people have been put in jail under non-bailable offence pertaining to the Damage of Property Control Act; I want to ask the state government, whose property have these people damaged? The way Lord Ayappa's devotees are being oppressed, the BJP stands firmly with them.

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As many as five people were killed and 12 others were injured as a result of an explosion in central Afghanistan, local media reported on Saturday citing police.

A car bomb has exploded in central Wardak province, targeting a local police department, according the 1TV broadcaster.

The Taliban radical movement has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Pajhwok news agency reported later on Saturday citing the local health department that the death toll in the blast had risen to seven, including one police officer, while the number of those injured climbed to 37.

Afghanistan has long been suffering from an unstable political, social and security situation due to simmering Taliban insurgency. The violence is exacerbated by the activities of various terrorist groups, including the Islamic State (IS, banned in Russia).

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Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Saturday condemned the killing of four Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel in a Naxal-orchestrated blast in poll-bound Chhattisgarh's Bijapur area.

Expressing grief over the incident, the Chief Minister paid tribute to the all four CRPF soldiers who lost their lives during the unfortunate attack. Singh also instructed concerned officials to provide better treatment to two jawans who sustained injuries during the unfortunate attack.

A few hours ago, four CRPF personnel lost their lives in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast by Naxals in Bijapur, while two jawans were injured in the blast.

The slain CRPF personnel included one Assistant Sub-Inspector, one head constable and two constables of the 168th battalion.

The blast took place near Murdanda camp of the CRPF under Awapalli police station when its the battalion was out on an operation.

Sharing details of the incident, P Sundar Raj, DIG (Anti-Naxal Operation) said, "The IED blast occurred in the Awapalli Police Station area of the Bijapur district. Unfortunately, four CRPF personnel lost their lives. 2 injured jawans have been sent for medical treatment."

Eighteen Naxal-affected constituencies will go to polls in the first phase on November 12, while the rest of the 72 constituencies would go to polls in the second phase on November 20. Counting of votes will be done on December 11.

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The Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Anil Baijal has imposed Essential Service Maintenance Act which will prohibit Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) workers from agitating for the next six months.

Baijal, in exercise of the powers conferred upon him under Section 3 read with 4A of Haryana Essential Service Maintenance Act 1974 (Haryana Act No.40 of 1974) as extended to NCT of Delhi has declared the DTC services as Essential Services and prohibits strike agitation by contractual employees.

The governor's declaration has also been notified to all the officers and employees of DTC, therefore, all the employees including the contractual employees have been directed to report to their units or depot for duty, failing which strict action will be taken against them.

The contractual employees were on a strike demanding Equal Work Equal Pay, certainty in jobs, and revocation of termination of eight employees.

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A recent study suggests that exposure to wood smoke can have different effects on the respiratory immune systems of men and women.

As part of the study, the scientists exposed men and women volunteers to wood smoke or filtered air prior to inoculating them with a standard dose of the live-attenuated influenza virus vaccine, which causes a natural, yet mild, immune response in the nasal passages.

They later discovered that the men exposed to wood smoke had significantly higher markers of an inflammatory response in cells that line the nasal. In contrast, for women, the wood smoke exposure appeared to lower markers of the inflammatory response.

When the researchers averaged out the data from men and women, as these sorts of exposure studies typically do, the analysis gave the false impression that the wood smoke had almost no effect on the immune response to the live-attenuated influenza virus vaccine. The study was published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Ilona Jaspers, senior author of the study said, "The upshot is that we really need to consider sex-specific effects when studying wood smoke and other environmental pollutants that threaten public "

Wood smoke is among the most ancient environmental pollutants and is still considered a significant cause of sickness and death today. Wood smoke contains dozens of known toxins, and epidemiological studies have linked biomass exposures to chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder in women who have never smoked and lung cancer in male firefighters. Wood smoke exposure is also expected to become more common as the frequency of wildfires increases.

Researchers estimate that about 40 percent of the modern human population, roughly 3 billion people, is chronically exposed to smoke from burning wood and related "biomass" combustibles, such as leaves, crop stalks, and dung.

The scientists aren't yet sure why men and women would differ so starkly in their immunological responses to wood smoke. One possibility is that women and men over thousands of generations have had different evolutionary histories of wood smoke exposure, leading to different evolutionary adaptations.

Women, for example, might have had greater and more chronic exposure to smoke from cooking fires, compared to men. Other factors that may have influenced the sex-specific responses include differences in male and female hormone profiles and genetics.

"We wonder if a greater wood smoke exposure has led to evolutionary pressure on women to have a more blunted inflammatory response, which would probably result in less damage to the airway during respiratory virus infection," Jaspers said.

Regardless, this study suggests that any research on environmental exposures should take potential sex differences into account.

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GIG Technology, a European software company helping companies to effectively scale their digital infrastructure at the Edge, signed a strategic agreement with the Canadian-Indian Holding, DTM Global, to develop ecosystem around a fintech cloud hub for India and the region.

The cloud hub will be deployed at the heart of the Indian fintech ecosystem as part of DTM's FinteGration strategy, and offer robust financial technology infrastructure to turbo charge the Digital India initiative of the government and enabling the digital aspirations of the companies in the country. GIG brings the first edge cloud platform helping businesses to automate the delivery of any application at any location, at the lowest possible cost, anywhere in the world.

"The lack of local, reliable and robust cloud infrastructure in India is holding the growth of fintech companies back," says Willem Hendrickx, CEO of GIG Technology. "This partnership enables us to address the complete Indian fintech ecosystem with public and private cloud."

Edge cloud infrastructure helps digital companies such as the Metropolitan Stock Exchange to further grow and scale their platform, while lowering the overall cloud infrastructure cost and increasing the time to market to make applications available in India and across Asia.

"Our expertise and resources in fintech will take us far beyond solving cloud infrastructure problems," says Sanjeev Kumar, CEO of DTM Global. "The ambition is to develop a new market and cloud economy, driven by a derivative marketplace bringing buyers and sellers of edge cloud capacity together on a single exchange, the world's first ever cloud exchange!"

Hendrickx concludes: "Furthermore, we are already bundling our technology expertise and started to provide our GIG partners with distribution capacity of an enterprise-grade cyber security solution for Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa using DTM Global.

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Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja on Saturday hinted at Hindutva ideology extremist being responsible for the attack on Swami Sandeepananda Giri's ashram earlier today.

Shailaja, who visited Swami Sandeepananda Giri's ashram in Thiruvananthapuram's Kundamankadavu that was attacked by unidentified assailants, said: "We suspect Hindutva ideology extremist are behind the attack. Swami Sandeepananda Giri said women can enter Sabarimala and that if we want to keep old customs, we can't go forward as a human society because several customs discriminate between men and women."

She further said that Giri was teaching people to be secular and to not discriminate between men and women; and hence, became subject to the attack.

"Swami Sandeepananda Giri Ji is trying to teach people about it. He is also teaching people to be secular and do not discriminate between men and women and that irritated some people in society. I think they are behind the attack. The intention was to kill him," Shailaja told media.

The reaction from the Kerala Minister came after an ashram in Kerala, founded by a preacher who supported the apex court verdict allowing the entry of women of menstruating age to the Sabarimala temple, was allegedly attacked by some unidentified persons earlier in the day.

Two cars and a scooter belonging to the Ashram were also set ablaze by the assailants.

Sandeepananda Giri is one of the supporters of the Supreme Court's verdict that allowed the entry of women of all ages inside Kerala's Sabarimala Temple.

He has been allegedly receiving threats for hailing the top court's order.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, accompanied by state finance minister Thomas Issac and state Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran, visited the preacher and condemned the attack on his Ashram.

"Physical attacks happen when you can't deal ideologically. Will not allow anyone to take law and order in their hands. Those who are intolerant towards Swami's activities attacked his ashram," Vijayan said.

The Sabarimala Temple witnessed strings of protests by devotees and priests as few women tried to reach the sanctum sanctorum following the apex court's ruling that came on September 28.

So far, over 2,800 people have been arrested and 490 cases have been registered against protestors who prevented women from entering the temple.

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Union Minister of State for Finance and Shipping, Pon Radhakrishnan, refused to get on the stage at a government event in Tamil Nadu's Nagapattinam district after he expressed discontent over low crowd turnout at the venue.

Radhakrishnan was there to inaugurate a family welfare centre of the Tamil Nadu government on Friday. Twenty people were present at the event. Irked by the thin attendance, the union minister lost his cool and pulled up the state health department officials.

Video footage being circulated over social media shows Radhakrishnan reprimanding officials over the low crowd turnout.

"Where are the villagers? Why should I attend this function for government officials?" a visibly upset Radhakrishnan told the officials.

The minister said that he will not take the stage unless the organisers brought more people to attend the event.

The union minister finally took the stage and delivered his speech after the organisers brought in around 50 more people to the venue.

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Actor Jim Carrey has slammed United States President Donald Trump for "kidnapping children".

The actor was honoured for his achievements in comedy at the Bafta Britannia Awards in Los Angeles on Friday.

During his acceptance speech, the 'Yes Man' actor said, "We need to be clear: Shamelessness is not, and will never be a superpower. It is the mark of a villain, kidnapping children are not what great nations do. One half of America at this moment believes there is a sinister deep state diabolically plotting, to what? Give them healthcare?"

According to The Hollywood Reporter, by accusing trump of kidnapping children, Carry referred to the Trump administration's 'Zero-tolerance' immigration policy, under which, many children were separated from their families.

Taking a jibe at the recent incident in which pipe bombs were posted to high-profile figures in the US, 'The Mask' actor said "Yes, I no longer have packages delivered to my home in great America fashioned in the last couple of years. I don't ever remember it being this great, actually."

Jim Carrey has never shied away from openly expressing her political views. Earlier this month, during The New Yorker festival, Carrey criticised the recently-appointed Supreme Court judge Brett Kavanaugh, who faced multiple sexual assault allegations.

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A massive fire broke out in multiple electronic shops at an electronic goods market in Uttar Pradesh's Ballia district.

The fire broke out near Station Malgodam Road in the Vasundhara market on Friday.

Five fire tenders were rushed to the spot to douse the flame. However, no casualty or injury has been reported so far.

More details are awaited.

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The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Saturday initiated an inquiry against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shehbaz Sharif in connection to his alleged involvement in the Ashiana Iqbal Housing Scheme case.

Quoting sources, Geo News reported that Sharif did not answer most of the questions on holding disproportionate assets asked by the NAB officials in connection to the Rs 14 billion housing scam.

On October 5, Sharif was arrested by the NAB on charges of misusing authority and corruption in the housing scheme during his tenure as the Chief Minister of Punjab province from 2013 to 2018. He was sent to a 10-day remand by an accountability court. The Pakistan opposition leader's physical remand was extended to 14 days on October 16.

The PML-N chief has denied any wrongdoings and called the allegations as "baseless". Scores of party leaders staged a protest across the country, calling for Sharif's release.

Earlier, former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif had termed the "ridiculous" arrest of his brother as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government's "worst victimisation." He had also claimed that the Pakistan opposition leader was arrested on orders of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

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The Investigation Agency court (NIA) has sentenced one Aabid Hassan to 10 years' imprisonment in connection with the Nedumbassery Fake Indian Currency Note (FICN) case.

Along with imprisonment, Hassan has been directed to pay Rs 75, 000 as a penalty.

Three accused in the case- Mohammad Haneefa, Abdul Salam and Antony Das- have been set free, while Kunjumohammadhad turned approver.

NIA public prosecutor Arjun said, "We are satisfied in ensuring the punishment to the accused. We see this as an ideal punishment and helpful to impart a strong message to society. We will go for appeal against those three exonerated. We hope that Kerala High Court will consider our arguments their involvement in the case. So, we will go for an appeal at Kerala High Court."

Customs officials had intercepted Hassan at the Cochin International Airport on January 26, 2013, with 1950 fake Indian currency notes of Rs 500 denomination. The notes, said to have been printed in Pakistan, had been arranged by Aftab Bhatki, believed to be a member of Dawood Ibrahim's gang. Bhatki is still absconding.

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Amid political turmoil in Sri Lanka, the now-ousted Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has called for an emergency Parliament session to display his majority.

Talking to ANI from Colombo, Sri Lankan Cabinet Minister Rajitha Senaratne confirmed that almost 113 members will be paraded in the session called for Monday.

Calling the ouster of Wickremesinghe "unconstitutional", Senaratne said: "They cannot remove a Prime Minister. There are certain provisions and a process to remove a Prime Minister. We have called for an emergency session of the Parliament on Monday where as many as 113 members of our party will be paraded to prove majority. We are confident about proving a majority."

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena sacked Wickremesinghe on Friday night replacing him with his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa following the collapse of the governing coalition between Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and United National Party (UNP).

However, Wickremesinghe in a statement, insisted that he still holds the Prime Minister's office while citing the Article 42 (4) of the Sri Lankan Constitution which states that "the President shall appoint as Prime Minister, the Member of Parliament, who, in the President's opinion, is most likely to command the confidence of Parliament," reported The Island.

Wickremesinghe, also quoted Article 46 (2) which says that the Prime Minister shall continue to hold office throughout the period during which the Cabinet of Ministers continues to function under the provisions of the Constitution unless he

-

(a) resigns his office by a writing under his hand addressed to the President;

or-

(b) ceases to be a Member of Parliament.

In the current Parliament the UNP led United National Front for Good Governance has 106 seats , UPFA 95 seats , TNA 16 seats , JVP 6 seats and the Muslim Congress and the EPDP has one seat each, reported Colombo Page.

Sri Lankan Minister of Finance and Mass Media Mangala Samaraweera also expressed outrage about the ouster and wrote on Twitter: "The appointment of @PresRajapaksa as the Prime Minister is unconstitutional & illegal. This is an anti democratic coup. #lka"

In April, the ousted Prime Minister, Wickremesinghe also survived a no-confidence motion in the country's Parliament that was brought by the supporters of Rajapaksa.

Interestingly, Rajapaksha, who served as Lanka's President for a period of ten years, from 2005 to 2015 is a fierce political opponent of the current President Sirisena. Sirisena had defeated Rajapaksha in the Presidential election of 2015.

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Pakistan, which remains the breeding ground and supporter of global terrorism, is responsible for three times the terror risk to humanity that poses, says a study -- 'Humanity at Risk - Global Terror Threat Indicant (GTTI) -- by and Strategic Foresight Group (SFG).

As per the GTTI, while the Afghan and the Lashkar-e-Taiyyaba (LeT) pose the maximum threat to security in future, is placed on top of the list of countries with the highest number of terrorist bases and safe havens.

"If we look at the most dangerous terrorist groups, based on hard facts and statistics, we find that hosts or aids majority of them. Also, there are a significant number of groups based in Afghanistan, which operate with the support of Pakistan," the report says.

The over 80-page report, which has been prepared to discuss the challenges in the next decade, presents an analytical framework and tool to enable policymakers to look into the future.

"The rise of competitive extremism of all shades, misuse of weapons of mass destruction and economic disruptions can undermine human progress or even survival in the period from now until 2030. They are all interlinked with terrorism", the report reveals.

Strategic Foresight Group had analysed almost 200 groups actively involved in committing acts of terror in the first half decade of the twenty first century. During that period, the groups motivated by their own interpretation of Jihadi ideology accounted for only a fourth of almost 200 groups around the world.

Among these groups, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)/Daesh has attracted much of media space in the last five years. But with swift rise and fall of ISIL/Daesh, the Al-Qaida remains the most resilient network. Until 2011, it was led by but now his son, Hamza bin has emerged, as what sections of the media describe, as the "new crown prince of terror".

The most significant factor influencing the future of Jihadi groups would be the support they get from states, intelligence agencies and criminal networks.

"The birth of Al-Qaida was in and then Pakistan influenced had a safe haven in a huge compound near the Pakistani military establishment in Abbottabad. The compound was much larger than the surrounding houses of retired Pakistani military officers. The occupants of the compound often bought expensive goods from a neighbourhood shop that most people in the vicinity could not afford. The presence of an important family in the compound was nothing but conspicuous," the report reveals.

The report has also given a comprehensive detail about the global terror outfits operating from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, and many other countries who have linkages with each other.

In Pakistan, the terror groups are based in FATA, Khyber Pakhtunkhwah, Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, Quetta and Kalat (Balochistan), and Sindh. Enjoying patronage of the law enforcement agencies, they easily plan and plot major attacks and raise funds for their activities.

In a shocking revelation report says: "The Jihadi thought processes have proved to be most resilient for almost 150 years, beginning in what is today Pakistan and parts of Many extremist movements rose and collapsed. But the Jihadi movement has survived in Pakistan and Afghanistan, now firmly spreading to the and North and West Africa."

On Friday, Afghanistan's deputy Defence Minister, Hilaluddin Helal, said at the Beijing Xiangshan Forum on defence, that more than 50,000 militants from 21 terrorist organisations are currently operating in and out of these 70 per cent are Pakistanis.
Taking a jibe at the Congress party, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday warned that any political outfit entering into an alliance with the Congress party could get 'ditched'.

He said that as a result, the united Opposition might also be forced to launch a #MeToo campaign against the Congress.

Addressing Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) workers, Rajnath asserted that all the political parties across India were scared of the BJP. "A majority of Opposition parties are scared of the BJP's rising popularity. They are forming a huge alliance (to challenge us). But they do not have any particular agenda. They have just one aim -stopping Modi."

Criticising the parties entering into an alliance with the Congress, he said, "I want to remind the Opposition that no one can save those which are joining the Congress. Later, all the opposition parties which have joined hands with Congress will get betrayed and will be forced to start a #MeToo campaign," he added.

Rajnath's comments have come after women from all walks of lives launched the #MeToo campaign. As part of this movement, that took the entire social media by storm, several women including actresses, musicians and journalists opened up about their ordeals of facing sexual harassment.

He further stated that the prime agenda of the various political outfits was to deny Prime Minister Narendra Modi a victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

He further lambasted the Congress for putting its own interests before the welfare of the country. He asserted that the BJP was the only party working towards the interests of India, saying, "BJP has worked towards implementing good governance during its tenure at the Centre."

He claimed that more youth have been joining the defence forces due to which the insurgency has dropped by 80 per cent. The union home minister urged the BJYM volunteers to work towards the socio-economic cause and predicted that India will be among the world's top three economic powers by 2030.

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Tokyo on Saturday for his official two-day visit, during which he is scheduled to take part in the 13th India-Japan Annual Summit.

During the summit, progress in India-Japan ties will be reviewed, according to Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Raveesh Kumar. Kumar also tweeted that efforts will be made to deepen strategic dimension between the two nations during the annual summit between Prime Minister Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe.

The leaders are expected to hold wide-ranging talks in strengthening collaboration in key areas such as Defence, security, Indo-Pacific cooperation, and technology during the summit slated to be held on October 28 and 29.

Prime Minister Modi will visit Yamanashi Prefecture on October 28, located in the foothills of Mount Fuji and an informal lunch will be held in the honour of the Prime Minister by Abe at a hotel with the mountain in the backdrop.

After lunch, the two leaders will take a stroll around the hotel, after which they will visit a leading manufacturing company of factory automation system in the prefecture. Abe will also take the Prime Minister to his personal home in Yamanashi for a private dinner. This will be the first time a foreign leader will be visiting Abe's second home. The two leaders will return to Tokyo by train.

In Tokyo, Prime Minister Modi will address members of the Indian community on October 29 before commencing his official engagements. The Prime Minister will meet several Japanese business leaders and address the India-Japan business forum.

After that, delegation-level talks will be held, which will be followed by an exchange of documents and press statements before an official banquet will be held for the Indian delegation by Abe. Prime Minister Modi will then leave for India in the evening.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday left for a two-day visit to Japan for the 13th India-Japan Annual Summit. He will arrive in the East Asian country in the evening.

Before leaving for Japan, the Prime Minister, in his departure statement said that India's ties with Japan, both economic and strategic, stood completely transformed in recent years.

Prime Minister Modi also touted Japan as 'one of the most trusted partners' in India's economic and technological modernisations. He said, "Our complementarities make India and Japan a winning combination. Japan today is one of the top investors in India. Projects like Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail and Dedicated Freight Corridors reflect the high level and strength of our economic engagement. Japan is also at the forefront of engaging in our initiatives, such as 'Make in India', 'Skill India', 'Digital India', 'Startup India', etc."

Prime Minister Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe, are expected to hold wide-ranging talks in strengthening collaboration in key areas such as Defence, security, Indo-Pacific cooperation and technology during the annual summit slated to be held on October 28 and 29.

Prime Minister Modi will visit Yamanashi Prefecture on October 28, located in the foothills of Mount Fuji and an informal lunch will be held in the honour of the Prime Minister by Abe at a hotel situated with Mount Fuji in the backdrop.

After lunch, the two leaders will take a stroll around the hotel, after which they will visit a leading manufacturing company of factory automation system in the prefecture.

Abe will take the Prime Minister to his personal home in Yamanashi for a private dinner. This will be the first time a foreign leader will be visiting Abe's second home. The two leaders will return to Tokyo by train.

In Tokyo, Prime Minister Modi will address members of the Indian community on October 29 before commencing his official engagements. The Prime Minister will meet several Japanese business leaders and address the India-Japan business forum.

After that, delegation-level talks will be held, which will be followed by exchange of documents and press statements before an official banquet will be held for the Indian delegation by Abe. Prime Minister Modi will then leave for India in the evening.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
British police have successfully identified the theft suspect who looked strikingly similar to David Schwimmer's character in 'Friends.'

"Could we BE any more overwhelmed with the response to our CCTV appeal about a theft at a restaurant in Blackpool? Most importantly, we're now satisfied we've identified the man in the still & our enquiries are very much continuing. Huge thanks for sharing it with your friends," Lancs Police wrote on Twitter Thursday.

On September 20, Blackpool police shared a photo of the suspect on a security camera writing "Do you recognise this man? We want to speak to him in relation to a theft at a Blackpool restaurant on the 20th September."

The photo went viral after fans on Twitter started comparing the picture of the suspect with the character of Ross from the 1994 sitcom 'Friends'.

Taking it one step further, the Hollywood actor shared a video of himself moving through a convenience store with cans much like the suspect in the photo posted by the police and Tweeted, " Officers, I swear it wasn't me. As you can see, I was in New York. To the hardworking Blackpool Police, good luck with the investigation. #itwasntme"

Lucky for David, by the time he posted the video, Blackpool police had already ruled out the possibility of him being the suspect. "Thank you to everyone for your speedy responses. We have investigated this matter thoroughly and have confirmed that David Schwimmer was in America on this date. We're so sorry it has to be this way," the police department had tweeted.

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A day after Mahinda Rajapaksa was sworn as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy said he will soon visit the island nation to raise the issue of the Indian fishermen and will also suggest a solution for resolving the issue of Sri Lankan Tamils.

The BJP leader took to twitter to inform that he received a call from Sri Lanka's premier Mahinda Rajapaksha, whom he congratulated for being elevated as country's prime minister. The former Sri Lankan president had travelled to India last month on an invitation by the BJP Member of Parliament.

"I was happy to receive a call from Prime Minister Rajapaksha. I congratulated him and said I will come to Colombo soon and raise remaining issues of Sri Lankan Tamils and suggest solutions after consulting Sri Lankan Tamils. I also will raise the Indian fishermen issue with him," Swamy wrote on Twitter.

On Friday, Sri Lankan President Maithripla Sirisena sacked country's prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and replaced him with his (Sirisena) predecessor Rajapaksa after the collapse of the governing coalition between Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and United Party (UNP), New York Times reported.

Sirisena's SLFP and Wickremesinghe's UNP had come together to form the Unity Government in August 2015 following the general elections in the country.

In April, the ousted Prime Minister, Wickremesinghe also survived a no-confidence motion in the country's Parliament that was brought by Rajapaksa's supporters.

Elaborating about his future plans, Swamy added, "Once Namo (Sic) clears my pending demand to declare Ram Setu as a Heritage Monument I will work for Hindus to be able to walk from Dhanushkodi to Ashok Vatika in Sri Lanka. Once we build Rameshwaram and Ayodhya airports we can have connecting air service to all three places (Sic).

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
There is a decline in the paddy stubble-burning in Punjab this Kharif season, said Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) on Saturday.

The data from the PPCB reflects that 7503 cases of stubble-burning have been reported until Friday this year.

During the last two years' corresponding period, there were 13,364 and 19,879 cases of farm burning.

The report by the pollution control board shows Amritsar witnessed a slight dip in stubble-burning cases. A little more than 700 incidents have been recorded this year as compared to 785 last year and little lesser than 1000 in 2016.

Fatehgarh Sahib town, the second least populous district of Punjab after Barnala, has shown a sharp decline in the cases of farm residue burning this year- just 226. Last year this figure was 589 and more than 1100 two years ago.

The decline can be attributed to various factors, including awareness and farmers adhering to governmental policies in mitigating the farm fires.

Patiala, for example, marked quite a drastic improvement with only 936 incidents this season. Over the last two years, the number stood at 1303 and 1718 respectively.

From 1612 in 2016 to just 576 this year, Sri Muktsar Sahib also recorded a steep fall in farm fire cases.

The Tarn Taran district, which has the largest Sarovar (holy tank) in the world, also recorded a sharp decline with 1129 cases of crop-burning. In 2017, the region saw 1507 cases and 1980 in 2016.

Yet, Delhi's air quality continues to deteriorate and remains in the very poor category. With Diwali around the corner and the Supreme Court allowing the burning of firecrackers, Delhi might see a layer of toxic smog in the days to come. Environmentalists say people need to be made more aware of the harmful effects of crackers and learn from the farmers of adjoining states- who adhered to administrative guidelines in tackling farm waste.

Haryana too recorded a decline in the cases of crop-burning. The state witnessed more than 7500 cases, which is almost half of the last year's figure of 13,364. Two years ago, the figure touched almost 20,000.

Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan has expressed concerns over the increase in air pollution levels in Delhi and its neighbouring cities and assured that Centre will make all efforts to curb the menace.

"This time the Central government had appointed 41 teams from the Central Pollution Control Board to do field study of four cities- Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gurugrama and Haryana in order to curb the issue from the grass root level We will make efforts to curb the issue of air pollution," the minister told reporters here.

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The Central Government on Saturday submitted the details of the decision-making process pertaining to the Rafale deal to the Court Secretary General in a sealed cover.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had sought the said information from the Centre without divulging the technical details and the prices of the Rafale fighter jets. The apex court will hear the matter next on October 29.

On Wednesday, a fresh Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed in the top court in connection with the Rafale deal by advocate Prashant Bhushan, and former Union Ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, seeking a court-monitored Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe in the case.

In 2012, during the United Progressive Alliance's (UPA) tenure, India planned to buy 18 off-the-shelf jets from France, with 108 others to be assembled in the country by the state-run aerospace and defence company Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government scrapped the UPA's plan and announced that it would buy 36 "ready-to-fly" Rafale jets from French aerospace major Dassault Aviation.

The opposition Congress party has been accusing the Centre of irregularities in the high-profile Defence fighter jets contract, alleging that the Democratic Alliance (NDA) government was procuring each aircraft at a cost of over Rs 1,670 crore as against Rs 526 crore finalised by the UPA government.

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To commemorate the 72nd Infantry Day on Saturday, Lieutenant General Yenduru Venkata Krishna Mohan of Rising Star Corps laid a wreath at Shradhatara, the War Memorial at Yol.

Infantry Day is observed as a remembrance of the first military event of independent India, when the Indian Army repelled the first attack on the Indian soil on October 27, 1947, in the Kashmir Valley.

The victory was accomplished by the personnel of the First Battalion of The Sikh Regiment.

The day is commemorated with traditional gaiety and military elan.

Earlier in the day, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat paid tribute at Amar Jawan Jyoti in Delhi as a mark of respect to the deceased servicemen on the occasion.

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A shooter opened fire near the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh on Saturday, leading to "multiple casualties" at the scene.

Allegheny County Sheriff's Deputy Kevin Kraus confirmed that authorities have responded to the situation, while Commander Jason Lando stated that police forces have been sent to the synagogue from where reports of gunfire emerged.

Lando also mentioned that there are "multiple casualties", according to CNN.

The Pennsylvania State Police tweeted that the shooter is in custody while urging everybody to "avoid the area".

Lando has asked the public in the area to practice caution, while saying, "It is imperative that the neighbors in the community surrounding the Tree of Life synagogue stay in their houses and shelter in place. Do not come out of your home right now. It is not safe."

The Pittsburgh Public Safety Twitter account also launched an alert and tweeted "There is an active shooter in the area of WILKINS and Shady. Avoid the area. More info will be released when it is available," while requesting the media to stop calling all Public Safety phones as it interfered with communications.

In the wake of the attack, US President Donald Trump had asked people to "beware of the active shooter". "Watching the events unfolding in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Law enforcement on the scene. People in Squirrel Hill area should remain sheltered. Looks like multiple fatalities. Beware of active shooter. God Bless All!"

The Governor of Pennsylvania, Tom Wolf, also took note of the situation and tweeted, " We are still learning details about the shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh but it is a serious situation. @PAStatePolice are assisting local first responders. Please stay away from the area and keep the congregants and law enforcement in your prayers."

In another tweet, Wolf said he is rushing to the scene of the crime.

Three police officers have been shot, while fatalities have been confirmed by Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald.

The shooting coincides with the International Religious Freedom Day, which celebrates the passage of the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act (IRF Act) that is a part of US foreign policy.

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As many as 113 members of United National Party (UNP) are in the process of signing an impeachment motion against Maithripala Sirisena, which is expected to be submitted to the Speaker of Sri Lankan Parliament by Sunday evening.

As per the process, the UNP would need two-third of the majority which would be 160 votes to remove the from office.

In addition, the lawyers of the now-ousted Prime Minister are also exploring the possibility of moving of Sri Lanka, sources in UNP told ANI over call from colombo.

"We had planned to move a Vote of Confidence in the Parliament of Monday. But the has prorogued the Parliament. The suspension of Parliament shows that the Freedom Party (SLFP) lacks numbers," a UNP leader said.

This comes after President Sirisena sacked Wickremesinghe on Friday night replacing him with former Lankan President following the collapse of the governing coalition between SLFP and UNP.

Hours after Wickremesinghe was sacked, he urged the Speaker to convene an emergency Parliament session on Monday so that he could prove his majority. However, amid the Constitutional turmoil, President Sirisena has suspended the Parliament till November 16.

Wickremesinghe in a statement insisted that he still holds the Prime Minister's office and cited Article 46 (2) of the Sri Lankan Constitution which states that Prime Minister shall continue to hold the office unless he resigns or ceases to be a Member of Parliament. Wickremesinghe has said that neither of the two has happened, hence, he cannot be dismissed abruptly.

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Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has suspended the Parliament till November 16 amid constitutional crisis in the nation.

According to the Colombo Page, the Presidential Secretariat has issued the relevant Extraordinary Gazette notification. "The President has prorogued the Parliament with effect from 12 noon on Saturday," said Cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne, as quoted by Al Jazeera.

This comes after the now-ousted Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe requested the Speaker to call an emergency Parliament session on Monday, so he could prove his majority in the house.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena sacked Wickremesinghe on Friday night replacing him with his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa following the collapse of the governing coalition between Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and United National Party (UNP).

Terming his ouster "unconstitutional", Wickremesinghe asserted that he still holds the Prime Minister's office and is ready to prove that he retains the majority.

Several Cabinet members had also expressed outrage against this move and called it "illegal and unconstitutional."

In April, the ousted Prime Minister, Wickremesinghe also survived a no-confidence motion in the country's Parliament that was brought by the supporters of Rajapaksa.

Rajapaksha, who served as Lanka's President for a period of ten years, from 2005 to 2015 is a fierce political opponent of the current President Sirisena. Sirisena had defeated Rajapaksha in the Presidential election of 2015.

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Army chief General Bipin Rawat on Saturday asserted that the stone pelters in Kashmir should be termed as overground workers (OGWs) of terrorists, adding that strict action will be taken against them.

Gen Rawat said that the soldier who died in stone pelting on Friday was guarding a road construction team.

"I again say that stone pelters should be treated like OGWs. The deceased was just guarding the convoy of soldiers who were given the task of building roads and bridges. Every time the army keeps quite and bears the pain but this time we have filed an FIR against the stone pelters. A strict action should be taken against them," the Army chief said after paying tribute at the Amar Jawan Jyoti on the occasion of Infantry Day.

Rajendra Singh, an army soldier of the Quick Reaction Team, succumbed to injuries he sustained when unidentified persons hurled stones at the convoy passing through the Anantnag bypass tri-junction.

Gen Rawat said Pakistan is using terror to keep the 'pot boiling' in Jammu and Kashmir.

"Pakistan is fully aware that they will not succeed. It is just another way of keeping the pot boiling, keeping the turmoil going and not allowing development to take place in the state of Jammu and Kashmir and ensure that the Indian Army continues to remain embroiled in the proxy war," he asserted, adding that "Jammu and Kashmir will remain a part of India and no force can take it away from us.

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Despite the deterioration in air quality in New Delhi and the adjoining areas, farmers in Amritsar continue to burn paddy-stubble and further deteriorate air quality, despite an order of prohibition.

Amritsar Deputy Commissioner Kamaldeep Singh Sangha said, "According to the Green Tribunal and the Supreme Court the Punjab government tried to spread awareness on how to incorporate paddy straw in different ways. The agriculture department also spoke to the farmers and that worked. Still, some people continued stubble burning and our team of officers and fined them according to the NGT order. One officer has been posted in every village to spread awareness on stubble burning. Things will start improving from now onwards."

Data by the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) showed a decline in the paddy stubble-burning in Punjab this Kharif season.

The data from the PPCB reflects that 7503 cases of stubble-burning have been reported until Friday this year. During the corresponding periods in the last two years, there were 13,364 and 19,879 cases of farm burning.

The report by the pollution control board shows that Amritsar witnessed a slight dip in stubble-burning cases. A little more than 700 incidents have been recorded this year as compared to 785 last year and little lesser than 1000 in 2016.

The decline can be attributed to various factors, including awareness and farmers adhering to governmental policies in mitigating the farm fires.

Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan expressed concerns over the increase in air pollution levels in Delhi and its neighbouring cities and assured that the Centre will make all efforts to curb the menace.

"This time the Central government had appointed 41 teams from the Central Pollution Control Board to do field study of four cities- Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gurugrama and Haryana in order to curb the issue from the grass root level We will make efforts to curb the issue of air pollution," the minister told reporters earlier in the day.

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At least 11 people were killed and six others were injured after a gunman opened fire Saturday morning inside a synagogue in Pittsburgh, US state of Pennsylvania, a city official said.

No children were among the fatalities and the six injured include four police officers but do not include the suspect, Wendell Hissrich, Pittsburgh's public safety director, told a press conference.

The initial call to 911 was made around 9.54 a.m. and officers were dispatched to the scene within a minute, Hissrich said, Xinhua reported.

The shooting occurred at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighbourhood.

Police said the gunman, a heavy-set white male with a beard, surrendered and is in custody. The shooting occurred during a baby-naming ceremony at the synagogue, according to reports.

Attorney for Pennsylvania's Western District Scott Brady confirmed the suspect is Robert Bowers, reportedly a 46-year-old man from Pittsburgh.

Bowers' social media posts were reportedly rife with anti-Semitic content.

Brady said Bowers' actions "represent the worst of humanity" and criminal charges against him could be filed as early as Saturday.

Police sources told local CBS affiliate KDKA that the gunman opened fire while yelling "all Jews must die."

The suspect was armed with what appeared to be an assault rifle and at least three handguns.

Investigators believe the gunman was acting alone but his full motive still isn't known, said Bob Jones, the special agent in charge of the FBI's office in Pittsburgh.

Jones said the scene of Saturday's shooting at the synagogue was "the most horrific crime scene" he has seen" in 22 years with the FBI.

The shooting will be prosecuted as a hate crime and the FBI will be leading the investigation, Hissrich said earlier in the day.

The synagogue is located at the intersection of Wilkins and Shady avenues. The neighbourhood of Squirrel Hill, about 10 minutes of drive from downtown Pittsburgh, is the hub of the city's Jewish community.

The synagogue offers members a "traditional Conservative service with a modern sense of family" and shabbat service on 9.45 a.m. on Saturdays, according to the Tree of Life's website.

Between 50 and 60 worshippers would be there on an average Saturday morning, according to a spokesman for the Jewish community in Pittsburgh.

US President Donald Trump told a rally in Indianapolis, state of Indiana, on Saturday that "there must be no tolerance for anti-Semitism."

"This was an anti-Semitic act," Trump said. "This wicked act of mass murder is pure evil, hard to believe, and, frankly, something that is unimaginable."

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday strongly condemned the shooting at the synagogue in Pittsburgh, said his spokesman.

Guterres was shocked at the bloody shooting that killed 11 people. He expressed his deepest condolences to the families of the victims, said Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman, in a statement.

"The shooting in Pittsburgh is a painful reminder of continuing anti-Semitism. Jews across the world continue to be attacked for no other reason than their identity. Anti-Semitism is a menace to democratic values and peace, and should have no place in the 21st century," said the statement.

--IANS

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Hours after former Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Tariq Anwar, who returned to Congress on Saturday, almost two decades after he had walked out, the party appealed to others leaders to come back.

Anwar returned to Congress in the presence of party President Rahul Gandhi. Anwar had in 1999 joined NCP chief Sharad Pawar and some others in quitting the Congress to protest the appointment of a person of foreign origin (Sonia Gandhi) as the party chief.

Gandhi welcomed Anwar into "the Congress family", the party tweeted, posting a picture of the two leaders shaking hands.

Anwar, who represented Katihar (Bihar) in the Lok Sabha, had quit the NCP and his Lok Sabha membership on September 28 expressing disagreement with party chief Sharad Pawar whom he has been upset with for giving a clean chit to Prime Minister Modi in the Rafale deal.

Senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot, who was present at the press conference at the party headquarters, said, "Anwar met Gandhi and then joined the party."

Gehlot said that more people would come to Congress due to the kind of "atmosphere" being created in the country.

Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah, Gehlot said, "Only two people are running the country -- Modi and Shah."

He also said that the people of the country have understood that whatever they (BJP) had said has turned false.

Gehlot appealed to former Congress leaders to return to the party fold.

"As the biggest party of the country, the Congress has a rich history before and after Independence.

"Indira Gandhi was assassinated when she was the Prime Minister. Rajiv Gandhi was also assassinated when he was set to become the Prime Minister again. And today they question what Congress did in the last 70 years. They don't have any history of their participation in the Independence movement," he said.

"And now they talk about Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel as they know they have failed on all fronts," he said.

Congress Bihar in-charge Shakti Sinh Gohil said, "With Anwar joining back the party, the Grand Alliance would be strengthened as he has the experience of working in the party."

Gohil said that disaster was set to hit the NDA and more leaders would join Congress in the coming days.

Comparing Modi to a ruler who can do anything to save his chair, the Congress's Bihar in-charge said, "Modi is such a ruler, who when finds any danger to his kingdom compromises."

Taking a jibe at the Janata Dal-United and BJP seat sharing formula announced on Friday, Gohil said, "Now as the king has found that his kingdom was in danger, they have stitched a deal in Bihar."

Shah and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who is also the President of the JD-U on Friday announced that both the parties will contest an equal number of seats in the Lok Sabha elections in the state next year under a seat-sharing formula between them.

--IANS

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Delhi's ruling AAP on Saturday rejected the claims made by Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar about stubble-burning being up by 50 per cent in the national capital.

Khattar had attacked the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government by saying that it failed to control stubble-burning as it has increased to 50 per cent in the national capital. "Stubble-burning has declined to 40 per cent in Punjab and Haryana," Khattar said.

Countering Khattar's claims, AAP Chief Spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said that government of Haryana and Punjab have been blamed by several independent studies and not just Delhi government, for its rampant stubble-burning.

"Every independent study has blamed the governments of Haryana and Punjab of creating death chambers around North India," Bharadwaj told IANS.

Khattar had also flayed the Delhi government for its Mohalla clinics by saying that they have become "halla" clinics.

"Hundreds of Mohalla Clinics have turned into cow barns. Some of these centres are also used as parking spaces or for running barber shops", he said.

Bharadwaj, on the other hand, said that the main issue is not about comparing Haryana and Delhi. "But there should be a comparison between Khattar Government and Kejriwal Government," he said.

"We welcome Mr Khattar to send his own delegation to Delhi and compare the Health and Education sectors of the two states. We would be happy to help Haryana government in improving their health and education sectors," Bharadwaj said.

--IANS

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Agra University Vice Chancellor Arvind Dixit is under fire for his remarks questioning the wisdom of Rajputs in getting Jodhabai married to Mughal Emperor Akbar.

Dixit's effigy was torched and angry protesters demanded his dismissal, although the Vice Chancellor promptly apologised and clarified his statement in a press statement on Friday.

Members of the Akhil Bhartiya Kshtriya Mahasabha have slammed the VC of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Agra, accusing him of insulting the community that has a glorious past.

Some Brahmin groups have also joined the chorus to demand action against the VC.

On Balmiki Jayanti on Wednesday, Dixit had said: "Our role models should be those who refused to be converted to other religions, and not those who got Jodhabai married to Akbar, to save their empire."

The Vice Chancellor swiftly offered an apology amid a sharp backlash and explained that he had been misquoted and misunderstood.

Dixit was lauding the contribution of Balmikis at a seminar held at Jubilee Hall. He said that even under extreme pressure, some leaders of the Balmiki Samaj had refused to be converted. But Rajputs got Jodhabai married to Akbar to buy peace.

Local historians said this was a normal practice those days. Women were offered in matrimony to foster cordial relations among warring states. It is well known that Akbar used matrimonial alliances with defeated Rajput kings as a political strategy.

--IANS

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Protesting against the Centre's role in the Rafale fighter jet deal, the West Bengal unit of the Congress held a rally in the city on Saturday.

The protest rally was organised by the South Kolkata Youth Congress and the party's women's wing at south Kolkata's Bhawanipore area on Saturday afternoon.

The rallyists carried placards and banners and shouted slogans against the Narendra Modi government, accusing it of turning the fighter jet deal with France's Dassault Aviation into a scam.

They also demanded a thorough and independent probe into the matter.

--IANS

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The Congress on Saturday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his office, CVC K.V. Chowdary and the DoPT of hatching a "nefarious conspiracy" to divest CBI Director Alok Verma of his duties fearing investigation into the Rafale deal.

"Midnight intrigue, sinister plot and nefarious conspiracy of a collusive subterfuge between the Modi government and Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has now been unravelled," Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said at a press conference here.

He alleged that through the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) and CVC, CBI Director was removed from his office at midnight.

Giving the details of the conspiracy to divest Verma, Surjewala said, "Chowdary was set to go to Denmark on October 23. And he cancelled his trip just to hold a meeting and issue the order against Verma."

The Congress leader said that on Tuesday night around 11 p.m., CBI Joint Director M. Nageshwar Rao was informed to reach agency's headquarters anticipating the CVC's order.

The Congress leader claimed that around 11.30 P.M. Delhi Police Commissioner alerted his subordinates on an operation. They were asked to reach the Khan Market area, a few km away from the CBI headquarters. And then at midnight, Commissioner told his team that the Delhi Police would take over the CBI headquarters.

"But when the Delhi Police reached the agency headquarters, it found CISF (Central Industrial Security Force) stationed there. They were stopped from entering. Later, the CISF received an order to allow Delhi Police, which then took over the CBI headquarters," he claimed.

He further said that the by the time Delhi Police was taking over the CBI headquarters, Chowdary was writing his order. "The CVC order then reached the office of Secretary, DoPT, C Chandramouli as he was still waiting for the orders in his office till late in the night," he said.

"Chandramouli then takes the order to the Cabinet Committee on Appointments around 1 a.m., whose Chairperson is the Prime Minister and they remove Verma as Director and appoint Rao as interim chief of the agency," Surjewala said.

Surjewala claimed that around 2.30 a.m. the CVC and Lok Ranjan, who is the Additional Secretary of DoPT, reaches CBI headquarters. They then come out with Rao along with files and records of the Rafale scam which were in Verma's office.

The Congress leader pointed out that under Section 4A and 4B of the Delhi Police Establishment Act, 1946, the CBI Director can only be appointed or transferred or removed by the Selection Committee comprising of the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India and the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

"It (action against Verma) was done because on the morning of October 24, the complaint on Rafale deal submitted by BJP leaders Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie was going to be investigated by Verma," he said, adding that it was also the reason for the transfer of 12 officials of the agency after Verma was divested of his powers.

Slamming Modi, the Congress leader said, "Only the Prime Minister can answer these questions. People are demanding answers for this conspiracy."

Firing salvos at the government, he said "Why did the CVC Commissioner cancel his Denmark tour scheduled for October 23, call a midnight meeting and pass an illegal order for divesting the CBI Director of all his duties? Why was Rao sent to CBI office at 11.00 p.m. on October 23 even before the order was passed by CVC?"

"Why was Delhi Police asked to take over the CBI HQ at midnight, particularly when it is already protected by CISF? Who directed Delhi Police to take over CBI office and who directed CISF to withdraw?

"Were any incriminating files and documents removed from the office of Verma? Who removed them and for what purpose," he asked.

--IANS

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The Indian Army's Central Command celebrated Infantry Day at Lucknow on Saturday.

The day is observed in commemoration of the first victorious military action led by the Infantry in Jammu and Kashmir after Independence to drive out Pakistani invaders, a Central Command officer said.

In October 1947, tribals and troops of the newly-formed Pakistani Army attacked the state of Jammu and Kashmir and had threatened Srinagar.

On October 27, 1947, the valiant troops of the First Battalion, the Sikh Regiment, landed at the Srinagar airfield, initiating the liberation of the Valley, the official said.

The day began with wreath laying ceremony at 'Smritika' war memorial by Lieutenant General Abhay Krishna, Army Commander, Central Command and other army officers.

Krishna that the infantry has played a decisive role in our victories over Pakistan in 1965 and 1971.

The infantry also undertakes numerous civic action projects for our citizens in remote and inaccessible parts of India.

--IANS

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The Centre has filed in the Supreme Court details of the decision-making process for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets in a fly-away condition from France's Dassault Aviation.

The details of the decision-making process were submitted to the Secretary General of the Supreme Court on Friday in a sealed cover as directed by it on October 10 while hearing a PIL by advocate M.L.Sharma.

The Supreme Court had on October 10 asked the government to disclose details of the decision-making process for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets.

Directing that the information would be furnished in a sealed cover and reach the court by October 29, the court had said that it was not issuing notice to the respondents.

The court had sought information from the government as Attorney General K.K. Venugopal said the purchase of the French fighter aircraft concerned the national security and described the petition as a "political interest litigation" which had been filed when the government and opposition were locked in a severe political fight.

Addressing the court, PIL petitioner advocate M.L. Sharma had referred to the pricing of the aircraft that had been quoted at different points of time before different forums to drive home the point that price being paid by India was high.

He had taken the court through the history of deal initially starting in 2008, involvement of a corporate house before finally the deal for purchase of 36 Rafale aircraft in a fit-to-fly condition was signed.

--IANS

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Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday slammed the Congress, saying that the party was playing with national security by levelling false allegations about the Rafale deal.

Defending the deal, Singh said that the agreement with the French defence manufacturer Dassault would give India battle-ready fighter planes.

He was addressing the national convention of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), which began here on Saturday.

The BJP leader told the delegates here that the Congress party thought that if a lie was uttered 100 times, people would start believing it. He said that by raising questions about Rafale, the opposition party may be willingly or unwillingly helping the country's enemies.

"The Congress thinks that if it makes noises and misleads the people, the BJP's seats(in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures) will go down. However, every time they make a hue and cry, our numbers only go up," he said.

Singh exhorted the BJP's youth wing to work hard so that the party could win 350 seats in the next year's general election.

Several Union Ministers and Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled states will be addressing the BJYM convention, being held with the theme "Vijay Lakshya 2019".

Singh alleged that all other political parties were growing nervous about the strength of the BJP and hence they were coming together to unitedly fight the elections. "They have no agenda linked to national interest. Their only agenda is 'Modi roko'," he said.

He cautioned the regional parties against joining hands with the Congress. He said that those who joined hands with the Congress were eliminated.

Singh claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government had made the country safer. The country has not seen any major terror incident in the last four-and-a-half years of BJP's rule.

Naxalism was eliminated from more than 50 per cent of the area while over 80 per cent of insurgency in the northeast was wiped out, he claimed.

BJYM National President and Lok Sabha MP Poonam Mahajan said the youth wing would play a key role in the next year's general elections.

--IANS

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Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Saturday invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA), prohibiting for six months any strike by contractual workers of Delhi Transport Corporation.

He invoked ESMA citing bus transport as an "essential service" for the people of the city.

DTC contractual employees - drivers and conductors - have been on a strike since October 22.

"In the public interest, it is necessary and expedient to prohibit the strike by contractual employees of Delhi Transport Corporation," said a notification issued by Baijal.

--IANS

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Chief Adviser to the All Assam Students Union (AASU) Samujjal Bhattacharya on Saturday dared the ruling BJP to deport illegal immigrants from Bangladesh whose names have not figured on the National Register of Citizens in Assam updated under the Supreme Court's monitoring.

Bhattacharya threw the challenge during a panel discussion on "NRC: The Untruth, Half Truth, and Truth" held as part of the ongoing Northeast Festival in the national capital.

"Just before the publication of the draft, there was a misinformation campaign by different groups that it (NRC) is against Muslims and Bengalis," Bhattacharya said.

"But because of the Supreme Court, which is monitoring the whole process, things have become clear in the minds of the citizens," he said.

Over four million people in Assam did not find their names in the final draft NRC published in July.

Bhattacharya said that there was a hue and cry everywhere after the publication of the NRC, except in Assam.

"Even proceedings in Parliament came to a standstill for three days because of the draft," he said.

"And, the president of the ruling party had said that since they have the guts, they did it (published the NRC). So, I just want to say now that if you really have the guts, then deport them."

Bhattacharya said that Assam has been bearing the burden of illegal immigration from Bangladesh from 1948 to 1971.

"We cannot take this burden after 1971," he said, referring to the provisions of the 1985 Assam Accord signed between the Centre, Assam government and AASU.

Stating that the NRC is not a new thing for Assam, he said that it was first prepared in 1951 and that too only for Assam.

"We have seen since Independence how the political parties in Assam have always safeguarded their interest first by protecting their vote banks," Bhattacharya said.

He also made it clear that he supports all Hindus and Muslims who migrated to Assam before 1971 but he is not going to accept those who came later.

President of Assam Public Works (APW) Aabhijeet Sharma, the petitioner in the NRC case in the Supreme Court, pointed out that their fight is not against Hindus or Muslims but for giving equal rights to those who migrated before the 1971 India-Pakistan war.

"With no 'dharnas (sit-ins)' or 'andolans (agitations)', we requested the court for only two things: People who were accepted in the state before March 1971 should be regularised as Indian citizens, and second, to prepare a fresh voter list after having a surplus of 41 lakh (four million) illegal voters in the 2005 voters list so that Indians can vote for their nation," he said.

Senior Supreme Court advocate Upamanyu Hazarika, who was also present, suggested three measures to stop illegal immigration to the northeastern states that share their borders with four countries - Bangladesh, China, Myanmar and Bhutan.

"It is high time now that re-verification of the NRC in the border and immigrant-dominated districts is done," Hazarika said.

"We should also have a protective legislation to secure land and other rights for indigenous people. And lastly, no further settlement of infiltration through the proposed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill."

--IANS

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If the European Union (EU) is expected to progress, consensus among all member countries is needed, while all must have in mind that there's no division into old and new members, as they've all contributed to Europe's "reunion", French President Emmanuel Macron said here on Friday.

Macron made the remarks at a press conference after talks with his Slovak counterpart Andrej Kiska, Xinhua reported.

According to Macron, being in Europe isn't only a matter of geography, but also of ambition.

"The European Union isn't a problem, but a solution, while no country alone can face individual problems, including migration," said Kiska.

Kiska at the same time assured Macron that membership of the EU is Slovakia's "vital interest". Both politicians also concurred that there's no division of the EU into old and new member countries.

During Macron's meeting with Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini, the two discussed the issues concerning deeper integration within the eurozone, cyber threats and defence projects.

--IANS

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The leaders of Germany, France, Turkey and Russia will meet here on Saturday to discuss possible ways of putting an end to the conflict in Syria and ensuring a ceasefire in the province of Idlib remained in place.

Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russia's Vladimir Putin, France's Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Angela Merkel will participate in the summit along with the UN special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, Efe news reported.

The Turkish government on Friday said that maintaining the ceasefire in Idlib, agreed by Russia and supported by the Syrian regime and Turkey, was a priority for the summit leaders.

On Friday, seven civilians died in artillery fire by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad in Idlib, according to activists and rebel groups.

Other topics up for discussion on Saturday would be how to channel a political transition process as well as create a committee to draft a new Constitution, the report said.

Syria has been gripped by a complex civil war since March 2011, which has caused 5 million to flee the country, 6.6 million to become internally displaced, and left 13.1 million in need of assistance, according to the UN.

--IANS

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Palestinian ambassador to India, Adnan Abu Alhaija, on Saturday called upon the international community to reject and condemn Israel's racist law that denies the connection of Palestinians to their historic homeland.

Known as the Nation-State Law of the Jewish People, the law also dismisses rights of Palestinian people, their history and heritage, he told reporters.

The legislation passed recently also rejects the United Nations resolutions relevant to the Palestine question and the agreements concluded with Israel.

He said that the current situation in Palestine is like apartheid that once existed in South Africa.

The legislation lays down that Israel is the historic homeland of the Jewish people and that they have an exclusive right to national self-determination in it.

"Israel is continuing its atrocities on women, children and Palestinian people, depriving them of their own rights and their own land," said the ambassador.

"Israel is in continuous violation of the international law and elevating human suffering and devastation by its continued aggression on the Palestinian people. The Palestinian Bedouin community is the worst affected these days due to these violations", he added.

Abu Alhaija said that Israel is targeting Khan Al Ahmar as it is located in the planned area of the E-1 settlement, whose construction would irreversibly and permanently divide the occupied West Bank into north and south as well as sever all geographic connection to Jerusalem.

"The colonial project covers about 12,000 acres of illegally appropriated Palestinian land. Israel's occupation of the same will impede the establishment of a Palestinian state with territorial continuity," he added.

Indo Arab League Chairman Syed Vicaruddin said India had always been a staunch supporter of Palestine. He pointed out that "176 out of 193 UN members called for the Palestinian statehood."

"India does not recognize Israel's unilateral annexation of East Jerusalem, and stands with the international community in support of the creation of a sovereign, independent, Palestinian State, along the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital," he said.

The Hyderabad-based NGO will organize an all-party meeting to condemn the continued atrocities in Palestine and pledge its support for Palestinian independence, said Vicaruddin.

--IANS

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Months after both the Goa BJP and the state administration refused to disclose Manohar Parrikar's ailment, state Health Minister Vishwajit Rane on Saturday admitted that the Chief Minister was suffering from pancreatic cancer.

The admission came amid relentless demands from the opposition parties to know whether the Chief Minister was fit enough to govern. The state government had hitherto been reluctant reveal Parrikar's illness.

"He is the CM of Goa and the fact is that he is not well. He has got pancreatic cancer. There is no hiding of this fact," Rane told reporters a day after the Congress gave the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government four days to prove that Parrikar was of "sound health and mind" and in a position to govern the state.

"Let him be peaceful with his family. That much right he has, after serving the people of Goa, that if he wants to spend some quality time with his family, nobody has the business to ask...," Rane said.

Parrikar, who is currently being treated for advanced pancreatic cancer, has been in and out of hospitals in Goa, Mumbai, New York and Delhi.

His absence has created a leadership vacuum in Goa, even as the opposition has demanded that he step aside to focus on treatment.

Parrikar has not had a single public appearance since his return from Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences on October 14 and is currently bedridden at his private residence, which party sources said has been converted into a sophisticated medical facility, with doctors and para-medical staff on a 24-hour duty.

Rane also slammed the Congress for playing over the ailing Chief Minister's health, saying if the Congress wanted to go to court to learn of Parrikar's health condition, it was free to do so.

State Congress President Girish Chodankar told IANS that the opposition is concerned about whether the Chief Minister is in a condition to take decision and a public disclosure of Parrikar's ailment by the Health Minister did not address that concern.

"If the Health Minister is making some statement, we should take it as on record. But our issue is not what he is suffering (from) at this stage. What is his health condition? Our issue is whether he is taking the decisions. Whether he is signing the papers..." Chodankar said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Months after both the Goa BJP and the state administration refused to disclose Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's ailment, state Health Minister Vishwajit Rane on Saturday finally admitted he was suffering from pancreatic cancer.

The dmission came amid relentless demands from the opposition parties to know whether the Chief Minister was fit enough to govern. The state government had hitherto been dodging persistent querries on Parrikar's illness.

"He is the CM of Goa and the fact is that he is not well. He has got pancreatic cancer. There is no hiding of this fact," Rane told reporters on here, a day after the Congress gave the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government four days to prove that Parrikar was of "sound health and mind" and in a position to govern the state.

"Let him be peaceful with his family. That much right he has, after serving the people of Goa, that if he wants to spend some quality time with his family, nobody has the business to ask...," Rane said.

Parrikar, who is currently being treated for advanced pancreatic cancer, has been in an out of hospitals in Goa, Mumbai, New York and Delhi.

His absence has created a leadership vacuum in Goa, even as the opposition has demanded that he step aside to focus on treatment.

Parrikar has not had a single public appearance since his return from Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences on October 14 and is currently bedridden at his private residence, which party sources said has been converted into a sophisticated medical facility, with doctors and para-medical staff on 24-hour duty.

Rane also slammed the Congress for playing over the ailing Chief Minister's health, saying if the Congress wanted to go to court to learn of Parrikar's health condition, it was free to do so.

--IANS

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Asserting the importance of banking as Indian economy gets more formalised, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said the regulator and the government need to be on their toes for quick action without exaggerating the emerging challenges.

"When challenges come, we have a tendency to exaggerate them at times but then the banks, the regulator, the governments have to be on their feet all the time to make sure that what is avoidable in the process can certainly be done," he said at an IDFC event here.

Jaitley said a changing economy needs a dynamic regulation that can be altered as per the scenario. For this, he said quality of consultation with stakeholders should be high. Regulators have been coming out with research papers on emerging issues, he said.

His observation comes a day after Reserve Bank Deputy Governor Viral Acharya emphasised the importance of central bank's independence. Acharya on Friday warned that the market can make the government pay for eroding the bank's independence.

Acharya said markets keenly watch the government's activities which exert pressure on the central bank's independent functioning. Their have been instances in the past few years when the government has reportedly tried to undermine RBI's autonomy.

Speaking at the IDFC Bank's third anniversary, Jaitley said though the nature of banking has been changing, villages still aspire to have a brick-and-mortar bank branch within their vicinity.

The Department of Financial Services is working with both public and private banks to ensure that most people have a banking point available, not necessarily a brick-and-mortar branch, within about 5km as part of the financial inclusion objective, he said.

"As the economy gets formalised, we will probably have a situation where access to banking itself will be useful and extremely important," he said.

--IANS

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Unidentified gunmen on Saturday abducted a civilian who owns a house in Kulgam district where a few days ago seven civilians died in an explosion after three militants were killed in a gunfight there.

Police identified the house owner as Shiraz Ahmad. It was in his house where seven civilians died in an explosion on October 21 after security forces killed three militants in a gunfight.

"After the encounter ended and the security forces left the area, seven civilians were killed in an explosion at the encounter site," police said.

--IANS

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Veteran actor Anupam Kher has wrapped up shooting of "The Accidental Prime Minister" that is based on former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and says history will not misjudge the Congress leader.

Anupam on Friday shared a video, where he is seen donning Singh's looks and holding the film's clapboard. He announces that the last shot of the film was taken at 2.40 a.m. on October 27.

"It is a wrap for one of my most cherished films 'The Accidental Prime Minister'. Thank you...for the most enriching times. Thank you Dr Manmohan SinghJi for your journey," the actor said, who kind of walked in the former Prime Minister's shoes.

Anupam says it has been "a great learning experience." "One thing is sure 'history will not misjudge you'," he added.

He also shared a photograph with actress Suzanne Bernert, who is essaying the role of UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi in the film.

The film is based on a book by Sanjaya Baru, a former media advisor to Manmohan Singh. Akshaye Khanna features as Baru, and Divya Seth Shah plays Manmohan Singh's wife Gursharan Kaur in the movie.

It is directed by debutant Vijay Ratnakar Gutte, along with Hansal Mehta as the creative producer.

Scripted by Mayank Tewari and produced by Bohra Bros, the film is slated to release on December 21.

--IANS

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Actress Tara Sharma is happy to be the creator, writer and co-producer of her successful project "The Tara Sharma Show", but says once in a while it's nice to get offered a film with a good script. She has made her acting comeback with a short film and a feature movie, but she wants more.

Tara, who was once known as the Liril girl, made her Bollywood debut in 2002 with the multi-starrer "Om Jai Jagadish". She then featured in hit films like "Khosla Ka Ghosla", "Masti" and "Page 3".

She was last seen on the big screen in the 2012 film "10ml Love".

Now, she is back to acting.

"I have been tied up with my show and kids. But I have always wanted to act again. I think somewhere I lost confidence. Suddenly, out of the blue Anusha Bose (director of the short film 'Shame') called me up," Tara told IANS.

"She said 'There's a tiny role, but would you like to do it?' I said 'Sure'. I have never been a believer in size. I have been a believer in a good project. Even if I am a fly on the wall, I am happy to do it if it's a good project."

"It was short, but it was really fun. It kind of helped me to get back my confidence. It's very short, but a dramatic role."

Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films showcased four short films, including "Shame" at the ongoing Jio MAMI 20th Mumbai Film Festival with Star.

Unfortunately, her other film, "Kadhakh", got removed from the fest's line-up in the wake of the #MeToo movement as the movie also has actor Rajat Kapoor, who was accused of sexual harassment.

Asked if it's unfair to others involved in the film, Tara said: "Of course, a movement has to create the right impact positively on the society. Unfortunately, there is a lot of collateral damage. So, when a film is removed, a lot of people suffer.

"What is right or wrong, I am nobody to comment. It is disappointing for us."

Nevertheless, Tara is thrilled to be a part of the feature film and doing a "bigger role. I am inching towards acting more and more. I hope to do more movies".

Since she is a mother now, she feels she has more in her to give as an actor.

"I feel so many things - giving birth, growing up in many ways, living life more ... My father passed away. There's so much emotion," she said.

(The writer's trip to Mumbai is at the invitation of the festival organisers. Natalia Ningthoujam can be contacted at natalia.n@ians.in)

--IANS

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The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Saturday denied that its diplomats are holding talks with the US on the existing issues between Tehran and Washington.

The ministry's reaction came after Iranian lawmaker Javad Karimi Qoddousi on Friday said that the country's diplomats were currently in talks with their US partners in Oman over the mutual issues.

"The claims concerning Iran's talks with the US in a neighbouring country are wrong and baseless," the ministry's website said in a statement.

"Iran's Foreign Ministry adheres to the guidelines by the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to avoid interaction with the US and would never disobey this principle, it was cited as saying by Xinhua news agency.

Earlier this month, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that Tehran would not sit for talks with Washington over the existing issues as the conditions were not ripe.

"I'm not ruling out the prospect of talks (with Washington) provided the necessary conditions for talks, and that is reliability," Zarif said.

"Reliability is that when you sign something you are bound by it. Otherwise, everything will fall apart," he said, adding that "we are waiting for some sense of realism".

The Iranian Supreme Leader said that Tehran will not sit for negotiations with "cheating" Washington.

Following US President Donald Trump's decision to quit the historic Iran nuclear deal on May 8, Washington vowed to reimpose sanctions lifted under the accord against Tehran and inflict punishments on nations that had business links with Iran.

Washington's withdrawal from the nuclear deal was criticized across the world. Some of its major European allies have been working to prevent the 2015 deal from falling apart.

--IANS

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Iran will offer crude oil to the private sector for export ahead of the US sanctions on its energy sector set to take effect on November 4, Financial Tribune daily reported Saturday.

Ali Hosseini, managing director of Iran Energy Exchange, told Financial Tribune that the decision by the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) to supply oil in the stock market is a turning point in Iran's key oil industry and its capital market, Xinhua reported.

Iran will start on Sunday to offer 1 million barrels of light crude oil on a daily basis, while the minimum volume of purchase will be 35,000 barrels, the report said.

The move aims at empowering domestic manufacturers and allowing bigger role for private enterprises, said NIOC.

A healthy and transparent venue will be established as part of the plan to exploit the potential of the non-government sectors in oil exports, NIOC said in a statement on October 13.

US President Donald Trump withdrew Washington from the Iranian international nuclear agreement in May and vowed to re-impose sanctions on Iran's financial, automotive, aviation and metal sectors.

The USState Department has set November 4 as the deadline for international oil buyers to stop all their oil purchases from Iran. Otherwise they will face US punishments.

--IANS

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Polling stations in Afghanistan's Kandahar province opened on Saturday, one week after the rest of the country cast ballots in parliamentary elections, owing to a delay due to violence.

Voting in the region was pushed back due to a Taliban attack on the eve of the elections, killing provincial police chief Gen. Abdul Raziq, intelligence chief Mumin Hussainkhil and a journalist.

Voting centres opened at 7 a.m. in Kandahar on Saturday and were scheduled to remain open till 4 p.m., Election Commission spokesperson Abdul Aziz Ibrahimi was cited as saying by Efe news.

Some 173 polling stations opened throughout the region, although voting was suspended in the districts of Maruf and Nesh owing to a lack of security.

Afghanistan's Interior Ministry spokesperson Najib Danish said the security situation in Kandahar was good and no threats had been identified.

Local authorities mobilized 6,000 additional police officers to ensure the safety of voters and secure polling stations.

Parliamentary elections were held last Saturday throughout Afghanistan, with the exception of Ghazni province, three years later than scheduled and with about 4 million citizens casting ballots, some 45 per cent of the population.

The elections were initially planned to take place in 2015, but were delayed due to security challenges and political and economic instability.

These elections have been seen as a test of the state of Afghanistan's fragile democracy as well as a trial ahead of the presidential elections set to take place in April 2019.

--IANS

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Hours after BJP Chief Amit Shah on Saturday threatened to pull down the Pinarayi Vijayan government if the Sabarimala temple traditions are not adhered to, Vijayan said Shah's remarks were an attack on the apex court and the Constitution.

"His statement that the apex court should pronounce verdicts that are implementable is nothing but a challenge to the various rights that the Constitution guarantees," said Vijayan in a Facebook post.

"This clearly shows what's on the mind of Shah is the same that's there in the minds of the sangh parivar forces," said Vijayan.

Shah attacked Vijayan at the latter's hometown Kannur, while inaugurating the new district office of the BJP.

"The statement that women should not be allowed entry clearly shows that they (BJP) stand for the male hegemony. I wish to state that this government was elected by the people and not with the help or support of the BJP. People who support democracy should come out against this statement," said Vijayan.

The Supreme Court had overturned a ban on women of menstrual age (10-50 years) from entering the hilltop temple where celibate deity Lord Ayyappa is worshipped. Since then the Vijayan government has been trying to give all the support to women who want to enter the temple.

From October 16 till 22, a strong protest put up by devotees successfully prevented a dozen women from entering the temple's sanctum, even as a strong police force gave them security.

--IANS

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Finding it hard to cope with work-related stress? Take heart, practicing a silent form of meditation at your workplace can lead to significant improvements in emotional intelligence as well as perceived stress, according to a study.

The study found that those who meditated more regularly scored higher on total emotional quotient and had lower perceived stress, also known as psychological stress -- the most common occupational health problems affecting workers worldwide.

They also showed improvements in general mood, stress management, adaptability, intrapersonal awareness and reality testing.

This indicates that emotional intelligence has a moderating effect on psychological well-being and mental health, the researchers said.

"This study demonstrates the benefits of meditation in the workplace," said Laurent Valosek, Executive Director, Center for Wellness and Achievement in Education -- a US-based non-profit organisation.

"And with a growing body of research on the value of emotional intelligence and the harmful effects of psychological stress, organisations are looking to give their employees tools for reducing stress and developing competencies like centeredness, self-awareness, and empathy," he added.

The study, published in the journal The Permanente Journal, included nearly 100 central office staffs.

The team found that during a four-month period, those practicing the transcendental meditation -- a form of silent mantra meditation -- experienced significant improvements in emotional intelligence and perceived stress, as compared with controls.

The research highlighted the role of emotional intelligence and perceived stress as important factors associated with mental and physical health and organisational effectiveness.

According to the World Health Organization, psychological stress adversely affects organisational commitment, work engagement, and productivity, as well as contributes to poor mental and physical health.

Emotional intelligence has garnered considerable attention in the workplace because of its positive association with mental and physical health and its connection to leadership capacity and performance.

--IANS

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Filmmaker Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's upcoming film "Mere Pyaare Prime Minister" was the only Asian film which was screened at the Rome Film Festival.

On October 23, the Official Selection of the Rome Film Fest presented three productions from three different continents. From Asia, Mehra's directorial was screened in Sala Petrassi.

Mehra attended the screening along with his wife Bharathi Mehra who is also the producer of the film, which deals with the social issue of open defecation.

"Mere Pyaare Prime Minister" has been shot at real locations which were finalised after a recce of one month in Mumbai.

The film revolves around four children living in a Mumbai slum. One of them wants to build a toilet for his single mother and makes an appeal to the Prime Minister.

--IANS

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In a significant operation earlier this month, the cyber cell of Delhi Police arrested 24 people who posed as Microsoft tech support staff and duped several US citizens.

This could not have been possible without the the real-time monitoring of cyber crimes by Microsoft's Digital Crime Unit (DCU) in Redmond that is using Cloud, Big Data, (ML) and Business Intelligence (BI) to improve the security of its products and services, protect vulnerable populations, fight malware, and reduce digital risks.

The real-time data analytics and sharing of key inputs with relevant law enforcement agencies helped bust 10 that were illegally running call centres at various places in Delhi that targeted Microsoft Windows users.

"It was real-time monitoring that helped us crack the Delhi gang behind the large-scale tech support fraud. The whole operation has been encouraging in our fight against cyber crimes," Shilpa Bratt, Director (Shared Services) of Digital Crimes Unit, told IANS.

"We worked closely with our DCU staff in India and Singapore to nail the culprits. I believe there are more such cyber criminals out there and we will up the ante against their sinister plans," Bratt added.

The cyber criminals impersonated as Microsoft tech support staff after they managed to fraudulently pop up messages on users' screens that their systems had been affected by malware.

In order to fix the systems, they charged any sum between $100 and $500 from the victims.

According to the Delhi police, incriminating evidence in the form of cheques from customers in the name of Microsoft Tech support, call recordings, virtual dialers, Microsoft Tech support training material, call log transcripts detailing the conversation with victims of fraud, payment gateway records and servers were seized.

According to a Microsoft survey released this month, 68 per cent users in India experienced tech support scams in the past year and some of them (14 per cent) even lost money.

The problem is not limited to India alone. Tech support scams are a problem worldwide, with three out of five people globally having experienced one in the past year and one in five losing money to fraudsters, according to the "Tech Support Scam Survey 2018" released by DCU.

In 2014, the DCU filed a civil lawsuit in federal court in the central district of California against some and related entities in India for unfair and deceptive business practices and trademark infringement.

According to the lawsuit, 3.3 million Americans fall victim to technical support scams annually, losing $1.5 billion.

The scammers claim to find non-existent computer viruses and infections, and then con people out of their hard-earned money for bogus tech support, in addition to stealing personal and financial information or even installing new malicious software.

"At DCU, we are constantly monitoring such scammers. The fight against them will only intensify in days to come," Bratt noted.

In the last two days, informed Bratt, over 2 billion connected devices were affected with active threats globally and India was at the second spot after Vietnam in the top affected countries.

The data was generated by Microsoft's real-time "Threat Monitor".

The DCU - with 22 employees at its Redmond headquarters and 60 overall at 30 offices globally including in India -- is working round-the-clock to intercept, analyse and mitigate threats, thus creating a road-map for various industry stakeholders globally to plan relevant actions.

In total, a team of 3,500 professionals at Microsoft is looking at security, built into the company's products and services, using frameworks such as the security development lifecycle and operational security assurance.

Microsoft's Cybersecurity Engagement Centre in New Delhi is already empowering organisations with information and techniques to secure critical information infrastructure and help reduce malware and digital risk.

Microsoft, that invests more than a billion dollars a year in security research, innovation and development, reached out to 126 organisations in India last year.

"Our big worry is attacks from nation-state actors as law enforcement is challenged by borders. The cross-border nature of cyber crime has created safe havens for bad actors. We need a stronger global security law to deal with such situations which are increasing by the day," Bratt emphasised.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived here late on Saturday to hold the annual India-Japan bilateral summit with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe.

"PM @narendramodi arrives in #Tokyo to a warm welcome for his 5th Annual Summit with @AbeShinzo. Japan is one of the few countries that India has this mechanism of annual summits, reflecting the extraordinary depth of our engagement," Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

This is Modi's third visit to Japan for the summit and will be his 12th meeting with Abe since 2014.

Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region and in the defence and security sector, and leveraging Japanese capabilities for India's development initiatives will be the highlights of the agenda in the summit which will be held on Monday.

India is the only country with which Japan holds annual bilateral summits while India has a similar arrangement with Russia too.

--IANS

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(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday left for Japan to hold the annual India-Japan bilateral summit with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe.

This is Modi's third visit to Japan for the summit and will be his 12th meeting with Abe since 2014.

Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region and in the defence and security sector, and leveraging Japanese capabilities for India's development initiatives will be the highlights of the agenda in the summit which will be held on Monday.

India is the only country with which Japan holds annual bilateral summits while India has a similar arrangement with Russia too.

--IANS

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The number of families crossing illegally from Mexico into Texas and Arizona has continued to spike in October, according to federal officials in both the US states.

The increase is causing difficulty at every stage for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including at the border processing facilities, for Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention and at shelters for unaccompanied minors, as well as at Greyhound stations in South Texas, where many migrants are released and travel around the US, CNN quoted a senior DHS official as saying on Friday.

All the facilities from processing to detention were "breaking at the seams", said the official.

This comes as President Donald Trump has railed against the caravan ahead of the mid-term elections, calling its participants "criminals" and threatening to cut off aid to Central American countries that don't stop the progress north.

The administration has accused migrants of abusing the US asylum system and has faced increased political pressure from the President to stop the flow of illegal immigration.

Customs and Border Protection in Texas is planning for the potential arrival of the caravan by meeting with stakeholders, in case it comes that way, said the DHS official.

DHS is currently tracking two caravans, one massive one with thousands of migrants and another, smaller one that formed in El Salvador.

The most recent official border apprehension numbers released by Customs and Border Protection earlier this week were for September, which showed a record high month with 16,658 family apprehensions across the southern border.

At the end of fiscal year 2018, families and unaccompanied minors accounted for about 51 per cent of the apprehensions in the Rio Grande Valley, compared with about 64 percent so far in October, the DHS official said.

--IANS

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Israel's Prime Minister paid a historic visit to Oman, where he met with the sultan of the Gulf country, which has yet to establish formal diplomatic ties with Israel, official sources announced on Friday.

The Omani state-run TV broadcast a video of Sultan Qaboos bin Said welcoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the royal palace of Bait al-Baraka, located near Muscat, Efe reported.

"Prime Minister Netanyahu's visit to Oman is the first official meeting at this level since 1996," Netanyahu posted to his official Twitter account, accompanying the tweet with a photo of the meeting.

During the meeting, Netanyahu and the sultan discussed boosting the peace process in the Middle East and matters of mutual interest, including security and stability in the region, according to sources.

Israeli media reported that Netanyahu was accompanied during the visit by his wife Sara and a number of leading state officials, including the director of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, Yossi Cohen, and the country's national security adviser and National Security Council Director Meir Ben-Shabbat, among others.

Oman, like most Arab countries except Egypt and Jordan, does not recognize the state of Israel.

--IANS

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Scientists say they have engineered a new antibiotic that appears promising in early clinical trials against kidney infections and urinary tract infection (UTI).

The new antibiotic, cefiderocol, acts like the "trojan horse" in Greek legend to trick bacteria into allowing it to enter, the BBC reported on Friday.

Trials on 448 people, reported in the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal, with a kidney or UTI suggested the drug was as effective as current treatments.

"This important study offers hope for a new antibiotic that could potentially be an alternative to treating them, but we are not there yet," Serge Mostowy, Professor from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, was quoted as saying.

The drug takes inspiration from the story of the giant wooden horse which was used to sneak Greek warriors into the city of Troy.

But instead of wood, iron is used to smuggle an antibiotic into bacteria.

"During an acute infection, one of our innate immune responses is to create an iron-poor environment," said Simon Portsmouth, from Shionogi Inc, a Japanese pharmaceutical company, who developed the drug.

"In response, bacteria increase their iron intake," he added.

Cefiderocol binds to iron and, in a deadly mistake, bacteria transport it past their defences and inside their cells.

"Cefiderocol was found to be both safe and tolerable," Portsmouth said.

Bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics is making some infections incredibly difficult to treat.

The Review on Antimicrobial Resistance made stark predictions for the future, including 10 million people dying every year from drug-resistant infections by 2050.

Yet new drugs are in scarce supply, the report said.

Experiments on people with pneumonia and those with infections that are resistant to some of our most powerful drugs, carbapenems, are already under way.

However, much larger trials are needed to be sure of the effectiveness of the cefiderocol that attacks bacteria in a completely new way, the researchers said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, BSP leader Mayawati and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah and said that opposition parties have political and ideological compulsions, but they have to move forward to defeat the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections.

The TDP leader met Loktrantrik Janata Dal leader Sharad Yadav and former Union minister Yashwant Sinha as part of his efforts to bring together opposition parties against the Modi government in the 2019 elections. Naidu also called on CPI leaders D Raja and S Sudhakar Reddy at Capital's Andhra Bhawan.

Addressing a press conference, Naidu attacked the Modi government saying people were feeling betrayed and that opposition parties should find ways to come together in the overall interest of the country.

"What is right, (on that basis) we have to move forward. There are political compulsions, there are ideological compulsions...and overall interest of the nation -- how to join together, how to work together. I am meeting everybody. We will move forward."

Naidu, whose party had quit the Modi government and the ruling National Democratic Alliance earlier this year, accused it of targeting opposition leaders.

Asked if he could be convenor of a third front, Naidu did not give a direct answer, but noted that coalition governments "have done well" and their "policies are very clear."

He said India had "Hindu growth rate" during a long period of Congress dominance and economic reforms were initiated by the Narasimha Rao government, which did not have a full majority on its own.

Naidu referred to the coalition governments including the National Front and the United Front governments and said governments have not been formed without a national party. "You have to give confidence. We have to move forward," he said.

He also talked about the possibility of post-poll tie-ups.

"After elections, some big people may come. (At present) there is pressure from central government. It is a continuous process," he said.

Asked about his stance on Congress, Naidu said the two parties are part of an alliance against the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti in Telangana.

He said Congress had divided the state, but it had promised special status which the BJP-led government did not implement.

Kejriwal, who met Naidu in the capital's Andhra Pradesh Bhawan, later said they discussed national issues.

"Had a good meeting with Chandrababu Naidu. Sharad Yadav was also present for a while. Discussed national issues. Present BJP government is a threat to the nation and to the Constitution. People across India will need to join hands to save India and the Constitution," he tweeted.

Efforts to forge bring opposition parties together are also being forged by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Targeting Modi, Naidu said he has run a full majority government but "it is very bad for the nation."

He said the Modi government had failed to fulfill its promises, and measures such as demonetisation had caused suffering to people.

He said while fraudesters had left the country, the banks were facing mounting non-performing assets.

The TDP leader said the rupee had considerably depreciated and petroleum prices had gone up at record levels.

He said Modi has to answer about the recent unsavoury incidents in the CBI where two top officers made serious allegations against each other.

He alleged that the government had created "power centres" in the agency through an officer whose cadre was the same as the home state of the Prime Minister.

They should "not tinker and damage the institutions", he said, adding that "democracy is in danger".

Answering a query on YSR Congress Party President Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy sustaining a minor injury at the Visakhapatam airport in a knife attack, Naidu said the attack was a "drama" to garner sympathy for the YSR Congress.

He also accused the state governor of "interfering" with the administration.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said the personal ambitions of the Congress leadership had led to the "degeneration of its ideology" and that its dynastic tendencies would have turned India into a kingdom rather than even a dynastic democracy had it not been for the BJP.

He said it was the "personal grievances and ambitions" which compelled the Congress party leadership to visit a congregation where anti-India slogans were raised.

"Would Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi have ever gone to a congregation where 'Bharat ke tukde honge' slogan was raised," he asked while delivering the first Atal Bihari Vajpayee Memorial Lecture at the India Ideas Conclave here.

Jaitley said the Congress, which was the dominant party of Indian for at least four decades post-Independence, developed dynastic tendencies after its second decade in power.

He said the Indian parliamentary democracy needed an alternative ideological and political pole without which it was incomplete.

"It was then that Atal Bihari Vajpayee put across his alternative view point whether it was Kashmir, Tibet or situation arising post the India-China war. The alternative voice was his.

"Indian democracy, because of the two political parties as national parties, became a viable parliamentary democracy... The principal party, from the weakness it showed in the second decade, would have succeeded in converting India more into a kingdom rather than even a dynastic democracy," Jaitley said.

Listing the challenges ahead for India, he said terrorism and insurgency would always remain one of the key threats.

The Minister said while India had been successful in eliminating terror, or reducing it substantially, in three parts of India -- Punjab, northeast and southern part of India - two challenges that still remained were Kashmir and Maoism.

In reply to a question, he said the living realities of Kashmir were that trouble was being fomented from across the border, some local groups had now joined in and the worst sufferers of this were the Kashmiri people.

He said in this battle, India needed the Kashmiri people on its side.

"It's a battle for sovereignty, a battle against separatists and terrorists. And the key is also held by people. Therefore, the approach has to be guided by the fact that those people are on our side and not with separatists," Jaitley said.

Taking a dig at the regional parties of Jammu and Kashmir, the Minister said they spoke one language in Srinagar and another in Delhi.

He said the of India had to send a clear message that "separatism will never be accepted by India and its mainstream".

Talking about Maoists, he said some mainstream parties were giving respectability to them.

Referring to the degrading quality of and public discourse, Jaitley said there was a disconnect between the aspirational new India that was emerging and the larger quality of politics.

Regarding Vajpayee's statesmanship and respect for his opponents, he said the best speech he ever gave was his obituary tribute to Jawaharlal Nehru in Parliament.

"We have to keep the spirit of democracy alive. And let's be clear: democracy can't be saved by those who are committed to dynasties, or those who are committed to the left-wing philosophy of violent overthrows of government, or those who believe in breaking India into pieces," he said.

Jaitley said the other challenges facing India were poverty and corruption. He added another issue that India had to deal with was to figure out a balance between fundamental rights and the right to religion.

"And these will remain issues which will throw up contemporary challenges which the society has to find the answer to," he said.

"The fundamental principles are very clear: India will never have a state religion, theocracy can never be, and India will always protect minorities."

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Producer and Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, who is gearing up for the release of his next production venture 'Thackeray', has confirmed that he is planning to make a sequel on the life of late Balasaheb Thackeray.

Sanjay Raut was interacting with the media at the song recording session of 'Thackeray' along with party chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday in Mumbai.

Talking about making the sequel of 'Thackeray', Raut said, "We can't sum up his life in one film. So, we are planning to make another part of his biopic as its sequel and we have started working on that aspect as well.

"Working with Balasaheb (Thackeray) was my dream. I have started visualising this new dream so that I can revisit my fond memories with him. I always tell that I can't live without him and through this film, I will be able to fulfill my wish."

When asked whether they have shown any controversial aspect about Thackeray's life, he said, "We haven't shown any controversial aspect in this film. Balasaheb's life has been an open book. He never tried to hide anything from his life. So, in this film also we are not showing any hidden truth of his life."

On casting Nawazuddin Siddiqui to play the late Shiv Sena founder, Raut said: "The decision was completely mine and I never discussed it with anyone else. When I thought that Nawazuddin can play role of Balasaheb that time, I started discussing with him about this film.

"When I told him that you are going to play the role of Balasaheb in a film that time, he was surprised for a minute but within three minutes, he agreed to be part of the film. He has done a really great job in the film and the audience will realise that fact when they watch the film."

'Thackeray', a biopic on late Shiv Sena Supremo Bal Thackaray has been written by Sanjay Raut and directed by Abhijt Panse.

It stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Amruta Rao in lead roles. It will be released in Hindi, Marathi, and English languages on January 23, 2019.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Posters depicting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's 'Statue of Unity' were being torn or blackened by tribals who oppose the unveiling of the statue in Gujarat's Narmada district, an official said on Saturday.

Across the district, 90 per cent of the posters depicting Modi, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and of the event were being either torn or blackened.

"This is clearly a sign of how the tribal community is dissenting against the BJP. They have taken away our land, the most valuable resource a tribal has, to carry out the so called development," said Prafull Vasava, a tribal leader.

"The authorities have replaced the torn posters with new ones and kept them guarded by the police. This might be the first time anywhere in the world that even posters of a Prime Minister have to be guarded by the police.

"Tribal communities from Narmada have been opposing this project since 2010, but now the entire tribal belt in the state is against it," he added.

Around 75,000 tribals affected by the 'Statue of Unity' project are expected to oppose the unveiling slated for October 31 by staging a bandh.

Some 100 small and big tribal organisations across the state have backed the bandh.

"Right from Banaskantha to the Dang district, nine tribal districts will be joining us in the agitation. And the 'Bandh' will not only be limited to schools, offices or commercial establishments, but households will be observing a 'fast' (no cooking)," Vasava said.

"No food will be cooked in 72 villages affected by the entire project, as we will be mourning the project which is being carried out for our destruction," added Vasava.

According to tradition, food is not cooked in a tribal village when they mourn the dead.

"Our rights as tribals are being violated by the government. We don't have anything against the great son of Gujarat, Sardar Patel and his honour should be maintained. We are not against the development even, but this project is against us," added Vasava.

Located in the mountain range of Satpura and Vindhyanchal, about 100 km from Vadodara, the world's tallest statue will be inaugurated by Modi on October 31, marking the 143rd birth anniversary of Sardar Patel (1875-1950).

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Dassault Aviation CEO Eric Trappier has said that Reliance was the best to deliver what they wanted in the deal by India to procure Rafale fighter jets and the unit price of 36 aircraft to be delivered in a fly-away condition was the same as that of 18 that were part of the deal negotiated by the UPA government.

In an interview with CNBC TV 18, Trappier said Dassault Aviation had chosen Reliance as a partner.

"The choice of Reliance is mine. I had the choice of Reliance in 2011. We signed first MoU in 2012. We continue to have discussion with Reliance. We, when the contract was announced for 36 aircraft, continued to have agreement with them as Dassault policy is to set up facilities in India and I want to produce from scratch, a Falcon 2000 in India including the assembly line of the Falcon 2000, including the flight testing production flight in India," he said.

"For that I need an air-field. How can I do an assembly line without an air-field? Bengaluru is very busy, it's a very busy city, it's a big city, but there are no land available. The same story in Mumbai, same story in New Delhi. I found that Nagpur is in the middle of India, where land is available and we can build new hangars, facilities and the manufacturing of Falcon parts, of Rafale parts including when the assembly line would be a very good idea for my company," he added.

Answering a query, Trappier said it was important to set up facilities as a French company in India and to produce the parts it required.

"So for us it looked like Reliance could help us to get what we wanted," he said.

Referring to offsets for Rafale jet, he said not only Reliance but included many other companies.

"Roughly we need to perform 50 per cent of the value of the contract as per terms of offset. Out of 50 per cent of our obligation today, 40 per cent is already identified in order to create the value to answer to this (DPP) requirement.

Among this, for 40 percent, we had already signed 30 agreements with companies, not joint ventures. There is only one joint venture. We have 30 other companies, which we have already signed today and we are in discussion with 70 others and it's all around India. It's not in Nagpur, it's in Mumbai, Bengaluru and New Delhi. We are also starting discussions in order to have technology and development," he said.

Referring to the Dassault Relaince Aerospace Limited (DRAL) joint venture, he said its capital today is roughly Rs 70 crore and many go up to Rs 850 crore.

Asked about the Congress allegation that the Rafale jets were being procured by Modi government at almost three times the cost of that negotiated by the UPA government, Trappier said it's a government-to-government deal and it is up to the two governments to disclose information.

"We had 126 aircraft in the MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft), and among them, 18 were supposed to be in a flyway condition. The price of the 18 per aircraft is same as for the 36, when we delivered the first proposal. So, there is no increase in the price.

"During 2015-2016, we had tough negotiations with the Ministry of Defence as usual. We were able to decrease 9 percent on the total package. Same price for 36 as before for the 18, same unit price and then rebate of 9 per cent on the total package of the contract. So, those who said that we have multiplied by 3 the price of the aircraft, I cannot understand," he said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
An ashram run by a supporter of the Supreme Court's Sabarimala verdict came under attack early on Saturday here, Kerala Police said, and announced a probe by a special team.

While Swami Sandeepananda Giri accused the BJP-RSS combine for the attack, a Sabarimala tantri family member said the monk himself set his property ablaze to implicate the saffron brigade, who in their turn named the Left party for trying to frame them for the religious fallout.

Two cars and a two-wheeler parked outside the ashram were set on fire around 2 a.m., said Giri, who was present on the premises at the time.

Giri has been taking a strong stand against the BJP-RSS combine in the state that has criticised the apex court's September 28 verdict opening the gates of the Lord Ayyappa shrine for all women.

The attack coming amidst an ongoing crackdown on protesters who prevented women between the 10-50 age group from entering the temple between October 17 and 22, saw Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan immediately by Giri's side.

Vijayan was accompanied by Finance Minister Thomas Issac and State Devasom Minister Kadakampally Surendran.

"The Sangh Parivar is trying to silence me for my position taken against them," Giri told Vijayan, fearing for his life.

The Chief Minister who has taken a strong stand against any breach of the court's verdict asked Director General of Police Loknath Behra to take immediate action.

The security at the ashram has been taken up by the police, Behra said, adding that a special team headed by Trivandrum City Commissioner P. Prakash would be investigating the attack and "nothing will be left to chance".

Vijayan told the media at the ashram that the secular minds of Kerala were fully behind Giri. "Kerala knows the stand that the Swami has taken and is known for his secular outlook.

"Those behind this attack will be taken to task and the criminals who have done this will be brought before the law," he said.

Rahul Eashwar, a member of the Sabarimala tantri family, who had come under attack from Giri said that it's for the police to find out who was behind the arson.

"If the police finds out that I am responsible, then I should be arrested and if it's found out that the Swami himself started the fire, he should be taken to task," said Eashwar.

Senior Congress legislator K. Muraleedharan under whose constituency the ashram is located dismissed Eashwar's statement. "I know what the Swami stands for and he will never do such a thing. This is nothing but a baseless allegation," said Muraleedharan.

However, state Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson A.N. Radhakrishnan told the media that it's the Communist Party of India-Marxist who has attacked the ashram.

"The CPI-M is behind this attack and propagating that we are behind it. We have no role in this," said Radhakrishnan.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah on Saturday said that the Supreme Court should not pass verdicts that conflict with the religious faith of the people and can't be implemented on the ground.

He also warned the Kerala government led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to be ready to face the consequences of targeting Lord Ayyappa devotees.

Targeting the CPI-M government for allegedly committing atrocities on workers of the BJP, the RSS, the NSS (Nair Service Society) and the devotees of Lord Ayyappa on the pretext of the SC judgement, Shah said there were scores of judgments including banning the practice of Jallikattu, use of loudspeakers in mosques, curbing the Dahi-Handi pyramid event in Maharashtra during Ganesh Chaturthi and others - that could not be implemented on the ground.

Shah was speaking at a public meeting in Kannur, Kerala.

Referring to Article 14 (guaranteeing right to equality) and Articles 25 and 26 (guaranteeing right to practise and profess one's religion), Shah asked how could right to equality override other fundamental rights to practise one's religion.

Attacking the Kerala Chief Minister for taking the cover of the Supreme Court judgement to unleash atrocities on the devotees of Lord Ayyappa, Shah said that the Communist government was attacking the Hindu temples and their traditions.

Kerala police have arrested over 1,400 people across the state, registering 258 cases against 2,000 people for defying an order of the Supreme Court that had allowed women of all ages to visit the temple.

The Supreme Court had on September 28 overturned a centuries-old practice that barred women of menstrual age (10-50 years) from entering the hill temple, where celibate deity Lord Ayyappa is worshipped.

On October 17, the temple opened at 5 p.m. for the monthly pujas which ended on October 22. Protesters ensured that no female in the 10-50 age group could make it to the sanctum sanctorum of the temple.

If the state government does not stop attacking the devotees of Lord Ayyappa, then it should be "ready to face the wrath of the people" backed by the BJP, the RSS, the NSS and other outfits, he warned.

He said that it was women who were resisting the entry of menstruating women in Lord Ayyappa Sabarimala temple.

"It is the women who are at the forefront of the agitation that women in the age group of 10 to 50 years should not go to the Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala", Shah said.

He named a number of temples across the country where women alone could enter.

Defending the practice of prohibiting the entry of women in the age group of 10 to 50 years in the Sabarimala temple, Shah said Hindus have reformed their practices, referring to permitting widow remarriage and curbing child marriage.

He said that the Hindu faith has never undermined women and respected them as mother and goddess.

Criticising Vijayan for not doing enough for the relief and rehabilitation of the people affected by floods, Shah said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had sanctioned a number of projects for Kerala, included setting up of an IIT, and a Super Specialty Hospital, but the state government failed to acquire land for these projects.

Asking Vijayan to resign for his failures, Shah said that instead of committing atrocities on those opposing the entry of women in the age group of 10 to 50 years into the Sabarimala temple, the Chief Minister should focus on the development of the state.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In one of the biggest crackdown on gold smuggling in the two years, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized 55 kg of smuggled gold worth Rs 18.2 crore from West Bengal's Siliguri and arrested two persons, an official said on Saturday.

Acting on a tip-off, the DRI officials detained a car on Friday that was carrying the smuggled gold from Bhutan's Phuentsholing to Siliguri and seized 55 pieces of gold bars weighing one kg each.

"Two persons Ganesh Bhagawan Kute and Navnath Kallapa Kute, both natives of Sangali district in Maharashtra, were arrested while travelling from Bhutan to Siliguri. The gold bars were concealed in a cavity under the driver's seat," a DRI official said.

"It is one of the biggest gold seizures made in the country since in the last two years," he said.

According to the agency officials, the two accused smugglers went to Bhutan from the neighbouring Indian town Jaigaon on Friday morning, where they received the consignment from a Bhutanese contact.

"The seized gold was earlier smuggled to Bhutan from various countries such as China, Australia and Switzerland and was supposed to be delivered to someone in Siliguri for further transportation," the official added.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Sri Lanka's newly-appointed Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa, has secured a majority in the island's 225-member Parliament and will continue to retain his job despite protests from the ruling United National Party (UNP), the Rajapaksa-led Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) said here on Saturday.

Namal, an SLPP legislator and Rajapaksa's eldest son, told Xinhua news agency that his father had secured the support of over 120 legislators, thus winning him a majority at the Parliament, and a new caretaker government would be sworn in soon.

"All MPs supporting Mahinda Rajapaksa will meet President Maithripala Sirisena later on Saturday and we will finalise the new list of ministers. A new caretaker government will be formed either on Sunday or Monday," Namal Rajapaksa said.

He added that the immediate aim of the caretaker government would be to stabilize the economy and end the political crisis in the country.

Rajapaksa was appointed as the nation's new Prime Minister by Sirisena on Friday night, shocking "ousted" leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and his UNP.

The President, in a letter sent to Wickremesinghe said he had been removed after the Sirisena-led United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) quit the national coalition government.

Wickremesinghe called the move "illegal" and said a Prime Minister could only be sacked if he loses a no-confidence motion in Parliament. He vowed to continue on the post and called for Parliament to convene to prove his majority.

Sirisena earlier on Saturday suspended Parliament till November 16.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena prorogued Parliament on Saturday, a day after he sacked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and replaced him with former leader Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The next Parliament session would commence on November 16, the Daily Mirror reported citing the Speaker's office.

"The President has prorogued the Parliament with effect from 12 noon on Saturday," Cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne told reporters.

The development came after Wickremesinghe, who says he is still the Prime Minister, urged the Speaker to convene Parliament on Sunday to prove he still retained his parliamentary majority.

"I urge to convene Parliament without leading the country into chaos. It is not necessary to create crisis in the country. Let the Parliament decide who should be the Prime Minister," he said.

Sri Lankan Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera and State Minister of National Policies and Economic Affairs Harsha de Silva described Sirisena's action as illegal and in violation of the Constitution, the Island reported.

The political crisis began after Sirisena sacked Wickremesinghe and appointed Rajapaksa as the new Prime Minister on Friday night.

Rajapaksa took the oath in front of the President shortly after the Sirisena-led United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) withdrew from the national coalition government.

The coalition government consisted of the UPFA and the United National Party (UNP) led by Wickremesinghe.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
DMK chief M.K. Stalin on Saturday said the political developments in Sri Lanka is a cause of concern not only for the Tamils there but also for those in Tamil Nadu, especially the fishermen.

To the shock of Tamils world over former President of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapaksa has been appointed as the Prime Minister by the current President Maithripala Sirisena, the DMK President said in a statement.

This is while the sacked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe insists he continues to be in office, Stalin added.

According to Stalin, the development in Sri Lanka is also a cause of concern for the fishermen of Tamil Nadu.

He said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Ministry of External Affairs should clarify on the issue of safety of Tamil Nadu fishermen.

The political crisis in Sri Lanka began after Sirisena sacked Wickremesinghe and appointed Rajapaksa as the new Prime Minister late on Friday.

Rajapaksa took oath in front of the President shortly after the Sirisena-led United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) withdrew from the national coalition government.

The coalition government consisted of the UPFA and the United National Party (UNP) led by Wickremesinghe.

--IANS

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A 14-year-old student of a Delhi government school on Saturday attacked his class teacher with a steel rod after being scolded, police said.

At around 9.30 a.m., the Class 8 student of Vir Chander Singh Garhwali Government School in Saket, attacked Shyam Sunder Chaudhary after the teacher scolded him for keeping a steel rod in the school bag, Deputy Commissioner of Police Vijay Kumar said.

Chaudhary had also phoned the accused's uncle to inform about his continuous absence from school.

The furious student attacked the teacher multiple times on the head even as some students tried to hold him down. He then fled from the campus, Kumar said.

The victim was taken to a hospital where he was discharged after first aid.

Legal action is being taken against the accused, police said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A spy working for Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence has been arrested from Bulandshahr district of Uttar Pradesh, police said on Saturday.

The ISI agent, Zahid, was found with maps and other confidential details about Meerut Cantonment, an official said. He is being questioned.

Zahid hails from the state's Khurja district and has been to Pakistan twice, the last time being in June this year.

Bulandshahr SP (City) Praveen Ranjan said electronic devices and a mobile phone recovered from Zahid are being checked for further leads and evidence. Police claimed that he was using Skype and WhatsApp to pass on vital information about the Indian Army and its movements to Pakistan's intelligence agencies.

Zahid's sister, Hashmati, has denied that her brother was a spy and has demanded a fair probe into the matter.

A police officer privy to the investigations said that Zahid's financial background was poor, but his bank account had Rs 5 lakh. Authorities are now probing as to who deposited that amount into Zahid's bank account.

His laptop allegedly has a lot of information on the cantonments of Meerut, Roorkie and some other places along with detailed maps.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir on Saturday said that the suspects in the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi would be prosecuted in the kingdom.

At a security conference in Bahrain, Al-Jubeir accused the western of "hysteria" in its coverage of the case. He said the kingdom was being blamed even before the probe into the case was complete, the BBC reported.

"This issue has become fairly hysterical. I think people have assigned blame on Saudi Arabia with such certainty before the investigation is complete.

"We have made it clear that we are going to have a full and transparent investigation, the results of which will be released."

Al-Jubeir remarks came a day after Turkey said it wished to extradite 18 Saudi nationals authorities say were involved in the murder of the Washington Post contributor and Saudi government critic. Khashoggi was last seen alive entering the kingdom's consulate in Turkey on October 2.

After weeks of providing conflicting accounts of what happened to Khashoggi, the kingdom last week said that he was killed "accidentally" in a fist fight at the consulate by "rogue" agents. However, it denies the ruling royal family's involvement in the killing.

The kingdom had earlier dismissed five high-ranking officials -- including Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman's chief and the deputy head of the Saudi intelligence service -- and arrested 18 people in the case.

"On the issue of extradition, the individuals are Saudi nationals. They're detained in Saudi Arabia, and the investigation is in Saudi Arabia, and they will be prosecuted in Saudi Arabia," Al-Jubeir said.

Turkey and Saudi Arabia are not known to have an extradition treaty, the BBC said.

Before Al-Jubeir, US Defence Secretary James Mattis addressed the conference. He condemned Khashoggi's killing as "intolerable" and called it a national security concern for nations in the Middle East.

"Such behaviour undermines stability in the Middle East at a time when the region needs it most," he said.

Mattis reiterated US President Donald Trump's vow to get to the bottom of what happened to the journalist.

Mattis said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would be taking unspecified "additional measures" in response to the killing beyond the revocation of US visas for certain Saudi suspects.

He suggested Khashoggi's murder threatened stability in the Middle East at a time when the region can't afford it.

"When opposing voices can be heard within a political process adapted to each nation's culture, one that permits peaceful opposition by giving voice and human rights to all, a nation becomes more secure," Mattis said.

"When people can speak and be heard calling for peace and respect for all, the terrorist message of hatred and violence is not embraced. With our collective interests in peace and unwavering respect for human rights in mind, the murder of Khashoggi in a diplomatic facility must concern us all greatly."

Mattis said the US' respect for the Saudi people was undiminished, but added that "with our respect must come transparency and trust", the report said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Two new suspicious packages targeting Indian-origin Senator Kamala Harris and billionaire political activist Tom Steyer -- both Democrats -- have been recovered even as federal officials arrested a Florida man accused of sending pipe bombs to critics of President Donald Trump.

These packages put the total number of devices found in the US by law enforcement officials to 14. None have detonated, but all have pushed officials onto high alert as they worry about additional devices being delivered.

Law enforcement authorities on Friday rushed to investigate one package addressed to Harris, the first Indian-American to serve in the Senate, that was discovered by a postal employee in Sacramento.

Harris, a potential contender in the 2020 presidential race, has been a vocal critic of Trump like the others who have been targeted earlier this week.

Another package was addressed to Steyer, a major Democratic donor, and was found at a post office in Burlingame, the Los Angeles Times reported.

"Our office was informed that a suspicious package was addressed to the senator similar to those that have been sent to other elected officials," Harris' spokeswoman Lily Adams said.

Sacramento County sheriff's officials said the Harris package contained a legitimate explosive device, similar to those sent earlier in the week to high-profile political targets. The FBI later said its bomb technicians rendered the package safe.

Investigators also were examining another package addressed to Steyer, who has previously advocated Trump's impeachment.

On Friday, Florida man Cesar Altieri Sayoc was detained in connection with the spate of suspicious, potentially explosive devices sent to prominent critics of Trump earlier this week.

Trump said that the suspect would face "swift and certain justice", while urging Americans to "unify" against these "despicable" acts.

The arrest came after 12 people received suspicious packages containing suspected explosives in the last few days, including former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The other two packages, intercepted on Friday in Florida and New York, were addressed to Democratic Senator Cory Booker and to former National Intelligence Director James Clapper.

The discovery of suspicious packages containing suspected explosives began on Monday, when billionaire philanthropist George Soros, a known Democratic donor, received one at his home in the state of New York.

The episode comes less than two weeks ahead of the November 6 mid-term congressional elections.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has asked telecom operators to be ready with an alternate verification process for approval from the department by November 5, as it ordered the operators to stop using Aadhaar e-KYC for the verification process.

The DoT in a notification on Friday ordered immediate discontinuation of the Aadhaar-based verification process for telecom subscribers in accordance with the Supreme Court's verdict on September 26 which barred private entities from possessing Aadhaar details of their customers.

The telecom industry, through its joint representation on October 5, had suggested an alternate digital KYC (Know Your Customer) process for mobile subscribers.

"All telecom service providers are directed to ensure readiness of their systems and offer the Proof of Concept of the proposed digital process by 5 November for approval," the notification said.

It further said: "Meanwhile, this process can be implemented provisionally by all TSPs (telecom service providers).

Any modification if required in the process by the government shall be carried out with a period of 30 days, it noted.

Directing TSPs to stop the use of Aadhaar-based verification, DoT said: "All licensees shall discontinue the use of Aadhaar e-KYC service of UIDAI for re-verification of existing subscribers with immediate effect."

The system proposed by the operators envisaged that the Customer Acquisition Form would be embedded with live photograph of subscriber and scanned images of proof of identity (POI) and proof of address (POA), thereby digitizing the end-to-end process of providing new subscriptions.

--IANS

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Actress Rakul Preet Singh says playing the role of late veteran actress Sridevi in the upcoming NTR biopic is an achievement for her.

Talking about playing Sridevi in the film, Rakul said: "I am truly honoured and excited to play role of Srideviji in NTR biopic. When I was approached for that role, I asked the makers that they really think that I can pull it off because she is the first Indian female superstar. She was such a fine and legendary actress."

She says the responsibility of essaying her role is even more now.

"I was feeling really scared hoping that I will be able to do justice to it but there is sense achievement as well because if makers thought that I can play her role then, I will give my best for the film," she said at The Wedding Junction Show 2018 here.

The biopic is based on the life of yesteryear superstar NT Rama Rao. Actress Vidya Balan has reportedly been roped in to play NTR's wife Basavatarakam in it. The film will also star Bengali actor Jisshu, who will be seen portraying the role of filmmaker and Dadasaheb Phalke awardee LV Prasad. He had launched NTR in films in 1949 with Mana Desam.

Directed by Krish J, the film is being jointly produced by N Balakrishna, who plays the title role in the film, Vishnu Induri and Sai Korrapati.

Asked about the ongoing #MeToo movement in India, Rakul said, "It's very good that we have started this kind of movement but I think we have to draw lines when it comes to deciding what is right and what is wrong. Cases of attempt to rape and flirting cannot come in one bracket therefore, I hope genuine cases don't get diluted as so many of cases are coming out in the open."

The 28-year-old actress says she fully supports women who are coming out and sharing their stories.

"It's great that women will be respected and there will be much cleaner and safer environment for women at their workplace," she added.

In Bollywood, Rakul will soon be seen sharing screen space with actor Ajay Devgn in Luv Ranjan's upcoming production "De De Pyaar De".

"There is another Hindi film which I have signed recently and it will be announced within a week. Apart from that, I am working in three Tamil movies. One of them will release in December and remaining two will release next year. There are two Telugu films as well which will release next year and one of them is NTR's biopic"

"De De Pyaar De" is a romantic comedy by Akiv Ali, who will mark his directorial debut.

-- IANS

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A special court on Saturday sent three civil liberties activists, Shubha Bharadwaj, Vernon S. Gonsalves and Arun T. Ferreira, to police custody till November 6 for their alleged involvement in the Koregaon-Bhima caste riots on January 1, officials said.

The development came a day after the Special Judge of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act Court, K. D. Vadane rejected their bail applications in the case filed against them by the Vishrambaug police station here in January this year.

Shortly after their bail pleas were rejected, Gonsalves was arrested from his home and Ferreira from Thane. They were under 'house arrest' for almost two months following a directive.

A police team, which had gone to Faridabad, Haryana, nabbed Bharadwaj and brought her to where she was produced before the special court late this evening.

Special Judge Vadane has directed the police to provide her with medications whenever required.

The three - Bharadwaj, Gonsalves and Ferreira - are among the prime accused in the cases filed pertaining to the Elgar Parishad of December 31, 2017, leading to the Koregaon-Bhima caste riots of January 1 this year.

In the remand plea, the Pune Police contended that Gonsalves and Ferreira were entrusted with recruitment through the Radical Students Union (RSU) on behalf of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) and sending them to the guerrilla warfare zones. The police said they wanted to probe how many and who had been hired for these causes.

The police also need to investigate the sources of funds and for what activities the monies were being used by the two accused.

The remand application claimed that the police have unearthed a major conspiracy to 'overthrow' the democratically elected with violent means and they wanted to probe this further.

Establishing connections with the earlier group of activists arrested in June, the police said Gonsalves was in regular contact with another co-accused in the case, Sudhir Dhawale.

The investigators wanted to examine electronic devices in their (Gonsalves-Ferreira) presence, probe their financial and bank dealings, documents, emails, and mobile call records.

In August, the Pune Police had raided and arrested five accused including Bharadwaj, Gonsalves, Ferreira, (now released) and P. Varavara Rao (currently under house arrest in Hyderabad).

Earlier in June, the Pune Police had nabbed activists Rona Wilson, Sudhir Dhawale, Shoma Sen, Surendra Gadling and Mahesh Raut in the Koregaon-Bhima case.

Besides the Koregaon-Bhima violence, the police said the accused had links with Maoist and Kashmiri terror groups, were hatching a conspiracy to carry out a high-level political assassination in a 'Rajiv Gandhi-style operation', procuring arms and ammunition, seeking to incite disturbances and violence in the country to topple the democratically elected government.

--IANS

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US President Donald Trump accused the American of using the arrest of one of his apparent supporters in the mail bomb case to "score political points" against him, less than two weeks before the mid-term elections.

At a rally on Friday in Charlotte, North Carolina, Trump gave a speech in which he praised law enforcement officials for the arrest and talked about "civility" and national unity, before attacking the and encouraging chants against it, reports Efe news.

"Political violence must never ever be allowed in America and I will do everything in my power to stop it," Trump said.

"Everyone will benefit if we can end the of personal destruction. We must unify as a nation in peace, love and harmony."

The President then moved to attack the for having reported that Cesar Altieri Sayoc, 56, the man arrested on Friday accused of sending package bombs to prominent Democratic figures and Trump critics, is one of his supporters.

Sayoc, who faces a maximum sentence of 48 years in prison if convicted, is believed to own a white van that was seized by law enforcement on Friday. It was papered with pictures celebrating Trump, images insulting Democrats, and a "CNN sucks" sticker.

"We have seen an effort by the media in recent hours to use the sinister actions of one individual to score political points against me and the Republican party," he said.

"The media has tried to attack the incredible Americans who support our movement to give power back to the people," said Trump, who added his followers were the most "honest", "hardworking" and "patriotic" people "on the face of God's Earth".

The crowd welcomed the messages with applause and, on a couple of occasions, the President encouraged chants such as "fake news" and "CNN sucks."

Sayoc was arrested in his home state of Florida on Friday.

He is suspected of sending package bombs - of which there were at least 13 - to Democrats and Trump critics and faces five charges, including the illegal mailing of explosives and threatening former presidents.

The FBI confirmed the packages contained "improvised explosive devices" that did not explode.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Twitter has apologised for failing to act on threatening tweets made by Cesar Sayoc who is suspected of sending improvised explosive devices to Democratic leaders and critics of US President Donald Trump.

"We are investigating what happened and will continue to work to improve how we handle concerns raised by anyone on Twitter," it said in a statement.

On October 11, Sayoc published a threatening tweet to former congressional press secretary Rochelle Ritchie by telling her "We will see you 4 sure". Ritchie alerted Twitter of the tweet made from Sayoc's account, which contained several disturbing images and statements.

"Hug your loved ones real close every time you leave you (sic) home," Sayoc tweeted with Ritchie's picture and a screenshot of a news story of a dead teenager, Business Insider reported on Saturday.

Ritchie reported the incident to Twitter but the company said it "carefully" reviewed her case and "found that there was no violation of the Twitter Rules against abusive behaviour", according to a screenshot uploaded by Ritchie.

Later, on Friday, police arrested and charged Sayoc, a pro-Trump activist seen attending a Trump campaign rally in 2017.

His suspected social media accounts also featured threatening messages to other Trump critics, including those whose names were on the explosive packages sent to Democratic lawmakers.

Twitter, then, suspended Sayoc's account by Friday afternoon.

"We made a mistake when Rochelle Ritchie first alerted us to the threat made against her. The tweet clearly violated our rules and should have been removed. We are deeply sorry for that error," the company said.

The statement came after Ritchie complained to Twitter after Sayoc's tweets were publicised.

--IANS

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Actress Yami Gautam, who is gearing up for the release of her forthcoming movie "Uri", says it will be a special film for her career.

"It's going to be one of the most special films of my career. The way Aditya Dhar has written and directed it and Vicky (Kaushal) and the entire cast has put in a lot of hard work," Yami told IANS here.

She says the film had to be shown to every Indian in the country.

"'Uri' is going to be a special film. It is based on a true event which is important not just for me as an actor but as even a citizen... It was something which had to be shown. People should know what it takes to be in those shoes and do what it actually takes to keep us safe the way we are," she added.

The film also stars Vicky Kaushal, who will be seen playing the role of an Indian commando who is involved in the 2016 surgical strikes.

Based on the surgical strikes of 2016 carried out by the Indian Armed Forces, "Uri" traces the significant event.

It also features Kirti Kulhari and Paresh Rawal in lead roles. Produced by RSVP movies, "Uri" will hit the theatres on January 11, 2019.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
"13 Reasons Why" breakout Katherine Langford has boarded the cast of upcoming "Avengers 4" in an unspecified role.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the 22-year-old actor has shot her scenes for the film but the details of her character have not been revealed yet.

Marvel Studios has also not confirmed the actor's casting.

Langford is currently awaiting the premiere of Netflix's "Cursed" series, created by Frank Miller and Tom Wheeler.

The series is a fresh take on the Arthurian legend, and follows teenager Nimue, who joins forces with mercenary Arthur on a quest to find Merlin and deliver an ancient sword. It will come on Netflix in 2019.

"Avengers 4" will release worldwide on May 3 next year.

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Over 20 cycle expeditions, drawn from the Army's infantry regiments across the country, Saturday culminated here at the India Gate, after covering more than 25,000 km over a month.

Army Chief Gen. Bipin Rawat welcomed the members of several infantry regiments with a chequered flag as they wheeled in against the backdrop of the iconic memorial.

The event coincided with the 72nd Infantry Day, and Rawat earlier laid a wreath at the Amar Jawan Jyoti to pay tribute on the occasion.

"As many as 23 expeditions, which started from different cities, reached Delhi on Saturday, covering over 25,000 km," a senior Army official said.

Rawat also felicitated the members of the expedition by giving them trophies at a ceremony held at the India Gate complex.

The regiments included the Para Regiment, Punjab Regiment, Madras Regiment, Rajputana Regiment, Jat Regiment, Sikh Regiment, Sikh Light Infantry, Dogra Regiment, Assam Regiment, Bihar Regiment, Jammu and Kashmir Regiment.

Along the way, members of different regiments engaged in several activities, ranging from raising awareness about cleanliness to 'Namami Gange' project and girl education to yoga.

"Each members of the expedition left their respective regiment at different times and covered different distances, but they all converged here," the official said.

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Photos of East Island taken in May before the hurricane show the pristine 4.5-hectare sand and gravel spit.

Fletcher and his colleagues were researching East Island via drone devices and sand and coral samples.

Clark, the NOAA superintendent for the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, which includes the French Frigate Shoals, said no one immediately realized the island had largely disappeared because it is so remote.

East Island, located in the Pacific Ocean, has largely disappeared after being struck by Hurricane Walaka in early October.

"It's a really powerful example of the power and potential of nature that overnight an island was washed away", Littnan said.

A statement by the federal managers of the monument said that East Island "appears to be under water", while the neighboring Tern island had its shape altered by the hurricane.

The extent of the ecological damage and whether the island will ever return is still unknown, but about a seventh of the entire population of Hawaiian monk seals-one of the most endangered marine mammals-was born on East Island, and more than half of all Hawaiian green sea turtles-which are classified as threatened under the Endangered Species Act-had nested on it. This information was confirmed and environmentalists, providing the first images of the new terrain.

Chip Fletcher, a University of Hawaii climate scientist, told the Honolulu Civil Beat this week he was stunned at the news. It was used for breeding monk seals, which are under threat of extinction and rare today of a green turtle. Traditionally, the reason for the "jitter" of the earth's axis was considered as the movement of glaciers, but by combining mathematical models of other global processes, which are theoretically able to reject the axis, the researchers found that the reason is not one - three: convection of the mantle matter, the planets, the movement of glaciers and the melting of the global cryosphere caused by climate change.

East Island, which is part of French Frigate Shoals in Hawaii's Northwestern islands, pictured in May 2018.

If conditions align, an atoll would always be at a small risk of being erased by a powerful hurricane.

Scientists say the storm's massive surge, as well as rising sea levels resulting from climate change, factored into the island's disappearance.

Charles Littnan, the director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's protected species division, said that it'll probably take several years to determine the impact of the island's disappearance on these species' future.
The 72nd Infantry Day was observed at the Wellington military station in Nilgiris district Saturday to commemorate the sacrifice of men during the battle to save the Kashmir valley.

A wreath-laying ceremony was conducted at the war memorial of the Madras regimental centre, a release said.

Infantry Day is observed annually on October 27 since the first contingent of the infantry landed at Srinagar and fought the battle with intruders in the valley, the release said.

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A gunman opened fire at a Jewish synagogue in the US city of Pittsburgh on Saturday, with up to eight people feared killed, local media reports said.

Among the injured are three police officers. The shooter, said to be a bearded white male, has been taken into custody. He was taken to a hospital as he was injured during the exchange of fire with the police.

FBI agents have reached the 'Tree of Life' Congregation Synagogue at Squirrel Hill area in Pittsburgh, where a large number of people had gathered for a morning service when the shooting took place.

Initial reports indicated that this was a hate crime.

According to the local KDKA channel, the gunman walked into the building and yelled, "all Jews must die".

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said President Donald Trump is monitoring the situation.

"Watching the events unfolding in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Law enforcement on the scene. People in Squirrel Hill area should remain sheltered. Looks like multiple fatalities. Beware of active shooter. God Bless All!" Trump said in a tweet.

"Monitoring reports of a shooting at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. Praying for the fallen, the injured, all the families impacted, and our courageous first responders. God bless them all," Vice President Mike Pence said.

According to Michael Eisenberg, past president of Tree of Life Synagogue the shooting happened during weekly Shabbat services at the Jewish synagogue. At the time, three simultaneous congregation services were taking place.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf described it as a tragedy.

"The shooting in Pittsburgh this morning is an absolute tragedy...These senseless acts of violence are not who we are as Americans. My thoughts right now are focused on the victims, their families and making sure law enforcement has every resource they need," he said.

"We cannot accept this violence as normal," Wolf said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A gunman on Saturday opened fire at a Jewish synagogue in the US city of Pittsburgh, killing at least eight people and injuring several others including three policemen, in the deadliest "anti-Semitic attack" in America in years.

Shooter Robert Bowers, 46, surrendered after he was injured during an exchange of fire with the police, according to local media reports.

Officials are yet to come out with an official toll, expect for saying that there were multiple fatalities.

The shooter, described as a white, heavy set with beard, was being questioned and treated at hospital. The FBI is investigating this as a "hate crime". Before opening fire, he reportedly yelled, "All Jews must die!"



FBI agents reached the 'Tree of Life' Congregation Synagogue at Squirrel Hill area in Pittsburgh, where a large number of people had gathered for a morning service when the shooting took place. The motive was not immediately known.

President Donald Trump described this as a devastating situation.

"Events in Pittsburgh are far more devastating than originally thought," Trump said as he reiterated that those responsible for such mass shooting be given death penalty.

He was considering cancelling an election campaign rally in Illinois in the aftermath of the shooting that has shocked all Americans.

"What happened today is a horrible, horrible thing. It looks definitely like it's an anti-Semitic crime. That is something you wouldn't believe could still be going on," Trump told reporters after he stepped off Air Force One in Indianapolis.

"It would seem to be an anti-Semitic crime," said Trump, whose daughter Ivanka Trump is married to Jew Jarred Kushner.

"A lot of people killed, a lot of people very badly wounded. They say as a crime scene it's one of the worst that some professionals that have seen many many crime scenes, they say it's one of the worst," Trump said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "I was heartbroken and appalled by the murderous attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue today".

According to NBC news, shooter Bowers was armed with an AR-15 style rifle in addition to multiple handguns.

In his multiple social media accounts, Bowers showed his anti-Jew sentiment in particular vented his anger against Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society or HIAS.

"HIAS likes to bring invaders to kill our people. I can't sit by and watch my people get slaughters. Screw your optics, I am going in," he said on the social media platform Gab, an alternative version of Twitter.

In another Gab message, Bowers said that he did not vote for Trump, nor did he ever wore a cap of MAGA (make America great again).

The shooting came days after recovery of a series of package bombs sent to several present and former high-ranking officials.

Prominent among them include former president Barack Obama, ex-vice president Joe Biden, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Indian-origin US Senator Kamala Harris.

Israel's Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said: "We all feel the pain of the murder of eight Jews at a Shabbat service. We will stand together like a rock against hatred and against those who try to harm Jews all over the world. I send condolences to the families of the murdered and a speedy recovery for the wounded. The entire Jewish people now stands alongside the Jewish community of Pittsburgh".

Ivanka said: "America is stronger than the acts of a depraved bigot and anti-semite. All good Americans stand with the Jewish people to oppose acts of terror & share the horror, disgust & outrage over the massacre in Pittsburgh. We must unite against hatred & evil".

"Praying for the fallen, the injured, all the families impacted, and our courageous first responders. God bless them all," Vice President Mike Pence said.

"What happened in Pittsburgh today was not just criminal - it was evil - an attack on innocent Americans and an assault on our Freedom of Religion. There's no place in America for violence or anti-Semitism, and this evil must end," he said.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in a statement said that this violent attack is the "deadliest anti-Semitic attack in the United States since 2014".

"It is simply unconscionable for Jews to be targeted during worship on a Sabbath morning, and unthinkable that it would happen in the United States of America in this day and age," it said.

According to Michael Eisenberg, past president of Tree of Life Synagogue, the shooting happened during weekly Shabbat services at the Jewish synagogue. At the time, three simultaneous congregation services were taking place.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf said: "The shooting in Pittsburgh this morning is an absolute tragedy...These senseless acts of violence are not who we are as Americans. My thoughts right now are focused on the victims, their families and making sure law enforcement has every resource they need. We cannot accept this violence as normal".

The US Holocaust Memorial Museum strongly condemned it and reminded all Americans of the dangers of unchecked hatred and anti-semitism which must be confronted wherever they appear and called on all Americans to actively work to promote social solidarity and respect the dignity of all individuals.

"My heart goes out to the Jewish community of Pittsburgh and to the families broken apart by this senseless tragedy," Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal said.

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An absconder, wanted in connection with a case registered in 2005, was arrested Saturday in Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said.

Mohammad Sadiq, a resident of Utter Behani village of Bari Brahamana, was on the run after he was named in an FIR registered under section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Ranbir Penal Code and 3/6 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, a police spokesman said.

He said a police party from the Bari Brahmana police station nabbed the accused from the area on a specific information.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
: After labelling them as betrayers, AIADMK Saturday extended an olive branch to its 18 disqualified MLAs, asking them to jump on to the ruling party bandwagon and flayed AMMK leader T T V Dhinakaran for 'misleading' them.

Asking the debarred MLAs and other Dhinakaran loyalists who moved away from AIADMK to revert to the parent party, the top leadership asked them to "understand the reality" of the Madras High Court judgement that upheld their disqualification.

Apparently, the AIADMK indicated that the court ruling vindicated its stand and reminded them that the party was akin to an "army" when it came to discipline.

The court's fair judgement has enthused the party workers and the people of Tamil Nadu, the party said.

People were confident that the AIADMK government would continue to roll out welfare measures and "the angel of justice has paved a path for us to work together (again)," to meet the aspirations of the people, it said.

"We invite you with love and affection to join again the massive people's movement nurtured by Puratchi Thalaivar MGR and Puratchi Thalaivi Amma,"party coordinator and co-ordinator O Panneerselvam and K Palaniswami respectively said.

In an open letter to cadres, the top duo, refraining from naming Dhinakaran or his loyalists, including the 18 debarred MLAs, said party functionaries had chosen to travel in an "alternative path as a result of being misled and due to some bitterness."



Seeking to assuage the feathers ruffled by the legal wrangle, the Chief Minister and his deputy quoted a Tamil proverb which says love does not erode, despite quarrels or fights, adding all of them were "children of one mother, bonded by brotherhood and love."



When party workers ignored differences and worked together, AIADMK would grow manifold and vanquish its political rivals, they said.

Both the party and the power of governance were only tools to serve the people and "none of us have a thought of working for posts.Our only goal is to serve the people. Since the court ruling helps us achieve our goal, we welcome and celebrate it."



Hours ago, Palaniswami, speaking to reporters at Coimbatore, had said that (without naming the disqualified MLAs) 'betrayers' and 'enemies' had been given a befitting lesson by the Madras High Court.

A key Dhinakaran loyalist and one of the disqualified MLAs, P Vetrivel, ruled out considering going back to the ruling camp. He told PTI that they would retrieve AIADMK by going to the people and facing the polls.

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The Army celebrated the 72nd Infantry Day on Saturday to commemorate the operations it launched on this day in 1947 to thwart the Pakistani aggression on Jammu and Kashmir.

General Officer Commanding-in-chief of the Army's Northern Command, Lt. Gen Ranbir Singh, led the wreath-laying ceremony at 'Dhruva Shaheed Samarak' at the Udhampur headquarters, a defence spokesman said.

The Army commander complimented all ranks of the infantry for their devotion to duty and indomitable spirit while working under trying and difficult conditions.

He commended their tremendous contribution in maintaining the sanctity of the nation's borders and fighting terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, the spokesman said.

He said similar memorial services were held all across Jammu and Kashmir.

The General Officer Commanding of Tiger Division laid wreath at 'Balidan Stambh' and Tiger War Memorial in Jammu to pay tributes to those killed in the battle.

A large number of serving soldiers and veterans were present on the occasion.

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The United Nations mission in Mali says armed men attacked a UN camp outside of Timbuktu killing at least two peacekeepers and wounding at least a dozen others.

UN Mali mission spokeswoman Myriam Dessables said men in heavily armed vehicles drove up to the camp in the town of Ber, about 60 kilometres east of Timbuktu on Saturday.

She said all the peacekeepers affected are from Burkina Faso.

Dessables said a UN peacekeeping mission control vehicle also ran over an explosive device Saturday in Konna in Mali's central Mopti region, wounding four Togolese peacekeepers.

No group has claimed responsibility, but the attacks bear the marks of jihadi groups linked to al-Qaida which are very active in Mali's northern and central regions.

The UN secretary-general condemned the attacks.

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The West Bengal Congress unit Saturday staged a protest rally in the city against the Rafale fighter jet deal.

The protest was organised by the South Kolkata Youth Congress and Mahila Congress unit at Bhawanipore area of the city.

Carrying placards and postcards, Congress activits shouted slogans against the Modi government and demanded a proper investigation into the Rafale deal.

Opposition parties, including Congress, allege that BJP government bought 36 Rafale fighter aircraft, built by Dassault Aviation of France at a much higher price than the one that was being negotiated for 126 aircraft by the previous UPA government.

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The Mizoram unit of the BJP Saturday dared Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla to submit a complaint to the Election Commission regarding his allegations that the party is stashing away money in the headquarters of a central paramilitary force for poaching legislators after the state assembly elections.

BJP General Secretary Vanlal Hmuaka in a statement accused Lal Thanhawla of tarnishing the image of the paramilitary forces by making "baseless and false allegations".

The chief minister, while addressing Congress workers here on Friday, had alleged that the BJP would poach legislators after the state assembly polls.

"I do not know exactly where, but the BJP has been stashing money in the headquarters of the Central Reserve Police Force or the Assam Rifles to use it for buying elected legislators after the election," Lal Thanhawla was quoted as saying in a state PCC statement.

BJP sources claimed that Lal Thanhawla had met the party's leaders a number of times in Delhi but was not invited to join.

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Hailed as a chance for the Catholic Church to reconnect with today's young, a month-long meeting at the Vatican has ended with a whimper as bishops from across continents fail to see eye to eye.

The 267 prelates attending the meet had been tasked with finding a way to breathe fresh life into a centuries-old institution suffering from both a damaging global sex abuse crisis and widespread secularity in the West.

The synod's concluding document, to be published later Saturday, "looks like an Ikea catalogue", one exasperated bishop told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"You have everything you need for the bathroom and the kitchen, in all styles, so everyone can identify with it," he said.

"One Eastern European bishop ventured to say that the church's rule about 'no sex before marriage' had become untenable. We moved on to the next issue and didn't talk about it again," the bishop said.

"The conservatives later joined the fray by demanding a reminder of church morals," he said.

Another bishop told AFP that "consensus on the digital (world) is possible, but not on sexual morality. The difference in opinions is too great".

There were rumblings of discontent among some present that the text being debated and voted was only available in Italian.

Cardinal Oswald Gracias of India said that some bishops from the developing world were concerned the final document would not fairly reflect the issues discussed, with some subjects, such as the sex abuse crisis, stealing centre stage.

The paedophilia crisis, which has shaken the church from Germany to Chile and the United States, was discussed during the first week but took a back seat when clerics from countries spared the scandal so far shifted the focus to other matters.

As Vatican watcher John Allen put it: "there is arguably no higher priority in Catholicism right now than dealing with the abuse crisis, but that doesn't mean other important issues have gone on holiday while the church sorts it all out".

But some complained there was no progress elsewhere either.

"Some bold proposals, likely to make newspaper headlines, were not taken up," said French bishop Emmanuel Gobillard, one of the few to have talked about sexuality.

He insisted however that the synod, bringing together the elements of a universal church in all its diversity, had been a remarkable one -- just one that was "untranslatable" for the media.

The 34 youngsters called to share their stories moved many bishops, particularly an Iraqi who spoke of the war, he said.

Women invited to participate also said they felt their calls for a greater female role within the church had not gone unheard - though progressive Catholic lay groups slammed the lack of voting rights for the women religious superiors present.

As well as the bishops, two non-ordained religious men will be able to vote.

Attempts by young Catholics at the synod to get the LGBT acronym into the final text were strongly rebuffed, with German Cardinal Reinhard Marx saying it was "not a synod on sexuality, but on young people".

Bishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya from Cameroon said the church had to "understand the signs of the times".

If he used the acronym "LGBT" on his return, "ninety-nine percent of people would ask 'what are we talking about?'," he said.

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On Tuesday, the couple attended a state dinner at the Grand Pacific Hotel and Harry said Fiji and Britain shared a love of rugby and a sense of humour. "The duchess and I are leaving with special memories of your attractive country and look forward to returning in the future".

Prince Harry was all smiles at the event, holding his wife's hand as he stepped out in a dapper black suit and bow tie with his service medals pinned to his chest.

The couple, who had spent the morning in Fiji, arrived to Nuku'alofa, Tonga, later in the day on Thursday.

On another occasion, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were spotted in a casual look at the University of the South Pacific.

British royal Meghan Markle has been the most watched woman in the world ever sincenews of her pregnancy broke.

Harry is due to tour a rainforest project on Wednesday afternoon with Meghan visiting Suva markets. Vogue spoke to Grant when he happened to be in Sydney for Qantas just hours after Meghan Markle had worn a second Martin Grant piece-a striped maxi dress-to an official royal engagement at Bondi Beach in Sydney on day four of the 16-day royal tour.

Meghan stunned in a white Zimmerman dress, accessorised with a hat by Stephen Jones.

"But the duchess was very keen to re-join the duke at the last engagement of the day to greet the people of the island".

Meghan waved to the crowd in Albert Park from the motorcade as the couple arrived to cheers for the Veirqaraqarvi Vakavanua, where they were greeted by chiefs in a tradition known as the tama. There she met representatives from Rise Beyond.

Disembarking at Fraser Island in Queensland, Meghan sported a free-flowing dress by Reformation, which featured slightly sheer fabric.

The Duchess said she'd taken jobs and found scholarships in order to fund herself through university.

Meghan was due at the market to meet UN Women's Markets for Change, but they visit was shortened due to "crowd management issues".

"After a busy program, the Duke and Duchess have chose to cut back the Duchess's schedule slightly for the next couple of days, ahead of the final week-and-a-half" of their tour, the palace told The Sydney Morning Herald.
Union Minister Saturday said the Centre is committed to interlinking rivers to fulfil the water needs of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and

Addressing delegates at the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morch (BJYM) national convention, the minister for Road Transport and Highways said that under Prime Minister Modi's leadership, the government planned to interlink six rivers, which would cost about Rs 2 trillion

"In we took up the Polavaram irrigation project. We have spent Rs 70 billion so far. It is being constructed with central Government funds," he said.

Gadkari alleged that some people were trying to mislead the public by saying that the government was not focusing on the project.

"We will complete the dam. The surplus waters of the Godavari river, which flows as waste to the sea, will be diverted to the Krishna river," he said.

"We will take water by diverting Krishna river water to Penna river and from Penna to the Cauvery.Thus we will fulfil the water needs of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Telangana," he said.

The minister also said the centre was assisting the government's Rs 800 billion Kaleshwaram Project.

Stressing the need to bring into power once again in the 2019 elections, Gadkari said is marching towards progress with implementation of several schemes for the poor.

Among some of the projects taken up by the government were setting up a water grid, power grid, National Highway Grid and an Optical fibre grid, he added.

Gadkari said development of sectors like agriculture, industry and services was essential for any nation to progress.

Referring to the agriculture sector, he said 18.8 million acres of land was being brought under irrigation.

"The sector sector contributes 10 to 12 per cent to our GDP. We want to increase the growth rate of the agriculture sector," he said.

Gadkari said the Centre has accorded priority to rural development and undertaken road connectivity of 650,000 villages.

He said that under Modi's leadership, India's relations with other countries have improved.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, in his address, said it was because of the that Kashmir was still an integral part of

"Had the rule continued, the state would have been lost," he said.

Fadnavis said it was essential for the country that come to power in the 2019 polls.

He appealed to BJYM cadres to explain the government schemes to every nook and cranny.

According to him, has emerged as the fastest growing economy in the world, surpassing

Fadnavis claimed that 49 per cent of the total that India receives comes to
US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said Saturday his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe would visit Washington next week, following tensions between the two powers.

"I would just point out that (our) strategic competition does not imply hostility," Mattis said at a Middle East security conference in Bahrain, in response to a question about tensions.

"I have met with my counterpart in Beijing a month ago, I have met with him again in Singapore a week ago. He is coming to Washington next week to continue our discussions," Mattis added.

But in early October, a US defence official said that a planned visit by Mattis to China had been cancelled, because Beijing declined to make General Wei available.

The cancellation came amid military tensions and an escalating dispute between the two countries over tariffs.

In September, US tariffs came into effect, targeting Chinese goods worth $200 billion (175 billion euros).

Beijing also rebuked Washington for its "provocative" flights of bombers over the South China and East China seas.

It also criticised US arms sales to Taiwan, nixed a planned visit by a US warship to a Hong Kong port and cancelled a meeting between the head of the Chinese navy and his American counterpart.

"I will tell you that we are committed to cooperating with China, with Russia, where we can," Mattis said on Saturday.

"But we will not surrender freedom of navigation. We will not surrender international law." The US justifies naval deployments in the South China Sea on the grounds of "freedom of navigation", causing tensions with Beijing, which claims large parts of the maritime area.

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Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Saturday hailed the decision to open the Chittagong port in Bangladesh to facilitate trade with India's Northeast.

Sangma said the decision will boost trade in the region and Meghalaya in particular, which shares a very long international border with Bangladesh.

This is a big step towards ensuring that we, in the Northeasr, have port connectivity and accessibility, Sangma said while addressing the 6th edition of the 'Young Leaders Connect' here.

"It will reduce transportation cost for goods and allow exposure for the northeastern states to the international markets, he said.

The Bangladesh government had earlier this month approved a draft agreement to allow northeastern states of India to use Chittagong sea port and Mongla river ports, primarily aimed at restoring pre-partition logistics for the entire northeast region.

Sangma also said that increase of trade between India, Bangladesh and Myanmar is crucial for the economic development of Meghalaya.

The state shares a 443-km long International border with Bangladesh and recently the Meghalaya government has said it will write to the Centre to facilitate setting up of more import/export points along the Indo-Bangladesh border.

The state, rich in natural resources, also offers excellent potential for export for agro-horticulture products, forest products, handloom and handicrafts, a senior Industries department official told PTI.

Admitting that the state suffers from locational disadvantages, the official said that poor infrastructure and scanty information regarding export potential are the reasons why bilateral trade did not pick up as expected till date.

Terming entrepreneurship as the key to the economic progress of the region, Sangma talked about various initiatives of the Meghalaya government to support the innovative entrepreneurs of the state.

We have initiated the entrepreneurship of the month programme wherein selected entrepreneurs of the state will be given support and guidance by the Meghalaya Institute of Entrepreneurship. We have also decided to start incubation centres in three different locations in the state which will provide a space for entrepreneurs from different fields to connect and link with other entrepreneurs," he added.

Speaking of his recent visit to France to attend the Salon International de IAgroalimentaire, the worlds largest food innovation exhibition, Sangma also highlighted the potential of the Northeastern region to develop food processing industries.

Addressing the gathering, Assam MP Gaurav Gogoi stressed on the need to connect, share and emulate the best practices to fuel innovation and creativity among the youth.

Naveen Verma, Secretary, Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region, spoke on the need for greater cooperation among the states in order create a conducive atmosphere to achieve goals and objectives beneficial to the region in a speedy manner.

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A class 8 student of a government school allegedly attacked his class teacher with an iron rod Saturday after being scolded for not getting his textbooks and irregular attendance in south Delhi's Saket area, police said.

The police were informed about the incident at 9.35 am, a police officer said.

The police said the student had come to school after a gap of few days and was scolded by his teacher for not bringing textbooks, he said.

When the teacher checked the student's bag, he found an iron rod and scolded the boy for not carrying textbooks, the officer said.

During investigation, other students told the police that after taking the iron rod from the student, the teacher kept it on his table, the officer said.

However, when the teacher got busy, the student picked up the rod from the table and kept it back inside his bag, he said.

When this came to the teacher's notice, he tried to take away the student's bag and that is when the boy took out the rod and attacked him with it, the officer said.

The student immediately fled from the spot. The victim was rushed to the AIIMS trauma centre where he was being treated for his injuries, the officer added.

A case was registered and the matter was being probed, he said.

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A college student has been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a five-year-old girl at a village near Porayar in the district, police said Saturday.

The 19-year-old polytechnic college student was booked underthe Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, they said.

He was taken into custody based on a complaint from the victim's mother, they said.

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The released on Saturday night a list of 37 candidates for the second phase of polling in the Chhattisgarh assembly election.

According to a party statement, Chhattisgarh Pradesh Committee (PCC) chief Bhupesh Baghel will contest from the Patan assembly constituency. Baghel was embroiled in an alleged sex CD scandal involving a state minister.

T S Singh Deo, the Legislature Party leader, will contest from Ambikapur, while former Union Minister Charan Das Mahant will contest from Sakti.

The Congress is seeking to oust the from power this time which has been governing the state since 2003.

Assembly election in the state will be held in two phases.

A total of 18 assembly seats in the Naxal-hit areas will go to polls in the first phase of polling on November 12. The second phase of polling for the remaining seats 72 will be held on November 20 and results will be out on December 11.

The Congress announced the candidates for the first phase polling in two lists on October 18 and 22.

In the first phase polling, the Congress has fielded former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's niece Karuna Shukla from Rajnandgaon Assembly constituency against Chief Minister Raman Singh.
A Delhi court on Saturday took cognisance of a fresh charge sheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against jailed-journalist Upendra Rai in a money laundering case.

Additional Sessions judge Rakesh Syal, who is likely to pronounce the order on Rai's bail plea on November 1, said there was enough evidence to proceed on the ED's supplementary charge sheet accusing the scribe of laundering around Rs 23 crore.

The ED's charge sheet, filed by special public prosecutors N K Matta and Nitesh Rana, has sought his prosecution for money laundering.

During the proceedings, the ED handed over the copy of the charge sheet to Rai, after which the court fixed the next date of hearing on November 1.

In an earlier charge sheet in the case, the ED had alleged that Rai projected over Rs 29 crore worth of properties, which he generated through "blackmail" and "extortion" as a scribe, as untainted.

The Delhi-based journalist was arrested by the agency for alleged money laundering, punishable under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

It had said that Rai was a journalist, who crafted leverage out of his access to government offices as a mediaperson.

The agency further said Rai used the "ill-gotten" money to acquire various movable and immovable properties in his or in the name of his family members, in his personal and travel expenses, and also used it to repay loans taken from financial organisations to acquire various properties.

Rai was arrested on June 8 by the ED under the PMLA at the Tihar jail here, moments after he secured bail in a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case related to alleged extortion and dubious financial transactions.

The ED had registered the money laundering case against him based on the CBI FIR related to alleged extortion and dubious financial transactions.

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Travel company Cox & Kings has entered into an agreement to sell its education business to UK-based investor Midlothian Capital Partners (MCP) for Rs 4,387 crore (GBP 467 million).

The all-cash transaction is subject to regulatory approvals, consents and customary closing adjustments, a release issued here said.

The education business is comprised of HB Education (formerly known as Holidaybreak Education), which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Holidaybreak.

The sale is in line with Cox & Kings's stated goal of unlocking value and maximising shareholder returns.

"Since our successful acquisition of Holidaybreak in 2011, the business with the strategic direction has scaled larger heights. Over the years we have made efforts to maximise shareholder value by divesting some parts of the business, reduce debt and focus on high growth asset light businesses.

"This is in-line with our stated policy of consistently unlocking value in the company and we shall aggressively continue to follow our stated policy," Cox & Kings Group CEO Peter Kerkar said.

HB Education provides experiential learning programmes for students, through Residential Activity Centres and Educational Travel Tours.

The company's portfolio of brands including PGL, NST, EST, Travelworks and Studylink provide learning experiences for school students aged 7 through 18, and up to university.

"HB Education is an industry-leading operator within both the residential outdoor activity and educational travel sectors. We are proud to be part of the next phase of the company's growth, both in the UK and internationally," Neil Currie, Andrew Bracey and Aidan Clegg, Founding Partners at Midlothian Capital Partners, said.

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: Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam leader T T V Dhinakaran Saturday said his party and the 18 disqualified AIADMK MLAs backing him were united in appealing against the Madras High Court verdict that upheld their debarment.

Dhinakaran, nephew of V K Sasikala, now serving a prison term in a disproportionate assets case in a Bengaluru jail, said there was no "clash of ideas or differences of opinion," in a meeting of disqualified MLAs, where it was decided to appeal against the verdict.

Such reports of discord were defamatory, he said.

"All of us are together," he said, adding that appealing in the Supreme Court was the only way to show that the disqualified MLAs "did no wrong" and that the Speaker P Dhanapal's action was not correct, he said.

Asserting that AMMK was ready to face elections for the 18 Assembly segments, he said "in case" the elections were called for these constituencies, the disqualified MLAs were even willing to face the polls.

He said the MLAs could withdraw their to-be filed appeal petitions in the top court in the eventuality of the Election Commission notifying the elections.

The only prayer of the MLAs was that their petitions should be disposed of expeditiously by the apex court.

AIADMK leader and Revenue Minister R B Udaya Kumar lashed out at Dhinakaran's party AMMK over their stand and wondered how they could claim to face elections for 18 constituencies after having decided to go in for an appeal.

Dhinakaran, who faced queries for not addressing the media over appealing against the verdict, said he had some appointments to keep and hence could not meet the journalists.

The AMMK deputy general secretary, after deliberations with the disqualified MLAs, did not meet the press Friday.

It was Dhinakaran's loyalist Thanga Tamilselvan (one of the disqualified MLA) who briefed the media here about the decision of 18 MLAs to prefer an appeal in the Supreme Court.

The Madras High Court Thursday upheld the June 14 order of the then Chief Justice, disqualifying the 18 rebel AIADMK legislators, in a huge relief to the K Palaniswami government.

The disqualified MLAs are loyalists of Dhinakaran, who now heads the AMMK, and deposed AIADMK leader V K Sasikala.

Dhinakaran has repeatedly been insisting that he will oust the Palaniswami government and merge the AIADMK with his AMMK.

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In a major crackdown on smugglers, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has seized over 100 kg gold in 48 hours during multi-city raids conducted by it, according to an official statement issued Saturday.

It said the DRI officials seized 55 kg of gold bars (55 bars of 1 kg each) smuggled from neighbouring countries into India through land border.

The smuggled gold was seized from two persons travelling by a vehicle near West Bengal's Siliguri on October 26 evening, the statement issued by the DRI said.

The smuggled gold bars were concealed in a specially-prepared cavity under the driver's seat of the intercepted vehicle, the probe agency said.

The gold bars, all of them of 99.99 per cent purity, have distinct Chinese and Australian foreign origin markings, it said.

The gold bars were supposed to be delivered by the accused to a recipient at Siliguri for its onward transportation, the DRI said.

Both the apprehended persons have been arrested, it said.

In another operation conducted Saturday here, three persons, carrying 34 kg of smuggled gold (34 bars of one kg each), were intercepted by the DRI at the New Delhi Railway station.

"This consignment is also suspected to have been smuggled into India through the land border with the neighbouring countries. In this operation, one foreign national was also arrested. The smuggled gold was found to be of Chinese and Swiss origin," the release said.

In four other operations across the country in 48 hours, the DRI seized another 13 kg gold smuggled into India on flights arriving at Chennai, Bengaluru, Madurai and Indore airports from Colombo and Singapore, it said.

In three out of these four cases, the gold was concealed under the life jacket pouch and hollow pipe under the aircraft seats, the DRI said.

In all these cases, over 100 kg gold valued at Rs 32 crore was seized and seven persons, including a Bhutanese national, have been arrested.

There have been a series of major seizures in the past few weeks by the DRI, including seizures of gold smuggled into India across land borders, with China, Myanmar, Bhutan and on flights arriving from Dubai and Bangkok.

This has been accompanied with a series of seizures of high-value foreign currency being smuggled out of the country.

"Gold and foreign currency smuggling seems to be peaking due to the forthcoming festive season resulting in high demand for gold in India," the DRI said.

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It added that Israel's so-called Iron Dome managed to intercept at least 10 of the inbound rockets and the remaining six reportedly exploded in open areas and inflicted no damage or casualties. In the most recent case last week, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) attacked 20 targets in the Gaza Strip in response to the Palestinian rocket shelling on Israel's southern city of Be'er Sheva and the metropolitan area of Gush Dan.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) group appeared to claim responsibility for the overnight barrages, though it did not explicitly say so.

The overnight fighting Saturday is the heaviest exchange of fire between the bitter enemies in several weeks.

The fighter jets targeted a military compound in the northern Gaza Strip and a training facility and a munitions manufacturing and storage site in the south, it said in a statement.

The ramped up tensions are likely to complicate the mission of Egyptian mediators, who have intensified their shuttle diplomacy to achieve calm and prevent a full-blown conflict between Gaza's Hamas rulers and Israel.

The sides have fought three wars since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007.

On Friday, thousands of Palestinians gathered at five locations along the boundary, burning tires and throwing rocks, grenades and firebombs at Israeli troops who responded with tear gas and occasional live fire.

Eight different alarm sirens were activated throughout the night in Israel's southern communities, including the city of Sderot near the Gaza border.

More than 200 Palestinians have been killed in the territory by Israeli fire since the protests began on March.

Earlier in the week, Israel's defense minister, Avigdor Liberman, vowed to step up the country's response to these ongoing protests.

Also on Friday, a Palestinian man was killed by Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank.

On Wednesday, Israel allowed fuel transfers into Gaza to resume, increasing the electricity available in the coastal enclave, which has only a few hours of power a day.

The latest Israeli violence come after five Palestinians were killed and 170 others wounded by Israeli troops during demonstrations on Friday along the Gaza-Israel buffer zone, according to Gaza's health ministry.

Israel accuses Hamas of orchestrating the often violent demonstrations.

One Israeli soldier was shot dead by a Palestinian sniper along the border in the same period.
It is easier for societies to reform through their own processes rather than by mandates of governments or others, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said Saturday amid the ongoing controversy over entry of women in the Sabarimala temple.

One fundamental right cannot subsume the other. When it comes to religious rituals and the management of religion, unless a practice is hostile to human values, using one set of fundamental rights "to extinguish" the other will perhaps create further challenges, the BJP leader said, adding it was his personal opinion.

Although the Supreme Court has lifted a ban on entry of women who are between 10 and 50 years of age into the shrine, they have not been able to enter the temple because of protests by people who want to preserve the tradition.

Jaitley, who was delivering the first Atal Bihari Vajpayee Memorial Lecture here, observed that the same Constituent Assembly which gave the right of equality and dignity, also gave the right to religion and right to administer religious institutions.

Can one fundamental right override the other? Can one subsume the other? Can one extinguish the other? The answer is no. Both have to exist and therefore both have to harmoniously coexist, the minister said.

When it comes to religious rituals and the management of religion, he said, unless the practice is so obnoxious and hostile to human values, the same can go into the other fundamental right to religion and right to manage religious institutions. But if you use one set of fundamental rights to extinguish the other it perhaps will create further challenges.

Conventionally, Indian society has been working for social reforms, he said, adding banning of child marriage, Sati, bigamy and polygamy and allowing widow remarriage and equality in property for women are all social reforms which have been introduced.

"Therefore it is easier for societies to work out reforms through their own process, rather than mandates from governments or otherwise.

"And therefore in the interpretative process, my own view is, there is a greater statesmanship by allowing the two sets of fundamental rights to coexist harmoniously by finding how they can do it," Jaitley added.

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RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha Saturday said he stands "firmly" with the NDA and is working for another term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a day after he met RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav triggering speculation of discontent within the ruling BJP-led alliance in Bihar.

Kushwaha met Yadav Friday hours after BJP president Amit Shah in Delhi announced a seat-sharing formula for the state for the next year Lok Sabha elections.

He said the seat sharing is yet to be finalised in the NDA and that he would meet Shah in the next two-three days.

Kushwaha, a Union minister of state for HRD, also wondered why a conclusion was being drawn that the RLSP would not get a fair deal.

The RLSP is a part of the BJP-led NDA in the state whose other constituents are Nitish Kumar's JD(U) and Ramvilas Paswan's LJP.

"Seat sharing is yet to be finalised. I cannot comment on the basis of media reports. I will be meeting Amit Shah in next two-three days. I wonder why people are drawing the conclusion that we are not going to get a fair deal," Kushwaha said.

The Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) is an ally of the BJP since the 2014 general elections.

"I also do not understand this big fuss about an equal number of seats for the BJP and the JD(U). Does it indicate any number?



"It could even imply that out of the 40 seats in Bihar, both parties will be contesting 10 each and leave the remaining 20 for others.There is a lot of scope for our party being accommodated respectably," he said.

Dismissing speculation, Kushwaha said, "I am firmly with the NDA and committed to working for another term for Narendra Modi as prime minister."



The RLSP chief had met Yadav at Arwal shortly after Shah and JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar briefed reporters in New Delhi on the seat-sharing arrangement.

Kushwaha, a former JD(U) leader who had quit the party in 2013, months after suspension on disciplinary grounds, had floated his own outfit and joined the NDA while Nitish Kumar's party was out of the BJP-led coalition.

The decision of the BJP, which had won 22 seats in 2014 general elections, to treat as an equal the JD(U) that returned with a dismal tally of only two, is also being seen as a snub to Kushwaha, who has been viewing Kumar's return to the NDA with consternation.

The RLSP had contested on three seats under the NDA banner in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and had won on all the seats. Kushwaha himself had won from the Karakat seat.

RJD heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav reiterated that there was a standing invitation to Kushwaha from his side to leave the NDA and join the grand alliance in Bihar.

Sources in the grand alliance said the RJD was ready to give more number of seats to Kushwaha than what the BJP was willing to spare for the RLSP, even though the Union minister wanted to wait until it was clear how many seats each NDA constituent was likely to get.

Kushwaha also desires to change his Lok Sabha seat in the 2019 polls as he was not sure of retaining Karakat in south Bihar, they claimed, adding that this was because the constituency does not have a sizeable number of voters from his caste (OBC Kushwaha or Koeri) and the Modi wave, which helped him win in 2014, is on the wane.

Yadav also sought to ruffle more feathers in the NDA, saying the press briefing that was held in New Delhi Friday by Shah and Kumar with neither LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan nor Kushwaha in attendance smacked of disrespect and contempt for the two leaders whose loyalty the BJP seems to have been taken for granted.

On reports of his telephonic conversation with LJP parliamentary board chairman Chirag Paswan after Shah and Kumar came together before the media, he declined to give a direct reply, but said cryptically "Ram Vilas Paswan has been my guardian".

He is a father figure and has never back stabbed us the way Kumar has. "Whom he should tie up with is going to be his call", Yadav said.

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Former Delhi chief minister passed away Saturday after a prolonged illness, his family said.

Khurana, who was 82, is survived by his wife, a son and two daughters.

His another son had died last month.

A veteran of the BJP, Khurana was the chief minister of Delhi from 1993 to 1996 and was appointed the governor of Rajasthan in 2004.

"He breathed his last at around 11 pm at his Kirti Nagar residence," his son Harish Khurana told PTI.

He said Khurana was suffering from a chest infection and fever from last few days and was feeling breathless since Saturday morning, he said.

He had suffered a brain haemorrhage about five years ago and was ailing since then.

His last rites would be held Sunday, his family said.

Union minister offered condolences in a tweet.

"My heartfelt condolences to the parivar and the family of our beloved former chief minister of Delhi & veteran leader Shri ji who passed away today after prolonged illness. My thoughts and prayers are with his near & dear ones. May his soul rest in peace," he said.




Four personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were killed and two injured after Naxals blew up a mine-protected-vehicle (MPV) in poll-bound Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district Saturday, police said.

The incident occurred around 4 pm near Murdanda camp of the CRPF under Awapalli police station, when its 168th battalion was out on "area domination" operation, Bijapur Superintendent of Police Mohit Garg told PTI.

When the MPV carrying six personnel was around one km away from the camp, ultras triggered a powerful land mine blast, he said.

"Four paramilitary personnel were killed and two others were injured in the blast," he said.

Reinforcement was rushed to the spot immediately and the injured personnel were being evacuated, the official said, adding they were retrieving the bodies from the site.

The attack took place on a day when Chief Minister Raman Singh launched the ruling BJP's campaign for the first phase of polls on November 12 in neighbouring Sukma district.

The first phase of election will cover 18 constituencies in eight Naxal-affected districts - Bastar, Kanker, Sukma, Bijapur, Dantewada, Narayanpur, Kondagaon and Rajnandgaon.

Naxals had recently put up posters in parts of Bastar region calling for boycott of the polls.

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A four-year-old girl was allegedly raped and killed in Indore city of Madhya Pradesh, police said Saturday.

A manhunt has been launched to nab the accused, a 25-year-old man whom the girl's family knew well, police said.

The girl had gone missing Thursday evening. Her body was found near the drain under Krishnapura bridge Saturday, said Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) H C Mishra.

Probe revealed that Honey Athwal, a family acquaintance, allegedly raped and smothered the girl, Mishra said.

Athwal, whom the girl used to call 'uncle', allegedly abducted her after her tuition class, he said.

After allegedly raping her, he smothered her and then absconded, the DIG said.

Police are searching for him and have announced a reward of Rs 20,000 for his whereabouts, the officer added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Goa Agriculture Minister Vijai Sardesai Saturday met Union Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu in New Delhi to find ways for the resumption of the mining sector in the coastal state.

The Supreme Court, in an order in February this year, had quashed 88 mining leases and banned the extraction of fresh iron ore from March, bringing the sector to a standstill.

"I have met Union Minister Suresh Prabhu and pleaded for the resumption of mining in Goa," Sardesai Saturday told PTI over phone after the meeting in Delhi.

The Goa Mining People's Front had met Sardesai, chief of the Goa Forward Party, last week on the issue and Sardesai had promised the GMPF that he would meet Prabhu.

The GMPF is an umbrella outfit of people dependent on mining.

Sardesai's Goa Forward Party informed that a request by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, dated September 24 this year, to Union Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar to amend the Mines and Mineral Development and Regulation Act (MMDR) to resume mining in Goa has been referred to the Attorney General of India.

Sardesai also submitted a memorandum on behalf of GMPF to Prabhu.

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The Congress on Saturday alleged that the Chief Vigilance Commission and the government were hand in glove in divesting CBI Director Alok Verma of his powers and termed it as a "sinister conspiracy to put a lid on investigation" into Rafale deal.

The opposition party questioned why CVC Commissioner K V Chowdary had "abruptly cancelled" his scheduled foreign tour to hold an urgent meet at night on October 23 on the matter and issued an "illegal" order against Verma.

Addressing a joint press conference with AICC general secretary Ashok Gehlot, AICC media in-charge Randeep Surjewala claimed there were layers of drama in the late night that day wherein "a fraud was played on the Constitution by Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with CVC, which was now out in the open".

There was no immediate reaction from the CVC and the Prime Minister's Office on the Congress' allegations.

The government had divested powers of Verma and CBI's Special Director Rakesh Asthana's in the early hours of October 24, amid an ongoing spat between them. The decision to remove the two was based on the CVC's recommendations.

"Chowdary was scheduled to go on a tour to Denmark on October 23 (Tuesday) in the evening. He abruptly cancelled his tour and held a meeting of the Central Vigilance Commission at night," Surjewala claimed.

On the same day around 11 pm, CBI's Joint Director M Nageshwar Rao, was sent to CBI headquarter in anticipation of the CVC order, Surjewala claimed.

Rao is now the interim chief of the CBI, but the apex court has barred him from taking any "policy" or "any major decision".

Surjewala claimed that Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik called his subordinates at around 11:30 pm to alert to them about an urgent midnight operation.

"At 12:00 am, Delhi Police Commissioner received instructions from National Security Advisor and briefed Delhi Police officers for taking over the CBI headquarters by Delhi Police," he claimed.

As the Delhi Police attempted to take control at the CBI headquarters at around 12:30 am, they were stopped by the CISF guarding the premises, Surjewala claimed.

He claimed that Patnaik then spoke to the head of CISF, who also received instructions from the Prime Minister's Office/National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, to permit takeover of CBI premises by Delhi Police.

On the other hand, between 8 pm to 12:30 am, CVC and his two colleagues drafted the recommendations for removal of Verma, Surjewala claimed.

He alleged that the CVC order was taken to North Block, where Secretary Personnel, C Chandramouli was waiting as per instructions of PMO.

"Chandramouli then rushed to the PMO. Cabinet Committee on Appointments headed by Prime Minister, then, approved the removal of Alok Verma as the CBI Director and appointed, M Nageshwar Rao as the new CBI Director," he claimed.

The Congress leader claimed that the CVC and Additional Secretary, Department of Personnel and Training then visited the CBI headquarters.

At around 2:30 am, the CVC, the Additional Secretary and Rao, the then Joint Director, came out of the CBI headquarters with files and records, he claimed.

Surjewala also posed questions to the government saying "if the CVC did not have the powers to remove the CBI director then why did it help the government in conducting its nefarious conspiracy".

"Has the CVC deliberately permitted himself to be misused by the government to carry of sinister conspiracy to put a lid on investigation into Rafale corruption? " he said.

The Congress has been persistently attacking the government on the Rafale deal, alleging corruption. The government has vehemently denied the allegations and has accused Congress leaders of spreading lies on the issue.

"What was the tearing hurry for the CVC to cancel his Denmark tour scheduled for October 23, call a midnight meeting and pass an illegal order for divesting the CBI Director, Alok Verma of all his duties?" Surjewala said.

The party also alleged that Rao was sent to CBI office at 11 pm on October 23, even before the order naming him the interim chief of the agency was issued.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis Saturday said that his government will look into the demand to give more financial and administrative rights to mayors of civic bodies.

Fadnavis was addressing a function here on sustainable development organised by the Maharashtra Mayors' Council.

The Council's president, Mumbai Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar, raised a demand that mayors be given financial and administrative rights and powers be decentralised as most of these are currently with the municipal commissioner.

While Fadnavis said that the state government would look into the issue, he also asked mayors to get acquainted with the powers they already have.

"The rights of a mayor may be limited but if they get acquainted with the the rights already with them, they can make appropriate use of it. The various forums in a municipal corporation give a lot of collective power to mayors," he said.

Speaking on sustainable development, which is the theme of the Mayors' Council meeting, Fadnavis informed that Mumbai was set to get a 2100 million litres per day (MLD) sewage treatment plant which would be the country's, and perhaps the world's, biggest such facility.

Calling water an economic commodity, Fadnavis said that the state government had laid down a policy which stipulates that MIDCs (Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation clusters) will have to obtain treated waste water for its needs for three years.

This policy, he said, was creating an economic model for civic bodies and was also allowing fresh water to be used for essential purposes like drinking and farming.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Madras High Court has acquitted a man who was sentenced to ten years imprisonment by a lower court on charges of abetting his wife's suicide.

The woman had ended her life in 2003 by jumping into a well along with her 18-month-old daughter as she was upset over her husband's extra marital affair.

In a recent order, Justice S Vaidyanathan said the illicit relationship per se would not come under the ambit of cruelty under IPC section 498 A (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty).

The judge, referring to IPC section 306, (abetment of suicide), said, "To constitute an offence under section 306, the prosecution has to establish beyond reasonable doubt that the deceased committed suicide and the accused abetted the commission of suicide."



"But, for the alleged extra marital relationship, nothing has been brought out by the prosecution to show that the accused had provoked, incited or induced the wife to commit suicide," the judge noted.

Acquitting the accused, the judge further said even if the alleged illicit affair between the accused and his paramour is proved, there is no other acceptable evidence on record to establish such high degree of mental cruelty, which has driven the wife to commit suicide.

Justice Vaidyanathan made the observations on an appeal by Manickam challenging the order of a mahila court convicting him of abetting his wife's suicide.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Sultan Qaboos bin Said's surprise meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week was more about Oman's desire to play a role in the region than reaching a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians, according to a diplomatic source.

Qassemi made the remarks on Friday in response to a question regarding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's unannounced trip to Oman a day earlier.

Netanyahu is the first Israeli leader to visit the sultanate since Shimon Peres in 1996. On Friday, Netanyahu paid a rare visit to Oman.

Both Saudi Arabia and Israel consider Iran the biggest threat to regional stability, comparing the Islamic Republic leadership to that of Nazi Germany.

Netanyahu and his wife were invited to visit by the sultan after lengthy contacts between the two countries, the Prime Minister Office's said in a statement.

Joining Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, were Mossad Director Yossi Cohen; National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat; Foreign Ministry Director General Yuval Rotem; Netanyahu Chief of Staff Yoav Horowitz; and Col. Avi Blot, Netanyahu's military secretary.

Days before Netanyahu's visit, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also visited Oman, raising the possibility that Oman might be trying to help revive negotiations or push forward a troubled U.S. peace plan.

In addition, U.S. sanctions on Iran are to soon go into effect after the Trump administration, with strong Israeli support, backed out of the worldwide nuclear agreement with Iran negotiated by the Obama administration.

Israel and Oman do not have diplomatic relations.

Oman, which is known for its discreet diplomacy and unaligned foreign policy position, served as the back-channel between Washington and Tehran in the lead-up to the Iran nuclear accord.

Although it is a member of the Saudi-led six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, it did not join the kingdom in its boycott of Qatar or the war in Yemen.

Israel Prime Ministers visited Oman in 1994 and 1996 around the time of the Oslo peace process.

While criticizing the Israeli PM's trip to Muscat, he said Muslim states, under pressure from the United States, should not allow Tel Aviv to create further trouble for the region.

Muscat, however, suspended relations again following the outbreak of the second Palestinian Intifada in 2000.
Motor India has topped the after-sales customer satisfaction survey among mass market brands, according to global market research firm JD Power.

Hyundai, the country's second largest car seller, scored the highest 912 points in after-sales customer satisfaction survey, the JD Power 2018 India Customer Service Index (Mass Market) Study said.

The South Korean firm had topped the rankings in the mass market category for India last year as well.

was ranked second with a score of 874 points followed by Mahindra & Mahindra at the third position with a score of 865.

Ford with a score of 829 points was placed fourth followed by Toyota at fifth with 827 points. Car market leader Maruti Suzuki India stood at the eight position with a score of 804.

The study, now in its 22nd year, measures new-vehicle owner satisfaction with the after-sales service process by examining dealership performance.

The study measures overall satisfaction in five factors service quality, vehicle pick-up, service advisor, service facility and service initiation.

The latest study is based on evaluations from 9,045 new vehicle owners who purchased vehicle between March 2015 and August 2017. The study was fielded from March through August 2018.

The study also found that customers who are 30 years and younger expect a higher quality service experience when their vehicle is being serviced.

This is significant as the automotive industry in India is continuing to experience an influx of younger customers, with 28 per cent of customers who visit dealerships for service aged 30 years or younger, the study noted.

"India's population is expected to be among the youngest in the world by 2020. This shift in demographics will likely further attract more customers in this age group to dealerships, so it is imperative to understand the needs of this set of customers in terms of convenience, speed and transparency," JD Power Regional Director Kaustav Roy said.

Dealers will then be in a better position to meet the expectations of this demographic by providing a superior service experience and, in turn, enhancing customer loyalty, he added.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has waived the processing fee for temporary uplinking and downlinking of devotional TV channels, sources said Saturday.

Last year, the government imposed the processing fee for non- channels, with national TV channels being asked to pay Rs 1 lakh for temporary uplinking and downlinking, while for regional channels the fee was Rs 50,000.

The devotional TV channels were paying the amount stipulated for regional channels -- Rs 50,000, the sources said.

The ministry approved the waiving off the fee for temporary uplinking and downlinking of devotional TV channels Friday, they said.

Yoga guru Ramdev thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Information and Broadcasting Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore on behalf of the saint community for waiving off the fee by the government on devotional channels.

Morari Bapu, renowned exponent of the Ramcharitmanas who recites kathas world over, also lauded the government for the decision.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A Congress-led government would fulfil all the commitments the party had made on the 'one rank, one pension' issue, told a group of ex-servicemen on Saturday.

At a meeting with the retired defence personnel, the president said that if his party is voted to power in the 2019 parliamentary election, it will fulfil their demands, including 'one rank, one pension' (OROP).

Raking up the Rafale fighter jet deal, he said the Narendra Modi government handed out Rs 300 billion to industrialist Anil Ambani, but refused to meet the demands of the soldiers on

The amount of Rs 300 billion was more than enough to solve the issue, he said after the 30-minute meeting.

The has alleged that the Anil Ambani-led company was favoured by the Modi government on the offset contract of the Rafale deal. The private firm has denied the allegations.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi Saturday told a group of former military officials that his party would fulfil all the commitments it had made on the 'one rank, one pension' issue if voted to power.

He had a 30-minute-long meeting with the retired defence personnel at the AICC headquarters here.

Addressing a press conference after the meeting, Gandhi also said the ex-servicemen had told him that One Rank, One Pension (OROP) had not been implemented properly.

He told the ex-servicemen that he "stood in solidarity" with their struggle, and that if his party is voted to power in the 2019 parliamentary election, it will "fulfil all the commitments" the Congress had made on the OROP issue.

"We had a very constructive meeting. Couple of things came up, the OROP issue came up and the ex-serviceman clearly said that OROP has not been implemented by the prime minister," Gandhi said.

He said the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, the wrong and non-strategic approach of the government were brought up by the ex-servicemen during the meeting.

The Rafale deal issue also came up, and all these things are connected, Gandhi said.

"The connection is that Rs 30,000 crore can be given to Anil Ambani for doing nothing but our soldiers can't be given OROP. This is the connection. And, the amount of Rs 30,000 crore is more than enough to solve the OROP issue," he told reporters.

The government has been strongly rejecting all allegations levelled against it in connection with the Rafale deal.

Gandhi later also tweeted about the meeting, as he sought to highlight the multiple issues, in an attempt to the corner the BJP.

"For Anil 30,000 CR from Rafale + all procedures bypassed + midnight sacking of CBI director. For Forces No OROP + sound thrashing to veterans at Jantar Mantar + lies and broken promises (sic)," he tweeted.

The Congress has alleged that the Anil Ambani-led company was favoured by the Modi government on the offset contract of the French fighter jet deal.

The private firm, however, has denied the allegations.

The meeting was also attended by former defence minister A K Antony, AICC general secretary Ashok Gehlot, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala and several retired senior officials of the defence forces.

Gandhi training his guns again on the government over the Rafale issue, alleged that a company which has never built an aircraft and under a debt of Rs 45,000 cr has been "gifted Rs 30,000 cr by the prime minister".

"But, people from the Army, the Air Force, who protect the country every day, their money has been snatched away," he said.

Major General (retired) Satbir Singh, who has been spearheading the agitation for implementation of the OROP ( 'one rank, one pension') told reporters after the meet that they have appealed to Gandhi to take up the issues with the government, as the Congress is the principal opposition party.

"We are soldiers and we are on the streets. We feel humiliated. We demand that the Army's dignity be restored as it was on August 15, 1947," Singh said.

Gandhi said he "felt sad" to see these ex-servicemen expressing "dejection and the humiliation" they feel."They may not tell you openly but in the meeting it came out," he said.

Gehlot also tweeted on the meeting and shared the views expressed by some of the members, who participated in the meet, and also shared pictures of the interaction.

"Rafale deal by NDA is in complete violation of Defence Procurement Procedure(DPP) para 28, 80, 104-105 : Ex-serviceman of the Indian Army," he tweeted.

Earlier, during the meeting, Satbir Singh said the veterans were "very concerned and anguished over the OROP issue".

"Unfortunately, it has been 1,231 days of struggle, and we haven't got an acknowledgement of the letters sent to the prime minister, the last one being sent five days ago, he alleged during the meeting.

He said the ex-servicemen were promised implementation of 'one rank, one pension' but it is nowhere close to that.

"We request to you as the president of the principal opposition party to take up these issues with all the might, along with other parties," Singh said.

Among other issues raised, he also proposed constitution of a commission for ex-servicemen, headed by an ex-servicemen.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A Congress-led government would fulfill all the commitments the party had made on the 'one rank, one pension' issue, Rahul Gandhi told a group of ex-servicemen on Saturday.

The Congress chief made the remark at a press interaction, after a 30-minute-long meet with retired defence personnel at the AICC headquarters here, during which the Rafale deal issue and the Kashmir situation also came up.

Gandhi told the ex-servicemen, after the press meet, that if his party is voted to power in the 2019 parliamentary election, it will "fulfill all the commitments", the Congress had made on the OROP issue.

The ex-servicemen told me that OROP has not been implemented, and they also discussed other issues, he said.

"These issues are related. That they (the government) have Rs 30,000 crore to give to Anil Ambani but our soldiers can't be given OROP. This is the connection," Gandhi told reporters.

"And, the amount of Rs 30,000 crore was more than enough to solve the OROP issue," he said.

The Congress has alleged that the Anil Ambani-led company was favoured by the Modi government on the offset contract of the French fighter jet deal.

The private firm, however, has denied the allegations.

The meeting was also attended by former defence minister A K Antony, AICC general secretary Ashok Gehlot, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala and several retired senior officials of the defence forces.

Major General (retired) Satbir Singh, who has been spearheading the agitation for implementation of the OROP ( 'one rank, one pension') told reporters after the meet that they have appealed to Gandhi to take up the issues with the government, as the Congress is the principal opposition party.

"We are soldiers and we are on the streets. We feel humiliated. We demand that the Army's dignity be restored as it was on August 15, 1947," Singh said.

Gandhi said he "felt sad" to see these ex-servicemen expressing "dejection and the humiliation" they feel."They may not tell you openly but in the meeting it came out," he said.

Gehlot also tweeted on the meeting and shared the views expressed by some of the members, who participated in the meet, and also shared pictures of the interaction.

"Rafale deal by NDA is in complete violation of Defence Procurement Procedure(DPP) para 28, 80, 104-105 : Ex-serviceman of the Indian Army," he tweeted.

Earlier, during the meeting, Satbir Singh said the veterans were "very concerned and anguished over the OROP issue".

"Unfortunately, it has been 1,231 days of struggle, and we haven't got an acknowledgement of the letters sent to the prime minister, the last one being sent five days ago, he alleged during the meeting.

He said the ex-servicemen were promised implementation of 'one rank, one pension' but it is nowhere close to that.

"We request to you as the president of the principal opposition party to take up these issues with all the might, along with other parties," Singh said.

Among other issues raised, he also proposed constitution of a commission for ex-servicemen, headed by an ex-servicemen.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In a boost to the governments efforts to promote film tourism in Arunachal Pradesh, Bollywood director Imtiaz Ali Saturday expressed interest in the state as a location for his future films, an official communique said.

Arunachal offers some promising locations for film shooting with its breathtakingly beautiful and scenic landscapes, he said at the launch of the north east chapter of Old Students Association (OSA) of Hindu College, New Delhi, at Tawang.

Ali, who has to his credits hit films like 'Rockstar', 'Highway', 'Jab We Met' said he is also deeply touched by the hospitality and generosity of the people of Twanag, the communique said quoting him.

I am deeply indebted and will be obliged to do something for the development of tourism in Arunachal through movies, he said.

Thanking Chief Minister Pema Khandu for inviting him to Arunachal, Ali said, I am happy to know the vision the chief minister has for Arunachal. Please consider my help if I can be of any assistance in developing this beautiful state.

Khandu welcomed Alis offer to help develop tourism in Arunachal Pradesh through films, Khandu said the state government is bringing out a tourism policy and to ease shootings in the state.

He said a single window clearance system is already in place to attract potential investors such as filmmakers in the state. Besides, the state government is working to create an enabling environment through simple procedures and possible incentives for filmmakers, the communique said.

Referring to the importance of movies in increasing tourism to the film locations, Khandu said tourists always look to visit new places and films inspire a lot.

He said shooting of the film 'Rangoon' in Pasighat has already kindled interest in Arunachal Pradesh among many film makers as it offers several unique locations for shooting where no film had been shot before, it added.

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India has donated USD 300,000 for a peacekeeping initiative at the UN that will focus on issues of conduct along with sexual exploitation and abuse and help develop the capacity of future commanders and managers to lead by example.

The UN Department of Field Support announced that the Indian government had donated about USD 300,000 for the 'Pipeline to Peacekeeping Command Programme' with a specific focus on issues of conduct and discipline.

The programme will, over a period of three years, help develop the capacity of future commanders and managers to lead by example and raise awareness of UN standards of conduct among their personnel, said Stphane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary-general.

The programme will equip future commanders and managers to respond to allegations of misconduct including through collaborating with the various stakeholders in mission settings during the investigation and disciplinary process.

India's Permanent Representative at the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin said India is a strong supporter of the UN's Zero Tolerance Policy on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and remains committed to contribute through all means possible for this cause.

Under-Secretary-General for Field Support Atul Khare said the programme will be the first of its kind with a focus on issues of conduct and sexual exploitation and abuse, and said the UN is grateful for India's leadership on such a significant new initiative.

India, one of the largest troop contributing countries to UN peacekeeping missions, has been a key partner in preventing and addressing sexual exploitation and abuse, and there have been no allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse against uniformed personnel from India since 2013.

India is also noted as the first contributor to the Trust Fund in Support of Victims of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.

The country is also a signatory to the Voluntary Compact on Eliminating Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and a member of the Circle of Leadership of the Secretary-General on the prevention and response to sexual exploitation and abuse.

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Indian youth have the potential to change the world despite the tremendous barriers they face,United States Consul General Edgard Kagan said Saturday.

He was speaking at the ninth edition of the United Nations Young Changemakers Conclave held here in association with the US Consulate General in Mumbai.

The theme of the conclave this year was "Re-imagining Impact" in the digital age.

Kagan said India has over 600 million people under the age of 25 who had the ability to change society, country and the world.

"As an outsider, I feel very privileged to be here as I see this taking root. I see people beginning to realise the potential they have to seize tremendous opportunities despite what we recognise as tremendous barriers," he said.

He said problems in society are increasingly inter-related and ability to solve a problem in isolation was difficult.

"If we want to try and address problems, then we have to think about not just what's the problem, but why it's there and the challenges in trying to fix them," he said.

He called problems in dealing with pollution and plastic as "tremendous" ones, adding that challenges people face will call out to them to take action at different levels of skill.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das will address three public meetings in poll-bound Chhattisgarh on November 1, an official release said here on Saturday.

Das will address the meetings in favour of BJP candidates at Chhuria and Dungargarh, the release said.

Chhattisgarh will go to the polls for its 90-member assembly in two phases on November 12 and 20.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Jharkhand government will be sending a second batch of farmers to Israel on Sunday to acquaint them with the latest farm techniques adopted by the middle eastern country.

According to Deputy Director of Information and Public Relations Department, Ajaynath Jha, the second batch of 21 farmers will be leaving on October 28 and return on November 1.

Addressing the farmers before their departure, Chief Minister Raghubar Das said Israel has excelled in adopting cost effective farm techniques and the purpose of the tour was to learn about the modern methods and replicate them in Jharkhand.

He said the farmers touring Israel will also train other farmers in the state.

In August this year, the Jharkhand government had sent 26 farmers to Israel to learn new farming techniques. During the four day trip, the farmers visited dairy farms, production units of fruits and vegetables and learnt about functioning of drip irrigation.

Das said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set 2022 as the goal for doubling the income of the farmers and there was a necessity to promote horticulture, milk production, pisciculture, fruit, vegetable production along with agriculture, Das said.

"A large quantity of vegetables is produced in Jharkhand. There is a demand for organic vegetables in the gulf countries. The government is enabling market for farmers, for whom 'Global Agriculture and Food Summit (in November) is being organised and the farmers will get to know about new technology and market," Das said.

The chief minister asked the farmers to set up co-operatives in their respective areas and the government will provide subsidized tools, animals and other necessary things.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The luxury Lexus nameplate rose from the No. 2 spot in the previous year, with all of its models for which sufficient data were available rated average or above, the report said.

Lexus and Toyota topped the list for the sixth consecutive year.

Infotainment systems were the main reason consumers were bringing their new cars in for repairs.

Their survey collects data from Consumer Reports members about their experiences with more than half a million vehicles. "According to this survey, in-car electronics - like infotainment systems - power equipment, and transmissions continue to give owners headaches", explained Mike Quincy with Consumer Reports.

"Just because a vehicle is new, doesn't mean it will be problem free".

"It's the complexities that have really dragged down Tesla", said Jake Fisher, the magazine's director of auto testing.

You don't want it in the shop or broken down on the side of the road.

Brands at the bottom of the list were Tesla, Cadillac, and Volvo.

Asian brands took the top five spots and 11 of the top 15.

Tesla dropped six places from a year ago and now ranks 27th.

Kia drops two spots but remained in the top-ten as its all-new Stinger hatchback rates "Average" for reliability, as was the Sportage. Ford ranked the highest at 18, down three spots from 2017. The brand's reliability is bogged down by some of its new and redesigned models. The Taurus, the oldest model in Ford's fleet, has "Much-Better-Than-Average" reliability.

If you're in the market for a new vehicle, Consumer Reports advises avoiding brand new models or redesigns.

Tesla's Model S and Honda's Odyssey were removed from the list this year. Some Model S owners reported suspension problems, though a Tesla spokesperson told Consumer Reports that the company addressed a supplier issue and a separate false service alert. "Making air suspension and AWD standard in the 2017 model has added more complexity and more things that could potentially falter". The company makes hardware and software changes weekly, raising the risk of problems, he said. The American brands that dropped the most were Chrysler, Tesla, and Chevrolet. This year there are more than a dozen vehicles with reliability ratings that improved enough to lift their Overall Scores to enable them to be "CR Recommended".

Toyota's namesake brand was ranked second, down from first, with its Prius C named the most reliable model.

"If you're slow to the market, you're slow with technology, that's the way you do get reliability and that's how Toyota is so consistent", he said.
Director General of Police Dilbag Singh Saturday reviewed the security scenario in north Kashmir and directed his officers to make proper arrangements for peaceful conduct of the upcoming Panchayat polls in the state.

The DGP, along with IGP Kashmir S P Pani and DIG north Kashmir Atul Goyal, visited Lolab and Tangdhar in the frontier district of Kupwara where he interacted with public and chaired a joint security review meeting in Baramulla, a police spokesman said.

He said during the review meeting at Baramulla, the DGP commended all the forces for peaceful urban local bodies elections and directed the officers to ensure that appropriate security arrangements are put in place for peaceful conduct of upcoming panchayat polls.

The DGP stressed the need for continuous coordination among security agencies and appreciated the strategy followed by the forces to deal with militancy in the state, the spokesman said.

He said while interacting with jawans and officers at Lolab, the DGP appreciated efforts of police, central armed police forces and army in dealing with law and order situation effectively.

Singh said the attempts of anti-social elements were foiled because of the professionalism displayed by the forces.

During his meetings with army officers including Commander 8 Sector Brigadier Mohit Trivedi and Commander 104 Mountain Brigadier P K Mishra, the DGP discussed the security scenario in Lolab bowl and also the measures put in place at anti-infiltration grid to foil the infiltration bids on the Line of Control in the district, the spokesman said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The secretary of La Martiniere Schools, Kolkata, has resigned from his post citing personal reasons.

Supriyo Dhar, who had functioned as secretary of the institutions (La Martiniere for Boys and La Martiniere for Girls) for 10 years, said he had sent his resignation letter addressed to the Board of Governors of the schools on Thursday.

"Yes I had been associated with the institution for a decade. I am proud to be part of La Martiniere Kolkata as an institution. But due to some purely personal reasons, I am forced to sever that link. I have made up my mind," Dhar said asserting there was no bitterness.

The board of governors meeting is scheduled on November 3, a source in the Kolkata Diocese of the Church of North India (CNI), which runs La Martiniere along with several other missionary schools, said.

The office of Bishop Probal Dutta of Kolkata Diocese has already received the letter which will be placed at the Board meeting, the source added.

Asked if the resignation of Dhar had anything to do with the appointment of Reverend Probal Kanto Dutta as the 20th bishop of the Kolkata Diocese, the source said "there is no connection between the two developments".

Dutta was appointed Bishop of Calcutta Dioceese on October 14. He is the chairman of the governing boards of all CNI schools.

The church had been facing difficulties in ensuring smooth functioning of some of the schools run by the CNI in the absence of a Bishop till mid October.

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RJD national president Lalu Prasad took a swipe at the BJP and the JD(U) Saturday, a day after they jointly announced a seat-sharing arrangement in the NDA, saying they would first fight together and then against each other.

The former Bihar chief minister made the remarks in a post on his official Twitter handle which is being managed by his office. He is serving sentences in fodder scam cases but is currently ailing and admitted to a hospital.

"They will fight together and then fight each other. They will again fight together and again fight each other," he said taking a dig at the checkered history of the BJP-JD(U) tie-up.

The 17-year-long alliance of the two parties was snapped abruptly in 2013 but they came together again four years later.

Prasad also used epithets like paltimaar (turncoat) and "master in fakery" (swagger) apparently for Kumar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi respectively, neither of whom was mentioned by name.

Kumar was accused of being a turncoat by the RJD after he walked out of the grand alliance less than three years after its formation, following corruption cases against Prasad's younger son and the then deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav, and returned to the NDA last year.

Modi was accused of making tall claims and false promises by opposition parties.

On Friday, at a joint press meet in the national capital Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar and BJP chief Amit Shah had said the seat-sharing formula for the NDA in the state would be announced in three to four days.

The announcement put to rest speculations that demands by Kumar for a respectable share may throw a spanner in the way of a pre-poll tie-up.

Seeking to put up a brave front in the face of the formidable challenge that the BJP-JD(U) combine is likely to pose, the RJD supremo said, "Earlier the people defeated them separately. Now they will be beaten together and signed off with an evocative Jai Bihar."



Meanwhile, Prasad's son Tejashwi Yadav told a public meeting that Lalu is an ideology and not just an individual.

Yadav was in Motihari town the district headquarters of East Champaran as part of his statewide Samvidhan Bachao Nyay Yatra.

"Had he capitulated before the BJP like Nitish (Kumar), I would have been the CM of Bihar today. But he is a man of principles and (PM) Narendra Modi realised that he is capable of channelling the public anger against the current regime which would have made his return to power impossible," he said.

"Hence, the ailing septuagenarian has been sent to jail in a case that is decades old and we, his family members, have been framed in new ones," said Yadav, who was named the RJD's chief ministerial candidate for the next assembly polls.

He claimed a recent incident, where a slipper was hurled towards Kumar during a function in Patna, was indicative of the widespread resentment against the JD(U)-BJP rule and urged the people not to waste their energy in this manner but to defeat the alliance politically using their vote.

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Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath Saturday said the Supreme Court should pronounce its judgement in the Ram temple case as it had done on the matter of Sabarimala temple.

Describing the Ram temple issue as a matter of faith for the people of India, Yogi said the temple in Ayodhya assumes great significance in hearts of the people.

"If Supreme Court can give judgement in the Sabarimala case, it should also give its order in Ram temple case. I request the court to do so," Adityanath said at the Ideas Conclave, organised by India Foundation.

At the same time, he clarified that for him and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) the construction of the Ram temple was not an electoral issue.

His remarks assume significance as it come at a time the Visva Hindu Parishad (VHP) has demanded that the Centre should bring a law in Parliament for the construction of the temple at the disputed site in Ayodhaya.

On September 27, the Supreme Court declined to refer to a larger bench its 1994 verdict for a review over its "questionable observation" that "mosque is not an essential part of the practice of Islam", paving the way for the apex court to hear the politically sensitive main Ayodhya title suit from October 29.

Holding that the earlier observation was made in the limited context of "land acquisition" during the hearing of the Ayodhya case, the top court in a 2-1 verdict made it clear it will not have any bearing in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute whose outcome will be eagerly awaited ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

On September 28, the Supreme Court paved the way for entry of women of all ages into the Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala in Kerala.

The five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, in its 4:1 verdict, said that banning the entry of women of menstrual age into the shrine is gender discrimination and the practice violates rights of Hindu women.

At the event, Adityanath also listed various development initiatives taken by his government.

He also highlighted the improvement in law and order situation in the state, especially in context of women safety.

He said the government will build a greenfield international airport in Jewar. Another international airport in Kushinagar in the state will also be constructed, he added.

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The Loktantrik Morcha, a seven-party alliance in Rajasthan, on Saturday announced that it will contest on all 200 seats in the upcoming state assembly and CPI(M) leader Amra Ram will be its chief ministerial candidate.

The front was launched last month by former prime minister H D Deve Gowda and consists of CPI, CPI (M), CPI (ML), MCPI (United), Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Lok Dal and Janata Dal (Secular).

"We will contest on all 200 seats and Amra Ram will be the Morcha's CM candidate," a spokesperson of the alliance said.

"The alliance has been formed to give a new alternative to the people of Rajasthan," he added.

All like-minded parties and leaders are welcome to join us, the spokesperson said.

He said a 15-member core committee, which will have representation of all the seven parties, will be formed to decide on the seat-sharing arrangement.

The Loktantrik Morcha members have a small presence in Rajasthan and have no member in the current legislative assembly.

In 2013 assembly elections, CPI(M) and CPI contested on 38 and 23 seats respectively. JD(S), CPI(ML), SP and RLD contested on 6, 5, 56 and 8 seats respectively.

Rajasthan will go to the polls on December 7. Counting of votes will be held on December 11.

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France and Germany's leaders said Saturday they want a "coordinated" European position for restrictions on arms sales to Saudi Arabia after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to the French presidency.

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel moved to quash a rare dispute between the close European allies after Macron implied on Friday that Berlin was engaging in "pure demagoguery" by halting arms sales to Riyadh.

On the sidelines of a Syria summit in Istanbul, the two leaders had a "relaxed exchange", the Elysee palace said, and agreed not to announce their next positions on the issue without first coordinating "at the European level".

Macron had previously insisted there was no moral link to be made between Khashoggi's death at the beginning of this month and Saudi Arabia's purchase of French-made weapons.

"What is the link between arms sales and Mr Khashoggi?" he said, calling it "pure demagoguery to call for a halt" to exports over the killing.

The remark was interpreted as a rare veiled criticism of Merkel after the chancellor announced a freeze on arms sales to Riyadh over the dissident's murder inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

Macron said that sales of weapons to Riyadh -- France's second biggest customer after India -- have "nothing to do with Mr Khashoggi. One shouldn't mix everything up".

Macron also said that if Saudi Arabia is to be sanctioned, "we must do so across the board".

"In that case, we should stop selling cars," he told reporters -- another possible dig at Germany, a massive auto exporter.

Last month Germany approved 416 million euros (USD 470 million) worth of arms exports to Riyadh for 2018, however Merkel said Friday that "we need to clarify the background of this horrible crime and until that, we will not supply weapons to Saudi Arabia".

Khashoggi's killing has tainted the image of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has positioned himself as a Saudi reformer, and tested ties between Washington and Riyadh as Western powers demand answers over his death.

Prince Mohammed, the kingdom's de facto ruler, has denounced the "repulsive" murder, denying any involvement.

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A person was arrested from Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr district for allegedly sharing vital information with Pakistan spy agency ISI, police said Saturday.

Mohammad Zahid was arrested Friday night and police in Bulandshahr have recovered secret documents and maps of prohibited areas from him among others, according to a release issued here.

He was held after a tip off that a person in Khurja town in the district was sending secret documents, prohibited maps and other important information through different means to the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) as an agent, it said.

The police release said a case was registered and the matter is being probed.

It said a mobile phone, a voter ID card, Aadhaar card and Rs 2,540 in cash were also seized from him.

Zahid is a resident of Khurja in Bulandshahr and had visited Pakistan twice to meet his relatives, according to the release.

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Police arrested a man on Saturday on the charge of raping an eight-year-old girl, his neighbour, at a village in Odisha's Jajpur district.

The incident took place when the girl had gone to a Laxmi Puja pandal near Jaraka Bazar in Dharmasala area on Thursday evening, police said.

According to the complaint filed by her father, the 28-year-old accused lured the girl with snacks and took her on his bi-cycle to the nearby forest and raped her. He then brought her back and dumped her a few metres from home.

After reaching home, the girl narrated her ordeal to her mother. Her father, along with other villagers, went to the house of the accused but he had fled by then, police said.

The girl's father lodged an FIR on Friday and the police arrested the accused from a nearby village.

Police conducted medical examination on both the accused and the minor girl at the district headquarters hospital at Jajpur town.

A local court remanded him to judicial custody for 14 days.

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Manipur filmmaker Haobam Paban Kumar has suggested that the movies being screened at the ongoing Guwahati International Film Festival (GIFF) are shown in other north eastern states.

Altogether 108 films, including 52 foreign movies, are being screened in the festival. It also includes Bengali, Malayalam, Punjabi, Marathi, Hindi, Assamese and other regional films.

"GIFF is a very good initiative to promote a film culture in the region and it would be of immense help if it screens its films in other north eastern states so that more people will get to see good films," Kumar told PTI.

"Our cinema is in Kerala, Karnataka, Bengal, Assam and other states. This is real Indian cinema and not Bollywood," the national award winning film maker said.

Manipur has many independent filmmakers, but government support is lacking. For that reason, films are made on very low budgets, he said.

Independent films are very popular in Manipur with around sixty releases every year though there are very few theatres in the state, he said.

He said film streaming portals and television release had opened new horizons and film makers should explore these avenues.

Kumar's feature film 'Loktak Lairembee'(Lady of the Lake), which won national award for Best Film on Environment in 2016, portrayed the lives of the fishing community living around the Loktak Lake.

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A Pune court on Saturday remanded rights activists Sudha Bharadwaj, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, accused of having Maoist links, in police custody till November 6.

Bharadwaj, under house arrest in Faridabad, was taken into custody by police this morning and brought to the court here.

Gonsalves and Ferreira had been taken into custody by Pune police Friday evening after the court rejected the bail applications of all three, observing that the material collected by the police, on the face of it, shows their alleged links with Maoists.

District and Sessions Judge K D Vadane sent Gonsalves and Ferreira in police custody till November 6 after they were produced in the morning. The judge remanded Bharadwaj in police custody for the same period when she was produced in the evening.

Public prosecutor Ujjwala Pawar argued that as all the accused were under house arrest (as per the Supreme Court's directions), they could not be interrogated, so their police cusody was needed.

Seeking their police custody for 14 days, Pawar told the court that the preliminary investigation has revealed that the three had links with the banned CPI (Maoist) and were involved in recruitment as well as raising funds for Maoist activities.

They were involved in "larger conspiracy to threaten the democratic set-up of the nation", Pawar told the court.

The Pune police arrested Ferreira, Gonsalves, Bharadwaj and two others -- Telugu poet Varavara Rao and activist Gautam Navlakha -- in August this year in connection with the probe into violence in Koregaon Bhima in Pune on January 1 this year.

Gonsalves and Ferreira were brought to Pune from their residences in Mumbai on Friday after the bail pleas were rejected by the court. Their four-week period of house arrest also ended on Friday.

Interestingly, Bharadwaj filed an application in the court Saturday in which she said she suffered from high blood sugar and some other health issues, and she should be provided the same facilities in jail which the government had "promised" to fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya.

The court ordered that the required medical facilities be provided to her.

Opposing the police custody, defence lawyer Rahul Deshmukh, who represented Gonsalves, argued that the police in their remand report have not mentioned that they need to recover any material from the accused.

The material seized earlier are already in their possession for nearly two months now, he said. "So there is no need for police custody," he said.

Citing a CrPC section, he argued that the house arrest of all these accused was nothing but a "judicial custody".

"While seeking the police custody of the accused, who are already in judicial custody, the prosecution needs to submit an affidavit before the court. But in this case, no affidavit was submitted, so there is no need to give police custody," Deshmukh said.

Advocate Siddharth Patil, representing Ferreira, argued the period of the house arrest specified by the SC was valid till midnight of October 26.

"However, police took both the accused into the custody before the expiry of the house arrest, which is contempt of court," he contended.

Deshmukh told PTI later that he would go through the order copy and challenge the police custody in the high court.

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"If [the suspected killers] are in Saudi Arabia, there is no legal obligation to extradite", Schabas said.

The shifting explanations indicate Saudi Arabia is scrambling for a way out of the crisis that has enveloped the world's largest oil exporter and a major USA ally in the Middle East.

Even though the death of Jamal Khashoggi took place in the Saudi consulate, considered sovereign Saudi territory according to global law, the Turkish president made the case that the investigation into the killing and the prosecution of the individuals can not be carried out by those linked with the perpetrators.

However, the crown prince is under increasing pressure as critics believe he had knowledge of and possibly ordered the killing. If their involvement was proven, Trump said: "I would be very upset about it. If it doesn't, we want to see it", said the Saudi official.

The Saudi official says that Khashoggi was undressed, but his body was not cut into pieces. While the audience laughed and applauded, that incident required the intervention of the US and France to pressure Saudi Arabia into letting Hariri return to Beirut and resume his post.

The Axios poll released early Wednesday found that 56 percent of respondents said Trump's response to Saudi Arabia has been "not tough enough", while 32 percent said his response has been "about right".

Whatever the US response, USA ties with its Gulf ally have hit rough waters.

The two men - both in their 30s, both trusted aides of older, familial leaders - struck a bond last spring and consulted with one another frequently in private calls in the months that followed.

Trump now plays down the relationship, saying the crown prince and Kushner are "just two young guys".

Erdogan further mentioned that out of the 18 Saudi nationals arrested, 15 were the very same Saudis who have been identified by Turkish authorities who arrived in Istanbul before the incident that left Khashoggi dead.

People hold placards reading "Decisions that kill" during a gathering to demand a halt of arm sales to Saudi Arabia outside Parliament in Madrid, Oct. 24, 2018. When asked why there needed to be a forensic official at all, the Saudi official again cited an "administrative sloppy mess" that Asiri had put together. "As of now, we expect of them to openly bring to light those responsible, from the highest ranked to the lowest, and to bring them to justice".

Even Trump, however, acknowledges that Kushner's work on trying to craft peace between Israel and the Palestinians has been set back by Khashoggi's death.

"We opted not to answer anyone on this particular conference", said SNC-Lavalin spokesman Nicolas Ryan, referring to numerous inquiries from reporters.

"I would love if he wasn't responsible", Trump said of Mohammed, also known as MBS, to The Washington Post on Saturday. The official was not authorized to discuss the relationship and spoke only on condition of anonymity.

It was the first concrete step of punishment taken by the Trump administration after the disclosure of Khashoggi's death in Saudi consulate in Turkey's Istanbul.
US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is announcing that China's defense chief will travel to Washington next week for a meeting that has been delayed by tensions between the two nations.

Mattis tells a security conference that he'll meet with Defense Minister Wei Fenghe. Relations in the past year have been rocked by disputes over China's militarization of the South China Sea and trade tariffs pushed by the Trump administration.

A Chinese destroyer also came aggressively close to a US Navy ship earlier this month.

Mattis said strategic competition doesn't imply hostility, and he is committed to cooperating with countries like China and Russia. He spoke at the Manama Dialogue in Bahrain.

Mattis met with Wei during a recent conference in Singapore, and US officials said they sense military relations may be stabilizing.

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US President Donald Trump on Friday called for ending the " of personal destruction" as he accused the media of using "sinister actions of one individual" to score political points against him and his party.

Trump's comments at an election rally in North Carolina came hours after police apprehended a 56-year-old man from Florida on charges of sending package bombs to at least 10 present and former high-level government officials including former president Barack Obama, former vice president Joe Biden and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.

Trump asserted that he "will do everything" to stop political violance and said media has a major role to play in unifying the nation.

"Political violence must never, ever be allowed in America, and I will do everything in my power to stop it. In recent days, we've had a broader conversation about the tone and civility of our national dialogue. Everyone will benefit if we can end the of personal destruction, Trump said amidst applause from his supporters.

"We must unify as a nation in peace, love, and in harmony. The media has a major role to play. Whether they want to or not," he said as his supporters booed the media.

The large gathering of Trump's supporters were chanting, CNN sucks! CNN sucks!"



Trump said the media has been unfair to him and the Republican Party.

And they do, indeed. They have a major role to play as far as tone and as far as everything, Trump said.

We all say this in all sincerity, but the media's constant unfair coverage, deep hostility...... and negative attacks -- you know that -- only serve to drive people apart and to undermine healthy debate, he said.

Trump alleged that the media has tried to link the recent spate of package bombs to him and the Republican party.

We have seen an effort by the media in recent hours to use the sinister actions of one individual to score political points against me and the Republican Party, he said.

"When a Bernie Sanders supporter tried to murder congressional Republicans and severely wounded -- a great man named Steve Scalise and others the Republicans did not use that heinous attempt at mass murder for political gain, because that would have been wrong," he said.

"It would have been the wrong thing to do. Many other examples could be brought up. Nor do we blame the Democrat Party every time radical leftists seized and destroy public property and unleash violence and mayhem. Yet the media has tried to attack the incredible Americans who support our movement to give power back to the people, he said.

In the aftermath of the spate of package bombs, the Republicans have lost some ground in the upcoming November 6 elections.

Trump told his supporters that 94 percent of the press that he gets is negative. Even when I do something wonderful, it's negative, he said as he cited the progress made by him in relationship with North Korea.

Even when we do great things, you look at North Korea, how good are we doing? It's been going with them for 70 years, more than 70 years. This is now our fourth month, and they always say, he's not moving fast enough. Fast enough? If I wasn't here, you would have ended up in a world war. You watch! I mean, you would have ended up in a world war, he said.

Trump has had a tense relationship with the media dating back to his presidential campaign and extending into his tenure in the White House.

The relationship between CNN and the Trump administration has been particularly contentious. The network has been a frequent target of Trump's "fake news" barbs.

CNN, whose New York bureau was evacuated on Wednesday following the discovery of an explosive device sent there, criticised the Trump administration for a "total and complete lack of understanding" of the seriousness of its attacks on the media.

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Lauding several women for having the courage to share their sexual harassment stories, filmmaker Shonali Bose says the #MeToo movement should not be reduced to male bashing.

"This movement should at no point become male bashing.. It is not about men and women, it is about the patriarchy imbedded in our society. I was in a prominent college in Delhi, I was sexually harassed in auditorium and went up to the stage and said we were shutting down the festival as many faced it.

"The principal said I was going to be expelled from the college. It is about the ideology, like women being shamed as to how you project yourself, what you wear... It is not coming from men alone but women as well," Shonali said on Friday at #MeToo panel discussion at the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film festival here.

Shonali said the incident only made her realise, how women are judged for what they wear and how they appear.

The 53-year-old director believes cinema is the best way where one can break boundaries and smash stereotypes.

Actor Renuka Shahane, who was also a part of the session, said she has worked with people whom she had admired.

"Most people can't separate art from the person. When I was a newbie I had to be alert always or build walls. I feel anybody who goes to a work situation there has to be mutual respect. When you are not shooting, you can't be judged and pounced on.

"I have experienced all of that in the film industry. We just try to sweep that under the carpet. This whole 'adjust' thing is like big conspiracy of silence."



For Renuka, the whole movement is about creating a safe environment for women and be respected at work place.

"It is unfortunate that these things happen. I have seen both the sides. Like there are women who are entering the industry with the thought that they are willing to do anything to get in here.

"The fact that there are women who don't want to do anything, they should be allowed to work in an environment that satisfies them as an actor."



She gave the example of 'intimacy coordinators' being hired in Hollywood to ensure standards and prevent abuse during all sexual scenes on sets and said the same should be there in India as well.

"My husband (Ashutosh Rana) has done a lot of that in the film industry and he has always been careful and sensitive in such scenes. It is a tricky scene to perform as you have to be in the scene and make sure your female co star is not suffering from any kind of harassment. Good actors have managed to do it in aesthetic way."



She said due to the movement there might be discussion on the sets regarding the details of the scenes where nudity, intimacy is concerned.

"Everybody has the right to work in comfortable situation.

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The Odisha Police on Saturday said Delhi-based journalist Abhijit Iyer Mitra was arrested not for his Twitter post on rasogolla, but for hurting the sentiments of the Odia people, among other reasons.

The Odisha Police's statement came in response to media reports that claimed that Mitra has been arrested for his year-old Twitter post about the origin of rasogolla.

"This is absolutely false and mischievous. His frivolous comment on rasogolla is not at all a ground for legal action against him," the statement said.

It said the reports were part of a malicious campaign aimed at maligning the state police by "propagating a false propaganda" and to cover the "actual deeds" of Mitra.

The Odisha Police said the accused journalist was arrested on the basis of FIRs lodged against his "derogatory, mischievous and objectionable comments" on art and culture of Odisha, Lord Jagannath and the Odia community as a whole.

They said two cases were registered against Mitra for his offensive comments.

A case was registered at Konark police station in Puri district on September 19 under various sections of IPC, Information Technology Act and Ancient Monument & Archaeological sites & Remains Act, it said.

On an another complaint at Saheed Nagar police station here, dated September 20, 2018, a case was registered under various sections of IPC and IT Act.

"The malicious and objectionable comments by Mitra have outraged feelings of people of different religions (Sec 295-A IPC). The remarks have also promoted enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and are prejudicial to maintenance of harmony (Sec 153-A IPC)," the statement said.

"Moreover, Mitra uttered the words with a deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings (Sec 298 IPC)," it added.

Besides, Mitra's malicious and defamatory comments have also hurt the religious feelings of devotees of Lord Jagannath.

"These comments are also detrimental and prejudicial to the peaceful and harmonious communal environment of the state. He further incited the public by posting objectionable word 'sala' for the entire Odia community," the police said.

In September, Mitra had posted a video on his Twitter handle where he "criticised Odisha, its people, Lord Jagannath, Konark temple and also Odisha lawmakers."



He was arrested on Tuesday after he tendered an unconditional apology before a House Committee of the state Assembly over his allegedly anti-Odisha remarks.

"Mitra was arrested and produced before court which sent him to judicial custody for 14 days," the statement said.

Subsequently, on a petition by the Investigation Officer, the court granted two days police remand for his custodial examination on Friday, it added.

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The Madhya Pradesh High Court has commuted the death sentence of a man accused of raping a minor to 20 years rigorous imprisonment.

Raj Kumar Kol, charged with kidnapping and raping a five-year-old girl on July 4 this year in Katni district, was awarded the death penalty by a trial court there under Section 376 (AB) of the Indian Penal Code, which deals with punishment for raping a minor below the age of 12.

The MP high court commuted the capital punishment to rigorous imprisonment of 20 years and a fine of Rs 10,000, government advocate Vishal Bhagat said.

He added that the lower court's sentence of two years under Section 366 (kidnapping) of the Indian Penal Code was upheld by the high court.

The two sentences will run separately for a period of 22 years.

A division bench of high corurt comprising Chief Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice Vijay Kumar Shukla Friday observed, "nothing is available on the record to suggest that he cannot be useful for the society".

The high court also said that "nothing has been brought on record by the prosecution that the accused was having any criminal antecedent, and the possibility of his rehabilitation and reformation has also not been ruled out".

Kol had moved the MP HC after being convicted by the Katni court.

Kol, an autorickshaw driver, used to ferry the minor victim to school.

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The Madhya Pradesh High Court Friday dismissed the bail application of a woman charged with abetting the suicides of her husband and mother-in-law.

According to the court order, Sanjay Singh Parmar (35) and his mother Pan Kunwar alias Nanhaju (70) committed suicide by hanging themselves at their residence on August 4 this year.

Following investigations, Dehat police in Tikamgarh had arrested the applicant woman on August 22 for allegedly physically and mentally torturing the two deceased.

She has been in judicial custody since her arrest in August.

In its order Friday, a single bench of Justice Mohammad Fahim refused bail to the accused.

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Streaming giant Netflix has decided to cancel its true-crime spoof series "American Vandal" after two seasons.

"'American Vandal' will not return for a third season," an official statement uploaded on Netflix website read.

"We're very grateful to the creators, writers, cast and crew for bringing their innovative comedy to Netflix, and to the fans and critics who embraced its unique and unconventional humour."



The comes after Netflix cancelled Marvel series "Iron Fist" and "Luke Cage" after both aired their second seasons.

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The organisers of the 2nd Guwahati International Film Festival have stopped new registration of delegates in the film extravaganza as over 6,000 delegates have already registered and there is space limitations in the auditoriums.

The Assam Government-owned Jyoti Chitraban (Film Studio) Society is the organiser of the festival, which are being held from October 25 to 31, in association with Dr Bhupen Hazarika Regional Government Film and Television Institute.

"We have received huge response this year. Already over 6,000 have registered and new requests are coming daily. We have space limitations at the auditoriums. So, we are forced to stop new registration," Jyoti Chitraban chairman Pabitra Margherita told PTI.

There is standard norm of having delegates registration in the ratio of 1:3 in respect of seat capacities and the 2nd GIFF has already crossed that, he added.

"Most of shows are houseful and people are not getting any space to stand even. We feel bad to close the registration, but we have no option," Margherita said.

The organisers initially planned to screen the films in five auditoriums -- four at the Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra complex and one at Jyoti Chitraban.

Out of the four at Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra, one was a temporary mobie film hall, but not a single film was screened due to technical issues.

While all 24 shows in the mobile hall were cancelled on Friday, the organisers have tried to adjust them in the other auditoriums, affecting the schedule in the other venues.

The organisers wrapped up the mobile structure Friday night and put up the new schedule on notice board outside the remaining venues.

However, an official release from the Department of Information and Public Relations (DIPR) Saturday said: "This year the organizers have also erected an additional temporary air conditioned theatre at the event due to the unprecedented success of its maiden festival last year."



The 2nd GIFF began with much fanfare on Thursday with a collection of 108 acclaimed films from 52 countries.

This year, the ASEAN countries are the focus region of the 2nd GIFF with 14 films from 10 countries of the region instead of having any focus country.

Apart from the ASEAN, films from many other countries will also be screened in the film festival.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
: Chief Minister K Palaniswami Saturday said there was no communique from government whip S Rajendran to Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal over the three AIADMK legislators who are backing AMMK leader TTV Dhinakaran.

On claims that government whip S Rajendran had written to Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal on the three MLAs (over their disqualification), Palaniswami said he was not aware of any such thing.

"Nothing of that sort so far," he told reporters here.

AIADMK MLAs A Prabhu, E A Rathinasabapathy,V T Kalaiselvan and S Karunas of Mukkulathor Pulipadi, who won the 2016 Assembly election by contesting on the ruling party's two-leaves symbol are backing Dhinakaran.

Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, however, said the Speaker has a right to seek an explanation from the three AIADMK legislators.

"The Speaker has a right to seek an explanation. He has the authority to take an appropriate decision if he does not get an appropriate explanation," he told reporters at Tirupur.

On the reported show-cause notice sent to the three MLAs by the "AIADMK for backing him," Dhinakaran said that the legislators would respond to it.

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Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party president and senior minister in the Uttar Pradesh government Om Prakash Rajbhar Saturday expressed dissatisfaction with the BJP dispensation, claiming whenever he talks about the poor, "they bring in the Hindu-Muslim issue".

Threatening to resign as minister, he said his "heart is broken. Should I fight for the poor or become a slave of the BJP?"



"I have come here to fight for the poor and not to toe the line of the BJP. I am not here to taste power," he said addressing the "ghulami chodo, samaj jodo" rally to mark the 16th foundation day of the party.

"They haven't even given us a party office. I had come prepared to resign today from this platform itself," Rajbhar said.

The leader had earlier expressed unhappiness over rebel Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Singh Yadav being allotted a government bungalow.

Rajbhar, who has often criticised the BJP government, said, "My heart is broken. The BJP doesn't want to give me a share in governance. Whenever I raise the issue of the poor, they talk about temples, mosques. They talk about Hindus and Muslims."



Our children want good education and not "mandir or masjid", he said.

Calling for providing quota within the OBC quota for different marginalized group according to their share in the population, Rajbhar said that BJP president Amit Shah had promised to do it within six months, but it is yet to materialize.

'Twelve states have this arrangement but not Uttar Pradesh," he stressed.

He also demanded that Uttar Pradesh be divided into four parts -- Purvanchal, Pashchimanchal, Madhyanchal and Bundelkhand -- for better representation and governance, besides a ban on liquor.

"When a neighbouring state like Bihar could achieve it why not Uttar Pradesh?" he asked.

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A suspect is in custody and "multiple" people dead following a shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

USA media reported at least four people killed Saturday after police in the U.S. city of Pittsburgh were called to an "active shooter", reportedly near a Jewish synagogue.

A police spokesman addressing reporters at the scene confirmed "multiple casualties" and said three officers where shot before the shooter was taken into custody.

The synagogue is located on the corner of Wilkins and Shady Avenue.

City Councilman Corey O'Connor said it is near the Tree of Life Synagogue in Squirrel Hill.

President Donald Trump called the shooting "far more devastating than anyone thought", saying "it's a bad thing what's going on with hate in our country".

The shooter surrendered to Pittsburgh police and was being transported to Mercy Hospital, said Curt Conrad, chief of staff for City Councilman Corey O'Connor.

Three officers were shot in the Saturday morning attack at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood.

According to the synagogue's website, Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers usually leads its Saturday service.

According to the synagogue's website, Shabbat morning services were taking place inside as reports about a shooting emerged. The conditions of the officers were not immediately known. A law enforcement official identified the suspect as Robert Bowers and said he is in his 40s.

Bowers was also very critical of President Donald Trump, blasting the man in the Oval Office for being a "globalist" and claiming that he was too liberal.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf also posted a statement.

A shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh resulted in multiple casualties, a Pittsburgh Bureau of Police spokesperson said at a press briefing on CNN affiliate KDKA. Law officials have told nearby residents to stay in their homes, and reports indicate the Synagogue has people barricaded inside the building, with several managing to call police on mobile phones.

The congregation had worked with the Department of Homeland Security to evaluate its exit routes, he said, and consulted a securities expert at the Jewish Federation about what to do in an active shooter situation.
A civilian is killed every three hours in Yemen, Oxfam said Friday, calling on the United States, Britain and other European states to suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

"One civilian has been killed every three hours in fighting in Yemen since the beginning of August, with many more people succumbing to disease and hunger," Oxfam said in a statement.

Citing data collected by the Civilian Impact Monitoring Project, linked to the United Nations global protection clusters, the aid group said 575 civilians were killed between August 1 and October 15, including 136 children.

"Oxfam is calling on the UK, US and other governments to suspend arms sales to the Saudis because of their disregard for civilian lives in the war in Yemen," read the Oxfam statement.

Saudi Arabia leads a pro-government military alliance that has battled Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels since 2015, pushing the impoverished country to the brink of famine.

The UN categorises Yemen as the world's worst humanitarian crisis, warning Tuesday that 14 million people now face a serious threat of famine.

Following the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi -- the Washington Post columnist and Saudi critic killed in his country's Istanbul consulate this month -- rights and aid groups have urged Western states to suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

Riyadh is the number one buyer of weapons from the United States.

Germany last week said it had suspended the export of arms to Saudi Arabia pending "clarification" of how Khashoggi died.

France and the US have declined to suspend arms deals with Saudi Arabia. Paris says none of its arms are used in the Yemen war.

The UN estimates nearly 10,000 people have been killed in Yemen since 2015. Rights groups say the number could be five times as high.

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The BJP on Saturday hit out at opposition parties for maintaining "complete silence" over the death of a soldier in a stone-pelting incident and said stone-pelters should be treated like terrorists are being dealt in the state.

Sepoy Rajendra Singh (22) died at a hospital in Srinagar on Friday after he sustained head injuries during stone-pelting by a group of youths.

Expressing concern over the death of the soldier, BJP national vice-president Avinash Rai Khanna said, "The complete silence on part of the opposition parties over such inhuman incidents is most unfortunate and need to be condemned by one and all."



"It is strange that the opposition parties are in a rat race to condemn the killing of those waging war against the nation and carrying weapons to unleash murder, damage to the public property and disturb the peace in the state and do not muster courage to speak even a single word of disapproval against such incidents and those responsible for them," he said.

Khanna said the involvement of youth in incidents of violence and taking on to terrorist activities is not healthy for society and it becomes the duty of political, social and religious organisations to counsel the misled youngsters to shun the path which spoils their career.

"They should guide youths to focus on acquiring education, stand on their own feet and support their families, which have high hopes from them," he said.

Khanna said the men in Army uniform too are human beings and deserve respect.

"They should not be seen from the prism of enmity. They are in the state to work for safety and security of the lives of common citizens," he said.

The opposition parties seem to be oblivious to this responsibility of making society progressive and peaceful, he said.

Condemning the incident, state BJP president Ravinder Raina said, "The stone-pelters are terrorist sympathisers and anyone supporting or working for a terrorist is also a terrorist. They are not innocent children."



He said the stone-pelters attack the security forces whenever any terrorist is encircled during an operation.

"They are conspiring against India at the behest of Pakistan. The way terrorists are being selectively eliminated, they should be treated equally," Raina told reporters on the sidelines of a function at party headquarters here.

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Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Saturday withdrew the security of deposed prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who still claims to be the constitutionally-appointed premier despite being replaced by controversial strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The move came hours after Sirisena suspended Parliament till November 16 after Wickremesinghe sought an emergency session to prove his majority.

The President withdrew Wickremesinghe's personal security and vehicles in order to accord them to his 72-year-old successor Rajapaksa, who staged a dramatic political comeback on Friday.

Sirisena would address the nation on Sunday while the new Cabinet will be announced on Monday, government sources said.

The Rajapaksa camp was busy making transition preparations despite the constitutional question mark on the legality of Wickremesinghe's sacking.

The ousted premier said that he still commands the majority in the 225-member assembly.

Rajapaksa and Sirisena combine has only 95 seats and is short of a simple majority in the 225-member house. Wickremesinghe's United National Party (UNP) has 106 seats on its own with just seven short of the majority.

The UNP claimed that President Sirisena sought to prorogue the parliament as 72-year-old Rajapaksa did not command a majority in the House.

Veteran civil servant S Amarasekera was named Rajapaksa's secretary by Sirisena after sacking Wickremesinghe's secretary Saman Ekanayake, a government gazette said.

The Rajapaksa camp said that they would seize the prime minister's official residence cum office known as the Temple Trees if Wickremesinghe did not quit by Sunday.

They have already started running the prime minister's secretariat with Amarasekera's appointment.

Meanwhile, China's Ambassador in Colombo Cheng Xueya became the first Ambassador to greet Rajapaksa with best wishes.

Cheng said he was bringing good wishes from Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Wickremesinghe, meanwhile, held a briefing for the Colombo-based Ambassadors to explain the situation, his officials said.

In another development, Dharisha Bastiansz, the editor of the state organ Sunday Observer said in a tweet that she had been forced to leave the editorial team by Rajapaksa-supported trade unions.

"Today I had to leave Lake House (publishing house), unable to carry out my editorial duties," she tweeted.

Rajapaksa's loyalists took control of the state TV stations on Friday night itself after he took oath as the new prime minister.

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Over 1,000 investors, including from India, participated in a conference in South Africa as part of a USD 100 billion investment drive announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in April.

During the conference, the business investors pledged to invest USD 20 billion in South Africa in the next five years.

The investments pledged were in various sectors like mining and automobile manufacturing.

Investment commitments in the mining sector were led by mining giants Anglo American which committed to invest 71.5 billion Rands, followed by India's Vedanta Resources that pledged to invest 21.4 billion Rands.

The automobile manufacturing sector made joint commitments to invest more than 40 billion Rands over the next five years.

Representatives of BMW, Mercedes Benz, Ford, Isuzu, Nissan and Volkswagen took to the stage to sign a pledge which was then presented to Ramaphosa.

"There have been accusations that South Africa is on an investment strike. Today maybe I can say the strike is over," Ramaphosa said.

Ramaphosa lauded the fact that most of the investments were in the areas of beneficiation, innovation and entrepreneurship aimed at supporting young people.

"The number of new jobs and people who will be employed is going to be phenomenal and unprecedented in the history of our country," Ramaphosa said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Pakistan government on Saturday strongly rejected reports that an Israeli aircraft carrying some officials secretly landed in Islamabad and flew away after several hours at the airport here.

It all started when an Israeli journalist Avi Scharf said in a tweet on October 25 that an Israeli business jet flew from Tel Aviv to Islamabad where it was on the ground for 10 hours, before flying back to Tel Aviv.

Social media users took note and flayed the Pakistan government with the Opposition also joining in to demand an explanation about the "secret Israeli mission".

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry rejected the reports and said the "government would not negotiate in secret with either Israel or India".

He regretted such reports despite the fact that the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) had also denied reports of the presence of any Israeli aircraft in Pakistani airspace or at its airports.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Ahsan Iqbal, who earlier led the Opposition's barrage, said Chaudhry's reaction showed the government was trying to hide something.

"The parliament should be taken into confidence over the issue," he demanded.

BBC Urdu reported that the aircraft in question was a Canadian-manufactured Bombardier Global Express with the serial number 9394. It was registered on February 22, 2017 in the Isle of Man in the UK by a company called Multibird Overseas Ltd.

The Israeli journalist later said he was not "100 per cent sure" if the plane had landed in Islamabad.

Pakistan and Israel do not have diplomatic relations and their aircraft are not allowed to use each other's airspace.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistan's Supreme Court has reintroduced a ban on Indian films and television shows being broadcast on the country's local channels.

The apex court was hearing a case filed by the United Producers Association pertaining to the broadcast of foreign content on Pakistani television channels, reported Dawn.

During the hearing, Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar ordered a "shut down" and made it clear that authorities should "only air appropriate content".

"They are trying to (obstruct the construction) of our dam and we cannot even ban their channels?" Nisar said.

In 2016, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) had imposed a ban on airing Indian content on local television and FM radio channels.

However, the Lahore High Court lifted ban in 2017, declaring it null and void as the Pakistan government had no objections regarding the same.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Earlier this year, Sirisena reneged on a pledge not to run for re-election, sparking tensions with Wickremesinghe who is believed to have his own presidential ambitions.

Meanwhile, the gazette notification with regard to the appointment of Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Prime Minister has been issued by President's Secretary.

"The important question here is whether the prime minister enjoys the confidence of the parliament", he told Al Jazeera. "I am the prime minister and I have the majority", Wickremesinghe said.

A private television network loyal to Rajapakse televised him being sworn in as the new Prime Minister, replacing Wickremesinghe.

"According to the constitution, I'm the prime minister".

"The appointment of @PresRajapaksa as the Prime Minister is unconstitutional & illegal".

But the 19th amendment, added in 2015, says a prime minister can only be removed when he or she ceases to be a member of Parliament - such as for failing to meet criteria to be an elector or candidate, when a vote of no-confidence is passed, or when he or she chooses to resign. "This is an anti-democratic coup", finance minister Mangala Samaraweera wrote on Twitter shortly after the appointment was announced.

A Huawei spokesman said the company had received no such request from Sri Lanka and declined to comment further.

In a dramatic turn of events, President Maithripala Sirisena's Sri Lanka Freedom Party withdrew from the ruling coalition and then sacked Wickremesinghe.

Sri Lanka's $114 billion Cdn economy has been under pressure in recent years, with growth slowing to a 16-year low of 3.3 per cent last year due to tight monetary and fiscal conditions, droughts and floods.

The unity government was formed in 2015 when Sirisena (leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party -SLFP) was elected President with Wickremesinghe's support, ending a almost decade-long rule by Rajapaksa.

An Indian national named Merceli Thomas is now under detention in Sri Lanka for his alleged involvement in the plot.

Sirisena, who was health minister under Rajapaksa, and Wickremesinghe joined forces to defeat Rajapaksa in the 2015 election.

Rajapakse was sworn in by Sirisena in a ceremony at the president's office before the smiling ex-president headed to worship at a Buddhist temple.

The UNP and UPFA, an alliance of several political parties, consolidated their coalition after a parliamentary election in August 2015.

The unity government was thrown into a crisis after Rajapaksa's new party pulled off a stunning victory in local elections in February seen as a referendum on the ruling alliance.
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that his administration has taken the toughest ever action to crack down on China's "abusive" trade practices.

"Billions of dollars are, and will be, coming into United States coffers because of Tariffs", Trump tweeted on Tuesday.

The leaders will meet amid an escalated tariff war between the two countries.

"I don't really see an easy way out of this, " said Eswar Prasad, a Cornell University economist and former China official at the International Monetary Fund. However, many remain pessimistic about the positive outcome of any trade negotiations, as both countries are firm on their stances, and are unwilling to make any concession for the other party.

But now it's clear that the tax subsidies won't just help United States farmers - they'll help their foreign competitors too, and will likely benefit numerous countries Trump is supposedly targeting.

"Look, we've had so much trouble with China regarding their response, which they never make", Kudlow told reporters outside the White House Tuesday morning.

Efforts to broker peace have faltered since the summer because of the looming midterm elections in the US and a feeling among Chinese officials that they have been burned when they cut deals before with Trump emissaries such as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Think of it. Who made these deals? They didn't care so much about us.

We did Canada and Mexico.

In August, President Trump placed a 25 percent tariff on imported steel and a 10 percent levy on imported aluminum.

The president was asked about the risks tariffs pose to the economy since many businesses expressed fear that they could hurt profits and increase prices.

Formal negotiations have been stalled since August, when US Treasury's undersecretary for worldwide affairs, David Malpass, led discussions in Washington with Chinese Vice Minister Wang Shouwen.

In response to China's retaliation tariffs, Trump has offered certain programs in an effort to support USA farmers.

Indeed, the Heartland farm belt that runs generally north and south along both sides the Mississippi River takes in not only Iowa - home of extremely early political party caucuses - but a number of other "red" states, including Arkansas, where Trump enjoyed large margins of victory in the 2016 election.

Both US and worldwide firms have said they are being harmed.

The secretary of Treasury, Mnuchin and his team holds a different perspective and has told the Chinese there's no point to buy USA products as the utmost priority. "It could affect the beef market long-term if we as a country sell less pork to China and could lead to a surplus amount of pork in the USA and that would cause the price of pork to go down, which if that happens, more people might start eating more pork instead of beef to save money, which would cause the price of beef to go down, but that has yet to happen".
The question of whether or not to celebrate Columbus Day or have Indigenous Peoples Day celebrated along with or in place of it is a topic of public discourse. While others may disagree, it is this authors assertion that Columbus Day should be the sole celebration for that day. This is beca
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Photo: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

More than a decade ago, the Supreme Court rebuked the George W. Bush administration, on a 5-to-4 vote, for refusing to address climate change by regulating automobile emissions under an act of Congress, the Clean Air Act. In his opinion for the Court, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that the Environmental Protection Agency has offered no reasoned explanation for its refusal to decide whether greenhouse gases cause or contribute to climate change, and that the failure to act was therefore arbitrary, capricious  or otherwise not in accordance with law.

The ruling, which recognized that litigants may on occasion force the governments hand to take its regulatory authority seriously, was a watershed for environmental law. But much has changed since then. Among other benchmarks, the Paris climate accord, the election of Donald Trump, and a cataclysmic new report on what the near future holds for the environment have all altered the calculus on what can and must be done today to tackle the real threat of climate change. The Supreme Courts own composition is also vastly different: Only two of the justices who prevailed in the Massachusetts v. EPA majority remain on the bench today.

None of this has deterred a group of 21 young people, ages 11 through 22, from putting their names on an unlikely federal lawsuit that, in an era of diminishing constitutional rights, is widely seen as a shot in the dark. Their claim is as extraordinary as the relief they seek: Their complaint, which they filed in federal court in Oregon in 2015, asserts that the federal government  up to and including the president of the United States  is violating their civil rights to life, liberty, and property by substantially causing or contributing to a dangerous concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. And that by failing to take corrective steps, a litany of federal agencies and officials dangerously interfere with a stable climate system required by our nation and Plaintiffs alike.

To these youth and their lawyer, the only way to redress these constitutional injuries is to get the courts to order the government to take drastic measures under existing law and what the plaintiffs describe as the executive branchs public trust obligations to protect the environment and these childrens future. Their ask: The creation and enforcement of a national remedial plan to phase out fossil fuel emissions and draw down excess atmospheric CO2, all with the goal to stabilize the climate system and protect the vital resources on which Plaintiffs now and in the future will depend.

Under an array of doctrines the Supreme Court has erected over time, this is the kind of sweeping constitutional challenge that would normally be thrown out of court in a heartbeat. But not this case. Against all odds, the childrens lawsuit has survived several layers of review and appeals. And at every turn, the federal government has resisted. Its options extinguished, the Department of Justice now has a pending request before the Supreme Court to bring the upcoming trial, scheduled to start next week, to a screeching halt.

Noel Francisco, Trumps solicitor general and top lawyer before the Supreme Court, isnt taking this case laying down. Respondents position amounts to the astounding assertion that permitting or encouraging the combustion of fossil fuels violates the Due Process Clause of the Constitution and a single district court in a suit brought by a handful of plaintiffs may decree the end of the carbon-based features of the United States energy system, without regard to the statutory and regulatory framework Congress enacted to address such issues with broad public input, he wrote in a forceful petition addressed to Chief Justice John Roberts, who last week put a temporary pause on the proceedings.

This was no ordinary appeal, mind you, but a rarely granted form of relief that is the virtual equivalent of suing a judge and ordering her to do something  in this case, to shut down the climate-change trial that she shouldve never allowed to get this far. The Trump administrations argument is, at its core, one of separation of powers: Courts have no business decreeing environmental policy, which rests exclusively with Congress and the Executive branch. Subjecting a host of government officials to withstand a ten-week trial, in Franciscos view, would amount to a judicial usurpation of power.

But lawyers for the youth and courts that have already ruled on their behalf dont quite envision such a gloom-and-doom scenario should the trial proceed. In March, an appeals court told the Trump administration its objections to the suit were premature, even as it acknowledged that the childrens claims were quite broad and that the legal theories  raise issues of first impression. In a later July order, the same three-judge panel more or less told the government that it was doing it all wrong, and jumping the gun once again. It remains the case that the issues that the government raises in its petition are better addressed through the ordinary course of litigation, the court said.

Thats not to say a Supreme Court with a solid conservative majority wont be receptive to the Trump administrations pleas. In a cryptic, unsigned July order agreeing that protests about the the climate-change case were premature at this stage, the Supreme Court nonetheless telegraphed that the breadth of the childrens claims was striking. And as the Washington Posts Robert Barnes observed this week, the justices have already entertained a number of extraordinary requests from the Department of Justice asking them to move quickly, leapfrog the appellate process, and get final rulings on things that would ordinarily take their sweet time in the courts. For all we know, a majority of the court may just pull the plug on it.

On Friday and of her own accord, U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken, who is handling the climate-change case in Oregon, seemed to heed the urgency of it all and put the trial on hold while the Supreme Court decides how to act. Of all the jurists who have spent time with Juliana v. United States, as the case is known, Aiken may be one of its biggest boosters. Exercising my reasoned judgment, she wrote in an opinion issued just two days after Trumps election, I have no doubt that the right to a climate system capable of sustaining human life is fundamental to a free and ordered society.

Such a right has never been recognized under our Constitution, and may never be. But what if the right should exist, just as courts in generations past determined that certain rights unwritten in our Constitution, such as the right to privacy and to family integrity, should exist and be protected? Thats whats visceral about what these youth want: their desire to at least be able to make their case and present documents, cross-examine officials, put forward experts and testimony establishing how the government has failed them. How those in power have violated the public trust by not preserving what belongs to them and future generations. Will the Supreme Court let them go that far?
The Tree of Life Synagogue a day after a shooting left 11 people dead. Photo: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images

Eleven people are dead and six injured after a shooter  shouting that he wanted to kill Jews  opened fire during weekly services at a Pittsburgh synagogue on Saturday morning.

What happened?

At 9:50 a.m. Saturday morning, a neo-Nazi gunman walked into the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburghs predominantly Jewish Squirrel Hill neighborhood and shot everyone he could find, ultimately killing 11 people. The gunman, 46-year-old Robert D. Bowers, was armed with an AR-15 style assault rifle and three handguns, and police said he used all of the weapons during the attack.

It seems Bowers may have targeted the synagogue looking to attack the Dor Hadash, a Reconstructionist congregation which rented space in the building, and had partnered with HIAS, a Jewish aid organization dedicated to assisting refugees. Bowers had published numerous posts about HIAS on the Gab social network, and appeared to ascribe to the anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that Jews were financially supporting an invasion of immigrants into the U.S. In particular, Bowers had frequently ranted about the caravan of Honduran migrants which President Trump and his allies on the right have been using to inflame the immigration debate and motivate Trumps base ahead of the upcoming midterm elections. Bowers had posted a list of HIASs partners on Gab, including Dor Hadash.

At the time of the attack, Dor Hadashs weekly Shabbat services were just getting underway at Tree of Life. Some of the people inside the synagogue ran after the shooting began, while others tried to hide from the shooter. Four minutes after the attack began, the first 911 call came in from someone inside the building, and dispatchers said that witnesses reported hearing as many 30 shots.

Ten minutes after the attack began, at 10 a.m., the first responding police officers made it to Tree of Life. They immediately encountered Bowers, who was exiting the building as they arrived, and he and the two officers exchanged fire. One officer was shot in the hand, and the other received shrapnel wounds from broken glass. The officers, pinned down, reported that Bowers had an automatic weapon.

Bowers then retreated back into the synagogue, and more officers, including a SWAT team, began to arrive. Almost 40 minutes after the attack began, at 10:29 a.m., the SWAT team entered the building and rescued two injured victims, who were both elderly. The SWAT team found spent magazines in the halls of the synagogue, as well as the people Bowers had killed. The FBI agent in charge of the scene later said it was the most horrific crime scene Ive seen in 22 years with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The SWAT team encountered Bowers on the third floor at 10:47 a.m., and he opened fire on them, shooting two officers multiple times, critically injuring one. The gunfight continued until was Bowers was cornered. More than an hour and 20 minutes after the attack began, officers convince Bowers to surrender and he is taken into custody. The gunman had been shot several times, and was taken for medical care. He survived his injuries.

Authorities said that Bowers repeatedly shouted about his desire to kill Jews. Theyre committing genocide to my people, he told police officers. I just want to kill Jews.

Bowers was later charged more than 60 counts at the federal and state level related to the attack, including federal civil rights crimes and obstructing exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death.

Pittsburghs public safety director, Wendell Hissrich, fought back tears when describing the scene to reporters on Saturday:

#BREAKING: Suspect has surrendered. He is injured. Here is the scene just a few blocks away from the synagogue. At least 8 people killed @KDKA pic.twitter.com/AwhjC3iyH4  Meghan Schiller (@MeghanKDKA) October 27, 2018

Who are the victims?

Authorities released the names of the 11 victims on Sunday. Many were adult members of the New Light Congregation, and at least one was a member of Dor Hadash congregation. Both rented space at the Tree of Life synagogue after it could no longer afford its own. All of the victims were adults over the age of 50 and most were elderly. They are:

Joyce Feinberg, 75

A retired researcher who studied learning in classrooms and museums at the University of Pittsburghs Learning Research and Development Center, Feinberg raised her two children in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood.

Richard Gottfried, 65

A dentist, Gottfriend was remembered Sunday for his generosity and willingness to serve patients who did not have insurance or were underinsured, the Times reports.

THIS is Rich Gottfried. Sitting on our wood floor sharing his faith with our children. Will and I are eternally grateful for his LIFE. #TreeOfLifeShooting #pittsburghstrong #TreeOfLifeSynagogue #TreeOfLife pic.twitter.com/IJD7G3VWUN  PGH mom of 2 boys (@jeduffy) October 28, 2018

Rose Mallinger, 97

Mallinger had been attending services for decades and rarely missed any. She was well known in the Squirrel Hill community. Her daughter, Andrea Wedner, 61, was attending services with her on Saturday, and was injured in the attack.

Rose Malinger will not be forgotten... May god bless her and her family. May her memory be a blessing to her family and everyone whose life she touched in her amazing life. pic.twitter.com/kGtjYhjNgk  chantal (@chantalkreviaz) October 29, 2018

Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz, 66

A well-known family physician at UPMC Shadyside. His practice partner since 1985, Dr. Ken Ciesielka, told the Post-Gazette that Rabinowitz was beloved by his patients and, was one of the finest people Ive ever met in my life. He had a moral compass stronger than anyone I have ever known.

In a Facebook post, a former patient wrote that Rabinowtiz was a compassionate doctor who treated HIV patients in the 90s without making them feel less-than-human. He often held our hands (without rubber gloves) and always always hugged us as we left his office, Michael Kerr wrote.

Longtime patient of Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz, who was killed in the synagogue shooting, tells me Dr. R treated everyone like they were his only patient. pic.twitter.com/4SQd3xtOjM  Erin Clarke (@ErinClarkeWPXI) October 28, 2018

Cecil Rosenthal, 59, and David Rosenthal, 54

Intellectually disabled brothers who were well known at the synagogue. Cecil would often work as a greeter. Cecils laugh was infectious. David was so kind and had such a gentle spirit. Together, they looked out for one another, said Chris Schopf, who works with ACHIEVA, a local non-profit that works with people with disabilities. According to USA Today, the brothers had Fragile X syndrome, a genetic disorder that often results in mild to moderate intellectual disability.

Cecil and David Rosenthal remembered as loving and inseparablehttps://t.co/uodBAKxO8y pic.twitter.com/PVyTub8Ztz  ACHIEVA (@ACHIEVA) October 28, 2018

Bernice Simon, 84, and Sylvan Simon, 86

A couple who had gotten married at the Tree of Life synagogue in 1956, the Simons were the sweetest people you could imagine, their neighbor told CNN.

Daniel Stein, 71

A leader in the New Light Congregation and the Pittsburgh Jewish community, Stein was a substitute teacher and, after his daughter gave birth recently, a first-time grandfather.

Melvin Wax, 88

Wax was a retired accountant who lived simply after the death of his wife died two years ago. He was big fan of the Pirates, a team he defended despite their endless mediocrity. He was happy to just watch them. He didnt care if they won or not, a friend told the Times. Wax was leading shabbat services when the shooting began Saturday.

88yo Melvin Wax is one of the Pittsburgh shooting victims. I spoke with a family member who lives in Boynton Beach. They tell me Melvin was devoted to his family and his religion. More on @WPTV tonight. pic.twitter.com/iqzQTTH66D  Miranda Christian (@MirandaWPTV) October 28, 2018

Irving Younger, 69

Younger was a former small business owner and a little league coach. His neighbor told The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that he was the most wonderful dad and grandpa.

Who is the alleged shooter?

Robert D. Bowers is a 46-year-old white man who lived in the Pittsburgh area, and was not previously known to police. He is a licensed owner of at least six guns. Bowers was a prolific poster of neo-Nazi and anti-Semitic messages and conspiracy theories on Gab, calls itself the free speech social network and is considered a right-wing alternative to Twitter. Bowers also attacked President Trump, who he believed was being controlled by Jews, and said in one message that he did not vote for Trump. He also once posted a photo of three of his handguns on the network.

An archive of his posts, which include graphic and hateful messages, images, and memes, is here.

Being very clear for media picking this up, this man Robert Bowers was named on police scanner, found his profile, last post was this and his social media account was wiped while I was archiving it. His account was anti-Semitic conspiracies and anti-Trump posts/conspiracies. pic.twitter.com/uRNfWAEWLW  Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) October 27, 2018

The attack struck Pittsburghs oldest Jewish congregation

Founded in 1864, the Tree of Life is Pittsburghs oldest Jewish congregation, and is Conservative. Three congregations use the building, and the central sanctuary can house more than a thousand people. The synagogues CEO said they had not received any threats beforehand.

Squirrel Hill, which is near Carnegie Mellon University, is home to more than half of the Jewish residents of Pittsburgh, and was where a white supremacist was arrested after posting neo-Nazi flyers last year.

The third new instance of domestic terrorism in a week

The Pittsburgh shooting comes three days after a white man randomly shot and killed two black customers at a Kroger supermarket in Kentucky after initially attempting to enter a predominantly black church next door. That attack is being investigated as a hate crime.

On Friday, a Florida man was arrested and charged with mailing pipe bombs to several people over the past week, including prominent Democrats, and CNN. The suspect, Cesar Sayoc, was an ardent supporter of President Trump and targeted people who Trump has repeatedly identified as his enemies.

There have been no reports of any direct connection between the three events, but following the synagogue shooting on Saturday, police in Los Angeles and New York dispatched additional police officers to places of worship as a precaution.

This post has been updated throughout.
China have full confidence in Pakistan: Chinese Ambassador

ISLAMABAD: In an emphatic rejoinder to the detractors of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Ambassador Yao Jing Friday attempted to inject renewed confidence in the bilateral relations and put all the speculation around the multi-billion initiative to rest. We should guard against negative forces out there which dont want to see China prosper and which are also opposed to the close and exemplary Pakistan-China relations, he said at a press briefing. He emphasized that Chinese capital as well as technology will be put to use to reinforce and expand Pakistans manufacturing capacity, which he said is key to increasing exports.



The ambassador said Prime Minister Imran Khan will lead a delegation to China from November 2-5, during which both countries will sign several agreements on diverse fields. Khan will also be the keynote speaker at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai. The CPEC is just one dimension of the comprehensive Pakistan-China brotherly relations which are based on mutual respect, goodwill and confidence in each other, the ambassador underscored.



On the occasion, Deputy Chief of Mission Zhao Lijian explained the status of the $19 billion that has so far flowed into Pakistan as soft loans and commercial investments, leading to the completion of 22 energy and infrastructure projects. Of the $19 billion, $6 billion are a soft government-to-government loan at 2% mark-up. The rest is Chinese direct foreign investment with a one-time 7% insurance cost. The total cost for this loan would stay hardly at 6.3% on the average during the 20-year repayment period, including several years of a grace period as well. The repayment on all loans and investments will begin in 2022, he explained.



Ambassador Jing also took a swipe at those who tend to project the Chinese loans as easy money. This money is not from the sky, it has been hard earned by the Chinese people. We worked hard (to earn it). In China, we still have 30 million people who live under the poverty line and it is a very big challenge for us, he said. Why China has invested such a big amount in Pakistan? Only because we take Pakistan as a brother  we take Pakistan as our future partner in prosperity, he underlined.



Both Chinese officials brushed aside speculation about China being concerned about the concerns expressed by PM Khan or his colleagues on CPEC as a non-story. The talk to this effect is totally irrelevant since the bilateral relationship as well as the entire CPEC process rests on mutual consultation, understanding and coordination. We are determined to invest more in Pakistan and buy more from it, the ambassador said, in what appeared to be a forceful snub to western media reports casting doubts on the future of CPEC-related projects.



The ambassador said China was celebrating the year 2018 as the Year of Reform and Openness that began under Deng Xiaoping in the late 70s. PM Khan espouses the similar vision on reforms and restructuring and there is a lot of common ground to tread for both countries, Jing said, adding that the ground-breaking later this year of the first of the nine special economic zones near Islamabad will mark the second phase of CPEC, which will not only usher in a new era of development in Pakistan but also serve as a platform for regional trade cooperation.



The ambassador explained that the next phase of CPEC would not only prioritize special economic zones as engines of Pakistans economic development but also focus on the social sector development including health, education, agriculture and skills development. CPEC will not only strengthen and accelerate Pakistans growth but serve as a critical hub for regional trade and connectivity, he said, and left a bemusing thought with journalists saying you will hear good news at the end of PM Khans visit.
COAS confirmed death sentences to 14 terrorists

ISLAMABAD: Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa Friday confirmed death sentences awarded to 14 hardcore terrorists involved in heinous offences related to terrorism, according to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).



The terrorists were involved in attacking armed forces and law enforcement agencies, killing innocent civilians and were behind destruction of educational institutions and the Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) Hotel Malam Jabba. They were involved in killing of 22 persons including three civilians, 19 armed forces and police personnel and injuring 23 others. Arms and explosives were also seized from their possession. These convicts were tried by special military courts. Besides the death penalty, eight convicts have also been awarded imprisonment, reads the statement.



Rehman Ali, Rehmat Ali, Saif ur Rehman and Fazal Mabood, members of a proscribed organization, were involved in destruction of an educational institution and attacking armed forces/law enforcement agencies, which resulted in death of Naib Subedar Hanif along with seven soldiers, a civilian and injuries to 12 others. They were also found in possession of fire-arms and explosives.
There was massive celebration at the University of Liberia as President George Weah declared that the university and all other public universities in the country tuition-free.



The 52-year-old made the announcement today during his visit to the University of Liberia and also took to his Facebook page to announce the news to the world.



After making the joyful announcement, the president also promised that he would make University education free in the country and make Liberia an example to other African nations.



In a statement made on his official Facebook page, the president wrote: "Today, I am excited to announce that I have declared the University of Liberia and all other public universities in Liberia Tuition-free for all undergraduates."



Watch the announcent video below.









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
A 14-year-old student of West Ridge Junior High School in Sekondi/Takoradi has been stabbed to death by his classmate.



The tragic incident happened Thursday, October 25 during what school authorities and police say started as a usual boyhood prank between two classmates.



The victim, a final Junior High School student, was said to be copying his notes while his mate now turned suspect, teased him.



According to the police, the victim who felt irritated over the persistent teasing by his colleague, then threw his hand to ward him off.



In the process, the pen he was copying his notes with, which was in his hand, pricked his teasing friend, who angrily retaliated by stabbing him in the chest with an implement suspected to be a compass.



The police said the victim who was bleeding profusely, was rushed to the hospital but died on Friday, October 26, which happens to be his 14th birthday.



When contacted, the Ghana Education Services (GES) Metropolitan Public Relations Officer, Kate A. Biney confirmed that the incident happened on Thursday during school break while the victim was copying his notes.



She said when the deceased felt irritated and warned his classmate to stop so he could finish copying the notes, he did not listen but continued and when the mate threw his hand at him to stop him and got scratched, he rather took offence.



Mrs Biney said after being stabbed, the victim in pain rushed to the office of the head teacher to report but became unconscious and fell down.



At the hospital



She said he was initially sent to the Essikado Government Hospital but later referred to the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital where he died Friday morning.



The Regional Police Public Relations Officer, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Ms Olivia Ewuraabena Adiku said the police are investigating the case.



She said the incident happened in the early hours of the day but the school authorities reported it at about 6pm on Thursday.



She said since the case involved a youngster, it has been transferred to the domestic violence and victims support unit of the Ghana Police Service.

Source: Graphic.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
A baby octopus inside a plastic container at Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park in waters off Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.

A baby octopus found at Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park in Hawaii. A second tiny octopus, also found on the plastic trash by the Hawaiian dive team, was discovered while squeezing the life out of equally tiny prey - a baby crab - prompting a park representative to pose the question: "Maybe they aren't so cute?"

In one of the park's images, the baby cephalopod is dwarfed by a marine biologist's fingertip; the octopus is too tiny to comfortably hug a human finger with all its arms.

Hawaii scientists found two tiny baby octopuses floating on plastic trash they were cleaning up as they monitored coral reefs.

World Cup women get a raise to $30M; men will make $440M

Nevertheless, players union FIFPro released a statement to say that much more needed to be done towards achieving gender equality. President Gianni Infantino made the announcement towards the end of a FIFA Council meeting in the Rwandan capital Kigali .

Indemnizacion para tres victimas de abusos  Chile

Mas tarde, los tres difundieron un comunicado en el que manifiestan satisfaccion por el fallo . "Pero ha valido la pena ". Sepan todos que no hay conciliacion . "Iglesia pierde y se admite encubrimiento , negligencia y mentiras.

EPL: Guardiola names teams that can win title

Kevin De Bruyne is in contention to start his first Premier League game of the season after missing two months with a knee injury. They know what it is". "I like that, after what happened in Manchester at the arena, now it is a song for the people".

The baby octopus, visible in the picture at the beginning of the article, is so tiny that is comparable with green peas, according to the marine ecologist Sallie Beavers of Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park who explained the discovery yesterday.

Scientists found them months ago, but the U.S. Interior Department highlighted them this week when it posted a photo of one on social media.

Even though baby octopuses are small, they can also be deadly (to other very small creatures, that is).

According to Sallie Beavers, one tiny baby octopus even squirted a small amount of ink when the scientists released it back into the waters off Hawaii.
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
















Russian diplomat Andrei Belousov confirmed Friday that Russia is preparing to defend its territory against any aggression, while the unilateral withdrawal from the INF Treaty by the US signals that Washington is preparing for such aggression. Andrei Belousov, deputy director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Department of Nonproliferation and Arms Control, commented on the US unilateral withdrawal from the INF Treaty by saying that Washington is "preparing a war," and that Russia has to get ready to defend its territory, principles and values.

"Recently at a meeting [of the committee], the US stated that Russia is preparing for war. Yes, Russia is preparing for war, I can confirm it," Belousov said after a failed UN First Committee vote on Russia's resolution in support of the INF.





"We are preparing to defend our homeland, our territorial integrity, our principles, our values, our people  we are preparing for such a war," he added.





However, he underscored it is not Russia that is preparing to start the war. According to the diplomat, there is a big difference between Moscow's preparations and Washington's.





"Linguistically, this difference is in just one word, both in Russian and in English: Russia is preparing for war, and the US is preparing a war," Belousov said. "Otherwise, why would the United States withdraw from the treaty, build up its nuclear potential [and] adopt a new nuclear doctrine?"









Belousov, commenting on the failed UN committee vote on Russia's draft resolution, warned that refusal to introduce the draft could seriously affect world security.





"If the United States comes out of the treaty and starts building up its nuclear potential in an uncontrolled manner, we will face another reality," he said, adding that the procedural issues the UN focused on in recent days will seem insignificant.









The INF Treaty is a Cold War-era pact signed by then-leader of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev and then-US President Ronald Reagan in 1987. The two sides reached a historic agreement to cut their nuclear arsenals and pledged to destroy all cruise or ground-launched ballistic missiles with ranges between 310 and 3,400 miles.





On Friday, Russia introduced a draft resolution to preserve the INF to the UN General Assembly's First Committee, tasked with disarmament and international security. However, the committee voted against reviewing the draft, with 55 countries voting against the draft resolution, 31 nations supporting it, and 54 abstaining from the vote. Speaking at the UN General Assembly, Belousov commented that Russia has had questions for the US regarding the implementation of the treaty since well before 2000.




Our struggle is to bring social, political, and economic justice to our nation. This is an effort of the Chicano/Mexican American Digital History Project. https://sites.google.com/site/chicanodigital/
Turning the ship before it hits the iceberg
After meeting Mohammed bin Salman, Salah Khashoggi was able to leave for the US after his travel ban was lifted. Saudi public prosecutor, who is set to visit Istanbul, accepts the premeditation theory. CIA chief returns from Istanbul to brief President Trump on available evidence.

Riyadh (AsiaNews/Agencies)  Salah Khashoggi and his family arrived over night in Washington, DC after leaving Saudi Arabia. He is the eldest son of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist and dissident whose death has cast a shadow on Saudi Arabia.

Salah Khashoggi, who is a dual US-Saudi national, was able to leave after the Saudi government lifted a travel ban imposed on him because of his fathers criticism and dissidence vis-a-vis the countrys rulers.

Salah Khashoggi, who was able to reach his brothers who are long-time residents of the United States, met on Tuesday met with Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MbS), who according to critics is the instigator of his fathers murder.

Salah Khashoggi gave what many saw as a cold, frightened stare during the meeting in which the Crown Prince extended his condolences to the dead journalists family.

Some observers believe the meeting may have been the price for being allowed to leave the country. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is purported to have told Saudi leaders that he wanted Salah Khashoggi to be able to return to the US.

Following the journalists murder, allegedly inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Pompeo scrambled to visit Saudi Arabia and Turkey to find out what happened.

Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor said on Thursday that the killing was premeditated, as Turkish President Recep Erdogan had suggested. He plans to travel to Istanbul to collect the evidence the Turkish leader announced today.

Turkish prosecutors investigating the affair for weeks are convinced that the Saudi Crown Prince knows what happened inside the diplomatic mission.

According to activists and opponents, MbS ordered the execution and managed the various phases.

Saudi authorities continue to strongly deny this version of events, insisting on the thesis of rogue elements who acted beyond their mandate.

After taking part in the "Davos in the desert" forum in Riyadh (23-25 October), the Crown Prince chaired the first meeting of a committee to reform the state's intelligence services, which was set up following Mr Khashoggi's death.

Also yesterday, CIA director Gina Haspel briefed President Donald Trump after her return from a quick visit to Turkey. Mr Pompeo was also at the White House with Ms Haspel.

Unconfirmed media reports say that during the Turkey visit Ms Haspel met with Turkish investigators and heard audio recordings that investigators claim capture the murder.
Preparing Soyuz-2, -3 for flight In the middle of October 1968, the top-secret Soviet launch site near Tyuratam (Baikonur) saw a major gathering of top officials for the dual Soyuz launch. The preparation campaign had entered into the full gear with the rollout of Vehicles No. 11 and No. 10 to Site 1 and Site 31 on October 23 and 24, respectively. Georgy Beregovoi got the final endorsement as the only pilot in the rendezvous between the two spacecraft. Previous chapter: Final decision to launch Soyuz-1 A meeting with the launch personnel in Tyuratam, probably on Oct. 24, 1968, at 5 p.m. at Site 31 1968, included Georgy Beregovoi, the prime pilot of the Soyuz-3 spacecraft and his backups Boris Volynov, Vladimir Shatalov; it also included top Soviet officials, Kerim Kerimov, Vasily Mishin, Sergei Afanasiev, Nikolai Kamanin, Vladimir Barmin, Mstislav Keldysh, Evgeny Shabarov and Valentin Glushko. Rolling out another Soyuz pair As of July 1968, the shipment of Vehicle No. 10 (the future Soyuz-3) to its launch site in Tyuratam was expected before the end of the month and No. 11 (Soyuz-2) would follow between August 12 and 14. However on August 12, Mishin marked August 17 and August 25 as the rollout days for these two ships respectively. On September 12, Mishin apparently visited the Cosmonaut Training Center, where he got some input on the Soyuz design from the trainees for the upcoming mission. For example, the cosmonauts pointed out that the food for the mission was stored in the Habitation Module, while the water supply was in the Descent Module. They also asked for a better tape recorder and a camera, as well as to simplify the onboard journal. Mishin also noted that cosmonaut training was conducted in conditions more difficult than they were expected to be in real life. On October 14, Mishin recorded the following milestones in the final preparation for the upcoming dual mission: Vehicle No. 11 (Soyuz-2) October 16-17: Fueling of the spacecraft;

Fueling of the spacecraft; October 18-21: Final pre-launch processing operations;

Final pre-launch processing operations; October 22: Transfer to Site 2 (from Site 31) (for integration with the launch vehicle);

Transfer to Site 2 (from Site 31) (for integration with the launch vehicle); October 23: Rollout to the launch pad (Site 1);

Rollout to the launch pad (Site 1); October 25: Liftoff (12:00 Moscow Time). Vehicle No. 10 (Soyuz-3) October 21-23: Final processing operations;

Final processing operations; October 23: Integration with launch vehicle at Site 31;

Integration with launch vehicle at Site 31; October 24: Rollout to the launch pad (Site 31);

Rollout to the launch pad (Site 31); October 26: Liftoff. Mishin and his top associates, including Evgeny Frolov, Igor Yurasov, Aleksei Topol, Aleksandr Antonov and Vechaslav Naumov (the latter two leading test specialists at Division 7) flew to Tyuratam on October 15 and had a technical meeting on the same day at 5 p.m. Major Vitaly Sokolov, representing the military test officers at the launch site, reported on the results of testing of Vehicles No. 10 and 11 at the processing building at Site 31. At the time, Vehicle No. 10 (Soyuz-3) was undergoing tests of radio systems in the echoless chamber. Mishin recorded a long list of technical issues with both ships, but most of these problems were characterized as fixable or possible to ignore. Evgeny Bashkin reported that everything was ready for flight. (774) On the same day, the cosmonauts preparing for the Soyuz-3 mission also arrived at the launch site. (231) The State Commission gathered for a critical meeting on October 16 at 11:00 Moscow Time. Vehicle 10 was reported having 18 issues, with 11 problems resolved, five problems were classified as to be ignored willingly; and two problems were considered beyond the team's control. A total of 400 hours was spent on processing of Vehicle No. 11, including 112 hours on fixing problems. On October 17, Mishin apparently discussed the possibility of postponing the dual Soyuz mission with Minister Sergei Afanasiev, but warned of serious repercussions in this case, in particular, because Vehicle No. 10 (Soyuz-3) had already undergone irreversible operations and some of the components onboard the spacecraft were at the end of their certified service life. For example, engines for both launch vehicles had been manufactured in 1964, or four years earlier, but were certified for piloted missions personally by their Chief Designer Valentin Glushko. Also, search and rescue teams were in the process of deployment in Kazakhstan on land and in the Aral Sea, where the descent module of Vehicle No. 3 ended up in February 1967. On October 18, the technical management met again to review the preparations. In the end, the mission was allowed to proceed as planned. On October 21, at 14:00, Mishin was scheduled to go to the Krainy airport to meet the highest officials attending the launch -- Minister of the General Machine-building Sergei Afanasiev and the Head of the Russian Academy of Sciences Mstislav Keldysh. As the spacecraft was undergoing the final processing, Georgy Beregovoi, Boris Volynov and Vladimir Shatalov were scheduled to conduct the final familiarization training inside the spacecraft between October 21 and 23. As of October 18, the familiarization training was scheduled for October 22 at 10:00. On the way to the processing building, the cosmonauts were also scheduled to pay a visit to Sergei Korolev's old cottage at Site 2. Such visits would become a tradition for future Soyuz crews. (774) The meeting of the State Commission to approve the rollout of the first ship opened at 4 p.m. on October 22. The same event (or another similar gathering on October 23) formally approved Georgy Beregovoi, as the pilot for the dual mission. Vladimir Patrushev reported that the fully assembled rocket with Vehicle No. 11 (Soyuz-2) was ready for the rollout to the launch pad (at Site 1). In the meantime, processing teams also reported a breakage in the pyrotechnics circuit of the Zarya system aboard Vehicle No. 10 (Soyuz-3), but that it had already been fixed. Both launch pads were reported ready to receive their respective rockets. On October 23, at 7 in the morning, the rocket with spacecraft No. 11 (Soyuz-2) left the assembly building at Site 2 and by 10 a.m. was installed on the launch pad at Site 1 for a seven-hour processing period. On October 24, the same scenario played out at Site 31 with ship No. 10 (Soyuz-3). At 5 p.m. on the same day cosmonauts and officials apparently gathered for a traditional meeting at Site 31 to thank soldiers and officers of the launch personnel for their work. (774) Next chapter: Soyuz-2, -3 flight scenario

A Soyuz spacecraft is being processed for launch in Tyuratam. Beregovoi (left) and Kamanin. Beregovoi during training. Soyuz-3 shortly after being installed on the launch pad. Beregovoi thanks test personnel at the launch site during a ceremonial meeting on the eve of his liftoff.
Intro

Greetings! I am a political scientist , specializing in International Relations , my research and teaching focus on ethnic conflict and civil-military relations . I watch way too much TV, and I like movies as well so I tend to write about both and find IR stuff in pop culture. I rant alot about American politics and sometimes about Canadian politics. I like to take ideas I once learned a long time ago and apply them to whatever strikes my fancy.


Speaking at the event, Vice Chairman of the municipal People Committee Le Thanh Liem stressed that the bilateral ties have developed rapidly in various fields after the UK-Vietnam Strategic Partnership signed in 2010.



The relationship between the UK and HCMC has also gained many achievements in sectors of trade, investment, education and tourism.

The UK has 146 projects worth US$555 million and ranks 11th among 100 countries and territories investing in HCMC.

In 2017, the bilateral trade turnover reached US$795 million. More than 125,000 British visitors came to HCMC.

For his part, Lan Gibbons, Consul General of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to HCM City, hoped that the British Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City and British Business Group Vietnam will continue to receive the support from the municipal government, attracting more the UKs investors to the city.

The British Council will also continue to promote the UKs arts, culture and language to residents in HCM City in particular and Vietnamese people in the country in general.





By VAN DO - Translated by Kim Khanh
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights documentation showed that from the start of the Great Return March protests on 30 March 2018, by 26 October 2018 at least 222 Palestinians had been killed in the Gaza Strip. Of the total fatalities, 168 were killed at the demonstrations -- including 33 children, one woman, two journalists, three paramedics, and four persons with disability. Another 11,968 persons have been injured, including 2,329 children, 500 women, 128 paramedics, and 132 journalists. Of those injured, 6,819 were hit by live fire, including 1,206 children and 140 women.

These numbers are food for thought. The weekly demonstrations typically attract about 15,000 demonstrators - roughly the number of individuals who have sustained wounds. Possibly nearly all the demonstrators have been wounded at one time or another. Or possibly there is a fresh supply of demonstrators to maintain a constant presence on the front lines. Or probably a mix of both, as most of the wounds seem to have been less than life-threatening.

Students of body counting will note the peculiar ratio between the number killed and the number wounded, a fact that seems to have escaped public attention. Historically, in conventional combat, the number of troops Wounded in Action [WIA] was about three times the number Killed in Action [KIA]. Through various methods such as improved body armor and expedited medical treatment, American forces in Iraq managed to improve the odds so that there was only 1 KIA for every 10 WIA, or there abouts.

But in Gaza, in round numbers, the 200 KIA were accompanied by 7,000 WIA by live fire ammo, and another 5,000 WIA by other means. Taken at face value, this 35:1 ratio is amazing. Surely part of this results from some Palestinian over-reporting of wounds, since it is said that Hamas pays a bonus for those wounded in the demonstrations.

Surely some part of the low body count in Gaza is due the bravery of Palestinian medics, who rapidly evacuate the wounded from the battlefield. Surely another part of the low body count is due to Israeli discrimination and precision in firing at the demonstrators. The Israelis doing the shooting are routinely described as snipers, and reports normally indicate they are aiming at lower extremities [though Al Mezan's documentation indicated a recent trend of snipers shooting protesters in the upper part of the bodies]. As is well known from other massacres, if the Israelis simply directed massed fire at the protesters, thousand would have died on the spot.
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.
As part of a scientific collaboration with the Mexican Space Agency and other Mexican scientific public entities, ESA has combined images from the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission to produce a detailed view of the different types of vegetation growing across the entire country.

The high-resolution land-cover map combines images captured by Copernicus Sentinel-2 between 2016 and 2018.

Sentinel-2 is a two-satellite constellation built for the EU's Copernicus environmental monitoring programme. Each identical satellite carries a multispectral imager that can distinguish different types of vegetation and crops. It can also be used to determine numerous plant indices such as the amount of chlorophyll and water in leaves to monitor changes in plant health and growth.

The mission has a myriad of uses, one of which is to provide information to map land cover so that changes in the way land is being used can be monitored.

Thanks to this Copernicus mission and to ESA's Climate Change Initiative Land Cover project, Mexico's land cover has been mapped at a resolution of 10 m.

Land-cover mapping breaks down the different types of material on Earth's surface, such as water bodies, different forms of agriculture, forests, grasslands and artificial surfaces.

This information is important for understanding changes in land use, modelling climate change, conserving biodiversity and managing natural resources.

This is a valuable source for scientific studies and practical applications alike.

Daniela Jurado from Mexico's National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity said, "Having access to such a detailed map is not only useful for scientific research such as understanding fluxes associated with the carbon cycle, but also for managing our natural resources and for conserving biodiversity."

"It is also important for land-use management and for monitoring urban expansion."

Alejandra Aurelia Lopez Caloca, from the Center for Research in Geospatial Information Sciences added, "Indeed, this new map reveals a lot about our country. It is very helpful for studying the growth of cities and how rural areas are transitioned into urban environments. In addition, it is going to be a real help to understand where bodies of water are highly dependent on precipitation and to pinpoint those areas that are at risk of flooding.

"The new map allows us to identify the status land cover, specifically the agricultural kind so this will really help us understand how our land is being farmed."

ESA has been coordinating global land cover maps since 2002 through its GlobCover and Climate Change Initiative Land Cover projects at a resolution of 300 m. But with the Copernicus Sentinel-2 pair now in orbit, land cover can be mapped at a resolution of 10 m.

In the same vein, a land-cover map of Central America is also now available.

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JAXA's (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's) Hayabusa2 mission is on track to return samples from its target asteroid, 162173 Ryugu, a C-type Near Earth Asteroid (NEA).

The past month has seen the successful deployment of two rovers and a lander. The mission focus is now on the successful retrieval and return of a surface sample.

Two members of the Planetary Science Institute's (PSI's) science staff are on the Hayabusa2 science team as part of NASA's Participating Scientist program, a cooperative effort between NASA and JAXA. Deborah Domingue is a member of both the Optical Navigation Camera (ONC) and Near Infrared Spectrometer (NIRS3) instrument teams. Lucille Le Corre is a Co-Investigator on the ONC team. Their focus, over the past several months, has been in support of data processing and analysis of Hayabusa2 data for landing site selection.

The Hayabusa2 engineering team's safety constraints restrict where the spacecraft can safely touch down. These constrains include regions of 100 meter diameter with an average slope less than 30 degrees, boulder heights less than 50 centimeters, and an absolute temperature less than 370 degrees Kelvin (97 degrees Centigrade). This limited the selection to a region plus or minus 30 degrees from the equator. The challenge of the science team was to find a region of scientific interest that meet the engineering constraints.

The biggest hurdle seems to be finding regolith in a place that is comprised of boulders less then 50 centimeters, within a 100 meter diameter region. The lack of a powdered, fine-grain regolith on asteroid Ryugu will make it difficult for the Hayabusa2 spacecraft to collect a sample to be returned to Earth..

"Unlike other asteroids we have visited, Ryugu has no powder, no fine-grain regolith. That makes selecting a place to sample more challenging," said PSI's Domingue. "We are helping characterize the surface to optimize landing site selection."

"Since the approach phase began last June, my main goal was to support the Hayabusa2 team in the preparation of touch down operations," said Le Corre. "In order to assess the sampleability of Ryugu's terrains I have worked on generating products such as ONC image mosaics and local topographic models. Our data show that the Hayabusa2 team has to carefully select a sampling site to avoid the numerous boulders present on the surface."

Domingue has been working on regolith analysis, with a focus on the photometric and spectral characterization of the surface. Le Corre has been focused on mapping the surface, combining both the geologic features with the topographic properties. The goal of the science team is to select a site that will return a sample of the least processed material, yet meet the engineering constraints.

"We need to have a very detailed understanding of the nature of the surface to be sampled in order to maximize the realization of the science goals of the mission," Domingue said.

Domingue and Le Corre participated in a press conference during the 50th annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) in Knoxville, Tenn. The DPS press conference brought the community up to date on the activities of the mission and the preparation for sample retrieval. The press conference panel consisted of several Hayabusa2 team members, including Masaki Fujimoto, the head of ISAS/JAXA, Hikaru Yabuta, the lead of the landing site selection committee and the multi-scale regolith characterization team, Ralf Jaumann, the lead for the European Space Agency's (ESA's) MASCOT lander, and Eri Tatsumi, the ONC team instrument scientist.

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by Paolo Fossati

According to government data, those aged 15 to 29 number over 62 million. Out of seven million Indonesian Catholics, two are young. "We realise that they are a 'small flock', said the bishop of Ketapang, but they are the missionaries in today's world". Training, leadership, environment and interfaith dialogue are the focus of the Indonesian Church.

Vatican City (AsiaNews)  Mgr Pius Riana Prapdi (pictured), bishop of Ketapang (West Kalimantan province) and president of the Youth Commission (KomKep) of the Indonesian Bishops Conference (KWI), told AsiaNews that education, work, the fight against intolerance and environmental protection are the main challenges of the future that young Indonesians face.

Mgr Riana Prapdi is one of the two Synodal Fathers chosen by KWI for the Synod on Young People, set to end in two days time. The other is Mgr Adrianus Sunarko, bishop of Pangkal-Pinang (Bangka-Belitung).

Indonesia, the fourth most populous country in the world with about 260 million inhabitants, is going through a demographic transition.

In the coming years, the younger segment of the Indonesian population will continue to grow, albeit a slower rate than that of their parents. According to government data, at present those aged 15 to 29 number more than 62 million.

"We are grateful for so many young people, said Mgr Riana Prapdi. However, the country is called to provide them with an adequate education, with the same quality both in the more developed regions, such as Java and Sumatra, as well as the less prosperous regions, like Papua and Kalimantan ".

A young and growing labour force will need quality jobs, which makes vocational training crucial. "It would be a disaster if young people were not qualified and had a weak mindset", the bishop stressed.

Young people in the most populous Islamic country in the world are also threatened by Islamist pressures.

For the prelate, "relations between the different communities are good", but it is necessary to "recognise that radical groups operate in society, promoting intolerance with considerable attraction for youth."

Economic development also cannot ignore environmental protection. Mgr Riana Prapdi calls for a "serious commitment to nature" through programmes and initiatives that counter consumerism and the problems it creates, such as monocultures, excessive use of plastic and paper, deforestation.

In Indonesia, out of about seven million Catholics, two are young. "We realise that they are a 'small flock', said the bishop of Ketapang, but we can face the challenges knowing that they are the missionaries in today's world".

In several of the countrys 37 dioceses and also at the national level, the Church offers young men and women different programmes aimed at business training, leadership, environmental protection and interfaith dialogue. "This way, they can participate in the building of the Church and of society", Mgr Riana Prapdi noted.

Thanks to him and to Mgr Adrianus Sunarko, the Indonesian Churchs commitment to the young has found expression in the Synod dedicated to them, according to Pope Franciss wishes.

"This event will allow the Church hierarchy to be more present in the life of the new generations, the bishop said. It will be possible through greater understanding, deeper listening, and more effective communication.
NARAYNAGANJ: Shamim Osman MP speaking at a public meeting on anti- terrorism at Osmani Stadium in Narayanganj Pourashava area as Chief Guest yesterday.
Janhvi Kapoor roped in for next opposite Varun?

Janhvi Kapoor stepped into the world of cinema with Dhadak opposite Ishaan Khatter and won everyone over with her innocence and charm. The film was produced by Dharma Productions and directed by Shashank Khaitan. The film did well at the box-office and garnered a lot of appreciation for the newcomers. Post that, Janhvi was rumoured to have signed a few films but none of them were officially announced until Takht. This will be her second film with Dharma Productions and her first under the direction of Karan Johar. But, now we hear that she has finally zeroed down on her third film as well. She will be seen opposite Varun Dhawan in the film and it will be a romantic thriller.

Shashank Khaitan will be directing this film and Janhvi shares a close bond with him as he directed her in her first film. Well, that's a win-win situation, isn't it?


MeToo: Tanushree Dutta takes on Rakhi Sawant

Tanushree Dutta has filed Rs 10 crore defamation case on Rakhi Sawant. Her advocate Nitin Satpute said a criminal and civil defamation case had been filed against Sawant for maligning Dutta's character and image. In an interview, Rakhi said that Tanushree has levelled fake allegations against Nana Patekar. Rakhi has reportedly said, "Tanushree Dutta has gone mad. She was in a coma for 10 years.

She has returned from America because she has exhausted all her money and has no work. She is doing all this for publicity." In a major development in Tanushree's molestation case against actor Patekar, the police have officially procured the original letter Dutta had given to Cine And TV Artistes' Association (CINTAA) a day after the incident occurred in 2008.
Sushant , Sara Ali Khan's Kedarnath to release next March

Ready for her dreamy Bollywood debut, opposite Ranveer Singh in Simmba, Sara Ali Khan will also be seen opposite Sushant Singh Rajput in Abhishek Kapoor's Kedarnath. Soon after a fallout with filmmaker Prerna Arora, this Abhishek Kapoor directorial was taken over by Ronnie Screwala and November 30 was later announced as film's release date. But if the latest reports are to be believed, the film will only hit the theatres next year in March and now Rohit Shetty's Simmba will be considered as her debut film since it releases in December this year.

Confirming the latest development, a source close to the project informed Mumbai Mirror, "With Ronnie's Vicky Kaushal and Yami Gautam-starrer, Uri: The Surgical Strike, slated to release in January, and Abhishek Chaubey's Sonchiraiya, also with Sushant, to open in February, Kedarnath has been pushed to March. However, the makers are yet to zero in on a specific date."

Soon after wrapping the final schedule of the film in August, director Abhishek Kapoor had informed Mirror that Kedarnath has been his toughest shoot ever. He said, "The terrain and the weather were both daunting and taking a crew of 150 on a trek for a month to shoot is not an easy task."

All praise for his film's lead stars Sara and Sushant, he had earlier stated, "He is special. We have an unspoken connection which translates into crackling chemistry on the sets. Sara is equally evolved and possesses her own brand of maturity; when the camera comes on, it's like some higher inner power takes over. Together, they share an on-screen bond that's unusually captivating and effortlessly fresh."
Turkey to host Syria summit with Russian, French, German leaders

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, left, and French President Emmanuel Macron arrives for a press conference at the Elysee Palace in Paris.

AFP, s :

The leaders of Turkey, Russia, France and Germany meet in Istanbul on Saturday to try and find a lasting political solution to the Syrian civil war and consolidate a fragile ceasefire in a rebel-held northern province.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will host Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel for a summit on the conflict, in which more than 360,000 people have been killed since 2011.

Russia, which supports the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and Turkey, which backs the rebels, have held previous talks with Iran on the issue, in efforts that have often been greeted with suspicion in the West.

But Saturday's summit will be the first to bring together the Turkish and Russian leaders with the European Union's two most significant national leaders.

Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Friday that the primary goal would be to "clarify the steps to be taken for a political solution and to determine a roadmap".

Forming a commission to create Syria's post-war constitution, seen as a stepping stone to staging elections in the war-torn country, would be a particular point of emphasis, Kalin told the state-run news agency Anadolu.

The talks will also look to extend a ceasefire around the last major rebel-held bastion of Idlib, where aid groups have warned that a military offensive could spark one of the worst humanitarian disasters of the seven-year war.

With an assault by government troops seeming imminent, last month Russia and Turkey agreed to create a demilitarised buffer zone ringing Idlib, home to three million people.

The September 17 deal for the 15-20 kilometre-wide zone came after a flurry of activity as Turkey sought to avoid an assault leading to a further influx of people across its border.

However shelling in the area has continued intermittently, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Syrian regime artillery fire killed seven civilians in Idlib on Friday - the highest death toll there since the ceasefire deal.

The participants have damped down hopes of a long-term solution ahead of

the summit, with France's Elysee palace saying there were "modest expectations" and Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov urging everyone to be "realistic".

Peskov said that while all sides want a political settlement in Syria, "certain disagreements may exist regarding the instruments and tactics".

"The issue of the day is to reconcile different formats in order to synchronise our watches, to negotiate, and to attempt to identify common topics," he said.
Oman offers help in Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts

Netanyahu makes 'historic' secret visit to Muscat

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (SL), acompanied by his wife Sara, is greeted by Sultan Qaboos bin Said in Oman on Friday.

Reuters, Manama :

Oman is offering ideas to help Israel and the Palestinians to come together but is not acting as mediator, Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, the sultanate's minister responsible for foreign affairs said on Saturday.

Oman relies on the United States and efforts by President Donald Trump in working toward this "deal of the century" (Middle East peace), Alawi bin Abdullah told a security summit in Bahrain a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Oman.

Bahrain's foreign minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa voiced support for Oman over the sultanate's role in trying to secure Israeli-Palestinian peace, while Saudi Arabia's foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir said the kingdom believes the key to normalizing relations with Israel was the peace process.

Netanyahu's rare visit to Oman came days after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas paid a three-day visit to the Gulf country and also met Omani leader Sultan Qaboos.

Netanyahu was accompanied on Friday by senior officials, including the head of the Mossad intelligence agency and his national security adviser.

Bin Alawi said "Israel is a state present in the region, and we all understand this, the world is also aware of this fact and maybe it is time for Israel to be treated the same and also bear the same obligations."

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made the first visit to Oman by an Israeli premier in over 20 years, officials said Friday, in an apparent sign of growing regional ties.

The surprise meeting with Oman's Sultan Qaboos late Thursday, which was kept secret until Netanyahu's return home, comes despite the two nations having no diplomatic ties.

The trip is a major coup for Netanyahu, who has said he wants to bolster ties with the Arab world despite a stalemate on the Palestinian front.

"A special visit in Oman-we're making history!" Netanyahu wrote on Twitter, posting a video of his reception and meeting.

Netanyahu and Sultan Qaboos discussed the Middle East peace process "and other issues of shared interest", the Israeli premier's office said in a statement.

Netanyahu was accompanied by his wife Sara and his delegation included Mossad intelligence chief Yossi Cohen and National Security Advisor Meir Ben-Shabbat.

The visit came at the invitation of Sultan Qaboos and followed "lengthy contacts between the two countries", the Israeli statement said.
Imrul highest run-getter in Bangladesh-Zimbabwe ODI series



Opener Imrul Kayes emerged as highest run getter in the just concluded Bangladesh-Zimbabwe three-match ODI series that ended on Friday.

The left handed batsman Imrul scored 349 runs from three matches including two centuries and one half century with an average of 116.33 while Zimbabwe batsman Sean Williams was the second highest run getter making 226 runs from three matches including a century and a half century with an impressive average of 226.00.

Another Zimbabwe batsman Brendon Tailor become the third highest run getter in the series scoring 155 from three matches including two half centuries with an average of 51.66 while Bangladeshi batsman Soumya Sarkar was the fourth highest run getter making 117 from one match with an average of 127.17.

On the other hand, Imrul Kayes also emerged as top scorer in the series with 144 runs while Zimbabwe batsman Sean Williams followed him with an unbeaten 129. Soumya Sarkar finished third highest scorer with 117 runs while Imrul Kayes become the fourth highest scorer in the series with 115 runs.

The southpaw opener Imrul and Soumya Sarkar also hit most sixes in an innings with six sixes each. The duo also shared highest 220-run second wicket partnership in the third ODI while Liton Das and Imrul Kayes shared second highest 148 runs first wicket partnership in the second ODI.

Brendon Taylor and Sean Williams shared the third highest partnership with 132 runs for Zimbabwe in the third ODI while Imrul Kayes and Mohammad Saifuddin added fourth highest 127-run seventh wicket partnership for Bangladesh in the first ODI.

Zimbabwean Kyle Jarvis emerged as the highest wicket taker in the series taking five wickets from three matches with an average of 23.00 while Mehedy Hasan Miraz following Jarvis with four wickets from two matches with an average of 22.75.

Mohammad Saifuddin and Nazmul Islam and Zimbabwean Tendai Chatara also grabbed four wickets to finished his third, fourth and fifth highest wicket taker respectively.

Kyle Jarvis also produced the best bowling figure in an innings with four wickets giving away 37 runs from nine overs while Sikandar Raza finished behind Jarvis with three wickets in an innings giving away 43 runs from 10 overs.

Mohammad Saifuddin, Mehedi Hasan Miraz and Zimbabwean Tendai Chatara all took three wickets apiece in an innings to finish third, fourth and fifth position respectively.

Zimbabwean wicket keeper Brendon Taylor made the most dismissal behind the wicket with six dismissals including five catches and one stamping from three matches. His made five dismissals in an innings.

Bangladesh Mushfiqur Rahim made five dismissals behind the wicket with five catches. He also made three dismissal in an innings.



Zimbabean Elton Chigumbura took the highest two catches from three matches while Mehedi Hasan Miraz and Donald Tiripano also took two catches each to finish second and third position respectively.

Bangladesh scored highest total of 288 for 3 in the third ODI against Zimbabwe in the series while Zimbabwe scored the second highest total of 286 for 5 in the same match.

Bangladesh scored the third highest team total of 271 for 8 in the first ODI in Dhaka while Zimbabwe scored the fourth highest team's total of 250 for 3 in the second ODI in Chattogram.
I wanted to play without pressure and enjoy: Soumya

Soumya Sarkar blitzed passed his second one day international hundred to demolish Zimbabwe in the third and final match of the series.

It happened all of a sudden for Soumya Sarkar, packing things up in the middle of the NCL match to head towards the national team. but the Bangladesh opener made use of the opportunity in the best possible way, entertained the full house crowd at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium with a glittering hundred, has made the life of selectors hard to come up with a choice for the series to come.

"When they called me to join the team I was telling myself 'ok an opportunity arrive let's see how it can be utilized'.

I just wanted to play without any pressure and enjoy my game. My thought process was like 'okay if I do badly the worst that can happen is that one more failure will be added in my list'," this was what Soumya said.

Bangladesh batting coach Neil McKenzie is also pleased to witness Soumya geared up.

Pouring praises for the left hander, McKenzie said, "A guy like Soumya has so much happening for him. He is a great striker of the ball, he is tall and imposing on the opposition. It is down to some confidence.'

"He got a hundred against Zimbabwe in the warm-up game. He got some runs in the domestic games. It is all about confidence and trusting your game plans. I think they [others] are allowed to be themselves in this environment. They have to bat like Soumya does. You can't bat like anyone else. You have to trust your own style," the coach said.
Trump complains about Twitter removing his followers

AFP, BI :

US President Donald Trump complained Friday that Twitter is removing some of his followers and has made it harder to join, an apparent critique of the social network's efforts to weed out fake and abusive accounts.

Trump, who has some 55 million Twitter followers, revived his argument about "bias" by internet firms in a morning tweet that suggested growth in his network was slowing.

"Twitter has removed many people from my account and, more importantly, they have seemingly done something that makes it much harder to join-they have stifled growth to a point where it is obvious to all," he wrote. "A few weeks ago it was a Rocket Ship, now it is a Blimp! Total Bias?"

Trump's remarks appeared aimed at Twitter's efforts to weed out fake and "spam" accounts to improve the health and safety of the platform.

For months, Twitter has sought to eliminate automated and bogus accounts designed to manipulate the public conversation on Twitter, in response to concerns over Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Twitter said this week the number of active users fell by nine million in the past quarter as a result of these efforts.

Asked about the president's comments, a Twitter spokesman said: "Our focus is on the health of the service, and that includes work to remove fake accounts to prevent malicious behavior.

"Many prominent accounts have seen follower counts drop, but the result is higher confidence that the followers they have are real, engaged people."
Riyadh rejects Ankara call for extradition

AFP, Manama :

People protest against the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey outside the Saudi Arabian Embassy in London, Britain, 26 October 2018. Photo: ReutersSaudi Arabia on Saturday dismissed Turkey's calls to extradite 18 Saudis wanted for the murder of critic Jamal Khashoggi, as Washington warned the crisis risked destabilising the Middle East. "The individuals are Saudi nationals. They're detained in Saudi Arabia, and the investigation is in Saudi Arabia, and they will be prosecuted in Saudi Arabia," foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir told a regional defence forum in Bahrain.

He was responding to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan who on Friday renewed his call for the 18 men to be extradited for trial in Turkey.

Khashoggi, 59, who had lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since 2017, vanished after entering the consulate on 2 October to obtain paperwork for his marriage to his Turkish fiancee.

Gruesome reports have alleged that he was murdered and his body dismembered by a team sent from Saudi Arabia to silence the Washington Post columnist, who had criticised Saudi's powerful crown prince Mohammad bin Salman.

After weeks of denials, Riyadh has sought to draw a line under the crisis with an investigation.

Prince Mohammad, heir to the oil-rich nation's throne, publicly denounced the murder as "repulsive", while the Saudi prosecutor acknowledged for the first time this week that based on the evidence of a Turkish investigation the killing had been "premeditated".

But US defence secretary Jim Mattis, who was also addressing the Manama forum, warned that "the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in a diplomatic facility must concern us all greatly".

"Failure of any nation to adhere to international norms and the rule of law undermines regional stability at a time when it is needed most," he stressed.

Saudi authorities have arrested 18 men wanted by Ankara following the international furore over Khashoggi's murder, which was reportedly carried out in the consulate by a team which flew to Istanbul.

Five intelligence chiefs have been sacked, including two who were part of the crown prince's inner circle.

The journalist's murder has generated international outrage and undermined Riyadh's relations with the United States and other Western governments.

But the Saudi foreign minister vowed Saturday "we will overcome it."

"The issue, as I said, is being investigated. We will know the truth. We will hold those responsible accountable. And we will put in place mechanisms to ensure it doesn't happen again," Jubeir told the defence forum.


Gaza rockets hit Israel after 5 Palestinians killed

People inspect the rubble of a building following an Israeli air strike on Gaza City on Saturday. Internet photo

AFP, Gaza City :

A barrage of rockets from Gaza hit Israel during the night, the army said Saturday, hours after five Palestinians were killed during clashes on the Israeli border, in a flareup that could jeopardise truce efforts.

The largest projectile attacks in months and the border fatalities came despite talk of progress towards an Egyptian-brokered deal to end months of often violent protests along the border.

"Overnight, dozens of rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip at communities in southern Israel," the army said in a statement, putting the exact number in a separate announcement at 30.

"The IDF's Iron Dome aerial defense system intercepted approximately 10 projectiles," the army said, adding that two rockets fell within the Gaza Strip while the others landed in "open areas".

Israeli medics said seven civilians were being treated for shock. In response to the rockets, Israeli fighter jets, helicopters and drones struck "approximately 80 Hamas targets throughout the Gaza Strip". There were no reports of Gaza casualties as a result of the strikes.

Hamas, the militant Islamist rulers of Gaza, did not claim responsibility for the rockets, but Israel holds it responsible for any launches from the coastal enclave. "The rocket fire is conducted in a terror-filled atmosphere which is generated by Hamas in the area of the security fence and in acts such as tonight's events," the army said. Islamic Jihad, the second largest militant group in Gaza, hailed the rocket fire in a statement as a response to "Israeli aggressions", stopping short however of directly claiming responsibility for the launches.

A Hamas official said that following the escalation Egypt was again seeking to negotiate a return to calm.

Earlier, five Palestinians aged between 22 and 27 died in separate incidents along the border fence, the Gaza health ministry said. The army did not comment on the deaths but said around 16,000 "rioters and demonstrators" had gathered along the border, with some setting tyres alight and hurling rocks, firebombs and grenades towards soldiers. Troops responded with "riot dispersal means", a spokesman added.

Three of the men were shot dead east of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, while one was killed east of Jabalia in the north of the coastal territory, the health ministry said. A fifth man died east of Bureij in central Gaza when a hand grenade he was holding exploded accidentally, witnesses said. Palestinians have gathered for protests along the Gaza Strip's border at least weekly since March 30.


This week, Im headed to the Big Apple to host another Thirtyish event, visit a couple of museums, and catch up with a few old friends. And theres just something about traveling to New York, you always want to look your best. So when I needed to freshen up a few outfits, my first, and only, stop was Nordstrom.

Usually for a long, dinnertime plane flight, I would just wear faux-leather leggings and a long sweater. But Im going straight from the plane to a casual event so I needed something with more style to it. I wanted an outfit that was comfortable and relaxed, but still chic.

How fun are these Boden Windsor Wide Leg Jeans? I love the red piping and wide-leg fit. I chose Bodens balloon-sleeve striped for a unique basic, and added this Argento Vivo necklace for a pop of metallic. These red Caslon shoes are generously cushioned for walking, but give me the pointed toe and longer leg line that Im looking for with a wide-leg jean.

Because New York in the fall usually feels chillier than the thermometer indicates (thanks, humidity), I grabbed this lovely Topshop coat. I adore the red accent under the collar. But the coat does run a bit big, so size down for a better fit.

In addition the fun part of my visit, I have one serious business meeting to attend. A friend set up an informational meeting with a lawyer who has the kind of career you only dream of, so I wanted to look professional but not wear a suit.

I decided to freshen up these NYDJ stretch knit trousers and Sam Edelman Hazel pumps with this affordable, dramatically printed Rachel Roy blouse. The black-and-white abstract print pairs well with so many colors that its perfect in any season. For fall, I paired it with this belted Padova jacket, from a fantastic brand that I just discovered, B&SH.

B&SHs pieces are modern and sleek, but with a hint of something special. I adore how wearable all their pieces are without being boring. I needed the jacket sleeves shortened to fit me, and my local Nordstrom was able to alter the jacket for no charge.

If there was ever a city to wear dramatic, Jackie Kennedy-esque sunglasses in, its New York. So I picked up these Gucci oversized sunnies. I feel so glamorous when I wear them.

Add an affordable bag with a cool handle, like this Chelsea 28 tote, and a pair of interesting Kate Spade stud earrings, and this outfit is done. Ill probably wear my hair up, just because New York humidity is a cruel mistress and Id rather be thinking about our conversation than my quickly deflating blowout.

Nordstroms beauty department is always filled with racks of travel-sizes of your beauty and skincare favorites. But I was in a rush prepping for this trip, so I picked out some essentials online and asked Kyle to grab them using Nordstroms Curbside Pickup. He was so impressed by how easy it was that he asked the gentleman if, next time, he could add an E-Bar double espresso to the order. Always looking for more perks, that one.

For my trip, I snapped up this wonderful Kopari Beauty Besties gift set featuring their natural Coconut Oil Deodorant and their Coconut Melt makeup remover, which is my all time favorite. I also grabbed Drybars Detox Dry Shampoo and their Hot Toddy heat protectant. And I never travel without my Atelier Cologne (Pomelo Paradis is my favorite).

And how cute are these Dagne Dover toiletry bags? I have resisted buying leather makeup bags, because lets be real, Im going to spill things. These fantastic toiletry bags are made of durable neoprene, so no worrying about spills or damage. And they come in a selection of unisex colors.

If you need some thing carry-on friendly, I love this Truffle makeup case with the clear, plastic windows to keep everything where you can see it. It and its smaller clutch cousin are both TSA-approved.

After four years out of the city, the lights, the noise, the time difference, it can all be too much. So I have to have a relaxing nighttime routine when I travel, or else I cant sleep. Thats why I always pack what I need for a cozy and relaxing end-of-day regimen.

1) Comfortable pajamas, like these Nordstrom Lingerie Moonlight Pajamas. 2) My Ugg Ansley Slippers, to keep my feet warm in chilly hotel rooms. 3) A relaxing coconut milk bath soak from Herbivore. And 4) great skincare products like SK-IIs Overnight Miracle Mask and Wander Beautys Gold Foil Eye Masks.

Add a good book, and you have everything you need for a relaxing night of eating room service and chilling out.

So thats what I packed for my quick trip to New York. Thanks to Nordstrom and Shopstyle for sponsoring this post. I dont usually participate in sponsorships, but when they let you pick what you want and write about what you want with no strings attached, its hard not to say yes.

{image is mine; this post is sponsored by Nordstrom and Shopstyle}
Trend:

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte gave Italys final approval to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), Reuters reported.

Its no longer possible to intervene in this project, which was planned by previous governments and carries contractual constraints, Conte said in a statement.

Interrupting the process would involve unsustainable costs of tens of billions of euros, he said.

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).
By Trend

Baku hosted the forum on Sustainable Development as part of the 6th Baku International Humanitarian Forum on 25 October, 2018 under the slogan Strengthening the Regional Partnership on Implementation of Sustainable Development Goals.

Riccardo Giovannini, Climate Change and Sustainability Services Partner of EY for Mediterranean Area (Italy, Spain, Portugal), was a panelist and keynote speaker. He noted the essential role of Sustainable Development Goals and how private businesses can integrate these goals into their business processes to enhance their performance, as well as, stay competitive in a world where sustainability is becoming increasingly critical for success.

Ali Ahmadov, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the National Council for Sustainable Development featured the 6th Baku International Humanitarian Forum and the Baku Forum on Sustainable Development as landmark events.

Inga Ronda, President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), stated the importance of giving assistance to the private sector together with other sectors in order to accomplish the Sustainable Development Goals.

According to Ghulam Isaczai, UN Resident Coordinator in Azerbaijan, Baku Forum plays an important role in contribution to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in 2030. He also expressed his gratitude to the Azerbaijani Government for its cooperation with the UN office in the country.





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EY works together with companies across the CIS and assists them in realizing their business goals. 4,500 professionals work at 19 CIS offices (in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Ekaterinburg, Kazan, Krasnodar, Rostov-on-Don, Togliatti, Vladivostok, Almaty, Astana, Atyrau, Bishkek, Baku, Kyiv, Tashkent, Tbilisi, Yerevan and Minsk).

EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com.

EY in Azerbaijan

EY made a major commitment to the development of Azerbaijan and the region by opening the office in Baku 23 years ago. Today, in addition to being the leading audit and consulting firm in Azerbaijan, we are the leading professional services firm in the region. As a result of our experience and competence, we have been able to assist both domestic and international companies as well as state-owned entities to develop and manage the challenges of the international economy.

There are currently more than 200 people working in our Baku office that serve our clients in Azerbaijan. EYs strength in the Caspian Region and the firms commitment of resources are important to the entities operating in the region. It means that as we grow, EY will continue to demonstrate a tradition of hiring and training local professionals to be leaders in our practice.
Kuwait Finance House (KFH), the country's biggest Islamic banker, has registered a 31.4 per cent growth in its net profit compared to the same period last year.

Announcing the results for the three months to September 30, the Kuwaiti lender said its net profit rose to KD73.9 million ($243.4 million) from KD56.2 million in the same period a year ago.

During the first nine months of 2018, KFH recorded a growth of 22.7 per cent in profits to KD169.1 million, compared to KD137.9 million from January to September 2017.

KFH said the surge in profits was mainly due to a growth of 17.9 per cent in operating revenues triggered by a 25.4 per cent jump in finance revenues.

Total operating revenues of the bank stood at KD589.6 million, registering an increase of 12.3 per cent.

At the stock level, KFH closed Wednesdays session 0.86 per cent higher at 584 fils after 2.3 million shares were traded at a value of KD1.3 million, it stated.

KFH said the earnings per share rose to 27.04 fils, compared to 22.06 fils for the same period last year thus registering an increase of 22.6 per cent. Despite a real growth in the business, the decline in the Turkish currency rate against Kuwaiti Dinar during the third quarter of the current year has a negative impact on the consolidated balances as at the date of the interim condensed consolidated financial information.

After excluding this effect, the total assets of the group increased by 4.3 per cent. The financing portfolio increased by 6.8 per cent, and depositors accounts increased by 4.4 per cent compared to year ended December 31, 2017, it added.-TradeArabia News Service
Global safety science company UL is set to organise a technical workshop in Cairo, Egypt, on the topic Safety and Energy Efficiency Regulations for LED Lighting, from International to Egypt requirements.

The technical workshop will take place on October 29 in the Egyptian capital, introducing participants to the requirements for global lighting regulations and international compliance norms.

The half-day workshop is dedicated to the review of international panorama safety and energy efficiency regulations and requirements for LED lighting. It will also cover how the regulations and requirements apply in Egypt and how it affects lighting manufacturers in the country.

In attendance will be representatives from manufacturers, export agencies, consultants, New Cairo Authority and other government agencies. Participants at the workshop will gain insights and thus implement them from an informed position.

Walter Parmiani, principal engineer - Lighting division at UL, will lead the workshop and will introduce participants to US and EU safety and energy efficiency requirements and differences between mandatory and voluntary marks.

"This workshop will allow manufacturers, who develop products for Egypt and export to other countries, to get a clear understanding on the International compliance norms," he stated.

ULs lighting performance and energy efficiency testing provides objective/independent confirmation of product performance claims by simulating anticipated everyday product usage in controlled laboratory settings.

Hamid Syed, vice-president and general manager in the Middle East, said: "This workshop is part of ULs efforts to develop collaborative partnerships with government authorities and businesses by providing best world-class services to businesses."

UL provides independent product performance testing needed to demonstrate compliance with industry, national and international standards, using data from an objective source.

"UL has been hosting workshops and seminars, usually in conjunction with the government authorities to provide access to our expertise for our clients," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said on Friday that package bomb suspect Cesar Sayoc, of Florida, is in the custody of the FBI and has been charged with five federal crimes. "He has been charged today with 5 federal crimes, including interstate transportation of an explosive, illegal mailing of explosives, threats against former presidents and certain other persons," Sessions told a press conference announcing the charges.

The defendant faces up to 58 years in prison if found guilty and charges against him "charges may change or expand as the investigation proceeds," Sessions said.

"We will not tolerate such lawlessness, especially political violence," he said.

Package bomb suspect Cesar Sayoc's mugshot. [Photo:IC]

Sayoc, 56, is accused of sending more than a dozen pipe bombs through the mail to prominent Democratic figures, including former President Barack Obama and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as well as liberal news channel CNN.

FBI Director Christopher Wray told reporters that federal authorities have located 13 improvised explosive devices that were similarly assembled and that they were "not hoax devices."

Each of the pipe bombs contained materials that could react and cause a potential explosion, according to Wray.

He said that it's too early to discuss a motive behind the pipe bombs, none of which exploded and led to injuries.

Police tape cordons off a post office in Wilmington, Del., Thursday, Oct. 25, 2018. [Photo:AP]

According to court and other public records, Sayoc has a lengthy criminal and court record in Florida.

Reports said Sayoc is a registered Republican and ardent Trump supporter who pushed far-right conspiracy theories online.

Earlier in the day, U.S. President Donald Trump said the suspect will be prosecuted "to the fullest extent of the law."

Speaking at the White House, Trump said "these terrorizing acts are despicable," while calling upon Americans to unify.
Abu Dhabi Ports said its marine services subsidiary Safeen has bought two new state-of-the-art tug boats from Damen Shipyards Group aimed at supporting the Dh10 billion ($2.72 billion) expansion of its flagship deep-water Khalifa Port.

The purchase of the Damen ASD 2411 tug boats was announced at the recent Abu Dhabi International Boat Show 2018.

The contract was signed by Captain Adil Ahmed Banihammad, the acting chief marine services officer at Safeen, and Pascal Slingerland, the regional sales director for Damen Shipyards Group.

Safeen (ship in Arabic) is a fully-owned subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Ports, and is staffed by more than 200 certified personnel operating a modern fleet and offering a comprehensive and cost-effective range of marine and ancillary quayside services to all vessels that call at the emirates seaports.

Delivery of both vessels is due within three months, said Captain Banihammad at the signing ceremony.

The extension of our fleet at Khalifa Port with two high-service tug boats is a remarkable milestone for Safeen to address customers needs professionally as well as for Khalifa Port, which will be the first port in the GCC able to receive the largest container and shipping vessels in the world," he noted.

Captain Banihammad pointed out that the average size of a vessel had grown by 65 per cent due to economies of scale. "We recognise the importance of equipping our ports with the right equipment and logistics to adapt to these changing demands," he noted.

"Khalifa Port is a strategic gateway for trade and freight into Abu Dhabi and throughout the wider region. Our ongoing efforts to develop supportive infrastructure and further enhance overall customer experience here are aligned with international standards and aimed at setting a new benchmark in the regions maritime industry," he added.

Abu Dhabi Ports said the two tugs will join the 12 harbour tugs already in service with Safeen, the fleet operating subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Ports responsible for pilotage, mooring, vessel handing and towage at Abu Dhabi Ports, and will bring a new level of capability.

In particular, they will be supporting vessel movements at Khalifa Ports two container terminals managed by ADT and Cosco Shipping Port Limited (CSPL) as well as EGAs berth for Bauxite shipped to its smelter in Al Taweelah.

Were very pleased that Abu Dhabi Ports has opted for our proven ASD Tug 2411 to support the Abu Dhabi Ports container terminals, remarked Damens Pascal Slingersland.

We are confident that they will be able to handle port operations for all kinds and sizes of vessels safely and effectively, including the worlds largest 400-meter container vessels with 20,000 TEUs capacity, he stated.-TradeArabia News Service
Leading ship owners and managers, port operators and cargo owners, C-Suite stakeholders, financiers, and other maritime professionals will be in Dubai to discuss major industry issues at the Seatrade Maritime Middle East (SMME) 2018 expo which opens tomorrow.

To be held under the patronage of Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, the event, considered one of the most important of its kind in the region, will run until October 31.

It is the official maritime exhibition to take place during the UAE Maritime Week 2018.

Nearly 300 exhibitors from leading international maritime companies and over 8,000 attendees, including renowned local, regional, and global maritime experts and specialists, are expected to join the trade show and its associated events, said the organisers.

During the three-days, participants are going to network, do business, strengthen and nurture new relationships, while hearing about industry topics within relevant and comprehensive conference sessions, seminars and panel discussions, they added.

The topics to be discussed in the scheduled forums will revolve around autonomous shipping and automation; fuels of the future; digital and cyber technologies; and environmental challenges within the shipping industry.

Participants will also have an opportunity to meet the worlds leading suppliers covering supply, construction, and maintenance of vessels, it stated.

Ahead of the expo is the Seatrade Maritime Awards, the largest and longest awards body for the maritime sector in the Middle East, Indian subcontinent, and African regions, which will be held on October 28, 2018 and this year celebrate the 15th year anniversary.

The awards were established to recognize and celebrate the achievements of the maritime industry across various segments, bringing to the fore the best practices within the maritime and shipping communities.-TradeArabia News Service
Leading maritime experts will discuss international best practices and innovative solutions in the global maritime sector at the Dubai Maritime Summit 2018 which formally opens its doors tomorrow (October 28).

The event will provide a platform for Dubai, one of worlds most competitive and attractive maritime clusters, to showcase its pioneering experience following its inclusion in the top five cities in the International Shipping Centre Development Index (ISCD).

It will also feature a number of new companies now operating in Dubai as a testament to its attractiveness among global investors.

Esben Poulsson, the chairman of the International Chamber of Shipping, lauded Dubai for its internationally-recognized achievements.

"Dubai Maritime Summit is an opportunity to bridge communication gaps among pioneers in the global maritime sector," he stated.

Poulson added that the summit will help consolidate international efforts to find effective solutions to emerging and potential regulatory challenges.

Participants will also tackle the most pressing issues facing the industry, particularly the decision of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to put a 0.5 per cent cap in the sulphur content of bunker fuel.

The decision will enter into force globally by early 2020, thus the need for solidarity between governments and international maritime organizations to achieve the desired goals.

The summit is once again promoting the rapprochement between maritime industry leaders, thus building bridges for the smooth transfer of modern knowledge transfer and sharing of international best practices.

It will host the second edition of the Dubai Maritime Innovation Awards, a prestigious initiative recognizing the most valuable contributions and innovative initiatives that support the growth, development, and prosperity of the local maritime community, which is considered one of the best in the world.

These awards are in line with the national efforts to honour innovation, creativity, and excellence, thus highlighting Dubai as the world's most innovative city and a leading international center for maritime excellence and innovation.

The summit agenda will feature five key interactive sessions under the direction of Aaron Heslehurst, News Anchor and Presenter at BBC World News TV. The first session will be titled An industry fit for the 2020s.

The participants will include Dr. George D. Pateras, President of the Hellenic Chamber of Shipping and the Hellenic Maritime Cluster; Claes Berglund, Vice President, European Community Shipowners' Association (ECSA); and Esben Poulsson, Chairman of the International Chamber of Shipping. The second session will focus on container transport and logistics.

The attendees will include Mohammed Al Muallem, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, UAE Region of DP World; Iqbal Alikhan, Program Director, Blockchains & Innovations at IBM Middle East & Africa; Dheeraj Bhatia, Senior Managing Director, Hapag Lloyd Middle East and Jesper Kjaedegaard, V-Group and BIMCO Board Member.

The third session titled Preparing for a future in the major markets: a case for optimism? will be attended also by Ralph Leszczynski, Global Head of Research of Banchero Costa Group, Denis Petropoulos, Founding Partner of Braemar Shipping Services PLC; Capt Harihar Prasad, Managing Director, McQuilling Shipping Services, and Dr Henriette Van Niekerk, Head of Dry Bulk Analysis at Clarksons Platou.

The fourth session will focus on Chinas Belt and Road Initiative: what does it mean for the Middle East? The session to be attended by Ross Thompson, Chief Commercial and Strategy Officer, Abu Dhabi Ports, Khalid Hashim, Managing Director of Precious Shipping; Tim Power, Managing Director of Drewry; and Rayan Qutub, Chief Executive Officer of King Abdullah Port. The fifth and final session will revolve around Finance for Shipping. The discussion will be attended by Bora Bariman, Head of Energy & Marine, Corporate and Institutional Banking of National Bank of Fujairah, Jacob Berman, Managing Director, Infrastructure and Transportation of Standard Chartered Bank; Adrian Economakis, Chief Operating Officer of VesselsValue; Domenik Nizet, Senior Vice President, Shipping Finance, Asia Pacific & Middle East of DVB Bank SE.

The UAE Maritime Week 2018 is expected to attract more than 400 exhibitors from leading international maritime companies and over 8,000 visitors.

In addition to the Dubai Maritime Summit, the UAE Maritime Week will also feature other events such as the Maritime Future Leaders Seminar; the Emirates Maritime Arbitration Conference; and the Sea Trade Middle East Maritime Exhibition, the largest maritime exhibition in the Middle East; and the SeaTrade ME Maritime Awards.

The Maritime Innovation Day organized by DMCA in cooperation with Det Norske Veritas GL (DNV GL) will also be held as well as the Overseas Conference organized by Clarksons Platou, a global leader in maritime brokerage and investment banking.-TradeArabia News Service
A lot of Red Dead Redemption 2 players are not aware of how to Upgrade Dutchs lodging. It is one of the essential part and players will have to do it as soon as possible because gang members will contribute more money to the camp. In this Red Dead Redemption 2 guide, we have listed steps to Upgrade Dutchs Lodging.

How To Upgrade Dutchs Lodging

To upgrade Dutchs Lodging players will have to get access to the Ledger. You can find the Ledger next to the donation box in the camp, near Dutchs tent. However, this is not a straightforward process, there is a small catch.

To get access to the Ledger, you will first have to complete a Leopald Strauss mission named: Money Lending and Other Sins  III. Ledger wont be available to you until you do this mission.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is out now on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Refer to our Red Dead Redemption 2 Wiki page  it shows all story missions walkthrough, some interesting pro tips, how to level up horse bonding, 3 best ways to fast travel, and many other things.
Oil tumbled for a third straight week as crumbling equity markets across the globe stoked concern about a slowdown in energy demand growth.

Fridays 0.4 per cent gain New York-traded futures wasnt enough to halt a 2.2 per cent decline for the week. Eight of every 10 stocks in the S&P 500 were in retreat as a cavalcade of negative news killed investors appetites for risk, reported Bloomberg.

West Texas Intermediate for December delivery added 26 cents to settle at $67.59 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The futures closed above the 200-day average for the first time in four sessions. Total volume traded was about 16 per cent below the 100-day average, it stated.

A closely watched tally of US rig activity indicated drillers intend to step up crude output, said the report.

Oil is dropping because of more concern about whats happening in the stock market, said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group. The high volatility in the stock market and fear selling in other markets is spilling over into the oil complex.

Crude shed almost 8 per cent of its value so far this month, wiping out all the gains of August and September. Faltering confidence in the strength of the global economy comes as swelling American oil stockpiles spark fears about a re-emergence of a price-killing glut.

US efforts to isolate Iran and its crude output, as well as spiraling Venezuelan production, havent been enough to serve as a geopolitical counterweight to the selloff, reported Bloomberg.

Equities have resumed their decline and that is dragging oil down again, said Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst at UBS Group AG. The market is showing how much the sentiment has shifted once again. A month ago it was bullish, now its bearish again.

Brent for December settlement added 73 cents to settle at $77.62 on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Prices were down 2.7 percent for the week. The global benchmark crude traded at a $10.03 premium to WTI for the same month.
Marriott International has announced the opening of the design-led Aloft Dubai South, the Aloft brands fourth property to open in Dubai this year.



Developed by Radar Holdings, the vibrant new hotel is the first to open in Dubai South and will deliver a tech-forward approach and a modern style that is different by design to the bourgeoning business and trade district. Aloft Dubai South is ideally located within the aviation and logistics hub and is also near Dubais second major airport, Al Maktoum International Airport, and the rapidly expanding Expo 2020 site.



We are excited to make our entry into the Dubai South district with the opening of a new Aloft hotel, said Alex Kyriakidis, president and managing director, Middle East and Africa, Marriott International. With the ongoing expansion of the Al Maktoum International Airport and the rapidly developing site of Expo 2020, which will see 25 million visitors, Dubai South is the ideal location for a brand like the Aloft which is designed for the hyper-connected, always on global traveller.



Aditya Rajaram, managing director, Radar Holdings, commented: We are very excited to be joining the Dubai South community. We are confident that Aloft Dubai South will be a place that offers a feel-good vibe to guests, while making sure that they have everything they need, when they need it at a great price point.



Aloft Dubai South boasts 145 loft-inspired leisurely guestrooms, including six Savvy corner-rooms, featuring modern decor with custom guestroom artwork by Blue Bicycle Design and savvy technology  allowing guests to re-energise and stay connected. All rooms feature the brands signature offerings, such as an ultra-comfortable plush bed, walk-in shower, custom amenities by Bliss Spa, fast and free wi-fi, and 49-inch LCD TVs, custom USB and universal sockets throughout the room and Google Chromecast that allows guests to stream their own content during their stay.



The hotels dining and social spaces feature Nook, an all-day casual dining outlet serving international cuisine, and the Aloft brands signature W XYZ Bar and Re:mix Lounge. For those on the go, the property offers Re:fuel by Aloft, the brands signature 24/7 grab and go venue, provides light meals, mix-and-match munchies, healthy bites, beverages and more. The hotel will also offer the iconic global Live At Aloft Hotels programming that showcases live acoustic performances by up-and-coming artists.



Other facilities at Aloft Dubai South include a 24-hour Re:charge fitness centre, an outdoor Splash pool and four Tactic meeting rooms equipped with state-of-the-art A/V equipment and fast and free wi-fi.



Elaine Watson, general manager of Aloft Dubai South, commented: Were delighted to announce the official opening of Aloft Dubai South and are excited to watch the area and neighbourhoods develop over the next 12 to 18 months. Located just minutes away from Al Maktoum International Airport, were looking forward to opening our doors and catering to the ever-changing needs of tech-savvy business and leisure guests.



Already home to the worlds largest logistics and aviation companies, the Dubai South area continues to develop ahead of the start of Expo2020 which will see six months of historic celebrations spread over an area covering 438 hectares. As the first hotel to open in the area, Aloft will establish a firm foothold in one of the regions fast-growing and most exciting neighbourhoods. - TradeArabia News Service


The portrait of the Georgian King Teimuraz II returns to Homeland - GeorgianJournal
By Siddhant Mohan, TwoCircles.net

In a strange turn of events, the Varanasi Municipal Corporation has outsourced the citys Smart City project to a private conglomerate consisting of several Japanese firms with the local governing body not playing any role in the same.

This information, revealed during the citys Budget announcement on October 15, has raised concerns that the citys most ambitious project will not be exercised by the democratically elected corporators. Support TwoCircles



The Smart City Mission was launched by the Government of India in 2015 to develop 100 cities across the country in order to make them sustainable and more eco-friendly. The project is being moderated by the Union Ministry of Urban Development, which works in close collaboration with the state governments of the concerned cities.

The names of the cities came under various rounds. Varanasi, the constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, came up in the third round of winners. Currently, there are 12 cities from Uttar Pradesh which have to develop under the Smart City project. Besides Varanasi, the list has Moradabad, Agra, Allahabad, Aligarh, Saharanpur, Bareilly, Kanpur, Jhansi, Lucknow, Ghaziabad and Rampur districts of Uttar Pradesh.

The issue came in light last year in November when Shatrudra Prakash, a Member of Legislative Council from Samajwadi Party, told the contestants that the outcome of the Mayors election was no longer important. Prakash argued that sooner or later elected Mayor and Corporators will not have any say in developing Varanasi as a Smart City. However, the concern raised by Prakash went unheard until a week ago when the Municipal Corporation passed the allocating the budget of Smart City project to a private company.

Under Smart City Act, a Committee has been constituted in which even the elected Mayor does not have any position. Moreover, the citys commissioner is holding the chairman position of the committee while the Municipal Commissioner holds the position of member secretary.

Under Section 91(1) of the Act, a budget worth Rs 1,000 crore was created but on October 15, the total budget of Rs 700 crore was put before the working committee. When members and corporators raised the concern for the remaining Rs 300 crore, they were informed that a separate unit will oversee the work of Smart City.

The interesting fact is that none of the elected members of the working committee and corporators raised concerns over why the elected individuals have been ripped off of the Smart City project and instead gave their nod to the newly-revised budget.

However, some of the corporators have raised their concern after it was revealed that they will not be consulted while planning out the Smart City project.

Shatrudra Prakash, who spoke with TwoCircles.net over the issue, said, Now the corporators and other members are worrying over their role in the corporation in Prime Ministers constituency. But they should have taken a stand long back, even before I had raised the issue.

A large chunk of the budget has been allocated to the private company under the Chairmanship of Commissioner who is appointed by the government. That is not a problem. But what then is the role of the elected Mayor? Is she not fit for the job? asked Prakash.

The firm, which is designed to oversee the work of Smart City, does not have any functionary of the municipal corporation or any corporator in its body yet it has been functioning on the resources allocated for Municipal Corporation, he added.

Prashant Singh, one of the corporators from Varanasi, told TwoCircles.net, We raised our concern on this issue but we were told that this is the rule made by the state and the central governments and a Mayor could not do anything in this.

Singh further said, A corporator already has limited power. We contest election and fight so that we could address problems of our wards. But scrapping this smart city project from our hands feels like killing whatever power we had.

Since Yogi Adityanath came into the power in the state, various works were outsourced to several private firms. One of the major projects was the grounding of electric cables of the whole city. Since the completion of the work, Municipal Corporation is fighting with complaints arose from broken roads or pavements with no work handling agency on the redressal front. Singh said, We feel the same will happen with this Smart City project. The company functionaries will move out after completing projects, and we will be left with solving the complaints only. And if we have to do that only, why not giving us more power to carry out the project.

Nitin Bansal, the Municipal Commissioner of Varanasi, gave a formal and official response to the TwoCircles.net over the issue. He said, The Act is formed by the government and the work structure is decided by the governments. We have to follow the procedure. I cannot comment more than this.

The Smart City Mission is one in which Major investments in time and resources will have to be made during the planning phase prior to participation in the Challenge. Moreover, the structure of planning and execution in the Smart City project is different as this is different from the conventional Detailed Project Report-driven approach, notes the website of Smart City Mission.

The dissent and protest over keeping the government body out of the government-funded project will do less harm on the pre-decided execution, as MLC Prakash said, None of the elected personnel has any role left in this government. Companies will carry out the work, so the accountability towards the public will be less transparent.
TCN News

Maulana Azad National Urdu Universitys Instructional Media Centre has launched its cinema Club Cinematheque MANUU on Friday 26th October. An Iranian Film Festival has also been inaugurated in collaboration with Iran Culture House, New Delhi, University.

Dr.Mohammad Aslam Parvaiz, Vice-Chancellor presided over the inaugural session. Mr. Ali Asghar Rastgou, First Consul, Consulate General, Islamic Republic of Iran, Hyderabad, Prof. Shakeel Ahmad, Pro Vice-Chancellor, MANUU; Dr. M. A. Sikandar, Registrar, MANUU; Mr. Mohsen Ashouri, Cultural Attache, Islamic Republic of Iran, Hyderabad were the guests of honour.

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Mr. Rizwan Ahmad, Director IMC, explained that the idea behind Cinematheque MANUU is to offer students the chance to complement their studies with activities related to culture and personal development. It is a campus enrichment program wherein weekly open air screenings of cinema classics, educational programs, films and documentaries will be screened for the students and staff members.

An exhibition of the finest works of Mahmood Farshcian, who is a Master of Persian Paintings and miniatures was also inaugurated at IMC Auditorium in the evening the same day at 4:30 p.m. where even Iranian Handicrafts were exhibited.

Dr. Mohammad Aslam Parvaiz, Vice-Chancellor who declared open the Cinematheque MANUU described Persian as the dress of Urdu language and lauded the selection of Iranian films to be screened.

Mr. Ali Asghar Rastgou, Ist Consul, Consulate General Iran, called the festival a step forward to strengthen the traditional cultural ties between India and Iran.

Mr. Mohsen Ashouri, Cultural Attache, Iran, presented an overview of the Iranian Films and said that they contain messages aimed at reforming the society.

Mr. Rizwan Ahmad, Director Media Centre in his welcome address, stressed the need to promote academic discourse on Cinema in the campuses. He described the launching of Cinematheque as historical step in the nascent institution.

Mr. Imtiaz Alam, Research Officer, conducted the proceedings. Mr. Omar Azmi, Producer, proposed vote of thanks.

The opening film of the festival A cube of sugar directed by Reza Mir Karimi was screened. The film festival will conclude on 3rd November.
Samsung Galaxy S10 will have a 5G and a budget variant News oi-Vishal Kawadkar Samsung planning to adopt Apple's strategy of three smartphones.

Samsung is said to be following Apple's strategy of introducing three models of its Galaxy S10, and is looking to launch a 5G version in the US. The standard S10 is codenamed "Beyond," reported Bloomberg, citing anonymous sources. It will roughly be of the same size as this year 5.8-inch S9 model.

The smartphone will come equipped with a triple camera and selfie camera under the screen -- details that fall in line with rumors that we've come across recently. It will have an OLED with curved sides and rounded corners, virtually no bezels on the top and bottom of the phone, and a fingerprint sensor that will be placed underneath the display, according to Bloomberg.

Samsung seems to be matching Apple's iPhone XS Max and budget XR models by releasing a larger "Plus" version and a cheaper one that will come sans the dual-curve edge screen or a fingerprint sensor, the report states. It could also be Samsung's first to come without the headphone jack.

The company is in talks with Verizon to launch the flagship in the US with a 5G capable chipset, according to the report. The report also suggests that Samsung's foldable phone is codenamed "Winner," and claimed that the company is yet to pick between horizontal and vertical prototypes.

The device might not have the fingerprint sensor like the S10 but will flaunt an extra 4-inch screen on the outside that'll let users check messages and emails without unfolding it, according to Bloomberg.

Besides, Samsung has also filed for a patent, first spotted by LetsGoDigital, suggests that the company might be planning to adopt the notch with one of its smartphones.

The sketches shown in the application indicate Samsung's version of the notch would not be as intrusive as other cutouts used by other smartphone makers. Instead, the notch will only house a single front-facing camera. Other sensors would be placed on the top bezel, behind a series of holes that would also act as a loudspeaker.

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IMC 2018: Reliance Jio, Ericsson 5G use cases News oi-Priyanka Dua The 5G connected car showcased "5G's reliability, high data rate capability, and low latency - key elements for remote operations of machines"

Swedish communication services company Ericsson and Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio have showcased their jointly developed 5G use case demos at the India Mobile Congress 2018 (IMC).

Mathew Oommen, President, Reliance Jio, said: "The rapid evolution of digital technologies is redefining and transforming how we use and access goods, information, and services as these are all driven by the power of data. For us as a nation, it is imperative that operators are aggressively incentivized to accelerate the deployment of deep fiber as this lays the foundation for this transformation, enabling us to seamlessly transition to 5G. Jio is excited to work with our global partners on technologies and use cases that allow us to deliver affordable broadband for ALL and ensure that we leverage 5G to its full potential."

The use cases demonstrated at the event over the live 5G network in Navi Mumbai and in Delhi leveraged the gigabit speed and ultra-low latency capabilities of 5G to exemplify key benefits such as the remote operation of machines (robotic arms, vehicles) and possibilities enabled through virtual reality (VR)," the statement said.

Nunzio Mirtillo, Head of South East Asia, Oceania and India at Ericsson, says: "Our goal behind developing use cases with our partners is to develop tangible concepts that can be taken forward and implemented by industry. Today, we take a big step towards making 5G a reality in India by showing use cases that can find application in sectors such as mining, education, and healthcare."

"It demonstrates remote operation and control of a car that is connected over a live 5G network on 3.5 GHz (gigahertz) band at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. The use case was made accessible at the IMC for remote driving and showcasing assistance through 5G edge computing."

The 5G connected car showcased "5G's reliability, high data rate capability, and low latency - key elements for remote operations of machines".

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China denies spying on Trump's cellphone, tells him to use Huawei

Iran Press TV

Fri Oct 26, 2018 10:13AM

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying has dismissed a New York Times report claiming that China and Russia are spying on US President Donald Trump's cellphone, satirically suggesting the use of Chinese Huawei phones for added security.

Chunying mocked the claims while speaking to reporters on Friday, claiming that journalists behind the report "are sparing no efforts to win the Academy Award for best screenplay."

"Firstly, The New York Times should know that such a report just provides another piece of evidence that The New York Times is making fake news. Secondly, I suggest they replace their iPhone with Huawei ones if they are really concerned about security issues," added the spokeswoman.

The New York Times published an article on October 24, claiming US spy agencies, frustrated with Trump's lacking appliance with presidential phone security procedures, believe Russia and China have been eavesdropping on Trump's personal phone calls in order to discover ways to influence the president through his contacts and attitudes.

Trump, nonetheless, rejected the report, making a direct reference to the article in a tweet.

The phone espionage report marks one of the most recent instances of a growing number of espionage and influence campaign allegations lobbed against Russia, Iran and China. US media and politicians have frequently blamed such countries of seeking to interfere in American politics and opinion, specifically during elections.

Last week, Iran rejected US intelligence claims that the country is seeking to undermine American elections, including next month's midterms, as "false and baseless" delusions.

Moreover, many observers believe the often unproven and dubious claims follow specific political objectives such as stifling domestic dissent and blocking alternative media. Many independent activists and media pages have subsequently been banned by US-based social media and networking companies.

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Arctic Anvil executes multi-domain operations on a large-scale

By Airman Aaron Guerrisky, 354th Fighter Wing Public Affairs / Published October 26, 2018

EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska (AFNS) -- During the last Red Flag-Alaska exercise of the year, forces banded together for Arctic Anvil, a military training exercise that took place Oct. 9 to 21 at the Donnelly Training Area near Fort Greely, Alaska.

Arctic Anvil is a joint, multi-national, force-on-force training exercise that included live, virtual and constructive elements. The purpose of the training was to prepare the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team for their rotation at the Army's National Training Center in California early next year. NTC conducts tough and realistic unified land operations to prepare brigade combat teams and other units for combat.

Approximately 6,000 military members from the Alaska National Guard, the U.S. Air Force and the 1st Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, collaborated with the U.S. Army during the exercise.

"This is the first time the whole brigade is out in the field at one time exercising mission command, using all of our systems tied together and seeing how the different battalions interact with each other," said Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Barrera, 3rd Battalion 21st Infantry Regiment senior enlisted advisor and warfighter. "Before, it would generally be a smaller scale, but now we have the whole brigade out here executing operations. Other elements such as joint partners and the joint terminal attack controllers are here with us so we can get the close air support from the Air Force."

The exercise is designed to test military components mentally and physically, but the Alaskan weather and terrain provides a challenge as well.

"We are not into the depths of winter yet, but we are in a transition, so that's a concern going forward," said Barrera. "People know their field craft and how to survive and thrive in this environment."

A company of Canadian soldiers acted as the opposing force, or OPFOR, during Arctic Anvil to improve the training for both sides.

"Our ties with the Canadian Army are pretty strong," said Barrera. "They've come over for a significant number of our competitions and other training events as well. Having them play OPFOR gives us a different look as opposed to encountering other U.S. soldiers as the OPFOR in the woods."

This exercise integrates and synchronizes all available assets so when soldiers encounter the enemy, all elements of combat power are brought to a decisive point.

Red Flag-Alaska, Pacific Air Forces' premier simulated combat airpower employment exercise, corresponded with multiple parts of Arctic Anvil.

"With Arctic Anvil on the ground, they can talk us on to real targets and then have actual entities for checking in and integrating as a joint force," said Air Force Capt. Daniel Thompson, Red-Flag-Alaska 19-1 team chief.

Integration during exercises is necessary to maintain readiness for combat and also strengthens the relations between military branches.

"Any operation we conduct isn't going to be one entity of the military, it will always be a joint fight," said Barrera. "Particularly up here, we maintain strong ties between us and Eielson (AFB)."

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Armed and Ready: Ramstein receives largest ammo shipment in years

By Senior Airman Joshua Magbanua, 86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs / Published October 26, 2018

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (AFNS) -- The 86th Munitions Squadron on Ramstein Air Base, Germany, received its largest shipment of ordnance in recent history. Approximately 100 containers with a variety of munitions rolled into Ramstein during the month of October.

Master Sgt. David Head, 86th MUNS Munitions Operations section chief, noted that a delivery of such magnitude has not taken place since the late 20th century.

"This is the largest shipment of its kind since Operation Allied Force, which took place in 1999," he said, referring to a 78-day campaign where aircraft flew 900 sorties to counter ethnic cleansing in Eastern Europe. "The munitions that we received will be used for future theater operations and the evolving U.S. European Command presence."

Master Sgt. Arthur Myrick, 86th MUNS munitions flight chief, added that the stockpile would be used to support NATO's European Deterrence Initiative and augment the Air Force's War Reserve Materiel in Europe.

According to officials, EDI aims to increase responsiveness and readiness by pre-positioning ammunition, fuel and equipment to enhance the U.S. Department of Defense's ability to provide a rapid response against threats made by aggressive actors.

Myrick expounded on the importance of his squadron's role in the Air Force's global operations.

"We're a major airlift hub for U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa, so our main job is to get munitions where they need to be on time," he said. "These are real-world munitions to fulfill real-world objectives. That's the reason we are downloading these things: to make sure we have the capability to move the fight forward if need be."

Head and Myrick both praised the work of their Airmen and thanked other local units for assisting in the historic shipment.

Whether it's taking unloading large shipment of bombs, or delivering small-arms ammunition to warfighters downrange, Airmen of the 86th MUNS expressed their commitment to making their impact felt wherever the Air Force flies.

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U.S. Department of Defense

Press Operations

News Release

No. NR-304-18 October 26, 2018

Readout of Secretary of Defense James N. Mattis' Call with Israeli Minister of Defense Avigdor Lieberman

Pentagon Chief Spokesperson Dana W. White provided the following readout:

Secretary of Defense James N. Mattis spoke on the phone with Israeli Minister of Defense (MOD) Avigdor Lieberman on Oct. 24 to reaffirm the longstanding defense relationship between the United States and Israel.

The leaders discussed a broad range of defense issues, including the threats Israel faces on its borders. The secretary reiterated support for Israel's inherent right to self-defense and a strong U.S. commitment to ensure Israel's qualitative military edge.

For more U.S.-Israel defense information visit: https://www.defense.gov/explore/story/Article/1671291/us-israel-hold-defense-policy-advisory-group-meeting/

http://www.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/1673397/

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Dozens of US F-35 fighter jets grounded over fuel problem

Iran Press TV

Fri Oct 26, 2018 01:21AM

The Pentagon has grounded dozens of US F-35 jet fighters as a safety measure to resolve a fuel pipe hazard just days after issuing clearance to the aircraft to fly.

Earlier this month the entire fleet of F-35s was grounded after a jet crash prompted military officials to suspect there was a problem with the aircraft's fuel system.

The Pentagon in early October grounded all versions of the Lockheed Martin-made aircraft to examine the fuel tubes within the engines, made separately by Pratt & Whitney.

Days later, Pentagon issued clearance to 80 percent of jets to return to flight.

However, new fuel problems arose in the Marine Corps variant, pushing military officials to order the jets be kept out of the skies for the new analysis.

"The joint government and industry technical team has completed their assessment of the fuel supply tubes within the Pratt & Whitney engine on F-35 aircraft," the F-35 Joint Program Office said on Thursday in a statement, saying, "In addition to the previously identified failed tube, the analysis has identified two additional fuel supply tubes that require inspection."

The F-35 office stressed that the two fuel tubes have not failed, and that "engineering data collected during the ongoing investigation established the requirement for a time-phased inspection based on engine flight hours."

"The inspection maintains F-35 fleet safety standards as older engines may require fuel tube replacement. The procedure to inspect and replace can be done by flightline maintenance without removing the engine."

The Pentagon first announced it had grounded all F-35s on Oct. 11 after a fuel tube in the F-35 engines was suspected to have caused an F-35B crash on Sept. 28, near the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, S.C.

The pilot safely ejected from the fighter in that crash.

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UN Investigating Whether Iran Supplied Weapons Seized By U.S. Navy Near Yemen

RFE/RL October 26, 2018

UN inspectors are examining more than 2,500 AK-47 rifles and other guns seized by the crew of a U.S. destroyer off the coast of Yemen to determine whether the weapons originated in Iran or Somalia.

U.S. authorities said they invited the UN inspectors on board on October 25 to determine whether the weapons provide proof that Iran is smuggling arms to allied Shi'ite Huthi rebels that are battling the Yemeni government in a four-year civil war. Iran has denied providing weapons to the Huthis.

The United States -- in debates at the United Nations -- has repeatedly charged Iran with illegally smuggling weapons to the Huthis, in violation of UN resolutions against arming the Huthis.

Yet U.S. forces patrolling the waters around Yemen have managed to seize only a handful of weapons caches like the one seized by the USS Jason Dunham in late August.

"It's one big traffic corridor," Vice Admiral Scott Stearney, commander of the U.S. 5th Fleet, told reporters on board the vessel on October 25, speaking of the Gulf of Aden and other waterways around Yemen.

Stearney declined to say if he thought Iran was responsible for the weapons seized by the Dunham's crew, but he said the UN inspectors were experts on illicit weapons from Iran, Yemen, and Somalia.

The U.S. destroyer's crew while on patrol in the region in August noticed large bags being transferred from a dhow about 70 miles off the coast of Yemen into a smaller skiff. A dhow is a traditional ship that commonly sails the waters of the Persian Gulf region.

The Navy ship intercepted the skiff and, after talking to the crew on board, determined they were smuggling weapons.

The rifles, in bundles of four or five, were wrapped in plastic, then wrapped in styrofoam and hidden in green burlap bags, according to Navy Commander John Hamilton, commander of the Dunham.

A small number of reporters on board the ship were allowed to see the assault rifles, which were heavily rusted after nearly two months at sea. The weapons had been unpacked and piled up, and were ready to be inspected by the UN team.

Hamilton said the crew on the dhow told them they were carrying flour and wheat, but he said none of the foodstuffs were found on board.

Navy Captain Adan Cruz, commodore of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, said the weapons could have been shipped from Somalia rather than Iran. The UN inspectors, he said, will determine the guns' origin and "see first-hand the weapons flowing into the region."

UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, in calling for a crackdown on Iran at the UN, has repeatedly accused Iran of supplying the Huthis. Last year, she displayed the remnants of missiles that the Huthi rebels fired at Saudi Arabia, which is backing the Yemeni government in the civil war, saying they provided "undeniable evidence" that Iran was illegally supplying weapons to its Yemeni allies.

With reporting by AP, CNN, Fox News, and Naval Today

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/un-investigating- whether-iran-supplied-weapons-seized-us-navy-near -yemen-huthi-rebel/29564769.html

Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Russian Oil Chief Sees 'Major Imbalances,' Rising Prices From U.S. Sanctions

October 26, 2018

The head of Russia's state-controlled oil giant Rosneft is warning that U.S. sanctions on Iran and Venezuela will trigger "major imbalances in the oil market."

Rosneft Chief Executive Igor Sechin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, on October 25 predicted an increase in oil prices and a reduction in global oil production as a result of the sanctions.

U.S. officials have said they want the sanctions on Iran's oil sector, which are scheduled to go into effect on November 5, to reduce Iran's oil exports to "zero," and have been pressuring countries around the world to stop buying oil from Iran.

"We are going to squeeze Iran because we think their behavior in the Middle East and, really globally, is malign and needs to be changed," U.S. national-security adviser John Bolton told RFE/RL in an interview on October 25.

But Sechin, speaking at the Eurasian Economic Forum in Verona, Italy, said the resulting rise in oil prices means that "those who are going to pay are also going to be U.S. and European consumers."

Oil prices have soared into the $80 a barrel range since April, when U.S. President Donald Trump announced he was abandoning Iran's 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers and reimposing economic sanctions.

Trump also has ordered a series of sanctions against Venezuela, which has some of the largest oil reserves in the Western Hemisphere and, like Iran, has been struggling to keep producing and exporting oil in the face of sanctions.

Trump has sought to put the blame for rising prices on the OPEC oil cartel rather than the collapse in production seen in Iran and Venezuela.

Official statistics show Iran's oil exports have fallen by about half from a peak of about 2.5 million barrels a day in April to about 1.2 million barrels a day in October.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, the biggest oil producer in OPEC, which has promised to make up for Iran's shortfall, has said it has spare capacity to produce about 1.5 million barrels more a day.

"OPEC's free production capacity is not sufficient to compensate for the lost volumes of production" from Iran and Venezuela, Sechin said.

The Rosneft chief denounced U.S. sanctions -- a slew of which have also targeted Russia in recent years -- as "arbitrary," and claimed they are designed to advance U.S. economic interests at the expense of others.

"In a number of sectors -- shale mining, arms exports -- the U.S. economy has rather pragmatically won at the expense of sanctions imposed against other countries," Sechin said.

He estimated that Germany, a major Russian trading partner, has borne "40 percent" of the economic damage caused by sanctions on Russia, whereas the share of economic damage borne by the United States is only 0.6 percent.

The United States and European Union both imposed sanctions on Russia starting in 2014 over its annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and backing of separatists fighting the government in eastern Ukraine.

Sechin and Russia's oil sector were both targeted by the Western sanctions. However, Sechin boasted that Russia's oil production has been rising despite the sanctions and is expected to increase further by the end of the year.

With reporting by dpa, Reuters, and Interfax

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russian-oil-chief-sechin- sees-major-imbalances-rising-prices-resulting-from-us- sanctions-iran-venezuela/29564774.html

Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Over 330,000 Congolese migrants at risk after mass deportations from Angola - UN rights chief

26 October 2018 - The United Nations human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, on Friday warned that the forcible mass expulsion of Congolese migrants from Angola has resulted in "serious human rights violations by security forces on both sides of the border" and left at least 330,000 returnees in an "extremely precarious situation".

This month, some 330,000 people have reportedly crossed from Angola into the Kasai, Kasai Central and Kwango provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), following an expulsion order by the Government of Angola targeting irregular migrants.

"International law and the African Charter of Human and Peoples' Rights forbid the mass expulsion of non-nationals without individual assessment or other due process guarantees," said the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet. "In expelling such a massive number of people in such a short time, Angola has placed tens of thousands of families at severe risk," she regretted.

In interviews with people in the border town of Kamako in Kasai, the UN human rights office (OHCHR) received reports indicating that security forces in Angola used "excessive force in their operations to deport the Congolese nationals".

The team has verified information concerning six deaths, reportedly at the hands of security forces, but has also received many other allegations of killings that it has not been able to fully verify. Reports also suggest that at least 100 people have been injured during confrontations.

According to OHCHR, several migrants also alleged that upon their arrival in Kamako, they were subjected to extortion, illegal taxation, and arbitrary detention by the DRC defence and security forces. Some of the migrants are being hosted by families or in improvised shelters, but many are sleeping in the streets, with inadequate access to health and food, severe water shortages and lack of proper sanitation.

Angola currently hosts some 68,000 refugees and asylum seekers.

"I call on the Government of Angola to halt any ongoing deportations until it can be assured that any returns will be carried out in full respect of the rule of law and the human rights of all affected migrants," said Ms. Bachelet, calling for security forces and others responsible for violations in the course of these expulsions to be held accountable.

Warning of the risk of inter-communal violence "if the situation is not handled carefully", she called for the Congolese authorities to ensure that the returnees are protected from extortion and violence, particularly given the continued lack of accountability for grave human rights violations that occurred in the Kasais between 2016 and 2017.

"I urge the Government of the DRC to ensure that members of security forces that may be responsible for violations, past and present, against people  regardless of their ethnic affiliations  are subjected to investigations, with a view to ensuring justice for the victims," she said. "Failing this, I fear we could see a repeat of the cycles of terrible violence that erupted in the Kasais in 2016."

Ms. Bachelet also urged DRC and the international community to redouble efforts to address the urgent humanitarian needs of the returnees in Kasai, Kasai Central and Kwango.

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UN: Expulsion of Congolese From Angola Could Trigger Renewed Violence in Kasai

By Lisa Schlein October 26, 2018

The continued mass expulsion of Congolese migrants from Angola could trigger a renewal of inter-ethnic violence in Democratic Republic of Congo's Kasai province, U.N. Human Rights Chief Michele Bachelet warned.

Since the beginning of October, Angola has forced an estimated 330,000 Congolese migrants across the border into Kasai, Kasai Central and Kwango provinces of the DRC.

The U.N. human rights office says the mass expulsions have involved excessive force and serious violations of human rights by both Angolan and DRC security forces. The U.N. confirms six deaths and says it has unverified reports of other killings, as well as at least 100 people injured.

Ravina Shamdasani, the U.N. human rights spokeswoman, says DRC security forces allegedly have subjected migrants to extortion and illegal taxation upon arrival in the town of Kamako.

She said Bachelet called on the Angolan government to halt the expulsions and said DRC authorities must protect the returning migrants from exploitation and violence.

"Given the continued presence of armed groups that are split along ethnic lines in the Kasais, we are warning of the risk of inter-communal violence if the situation is not handled carefully by the authorities.  Failing this, we fear we could see a repeat of the cycles of terrible violence that erupted in the Kasais in 2016," Shamdasani said.

In addition, she told VOA, there has been no accountability for grave human rights violations that took place in Kasai in 2016 and 2017.

"You know there were mass killings, massive sexual violence, burning of peoples' homes, a lot of people displaced, a lot of refugees who fled to neighboring countries as a result of that violence," Shamdasani said.

The Congolese migrants had been working as informal diamond miners in northeast Angola, but the government cracked down on the miners to reduce diamond smuggling and raise more money for its state coffers.

Angolan authorities have previously denied allegations of mass expulsions and brutality, insisting the migrants have returned home voluntarily. High Commissioner Bachelet is urging an investigation, and justice for the victims.

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Opposition to Participate in Contentious DRC Poll

By Anita Powell October 26, 2018

The fractured opposition in the Democratic Republic of Congo announced Friday that opposition leaders will participate in a contentious December election, and said the opposition bloc will name a unified candidate by Nov. 15  just six weeks before this pivotal poll.

It's another sign of the volatility  and the fragility  of the situation as the massive and conflict-ridden DRC hurtles toward a long-postponed poll scheduled for Dec. 23.

The divided opposition is hoping to defeat ruling coalition candidate Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, who enjoys the support of longtime President Joseph Kabila. Kabila plans to leave office after refusing to step down at the end of his term in December 2016.

After two days of discussions in South Africa's capital, Pretoria, the nation's seven top opposition leaders agreed on two critical issues, according to a document sent electronically to VOA by one of the leaders on Friday.

First, they agreed to participate in the poll, despite reiterating concerns over a lack of political space and their mistrust in an electronic voting system that they believe is flawed or may be misused.

Second, they agreed they will name a unified opposition candidate. But, says longtime Congo analyst Stephanie Wolters, the situation remains complicated.

"I'm not convinced that ... these positions will remain common in the next two months," she told VOA in Johannesburg. "I think there's very high potential for these guys to fall out again. But for the moment, there is consensus, that the opposition is going ahead with these elections, and will just continue to try to push for greater credibility."

The main issue, she says, is over who will be the presidential candidate. The electoral commission has declared three opposition leaders  two of whom enjoy immense popularity  ineligible for various, and contested, reasons.

Wolters says the opposition field is effectively narrowed to two men: longtime politician Vital Kamerhe and relative newcomer Felix Tshisekedi, whose late father led the nation's main opposition party for decades.

Government spokesman Lambert Mende dismissed opposition allegations that the political playing field is uneven, and that the poll may not be transparent.

"But why say that it will not be transparent?" he told VOA. "Are they God or what to know what will happen? Let it happen and then let them go to court to challenge."

Mende said he's confident about the poll, which for the first time will be entirely locally funded after the government rejected foreign funding, accusing the international community of trying to influence the poll.

"We are giving our people a chance to choose their leaders," he told VOA. "And we know that a lot of people are abroad are fond of deciding on behalf of Congolese, and this time we said no. We stopped with this habit of people from outside deciding on who will lead Congo. We decided to fund ourselves, to budget ourselves."

But Wolters says she's watching closely how things will play out  if the poll happens at all.

"If this election takes place, there will be incidents, and if the ruling party candidate wins, there will certainly be incidents," she said. "Because people already don't believe in the credibility of this process, they're not comfortable with the situation. They're still as opposed to the Kabila elite being in charge as they were when Kabila was indicating that he might stay on."

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Tens of Sudanese troops killed in southern Saudi Arabia

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Oct 27, IRNA -- Scores of Sudanese mercenaries affiliated to the Saudi-led coalition were killed or wounded in southern Saudi Arabian border areas with Yemen, Yemeni military sources said Friday night.

According to Al-Mayadeen news network, the Sudanese mercenaries suffered heavy casualties after walking over mines planted by Yemeni forces in Jamarak area in Jizan province.

Meanwhile, the Yemeni army forces and members of popular committees fired one domestically-made Zelzal 1 ballistic missile at a position of Saudi-led coalition forces in the southwestern Yemeni governorate of Taiz.

Earlier, the Yemeni army and its ally popular committees targeted a position of Saudi troops in Al-Khobe region in Jizan province with one Zelzal-1 missile.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating military campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the aim of bringing the government of former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crushing the country's Houthi Ansarullah movement.

Some 16,000 Yemenis have been killed and thousands more injured since the onset of the Saudi-led aggression.

1396**1396

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Afghans Voting In Kandahar Elections Delayed By Violence

RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan October 27, 2018

Afghans in the country's southern province of Kandahar are voting in parliamentary elections on October 27, a week after 32 of the country's 34 provinces went to the polls.

The Kandahar governor's office said on Twitter that polling centers in the province had opened at 7 a.m. while assuring voters that serious security measures were in place to ensure their safety.

Major roads throughout southern Kandahar were closed nearly 24 hours before polls opened to stop vehicle-born explosive devices from entering the province, provincial governor's spokesman Aziz Ahmed Azizi said.

Reports suggested that dozens of polling stations opened late because staff did not show up or election materials were not readily available.

Seyed Hafizullah Hashemi, Independent Election Commission spokesman, told RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan that the issue will be investigated.

According to election commission figures, more than 500,000 people have registered to vote at the 173 polling stations across Kandahar.

Election officials said 111 candidates were vying for 11 seats in parliament from southern Kandahar in Afghanistan's 249-seat chamber.

The delay in voting was the result of the assassination of Kandahar's police chief General Abdul Raziq by Taliban insurgents two days before the national elections.

The killing of Raziq, who was widely credited for maintaining stability in Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban, sent shock waves through the country.

Officials said thousands of soldiers have been deployed to boost the morale of voters shaken by the killing. Zia Durani, a spokesman for the Kandahar police, said security forces are working to protect more than 550,000 voters expected to cast their ballots in the province.

But security officials said there could be further attacks by Taliban militants who are seeking to reimpose strict Islamic law in Afghanistan after their 2001 ouster by U.S.-led forces.

The Afghan elections have been rocked by repeated Taliban and Islamic State attacks. Both groups have warned Afghans against participating in the elections and have used violence to try to prevent people from going to the polls.

Underscoring the country's precarious security situation, a suicide bombing outside a police compound in central Wardak Province south of the Afghan capital, Kabul, killed at least five people and wounded 15, a police spokesman said.

The October 27 bombing in Maidan Shahr, the main city of the province, happened as police officers and civilians were going inside the base, Hekmat Durrani, a spokesman for the police chief, said.

Three civilians and two policemen were among the dead, Durrani said, adding that the casualty figure could rise.

A Taliban spokesman said the insurgent group was responsible for the attack.

During two days of voting last weekend, militants launched some 250 attacks across the country, killing at least 50 people and wounding more than 100, the Interior Ministry said.

Raziq and Kandahar's intelligence agency commander were killed on October 18 when a member of the provincial governor's bodyguard staff opened fire on officials leaving a meeting with the U.S. commander of Afghanistan's NATO-led force, General Scott Miller.

Miller escaped unharmed, but a U.S. general was one of two Americans wounded in the attack.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's government named Raziq's brother as his successor.

Raziq's death could serve as a rallying point for voters, said Dawa Khan Menapal, an independent Kandahar candidate.

"People are determined to take part in the election because they want to show the Taliban that terror cannot stop the Afghans from deciding their future," he said.

"We are willing to vote and we will come out even if it costs our lives," registered voter Samiullah told AFP. "Afghanistan has been torn by war and that's why we must decide our future and vote for our candidates."

With the Taliban operating across much of the country and heavy pressure from international partners for the vote to be held, the election has been seen as a major test for the government.

Voting in the 32 provinces saw a high turnout, but the process was marred by logistical and technical glitches as well as violence.

Elections also were not held in central Ghazni Province, southwest of the capital, which is still reeling from the Taliban's takeover in August. It was not immediately clear when they will be held.

Preliminary nationwide results are expected to be released in November. Final results will not be known until the new year.

With reporting by Reuters and AFP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/afghans-voting-in- kandahar-elections-delayed-by-violence-killing- raziq-police-chief/29566704.html

Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Mattis Says Russia Cannot Replace U.S. Commitment In Middle East

RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal October 27, 2018

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has told Arab leaders that Russia is no replacement for the United States in the Middle East, following Moscow's military intervention in Syria.

"Russia's presence in the region cannot replace the long-standing, enduring, and transparent U.S. commitment to the Middle East," Mattis said on October 27 at a meeting in the Bahraini capital, Manama.

Later on October 27, Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to attend a summit in Istanbul with the leaders of France, Germany, and Turkey seeking to find a lasting political solution to the seven-year civil war in Syria.

Russia supports the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Turkey backs the rebels seeking to oust the Syrian leader.

Mattis told the annual Manama Dialogue security conference in Bahrain that Moscow's "opportunism and willingness to overlook Assad's criminal activities against his own people evidences its lack of sincere commitment to essential moral principles."

Mattis said Iran's support for the Syrian regime "coupled with Russia's repeated vetoes of UN Security Council resolutions, is the leading reason Assad remains in power."

In his remarks, Mattis also warned that incidents like the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi undermined Middle Eastern stability and that the United States would take additional measures against those responsible.

Khashoggi, 59, a U.S. resident and Washington Post columnist, was critical of Saudi rulers. He disappeared after walking into Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2 to obtain marriage documents.

Turkey alleges a 15-member "hit squad" was sent to kill the journalist.

Saudi Arabia has said it arrested 18 people in connection with Khashoggi's killing.

Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor said on October 25 that the killing of Khashoggi was premeditated, reversing previous official statements that his death was unintended.

The United States "does not tolerate this kind of ruthless action to silence Mr. Khashoggi, a journalist, through violence," Mattis said at the meeting in Manama.

"The failure of any nation to adhere to international norms and the rule of law undermines regional stability at a time when it is needed most," he added.

He did not mention de facto Saudi ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman who has faced international criticism, with many officials charging he must have known about Khashoggi's killing, and some saying he may have ordered it.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo this week announced moves against 21 Saudis to either revoke their visas or make them ineligible for U.S. visas after the Khashoggi killing.

"Our secretary of state has already revoked visas and will be taking additional measures," Mattis said.

Speaking at the conference in Bahrain, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Riyadh will prosecute the suspects in the killing of Khashoggi.

"On the issue of extradition, the individuals are Saudi nationals. They're detained in Saudi Arabia, and the investigation is in Saudi Arabia, and they will be prosecuted in Saudi Arabia," Jubeir said in response to a call by Turkey for extradition.

He said the kingdom has made it "very clear that those responsible will be held responsible" while calling the global outcry over Khashoggi's killing "hysterical."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for the extradition of the 18 Saudi nationals who authorities say were involved in the murder of Khashoggi.

Erdogan has also called on Saudi Arabia to disclose the location of Khashoggi's body.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, and AFP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/mattis-says- russia-cannot-replace-u-s-commitment -in-middle-east/29566838.html

Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Announces a New Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Strike Force

Cleveland, OH

~ Friday, October 26, 2018

Thank you, Justin for that kind introduction and thank you for your leadership as United States Attorney. This office is doing remarkable work that is being noticed at Main Justice and throughout the law enforcement community.

I want to thank:

- Mayor Jackson,

- Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams,

- DEA Special Agent in Charge Tim Plancon,

- FBI Special Agent in Charge Steve Anthony,

- Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Steve Francis, and

- Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O'Malley.

Thank you for being here and for all of your hard work to protect the people of Northeast Ohio from dangerous drugs.

Nationwide, 72,000 Americans lost their lives to drug overdoses in 2017  the highest drug death toll in American history.

That is the equivalent of the population of Canton, Ohio dead in one year just from overdoses.

This is a national crisis. And there is no question that Ohio has suffered from this epidemic more than most states. Ohio is second in the nation in overdose deaths, with a rate more than double the national average. From 2014 to 2016, drug deaths in Ohio increased by 60 percent. For opioids it was 73 percent. Fentanyl deaths tripled.

In Cleveland last year 128 people were murdered. That was enough to put Cleveland in the top five in the nation for murder rate.

But drugs killed more than five times as many Clevelanders as homicides.

And that's in addition to those who overdosed and survived. Last year, first responders in Cleveland reversed more than 1,300 overdoses that otherwise might have been fatal.

And according to one estimate from Ohio University and the University of Toledo, more than 500,000 years of life expectancy have been lost because of drug overdosesin Ohio alone.

This is a daunting situation. That is why, under President Trump, the Department of Justice has taken historic new steps to end the drug crisis.

This summer, Attorney General Sessions sent three more prosecutors to this office to focus on violent criminals like the gangs who sell drugs.

Just a few weeks later, Attorney General Sessions began Operation Synthetic Opioid Surge, or Operation S.O.S. He sent prosecutors to 10 districts in Americaincluding both Northern and Southern Ohioand ordered those districts to prosecute every single synthetic opioid trafficking case they can. As the Attorney General pointed out, these drugs are so powerful that there really is no such thing as a small fentanyl case.

In August, the Attorney General stood at this very spot and announced the arrest of three defendants we believe were the number one and number three most prolific online fentanyl dealers in North America. He also spoke about the guilty plea of the Euclid, Ohio fentanyl dealer who sold fentanyl online just down the street from a Catholic school.

Justin and his team are doing remarkable work. Some of the most important drug cases in the country are being investigated and prosecuted right here in this district and by people who are in this room.

This office indicted 959 defendants over the last 12 monthsa 50 percent increase over the previous year and the most in 12 years. That includes 393 defendants charged with narcotics offensesa 69 percent increase over the previous year and the most in 13 years.

Over the same timeframe, this office increased violent crime prosecutions by 53 percent and charged the most violent criminals in 14 years.

As a career prosecutor myself, I know good work when I see it. And this is certainly excellent work.

We are working every day at Main Justice to make you more effectiveand I believe that we have successfully done that over this past year and a half.

Today I am announcing our next step to do that. I am announcing that Cleveland will soon be the home of an Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Forceor OCDETF.

As the officers in this room well know, OCDETF brings together a broad law enforcement coalition:

- Assistant U.S. Attorneys,

- Drug Enforcement Administration,

- Federal Bureau of Investigation,

- Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives,

- Immigration and Customs Enforcement,

- Homeland Security Investigations,

- Internal Revenue Service,

- Department of Labor Inspector General,

- Postal Service Inspectors,

- Secret Service,

- Marshals Service, and

- Coast Guard.

These agencies have diverse capabilities and jurisdictionsbut they all have one mission: to go after drug traffickers and criminal organizations at the highest levels.

OCDETF brings together just about every federal law enforcement agency there is. Attorney General Sessions has called it "the Swiss Army knife of law enforcement." It has everything you need to put a drug trafficker behind bars.

If you want to investigate tax crimes, with OCDETF you have the IRS. If you want to investigate counterfeiting, you have the Secret Service. For mail fraud, you have the postal inspectors. And so on. Whatever is needed to find the kingpins and the cartel leaders, OCDETF has it.

The idea behind the Strike Force is as straightforward as it is simple. More than 100 agents from the federal alphabet soup  FBI, DEA, HSI, IRS, ATF, Postal Inspectors, the Marshals and Border Patrol  will be in one open office with dozens of Cleveland police officers, task force officers from HIDTA, Ohio State troopers and prosecutors from our office and Cuyahoga County.

Additionally, several suburban departments have agreed to participate in the Strike Force.

It is our hope and belief that each agency will bring their own particular area of expertise to the table, combining the best of technology and equipment with street-level intelligence, crime analytics and sharing of data and information.

Areas of emphasis include:

- Violent crime, particularly gang violence, retaliatory shootings, carjackings and commercial robberies

- All drug trafficking, including opioids, everyone knows has hit this region like few others. That will include everything from responding to overdose scenes and trying to work a case back up to the dealer to interdicting packages of drugs coming in the mail from overseas to disrupting dealers who use the Dark Web to sell drugs to anyone with a cell phone and bitcoin.

The Department of Justice is committed to giving the Strike Force the resources needed to meet its mission, including offices with the capacity for multiple wire rooms to be running at the same time.

Last week, the Attorney General appointed new leadership at OCDETF. At the national level, it will be led by Adam Cohen. Adam has served in our Criminal Division at Main Justice for a decade, most recently as Chief of the Special Operations Unit's Office of Enforcement Operations. He has also served as an Assistant United States Attorney for five years and as a state prosecutor for seven years. He led the National Gang Targeting Enforcement and Coordination Center for nearly three years and has served as Deputy Chief of the Narcotics and Dangerous Drug Section.

The Attorney General and I are confident that Adam is going to make OCDETF even more effective than ever. That will benefit the people of Cleveland, and the nation.

The Cleveland OCDETF Strike Force will feature a prosecutor with a team of law enforcement agents.

The Strike Force will not be housed in this building but in a building of its own. Officers from over two dozen different agencies and departments will be under one roof and in one open space, constantly sharing information and working together.

OCDETF's primary purpose is to go after drug traffickers. But any prosecutor will tell you that violent crime follows drug. This new Strike Force will also provide federal, state, and local law enforcement with critical information that will help us prosecute violent criminals as well.

With today's announcement law enforcement in Greater Cleveland will now be better equipped than ever to take drug traffickers off our streets.

Under President Donald Trump, the Department of Justice will continue to arm our prosecutors and our officers with resources and the tools they need to give the people of Clevelandand every American citysafety and peace of mind.

Speaker:

Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein

Topic(s):

Drug Trafficking

Opioids

Violent Crime

Component(s):

Office of the Deputy Attorney General

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FBI arrests man suspected in parcel bombs case in Florida

Iran Press TV

Fri Oct 26, 2018 07:16PM

US investigators have arrested an individual suspected of sending at least a dozen parcel bombs over the last week to high-profile critics of President Donald Trump ahead of key midterm elections.

FBI agents arrested the 56-year-old suspect, identified as Cesar Sayoc, in southern Florida on Friday.

The man  a registered Republican  once lived in New York and has a criminal history dating back to 1991, with charges ranging from felony theft to drug offenses and fraud, according to several US news outlets.

Authorities reportedly impounded Sayoc's white van, which was covered in Trump stickers and images of Democrats with targets on their faces.

Announcing the arrest to a cheering audience at the White House, Trump said such "terrorizing acts" were despicable and had no place in the United States.

"We must never allow political violence to take root in America - cannot let it happen," he added. "And I'm committed to doing everything in my power as president to stop it and to stop it now."

Since Monday, homemade bombs and other suspected explosive devices have been addressed to former US President Barack Obama, ex-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Hollywood megastar Robert De Niro and a litany of figures loathed by Trump's supporters.

No one claimed responsibility for the intercepted parcel bombs, which were denounced by authorities as terrorism, and came less than two weeks ahead of US congressional elections that could alter the balance of power in Washington.

The Friday arrest comes as two more devices were discovered earlier in the day.

One of the devices was found in Florida and had been addressed to New Jersey senator Cory Booker. The other, found at a New York post office, was addressed to former national intelligence director James Clapper.

Trump, who had come under fire for his response to the spree, complained before Sayoc's arrest that the packages were slowing momentum for his Republican Party ahead of the November 6 elections.

"Republicans are doing so well in early voting, and at the polls, and now this 'Bomb' stuff happens and the momentum greatly slows -- news not talking politics," Trump tweeted. "Very unfortunate, what is going on. Republicans, go out and vote!"

US midterm elections take place at the halfway point during each presidential term and usually experience weak turnout due to a lack of enthusiasm. But Trump's election in 2016 has made Americans more engaged than ever with the polarized political climate.

Americans' anger at Trump may help Democrats gain more seats in Congress after the elections in November, Reuters/Ipsos polling data shows.

Opinion polls show Democrats have a chance at achieving the net gain of 23 seats they need to win a majority in the US House of Representatives. They have a longer shot at the Senate, where they need a gain of two seats, but are defending 26 seats, including 10 in states Trump won in 2016.

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Trump signs new sanctions against Lebanese resistance movement

Iran Press TV

Fri Oct 26, 2018 05:00PM

The administration of US President Donald Trump has imposed a new round of sanctions on Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah targeting individuals and international organizations that do business with the group.

Trump signed the sanctions legislation  known as the Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Amendments Act 2018  against the resistance group on Thursday.

"Over the past year we have levied the highest sanctions ever imposed on Hezbollah  in a single year, by far. Just a few moments ago, I signed legislation imposing even more hard-hitting sanctions on Hezbollah to further starve them of their funds. And they are starving for them," Trump said during an event in Washington, DC, that marked the 35th anniversary of an attack on US marine barracks in the Lebanese capital of Beirut.

Washington has for long accused Hezbollah of being behind the 1983 bombing attack, in which 241 US Marines were killed.

"We will target, disrupt, and dismantle their operational and financing networks  of which they had plenty; they don't have plenty now and we will never forget what they did to our Marines in Beirut," Trump added.

The US president also used the attack to criticize Iran, claiming that the Islamic Republic is "instrumental in founding Hezbollah," and remains "its main patron today."

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement that the sanctions "will further isolate Hezbollah from the international financial system and reduce its funding," adding that "these sanctions will target foreign persons and government agencies that knowingly assist or support Hezbollah, and Hezbollah-affiliated networks."

Washington claims that the resistance movement condones terrorism despite the fact that Hezbollah has been involved in a fierce fight against Takfiri terror groups, including Daesh and al-Nusra Front, thus preventing the spillover of the militancy gripping neighboring Syria into Lebanon.

Hezbollah was founded in the 1980s following the Israeli invasion and occupation of southern Lebanon. The movement waged a long resistance campaign against Zionist forces and pushed them out of southern Lebanon in May 2000. Since then, the group has grown into a powerful military force. Israel also suffered a humiliating defeat from Hezbollah in the 2006 war.

Hezbollah has also supported the Syrian army in its fight against foreign-sponsored terrorists, who have been wreaking havoc in the Arab country since March 2011.

Since its inception in 1985, the Lebanese resistance movement has been a thorn in the side of Israel and its foreign backers, including the United States.

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Florida Man Charged in Connection With Mailed Explosive Devices

By VOA News October 27, 2018

A Florida man with a decades-long criminal record was arrested and charged Friday with mailing at least 13 packages containing explosive devices to critics of President Donald Trump, authorities said.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions told reporters Cesar Sayoc, 56, of Aventura, Florida, is being charged with five federal crimes, including the illegal mailing of explosive devices and threatening government officials. Sayoc faces up to 48 years in prison if found guilty, Sessions added.

The crude pipe bombs were addressed in recent days to former President Barack Obama as well as other high-profile Democrats, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a former U.S. attorney general, two Democratic members of Congress, and former Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan.

FBI Director Christopher Wray, speaking at the same news conference, said at least 13 IEDs were sent in the packages, and each mailing included 6 inches of PVC pipe, a small clock and potentially explosive material.

"These are not hoax devices," Wray said, noting that none of the bombs exploded. Authorities told the Associated Press the devices were not rigged to explode when the packages were opened, but they said they were not sure if that is because the devices were poorly made or were not intended to harm.

Wray added that authorities believe other bombs may still be found.

Wray said a fingerprint found on one of the packages led investigators to Sayoc. He said possible DNA evidence was found on another package.

Sayoc was previously known to law enforcement officials and has been arrested nearly a dozen times in Florida, including a 2002 arrest for making a bomb threat. His first arrest in the state was at age 29 for larceny. Other charges against him have included grand theft, fraud and illegal possession of steroids.

Sayoc's arrest Friday in Plantation, Florida, about 30 miles north of Miami, ended a nearly weeklong stretch of terror where at least one bomb was found each day.

Officers also hauled away Sayoc's white van, its windows plastered with pro-Trump stickers, American flags, and images of Democratic figures with red crosshairs over their faces.

His arrest came just hours after the Federal Bureau of Investigation intercepted two more suspicious packages, one addressed to Democratic Sen. Cory Booker, the other to former National Intelligence Director James Clapper. And even as Sayoc was being detained, officials with Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris of California said investigators were looking at a package sent to her office.

Clapper said on CNN Friday morning he was not surprised he was targeted and said the incidents were "serious."

President Donald Trump spoke at an event at the White House Friday and vowed that those responsible for mailing suspicious packages will be prosecuted to the "fullest extent of the law."

"We must never allow political violence to take root in America," Trump told the Young Black Leadership Summit at the White House.

Later Friday, Trump told a political rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, that the media is to blame for polarizing the country.

"We have seen an effort by the media in recent hours to use the sinister actions of one individual to score political points against me and the Republican Party." He said the media's "constant unfair coverage, deep hostility and negative attacks" only serve to "drive people apart."

In a tweet earlier Friday, Trump referred to the investigation as "this 'bomb' stuff," which he blamed for taking focus away from the upcoming midterm elections.

The weeklong bomb scare began Monday, when the first bomb was found at the suburban New York compound of billionaire George Soros, a major contributor to Democratic candidates and causes. He has often criticized Trump.

In the following days, packages containing pipe bombs were intercepted for Clinton, Obama, and later were found addressed to former Vice President Joe Biden, former Attorney General Eric Holder and U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters.

Federal investigators searched a massive mail sorting facility in Florida late Thursday, after determining that at least one of the pipe bombs had been processed there.

All of the "suspected explosive devices" were taken to the FBI's laboratory at the U.S. Marine Corps base in Quantico, Va., said New York City Police Commissioner James O'Neill.

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US military successfully tests anti-ballistic missile off coast of Hawaii

Iran Press TV

Fri Oct 26, 2018 09:38PM

The US military says it has successfully tested a key missile system off the west coast of Hawaii, shooting down a medium-range ballistic missile.

On Friday, sailors aboard the USS John Finn successfully detected, tracked and targeted the rocket with an SM-3 Block IIA missile, the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) said.

The missile, which is part of the Aegis system, is designed to increase the US military's capacity to knock down intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The new system is being developed in a joint venture between arms giant Raytheon and Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.

In January, the MDA said the US had spent about $2.2 billion on the system, while Japan spent around $1 billion. However, it did not immediately confirm if those figures had gone up.

This test comes after two failed intercept tests, in June 2017 and January 2018, and one successful one in February 2017.

MDA Director Lieutenant General Sam Greaves said, "This was a superb accomplishment and key milestone for the SM-3 Block IIA return to flight."

Speaking on condition of anonymity, one US official said the system would attempt to intercept an intermediate-range missile in the coming months.

In August, the Pentagon was authorized to pursue more options for what Washington said defeating US-bound North Korean missiles through using radar and more missiles.

This is happening despite moves Pyongyang has been taking toward denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula following a summit between President Donald Trump and North Koran leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore, during which the two leaders agreed to work toward denuclearization.

Pyongyang, which suspended its nuclear and missile tests even before that summit, has dismantled a nuclear site, and has returned the remains of US soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War to America. This is while the international sanctions against Pyongyang over its nuclear and missile programs remain in place.

The US, which has been the main sponsor of the international sanctions, says the bans will remain in place against Pyongyang until its complete denuclearization. Experts, however, say dismantling Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program and verifying it would be a large and complex task.

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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.
Expert: An anti-satellite missile developed in the Russian Federation is more effective than the existing ones in the world

TASS

OCT 26, 08:54

Chief Editor of Arsenal of Fatherland Magazine Viktor Murakhovsky described the rocket as part of the MiG-31BM fighter.

MOSCOW, October 26. / Tass /. Anti-satellite missile as part of the MiG-31BM fighter is being developed in Russia. It will be the most effective of the existing in the world, told TASS chief editor of the magazine "Arsenal of the Fatherland" Viktor Murakhovsky.

Earlier in the media there was information that US intelligence identified tests in Russia anti-satellite missiles. According to the Americans, the rocket, seen on the MiG-31 fighter in the Moscow region in September, may be intended to destroy spacecraft in near-earth orbit.

"Now this development work is in full swing, and in the foreseeable future we can expect the equipment of the armed forces. Our system, which is based on the MiG-31 platform, is the most effective. It is much cheaper than ground-based anti-satellite missiles. It allows to solve tasks quickly in a threatened period, "said the expert.

The TASS interviewer wonders why the United States decided to announce the tests of the Russian anti-satellite missile just now. "Why now they decided to declare it, I don't understand. Apparently these are some internal political reasons. Information about these tests in the form of a photo of the MiG-31 fighter with a suspended mass-size anti-satellite missile model appeared quite a long time ago," Murakhovsky.

He noted that other countries are doing similar work. "The US is improving its Aegis system and its missiles, in the latest modifications they can already reach low orbits. Plus, their aerospace aircraft of the Boeing X-37 family can also remove satellites from orbit. And China is doing this, because that they actually destroyed the satellites by direct interception, "said Murakhovsky.

For example, on January 11, 2007, China conducted a successful test of its own anti-satellite weapons. The FY-1C Fengyun meteorological satellite, which is in orbit at an altitude of 865 km, was destroyed by a direct hit by an anti-satellite missile launched from a mobile launcher at the Sichan space center. Interception was carried out on a counter course.

Antisatellite system characteristics

Murakhovsky explained what the developed anti-satellite system is. "This is an anti-satellite rocket suspended on the MiG-31BM fighter that goes into the stratosphere with this rocket and from there has the ability to launch it to destroy satellites in low reference orbits," said Murakhovsky.

According to him, in such orbits there are satellites of remote sensing of the earth, i.e., optical-electronic reconnaissance, radio-electronic reconnaissance satellites and communication satellites. "It is clear that we are not talking about geostationary orbits. It is unlikely that a product of this size can reach such heights," the source stressed.

"It is also clear that it [the rocket] should act in conjunction with the target designation system, which is the space monitoring system of our Aerospace Forces. The fighter cannot accommodate its own radar of such power that will provide not only target designation, but also defeat control ", - explained Murakhovsky.

The predecessors of the "killer satellites"

In the USSR, several concepts were developed for the destruction of spacecraft in orbit. "Of course, it is not a secret that the development of such a system was begun in the Soviet Union, they simply did not end for various reasons," the source confirms.

The first option was to use an interceptor satellite. It was launched into orbit by a launch vehicle, performed an orbital rendezvous maneuver with a target, and hit it with a detonation of a warhead with shrapnel striking elements.

Work was also carried out on a flying combat laser complex based on an IL-76 aircraft, designated as A-60. The whole program was called "Falcon Echelon". Murakhovsky notes that this system could disable the satellite, but not destroy it.

"This is still a laser, I doubt that it is intended for the destruction of satellites. Rather, to dazzle, disabling the means of optical-electronic reconnaissance. Too high energy is required in order to destroy the satellite [laser beam]." - the expert noted.

As for the air launch anti-satellite missiles, such projects were developed both in the USSR and in the USA. The Americans created and tested an anti-satellite air-based system called ASM-135 ASAT. Anti-satellite missile was placed on the aircraft F-15.

The Soviet Union created a special modification of the MiG-31 fighter with the letter D ("Product 07"). An experimental version of the aircraft could carry anti-satellite rocket 79M6 "Contact." Probably, these developments and formed the basis of the current development.

 TASS

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Koreas Continue Tension-Easing Talks as the North Criticizes US

By Steve Miller October 26, 2018

North and South Korea continued joint military talks Friday in the truce-village of Panmunjom. The talks took place as the Joint Security Area (JSA) began implementing new protocols designed to reduce tension, while North Korea continued criticizing the United States' push for continued sanctions.

Military officials with the rank of general met in Tongilgak, a North Korean building located within the JSA, inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the Koreas.

The talks began at 10 a.m. local time and were headed by South Korean Major Gen. Kim Do-gyun and his northern counterpart, Lt. Gen. An Ik San.

Before departing for the talks, Kim told reporters, "Through today's military talks, we will conduct an interim review of what we have so far implemented and discuss what we will enforce in the future."

He added, "We will make our utmost efforts to play a core role in ensuring that we can facilitate the efforts for the denuclearization of the peninsula and the establishment of peace by enforcing the Sept. 19 military agreement normally."

De-escalation measures

During the third inter-Korean summit held in Pyongyang, Sept. 18-20, the two Korean militaries signed a comprehensive military agreement, independent of their respective leaders' joint declaration.

Seoul and Pyongyang vowed to begin a number of de-escalation measures that included removing 11 guard posts within a one kilometer radius of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) by the end of this year, the establishment of no-fly and no-sail zones, and more.

According to Seoul's defense ministry, Friday's focus is on the formation and operational mechanism of an inter-Korean military committee entrusted with the enforcement of the comprehensive military agreement.

Furthermore, it's expected the two sides will discuss how best to form a joint research team for an area of the Han River that's been closed off to civilians because of escalating tensions.

An arms-free JSA

Meanwhile, the two Koreas and the United Nations Command moved ahead with plans to de-escalate tension in the truce village of Panmunjom on Friday.

The Joint Security Area is the only portion of the 250 kilometer fortified border separating the two countries where soldiers from North and South Korea, along with members of the United Nations Command (UNC), face one another.

Beginning Friday, there will be no armed personnel inside the JSA of the Korean Demilitarized Zone.

"Just until recently, the militaries of the two Koreas had pointed guns against each other at the frontlines of confrontation and conflict," said South Korean Major Gen. Kim Do-gyun during his opening remarks at Friday's talks. "But I feel great as the militaries are at the forefront of the efforts to realize our Koreans' ideology by upholding the wishes of our leaders."

North Korea, South Korea, and the UNC agreed last week to implement a wide range of tension-reducing measures outlined in the comprehensive military agreement.

In addition to the elimination of firearms, both sides will also reduce the number of personnel stationed in Panmunjom to 35, to bring the number of personnel in the JSA in line with the 1953 armistice agreement.

Once disarmament has been mutually verified, it's expected tourists from the North and South will be able to freely move about the area, something that's not happened since 1976, when two American soldiers were killed by ax-wielding North Korean troops.

Pyongyang calls for an end to sanctions

A North Korean official once more called for the immediate lifting of sanctions against Pyongyang by the United States on Thursday.

Washington has repeatedly said sanctions on North Korea will remain in place until North Korea abandons its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.

The United Nations sanctions in place on Pyongyang are designed to sever the resources necessary for Pyongyang to develop the North's weapons programs and deplete its cash reserves.

At a defense forum in Beijing, Song Il Hyok, deputy director general of the North Korean foreign ministry's Institute for Disarmament and Peace, said, "We think that sanctions and pressure do more harm than good."

He continued saying that the sanctions "are not at all" confidence-building measures "but confidence-destroying measures" and called for immediate relief.

Speaking in Seoul earlier this month, former U.S. National Security Adviser General H.R. McMaster said that "while we all hope that Chairman Kim Jong Un is undergoing a radical change of heart, we must remain alert."

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Inter-Korean Military Talks Held

Korean Central News Agency of DPRK

Pyongyang, October 27 (KCNA) -- Inter-Korean general-level military talks were held at the Thongil House of Panmunjom on Friday under an agreement of the north-south high-level talks for implementing the historic "September Pyongyang Joint Declaration".

Present there were a delegation of the north side headed by Army Lieutenant General of the Korean People's Army An Ik San and a delegation of the south side with Major General Kim To Gyun as chief delegate.

At the talks, both sides reviewed in an overall way the first-phase implementation of the military agreement attached to the "September Pyongyang Joint Declaration". And they discussed the practical matters arising in the next-phase implementation and agreed to take necessary steps. -0-



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US General: Diplomatic Success to Lead to Military 'Discomfort' on Korean Peninsula

By Carla Babb October 27, 2018

The top U.S. general says diplomatic efforts on the Korean Peninsula will lead to military "discomfort" in the coming months, as leaders try to strike a "very difficult balance" between military risk and political progress.

"The more successful we are in the diplomatic space, the more uncomfortable military leaders are going to be," General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a group of reporters at a conference at the Navy League Building just outside Washington Friday.

The general's comments came a week after the U.S. and South Korean militaries suspended another large-scale joint military exercise.

Give diplomacy a chance

Chief Pentagon spokesperson Dana White said last Friday the two militaries were suspending their joint air exercise, dubbed Vigilant Ace, in order to "give the diplomatic process every opportunity to continue."

Before that, the United States and South Korea canceled annual Ulchi-Freedom Guardian exercises that had been scheduled for August.

Dunford told reporters the decision to suspend these exercises was informed by the fact that the general in command of the peninsula, General Vincent Brooks, is an experienced commander who has been in the Korean theater for three years. He added that staff turnover for the South Korean forces is typically not until around January.

"So we felt like we had sufficient staff training and exercises that had been conducted where we could look at tasks," Dunford said. "You've either demonstrated proficiency to perform that task or you haven't."

Many smaller-scale military exercises have continued on the peninsula and across the region, but the U.S. general nominated to be the next commander of American forces in South Korea pointed out during his confirmation hearing last month that the Ulchi-Freedom Guardian suspension had caused "slight degradation" to military readiness on the peninsula.

When asked how many large-scale exercises could be skipped before a "significant decline in readiness," Army Gen. Robert Abrams told Senate members it was "hard to judge."

Officer rotation

As U.S. and South Korean leaders rotate out to make way for new leaders, their untested forces will need to find ways to practice successfully operating together.

Dunford said Friday it was incumbent to find ways "to mitigate training in a different way" in the absence of some of these major exercises on the peninsula.

He then added, "Where we cannot mitigate those impacts on readiness, (we must) communicate it to our political leadership so they can then say, 'Is the risk that we're occurring in the readiness of the force actually justified by the reason we're taking that risk in the political space?'"

Dunford, Brooks and Admiral Philip Davidson, the commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, spent hours in talks Thursday.

Dunford said the leaders started defining what "mission-essential tasks" in which U.S. Forces Korea and Republic of Korea Armed Forces must demonstrate proficiency over the next several months.

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Iran urges countries to abide by ICJ ruling against US

Iran Press TV

Fri Oct 26, 2018 02:34AM

Iran's ambassador to the United Nations urges the international community to abide by an order issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) earlier this month against US sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

Addressing the UN General Assembly on Thursday, Gholamali Khoshroo called on the US "to implement the provisional measure, including refraining from measures such as wrongful sanctions which will aggravate the disputes."

"Moreover, to help preserve the primary role of the International Court of Justice as the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, other states are also expected to refrain from assisting the US in imposing any impediments in transactions involving specified items, which would amount to violation of the court's order and would be tantamount to providing assistance to the wrongdoer," the Iranian envoy added.

On October 3, the UN's top court issued a ruling, reprimanding the US over its re-imposition of sanctions on Iran and ordering Washington to lift restrictive measures linked to humanitarian trade, food, medicine and civil aviation.

The court's "unanimous order was a clear testament to the illegality of the US sanctions against our country and its people," the Iranian diplomat said.

Khoshroo also commended "the judges and all members of the court for their unwavering commitment and sense of duty in upholding the rule of law at the international level."

According to the verdict, Washington "shall remove by means of its choosing any impediments arising from the measures announced on May 8 to the free exportation to Iran of medicines and medical devices, food and agricultural commodities" as well as airplane parts.

The Hague-based court further said that sanctions on goods "required for humanitarian needs... may have a serious detrimental impact on the health and lives of individuals on the territory of Iran."

US sanctions on aircraft spare parts also had the "potential to endanger civil aviation safety in Iran and the lives of its users," it added.

Referring to another set of US sanctions scheduled to take effect on November 4, the Iranian ambassador said they "would certainly amount to prohibited acts with an aggravating effect on the dispute at hand and would categorize as illegal wrongful acts contrary to the court's dictum."

The Hague ruling was announced more than two months after Iran complained to the ICJ in July that US President Donald Trump's re-imposition of unilateral sanctions against Tehran following Washington's withdrawal from the 2015 landmark nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was in violation of the Treaty of Amity, a 1955 treaty between Iran and the US.

In response to the ICJ ruling, Washington announced it would quit the 1955 treaty, which had established economic relations and consular rights between Tehran and Washington at the time it was signed between the countries.

Iran also argued that the US had violated the terms of the JCPOA, endorsed by UN Security Council Resolution 2231, by unilaterally pulling itself out of the nuclear agreement. The International Atomic Energy Agency has verified on numerous occasions that Iran has abided by the terms of the JCPOA.

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Japan's Okinawa to hold referendum on moving US base

Iran Press TV

Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:11AM

Local politicians in Japan's Okinawa Island have decided to hold a referendum on a government plan to relocate a US military base away from its present urban location.

Following the Friday decision, new Okinawa governor Denny Tamaki, who is a vocal opponent of the base's relocation, is due to set a date for the vote, with local media speculating that it will be held before next spring.

The original central government-backed plan would move the base to a remote area in the island a bid to appease local anger and address negative sentiments towards the US presence. Construction at the new site has, however, been cancelled since August, after the new local government retracted approval for the base's transfer.

The suspension reflected local concerns, which disapproved of the military base but feared that the relocation may potentially result in a long-lasting US presence on the land. Subsequently, a civil group in Okinawa collected 93,000 signatures asking the government to hold the referendum.

A popular no-vote, however legally non-binding, would put further pressure on the central government's approach towards US forces in Okinawa.

Okinawa Island rests more than 600 km south of mainland Japan and was the site of a bloody World War II battle that was followed by a 27-year US occupation of the island. The US has, however, insisted to keep a heavy presence on the Island due to its strategic position facing Asia, positioning half its approximately 47,000 strong Japan force on the island.

Tokyo believes the base is necessary. Since defeat in WWII, it has been heavily dependent on US military protection against perceived threats. Many ordinary citizens in Okinawa, however, regard the base as a burden.

Multiple cases of misconduct by US forces, including several rape cases and the rape and murder of a 20-year-old woman in 2016, have increasingly raised anti-American sentiments among the pacifist islanders. The controversies regarding the base have also led to other parts of the country objecting any base relocation near their communities.

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Japan, China ties at 'historic turning point' as Abe is in Beijing

Iran Press TV

Fri Oct 26, 2018 07:30AM

China has welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in a rare trip to the country, where the two regional powers are due to sign a number of deals amid deepening trade dispute with the United States.

Abe was received by his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang at Tiananmen Square in the capital on Friday, where they inspected an honor guard before going inside the Great Hall of the People across from the Square for talks.

The three-day visit, which is the first by a Japanese premier since December 2011, comes shortly after the 40th anniversary of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between the world's second and third economies.

The Japanese premier has brought along delegates from 500 Japanese companies, including giant carmakers like Toyota, who are hoping to see normalized ties with China.

Abe also met with Chinese President Xi Jinping later in the day to discuss a range of potential deals.

The two countries had for several years been locked in a territorial row over a small group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, called the Senkaku by the Japanese and the Diaoyu by the Chinese. They are controlled by Japan, but claimed by Beijing.

Ties between the two sides deteriorated after Tokyo nationalized part of the resource-rich islands in 2012.

China maintains that it has indisputable sovereignty over the islands. The Japanese government, instead, regards them as a part of its territory.

Abe and the Chinese president have met many times over the last few years on the sidelines of international events, but neither of them has so far been hosting the other. Abe's trip now sets up the possibility that Xi will also visit Japan next year.

Abe is now visiting China amid concerns that his country  a key US ally  would be the next target of America's trade war, which has already targeted China, with both Washington and Beijing imposing reciprocal tariffs on each other products.

Trump, who has already complained about a "very high deficit" with Japan, described his good relations with the Japanese leadership but said, "Of course that will end as soon as I tell them how much they have to pay."

Ties at "historic turning point"

Speaking at a joint briefing with the Chinese premier, Abe said that bilateral relations with China are at an "historic turning point" and that he expects new possibilities in industries such as infrastructure, logistics, healthcare and finance.

"From competition to co-existence, Japan and China bilateral relations have entered a new phase. Hand in hand with Premier Li, I would like to advance our ties forward," Abe said.

He also touched on the issue of relations with North Korea, saying Japan was committed to normalizing diplomatic relations with Pyongyang.

He also said both Japan and China have major responsibility for ensuring regional security and will work together on the North Korea issue.

Li also said in the briefing that he had held "frank" discussions with Abe since his arrival on matters of mutual concerns.

"The Chinese side is willing to work with the Japanese side to return to a normal track, and maintain the stable, sustained and healthy development of bilateral relations," Li said.

Range of agreements singed

Ahead of the Friday briefing, the two sides signed an agreement to prepare yearly plans for talks, dialogues and exchanges, along with a pact to step up cooperation in innovation.

Beijing and Tokyo agreed to boost cooperation in the securities markets including the listing of exchange-trade funds (ETFs), and facilitate smoother customs clearance.

They also inked a currency swap agreement of up to $30.29 billion, effective until 2021. Among the several agreements, they also signed a deal towards establishing a yuan clearing bank.

According to Premier Li, they had agreed that as major countries, China and Japan should uphold free trade and accelerate talks on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

The RCEP, a 16-nation pact, which involves China, Japan, Australia, India, New Zealand and South Korea, along with ten member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), has been under negotiation for years, but a deal has yet to be reached.

Any progress on a deal would depend on cooperation between China and Japan.

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Japan, China Work to Elevate Ties Despite Differences

By Bill Ide October 26, 2018

Japan and China took an important step Friday to elevate their relationship, marking what Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called a historic turning point in ties between the two Asian neighbors.

During meetings, the two countries signed a $30 billion currency swap aimed at facilitating money exchanges for businesses. They also agreed on a range of security, economic and diplomatic agreements, while private businesses sealed dozens of deals.

Tensions over territorial disputes in the East China Sea have long been a key source of friction between the two countries. Relations took a nosedive in 2012 when Tokyo nationalized the uninhabited Senkaku islands.

China claims the Japanese controlled islets are part of its territory and the move sparked a wave of protests across the country and anti-Japanese sentiment. Japanese investment in the country shrank as political relations chilled for a period and only started to truly recover until last year.

During meetings with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Prime Minister Abe stressed that without stability in the East China Sea there would not be a true improvement in the relationship.

Port calls

To get to that point, the two have agreed to push forward with visits and exchanges between their defense ministers and to host reciprocal port calls. They also agreed to strengthen cooperation to work towards joint gas development in the East China Sea, but failed to reach a deal as some had expected.

China is unlikely to change its position on territorial claims, but during Friday's meetings, Li expressed Beijing's willingness to work together with Tokyo to address regional security issues and support efforts toward dialogue and improving relations with North Korea.

"China would like to meet Japan halfway, and work with the Japanese side to return it to its normal track, and maintain the stable, sustained and healthy development of bilateral relations and achieve new improvements," Li said.

Big deals

One key step forward was an agreement between Japan and China to work together in third countries on infrastructure, transport, health care and finance projects and to avoid what Li called "cut-throat competition." Japan has stressed that such cooperation can only happen when projects meet international standards.

In other words, projects need to be open, transparent, make good business sense and not burden third countries with unreasonable amounts of debt.

On Friday, the two announced more than 50 deals between private businesses. Premier Li said the deals totaled $18 billion and were a reflection of the "bright prospects" for cooperation between the two countries, according to Reuters.

However, when asked for more specifics on the deals, Abe's spokesman Takeshi Osuga said he had "no idea how that number was calculated."

Perhaps one of the most important shifts in the ties was Japan's announcement that it was officially ending 40 years of development aid to China, and that from this point forward Tokyo and Beijing would look to work together on development aid and pursue a new type of relationship.

"With the development of China, the time has come for China and Japan to contribute to the world. I am very happy that today I am able to be here with Premier Li and everyone for this historic turning point," Abe said.

Human rights raised

Prime Minister Abe also raised the issue of human rights during meetings with Premier Li on Friday, and stressed to Chinese officials that the international community is carefully watching the situation in China.

It was unclear, what specific rights issues Abe raised. When asked whether that included China's crackdown on rights lawyers or its arbitrary detention of perhaps as many as one million ethnic Uighurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities in western Xinjiang, Abe's spokesman Osuga declined to comment.

The United Nations will carry out its Universal Periodic Review of China's human rights situation early next month.

Osuga did note that universal values and maritime security were important principles of Japan's engagement with China.

"Important universal issues including for example human rights and freedom of the press, those important principles and our position on those issues will not be compromised," Osuga said.

He added that Japan sees its bilateral cooperation with China as an opportunity to forward progress in those areas and engage in constructive frank discussions.

After a full day of meetings with business leaders and Li, Prime Minister Abe met with Chinese President Xi Jinping later on Friday. The two also dined together. Abe's visit to China is hoped to pave the way for a reciprocal visit by Xi to Japan in the near future.

Abe returns to Tokyo on Saturday. Just one day later, on Sunday, he will begin a two-day summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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China never asked for military access to Pakistani Gwadar port: Navy general

Iran Press TV

Fri Oct 26, 2018 09:31AM

A Pakistani senior military official says China has never asked for military access to the port of Gwadar on Pakistan's south coast, which the United States alleged that could be a likely future foreign military base for China.

Navy Secretary of the Pakistan Navy, Rear Admiral Javaid Iqbal, said at a forum in the Chinese capital, Beijing, that the Gwadar port, located in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, is a "significant addition to the regional maritime landscape."

"Let me emphasize that the Gwadar port is purely a commercial venture and has no military overtones," he told the Xiangshan Forum in Beijing on Friday.

"The Gwadar port will be just a commercial port," he said. "The Pakistan navy will maintain a presence to ensure maritime security, to ensure the security of the port."

"Suitably located outside the potentially risky and confined waters of the Gulf, Gwadar has the potential to act not only as a transit port for China and Central Asia but also a trans shipment port impacting the prosperity of the entire region," he explained.

Asked whether China had specifically asked for military access, the admiral said, "No, not at all."

"The geopolitical debate that somehow goes on in the media about Gwadar being used as a foreign military base is not correct at all." he later said.

China launched a project on the Pakistani port under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) back in 2015, to connect Gwadar to China's Xinjiang via a vast network of highways and railways.

Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the multi-trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) project, which is also known as the "new Silk Road" in 2013.

The trade infrastructure project envisions the construction of railways, roads and ports across the globe to connect China by land and sea to Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa.

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Turkey once again urges Saudis to disclose who ordered Khashoggi murder, body location

Iran Press TV

Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:17AM

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has reiterated his country's call for Riyadh to disclose who ordered the killing of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul and what has happened to his body.

"Who gave this order?" Erdogan told members of his Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Ankara on Friday. "Who gave the order for 15 people to come to Turkey?" he said, referring to a 15-man Saudi squad that allegedly flew into Istanbul hours before the killing.

Erdogan also noted that Riyadh must reveal the location of Khashoggi's body and the identity of the "local cooperator" who Saudi officials earlier said had taken the body from Saudi agents after the journalist was killed inside the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul on October 2.

The Turkish president's remarks echoed earlier comments by his Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, who on Thursday urged Saudi Arabia to answer questions over the assassination.

"There are still questions that need answers" over the premeditated murder, Cavusoglu said, asking Riyadh to explain "who gave them the orders" and "where the body is."

He pointed to an announcement by Saudi authorities that they had arrested 18 men in connection with the death, urging Riyadh to explain why they had been arrested.

"You admit they did it, but why are they not saying where?" Cavusoglu told a press conference in Ankara with Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki.

In his Friday comments, Erdogan also announced that Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor was due to meet with the Istanbul prosecutor in the Turkish city on Sunday.

The Turkish president had earlier urged that all those behind the murder should be brought to justice and tried in Istanbul.

"My demand is that 18 people be tried in Istanbul," Erdogan said in an address to lawmakers from his ruling party at parliament in Ankara on Tuesday.

Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor said Thursday a joint Saudi-Turkish investigation shows that Khashoggi's murder was "premeditated," dismissing an earlier account that the dissident journalist had died in a botched operation to "negotiate" his return to the kingdom.

"Information from the Turkish side affirms that the suspects in Khashoggi's case premeditated their crime," said a statement from the Saudi public prosecutor.

The statement added that Saudi prosecutors were interrogating suspects on the basis of information provided by a joint Saudi-Turkish task force.

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Turkish Prosecutor Requests Extradition Of 18 Saudis Over Journalist's Murder

October 26, 2018

A Turkish prosecutor has requested the extradition of 18 Saudi suspects over the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Turkey's state-run news agency Anadolu said on October 26 that Istanbul's chief prosecutor's office had submitted its request to Turkey's Justice Ministry.

The news agency said Turkey's Foreign Ministry would formally request the extraditions.

Saudi Arabia has said it arrested 18 people in connection with Khashoggi's killing at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2.

Turkey alleges a 15-member "hit squad" was sent to Istanbul to kill the journalist, a critic of the Saudi royal family who lived in self-imposed exile in the United States.

Earlier on October 26, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Saudi Arabia to disclose the location of Khashoggi's body.

Speaking on October 26 to provincial members of his AK Party in parliament, Erdogan said that Turkey has other "information and evidence" about Khashoggi's killing in the Saudi Consulate.

Erdogan said Saudi's public prosecutor was due to meet the Istanbul prosecutor in Istanbul on October 28.

Khashoggi's Turkish fiancee on October 26 called for all those responsible for his murder to be brought to justice.

"I demand that all those involved in this savagery from the highest to the lowest levels are punished and brought to justice," Hatice Cengiz told the Haber Turk television station.

Cengiz also said she has declined an invitation to the White House by U.S. President Donald Trump because she thought the invitation was aimed at influencing public opinion in the United States.

Meanwhile, Khashoggi's eldest son arrived in the United States after the kingdom revoked a travel ban that prevented him from leaving the country.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, and BBC

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/erdogan-calls -on-saudi-arabia-to-disclose-location-of- khashoggi-s-body/29565459.html

Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Turkey demands extradition of 18 Saudis in Khashoggi case

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Istanbul, Oct 27, IRNA -- Turkish prosecutors have prepared an extradition request for 18 suspects from Saudi Arabia in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, authorities said on Friday, after President Tayyip Erdogan urged Riyadh to disclose who ordered the murder.

Erdogan has in recent days stepped up pressure on Saudi Arabia to come clean in the case, and Western governments have also voiced increasing scepticism, pitching the world's top oil exporter and a pivotal Middle East ally into a worsening crisis, Reuters reported.

Erdogan said Turkey had more information than it had shared so far about the killing of Khashoggi, a Saudi national and Washington Post columnist who was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct.2.

Khashoggi, who lived in the United States, was a critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom's de facto ruler.

Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor on Thursday said the killing of Khashoggi was premeditated, contradicting a previous official statement that it happened accidentally during a tussle in the consulate. Riyadh's numerous shifting accounts of the killing have undermined Prince Mohammed's stance in the West.

Turkish prosecutors seeking the extradition accuse the 18 of "murder by premeditation, monstrous intent or by torture". Riyadh previously arrested the 18 as part of its investigation into the case. Those include a 15-man security team that Turkey says flew in hours before the killing and carried it out.

"Who gave this order?" Erdogan said in a speech to members of his AK Party in Ankara. "Who gave the order for 15 people to come to Turkey?" he said.

Saudi officials initially denied having anything to do with Khashoggi's disappearance after he entered the consulate, which he had visited to obtain paperwork for a planned marriage.

"The reasoning behind the extradition request is that Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in Turkey by Saudi nationals who traveled to Turkey for this specific purpose," a senior Turkish official said.

"It is clear that the judicial system in Turkey is better equipped to genuinely serve the cause of justice in this case."

Saudi Arabia has also sacked five senior government officials as part of the investigation.

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Syria not to allow Idleb turned into new caves for terrorist

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Oct 26, IRNA -- Syria's permanent representative to the UN, Dr. Bashar al-Jaafari said that Syria will not allow turning Idleb into new caves for terrorists.

During a UNSC session on the situation in Middle East, al-Jaafari said that "the illegal US-led international coalition targets everything in Syria except for terrorist groups. We are surprised that the UN Special Envoy's report ignored the crimes of this coalition against the Syrians," SANA reported from New York.

"The illegal US-led international coalition continues to commit crimes in Syria, the last of which was in the villages of al-Sosa and al-Bubadran in the countryside of Deir Ezzor, which led to the martyrdom of 62 civilians," al-Jaafari added.

"Syria believes in the role of the United Nations, which is based on the force of law and not on the arrogance of power, and respects the sovereignty of states and the principles of non-interference in their internal affairs," he added.

"The Syrian state is keen to end the crisis. We are the first and last victim of this terrorist war, which was aimed at killing Syrian people and destroying Syria's infrastructure," Al-Jaafari said.

He pointed out that the establishment of a committee to discuss the current constitution which represents the Syrian society and fulfills its ambitions is one way out of the crisis.

The Syrian government will make every positive effort to achieve what the Syrian people, Syria's loving nations and all those who aspire to build a world free of terrorism want.

"Idleb is part of Syria and it is natural that the Syrian state is fighting terrorism in order to rid its people of terrorism and establish its sovereignty over it," said al-Jaafari.

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Coalition denies US drone attack on Russian airbase in Syria

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Oct 26, IRNA -- The statement by the Russian Defense Ministry that a drones attack on the Hmeymim airbase in Syria was controlled from a US reconnaissance aircraft are baseless, Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman Sean Ryan told Sputnik on Friday.

'Any suggestion that the US or coalition forces played a role in an attack on a Russian base is without any basis in fact and is utterly irresponsible,' Ryan told Sputnik.

The official addressed the statement of Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin, who had said on Thursday that the Russian airbase had been simultaneously attacked by 13 combat drones that were controlled remotely from a US Poseidon 8 aircraft. However, the Deputy Minister didn't specify when exactly the assault took place.

Following the reports, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists that the incident might be discussed during a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump, which may take place on November 11.

The United States and a number of its allies launched a military campaign against Daesh in Syria in 2014, which has been operating in the country without any permission from Damascus. The coalition's operations in Syria are not authorized by the government of President Bashar Assad or the UN Security Council.

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Damascus government will not allow Idlib to turn into terrorist stronghold: Envoy

Iran Press TV

Fri Oct 26, 2018 06:30PM

Syrian Ambassador to the United Nations Bashar al-Ja'afari says the incumbent Damascus government will not allow foreign-sponsored Takfiri terrorists to turn the embattled northwestern province of Idlib into a new haven for themselves.

"Idlib is part of Syria, and it is natural for the Syrian government to fight terrorism in order to rid its nation from the scourge and establish full sovereignty over its soil," Ja'afari said at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting in New York City on Friday.

Under a deal reached following a meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi on September 17, all militants in a demilitarized zone, which surrounds Idlib and also parts of the adjacent provinces of Aleppo and Hama, were supposed to pull out heavy arms by October 17, and Takfiri groups had to withdraw by October 15.

The National Front for the Liberation of Syria is the main Turkish-backed militant alliance in the Idlib region, but the Takfiri Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) terrorist group, which is a coalition of different factions of terror outfits, largely composed of the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham Takfiri terrorist group, holds a large part of the province and the zone.

The HTS, which is said to be in control of some 60 percent of Idlib province, has yet to announce its stance on the buffer zone deal.

It is estimated that between 10,000 and 15,000 members of different factions of armed groups, which Syria, Russia and Turkey consider terrorists, are active in the volatile province, which is home to around three million inhabitants.

Russia believes that a buffer zone would help stop attacks from Idlib-based militants on Syrian army positions and Russia's military bases in the flashpoint region.

'US-led coalition doing anything in Syria but not terror fight'

Ja'afari added that the US-led coalition purportedly fighting the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group "is targeting anything in Syria but not terror groups."

"We are surprised that the UN Special Envoy to Syria (Staffan de Mistura) has ignored the crimes of this coalition against Syrian people. The illegal US-led international coalition continues to perpetrate crimes in Syria, the last of which was in the villages of al-Sousa and al-Bubadran, where 62 civilians lost their lives," the Syrian UN ambassador pointed out.

The US-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes against what are said to be Daesh targets inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a UN mandate.

The military alliance has repeatedly been accused of targeting and killing civilians. It has also been largely incapable of achieving its declared goal of destroying Daesh.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday that as many as 3,222 civilians had been killed ever since the so-called US-led anti-Daesh coalition launched its aerial bombardment campaign in Syria more than four years ago.

There were 768 people under the age of 18 among the fatalities in addition to 562 female victims.

The US-led air raids also resulted in the injury of hundreds of civilians, some of whom suffered permanent disabilities and had to have their limbs amputated.

The Britain-based monitoring group noted that the civilians were killed by US-led warplanes in Syria's northern province of Raqqah, northeastern province of Hasakah, northwestern Aleppo and Idlib provinces as well as Dayr al-Zawr province in the country's east.

'Syrian government fairly keen to end ongoing crisis'

"Syria believes in the role of the United Nations, which is based on the force of law and not on arrogance. It respects the sovereignty of world states and the principle of non-interference in their domestic affairs," Ja'afari added.

"The Syrian government is extremely eager to end the ongoing crisis. We are the first and last victim of this terrorist campaign, which is aimed at killing Syrian people and destroying Syria's infrastructure," he pointed out.

Jaafari stressed that the formation of a Syrian Constitutional Committee, which would represents people from all strata of the society and strive to fulfill public ambitions, is a way out of the lingering Syrian conflict.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The Syrian government says the Israeli regime and its Western and regional allies are aiding Takfiri terrorist groups wreaking havoc in the country.

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Turkish president gives 'final warning' to US-backed militants in northern Syria

Iran Press TV

Fri Oct 26, 2018 10:32AM

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has issued a "final warning" to those who would endanger Turkey's borders, in an apparent reference to the US-backed Kurdish militants operating in northern Syria.

Erdogan issued the warning in an address to a group of provincial leaders of his Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Ankara on Friday.

He also noted that Turkey was determined to focus its attention on east of the Euphrates in Syria, rather than Manbij area, citing the presence of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara considers a terrorist group.

Earlier this month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov once again warned that the US is seeking to establish a quasi-state east of the Euphrates River and create illegal structures there.

"The US is trying to use these lands through their Syrian allies  above all, through the Kurds  in order to establish a quasi-state there," Lavrov said on October 12.

"But the US is by all means illegally seeking to establish a quasi-state on this territory, trying to do everything there to create conditions for a normal way of living for their subordinates, creating a structure of authority which is an alternative to those legitimate [structures] of the Syrian Arabic Republic," the top Russian diplomat noted.

US 'flirting' with Kurdish militants in northern Syria

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Thursday lashed out at the US military's actions in Syria, saying the Americans have literally occupied the country's south and are supporting Kurdish militants in the north.

Speaking at a regular press briefing, Zakharova said, "The situation in the northeast of Syria, where the US side is still trying to flirt with separatist-minded Kurdish groups, is concerning."

Also a source of concern is the situation in "the south of the country near al-Tanf, where there is  de facto undisguised occupation by US forces of the territory of the sovereign Syrian state," she added.

Syria to retake Idlib, end US illegal presence

Meanwhile, Syrian Defense Minister Major General Ali Abdullah Ayoub on Thursday reiterated that Idlib province is a Syrian territory and will return to government control.

He also stressed that Syria considers the US's and British presence on its territory illegal and a violation of the sovereignty of an independent country and a UN member, the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported.

Ayoub noted that Syria will deal with the remaining areas which the US is still betting on, either by local reconciliations or by Syrian army operations.

Idlib remains the last major piece of Syrian land still not in control of the Syrian government.

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European, Russian Leaders Join Erdogan at Summit on Syrian Civil War

By Dorian Jones October 26, 2018

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is set to host French, German and Russian leaders Saturday at a four-way summit on the Syrian civil war.

The summit seeks to build on a cease-fire between Syrian rebels and government forces brokered by Moscow and Ankara.

Former senior Turkish diplomat Aydin Selcen, who served widely in the region, says just assembling the gathering is a significant diplomatic achievement for the Turkish leader.

"To host this sort of summit with, on the one hand, Russia, Astana partner, on the other hand, the two NATO allies Germany and France, in here, in Turkey is quite a success for President Erdogan, to be honest," Selcen said.

The Istanbul summit is a result of last month's deal in Sochi, Russia, struck by Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin that prevented a Syrian government offensive against the northwest Idlib province.

Idlib is the last main refuge of the rebel opposition. The participation by Berlin and Paris at this round of talks is tied to the deal holding firm. It's a commitment that analysts say Moscow appears ready to comply with, at least for now.

Moscow has said the Idlib deal is working and Ankara is complying with its side of the agreement. Under the terms of the deal, Ankara agreed to secure the withdrawal of radical groups and rebel heavy weapons from a newly created demilitarized zone between rebel and regime forces.

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are expected to use the summit to work on consolidating the Idlib deal.

With about 3 million people in Idlib, analysts point out that European leaders feared any Idlib offensive could trigger another refugee exodus toward Europe. The attendance of the French and German leaders is seen as helping to strengthen Ankara's hand in balancing Moscow, a key backer of the Syrian government.

"That it takes place in Istanbul has symbolic meaning because Germany and France will be the new actors participating in it," said International Relations professor Huseyin Bagci of Ankara's Middle East Technical University. "So Turkey plays the balance of power policy between Russia and European countries. It's a good tactic by Turkey to bring all these people together and talk about Syria."

Erdogan is expected to hold a bilateral meeting on the summit sidelines with Putin. While the two leaders are backing rival sides in the Syrian civil war, they have developed deepening ties in efforts to resolve the conflict. That relationship is causing unease among Turkey's NATO partners.

Syria's reconstruction also is scheduled to be on the summit's agenda. Estimated by the U.N. at upward of $250 billion, the financial means of Europe and, in particular, Berlin are likely to be vital in helping finance the cost of rebuilding.

"Everyone knows that such deep pockets do not exist, neither in Syria, nor in Russia, nor in Iran," said former Turkish diplomat Selcen. "China might be interested but only to a certain extent. So nobody will offer Syria this money. EU is needed, so is America."

Selcen suggests Berlin could have potential leverage over Damascus and Moscow to make concessions toward the opposition.

"It's like, 'if you want the money you have to redraft your constitution so that you will see a more equitable Syria,'" he added.

Little hope is being expressed, though, of any significant breakthrough at the Istanbul summit. Moscow already is downplaying expectations.

"We have already said that it would be probably incorrect to predict that the summit is held with the aim of reaching certain agreements," Russia's presidential spokesman Dmitri Peskov said Monday. "We need to be realistic that this is not the case. But this summit is an excellent platform for comparing the notes, exchanging opinions and searching for possible areas of cooperation."

Analysts suggest the French and German leaders' participation at the Istanbul meeting, however, could yet mark the start of a new process offering significant impetus to finally end the Syrian civil war.

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UN, West Call On Russia To Stop Syria From Blocking Peace Effort

RFE/RL October 27, 2018

UN and Western diplomats are urging Russia to help overcome Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's opposition to giving the UN a role in forming a committee to draft a new constitution for the war-torn country.

UN envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura told the Security Council on October 26 that the UN faces "a serious challenge" to its efforts to forge a peace deal in Syria as a result of the government's refusal to accept any formal role for the UN in forming the constitutional committee.

"The role of the United Nations is one of a facilitator -- to facilitate inter-Syrian dialogue," Syria's UN Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari told the council, insisting that members of the constitutional committee should be selected only by Syrian opposition groups and the Syrian government in coordination with government allies Iran and Russia.

At issue is a list of 50 constitutional committee members de Mistura has compiled, as directed by a Russian-hosted Syrian peace conference in January. Damascus has objected to the representatives from civil society groups and others on the UN list, though it has accepted a list of 50 committee members offered by opposition groups in Syria.

Forming a committee to draft a postwar constitution for Syria is seen as a stepping stone to staging elections in the country.

De Mistura said he will brief the leaders of Russia, France, Germany, and Turkey, who are meeting in Istanbul on October 27, on the situation. He said he hopes they will "seize the opportunity" of relative calm in Syria's seven-year civil war to push for a speedy solution on the composition of the constitutional committee.

"The influence that can be exercised by all world leaders, including very much the four world leaders who I am meeting tomorrow in Istanbul, can be crucial in ensuring that this happens," he said.

Though Washington is not participating in the Istanbul meeting, U.S. Deputy UN Ambassador Jonathan Cohen said it supports the UN's effort to "move swiftly to convene the constitutional committee." He added that Syria's "obstruction on the committee's formation is unacceptable."

De Mistura said "the UN is not opposed to constructive and moderate suggestions" from Syria on who to put on the list, but he said the constitutional committee must maintain "credibility, balance, international legitimacy."

France's UN Ambassador Francois Delattre said "Syria is currently at a crossroads," and it can move into an escalation of its military campaign in Idlib Province, the last remaining rebel stronghold in Syria, or take "the path of political momentum," starting with agreement on a constitutional committee.

He said Russia will play a key role in determining the outcome.

"Between war and peace in Syria, the key is largely in the country of Tolstoy," Delattre said, referring to Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, the author of War And Peace.

Russia's UN Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya urged Western leaders to exercise patience, saying "there are no grounds for establishing artificial deadlines for the establishment of a constitutional committee."

But he said: "We cannot go against the will of Syria... We will help Staffan de Mistura create this constitutional committee with respect for Syrian sovereignty."

The chief negotiator for Syria's opposition, who visited Moscow on October 26, also said he was looking to Russia to help forge a settlement of the war, which has killed more than 300,000 people and displaced millions.

"Of course, Russia can do a lot and can facilitate the expansion of dialogue," Nasr al-Hariri told reporters before meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

"We have strived and will continue to strive for dialogue and negotiations with Russia to achieve a political solution," he said. "Russia is a state that has major influence on the Syrian issue."

In the past, Syria's opposition has described Russian forces, which have been providing air support for Syrian troops since 2015, as an "occupation" force.

With reporting by AP, AFP, and Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/un-de-mistura-western- diplomats-call-on-russia-stop-syria-blocking-peace-effort- constitutional-committee/29566724.html

Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Uncertain Fate for Syria's Last Rebel Stronghold

By Nisan Ahmado October 27, 2018

Syria's largest surviving rebel stronghold, Idlib, faces a complex, uncertain and possibly violent future.

Right now, a deal between Turkey and Russia is holding off Syrian military action to recapture this area.

U.S. and U.N. officials say there are tens of thousands of militants active in Idlib. The top U.S. military officer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford, said a large-scale military operation to recapture the province could result in many civilian as well as military deaths.

"I'm suggesting that counterterrorism operations should take place in a manner that mitigates the risk of the loss of innocent life," Dunford said.

In August, Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. Special Envoy for Syria, said there are many foreign fighters among the militants in Idlib who could use chlorine gas as a weapon and make a military operation horrific.

Oct. 15 deadline

As part of the deal struck between Russia and Turkey, rebels were required to remove their heavy weapons from a buffer zone between the Syrian government forces and the rebels by Oct. 15.

The deadline passed and both the rebels and the militant groups are still present in the province.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights group, which follows developments in Syria, said Monday that Syrian government forces had exchanged fire with rebels Sunday.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)

Idlib, in the northwestern part of the country, is home to an evolving group of active jihadist groups, including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Hurras al-Deen and Turkistan Islamic Party.

"HTS has the capability to continue to weave itself in the social and political structures of Idlib, and that will take concentrated and huge efforts from Turkey to remove HTS," Nicholas Heras, a Middle East expert at the Center for New American Security, told VOA.

HTS is the strongest jihadist group in the province. Hurras al-Deen is an offshoot branch of HTS with links to al-Qaida and the Turkistan Islamic Party, which is made up mostly of Chinese Uighur militants.

HTS was formerly known as al-Nusra Front and was an affiliate of al-Qaida in Syria. In 2016, the group said it cut ties with al-Qaida and named itself as the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham. In 2017, the group organized an alliance with several other smaller militant groups and renamed itself HTS.

The U.S and EU still consider HTS an al-Qaida-affiliated terror group.

Al-Nusra Front has changed its name, but the U.S. State Department said it remains a menace.

"Whatever name Nusra chooses, we will continue to deny it the resources it seeks to further its violent cause," Nathan Sales, the U.S. State Department coordinator for counterterrorism affairs, said.

HTS reaction

HTS, which was somewhat open to the Turkish-Russian deal, did not say that it would act on it.

"We appreciate the efforts of those in the inside and outside who are trying to protect the free area in Idlib," HTS said in an Arabic statement released a day before the expiration of the deal. "We warn against trusting the devious Russian invader," the statement added.

Ahmed Abazid, a Syrian analyst, believes that HTS is being deliberately vague.

"HTS fears a Turkish reaction and a local reaction against it because the people were afraid of a Russian campaign in Idlib, and (the) Sochi agreement came to save Idlib from a humanitarian disaster," Abazid said.

Abazid added that HTS leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani is keen to establish a local authority in Idlib and his group would not give up on that goal easily.

The deal is still on

Despite the obstacles, Syrian government officials say they prefer negotiation over confrontation.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said last week his government gave its ally Russia more time to deal with the rebels.

Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesperson, acknowledged difficulties with fully implementing the agreement, but said the deal is still in place.

"Of course, one cannot expect everything to go smoothly with absolutely no glitches, but the work is being carried out," Peskov told reporters in Moscow last week.

Turkey's interests

Turkey, which has helped broker the deal, benefits by the prevention of a major conflict in Idlib. Ankara backs the National Liberation Front, an alliance of pro-Turkey rebels in the province, and a major military attack by the Russia-backed regime forces would hit those forces as well.

Idlib also shares a border with Turkey and any large-scale military operation would push hundreds of thousands of civilians into Turkey, which already hosts about 3 million Syrian refugees.

But Colin Clarke, a senior research fellow at the Soufan Center, a New York-based think tank, said Turkey may also have a hidden agenda.

"A secondary objective is certainly for (Turkish President Recep Tayyip) Erdogan to see if he can redirect HTS fighters toward fighting against Kurdish groups like the YPG," Clarke told VOA, referring to a U.S.-allied Kurdish group that fights the Islamic State.

Turkey views the group as a wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a charge denied by the U.S.

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US 'determined' to leave nuclear treaty with Russia

Iran Press TV

Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:03AM

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says the United States is determined to leave a landmark Cold War-era nuclear arms control treaty with Moscow, despite warnings that the move will trigger a new nuclear arms race.

Lavrov said on Friday that the Trump administration has made its decision and will leave the treaty "very soon."

US President Donald Trump has said that Washington would withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), which was signed towards the end of Cold War in 1987 by then President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

Trump also vowed to rebuild his country's nuclear arsenal.

The treaty  seen as a milestone in ending the Cold War arms race between the two superpowers  banned ground-launch nuclear missiles with ranges from 500 kilometers to 5,500 kilometers and led to the elimination of nearly 2,700 short- and medium-range missiles.

Trump cited Russia's "violations" of the deal as the reason behind the plan to exit the INF. "We'll have to develop those weapons. We're going to terminate the agreement and we're going to pull out," he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who held talks with US National Security Adviser John Bolton in Moscow on Tuesday, said he would be forced to respond in kind and act to restore the balance of military power should Washington choose to exit the agreement.

"The US withdrawal from the INF, which has not been officially announced so far, meanwhile such an intention has already been revealed. But it became clear from the negotiations in Moscow and during the meeting of President Putin with John Bolton that this decision has been made but it is yet to be formalized. That will happen either very soon or in a month or month and a half."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said during the meeting between Putin and Bolton, the president "reminded [Bolton] that this bad cycle was triggered when the USA withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty," in 2002, under then-President Geroge W. Bush.

"That forced us to start developing items which will secure parity and will not allow the USA to put at risk our security and our strategic forces of nuclear deterrence by deploying the global missile defense system," Lavrov added.

Lavrov warned that in the wake of Washington's withdrawal from the treaty, which will also lead to halting prolongation of the START III treaty, "there will be no legal framework left to deter the arms race."

The start-III contract between the US and Russia, which limits strategic offensive weapons, will be expired in 2021.

"It will be bad if current intentions by the US administration, first of all, to withdraw from the INF and, secondly, their doubt over extending the START-III which expires in 2021, are realized," Lavrov said.

Pulling out of the INF treaty with Russia seems to be the latest, under Trump's foreign policy agenda that has so far withdrew from the 2015 multilateral Iran nuclear deal, the Paris climate deal and the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.

'US triggering new arms race'

In the meantime, Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev warned that the US decision to scrap the INF treaty increases the risk of nuclear conflict.

In an opinion piece he wrote for The New York Times newspaper, Gorbachev denounced the US move as "a dire threat to peace" that he still hoped might be reversed through negotiations.

He said the key treaty is "just the latest victim in the militarization of world affairs."

"The INF Treaty is not the first victim of the militarization of world affairs. In 2002, the United States withdrew from the Antiballistic Missile Treaty; this year, from the Iran nuclear deal. Military expenditures have soared to astronomical levels and keep rising," he wrote.

"I am being asked whether I feel bitter watching the demise of what I worked so hard to achieve. But this is not a personal matter. Much more is at stake," he wrote. "A new arms race has

been announced."

The former Soviet president said that any disputes about compliance could be solved if there were sufficient political will. But it was clear over the past two years that Trump has been trying "to release the United States from any obligations, any constraints, and not just regarding nuclear missiles."

Gorbachev, 87, said those who hope to benefit from a global free-for-all are deeply mistaken.

"There will be no winner in a 'war of all against all'  particularly if it ends in a nuclear war. And that is a possibility that cannot be ruled out. An unrelenting arms race, international tensions, hostility and universal mistrust will only increase the risk," he wrote.

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Russia Fails In Bid To Schedule UN Vote On Nuclear Treaty Spurned By Trump

RFE/RL October 27, 2018

Russia has failed in a bid at the United Nations to schedule debate on a resolution to preserve a 1987 nuclear arms treaty that U.S. President Donald Trump has vowed to abandon.

The UN General Assembly's disarmament committee late on October 26 voted against putting the resolution on the UN's agenda, with 55 nations voting against the Russian proposal and 31 voting in favor. There were 54 abstentions.

The vote represented a victory for the United States, which was seeking to block the Russian proposal, which Moscow had hoped would galvanize global support for the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty spurned by Trump.

Robert Wood, the U.S. ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament, said the Russian proposal was rejected because it was a "very politicized" and it was not submitted in time under an October 18 deadline for considering such proposals.

Senior Russian arms control official Andrei Belousov said he didn't understand the vote, claiming that most of the countries which abstained "are active supporters of nuclear disarmament" and even a significant number of those who voted against the resolution are in favor of preserving the INF treaty.

Russia "tried to send a serious signal to U.S. political circles about the danger of the course chosen by the current administration," he said. "We thought that such an initiative would be supported by all sensible forces."

A UN diplomat told AP that European Union and NATO countries voted against the Russian proposal and asked others to abstain to prevent further escalation of tensions between the United States and Russia and to promote a negotiated solution.

Several of the countries that abstained from voting argued that the issue was more a matter to bring before the UN Security Council, which deals with global security threats.

Russian diplomats said they had not ruled out submitting the proposal to the UN council, where both Moscow and Washington exercise veto power.

Belousov said Russia will work with countries supporting its position to bring the proposal directly before the UN General Assembly, bypassing the disarmament committee

Trump has said he is pulling the United States out of the treaty signed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and the Soviet Union's last leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, because Russia has allegedly been violating it since at least 2014 and because the treaty does not cover China, which has been developing missiles banned under the treaty.

The treaty required both Russia and the United States to eliminate an entire class of weapons -- all ground-launched cruise and ballistic missiles with a range of between 500 and 5,000 kilometers.

Wood repeated the U.S. accusations on October 26, telling the disarmament committee that for 5 1/2 years the United States has tried to engage Russia on the issue of treaty violations.

He said Moscow only recently admitted producing a ground-launched missile, but maintained it didn't violate the range limits.

"We presented them with information to the contrary, but they continued to deny being in noncompliance with the treaty," Wood said. "Instead of responding to our engagement, we received denials and ridiculous accusations that it is the U.S. that is violating the treaty."

Russia has maintained that some aspects of the U.S. missile-defense system in Europe violate the treaty.

Belousov repeated Russia's stance, saying "we have been making complaints about this since 2000" but "they run from us."

Belousov claimed that at a recent meeting, U.S. officials declared that Russia was preparing for war.

"Yes, Russia is preparing for a war. I confirm it," the Russian envoy said. "Yes, we are preparing to defend our homeland, our territorial integrity, our principles, our people."

"The Russian Federation is preparing for war, and the United States of America is preparing for a war... That is the fact," Belousov said.

He said the Russian proposal at the UN was designed to convince the United States "to take a constructive position, continue the dialogue...and refrain from building up its nuclear potential" -- something Trump has threatened to do once he withdraws from the treaty.

Media reported that the draft Russian resolution described the INF treaty as a "cornerstone" of world peace and stability and called for keeping it in place. It also called on Moscow and Washington to restart talks on resolving complaints on both sides of treaty violations.

With reporting by AP and AFP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-fails -bid-schedule-un-vote-nuclear-treaty-inf- spurned-by-trump/29566690.html

Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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GREENWICH  A majority of Greenwich High School students who participated in a mock election this week lean Democratic and are nearly evenly split on the next governor, but they dont have much interest in the races for the state House, results released Friday show.

More than 1,500 students from GHS cast ballots in the simulated midterm election. They used a state-of-the art online voting system, sponsored by the Youth Leadership Initiative  the largest, student-only mock election in the nation. It is part of a national civic education program based at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

Students who are in classrooms where teachers used the YLI Mock Election and its lesson plans reported a higher tendency toward future participation in politics, the center said.

Older Americans are more likely to vote, therefore, in order for our younger generation to make the changes we preach about on social media, every one of us must show up to the polls, GHS senior Megan Cleary said in a statement. All votes count, and change will not occur unless we voice our beliefs.

U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-4th District, and U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn, won the mock election by large margins, accruing 62.75 percent and 51.25 percent of the votes, respectively. In the 36th Senate District, Democrat challenger Alexandra Bergstein outpaced incumbent state Sen. L. Scott Frantz, a Republican, by 4 percentage points in student voting.

Democratic candidate for governor Ned Lamont, a Greenwich resident, topped Republican candidate Bob Stefanowski by 2 percentage points. Also, about a quarter of the GHS students abstained or cast their votes for Independent, Libertarian or write-in candidates.

But Greenwich High students were three times more likely to abstain than to vote for state Rep. Livvy Floren, a Republican running unopposed for re-election in the 149th state House District. The same was true in the race for the 150th state House District between Democratic challenger Stephen Meskers and Republican incumbent Mike Bocchino.

State Rep. Fred Camillo, R-151st District, beat Democratic challenger Laura Kostin by 7 percentage points  but half of the students abstained from voting.

I am excited that we are using YLIs mock election as an opportunity to teach students the importance of being engaged citizens who are involved in the democratic political process, said Lucy Arecco, the Bella House administrator at Greenwich High and the social studies program administrator .

Voting gives every citizen the chance to make a difference in the country, senior class president James Heavey said.

It is up to every citizen who can vote to vote and make sure that the country will reflect the best views of the people for the future, he said.

jo.kroeker@hearstmediact.com
A senior North Korean official used a regional security forum in Beijing on Thursday to call for Washington to immediately lift US-led sanctions against Pyongyang, describing them as confidence-destroying measures harming the denuclearisation process.

South China Morning Post writes in the article North Korea calls on US to immediately lift sanctions that do more harm than good, ''[the US should] immediately lift the sanctions and the hindrance to confidence-building. Those countries joining the UN sanctions against [North Korea] should pay attention to the positive developments on the Korean peninsula, Song Il-hyok, deputy director general of the North Korean foreign ministrys Institute for Disarmament and Peace, told the Xiangshan Forum. We think that sanctions and pressure do more harm than good  they are  confidence-destroying measures.

Song said the sanctions should be lifted because the situation on the Korean peninsula had changed, with ties between the two Koreas dramatically improving after three rounds of summits and the landmark meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. He said Trump and Kim recognised that the mutual confidence-building can promote the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula when they met in Singapore in June.

Song was addressing the two-day forum hours after another North Korean delegate, Colonel General Kim Hyong-ryong, vice-minister of the Peoples Armed Forces, said Pyongyang wanted to turn the Korean peninsula into the cradle of peace and prosperity. It is our unwavering stand to lead the current state of tension  into stable peace and turn the Korean peninsula that was once the hottest spot in the globe into the cradle of peace and prosperity, Kim said at the opening session of the forum.

Kim was the first senior general from the North to attend and make a speech at an international security forum. A source close to the forum organisers told the South China Morning Post that Pyongyang had asked for Kim to be given the opportunity to address the meeting.

The North Korean representatives were the main focus on day one, with delegates from other countries questioning them over whether Pyongyang was sincere about denuclearising. But Song would only say that confidence-building is the most important [thing] among nations and among people. Songs call for the sanctions to be lifted drew support from Chinese delegates including Yang Xiyu, a senior fellow from the China Institute of International Studies, who said all countries in the region should make efforts to help the North.

Jin Canrong, associate dean of international studies at Renmin University, said China would continue to support Pyongyangs efforts to denuclearise, saying Beijings policy on the North would not change amid its tensions with the US over trade. The North Korean representatives were the main focus on day one, with delegates from other countries questioning them over whether Pyongyang was sincere about denuclearising. But Song would only say that confidence-building is the most important [thing] among nations and among people.

Songs call for the sanctions to be lifted drew support from Chinese delegates including Yang Xiyu, a senior fellow from the China Institute of International Studies, who said all countries in the region should make efforts to help the North.

Jin Canrong, associate dean of international studies at Renmin University, said China would continue to support Pyongyangs efforts to denuclearise, saying Beijings policy on the North would not change amid its tensions with the US over trade.
Cameroonian authorities announced this week that President Paul Biya had been reelected - again. Biya has ruled the country since 1982, making him the second-longest-serving president in Africa. At 85 years old, he's also the continent's oldest.

But this year's election, held on Oct. 7, took place in unusual circumstances: Since 2016, the central African country, a key U.S. security partner, has been teetering dangerously on the brink of civil war between English-speaking separatists and its government, dominated by French speakers.

Elite circles in Cameroon are largely controlled by Francophones, while Anglophones are routinely overlooked for top ministerial jobs. There have been complaints about such marginalization for decades, but unrest broke out in late 2016 after Anglophone citizens complained that more and more Francophone teachers and judges were being sent to teach in their schools and preside in their courts.

The military responded violently to Anglophone protests, killing some demonstrators and rounding up others. The harsh reprisals only enraged Anglophones, who have given growing support to an armed movement trying to create an English-speaking breakaway state called Ambazonia.

In September, Amnesty International reported 160 members of Cameroon's security forces had been killed by armed separatists since the conflict began. Around 400 civilians have been killed over the past year by armed groups on both sides of the conflict, and schools have become a common target.

That isn't the only crisis Cameroon has on its hands. For years now, the country's Far North region has struggled to contain the threat of Boko Haram, the Islamist group that has terrorized the area and displaced many Cameroonians. About 300 U.S. soldiers are on the ground there to aid Cameroon in its anti-extremist operations.

As the International Crisis Group said in a report before the Oct. 7 election, "the political climate is tense, the economy shaky and much of the country insecure, torn between Boko Haram in the Far North and a conflict in the Anglophone regions in the Northwest and Southwest."

Biya is one of a number of African leaders who have found ways to cement their hold on power even as their countries spiral into unrest. In Uganda, President Yoweri Museveni has been in power since 1985 - and last year, the Ugandan parliament repealed a presidential age limit that would have prevented the aging leader from running for reelection. In Burundi in 2015, President Pierre Nkurunziza ran for a third term that his opponents insisted was unconstitutional, sparking unrest that displaced hundreds of thousands of people and left many others dead.

Aside from the tension surrounding the election in Cameroon, the validity of the vote itself appears suspect. This week, Cameroon's constitutional council said voter turnout was at 54 percent. But between the violence and the displacement it caused, it's unlikely that so many voters were able to make it to the polls.

There's also suspicion of fraud about the votes that were cast. According to the official tally, Biya took 71 percent of the vote and even did well in some Anglophone areas where he has little support. Maurice Kamto, the next-closest runner-up, took only 14 percent of the vote.

Even Cameroon's state-run television channel found itself in an awkward position after reporting Transparency International was in the country observing the elections - a claim the organization later refuted. "A deliberate attempt to impersonate Transparency International or knowingly portray non-affiliated individuals as employees of the anti-corruption watchdog is completely unacceptable," the watchdog group said in a statement.

All of this has reinforced suspicions that the vote was rigged from the get-go. Kamto said in a statement that he would "solemnly and categorically reject these manufactured results and refuse to recognize the legitimacy of the Head of State."

"We will use all means of law to restore the truth of the ballot box," he said.

The United States considers Cameroon an important partner in a somewhat unstable region, and State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert congratulated Cameroon after the vote on its "largely peaceful elections," while noting that there "were a number of irregularities prior to, during, and after" the vote.

With many Cameroonians seeing Biya's win as fraudulent, the violence may get worse. This week, heavy fighting broke out between the military and separatists in the country's northwest. The death toll is disputed, but the Associated Press reported that its journalist on the scene "saw at least 18 corpses."

The incident may be a harbinger of what's to come: At least 160,000 people are displaced within the country and tens of thousands of others have fled into neighboring Nigeria. Frustrations are now mounting across the country, and the International Crisis Group warned in a report that "ordinary people's opinions are increasingly radical."

Biya manages to avoid dipping his toes too much in any of the chaos unfolding around him - an investigation by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project earlier this year found he has spent about 4 1/2 years of his time in office abroad on "private trips." After the election results were announced, he simply tweeted: "Thank you for your renewed and large confidence. Let us now join in taking up, together, the challenges that confront us."

Those challenges could soon become larger than he's able to tackle.
President Donald Trump's assault on international treaties and agreements is taking another victim: the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF). The Cold War-era treaty eliminated the deployment of all land-based U.S. and Russian nuclear and conventionally armed missiles (and their launchers) with a range between 311 miles and 3,420 miles. When signed by President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987, it was celebrated as one of the greatest arms-control achievements ever, because it eliminated a whole class of weapons from a continent ravaged by war in that century. Everyone - Americans, Russians, Europeans - was better off.

Trump and his national security adviser John Bolton - the driver of this U.S. policy change - have decided that Reagan, Gorbachev and European leaders were wrong to want to decrease the number of deployed weapons, including nuclear-armed missiles, in Europe. Instead, Trump wants to restart an arms race with Russia.

Trump officials also have cited China's land-based missiles as an additional justification for pulling out of the INF Treaty. So now we are embarking on an arms race with both Russia and China.

It is true that Russia was violating the INF Treaty by developing a new cruise missile. Something had to be done to stop Vladimir Putin's bad behavior. And yes, China also needs to be deterred in Asia. The Trump decision to withdraw for the INF Treaty now, however, does little to achieve these U.S. security goals and much to undermine them.

In Europe, we have now lost the diplomatic battle by appearing yet again as the wrecker of international agreements. European leaders should have done more to pressure Putin to stick to the treaty. But now the attention on bad behavior will swing back to us, not Moscow. That's a gift for Putin.

And then what? Maybe secret plans have been drafted to enhance European deterrence without the INF Treaty. In public, however, the Trump administration has not outlined how it will use its freedom from the INF Treaty to deploy more intermediate-range missiles on land in Europe. Which missile? Which launcher? And most importantly, where will they be deployed? To be sure, Washington today has more options than Reagan did when he pushed ahead to deploy ground-launched cruise missiles and Pershing II missiles in Europe in the 1980s. But even if Poland or Estonia were to allow U.S. missile deployments in their countries, that would spark a major political conflict within NATO. That's a second gift for Putin.

Also, consider why these weapons inspired such fear at the time. Compared to ICBMs, they decrease the time that leaders in Moscow and Washington have to respond to an attack, real or perceived, to as little as 10 minutes. That is destabilizing.

And finally, the United States and our European allies already have tremendous deterrent capability against Russia in the field, including nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them, as well as sea- and air-based conventional missiles. We can additionally deter and counter Russia by increasing our air- and sea-based missiles in the region without deploying missiles of this range on land.

In Asia, the United States and our allies also have many other means to deter China without deploying intermediate-range missiles on the ground. In a stroke of brilliance, the U.S. INF negotiators kept air- and sea-based missiles and launchers out of the 1987 treaty, a victory that played to the United States' comparative strengths. We still enjoy those comparative advantages in Asia. If we need to deploy more missiles to deter China, we can do so on air- and sea-based platforms without violating the INF Treaty. And our allies can deploy their own missiles on land if they want to do so.

But do they want to do so? Has any U.S. ally in Asia applauded Trump's decision to withdraw from this treaty? Not yet.

The Trump administration would do well to study the intense intra-alliance tensions over the Reagan administration deployments of the ground-launched cruise missiles and Pershing IIs before rushing into such dramas with our Asian allies. And ground-based deployments in Guam would be both remote and much more vulnerable than missiles deployed on ships or submarines.

Instead of accelerating an arms race with China, we should pressure it to join a negotiation about a new arms-control regime in Asia or the world.

Optimists are clinging to the hope that the Trump's withdrawal gambit is just a negotiating tactic - a move to get the Russians back to the negotiating table. I hope they're right, but I fear they're wrong. Putin is unlikely to be threatened into negotiating, especially when the new status quo serves Russian political and security interests.

What's likely up next for the Trump/Bolton wrecking ball: New START. Bolton has never supported this treaty. If we pull out of it, get ready to spend hundreds of billions on more nuclear weapons of little strategic value (we can blow up the world right now with the 1,550 nuclear weapons allowed under New START) and tens of billions of dollars more to gather intelligence about Russia's nuclear deployments that can currently be collected through the verification and inspections procedures codified in New START.

The nuclear arms race during the Cold War did not make the United States more secure. Neither will launching a new arms race with both Russia and China.

- - -

McFaul is director of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and a Hoover fellow at Stanford University and a contributing columnist to The Post. He is the author of "From Cold War to Hot Peace: An American Ambassador in Putin's Russia."
Four of the states five largest cities  Bridgeport, New Haven, Hartford and Waterbury  are struggling near financial insolvency, with high unemployment, low property values and snowballing debt.

Danbury, Stamford and Norwalk and have fared better, but still cant compete with Boston or New York to draw the businesses and millennials that experts say the state needs for an economic turnaround.

The upcoming statewide election may be a turning point for Connecticut cities economic and political futures.

Democrat Ned Lamonts strategy is to invest. Republican Bob Stefanowski says cut taxes and let the benefits trickle down. Oz Griebel, an unaffiliated candidate who trails in the polls, advocates reducing costs, increasing revenue and using the states emergency reserves.

Were a small state, said Lamont, a Greenwich cable entrepreneur turned investor. If we want to keep our small towns and we want to keep our green space, we better have cities that attract business, that attract residential development and have lower taxes. You dont want businesses built in cornfields.

Lamonts urban agenda is the centerpiece of his websites economic plan; Stefanowskis urban agenda is not on his site.

Improving Connecticut cities is among my top priorities, he wrote in an email. Tax cuts are the most important thing we can do to help turn our cities around.

High costs, unemployment

Mismanagement is not the cause of the cities plight, but rather the high costs associated with poverty and growing pension liabilities. The local property tax  which Connecticut cities rely on  is insufficient to sustain them.

The situation is so desperate, the next recession is really going to be a dramatic impact on cities, said Joe McGee, vice president of public policy at the Business Council of Fairfield County. The cost of dysfunction of our cities  the amount of money that is transferred from suburbs to cities  is at record levels.

Waste myth

State aid to cities ultimately comes from taxpayers. Suburbs provide the majority of the states tax dollars. If suburban legislators chose to stop helping Connecticut cities, the suburbs could expect to see many negative impacts.

If (a city) declines, so too do its neighbors, initially with less jobs/income, leading to less housing demand, lower retail sales, eventually flight and population decline and the consequent reduction in values, taxes and services, said Michael Freimuth, executive director of the Capital Region Development Authority.

It is a myth that Connecticut cities wasteful spending have caused their fiscal woes, experts agree.

Theres just been a concern that the cities are not well-managed, that theyve made their own problems, said McGee. But thats not really true.

Many cities have made drastic cuts to keep their costs down.

We went so far as to only have our libraries open three days a week at one point, said New Haven Mayor Toni Harp. Even now they are not open full time.

To cut costs, Lamont and Griebel agree that information technology departments of cities and their school systems should be consolidated. Griebel suggested privatizing trash collection and all other appropriate city services. Stefanowski would reduce unfunded mandates on municipalities to lower costs, he said.

Connecticut cities also have high pension liabilities due to generous retirement and health care benefits promised to municipal workers over decades.

Only Griebel said his urban plan included negotiating with the city unions to align their benefits with those in the private sector. Lamont said cities would mostly have to work through that on their own.

Insufficient revenue

Connecticut municipalities are more dependent on the property tax than towns in any other state, according to the nonprofit Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. With their small size, weak grand lists and vast swaths of tax-exempt property, the local property tax is not enough.

Connecticut cities are really fiscally disadvantaged in a way that cities elsewhere are not, said David Schleicher, a Yale Law School professor, who studies municipal bankruptcy and urban development.

The cities are geographically tiny and thus, so too are their tax bases. Bridgeport, with the highest population in the state, is 16 square miles.

Part of Stamfords economic success was its annexation of North Stamford in 1949, said Freimuth. As a result, the city is 38 square miles with a mix of suburban and urban properties to support it. Danbury and Norwalk also have strong residential areas.

Cities taxable property is also reduced by the fact that many state government buildings, universities, hospitals and non-profits are concentrated there.

In New Haven, where Yale University sprawls, 55 percent of property is tax exempt, said Harp.

The percentage of non-taxable property would not matter if the amount of property tax was adequate to allow cities to deliver basic services, said Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin. In Hartfords case, this is a city that has a taxable property base that is barely larger than towns like Glastonbury or Farmington  and about 50 percent smaller than West Hartford.

To offset this lost revenue, the state provides Payment in Lieu of Taxes, or PILOT grants, to cities. Several urban mayors said, however, that the state is not fully funding these grants.

Desperate for revenue, cities jack up their mill rates often twice as high as suburbs. High taxes can drive out middle-income people and businesses, the very taxpayers cities want to keep.

In September 2017, Hartford publicly announced it was considering bankruptcy. The state and city negotiated a bail-out deal, agreeing to pay off the entire principal on Hartfords general obligation debt, about $534 million, over the next two or three decades. The deal has been strongly criticized by all three gubernatorial candidates.

Consistent grants and aid are a band-aid for the cities plight. Stefanowskis campaign said he would maintain municipal and education grants. Many critics have doubted this is possible, given his biggest campaign promise: to eliminate the income tax, which generates half of all state revenue.

While Lamont would support regional economic development efforts and backed service sharing, particularly school administration, he said regional revenue sharing would lead to civil war.

Only Griebel backed regional revenue sharing. Stefanowski moved away from the idea; his campaign said he would restore local control and put power back in the hands of our municipalities.

Quality of life

Like schools, crime and transportation, affordable housing is key to attracting and keeping the middle class.

Connecticut remains one of the most expensive states to live in, said Mary Donegan, assistant professor-in-residence of urban and community studies at the University of Connecticut. It makes it really hard for graduates to stay. And when your talent is leaving it makes it really hard for the economy of our cities to work.

Experts consider housing affordable when individuals spend less than 30 percent of their income on shelter. In Connecticut cities, about 60 percent of people are spending well above that, according to the nonpartisan housing organization Partnership for Strong Communities.

If you are paying half your rent for housing, youre not going to a local restaurant, said Sean Ghio, policy director for Partnership for Strong Communities. Youre not buying shoes for your children.

Lamont would deliver targeted property tax relief so that longtime city residents can afford to stay in their homes, he said. Lamont and Griebel both said they would generally invest in projects to revitalize the cities.

For Lamont, this includes investments in a regional airport for New Haven, arts, parks and the University of Connecticuts city campuses. When asked how he would pay for these investments, he said he hoped companies would spend on public art.

Jobs

The goal is capturing the mythical millennial. But which comes first the millennial or the jobs?

Lowering taxes and giving businesses some stability will provide a much needed boost to our cities by stopping the exodus of people and jobs that have fled Malloy's tax increases and restore Connecticut as an attractive place to move your family or locate a business, Stefanowski wrote.

In contrast, Lamont sees technology at the heart of urban job growth. He would offer incentives to start-ups to move to cities, train urban students in coding and give cities 5G wireless.
Armenian Armed Forces can start purchasing weapons in the United States, acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said.

According to him, Yerevan has no restrictions on the issue of arms procurement. If the United States makes lucrative offers, we will respond, he said, commenting, thus, the words of the American National Security Advisor to the President, John Bolton, who had previously offered the Armenian side to buy the US weapons.




Haiti - Justice : Godson Orelus, former DG of the PNH arrested and imprisoned





Friday Godson Orelus, the former Director General of the National Police of Haiti (PNH), accompanied by his lawyer Me Eugene Pierre-Louis, introduced himself as a witness at the request of Judge Lumeran Dieunel of the Court of First Instance (TPI), which is investigating, among other things, the security company Global Dynasty Corp SA and seeking to ascertain whether the former police chief had given the authorization to purchase firearms to this company and what type of authorization he had given.



After the hearing and to the surprise of Godson Orelus and his lawyer two agents proceeded on the order of the Judge, to the arrest of the former DG of the PNH. Protesting, his lawyer said "We are in front of a case of characterized abuse of authority. My client was never charged, he was invited as a witness." Moreover, stating that his client had nothing to do with the seizure of firearms at the customs of Saint-Marc in September 2016 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-18569-haiti-flash-worrying-seizure-of-weapons-from-the-usa.html emphasizing that the judge had never auditioned his client on this seizure of weapons.



In the warrant of deposit dated October 26, 2018, Judge Lumeran states that Godson Orelus is "[...] Charged with complicity in transnational crime, illicit trafficking in firearms, ammunition and criminal conspiracy [...] Order the commander of the said prison to receive him and detain him until further notice [...]"



Godson Orelus was imprisoned in Saint Marc prison, his lawyer who denounces the arbitrariness of the decision of the Judge, said he filed a motion for release (mainlevee decrou) to obtain the release of his client who enjoys the guarantee of representation and under the presumption of innocence.



Since the prison, Godson Orelus has confirmed "The judge did not question me about this case of arms shipment [...] the judge's questions concerned only authorizations granted to security companies."



To be continued...



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-25491-haiti-usa-case-of-the-cargo-of-weapons-of-st-marc-the-two-suppliers-arrested.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-18708-haiti-justice-the-investigation-on-the-seizure-of-weapons-in-st-marc-progresses.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-18569-haiti-flash-worrying-seizure-of-weapons-from-the-usa.html



PI/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - ALERT : Scam to the false DG of the PNH





Michel-Ange Gedeon, the Director General of the National Police of Haiti (PNH) informs the general public and businesses in particular that"[...] individuals posing as the DG of the PNH, claim here and there money, giving account numbers for depositing money or ransom citizens on social networks (Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter).



The Director General Michel-Ange Gedeon, informs that he has given no mandate to anyone, both in Haiti and abroad, to address these requests in his name or on behalf of the PNH to individuals residing in Haiti or abroad."



Gedeon specifies that an investigation is opened on this affair of fraud at the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police (DCPJ). Some of these crooks are already identified and he invites the victims of these scams to file a complaint to the justice and the DCPJ for the legal consequences.



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Agriculture : $76.8M to improve the lives of small Haitian farmers





Thursday at the Montana Hotel, Jobert C. Angrand, the Minister of Agriculture and Jean Marie Robert Chery, the Coordinator of the Technological Innovation Program in Agriculture and Agroforestry (PITAG), proceeded to the opening of a 2-days workshop and the launch of the PITAG field activities announced last August.



In total PITAG will invest 76.8 million US dollars over 5 years in 30 communes of the country, to improve the lives of small Haitian farmers. Particularly disadvantaged groups, such as women and youth, will be targeted and more than 65,000 households should benefit.



To meet these challenges, the Program will provide Haitian smallholders with agricultural technologies and practices that are well adapted to local conditions. Thus, the combination of fruit tree and vegetable crops will provide better harvests and feed more people.



The Program takes a people-centered approach and emphasizes community participation. New technologies and practices will be put in place through farm schools. After their training, small farmers will get inputs and support to put into practice the innovations they have been taught.



PITAG is financed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to the tune of 55 million, the Global Program for Agriculture and Food Security (GAFSP) to the tune of 10 million and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) up to 10 million.



The contribution of the Haitian State is around $1 million.



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-25143-haiti-agriculture-$768m-from-ifad-for-post-matthew-agricultural-development.html



SL/ HaitiLibre


















Barber, in a digital appearance, rallies crowd at BRCC

Activists on stage watch the Rev. William Barber II, who spoke via a video connection.

The Rev. William Barber urged voters to organize and vote for health care, equal rights and racism, drawing enthusiastic applause. But he did not deliver the remarks in person. A traffic jam on I-40 prevented Barber from making the 6 p.m. Moral Revival for Voting Rights at Blue Ridge Community College.

Around 600 people turned out to hear Barber, founder of the Moral Mondays protest against actions of the Republican-controlled North Carolina Legislature and one of the most prominent civil rights leaders in the South. They got to see him in digital form only, his image projected on a large screen, at Thomas Auditorium at BRCC.

There are more people that want to do right than want to do wrong and we have to believe that, he said. In the past, when activists stood up for poor peoples rights, they kept pushing, he said. They did not stand down. They stood up.

He criticized the Legislature for failing to expand Medicaid coverage in the state, a policy decision that would have covered tens of thousands of North Carolinians.

In Henderson County alone the uninsured rate would have dropped from 13 percent to 9 percent  4,000 people in Henderson County, he said.

He said there was a large gap between average wages and the cost of living in Henderson County, where housing prices in particular are high.

You have to work 91 hours in a week in order to earn the pay to afford the cost of living in the county, he said.

He urged the crowd to vote no on all six of the state constitutional amendments on the ballot. "They're all bad," he said.

Barber spoke for about 18 minutes before saying good-bye and flicking off the screen.



Norm Bossert, a Democratic candidate for Senate, said he hoped the rally would help turn out votes for his partys candidates.

I hope he energizes people, Bossert said. If they havent voted I hope he gets people out to vote. If they have voted, I hope they volunteer to get people out to vote.
A DOG which escaped death as part of Thailands dog meat trade has started a new life in Henley.

Freya, a crossbreed, was adopted by Helen Southby, of Greys Hill, and travelled to the UK last month.

She is one of thousands of dogs rescued by the Sound of Animals, a charity founded by French doctor Michael Chour.

Mrs Southby, who is retired, has known Mr Chour for three years and spent six weeks volunteering at the charitys shelter in the Buriram province in March and April, when she met Freya.

She said: Michael put out an SOS on Facebook for volunteers. Its 12-hour days, seven days a week which is very hard in the heat out there.

In the morning you clean the kennels and in the afternoon you go from kennel to kennel rehabilitating the dogs.

You also have to get them used to leads so the volunteers have to do a lot of walking.

When I met Freya I totally fell in love with her. Her name comes from the French girls name.

She had been with Michael for six months but for the rest of her life she was a street dog. Every time I left her kennel she cried and if I walked past she immediately knew it was me.

I promised Freya that I would get her out.

With the help of volunteers at the charity, the dog was brought to the UK by air and sea and then brought to Henley.

Mrs Southby said that despite a few early hiccups with her other dog Leroy, an eight-year-old working cocker spaniel, Freya has settled well and is very affectionate.

She said: She attacked Leroy at first but it was just out of jealousy. They love each other now and she gives him kisses.

I walk her four times a day. She is much stronger than she looks because she lived outside. She has pulled me over already!

Mrs Southby said Freya was fascinated by all the new sights and sounds when she goes on a walk and the pair are often stopped by passers-by who want to know all about her.

She said: When I take her for a walk down by the river, which is her favourite walk now, people stop me and they all want to know what breed she is but I havent got a clue! We also dont know her age, although Michael thinks shes about nine.

Everything is new to her, every sound and smell, and shes incredibly alert. She couldnt understand boats.

When you come to some long grass she knows if theres a mouse in it because shes a hunter. There isnt much grass where she comes from so she loves rolling in our grass as its so soft.

Mrs Southby said she was shocked by some of the things she saw on her visit to Thailand and wants more people involved by either volunteering or adopting rescue dogs.

Ahead of her visit, she was given boxes of leads, harnesses and nappies by Henley Pet Shop in Bell Street.

She said: We were overwhelmed by how much stuff he gave us, one of the volunteers cried when they saw it all. Every single collar was on a dog by the following lunchtime. Id definitely encourage people to do it. Its so rewarding and these dogs are so grateful to be rescued. Freya had a horrible life and I just want to give her some happiness in her old age.

Mr Chour started the charity after he experienced the dog meat trade on a visit to Buriram in north-east Thailand.

He relocated to the country soon afterwards and began a crusade against the trade.

He worked with the Thai government in cracking down on the trade and has since begun work in neighbouring Cambodia as well as rescuing some of the thousands of dogs which roam the streets. His work includes feeding and medicating the animals as well as subsiding landowners to let dogs live on their land.

The charity built the Blue Dream shelter last year, which offers homes to dogs as well as treating them for disease and

illnesses.

Donna Williams, from Reading, works for the charity and helped to have Freya rehomed and picked her up when she arrived in this country.

She said: Freya was flown from Bangkok to Amsterdam and then got a ferry to Harwich where I picked her up and drove her to Henley, where she has settled in very well.

Its incredible to see the journey. I try to document each dogs story  where they have come from and the terror in their eyes when they are rescued.

Miss Williams was introduced to the charity by friends who helped build the shelter.

She said that cruelty to the animals was rife in Thailand.

Miss Williams, who used to work as BA cabin crew, said: Its very distressing and the things you see are subhuman. You cant imagine people can do that to another living thing.

Ive given up my job to do this full-time because Im so passionate about it. Most of the dogs are very loving and we try to get them into loving homes as quickly as we can. Miss Williams said that despite the efforts of the charity, much more needs to be done.

She said: Michael goes over to Cambodia to negotiate with butchers. He saw 200 dogs killed last week by being thrown in boiling water.

Thais also attack them on a daily basis with machetes. Unfortunately, dog meat is a prosperous thing over there and they can make up to $50 per kilogram of meat, which is a lot of money.

The Chinese have also started to come over to Cambodia to get involved. They are very difficult to negotiate with.

Mrs Southby said: Id love to go back to help. If I was younger Id be there in a shot. All the volunteers are in their twenties and Im an old lady. I did keep up when I was there but I was shattered.

Michael is the most amazing man Ive ever met and the dogs love him to bits.

For more information, visit

www.thesoundofanimals.com
A MAN from Henley celebrated his 70th birthday during a charity cycle ride from Lands End to John OGroats.

John McCann, of Harcourt Close, took two weeks to complete the challenge with a group of about 25 other cyclists.

He raised more than 2,000 for Great Ormond Street Hospital in London after his grandson Jude was born three months premature in December.

The riders covered about 1,000 miles as they took scenic routes and they stayed in bed and breakfasts or pubs each night. Mr McCann, a retired company director who turned 70 on day 12, said: I was about the oldest person doing it but I do cycle quite a bit at weekends.

Twenty years ago I did a coast-to-coast cycle ride from Whitehaven to Sunderland and I always wanted to do Lands End to John OGroats but I kept putting it off.

Eventually I thought, Im nearing 70, so if I dont do it now Ill never do it. I was apprehensive going into it. We were warned that the first two days through Devon and Cornwall would be tough and they were but they were also really pretty.

I was okay physically  I got my head down and got into it. We were doing 80 miles a day.

A very memorable part was going through the Wye Valley. I had never been there and it was particularly nice.

We had great weather until we got into Scotland when it changed drastically and we were hit by Storm Ali. One day it got so bad they wouldnt allow us to cycle, so Ive got one sector left to complete next year.

I woke up on my 70th birthday in Inverness. They sang Happy Birthday to me and they had a bit of a party for me at the end of the day but to be honest all I wanted to do was go to bed and fall asleep!

I felt happy when it was the last day. I wouldnt have wanted to do another week.

Mr McCann, who lives with his wife Judy, said: Jude spent the first three months of his life in an incubator.

He is now a cute, happy, healthy little boy but a lot of this is down to the excellent care and attention he received during his time in hospital.

The hospital was in Dublin and I have found it difficult to set up a fund-raising page in Ireland, so I decided to nominate a London childrens hospital as the beneficiary and where better than Great Ormond Street Hospital?

We are all aware of the good work they do for young children and I am sure any money donated will be well received.

To make a donation, visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/

michael-mccann14
Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) president Jahangir Askerov announced plans concerning passenger traffic increase.

Askerov stated that for 9 months of 2018 the Heydar Aliyev airport served 3.49 million passengers that is by 10% more than last year.

"Taking into account the opening of new flights by the end of 2020, a priority task is to bring this figure up to 7 million passengers a year," Askerov emphasized, abc.az reported.
Two primary schools closed because of structural safety concerns will be able to reopen ground-floor classrooms after the mid-term break.

The move will allow half the classrooms in Tyrrelstown Educate Together and St Luke's National School to function again.

Children with special needs will be prioritised.

Neighbouring schools will provide temporary accommodation for the remainder of the classes.

Ardgillan Community College, Balbriggan, will be able to accommodate all pupils on Monday week by using a community hall and nearby schools.

Dispute

In all, 42 schools are being inspected for structural safety, and the programme is continuing this weekend and next week.

Meanwhile, the dispute over responsibility for certifying three school buildings that have closed on safety grounds intensified as the contractor claimed that the Department of Education had a "right" to inspect before signing off.

Western Building Systems (WBS) also released the signed certificates of completion issued in respect of Ardgillan Community College, Balbriggan, Co Dublin, and Tyrrelstown Educate Together and St Luke's National School in west Dublin.

The certificates were signed by representatives of project management companies, who acted in a client liaison capacity with the contractor on behalf of the department.

"Attached are the three certificates as then provided, signed on behalf of the minister of the day," said the company.

It said "the compliance process included on-site inspections by department-appointed inspectors every two weeks, plus monthly on-site inspection meetings with the department's inspectors".
FBI agents last night charged a 56-year-old man in Florida, who is suspected of sending more than a dozen parcel bombs to high-profile critics of US President Donald Trump days ahead of congressional elections, authorities have confirmed.

US Justice Department officials revealed that a fingerprint found on one package helped them identify their suspect as Cesar Sayoc (56), of Aventura, Florida.

The criminal complaint charges Mr Sayoc with illegally mailing explosives, illegally transporting explosives across state lines, making threats against former presidents, assaulting federal officers and threatening interstate commerce.

Court records show Mr Sayoc, an amateur bodybuilder with social media accounts that denigrate Democrats and praise Mr Trump, has a history of arrests for theft, illegal steroid possession and a 2002 charge of making a bomb threat.

Plastered

Agents who took Mr Sayoc into custody in Plantation, near Fort Lauderdale, also hauled away a white van that was plastered with pro-Trump stickers, the slogan "CNN SUCKS" and images of Democratic figures with red crosshairs over their faces.

Expand Close A white van seized during an investigation into a series of parcel bombs is towed into FBI headquarters in Miramar, Florida. Photo: Reuters / Facebook

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Whatsapp A white van seized during an investigation into a series of parcel bombs is towed into FBI headquarters in Miramar, Florida. Photo: Reuters

A law enforcement source said the van belonged to Mr Sayoc.

Two witnesses said they heard a loud blast as he was detained in the car park of an AutoZone store.

Announcing the FBI arrest to a cheering audience at the White House, Mr Trump said such "terrorising acts" were despicable and had no place in the United States.

"We must never allow political violence to take root in America - cannot let it happen," the president said.

"And I'm committed to doing everything in my power as president to stop it and to stop it now."

According to public records, Mr Sayoc is a registered Republican and has been arrested numerous times over the years, including one case in which he was accused of making a bomb threat.

A law enforcement source said charges would likely be brought by federal prosecutors in Manhattan.

No one had claimed responsibility for the parcel bombs addressed to former president Barack Obama and others, which authorities denounced as terrorism.

It came less than two weeks before US congressional elections that could alter the balance of power in Washington.

Four more suspicious packages were found yesterday, according to officials and media reports, bringing the total to 14.

None of the devices has detonated, and no injuries have been reported.

The intended recipients of packages discovered yesterday included former National Intelligence director James Clapper, Democratic senators Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California, and Democratic donor Tom Steyer.

Hours after a federal law enforcement official said the investigation's focus on Florida had intensified, police closed roads around the AutoZone parking lot in Plantation where Mr Sayoc was arrested, and helicopters flew overhead.

A man named Dre, a manager at a used car dealership next door to the AutoZone, said he heard a loud noise that sounded like an explosion shortly after 11am.

"I opened the door and saw the FBI there," said Dre, who declined to give his full name.

A woman who lives nearby and also declined to give her name said she was in her yard weeding when she heard a loud bang, saw smoke and heard a lot of shouting.

TV images showed investigators there using a blue tarpaulin to cover Mr Sayoc's van before removing it on a truck.

All the people targeted by the suspicious packages have been maligned by right-wing critics.

Packages that surfaced earlier in the week were addressed to figures including Mr Obama, former vice president Joe Biden, former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, billionaire Democratic donor George Soros and actor Robert De Niro.

Mr Trump's critics charged that his rhetoric against Democrats and the press created a climate of violence.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has donated 5,000 to the GoFundMe set up to help fan Sean Cox during his recovery. Photo: Reuters

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has donated 5,000 to the GoFundMe page set up to help Irish Kop fan Sean Cox.

Dublin-born Mr Cox is recovering from life-changing injuries sustained when he was attacked by rampaging Roma "ultras" before Liverpool's Champions League match against the Italian club in April.

Italian Filippo Lombardi (21) was found not guilty at Preston Crown Court of inflicting grievous bodily harm.

Gesture

Expand Close Sean Cox was seriously injured in the attack outside Anfield. / Facebook

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Lombardi admitted a separate charge of violent disorder and was sentenced to three years in jail.

Fellow Roma fan Daniele Sciusco (29) was jailed in Aug-ust for two-and-a-half years after admitting violent disorder.

There has been another, anonymous, donation of 5,000 since Klopp's gesture, which was confirmed by a Liverpool spokesperson.

The GoFundMe page was set up after an in-depth interview with Mr Cox's wife Martina this month.

During that interview, Ms Cox - who was on last night's The Late Late Show - revealed the long road to recovery that now lies ahead and the financial costs that will be incurred.

"He's not sitting up. He can move himself up a little bit, but to put him into a wheelchair they have to use a hoist so that'll tell you where he's at," she said.

Expand Close Daniele Sciusco was jailed for violent disorder. Photo: PA / Facebook

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"You say to him, 'now, Sean try and move yourself up' and he will try and push, but he's always pushing more with the right side because the left side is the weak side, because of the injury to the right side of the brain.

"He has made progress. He wasn't doing that [a few] weeks ago. He was doing nothing, he was only slightly moving his right hand and squeezing our arms. Now he can hold a ball, hold a phone, he's scratching his head... that's something he always would have done. If you give him earphones he'll put them in his ears, so he knows what to do with things.

"It's very hard to paint a picture at this stage because I really don't know. Sean is at the very beginning of his journey.

"When you think about it, it's been five-and-a-half months and one month of that he was asleep. It's a very long, slow recovery and we really don't know what the outcome will be.

"Obviously he's still not talking and that is a huge concern.

"We really don't know how that's going to pan out. I don't know about his mobility, I just don't know... it's still too early."

Mr Cox is currently in Dun Laoghaire for an extensive 12-week programme but after that, the Cox family will be left needing to find the huge costs for future treatment.

"You're on your own then. Dun Laoghaire is covered by the Government and after that it's private. You're pretty much on your own in terms of financial costs," Ms Cox added.

Prayers

"Obviously we want the best for Sean, and we may look into Germany.

"We've been told that Germany is a particularly good place in terms of rehabilitation.

"We have to look at every option at this point because Sean deserves to get the best care.

In April, the Liverpool manager spoke about Mr Cox at a press conference, at which he wore a Liver Bird badge with the colours of the Irish tricolour in support of him.

"As you can imagine, all our thoughts and prayers at this moment are with Sean and his family," he said at the time.

"It should never have happened. It should never have happened before and it should not happen in the future, and we all have to do everything to make sure things like that will not happen any more."

Meanwhile, the Support Sean Cox Fund will be hosting a fun run in Sean's home of Dunboyne, Co Meath, on Monday.

Organiser Teresa Smith said: "The support and compassion we have witnessed from people across Ireland... has been nothing short of phenomenal.

Race tickets for Monday's event are 15 for adults, 5 for U16s and 30 for a family pass for four.

People can register for the fun run at: myrunresults.com/events/support_sean_cox_fun_run/2879/details.

Donations to the fund can be made at: gofundme.com/SupportSeanCox.
Michael D Higgins was on course to be re-elected for a second term as President last night - but more than half of voters stayed away from the polls.

At the end of an often bizarre campaign, Mr Higgins is set to top the poll with around 58.1pc of the vote.

However, the story of the election is likely to be Peter Casey, who has gone from 1pc in the opinion polls to 20.7pc in the RTE Exit Poll.

The Red C survey of 3,474 people leaving 138 polling stations across the country suggests the other four candidates polled so badly that they will not be in a position to reclaim any expenses from the State.

Sinn Fein's Liadh Ni Riada is at 7.4pc, less than half the support level her party normally enjoys.

Pieta House founder Joan Freeman and businessman Sean Gallagher, who was runner-up in 2011, are in a battle for fourth and fifth on 6.3pc and 5.5pc respectively.

The third Dragons' Den investor, Gavin Duffy, secured just 2pc of the vote.

Candidates need to get at least 12.5pc of the vote in order to secure a refund for their expenses up to 200,000.

Promised

Back in 2011, Mr Higgins secured 701,101 first preference votes, which amounted to 39.6pc of the vote.

He had promised to serve only one term but the 77-year-old will now continue residing in Aras an Uachtarain until 2025.

His campaign was dogged by controversies over Aras spending, including his use of the Government jet.

During the election, Mr Higgins refused to publish details of how an unaudited 317,000 annual allowance is used - but has committed to do so in the coming weeks.

Peter Casey, an Irish-American businessman who also took part in Dragons' Den, started out with the lowest profile of the six candidates but dominated the headlines after landing himself at the centre of a racism row.

He said the special recognition of Travellers as an ethnic minority was "nonsense".

Ahead of casting his vote, Mr Casey said he has "no regrets" about how his campaign evolved, even though at one point he claims to have considered dropping out of the race.

He faced calls to pull out of the race after claiming Travellers should not be recognised as an ethnic minority because they are "basically people camping in someone else's land".

"They are not paying their fair share of taxes in society," he added.

More than 3.2 million people were entitled to vote in 40 constituencies.

It was only the second time an incumbent President was challenged for the position, yet Mr Higgins led the polls from day one.

Sinn Fein MEP Ms Ni Riada and Independents Mr Duffy, Mr Gallagher and Ms Freeman are expected to be battling to win enough support to be able to recoup their election expenses.

Counting gets under way at 9am today and is expected to finish up this evening.

Ballots from the blasphemy referendum will then be counted - and last night the RTE Exit Poll suggested that, excluding 'don't knows', the referendum to remove the reference to blasphemy from the Constitution will be passed by a significant majority, with 71.1pc indicating they voted Yes, while 26.3pc stated they had voted No.

An official declaration will be made in Dublin Castle - but the new presidential term doesn't actually begin until November 11.

Mr Higgins and his wife Sabina were among the first voters to arrive at their local polling station in Phoenix Park.

He handed over his passport to formally identify himself to returning officers at St Mary's Hospital, which is currently in use as a nursing home.

Mr Higgins asked how turnout was going, with staff replying that they'd had "a few" people through the doors.

Celebrate

A short time later, Ms Freeman went to cast her own vote, with husband Paddy, her daughters, Marie, Aislinne, Siobhan and her grandchildren Saoirse and Grace for support.

The senator said that she was going to celebrate with her family, regardless of the outcome.

"There's only 22 people's names on the ballot papers for presidential elections. To be one of those people is again a privilege in itself," she said.

The lowest-ever turnout for a presidential election was when Mary McAleese was elected in 1997. On that occasion 47.6pc of people cast their vote.
A woman who slipped on spilled cream at a supermarket has been awarded 75,000 by the High Court.

Maureen Curran (64) was working as a Glanbia rep at the time and visiting supermarkets when the accident happened on September 3, 2013, in Dunnes Stores, Cavan town.

Mr Justice Kevin Cross said she suffered a nasty injury when she had a "sudden and helpless fall".

Ms Curran, of Tymonville Court, Tallaght, Dublin, sued Dunnes Stores and Glanbia.

She claimed there was an alleged failure by Dunnes to have an adequate cleaning system in operation.

There was also an alleged failure to warn her of the danger posed by the spillage.

Ms Curran claimed against Glanbia that there was an alleged failure to take any, or any adequate, precautions for her safety while she was engaged in her work.

The claims were denied and a hearing took place over a day-and-a-half in the High Court.

Ms Curran told the court she was walking in a normal manner along the dairy aisle when her legs went from under her and she slipped on a cream spillage, which was being mopped up by staff.

Fractured

"My feet went from under me. I landed sideways," she said.

The incident was captured on CCTV.

She said she got up but it was only when she reached for her phone that she realised her hand did not function as it should. She had fractured her right wrist and still has to wear a splint most days, the court heard.

In his judgment awarding her 75,000, Mr Justice Cross said all witnesses in the case had given truthful evidence.

The accident, he said, did not happen when the floor was being cleaned by Dunnes Stores staff.

He found that Dunnes had failed to have warning signs to mark out the extent of the spillage.

Ms Curran saw the one warning sign, which she presumed was the location of the spill and not where she slipped, Mr Justice Cross said.

Supermarket protocol said that warning signs should be left out until the floor was dry, he added.

It was vital to ensure the entire area of a floor was dry and this unfortunately was not done.

The judge found no contributory negligence on the part of Ms Curran.

Honest

She did nothing, he said, that visitors to Dunnes Stores are not expected to do, that is to walk up and down the aisle doing their business.

She was an honest woman who did not exaggerate her injuries.

He found the loss of her job with Glanbia a year later was not related to her accident.

There was no doubt the accident had a severe effect on her, Mr Justice Cross added.
The Ministry of Ecology & Natural Resources of Azerbaijan will appeal to judicial authorities on the occasion of closure of 9 catering facilities for violation of its requirement.

Ramal Bagirov, the director of the MENR National Environmental Monitoring Department, has stated that five months have passed since the Ministrys last warning to catering facilities about the necessity of compliance with environmental protection requirements.

"The MENR started the monitoring process on the occasion in May and continues it to this day. The monitoring covered 301 catering facilities. Despite Ministrys recommendations, special cleaning equipment has been installed only in 53 facilities, while relevant work is only underway in 180 ones. Over the past period such equipment could be installed by all the facilities. Measures have been taken in respect to 58 facilities which failed to implement the requirement for the appointed term," Bagirov said, abc.az reported.

He emphasized that they are preparing relevant materials in order to apply to court on the occasion of halting activity of nine catering facilities as follows: Filiz Palace (located in Yasamal district of Baku); Tarlan, White Palace (Binagadi district); Milord, Hamsa, Dan Ulduzu (Nizami district); Neapol (Khatayi district), Turan (Surakhan district); and Arzu (Sabunci district).
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 26)  Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo Puyat had a simple reminder to tourists on the reopening of Boracay island.

"As we welcome a better Boracay, the Department of Tourism urges everyone to be responsible tourists. It is the key to the preservation of this national treasure," she said in leading the formal reopening of the rehabilitated island on Friday.

She called for discipline from the tourists. On the first day of Boracay's dry run opening on October 15, plastic bags, cups, and other trash were seen littered on the island's white sand beaches.

Related: Plastic cups, garbage litter Boracay beach on 1st day of dry run

The Boracay interagency task force and local government have issued guidelines for tourists to follow.

Puyat said authorities and tourists should take their cue from the Boracay rehabilitation. The so-called "cesspool" island was shut down in April due to improper sewage system, illegal structures, and environment abuse.

"The Boracay experience is the ultimate lesson in balancing development and protecting the environment. The lessons learned here are not for Boracay alone. It will not end in Boracay. The whole Philippines na yata," she said.

Puyat earlier said alerts have been issued to other major destinations. Local government units and business establishments in El Nido in Palawan, Panglao in Bohol, Oslob in Cebu, La Union, and Baguio City were reminded to strictly follow environmental laws.

Related: After Boracay, DOT warns 5 tourist destinations

Senator Sonny Angara, meanwhile, supported the plan to check on other vacation spots. But he hopes the tourist destinations will not be completely closed off.

"The emerging success story that is the Boracay rehabilitation can be the template in rejuvenating other tourist spots but without the economic dislocation caused by the six-month shutdown of the world's best island," he said in a statement.
Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with the President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union Gabriela Cuevas Barron, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in a statement Oct. 25, Trend reports.

At the meeting the sides underlined their confidence that the Fifth IPU Global Conference of Young Parliamentarians to be held in Baku in December 2018 will give an impetus to further development of cooperation between Azerbaijan and the IPU. It was especially emphasized that young parliamentarians from 178 countries around the world will have an opportunity to get acquainted more closely with development processes in Azerbaijan.

Minister E.Mammadyarov and President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union Gabriela Cuevas Barron who is at the same time a Mexican MP exchanged their views on the bilateral relations of Azerbaijan and Mexico. Underlining that there is a huge potential for the development of relations, the sides noted that the mutual exchange of high level visits will give an impetus to further development of cooperation relations.
Vicosa, Bynum, two children dead in apparent murder-suicide

Four dead in apparent murder-suicide near Ringgold include former Baltimore County Police officer, suspended officer and two children
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a phone call Friday, Daily Sabah reported.

Erdogan and Trudeau stressed the need to shed light on the killing and the importance of punishing the culprits, said a source from Turkish presidency, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

Both agreed "all aspects of the murder" must be made public so that the killers, believed to be Saudi Arabians, could be held accountable for the crime.

Trudeau said he might cut off any arms export permits that allow Canadian manufacturers of military equipment to ship their goods to Saudi Arabia.

The prime minister, however, did not say if he would stop the export of CAN$15 billion ($11 billion) in armored vehicles to the kingdom under a deal signed in 2014.
Russian energy giant Gazprom is planning to start the construction of the overland section of TurkStream's second pipeline in 2019, Gazprom Management Committee Deputy Chairman Alexander Medvedev has stated, Sputnik reported.

"The construction of the offshore section of the second transit line of the TurkStream gas pipeline is in full swing. Completion of deepwater laying is a matter of several months. Next year, we also plan to begin construction of the land section of the transit line in Turkey. Today, Gazprom is negotiating with the Turkish company Botas. TurkStream is scheduled to be put into operation in December 2019," Medvedev told a corporate magazine.

Earlier, company CEO Alexey Miller stated that Gazprom would complete the construction of the offshore section of the TurkStream gas pipeline in two months.

In September, the company completed the construction of the second leg of the TurkStream gas pipeline in Russia's exclusive economic zone.
The meeting of the head of the Pentagon, James Mattis and the Minister of Defense of Germany, Ursula von der Lyayen, took place yesterday, the press service of the US defense department reported.

During the conversation, the sides discussed a wide range of defense issues, including the US position on the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), as well as the recent visits to the countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

Mattis thanked Ursula von der Lyayen for her countrys support of the world stability and security, including in Afghanistan, the Middle East, Africa and Europe, TASS reports.
Ayodhya has returned to the centre stage of the countrys political landscape ahead of the coming poll season, albeit with a difference.

There is nothing unusual in the chorus for a temple getting shriller as the elections draw near, but this time around there is less scepticism , even as the Muslim community continues to repose its faith in the court verdict.

What explains this confidence?

Firstly, this is the first time since the launch of the temple movement in the late 1980s that the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh are leading the chorus for the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya. Till now, the VHP and its affiliate, the Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas were the ones responsible for keeping the Ayodhya cauldron on the boil.

Secondly, again for the first time since the unlocking of the disputed structure in 1986, a numerically strong BJP government is are ruling in both the Centre and the state  and under the two most prominent faces of Hindutva.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi accompanied LK Advani on his chariot (rath) from Somnath to Ayodhya in the early 1990s, earning his political spurs, while chief minister Yogi Adiyanath and his guru Mahant Avaidyanath are known votaries of temple movement with much of the planning for a temple happening at Gorakhnath Peeth.

Both, perhaps because of the positions they enjoy, have refrained from making a direct comment on the issue, though Yogi has frequently visited the temple city and given broad hints.

Thirdly, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwats recent statement asking the Modi government to pass a law to clear the path for construction of temple instead of testing the patience of the society has intensified the demand for a legislation to break the deadlock.

And finally, with the Supreme Court beginning to hear the case on October 29, there is an expectation that a verdict could come in four months.

VHP spokesperson Sharad Sharma said: The recent developments (referring to Mohan Bhagwats statement on temple construction) have convinced the people that Ram temple is not a mere rhetoric but is going to be a reality very soon. This conviction has in fact drawn leaders, including Praveen Togadia and Uddhav Thackeray, to Ayodhya. They all want to take the credit for Ram temple construction.

Togadia has already announced a new party in Ayodhya while Shiv Sena has been working for Uddhav Thackerays November visit to the temple city.

Incidentally, this is the first time that a Thackeray would be visiting Ayodhya. Even his father Bal Thackeray never visited Ayodhya though Shiv Sainiks came in numbers when the temple movement reached its zenith in the early 1990s.

Both Togadia and Thackeray are politically irrelevant in Uttar Pradesh.

Heres how the public narrative has been built on Ayodhya.

In early October, Hindu saints met in Delhi and demanded that the government bring legislation, if the apex court fails to deliver an early verdict on the century-old dispute. They also met the President and handed over a memorandum demanding his intervention in speedy disposal of the case by the court.

According to VHPs Sharma, the saints will wait for the courts verdict till early December after which they will hand over memorandums demanding legislation on Ayodhya to governors across the country.

Their actual plan will be unveiled during the Kumbh in a Dharam Sansad meeting, likely to be attended by 5,000 saints from across the country. The Dharam Sansad is the VHPs highest decision making body in which issues like Ram temple , cow, Ganga and conversions are discussed and decided. This congregation is organised in different parts of the country every year and is attended by at least 5,000 seers. Already, the Centre has directed the state government to make Kumbh a global affair.

It is now clear that the two communities as well as parties have given up completely on the possibility of a negotiated settlement of the Ram Janmabhoomi/Babri Masjid dispute.

Since the demolition of the disputed structure, the common refrain has been on solution by talks, court or legislation.

A year ago, when various intermediaries were trying for a negotiated settlement of the dispute, BJP president Amit Shah categorically said the matter could be best settled by the court.

However, as the court resumes hearing on the title suit, the demand for legislation is getting louder.

At least 15 appeals were filed against the split verdict, delivered by the high court on September 30, 2010. The hearing is resuming, we are strong on evidences, said Zafaryab Jilani, the lawyer representing one of the litigants in the case, the Sunni Central Waqf Board.

If the government goes for the legislation route, Jilani added, we will challenge it in the court of law. He says that he has full faith in the courts and also points to the fact that the Prime Minister has not made any statement on legislation.

However, the Muslim community is itself divided with the Shia Waqf Board chief Wasim Rizvi favouring a temple being constructed at the disputed site.
Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos Friday defended the streaming giants decision to continue their association with filmmakers Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane and writer Varun Grover for the second season of its show Sacred Games, saying they conducted an appropriate probe to ensure that working environment is safe for everyone.

Kashyap and Motwane, who co-directed the hit series, have been under fire for their alleged inaction in the sexual harassment allegations against former Phantom Films partner Vikas Bahl by an employee, a charge they both have denied.

Whereas, Grover was anonymously accused of sexual harassment, a claim he has categorically denied. When asked does Netflix have different morals and guidelines, in reference of Phantom Films controversy and the individual inquiry conducted by them, Sarandos said they have the same standards.

Every one of this case is completely different, the circumstances are different, the individuals are different, the timetables will be different. At Netflix programming, we are committed to making sure that the work place is safe and respectful always. We have an instituted harassment training at all our productions everywhere and it is same in India, the programme is same in india that we have in the US and everywhere in the world, Sarandos said.

Chief Content Officer at Netflix, Ted Sarandos poses upon arrival for the UK premiere of the film "The Ballard of Buster Scruggs" during the BFI London Film Festival in London on October 12, 2018. (Photo by Anthony HARVEY / AFP) (AFP)

Sarandos was in conversation with Anupama Chopra on Netflix and the Future of Film during JIO MAMI Mumbai Film Festival here. We conducted investigations in this case and we determined it is was appropriate to go forward with Vikram and Anurag and it has nothing to do with anything before or anything anywhere else. We believe on the basis of the facts that the investigation was appropriate, he said.

In an earlier statement, the streaming giant had said they carried out an independent investigation and are satisfied with the results.

The company had said it will collaborate with its production partners to ensure and maintain a safe and respectful working environment.

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Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas wedding speculation may be all the buzz right now but the power couple itself is wearing it well. Nick and Priyanka were seen in New York as they went out for a lunch date and, of course, got clicked.

Fan sites shared photos of Nick and Priyanka cosseted against the cold and twinning in black. The two were on lunch date and appeared to be having a great time together.

With both Nick and Priyanka busy with their careers, they often steal time with each other in different parts of the world. Nick often flies down to India so much so that Priyanka said in an interview recently that the country is now his other home.

Hindustan Times had earlier reported that invitation for Priyanka and Nicks wedding have already been sent out. The wedding will take place on November 30 and the three-day long functions include a sangeet ceremony on November 29 and a reception on December 1. They have invited a select guest list of 110 people including relatives and close friends, a source said, adding that the sangeet ceremony and the bachelors night will take place at the Mehrangarh Fort.

There is a complete secrecy around the wedding. The authorities have been strictly told not to entertain any queries about the event by the locals or the media. Since its going to be a high-end affair, they have been instructed to not disclose any information. While the hotel authorities have been approached for the bookings on mentioned dates, but the advance amount is yet to reach them, added the source. Both Priyanka and Nick are expected to wearing Indian designer outfits on their big day.
As the rise of #MeToo movement in India has opened many dark spaces of Bollywood, actor Saif Ali Khan, whose daughter Sara Ali Khan is gearing up for her Bollywood debut, feels no one has the guts to mess with his family members.

It is a very unequal society. I dont think anyone will misbehave with my people... I dont know why I feel like this, but be it my mother or sister or wife, I feel people will not have the guts to do that with them.

It might be because they have certain protection around them. So, we have to protect the ladies who dont have that protection around them or that aura that protects them. We have to make the place safe for the vulnerable ladies, Saif said.

The 48-year-old actor has urged people to respect everyone as he feels theres more to life than getting sh*t from each other.

We have to come to a situation where women feel safe enough to complain immediately and matters will be taken seriously. I hope the #MeToo movement stays in future and does not die down because it will create a comfortable atmosphere for everyone.

Apart from the #MeToo wave, the Dil Chahta Hai actor expressed concern over the growing paparazzi culture in India. He wondered how people could be so interested in his two-year-old son Taimur Ali Khans life.

Saif with Kareena and son Taimur.

Medias constant attention to him does not really bother me, but it would be better if it was not there. If the media likes it, people like it, I am okay with it; but I wont be interested in someone elses kids so much.

On one level, it is nice that he makes people laugh and smile; but on another level, why is so much attention given to a kid? Why are we so interested in a little kid so much? I dont understand it, he said with a smile.

He likes to keep his distance from social media, even though Taimur is a star in that space, while sister Soha Ali Khan and sister-in-law Karisma Kapoor are quite active on various platforms. Saif explained: I could easily be on social media but I dont like the idea of it. I like my own world. There are many horrible people out there. We all should create our own world. I dont want to be the voice in one more loud market. It becomes an addiction and we always worry about what people think. We should live our lives for ourselves. Putting a picture and (waiting to) see if someone likes it or not. What does it mean? I get my validation of what I feel... But not from other people.
Iranian and Kazakhstani health ministers have signed a document for cooperation in healthcare and medicine, Trend reported citing IRNA.

At the meeting, Yelzhan Birtanov also awarded his Iranian counterpart Hassan Qazizadeh-Hashemi the medal of honor of Kazakhstan's government.

Kazakhstan medal is awarded to a few number of influential figures, and this shows that the Iranian minister has played a major role in promotion of health in the world, the Kazakh minister said.

Qazizadeh-Hashemi, who was visiting Kazakhstan to attend a conference, marking the 40th anniversary of Declaration of Alma-Ata, has also met with counterparts from various countries.
As the entire country celebrates the festival of Karwa Chauth, how could Bollywood be left behind? Several celebrities from film and television world have shared pictures from the celebrations on their social media pages.

Actor Raveena Tandon was seen with her gang of ladies, Maheep Kapoor, Sunita Kapoor and others. Maheep shared a picture of the ladies and also added a special note on how they all missed Sridevi on the special day when they would all be together each year.

Television stars and newlyweds Yuvika Chaudhary and Prince Narula also celebrated their first Karwa Chauth. Prince appears to also have fasted through the day to give his wife company.

Television host Roshni Chopra also shared precious pictures from her celebrations. This one day in the year, I will not eat or drink all day to remind myself that you are what gives me strength! That our bond, unbreakable like a diamond, is what matters the most! Youre my numero uno @sidakumar! Lets keep this rare thing weve got going real! Oh yeah.. and keep the diamonds coming, she captioned the pictures.

Saraswatichandra actor Gautam Rode also shared a picture with his wife Pankhuri. Its our first Karva Chauth today and I decided to fast for her too. But yes besides that it is a day to make her feel special and what better than Jewellery! , he captioned their pic.

Check out pics:

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The question that I get asked by many people is how such a large number of women in Kerala, with its impressive education credentials, are so opposed to a court verdict in their favour. Hundreds of Malayali women are fighting to prevent any woman in her reproductive years from entering the temple in Sabarimala dedicated to the eternally celibate Lord Ayyappa. The deity, it is said, will not countenance the entry of women in their fertile years as this would break his penance. Somehow education is seen as a natural corollary of enlightenment and progressive thought. It is not. And certainly not in Kerala.

Kerala has had a history of womens empowerment. In my own Nair community, the inheritance of property by daughters gave women a more exalted status in the household than in other parts of India. At its zenith, the matrilineal system allowed women to choose their partners irrespective of their married status and the offspring from such relationships were recognised and not discriminated against.

The strong foundations laid by a matrilineal society got a further push from progressive social movements and sound health and education policies , all of which benefited women.

Yet, little of this has actually translated into real power for women or genuine gender empowerment today. The dowry system is all pervasive and violence against women shockingly high. The remarks made on social media against women wanting to enter Sabarimala are regressive and vile. The kind of content of television soaps and popular films are all too often critical of emancipated and independent women.

The Sabarimala debate has now moved within Kerala from the right of women to enter the shrine to the kind of women who are coming forward to take on the protestors. True, the state government made a mess of the whole situation with its ineptitude and lack of preparedness. But the fury against women demanding their rights, whomsoever they be, especially from women, suggests that the much vaunted Kerala model is not all it is made out to be.

Women are indeed encouraged to work. They go to other countries. Yet when they come back, it is invariably to an arranged marriage for which a hefty dowry is paid. Many work to save for their dowry, the demand for which rises with the occupation of the groom. This practice cuts across all communities and classes.

While people are quick to point out the vulgarities of Bollywood, some of the worst misogynistic dialogue is seen in Malayalam movies and that too in movies starring reigning superstars. In soaps, women who are independent or who have an opinion are derided as too forward. Women are often portrayed as being constantly at war with each other and responsible for the downfall of many good men. Despite education and economic empowerment, social empowerment has not really taken root. The womans domain is still the home. She is still meant to be passive, still out of the realm of real power. Which explains why Kerala politics has very few women. The CPI(M), with all its claim to being a forward looking party, has never given women their due. The enormously talented communist leader, KR Gowri, was overlooked for chief ministership and the job given to a run-of-the-mill party theoretician at a time when the Left had national aspirations.

The Sabarimala controversy and the rage against women daring to violate long held traditions is just a spillover of a society which has never really moved socially in sync with its enviable development parameters. Men like Rahul Easwar, grandson of the head priest of Sabarimala, who speak so eloquently about the sanctity of Sabarimala, would think twice if they were not sure of the support of a large section of women. And these women are mostly educated and employed. But social conditions are such that they are not willing to question these long held patriarchal beliefs. Women who go against the grain, and I have a few in my own family, are seen as a bit of an aberration. They are looked upon as eccentrics or as disruptive elements. This is the tragedy of the Kerala model. It has produced a vast cohort of men and women, many of them bright and creative, but the majority of them unwilling to question customs and beliefs or traditionally ordained societal roles.

lalita.panicker@hindustantimes.com
Harnek Singh Dhillon, 76, killed his wife, Gurmehar Kaur, 72, to silence her before she could tell the police that her husband had allegedly murdered a businessman, investigators said on Friday. They claimed that Dhillon told them during questioning that he cooked up the theory of a suicide pact to mislead the police.

Dhillon was arrested on Wednesday for the murder of his wife, four days after police found him and wife in a pool of their blood at their DLF Phase 2 house. Dhillon had called up a relative, telling him that he and Gurmehar have attempted suicide. The police rushed Dhillon to a hospital but Gurmehar succumbed to her wounds.

On Thursday, Dhillon also allegedly confessed to have murdered Jaskaran Singh, whom he owed money.

Investigators claimed that Dhillon told them during questioning that Gurmehar had been pressing him to confess murdering Jaskaran. On October 19, they had an altercation over the same issue, following which Dhillon slit Gurmehars throat, police officers privy to investigation said.

Dhillon wrote a suicide note himself and signed on behalf of his wife to cook up the story of a suicide pact, said Vishnu Prasad, station house officer, DLF Phase 2 police station.

Police officers said Gurmehar was initially trying to cover up and stayed quiet for a week. The neighbours also did not report anything untoward to the police at first despite hearing an altercation on October 14 and alleged change in Kaurs behaviour after that day.

Aunty usually met us outside but never visited our house. After the incident, she had started meeting us more often and used to tell us that their life has become miserable as police was harassing them for Jaskarans disappearance. She told us not to record our statement to police, said a neighbour, requesting anonymity.

Others said they were not aware of Dhillons criminal background. Dhillon had been convicted in a murder case in Ludhiana in 1979.

Manjeet Kaur, wife of Jaskaran, said something was amiss as she could never imagine the intention of a senior citizen who was friends with her husband and often visited their house. Even the police was misled and could not understand the gravity of the situation of which Dhillon took advantage, Kaur said.
The biggest mistake modern horror filmmakers make - and this includes James Wan, easily the most successful of the lot - is that they have a fundamentally flawed understanding of ghosts or ghouls or demons or whatever supernatural being they choose to make the antagonist of their stories.

Ghosts are scary. Deranged clowns are scary. Creepy dolls are scary. There can be no debating this. But for some reason - perhaps a lethal combination of artistic laziness and a underestimation of audiences intellect - most modern horror movies insist on reducing ghosts to mere jump scares. We dont need to see a demon leap out of a closet to be scared - ideally, just the sight of the spook, the mere idea of it, should be enough to send a chill down your spines.

Which is why Netflixs The Haunting of Hill House is perhaps the best ghost story of the year, and maybe even the defining piece of horror of 2018. Writer Stephen King, who is undoubtedly the foremost authority on American horror and whose work has directly influenced the show, between taking potshots at President Donald Trump on Twitter, called Haunting of Hill House a work of genius.

King has a vested interest in hyping up director Mike Flanagan - hell soon begin work on an adaptation of Kings The Shining sequel, Doctor Sleep - but one look at Flanagans filmography is enough to quell all incredulity at Kings hyperbolic statement. Flanagan has slowly risen up the ranks within the studio system to establish himself as one of the most exciting and naturally gifted horror directors working today.

He burst onto the scene with the moody Absentia, followed it up with Oculus - he also executive produced the Hindi remake - saved the Ouija franchise with his retro reboot, and directed a slate of Netflix originals, culminating with the Haunting of Hill House. He understands that for horror to truly take effect, the filmmaker must tap into our fears - not by hurling demons at us, but by implying that they live among us.

Whats scarier than a fanged ghost shrieking at your face? Ill tell you. Its to watch a lonely lady perform a waltz all by herself, weaving in and out of the empty hallways of her creaky old mansion - and then realising that shes dead.

The Haunting of Hill House serves as a bookend to a terrific year in horror, thanks mostly to the huge growth online streaming has witnessed. This Halloween, lets take a look at some of the best scary movies of the year.

The Ritual

Like most great horror films, it is very likely that most of the people that end up watching The Ritual will do so at home. If youve become completely desensitised to mainstream horror then youre in for a genuine treat. At first glance, The Ritual looks like a film that borrows heavily from other classic forest horror movies  The Blair Witch Projects imprint is deep, as is the influence of films such as Eden Lake and more recently, Wolf Creek. But as it trudges along, over hillocks and across streams, it transforms into its own thing.

Hereditary

There is no scenario that ends with you having a pleasant experience watching this film. There is a malevolence about it, an unshakable evilness that penetrates your psyche drop by painful drop. Hereditary is a film about trauma. It is a film about how a persons sins are transmitted, like a disease, onto their children. It is an inescapable burden that we must bear for no fault of our own - sort of like being born poor, or rich - all the while cultivating our own flaws to pass on.

Annihilation

While it isnt a horror movie in the traditional sense - although to some unfortunate souls it might very well be - director Alex Garlands meditative sci-fi film certainly has its moments of terror. Its such a carefully constructed film, both physically and emotionally; its a raw and ambitious science-fiction story that warrants several repeat viewings, only to discover new ideas.

A Quiet Place

Debutant horror director John Krasinskis approach as director is to systematically dismantle the sad trends that have overtaken mainstream horror films. A Quiet Place is an effortless distillation of the three elements that define filmmaking: sound, light and actors. It is also perhaps the only film on this list that truly deserves major Oscars appreciation come February.

Revenge

Everything youve heard about Revenge, one of the most provocative movies of the year, is true. Its a blood-soaked fable, a rape-revenge movie made with style and subtext. What director Coralie Fargeat has achieved in Revenge is similar to what Julia Ducournau did last year with her feminist cannibal film, Raw. Both directors used the language of horror cinema to convey ideas specific to women, by combining French arthouse storytelling with American exploitation.

Ghost Stories

Its been a while since weve had a good British horror story. Ghost Stories, directed by Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson, is about a man who has devoted his life to debunking paranormal activity - a fairly common trope, abused by those wretched Conjuring movies - and through three seemingly unrelated cases goes on a twisted journey of self-realisation.

Mandy

Directed by Panos Cosmatos, who previously made the trippy Beyond the Black Rainbow, Mandy is the exactly the sort of film youd like to imagine Nicolas Cage has been trying to make for the last two decades, but always missing the mark. Its playing at MAMI, which is a huge win.

Hold the Dark

Hold the Dark isnt an easy watch - if the dourness doesnt get you, the violence will - but its gripping. From the very first scene, it latches onto your neck and drags you, despite your protests, to where it wants you. And in its final moments, it goes in for the kill.

Apostle

Apostle is a dense horror-fantasy in the vein of the cult British film, The Wicker Man (not the ridiculous remake starring Nicolas Cage) and director Ben Wheatleys Kill List - a departure from the martial arts mania of director Gareth Evans Raid movies. Its more sprawling in its scope - despite the claustrophobia of being set on an island - and more layered in its world-building.

Halloween

Director David Gordon Greens reimagining/reboot/remake takes the DNA of what made John Carpenters original movie such an influential masterpiece and injects it with a slick contemporary touch - a dash of feminism, a nose thumbed at horror tropes, and an almost carelessly provocative third act.

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Seven elephants died of electrocution after coming in contact with a sagging power line in Odishas Dhenkanal district Friday night.

Officials said a herd of 13 elephants entered Kamalanga village under Dhenkanal Sadar forest range last night in search of food when they came in contact with the 11KV laid by the railway department for track construction work.

The incident came to light after villagers spotted the carcasses near a village nullah this morning.

This is the highest casualty of elephants in a single incident in Odisha. Dhenkanal DFO Sudarshan Patra said he was rushing to the spot to take stock of the situation.

Power distribution company CESU suspended an SDO, a superintending engineer and terminated from service a junior engineer. A range officer, ranger and a forest guard of Dhenkanal forest division were also suspended by the forest department.

In December 2012, six elephants were knocked down by a speeding express train in Rambha area of Ganjam district while in April this year, four elephants including a tusker and a calf were killed in Jharsuguda district when they were hit by a speeding train.

Tension gripped the area as locals held railway and energy departments responsible for the incident.

Wildlife activists said it was apparent that despite Dhenkanal being known as an elephant corridor, the forest officials did nothing to prevent such deaths.

We have repeatedly told the forest department about 200 spots in Dhenkanal where high voltage power lines are sagging and could endanger the lives of elephants, but no action has been taken. The deaths are unpardonable, said Dr Biswajit Mohanty of Wildlife Society of Odisha, a reputed wildlife conservation organisation of the State.

Wildlife conservationists said from April this year, at least 54 elephants have died in the state either due to poaching, deliberate electrocution or by sagging lines or poisoning.

Elephant conservationist Ranjit Patnaik said since April 2010, 102 elephants have been killed in the state due to electrocution, one of the major reasons of elephant deaths.

The average annual elephant casualty, which was 33 in 1990, has now reached 73, one of the highest in the country.
Allahabad has now become Prayagraj and, flush with this success, many groups in Uttar Pradesh are reviving their demand for renaming cities, towns and districts, amid strong objections by the Opposition. Theres a common thread in such demands: most are being made by Hindu groups, and the places they want renamed have names given by the Mughals centuries ago.

For instance, there are demands to rename Azamgarh district as Aryamgarh; Faizabad as Saket; Aligarh as Harigarh; and Muzaffarnagar as Laxminagar.

In Aligarh, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders are already riding around in vehicles that have Harigarh written on them.

BJPs Muzaffarnagar district president, Sudhir Saini, said: Hindu organisations have been demanding a change in the name of Muzaffarnagar as they believe the place was once known as Laxminagar.

The suggestion to rename Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, was made by Bihar Governor and UP leader, Lalji Tandon, in his book Ankaha Lucknow (Untold Lucknow) in May 2018.

Lucknow was originally named Laxmanavati, then Laxmanpur and Lakhnavati, before finally being named Lucknow, the book says.

The state could consider at least some of the demands. UP minister for medical and health and the governments spokesperson, Sidharth Nath Singh, said, The government will take a call after studying the issue. We may consider the demand or suggestion for changing of names.

Singh was one of the prime movers behind the renaming of Allahabad, writing to both chief minister, Yogi Adityanath, and Governor, Ram Naik, on the issue.

Some Hindu organisations say Mughal or British rulers strategically changed the names of many towns to target Indian culture. We are not against anybody. Our freedom fighters laid down their lives to win Independence. Many towns have names after Mughal rulers. It is high time our cities got back their ancient names and identity, said Shivdash, a senior leader of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the man in charge of work at Karsevakpuram (where pieces of the Ram temple are being made in anticipation of the day either the courts or a law make it possible to construct one) in Ayodhya. Names that are symbols of slavery should be named after patriots, said Prabhu Narain, Awadh Prant Sanghchalak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

In August this year, the Yogi government had renamed Mughalsarai city and railway junction after BJP ideologue, Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyay. Then came the recent name change of Allahabad.

S Farman Naqvi, an advocate and a resident of Allahabad, said: Chief minister Yogi Adityanath renamed Allahabad as Prayagraj only in five days. After the Board of Revenue passed a resolution on the issue on October 15, the state cabinet cleared it the next day. The state government notified change of name on October 18 and the district magistrate did so on October 20.

Local people were not consulted on the issue. This means someone sitting at a far off place decided the future of the people of Allahabad. The CM recently changed the name of Urdu Bazar in Gorakhpur to Hindi Bazar. He is obviously pushing a communal agenda, he added.

This is not the first time that the governments are indulging in politics of name change. In the last two decades, successive state governments have changed the names of institutions, schemes/projects and districts.

The Samajwadi Party government in 2012 decided to reverse a number of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) governments decisions on names. It restored the name of King George Medical University that was renamed as Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University by the Mayawati-led BSP government.

The original names of eight districts, named after BSP ideologues by Mayawati, were also restored.
Less than six weeks before assembly polls in Telangana, disgruntled leaders of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) have started making a beeline for the Congress party citing alleged high-handedness of the partys founder and caretaker chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR).

On Saturday, two senior TRS leaders -- former legislator T Narsa Reddy and member of legislative council S Ramulu Naik  joined the Congress party in the presence of party president Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi. The Congress is yet to finalise its candidates for the elections.

Narsa Reddy represented Gajwel assembly constituency in Siddipet district as a Congressman between 2009 and 2014 before he was defeated by KCR in 2014. He later joined the TRS and was made chairman of the Telangana State Road Development Corporation (TSRDC).

He was expecting a ticket this time, but was instead promised an MLC seat by KCR. However, after being denied even the MLC seat, Narsa Reddy decided to return to the Congress, which promised him a ticket to contest from Narayankhed in Medak district.

Similarly, Ramulu Naik, who had been associated with the TRS since its inception in 2001 and was made MLC last year, was suspended from the party for his alleged anti-party activities.

Both Reddy and Naik told the media in Delhi that they were forced to join the Congress party, as they had not got the due respect in the TRS. KCR is inaccessible even to the MLAs and senior party leaders. There is no benefit to the people of Telangana from the TRS government. It has benefitted only KCRs family, Naik said.

But the biggest defection from the TRS to the Congress was that of Rajya Sabha member D Srinivas, who also met Rahul Gandhi and expressed his willingness to join the party. He, however, did not officially take the Congress membership, possibly because it might result in his disqualification from Rajya Sabha.

I sought an appointment with Rahul and got it today. I discussed many things with him, Srinivas said, without commenting on whether he had joined the Congress or not.

The MP, who had been twice the president of Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee and played a crucial role in the Congress party taking a decision on bifurcation of combined Andhra Pradesh, joined the TRS after 2014 elections. He was nominated to Rajya Sabha and was made an advisor to the state government.

However, the TRS leadership had kept him away from the party activities, after his younger son D Aravind joined the BJP and is being projected to contest against KCRs daughter Kalvakuntla Kavitha from Nizamabad parliamentary seat in 2019 elections. Subsequently, Kavitha and her followers made a representation to her father seeking disciplinary action against Srinivas.

The Congress leadership is also seriously trying to rope prominent OBC leader and former MLA R Krishnaiah into the party. Krishnaiah, who heads OBC Welfare Association, was also supposed to leave for Delhi to meet the Congress president on Saturday, but he stayed back in Hyderabad. He is likely to join the Congress party once he gets clarity on his assembly seat, a party leader said.

Unconfirmed reports said two other senior TRS leaders  Karimnagar Zilla Parishad chairperson Tula Uma and ex-MLA Bodige Shoba  are also planning to quit the TRS and join the Congress.

The TRS had 90 members in the 119-member House and the Congress had 13 MLAs when the assembly was dissolved last month.
The Congress is likely to promise total prohibition, free education to girls, food processing units in Maoist-affected areas, a farm loan waiver within 10 days of forming government, and an increase in the minimum support price (MSP) for paddy by a record ~2500 per quintal, in addition to a bonus, in its manifesto for Chhattisgarh, party leaders familiar with matter said.

Chhattisgarh goes to the polls in two phases, on November 12 and 20, and the Congress is looking to come back to power after 15 years of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rule. Congress leaders said the poll document  which contains promises, programmes and policies for the next five years if voted to power  have been finalised after seeking feedback from at least 3,000 people in the state.

In a first, the Opposition party is also assigning a particular amount for each welfare scheme to ensure the total sops do not cross the annual budgetary allocation of ~80,000 crore, which is approximately the budget for the state in the fiscal year 2018-19.

We have prepared a unique and realistic manifesto this time. All the commitments are achievable. These are no jumlas (rhetoric) but doable promises, said a Chhattisgarh Congress functionary who refused to be named.

The leader said the party will enforce a strict ban on alcohol on the pattern of Gujarat and Bihar if it came to power. Many womens groups have given their representations on liquor ban to the members of the Congresss manifesto committee.

The BJP and the Janata Congress Chhattisgarh of former chief minister Ajit Jogi are also pushing for total prohibition.

Anti-liquor protests have been witnessed across the state recently. However, parties are wary of calling for a total liquor ban in tribal areas. As per the provisions in the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA), 1996, gram sabhas (village committees) or panchayats at the appropriate level are authorised to regulate and restrict sale and consumption of liquor in tribal areas.

The Congress is also going to promise food processing units in Maoist-hit areas to ensure socio-economic development. It is likely to offer free education to girls, unemployment allowance, reduced electricity bill, stop outsourcing jobs, promote industrial growth and upgrade infrastructure in government schools and hospitals, among other facilities.

Political observers say the Congress has tried to make a peoples manifesto. ...agrarian distress and unemployment are the two deciding factors in the upcoming elections and the Congress is trying to strike a chord with these two key sections, said Raipur-based political analyst Diwakar Muktibodh.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah said on Saturday there was an Emergency-like situation in Kerala, as he extended support to Lord Ayyappa devotees who have been protesting a Supreme Court order allowing women of all ages to enter the Sabarimala hill shrine.

Police in Kerala have arrested more than 2,000 people over the past few days in a crackdown on protesters who prevented the entry of women to the temple.

In Kannur to inaugurate the new district office of the BJP, Shah said his party will not remain a mute spectator to the state-sponsored crackdown. Today in Kerala, a struggle is on between believers and adamant state government. More than 2,000 activists and workers of BJP, RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) and other organisations have been arrested. Our party is with devotees, I warn the Left government to be careful, he said.

Attacking the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) government, Shah said it was playing with fire in quelling with brutal force protests by Ayyappa devotees.

Shah, who began his speech by chanting Swami Saranam, a hymn in praise of Lord Ayyappa, said the BJP will stand with Sabarimala devotees on the issue like a rock.

Addressing a BJP workers meet in Kannur, a Communist stronghold, Shah said the state government was repressing Hindu culture and conspiring against temples by using force.

The Supreme Court last month lifted a centuries-old ban on women aged between 10 and 50 years from entering the Sabarimala hill shrine in Kerala, a verdict that prompted protests by traditionalists who said the courts ordered went against their religious sentiments.

The temple, which opened for monthly rituals on October 18 for the first time after the Supreme Courts verdict, witnessed violent protests. About a dozen women who came to worship at the shrine were prevented from going inside by angry protesters as police baton-charged devotees in two base camps of Pambha and Nilakkal.

Listing court verdicts that have not been implemented in the past, including on the bull-taming sport of Jallikattu and prohibiting loudspeakers in mosques, Shah said impractical directions should not be given by courts and they should only pass orders that can be implemented.

You concentrate on developing the state rather than attacking the Ayyappa bhakts, the BJP president said, warning chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan that BJP workers will not hesitate to pull down the government.

Hours after the BJP chiefs remarks, Vijayan said Shahs remarks were an attack on the Supreme Court and the Constitution of India.

His statement that the apex court should pronounce verdicts that are implementable is nothing but a challenge to the various rights that the Constitution guarantees, Vijayan wrote in a Facebook post.

This clearly shows whats on the mind of Shah is the same thats there in the minds of the sangh parivar forces, the Kerala CM said.

The statement that women should not be allowed entry clearly shows that they (BJP) stand for the male hegemony. I wish to state that this government was elected by the people and not with the help or support of the BJP. People who support democracy should come out against this statement, he added.

On Friday, the police said they had registered about 450 cases and arrested 2,000 people linked to violent protests against the Supreme Court verdict.

Referring to the police action, Shah said: A non-believer government is trying to do enough dirty jobs in the name of a verdict.

Shah said the Hindu religion always respected women and Sabarimala was not a gender issue but of protecting ones culture and tradition. We have several temples where men are unwelcome. In Kerala, for example, at Attukal and Chakkulathkavu, men are not allowed to perform offerings. Each deity has a different custom and tradition. We have to respect this diverse nature, he said.

He said instead of giving relief to the flood-hit people in the state, the government was cracking down on peaceful devotees. The state is under another Emergency. Even women are not spared and they are getting arrested late at night, he said.

Responding to the BJP chiefs allegations, the Kerala CM said: It is a democratically elected government. We came to power not due to Amit Shahs largesse. He is threatening the government for trying to implement the order of the highest court of the country.

Shahs visit to Kannur, a district that has seen members of the BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh clashing with workers of the Left parties, is significant as the BJP tries to gain a foothold in the only Left-ruled state in the country.

(With inputs from agencies)
The ashram of a man who supported the Supreme Court verdict allowing entry of women of all ages to Sabarimala temple was attacked early Saturday, police said.

The ashram head, who goes by the name Swami Sandeepananda Giri, had supported the governments intention to uphold the top courts order.

Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan who visited the ashram in the morning, condemned the attack.

We wont allow communal forces to take law into their hands, Vijayan said after visiting the ashram.

Two cars and one scooter of the ashram were set on fire by the attackers.

Sandeepananda Giri said he suspected that the RSS was behind the attack.

I think RSS Sangh Parivar did this due to my statement about #Sabarimala & similar issues: Swami Sandeepananda Giri on his ashram in Thiruvananthapuram vandalised  ANI (@ANI) October 27, 2018

Kerala Minister KK Shailaja who visited the ashram also blamed the rightwing for arson.

We suspect Hindutva ideology extremist are behind the attack. Swami Sandeepananda Giri said women can enter #Sabarimala & that if we want to keep old customs, we can't go forward as human society because several customs discriminate b/w men & women: Kerala Minister KK Shailaja pic.twitter.com/VOF6mLgUCc  ANI (@ANI) October 27, 2018

Keralas Director general of Police, Loknath Behra said a special investigation team under Thiruvananthapuram police commissioner will probe attack on ashram.

The BJP rubbished claims that the sangh parivar was behind the attack. Blaming the Left , BJP leader P K Krishnadas said, The CPI(M) stage managed the attack to distract attention from Sabarimala issue.
Global Influencer Day has been held at the Heydar Aliyev Center, Trend news agency reports.

Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva attended the event. Sophia Artificial intelligence (AI) robot, one of the keynote speakers at the event, hailed huge potential of Azerbaijan, which brings together representatives of different cultures and religions.

Vice-president of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva talked to Sophia robot and posed for photographs together with her. Co-organized by the Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies, Global Influencer Day was held as part of the Innovation week.

Global Inuencer Day is a global congress bringing together the industry experts, inuencers, engagers, brand and business owners to discuss the latest trendy topics in the realm of the Inuencer Marketing. Attendees of the congress come from 5 continents and 30 countries, who belong to tourism, banking, fashion, food and FMCG, health and fitness, and to many more industries. This is also a great platform for the product placement of the corporate and brand owners.
As the countdown to the unveiling of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patels statue on October 31 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi begins, some local tribal organisations are gearing up for a showdown with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

While the local tribal organisations have called a day-long bandh on October 31, the BJP is planning a mega event where people from 5,000 villages are likely to attend. These villages are part of the state governments Ekta Yatra, launched to create awareness about Sardar Patels contribution in uniting India.

The inauguration of the statue  touted as the worlds tallest  on Sardar Patels birth anniversary, is being seen as the beginning of Modis campaign for a second term after 2019 general election.

Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani on Friday said Indians would have required visas to visit Junagadh and Hyderabad had Sardar Patel not taken tough action against the Nawab-ruled states and merged them with the Indian Union. Tribals and Patels, however, accused Modi of misusing Patels legacy to get votes.

About 72 villages in nine tribal districts  from Umargon in south Gujarat to Ambaji in the north  will observe a bandh on October 31. Not only are the local residents unhappy with being relocated, they claim that a Rs 2500-crore statue has no meaning in a district lacking basic amenities.

On October 31, lakhs of tribals will march towards the statue to protest. The villages will observe a bandh and the natives will not cook. The name of Sardar Patel has been misused to collect votes..., claimed Praful Vasava, a tribal leader, adding that a letter to this effect has been sent to the descendants of Sardar Patel.

Vasava claimed that to build a four-lane road between Vadodara and Kevadiya, several thousand trees were cut. Moreover, many tribals were displaced to construct the Garudeshwar weir and other amenities in the area. A week ago, 200 families from Kevadiya town were shifted to Kaba village and they were not offered money or land..., said Sanjay Tadvi, a resident of Kevadiya village.

Government officials have debunked his claim. We have initiated process for land allotment and a financial package of Rs 7.5 lakh per hectare in case the affected person doesnt want land in exchange. Families will also get a plot to construct a home and Rs 5 lakh compensation, said Narmada district collector R Ninama.

BJP called stir a conspiracy to hurt Gujarati asmita (pride). Congress is behind all this... tribals are with us, said BJP spokesperson Bharat Pandya.

The Congress alleged that the BJP failed all communities. On issues ranging from education to employment, tribals are unhappy, said Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi.
The CBI investigation into the release of about 1,300 acres land in Gurugram, during the previous Congress regime, has come under a cloud following a complaint by the ousted special director of the investigating agency, Rakesh Asthana, to the Union cabinet secretary.

Asthanas complaint speaks about exchange of money to ensure that the preliminary enquiry (PE) is closed and no criminal investigation is launched.

The contents of the complaint are now being investigated by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) under the supervision of a retired Supreme Court judge.

The CBI, which was given an extended two-month deadline till October 31 by the Supreme Court to submit the final report in the Gurgaon land release case, however is unlikely to arrive at a conclusion when it submits a status report before the apex court next month.

SC ordered investigation

The Supreme Court had ordered a CBI investigation in the land matter on November 1, 2017 with a six-month deadline (till May 30, 2018) for the agency to submit a report.

The CBI on August 31 filed an application before the apex court seeking two-month extension to prepare and file the final report. The extension of time till October 31 was granted by the apex court. The agency in the meantime also submitted a status report in the sealed cover before the SC.

Whats the probe about

The CBI is investigating initiation of land acquisition process for 1,407 acres and passing of final award for 87 acres in Gurgaon during the Congress regime.

The Congress government had in June 2009 issued a notification under Section 4 to acquire 1,407 acres for developing residential sectors 58-63 and commercial sectors 65-67 in Gurgaon by the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA).

The land sought to be acquired covered eight villages - Badshapur, Behrampur, Nangli Umarpura, Tigra, Ullahwas, Kadarpur, Ghatta and Medawas of Gurgaon.

However, while issuing the declaration under Section 6 on June 2, 2010, the total area was reduced to about 800 acres. Finally, the award dated May 29, 2012 was passed for 87 acres only.

Asthanas plaint puts a spanner in probe

The complaint made by Rakesh Asthana, an IPS officer, has cast aspersions on the investigations in the land matter.

Information is received to the effect that a heavy amount of illegal gratification (to the tune of Rs 36 crore) is changing hands to ensure that PE is closed and no criminal investigation is launched, he alleged in a top secret note of August 24 to the cabinet secretary.

He also alleged that Haryana officials and real estate developers were liaising with the CBI officials in this regard. The PE was registered by the Anti Corruption Branch  I, CBI, New Delhi.

Course of CBI probe

Since the CBI initiated a PE in the matter, the agency can convert it into a regular case (RC), if commission of a prima facie cognisable offence was established. The RC is a first information report (FIR). The other option would be to close the PE for want of proof, CBI officials said. However with the probe under a cloud, the agency may hand over the case to a special investigating team (SIT) of the CBI.

Hight court quashed acquisition notification

Notably, land owners had filed petitions challenging the Gurgaon acquisition proceedings before the Punjab and Haryana high court.

Quashing the acquisition notifications, including the award, the HC in January 2014 had said that the power of eminent domain was invoked by the state to acquire more than 1,400 acres for purpose of developing residential and commercial sectors in Gurgaon.

The state machinery has bent over backwards to favour the private colonisers. There can thus be no other inference but to hold that powers under the Act have been misused to benefit the private builders and other affluent individuals, who meanwhile purchased the land from original owners, the HC said.

The court also said this is undeniable that the total land, which has been finally acquired, is insufficient to develop even one urban sector in Gurgaon what to talk of the entire notified public purpose. It is also an uncontroverted fact that the acquired land (87 acres) is scattered here and there in the revenue estate of different villages and fall in different urban sectors, the HC said.

Timeline

 June 6, 2009: Process to acquire 1,407 acres for HUDA initiated.

 May 29, 2012: Only 87 acres acquired. The rest of the land was released

 Jan 10, 2014: HC quashes the acquisition notifications, including the award

 November 1, 2017: Supreme Court orders CBI probe into initiation of acquisition for 1,400 acres and passing of final award for 87 acres. Orders CBI to submit report in six months.

 August 31, 2018: CBI seeks two more months to complete the probe.
Militant outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) claimed the use of sniper rifles in a standoff fire (shooting from a distance) launched by ultras on a camp on the outskirts of Srinagar early on Saturday in which a CISF officer was killed.

CISF assistant sub inspector Rajendra Prasad was shot inside the grid station at Wagoora Nowgam in a standoff fire by militants, a police spokesman said.

The attack was repulsed by alert sentry at the spot. Officer Prasad was shifted to hospital. He, however, succumbed to his injuries, the spokesman said.

Jaish-e-Mohammad spokesman in a press note to a local news agency claimed responsibility for the Nowgam attack and said sniper and grenades were used in the attack.

Police officials, who did not wish to be identified, said they suspected the use of sniper rifles, but did not confirm, saying they were verifying the matter.

In the last one week, this is the third attack where militants targeted forces personnel from a distance.

On Thursday night, a soldier, sepoy Ngamsiamliana from Mizoram, was killed and another injured in a standoff attack by militants on an army camp at Lurgam in Tral south Kashmir.

On Sunday, militants had targeted the CRPF camp at Midora in Pulwama district and killed an SSB constable Vijay Kumar. The SSB jawans were deployed for the local body elections in Pulwama.

In all the three cases, the militants had fled by the time Quick Reaction Teams (QRTs) of the army and the special operations group of the police reached the spot.

JeM had claimed responsibility for all the three attacks.

A senior army officer said standoff attacks are mounted from a distance. We have no such information whether in these attacks sniper rifles were used or militants used grenades and AK rifles or UBGLs (under barrel grenade launcher). The investigations are going on, the officer said on condition of anonymity.

A senior police officer cautioned that if it is found that militants have started using sniper, then the situation could be alarming.

We are still verifying details. So far, we have no clue about the weapons used in these attacks. If snipers are used, then the forces will have to adopt preventive methods to avoid causalities in the future, he said on condition of anonymity.
Rashtriya Lok Samta Part (RLSP) chief Upendra Kushwaha Saturday said he stands firmly with the NDA and is working for another term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a day after he met RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav triggering speculation of discontent within the ruling BJP-led alliance in Bihar.

Kushwaha met Yadav Friday hours after BJP president Amit Shah in Delhi announced a seat-sharing formula for the state for the next year Lok Sabha elections.

He said the seat sharing is yet to be finalised in the NDA and that he would meet Shah in the next two-three days. Kushwaha, a Union minister of state for HRD, also wondered why a conclusion was being drawn that the RLSP would not get a fair deal.

The RLSP is a part of the BJP-led NDA in the state whose other constituents are Nitish Kumars JD(U) and Ramvilas Paswans LJP. Seat sharing is yet to be finalised. I cannot comment on the basis of media reports. I will be meeting Amit Shah in next two-three days. I wonder why people are drawing the conclusion that we are not going to get a fair deal, Kushwaha said.

The Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) is an ally of the BJP since the 2014 general elections.

I also do not understand this big fuss about an equal number of seats for the BJP and the JD(U). Does it indicate any number? It could even imply that out of the 40 seats in Bihar, both parties will be contesting 10 each and leave the remaining 20 for others.There is a lot of scope for our party being accommodated respectably, he said.

Dismissing speculation, Kushwaha said, I am firmly with the NDA and committed to working for another term for Narendra Modi as prime minister. The RLSP chief had met Yadav at Arwal shortly after Shah and JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar briefed reporters in New Delhi on the seat-sharing arrangement.

Kushwaha, a former JD(U) leader who had quit the party in 2013, months after suspension on disciplinary grounds, had floated his own outfit and joined the NDA while Nitish Kumars party was out of the BJP-led coalition.

The decision of the BJP, which had won 22 seats in 2014 general elections, to treat as an equal the JD(U) that returned with a dismal tally of only two, is also being seen as a snub to Kushwaha, who has been viewing Kumars return to the NDA with consternation.

The RLSP had contested on three seats under the NDA banner in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and had won on all the seats. Kushwaha himself had won from the Karakat seat.

RJD heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav reiterated that there was a standing invitation to Kushwaha from his side to leave the NDA and join the grand alliance in Bihar.

Sources in the grand alliance said the RJD was ready to give more number of seats to Kushwaha than what the BJP was willing to spare for the RLSP, even though the Union minister wanted to wait until it was clear how many seats each NDA constituent was likely to get.

Kushwaha also desires to change his Lok Sabha seat in the 2019 polls as he was not sure of retaining Karakat in south Bihar, they claimed, adding that this was because the constituency does not have a sizeable number of voters from his caste (OBC Kushwaha or Koeri) and the Modi wave, which helped him win in 2014, is on the wane.

Yadav also sought to ruffle more feathers in the NDA, saying the press briefing that was held in New Delhi Friday by Shah and Kumar with neither LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan nor Kushwaha in attendance smacked of disrespect and contempt for the two leaders whose loyalty the BJP seems to have been taken for granted.

On reports of his telephonic conversation with LJP parliamentary board chairman Chirag Paswan after Shah and Kumar came together before the media, he declined to give a direct reply, but said cryptically Ram Vilas Paswan has been my guardian. He is a father figure and has never back stabbed us the way Kumar has. Whom he should tie up with is going to be his call, Yadav said.
Over 19 years after being expelled from the Congress for opposing Sonia Gandhis projection as the partys prime ministerial candidate in 1999 ostensibly on the ground of her foreign origin, Tariq Anwar was taken back into the grand old party on Saturday.

Congress president and Sonia Gandhis son Rahul Gandhi welcomed Anwar, a five-time Lok Sabha member and two-term Rajya Sabha MP, back into the party fold.

The Congress also got a shot in the arm in Telangana when two ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leaders  former legislator T Narsa Reddy and member of legislative council (MLC) S Ramulu Naik  joined the party on Saturday.

TRS Rajya Sabha member D Srinivas too met Gandhi and expressed his willingness to join the Congress.

Nearly a month ago on September 28, Anwar had resigned from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) over his party chief Sharad Pawars reported clean chit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Rafale deal.

Pawar, however, later denied the remarks and reiterated his demand for a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into the fighter jet deal.

It was in 1999 that Anwar along with Pawar and PA Sangma founded the NCP after they were expelled from the Congress a year after Sonia Gandhi was elected as the Congress president on March 14, 1998.

Their opposition to a move to project her as the PM candidate prompted her to resign from the post on May 15, 1999, just before the Lok Sabha elections.

In her resignation letter to the Congress Working Committee (CWC), she wrote: Although born in a foreign land, I chose India as my country and would remain an Indian till my last breath. India is my motherland, dearer to me than my own life.

The resignation prompted hunger-strikes and agitation from Congress workers and she agreed to take back her resignation after the party expelled Pawar, Sangma and Anwar on May 20, 1999. The CWC was informed of her decision on May 24, 1999. The next day, a special session of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) was called to welcome her back as the party president.

Anwar, who had also resigned as the Lok Sabha member from Katihar (Bihar) last month, held the post of general secretary in the NCP.

After joining the Congress in 1972, Anwar held several organisational posts, including acting party president in Bihar, Youth Congress chief, CWC member, Seva Dal head and political secretary to the then party chief Sitaram Kesri.

Congress leaders familiar with the development said Srinivas did not join the party as the move would have resulted in his disqualification from the Rajya Sabha.

I discussed many things with him (Rahul Gandhi), he said, without elaborating whether he had joined the Congress or not.

The Congress leadership is also trying to woo prominent Other Backward Classes (OBC) leader and former legislator R Krishnaiah into the party.

TRS official spokesperson Palla Rajeshwar Reddy said the party had in fact sacked the rebel leaders over anti-party activities. They were in fact a burden for the TRS and we got rid of the burden. Their joining the Congress hardly makes any difference to the TRS, Reddy said.
Various services relating to sanitation, education and health departments were affected across Haryana on Friday when employees associated with 42 unions went on a mass casual leave in support of the ongoing roadways strike.

Services were badly hit in Karnal, Kurukshetra and Yamunanagar districts while the response was mixed in Rohtak, Sonepat, Jind, Jhajjar, Bhiwani and Rewari.

However, there was partial impact to the services in response to the call of the Haryana Sarvkarmchari Sangh, the umbrella body of employees unions, to go on mass casual leave.

Haryana Sarvkarmchari Sangh general secretary Subhash Lamba claimed that most of employees of different departments remained on mass casual leave on Friday.

He said the Sangh members would hold a meeting on Saturday to decide the next course of action.

Major challenge to BJP govt in poll year

Meanwhile, the support to the roadways employees from other unions as their strike entered the 11th day has posed a major challenge to the Manohar LalKhattar-led BJP government in the election year. Assembly elections are due in the state next year.

Chief secretary DS Dhesi reviewed the situation and got feedback from the online attendance dashboard.

As per the online attendance, only 1.18 lakh of the total registered 3.80 lakh employees in the state marked their attendance on Friday.

However, as per officials, the average attendance was short by about 2,000, as the daily attendance is usually 1.2 lakh.

In Haryana power utilities, only 17,987 of 34,000 employees marked the presence on Friday. The absence in power utilities was about 47%.

Bus strike till October 29

The roadways employees are protesting against the governments move to induct 700 private buses, which they allege is a step towards privatisation of the department and would benefit a chosen few.

The government refutes their allegations, saying the move is in favour of employees, people and the government.

They have been on strike since October 16 even as the Essential Services Maintenance Act (Esma) is in force in the state. They had on Thursday extended the strike till October 29.

No teachers, students return from school

Karnal: Hundreds of employees of various government held demonstrations and took out a protest march under the banner of Haryana Sarvkarmchari Sangh in Karnal, Kurukshetra and Yamunanagar in support of demands of roadways employees.

The services in the government departments remained affected as people were seen struggling to get their work done.

Even, the studies in government schools remained hit as students had to return from the schools as there were no teachers in several schools. Five members of the Sangh started a hunger strike in Karnal.

Employees threaten further shutdown

Rohtak: The employees of various organizations under the banner of Haryana Karamchari Mahasangh held a demonstration and took out a protest march in the city.

They threatened further shutdown of services if the demands were not met.

The impact of the demonstration was, however partially seen in services.

Many organisations, such as the auto-rickshaw union of Haryana, announced on Friday to refrain from supporting the strike saying it was politically motivated and not issue-based.

Services of revenue department hit

Hisar: The services of revenue department remained disrupted with all patwaris (land revenue officers) and kanungo (land record officials) held demonstrations in favour of the roadways union.

The sanitation services were also partially hit after the sanitation workers went on strike.

Though there was no disruption witnessed in power supply in Hisar, Sirsa and Fatehabad, health services were partially hit.
Actor-politician Kamal Haasan on Saturday said his party Makkal Needhi Maiam will consider contesting if the bypolls to the 20 seats in Tamil Nadu assembly are announced.

So far the Election commission has not announced dates for bypolls. However, we would consider contesting the bypolls once the EC announces the dates, he told reporters.

Eighteen seats have fallen vacant after the Madras high court upheld the disqualification of 18 dissenting AIADMK MLAs

The Election Commission said it would announce bypolls if there are no appeals within 30 days against the HC verdict.

The EC has already declared Thiruvarur and Thirupparankundram seats as vacant due to the demise of former DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi and AIADMK MLA AK Bose, but is yet to announce bypolls.

On the appointment of Mahinda Rajapaksa as the new prime minister in Sri Lanka in a surprise move, Kamal Haasan said, We hope that Rajapaksa would not act like how he did in the past.
Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief and Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister Om Prakash Rajbhar threatened to resign from the Yogi Adityanath government at his partys 16th foundation day rally in the state capital on Saturday.

I didnt come to Lucknow for the sake of power. I joined the government because I wanted to do something for the poor. Should I fight this battle or become a slave of the BJP? I have not been assigned a single office till today. I have come here with the intention of announcing my resignation, he said at the rally.

However, he did not go ahead and announce his resignation during the rally Gulami chorho, samaj jodo (shun slavery, unite community).

Rajbhar has been accusing the states BJP government, of ignoring him (a minister in the same government) and the interests of the backwards. He asked the people at the rally if he should resign.

The crowd, nudged by SBSP leaders sharing the stage with Rajbhar, kept shouting nahin (no) making it clear that BJPs sulking ally was still undecided on its next step.

Both Rajbhar and Shashi Pratap Singh accused the BJP of cheating the backwards and the most backwards.

BJP chief Amit Shah had promised to make efforts to provide 54% reservation to backwards but he didnt honour his promise. BJP people want votes of OBCs, but dont want to do anything beyond lip service for them, he said.

What are we asking for? We have been demanding ban on liquor which has caused immense problem for backwards. We favour division of the state for better management, restoration of old pension scheme for all and eight- hour duty shift for police. But for our support, the BJP government hasnt even allotted us a office in the state capital, said Shashi Pratap Singh.

Throughout his address, Rajbhar repeated that he wasnt power hungry. I want to tell you that I became a minister not for myself but to do something for my people and to fight for the poor, he said.

He is angry at being ignored by BJP leadership. So far they havent been able to allot an office to SBSP in the state capital. Then BJP chief Amit Shah during his recent visit to the state capital didnt meet him, said one Mukesh Rajbhar, who said he had come from Varanasi to attend the rally.

Reacting to Rajbhars charges, BJP spokesperson Chandra Mohan said: The BJP has done a lot for SC/STs and OBCs... There is no point reacting to individual claims.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday said his meeting with Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe will add new vigour to the strong friendship between the two countries as he arrived in Tokyo to attend the 13th India-Japan annual summit.

The two-day summit beginning Sunday will seek to review the progress in ties and deepen strategic dimension of the bilateral relationship.

PM Narendra Modi arrives in Tokyo to a warm welcome for his 5th Annual Summit with Abe Shinzo. Japan is one of the few countries that India has this mechanism of annual summits, reflecting the extraordinary depth of our engagement, external affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted. Landed in Tokyo. I am confident this visit will add new vigour to the strong friendship between India and Japan, Modi said in a tweet.

I thank Japan's Indian community for their warm welcome.



We are proud of the accomplishments of the Indian diaspora. pic.twitter.com/N51w7nPJpo  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 27, 2018

In a statement on Friday, before leaving for Japan, Modi described India and Japan as a winning combination and said the island nation was New Delhis most trusted partner in its economic and technological modernisation.

Modi said it will be his 12th meeting with Abe since he first visited Japan as prime minister in September 2014.

During the summit, Modi will engage with Abe on a range of issues including defence and regional security.

Abe will host Modi at his holiday home in the picturesque Yamanashi prefecture for a private dinner on Sunday following which both the leaders will travel to Tokyo by train.

Yamanashi, at a distance of around 110 kilometres from Tokyo, is surrounded by several mountains including Mount Fuji - the countrys tallest peak at around 3,776 metres.

On Sunday afternoon, Prime Minister Modi will join his Japanese counterpart for an informal lunch at a hotel. The two leaders will then visit a company which is a leading manufacturer of factory automation.

Besides bilateral issues, the two leaders are expected to deliberate on a range of regional and global issues including the situation in the Indo-Pacific region.

It is said the prime ministers visit will reaffirm the traditional bonds of friendship between the two countries and strengthen their multi-faceted cooperation in diverse fields.

India is also hoping to have some kind of synergy or integration between Modis Ayushman Bharat scheme, which is the largest medicare programme of its kind globally, and the Japanese programme which is called Asia Health and Wellbeing Initiative.

Prime Minister in his statement said projects such as Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail and Dedicated Freight Corridors reflected the high level and strength of our economic engagement. Japan is also at the forefront of engaging in our national initiatives, such as Make in India, Skill India, Digital India, Start Up India... Japanese investors have faith in Indias economic future, which is marked with myriad opportunities, Modi said.

Modi will also address the Indian community function in Tokyo and will attend a series of business events and address the business forum.
Uttar Pradesh police on Saturday said they had arrested a suspected agent of Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in Bulandshahr.

A joint team of the special cell and local police of on Friday night arrested the man identified as Mohd Zahid, a resident of Khurja town and seized classified documents, maps of army areas, electronic devices and mobile phone from him, officials familiar with the matter said.

Police PRO Ajaydeep said they would seek his remand for further investigation in the case when Zahid was presented in court on Saturday.

Zahid is suspected of sharing vital inputs about armed forces and establishments with his handlers in Pakistan, police said.

His interrogation is underway and intelligence agencies are trying to collect inputs about his network in the region.

Zahid has been to Pakistan twice, the last time being in June this year.

Bulandshahr SP (City) Praveen Ranjan said electronic devices and a mobile phone recovered from Zahid were being checked for further leads and evidence. Police claimed that he was using Skype and WhatsApp to pass on vital information about the Indian Army and its movements to Pakistans intelligence agencies.

Zahids sister, Hashmati, has denied that her brother was a spy and has demanded a fair probe into the matter.

A police officer privy to the investigations said that Zahids financial background was poor, but his bank account had Rs 5 lakh. Authorities are now probing as to who deposited that amount into Zahids bank account. His laptop allegedly has a lot of information on the cantonments of Meerut, Roorkie and some other places along with detailed maps, officials said.
France and Germany's leaders said Saturday they want a "coordinated" European position for restrictions on arms sales to Saudi Arabia after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to the French presidency, i24 News reports.

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel moved to quash a rare dispute between the close European allies after Macron implied on Friday that Berlin was engaging in "pure demagoguery" by halting arms sales to Riyadh.

On the sidelines of a Syria summit in Istanbul, the two leaders had a "relaxed exchange", the Elysee palace said, and agreed not to announce their next positions on the issue without first coordinating "at the European level".
Days ahead of completing four years in power on October 31, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis spoke to Hindustan Times on Friday on his equation with ally Shiv Sena, his partys prospects in the polls, Ram Mandir and his governments performance. Excerpts:

Have you delivered on the promises made after you took over the reins of the state in 2014?

We had not issued a manifesto, but I had unveiled a vision document for the government after I took over. I think I have delivered 100 per cent on this vision. I dont say that everything I had promised is delivered or achieved, but all policies, schemes and projects have been initiated and are in various stages of completion.

Will your party have an alliance with the Shiv Sena and will both the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha polls be held simultaneously?

No [the polls will not be held together]. We want to try and have an alliance with the Sena for both the Lok Sabha as well as Vidhan Sabha polls. If the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) come together, we will have to come together or both of us can suffer. Political reality will ensure an alliance. If Mulayam Singh and Mayawati can come together, why cant we? We have been allies for 25 years. If we have an alliance, we will win polls easily, if not, we will have to struggle a bit to win. We are prepared.The BJP is and will be the number one party.

The Sena has been with you in the government for four years and continues to be your most bitter critic. Of late, Sena chief Thackeray has been focusing on a hardline Hindutva narrative and is planning to go to Ayodhya. Comment.

I dont think this dual position [of the Sena] will be beneficial. It will not be advantageous, and can lead to losses. Thackerays Hindutva narrative only means that we will get closer and alliance will happen in the larger interest of our ideology, just like how the so-called secular forces have come together. After all, Hindutva plank will not endear the Sena to our political opponents.

To get Sena on board as an ally, is the BJP willing to consider a split in CMs tenure for both the parties if the alliance comes to power in 2019?

They have not asked us for this. I dont think they will. If they do, well discuss it.

One perception that has stayed with your government for the past four years is that it is largely a one-man show. It is said that your colleagues lack adequate talent and experience.

I dont think running a government can be a one-man show. It is a team effort. You need strong leadership, but also team work. I am perhaps more in the limelight because I am the CM. But everyone in my team is working. Some are working very well, some may not be doing as well. Some senior ministers get more attention and others dont get any attention.

At a recent address you said that you would be the CM in 2019 as well. Was that a hint to other CM aspirants in your party?

Are there any aspirants remaining? (laughs). No, my address was not a hint to anyone in my party or even my ally. It was meant for the Congress-NCP that has been talking of trying to dislodge our government.

Are you close to leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil (seen as a friend) or Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray? Both criticise your government.

I am close to and prefer Uddhav Thackeray. Vikhe-Patils criticism is with a bid to destabilise us and remove us from power. I see Thackerays criticism more as a critical commentary.

Are you likely to induct leaders from other parties, specifically the Congress-NCP in your party ahead of the polls?

Yes, several leaders from the Congress-NCP are in touch with us. Any decision on inducting them or giving them tickets will be based on elective merit.

There were reports of an internal survey of MPs and MLAs carried out by you, in which several of your party colleagues performed poorly. Comment.

I had given survey reports on performance of MPs and MLAs and overall perception of our party recently, but the media reports on the outcome of this survey were completely wrong. I wont go into the details, but, for instance, some reports said that MP Subhash Bhamre had performed poorly. This is farthest from the truth. He was among the top five performing MPs in the state. The survey results suggest good tidings for us in the polls. It has established that we are the number one party in the state. For instance one finding was that in Mumbai, PM Narendra Modi is more popular than he was in 2014.

What is your view on the Ram Mandir issue?

I believe the temple must be built, it is after all the aspiration of crores of Indians. There are two ways to achieve that, through judiciary or a new law. For a law, we dont have a majority in the Rajya Sabha, so we will have to bring all parties on one platform. I think we will get a favourable verdict from the Supreme Court, going by the High Court judgment. This does not mean we are against masjids. If someone is trying to break a masjid, I will save it. But this is a different case as originally a temple existed here and that has been proven.

What is your take on the #MeToo movement where several women in media, film industry, advertising have complained of harassment at workplace and outed senior colleagues and people in power?

I dont want to speak specifically about the #MeToo movement. As far as harassment at workplace goes, we have very clear guidelines and laws for it. If anyone is found guilty, he must not be spared. At the same time, I feel this should not be misused. Due diligence must be followed.

Will the cabinet expansion take place soon?

I want to go in for a cabinet expansion. It should happen before the session of the state Assembly. There is no controversy in this case. It has been decided which ministers (a few) will be dropped and who will be inducted.

There is some talk about how your government is controlled from Delhi completely.

I dont know where you have heard this from. We dont have to go to Delhi [leadership] to get anything cleared or to take a decision. Instead, Delhi backs us whenever we need their help or assistance.
A three-year-old nursery student of a private school in Noidas Sector 70 has been allegedly raped by the school bus driver while he was dropping her back home in Sector 143, police said. The driver has been identified and will be arrested soon, the police said.

A case of rape was registered on Thursday against an unknown bus driver under sections of rape (376A and 376B) along with sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offence (POCSO) Act.

According to the childs mother, who is the complainant, the incident happened on October 9. On October 9 when my husband went to pick up our daughter, aged three years and nine months,from the bus stop, she started crying as soon as she stepped down from the bus. When he asked her the reason, she told him that the driver had removed her undergarments and touched her inappropriately. She said he also made some lewd comments, said the woman in her complaint.

An advocate by profession, the woman was in Gurgaon at the time of the incident. I took her to another room and enquired about the incident. She started crying and narrated her ordeal to me. She also snatched the phone from my hands and in a scared tone told me not to tell anyone, else bhaiya would hit her, alleged the mother.

In her complaint, the mother further said that she immediately called the school principal and class teacher and shared a video on WhatsApp, but got no response. The next day the principal called me to the school and we had a meeting with the school management. They assured us that they would take strict action in the matter and also file an FIR, said the woman.

The parents alleged that for nearly 15 days, they were given this assurance. Meanwhile, on October 10, the girl was taken to the school to identify the driver and in front of the principal and other officials she picked his photo from four photos.

After the school didnt take any satisfactory action, the parents approached the police and filed a complaint with the Surajpur police station. The victims family resides in Sector 143, which comes under the jurisdiction of Surajpur police station.

Police officials said that the driver has now been identified. We are looking into the matter and will arrest him soon. If the investigation reveals that the school was at fault, we will also take the necessary action against it, said Vineet Jaiswal, superintendent of police (rural).

As per the schools statement, the driver has been expelled from duty and we are working with the school in this matter, said the police. The school said that they are cooperating with the police in this regard. However, the principal didnt comment on the situation despite multiple attempts to reach her.

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The first head of Bhutans Gross National Happiness (GNH) Centre, Saamdu Chetri on Friday shared different ways to achieve happiness.

Chetri, who was at Panjab University to attend the International Psychological Congress, said, Happiness is within, but not within you alone as it is among us. If we can create happiness in a community, then we will be able to attain happiness as individuals.

Chetri, who is also a visiting faculty member at IIT Kharagpur, said, We are suffering as we are living in a competitive world. When you can align yourself with others, you will find happiness.

When asked about the definition of happiness, he said, For me, happiness is to serve others. It is when you live in relation and harmony with nature to find your inner potentials.

If you practise love, trust and relationship-integrity-compassion-humanity (RICH), you will be happy, he said.

About gross national happiness

About gross national happiness, Chetri said, The gross national happiness depends on three factorsautonomy, affluence and acceptance. It also depends on whether the population has basic conditions for living.

The gross national happiness index measures happiness based on 9 domains, which have 124 variables. It includes education, health, good governance, living standards, psychological well being, time use, community vitality, cultural diversity and resilience, ecological diversity and resilience. The survey for measuring gross national happiness index is done every 2 to 2.5 years.

In the sufficiency indicators, if the person is at 50 to 65%, she/he will be narrowly happy, at 66 to 76% deeply happy and at 77 to 100% extensively happy. According to the data, 92% Bhutanese people are narrowly to extensively happy, he shared.

Chetri also taught the delegates how to hug. You should be at heart to heart, chin on each others shoulders while you hug. Take three breaths signifyinglove, kindness and gratitude.
The Islamic State group has killed 41 US-backed fighters in Syria who are battling to oust the jihadists from their eastern holdout of Hajin on the Iraqi border, a war monitor said Saturday.

IS late Friday dispatched suicide bombers as part of a counter-attack against the Syrian Democratic Forces, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human rights.

The SDF fighters, who are backed by US-led coalition air strikes, were killed overnight, the Observatory said.

In a statement on the Telegram messaging app, IS said it had attacked the village of Sousa late Friday and detonated a car bomb near the village of Al-Baghuza further south, down the Euphrates river.

The SDF last month launched an offensive against the jihadists in the Hajin pocket on the eastern banks of the Euphrates, in Deir Ezzor province.

Since September 10, 270 SDF fighters and 496 IS jihadists have been killed in the offensive, the Observatory says.

The coalition estimates that 2,000 IS fighters remain in the Hajin area.

Last week, the Observatory said coalition air strikes had killed 41 civilians in Sousa, 10 of them children, on October 18 and 19.

But the coalition said it had targeted an IS command post on October 18, and denied carrying out any strikes in the area the following day.

IS overran large swathes of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014, proclaiming a caliphate across land it controlled.

But the jihadist group has since lost most of that territory to various offensives in both countries.

In Syria, its presence has been reduced to parts of the vast Badia desert and the Hajin pocket.

Syrias war has killed more than 360,000 people since it erupted in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.
US authorities have charged Cesar Sayoc Jr, a Florida man, with five federal crimes, including for threatening former presidents, and are searching his home, van and social media accounts to determine his reasons for mailing pipe-bombs to at least a dozen leading critics of president Donald Trump.

Investigators have warned that explosive devices already posted by him could still be moving through the postal system, as two more packages were found after his arrest on Friday following a frenzied manhunt. One package was addressed to Democratic senator Kamala Harris and the other to billionaire and Democratic donor Tom Steyer.

In all, 13 such packages had been intercepted till late Friday. Intended recipients included former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, former vice-president Joe Biden and former Obama administration officials Hillary Clinton, John Brennan and public figures such as actor Robert De Niro.

Announcing the arrest FBI director Christopher Wray described the explosive devices as IEDs  improvised explosive devices  and cautioned against taking them lightly. Though were still analyzing the devices in our Laboratory, these are not hoax devices, he added.

DNA samples picked up from two of the packages, including one meant for Obama, and a fingerprint led investigators to identify their consignor, as samples matched those collected from Sayoc by law enforcement agencies before, according to the criminal complaint.

A history sheeter, Sayoc, 56, has been charged with five federal crimes, including interstate transportation of explosives, mailing of explosives, threats against former presidents and others, threatening interstate communications, and assaulting officers. If convicted, he could spend 48 years in prison.

Federal officials did not discuss his motivation or other details saying the investigation was ongoing. But attorney general Jeff Sessions did say the man was partisan.

The van seized from him was plastered with pictures of President Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence, and images Clinton and other Democrats in cross-hairs. There is a video of the suspect at a 2017 Trump rally in which he holds up a sign saying CNN sucks, a frequent chant at presidents rallies.

I did not see my face on the van, Trump said to reporters when asked about his pictures on the van. I dont know -- I heard he was a person that preferred me over others, but I did not see that.

He bristled at suggestions that divisive rhetoric could have been a factor motivating the suspect.

Sayoc has a long history of criminal charges. In 2014, prior to Trumps emergence as a political figure, he was arrested for making a bomb-threat to a public utility service, according to reports citing online criminal record. There were other charges including battery.

He used to live with his parents in Aventura, Florida, until they threw him out. He had since lived in his van, which bore Trump campaign pictures and stickers and which was seen on news footage being covered under blue tarp by FBI agents before being driven away on a carrier.
At least 8 people were killed in a shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburg shortly after it opened for Shabbat services Saturday, a holy day for Jewish people, and six people were wounded, including police officers.

The gunman, said to be a white man, was in custody. He was identified as Robert Bowers, a 46-year-old local man from Pittsburg. And he used a military-style semi-automatic assault rifle AR-15, which has been to have been used in multiple mass-shootings, and a handgun.

The suspect opened fire at the congregation at around 10:30, came out and exchanged fire with police officers before he was arrested, after suffering a bullet injury himself.

Bowers has reportedly posted anti-semitic comments on his social media accounts, and is reported to have used them also during the shooting. In one post on Twitter, before the account was taken down, he had railed against an organization that aids in immigration of Jewish people.

The synagogue, called the Tree of Life at Squirrel Hill, which has a large Jewish community in Pittsburg, was also hosting a bris, naming ceremony of a newborn boy.

Local officials described the scene inside the synagogue as very bad and said the shooting will be treated as a hate-crime.

Its a terrible thing whats going  in our country, President Donald Trump said to reporters. But when asked if it was time to take a look at gun laws, he said the tragedy might have been averted if there was an armed guard  some kind of protection  inside the synagogue, in line with what has said before about other such mass shootings. He suggested arming teachers after a mass shooting at a Florida school.

The president also said killers such as the one involved in the Saturday shooting should be given the death punishment, and soon.

Watching the events unfolding in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Law enforcement on the scene. People in Squirrel Hill area should remain sheltered. Looks like multiple fatalities. Beware of active shooter. God Bless All!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 27, 2018

.Anti-Defamation League, a body that fights anti-semitism in the United States, has said the number of anti-Semitic incidents shot up by 57% in 2017, which the body said was the largest single-year increase on record and the second highest number reported since 1979, when the body was funded.

The sharp rise was in part due to a significant increase in incidents in schools and on college campuses, which nearly doubled for the second year in a row.started, it has said in its annual report.

ADLs CEO Jonathan Greenblatt wrote on Twitter: We are devastated. Jews targeted on Shabbat morning at synagogue, a holy place of worship, is unconscionable. Our hearts break for the victims, their families, and the entire Jewish community.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday left for Japan to attend the annual summit with his counterpart Shinzo Abe.

The summit will be held on October 28 and 29. In a statement Friday, before leaving for Japan, Modi described India and Japan as a winning combination and said the island nation is New Delhis most trusted partner in its economic and technological modernisation.

He said Indias partnership with Japan is of great substance and purpose.

We have a special strategic and global partnership. Our ties with Japan, both economic and strategic, stand completely transformed in recent years. It is today a partnership of great substance and purpose. It rests on the strong pillars of Indias Act East Policy, and our shared vision and commitment to a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific, he said.

Modi said it will be his 12th meeting with Abe since he first visited Japan as prime minister in September 2014.

He said, as democracies, the two countries have shared values and they seek peace and prosperity for all.

Our complementarities make India and Japan a winning combination. Japan today is one of the most trusted partners in Indias economic and technological modernisations and one of the top investors in India, he pointed out.

The Prime Minister said projects such as Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail and Dedicated Freight Corridors reflect the high level and strength of our economic engagement. Japan is also at the forefront of engaging in our national initiatives, such as Make in India, Skill India, Digital India, Start Up India... Japanese investors have faith in Indias economic future, which is marked with myriad opportunities, Modi said.

He said India values Japans global leadership in innovation, technologies and best practices and during his visit, he will have a chance to see some of Japans high-tech capabilities in robotics.

I will have wide-ranging talks with prime minister Shinzo Abe and interact with business leaders and captains of industry from both countries. I will also address the Indian community. These interactions will help to further strengthen our trade and investment ties, and cooperation in new areas such as healthcare, digital technologies, agriculture and food processing, disaster risk reduction and disaster resilient infrastructure, he said.

He recalled that last year, he had hosted Prime Minister Abe and his wife Akie Abe in his home state Gujarat.

In a special gesture, Modi will be hosted by his Japanese counterpart for a private dinner at his holiday home in the picturesque Yamanashi prefecture on October 28, which will be, perhaps, the first such reception to be extended to a foreign leader. MEA Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted about Modis departure and also shared a picture of the prime minister waving just before boarding the plane.

Visiting a valued friend & a partner in our progress! PM @narendramodi emplanes for #Tokyo to hold the 13th #IndiaJapan Annual Summit with PM of Japan @AbeShinzo. On the agenda - opportunity to review the progress in our ties & deepen strategic dimension of our relationship, he tweeted.
Saudi Arabias top diplomat said Saturday that the global outcry and media focus on the killing of a Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, earlier this month has become hysterical as he urged the public to wait for the results of an investigation before ascribing blame to the kingdoms top leadership.

Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist critical of Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed by Saudi agents at the kingdoms consulate in Istanbul on October 2.

This issue has become fairly hysterical, Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said. I think people have assigned blame on Saudi Arabia with such certainty before the investigation is complete.

Addressing the mounting skepticism around the crown princes alleged involvement, Al-Jubeir also said that those behind the killing of the journalist would be prosecuted in the kingdom. He was speaking in response to questions from Western journalists at an annual conference of international officials, including US Defense Secretary James Mattis, in Bahrain.

We have made clear that we are going to have a full and transparent investigation, the results of which will be released. We have made it very clear that those responsible will be held responsible, he said, adding that the kingdom has also put in place mechanisms to ensure this does not happen.

Lauding ties with the US, the Saudi minister also said the administration of US President Donald Trump has a rational, realistic foreign policy that all Gulf Arab states can support. He said Saudi Arabia was combating Irans vision of darkness in the Middle East.

Turkey alleges a 15-member hit squad was sent to Istanbul to kill the journalist, a onetime Saudi insider who became an outspoken critic of Prince Mohammed in columns for The Washington Post. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the three others in the group of 18 who have been detained in Saudi Arabia were consulate employees.

Saudi Arabia has said five officials, including two who worked directly under the crown prince, have been relieved of their posts. Al-Jubeir on Saturday said six in total were dismissed. King Salman has assigned his son, the crown prince, to oversee the restructuring of the kingdoms intelligence bodies in the aftermath of the killing.

Erdogan said Friday that Turkey would reveal more evidence about the killing but was not in any rush to do so, indicating that Turkish authorities will methodically increase pressure on Saudi Arabia even as the kingdom floats conflicting statements in a vain and often clumsy attempt to end the crisis.

After three weeks of shifting Saudi accounts around the incident, the kingdom this week acknowledged that the killing was premeditated, citing evidence from Turkish officials investigating what happened. Saudi Arabia originally said Khashoggi had walked out of the consulate October 2, before offering various other narratives that President Donald Trump called one of the worst cover-ups in the history of cover-ups.

Turkey is requesting that Saudi Arabia hand over the suspects in the killing, which the kingdom has described as a rogue operation by officials who may have exceeded their orders or authority.

CIA director Gina Haspel, who was in Turkey earlier this week to review evidence, briefed Trump in Washington on Thursday.

Saudi Arabias chief prosecutor will arrive in Turkey on Sunday as part of the investigation and will meet with Turkish counterparts, according to Erdogan.
Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena suspended parliament, deepening a power struggle that has led to the return of former strong-man president Mahinda Rajapaksa and could herald closer ties with China.

On Friday evening, Sirisena unexpectedly dismissed prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and appointed Rajapaksa -- who ruled between 2005 and 2015 -- as his replacement. Wickremesinghe is contesting his removal and is likely to challenge it as unconstitutional in the courts. Parliament has been suspended with immediate effect, the speakers office said Saturday.

Shortly before the suspension, Wickremesinghe said at a press conference that he still commanded the majority backing in parliament and called for a special session of the legislature to prove it.

Life is a fight. We should not worsen the situation of the people of Sri Lanka, Wickremesinghe said.

Sirisenas move is being perceived as a way to retain political power by co-opting Rajapaksas residual popularity among many Sri Lankans, who credit the former presidents tough approach -- condemned internationally by human rights groups -- with ending the countrys brutal 26-year civil war in 2009.

The decision to reappoint Rajapaksa, who had been making political inroads against Sirisena including in local elections earlier this year, could also have a geopolitical impact, with his ties to China and history of borrowing heavily from Beijing to fund infrastructure projects. The return of Rajapaksa may also dent New Delhis influence in Colombo, given Wickremesinghes attempts to re-balance Sri Lankas foreign relations away from China and toward India and Japan.

Sirisena brought back Rajapaksa for political self-preservation, but along the way it will re-open the door to Chinese funding, said Shailesh Kumar, Asia director at political risk firm Eurasia Group. Rajapaksa has many friends in China and handled most of the Chinese inflow, Kumar said. This transition will ensure that China can once again prevail over Sri Lankas economy as they have a friend in the prime ministers office -- in contrast to Wickremesinghe.

On Saturday, the U.S. and European Union said it was following the events closely.

We call on all parties to act in accordance with Sri Lankas constitution, refrain from violence, and follow due process, the U.S. State Department said on Twitter. We expect the government of Sri Lanka to uphold its Geneva commitments to human rights, reform, accountability, justice, and reconciliation.

Deep in Debt

Rajapaksa, who remains enormously popular in Sri Lanka, has a controversial past. He led a final assault on minority Tamil separatists and ended decades of violence, but was criticized by human-rights groups and foreign governments. He also took numerous loans from China to fund large infrastructure projects, including the construction of a port in southern Hambantota -- his own political constituency -- that lost money and was eventually sold to a state-owned Chinese firm in a debt-to-equity swap on a 99-year lease. Roughly 80 percent of Sri Lankas total government revenues go toward paying debt.

Although it was Rajapaksa-era loans that sank Sri Lanka into debt, the decision to hand the port back to China was made by Wickremesinghe -- and was roundly criticized. In a sign of how fraught relations were among Sri Lankas two top leaders, Wickremesinghe was forced to defend himself against a no-confidence vote that was backed in part by Sirisenas party. He defeated the motion.

There was a general sense that Wickremesinghe wasnt steering the economy properly, and his replacement by Rajapaksa is likely to prove popular with the general public, said Sanjeewa Fernando, a strategist at CT CLSA Securities in Colombo. The federal budget may also be delayed as a result of this move, he added.

There was this notion that nothing is being executed properly, Fernando said. It has to do with sentiment. There is a general excitement for change.

With Sri Lanka still reeling under debt payments and global market turmoil making international financing less likely, the appointment of Rajapaksa could ensure a steady source of capital from China at a time when few other countries are interested in investing there, Eurasias Kumar said.

Last Hope

The replacement of Wickremesinghe came as Sri Lankas political parties jostled for power.

Mahinda Amaraweera, general secretary of Sirisenas United Peoples Freedom Alliance, told MTV news television that the party decided to quit the unity government due to economic troubles and questions of national security, including an alleged plot to assassinate Sirisena.

With Fridays defection, Rajapaksa and Sirisena have the backing of about 95 parliamentarians in Sri Lankas 225-seat legislature. A simple majority of 113 is needed to show that the prime ministerial candidate has the confidence of parliament. It is not yet clear what support Wickremesinghe is left with.

Calls to both camps went unanswered on Saturday.

The developments in Sri Lanka also play into broader rivalry between India and China across the Indian Ocean. Beijings potential gains in Sri Lanka could make up for the perceived loss of Chinese influence in the tiny archipelago nation of Maldives, where a recent election turfed former President Abdulla Yameen, who had also moved closer to China at the expense of relations with India.

Its a broader ongoing fight for influence between India and China in South Asia, Kumar said. China is once again emerging as Colombos last hope.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)
Armenia's acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attended the conference Investments and trade. Parliamentarians, ministers, business representatives, chairmen of trade and industry chambers, representatives of major companies from 20 countries participated in the conference, News.am reported citing the official website of the Prime Minister of Armenia.

The acting PM saluted the intentions of the businessmen participating in the conference to invest in Armenia.

Unfortunately, not so long ago some people used the words corruption and poverty when referring to our country and emphasized the factor that Armenia is an agrarian country. Following the non-violent, popular velvet revolution of Armenia in April-May we set a task to make Armenia a lawful country and to encourage labor and high technologies. And for reaching this goal we consider businessmen our best allies, who want to make new investments in Armenia. We want to promote labor in the Republic of Armenia and tell each investor to come and do business in Armenia, to become rich and make others rich. We invite every investor to Armenia for recording success and inspiring others by their success, the acting PM said.

Pashinyan emphasized that today favorable conditions for investments have been created in Armenia, since equality before the law has been established in Armenia.

I think its a tragedy when the head of a country is engaged in business and has business interests. I think its really a priority factor for promoting business. Therefore, I have good news for all of you. I am out of competition, Pashinyan said.
The participants of the summit of the leaders of Russia, Germany, Turkey and France, Vladimir Putin, Angela Merkel, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Emmanuel Macron confirmed that a settlement in Syria can be achieved only by the politico-diplomatic means. This statement was made by the Russian leader at a press conference following the quadripartite meeting.

According to him, all participants agreed that the long-term stability in Syria can be achieved only by the politico-diplomatic means in full compliance with the UN Security Council Resolution 2254, observing the principles of unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the SAR, TASS quotes Putin as saying.
Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the Governor of the Krasnodar Region Veniamin Kondratyev and Emergencies Minister Yevgeny Zinichev to offer assistance to flood victims in the region on Saturday. He also pledged to provide support for flood relief efforts from the federal center if necessary, TASS reported.

"Unfortunately, infrastructure was largely destroyed," Putin said, adding that "it is necessary to do everything to help people." "If the federal centers assistance is needed spell it out," he noted.

"It is necessary to estimate damage and decide on required assistance," President said.

He asked the officials how long it would take to get the houses connected to power supply. "Fundamentally, everything is ready, though it is impossible to connect electricity as the substation is flooded and houses are wet," Zinichev explained. He added that "as soon as the substation is ready and the houses are dried out," electricity would be connected.

Speaking about water supply, Kondratyev said that "the issue had been solved except for two settlements," one of them being Tuapse. He also pledged to ensure "temporary water supplies by next morning."

Heavy rains in the Krasnodar Region inundated about 30 communities, damaged highways and railroads, detained trains and destroyed several bridges and approaches to them earlier this week. Electric and gas supply interruptions have been reported, and Tuapse, a city of 60,000, is still without water. Over 2,000 houses, home to more than 5,300 people, were flooded. According to the data provided by local authorities, the death toll stands at six. An state of emergency was declared in the region.
Rebranding

26 October 2018

Adventurous Journeys (AJ) Capital Partners announced today that it has acquired the Atherton Hotel in State College. The hotel will operate independently while renovations take place. Once complete in fall of 2019, the hotel will be converted to Graduate State College, part of the Graduate Hotels collection.

The 150-room hotel is conveniently located in downtown State College, just a few blocks from The Pennsylvania State University's campus. Prominently situated on Atherton Street, the hotel is a short walk from Old Main and the sprawling Penn State University Park campus, and just steps from College Avenue's restaurants and shops.

The hotel is also in close proximity to Beaver Stadium, the Bryce Jordan Center and University Park Airport, making Graduate State College an ideal location for business and leisure travelers alike. Created for travelers who seek memory-making journeys, Graduate Hotels is a thoughtfully crafted collection of hotels that reside in the most dynamic university-anchored cities across the country.

Each property celebrates and commemorates the optimistic energy of its community, while offering an extended retreat to places that often play host to the best days of our lives. There are currently 11 open and operating hotels across the U.S. and an additional 12 hotels under development slated to open by 2020.

The hotel will undergo a comprehensive renovation to convert it to Graduate State College, which will touch all guestrooms, common areas, the restaurant and lobby lounge and the hotel's 5,000 square feet of flexible meeting and events space. For more information on Graduate Hotels, please visit www.graduatehotels.com.
Dr. Phil has had a hand in creating some of hip-hop's most surprising stars. Of course, we're referring to Bhad Bhabie, who blew up online after yelling "Catch me outside, how 'bout that" on his show. The most recent instance of ludicrousness on his program has to have been when a black teen insisted to Phil that she was actually white, saying that she thinks black people are "ugly" and that she simply can't relate to them. At this point, Dr. Phil has been on our screens for many years and his show was just extended through 2023. To celebrate the news, he was a guest on The View where he spoke about the renewal, also touching on Kanye West's mental health and the current President.

One of the hosts asked Phil a question about Kanye West's mental health and his recent visit to the Oval Office, to which McGraw said, "Is he indeed suffering? He seems to me to be well-oriented." He goes on to explain that in his opinion, Kanye is a highly functional man who is very talented. However, he does say that West should be held accountable for what he says, which I'm sure we can all agree on. "I don't think that he is insane to the point where he needs to be in a sheltered environment and if he is then he should be institutionalized," closed the talk show host.

On his show, Dr. Phil has seen and helped many people with mental health issues. If he says Kanye is a functional human, maybe we should all follow suit.
Kodak Black's marketing team just broke some ground via Twitter. According to Sniper Gang's unchecked Twitter account, where Kodak (his team) often makes artist inquiries, his forthcoming album will drop next Wednesday, on Halloween. The last time Kodak released a project on Halloween, it was his F.E.M.A. EP with Plies, published through Atlantic, as would be the case. Sniper Gang continues to scour the marketplace for talent, after signing a deal with Atlantic that calls for Sniper Gang to solicit talent on its behalf.

https://twitter.com/_/status/1056190562678624261



The details surrounding the project are not clear, but Kodak did state in September that he'd like to move away from rap, after completing one or two more albums. Kodak's mood level has oscillated between completely disenchanted to "fairly energized" to make music. We also witnessed moments of pure elation where he seemed excited to work with Travis Scott and Bruno Mars to name a few. So who knows, really?

For what it's worth, "ZEZE" continues to perform well on the charts, and the demand for Kodak's music is only a few grades lower than it was before he started his prison sentence. With that being said, look out for Kodak's unnamed project on Wednesday, one day before Action Bronson drops White Bronco, and two days prior to Takeoff's solo debut.

Keep it locked.
The Simpsons' Apu Nahasapeemapetilon was introduced in the eighth episode of the show, and has been a staple in Springfield ever since. Apu survived the 90's and early 00s, but he was met with criticism as the years continued further. Indian-American comedian Hari Kondabolu produced a documentary entitled The Problem with Apu that argued the racial impact of the character. Kondabolu felt that Apu fit a number of negative stereotypes that Americans of South Asian decent felt uncomfortable about. His documentary gained support, and the Apu controversy began.

The Simpsons addressed the drama in an episode called "No Good Read Goes Unpunished," but their effort to make light of the situation made matters worse. It appears that the show has decided to sidestep the issue altogether, as IndieWire reports that Apu will be written off the show. Producer Adi Shankar is not involved with Fox or The Simpsons, but he launched a script writing contest for fans to construct a less stereotypical plot for Apu. After finding a winning script, Shankar was met with the news that it was pointless because the character was being written off regardless. I got some disheartening news back, that Ive verified from multiple sources now: Theyre going to drop the Apu character altogether, said Shankar told IndieWire. They arent going to make a big deal out of it, or anything like that, but theyll drop him altogether just to avoid the controversy. The last time Apu appeared in the show was just two weeks ago, which a Fox representative for The Simpsons pointed out to IndieWire when asked about the situation. Apu appeared in the 10/14/18 episode My Way or the Highway to Heaven,' responded the rep, neither confirming nor denying Apu's cancellation.
Yella Beezy has been in the news of late, first for gaining traction with his single "That's On Me," then for surviving a drive-by shooting in his home region of Lewisville, Texas. The rapper who rose to fame by sharing his music through the WorldStar platform has since been released from the hospital after undergoing several weeks of treatment. Beezy is excited for a return to normalcy so he can prepare for his album push in the month of November.

News of his release was confirmed by his publicist and later passed on to The Dallas Morning News.

Yella's hospitalization prevented him from celebrating his birthday this past Thursday, in a more festive setting. But is probably for the best that Yella kept his circle tight for his "Happy 27th." To celebrate the occasion, Yella oversaw the release of his "That's on Me" remix with a slew of guests which included 2 Chainz, T.I., Rich The Kid, Boosie Badazz, Jeezy, and Trapboy Freddie.

On the same day, directed this glowing message to the men that tried to ambush him:

"How cant i not smile , these n****s tried to take me out wit everything they had and it didnt work," he wrote on Instagram. "Today my birthday i made it to see 27 , and Im fina apply major pressure. And they just gotta sit & watch this shit knowing they plan didnt work how can i not smile ? God got plans for me , you aint seen nothing yet ....!!"

Happy Birthday, Beezy. Be well.
Bill Arning, the colorful and fun-loving director of the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, resigned abruptly Thursday.

He broke the usual protocol by posting on Facebook Friday afternoon, somewhat cryptically, Loving the two hour gym sessions followed by long lunches that being between jobs allows me. His profile also read Former director Contemporary Arts Museum Houston.

Arning had been absent since Wednesday, when he called in sick and did not attend the museums annual Gamson Artist Lecture featuring Lorna Simpson.

Kent Michael Smith, the museums communication director, confirmed that Arning had resigned, effective immediately. Smith issued a statement late Friday, an hour before the museum was to open its doors for a 70th anniversary cocktail celebration with 100 top patrons. Arning did not return a call for comment.

In an official statement issued late Friday, museum trustee chair Jereann Chaney said Arning had been a force. He brought vibrancy, energy and extraordinary vision to CAMH and in turn to Houston, she said. As he stated when he arrived here, Keeping the CAMH wild was a task I cherish, and he did just that. His leadership has been greatly appreciated and he will be missed.

Reached via phone, Chaney declined to comment further.

Arning, who joined the CAMH in 2009 from Massachusetts Institue of Technologys List Visual Arts Center, where he was a curator, is not the first director to leave the CAMH abruptly. The museums stated mission has long been to push boundaries and provoke conversation about contemporary art, but more than once they have hired directors with renegade spirits whose vision proved to be more than they bargained for.

The first director, Sebastian Lefty Adler, infuriated the richest patrons with the show that inaugurated the CAMHs metal building at the corner of Montrose and Bissonnet in 1972  the most controversial of multiple troubling displays included a huge, multi-level cage with live cats, rats and cockroaches.

Jim Harithas, a staunch champion of local artists, underdogs and politically-charged material, also left under pressure. He remained in Houston and co-founded the Art Car Museum and the Station Museum of Contemporary Art.

Arning embraced the anarchic spirit. Welcome to the wildest gathering in Houston, he wrote on the directors page that is still live on the CAMHs website. In a city which has access to a lot of widely ratified artworks whose importance have been given the consensus of teachers, historians, curators and collectors  CAMH gets to take chances in ways that true mavens of edgy art cherish, he wrote. It is understandable that some art viewers will leave in horror. Long-term board members have told me of friends and relatives who came to visit at their invitation once and have still not been forgiven.

He also invoked Adlers opening show, saying that exhibition now enjoys renown status among scholars of the avant-garde.

Fridays statement said the museum continues to be dedicated to presenting the Houston region with cutting-edge, world-class art. The leadership and community representatives are assembling a committee to begin a national search for Arnings replacement. Deputy director Christina Brungardt will serve as interim director, and shows that Arning was preparing for this season will be handled by the CAMHs curatorial staff, Smith said.

molly.glentzer@chron.com
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 27)  It seems like the government's appeal was not enough.

Twelve days after litters were found in some areas of Boracay's beach front on the first day of its reopening, trash was seen left on the island yet again. This time it's the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) that caught the rubbish.

The agency on Saturday took to Twitter to share a photo of trash it found along Boracay just after the island was reopened to tourists on Oct. 26 after a six-month clean-up.

READ: Boracay reopens after six-month extensive clean-up

The photo, which shows plastic bottles and containers inserted in a crevice, was posted with the fiery question, "Is this #responsibletourism?"

This comes even after authorities deployed more trash bins and constantly reminded visitors about the strict implementation of no-littering policy.

During the first day of the dry run for the island's reopening on Oct. 15, plastic bags, cups and other garbage items were also seen scattered near the shoreline.

The DENR, replying to a user's comment on its post, said it now plans to "install [high-resolution Closed Circuit TV cameras]" in public spaces in Boracay to catch littering guests.

Duterte-approved

Meanwhile, Malacanang lauded the agencies involved in the rehabilitation of Boracay and said President Rodrigo Duterte is "pleased with what has happened" to the island.

In a statement, Presidential Spokesperson and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said the six-month rehabilitation "is a lesson of political will" and "a lesson of neglect, misfeasance and malfeasance by responsible persons in office."

"The cesspool that was Boracay would not have happened if political will was exhibited by those in authority and if only officials of the island paradise, as well as the stakeholders, operated following the law and the rules and regulations of pertinent government agencies," Panelo said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin commented on the results of the Istanbul summit.

First of all, the Russian leader drew attention to the fact that Moscow reserves the right to assist the Syrian armed forces in eliminating terrorists in the province of Idlib.

According to him, despite a significant reduction in the level of violence in the SAR, the most important task is the elimination of the radical elements remaining in the territory of the republic. In addition, he stressed that Moscow expects that Ankara will in the shortest possible time to ensure the withdrawal of the opposition from the Idlib demilitarized zone.
After three years of study, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced Friday that the so-called "Ike Dike" -- the 70-mile-long coastal barrier that could cost as much as $31 billion -- is the preferred choice for protecting the Texas coastline from future storm surges.

The coastal barrier plan, developed in a partnership between the Army Corps of Engineers and the Texas General Land Office, is similar to the original "Ike Dike" proposal made by researchers at Texas A&M University in Galveston after Hurricane Ike devastated southeast Texas in 2008.

"One storm can cost many lives and billions of dollars in damage, so the expense of doing nothing far outweighs the investment to protect and enhance our coast," Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush said in a written statement.

ONLY FOR SUBSCRIBERS: An in-depth investigation into Hurricane Harvey and its long-lasting impact on Houston

"Texas' coast is home to one in every four Texans and 30 percent of the American oil refining sector resides here," Bush said. "The Coastal Texas Study is about protecting our people, our economy and our national security. The options selected are proven to be effective in mitigating the deadly effects of storm surge on our state."

The barrier system would be a system of levees and sea gates beginning on high ground north of High Island and running the length of Bolivar Peninsula. It would then cross the entrance of Galveston Bay and run the length of Galveston Island, incorporating the existing Galveston seawall, It would end at San Luis Pass.

Read more: Coastal barrier plan 'Ike Dike' draws support, needs funding

At the entrance of Galveston Bay, a system of storm surge gates would be constructed to accommodate navigation to the ports of Galveston, Texas City and Houston. A large navigation gate would also be placed along the Houston Ship Channel. These gates would only close during storm events, and are modeled after similar gates in London on the River Thames and on the coast of the Netherlands.

A "ring levee" would also be placed around Galveston to protect the backside of the island, a densely populated area, from surge and flood waters. Gates and other barriers would be built near Clear Creek, Dickinson Bayou, Offatts Bayou and Highland Bayou.

The plan released on Friday also includes beach and dune restoration along the lower Texas coast, and nine ecosystem restoration projects to increase resilience.

The report outlined several environmental concerns, however, including possible impact on wetlands and constriction of tidal exchange that could affect the salinity of estuaries such as Galveston Bay. This, in turn, could potentially impact the ecology of Galveston Bay and the fish, birds and wildlife species that depend on the resources provided by wetland and marsh habitats.

The Army Corps and GLO will hold a series of public meetings to review the plans for the coastal spine, beginning Nov. 27 in Port Lavaca. The final feasibility report and environmental impact study is expected in 2021. Once a final report is issued, it would be sent to Congress to consider funding the project.

nick.powell@chron.com
Paul Bettencourt, a Republican who represents west Harris County in the Texas Senate, is easily aggrievedand a bit sanctimonious, considering his own history in elected office.

In 1998, after the death of longtime incumbent Carl S. Smith, Bettencourt was elected Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector. He resigned that position in 2008, just a month after being elected to a third full term.

Bettencourt explained at the time that he was planning to focus on opportunities in the private sector. But the timing of his decision meant that his successor, Leo Vasquez, was chosen by the Harris County Commissioners Court, rather than the voterssome of whom, at least, enjoy having a say in such matters.

And Bettencourts timing was, in itself, suggestive. The tax assessor-collector is also the countys chief voter registrar. Bettencourt had been commended for modernizing the offices operations during his years at its helm, but he had also been accused of overzealously purging the voter rolls in a way that could be considered tantamount to voter suppression.

In November 2008, Texas Democratic Party officials filed suit over his handling of that years provisional ballots. Among other things, the suit alleged that Bettencourt had blocked ballots on the basis that they were cast by voters who had listed commercial rather than residential addresses, and had not been given any opportunity to explain such discrepancies.

Grieder: Questions about registration can have a chilling effect

The details of the saga are probably hazy in the minds of many Texans. But I think its safe to assume that Bettencourt is well aware that the voter registrar in the nations third most-populous county is likely to encounter certain complexities.

Yet on Friday, Bettencourt and Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart, also a Republican, held a press conference to accuse Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Ann Harris Bennett, a Democrat, of jeopardizing the integrity of Harris County elections by mishandling the voter rolls.

Their accusation was based on a challenge filed this summer by Harris County resident Alan Vera, who alleged that some 4,000 Harris County voters had listed commercial properties as their residential addresses.

Bennett initially responded to the challenge by suspending some 1,700 registrations, but reversed those suspensions several days later, acknowledging that they were mistaken. Under Texas law, voters have 30 days to respond to such a challenge before their registration may be placed in suspension.

The Harris County Attorneys Office subsequently concluded that the challenge itself was not valid. Under the Texas Election Code, a voter can bring such challenges, but they must be based on personal knowledge. And per Assistant County Attorney Douglas Ray, its implausible that Vera, who brought the challenge, has such knowledge about 4,000 of his fellow Texans.

Read more: Harris County Attorney says voter registration challenges were invalid

Bettencourt responded by seeking an opinion from Texas Secretary of State Rolando Pablos, who concluded that personal knowledge, in this context, could include knowledge gained from experience and observation.

Pablos is not the Texas Attorney General. Such an opinion wouldnt be binding, even if it had been issued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. In other words, the jurys still out on whether Veras challenge was valid.

And  as Pabloss opinion correctly notes  such a challenge isnt sufficient basis for a county tax-assessor collector to place voters in suspension, even if the challenge itself is valid.

If the voter responds in the written statement or the statement of residence that the voter does in fact reside at the address listed in the voters registration, the voter is not suspended, Pablos wrote.

Thats a weird bit of the Texas Election Code, perhaps  and Bettencourt has had the opportunity to address it since being elected to the Texas Senate in 2014.

He has chosen not to do so, though. And regardless, he and Stanart should have exercised better judgment before breezily accusing Bennett of undermining the integrity of Harris Countys elections.

Grieder: Why did state leaders agree to allow the feds to mess with Texas?

The most charitable explanation for such behavior is that Bettencourt and Stanart are frittering away taxpayer resources in a quest to stoke political divisions, without any regard for the toll their actions might take on the overall civic fabric.

Republican leaders may have concerns about the integrity of our elections. But they would be wrong to air such concerns as Bettencourt and Stanart did on Fridaywithout evidence, and without regard for context.

erica.grieder@chron.com
A decade after Hurricane Ike devastated the Texas Gulf Coast, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced Friday that a more ambitious version of the proposed Ike Dike  a 70-mile-long coastal barrier that could cost as much as $31 billion  is the preferred choice for protecting the states coastline from future storm surges.

The decision moves the project closer to ultimately being built, but leaves unanswered how to pay for it, especially with the estimated cost skyrocketing to between $23 billion and $31 billion  two to three times above original estimates.

The option backed by the Army Corps and the Texas General Land Office is similar to the original Ike Dike proposal developed by researchers at Texas A&M University in Galveston after Ike hammered southeast Texas in 2008, with some subtle differences.

This study actually incorporates both coastal storm risk management features and ecosystem restoration features up and down the coast and some coastal storm risk management down on South Padre (Island), said Kelly Burks-Copes, the project manager for the Army Corps study. Its a comprehensive study so its looking at the entire coast of Texas, much bigger than the Ike Dike per se.

The project comes with significant questions, most prominently its price tag, significantly higher than the initial $12 million to $15 billion estimates that were floated when the Ike Dike concept was developed, in part because it includes extensive barriers and ecosystem restoration stretching down most of the Texas coastline. The report states that funding the massive infrastructure project would require a cost-sharing arrangement between the state and federal governments.

Still, officials stressed that the project was critically needed. Experts warn that the Houston-Galveston region remains highly vulnerable to a catastrophic storm surge and warn that the next hurricane could overwhelm the Houston Ship Channel and send the regional economy into a tailspin.

One storm can cost many lives and billions of dollars in damage, so the expense of doing nothing far outweighs the investment to protect and enhance our coast, Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush said in a written statement. Texas coast is home to one in every four Texans and 30 percent of the American oil refining sector resides here. The Coastal Texas Study is about protecting our people, our economy and our national security. The options selected are proven to be effective in mitigating the deadly effects of storm surge on our state.

The Army Corps developed the coastal barrier plan in partnership with the state land office. The two agencies are three years into a 5 1/2-year, $20 million study. The report released on Friday marks the first phase of the study, along with a draft environmental impact statement, in which four different alternatives for coastal protection were evaluated.

The studys release comes 14 months after Hurricane Harvey dumped 51 inches of rain on some parts of the Houston area, leaving more than 70 people dead across Texas and causing more than $150 billion in damage statewide.

The coastal barrier would be a system of levees and sea gates beginning on high ground north of High Island and running the length of the Bolivar Peninsula. It would then cross the entrance of Galveston Bay and extend the length of Galveston Island, incorporating the existing seawall. It would end at San Luis Pass.

At the entrance to Galveston Bay, a system of storm surge gates would be constructed to protect the coastline during storm events but otherwise allow for navigation to the ports of Galveston, Texas City and Houston. A large navigation gate would also be placed along the ship channel. These gates are modeled after similar structures in London on the River Thames and on the coast of the Netherlands.

A ring levee would also be placed around Galveston to protect the bayside of the island, a densely populated area, from surge and flood waters. Gates and other barriers would be built near Clear Creek as well as Dickinson, Offatts and Highland bayous.

The plan also includes beach and dune restoration along the lower Texas coast, and nine ecosystem restoration projects to increase resilience.

Bill Merrell, a Texas A&M University Galveston professor who proposed the Ike Dike concept more than nine years ago, noted some minor differences between his original plan and the one backed by the two agencies.

Merrells plan included a gate at San Luis Pass, which is south of Galveston, and a mix of gray and green infrastructure along the coast, most notably a series of 17-foot high dunes on Bolivar Peninsula and Galveston in lieu of a seawall. Built after the catastrophic 1900 Galveston hurricane, the 17-foot-high seawall spared the island from many storms but was overtopped by Ikes storm surge and waves.

He also did not include any protection for High Island, nor a ring levee around Galveston, which he called an extreme measure that would require a sophisticated pumping system in the event of heavy rains.

Its a fishbowl effect. You have to pump it, and if your pumps work, youre happy, and if your pumps dont work, you drown, Merrell said. Youd have to pour a lot of maintenance money into it.

Burks-Copes said that dunes and beach nourishment are still in play as options for Galveston and Bolivar Peninsula as opposed to a more hardened barrier.

The exact footprint of the barriers and levees has yet to be determined and will be a primary focus of later phases, Burks-Copes said. She added that the current proposal calls for a 17-foot-tall barrier, but that height could be altered and the alignment of the barrier could shift further inland or out into the Gulf of Mexico depending on environmental and real estate concerns.

Jim Blackburn, a Rice University professor and co-director of the universitys Severe Storm Prediction, Education, & Evacuation from Disasters Center, called the study an essential step in moving toward federal funding. The SSPEED Center has developed a concept for a gate in the middle of Galveston Bay designed to supplement a potential coastal barrier system. That concept was one of the alternatives considered by the Corps and GLO.

We at SSPEED Center hope to supplement this environmental impact statement with our own work on the Galveston Bay Park Plan, which we think could be phased in with the Corps work and we think should be seriously considered by the Corps part of the project, Blackburn said.

The new report also outlined several environmental concerns, including possible impact on wetlands and constriction of tidal exchange that could affect the salinity of estuaries such as Galveston Bay. This, in turn, could potentially affect the ecology of Galveston Bay and the fish, birds and wildlife that depend on the resources provided by wetland and marsh habitats.

Its not clear how much (the coastal barrier) will restrict flow in and out of Galveston Bay from the Gulf of Mexico, thats pretty critically important because most of our marine organisms spend some portion of their life cycle in the bay and some portion in the Gulf and then it flows freely back and forth, said Bob Stokes, the president of the Galveston Bay Foundation.

The Sierra Club and other environmental groups have previously opposed the Ike Dike concept, arguing instead for a planned withdrawal or abandonment of storm-surge threatened coastal areas.

Burks-Copes said the report weighs potential environmental impacts, noting that the gates in Galveston Bay would constrict tidal flow by about 20 percent. Burks-Copes added that the ecosystem restoration planned further down the coast would offset some of the negative environmental impacts and that additional study phases will more directly evaluate how the barrier system would affect marine life, such as dolphins.

As we go down the coast were not expecting impacts, were actually expecting benefits because were actually proposing quite a bit  160,000 acres of habitat restoration  going from the north all the way down to South Padre Island, Burks-Copes said.

The Army Corps and state land office will hold a series of public meetings along the Texas coast to review the plans for the coastal spine, beginning Nov. 27 in Port Lavaca and continuing through December. There will be a 75-day public comment period, 30 days longer than the typical period for an environmental impact statement, which began Friday with the plans release.

The final feasibility report and environmental impact study is expected in 2021. Once a final report is issued, it would be sent to Congress to consider funding the project.

nick.powell@chron.com
Ovide Duncantell was 75 years old when he chained himself to a tree in southeast Houston. The MLK Tree of Life, which the Black Heritage Society had planted in 1983 to honor Martin Luther King Jr., stood in the way of Metros new Southeast light rail line. But Duncantell wasnt letting it go without a fight.

So in 2012, he tied himself to the oak tree and prepared to face down any authority or bulldozer that threatened.

Im 75 years old, he told a reporter, but Im still a warrior.

Duncantell, who died Thursday at 82, never stopped being a warrior, his friends and colleagues said. An anti-poverty and civil rights activist, he fought for minorities, the poor and the disenfranchised. He was a founding figure of Houstons Black Heritage Society in 1974, toiled for years to rename a street for King and, in 1978, helped organize the societys first Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade  a parade that remains an annual Houston tradition.

Working for Houston

Duncantell grew up in Louisiana and, after high school, he served in the U.S. Air Force. After he was discharged in 1959, Duncantell married his wife Naomi, who died in 2015.

The couple intended to move to California, the story goes but when he and Naomi stopped in Houston to visit her brothers, they simply decided to stay.

In the 1960s, Duncantell started working as an anti-poverty activist and community organizer, working to connect Houstonians with social services they needed. By the next decade, he decided to get involved in politics so black Houstonians would be represented in city or county government.

He earned bachelors and masters degrees from Texas Southern University. He ran for office several times  including for city council, county commissioner and mayor of Houston  but he never won. He did, however, pave the way for African-American candidates who did win, colleagues say.

Joseph Tasby first worked with Duncantell in the 1960s. They were community organizers, he said, but they also thought of themselves as freedom fighters.

The movement in Houston for poor people and black people was pioneered by Ovide Duncantell, Tasby said. He always called himself a good soldier, but he was our general.

Shelby Stewart, a retired Houston police officer, said he first met Duncantell in 1982.

He was firm in his beliefs that African-Americans would receive equal treatment, and he fought for that all his life, said Stewart, who grew up in the 1960s reading about Duncantells activism in the black-owned Houston Forward Times newspaper. He was a young police officer when he first met Duncantell, who spent time in the southeast Houston neighborhood Stewart patrolled.

We would talk about the state of race in America and the issues in front of us, Stewart said. And Id talk to him about the racial issues that black officers had in the Houston police department.

In the 1960s and even later, Duncantell was no friend of the police. He was known for his activism and got arrested frequently, said Samuel Saljarvi Thomas, who was on the front lines with him.

He was a very aggressive kind of individual, very outspoken, Thomas said. We knew we had to have somebody aggressive who would go out and take risks. But his fellow activists always stood by to call an attorney and get Duncantell out of police custody, he said.

If you were black and standing up to HPD in the 60s, you could get a beating within an inch of your life, Stewart said. He had the courage to do that.

In the late 1960s, Duncantell and others worked to get Martin Luther King Jr. to speak to their group in Houston, Thomas said  but he was assassinated before the appearance could occur. Duncantell then resolved to honor his heros memory throughout the city.

We promised (Kings) father wed do what we could to make sure Dr. Kings last name would stay alive in our community, Thomas said.

In 1969, Duncantell and others started working to get South Park Boulevard  a major thoroughfare  renamed for King, Thomas said. But it didnt happen until 1978  almost a decade later  because for years, they couldnt get enough people in the neighborhood to support the change by signing a petition.

Duncantell and his colleagues didnt give up, though, and in 1978 the Black Heritage Societys first Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade proceeded along the newly named Martin Luther King Boulevard. Parades to honor the assassinated civil rights icon are common today, but the Houston parade has been said to be the first of its kind.

A rich life of service

The parade eventually became both a celebration and a thorn in Duncantells side. The competing MLK Grande Parade, was started in 1995 by Charles Stamps, a former Black Heritage Society volunteer. For nearly 25 years, Houston has marked the day with dueling parades.

City regulations prevented scheduling two downtown parades on the same day, so the two organizations have vied for the city permit that would make their parade the more official downtown event. In 2007 Duncantell and the Black Heritage Society sued the city of Houston, arguing that its regulations were unconstitutional, and in 2008 a coin toss was used to determine which of the processions could march downtown.

The controversy continued until earlier this year, when Mayor Sylvester Turner endorsed the Black Heritage Societys parade in a call for unity, saying that a house divided against itself cannot stand.

After learning of Duncantells death, Stamps  who started the competing parade  expressed his condolences.

He is going to be sorely missed, Stamps said Thursday. He did a lot of good in Houston.

Turner said next years MLK Jr. Day parade will be extra special, honoring both Kings legacy and Duncantells rich life of service.

In a statement, the mayor recalled that he and Duncantell both ran for county commissioner in 1984.

We both came up short, Turner said. However, his commitment to the community and holding people accountable never waned.

Fighter for justice

Duncantell was a great voice for the voiceless, and he was consistent across the years, said Virgil Wood, who marched with King in the 1960s and got to know Duncantell after he retired to Houston in 2005.

The activist grew older, but he didnt lose his spirit for activism, said Sandra Massie Hines, the honorary Mayor of Sunnyside and vice-chairwoman of the Black Heritage Society board.

Hines recalled watching Duncantell standing there, tied to that oak tree, in 2012  smaller and older than he was in his prime, but still just as committed.

He didnt want water. He didnt want food, she said. This was his vision, his passion.

And Duncantell succeeded.

After a long day and much of the night, the parties all came to an agreement. Metro didnt move the rail line, but the citys transit organization did pay $100,000 to move the tree to MacGregor Park and pledged up to $650,000 to build a statue of King and a memorial plaza to surround it. The statue was unveiled in 2014.

Duncantells act of defiance prompted a visit from Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, who called Duncantell a friend and a mentor.

He had a can-do spirit and was a fighter for justice. When many said no, he said yes, Jackson Lee said in a statement.

Former Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia posted a video Thursday on his Facebook page that reflected on Duncantell, whom he considered a longtime friend.

This is a tough moment, because with Ovides spirit and his willingness to always be up for a good fight, he always made me feel that we would always have Ovide with us, Garcia said in the video.

Garcia thanked Duncantell for his fighter spirit and for reaching across communities to work together and get things done.

Wood said Duncantells work cut across race and class, but his great success was helping people work together without making them assimilate and lose their identity.

With every fiber of his being, he expressed what he felt was his mission, and did it well, Wood said. Were going to miss him.

A funeral service has not yet been scheduled for Duncantell who is survived by a son. A spokesman for the Black Heritage Society said plans could be announced as soon as Monday.

alyson.ward@chron.com

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KINGWOOD  Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick stumped for 17 minutes last week to a fired-up Kingwood Tea Party crowd, warning of energized Democrats and Sen. Ted Cruzs Democratics opponent, Beto ORourke. Yet he barely acknowledged he is running for re-election himself.

Ted's gonna win if you vote. [Gov. Greg] Abbott will win, I will win, if you vote, Patrick said. But it's just not about us at the top of the pyramid. It's about everyone down. I don't want to give the Democrats one win.

Mike Collier, Patricks Democratic opponent and a Kingwood resident, is an admitted longshot, a moderate who was once a Republican himself, now hoping that enough GOP voters are turned off by Patricks hardline brand of conservatism to swing the election.

People know Dan Patrick, Collier, 57, said over coffee last week at a Sugar Land Starbucks. And then when they look at me, they see their neighbor. And maybe if they look further, they see that I can solve property taxes and public education.

In the March primary election, Patrick crushed his moderate Republican challenger, Scott Milder. But Collier was encouraged to see that Milder, despite low fundraising, received 24 percent of the vote, about 14 points more than Abbotts challengers.

Colliers campaign coordinator, Spencer Wise, calls Collier a gateway Democrat for Republicans who want someone they can hold their nose for. His campaign is focused on the states dwindling share of public education funding and a corresponding rise in property taxes, issues that work on both sides of the aisle.

Collier takes nuanced approaches to more divisive political issues, such as immigration, guns and abortion.

He says Texas should secure the border, but do so intelligently and humanely, and request federal reimbursement for the $800 million allocated by the Legislature last year to border security measures. Collier calls himself pro Second Amendment, saying there is room for expanded background checks for gun purchases. He also advocates so-called red flag laws that enable authorities to seize guns from individuals found by a judge to pose a threat, which he says is consistent with the Constitution. He is pro-choice, but believes the state should pursue services  contraception, sex education  that reduce the need for abortion.

For subscribers: Houston Chronicle 2018 Voter Guide

For subscribers: San Antonio Express-News 2018 Voter Guide

For many Republicans, these stances alone make Collier unpalatable. If anything, this race may settle whether an incumbent Texas Republican can become so conservative that enough independents and moderates actually break rank.

There are no competitive races in Texas

Republicans are skeptical that Colliers campaign is catching on to the extent that he can overcome Patricks advantage.

Patrick led Collier by six points in a September poll by CBS 11/Dixie Strategies, though a University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll released Friday pegged Patricks lead at three times that.

There is zero concern among high-ranking Republicans about the lieutenant governors re-election. Quite literally zero, said Republican strategist Matt Mackowiak. He has done everything he needs to do to put himself in a position to be re-elected.

Without much campaign cash, Collier believes his odds rely not just on ORourke, but the performance of a slate of several first-time Democratic congressional candidates who are outraising their Republican foes.

The state is so large that you can't just rely on a rockstar. Beto is our rockstar this time, Collier said. You can't just depend on a rockstar, because politics is local.

Even Patrick, 68, acknowledges that this election is different than those in the recent past. Publicly, however, he has ignored Collier and refused to debate him. Instead, Patrick is thinking in bigger terms, urging people every chance he gets to cast straight-ticket Republican ballots and shut out the Democrats.

There are no competitive statewide races in Texas, Allen Blakemore, Patricks strategist, said in an email. The blue wave is a hoax, and everyone from Beto ORourke on down knows it. Real polls, conducted among likely voters, consistently support that assertion.

Texans have seen this script before: Former state Sen. Wendy Davis lost in a landslide gubernatorial election four years ago, despite robust fundraising and media enthusiasm not unlike the waves ORourke is making. Republicans shredded their statewide opponents across the board that year, with Collier losing his bid for comptroller to Glenn Hegar by about 20 points.

Collier stayed on the campaign trail after the election, traveling the state to figure out what Democrats did wrong. He came back to the state party with two pointers: Focus on topics relevant to peoples daily lives with less emphasis on social issues, and recruit high-quality down-ballot candidates.

That first piece of advice has driven Colliers second attempt at statewide office. He has assailed Patrick for rising property taxes under the lieutenant governors tenure despite Patricks pledges to cut them if elected in 2014.

I think the Republican shtick is wearing out a little bit, Collier said. They've been playing the same play for a long, long time. And so people are waking up and saying, Well look, I don't like what's happening with my schools. And property taxes are just completely out of control.

Theyre looking for me

Collier says he quit the Republican Party in 2013, as he considered a run for Houston controller, the citys elected chief financial officer.

During a routine meeting with two Houston GOP consultants, Collier  a former Exxon accountant, PricewaterhouseCoopers partner and oil executive  made clear he would not back what he called the partys hair-on-fire social issues. The consultants told Collier he would need to support those issues to get fundraising help, even though the office pertains specifically to city finances.

Collier stormed out of the meeting, and that was that.

Coller said that as moderate Republicans find out about me, they see themselves in me. But he is not targeting those voters on the campaign trail.

I'm not campaigning towards them because they're too hard to find. You can waste an enormous amount of time and energy looking for them, Collier said. But what we are doing is campaigning as noisily as we can. ... I'm not looking for them, they're looking for me.

With a total fundraising haul of $706,000, Collier doesnt have the money for a single statewide ad buy. (Patrick spent $7.5 million from July 1 to Sept. 27.) Yet he has drawn support from some intended Republican targets: Milder, the public education advocate who lost to Patrick in the primary, has endorsed Collier. Republican Harris County Judge Ed Emmett told the Houston Chronicle editorial board he plans to vote for Collier.

Collier said many Republican county judges and commissioners have said privately they plan to vote for him over the issue of state education funding.

Instead of TV, he is reaching out to voters with help from a pair of 19-year-olds, Ali Zaidi and Jared Hrebenar, who are using the Democratic National Committees massive voter file to target voters who need a nudge, as Collier puts it  not those who are already voting for or against Collier.

Mackowiak, the Republican consultant, is not worried.

Sure, if it was a 5 point race and if teachers voted 80 or 85 percent or 90 percent with Collier, could that be meaningful? Yes, Mackowiak said. But thats a sentence that had the word if in it twice.

Early voting, which began Monday, ends Nov. 2. Election Day is Nov. 6.

jasper.scherer@chron.com | Twitter: @jaspscherer
In announcing his decision to withdraw from the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, President Trump cited Russias repeated violations and the fact that the treaty does not bind China, which is engaged in the worlds most ambitious ballistic missile development program. But Trumps withdrawal may also be designed for another purpose. It sends a subtle but unmistakable message to North Korea: If you refuse to denuclearize, we can now surround your country with short- and medium-range missiles that will allow us to strike your regime without warning.

At the moment, the Trump administration appears to be making little progress in nuclear talks with Pyongyang. The threat of deployment of intermediate-range missiles in Asia could change the dynamics of those negotiations. Recall that in 1983, President Ronald Reagan announced plans to deploy hundreds of U.S. intermediate-range Pershing II missiles in Western Europe in response to the Soviet Unions deployment of SS-20 nuclear missiles. The U.S. deployment sparked mass protests throughout Europe, but it also put enormous pressure on Moscow  and in so doing laid the groundwork for a series of arms control breakthroughs, including the INF Treaty.

By withdrawing from the INF Treaty, Trump can now put similar pressure on Pyongyang. The treaty barred both conventional and nuclear land-based missiles with a range of 300 to 3,400 miles. Freed from the treatys constraints, the United States can now deploy hundreds of conventional short- and medium-range missiles to bases in Asia, including in Guam (2,100 miles from North Korea) and Japan (650 miles). There would no longer be a need to send U.S. aircraft carriers on temporary deployments to waters off the Korean Peninsula as a sign of military strength. The deployment of intermediate-range missiles in the region would put North Korea permanently in our crosshairs.

Pyongyang certainly does not want these U.S. missiles on its doorstep. Neither does Beijing, which knows such a deployment would restore U.S. military supremacy in the Pacific. According to Adm. Harry Harris, former commander of U.S. Pacific Command, China possesses the largest and most diverse missile force in the world  and 95 percent of its missiles would violate the INF [Treaty] if China was a signatory. The fact that Beijing has such missiles, while the United States does not, puts the United States at a strategic disadvantage in any conflict with Beijing. As my American Enterprise Institute colleague Dan Blumenthal pointed out in The Washington Post, our only possible response would be to strike China with intercontinental ballistic missiles  an unacceptable escalation. By contrast, the U.S. withdrawal from the INF Treaty allows deployment of conventional mobile ground-based missiles in Guam and Japan, improving our ability to deter Chinese aggression.

Trump can deploy Tomahawk cruise missiles on ground launchers to the Pacific almost immediately after withdrawal from the treaty. Withdrawal would also pave the way for U.S. development and deployment of new missiles banned by the treaty, as well as new hypersonic weapons  which travel five times faster than the speed of sound  to compete with Chinas massive investment in these capabilities. This would be a massive strategic setback to both China and North Korea.

So by withdrawing from the INF Treaty, and clearing the way for such deployments, Trump has given the United States a massive new bargaining chip. North Korea now has a new incentive to denuclearize, and China has a new strategic interest pressuring them to do so.

It still may not work. But if those negotiations fail, Trumps INF Treaty withdrawal has given the United States a fallback option that will allow Washington to more effectively deter both Beijing and Pyongyang  and reassert American military primacy in the region.

Follow Thiessen on Twitter, @marcthiessen. (c) 2018, The Washington Post Writers Group
Hundreds of admirers of the chief conductor of the symphony orchestra of the Republican State Philharmonic, chairman of the Union of Composers of Kabardino-Balkaria Boris Temirkanovs talent came today to the State Concert Hall in Nalchik, where the farewell ceremony with the musician was held.

Acting head of the republic Kazbek Kokov expressed his condolences to relatives and friends. "His credo, his intelligence, his talent, his love for his native republic will forever remain in our hearts and will be an example for us he said.
Several people were killed when a gunman opened fire at the Tree of Life Congregation synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Saturday, with local media reporting between 4 and 11 fatalities, Ynetnews.com reports. Large police forces rushed to the scene in the area of Wilkins and Shady avenue at around 10am local time. The area has been closed off and the shooter remains active.

The gunman reportedly yelled "Death to Jews" and was wearing a flak jacket. The Conservative Jewish community, which exists for 150 years, convened on Saturday morning at the synagogue at the Squirrel Hill neighborhood in the city, where many Jews live, to celebrate a brit milah.
Imperial Valley News Center

President Donald J. Trump Is Lowering Drug Prices for American Patients by Confronting Global Freeloading

Washington, DC - "Its time to end the global freeloading once and for all." ~ President Donald J. Trump

PUTTING AMERICAN PATIENTS FIRST: Today, President Donald J. Trump is launching actions to confront global freeloading and lower drug prices for American patients.

In order to confront global freeloading, President Trump is putting forth a new way for Medicare to pay for certain drugs that is based on prices other developed nations pay. The Presidents initiative is projected to reduce Medicares payments for these drugs by an incredible 30 percent over the next five years.

The President is also putting forward a plan to fix to the perverse incentive that encourages doctors to administer more expensive drugs, raising costs for taxpayers and seniors. Under President Trumps initiative, doctors would receive the same reimbursement for similar drugs, eliminating an incentive to administer higher-cost drugs.



CHALLENGING FOREIGN FREELOADING: American patients and taxpayers unfairly subsidize worldwide drug innovation and effectively foot the bill for lower drug prices in foreign countries.

Foreign countries currently get much lower prices from drug makers, putting the burden on American patients to subsidize these discounts by forcing higher prices on the United States. Nearly every developed country engages in this unfair practice, yet past administrations simply looked the other way. Some have even threatened American patents to secure these cheap prices.

Medicare has shouldered outrageously high prices compared to other countries. Manufacturers charge American wholesalers almost double what is charged in other countries for the most common Medicare Part B drugs. One medication that helps prevent blindness costs Medicare over $1 billion a year, but it would cost just $187 million a year if we paid prices other countries pay. Medicare pays over $1 billion a year for two drugs that treat bone disease, but we could save more than $800 million by paying the prices others countries pay.



DRIVING DOWN DRUG PRICES: Todays announcement is the latest bold action in President Trumps unprecedented effort to lower prescription drug prices.
Imperial Valley News Center

Presidential Proclamation on the Establishment of the Camp Nelson National Monument

Washington, DC - Presidential Proclamation on the Establishment of the Camp Nelson National Monument:

Initially established as a Union Army supply depot and hospital, Camp Nelson, located in Jessamine County, Kentucky, was a key site of emancipation for African American soldiers and a refugee camp for their families during the Civil War. Camp Nelson was one of the largest Union Army recruitment centers for African American Union soldiers, then known as United States Colored Troops. During the war, thousands of enslaved African Americans risked their lives escaping to Camp Nelson, out of a deep desire for freedom and the right of self-determination. Today, the site is one of the best-preserved landscapes and archeological sites associated with United States Colored Troops recruitment and the refugee experiences of African American slaves seeking freedom during the Civil War.

Between 1863 and 1865, Camp Nelson served as a bustling Union Army encampment, hospital, and supply depot. From it, the Union Army dispatched soldiers, horses, and other supplies to support military operations at the Cumberland Gap and the frontlines in Tennessee and Virginia. During this time, enslaved individuals sought to gain their freedom by fleeing to Camp Nelson and other Union military installations in Kentucky. They placed their hope in places like Camp Nelson even though slavery was then legal in Kentucky. The Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, to free slaves from bondage, applied only to jurisdictions in which the people were in rebellion against the United States. As a strategically important border State, Kentucky had remained loyal to the Union and, therefore, was not within the proclamations scope.

Kentucky was the last State in the Union to allow the enlistment of African American men. Beginning in April of 1864, however, the State allowed free African American men and enslaved men who had the express permission of their owners to enlist. Notwithstanding these limited avenues to enlistment, hundreds of enslaved men risked their lives fleeing slavery and arrived at Camp Nelson during the spring of 1864, with the goal of enlisting in the Union Army in order to gain their freedom and to fight for the freedom of others.

As the pressure to meet recruitment demands grew, the Union Army was forced to allow all able-bodied men who were of age to join the Army. Kentucky, in particular, was unable to meet its draft quotas with only white soldiers. In the summer after enslaved men began to arrive at Camp Nelson, in June of 1864, more than 500 United States Colored Troops were mustered into service. In July, a record 1,370 new African American troops enlisted in the Union Army. On the single biggest recruitment day  July 25, 1864  322 African American men enlisted at Camp Nelson. By the end of the Civil War, more than 23,000 African Americans had joined the Union Army in Kentucky, making it the second largest contributor of United States Colored Troops of any State. More than 10,000 of these troops enlisted or were trained at Camp Nelson. Eight United States Colored Troop regiments were founded at Camp Nelson and five other such regiments were stationed there during the war.

Many enslaved men who arrived at Camp Nelson in 1864 were accompanied by their families. Although enlisting in the Union Army allowed men to gain their own freedom, it did not have the same effect for their family members, who often remained slaves in the eyes of the law and struggled to support and defend themselves. African Americans at Camp Nelson who did not enlist built refugee encampments. And as United States Colored Troop recruitment continued to climb, so did the population of freedom-seeking refugees at Camp Nelson, despite efforts by the Union Army to break them up and return the enslaved individuals to their owners.

The Union Armys efforts to remove refugees from Camp Nelson culminated in the tragic, forced expulsion of approximately 400 African American women and children during frigid weather in November of 1864, causing the deaths of 102 refugees. That tragedy brought national attention and public support to the plight of the refugees at Camp Nelson. In response, the Union Army established the Camp Nelson Home for Colored Refugees in January 1865, creating a safe haven for the wives and children of enlisted African American soldiers in Jessamine County, Kentucky. Influenced by these events, the Congress took action in March of 1865 by emancipating the wives and children of any enlisted member of the United States Colored Troops. This law protected the refugees at Camp Nelson. It also provided an additional incentive for African American men to enlist in the Union Army, and caused recruitment to steadily climb through the end of the war. In fact, as of the spring of 1865, Camp Nelson and the refugee home were at their largest, with thousands of new recruits, Union troops, refugees, and civilians working and living in hundreds of structures.

In 1865, after the end of the war, the Department of War began the process of closing Camp Nelson. It took inventory of existing buildings and equipment and prepared to dismantle and abandon the camp. Many of Camp Nelsons military buildings, all of which were built as temporary structures to be used during wartime, were either sold and moved, or dismantled. Only a few structures, like the Oliver Perry house, which predated the camps establishment, and the Camp Nelson Home for Colored Refugees, were left intact following the closure.

The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, more commonly referred to as the Freedmens Bureau, assumed management of the Camp Nelson Home for Colored Refugees during the post-war transition. Many of the African Americans who lived at Camp Nelson had envisioned that the refugee home would be a center for a thriving post-war African American community. The policy of the Freedmens Bureau, however, was to remove all refugees from military installations. By October of 1865, all of the former Civil War refugee camps in Kentucky and Tennessee had been closed, with the exception of Camp Nelson. While the refugee home officially closed in 1866, approximately 250 individuals stayed and sustained a community there, which today is known as Hall, Kentucky. And although no original buildings remain from the Camp Nelson Home for Colored Refugees, the descendants of refugees and soldiers maintain connections to Camp Nelson, and some still live in the Hall community.

The history of Camp Nelson is now told primarily through archival and military records, as well as rich archeological evidence from the site. The well-preserved in situ archeological resources associated with the military installation, recruitment camp, and refugee home provide robust opportunities for researchers to understand the African American experience during the Civil War. The broader Camp Nelson archeological record also provides opportunities for research and scholarship related to military history, race, identity, and gender during the Civil War  a pivotal chapter of the Nations history. The preserved archeological resources at the sites of Camp Nelson and the Camp Nelson Home for Colored Refugees provide insight into what was once a place where formerly enslaved individuals experienced freedom and self-determination, and struggled to create a sense of home, amidst the chaos of war. Camp Nelson reminds us of the courage and determination possessed by formerly enslaved African Americans as they fought for their freedom.

WHEREAS, section 320301 of title 54, United States Code (the Antiquities Act), authorizes the President, in his discretion, to declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest that are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the Federal Government to be national monuments, and to reserve as a part thereof parcels of land, the limits of which shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected;

WHEREAS, the Camp Nelson Historic and Archeological District was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 2016 for its national significance as the site of one of the Nations largest recruitment and training centers for African American soldiers during the Civil War, as well as a refugee camp for the families of those African American soldiers;

WHEREAS, Jessamine County, Kentucky, has donated to the American Battlefield Trust fee title to the Camp Nelson Civil War Heritage Park, located at 6614 Danville Road, Nicholasville, Kentucky, totaling approximately 373 acres, and the nearby property containing archeological evidence of the Camp Nelson Home for Colored Refugees, totaling approximately 7 acres (collectively, the Camp Nelson site);

WHEREAS, the American Battlefield Trust has relinquished fee title to these properties to the Federal Government;

WHEREAS, the designation of a national monument to be administered by the National Park Service (NPS) would recognize the historic significance of the Camp Nelson site, particularly the events that transpired at this location during and after the Civil War, and provide a national platform for preserving this history;

WHEREAS, the NPS intends to cooperate with Jessamine County, Kentucky, in the preservation, interpretation, operation, and maintenance of, and in educating about, the Camp Nelson site;

WHEREAS, it is in the public interest to preserve and protect the Camp Nelson site, in Jessamine County, Kentucky, and the objects of historic interest therein;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by section 320301 of title 54, United States Code, hereby proclaim the objects identified above that are situated upon lands and interests in lands owned or controlled by the Federal Government to be the Camp Nelson National Monument (monument) and, for the purpose of protecting those objects, reserve as a part thereof all lands and interests in lands owned or controlled by the Federal Government within the boundaries described on the accompanying map entitled Camp Nelson National Monument, Nicholasville, Kentucky, which is attached to and forms a part of this proclamation. The reserved Federal lands and interests in lands encompass approximately 380 acres. The boundaries described on the accompanying map are confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected.

All Federal lands and interests in lands within the boundaries described on the accompanying map are hereby appropriated and withdrawn from all forms of entry, location, selection, sale, or other disposition under the public land laws, from location, entry, and patent under the mining laws, and from disposition under all laws relating to mineral and geothermal leasing.

The establishment of the monument is subject to valid existing rights. If the Federal Government acquires any lands or interests in lands not owned or controlled by the Federal Government within the boundaries described on the accompanying map, such lands and interests in lands shall be reserved as a part of the monument, and objects identified above that are situated upon those lands and interests in lands shall be part of the monument, upon acquisition of ownership or control by the Federal Government.

The Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) shall manage the monument through the NPS, pursuant to applicable legal authorities, consistent with the purposes and provisions of this proclamation. The Secretary shall prepare a management plan with full and appropriate public involvement within 3 years of the date of this proclamation. The management plan shall ensure that the monument fulfills the following purposes for the benefit of present and future generations: (1) to preserve and protect the objects of historic interest within the monument, and (2) to interpret the objects, resources, and values related to the Camp Nelson site. The management plan shall also set forth the desired relationship of the monument to other related resources, programs, and organizations, both within and outside the National Park System.

The NPS is directed to use applicable authorities to seek to enter into agreements with others, including Jessamine County, to address common interests and promote management efficiencies, including provision of visitor services, interpretation and education, establishment and care of museum collections, and preservation of historic objects.

Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to revoke any existing withdrawal, reservation, or appropriation; however, the national monument shall be the dominant reservation.

Warning is hereby given that no unauthorized persons shall appropriate, injure, destroy, or remove any feature of this monument, or locate or settle upon any of the lands thereof.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this

twenty-sixth day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand eighteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-third.
Ankara will not tolerate the presence of terrorists at the Turkish borders, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, commenting the results of the quadripartite summit on the Syrian settlement held in Istanbul.

"Turkey will not allow the terrorists (in Syria) to remain near our borders, we will continue the fight against terrorism," he said after the meeting.
We Can Bring the Opioid Crisis to an End

Washington, DC - Imagine if a plane carrying nearly 200 passengers fell from the sky each day. Americans would demand answersand action. Drug overdoses now claim nearly 200 lives each day. Thats more lives annually in the US than breast cancer, car accidents or gun violence. Another 2 million people currently suffer from an opioid use disorder.

The statistics are harrowing; the stories of loss heartbreaking. Yet in the year since President Donald J. Trump issued a nationwide call to action, and his administration declared a national public health emergency, our results and resolve offer some hope that the worst drug crisis in US history can be slowed, and eventually solved.

The results speak for themselves. Seizures of several kinds of illicit drugs are up, the number of new 30-day prescriptions is down and overdose deaths attributed to prescription pain medications have started to level.

Earlier this month, Congress passed H.R. 6, The SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act, the largest legislative effort in history to address a single drug crisis.



With the Presidents signature on Wednesday, the new law will expand access to evidence-based treatment, protect communities from illicit drugs, invest more in sustained recovery and workforce participation, continue to fight the stigma directed at people with addiction and raise public consciousness of the dangers of illicitly imported synthetic opioids like fentanyl.

This bill includes more money for infants born physically dependent on opioids and their parents. Assistance for children in foster care due to parental substance abuse is also included.



But the bill isnt the only step to combat the crisis. The administration, through its collaborative Opioids Cabinet, staff from Cabinet departments and agencies engaged in combating the opioid crisis, has focused on a whole-of-government approach that aims to treat the whole person.



More people than ever are receiving evidence-based medication  assisted therapy for opioid addiction. One of these treatments, buprenorphine, has seen a 16% increase in new patients since President Trump took office.

And we are returning treatment decisions to the hands of trusted local experts on the front line. In September, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) awarded $930 million in grants to states to address the opioid crisis.



The President lent his social media muscle and voice to what were record-breaking numbers of unwanted prescription drugs collected during the three National Prescription Drug Take-Back Days since he assumed office. In the span of 12 months, three take-back days netted 2.8 million pounds of pills  enough to fill more than 10 Boeing 757s.

Each of these initiatives are a promise kept to the American people by a candidate and President who vowed to help a weary, hurting heartland.



The opioid and drug crisis does not discriminate. It has seeped past socioeconomic, demographic, political and geographic boundaries to affect every area of the country. This is no longer someone elses kid, someone elses co-worker, someone elses community.

President Trump agrees: When someone is struggling with addiction, we dont ask them how they voted, we ask them how we can help.

Read the full story here.

This op-ed appeared in CNN on October 26, 2018.
The popularity of graphic novels is soaring and 2018 could turn out to be a key year for the genre. Sales of Nick Drnasos Sabrina rocketed this summer when it became the first graphic novel to be included on the Man Booker Prize longlist in the awards 50-year history. A previous jury once dismissed this format as mere comic books.

Six decades after it was published, Harper Lees seminal novel To Kill a Mockingbird was voted the UKs most-loved book, according to a World Book Night survey. Its continued popularity was shown this month, when a six-month PBS poll of more than four million American readers voted Lees classic as their favourite novel of all time. Now, it is being released in graphic novel form.

Drnasos book  about murder, truth, the internet and the crazy fake news cycle around the story of a missing woman  is vibrantly contemporary. The daunting challenge that faced artist and writer Fred Fordham was creating a modern and accurate illustrated version of a novel that has sold more than 40 million copies since its publication in 1960.

Cover art for Sabrina (Granta Books)

I was not trying to re-invent Harper Lees novel, Fordham says. I was trying to do a faithful adaptation in a new medium. I have taken it very seriously and thought about little else for a good year and a half.

The proposal for a new special visual edition of Lees Pulitzer Prize-winning novel came from the estate of Harper Lee. The project fits in with plans by Tonja Carter, Lees attorney and executor, to grow the authors hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, into a major tourist destination for a new age.

Carter liked Fordhams previous work. His first graphic novel, Nightfall, was published in 2013 in France  where around 5,000 graphic novels are published every year  and four years later he was chosen to illustrate Philip Pullmans The Adventures of John Blake: The Mystery of the Ghost Ship.

Recommended Graphic novel features in Man Booker Prize longlist for the first time

After accepting the commission, 33-year-old Londoner Fordham went to America to soak in the atmosphere of the Deep South. I had not been to America before, so I flew to New York and then on to Alabama for 10 days. That was two sides of a fairly wide coin. Monroeville is where Lee grew up, the place on which she based the novel. It is much more of an autobiographical novel than I realised, even down to the position of the houses. Although her former home is now a shop that sells ice creams, the famous courthouse survives and has been turned into a museum. The people working there have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the town and they shared their insights generously.

The preparation Fordham undertook, allied to his training as a fine artist, meant he was able to bring a captivating realism to his illustrations, drawn with economy and effect. I took pictures and did sketches of old frame houses, which are similar to how they were in Lees time, says Fordham. I knew the foliage and landscapes would be similar, although I had the ill-informed idea that southern Alabama would be quite arid. It was very green and lush, in fact.

The locations feel real and you can also detect some of his previous training as a traditional portrait painter and muralist in the striking illustrations of minor characters such as Miss Maudie and Aunt Alexandra.

Respect permeates Fordhams book, not just in his admiration for Lees storytelling skills but also for the form of the graphic novel itself

As well as finding the appropriate art style, Fordham had to adapt 100,000 words from the original prose into a long-form visual medium. I read through the novel again several times and then I story-boarded the whole thing in quite a lot of detail, says Fordham.

In many ways, Lees fiction writing is suited to the sequences of the comic book form and her sharp and impactful dialogue is perfect for the copious dialogue balloons. At the all-female Huntingdon College in Montgomery, the young Lee was known for her salty language and her knowledge of the sort of conversations natural to small town folk from the south was impeccable. The people are not particularly sophisticated, naturally, Lee said in 1964. Theyre not worldly wise in any way. But they tell you a story whenever they see you. Were oral types  we talk.

To open his version, Fordham reproduces (verbatim) the first 152 words of Lees novel before going straight into dialogue bubbles. Lee had a free-flowing style and she jumps around spatially and temporally, and with illustrations that can be quite confusing, says Fordham. So there were a few occasions  such as the extended family history at the start of the novel  when I moved around description to avoid it being confusing, or I edited down parts where I thought a theme, such as learning to walk in other peoples shoes, had already been explored in depth. On the whole, though, because of the amount of beautiful dialogue, it was technically quite straightforward. It is not like trying to adapt Ulysses or Proust, although people have turned those into graphic novels.

True, there have also been graphic novel versions of Shakespeare, Dickens, Bronte, Melville and Kafka  and even a Marvel Comics adaptation of Pride and Prejudice that is faithful to Austens original  but Lees depiction of racial discrimination continues to arouse controversy. The racial slur nigger appears about 50 times in the book. In 2017, a school district in Biloxi, Mississippi, banned the book from eighth grade classes over concerns that the language makes people uncomfortable. Former US secretary of education Arne Duncan, a Barack Obama appointment, re-tweeted a plea from a teacher in Chicago seeking crowdfunding help to purchase copies of the books for his school. I want to make students think about issues that are relevant and worthwhile, the teacher said.

The Lee estate and publishers William Heinemann address the issue of the use of the racial insult in a postscript note in Fordhams book arguing that the inclusion of the word  its dehumanising power and the ease with which it was used  is central to understanding the themes of the novel.

Technically it would have been difficult to do a version without using the word, says Fordham, who has a degree from Sussex University in Politics and Philosophy. There is a whole sequence where Atticus chastises Scout for using the word. The word is essential to the court scene. In the end, this is a semi-autobiographical account of life in rural Alabama during Jim Crow. It is an excruciating word that rightly has a gut-wrenching effect, but it was how people spoke. Harper Lee is an intellectually honest person and she was trying to give a real, visceral account of the gruesome side of life in 1930s Alabama. Do you want to sanitise the past, or say this is how it was and we should not forget how appalling it was?

Fordham was inspired by Marjane Satrapis graphic autobiography Persepolis

The scenes of violence in his book have a Marvel-like feel  with the words WHACK, THUMP, WHAP and SMACK presented in big bold capital letters  and reading Fordhams book is an experience akin to watching a movie, especially his powerful presentation of the dramatic court battle. Fordham says he was careful not to be influenced by the 1962 Oscar-winning film adaptation of Lees novel, which starred Gregory Peck as the hero lawyer Atticus Finch.

I didnt want to be swayed so watched the film only after I had done the adaptation, says Fordham. Its a wonderful film, but it is more of an Atticus story. The book is more a Scout story. My version is an adaptation of the novel, not the film. I understand why the film is beloved. Lee was so enthusiastic about Gregory Peck and I heard a lovely story about them. In one scene he had been emoting as much as possible while she was watching from the sides in tears. He was feeling really chuffed with himself and went up and said, Im pleased you were moved by it, I hope were doing a good job. She just replied, Oh, not that. You have a pot belly, just like my daddy.

Lee said the reason she liked the screen version was because respect permeated everyone who had anything to do with the film. Respect permeates Fordhams book, not just in his admiration for her storytelling skills but also for the form of the graphic novel itself. The term, incidentally, was coined by American writer and publisher Richard Kyle in 1964, when he suggested calling comic books graphic stories. He disliked the more arcane term illustrories, which was in vogue at the time.

Fordhams love of graphic novels goes back to his days as teenager, when he became interested in bande dessinee (the drawn comic strips of the 1930s, such as Herges Adventures of Tintin) and the world of the graphic novel. He was particularly inspired by Marjane Satrapis graphic autobiography Persepolis, which depicts her upbringing in Iran during the Islamic Revolution.

Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch in the 1962 film adaptation of Lees novel (Getty)

He gained wider attention working as an illustrator for The Phoenix comic. Fred Fordham came along when he was a young man with brilliant talent, says publisher David Fickling. He did some work on The Phoenix and then did a beautiful comic strip called The Rocket of Rawangadalli with Ben Sharpe. Then we got him to do the John Blake novel with Philip Pullman and that really put him on the map, because it sold well here and in America, in Europe and the Far East. It was brilliant strip mastery and, from that job, he got the gig for To Kill a Mockingbird.

Graphic fiction is at a high point commercially and critically. The Man Booker recognition for Sabrina will do something for the intellectual credibility of the graphic novel, says Fordham. The nomination marked perhaps the most significant moment for the genre since Art Spiegelmans Maus won a special Pulitzer Prize in 1992. That re-telling of his fathers experience in a concentration camp, using mice to represent Jewish prisoners and cats as Nazi guards, is a masterpiece.

There is a UK tradition of storytelling illustrations for Fordham to call upon. In the 1960s and 1970s there was a huge market for comics and made up a lot of the hidden reading that was going on then, says Fickling, who has published dozens of graphic novels. There were about 40 weekly comics in that era and a rather snooty tendency to look down on them means they didnt get the credit they deserved for promoting reading. I think comics will come back and be massive in the future. Comic readers are ideal for graphic novels, because they devour every single word in the boxes. They suck as much story out of it as they possibly can.

The tale of Jewish life under the Nazis won a special Pulitzer Prize in 1992

Fordham says he hopes that in the UK and USA graphic novels are on the cusp of becoming an accepted media, as they are in France and Japan. Harper Lees estate is certainly aiming to promote the novel, still purchased by more than a million people a year, as reborn for a new age.

Why does Fordham believe there is still this appetite for a story about life in 1930s Alabama?

Lee wrote such a subtle portrayal of childhood, with fascinating young characters like Scout, Jem and Dill. It has that strange aspect of youngsters coming of age and learning about responsibility at the same time as recognising the prejudices and hypocrisies that you are expected to adopt as a grown-up, says Fordham.

As well as the grand themes, Lee has such vivid, universally recognisable characters, such as the town gossip, the troubled family down the road, the stoical father figure. People from anywhere and anytime can relate to these people from rural Alabama. I always thought To Kill a Mockingbird was primarily a courtroom drama and a book about prejudice drama, but it is the more general things about growing up and empathy that are universal.

To Kill a Mockingbird, adapted and illustrated by Fred Fordham, is published by William Heinemann on Tuesday 30 October
Meghan Markle has been presented with a number of gifts during the royal tour, including a cuddly kangaroo toy and a pair of baby Ugg boots.

But a pasta necklace made by six-year-old Gavin Hazelwood, who gave her the piece of jewellery while she was visiting Melbourne with her husband Prince Harry, really stood out.

His gift to the royal led to requests from from around the world for copies.

So the youngster decided to start selling them online with all proceeds going to charity.

Gavin and his mother, Rowan, explained to Australia's 9News that the idea came about to raise money for a cause that was close to their familys heart.

Everyone was telling him he should start making them and selling them for himself but Gavin said he doesnt need to make money off this, Rowan said. But then a few days later he said, Actually we could get some money from this but send it off to charity.'

The Duchess of Sussex wearing the pasta necklace presented to her by six-year-old Gavin Hazelwood in Melbourne (Getty Images)

Gavins inspiration for giving the money raised from necklace sales to charity was his younger sister Clara, who was stillborn when he was a toddler.

I want to donate to help people find out why babies die and from stopping it from happening, Gavin said. Because my sister died in my mums tummy when I was two.

Gavin and his mother have since set up a website, imadeyouanecklace.com, where the gold pasta necklaces are being sold for 20 Australian dollars.

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The six-year-old believes that hes going to make hundreds of necklaces, having received orders from Australia, England and America.

However, he dreams of becoming a pilot one day, having met Meghan while he was wearing a Qantas airline pilot uniform.
Jabulani Tsambo, who has died aged 38, was the big, charming bear of a talent who helped to pioneer South Africas motswako style  in which rappers flit between English and the language of Setswana.

Growing up under apartheid made him keen to challenge the mentality that his country was somehow separate from the rest of Africa.

Going by the name Hip Hop Pantsula (double-H P), he encouraged the cross-pollination of ideas and styles in the continent, to create a consolidated music industry that would benefit artists and audiences alike. (Pantsula is a dance style that emerged in the Eighties, just as hip hop did in the States.)

In short, he wanted to unite Africa and felt that musicians could lead the way  this was in no small part because of Nigerias dominance of the music trade. He feared artists who could not command Nigerians fees might be living hand to mouth. But he lamented how commercial intentions affected music making.

HHP, or Jabba, as he preferred to be known, was unimpressed by young African rappers who offer crude imitations of their US counterparts. I love the music but I hate the content, he said. It was the same shit: bitches, champagne and cars that they know they cant afford. These youngsters are so disrespectful.

Jabba was born in Maf Town, his word for Mafikeng, the capital of South Africas North West Province, and attended St Albans College high school in Pretoria.

He once took part in the BBC documentary series Who Do You Think You Are? and was surprised when researchers found his grandfather moved to South Africa from Mozambique.

It left him feeling like I actually dont even know who I am, he told Okay Africa. I dont know my family like that and I dont know my language as well. So my need for finding out whats going on in Africa became even more real.

HHP launched his career in 1997 with a group called Verbal Assassins, which he had formed with his school friends. They were introduced to the producer Chicco Twala and released an album called Party.

The band having separated, he released his own album Introduction in 2000, followed by Maf Town in 2001, O Mang? In 2003 and Motswafrika in 2011.

In 2007 he won South Africas third series of Strictly Come Dancing along with his dance partner Haley Bennett and was honoured at his hometowns inaugural Golden Stars awards. That year, his album Acceptance Speech featured US star Amerie on its first single Music and Lights. He also worked with Nas and Omar.

HHP was candid about his struggles with mental health

A year later he was nominated in three categories at the MTV Africa Awards. In 2009 he won best video for Mpitse.

In 2009 Jabba  who is survived by his wife Lerato Sengadi, whom he married in 2016, his parents, two sisters, his son and nephew  released his seventh studio album Dumela (Belief).

HHP also turned his hand to TV presenting, hosting 13 episodes of The Respect Show, a programme which highlighted the lives of young innovators making a positive social impact.

In 2015, a year in which he revealed he suffered depression and had tried to kill himself, he found himself speaking out about xenophobic attacks that had erupted in South Africa.

He had done so before in 2008 when attacks resulted in a number of deaths  immigrants from neighbouring countries, and places such as Somalia and Pakistan, continue to be violently harassed in the country.

This fed into his message for unity  and it was a heartfelt one  HHP walked the walk.

In 2013, joined by his friend DJ Zondi, he trekked by from South Africa to Kenya on the Daraja Walk  daraja means bridge in Swahili. He was trying to build a bridge over troubled borders.

Last year he was devastated when DJ Zondi died. He was my big brother, he said. Someone I leaned on.

Two weeks ago, after a long hiatus, he released an EP called It Feels Good to Be Back.

Showing his humble nature, Jabba once said: When too many good things in your life happen at once, it either means you have been having a messed up life and you are getting what you have been missing out on, or that life is basically trying to cushion you for the biggest tragedy of your life. One cannot take things for granted and start becoming arrogant.

Jabulani Tsambo, rapper, born 14 September 1980, died 24 October 2018
An MP has accused the government of having blood on its hands over the war in Yemen, but almost half of British people do not know the conflict exists.

Only 58 per cent of respondents in a YouGov poll identified the country, where at least 10,000 people have been killed in three years of bloodshed, as a warzone.

Keith Vaz, chair of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on Yemen, called the crisis a forgotten war.

Its very disturbing that despite everything that has happened there, interest is declining while the situation is getting worse, the Labour MP told The Independent.

The UK is involved but it is a blind spot. Somehow we need to make the public realise there will be blood on the administrations hands.

Mr Vaz pointed at the governments continued licencing of weapons and military equipment to Saudi Arabia, which leads a coalition accused of killing thousands of civilians and committing war crimes in a bloody campaign of airstrikes.

Launched in support of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi against Houthi rebels and other opponents in 2015, the bombing has also worsened a deepening humanitarian crisis that is taking more lives through famine and the worlds worst cholera outbreak.

Evidence of British-made bombs have been found at the scenes of alleged war crimes, and earlier this year the chairman of BAE Systems claimed he did not know if the firms equipment had been used to commit war crimes.

The lack of awareness was startling, said charity (YouGov/Human Appeal)

The murder of dissident Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the countrys consulate in Istanbul has provoked renewed calls for Britain to distance itself from its strategic partner.

Germany has paused arms exports to Riyadh over the killing but the UK has so far made no move to do the same.

Government statistics show that the UK has licensed 4.7bn worth of arms to Saudi Arabia since the bombing began, including 2.7bn worth of ML10 licences that include aircraft and helicopters, and 1.9bn of ML4 licences covering weapons including missiles and other bombs.

Andrew Smith, of Campaign Against Arms Trade said: No matter how bad the situation has become, it has always been able to rely on the support of the UK government. What more would it take to end the arms sales and end the uncritical support that has been given to the regime?

Mr Vaz, who was born in the Yemeni port city of Aden, called Mr Khashoggis death appalling but added: This is one man but 10,000 have died and weve not even had that kind of interest.

He is among British MPs attending an international peace conference in Paris on 8 November, as official talks flounder.

We feel our government is not doing anything, Mr Vaz said. I tried to meet Boris Johnson several times but in all the time he was the foreign secretary he never met me.

He said that while David Cameron replied to letters on Yemen personally, Theresa May has delegated responses to a military attache.

The APPG on Yemen has now contacted Jeremy Hunt with a call to support a United Nations resolution demanding a ceasefire allowing the passage of humanitarian aid.

Mr Vaz said: We need the peace talks resumed or we cannot get a lasting settlement.

Saudi Arabia and its partners have denied committing war crimes in the ongoing conflict, and Britain has been content to recognise the conclusions of the coalitions in-house Joint Incidents Assessment Team.

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In most cases the mechanism has found that the coalition acted lawfully, did not carry out a reported atrocity, or that a mistake was unintentional, often due to technical errors.

But a UN report released in August concluded that the Saudi-led coalition had committed acts that may amount to war crimes.

It said its airstrikes have caused most direct civilian casualties, hitting homes, markets, funerals, weddings, detention facilities, civilian boats and even medical facilities.

The coalitions air and sea blockades  restricting the passage of food, humanitarian aid and medical assistance  violate humanitarian law and may amount to an international crime, the UN said.

Members of the Saudi-led coalition were also accused of using child soldiers, raping displaced civilians and harassing journalists.

The UN has recorded 6,660 civilians killed and 10,563 injured since March 2015, but said the real figures are likely to be significantly higher.

Despite the magnitude of suffering, 42 per cent of British respondents to a YouGov poll were unaware of the Yemen war.

When asked where they believed an ongoing armed conflict was taking place, three-quarters of the 2,100 respondents in the same poll said Syria, 63 per cent Afghanistan, 53 per cent Iraq and 46 per cent for both Libya and Myanmar.

The Human Appeal, which commissioned the research and is providing aid in Yemen, said the lack of awareness was startling as 14 million people face starvation.

Charles Lawley, the charitys external affairs coordinator, suggested it could be the result of media coverage or the wars complexity.

The human price being paid every day, across Yemen, is horrendous and we feel like more of the UK should be aware of the realities in a conflict zone where violence and poverty reigns unabated in a disastrous cycle, he added.

More and more Yemenis are struggling to access clean water and hygiene facilities, allowing disease and infections to spread rapidly. Despite all of this, Yemen is being ignored.

A Foreign Office spokesperson said: The UK supports the Saudi-led coalition military intervention, accepted by the UN Security Council, which came at the request of legitimate President Hadi. Our longstanding policy is that there can be no military solution to the Yemen conflict; only political negotiations will end the conflict. We make this clear in all of our engagements. We also make clear that all operations must be conducted in accordance with international humanitarian law.

The UK is the fourth largest donor to the UN Yemen appeal, providing 170m this financial year to meet the immediate food needs of 2.5 million Yemenis as well as support nutrition, clean water, and sanitation programmes.

The UK has one of the most rigorous arms export licencing policies in the world. The key test for our continued defence exports to Saudi Arabia has always been whether there is a clear risk that items subject to the licence might be used to commit a serious violation of International Humanitarian Law. This process was subjected to judicial review last year and the claim against the government was dismissed.
One million people have now signed The Independents petition calling for the British public to be given a Final Say on Brexit in a new referendum.

The petition reached the milestone on Saturday afternoon, just three months after it was launched and amid deadlock in negotiations with Brussels and growing concern over a looming no-deal Brexit or the possibility of a deal that does not prove to be popular with the public..

Theresa May has refused to contemplate a new referendum  but the matter may eventually be taken out of her hands, with odds on the prime minister finding any deal parliament can approve dwindling.

It was just one week ago that almost 700,000 people took to the streets of London for the Peoples Vote and The Independent March for the Future, the biggest mass-demonstration the UK has seen since the Iraq War.

The Independent launched its Final Say campaign to secure a vote on the outcome of Brexit in July, with names on the petition quickly soaring into the hundreds of thousands.

Labour MP Chuka Umunna told The Independent on Saturday: Last week over 700,000 people from all over the country and from all walks of life took to the streets to demand a say over the biggest decision this country faces since the Second World War. This week sees The Independents petition for a Final Say reach over one million signatures.

As the disaster of Brexit unfolds, and more and more people reach the conclusion that however you voted in 2016 no one voted for this mess, the momentum for a peoples vote just gets stronger. This cannot be ignored by the main parties.

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There is currently an impasse in the Brexit talks, with Northern Ireland the central focus among many other issues. Officials on both sides of the Channel have failed to find a way through since the negotiations began in earnest two years ago.

While Conservative MPs will not allow Ms May to accept the EUs plans for keeping the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic open if no future relations can be agreed, the EU will not countenance leaving the same plans out of any agreement.

Brexit reality  chaos and no trade deal  is not what Leave voters were promised which is why more and more of them are demanding a final say, deal or no deal, with Remain on the ballot paper Anna Soubry MP

With the deadline for a deal having been constantly pushed back, and now looking unlikely until just before Christmas, the prime minister admitted earlier this week that while she believed a withdrawal agreement is 95 per cent complete, the Irish border problem remained considerable.

The European parliaments Brexit lead Guy Verhofstadt said on Wednesday: Progress on the Brexit negotiations can be 90 per cent, 95 per cent or even 99 per cent.

But as long as there is no solution for the Irish border, as long as the Good Friday agreement is not fully secured, for us in our parliament progress is zero per cent.

The deadlock has raised odds that the talks will break down resulting in no deal, or that Ms May will make concessions to break the impasse that will be unacceptable to her own party.

At the moment there seems to be no shape of deal that can enjoy a majority in the Commons, given that Labour is highly likely to vote against any deal Ms May brings back.

A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Show all 65 1 /65 A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit An estimated 700,000 people marched through London to demand a final say on the withdrawal agreement Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Red smoke from a canister hangs in the air as around 100,000 demonstrators march through London during a People's Vote anti-brexit demonstration savings banners and placards Anti-Brexit People's Vote March for the Future in London Rex A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Mayor of London Sadiq Khan takes part in the People's Vote March for the Future in London, a march and rally in support of a second EU referendum. PA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Final Say campaigners take part in the peoples vote march for the future in London 20/10/2018 Protesters wearing final Say shirts and holding placards Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit MP Chuka Umunna (left) and MP Vince Cable (right) as MP Anna Soubry (centre) addresses Anti-Brexit campaigners at a rally after the People's Vote March for the Future in London, a march and rally in support of a second EU referendum. PA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit A Peoples Vote march attendee calls for a Final Say Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Demonstrators with banners 'We're with EU' during the People's Vote March for the Future in London, Britain, 20 October 2018. Reports state that the 'March for the Future' is to be led by a column of young people and call for a Peopleas Vote on the Brexit deal. After marching through central London, there will be a rally on stage in Parliament Square, including speeches from Mayor of London Sadiq Khan. EPA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Protesters at Londons march for the future in October The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Editor of The Independent Christian Broughton speaks to demonstrators in Parliament Sqaure after they take part in a march calling for a People's Vote on the final Brexit deal, in central London on October 20, 2018. - Britons dreading life outside Europe gathered from all corners of the UK to London on Saturday to try to stop their country's looming breakup with the EU. AFP/Getty A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit A poster at the March for the Future in October The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Anti-Brexit campaigners take part in the People's Vote March for the Future in London, a march and rally in support of a second EU referendum. PA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Final Say campaigners take part in the peoples vote march for the future in London 20/10/2018 Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Anti-Brexit campaigners take part in the People's Vote March for the Future in London, a march and rally in support of a second EU referendum. PA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Demonstrators hold placards as they take part in a march calling for a People's Vote on the final Brexit deal, in central London on October 20, 2018. - Britons dreading life outside Europe gathered from all corners of the UK to London on Saturday to try to stop their country's looming breakup with the EU. AFP/Getty A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Final Say campaigners take part in the peoples vote march for the future in London 20/10/2018 campaigner wrapped in EU flag Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Final Say campaigners take part in the peoples vote march for the future in London 20/10/2018 Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Demonstrators pass Trafalgar Square as they take part in a march calling for a People's Vote on the final Brexit deal, in central London on October 20, 2018. - Britons dreading life outside Europe gathered from all corners of the UK to London on Saturday to try to stop their country's looming breakup with the EU. AFP/Getty A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Demonstrators wave Union and European flags and hold up placards as they pass Trafalgar Square, taking part in a march calling for a People's Vote on the final Brexit deal, in central London on October 20, 2018. - Britons dreading life outside Europe gathered from all corners of the UK to London on Saturday to try to stop their country's looming breakup with the EU. AFP/Getty A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Demonstrators hold placards as they take part in a march calling for a People's Vote on the final Brexit deal, in central London on October 20, 2018. - Britons dreading life outside Europe gathered from all corners of the UK to London on Saturday to try to stop their country's looming breakup with the EU. AFP/Getty A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit A demonstrator holds a message during a march calling for a People's Vote on the final Brexit deal, in central London on October 20, 2018. - Britons dreading life outside Europe gathered from all corners of the UK to London on Saturday to try to stop their country's looming breakup with the EU. AFP/Getty A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Anti-Brexit campaigners take part in the People's Vote March for the Future in London, a march and rally in support of a second EU referendum. PA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Demonstrators take part in the 'People's Vote March for the Future,' in central London, Britain, 20 October 2018. Reports state that the 'March for the Future' is to be led by a column of young people and call for a Peopleas Vote on the Brexit deal. After marching through central London, there will be a rally on stage in Parliament Square, including speeches from Mayor of London Sadiq Khan EPA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit A protester brandishes an Independent t-shirt during the Brexit March Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Anti-Brexit campaigners take part in the People's Vote March for the Future in London, a march and rally in support of a second EU referendum PA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Tens of thousands of people take part in People's Vote March for the Future in central London. The march organised by the People's Vote campaign is led by young people calling for a People's Vote on the Brexit deal Rex A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Anti-Brexit campaigners take part in the People's Vote March for the Future in London, a march and rally in support of a second EU referendum PA

If the prime ministers agreement is voted down, the government has tried to claim it will mean the UK leaving with no deal at all, but parliamentarians will likely have an opportunity to intervene.

Faced with failed negotiations and the prospect of a no-deal Brexit, many MPs believe the option of a further referendum will be the only credible option.

Around 100 have publicly backed having a new vote with many more doing so privately and others saying it is likely to be where the country will end up, regardless of their own preference.

The Conservative MP Anna Soubry hailed The Independents petition, and said: Brexit reality  chaos and no trade deal  is not what Leave voters were promised which is why more and more of them are demanding a Final Say, deal or no deal, with Remain on the ballot paper.

Last Saturday some 670,000 were said to have attended the march in the capital demanding a new referendum.

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, was among those who addressed crowds in Parliament Square, along with representatives from the main political parties and well-known figures including Steve Coogan, Delia Smith and Deborah Meaden.

The UK voted to leave the EU by a margin of 51.89 per cent to 48.11 per cent in the referendum in June 2016 and, after triggering Article 50, is set to leave on 29 March.
The first time anyone on social media noted a crowd at a political rally chanting CNN sucks! was at a rally in Santa Monica, California, after the 7 June primary in that state.

It wasnt one of Donald Trumps rallies; he was back in New York City, pledging that he would soon be unveiling new derogatory information about Hillary Clinton shortly after a planned meeting between members of his campaign and a Kremlin-linked attorney (which he asserts he didnt know about).

It was a rally for Senator Bernie Sanders, whose bid for the Democratic Party presidential nomination had been out of reach for some time but which the primaries that night officially made impossible. This was before WikiLeaks released documents stolen from the Democratic National Committee showing that CNN contributor Donna Brazile had leaked a question for a town hall event to the Clinton campaign.

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The chant was basically ... calling out the mainstream media for their coverage of the election, one rally attendee said in a video shown on election coverage by the liberal Young Turks team. (That attendee was Brigida Santos, then a reporter for RT, the Russian government-funded television network.)

At the time, Trumps once cosy relationship with CNN had only just begun to sour. By now, that relationship is toxic enough that Trump supporters chant CNN sucks with nearly the same alacrity that they chant, Lock her up. In part, certainly, its because the phrase has a rhythm that, say, Washington Post sucks does not. But in part its because Trump and his allies have increasingly used CNN as a foil in the mainstream media.

Before running for president, Trumps relationship with CNN was like his relationship with nearly any other media outlet: If it had cameras running or if there was a reporter on the other end of the phone line, he was happy to talk. Trump was regularly interviewed by his friend Larry King when King had his show on CNN. He doesnt appear to have offered many concerns about the networks coverage while doing so.

Once he announced his candidacy, CNN was just another network. Trump regularly appeared on the networks programmes, and the network covered his rallies, often in full. He sat for interviews with Anderson Cooper and Chris Cuomo and would call in to network shows.

He criticised the networks coverage at various point, as when it was sceptical about his claim of being worth $10bn and when it covered a former employee who alleged that Trump had chastised her for breastfeeding.

 Alarm goes off in CNN newsroom while on air as Time Warner Center evacuated

But CNN kept pumping out one form of news that Trump celebrated: Good poll numbers. As with other polls assessing the Republican primary field, Trump kept leading the field. He would regularly tout his latest good numbers at his rallies; with any bad news seemingly having no effect on his standing, he didnt expend much energy mocking the network.

CNN did this really very, very expensive, very well done poll  its only well done because I was leading by a lot, Trump said in August. If it wasnt, Id say it wasnt. And they had leadership - I was way ahead of everybody.

The first debate was on Fox News in August, and ratings went through the roof. The second was scheduled for mid-September on CNN, and Trump thought he saw a point of leverage. He sent the network a letter insisting that ad revenue from the debate be sent to charity groups focused on military veterans instead of into the networks pockets. He had put a renewed focus on veterans following his comments disparaging Senator John McCain the month before.

While I refuse to brag, and as you know very well, this tremendous increase in viewer interest and advertising is due 100% to Donald J. Trump, he wrote in a letter to the network. CNN declined to take him up on his offer. The ratings for the second debate were also strong.

Trump supporters at a Trump rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania in August 2018 (The Washington Post/Philip Bump ) (The Washington Post/Philip Bump)

In late November, he complained to a rally audience about a bad story from CNN (I love hitting them!), but by December he was praising the network again for its great, great poll that came out showing him in the lead in Iowa.

In January, his complaint about another great CNN poll took a different form, as he alleged that the network would not use its own poll in favour of one from another outlet. The theme over and over: CNN, like the rest of the mainstream media and the establishment, was out to get him, except when they had good news he could promote.

A string of four Trump tweets in January 2016 makes that odd relationship clear.

New CNN/WMUR New Hampshire poll just released. Thank you! 

So sad that @CNN and many others refused to show the massive crowd at the arena yesterday in Oklahoma. Dishonest reporting!

Donald Trump supporters demonstrating against anti-Trump protesters calling for the president's impeachment in Los Angeles (AFP/Getty Images)

New Day on CNN treats me very badly. @AlisynCamerota is a disaster. Not going to watch anymore.

I will be on @CNNSitRoom with @wolfblitzer from 5-7pm est. on @CNN.

Still appearing on the network. Still watching. Still embracing the polls. Still criticising the critics who got airtime.

After he secured the nomination, though, his rhetoric shifted. Gone were the polls showing him in the lead.

CNN is so negative, getting even worse as I get closer, he tweeted in late May. Just had two anti-Trump losers with zero rebuttal from my team. Turning off! By early June, he was referring to the network as the Clinton News Network.

CNN is all negative when it comes to me, he declared in late June. I dont watch it anymore.

In early July 2016, Trump sent out a tweet featuring an image that showed Clintons face on a pile of money next to a six-pointed star. The anti-Semitic connotations of the image quickly became a cable-news conversation, as Trump tried to say it was intended to be a sheriffs star.

At a speech in Cincinnati shortly after the controversy erupted, Trumps rhetoric about CNN was stark.

These people are sick, folks, Trump said. Im telling you. Theyre sick. And Ill tell you: Someday Im going to tell you the real story of CNN, but Im not going to tell it yet. But theyre sick. I dont watch it! Dont watch it. You know what? Dont watch it anymore.

A few weeks later, the Republican Party held its convention. Trumps poll numbers jumped shortly afterward.

The CNN poll was so good, I may have to start liking them again, he said, after CNNs post-convention poll. Some in the audience booed at his comment, prompting Trump to chuckle.

Donald Trump supporters listening to the President speak at a rally in Huntington, West Virginia, on 3 August 2017 (Carlos Barria/Reuters)

At a rally on 29 July, Trump complained that CNN had accused him of wanting to hit speakers who were critical of him. Trump said that obviously he was talking about his verbal, hitting them in a speech or in a tweet.

Ill tell you, CNN is really - you know they call it the Clinton News Network. Its really a dishonest group of people, he said. They are terrible.

He then accused CNN of shutting off the camera that the network was using to cover the event. It hadnt.

On 8 August Trump reacted to a CNN poll analysis that showed him down by 10 points.

I see one from CNN where were down, he said. I think these polls - I dont know. Theres something about these polls. Theres something phony. After he became president (and as his approval numbers stayed well under 50 per cent), Trump tweeted that any negative polls are fake news, just like the CNN, ABC, NBC polls in the election.

 Trump begs supporters to stay by him after Media attacks 'just stick with us... don't believe the cr*p the fake news tells you"

Trumps denunciations of CNN continued sporadically for a few months. In October, the stolen DNC email revealing Braziles leak was published. At a rally that night, Trump railed against the network yet again, in part because of the leak and in part because the networks commentators criticised his performance in the first presidential debate.

If the late, great Abraham Lincoln debated, and he was representing our point of view, CNN would say Abe Lincoln went down to a massive defeat, he said. I mean, these are dishonest people were dealing with.

The night before, on 10 October, the first recorded CNN sucks chant erupted at a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

Trump has often said that once he won the presidency, he expected the medias rhetoric about him to soften. He said that specifically about CNN in late November 2016.

Trump tweeted I thought that @CNN would get better after they failed so badly in their support of Hillary Clinton however, since election, they are worse!

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At a news conference in early January 2017, Trump set a new tone in his relationship with the network. Trump bashed the network repeatedly after CNN ran a story about a dossier of allegations concerning his campaigns relationship with Russia.

The networks Jim Acosta tried to ask Trump a question.

Not you. Your organisation is terrible, Trump said.

Since youre attacking us, can you give us a question? Mr President-elect, since youre attacking our news organisation, can you give us a chance? Acosta replied.

Im not going to give you a question. You are fake news, Trump said.

(Acosta in particular has rankled Trump and White House staffers. In January of this year, Trump called him crazy. Press secretary Sarah Sanders has repeatedly clashed with him in the White House briefing room.)

The dossier and the Russia investigation have fuelled much of Trumps frustration with the media as president. In February 2017, he dubbed CNN and other news organisations the enemy of the American People! He called CNN and other outlets a great danger to our country and said that CNN, like the New York Times, had become a joke.

In October of last year, the network pushed back, releasing a series of ads using a metaphor focused on apples to criticise Trumps frequent lies and distortions.

CNN is broadly popular with Americans and is often seen as the nonpartisan competitor to MSNBC and Fox News. Trumps base, though, was already primed to dislike CNN.

In a Suffolk University poll from June 2015, only 3 per cent of Republicans identified CNN as their most-trusted source of news or opinion. That jumped to 7 per cent shortly before the election, but in a poll this week, that figure was down to 1 per cent.

Trump tweeted We should have a contest as to which of the Networks, plus CNN and not including Fox, is the most dishonest, corrupt and/or distorted in its political coverage of your favourite President (me). They are all bad. Winner to receive the FAKE NEWS TROPHY!

The presidents most recent excoriation of the network came early Friday in a tweet lamenting CNNs assertion that his rhetoric bore some of the blame for a recent spate of mail bombs sent to Democratic politicians and to CNN itself.

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Funny how lowly rated CNN, and others, can criticise me at will, even blaming me for the current spate of Bombs and ridiculously comparing this to September 11th and the Oklahoma City bombing, he wrote, yet when I criticise them they go wild and scream, its just not Presidential!

A few hours later, a suspect in those attempted bombings was arrested in Florida. The suspects van was covered in stickers offering support for the president.

In one corner of one window was a familiar slogan: Dishonest media / CNN sucks.

Washington Post
Self-appointed militia groups are planning to head to the Mexican border to help halt the caravan of Central American migrants heading to the US.

Border Patrol officials have already warned landowners in Texas that it expects possible armed civilians to go onto their properties because of the caravan.

The activists, who are raising money for their plan, are planning to arm themselves with guns and bulletproof vests in an effort to secure Americas border against the caravan of about 4,000 people.

It is dividing opinion among US citizens and fuelling fears of vigilantism.

Some people have posted dire warnings on Facebook about the caravan. One said it was imperative that we have boots on the ground. Another wrote: War! Secure the border now!

Theyre just laughing in our face, said Shannon McGauley, president of the Texas Minutemen. Its a free-for-all in America.

Mr McGauley said he already has members at three points of the states border with Mexico and expects to add 25 to 100 more people in the coming days.

Another user wrote: This caravan cant be allowed to bully us and cross the border. A strong border means a safe country.

I see young, fighting-age men who do not look like theyre starving Monica Marin

Monica Marin, of Oregon, said she had raised about $4,000 (3120) online to help militias buy supplies. She claimed members of the caravan were dangerous, echoing Mr Trumps claim that unknown Middle Easterners were among the crowd.

I see young, fighting-age men who do not look like theyre starving. They look like theyre ready to fight, Ms Marin said.

But in Arivaca, Arizona, residents have posted signs in recent weeks warning that militia members are not welcome.

Marianna Trevino Wright, of South Texas, said she was more fearful of the militias than the caravan.

It will end badly, she predicted.

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However, the migrants are still 1,000 miles and weeks away from reaching the border. They are fleeing rampant gang violence and poverty in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.

Border watch groups and militias have been patrolling the 2,000-mile southern boundary off and on for more than a decade to tip off Border Patrol about people trying to cross.

President Trump, who has made the issue central to the mid-term elections, has called for the army to be sent to the border and a Pentagon official said the administration will dispatch 800 or more troops.

Although numbers crossing the border have risen this year, they are still far below levels of previous decades.
 Close Donald Trump suggests places of worship sould have armed protection

Eleven people have been killed during a mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in what Donald Trump called a "wicked" antisemitic act of mass murder.

Another six people were injured, two of them critically  including four police officers having exchanged fire with the shooter. Among the injured were a 61-year-old woman, a 70-year-old man and a 55-year old police officer. A suspect  later named as Robert Bowers, who is in his 40s  was arrested at the scene and also taken to hospital with multiple gunshot wounds.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions later announced the Justice Department will file hate crimes charges against Mr Bowers, including charges that could lead to the death penalty".

There were a number of services underway at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburghs Squirrel Hill neighbourhood, including a baby-naming ceremony or bris, when the active shooter call was placed to police just before 10am.

Its a very horrific crime scene, Wendell Hissrich, Pittsburgh public safety director, said at the scene. One of the worst that Ive seen. Law enforcement officials said that the shooter was armed with an assault weapon, and three handguns  although it was not clear all were used. Dispatchers on police radio claimed that the shooter made a number of comments during a stand-off with police about wanting to kill Jews.

Federal officials said the shooter went into the synagogue and shot the congregation before being engaged by officers on his way out. Two were shot before the gunman returned into the building to hide from approaching Swat teams. Two Swat officers were injured in a later exchange of gunfire.

The FBI are now leading the federal hate crime investigation. Mr Bowers is said to have been acting alone, with the lead FBI investigator, Bob Jones, saying that officials believed he was unknown to law enforcement before the shooting.

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

Speaking at a Future Farmers of America convention in Indianapolis, Mr Trump called the shooting a wicked act of mass murder that is antisemitic and pure evil, hard to believe.The president added that antisemitism must be confronted anywhere and everywhere it appears".

The FBI say they will now be looking into every facet of the suspects life as they seek to pin down a motive. From his home, to his vehicle, to his movements in recent days. However a focus will be his social media output, with accounts under the suspect's name appearing to show a number of antisemitic rants.

A social media post just before the time of the shooting under a profile with the name Robert Bowers said a Jewish refugee organisation, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I cant sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, Im going in".

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Saturdays mass shooting comes just 10 days before a bitterly fought national midterm election that has divided the country and set Americans on edge, and in a week in which more than a dozen pipe bombs were mailed to critics of Mr Trump.

Mr Trump said on his way to Indianapolis, before a later rally in Illinois: Its a terrible, terrible thing whats going on with hate in our country and frankly all over the world, and something has to be done.

If you want to see how the day unfolded read our live coverage below.

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Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is to pay an official visit to Turkey on Nov. 3, according to Turkish diplomatic sources, Anodolu agency reported.

Poroshenko is to attend the seventh meeting of the High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council in the capital Ankara, together with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Topics such as political, economic, and defense industry cooperation, free trade agreements, security, and the fight against terrorism are expected to top the agenda during Poroshenkos meetings, said the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.
A gunman opened fire at the Tree of Life Congregation synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Saturday, causing multiple fatalities.

The suspected shooter has been taken into custody after surrendering to police officers at the building in the Squirrel Hill area of the city.

At least eight people were killed and several others were wounded, according to CBS-affiliate KDKA. A local law enforcement official told CNN at least 12 people were shot.

There are fatalities, said Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, but officials have not provided any other details.

Police responded to 911 calls about an active shooter near the synagogue on Wilkins Ave around 10am.

The Pittsburgh force received several calls from people trapped inside the building, where people had been attending a Shabbat prayer service.

According to KDKA reporter Andy Sheehan, police officers said the gunman walked into the building and shouted: All Jews must die.

Police officers were shot at by the suspect when the approached the building, forcing them to hide behind vehicles. Three officers were reportedly hit and wounded by the suspect.

Police respond to an active shooter situation at the Tree of Life synagogue (AP)

The area around the building was sealed off and Pittsburgh Public Safety Department told people to stay away.

Police also asked all residents in the Jewish neighbourhood to stay inside their homes during the standoff. Students at the nearby Carnegie Mellon University were sent texts telling them to stay indoors on the campus.

President Donald Trump tweeted about the incident, telling people in the Squirrel Hill area should remain sheltered.

The president later told reporters it appeared as if a wacko had carried out the shooting. He suggested armed guards should be in place at churches and other religious buildings, and the US needed stiffen up death penalty laws.

Michael Eisenberg, former president of the Tree of Life Synagogue, said several dozen people would having been attending the Saturday prayer service.

The shooting in Pittsburgh this morning is an absolute tragedy, said Governor Tom Wolf in a statement.

These senseless acts of violence are not who we are as Americans. My thoughts right now are focused on the victims, their families and making sure law enforcement has every resource they need.
When politicians are deciding their response to events of the magnitude of the slew of mail bombs sent across the US, one of the aims is usually to avoid looking like you are politicising the situation.

However, that has never been the style of Donald Trump, who has always tried to fire up his support base by any means he can  particularly if he feels he is being backed into a corner.

The targets of the bombs all appear to be Trump critics  Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and news network CNN to name just a few  and this has opened the door to Democrats decrying the presidents verbal assaults on his political enemies, as well as descriptions of the media as fake news and the enemy of the people.
Donald Trump has accused the media of trying to score political points by reporting on the suspect arrested in connection with the mail bomb scare targeting CNN and high-profile Democrats.

Mr Trump launched another attack on the press for coverage of the suspect accused of sending a series of pipe bombs to the president's critics  including Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Speaking at a political rally in North Carolina on Friday night, Mr Trump called for an end to the politics of personal destruction".

He told supporters: We have seen an effort by the media to use the sinister actions of one individual to score political points against me and the Republicans.

His address came just hours after Cesar Sayoc, 56, was arrested in Florida after at least 13 packages containing explosive devices and pipe bombs explosive devices were sent to a number of targets  including Democrat donor George Soros and actor Robert de Niro.

Just hours after the arrest, Mr Trump lashed out at the media, as well as his 2016 opponent Mrs Clinton, calling her Crooked Hillary, which prompted a round of Lock her up chants.

His comments also incited frequent chants of CNN sucks from the crowd.

The discovery of an explosive device prompted the evacuation of CNNs offices in New York on Wednesday. A second scare on Thursday evening saw another partial evacuation.

The president has been on a rally blitz hoping to help vulnerable Republicans ahead of the midterm elections on 6 November. He is planning at least 10 rallies before the elections.

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Mr Trump had told reporters as he left Washington that he had no plans to tone down his rhetoric and added: I could really tone it up.

Because, as you know, the media has been extremely unfair to me and to the Republican Party.

Explosive packages sent to prominent Democrats and CNN Show all 11 1 /11 Explosive packages sent to prominent Democrats and CNN Explosive packages sent to prominent Democrats and CNN Barack Obama The Secret Service intercepted a package en route to the Washington D.C. residence of former President Barack Obama on Wednesday 23 October Getty Explosive packages sent to prominent Democrats and CNN Hillary and Bill Clinton A package was delivered to the Chappaqua, New York home of former US President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Tuesday 23 October Getty Explosive packages sent to prominent Democrats and CNN Joe Biden Two packages adressed to former Vice-president Joe Biden were found at a sorting facility in Delaware on Thursday 25 October AFP/Getty Explosive packages sent to prominent Democrats and CNN George Soros A package was delivered to the New York home of Billionaire investor and funder of the Democrats George Soros on Monday 22 October AFP/Getty Explosive packages sent to prominent Democrats and CNN CNN and John Brennan A package was delivered to former CIA director John Brennan at the CNN offices in New York on Wednesday 23 October Getty Explosive packages sent to prominent Democrats and CNN Debbie Wasserman Schultz A package was delivered to the office of Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz on Wednesday 23 October, it was addressed to former attorney general Eric Holder Getty Explosive packages sent to prominent Democrats and CNN Eric Holder The package that was delivered to the office of Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz was addressed to former attorney general Eric Holder Getty Explosive packages sent to prominent Democrats and CNN Maxine Waters Two packages were sent to Democratic congresswoman Maxine Waters on Wednesday 23 October, one to LA one to D.C. Getty Explosive packages sent to prominent Democrats and CNN Robert De Niro A package was delivered to actor Robert De Niro in New York on Thursday 25 October AFP/Getty Explosive packages sent to prominent Democrats and CNN Cory Booker A package found in Florida was addressed to Democratic Senator Cory Booker on Friday 26 October Getty Explosive packages sent to prominent Democrats and CNN James Clapper NYPD intercepted a package addressed to former directo of national intelligence James Clapper on on Friday 26 October AFP/Getty

Earlier in the day, Mr Trump in a tweet accused the CNN of blaming him for the bomb scares.

Mr Sayoc, who has now been charged with the offence, is a registered Republican voter, according to public records.

What is believed to be Mr Sayocs white van was covered in political stickers celebrating Republicans and denouncing President Trump's opponents.
Ireland has voted to remove blasphemy as an offence from the countrys constitution.

In a referendum, 64.8 per cent of voters were in favour of changing the law, with 35.1 per cent supporting the status quo.

The result was largely expected, as the article on blasphemy in the constitution is generally agreed to be outdated and obsolete.

It states that the publication or utterance of blasphemous, seditious, or indecent matter is an offence which shall be punishable in accordance with law. The vote removes only the word blasphemous from that sentence.

No one has ever been charged with the offence in the history of the Irish state, but it does carry a fine of up to 25,000.

The Fine Gael led-government supported a Yes vote, as did all major parties. While campaigning on Tuesday, Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar outlined his support for the reform.

What we want to have in Ireland is a 21st Century constitution for a 21st Century republic, he said. Weve already reformed our Constitution to allow for things like marriage equality, womens right to choose.

We believe that having a criminal offence for blasphemy in Ireland is a bit outdated so were asking people to change that. Its very much part of a reform of our whole Constitution to make the country more modern.

Ireland's presidential candidates Show all 6 1 /6 Ireland's presidential candidates Ireland's presidential candidates Michael D Higgins PA Ireland's presidential candidates Sean Gallagher PA Ireland's presidential candidates Joan Freeman PA Ireland's presidential candidates Peter Casey PA Ireland's presidential candidates Liadh Ni Riada PA Ireland's presidential candidates Gavin Duffy PA

A referendum on the matter, which is required in order to change the constitution, was first mooted as far back as 2009.

Attention was drawn again in 2017 after Stephen Fry made an appearance on the RTE programme The Meaning of Life, in which he described God as capricious, mean-minded and stupid.

At the time, police in Ireland confirmed they were looking into the comments, but eventually dropped the matter, as they were unable to find a substantial number of outraged people.

Recommended MPs back bid to reform Northern Ireland abortion and marriage laws

It was later decided that the referendum would be held this year, although there has been very little campaigning around it, with just one major radio debate.

This is in part because Fridays vote was held concurrently with Irelands presidential election, in which the incumbent Michael D Higgins was re-elected.

Although this referendum has been more low key than the previous votes on same sex marriage and abortion, it does add to a pattern of social change in Ireland, and highlights the growing distance between church and state, in a country over which the Catholic church once held firm control.

A 2017 report from the US Commission on International Religious Freedom found that 71 countries have laws which criminalise blasphemy.

According to a 2016 study by the Freedom of Thought report, the offence is punishable by death in six countries: Afghanistan, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Somalia.

England and Wales abolished blasphemy as an offence in 2008, but it is still ingrained in law in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Michael D Higgins has been re-elected as president of Ireland, after winning 56 per cent of the vote in Fridays election.

Mr Higgins, who has served as the countrys head of state since 2011, will now keep the top job for another seven years.

He was congratulated on Twitter by the Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar, who wrote, Really happy that you will continue to be our President for the next 7 years.

While his victory was expected, he has won by a smaller majority than the polls predicted. Surveys in recent weeks suggested he enjoyed the support of around two-thirds of the electorate.

But the real surprise of this election result has been the performance of runner up Peter Casey, who took 23.1 per cent of the vote.

Mr Casey is a Derry-born businessman now based in the US, who has starred as an investor on the Irish version of Dragons Den. He was an outsider candidate polling just 1 per cent in polls published last week.

However, his campaign took a turn at the weekend after he made controversial comments about the travelling community in Ireland, who he claimed were basically people camping in someone elses land.

While it initially appeared the comments might derail his campaign, instead it appears to have drawn a fifth of voters to his camp. In the past, Mr Casey has also criticised Ireland as a welfare state, suggested the country should abandon its historic neutrality, and has also criticised its relationship with the EU.

Presidential candidate Peter Casey arriving at Dublin Castle central count centre earlier on Saturday (Reuters)

Among the losers in this election are Sinn Fein, who were hoping that their candidate Liadh Ni Riada could provide a fresh alternative to Mr Higgins, but she came in third place.

The party has failed to match the 13 per cent of the vote earned by Martin McGuinness at the last election, with early results indicating many of the partys supporters voted for Mr Higgins, or Mr Casey.

The result will also be disappointing for Sean Gallagher, another businessman who came second in the 2011 election, but has now seen his support base collapse. The other two candidates, Joan Freeman and Gavin Duffy, earned low results, predicted by the polls.

Ireland's presidential candidates Show all 6 1 /6 Ireland's presidential candidates Ireland's presidential candidates Michael D Higgins PA Ireland's presidential candidates Sean Gallagher PA Ireland's presidential candidates Joan Freeman PA Ireland's presidential candidates Peter Casey PA Ireland's presidential candidates Liadh Ni Riada PA Ireland's presidential candidates Gavin Duffy PA

Such is Mr Higgins popularity in Ireland  for a while it seemed he might be re-elected unopposed  as Mary McAleese was in 2004. But polls showed that while the majority of people wanted him back for a second term, most people also wanted to see a campaign.

Mr Higgins stood with the support of the main Fine Gael and Fianna Fail parties, and commanded support across the political spectrum.

A veteran Irish politician, Mr Higgins was a lifelong member of the Labour party. He has served as a mayor, a senator, a TD in the Irish parliament, and was minister for culture in the 1990s. During this period he helped set up the first Irish language TV station TG4, being a fluent speaker himself. He also has a background in academia and is respected as a published poet.

A natural statesman, Mr Higgins has been praised for his ability to reach out across all sections of Irish society, his handling of difficult anniversaries in the past decade, and for how he represents Ireland on the world stage.

He has achieved a rare feat in Ireland by becoming a somewhat beloved politician  something which is easier to carry in the largely ceremonial role of the presidency, which is above party politics.

But he did come in for criticism during this campaign  particularly from Mr Casey  over the cost of the presidency, his use of expenses and how transparent this was to the taxpayer. None of this damaged Mr Higgins reputation personally, but it is likely he will push for some reform of the office during this second term.

The Irish presidency is a largely ceremonial role, but the office holder does occupy a unique space which can both set and respond to the mood of the nation.
Palestinian militants have agreed to stop firing rockets into Israel after dozens of militant sites across the Gaza Strip were hit with retaliatory airstrikes.

The Israeli military said it had struck around 80 sites, including a security headquarters building, after militants fired 30 rockets in the heaviest exchange of fire between the bitter enemies in several weeks.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad, one of the armed groups operating in Gaza, said it had fired the rockets in retaliation to Israels killing of four Palestinian protesters on Friday near the border dividing Hamas-ruled Gaza and Israel.

Less than 24 hours later, the group said it had agreed to a ceasefire in response to the efforts of Egyptian meditators, who have been in the region for weeks attempting to secure calm and prevent a full-blown war.

Daoud Shehab, a spokesperson for the Iranian-backed group, said that his movement was immediately halting the rocket attacks.

After contacts between the Islamic Jihad leadership and the brothers in Egypt it was agreed that a comprehensive ceasefire will begin immediately, he said. The Islamic Jihad will abide by the ceasefire if the occupation does the same.

Palestinians check the damage to buildings destroyed by Israeli airstrikes (AP/Khalil Hamra)

Israeli military spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Conricus earlier accused Syria and Iran of involvement in the night-long barrage of rocket attacks and threatened to strike Iranian targets in Syria in response.

He said the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad was behind the rocket fire, after receiving orders from Irans al-Quds force based in Syria.

Orders and incentives were given from Damascus with a clear involvement of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards al-Quds force, he said. Our response is not limited geographically.

Smoke rises from an explosion caused by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on 27 October (AP/Hatem Moussa)

Since 30 March, hundreds of thousands of Gazans have marched each week on the heavily fortified border between Gaza and Israel demanding the right to return to lands they fled and were forced from after the 1948 war, which resulted in the formation of Israel.

In recent years they lost the battle for most of their remaining land, as Gaza has been carved off the West Bank where Jewish settlement increases by the day.

Palestinians have said they are peacefully demonstrating during the Great March of Return protests.

A Palestinian boy stands amid the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israeli airstrikes (AP/Khalil Hamra)

But Israel has accused militant group Hamas of encouraging protesters to be violent towards their soldiers, to cut the border fence and to launch raids inside Israel.

Israel has previously reduced Palestinian fishermens permitted fishing zone by a third, cutting it from nine nautical miles to six, in response to border protests.

The Israeli army also previously closed Kerem Shalom  the sole goods crossing between Israel and Gaza.

Since the marches began six months ago, at least 160 Palestinians present or taking part in the protests have been killed.

One Israeli solider has been fatally shot in that time, by a Gaza militant in July.
We are all so very overwhelmed. At least on that we can agree, even if theres very little else. And it all seems to be because there is simply so much information  so much to know, and so much to worry about never knowing, let alone all of the dis- and misinformation that we should be so vigilant to ensure we dont get tricked into believing.

Those were the conclusions of an event last week  held by the University of Cambridges Festival of Ideas, in partnership with The Independent  at which some of the universitys greatest minds, and this newspapers journalists, asked how we should deal with the vast amount of information that surrounds us. Dubbed Independent Thinking In An Age Of Information Overload, the event was an illuminating trip through all of the ways that the internet and the modern world inform and misinform us.
An agri-food company with 1,500 staff is shedding 70 EU workers a month as the uncertainty over its future continues, it has been claimed.

John Allan, the president of the CBI in the UK, spoke to the Belfast Telegraph ahead of the organisation's annual Northern Ireland lunch at Titanic Belfast.

He said members here were anxious about what a no-deal Brexit could bring, including their future access to migrant labour.

"We have one member in the agri-food industry which has 1,500 staff in Northern Ireland and they have told me they are losing 70 workers from the EU every month."

Mr Allan said the CBI was in favour of immigration.

"Immigration is an economic benefit and in the UK immigrants put in more than they take out," he said.

"Politicians may not be quite as close to the realities of business life as our members. Business can see with their own eyes that the flow of people in from the EU is diminishing."

He said the constitutional integrity of Northern Ireland was not being raised as a concern by business.

Politicians including the DUP and some members of the Conservative Party have said they fear that a Brexit deal or backstop scenario which gives Northern Ireland a different status than other parts of the UK will threaten the Union.

But Mr Allan said: "In my view, those concerns are a red herring."

He said the CBI was lobbying both the Government and Brussels on concluding a free trade agreement.

Mr Allan, who is also chairman of grocery giant Tesco, said he'd also felt a "wave of anger" from local businesses over a telling-off by MPs on the House of Commons' Brexit committee earlier this week.

He said members told him they'd been angered by comments from Tories Peter Bone and Christopher Chope, who sit on the Exiting the EU Select Committee.

Mr Chope told the businesspeople: "You've known we've been coming out of the EU since June 2016 and now you're just waking up to the fact with five minutes to go that there might not be a deal. You've not done a pretty good job."

The CBI's annual lunch also heard from CBI NI chairman Trevor Lockhart, who is head of agri-food firm Fane Valley.

In a Financial Times interview last week, Mr Lockhart said Fane Valley may have to look at a change in its businesses in the event of a no-deal.

One measure could include shifting its cereals business to the Republic, which would be the only way to get oatmeal and animal feed into the EU at speed.

But a spokesman for Fane Valley said such contingency plans did not mean uprooting any local business.

"There is no suggestion that we would be relocating any facility currently based in Northern Ireland as these assets will be required to serve our UK business," the spokesman added.

The firm owns White's Oats, which are produced in Tandragee, Co Armagh.
Environmental activists Greenpeace have teamed up with three families to sue the German government with the aim of forcing it to meet climate protection goals earlier than it had planned, magazine Der Spiegel reports.

The case, brought by Greenpeace on behalf of the three German families, alleges that Chancellor Angela Merkels government, by failing to tackle climate change with sufficient urgency, was infringing their right to life and health.

The filing mirrors a recent case in the Netherlands, where an appeals court handed down a binding ruling ordering The Hague to cut greenhouse gas emissions faster than planned. The Dutch government said it would abide by the ruling.

In 2007, Berlin committed to cutting emissions of greenhouses gases by 40 percent from their 1990 levels by the end of this decade, but the latest government program says the 2020 goal will be met only to the extent possible, with a 32 percent cut thought an achievable goal.

The government has simply abandoned their 2020 goal, said Roda Verheyen, the groups advocate.

The three plaintiffs, all families of organic farmers, say their farms and livelihoods are endangered by climate change, with pest attacks, harvest failures and ill-health in their livestock costing them and their children money.

According to their claim, this further infringes their freedom to exercise a profession as well as their property rights.

We can no longer accept the inaction of the government, Greenpeaces climate expert Anike Peters told the magazine. Especially when it would be possible to achieve the climate protection goals.
Bailing out: Bernard Byrne with CFO Mark Bourke who has also announced his departure from the lender

The departure of Bernard Byrne from AIB, where his pay was capped, for Davy and the potential rewards of an uncapped salary and bonuses, came hard on the heels of chief financial officer Mark Bourke announcing he would quit.

Yesterday's announcement prompted AIB chairman Richard Pym, who has long advocated the lifting of remuneration restrictions and ending State control over the bank, to describe it as a "grim day" in his life.

He and others in the financial services industry argue that the caps mean Irish banks lose out in a race for talent to uncapped rivals here and to foreign banks, especially those from the UK who might relocate as Brexit looms.

Yesterday's announcement would appear to support those arguments as AIB's stock plunged as much as 10pc, wiping hundreds of millions of euro off the value of the State's remaining 70pc stake in the bank.

The message was clear - the Government was shooting itself in the foot with the pay caps and there was a direct cost to taxpayers as a result. Much of the loss was later reversed, but the stock was still down 2.63pc, equating to a loss of around 220m for the Exchequer.

While it is a fact that Ireland's salary caps and bonus regime are tougher than those of other countries, it is also true that the cost of Ireland's bank-led financial crisis was also greater than elsewhere at 65bn.

The regime here is based on European Union regulations with some important tweaks and applies to AIB, Bank of Ireland and Permanent TSB, although Bank of Ireland's Francesca McDonagh managed to evade the caps and her compensation is in line with her predecessor Richie Boucher's package, which was exempt from the restraints because it predated the 2009 rules.

Under the State's regulations, there is a prohibition on the payment of incentives and limits on pensions and termination payments, so-called 'golden parachutes', as well as a 500,000 pay cap and in addition an 89pc 'super tax' on incentive pay in the sector.

That is tougher than in Britain, where 'covered institutions' have made bonus payments, though in many cases those getting them have waived them, sometimes under public pressure.

The pay cap for senior executives was cut by then Finance Minister Brian Lenihan to 500,000 from the levels recommended by a government committee, which had proposed a 690,000 salary for AIB, for example.

The rules here are tough, but not uniquely so and comparisons with London may be unfair as it campaigned against EU bonus caps.

In Spain, legislation was passed in 2012 which limited executive remuneration at four nationalised banks to between 300,000 and 600,000. This measure led to a 75pc cut for the Chairman of Bankia, whose salary fell by a whopping 1.7mn to 600,000.

Iceland famously did not bail out its banks, but it did jail bankers for their role in the economy's collapse,

If Mr Pym is serious about removing some of the more heavy-handed controls over AIB, then he will have to come up with alternatives to reassure taxpayers there will be no re-run of the 2000s. The bank put proposals to its AGM that would allow the resumption of bonuses and offered safeguards in return, such as delayed vesting and payouts linked to the State's ability to recover taxpayer cash.

What the proposals - backed by top management and voted down by Finance Minister Pascal Donohoe who acts on behalf of the state's 70pc shareholding - failed to address are the risks inherent in the industry's compensation structure.

Academic studies show banks that have higher aggregate pay, controlled for size, are riskier. A 2011 study demonstrated that bank CEOs with the highest equity reward were more likely to lead their banks to losses in financial crises.

Research from Warwick Business School Professor of Financial Economics Dr John Thanassoulis shows that competition for bankers in the form of higher pay and other incentives lead directly to a rise in moral hazard. He suggests imposing a pay cap in proportion to the risk assets banks control which would reduce the competitive pull of hopping to another institution and would increase bank resilience and values.

The prospect of lower salaries across the industry would mean the AIB's bankers would have less incentive to jump ship, addressing the talent loss issue that so irks Mr Pym.

The question for AIB, which declined to comment beyond its statement, is whether they just want to tear up current regulations or whether they want a debate on the way forward for the financial services industry that will help reassure the most indebted population in Europe on a per capita basis that they won't be facing another large bill down the line. Each person here has 42,000 worth of reasons to expect that.
The Federal Agency for Nationalities has developed a draft of a new version of the State Policy Strategy. The amendments were approved by the expert community. However, a detailed analysis of the new edition will be possible only after Russian President Vladimir Putin signs a decree introducing the final version of the strategy into action. Currently, among others, the question of the State National Policys role in Russia is the most important, analyst of Vestnik Kavkaza news agency Yevgeniya Svatukhina told Vesti FM in the National Question program.



Addressing this topic is relevant because, on the one hand, the document allows to consolidate the vast experience of living together of different peoples in one territory, and on the other hand, to introduce into the discussion field the actual problems of the national policy in our country. In addition, the fact of amendments being made allows us to come to some conclusions and set new tasks in this area, the expert said.



At the same time, according to the expert, despite the documents importance and breadth of the problem field, the format of the strategy itself is limited by the goals and mechanisms for their implementation, and therefore does not imply any global answer to all questions of modern society, but rather set some kind of a humanitarian standard.



The employee of Vestnik Kavkaza drew attention to the fact that among the most important threats that the Strategy is designed to counter is international terrorism and extremism. "These threats are relevant not only to Russia, but to the entire world community, and the Strategy makes it possible to share the vast Russian experience of the national construction with the global community.



"Thus, the Strategy as a document is a kind of system including basic priorities in the implementation of the state national policy. It has a considerable degree of flexibility that allows solving actual problems in modern multinational Russia, Yevgeniya Svatukhina concluded.
IAG chief Willie Walsh has criticised government plans for a third terminal at Dublin Airport, saying it's "unrealistic" to expect airlines to pay for something that "isn't needed".

The Department of Transport yesterday formally published a report that has suggested Dublin Airport could need a third terminal as early as 2030.

The DAA, the semi-State company that operates the airport, has insisted it doesn't need another terminal until about 2040.

"Let's be clear: airlines don't want empty terminal buildings," Mr Walsh told the Irish Independent.

"Given that we're the people who would be expected to pay for it, I think it's unrealistic to expect us to pay for something that isn't needed and isn't wanted."

IAG owns Aer Lingus, British Airways and Spanish carriers Iberia and Vueling - all of which operate at Dublin.

He added: "There's plenty of opportunity to exploit existing terminal facilities at Dublin Airport. Credit to DAA, the relationship between it and Aer Lingus has been strong recently ... there's a common agenda there.

"If I was the DAA, I wouldn't want to be building something that I don't believe is needed. The airlines will certainly be clear in terms of the growth that we see in that time frame," said Mr Walsh. "It's important that we don't build inefficient infrastructure or infrastructure that's not required. There's no free lunch here."

Mr Walsh said the priority is for infrastructure development at Dublin Airport that can enable it to be exploited as a hub so Aer Lingus can continue to expand its transatlantic business in particular.

Transport Minister Shane Ross said yesterday that he will seek the views of key stakeholders before considering whether a third terminal should be independently operated at Dublin Airport.

Mr Walsh was speaking as IAG released a solid set of third-quarter results. Despite an extra 197m in fuel costs and a 111m foreign exchange hit, the group reported a 1.46bn operating profit. On a constant currency basis, that would have been 121m higher, but was up 10m on a reported basis.

Mr Walsh said that Aer Lingus will continue its transatlantic expansion next year, and that delivery delays with the Airbus A321LR jet that will be used on its new Dublin-Montreal service from next August have already been factored into the airline's timetable for 2019. Aer Lingus is set to take delivery of four A321LRs next year.

The IAG boss also downplayed the potential risks from a hard Brexit and criticised what he claimed was an "inaccurate and misleading" report from global airline industry group IATA this week that predicted "chaos" for passengers in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
AN extra 100,000 people will have to file a tax return in the next few weeks, many of them PAYE workers. This means more than 700,000 people will have to file a return and pay tax by the end of the month, the deadline for self-assessment set by Revenue.

Experts at Taxback.com said that in the last five years the number of people filing a self-assessed tax return has grown by 110,000.

Eileen Devereux, commercial director at Taxback.com, warned this cohort of taxpayers to get their affairs in order before next Wednesday.

Those who pay and file online have until November 14.

She said people who participate in new income-generating activities within the "sharing economy" such as Airbnb, will need to file a tax return. Also due to file a return are those involved in new entrepreneurial sectors such as 'blogging' and 'influencing'.

There are also tax bills due from the rise in the number of people with extra income due to higher employment in large companies with share options.

Ms Devereux said there was a higher level of compliance due to the ever-growing reach of Revenue and its clampdown on non-compliance. Other people who could be required to file a tax return include people who have received income which is not coded into their tax credit certificate.

This can include :

Anyone who has received income from renting out a property.



People who have received dividends from shares.



Anyone who has received income from casual childminding duties.



Those who opened a foreign bank account during the previous year.

Three steps to start

Consider all your sources of income. If you have income that was not subject to PAYE or Dirt, it is likely you will need to declare it via your tax return. You should contact Revenue to see whether you need to register as self-assessed.

Consider what deductions may be available. If you have rental income, are you claiming all your deductions for capital allowances and expenses?

Consider whether you can claim any other reliefs or credits, such as for medical expenses.

Landlords warned

There are some 174,000 landlords who will have to get their tax affairs in order soon. Ms Devereux said this group of self-assessed taxpayers has received greater attention from Revenue in recent years, with the tax authority's annual report naming them among five sectors which received sharper focus in relation to compliance.

Rental income has soared in the last few years, resulting in the knock-on effect of higher taxes to pay by those in receipt of it. However, Ms. Devereux advises that there are ways in which people can bring down their tax bill.

"Changes to the rate of mortgage interest relief for landlords introduced over the last few years have meant that landlords can reduce their tax bill by an increasing amount, with even greater effect over the next few years.

"Budget 2017 increased tax relief on mortgage interest to 80pc of the interest paid on borrowings on a rental property, up from 75pc previously.

And from January 2019, they will be able to offset 100pc of the interest."

Higher profits

An unexpected or underestimated increase in income in 2017, could mean that those filing a tax return could be hit with a double whammy in terms of the amount they owe.

This is a necessary evil of a growing business, so while there might be a financial sting in the tax return this year - it is all for a greater good because higher tax bill stems from higher profits, Taxback.com said.

Get a refund

Medical expenses relief at 20pc is still available and can be claimed on most unreimbursed expenses and on qualifying, non-routine dental expenses. Keep your receipts.

If you are paying for tuition fees for a full or part-time third-level course, be it for yourself or for your child, then you may be entitled to tax relief on the cost.

Third-level fee payers can claim tax relief on tuition fees (including the student contribution) that are paid for eligible education courses.

The relief is available to whoever is paying the cost of the fees.

And if you are paying for more than one child to go to college, the good news is that there is no limit on the number of individuals for whom you can claim.

In fact, most claims for this type of relief come from parents with more than one child in college at the same time.

An unexpected or underestimated increase in income in 2017, could mean that those filing a tax return could be hit with a double whammy

If you have income that was not subject to PAYE or Dirt, then it is likely you will need to declare it via your tax return to Revenue
Jack Whitehall joked his father has an uncontrollable ego since the pair appeared on a Netflix comedy together (Ian West/PA)

Jack Whitehall joked his father has an uncontrollable ego since the pair appeared on a Netflix comedy together.

Michael Whitehall joined his son for Travels With My Father, which follows them as they journey through countries including Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia.

Whitehall said he regrets inviting his father onto the show.

He told the Press Association: I regret ever bringing him into the lime light. Hes an absolute nightmare, its gone to his head.

The guy has an uncontrollable ego and I regret that decision.

He does get recognised. And he claims that he doesnt like it and he hates it and wants to be anonymous but he loves it. You see him lording it here on the red carpet, the guy is out of control.

Bad Education star Whitehall will appear alongside Dwayne The Rock Johnson in Disneys Jungle Cruise, based on the theme park ride of the same name.

Emily Blunt will also star. Whitehall praised Johnson.

He said: He is a wonderful guy and he was a hero of mine growing up so its really, really exciting to be working with him.

Video of the Day

Hes a top guy.
In the Monty Python biblical comedy, the Life of Brian, a Jewish official passes a sentence on a defendant who has been accused of blasphemy: "You have been found guilty by the elders of the town of uttering the name of Our Lord - and so as a blasphemer you are to be stoned to death!"

The inclusion of blasphemy - defined as material that is "grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion" - in Irish law now seems like an archaic relic of a bygone age.

Next Friday, in a low-profile referendum, voters will be asked to change Article 40.6.1 of the constitution. The current article states: "The publication or utterance of blasphemous, seditious, or indecent matter is an offence which shall be punishable in accordance with law."

The referendum proposal is to remove the word "blasphemous" from the constitution, clearing the way for the Oireachtas to change the law so that blasphemy is no longer a crime.

Of course, the Life of Brian was itself banned in Ireland in 1980 for blasphemy by the censor Frank Hall. It may have been outlawed in cinemas, but that did not stop eager students watching it on videos, or buying the soundtrack.

Fr Brian D'Arcy was among those appalled by the film and warned: "Anybody who buys this and finds it funny must have something wrong with their mentality."

The Censorship of Films Act 1923 allows a ban on a film "unfit for general exhibition in public by reason of its being indecent, obscene or blasphemous".

That is a separate piece of legislation to the broader offence of blasphemy on the Irish statute books. If the blasphemy law is changed, it will mark the end of an offence with a history that stretches back hundreds of years - from the 14th century right up until 2017 when a complaint was reportedly made against Stephen Fry, the English writer and comedian.

Last year, it was reported that gardai had launched an investigation after a TV viewer claimed comments made by Fry on Gay Byrne's The Meaning of Life programme were blasphemous.

During the programme, Fry was questioned about what he might say to God when he turned up at the pearly gates. He had a ready response for the Almighty: "How dare you create a world in which there is such misery? It's not our fault. It's not right. It's utterly, utterly evil. Why should I respect a capricious, mean-minded, stupid God who creates a world which is so full of injustice and pain?"

It was later reported that gardai had decided not to proceed with a blasphemy investigation against Stephen Fry after they failed to find a large group of people who were outraged by his comments. Although he was spared prosecution, Fry is now part of a blaspheming tradition that goes right back to 1328, and the highly flammable Irishman Adam Duff O'Toole. He was burned at the stake for heresy and blasphemy after being "possessed by some wicked spirit of error".

He got on the wrong side of the law for claiming that Holy Scripture was "but a fable", and that the Virgin Mary "a woman of dissolute life". Holinshed's chronicles recorded: "For such assertions he was burnt in Hogging greene, beside Dublin." The last person to be convicted of blasphemy in Ireland was a Franciscan friar, John Syngean Bridgman, after he burned a copy of the King James version of the Bible. It seems that the priest preferred the Catholic, Douay-Rheims version.

The last major prosecution for blasphemy took place in Dun Laoghaire, then known as Kingstown, in 1855, when a Redemptorist priest Vladimir Petcherine appeared to order the burning of a bible by mistake.

According to an account of the incident in The Spectator, Petcherine had "exhorted the people of Kingstown to abandon and bring to him books of an immoral tendency".

After two barrow loads of book were put on a fire, he was accused of causing the Bible to be "contemptuously burnt, to the high displeasure of Almighty God".

After hearing from witnesses, the court accepted that the burning was unintentional, and the bungling book burner Father Petcherine was acquitted. As The Spectator reported, "This announcement was received with the most vociferous applause, which was taken up by the crowds assembled outside."

The ban on blasphemy was included in the 1937 Constitution after independence, but nobody has been successfully prosecuted in the history of the State. In one case in 1995, John Corway, a carpenter from Harold's Cross, took a private prosecution against the Sunday Independent.

He took exception to a cartoon by Wendy Shea, which made fun of the anti-divorce slogan "Hello divorce.. Bye bye Daddy."

The cartoon consisted of a stout figure of a priest in a surplice and a stole holding the Communion host in his right hand and a chalice in his left. Above the cartoon were the words, "Hello, Progress - Bye Bye Father?"

The carpenter claimed he had suffered "offence and outrage" as a result of the cartoon, but the courts refused a prosecution. As voters go to the polls to remove the constitutional ban on profane pronouncements, the age of the blasphemy ban is finally coming to an end.
'The election campaign was right up there with the best of the soaps for drama.' Photo: Reuters

The country has voted to remove 'blasphemy' from the Constitution.

Some 951,650 people voted 'yes' in the referendum that featured alongside the Presidential Election on Friday, making up 65 per cent of the total valid votes (1,467,458).

The move was welcomed by leading figures earlier in the day, after an exit poll conducted by RTE and Red C showed some 71.1pc of participants voted to remove the term from the Constitution.

Human rights organisation Amnesty Ireland described the move as "significant" for the status of human rights and freedom in Ireland.

"While we await the final figures from the national wide count, it is clear at this stage that the Yes side have carried the day," Colm OGorman, executive director of Amnesty Ireland said earlier.

"Today's vote is another important step towards a human rights compliant Constitution.

"It follows the massive support for the constitutional referenda allowing marriage equality and ending the abortion ban.

"People in Ireland have shown yet again that they value human rights and freedoms.

Chairperson of Atheist Ireland Michael Nugent also welcomed the exit poll results, describing blasphemy as a "medieval crime".

"We will have removed a medieval crime, that was added to our constitution in 1937, and crowbarred into our statute books a decade ago," he said.

"Our laws will be able to protect people from harm, not protect ideas from criticism, and our media outlets will no longer have to self censor themselves."
The likely outcome to remove the term blasphemy from the constitution has been welcomed ahead of the results later today.

While the official result has yet to be released, some 71.1pc of participants in an RTE Red C poll voted to remove blasphemy from the Constitution yesterday.

Human rights organisation Amnesty Ireland described the exit poll results as "significant" for the status of human rights and freedom in Ireland.

"While we await the final figures from the national wide count, it is clear at this stage that the Yes side have carried the day," Colm OGorman, executive director of Amnesty Ireland said.

"Today's vote is another important step towards a human rights compliant Constitution.

"It follows the massive support for the constitutional referenda allowing marriage equality and ending the abortion ban.

"People in Ireland have shown yet again that they value human rights and freedoms.

OGorman added that the government "must still ensure" that religions are protected from forms of discrimination.

"This referendum outcome does not make people's freedom of religion or belief less protected," he said.

"The Government must still ensure that everyone can manifest and practice their religion without discrimination or threat.

"We also need to have robust prohibition of inciting hatred on religious and other grounds, in law and practice."

Atheist Ireland, who led the campaign for a 'yes' vote, also welcomed the exit poll results last night.

Chairperson of Atheist Ireland Michael Nugent welcomed yesterday's exit poll results, describing blasphemy as a "medieval crime".

Mr Nugent said the group are not assuming the exit polls are correct until the official result is released this weekend.

"If the exit polls are accurate, this will be a great result for freedom of religion, belief, and speech, and for Irish politics based on integrity instead of nods and winks," Mr Nugent said.

"We will have removed a medieval crime, that was added to our constitution in 1937, and crowbarred into our statute books a decade ago.

"Our laws will be able to protect people from harm, not protect ideas from criticism, and our media outlets will no longer have to self censor themselves."
Blasphemy is on course to be removed from the Constitution but the Angelus remains an important part of Irish culture, the latest exit poll suggests.

Some 71.1pc of participants in an RTE Red C poll voted to remove blasphemy from the Constitution yesterday.

When asked what participants voted for, 26.3pc said voted against it, while 1.8pc of participants didn't vote at all- and 0.8pc said they don't know what they voted or refused to say.

The poll found that 98pc of participants were aware that a referendum on blasphemy was being held despite fears that the presidential election would overlook it.

However, only one third of voters said they fully understood all the issues raised in that referendum.

Voters were also asked whether RTE should continue to broadcast the Angelus.

Some 68pc said they would keep it, while 21pc said they would stop it and 11pc refused to say.

In yesterday's referendum, voters were asked whether they wanted to remove the reference to blasphemy from the Constitution, which dictates that it must be provided for elsewhere in law as a criminal offence.

A campaign for the removal of the term was led by Atheist Ireland and supported by Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan.

"It doesn't sit well in a modern Constitution, it hasn't had any effect in any event... it's outmoded and inconsistent with a society that values freedom of expression and freedom of belief," Mr Flanagan said.

A number of religious groups also expressed their support, including the Irish Catholics Bishops Conference.

Chairperson of Atheist Ireland Michael Nugent welcomed yesterday's exit poll results, describing blasphemy as a "medieval crime".

Mr Nugent said the group are not assuming the exit polls are correct until the official result is released this weekend.

"If the exit polls are accurate, this will be a great result for freedom of religion, belief, and speech, and for Irish politics based on integrity instead of nods and winks," Mr Nugent said.

"We will have removed a medieval crime, that was added to our constitution in 1937, and crowbarred into our statute books a decade ago.

"Our laws will be able to protect people from harm, not protect ideas from criticism, and our media outlets will no longer have to self censor themselves."
Alongside the presidential election, Ireland is set to vote on whether blasphemy as a criminal offence should be removed from the constitution on October 26.

We took to the streets of Dublin to ask people if they knew what blasphemy was and what it means under current legislation. We also asked people if they felt it was important to have a referendum, and what way they were going to vote.

"I've been following this debate for a long time, I've been looking forward for the opportunity to vote on this issue," one woman said.

"Anything that brings Ireland to a more secular place, the better. We're on a roll now with a more progressive, socialist trajectory and hopefully it will be passed because it will a new Ireland in every sense."

Others believed that religion should be practiced in the home, with one man saying: "Practice your religion privately and be happy with it, but don't get offended when someone makes a comment. Live and let live."

One passerby described the current legislation, which sees blasphemy punishable by law with a fine of up to 25,000, as "outrageous".

"From my understanding blasphemy is a restriction on free speech, not to be offensive to religion. I think it's important for living in a modern republic, freedom of speech is a cornerstone of any democratic society," he said.

"I think Ireland puts itself out as a modern open society and the idea that we would have legislation in terms of restricting freedom of speech, in terms of blasphemy, is outrageous and long before time now to get rid of it."
The Government needs to adopt a "carrot and stick" approach if its radical plans to clampdown on professional Airbnb-style rentals are to work.

Dr Aideen Hayden, chairperson of the national housing charity Threshold, told the Irish Independent that she believes it will be "difficult" for the Government to regulate Airbnb rentals, because there are many other online platforms that homeowners can advertise their properties on.

"How are you going to monitor all platforms?" she said, pointing out there are more than 3,000 Airbnb properties to rent in Ireland.

New rules unveiled this week which will be implemented in June will target professional Airbnb landlords, and will require an application for commercial planning permission to use a property as a short-term let.

Landlords who let out their properties on Airbnb also face being hit with extra water, insurance and commercial rates bills from the summer.

Dr Hayden said that she welcomed the move, but as well as adopting a stick approach, "homeowners need to be incentivised" to put their homes back into the longer-term rental sector.

"For example the Government has incentivised large institutional landlords, but small-scale landlords face a greater tax burden and this needs to be examined, because it is in the main small-scale landlords who house low-income families."

She said the reason that many landlords are choosing to let their properties on Airbnb was because the returns exceed profits they would make through the rental market.

"The intent with the new Airbnb measures is to increase supply," she said. "But the danger is that more landlords will sell rather than go into the long-term letting sector, and houses here are sold from vacant possession, so that will add to the problem."

She said that Threshold had already seen "reluctant landlords" who had bought at the height of the boom now selling their properties as they had moved out of negative equity.

Dr Hayden gave the opening address at a conference as part of national housing charity Threshold's 40-year anniversary in the Wood Quay Venue in Dublin yesterday.

"Ireland faces severe challenges in dealing with a homelessness crisis caused by a failed rented sector. Moreover, we now have a whole new 'generation rent' whose housing future is very uncertain unless significant steps are taken to secure more social housing and access to affordable rental and purchase schemes. Without significant changes, many Irish people will live in the rented sector for the rest of their lives, a sector that is not fit for purpose."

She added that much of what is happening in Ireland is replicated elsewhere, with falling rates of home-ownership and rising rates of renting a feature of many developed European countries.

The charity hosted a one-day conference looking at housing policy in Ireland and across Europe, entitled: "Re-imagining Ireland's Future - Housing, Wealth and Inequality."
Obsessed: Ted ODonoghue had been in a dispute over the ancient passageway for 10 years. Photo: Press 22

A farmer who shot and injured a neighbour over a dispute about the use of a passageway linking their lands had previously produced a knife during a row with the son of another neighbouring farmer, a court heard.

Ted O'Donoghue (74) admitted firing a shot from his legally held shotgun at 66-year-old John Hayes, but said that he did not mean to harm the victim.

Earlier this year he pleaded guilty to all three charges against him, including assault causing harm to John Hayes, the reckless discharge of a firearm, and committing an act of animal cruelty in relation to the discharge of a firearm leading to the death of Mr Hayes's dog Lassie.

As Mr Hayes went to open a gate at the laneway he was met by O'Donoghue, who was holding a shotgun.

The court heard O'Donoghue, of Kilmoreen, Kildimo, Co Limerick, told Mr Hayes "you are never coming in here again" before he fired the shotgun.

A single shot discharged from the gun blasted through the window of Mr Hayes's tractor, killing his sheepdog Lassie, and the same shot grazed Mr Hayes's shoulder.

A number of farmers use the right of way on O'Donoghue's land at Ballycasey, Kildimo, to gain access to their own land.

O'Donoghue's barrister, Anthony Salmon SC, told his client's sentencing hearing that he had become "obsessed" about the ancient passage- way.

After he was arrested over the shooting, O'Donoghue told gardai: "They have it tore asunder with tractors...but I'll stop them."

The dispute specifically involving the defendant and the victim had gone on for "10 years", the court heard.

Mr Salmon told the court that his client had "tried to deal with it through solicitors, but he wasn't getting anywhere with it".

Mr Salmon described O'Donoghue as "a decent, hard-working man".

"These disputes have a way of turning right-minded people into obsessive fools.

"Incidents of a minor nature can become obsessive and overshadow their lives," he said.

He said O'Donoghue "deeply deeply regrets his actions".

The defendant told gardai on the morning in question: "I shot at him.

"He was outside the gate, but it's my land.

"He shouldn't have been there. He was trespassing."

Mr Salmon stressed that the DPP's view was that there had been "no intent" to endanger life.

In a victim impact statement Mr Hayes said "I was sure he was going to kill me", adding that he heard his dog 'Lass' scream and that he was "terrified".

O'Donoghue had appeared in court in 2016, charged with producing a knife during the course of a dispute with the son of another neighbour, where he escaped a conviction.

O'Donoghue faces up to five years in prison in relation to the shooting charge.

He was remanded on continuing bail before sentencing at Limerick Circuit Court on December 19.
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Derry Coakley, an agricultural contractor, who died after a shooting at a farm near Macroom. Photo: Kyran O'Brien

A 66-year-old man has been charged with the murder of an agricultural contractor who suffered fatal gunshot injuries as he worked at a Cork property.

Gerard Lynch (66) was charged with the murder of father of one Derry Coakley (58) before a special sitting of Bandon District Court.

Mr Lynch is charged with the murder of the agricultural contractor and father of one at Raleigh North, Macroom, Co Cork shortly after 11pm on Tuesday last, October 23.

The area involved is located some 4km outside the Cork town.

Judge James McNulty was told Mr Lynch, a father of two from Curraheen, Raleigh North, Macroom was formally charged with the murder of Mr Coakley by Det Garda Derek Mulcahy.

After being arrested and cautioned, Mr Lynch replied "No comment" when the charge was formally put to him.

As a murder charge is involved, any bail application can only be dealt with before the High Court.

Inspector Brian Murphy applied for Mr Lynch to be remanded in custody to next week's sitting of Bandon District Court.

Judge McNulty remanded Mr Lynch, a retired cabinet maker, in custody to appear again before the District Court on November 2.

Emmet Boyle BL, for the defendant, submitted a statement of means for Mr Lynch as he applied for free legal aid.

Mr Lynch appeared in court wearing blue denims and a grey top.

He did not speak during the brief hearing.

Mr Coakley, who lived with his elderly mother at Castle Street in Macroom, was working with a tractor when he suffered fatal injuries from a shotgun blast.

While badly injured, he was able to contact a friend and raise the alarm.

Mr Coakley left the scene on his tractor and was apparently trying to reach safety when he was apparently overcome by the scale of his injuries.

He was later found unresponsive by his friend who had raced to the area.

Despite desperate efforts by emergency services, Mr Coakley was pronounced dead at the scene before he could be transferred to Cork University Hospital (CUH).

A post mortem examination was conducted on his remains at CUH by Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster on Thursday.

The special Bandon District Court sitting was ordered after the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) studied a preliminary Garda file on Mr Coakley's death.

The father of one will be buried after 12 noon Requiem Mass in Macroom at 12 noon on Sunday.

Mr Coakley was described as a well-known figure within the mid Cork community thanks to his contracting work with Cork Co Council.

Councillor Ted Lucey said Mr Coakley was known as one of the hardest working individuals in the area.

"Derry used to do some work for the council here, and his father before him, with diggers and tractors," he said.

"You couldn't meet a better man to do a job. The town of Macroom would have fallen down several times but for him."

"He would do everything from clearing snow in winter to digging streets and all sorts of maintenance."

Mr Coakley was teetotal and did not smoke.

His family are well respected in the town as they also run a popular local taxi business.

Gardai had appealed for anyone with information to assist their inquiry.

"We are appealing for anyone who has any information or who was in the Raleigh North area of Macroom between 10.30pm and 12 midnight on Tuesday night, to contact Macroom garda station on 026-20590, the Garda Confidential line on 1800-666-111 or any Garda station," a Garda spokesperson said.
Scene of the fatal shooting of a 58 year old Derry Coakley in Raleigh, Macroom, Co Cork (Photo: Kyran O'Brien)

Derry Coakley, an agricultural contractor, who died after a shooting at a farm near Macroom. Photo: Kyran O'Brien

A man is due to appear before court this afternoon in connection with the murder of Derry Coakley.

The man, in his sixties, is due to appear at a special sitting of Bandon District Court.

Derry Coakley (58) died following a shooting incident at Raleigh North, Macroom, Co Cork on Tuesday night.

Although Mr Coakley was seriously injured, he managed to raise the alarm by ringing a friend and then drove from the scene in his own tractor.

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But around 300 metres along the secluded and unlit public roadway, Mr Coakley's tractor ran into a wall as his condition deteriorated.

A separate Garda cordon was set up around the tractor after Mr Coakley was found unconscious there.

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Whatsapp Scene of the fatal shooting of a 58 year old Derry Coakley in Raleigh, Macroom, Co Cork (Photo: Kyran O'Brien)

A post-mortem was carried out on Mr Coakley's body yesterday and gardai are awaiting the results before deciding what direction their investigation should take.

It is understood that Mr Coakley had travelled from Macroom, where he lived with his mother, to the plot of land earlier that night. At some point while he was there, a shotgun was fired and Mr Coakley was hit.

Gardai have appealed for anyone who has any information or who was in the Raleigh North area of Macroom between 10.30pm and midnight on Tuesday to contact Macroom garda station on 026-20590, the Garda Confidential line on 1800-666-111 or any Garda station.
Grim discovery: Members of the Garda Sub-aqua Unit at the Grand Canal where body parts were found. Photo: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Murder accused Paul Wells was crying when he knelt on the ground to chop his friend Kenneth O'Brien to pieces with a chainsaw, after he shot him in the back of the head.

He wept again as he haltingly described to gardai the scene of "carnage" in his back yard as he dismembered the man he had once called "bud".

There were more tears from the accused as he sat in the dock at the Central Criminal Court, holding his head and sobbing as the video of his questioning by detectives was played back to the jury in his trial this week.

As the grisly details of that freezing winter's night were recounted, it emerged that Mr O'Brien (33), a father-of-one, had been cut up with his own chainsaw and his torso put in his own suitcase, which Mr Wells threw in the Grand Canal.

It was, in the accused's own words, "barbaric" and "the way I disposed of that man was deplorable". However, Mr Wells (50) is pleading not guilty to murdering his friend between January 15 and 16, 2016.

The jury heard while he eventually admitted killing Mr O'Brien, he maintained it happened when they struggled during a row after Mr O'Brien turned up at his home at Barnamore Park, Finglas, with a gun. The argument, he told gardai, was over a plan to kill Mr O'Brien's partner, Eimear Dunne.

He maintained Mr O'Brien had wanted her murdered so he could bring his son Charlie to live with him in Australia, and thought Mr Wells, described in court as "an IRA man" was the "person for the job". He said Mr O'Brien was prepared to pay him "twenty grand".

The pair were to meet in the square beside the Jervis Shopping Centre on the morning of January 15, when Mr O'Brien would give Mr Wells the gun, he told detectives.

He said he parked nearby but had no intention of killing Ms Dunne and returned home.

After 5pm, he said, Mr Wells "bounced up" to his house and asked "why did you not turn up?"

"I then said to him that the whole thing was f**king crazy and unnecessary," Mr Wells told gardai.

He said Mr O'Brien was to go back to his own house and send a text, "a smiley face, that was a signal that it was clear to go to the house and take a life".

"After I had shot her... I was to interfere with her clothing. To give the impression that she had been sexually abused. I f**king lost it. And I recall pushing him violently."

They grappled, he said, and the gun dropped to the ground.

"He tried to grab the gun off the floor. I thought if he got the gun he'd shoot me. I never seen him like that before, I never thought it was in him.

"I panicked and I got the gun first and I shot him in the back of the head. I put the gun to his head, I pulled the trigger. I just panicked. I swear I didn't want to kill him, he was my friend."

After, he said, he had an "overwhelming sense of trying to survive" and had to get the body out of the house before his wife arrived home.

The body was "f**king heavy" and "the only way I could take him out was to take him out in parts", he said.

He said he bit down on a tea towel and cut up the body in his backyard with a chainsaw Mr O'Brien had loaned him.

"I never thought I'd do that to a human being. Must have f**king made about six attempts to f**kng try and do it. I couldn't, I kept bottling it. I was practically expecting him to wake up. I couldn't believe what I'd done. I felt sick. That smell was all over.. of death."

He picked up the body parts, put the torso in a suitcase that also belonged to Mr O'Brien and threw it in the canal in Ardclough, Co Kildare, in the early hours of the morning.

Later that evening, he threw Mr O'Brien's head and limbs, "parcelled" in bags weighed down with fire bricks, into the canal at another location. The following day, he said, he threw the broken-up revolver out his car window into the Liffey at Strawberry Beds.

"I didn't stop, I kept rolling, one hand on the wheel, with the other hand I flung these (gun) parts," he said.

Mr Wells had forgotten Mr O'Brien's hands, which were on the shelf in his shed, and bagged these and threw them into the Liffey at Islandbridge the next day, Monday, January 18. Ms Dunne and members of Mr O'Brien's family sat in court as the evidence was heard.

The trial continues.
The ringleader behind a "spine-chilling" attack in which a student was "frog marched" to an ATM machine and told to withdraw money or his girlfriend would be raped by two accomplices has had part of a suspended sentence activated by the Court of Appeal.

The 22-year-old, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, had pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary, robbery and false imprisonment at Botanic Avenue, Dublin 9, on April 27, 2011.

He was sentenced to six years detention by Judge Martin Nolan on March 29, 2012. The Court of Appeal heard that the victims were a young woman and her civil-engineering-student boyfriend, who had broken up as a result of the incident.

She moved back to live with her parents, while he cut short his college career. Counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Anne Rowland SC, had said the young offender was "the ringleader" from the time he entered the house with his accomplices.

He held a knife to the student's throat and commented that he would "give him a quick" cut while moving it across his face.

After he had gotten 40 from the victims, he told them "you better get more than that or I'll slice you" and referring to the student's girlfriend, he said "I'll hurt her if you don't give me the PIN number" to an ATM card.

The boyfriend was then "frog marched" from his girlfriend's home to a nearby ATM machine while his girlfriend was held back at the house by two accomplices. The victim was told that if he didn't comply his girlfriend would be raped, Ms Rowland said.

The Court of Appeal suspended the final 12 months of his six-year sentence in July 2015 following an appeal.

However, the Court of Appeal activated all but six weeks of his 12-month suspended sentence yesterday on foot of an application by the Probation Service.

President of the Court of Appeal Mr Justice George Birmingham said the chance that was given to the young man - the suspension of the final 12 months of his sentence - "wasn't taken".
A woman who stole more than 300,000 from an Irish credit union was jailed for two years.

Leona Daly (36) was handed a five-year prison term with the final three years suspended as a Cork Circuit Criminal Court judge warned that her actions represented a very serious "breach of trust" for the credit union involved.

Daly, of Meadow Avenue, The Meadows, Knocknaheeny, Co Cork, appeared before Cork District Court in relation to a total of 167 charges of theft and false accounting.

The charges all relate to Gurranabraher Credit Union in Cork and involved a period dating from 2011 to 2016 with a total amount of 325,000.

Judge Sean O Donnabhain was told that Daly had admitted all the charges at a very early stage. She had been sent forward from Cork District Court last July on a signed plea in relation to each charge.

The counts involved charges of both theft and false accounting. Daly is no longer an employee of the credit union, where she had worked since 2005 as an administrator.

Judge O Donnabhain was told that the defendant had been suffering from chronic depression at the time of the offences.

She deeply regrets her actions and, with her supportive family, has been attempting to address the amounts involved.

The court was told her husband David was willing to sell a car and hand the proceeds to the credit union. He was also trying to arrange monthly compensation payments.

Mr Daly had absolutely no knowledge of his wife's actions - and Judge O Donnabhain noted that the entirely innocent man had been "put through the wringer" over the defendant's behaviour.

However, Judge O Donnabhain warned that a custodial sentence was warranted given "the phenomenal breach of trust" involved. He also said the compensation and repayment offer proposed was "completely unrealistic".

To date, 10,000 in compensation had been raised by the defendant. Judge O Donnabhain noted a statement from Gurranabraher Credit Union about the theft and its impact. The credit union acknowledged it had suffered serious reputational damage because of the actions of its former employee.
Structural problems at a primary school mean that it will not be able to re-open fully after the mid-term break.

However, five more schools have been cleared to re-open as normal following structural safety assessments conducted yesterday.

But at the 16-classroom 454 pupil, Gaelscoil Eiscir Riada , Lucan, Co Dublin, only the ground floor can reopen on Monday week.

The Department of Education provided an update of the inspection programme today, following assessment in 10 schools yesterday.

In the case of four of the 10 schools, the assessment is ongoing.

There will be a further update tomorrow based on further assessments taking place today.

Four of the 10 schools inspected yesterday have been declared fit to reopen without any intervention; Luttrellstown Community College, built in 2013; Gaelscoil Shliabh Rua (2015), Dublin; Broombridge Educate Together National School ( 2016) and Scoil Choilm, Porterstown (2013).

In a fifth school, Scoil Chaitlin Maude, Tallaght, built in 2016, the Department said structural issues were identified which presented a risk to the external leaf of the building.

This will require intervention in the form of a fence around the school building and some protective decking. This will be put in place during the course of the mid-term break," the statement added.

The assessment of Gaelscoil Eiscir Riada, which was built in 2012, identified structural issues which require both external and internal intervention.

Engineers have decided that if the first floor of the school is braced  similar to the solution announced for two primary schools in Tyrrelstown, west Dublin - the ground floor can function as normal.

The work will be done over the mid-term break, the Department said.

The Department is also seeking alternative interim accommodation for the remaining clause with a view to ensuring that all classes can be accommodated when the school reopens on November 5".

All 42 schools being inspected were built by the same company, Western Building Systems in the past 15 years, including 30 during the period 2008-13 when there was light touch building regulation.
Kevin Fegan (24) was a fit and seemingly healthy university lecturer when he collapsed one evening while having dinner with his girlfriend.

The graduate in music technology from Camlough in south Co Armagh, who suffered a sudden and unexplained cardiac arrest, was declared dead after being rushed to hospital.

His grieving parents Anne and Tommy, twin brother Ruairi and two other siblings were left searching for answers to the tragedy.

A post-mortem found he had an electrical fault in his heart which was undiagnosed.

"My wife Anne wanted to find out more and contacted CRY Ireland," said Tommy. "All five of us travelled to its centre in Tallaght Hospital in Dublin to be tested."

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The family needed to know if they also had a genetic risk which left them susceptible to cardiac arrest.

The family members all got the all-clear but they must return every few years for ongoing testing.

They were particularly grateful for the friendly faces they found in the portacabin which is currently home to CRY Ireland.

"Families benefit from support and then they in turn help others to cope with a similar tragedy," said Tommy.
Several of the 246 people on a waiting list to find out if they have inherited a genetic fault, leaving them at risk of sudden cardiac death, are facing a delay of more than a year.

The backlog has built up at the Cardiovascular Risk in Younger Persons (CRY) centre, which has been forced to operate from a portacabin in Tallaght Hospital, Dublin.

The centre is now hoping a new capital investment project will provide the lifeline it needs to expand the service to meet the demand.

The charity, which was founded in 2008 and was entirely self-funded, also has around 1,500 people who have undergone free initial screening but need a follow-up.

Urgent cases are seen within weeks, but others can wait more than a year.

Pressures on the service also mean some people, who are seeking repeat screening after a relative has died of an undiagnosed heart defect, are waiting three to four years beyond their suggested follow-up.

Tommy Fegan, from Armagh, the charity's new chairman, who lost his son Kevin (24) to sudden cardiac death eight years ago (see Case Study), said between 60 to 80 young people die from sudden cardiac death annually.

Most cardiac arrests in young people stem from either genetic abnormalities in the heart muscle, cardiomyopathies, or abnormalities of the heart's electrical activity.

"The CRY centre provides testing to help other members of a family which has lost a young person to sudden cardiac death to find out if they have also an inherited risk which they are unaware of," said Mr Fegan.

"My family were found in screening to not share the same genetic risk as my son, but we must return for follow-up every few years."

Relatives of anyone who has died suddenly after a cardiac arrest need to be evaluated for signs of any relevant heart condition, as they could be at risk of a similar event, he explained. Another vital part of the work is counselling.

He said they are now pinning their hopes on making inroads into the list as a result of a 1.2m capital investment between the charity and the board of Tallaght Hospital.

It will be able to leave the portacabin and move into a large, purpose-built modern outpatient facility within 50 metres of the hospital's entrance. Construction is due to start next month and the clinic should be open by June.
Irish prisons have regressed according to an annual report by the Irish Penal Reform Trust.

The report 'Progress in the Penal System' is an annual evaluation of Irish prisons on a wide range of topics.

Of the 32 sections assessed, only three were deemed to have progressed while a regression was seen in four. There was either no change or mixed results in the remainder of the sections.

The areas that have seen progressions are prisoners life skills, staff training and inter-agency coordination. The most impactful of these, prisoners life skills, benefited from the establishment of a third Independent Living Skills Unit in Mountjoy.

While data from this weeks presidential election is not yet available, a fall back has been recorded in prisoners political and civic participation. Only 58 prisoners (two of whom were women) voted in Mays referendum on the 8th Amendment.

According to the report the majority of prisons have seen a decrease in education participation rates over the first half of 2018.

The report also outlines how prisoners who are yet to be sentenced are not being adequately separated from those with sentences. From July 2017 until a year after, the number of remand prisoners sharing cells with sentenced prisoners rose from 92 to 222.

The standards of the penal system outline imprisonment as the last resort but this too has suffered regression as according to the report, there has been a net increase in the rate of imprisonment from 79 per 100,000 in May 2017 to 83 per 100,000 in July 2018.

Areas that have seen no change include drug and alcohol treatment where the Medical Unit can facilitate up to 18 individuals, despite 44 prisoners being on the waiting list for the programme.

The report does however detail how prisoner assaults on other prisoners have continued on a steady downward curve since 2012. Findings from 2017 report 417 assaults compared to 572 and 287 in 2016 and 2015 respectively. In 2012, the number was 715.

Assaults by prisoners on prison officers have risen for the third consecutive year with 104 incidents compared to 98 and 91 from the previous two years respectively.

The decrease overall in violence is mirrored in the solitary confinement data where 35 prisoners were being held in July 2018 compared to 44 April 2017. This had reduced to 12 in April 2018 but increased again before the report was compiled.

One of the biggest problems facing Irish prisons in overpopulation. This problem has remained this year, especially in female prisons where capacity is currently at around 117pc.
BUSINESSMAN Peter Casey - who is on course to take shock second place in the presidential election - is not ruling out a future in politics.

Mr Casey's support surged from just 2pc in opinion polls in recent weeks to a fifth of the vote according to exit polls.

Arriving at the National Count Centre in Dublin Castle, Mr Casey denied he played the race card in the election with his controversial remarks on the Travelling Community.

He insisted that any such suggestion is "so untrue".

However, he repeated views that have been heavily criticised by political opponents.

He said: "You cant be a racist if you dont regard the people youre talking about as a different race. Theyre not. Theyre Irish people. Theyre proud Irish people so thats not a possibility."

He denied being the Donald Trump of Irish politics and claimed his politics are "probably left-of-centre rather than right of centre."

And he said he's waiting for Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to apologise for indicating that people shouldn't vote for him due to his views on Travellers.

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Mr Casey was asked if he plans to seek political office in the future.

He said: "I think I should probably talk to my wife before I make any decisions. Itll be a family decision so well make that decision very shortly."

Mr Casey said he'd only had 30 minutes with his wife over coffee this morning and that he'd likely make a decision in the next week.

Asked what he thought his wife would say, he said: "Shes a bit like myself. A little bit unpredictable at times. Im not sure. We need to as a family sit down and talk about it."

He appeared to pour cold water on suggestions that he would run in next year's European elections saying: "I'm not sure that would be the right course for me".

Put to him that he must have thought about what he would do after the presidential election he replied: "Well actually I thought I would win" and quipped: "Is it definite that Ive lost?"

Mr Casey said he hasn't talked to any political parties and he could not name someone currently involved in Irish politics that he admires but praised peacemaker and former SDLP leader John Hume.

"I dont really have any idols in politics in Ireland at the moment. Obviously John Hume was such a courageous and great leader. He was not afraid to say things that were not particularly popular. Theres no one really jumps out."

He said he thinks there are enough political parties in Ireland when asked if he'd consider forming one.

But he added that; "We need political parties that work.

"At the moment I think what you saw was a frustration vote."

He argued that there's been years of "basically no government". He said that Fine Gael and Fianna Fail are talking about the possibility of extending the Confidence and Supply deal.

He said there's 6pc unemployment, adding: "That means 94pc of people who get up every morning, get out to work, pay the bills, struggle to get ahead and theyre struggling and theyre frustrated and I think thats what we saw.

"Middle Ireland  theyre the ones that really are just frustrated.

Mr Casey claimed that if Fine Gael and Fianna Fail had formed a grand coalition with a revolving Taoiseach after the last election "wed be in a much stronger position than we are at the current time."
Presidential candidate Joan Freeman casts her vote with her husband Pat at the Scoil Mhuire polling station in Lucan this morning. Photo: Tony Gavin

The support for Mr Casey is likely to cause some alarm in Government circles, given that Taoiseach Leo Varadkar asked voters not to back him.

Questions will also be asked about the 15m it cost to hold the election..

Turnout is set to be the lowest for a presidential election since the foundation of the State.

Aside from assessing why their messages didn't resonate with voters, the four candidates at the bottom of the race must now also deal with significant bills.

Candidates need to get at least 12.5pc of the vote in order to secure a refund for their expenses up to 200,000.

Back in 2011, Mr Higgins secured 701,101 first preference votes which amounted to 39.6pc of the vote.

He had promised to serve only one term but the 77-year-old will now continue residing in Aras an Uachtarain until 2025.

His campaign was dogged by controversies over spending at Aras an Uachtarain, including his use of the Government jet for a trip to Belfast.

During the election, Mr Higgins refused to publish details of how an unaudited 317,000 annual allowance was used - but committed to do so in the coming weeks.

Over the past three weeks, he outlined his plans for a second term, including the establishment of a year-long initiative around achieving equality.

He also intends to launch a programme called 'Imagination and the Nation', which will conclude with three special art events -focusing on past, present and future.

Mr Casey started out as the most low-profile of the six candidates but dominated the headlines after landing himself at the centre of a racism row when taking part in 'The Floating Voter' podcast on Independent.ie.

He said the special recognition of Travellers as an ethnic minority was "nonsense".

Ahead of casting his vote, the Derry native told the Irish Independent he had "no regrets" about how his campaign evolved.

At one point he claims to have genuinely considered dropping out of the race but decided to recommit after receiving a deluge of support from members of the public.

He said his new-found popularity was not based on attacking the Traveller community but "more somebody speaking out".

Mr Casey faced calls to pull out of the race after claiming Travellers should not be recognised as an ethnic minority because they are "basically people camping in someone else's land".

The businessman argued: "They are not paying their fair share of taxes in society."

He was Mr Higgins's harshest critic during the campaign, describing the lack of transparency around Aras spending as "a disgrace".

Asked whether he would congratulate Mr Higgins, the businessman replied: "Of course. He is my President. I respect the office of the President. I will of course wish him the very, very best. I will offer him my support in any way that I can."

The Government will be relieved that despite a lack of public awareness about the blasphemy referendum, it will easily pass. The exit poll shows 71.1pc indicated they voted Yes, while 26.3pc stated they voted No. Another 2pc said they had not voted on the referendum. This means the offence of blasphemy will now be removed from the Constitution.

It is expected that between 40pc-45pc of people voted.

The lowest ever turnout for a presidential election was when Mary McAleese was elected in 1997, as just 47.6pc of people cast their vote. When Michael D Higgins took office in 2011, the turnout was 56.11pc.

Counting gets underway at 9am today and is expected to finish up this evening. Ballots from the blasphemy referendum will then be counted.

An official declaration will be made in Dublin Castle - but Mr Higgins's new presidential term doesn't actually begin until November 11, which is also Armistice Day.
Officials from the Sheriffs Office scrambled to erect signs directing voters to an alternate presidential polling station in west Dublin after it was moved at the last minute due to safety concerns.

Former Tanaiste Joan Burton said she alerted the office after voters in her constituency were left confused over where to vote when the Tyrrelstown Community Centre in Dublin 15 was closed earlier this week.

The site was among two local schools that were forced to close after concerns over safety arose at Ardgillan Community College in Balbriggan and other schools built by Western Building Systems.

Ms Burton said the Sheriffs Office  which is responsible for election management  promised her that it would beef up the signage yesterday afternoon pointing to the alternate polling station at a nearby school, after she complained that the signs were inadequate.

There was just a small sign on the gate, Ms Burton said when she went to cast her vote shortly after 10am yesterday.

They should have erected a large electronic sign used on roadways so that voters would know where to go, she told the Irish Independent last night.

Because the alternate location is in a new development, many locals werent familiar with the area. As a result, Ms Burton said she was forced to direct some voters to the new location. I ended up driving people to it, she said.

However, the Labour TD  who campaigned for Michael D Higgins  said the situation was eventually resolved.
Presidential Candidate Peter Casey at the count centre for the Presidential Election in the Convention Centre, Dublin. Photo: Gareth Chaney Collins

Presidential Candidate Peter Casey at the count centre for the Presidential Election in the Convention Centre, Dublin. Photo: Gareth Chaney Collins

Peter Casey has claimed that he has a "total respect" for the Travelling community and that if he had been successful he would have invited "all the of them to move into the Phoenix Park.

The Presidential election candidate turned up at the Convention Centre where the Dublin count is underway, saying his result was not expected.

I was actually disappointed because everybody thought I had a very good chance of winning, he said.

And he lashed the confidence-and-supply deal saying people wanted a strong government.

"They cant see any creativity. Everyone is so politically correct and theyre afraid to say anything in case they say the wrong thing," he said.

He called in the existing government to give "90 days notice" and to call an election so they can vote for "someone who can lead for a change."

Expand Close Presidential Candidate Peter Casey at the count centre for the Presidential Election in the Convention Centre, Dublin. Photo: Gareth Chaney Collins / Facebook

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Whatsapp Presidential Candidate Peter Casey at the count centre for the Presidential Election in the Convention Centre, Dublin. Photo: Gareth Chaney Collins

He claimed he had a "total respect" for the Travelling community and claimed if successful he was going to suggest that he invite them all to move into the Phoenix Park for a five-year period and insist that schools that be put in there.

"Education, education, education," he said.

"The real reason I had a bump in the polls is because middle Ireland are hurting," he said.

He claimed they had got "absolutely nothing" in the last budget. Theyre not looking for handouts they need a help up he said, with help to buy housing and "pay school fees."

Expand Close Presidential Candidate Peter Casey at the count centre for the Presidential Election in the Convention Centre, Dublin. Photo: Gareth Chaney Collins / Facebook

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Whatsapp Presidential Candidate Peter Casey at the count centre for the Presidential Election in the Convention Centre, Dublin. Photo: Gareth Chaney Collins

However he said anyone getting help with fees should not be able to leave the country for five to six years.

"We can afford it. We can pay for third level education," he said, saying we had 8bn in the Strategic Investment Fund.

I dont want to pay their education and for them to go off to Australia, America or New Zealand and wed not get the benefit of it, he said.

Asked about his political future, he said he would not be running for a local council seat because they are the hardest working people.

Asked if he would consider starting up a political party he said these are decisions that needed to be weighed up quipping that he would probably decide by lunchtime.

"Well probably take a day to think about it," he said.

He said he was disappointed because he thought he "would actually win and by the way I havent actually ruled it out yet," he said.

He said he did not think people voted for him because of his comments on Travellers.

"I think they voted for me because...the people who voted for me are the hard working people who are paying the bills," he said.

"Those are the people who voted for me so Im hoping the government will sit up and listen to them," he said.

"Its so simple."

He revealed that he had become aware this week of the Stardust tragedy, because he went to Australia in 1981 and wasnt really aware of the impact. He said he was embarrassed and ashamed he didnt know about it.

Its still not being resolved as it should be, he said, saying the building was owned by NAMA and should be knocked down and a "beautiful monument" built to honour the people who died there.

There were senior people in government whose constituencies were there and who could do something, he added.

NAMA have since released a statement saying they have never had any involvement with this property.

He said that the president should step down after five years and said he would run again but then added that it could be a problem, because "I could be Taoiseach by then."

Put to him that he had received protest votes he said, "they should have protested more and Id have got more and I would have won."

He said the President should take notice that the people are tired of him not doing anything, claiming the people are fed up of the falling number of public appearances by the president.

If they keep going at the same rate therell be one appearance a week, he claimed.

"The presidency should be vital and should be there to make a difference and it can make a difference," he said, adding "youve seen the difference Ive made in the past week and Im not even president."

Asked how he felt he had made a difference, he said he had "started discussions" and thats the role of the president to start discussions.

He cant get involved with the legislative agenda of the government and that is clear and as if should be, he said, adding that the president is the guardian of the constitution but has the ability to "make discussion points and getting people to talk about things."
Canvass: Sinn Fein candidate Liadh Ni Riada on the campaign trail in Crumlin, Dublin. Photo: Gerry Mooney

SINN Fein's Liadh Ni Riada blamed low turnout and the "personality-based" nature of presidential elections for her party's disastrous result.

Ms Ni Riada came fourth, with 93,987 votes (6.37pc), far less than her party's usual level of support.

She said: "You wouldnt be human if you wouldnt be disappointed but elections are elections and you have to be prepared for both outcomes...

"You just have to take it on the chin".

The Ireland South MEP said she will be back in Brussels next week after spending time with her family.

She was asked by reporters what went wrong.

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Ms Ni Riada replied: "Presidential campaigns are not like ordinary campaigns.

"There was a low turnout."

She also said: "Its much more personality-based and had we had more time perhaps people would have got to know me better."

It was put to her that Sinn Fein's support went elsewhere and she said: "As I said this wasn't a normal political campaign... I think it was very much focused see on the candidates themselves and so there's no telling what the electorate will do on the day.

"They obviously gave their message and they're happy with Michael D [Higgins] and let's hope that he'll have a very fruitful seven years ahead of him."

She congratulated Mr Higgins and said she hoped he will lead a discussion on a United Ireland.

Party leader Mary Lou McDonald rejected suggestions that Sinn Fein's election strategy had failed.

She criticised other parties for not fielding their own candidates in the election for the highest office in Ireland.

She said Sinn Fein planned to spend around 200,000 on the campaign.

She said: "We're about affording people democratic opportunities to have their say.

"So far from a failure this has been a good campaign for us albeit with a disappointing outcome on the day of polling but... Sin an saol".
Micheal D Higgins has been re-elected as President of Ireland.

Sitting comfortably on top of the polls since the campaign began, the incumbent sailed through to a win on the first count with 822,566 first preference votes or 55.8 per cent of total valid votes.

Expand Close Michael D Higgins with his wife Sabina / Facebook

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Whatsapp Michael D Higgins with his wife Sabina

During an impassioned acceptance speech, President Higgins said: "People have made a choice as to which version of Irishness they prefer... I will be a President for all of the people."

Businessman Peter Casey, who struggled at just 2pc in the polls last week, soared into second place with 342, 727 votes (23.3pc).

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Whatsapp Peter Casey pictured at the Convention Centre (Photo: Mark Condren)

Sean Gallagher, who came second in his 2011 bid, achieved just 94,514 votes, coming in third with 6.41pc.

Liadh Ni Riada came fourth, with 93,987 votes (6.37pc).

Joan Freeman earned just 87,908 votes (6.0pc), while Gavin Duffy failed to make an impression on the electorate and gained just 32,198 votes (2.2pc).

In the Presidential Election, there were a total of 1,473,900 valid votes.

Michael D Higgins used his re-election speech to call for an end to the scourge of violence against women.

The President promised to represent everybody in the country, regardless of whether they voted for him or not.

Expand Close Presidential candidate Joan Freeman casts her vote with her husband Pat at the Scoil Mhuire polling station in Lucan this morning. Photo: Tony Gavin / Facebook

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Whatsapp Presidential candidate Joan Freeman casts her vote with her husband Pat at the Scoil Mhuire polling station in Lucan this morning. Photo: Tony Gavin

And in a thinly veiled reference to the debate about the Traveller community which dominated the campaign, Mr Higgins said: Words matter. Words can hurt. Words can heal. Words can empower. Words can divide.

He promised to identify those facing exclusion in society, which he said was more than just eliminating barriers, it means the exercising of new initiations.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Ready for battle: The candidates in the RTE radio centre ahead of the first presidential debate on Saturday. Photo: Tony Gavin Class act: Presidential candidate Sean Gallagher at St Laurences Primary School, Co Wicklow, with his wife Trish and their son Bobby (5), and other pupils from Bobbys class. Photo: Colin Keegan Presidential candidate Gavin Duffy buys his wife Orlaith a rose (Niall Carson/PA) Structures need to be put in place: Sinn Feins presidential candidate Liadh Ni Riada Planning ahead: President Michael D Higgins consults a member of his staff at his campaign office in Dublin as he prepares his bid for a further seven years in Aras an Uachtarain. Photo: David Conachy Gavin Duffy and Joan Freeman at Meath County Council Offices. Photo: Seamus Farrelly Taoiseach Leo Varadkar canvassing for Michael D Higgins on Grafton Street (Photo: Kyran O'Brien) Protest: Members of the Travelling community protest against Peter Casey at Carbragh Bridge. Photo: PA Mr Casey visited a housing development intended for the Traveller community on Thursday (Brian Lawless/PA) Controversial Presidential campaign Peter Casey has paid a visit to the houses built for Traveller families in Tipperary (Photo: Mark Condren) Line up: The Presidential candidates with Pat Kenny (centre) for the TV debate on Wednesday. Photo: Brian McEvoy Sinn Feins Presidential candidate Liadh Ni Riada with party leader Mary-Lou McDonald. Picture: Steve Humphreys The ballot box is taken to Tory Island, off the coast of Co Donegal (Niall Carson/PA) 26/10/2018, Sal Healy with her dog Roxy walks past Drumcondra National School after voting in the presidential election. Pic credit; Damien Eagers / INM Handout photo taken with permission from the Twitter feed of @Yokeups of her dog Buffy waiting outside a polling station in Ireland, as the country goes to the polls to vote in the Irish presidential election. Siobhan Quill/PA Wire President Michael D Higgins casts his vote with his wife Sabina for the Presidential Election at St Marys Hospital, Phoenix Park this morning. Photo: Tony Gavin 26/10/2018 26/10/2018, Sean Gallagher casts his vote in the presidential election with his wife Trish and son, bobby, 5, at the Charlesland sports and recreation centre in Greystones. Pic credit; Damien Eagers / INM Gavin Duffy and his wife Orlaith Carmody casting their vote at Whitecross National School in Julianstown, Co Meath. Picture: Mark Condren President Michael D Higgins leaves the polling station with his wife Sabina after voting in the Presidential Election at St Marys Hospital, Phoenix Park this morning. Photo: Tony Gavin 26/10/2018 Taoiseach Leo Varadkar speaks with ex-presidential candidate Peter Casey at Dublin Castle. Picture: Damien Eagers Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina arrive at Dublin Castle to attend the count in Ireland's presidential election. Niall Carson/PA Wire President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina outside Aras an Uachtarain. Photo: David Conachy / Facebook

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Whatsapp Ready for battle: The candidates in the RTE radio centre ahead of the first presidential debate on Saturday. Photo: Tony Gavin

A real Republic is a Republic of equality, of shared vulnerabilities and of collective capacities.

A real Republic is one where every person is encouraged and supported to participate fully and where every person and community is treated with dignity and respect.

Expand Close Presidential Candidates Gavin Duffy, MEP Liadh Ni Riada, Peter Casey, Sean Gallagher and Senator Joan Freeman pictured alongside Matt Cooper and Ivan Yates Picture: Brian McEvoy / Facebook

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Whatsapp Presidential Candidates Gavin Duffy, MEP Liadh Ni Riada, Peter Casey, Sean Gallagher and Senator Joan Freeman pictured alongside Matt Cooper and Ivan Yates Picture: Brian McEvoy

The 77-year-old received the largest ever mandate in the history of the State, albeit from the lowest ever turnout in a presidential election.

He received 822, 566 votes, amounting to 55.8pc of the vote.

Standing in front of his five rivals at Dublin Castle, Mr Higgins said he campaigned on values which the Irish public have now overwhelmingly chosen as reflecting what they believe to be the important and necessary basis for Ireland and our future.

The Presidency of Ireland draws its strength and independent mandate from the direct vote of the people of Ireland. It represents Ireland  in all our strengths and vulnerabilities, he said.

However, he said the country is now in a time of transformation and through the presidency he hoped to allow an independent space where new ideas and possibilities can emerge.

Mr Higgins noted that the years ahead will see the commemoration of challenging, often difficult, periods of our history including the centenary of the first Dail next year.

This task will require sensitive thought, reflection and understanding  an ethics of memory and a narrative of hospitality, enabling different versions of shared events to be placed side by side, uncomfortable truths acknowledged.

Over the next years in Aras an Uachtarain, the President said he would represent Irelands voice, as we face challenges that are global.

The urgent need to end the scourge of violence against women cannot be deferred, but must be ended now, he said to applause.

I will, on your behalf, represent an Ireland committed to a peaceful world and a shared planet and together we will ensure that Irelands voice matters.

This is a time to be active rather than passive, and clear choices are opening up as to what will be the character of our Irishness.

He concluded the country had voted for the making of hope rather than the experience of any exploitation of fear.

I will be a President for all the people, for those who voted for me and those who did not. I am so proud of our country, I am proud to be a President for all of you and with all of you, and I look forward with joy and hope to all that we will achieve together.

The defeated candidates congratulated Mr Higgins after his speech and all expressed no regrets about entering the campaign.

Senator Joan Freeman said she wanted to remark on the "courage of the candidates".

"It's not easy to have yourself scrutinised, criticised and sometimes brutalised.

"But I think we showed great courage and at the end of it I want to have a glass of wine with them at some stage just to share and just to talk and just to see what it was like for all of us."

Peter Casey, who finished second and spoke directly after Mr Higgins, said: "I hate following a great orator - one of the best... In the words of Elizabeth Taylor to her seventh husband 'I won't be keeping you long'".

He said his vote of more than 342,000 was a "23,000pc improvement" on the 13 votes he got in the 2016 Seanad election.

Businessman Sean Gallagher wished Mr Higgins every success in the next seven years.

He called for a focus on opportunity over cynicism in Ireland.

He said: "Cynicism does not create change. Positive change only comes from challenging the status quo.

"To achieve this we need new ideas driven by brave people who are willing to step into the arena rather than commentate from the sidelines.

"As Teddy Roosevelt said it is not the voice of he critic that counts.

"The credit goes to the man who is actually in the arena whose face is marked with dust and sweat and blood."

Sinn Fein's Liadh Ni Riada said: "It was important that we had this election. There was a democratic process in place and the people of Ireland spoke today and spoke with a resounding yes to put Michael D Higgins back in office".

She added: "I look to forward to the conversation about a United Ireland being firmly on the agenda particularly in light of Brexit coming along and I also hope this is the last election that we have where our citizens in the North won't have a vote".

Dragons' Den star Gavin Duffy addressed Mr Higgins saying: "Uachtarain it is fantastic that you are returned tonight with such a strong mandate and that doesn't happen... unless people put themselves forward and contest the election."
Martin Collins, co-director of Traveller organisation Pavee Point, has expressed concern that some communities with high Traveller populations have shown strong support for presidential candidate Peter Casey.

Tallies from Askeaton (44pc) and Rathkeale (46pc) in Limerick show strong support for Casey.

Casey's controversial argument that Travellers should not be recognised as an ethnic minority saw his vote surge in the final week of campaigning and RTE's Exit Poll showed support for him at 20.7pc.

Speaking on Newstalk this morning, Mr Collins reacted to the tally in Rathkeale saying: "That would worry me," he said.

"At the same time, it has to be acknowledged that there has been some tension in the town of Rathkeale, especially around Christmas time when Travellers would return from Europe and right across the globe.

"We've always called for some kind of mediation service or some kind of relationship-building initiative to be deployed.

"Unfortunately, many Travellers are not registered and fewer Travellers vote and that's the point Pavee Point and other Traveller organisations have been trying to convey for decades.

"It's really important that they vote because their vote could make a difference in local, general, European or Presidential elections.

"It's one message I would send to the community is please exercise your franchise."

Casey claimed on Newstalk earlier this morning that he regretted not 'coming down harder' on Collins for his response to the Derry native's remarks on the Travelling community. Casey called for Collins to step down.

"I have represented my community with integrity for the last 35 years. I don't get my mandate from Peter Casey," he said.

"I get my mandate from my community, when the day arrives that that mandate diminishes, I will resign.

"If the exit polls are to be believed, I welcome this resounding victory for Michael D Higgins. He has promoted inclusion, equality and human rights.

"There is no doubt that his anti-Traveller comments did have an impact on the electorate but it very difficult to quantify how much of that vote was linked to his anti-Traveller commentary.

"To be fair to Peter Casey he did make commentary on unpopular issues like middle Ireland feeling that their voices haven't been heard or people not being able to afford getting on the property market.

"He made a range of commentary on a range of issues so it's difficult to quantify how much of that 20pc vote is attributable to his anti-Traveller comments. There is no doubt that they made a contribution

"The point I would make is that his Trump-style politics of division and racism have no place in a Irish democratic system and Michael D Higgins victory demonstrates that clear message."

Meanwhile, Meath County Councillor Eddie Fennessy said he is "shocked" at what he believes is more than a 20pc vote for Peter Casey in Meath West.

The Sinn Fein councillor, who attended the Trim GAA centre with his baby son, Ned, said as he is involved with a Meath Travellers workshop, he was particularly concerned so many had voted for Casey given his views on Travellers.

"I am shocked by so many people voting for Casey and the trend is so far following the exit polls though I believe it could end up more than 20 pc.

"I work closely with the Traveller community in Meath and Casey's words on Travellers were just wrong. He's targeting the Traveller community to try to gain votes.

"This is a community suffering widespread discrimination and hostility.

"I believe this was mostly older people who voted for Casey and we are looking at a low turnout of voters I believe so I don't want to say the number who voted for Casey are representative of around 20pc or more of Meath West or nationally."

Cllr Fennessy is Sinn Fein's director of elections in Meath.
Peter Casey casting his vote in Greencastle, Co Donegal. PHOTO: NEWSPIX

Presidential Candidate Peter Casey at the count centre for the Presidential Election in the Convention Centre, Dublin. Photo: Gareth Chaney Collins

While Michael D Higgins dominated the vote in his birthplace of Limerick, his nearest rival Peter Casey achieved impressive gains in rural parts of Limerick with large Traveller populations.

Just over 41pc of Limerick city turned out to vote, while there was a 46pc turnout in the county.

In Limerick City, Peter Casey earned 23.6pc of the vote, while Michael D Higgins earned 56.9pc.

But in Limerick County, an area of the country with a high Traveller population, Casey earned 33.9pc of the vote, while Michael D Higgins topped the polls with 47.6pc.

Expand Close A ballot paper shows a number 1 for presidential candidate Peter Casey. Credit: Mark Condren / Facebook

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In Rathkeale, where there is a significant Traveller community, Mr Casey came out on top in a number of boxes, at polling stations stations in West Limerick.

In one particular box at Rathkeale Girls National School unofficial tallies had Peter Casey topping the poll on 44pc of the vote, followed by Michael D Higgins on 40pc.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Ready for battle: The candidates in the RTE radio centre ahead of the first presidential debate on Saturday. Photo: Tony Gavin Class act: Presidential candidate Sean Gallagher at St Laurences Primary School, Co Wicklow, with his wife Trish and their son Bobby (5), and other pupils from Bobbys class. Photo: Colin Keegan Presidential candidate Gavin Duffy buys his wife Orlaith a rose (Niall Carson/PA) Structures need to be put in place: Sinn Feins presidential candidate Liadh Ni Riada Planning ahead: President Michael D Higgins consults a member of his staff at his campaign office in Dublin as he prepares his bid for a further seven years in Aras an Uachtarain. Photo: David Conachy Gavin Duffy and Joan Freeman at Meath County Council Offices. Photo: Seamus Farrelly Taoiseach Leo Varadkar canvassing for Michael D Higgins on Grafton Street (Photo: Kyran O'Brien) Protest: Members of the Travelling community protest against Peter Casey at Carbragh Bridge. Photo: PA Mr Casey visited a housing development intended for the Traveller community on Thursday (Brian Lawless/PA) Controversial Presidential campaign Peter Casey has paid a visit to the houses built for Traveller families in Tipperary (Photo: Mark Condren) Line up: The Presidential candidates with Pat Kenny (centre) for the TV debate on Wednesday. Photo: Brian McEvoy Sinn Feins Presidential candidate Liadh Ni Riada with party leader Mary-Lou McDonald. Picture: Steve Humphreys The ballot box is taken to Tory Island, off the coast of Co Donegal (Niall Carson/PA) 26/10/2018, Sal Healy with her dog Roxy walks past Drumcondra National School after voting in the presidential election. Pic credit; Damien Eagers / INM Handout photo taken with permission from the Twitter feed of @Yokeups of her dog Buffy waiting outside a polling station in Ireland, as the country goes to the polls to vote in the Irish presidential election. Siobhan Quill/PA Wire President Michael D Higgins casts his vote with his wife Sabina for the Presidential Election at St Marys Hospital, Phoenix Park this morning. Photo: Tony Gavin 26/10/2018 26/10/2018, Sean Gallagher casts his vote in the presidential election with his wife Trish and son, bobby, 5, at the Charlesland sports and recreation centre in Greystones. Pic credit; Damien Eagers / INM Gavin Duffy and his wife Orlaith Carmody casting their vote at Whitecross National School in Julianstown, Co Meath. Picture: Mark Condren President Michael D Higgins leaves the polling station with his wife Sabina after voting in the Presidential Election at St Marys Hospital, Phoenix Park this morning. Photo: Tony Gavin 26/10/2018 Taoiseach Leo Varadkar speaks with ex-presidential candidate Peter Casey at Dublin Castle. Picture: Damien Eagers Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina arrive at Dublin Castle to attend the count in Ireland's presidential election. Niall Carson/PA Wire President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina outside Aras an Uachtarain. Photo: David Conachy / Facebook

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Whatsapp Ready for battle: The candidates in the RTE radio centre ahead of the first presidential debate on Saturday. Photo: Tony Gavin

In Knocknasna, located just outside Abbbeyfeale, tallies had Mr Casey coming out on top 61 first preference votes, followed by Mr Higgins with 50, and Liadh Ni Riada third with 18 votes.

This trend was also replicated in a box in Askeaton, where tallies had Casey achieving 142 first preference votes, followed by Higgins with 123.

Expand Close Peter Casey pictured at the Convention Centre (Photo: Mark Condren) / Facebook

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In the city, in St Pauls booth in Dooradoyle, Mr Higgins came out of one box with 57pc of the vote and Casey coming in second with 23pc, according to unofficial tallies.

Tallies from a box in Monaleen showed Higgins on 52.1pc and Casey on 29.7pc.

In polling booths in St Michaels and at JFK National School on the Ennis Road, unofficial tallies from both areas combined had Mr Higgins sailing away with 319 first preference votes, with his nearest rival Peter Casey securing 119 first preference votes.

Meanwhile, Limericks only Sinn Fein TD, Maurice Quinlivan said he was disappointed with Liadh Ni Riadas performance.

She received 5.9pc of the vote in Limerick City, and 4.4pc of the vote in Limerick County.

Were disappointed... there was the issue that she wasnt as well-known as we would have hoped she would have been, said Deputy Quinlivan.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close A general view of count staff in front of ballot boxes, as they wait for the counting of votes will begin in Ireland's presidential election on Saturday at 9am, with incumbent Michael D Higgins on course to secure a landslide victory. Niall Carson/PA Wire The boxes are opening in the National Convention Centre(Photo: Mark Condren) Sinn Fein Deputy David Cullinane and Fianna Fail party member Sean Dower at the count in Waterford (Photo Ciaran Murphy) Tally papers in North Tipperary Returning officer for the Laois and parts of South Kildare constituency Paul Featherstonehaugh officially commenced the counting of the presidential ballot papers promptly at 9am. (Photo: Stan Henderson) This year, the elections will be held on he same day as the 2019 European Parliament election and a referendum easing restrictions on divorce. Niall Carson/PA Wire Counting of votes begins in Ireland's presidential election on Saturday, with incumbent Michael D Higgins on course to secure a landslide victory. Niall Carson/PA Wire Ballot papers during the Presidential Election 2018 Counting of votes begins in Ireland's presidential election on Saturday, with incumbent Michael D Higgins on course to secure a landslide victory. Niall Carson/PA Wire Counting of votes begins in Ireland's presidential election on Saturday, with incumbent Michael D Higgins on course to secure a landslide victory. Niall Carson/PA Wire Peter Casey pictured at the Convention Centre (Photo: Mark Condren) Presidential Candidate Peter Casey at the count centre for the Presidential Election in the Convention Centre, Dublin. Photo: Gareth Chaney Collins Presidential Candidate Peter Casey at the count centre for the Presidential Election in the Convention Centre, Dublin. Photo: Gareth Chaney Collins / Facebook

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She did the best campaign she could have possibly done, he added.

Mr Quinlivan described the presidential debates on television and radio as a circus.

Rounding on RTE, he said: If you look at the RTE debates, the same questions were asked a second time, rather than teasing out other stuff and letting candidates try to expand on the platform they wanted to run on.

The national broadcaster really has to look at how they (cover) the campaigns - Im not making that as an excuse or whatever, I'm just saying, we are having a presidential campaign and it was supposed to be about the candidates vision for Ireland; and I dont think that came out, and I think that (was) reflected in the (vote).

When asked if he thought it was a mistake for Sinn Fein to run a candidate against Mr Higgins, Mr Quinlivan said: I dont think it was a mistake (to run Liadh Ni Riada).

I think this is a crucial point; its very important to have an election regardless of the outcome of that. I think Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Labour didnt want this election, however Sinn Fein did want this election, along with others that did want this election.

Ill never apologise for calling an election or for letting people express their democratic mandate or their franchise. Its really important.
The Pieta House founder is an Independent Senator and mental health campaigner. She was nominated to the Seanad by former Taoiseach Enda Kenny in 2016. She is the chair of the Oireachtas Committee on the Future of Mental Health Care.

She is 60-years-old and from Clontarf in Dublin but now lives in Lucan. She has three children and one grandchild.

She founded the suicide intervention charity in 2006 which is known for its flagship annual fundraiser event Darkness in to Light which helps raise money for the charity and create awareness of mental health challenges. The walk is now a global event with thousands of participants annually.

She recently put forward a bill in the Seanad calling for children from being prohibited from being admitted to adult psychiatric care units.

Key Messages

Ms Freeman said her presidency would focus on building strong communities and promoting mental well-being if she is elected.

She has promised to encourage increased volunteerism by extending the Presidents Gaisce awards to people of all ages instead of only including young people between 15 and 25-years-old.

She has also promised to link in with the diaspora and to work closely with the Government to enhance the countrys image globally. She has promised to host an annual Day of Wellness at Aras an Uachtarain to promote positive physical and mental health. She wants to promote initiatives to help older people learn new skills and put them at the heart of communities and she wants to tackle challenges young people face, such as cyber-bullying. She also wants young people to be represented at the Council of State.

Likely strengths

Pieta House and the Darkness in to Light events are instantly recognisable and her involvement in founding both must be a significant benefit. Her background as a current Senator gives her a political kudos over some of her rivals who have less political experience. Her issues are also relatable, well-documented and resonate with the public. Her charity work, experience on the Oireachtas Committee and work as a Senator put weight behind the issues she is setting her platform on.

Weaknesses

Questions about how her campaign has been financed by an ex-boyfriend businessman have overshadowed part of her presidential campaign. Ms Freeman was asked to address the fact Des Walsh, the president of Herbalife Nutrition, provided her with a 120,000 loan to fund her bid. His company has previously been accused of operating a pyramid scheme.

Bookies odds

Her odds vary between 25/1 and 33/1 if you shop around.
Gardai at the scene where Derry Coakley was shot. Photo: John Delea

Gun: Gardai at the scene where Derry Coakley was shot. Photos: Daragh McSweeney

Two violent deaths in the space of just 15 days have left a quiet Irish farming town in shock.

The Co Cork town of Macroom is best known for its traditional local agri-food industry, a proud association with Irish historical groups, and as the political power base of Agriculture Minister Michael Creed.

By Irish standards, Macroom was regarded as one of the safest towns in any Garda division - until now.

Following the violent but unrelated deaths of Timothy 'Timmy' Foley (44) on October 8 and Derry Coakley (58) on October 23, the town has been left under a dark cloud of fear.

"It has been years since there was a violent death around here and then suddenly we have two in the space of just two weeks - no one knows what to think," one pensioner attending Macroom parish church admitted.

Perhaps the greatest shock was over the October 23 death of a man known to virtually everyone around mid-Cork.

Derry Coakley (58) died after being shot at Raleigh North, some 4km outside Macroom, as he worked with his tractor at a plot of land at around 11pm last Tuesday.

The father of one was apparently getting up on to his tractor when he was shot - with the blast from the shotgun inflicting serious hand, arm and abdominal injuries.

Despite being badly wounded, Mr Coakley was able to use his mobile phone to ring a friend.

The contractor then apparently tried to drive his tractor away to safety - making it about 300 metres before crashing into a stone wall.

Gardai believe Mr Coakley was overcome by acute blood loss, losing control of the tractor as a result.

His friend arrived at the scene within minutes and raised the alarm.

Despite the prompt arrival of the emergency services, Mr Coakley was pronounced dead at the scene before he could be transferred to Cork University Hospital (CUH).

A full post-mortem examination was conducted last Thursday at CUH by Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster.

Gardai stressed that the nature of their investigation will now be determined by the findings of the post-mortem examination - and the results of extensive forensic tests at two scenes at Raleigh North by members of the Garda Technical Bureau.

A 63-year-old man, arrested by gardai a few hours after Mr Coakley's death, was last night still being questioned by detectives at Bandon garda station. The man - who is from the Macroom area - was detained under Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act and can be questioned for up to seven days.

One theory being investigated is the contractor was an innocent party inadvertently caught up in a local row.

Another theory being examined is that the shotgun may have been discharged to intimidate rather than cause injury but the shooter catastrophically misjudged the blast.

Mr Coakley was born and raised in Macroom and worked as a contractor for Cork County Council, a role also filled by his father, Seanie.

His family are very well known through running a popular taxi service in Macroom.

Mr Coakley had lived at Castle Street in Macroom with his elderly mother Joan. His sister Siobhan also lives locally.

He had been due to return home a short time after he was apparently confronted at Raleigh North on Tuesday night.

Peggy O'Callaghan knew Mr Coakley for decades and described him as "a Trojan worker and the most honest man you'd ever meet".

"Derry was a gentleman, pure and simple."

Councillor Ted Lucey said Mr Coakley was known as a hard-working individual.

"Derry used to do some work for the council here, and his father before him, with diggers and tractors. He was a workaholic and would do anything to help anyone," he said.

"You couldn't meet a better man to do a job. The town of Macroom would have fallen down several times but for him."

Mr Coakley was teetotal and did not smoke.

Former Cork County Council member Martin Coughlan worked alongside the deceased for over 30 years, often in support of Macroom Tidy Towns campaigns.

"Derry was the man to go to in Macroom if you needed anything done. Everyone knew Derry," he said.

The shock was compounded by the fact Macroom had only been coming to terms with the violent death of Timmy Foley in a local housing estate just 15 days earlier

Mr Foley, who was originally from Clonakilty, died after suffering 28 stab wounds in an incident at Dan Corkery Place in the early hours of October 8.

He was found unresponsive in a pool of blood on the pavement outside a house.

His wife, Rita O'Driscoll (46), of Bridge Street, Bandon, Co Cork, has since been charged with Mr Foley's murder.

She has indicated she will plead not guilty to the murder charge.

After being charged by gardai, Ms O'Driscoll replied: "I did not kill my husband - I stabbed him twice, not 28 times."
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Defence Minister Paul Kehoe in Galway yesterday with his niece Cpl Shelley Kehoe, who is deploying to Lebanon with the 113th Infantry Battalion. PHOTO: ANDREW DOWNES

A new battalion of peacekeepers heading to Lebanon will include the biggest ever deployment of female troops to a single mission.

It will also be the largest deployment by the Defence Forces overseas in six years.

Members of the 113th Infantry Battalion were reviewed as they marched through the centre of Galway by Defence Minister Paul Kehoe and deputy chief of staff for operations Major General Kieran Brennan yesterday.

The 442-strong group includes two members of the Armed Forces of Malta, who underwent their training at the Curragh, and 22 women.

Following the decision of the Finns and the Estonians to withdraw from the mission from next month, the Irish agreed to fill the gap for a year while a replacement country is being determined by the United Nations.

Cpl Shelley Kehoe (28) is the current Wexford camogie captain and has won five All-Ireland medals. She also happens to be Minister Kehoe's neice. Her last deployment was in 2011.

"I am not too bad in that I have no kids or anything. I know it's hard leaving family behind but when you see the people with kids it's that much harder on them," she said. "The Army has really benefited my camogie career. I would be hoping to step back into that when I get back in May."

Meanwhile, Pte Robert O Flatharta will spend the end of next week buying and wrapping Christmas presents for his daughter before he departs Ireland for a first tour of Lebanon with the 113th Infantry Battalion. The Camus native (25) will spend his first Christmas away from partner Ciara McDonagh and daughter Ellie.

"Ellie is just two-and-a-half. It does add a bit to it when I won't be there at Christmas but what can you do," said Pte O Flatharta. "We don't have anything done yet but we will wrap the presents up next week before I leave. That will be tough but I will get a video of her opening them. And I will get to spend the summer with them then too."

He added: "There is always a threat out there. You always have to be vigilant."

Pte O Flatharta is one of five Connemara natives who will go to Lebanon this time around. He leaves Dublin Airport on November 10, but the first group departs next Friday.

Fermoy man Sgt Shane Higgins will tour with his brother Declan again this year. He leaves his wife Stephanie and children Sorcha, Fionn, Naoise and Culann behind.

"It's my first trip in eight years. Myself and Deccie were in Liberia together on my first trip, along with my other brother, Trevor, who is in the Canadian Army now," said Sgt Higgins (36). "It will be tough leaving my family, but it's part of the job."
A senior official from the Department of Justice is to probe allegations of a serious breach of discipline by the suspended head of the human resources section in the Garda force, John Barrett.

Mr Barrett was suspended by Commissioner Drew Harris after it was claimed he had been involved in a serious disagreement with another senior member of Garda management.

As a civilian, the Commissioner did not have the power to suspend Mr Barrett without permission from Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan, who has now given the go-ahead to Mr Harris to take the action.

Mr Harris had written to the minister outlining the background to the alleged disagreement and had recommended a suspension.

The senior department official will now examine the allegations and establish the facts.

If this results in disciplinary proceedings and there is a finding against Mr Barrett, he faces a range of outcomes.

Under the civil service disciplinary code, the options range from a dismissal to suspension without pay, or a reduction to a specified lower grade or rank, or being put on a lower rate of remuneration, including the withholding of an increment, or withdrawal of allowances.

The suspension relates solely to the alleged disagreement Mr Barrett had with another management figure and does not involve comments made at the Disclosures Tribunal.

In his report, tribunal chairman Mr Justice Peter Charleton said much of Mr Barrett's evidence about a meeting with another senior civilian had "an imaginative element".
On a recent Sunday, Twitter was busy. There were the usual suspects - Doctor Who, debuting in her first female guise of Jodie Whittaker. Marian Keyes' pithy dispatches on Strictly Come Dancing kept us up to date with the latest grubby tryst. However, it was not the unfaithful sequinned demigods of ballroom dancing which ignited Twitter's white hot rage.

That fell to Father Ted writer, Graham Linehan, who was in the eye of a storm over one of Twitter's most divisive current issues - the transgender debate. Earlier that day, news broke that Linehan had been given a 'verbal harassment warning' by West Yorkshire police following a complaint of 'trolling' by an activist. The reaction to the story was as emotionally charged as one might expect, including some callously referring to Linehan's cancer treatment, "Who gives a s**t? There are plenty of cancer patients who aren't pieces of garbage".

Is this also trolling, however? It feels like trolling. And some is as unprintable as it is sadly unremarkable - if this is your experience of online debate, you're not alone.

The noted Irish academic and writer Angela Nagle - author of the excellent treatise on internet subcultures, Kill All Normies: Online Culture Wars from 4chan and Tumblr to Trump and the Alt-right, a work acclaimed and criticised by the left and right in equal parts - responded to an Economist Q&A in August. Headlined 'How The Grotesque Online Culture Wars Fuel Populism', Nagle wrote: "Spend some time on Twitter or looking at YouTube comments and you'll find it hard to maintain a belief in liberal enlightenment ideals for long. The reality of what we are like when we are given the freedom to say what we like is actually extremely ugly. Public discourse has never been as idiotic, cruel, irrational and utterly pointless in my lifetime as it is now."

Expand Close Campaign: Senator Catherine Noone is proposing that a 'statutory duty of care' be imposed on social networks. Photo: Gareth Chaney Collins / Facebook

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Whatsapp Campaign: Senator Catherine Noone is proposing that a 'statutory duty of care' be imposed on social networks. Photo: Gareth Chaney Collins

Whether it's Twitter pile-ons, Instagram call-outs, Snapchat screen grabs or Facebook feuding, there is no platform sacred. Bitchiness is the new norm. Criticism is king. Whether it's arguing classics with Professor Mary Beard, or debating psychology with Jordan Peterson, in the post-truth era, we can all be experts. And we are prepared to prove our 'expertise' with as many as insults as it takes.

Often the most venomous believe they are doing so in the service of a higher morality, the topics which generate the most vituperative debate are the political and the religious - big on emotion, short on restraint. And it is those posts which, on Twitter at least, are more likely to be rewarded with attention.

A landmark study of 560,000 tweets by researchers at New York University published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences showed that posts containing moral or emotional words were more likely to be retweeted. Each moral-emotional word used increased the likelihood of retweet by 20pc.

These findings do not surprise psychologists - when there is such attention available online, there are those who seek it out for its own sake. "Of course there are people online whose goal is social validation," says Dr Vincent McDarby, psychologist with the Psychological Society of Ireland. "This is especially the case on Twitter, where a critical post tends to get a lot of retweets, generating a huge ego boost for the poster.

"We look for social validation all the time, some of it for interval validation - for a sense of pride or well-being - but a lot is seeking external or social validation. We do things to receive praise, to get acknowledged."

What has changed, says Dr McDarby, is the result of negative behaviour. "We always had the potential to be critical, to be negative, I just think that social media has the potential to reward it, and to reward it quickly.

"You very rarely see people solving disputes on Twitter, what happens is they become polarised."

And there are often more tangible benefits to be gained from a bout of online fisticuffs, especially where publicity is concerned. If you're going to be abused, you may as well profit from it.

In Dublin, the White Moose Cafe's Paul Stenson makes the business case for fighting fire with fire - and has the audience to prove it. "Yes, we have been accused of being trolls but our philosophy is to defend not attack.

"Engaging with trolling for us has a financial benefit," he tells Weekend. "It has had an overwhelming result in terms of our bottom line."

The strategy may not have been premeditated: "If [someone] has left a nasty comment like 'you sound like an absolute d**k' I might reply with 'you look like an absolute d**k' because I release the inner child in me and I think 'what would a seven- or eight-year-old say?'

"You don't plan anything, it just happens. When a vegan looked at me with a miserable face, giving out to me why there was no vegan breakfast, I replied by saying that all vegans were barred from the cafe. That's not attacking anybody, that's very much defending."

It didn't take long for Paul to realise the potential. "I don't want to say, 'I always knew what I was doing' but I learned. I could create this niche of outrage marketing as a means of resulting in bums on seats. I would say 70pc of the customers who walk through our doors are there on the basis of either Snapchat or Instagram."

Currently The White Moose Cafe has 270,000 followers on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. (The adjoining hotel has its own social media presence.) He claims that after he 'called out' UK blogger Elle Darby, who emailed Stenson seeking hotel nights in exchange for a positive review blog coverage, and then followed up with a fake invoice billing her for 5.3m for generated 'publicity', he increased his Facebook audience by "around 40,000".

But it's not just the culture wars, politics, religion, and apparently, vegans, that invigorate the partisans. Increasingly even the most minor infraction can see the foot soldiers forming ranks to engage in one-upmanship gunfights - even if the transgressions in question take place in comparatively benign forums.

Last month, Scarlett Dixon - a UK fashion blogger known as @scarlettlondon - uploaded a fairly inoffensive sponsored Instagram post for Listerine. The mouthwash people. Dixon wrote: "The best of days start with a smile and positive thoughts. And pancakes. And strawberries. And bottomless tea."

Users soon spotted that the 'pancakes' were tortillas and the cup was empty, prompting frothing, sputtering outrage. Now, in the hierarchy of staged and doctored photography this isn't quite faked pictures of Guantanamo inmates, or airbrushing Trotsky out of history, but in Instagram land, tortillas can be terrible too. The most remarkable element of Dixon's offence wasn't that her post (pictured above) was a pretence but that it was a lazy pretence. The issue was, rather bizarrely, not with intention but with execution. Had there been pancakes and tea, instead of tortillas and cup, it would have been (sponsored) business as usual.

It was a user called Nathan who began - charmingly - "F**k off this is anybody's normal morning," he wrote. "Instagram is a ridiculous lie factory made to make us all feel inadequate." His post generated over 100,000 likes and a pile-on of criticism, sparking accusations including, as Dixon told one newspaper, she was a "danger to young women and should suffer, should be stopped, I should suffocate on the balloons, I should kill myself."

This is the kind of abuse that Senator Catherine Noone seeks to tackle with her proposal for a 'statutory duty of care' to be imposed on social networks. It's a difficult to see how it might operate given networks' Venture Capital funders are only interested in returns. With an impending Brexit, a Government might understandably view aggravating corporations with a crackdown as a harikiri move.

But Noone's proposal does kick the issue back on to the agenda. She doesn't seem to be intimidated by the networks' representatives nor is she squeamish on calling out the features which seem deployed to stall looming regulation. "What I think they're doing is counter productive. Adding a red flag to content of an aggressive or violent nature only draws attention to the content. That's human nature. The idea that a red flag is going to stop people who are vulnerable from clicking is crazy," she says.

"That's how meaningful their response is, in my opinion. That's a tangible example of how ridiculous their approach is to difficult content online."

She is cognisant of the difficulties though: "Everyone's definition of 'trending' or 'abusive' is different. In law, the test for bullying is if the person feels that they're being bullied, then they are. But that's quite subjective," she continues. "There's no doubt you could be opening up a huge amount of litigation.

"The Law Reform Committee recommended a Digital Safety Commissioner, and then that was backed up by the Children's Committee. Someone needs to have responsibility for the space. I'd go so far as to say there should be a Minister for the Internet, because the online space is life for young people now."

Evidently this is a notoriously difficult realm to police, not least because of the grey areas. Some abuse, such as threats of murder or rape are easy for algorithms to find and grade: is there explicit threatening language, yes or no?

But other areas, especially where politics and religion are concerned, are less binary. The insults and intimidation more subtle. Indeed Senator Noone refers to "subtly sexist" comments. "Someone might say, 'Stupid woman', but they wouldn't say "stupid man". It's not threatening but it is diminutive."

Networks' content moderation is a thankless endeavour, but they perform a task which, in the world of print publishing was often teased out by squadrons of lawyers. Not anymore. Ersatz legal precedent concerning modern hate speech is being determined by executives in the pay of the platforms they police.

Many are rightly concerned about this. There is little disagreement that we need protecting from this content, and many believe that networks cannot be entrusted with this power. To leave the definition of hate, and by extension free, speech entirely in private hands is an abrogation of one of society's greatest responsibilities.

However, the other option - to criminalise hate speech - threatens to shut down debate entirely and tie up police time in possibly endless personal grudges.

"There are academics, or pseudo academics, who have a viewpoint, who claim they're being trolled or harassed but others believe that's just normal intellectual argument, that debating a point is just an acceptable part of academic debate," says Dr McDarby.

''It's good to be exposed to other viewpoints. It's important for us. So you're getting into the area of legislating speech, which is a very difficult area because who gets to police what is hate speech and what is debate?"

And among an adult population, should we intervene at all? After all, sticks and stones... But as the norm for online discourse becomes more aggressive, an example is being set to younger users. Though most sites have a theoretical younger age limit, in many cases, the children are still listening at the door.

Dr Maureen Griffin is a forensic psychologist who blogs at Laya Healthcare's Thrive site (layahealthcare.ie/thrive). Over the past eight years, she has given workshops at 750 schools across Ireland on online safety. "Our children are being over-exposed at a young age," she says. "They grow up seeing social media, even if it's not intended for them and it's not popular with them, they see adults being abusive to other adults online and the behaviour being tolerated. So it creates a norm for them."

From Heathers to Clueless to Mean Girls, there's rarely been anything pretty about playground politics. Considering teenage girls have literally made bitching an artform, they're not usually the most innocent subjects of pathos. But, listening to Dr Griffin outline some of the ways this cohort is using technology to cross the line between trolling and cyberbullying, it's hard not to feel sympathy.

"There can be intended viciousness, even amongst younger girls in sixth class, going up to third year. Elaborate scenarios are set up with online groups arranging to meet somewhere, then they set up a new group but eliminating one person. They then arrange to meet somewhere else.

"This sort of exclusion can be common where class groups are set up. A student will say they've left someone out, 'Because they're not on Snapchat'. So they're eliminated then from activities that might be arranged."

Liz McKeever of McKeever Associates is a consultant who undertakes large-scale behavioural and attitudinal analysis for companies. Where Dr Griffin works with those, roughly, up to the age of 15, McKeever often works with those aged 15 to 30. "Fifteen years ago I did some research into how people were interacting online and there is no comparison to now because the change that has taken place has been so revolutionary. But there is also much more aggressiveness, and often, this tends to be exhibited as exclusion."

McKeever believes that, partially because of the examples of adults' behaviour on social media, for coming generations social norms have changed.

"The issue with trolling is that it gets attention. And online, it often doesn't get called out. So nastiness goes unpunished. If you set up an Instagram account in someone's name and post to it, often that can be funny and that generates interest.

"This is the sort of stuff that breeds passive-aggressive behaviour. There can be a lack of understanding of what's socially acceptable."

So while we may be all trolls now, whether it's for amusement, profit, politics, or social engineering, the coming generations are absorbing this harsher, less empathic normal.

Dr Griffin is cautiously optimistic. "One of the great benefits of technology is that it allows us to connect to other people instantly to connect to large audiences. We just need to keep breaking down the distance that technology creates."
It's a sign of the times that in today's schools, building emotional resilience and giving children the skills to cope with the pressures of modern life are as much a part of the junior cycle curriculum as English and maths.

The 60,000 first years who entered post-primary schools around the country last year were the first to have well-being written into their timetables. This summer, in a policy document on well-being, the then Education Minister Richard Bruton spelt out the ways that it was to be centre stage in schools.

But just what has changed in the lives of young people in the space of a generation that has demanded such a move by schools?

Colman Noctor, a child and adolescent psychotherapist who works with St Patrick's Mental Health Services in Dublin, says childhood is shrinking - and the stressors you used to see in 14 to 15-year-olds are now being seen in 11-year-olds.

He says the transition from primary school to second level is huge, and the greatest difficulty pupils have during this time is what he calls the leap into a "pseudo-mature discourse" where they go from "Marvel characters to discos and short skirts" in a short space of time.

Noctor also believes the 'Instagrammisation' of this generation is a great cause of stress and anxiety. "I work with children who wake up to 60 messages on their phone. It may be dross, but it's leading to this need to be always on or the need to be cool. I'm not putting it all down to social media. Our expectations have been driven through the roof in terms of being the brightest and being the fastest runner," he says.

"Expectations drive this unhappiness and parents are playing their part in this too in terms of a comparative culture. We are exposed to what everyone else's kid is doing. As a culture, the sharing of information has become possible with technology. We tend to say more about ourselves that we did before," says Noctor.

And he says the constant sharing of what our kids are up to can prey upon our vulnerabilities, leading us to think we're not doing enough as parents. But in trying to be "perfect" parents, we are failing to give our children a chance to psychologically build up their immunity, he says.

"The epidemic of this generation is anxiety. I've never seen more anxious parents and children. We need to look at how we are relating to each other. If you're answering emails over breakfast, you can't expect a child to be any different.

"There's a lot of pressure on schools and a lot of stuff has been subcontracted out to teachers to manage. The fact that we have prescribed well-being is a cultural indictment of where we are. I'm not knocking the initiative. These are all interesting strands to address the problem, but none of them is the silver bullet.

"There needs to be a collective response from government, schools and parents. I think we've been seduced into the cosmetic and have forgotten what's important. It's all about external validation - what you look like, and are you clever? This initiative is a brick in a wall that needs to be built but it's only a brick. It's not a great white hope," adds Noctor.

At Moville Community College in Inishowen, Co Donegal, Principal Anthony Doogan says the landscape has changed utterly since his school first opened its doors to students 17 years ago.

He says an increase in families under stress or under financial pressure is leading to students exhibiting anxiety. "That is compounded by exam stress and living in an online world," he says.

This year, the school's 560 students will have access to a second qualified guidance counsellor after a staff member underwent further training. "There's three aspects to their job - subject guidance, career guidance and personal guidance. The area of personal guidance has become all-consuming for them compared to 20 years ago when the focus was on education," says Doogan.

So does he believe the new focus on well-being in the curriculum will equip him and his staff to deal with the issues students present with, and meet the education needs of the Junior Cert?

"The function of the junior cycle is to provide appropriate junior cycle education for 12 to 15-year-olds. It cannot cure the ills of society - and it doesn't have the wherewithal to provide teachers with the tools to deal with all the issues that are now challenging them," he says.

"I do believe it's a step in the right direction. I do believe the teaching methodologies being espoused by the new junior cycle will significantly improve the life skills that these students will need to pursue a successful life to a far greater extent than heretofore," says Doogan.

"You regularly hear a casual flippant remark: 'This should be taught in schools'. My response to that is: 'What should we drop? What part of the maths curriculum should we drop?' The content of the curriculum is extremely wide and we are constantly being asked to expand the provision that is encroaching on curricular time," he says.

Deirdre MacDonald, vice president of the teachers' union ASTI, says teachers are ambitious for the well-being programme in schools but said consultation with them on its implementation has been very poor. "There's no time given for one thing to be embedded before the next thing comes along," she says.

According to MacDonald, teachers taking social, personal and health education (SPHE) classes will be a key contact group when it comes to discussing issues of well-being with pupils, but class sizes will restrict meaningful discussion.

"Effective group work dealing with issues around emotional well-being and health - the maximum group size should be 16. We are dealing with class sizes of 30. This is double what would be considered best practice, and that is a very significant factor. If young people are going to speak about issues that are difficult, they're much more likely to do it in a small group. It doesn't take a genius to work out that trying to build trust and confidentiality in a group of 30 people is not achievable," she says.

MacDonald, who is a maths and SPHE teacher at Colaiste Eamonn Ris in Wexford Town, says the Well-being Policy Statement and Framework for Practice published by Minister Bruton refers to a "whole school approach" and the "school community". She says teachers are often expected to function in the system for many, many decades.

"There's no systematic approach to teacher welfare, which is the case in Finland, a country often quoted in education. There's a concept in health promotion called 'caring for the carers'. If you don't care for the carers, they won't be able to fulfil the potential of their role. I'm sure parents appreciate that to be a good parent, you need to be in a good place yourself. It's the same for teachers," she says.

"Teachers are ambitious in their vision of well-being in schools. They are co-operative but realistic in their approach to whole school well-being. Initiative overload is a real problem in schools. They are doing amazing work with their students despite a huge lack of resources to support well-being in schools," says MacDonald.

In response to questions about staff training for the well-being programme, a spokesperson for the Department of Education and Skills said some 10,827 teachers have already had continuing professional development (CPD) in the 2017/18 school year.

By the end of the 2018 calendar year, all post-primary schools will have had the opportunity to avail of a whole school day on the new well-being area of learning, the spokesperson said. New six-hour workshops focusing on SPHE, civic social and political education (CSPE) and PE for junior cycle will be run throughout this academic year.

As part of the well-being policy, the department also promised that more educational psychologists would be recruited to work with schools in the coming academic year.

Ten new posts will bring the total number of psychologists working in the country's schools to 194 as part of the department's National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS). This represents an 8pc increase on the previous year's numbers and a 19pc increase on the number working in schools during the 2012/2013 school year.

Some schools have come up with their own innovative ways to help young people cope with the pressures of life. Alan White, a teacher at Bishopstown Community School just outside Cork City, pioneered 'Changes: 30-day mental well-being challenge' in response to the struggles of students in his classroom. Other schools have also adopted the programme.

"The challenge helps young people to take control of their own mental well-being. With mental well-being, I liken it to physical health - you do certain things to keep yourself physically fit. You can do pro-active things for your mental health, too," says White.

"The challenge looks at things like taking a break, getting enough sleep, eating well, exercise and the amount of screen time. What I have found is that teenagers' stresses and anxieties are the same as we would have had, they're just amplified because of the culture they're living in. It's an 'always on' culture where you're always contactable," he says.

'Best self' posts

White believes that social media heightens anxiety around the typical teenage angst over 'who likes me' and 'am I popular'? The programme reminds students that when someone posts something online, it's their best self - and encourages them to start setting goals and focuses on the importance of having a purpose.

"When you have these, you're less likely to compare yourself to others. It's promoting the idea of personal responsibility and it's about encouraging positive decisions rather than negative decisions. Everyone understands physical fitness. I'm keen to show that you can take steps to become mentally healthy as well," says White.

For Jigsaw, the national centre for youth mental health, the move to put well-being at the heart of the curriculum is a step in the right direction.

However, the organisation's spokesman Mike Mansfield says the feedback from workshops they deliver in schools is that teachers need more support so that when a young person comes to them with a problem, the teacher has the tools to respond.

In recent years, Jigsaw has seen a 47pc increase in demand for its services. While Mansfield says a lot of this is down to the fact that more and more young people now see it as okay to ask for help, the big issue is anxiety with 39pc of young people presenting with this.

"One of our key messages is 'one good adult'. It's a really simple concept and we know that one good adult in a young person's life has a positive influence on their mental health. While the issues a young person may be going through are complex, the solutions don't always have to be," says Mansfield.

"Young people tell us that one key area for them is having someone in their life that will listen to them. Through Jigsaw's new Schools Framework, currently under development, we are looking to increase the confidence and knowledge of the entire school in order to ensure a stronger listening culture," he says.

School for well-being: in numbers

400

Number of hours to be allocated to well-being over the three-year junior cycle by 2020

1 in 3

young people aged 1225 who reported feelings of depression and anxiety (My World Survey 2012)

194

The number of specialist psychologists working with schools as part of the Department of Educations National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS).
Having already conquered the hearts of Irish audiences, Dundalk singer/songwriter David Keenan is weaving his spell in the United States.

The musician who has been hailed as 'one of the most inspiring talents to come out of Irish music in a very long time', revealed last week that he will be playing at the famous South by SouthWest (SXSW) music festival in Austin, Texas.

This is a major coup for the young musician who is one of only two Irish artists among the first round of showcasing artists announced last week.

David and Fontaines D.C join a line-up of acts from around the world, including The Chills, Oh Sees, Laura Jane Grace & the Devouring Mothers, Amanda Palmer, The Beths, Westerman, Lost Under Heaven, Amyl & The Sniffers, Swervedriver, Boy Azooga, Drahla, Warmduscher, Wyclef Jean and more who play the festival from March 11th to 17th.

There's a nice dint of synchronicity in David being invited to play at SXSW in Texas, as it was his song El Paso about Dundalk, not the Texan city, which led to him getting his first big break.

His performance of the song about his hometown in the back of Maxi's Taxi went viral and was taken up by radio stations in The Lone Star State.

Meanwhile, David is making his first journey to America's west coast next week, playing two gigs in Los Angeles as part of the city's 'Ireland Week'.

He joins The Coronas, Bitch Falcon and Saint Sister in the School Night showcase in the city's Bardot-Hollywood venue on Monday night, while the following night he plays in The Hotel Cafe.

The Irish music showcase is part of 'Ireland Week', which is a week-long conference with cultural festivities, taking place from October 26 to November 4, after the sell out success of last year's inaugural events.

David has already played in New York, having been invited there by the legendary Glen Hansard. He played a number of sold out shows in the Big Apple earlier this summer as well as gigs in Boston and Philadelphia.

His most recent release Strip Me Bare Vol. 2 has garnered yet more positive reviews with Golden Plec proclaiming: 'Keenan displays vision and romanticism that's wonderfully youthful and illustrates it with language and imagery beyond his years. 'Strip Me Bare' is devoid of all modern day distractions and curates a world much closer to that of Yeats and Joyce. He's a dreamer, a romantic, a poet and, above all else, an artist. One of the most inspiring talents to come out of Irish music in a very long time'.

David is supporting the Hothouse Flowers on their forthcoming tour of England and Wales, and joins Hozier as special guest in Dublin's Olympia Theatre on December 15. He then embarks on a headline tour of some of the country's top venues including Whelan's in Dublin while local audience can catch him in The Spirit Store on December 23.

This comes on top of a very busy summer which saw him play at festivals in Ireland, the UK and Germany as well as joining the legendary Richard Thompson for his concerts in Dublin and Belfast.
On Saturday night I headed for the Carrickdale Hotel where the Dundalk Chamber of Commerce were hosting their Louth Business Awards night. The evening is one of the most important in the social calendar and brings together the very best in the business field in the county to pay respect to the top in their various fields.

I was only in the door when I got a word with Linda Stewart and Deirdre McGowan both from Blackrock representing Mizu and they were up for enjoying the night with Anne McEnteggart from Blackrock representing Life Pharmacy who was with husband Eugene who was making himself useful, at the bar buying the G&Ts!

Next I had the pleasure of talking to Ruth Browne from Avenue Road who was with husband and Chamber President Pat McCormick who told me he was delighted to be hosting the event, knew it was going to be an extremely busy night and wanted to wish all the best to all the groups nominated, saying that business in the area is really thriving.

After this I headed for a table where I met the group from Elite Form Manufacturing from Castlebellingham and they included Sandra, Patrick and Rachel Byrne from Stabannon who were with Patrick's mum Nuala Byrne from Stabannon and Sandra's parents Victor and Georgina Whyte from Corderry whom I last met at the Cardiac First Responders table quiz in Castlebellingham and they were all eagerly looking forward to the Best Manufacturers award later on.

One lady who was looking stunning, but was hardly able to talk to me, she was Maria Owens from Castle Heights who is working for the Chamber and was insanely busy making sure that the night was a smooth success.

I then headed over to the Sync IT table where I got talking to Regina Gonnelly from Hackballscross, Eunan Smyth from Blackrock, Phil Monaghan and Shauna Gallagher both from Ardee who told me they weren't actually up for an award this year, they were just there to support the night and wanted to wish all the best to the various groups.

One table that I certainly wasn't going to miss out on having a laugh with were the Bellurgan Precision Engineering and they were there in force. I got talking to my old mate Tom McCourt from Ravensdale who was with his delightful wife Suzanne who were enjoying the company of Jason and Alison Malone from Ravensdale, Max Lux originally from Germany but now hanging his hat along with Bernie Carroll in Dublin and the main man Bernard Carroll from Bellurgan Point who was looking forward to the evening and were up for an award too, certainly not for the first time I surmised!

Making my way through the crowds I then got talking to some of the Dundalk Special Olympics Club from Blackrock who included Sharon Norton-Johnson and her mum Mairead Norton both from Blackrock who said they were also with Mary Moran from Ballybarrack, all ladies were looking exceptionally well and were in the company of their chaperone Cillian Moran who were all really looking forward to the night.

Making my way to another table I got talking to Margaret Byrne from from VHI who was accompanied by Una Kirk and Ciaran Lawless both from Blackrock and Margaret's partner Michael Duffy from Ard Na Mara who was also MC for the night. I just wondered how good a performance he was going to give, specially after his beloved Dundalk FC's commanding performance the previous night when they put Sligo Rovers to the sword and received the league title trophy, yes, the celebrations were long and hard!

Next, I met my favourite people at the awards ceremony, yes it was the representatives from Mullens Take Away in Roden Place. I caught up with Keith and Sinead Mullen from Blackrock who were with Lisa and Karen Madden from Farndreg who were looking stunning and have been known to really look after me in my lunchtime of need. Just hope they took the best Take Away award.

Just arrived in were the Hydro Scand representatives who were looking extremely glamorous and they included Patricia Gorman and Una Mackin, Andrew and Deborah Van Coller all from Blackrock, Una Pepper from Louth Village, Bernie McHugh from Carrickmacross, Paul Teague from Blackrock, Lisa Kelly from Donaghmoyne and Eamonn McAllister from Carrickmacross who told me he was very confident they were going to win.

Not too long later I got talking to the group from the St. Patrick's Soup Kitchens and they included Rose Bailey from Chapel Street, Katie Bailey and Joseph Woods both from Carlinn Heath, Tom Byrne from Inniskeen and Fr. Mark the Parish Priest from St. Patricks who told me they were all there for the Community Award and were up for making the best of the occasion no matter what.

Next I got a quick word with the Cuchullain Credit Union crew and they included Brigenn Litchfield who is the CEO and said they were out in force including Ciara Casey, Michael Rafferty, Micheal Collins, Deborah Gorman, Emma Coffey and Cathal Cassidy and were so looking forward to the whole night.

Strangely enough I then met up with Paddy Donnelly from the Dundalk Credit Union next and he was with wife Mary and Billy and Una Doyle. Paddy told me they were there to support the night and the CU were actually sponsoring one of the awards too. Finally, before I departed I caught up with my old friends Terry and Petrina Kelly from Kelly's wallpaper and paints who were having a chat with Gerry and Joan Byrne from the Copper Kettle who told me it was going to be a fantastic night and couldn't wait for the event to get going.
Principal, Patricia Ward with Shane and Peadar Keenan at the St. Brigids School, Diversity Jigsaw of Colour & Rainbow of DifferenceArt Exhibition in An Tain Arts Centre

Fidelma Flynn, Maureen Daly and Ann Gallagher at the St. Brigids School, Diversity Jigsaw of Colour & Rainbow of DifferenceArt Exhibition in An Tain Arts Centre

Aileen, Aaron and Aisling Connolly at the St. Brigids School, Diversity Jigsaw of Colour & Rainbow of Difference Art Exhibition in An Tain Arts Centre

St Brigid's School annual art exhibition was opened by local artist Fiona Quigley in An Tain Basement Gallery.

Fiona was highly complementary about the range and quality of pieces on display. She spoke of the therapeutic value of art for everyone and how St Brigid's has been committed to the development of students skills in the arts. She also referred to the ongoing and future collaboration with local artists. The opening was a highly successful event with students, families, school staff and local community support.

Paul Hayes, An Tain welcomed everyone for the third year of what is definitely now an annual event. Paul said he was delighted to see the gallery so packed. Patricia Ward, principal of St Brigid's outlined the commitment of the whole school team to the work on view. Patricia thanked Shauna Swords, art teacher in St Brigid's and LMETB who coordinated and curated the show. The art pieces were the culmination of a years work and in addition to the school team, four students from NCAD, National College of Art & Design Jonathan, Grace, Donal and Juliette brought new skills and inspiration while on placement in the school in September. The support from and collaboration with NCAD is something that St Brigid's is delighted to have.

Every student in St Brigid's has an individual piece on display, in addition to group installations.

This showcase of student art work had a a fitting backdrop the provision of refreshments prepared in St Brigid's by the senior students under the guidance and direction of Ann Gallager, Home Economics teacher. The Association of Parents and Friends as always support the event in person and financially.

The exhibition remains open until October 27 and is definitely worth a visit. The standard and variety of work a great credit to the young people who attend St Brigid's.

St Brigid's is launching into an exciting project under the Arts Council having been one of the 150 school selected to participate in Creative Schools, so watch this space there is more to come.
Kevin Moran, Sonia McKeown, Cian McGuinness, Jim Daly TD Minister of State at the Department of Health, Josh Challoner and Cllr. John McGahon at Dundalk Youth Centre

Young people from Comhairle na nOg voiced their views on mental health when Jim Daly TD, Minister of State at the Department of Health, paid a visit to Dundalk Youth Centre to coincide with Mental Health Week.

Minister Daly who has responsibility for mental health, was presented with a booklet on mental health which has been produced by Comhairle na nOg.

He listened to Sonia McKeown, Cian McGuinness and Josh Challoner, as they highlighted issues facing young people and what needs to be done to make services more accessible.

Minister Daly praised them for the work they were doing and commended the leaflet, saying it was something which could be copied in other areas.

He highlighted a new website, YourMentalHealth.ie which is a one-stop shop for young people looking for information on mental health services in their own area. He also explained that a new telephone service is being rolled out by the ambulance service in the coming months which will give callers access to trained psychiatric nurses who will be able to refer them to the relevant service.

He acknowledged that there were long waiting lists for the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services but pointed out that 114 assistant psychologists had been recruited so that they could roll out another level of service as not everyone needs to see a consultant psychologist,

Kevin Moran of Dundalk Youth Centre outlined work which they are doing under the Healthy Ireland Programme, including sports, cooking and a smoking cessation project.
The Authentic Food Company (TAFC) have confirmed the closure of its Dundalk facility with the loss of up to 180 jobs.

Despite the speculation over recent weeks, the closure on Friday afternoon last came as a 'huge shock' to staff, according to shop steward Ciaran Maguire.

Speaking to the Argus, he said workers were devastated at the loss of their jobs in the run up to Christmas.

'It was a huge shock, some people just didn't want to be believe it to be honest. We have no answers as to why this has happened, just excuse after excuse from the company.'

Ciaran, from Belfry, had been working at the former Heinz Plant for 25 years. He added that there were many more staff 'who had been working there for a long time.' Staff and their representatives are, he added 'now fighting for severance packages and answers as to why this happened.'

In a statement on Friday afternoon, Nik Basran, managing director of The Authentic Food Company (AFC), said the firm have faced some 'serious business challenges in recent months that have been specific to this site.'

'While we have worked tirelessly to meet those challenges head on and carried out a comprehensive review of the business to try to find a way to make it profitable over the long term, unfortunately, that has not been possible,' he said.

'We have therefore had no option other than to close the Dundalk facility.'

The company had been making frozen ready meals for a number of supermarket chains.

In a letter to Louth TD Declan Breathnach, the firm gave some further insight into its reasons for closing the Dundalk plant.

'In recent months, the business has operated in an extremely challenging environment. This summer's hot weather, together with difficult trading conditions, including significant increases in raw material prices have all had a deeply negative impact on the long term viability of the Dundalk facility.'

Court appointed liquidators Deloitte LLP were called in on Friday to manage the closure of the plant.

Deputy Breathnach said 'My thoughts go out to the workers, their families and all those affected by this devastating news this weekend. The impact of these job losses cannot be underestimated.

This plant has been a feature of the local community for quite some time and when taken over by Authentic Food Co it became an important employer in north Louth.'

'I am calling on the Taoiseach and the Minister for Jobs, Heather Humphreys to set up specific supports and training for these workers. It is crucial that they are given every support necessary to retrain and apply for other jobs in our local community. These latest losses should act as a wake-up call for this Government. Sustainable investment is urgently needed beyond the M50 - not everyone can be expected to commute to the Capital for work," he concluded.

Louth TD Gerry Adams added 'It is extremely bad news for the 180 staff at The Authentic Food Company that operations are to cease at the Dundalk facility. I first wrote to the company on 21st September, asking them to clarify their future intentions following representations to my office from concerned staff. The company did not respond. These staff have been treated deplorably. They have been in limbo for the past month with no communication from the company. I have contacted Nik Basran, Managing Director, again today and asked that he meet with staff and offer them terms which reflect their commitment over many years.'

He added: 'I understand that The Authentic Food Company is a profitable business. It should now offer optimum redundancy terms to its workforce in Dundalk.'

Dundalk TD Peter Fitzpatrick said he had met with management at the plant and raised concerns. He also raised the issue with government.

'It's come to the stage where it's push or shove as far as the workers are concerned. The 170 workers who have given their loyalty and dedication for the last 25 years deserve answers from management as soon as possible.'

UNITE fight for answers for TAFC staff

Unite, which represents workers at Dundalk's Authentic Food Company site, has met with the liquidators appointed to deal with the closure of the TAFC plant.

In a statement, UNITE spokesman Brendan Ogle said; 'TAFC only acquired the Dundalk plant from Heinz in 2015, and in their 2017 annual report they highlighted the key role played by the Dundalk plant in the company's future strategy. In this context, and given the company's persistent refusal to engage with the workers or their union over the past number of weeks, there is an obvious question surrounding the basis for the closure announcement and the decision to seek the appointment of liquidators, and we are taking legal advice in this regard.'

He added: 'Unite advised the liquidators that if it transpires that TAFC is simply trying to find a cost-effective way to extricate itself from its operations in Dundalk, Unite will leave no stone unturned to ensure that neither the workers nor the Irish taxpayer are asked to pick up the tab. Unite will also be working to chart a way forward for the plant and our members.'
Two men admitted their role in the transport of a huge heroin haul valued at almost a quarter million euro at a service station in north, during sentencing at Dundalk Circuit Court.

Before the court were Martin Murphy (43) with an address at Cuirt Droim Art, Carrickmacross, and Viktoras Aksinavicius (25) with an address at The Cottage, Aughnaseda, Co.Monaghan.

Garda evidence to the court indicated that a surveillance operation was being carried out on August 20, 2016 at the service station at Ballymac.

Officers noted a white Volvo truck with Northern Ireland registration plates drive into the forecourt just after 3pm.

The driver got out and was observed filling fuel and going in to pay. When he returned to the cabin, he was observed removing something from behind the driver's seat. The lorry was then driven around the back of the service station.

Gardai then observed a blue Nissan driving in which they believed had been waiting. It was driven by a female, with a male in the passenger seat.

The Nissan drove up beside the lorry, and they saw the male passenger of the car get out and approach the truck.

He was then seen carrying a bag and getting back into the Nissan. The white Volvo truck drove off and headed towards the MI in a northwards direction.

The Nissan was stopped at the service station by gardai who carried out a search. The bag which gardai had seen being taken from the lorry to the car was sitting in the passenger side footwell.

When an inspection was carried out, gardai found the bag contained three grey wrapped packages.

The man, who the court was told was the accused Viktoras Aksinavicius, and the female driver who was not before the court, were arrested and taken to Dundalk Garda Station.

Meanwhile, gardai who had pursued the white lorry stopped it at Junction 18 on the M1.

The driver, who the court heard was Martin Murphy, was arrested and brought to Dundalk Garda Station.

The court was told Murphy 'exercised his right to silence' during interviews.

Viktoras Aksinavicius gave some account of how he came to be at the service station, and the court heard there appeared to be an element of intimidation for him to collect the package.

Gardai confirmed that after analysis, it was confirmed the three packages contained heroin, with a total weight of 1.7 kilos. At the time of the seizure, this had an estimated street value of 238,714.

The court was told that it was accepted the two men had never met before.

Judge Martina Baxter heard that the first accused, Martin Murphy had two previous convictions, for a drink driving offence, and one outside the jurisdiction for 'battery.'

Defence counsel said Mr. Murphy had been working as a lorry driver at the time of the incident. He indicated that he had been acting on the instruction of someone else. He 'wasn't a man of great wealth.'

Although he had admitted agreeing to deliver the bag, he only expected to receive payment 'in the hundreds' for doing so.

Counsel for the defence told the court that he had suffered from severe stress since the incident, and had attempted suicide a number of times.

He fully acknowledged that he knew he was transporting drugs.

A father of one, he was supported by his family in court, and said his legal counsel was 'deeply ashamed' at bringing shame to his family.

Counsel for Viktoras Aksinavicius said his client had co-operated with gardai from the outset, and admitted carrying out what officers had seen on the day.

He told gardai that a request to collect the bag had been made through contact with his family living in Navan.

He gave an account of being fearful for his family's safety if he gave any further information.

He had since moved away from Navan in order to stay away from those who may have been involved.

Originally from Lithuania, he had come to live in Ireland in 2005. He had worked in the cleaning and laundry services, but lost his job when the guilty plea was entered for the incident.

Judge Martina Baxter remarked that as was indicated in the Probation report, he was using cannabis.

The accused had claimed to be currently 'drug free'.

Judge Baxter remanded him in custody to Cloverhill prison until 30th November, and ordered that urine analysis be carried out. She also ordered an updated probation report.

Martin Murphy was also remanded in custody until November 30th, with an updated probation report ordered.
















Ottawa Wine and Food Festival, scheduled to hold this year on Nov. 2 to 4, has been cancelled. This years event was to be held at the EY Centre on Uplands Drive close to the Ottawa International Airport and would have marked the 33 years anniversary for the festival which entertains Ottawas food and beverage fans every year, says a report on Ottawa Citizen

Posts on the festivals Facebook page revealthat over 7,300 people were interested in attending.

All were seemingly disappointed by the groups latest post, which read Thanks to Everyone for your interest in the 2018 Festival. We are taking a pause on this year's event and we will be back November 1st & 2nd 2019 with a re-imagined Event. Watch for Upcoming News!

Prior to this post, there have been posts on the page by frustrated people who wanted to be a part of the festival but couldnt get tickets online. Apparently, interested participants had already begun preparing for the festival after they announced on their page in September that the festival was going to hold this year. The announcement had read, Sadly our #summer is coming to an end ... but you know what that means? The Ottawa Wine and Food Festival is coming, join us this November 2 - 4 at the EY Centre for your 33rd annual #Ottawawinefood! Subscribe to our website to stay in the loop on all our exciting updates, and to watch for tickets to go on sale! See you there!

A Cantley, Que., resident, Jasmine Hubble, a fan of the festival who was interviewed by Ottawa Citizen, said she has booked a non-refundable hotel room after she had contacted the festivals director of sales Elizabeth McMenemy, in early October about attending this year. Mcmenemy had confirmed to her that the tickets to the festival would be available soon.

Im shocked at the lack of the communication from an event that has had (up until now) an excellent reputation. Im disappointed beyond belief and our hard-earned money that I had saved up to be able to attend, she said.

The event producer, Joan Culliton says she feels sorry about disappointing the fans. She blames the cancellation on the sudden critical illness of a family member. However, it can be recalled that the festival has been in the news since 2016 over their legal battle with the Ottawa Congress Centre Corp. The festival was over $200, 000 in debt to the corporation anda Sept. 7, 2018 judgment by Ontario Superior Court Justice Robyn M. Ryan Bell established that the OCCC was entitled to be paid in full.

Culliton, however, does not acknowledge this as a reason for the cancellation of the festival.

Were taking a pause to reimagine and re-envision the event, she had said Thursday in an interview. We will be back in 2019 on Nov. 2 and 3. This contradicts the dates announced on their Facebook page. Hopefully, the festival would use this year to sort out their logistics.
Gemma Hussey and Minister Simon Harris at the launch of Madam Politician  The Women at the Table of Irish Political Power

Former TD and Minister Gemma Hussey once had to endure Charlie Haughey snapping her bra strap, she told Martina Fitzgerald for the book 'Madam Politician - The Women at the Table of Irish Political Power'.

The book tells the stories and experiences of all female cabinet ministers, and two presidents, in Ireland.

The incident occurred during a Dail debate on rape, she having sponsored the Private Members Bill.

'I got a shock and leapt to my feet,' she says in the book. 'I was dumbfounded. I was just amazed.'

The Bray woman served variously as Minister for Social Welfare, Minister for Labour, Minister for Education, leader of Seanad Eireann and leader of Fine Gael in the Seanad.

Minister for Health Simon Harris attended the book launch last week.

'It was really lovely to see Gemma again, a person who represented our constituency with such dedication and had the honour of serving as a cabinet minister,' he said.

Just 19 female politicians have sat at the cabinet table in Ireland in almost 100 years.

Along with the two former female presidents, all the living members of this exclusive club were interviewed for this book, bringing together their voices to reveal the challenges and triumphs of getting to the top table or Irish political life.

From the battles to have their voices heard, to balancing a career with family life, dealing with various levels of sexism and an enduring focus on appearance, their personal stories are dramatic, colourful and inspiring.
Bray Youth Service, Connect Bray Neighbourhood Youth Service and Bray Sports Promotion Unit have been awarded a total of 37,407 between them in government capital grants.

The grants announced recently will be of huge benefit to young people in Bray, according to Minister Andrew Doyle, who said that they will 'improve the quality of the services on which local young people rely'.

The grants approved support purchases of equipment and small scale projects, including the upgrade of bathrooms and kitchens in youth services.

Eligible local services were invited by the Education and Training Board (ETB) to apply for support.

'Investing in and supporting young people is a key priority for this Government,' said Minister Doyle.

'Thanks to our strengthened economy, the government is able to improve supports to the communities who need it most,' he said.

'Much of the upgrade works to take place under these grants will be in areas of disadvantage.

'I'd like to thank the Youth Officer in our local ETB for their work in supporting local youth projects and I know that Minister Zappone has thanked them for their assistance to the Department of Children in the design and implementation of this scheme.

'They act as a contact point in their respective localities and play important support role to the providers of youth services here in Wicklow.'

Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Katherine Zappone, said: 'I am delighted to be in a position to announce these grants. I am confident the grants will assist in improving the quality of the services to the benefit of young people involved.

'The provision of these grants underscores the Government's continued commitment to enhance the quality of services which add such value to our communities. Investing in young people is a key priority for Government. In 2018 we are investing a total of 61.5m in current and capital funding in clubs, services and supports for young people.'
Like most of his friends, Eric Zhi Ying Mei Xue was born in Holles Street hospital in Dublin in 2009. But unlike them, he is not legally considered to be an Irish citizen and faces the threat of deportation.

His school, St Cronan's in Bray, launched a campaign last week to stop that from happening and in the space of just one week, more than 50,000 people have signed a petition on change.org.

Principal of St Cronan's Maeve Tierney said that the family has written to the department asking that deportation proceedings be paused pending a full review.

'Eric is an extraordinary young man,' she said. She said that he is getting on with school life despite so much attention, and isn't letting it go to his head.

She said that he has wonderful supportive friends and that everyone in his life is doing their best to protect him and keep things as normal as possible.

'At the same time his classmates are asking questions, and wondering why this would be happening to a child in our school,' said Ms Tierney.

She said that she is completely blown away by the extraordinary response to their petition. 'It's hugely gratifying and we are so grateful to all those who have expressed solidarity. There is great compassion out there.'

The petition calls on the Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan to revoke a deportation order made in respect of the fourth class pupil.

Eric has never been out of the country. 'If he is forced to go to China, where his mother was born, he will have no access to China's health or education systems because he is not a Chinese citizen,' reads the petition. 'This is a humanitarian issue - Eric urgently needs your support.'

Eric's mother Leena Mei Mei Xue, was 19 when she arrived in Ireland illegally in 2006. She has been appealing a deportation order for the past three years with the final appeal rejected in June and deportation imminent.

The legislation behind this predicament dates back to the 27th amendment of the Constitution Act of 2004. This amended the Constitution of Ireland to provide that children born on the Ireland to parents who were both foreign nationals would no longer have a constitutional right to Irish citizenship.

Minister Simon Harris announced that he has made representations to the Department of Justice and Equality in relation to Eric's situation.

'I have appealed for Eric to remain in Ireland on humanitarian grounds,' said the minister. 'Quite frankly, Eric is Irish. He was born here, goes to school here and has never lived anywhere else. This is his home. This is his country. I really hope common sense can prevail."

Fianna Fail health spokesperson Stephen Donnelly said that the minister must have some compassion. 'I've written to the Justice Minister on their behalf, and spoke directly with the Minister for Justice about Eric's case on Thursday. I have two asks: first, that there is an immediate stop put to any deportation action, in order to provide time to find a long-term solution for Eric and his mum. Second, that a way is found to grant Eric Irish citizenship, and his mum permanent residency,' said Deputy Donnelly.

'As far as I'm concerned, Eric is as Irish as every other child in Wicklow. Bray is the only home that Eric has ever known. He was born and raised here. Remember, because he wasn't born in China, if he were sent there, he would have no access to their health or education system if he's sent there. Deporting him under these circumstances would be flat out wrong.'

Deputy John Brady said that common sense must prevail. 'It's devastating to think that having spend his entire life in Bray that someone can make a decision to up heave him and send him over 8,000 miles to the other side the earth. Eric was born in Ireland, and has gone through school here, all his friends are here. He is Irish and knows nothing else.'

A Chinese parents' group has also written to the minister urging him to revoke the deportation order. They said in a statement that the Chinese education system is so different to the Irish one that it would be difficult for Eric to adjust to it.

The Department of Justice said in a statement that it does not comment on individual cases.

Hook is criticised for tweet to Harris

Radio presenter George Hook has been widely criticised for a tweet relating to Bray boy Eric Zhi Ying Mei Xue.

Responding to Minister Simon Harris's supportive tweet, Mr Hook wrote 'With trolly [sic] numbers at world record levels, Minister Simon Harris, is worried about a Chines boy!!'

'It's called "compassion", George,' responded a Twitter user. 'People can care about more than one thing at once and about people other than themselves.' Speaking to Independent.ie, Mr Hook subsequently defended his position. 'More than a decade ago, the Irish people said they didn't want to give automatic citizenship to children born in this country,' he said. 'Charlie Flanagan is in his office saying we're going to deport this boy, but Harris, who is probably the worst minister for health in the history of the State, is saying we can't.

'The only narrative in this is not out of concern for this Chinese boy, but to simply to deflect from the fact that he's doing an appalling job.'

Minister Harris responded to by tweeting himself that he 'will never apologise for standing up for a young boy in my constituency. That's my job. Honoured to do it. Speaking up and speaking out is what my employers - the people of Wicklow - expect me to do .'
The strains of 'Limerick You're a Lady' surrounded the National Dairy Show hosted in the spacious Green Glens Complex in Millstreet last Saturday when a Croagh cow caught the eye to win the Supreme Champion prize.

Last year, Storm Brian attempted to upset the staging; no such worries this year as a huge attendance convened on the North Cork location to view the country's best Holstein and jersey cattle.

Hosted by the Cork Holstein Friesian Breeders Club, the event is firmly regarded as a premier event on the European circuit with trade stand and visitor enquiries from Britain, Europe and North America on site to promote innovative agricultural and farm accessories.

Show Director John Kirby said the staging has developed over the years with great support from Irish Breeders, trade stand exhibitors and sponsors.

With attendance figures of over 4,500, the latest staging was certainly the most successful to date.

"It's been one of our best shows ever, with certainly the largest number of trade exhibitors and with a varied programme of events offering something for everyone. [It] has led to record numbers attending our annual show this year", said Mr Kirby.

"The event is organised every year by a voluntary committee under the auspices of the Cork Holstein Friesian Club, and with the significant costs involved, it would not be possible without the sponsors and trade stand exhibitors who continue to support the show and whose contribution facilitates the show committee offering a varied programme. It also allows the event to maintain its 30,000 prize fund", he said.

Judge Edward Griffiths brought his international wealth of experience to Millstreet, having judged many major shows in the UK and Europe including National Holstein shows in the UK, Ireland, Sweden and Slovenia.

"I have seen some of the best cows here, these cows in Southern Ireland are as good as in any part of the world for balance, strength and style", he said.

A rewarding trip from Croagh in County Limerick reaped the dividends; the show judge awarded the Supreme Champion to six-year-old Milliedale Dusk Rhapsody owned by Donal and Kathleen Neville.

This year's show was again designed to attract a diverse audience, and apart from the cattle classes, there were demonstrations of cattle and machinery. And there was a particular emphasis this year on Farm Safety and Rural Crime Prevention. Younger visitors were enthralled by the addition of small animal farm with both familiar and more exotic species generating interest.
Co-operation by several organisations facilitated the construction of the new footpath in Boherbue village and also the refurbishment of the existing children's playground.

Peadar O'Callaghan, who is the chairman of the local development association, welcomed everybody to the opening last Friday evening and said the completion of the footpath was a dream come true for so many people in Boherbue.

"This magnificent project and the recent resurfacing of the road makes it so easy for people to walk to the graveyard from the village," Peadar said.

Peadar thanked everybody involved in bringing both projects to fruition. "These projects are an excellent example of a community interaction with stakeholders and statutory bodies to make it all come about," he added.

These sentiments were echoed by Michael Cronin, chairman of the Tidy Towns Committee and Councillor Bernard Moynihan, who cut the ribbon and officially opened the new footpath.

Minister Michael Creed was also present for the opening. "This was an excellent team effort and a fantastic achievement," Minister Creed said.

Diane Finucane who was one of the delegation from Cork County Council that attended the opening, told The Corkman that the council was delighted to facilitate the Boherbue walkway from the co-op to the graveyard.

"This project will facilitate leisure walking, improve amenity and access, and alleviate health and safety concerns for the community," Diane said.

The project was the first in Kanturk Mallow Municipal District part funded by the National Town and Village Renewal Scheme of the Department of Community, Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht funnelled through Cork County Council.

This together with financial contributions from Cork County Council, the Leader Programme through IRD Duhallow, and Boherbue Co-op made the project possible.

Boherbue Playground was also enhanced complete with Zip-line, through the dedicated work of the playground committee assisted by CLAR funding.
A North Cork based group is among nine Irish bodies set to share in a 10 million funding windfall under a European Union funded environmental protection initiative.

Agriculture Minister Michael Creed this week announced that the Allow River Catchment Management Group is among the latest batch of projects selected for funding under the European Innovation Partnerships (EIP) programme.

A joint venture partnership between the IRD Duhallow 'LIFE+' project and the South Western Regional Authority's 'Territories of Rivers Actions Plans' (TRAP), the Allow group was set up in 2014.

It's purpose is to provide a collaborative and coordinated approach towards providing practical improvements in the River Allow catchment area.

Comprised of stakeholders from the public, private and voluntary sectors, landowners and technical specialists from in and around the catchment area, it is responsible for coordinating planning, funding and the delivering ecological health schemes and projects for the Allow River and its surrounds.

Minister Creed said the latest tranche of funding under the EIP will bring to 23 the total number of projects across the country to receive the funding needed to bring them to the implementation stage. These include a range sustainable farming, biodiversity, pollination and bio-energy schemes as well as the Hen Harrier and Freshwater Pearl Mussel programmes.

"All of the projects will address specific challenges, demonstrating the creativity and resourcefulness that is abundant across Ireland's rural sector. I wish them all well in the design and roll-out of these schemes over the coming years," said Minister Creed.

He said the latest round of funding brings the total amount allocated to Irish l projects under the EIP programme to more than 57 million.

"These locally led schemes promote local solutions to specific issues and involve the establishment of operational groups to develop ideas, or take existing ideas/research, and put them into practice by working towards resolutions of practical problems," said Minister Creed.

"They offer an exciting opportunity to build on the success of the agri-food sector and address some of the remaining challenges with fresh approaches."
Gardai have urged people not to engage with unsolicited callers to their doors after an elderly north Cork couple were conned out of money by a travelling gang of conmen.

The incident took place in the village of Newmarket after the fraudsters called to their home and told the couple that there was a leak in a neighbouring house that needed attention.

Fermoy based Sgt John Kelly, the designated Garda crime prevention officer for the north Cork division, said the gang told the couple that repairs to the neighbouring chimney would also entail some work to their own roof.

"Naturally concerned at what they were being told, the couple handed over a sum of money to the gang for the bogus repairs. The gang then left with the money and were not seen again," said Sgt Kelly.

"Homeowners need to be on their guard and if they have any suspicious about callers to their door do not engage with them and report the incident to Gardai," said Sgt Kelly.

He said that while local Gardai and the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) had been successfully targeting these types of travelling gangs, there would always be unscrupulous criminals all too willing to con people out of their hard earned cash.

"The fact of the matter is that even when we catch one gang, there will always be another one ready to take their place. While these gangs may not operate in a particular area for a period of time, people still need to be aware that they will come back at some time or another. It is important that people still keep their guard up," said Sgt Kelly.

He said that there are plenty of genuine trades people operating within local communities who can be called on to undertake jobs or emergency repair works to homes and buildings.

"Many community focused bodies, such as Avondhu Blackwater Ltd, keep lists of recognised local trades people. Our advice is to contact one of these and under no circumstances engage random door-to-door callers," he said. "Even if a scammer does do undertake some works, there is an all too real chance that they will do a botched job that will cost even more money to repair," he warned.
When it comes to trail blazers then Mia Normoyle O'Sullivan and Niamh McFall would certainly top the list.

They duo are members of the Ardilaun Guide Unit in Macroom and were recently presented with the Trail Blazer Award at the National Guide Award Ceremony at Croke Park.

The Trail Blazer is the highest award that can be achieved by Guides and the Guides have been working toward this for the past four years, achieving all other awards along the way.

Challenges which the Guides completed included many outdoor activities such as day and night hikes, outdoor cookery, kayaking, attending many camps, specifically IGGNITE 2017, the International Camp in Ireland, and travelling to Denmark this year as part of the Irish Girl Guides contingent to a camp with the Danish Green Guides.

This camp was a partnership between the two organisations, which included a three day social entrepreneurship project, planned and executed by the Guides in their patrols in the town of Veijle. They did large scale pioneering projects, night escapades in the woods, learning some Danish expressions and had a visit to Copenhagen and Legoland. They even taught a jig or two to the Danish guides.

The Irish contingent are expecting a return visit from the Danish Guides in the next two years.

Meanwhile, the Guides painted a mural on the wall of their hall and this is the basis for a photographic display of all the members of Macroom Guiding.

Some of the many activities that Mia and Niamh partook in during their time in Guides were survival skills, first aid, fund raising for various charities, international Guiding competitions, the Free Being Me project as well as being responsible for their patrols for the past two years.

All these activities contributed to the personal development and leadership skills that Mia and Niamh achieved as they join the list of over 30 Ardilaun Guides who have achieved this Award.
Cork Racecourse Mallow was presented with the Racecourse Merit award at a black-tie ceremony held in the Killashee House Hotel, Kildare, last Saturday.

The Association of Irish Racehorse Owners (AIRO), partnered by The Irish Field, celebrated excellence in the ownership experience at their annual awards ceremony which was attended by racehorse owners and racing personalities from around the country. The evening celebrated all that is great about the industry, with guest speaker Rich Ricci speaking passionately about his love of the sport.

Cork Racecourse Mallow was awarded the Racecourse Merit award in recognition of the enhanced raceday experience offered to owners.

Cork Racecourse Mallow general manager Andrew Hogan was thrilled with the award. "We are honoured to receive this award in recognition of our efforts to ensure the ownership experience is of the highest standard," said Andrew. "Huge credit must go to the whole team who work so hard year-round across all aspects of the racecourse.

"Thanks must also extend to our new caterers, Fitzgerald's Woodlands Catering, for their dedication to ensuring the best possible dining experience at the racecourse," added Mr Hogan.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 27)  The police on Friday filed murder charges against suspects behind the massacre of nine farmers in Sagay, Negros Occidental.

Western Visayas Police Chief Supt. John Bulalacao identified two of the suspects in a statement on Saturday.

"Sagay City Police Station already filed a case of multiple murder against the recruiters, Rene Manlangit and Rogelio Arquillo, both members of the National Federation of Sugar Workers and other John Does," Bulalacao said.

He said the recruiters are accused of deceiving the victims into joining their association, "promising them a parcel of land once their cause would succeed." The police and military earlier said the victims were recruited in the morning of Oct. 20 and killed in the afternoon of the same day.

Authorities added that some members of the sugar workers' association have ties with the armed communist group New People's Army (NPA), which they accused of being behind the brutal killing. The police and military said the NPA set up the attack to raise public doubt against the government, a claim the Communist Party of the Philippines has denied.

The police said they have eight complainant-witnesses, including a minor who survived the attack.

"All of them were willing and voluntarily signed their affidavits, including the minor whom we turned over to the Local Social Welfare Development Officer who also witnessed the taking of the minor's statement by our investigators," Bulalacao said.

The police promised to serve justice to the victims' families, some of whom are willing to cooperate in the investigation.
Top Irish stand-up Neil Delamere has announced details of his brand new 50-date tour which comes to Crescent Concert Hall, Drogheda on 18th January.

Tickets are on sale now; visit www.neildelamere.com/gigs for tour listings and bookings.

One of the top acts working in the Irish comedy scene today, the Offaly funnyman is well-known to audiences for his regular television appearance on RTE and the BBC, as well as his sell-out, stand-up tours.

While touring Controlled Substance this Autumn, Neil will also return to a telly near you in a new series of Soft Border Patrol, the BBC Northern Ireland mockumentary set along the border, post-Brexit.

Neil is also soon to star in BBC Scotland's first television broadcast of the long-running radio comedy show, Breaking the News.
Charter Day, a day to commemorate the unification of Drogheda in 1412, takes place on Thursday 1 November at noon in The Tholsel.

'The signing of the town charter united the two towns back in 1412 - Drogheda South and Drogheda North. The Far Side, so to speak!' said Mayor Frank Godfrey, who has initiated this momentous day.

Drogheda in Meath, which received a town charter in 1194, and Drogheda in Oriel were united on 1 November 1412, and Drogheda became a 'County Corporate', styled as 'the County of the Town of Drogheda'. Drogheda continued as a County Borough until the setting up of County Councils, through the enactment of the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898, which saw all of Drogheda, including a large area south of the Boyne, become part of an extended County Louth.

'I feel that it is important to mark these historic events, these actions and charters that have shaped our town and future, and to remember them today and be proud of our history,' said Mayor Godfrey. 'I would like the greater Drogheda community to come out on 1 November and join in the commemoration of Charter Day.'

Meeting at the Tholsel, the charter will be read to the public. Historian Liam Reilly will then give a talk on the two Droghedas, the mayors and the Dominican priest, Fr Philip Bennett who brought the two sides together and unified Drogheda

History at the library

Louth Libraries will host a Festival of History taking place from Tuesday 30 October to Saturday 3 November in all five branch libraries.

Bringing together historians from across the country, this festival will address the centenary of significant events in 1918 such as the end of the Great War, the Representation of the People Act, the rise of nationalism and threats to unionism, the decline of John Redmond and the Irish Parliamentary Party's prominence.

Attendance is free but booking essential.

The week kicks off in Dunleer at 6pm on October 30th with a talk on Unionism in 1918 and also at the same time in Drogheda library, women in the IRA and in employment.

Ardee library hosts John Redmond's story on November 3 at 2.30pm.

For full festival details please consult the library website: www.louthcoco.ie/libraries and for bookings please phone the relevant branch library. Drogheda library 041-9876162 , Dundalk library 042- 9353190 . Ardee Library 041-6859023, Dunleer Library 041-6859016, Carlingford Library 042-9324113 . General Email: libraryhelpdesk@louthcoco.ie
The 25th Drogheda and District Bridge Congress took place in the Westcourt Hotel and the new ABCD bridge centre in the Fairgreen.

It was a great success with bumper entries in all grades. There were visitors from all over Ireland and abroad and even as far away as Turkey so we really have gone international now.

They were all very impressed with the town, it's history, it's shops and restaurants and the friendliness of everyone.

The weekend kicked off with the Congress President Heather Kilkelly, the Mayor Frank Godfrey, the President of the Contract Bridge Association of Ireland, the President of the Irish Bridge Union, The Chairperson of the Northern Ireland Bridge Union and the President of the North Eastern Bridge Union all saying a few words and welcoming everyone to the Congress. There were bridge competitions over the weekend for all the grades and plenty of local participants featured in the prize giving.

To mark the 25th anniversary there was a great social night on Saturday with complimentary tea and sandwiches.

Eugene Ginty gave a brilliant performance and this was followed by dancing with Mary Gantly. A great night was had by all.

The main events of the Congress were held in the Westcourt Hotel and Valerie and her staff looked after everyone very well, our visitors were full of praise for the hotel.

The new bridge centre in the Fairgreen was full to the brim on Saturday and nobody could fail to be impressed with it as a venue for the Congress.

PRO Philina Dowd says the organisers would like to thank all sponsors without who they could not run the congress, also everyone who participated and now the planning starts all over again for the 26th Congress in October 2019.
Cake sales and Disney and pyjama fancy dress themes, it's that time of year again at Peter Mark! The annual Petermarkathon fundraiser is back and coming to Peter Mark Marshes Shopping Centre in Dundalk, and Peter Mark Scotchall Shopping Centre Drogheda from Friday 26th - Sunday 28th October 2018.

This year the Peter Mark team will be raising vital funds for the Irish Cancer Society to help support its Cancer Nurseline a free helpline staffed by trained cancer nurses, to offer a listening ear and practical advice to anyone who has concerns or questions about cancer.

The Peter Mark salons in Louth are tasked with coming up with their own unique way to raise money, so visitors to their local Peter Mark Louth salons can expect cake sales, spot prizes, unique fancy dress themes and lots of other fun events over the weekend!

The line up is: Friday: Disney fancy dress theme. Saturday: Pyjama day. Sunday: Sponsored 10K walk. Monday: Bake sale. All weekend: Raffle & spot prizes.

Commenting on the launch, Peter O'Rourke, CEO, Peter Mark said, "Our annual Petermarkathon is a key event in our calendar and one we as a team very much look forward to. Over the years we have raised hundreds of thousands of Euros for charities across Ireland. Each year we select a new charity to raise money for and we are delighted to partner this year with The Irish Cancer Society. In particular, we will be raising money to support the wonderful work of the Cancer Nurseline."

Averil Power, CEO of Irish Cancer Society said: "We are delighted to be the beneficiary of the Petermarkathon which will raise vital funds for our Cancer Nurseline service.'
Irish Water are to look at introducing key features at the waste water treatment plant on the Marsh Road in a bid to limit odours from the system.

Residents in the wider Dublin Road area have complained of a strong smell on numerous occasions, sparking various investigations.

Now Irish Water are moving on the issue.

'The odour residents have had to endure over recent times has been entirely unacceptable. I raised the matter with management in Irish Water a number of months ago which led to an independent inspection which took place on September 12th,' Fergus O'Dowd TD stated.

Irish Water now say the 'odour control media' at the plant is approaching its end of life and will be replaced. Reconditioning of the valves is required to control flowrates to ensure optimum contact time with odour media while a device to monitor odour media performance more closely will be installed. Pipelines are also to be cleaned.

'Timelines for the actions outlined above are currently being finalised with our contractors,' they added.

During the summer, the main sewer network lines in the Wheaten Hall, Foxhill and Woodford areas of Drogheda were jetted and they say there were no complaints from these areas since then. There is a plan in place to undertake this on a 6 monthly basis as a preventative measure to mitigate against any potential network odours.

Irish Water encourage members of the public to report incidents of odour via a 24/7 call centre on 1850 278 278. Complaints are sent to both the Wastewater Treatment Plant Operators and Louth County Council for investigation.
Presidential candidate Peter Casey said that Ireland is becoming a nation of people who expect - no demand - that the State looks after them. This is just simply not the case

Just as the furore about his remarks in relation to Travellers died down, presidential election candidate Peter Casey has found himself in hot water over comments likening Ireland to a 'welfare state'.

Following the backlash over his questioning of the ethnicity of Travellers and which he said they were 'basically people camping on other people's land', he again finds himself in the eye of a storm as his comments about the welfare system in Ireland received very mixed reaction.

In an open letter in the Sunday Independent he said that Ireland is becoming 'a nation of people who expect - no demand - that the State looks after them'.

This is just simply not the case. The vast majority of people in this country who receive welfare support do so because they have no other choice.

Most people want to work and want to be independent, and not leaning on the State for a lifetime. I think what Casey meant was that the so called middle earners who are being squeezed time and time again with no incentive to keep it going.

He views people who are 'living' off welfare as the winners in this situation and the middle income taxpayers as the losers.

Unfortunately it's not to clear cut in reality and while it would be great to have everyone educated, working and self sufficient, this will never be the case.

I agree that there are some people who don't want to work and who could contribute more to society but on the whole this is a very small minority.

Casey's remarks were probably directed towards these people rather than lone parents or old age pensioners or those with a disability or caring for loved ones.

Nobody in the right might would criticise those who truly need support.

Anyone who thinks those who are totally dependent on the State for support are living the high life is wrong, and it's no picnic making a few hundred Euro spread to support a household for an entire week.

Casey is coming at this from a businessman's perspective with the bottom line in mind, not the many social factors that come into play with regard to social welfare. There are always going to be vulnerable people who need support from a wider society and while it may look like they have no worries because they receive State benefits, this is really not the case.
Residents of a secluded part of Drogheda woke to a surprise last week - parking tickets.

And some didn't even know they were in a pay parking area!

Last Thursday morning, nine tickets were placed on cars parked at Parkview, in the vicinity of the entrance to the Boyne Rovers clubhouse.

The only indication that it is a council approved pay parking area is a pole with a four hour limit on it - partially pointing in the wrong direction.

The area does not have a parking meter with the closest in John Paul Court.

No specific spaces - as required under the 1997 Road Traffic ( Signs) Regulations - are marked out.

Total confusion greeted the fines, each amounting to 40, with one family having to pay 120.

Some residents used to have parking permits but when Cllr Kevin Callan questioned the 12 per year charge - to align it with Dundalk - it was then scrapped.

Resident, Janette Kermath, who got a ticket, said that when the permit issue arose she went into the council offices and was told she didn't need a permit anymore.

A second resident got the same reply, but when they were put through to Dundalk in relation to the ticket, were told they did need one.

'There have never been any tickets issued here,' Sheila Quigley stated. Some family members didn't even know it was pay parking.

'The vast majority of people who park here are residents,' Janette added.

Mayor Frank Godfrey said the residents were very upset by the sudden action of the traffic warden.

'The fact that tickets haven't been issued here before, at least a warning note should have been placed on the cars and that would have shown some respect for the people living here.

'There is great confusion over this and it does the council no favours with people,' he stated.
Following last week's news that Enniscorthy & District Chamber of Commerce is to opt out of any amalgamation of Chambers across County Wexford, a statement was issued by Development Officer Jimmy Gahan stating that they had decided to 'postpone a final decision on the amalgamation process for a period of 12 to 18 months in order to allow us bring to fruition a number of projects on which we are working'.

While Enniscorthy Chamber are standing firm in relation to their decision and believe that an amalgamation would not serve the best interests of members, it appears that they haven't ruled out re-visiting the topic a year down the line.

However, concerns have been expressed in relation to funding paid over to the four Chambers by Wexford County Council. While Gorey and New Ross Chambers operate on a smaller basis and receive a smaller amount, both Wexford and Enniscorthy receive significant funding. It is believed that Wexford County Council were in favour of merging all four Chambers and thus funding just one body as opposed to four. While Enniscorthy Chamber are due to meet with Council officials in the New Year to discuss funding, Mr Gahan remains hopeful that they will receive the continued support of the council.

It is unclear how the other three Chambers are to proceed with their amalgamation or what the new trio of Chambers will be called, but it certainly will not be able to operate as a County Wexford Chamber without Enniscorthy's backing of the plan.

'We will in the future revisit the possibility of joining Wexford, New Ross and Gorey in an enlarged structure,' said Mr Gahan. 'But for the immediate future we will concentrate on serving the needs of our members in Enniscorthy town and district and on promoting the town in order that its full potential is realised before making any final decision on our future.'
A lonely swan out at the Still Pond captured a huge amount of attention last week after it was photographed stopping traffic and 'hugging' cars. The moment was captured by local photographer Marie Hayes who said the bird seemed to be in a distressed state.

'I stopped because the swan was lying in a strange position on the bank,' she said. 'She then came out onto the road and stood in front of the cars. She extended her neck and lay across the car bonnet. She seemed very agitated and was hissing and she began pecking at my car wheels and the bonnet.'

It is believed that the swan's mate may have been killed by a car in a previous incident at The Still, and as they mate for life, this could've caused major distress for the bird and they are known to show symptoms of grief just like humans.

Marie then shared her photos with Bird Watch Ireland to see if they would be able to explain the strange behaviour and was told to ring the WSPCA who she forwarded the photos to. They subsequently shared the matter on social media and asked for any additional information.

The post was seen by Wildlife Rehabilitator Dan Donoher from Kildare Animal Rescue and he has taken the swan away for assessment and will hopefully eventually be able to release the bird into another colony. There was a huge reaction to the post and the WSPCA thanked everyone who took the time to comment and provide information, along with Marie for capturing the event on camera.
Inspiring the next generation was the theme of Fingal Libraries' STEMcon recently and the event did just that, as almost 300 people - including students from eight local secondary schools, representatives from home-schooling groups, and Fingal County Council Chief Executive Paul Reid - attended the conference.

Organised in association with Science Foundation Ireland, Creative Ireland, Europe Direct, and the Institute of Technology, Blanchardstown (ITB), the event was introduced by Senior Executive Librarian Lilian Whelan, County Librarian, Betty Boardman, and formally launched by Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Anthony Lavin.

In his address, Mayor Lavin spoke about the importance of studying STEM-based subjects, and the reasons why a STEM-based career is a good move, before praising Fingal Libraries' endeavours to promote these subjects across the county.

He said: 'Fingal Libraries are leading the charge when it comes to fostering interest in STEM. The library is a place where you can access a wealth of information about a wide range of STEM topics.

'Libraries have always been a place where visitors could access new and emerging technology. Twenty years ago, library users could access the internet before it had become widely available in homes. Today, you can access new technology such as 3D printing at several Fingal Library Branches.'

Dr Mary Meaney, former President of ITB, and the first women appointed to lead an Institute of Technology in Ireland, was an excellent Moderator for the event. Now the Programme Leader on the 'Technological University for Dublin' project, Dr Meaney introduced the fascinating programme of speakers in turn, who each offered an eye-opening, educational, and, at times, hilarious insight, into their science-based careers.

The morning began with the Executive Fire Prevention Officer of Dublin Fire Brigade, Ruth Walsh and Fingal County Council's Community Archaeologist, Christine Baker; who was asked by one excited audience member whether she had ever found a dinosaur bone. We were also delighted to hear from Site Reliability Engineer in Google Dublin, Eimear Crotty and IT Director with Liberty Information Technology (LIT), Felim O'Donnell before Deputy State Pathologist, Dr. Linda Mulligan spoke, declaring her delight at addressing a live audience. The audience heard how to 'Earn as you learn with an Aviation Apprenticeship' from Apprentice Aircraft Engineer, Patrick Grogan, before the final speaker, Eimear Ni Bhroin, Language Officer with the European Commission Representation in Ireland, asked the crucial question 'Can languages unlock a career?' A lively and extremely interactive question and answers session followed, as the attendees got a chance to quiz the panel on their careers.
The horrific injuries sustained by a 54-year-old man beaten to death in Swords have been outlined in court.

A murder trial jury has heard how some of the bones in a 54-year-old man's face were 'broken into little bits' and that has brain had 'swirled around his skull' after he was punched and kicked to death.

Deputy State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster told the Central Criminal Court trial of 31-year-old Anthony Walsh that she also found fragments of glass in the deceased's face and neck.

Mr Walsh has pleaded not guilty to murdering Dermot Byrne but guilty to his manslaughter outside a school at North St, Swords, Co Dublin on July 16, 2017.

He has also pleaded guilty to stealing a bank card, keys and a Zippo lighter from the deceased on the same date and location.

Mr Byrne's naked body was lying in blood at the top of seven steps leading to Fingal Community College, Dr Bolster told prosecuting counsel Vincent Heneghan SC. She also noted broken glass and blood spattering on the entrance to the school which she said was consistent with someone being kicked or punched.

On examining the body at Dublin City Morgue she found multiple fractures to the jaw and nasal bones and scrapes and lacerations to the scalp and face.

Some of the bones in his face had been fragmented, broken into little bits, and a number of ribs were fractured and separated.

Further tests on the brain showed injuries consistent with multiple blows that caused the brain to 'swirl around' inside the skull.

A toxicology report showed that the deceased had 350mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood. Dr Bolster said this would suggest he drank about nine or ten pints and he would have been highly intoxicated.

The cause of death, she said, was traumatic brain injury with blunt force trauma to the head, neck and chest and fracturing of the ribs.

His condition was complicated by a high level of alcohol and inhalation of blood. However, she noted that survival would have been unlikely even without alcohol due to the extent of his injuries.

He did not have defensive injuries, except minor bruising to the hands, the court heard.

A group of parallel linear injuries to the torso, she said, could have been caused by falling forcefully against the steps leading to where he was found or railings that surrounded the top of the steps.

Because the blood spatter on the door to the school was low down, she said it was more likely caused by punches or kicks than a weapon.

Some of the injuries were consistent with kicks or heavy blows.

Fragments of glass in the face and neck could have been the result of being hit with a bottle or glass or by the deceased falling on a bottle or glass, she said.

The prosecution has completed its evidence to the jury of six men and six women and the trial will move to the next phase this week in front of Justice Eileen Creedon.

At the beginning of the trial, the court was told by Mr Heneghan outlined the prosecution case.

He said tha the 54-year-old man was 'savagely beaten to a pulp' and stripped of his clothes following a drunken row over a cigarette.

The court was told that following the fatal row the accused got into a taxi carrying a black holdall and went to an apartment on Cabra Road. The following morning he travelled to Blanchardstown where he met his parents and told them he was in trouble. He was crying and confessed to killing someone.
Speaking in the Seanad last week, Senator James Reilly raised the issue of the lack of availability of secondary school places in the Fingal areas of Rush, Lusk and Skerries for the 2019-2020 academic year.

'I wish to raise an issue of great importance to thousands of parents around the country, particularly in Dublin and north Dublin', he said.

'All Members will accept that in normal circumstances, one would like to think that one's child would be able to go to school along with his or her friends, and continue those relationships in his or her own town.

'If not, on the rare occasion where that is not possible, one would hope that it would be within the catchment area of the town next door.'

He added: 'I understand that currently this is not an option for the children of Rush, Lusk and Skerries, who are in the same catchment areas, all of which have waiting lists.

'One has a waiting list of 102, and I am aware of another person who is nearly at No. 30 on the list.'

Senator Reilly said that although there was a new secondary school in Lusk, the school would not be able to accommodate all applicants.

This issue was not just related to these three towns, he said, as there were also waiting lists in Balbriggan, a town which is 'booming' with a 'huge increase in population', and in Swords.

Senator Reilly said: 'I am particularly concerned about the situation I have referred to, especially for the children of Rush, Lusk and Skerries.

'These children have fantastic teachers who get great results.

'They are given the best of education, but in Rush in particular, the St. Joseph's secondary school needs a new building.

'There are prefabs now occupying a lot of the ground.

'I am aware that the school has submitted an application to the Department of Education and Skills, which is looking at the matter urgently.

'This is a request for new accommodation to accommodate the more than 100 children who have sought places there or next year.'
A Rush man who was on trial accused of murdering Noel 'Duck Egg' Kirwan in the driveway of his Dublin home has pleaded guilty to facilitating a criminal organisation in carrying out the offence.

Jason Keating (27), of Lower Main Street, Rush, Co Dublin admitted last Thursday, 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 Kirwan (62) at St Ronan's Drive, Clondalkin, Dublin 22 between November 8 and December 22 2016, both dates inclusive.

Keating had originally pleaded not guilty at the non-jury Special Criminal Court to the murder of Mr Kirwan on October 2 and the trial has been underway since that date.

State Solicitor Michael O'Donovan this morning told the three-judge court that the DPP had directed that Keating be brought before the court and charged with the offence of facilitating the commission by a criminal organisation or any of its members of a serious offence contrary to Section 72 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006.

Detective Sergeant Damien Gannon, from Lucan Garda Station, gave evidence that he met Keating this morning and handed him a copy of the charge sheet, explaining the charge to him.

When the registrar put the new count to Keating and asked him how he was pleading, he replied: 'Guilty'.

This is believed to be the second time a person has been convicted for this offence under the organised crime legislation brought in in 2006.

Paul Greene SC, prosecuting, asked the court that a 'nolle prosequi' be entered on the charge of murder at the sentence hearing next month. This means the State will not be proceeding with the prosecution in relation to the count of murder.

Mr Justice Tony Hunt said the 'first instance' of this offence was dealt with by the court last Monday. He told counsel for both sides that the court would need to know at the sentence hearing what was offered 'in terms of assistance' by Keating and what was the defendant's state of mind in relation to the offence that actually took place. 'If you look at the sentence from Monday you will see what was required to assist us in the exercise,' he added.

Martin Aylmer (31), of Casino Park, Marino, Dublin 3 was sentenced last Monday to three years and nine months for helping a criminal organisation murder Dublin bar manager, Michael Barr (35) at the Sunset House, Summerhill Parade, Dublin 1 on April 25th 2016.

The judge said that the law of homicide in this country as it is currently structured is 'inflexible', adding that it was long overdue for reform in its substance and in its mandatory sentencing. 'This new charge is most useful in cases where people play parts which fall short of actually pulling the trigger. It provides for some flexibility but also for serious penalties. This has advantages for both sides of the case,' he remarked.

Mr Kirwan was sitting in his new car, a Ford Mondeo, when a gunman shot him six times with a Makarov handgun which was later recovered at the scene.

The 62-year-old, a 'long-time"'friend of Gerry 'the Monk' Hutch, suffered eight gunshot wounds in total to his head, right arm, chest and abdomen. The court has heard that the murder of Mr Kirwan arose from a 'notorious feud' between two criminal factions but the deceased had no connection with either side.

His deceased's partner, Bernadette Roe, was in the passenger seat of his car at the time of the attack. They had just returned from a Christmas lunch in a restaurant in Crumlin with Ms Roe's daughter.

It was the prosecution's case that a 'Gotek7' tracking device was put under Mr Kirwan's car in the weeks leading up to his killing and this could be linked to Keating.

The getaway vehicle, a white Peugeot van, was later found on fire at the rear of Neilstown Shopping Centre in Clondalkin, just a minute's drive from St Ronan's Drive.

Mr Justice Hunt, presiding, sitting with Judge Sinead Ni Chualachain and Judge Cormac Dunne, remanded Keating in custody until November 22, when he will be sentenced for the offence.
Ferns' status as a major medieval centre was well and truly confirmed as a range of fascinating speakers took centre stage at the third annual Ferns Conference held in St Edan's Cathedral. Those in attendance were informed that the story of Ferns was the stuff of legend with stories of knights, kings and stains rubbing shoulders with incredible archaeological remains being uncovered.

Speakers came from right across the country and even further afield and the topics discussed were just as wide ranging. Professor Jonathan Wooding of the University of Sydney spoke about the early links between Ireland and Wales, personified by the relationship between St David and St Aidan. While the stories of the saints were not written as history, they do give insights into the culture and relations of the early churches in Ireland and Wales.

Dr Elizabeth Boyle, Head of the Department of Early Irish History in NUI Maynooth, explained the law of Sunday, known as the Cain Domnaig which banned work and travel on Sundays and apparently stemmed from a letter written by Jesus himself which miraculously appeared on an altar in Rome or Jerusalem. It also served a social aspect as well, however, guaranteeing at least one day of rest a week for everyone, including slaves.

UCD's Professor Tadhg O'Keeffe gave a master-class on St Edan's Cathedral, early Irish Bishops and their influences before and after the arrival of the Normans. He pointed out the original medieval features in the Cathedral including masons marks, probable consecration crosses, columns with stiff leaved ornament and some window features.

The way in which relics were used by the Church as a tool in its relations with the powerful and not so powerful in society was explored by Dr Niamh Wycherley of NUI Galway, who also revealed that a powerful relic of Saint Aidan himself - the Staff of Aidan - was once held in Ferns and would have indicated its supremacy amongst the many other sites devoted to the saint.

Dr Coilin O'Drisceoil of Kilkenny Archaeology provided a gripping presentation on the lengths people went to to be remembered and to avoid being trapped in purgatory for all eternity. 'Cadaver tombs', where the deceased were shown in a state of advanced decay, were a great way of eliciting sympathy and ensuring prayers. On a more local level, Barry Lacey described the vast work carried out by the Ferns Heritage Archive Group on the church site of nearby Clone which is starting to reveal a much earlier history than anyone had anticipated.

The Sunday of the conference saw a wonderful concert with performers including a 13 year old harpist, a local children's choir, the Baroque Quartet from the Wexford School of Music, and Credo, acappella group - all of whom performed very special renditions of familiar, joyful and uplifting music and choral pieces.

Chairperson of Ferns Heritage Group Catherine MacPartlin paid tribute to everyone who had helped make the conference such a success, as well as Dean Paul Mooney, Rev Margaret Sykes and the Select Vestry for hosting. She also thanked her speakers, Paul Brown for co-ordinating the concert, the performers and Wexford County Council for their ongoing support.
Since Friday morning, farmers from all over the Enniscorthy and Gorey areas have gathered at the site of the new M11 motorway between Ferns and Camolin to protest at their alleged treatment by the contractors responsible for the project, BAM Dragados.

The farmers pulled a trailer right across the new road and have vowed to keep it blocked until a solution is reached. Having entered a fourth day with the road block in place yesterday, no resolution was in sight and there were fears that the dispute may escalate.

This is not the first time that the farmers have protested in relation to the bypass works. Back in July, IFA members blocked access to the BAM site offices at Scarawalsh and, while things became quite heated, all parties eventually sat at the negotiation table. Among the major issue for farmers operating along the length of the bypass are drainage, access to lands and water and electric fences for stock. The IFA called off the protest the last time out after BAM agreed to facilitate them on a number of these issues, however, now it seems as though we're back to square one with the farmers demanding action once again.

'We were working away as best we could on the issues after last time,' said IFA County Chairman James Kehoe. 'We were getting small bits done here and there initially, but in the last month or two there has been complete disengagement on the part of BAM once again. There seems to be a complete lack of ability to get even the smallest things over the line.'

This latest protest was spearheaded by farmer Henry Deacon whose land is situated near where the road is blocked at Knockrobin. Mr Deacon was said to have had major issues with drainage arising from the bypass and the IFA say that his land flooded back in June - something made all the more remarkable given the drought conditions. Major concerns were also expressed by the IFA over the safety of an underpass which was constructed to Mr Deacon's land and finally having had enough, it was decided to block the road on Friday morning until a solution was reached.

Mr Kehoe says that the action is not just about Mr Deacon's farm either though.

'The contractors have said that they will only discuss the Deacon issue,' he said. 'That's not good enough though. There's loads of other issues that need to be sorted. If we had to block the road to get every little job done we'd be at nothing. We don't take action like this lightly. It has to be a serious issue to spark this kind of action and it has the backing of the IFA right from the very top.'

An emergency meeting on the matter was held at the IFA centre on Friday night and the farmers are committed to dig their heels in and block the road until a satisfactory outcome is forthcoming. It is believed that organisers are also looking at other sites along the bypass to take action and block if their demands are not met. A sub-committee was formed following the meeting and Chairman John Murphy has vowed action will continue.

'We're not interfering with the public here,' he said. 'That's the last thing we want to do. We can't go on like this though. It's just problem after problem. We already have a list of 20 to 25 issues that BAM have said they'll look at and more are coming up all the time. For the most part, they're all very similar. Most of them are about drainage, access and water and electric fences for stock. We won't stir until these issues are resolved once and for all.'
David Leonard of Tesco, Gorey, makes a donation to Karen McCann, Mandy Tighe and Wendy Kearney, of the Gorey Youth Needs Group

Eight charity organisations in Co Wexford have received almost 335,000 donated meals as a result of an initiative between Tesco Ireland and FoodCloud.

A spokesperson for one of the organisations, Gorey Youth Needs (GYN), said the arrangement has been hugely beneficial to her group.

Mandi Tighe, Youth Services Manager with GYN, commented: 'The staff at Tesco are fantastic.'

'We've got to know them [in Tesco] well over the years and we always have a bit of craic when we go in to collect the food from them,' she said.

'The kitchen is at the heart of what we do here [and] much like in any home the kids love to hang over the counter, watching us prepare the food, and that's when much of our youth work is done,' she added.

She went on to comment it's the focal point of the youth club.

Tesco says its trying to ensure that no good food goes to waste in its stores by 2020 as part of a No Time For Waste campaign and according to FoodCloud throughout the entire country six millions meals have been donated to schools and charitable causes since 2014 - resulting in savings of around 8m.

A year ago Tesco announced a commitment that no surplus food suitable for human consumption will go to waste in its stores by 2020; it was also the first retailer in Ireland to publish its food waste data to help it meet its target.

In conjunction with the food project the company also launched the Community Chill Campaign which provides food-related good causes with free fridges and freezers so they can receive more surplus food donations to help people in need.

To-date Tesco has donated 150 fridge and freezers to local causes across Ireland.

The company is encouraging more Wexford based charities to sign up to receive its surplus food donations and the spokesperson for another organisation based in the Model County that has benefited from the scheme said 'it's fantastic'.

Ozanam House in Wexford town is a centre that benefits from participating in the scheme and its Regional Manager, Gordon Power, said: 'I love the whole concept of it and it's extremely helpful to us.'
A new book featuring beautiful paintings of horses by the Wexford-based contemporary artist Paddy Lennon and accompanying poetry by Moyra Donaldson has just been published.

'Blood Horses', telling the stories of three famous stallions - the Byerley Turk, The Darley Arabian and the Godolphin Barb - the founding fathers of the thoroughbred horses of today, arrived in paperback edition a few days ago in Wexford Book Centre while a special limited edition of 200 hardback copies signed by the artist and the poet will be launched at an exhibition in the RDS Library in November.

When County Down poet Moyra saw Paddy's work, she felt so inspired that she proposed a creative collaboration and horses were an obvious choice as the animals have been an important part of both of their lives.

The book is a moving dialogue between painting and poem that looks at the relationship between humans and horses, the effect they have on our lives and people's love for the magnificent creatures.

Award-winning visual artist Paddy was born in Dublin and has been living in Kilrane for many years, where his wife Jo Kimmins formerly ran a horse riding centre. He has exhibited in solo and group shows Ireland and internationally, most recently in China, Abu Dhabi and Geneva.

Moyra Donaldson has published seven collections of poetry and has also been published internationally in magazines, journals and anthologies in Europe, Australia and the US. Her new poetry collection Holding to Air will be published next spring. The limited edition of the new book was launched in Northern Ireland in September and there are also plans to take the 'Blood Horses' exhibition abroad.
The enduring tale of Antarctic carpenter Harry McNish might not be one of the better known tales from polar exploration era, but that does not mean it is not a story worth telling.

Scottish actor Malcolm Rennie is the man tasked with bringing the story of this highly outspoken man to the stage and it is a task that he has taken to with gusto - describing the character and story of McNish as one which appealed to him greatly.

Describing him as "extremely religious" and "a bit of an oddball within the company", the story of how and why Harry McNish was one of the few people involved in the heroic exploits of the expedition to be denied a polar medal is an intriguing one

"Shackleton's carpenter was a man called Harry McNish and he volunteered to go with Shackleton on his 1914 'Endurance'. McNish became quite notorious because he became the only man who publicly questioned the decision making of Shackleton and stood up to him on the ice cap. He called a spade a spade and he was not afraid to speak his mind," said Malcolm, speaking on Monday morning.

"They had a blazing row about whether it was possible to drag the boat across the ice flows. McNish said that it was impossible because it would damage the boats beyond repair but Shackleton insisted that it be done and of course, they tried to do it and the carpenter was proved right," he continued.

"For that, Shackleton felt that he had lost a great deal of face in front of the whole company of men and so when it came to distributing the polar medals, he made sure that McNish did not get one," said Malcolm.

There is currently an ongoing campaign to posthumously award McNish with a polar medal.

Crushed by the ice of the Weddell Sea, the Endurance sank and 28 men were stranded on the Antarctic ice cap. Their subsequent survival and rescue was down in part to Harry McNish, the ship's carpenter who ingeniously adapted the 3 remaining life boats to withstand the extreme rigours of polar sea travel.

The play begins in 1930 with McNish, ill and destitute, sleeping in an old lifeboat on the wharf in Wellington NZ. He awakes and re-lives his Endurance experiences, conjuring up the ghosts of his past. In his fevered mind he recalls his shipmates, McLeod, Green, the hated Orde-Lees, his cat, Mrs Chippy, shot by Shackleton, and most tellingly, the Boss himself and their fateful quarrel.

As with almost all actors looking to sink their teeth into a juicy role, the rough and ready characteristics of this unflinching man were enough for Malcolm to jump at the chance to take the chance.

"The script appealed to me because when I was a little boy growing up in Aberdeen, I remember men who were exactly like McNish, Tough men. Men who didn't open themselves up too easily but who were still capable themselves of deep and sincere feelings," he said.

"McNish seemed to me to fit exactly into this mould for me and so I felt that I could bring something from myself and my own experiences that would help the production," he said.

Of course, when anything Antarctic related is mentioned in Kerry, it is only right that the name of our very own polar hero is brought up and knowing this, Malcolm reassures me that Crean is not forgotten in the play.

"Of course, everyone is familiar with Crean and his heroics. He is mentioned in the play of course. There were six of them who sailed from Elephant Island to South Georgia to get relief, McNish and Crean would have been in the boat together for almost two weeks together," he said.

Malcolm Rennie has been an actor for over 50 years, and has appeared in over 20 West End shows. His TV & film appearances include Midsomer Murders, Taggart, Ransom, Pride & Prejudice, The Lenny Henry Show, The Accountant, Monarch of the Glen, Coronation Street, Sherlock and as Fraser in four series of Mr Selfridge.

The play 'Shackleton's Carpenter' is written by multi-award winning playwright Multi-award winner Gail Louw.
Killarney was abuzz last week with the swish of saris, the beat of traditional drums and the chant of Hindu verse.

Hindu followers came from all over Ireland to celebrate the festival of Durga, Hindu Goddess and Defender of Goodness, at the Tower House Bed and Breakfast, Killarney.

Organised by the Hindu Cultural Organisation in Kerry, the festival has been running in the county since 2001 and is the oldest of its kind in Ireland. The celebrations take place for five days each year and are honoured with music and dance, processions and prayer.

The Hindu Cultural Organisation committee describe this festival as an integral part of their devotions.

"The festival of Durga Puja (puja meaning prayer) celebrates Mother Durga, who reminds us to combat evil, to take care of each other and Mother Earth," they said.

"Durga reflects female might, positive energy and the triumph of good over evil. This Durga Puja is highly significant for female power. In Hinduism, respecting women and gender equality is very important. Women play significant roles in families, culture and society."

Durga Puja is an auspicious day for Hindu people and the festival, which is celebrated by Hindus worldwide, is the main religious festival for Bangladeshi Hindus.

This annual festival is open to all communities and the Killarney committee of the Irish Hindu Cultural Organisation extend a warm welcome to everyone to join in next year.
Ruairi Spillane pictured duringa recent trip home near his family home in Beaufort with Tomies Mountain in the background. He is pictured with nephews Fionn & Mally and niece Shae.

New figures released by the Central Statistics Office show that the number of immigrants to Ireland has increased in the past year while the number of emigrants has declined, and there's one Kerry man who was, once again, ahead of the rest in planning for these migrant numbers.

Ruairi Spillane is the founder of Moving2Canada, the website that has aided thousands over the last six years in making the move from Ireland to Canada, and he has just launched his new website Moving2Ireland. Home from Vancouver for a visit recently, he caught up with The Kerryman to tell readers about the years that have passed and how he feels about the latest CSO data.

Ruairi, originally from Beaufort, moved to Canada in February 2008 after missing out on the opportunity of a finance job for the same company in Dublin.

Although he had most of his arrangements organised for him by the company, he soon saw the challenges other Irish people around him were facing when they moved to Canada.

He realised there was a missing piece in all of this and, thus, an idea was born.

"Little did I know at the time, making that move would lead to this! I went for a job in finance in Dublin, I didn't end up getting it. But I got offered another position with the same company - with a slight difference. The company was Canadian, and the position brought me to Vancouver," Ruairi explained.

"Soon after I moved over, there was a steady stream of people emailing me asking the same things, asking for the same information about Canada and the move, and I soon realised there was no great resource out there for people.

"So, basically, reusable information was my business idea," he added.

In the seven years since its launch in 2011, the Moving2Canada.com website has a team of eight, six of whom are Irish, working on providing a community for those immigrating there.

On the website, people can find all things immigration, including job postings, getting-started guides, advice on getting a Visa and many articles and discussion forums.

The team's new initiative Moving2Ireland.com has just been launched with the same concept - a website and community designed to support the increasing levels of immigrants to Ireland, including Irish citizens who are returning home.

"The past few years have been mad! We're now at the stage where Moving2Canada gets 45,000 visits a month," he said.

"In 2016, we started thinking about making Moving2Ireland. I found a lot of the same candidates whom I helped with their move, they were considering moving back to Ireland."

Ruairi, who also has a recruitment agency in Canada focusing on the construction sector, has seen a great interest in this field now that the economy has improved in Ireland.

For anyone choosing to move to Ireland, or even those who are moving back, obstacles are plentiful, and they don't stop once two feet are on Irish soil.

"People don't know the full reality before moving back until they are thrown into it. People get lulled into a false sense of security because they may have been home already," Ruairi continued.

"There are few government reports for the challenges that exist. We can't remove the obstacles, but we're trying to aid people and prepare them for what lies ahead.

"People can often have a tunnel vision of unification with family and friends. Then you come back and face problems with logistical things.

"There are issues with mortgage, needing residency to get a mortgage. Social welfare, accessing third level education, obtaining an Irish driving license and car insurance can have strings attached. It's really an informational issue, but these things can be made easier with planning.

The CSO data shows that more than 80,000 immigrants came to Ireland last year, with 32 per cent of those being returning emigrants, which led to the need for a resource like Moving2Ireland.

"We aim to sort up to 80 per cent of minor information that people need before moving to Canada or to Ireland. We feel we've ticked a lot of boxes when it comes to content on the websites, but there's always things being added.

"I didn't expect what was shown in the CSO data to come to the fore so soon, but I was aware of the high level of immigrants to Ireland and the need for the government to act because I deal first-hand with these people.

Ruairi and the team base a lot of the website's content on a combination of their own experiences with moving; some Facebook and other online forums; and information from a Dublin-based NGO that they work closely with, CrossCare Migrant Project. The one thing they feel is missing is information and support from the government.

"The country is definitely not making it easy for people, especially young people to return to Ireland," he feels.

"Some people might come back and we realise they were just homesick and maybe they just needed a holiday, not to move back.

"What can really help make a difference is someone's attitude when moving away from Ireland or returning. You need to have a good attitude about it and be realistic.

"But, the government need to help people with facing challenges.

"It's obvious there needs to be something done to attract immigrants - we need to put more numbers behind actions."
A defendant in a drunken driving case in Listowel on Thursday had left the jurisdiction following the murder of his brother and another member of his family in Johannesburg, Judge David Waters heard.

Quentin Klopper, 2 Willow Court, Listowel, was convicted at the District Court on Thursday as gardai outlined how they had found him in an intoxicated state in a parked car with the ignition running on April 29 of last year.

Mr Klopper was not in court on Thursday, as it emerged he was now out of the jurisdiction amid uncertainty over the prospect of his imminent return.

Gardai informed the Court that they arrested Mr Klopper - following a call-out to the Baile O Dubhdha estate in Listowel on the night - outside his home in Willow Court.

Garda Padraig Ryan said his attention was drawn to an Audi A4 outside the home. "The lights were turned on and the ignition was running....I spoke to the male driver, in the driver's seat...I got a very strong smell of intoxicating liquor from his breath, and his speech was slurred," Gda Ryan explained.

He arrested Mr Klopper and took him to Listowel Garda Station, where a sample of urine he provided later returned a reading of 230 mg of alcohol per 100 mls of urine. Mr Klopper was convicted of the offence of drunken driving. Solicitor Pat Enright told the court that the defendant, who worked as a welder, was 'out of the jurisdiction' and was suffering through a devastating trauma: "His brother and another member of his family were murdered in Johannesburg."

Judge Waters put Mr Klopper off the road for three years.
One of the North Kerry's most important industries is taking part in a major trade fair in Paris as part of an Irish delegation seeking to drum up new business in Europe to offset the downturn projected under Brexit.

Listowel's Prestige Foods will be one of 35 Irish food companies at what is billed as the world's largest 'business-to-business' trade event this year.

It's never been more important for the Irish Prepared Consumer Foods (PCF) sector, at a time when its exposure to the British markets leaves it deeply vulnerable under the UK's exit from the EU. The sector increased 12 per cent on 2016 last year, but with the UK accounting for 62 per cent of its value there are deep concerns for the choppy waters ahead.

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Andrew Doyle, who is leading the delegation, said: "The record presence at SIAL shows the confidence of Irish food and drink companies in meeting the challenges of Brexit and the ever-changing requirements of the international marketplace. The fact that a third of those here are first-time exhibitors demonstrates clearly the strategy to shift away from reliance on one market, opening up opportunities in Europe.
'Mighty oaks from little acorns grow' is the phrase that springs to mind when listening to Tralee's Con Horgan speak about the upcoming National Circus Festival of Ireland extravaganza.

The festival, which will run in venues all around Tralee from November 8 to November 11, has was first set up in 2001 and, according to the festival founder, he said that the festival has been riding the crest of a wave for years now.

In these early days, Con said that by setting up the festival he simply wanted to bring together circus performers and groups from all over the country so that they could enjoy their shared passion together.

"We're going from strength to strength since it started, and it's been thriving. It's amazing to look back at these small beginnings and see how far we have come. It's a really exciting time for circus in Ireland," said Con, speaking to The Kerryman.

It certainly looks to be a jam-packed schedule of events over the four days as Con explains.

"We have a four-day circus convention with an acrobatic and aerial space; we have family friendly shows all weekend in Siamsa Tire with artists from all over the world; children's circus workshops on Saturday and Sunday; along with two parades through the town over the weekend as well," Con finished.

Con said that a special thanks must go to their sponsors, the Arts Council, Siamsa Tire, Failte Ireland, Tralee Chamber Alliance, IOMSP and Kerry County Council, whose support the festival would not be able to do without. For a full list of the weekend's activities, ticket prices and start times, head on over to the National Circus Festival of Ireland's website.
Richie Kelly presents 550 to Ann Somers for the Irish Cancer Society, while Stephen Walsh of River Search & Rescue receives 550 from Shawn Murray of Prenders Pub

New Ross man Richie Kelly endured a night to remember for local charities at Prendergast's pub in New Ross having had to wear a pair of pink hot pants and a Chelsea jersey on the night of the Champions League final.

Richie had a bet with pub owner Shawn Murray and lost. His forfeit was that he had to work behind the bar on the night of the Champions League final when his beloved Liverpool FC were lining out against Real Madrid.

Adding to his discomfort, Richie had to get into the Christmas spirit as the popular pub was having a Christmas night in May!

Shawn said: 'Richie doesn't like Christmas. He is the Grinch and we were having a Christmas theme night. Had to work on the night, wear a Chelsea jersey and a pair of pink hot pants. He wanted to raise money for Irish Cancer Society and the River Search & Rescue so he passed a bucket around.'

The pub also ran a table quiz and Prendergasts contributed to the pot.

Shawn said: 'We had lost loved ones to cancer, as has everyone. Richie said he'd never make a bet with me again, but it was all for a laugh and for a good cause.'
The South Kilkenny Historical Society's October 2018 lecture is called 'From Suffrage to Self-Government - the fight for Women's Rights and National Freedom' and takes place on Friday, October 26, at 8 p.m. in Mullinavat Parish Hall, opposite the church.

The speaker, Liz Gillis will discuss the momentous year that was 1918. A year when after decades of suffragette struggle, some women were permitted to vote in a British general election for the first time. In Ireland that election was the first to occur after the 1916 Rising and resultingly became a de facto referendum on the issue of Irish freedom.

Constance Markievicz was returned to Westminster as the first ever female member of parliament - a seat she refused take. Markievicz went on to become one of the first female government ministers in the world, in the first Dail Eireann.

But the stories of the many other women who fought for both Ireland's freedom and women's freedom are much less well-known. This lecture will highlight the roles that these trailblazers played in this critical period of our collective history and will draw on the contributions of local women.

Historian and author Liz Gillis is from the Liberties. She has a Degree in Irish History and currently works as a Researcher for the History Show on RTE Radio, and runs 'Revolution in Dublin Walking Tours'. This year Liz was a recipient of the Lord Mayor's Award for her contribution to history.

Admission is 5 and society members go free.
It's Assyria. With an A.

It was by a stroke of fate and a seating algorithm that on an EasyJet flight I met Nino.

Romi and I were on our return flight from London. While traveling in pairs is normally not an issue, on a plane with three-seat aisles, the third seat is left to chance. By the time it had been filled, I was half-asleep on Romi's shoulder, and she was studying for a Swedish language quiz she had the next morning.

"Sasa, what do you think, does 'lekplats' use 'en' or 'ett?'"

"Hmm?"

"En," our third-seat companion quipped.

Her name was Nino--short for Ninhursag. A small golden cross hung around her neck, a gold ring adorned her olive-skinned nose, smart glasses framed her eyes and curls of brown likewise framed her face. Romi was glad to have found a study partner who was awake.

I asked what brought her to London.

"An archeology conference at Cambridge." She pushed her purse underneath her seat. "I just finished my studies at Oxford last spring."

"Sorry--so would this," Romi pointed to her Swedish language book, "use 'ett?'"

"Yep. Whenever you see a word structure like this," Nino scribbled some marginalia on Romi's page, "it uses ett."

"Huh, archeology. Why did you choose to study that?" I thought back to my own archeological aspirations. I was eight and had gotten a dinosaur book for my birthday. I was thoroughly convinced that if I dug a hole deep enough in our backyard, I would find a T-Rex fossil. My archeological aspirations ended the same day my dad discovered the hole--I was grounded for a month.

Nino took a second to respond.

She loves stories. She sees storytelling as the purest form of human connection, an ancient tradition that dates back to the very beginning. The craft of molding a story to include yourself, she thinks, is an art in itself. Between high school and undergraduate studies, she studied the art of storytelling for a year, learning how to perform, dictate and entertain. Then, she traveled the world in pursuit of new tales to tell. When she found herself in Los Angeles, she joined the Street Poets, a non-profit, poetry-based, peacemaking organization dedicated to the creative process as a force for individual and community transformation. She learned to use poetry as a new means of storytelling. She taught workshops, wrote stories and performed them. That was the first part of her answer.

Second--she is Assyrian. "Not Syrian. With an 'A,' Assyrian." Her parents may have Syrian and Turkish passports, but that doesn't make them any less Assyrian.

Assyria does not exist on a modern map. In fact, it hasn't had formal borders for almost 2,000 years. Today, there are only two million people that identify as Assyrian around the world.

And yet, I knew of Assyria ... "Oh! There was a HONY [Humans of New York] on an Assyrian girl a couple of years ago!" I interrupted.

The girl that was featured spoke of the Assyrian culture as a "we" culture.

"We lean on our culture. We lean on our church. We lean on our language, which nobody else speaks. Everything is about the group ... Your relatives will remind you that you should be proud to be Assyrian. You'll be reminded that our people were slaughtered," the HONY feature reads.

"Yes!" Her face lit up. "That was incredible! My Assyrian friends and I were talking about it for months!"

The Assyrian people are diasporic people, forcibly scattered across the Middle East at the downfall of their empire. Their culture has survived to this day because of storytelling--stories told in their language, stories about their homeland, stories passed to their children. Despite their small numbers, or rather because of their small numbers, the Assyrians form close-knit communities in their adoptive countries. Nino was raised in such a community.

Nino explained how this upbringing was both a comfort and a burden. She learned to understand that the continuity of her culture depended on the resilience of the next generation. But as she grew older and entered the Swedish schooling system, she realized that she differed greatly from the ethnic Swede. She didn't have blonde hair or blue eyes. She had olive skin and brown curls.

"It wasn't until last year, really, that I was able to see myself as Swedish," she said.

The time she spent feeling lost in her twenties pushed her to travel.

"The last part of the Assyrian girl's quote was what really resonated with me. The girl had been traveling the world alone for several months before HONY interviewed her. When you grow up in a community like I did, to leave is an act of betrayal. And yet, stories say that Assyrians have been nomads for the last 2,000 years--on the move from country to country, waiting for a time to return home. We are a diaspora. I am a diaspora," she said. "Archeology is a way to reconcile with these stories, quite literally unearthing a narrative."

Romi had stopped studying. I was silent. Romi was born in Israel, and I was born in Serbia. As immigrants ourselves, both of us knew this feeling.

"Funnily enough, I have returned home."

The flight attendant's voice was announcing our descent into Stockholm.

We landed, and Nino had to leave in a hurry, because her father was waiting for her outside Customs to drive her home. We exchanged phone numbers, and she insisted that we drop her a line should we end up visiting her little hometown.

I hope to stay in touch with Nino. But even if we don't meet again in person, I look forward to seeing where her diasporic dust will settle.
Around 1905 people visited Duncannon Fort over the summer.

District manager Sinead Casey told a meeting of New Ross Municipal district council that the guided tours operated by Hook Tourism had a successful year. Events like Cruinniu na nOg, Art in the Open and RTE filming took place at the fort, which has been closed as a tourist attraction since 2014, over the summer.

Ms Casey said: 'The tours and fort received very good reviews on Tripadvisor.'

She said a public consultation process held at the fort in early October attracted a lot of interest, with 65 people attending.

The meeting was part of the ongoing feasibility study with FLAG funding.

Ms Casey said the number of visitors was down slightly on 2017 because the fort was open for a fortnight less.

She said a Celtic Routes project, which also aims to attract tourists to the area, is being advanced.

It aims to encourage visitors to explore new areas of Ireland and Wales en route to their final tourist destination.

Led by Carmarthenshire County Council, the project will focus on counties Wexford, Waterford and Wicklow and Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion in Wales.

Ms Casey said: 'It aims to transform less well-known areas from transit zones to new touring sites, increasing the time visitors spend in these regions and capitalising on the opportunities to boost local economies

The project will be developed through customer research, trade events and workshops, as well as cross border visits by businesses in Ireland and Wales to bring together expertise and ideas.
Two Co. Wexford schools are among the very first in Ireland to implement a new mental health programme which aims to address the stigma of suicide among young people.

Students from FCJ Secondary School in Bunclody and St Peter's College in Wexford town attended the launch of 'Headstrong' in association with Cycle Against Suicide. They joined other schools from across Ireland for the introduction of the new pilot programme which will be rolled out in selected schools over the coming months.

The new initiative is a partnership between Cycle Against Suicide and the Mental Health Commission of Canada and, at its core, it aims to reduce the painful stigma experienced by children and young people living with mental health problems and illnesses.

It will teach students how to reduce stigma, become mental health champions in their schools, and challenge them to examine the dangers of stereotypes and the harm created by stigma.

'It's a powerful, evidence based programme that has already won international awards, and with the help of the two schools in Co. Wexford, we're hoping that the pilot programme will be a huge success, with the aim of rolling out Headstrong across all Irish secondary schools within the coming years,' said Cycle Against Suicide CEO Caroline Lafferty.

'This is a core part of our mission in addressing mental health in younger people, which is currently at an alarming level in Ireland.'

To learn more about the Headstrong initiative and Cycle Against Suicide's other programmes, visit www.cycleagainstsuicide.com.
The Better Business Breakfast Group donated 500 to New Ross River Search & Rescue as their annual charity donation.

Group founder Angela Devereux said they decided that with the amount of local businesses coming to their meetings that they had a social responsibility to give back to the community.

'We picked a few charities which had to be from New Ross or district and we took a vote and decided New Ross River Search and Rescue would be our charity,' Angela said.

With numbers always increasing in the group, there was some extra money to use and to put to a great cause. 'I am really proud of the group and the response everyone had for this. We are looking forward to picking our charity for next year. If you are involved in a charity and would like to be considered or if you are a local business who would like to come to our meetings please contact us at bbbgnewross@gmail.com or give Angela a ring on 086 3019519.'

The next meeting is on November 1 in the Dunbrody cafe from 7:45 a.m. to 9 a.m. and the cost of entry is 10 which includes breakfast and tea or coffee. The guest speaker is Sinead Casey who will outline future plans for New Ross.
The fifth annual Blue Light Ball drew a crowd of over 240 people to what was a glamorous affair at the Talbot Hotel.

The event, which was revived in 2014, is held in aid of Wexford Hospice Homecare each year and has, over the past four years raised over 25,000 for the charity. Organiser Det Colm Dunne expects that the funds raised this year will be on a par with what came in last year.

The Ball was attended by members of the public as well members of Wexford's blue-light services. It was new Chief Superintendent's first big public event since taking up his position and he spoke about the amount of good work Wexford Gardai did that was never publicised.

Also in attendance was Garda Assistant Commissioner Fintan Fanning, Mayor Tony Dempsey, Minister Paul Kehoe,Superintendent Jim Doyle, and Chairman of Wexford Hospice Homecare, Eamon Mernagh.

Speaking at the event, Mr Mernagh thanked all in attendance for their support, pointing out that the cost of running the organisation was 750,000, 80% of which was fundraised locally.

Special congratulations were offered by Supt Doyle to Wexford garda Denis Costello, who had become a kettlebell world champion that day in Latvia.

Det Dunne expressed his gratitude to the event's main sponsors: Kerlogue Nursing Home, M and T Plant, Skytel, The Wexford People, and Think Print. He also thanked the many local businesses who had contributed to the running costs.

Next year's Ball will take place on October 4 in the Talbot.
The Council is considering making Abbey Street one-way and allowing cars to come back up JFK Parade and turn left onto Bridge Street in a bid to ease the traffic congestion in that part of the town.

Sinn Fein Councillor Chris MacManus asked Senior Council Engineer Briain Flynn if it would be possible to allow cars drive straight across from Abbey Street to Castle Street.

"People of the Lower East Ward have to take a very circuitous route to get to town," he told the meeting.

Flynn replied that they had in fact already removed signs banning traffic from cutting across to Castle Street from Abbey Street, but the Gardai and themselves "agree that it's not working."

He said that if one car is waiting to cut across traffic to Castle Street, "traffic backs up on Abbey Street" within seconds.

Flynn said the Council was looking at an alternative - to make Abbey Street one way and allow traffic exit from JFK onto Bridge Street and then turn right onto Castle Street. In order to plan for this, the Council will be taking some traffic measurements this year and will "explore that alternative in 2019".

The only streets to have footpaths replaced in 2019 will be Abbey Street, Holborn Street and Ard na Veigh.

"Abbey Street footpaths are woeful. We have one of our finest feature on Abbey Street and hundreds of tourists who visit. We're looking to make it more pleasurable to walk on," said Flynn.

Councillors were considering the draft Multi-Annual Restoration Improvement Programme which will see almost2.5million spent on roads from Strandhill to North Sligo between 2019-2021.

Every Councillor had a query regarding a piece of road but Mayor Cllr Rosaleen O'Grady said it was "custom and practice" that they accept what the Roads Department had suggested.
Sligo County Council is writing to two Government ministers calling for an inquiry into the Independent Review Panel of An Post which has rubber-stamped the closure of Ballinfull and Gurteen Post Offices.

Sinn Fein Councillor Thomas Healy won the unanimous support of all members of Sligo Municipal District when he tabled the motion.

He urged the Council to write to new Minister for Communications, Climate Action and the Environment Richard Bruton and Minister for Rural and Community Affairs Michael Ring.

Cllr Healy wants the criteria and timescale of the Review Panel and their decisions on both post offices to be analysed.

"The ordinary people don't believe in the Independent Review Panel," Cllr Healy said, adding that he was looking for the Department to "stand up for us."

"No rural area will get a post office with that criteria. The two ministers need to step up to the mark. Ballinfull and Gurteen are viable. A minister needs to intervene here," he said.

His party colleague Cllr Chris MacManus seconded the motion, who said "the whole shenanigan and decision being made before the closing date reinforces the view that the Independent Review Panel are rubber-stamping An Post's decision."

He said "somebody sat down and set out those parameters" that look like it's being done in a fair manner. "It's a rigged process. The community have been jumping through hoops and the people in An Post are tittering behind their hands," he said.

Independent Councillor Marie Casserly said it was "misleading and unfair to the community" and asked that their submissions be looked at.

Fine Gael Councillor Hubert Keaney said that this was a political decision which was "short-sighted" and he also claimed it was "rigged from the very beginning."

Cllr Keaney said if any community had the wherewithal they could legally challenge An Post because in his view, they "hadn't adhered to their own criteria" by deciding about Ballinfull on 24th September, long before the final deadline at the end of October.

"How can they decide five weeks before the closing date? It just stinks. It shows what we have at the top of some of our semi-state bodies, executives who are so full of themselves," he said.

Cllr Healy asked that they send a deputation to the Minister if they don't get the inquiry they're looking for.
Five Sligo based Gardai and a civilian have been honoured with bravery awards.

Four of the Gardai were hailed for rescuing a man whose house had gone on fire in Drumcliffe while the other Garda and a civilian were honured for rescuing a man who fell into the Garavogue River.

The Sligo group were amongst 21 individuals who were presented with National Gravery Awards by the Ceann Comhairle Sean O Fearghail last Friday at Friday's ceremony at Farmleigh House in the Phoenix Park, Dublin.

The annual honours are awarded by Comhairle na Mire Gaile - the Deeds of Bravery Council - which was founded in 1947 to enable State recognition of exceptional acts of courage. Certificates of Bravery were awarded to Sligo Gardai, Sergeant Thomas O'Griofa; Garda David Hannon; Garda Patrick Gallagher; Sgt. Gerard Mullaney; Garda Stephen Fahy and Adam McGoldrick.

At approximately 8:36 p.m. on 1st June, 2017, a report of a fire emanating from a house in Drumcliffe was received by Gardai.

On arrival at the scene Garda (since promoted to Sergeant)Thomas O'Griofa and Garda David Hannon entered the house and began to search through the smoke filled building. A man was located in the bedroom.

Garda Patrick Gallagher and Sergeant Gerard Mullaney also arrived at the scene. Garda Gallagher entered the house and assisted Garda O'Griofa in removing the man to safety.

He was confused and very groggy and unable to confirm whether or not there was anybody else in the house. Neighbours indicated that his mother may have been in the house.

Garda Gallagher and Sergeant Mullaney re-entered the house and carried out a full search which was difficult with the heavy smoke.

Fortunately, the search revealed that there was no other persons present in the house. An ambulance arrived at the scene and the man was treated by paramedics for smoke inhalation.

A second ambulance arrived at the scene and Gardai O'Griofa and Hannon were also treated for smoke inhalation.

For their actions Garda Thomas O'Griofa, Garda David Hannon, Garda Patrick Gallagher and Sergeant Gerard Mullaney were each awarded a Certificate of Bravery.

On 6th August, 2017 at 15:50 pm, whilst viewing CCTV footage in the Radio Communications Room at Sligo Garda Station, Gardai observed a man standing up on Hyde Bridge over the Garavogue River and then jumping in.

Gardai attended the scene within minutes. Garda Stephen Fahy and a member of the public, Adam McGoldrick, entered the river and retrieved the man.

Emergency Services personnel attended the scene. The man was non-compliant throughout and resisted any efforts at rescue. He was subsequently taken to Sligo General Hospital.

For their actions Garda Stephen Fahy and Adam McGoldrick were each awarded a Certificate of Bravery.

The Deeds of Bravery Council is chaired by the Ceann Comhairle and includes the Cathaoirleach of Seanad Eireann, the Lord Mayors of Dublin and Cork, the Garda Commissioner, the President of the Association of City & County Councils, and the Chairman of the Irish Red Cross.

"The presentation of the National Bravery Awards is an opportunity to celebrate the courage of ordinary people who risk their own safety to protect their fellow citizens," the Ceann Comhairle said.

"In a world often dominated by bad news, it is important to recognise the sacrifices made by good people, whose selflessness can serve to remind us of our duty of care to one another.

"It is an honour to present awards to 21 deserving recipients and I thank them for their courage."
There is no funding to make a road outside the Irish Wheelchair Centre at St Anne's wheelchair accessible.

Sinn Fein Councillor Chris MacManus asked the Council to make Gaol Road wheelchair accessible as safe access between the Irish Wheelchair Centre at St. Anne's and the Riverside is not currently possible.

Cllr MacManus said he saw a wheelchair user out in the middle of the road recently: "They had to take the middle of the road as the footpaths were not usable," he told the meeting last week.

He added that for a wheelchair user to have to take such a detour was "irksome."

Senior Executive Engineer Briain Flynn told members that to make Gaol Road wheelchair accessible, dropped kerbs would have to be built in six places, signs and poles would have to be moved and some sections of footpaths outside the Project School would have to be re-built.

This would cost an estimated 6,000 which they didn't have this year, but may consider it next year's works programme.

Cllr MacManus said he hoped discretionary repairs could be made to Gaol Road in 2019.
Helen Rochford Brennan is pictured at her conferring with Professor Eamon OShea and Professor Ciaran O hOgartaigh, President of NUI Galway

She has been described as a pioneering advocate for those with Alzheimer's and Helen Rochford Brennan's work has been recognised with the conferring of a honorary doctorate from NUIG.

And, the Tubbercurry native has vowed to fight for a dementia specific budget by the Government, saying she'd like this to be her legacy.

She was conferred with an Honorary Doctor of Laws at NUI Galway last Wednesday.

Helen said she was honoured, delighted and privileged to receive the award.

"I have thoroughly enjoyed taking part in advocacy work for people with dementia since my diagnosis in 2012 and I hope that this award will inspire others to also take up voluntary work and give back to their community. I am also hopeful that this award will inspire the Irish State to increase supports for people with dementia and their family carers across Ireland.

"I have loved everything about advocating for people with dementia - especially being involved with The Alzheimer Society of Ireland and Alzheimer Europe and I am very passionate about research.

"My advocacy work has given me a great focus and sense of purpose and has shown that people, despite their dementia diagnosis, can still live an active and varied life. I can honestly say that with supports I am living my life to the full, I am advocating to the best of my ability and through this work, I have gone to a place that I could never have dreamed of.

"Despite all of this, I am immensely disappointed to see that the Government is still refusing to put in adequate supports for people with dementia and their families in Ireland.

"There was no mention of dementia in the Government's Budget 2019.

"This was a huge blow to me as I know people are at breaking point. I would dearly love to see a dementia-specific budget so people with dementia and their family carers can have access to basic dementia services.

"I'm going to give everything in my power to make this a reality - I want a dementia-specific budget to be my legacy."

The Alzheimer Society of Ireland CEO Pat McLoughlin says it is delighted that Helen was awarded an honorary doctorate.

"Helen has encouraged the medical profession and community to look beyond the solely medical model of care for people with dementia and to focus on the person ever since her diagnosis with dementia at the age of 62 in 2012.

"Since her diagnosis, Helen has campaigned to raise awareness of dementia through a rights-based approach, speaking at international conferences, giving media interviews, engaging with scientists, clinicians, educators and research projects.

"Helen has written very personally about living with the Alzheimer's type of dementia and this year she has contributed to two books on human rights and she hopes her participation in research will one day help to find a cure and create a better quality of life for people living with dementia.

"Helen has been a human rights and social justice campaigner for people with dementia in Ireland, on the European stage and also internationally.

"Helen really has made an immeasurable difference to people's lives and has been so open and honest about her own experiences of living with dementia since 2012.

"Helen has been a pioneer and has blazed a trail for dementia advocacy and has spoken at conferences where people with dementia have not been heard before such as her speaking engagement in Hungary last week. Helen has been hugely successful and influential - she has met queens, ministers, TDs, heads of state, diplomats to name but a few. Helen's advocacy work just shows you what a difference one person can make in the world.

"Helen is an absolute inspiration to us all and has been a tireless campaigner for people with dementia over the years whether it's at national or international speaking events, conferences, media engagements and much more. We are all so proud of Helen for getting this special recognition from NUIG. It is truly deserved."

Helen is the current Chairperson of the European Working Group of People with Dementia and is the group's nominee to the Board of Alzheimer Europe; she is former Chair of the Irish Dementia Working Group and continues to sit on the steering committee.

Helen is on the Monitoring Committee of Ireland's first National Dementia Strategy, she is also an (Alzheimer type) Dementia Consultant and a Global Dementia Ambassador.

 The number of people with dementia in Ireland is expected to more than double over the next 20 years, from 55,000 today to 113,000 in 2036.

 Dementia is an umbrella term used to describe a range of conditions which cause changes and damage to the brain.

 Dementia is progressive. There is currently no cure.

Dementia is not simply a health issue but a social issue that requires a community response.

 The majority of people with dementia (63%) live at home in the community. Over 180,000 people in Ireland are currently or have been carers for a family member or partner with dementia with many more providing support and care in other ways.

 Each year over 4,000 people develop dementia. That's at least 11 people every day and anyone can get dementia - even people in their 30s/40s/50s.

 1 in 10 people diagnosed with dementia in Ireland is under 65.

 The overall cost of dementia care in Ireland is just over 1.69 billion per annum; 48% of this is attributable to family care; 43% is accounted for by residential care; formal health and social care services contribute only 9% to the total cost
The Assyrian Women Traders of Ancient Anatolia

Demiroren News Agency

Historic documents unearthed during excavations in Anatolia's oldest international trade center, Assyrian Trade colony Kanis-Karum, have revealed that women made commercial deals and impressed their seal 4,000 years ago.

Programmatic and systematic excavations began in 1948 at the Kultepe ruins, the remnants of the first city founded by the Hittites in Anatolia, which are 24 kilometers away from the center and surrounded by Karum.

Cuneiform tablets from 4,000 ago show the role of women in social life in Anatolia. The first programed and systematic excavations in Kultepe, which is 24 kilometers into the highway between the Central Anatolian provinces of Kayseri-Sivas, started in 1948.

An important name in Anatolian archeology, Tahsin Ozguc headed the excavations for 55 years until his death in 2005.

Excavations at Kultepe are now headed by Fikri Kulakoglu, a professor of Ankara University's archaeology department.

So far 23,500 cuneiform tablets have been unearthed in the field along with 20,000 archaeological findings. This year's works, which started on June 26 and ended last month, uncovered 76 artifacts, including two tablets and the corners of administrative structures which were built 4,000-4,500 years ago.

Kulakoglu, in his article in the Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality's magazine "Sehir," says the cuneiform tablets shed light on the social life of Anatolian locals.

"In this age, equality between women and men constituted the essence of social life. Women found a place in this system of business and management. For example, the queen was the head of the state. Marriage and divorce agreements, proving the equality between men and women, were arranged on a mutual agreement basis. Married women made a deal on their names and impressed their seals on it. Many debt certificates were sealed by husband and wife. Whether married or single, women were involved in contractual and legal work," he wrote.

First organized trade center

The center of the large trade colonies, established by the Assyrians, was Karum in Kultepe. The first written tablets in Anatolia were found in Kultepe, the first organized trade center in the world.

Among these Assyrian cuneiform tablets were letters, bills, seals and treaty texts revealing the political and legal relations of the traders, people, and rulers of the time.

Kultepe, which had a strategic importance on the trade route, has maintained this feature for hundreds of years.

Since this trade movement that started in Kultepe, Kayseri has been one of the most active trade cities in Turkey.

Kulakoglu said the important position of women in Anatolia 4,000 years ago were revealed in cuneiform tablets and seals.

"Kultepe tablets clearly reveal the position and tasks of women both in family and economic activities 4,000 years ago in Anatolia and Mesopotamia. There are various texts revealing that women ruled the state with the kings," Kulakoglu added.

"The marriage and divorce documents we have also show that women and men had the equal rights in Anatolia. The Assyrians could marry native women of Anatolia. In this case they were forbidden to marry a second wife. However, it is noted that they may have had temporary marriages with women in Assyria. The equality between women and men in legal terms was already more apparent among Anatolian people," he said.
Fianna Fails Marc MacSharry says it wasnt a case of political expediency, strategy or religion that has made him decide to do a u-turn and not support the abortion legislation going through the Dail this week.

Deputy MacSharry told The Sligo Champion that while he said initially he would back the Bill, having considered it carefully over the past number of weeks he has decided he cannot give it his support.

It was an immensely personal issue he said and he just could not bring himself to vote for it. He said he did not set out to upset anyone.

He claimed in the Dail that abortion would become a contraceptive method being pushed by men and not women.

He said he was talking exclusively about men and that they would be applying pressure after the fact.

I fear that this will become the contraceptive of choice for people down the line; not today, next week or even next year, but in time, he told the Dail.

He added: Abortion will become something that is the norm rather than for the hard cases. That is a concern for me.

He later told the Irish Independent: There have been about eight million abortions in the UK since the 1967 abortion law was enacted.

And I suppose I have difficulty that these are all hard cases, he said.

It could be half a million (abortions) in Ireland over 40 years.

And its men Im talking about, opposed to taking the appropriate precautions for contraception.

The Sligo/Leitrim Deputys stance has drawn much criticism with Health Minister Simon Harris describing the comments as horrific and bizarre.

Deputy MacSharry told The Sligo Champion that he understood he had annoyed a lot of people but that he didnt set out to upset anyone.

One of the leading campaigners on the Yes side in the recent referendum, Bernie Linnane from Dromahair said: Last May, following the referendum result, Sligo/Leitrim TD Marc MacSharry, told his constituents

I have no difficulty separating my personal view from my legislative responsibilities and as such I will be supporting the legislation when it comes before us.

In the Dail chamber Deputy MacSharry informed us that he would now not be supporting the legislation.

Im sure such a man of conscience can see that, as he is unable to fulfil the responsibilities he himself outlined, the only honourable course of action is for him to resign his seat. The people of Sligo/Leitrim voted Yes by a large majority.

Deputy MacSharry will not face any action by his party leader Micheal Martin on the issue as theres a free vote on the issue.

The constituencys other three TDs, Deputy Tony McLoughlin (FG), Deputy Eamon Scanlon (FF) and Sine Feins Martin Kenny have all said they will support the legislation.
Recruitment of 350 workers for eir's new customer centre at the old Telecom Eireann building at Rathedmond will be begin tomorrow.

An open day at The Sligo park Hotel will be held to start filling the roles which will be mainly in customer services and are part of eir's overall programme to bring all customer-facing functions back in-house.

Eir announced last week it is to create 750 jobs in Sligo, Cork and Limerick six months after it cut the same number of jobs as part of a voluntary redundancy programme.

Eir says 350 of the new positions will be at a new state-of-the-art facility at Rathedmond

According to eir, the goal of the programme is "to deliver a higher quality of service for customers and greater levels of ownership and responsibility for eir employees."

CEO Carolan Lennon said eir had ended its contract with HCL because it had changed its strategy and basically wants people delivering to customers to work for eir.

Eir was acquired 12 months ago by a consortium led by the French telecoms billionaire, Xavier Niel.

News of the jobs has been given a broad welcome locally.

Fine Gael TD and Assistant Government Whip, Tony McLoughlin, said that the announcement was yet further evidence that a strong skill based regional jobs recovery was currently underway in Sligo and the North West.

"This announcement by Eir follows the 100 research jobs announced by Overstock INC last week and it is greatly welcomed.

"Since January 2018, with this jobs announcement today, 1150 new jobs have been created in Sligo by the IDA, Enterprise Ireland and private companies.

"Companies such as Eir, Abtran, Phibro, E3 Retail, Live Tiles and Abbott Ireland have all chosen Sligo for investment and this is a major boost for our town and the region in general and this illuminates the quality we have on offer in Sligo and the attractiveness for investment on offer.

"As a TD who on a weekly basis raised the issue of job creation for Sligo the Dail and who banged on the table about the lack of delivery in the past, I am delighted with today's news and I fully expect there to be even more jobs announcements for Sligo and the region in the coming months and years"

"With 1150 new jobs created, it is clear to see that we have turned a corner in Sligo with regards to job creation and the future is bright under a Fine Gael led Government and this is nothing more than what we deserve in this region" concluded McLoughlin.

The Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council Councillor Martin Baker said: 'This latest news is another boost for the local economy, and I would like to commend everyone involved in delivering on this initiative.

Sligo County Council will continue to work with the IDA, Sligo Chamber and other key agencies to Sligo continues so grow and develop as the economic hub of the Northwest.'
Ethiopian lawmakers unanimously elected the country's first female president on Thursday, days after approving one of the world's few "gender-balanced" cabinets as the country's dramatic reforms continue.

As seasoned diplomat Sahle-Work Zewde assumed the largely ceremonial post, many celebrated Africa's only current female head of state. The continent's first female president, Liberia's Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, left office this year.

"Congratulations, Madam President! Women do make a difference. We are proud of you!" the female president of the United Nations General Assembly, Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces, said in a Twitter post.

"In a patriarchal society such as ours, the appointment of a female head of state not only sets the standard for the future but also normalises women as decision-makers in public life," the chief of staff for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on Twitter.

The East African country long has shown some of the lowest indicators of gender equality in sub-Saharan Africa, UN Women has said. "Women and girls in Ethiopia are strongly disadvantaged compared to boys and men in several areas, including literacy, health, livelihoods and basic human rights." Female genital mutilation continues in some areas despite the government declaring it illegal.

But the new prime minister has clearly decided to include women's leadership in the sweeping political and economic reforms he has announced in Africa's second most populous country since taking office in April.

Ethiopian lawmakers last week approved a cabinet with women making up a record 50pc of ministers, including the country's first female defence minister. Likely inspired, Rwanda two days later announced its own cabinet with 50pc women.
When Sahle-Work Zewde made history this week with her appointment as Ethiopia's first female president, she had a message for the parliamentarians listening to her acceptance speech.

It was an address studded with several references to equality and the empowerment of women. "If you thought I spoke a lot about women already," she told parliament, "know that I am just getting started."

The appointment of Sahle-Work, a veteran diplomat who has served in several UN posts, means she will be the only serving female head of state in Africa. Namibia's prime minister, Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila, is the only female head of government on the continent.

Africa has had four female presidents, beginning with former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf who was the world's first elected black female president and Africa's first elected female head of state in 2005. Joyce Banda was sworn in as president of Malawi in 2012 after the incumbent died while in office.

Three years later, Ameenah Gurib-Fakim became president of Mauritius but was forced to stand down earlier this year over allegations of financial impropriety. In 2012, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, then South Africa's home affairs minister, was elected the first female chair of the African Union.

Sahle-Work's appointment comes a week after Ethiopia Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed packed half of his new cabinet with women, including the country's first ever female defence minister. Never before have Ethiopian women held so many high-ranking government posts, in addition to almost 40pc of seats in parliament.

Though largely ceremonial, Sahle-Work's role as president carries a symbolic weight beyond Ethiopia's borders. "In a patriarchal society such as ours, the appointment of a female head of state not only sets the standard for the future but also normalises women as decision makers in public life," Fitsum Arega, the prime minister's chief of staff, wrote on Twitter.

But beyond the changes within the corridors of power in the capital Addis Ababa, gender disparities remain stark in Africa's second most populous country. Last year Ethiopia, which is a key programme country for Irish Aid, the Government's overseas development programme, ranked 121 out of 160 countries on a UN gender equality index based on social, health and political measures.

Child marriage is still common, with 58pc of women marrying before they turn 18. Female genital mutilation (FGM) remains widespread, with 74pc of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years being subjected to FGM, according to Unicef.

After taking her oath this week, Sahle-Work spoke of the role of women in tackling the country's challenges. "If the reforms we have started are led in equal measure by both men and women, the country will soon forget poverty and backwardness and move toward prosperity," she said, adding that Ethiopians need to "build a society that rejects the oppression of women".

Changes are also afoot in neighbouring Rwanda, where president Paul Kagame announced that women would comprise half of the country's new cabinet. Rwanda's new ministers of trade and economic planning are women. Kagame said that increasing the number of women ministers would improve the effectiveness of the cabinet. He also noted that "a higher number of women in decision-making roles have led to a decrease in gender discrimination and gender-based crimes".

Last month, Mali's president announced a new cabinet that is 30pc female, including in key posts like foreign minister. In Nigeria, one (male) presidential contender in the country's forthcoming election has vowed to give 40pc of cabinet posts to women and youth.

While the appointment of Sahle-Work and the growing number of women serving as government ministers across the continent is helping change the face of African politics, academics point out that there is still some way to go in terms of acceptance at the ballot box. Out of the nine female heads of state and government that Africa has had so far, only two had an electoral mandate to lead their countries. Malawi's Joyce Banda, for example, later failed to win presidential elections.

Gender quotas have been key to boosting female political representation in several countries across the continent. Rwanda has been a pioneer in this respect, with women making up 63pc of its parliament's lower house - the highest in the world. Gender quotas have also been introduced in Burundi, Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Eritrea.
Police officers are seen outside the gate of a kindergarten where a woman armed with a kitchen knife attacked children in Chongqing, China. Photo: Reuters

A knife-wielding assailant injured 14 children at a kindergarten in the western Chinese city of Chongqing yesterday, police reported.

The attacker, a 39-year-old woman, was taken into custody and no motive for the assault was given.

Police said the attack at the Xinshiji Kindergarten in the city's outskirts took place at 9.30am as the children were returning to classes.

It said all were receiving treatment in a hospital.

Footage on social media showed injured children walking to ambulances from the school gate, with some being placed on gurneys.

China has suffered a number of such incidents in recent years, blamed largely on the mentally ill or people bearing grudges. Chinese law restricts the sale and possession of firearms, and mass attacks are generally carried out with knives or homemade explosives.
Several people were shot at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburghs Squirrel Hill neighbourhood (Alexandra Wimley/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP)

A gunman has killed at 11 people after opening fire during a baby naming ceremony at a Pittsburgh synagogue.

At least six others were wounded, including four police officers who rushed to the scene.

Police said a suspect was in custody after the attack at the Tree of Life Congregation in the Squirrel Hill neighbourhood.

A law enforcement official identified the suspect as Robert Bowers and said he is in his 40s.

City officials said the shooting was being investigated as a federal hate crime.

It comes amid a raft of high-profile attacks in an increasingly divided country, including the series of pipe bombs mailed over the past week to prominent Democrats and former officials.

The shooting also immediately reignited the longstanding national debate about guns with President Donald Trump saying synagogues and churches should have armed guards, while Pennsylvanias Democratic governor said dangerous weapons are putting our citizens in harms way.

Wendell Hissrich, Pittsburgh public safety director, said: It is a very horrific crime scene. It was one of the worst that Ive seen. It is very bad.

The attack took place during a baby naming ceremony, according to Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro.

It was unknown whether the baby was harmed in the attack.

The synagogue is located at the intersection of Wilkins and Shady avenues. The tree-lined residential area, about 10 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh, is the hub of Pittsburghs Jewish community.

Before the suspect was taken into custody, the neighbourhood and all synagogues in the city were in a lockdown with people ordered to remain indoors.

Mr Trump called the shooting far more devastating than anyone thought, saying: Its a terrible thing whats going on with hate in our country.

He also said the outcome might have been different if the synagogue had some kind of protection from an armed guard and suggested that might be a good idea for all churches and synagogues.

Governor Tom Wolf called the shooting an absolute tragedy in a statement that made reference to calls for tighter gun control laws.

We must all pray and hope for no more loss of life, he said.

But we have been saying this one is too many for far too long. Dangerous weapons are putting our citizens in harms way.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was heartbroken and appalled by the attack.

The entire people of Israel grieve with the families of the dead, he said.

We stand together with the Jewish community of Pittsburgh. We stand together with the American people in the face of this horrendous anti-Semitic brutality. And we all pray for the speedy recovery of the wounded.

World Jewish Congress President Ronald S Lauder called the shooting an attack not just on the Jewish community, but on America as a whole.

The synagogue is a fortress-like concrete building, its facade punctuated by rows of swirling, modernistic stained-glass windows illustrating the story of creation, the acceptance of Gods law, the life cycle and how human-beings should care for the earth and one another, according to its website.

Among its treasures is a Holocaust Torah rescued from Czechoslovakia.

Expand Close The Tree of Life synagogue on Wildins Avenue in the Squirrel Hill neighbourhood (Pam Panchak/Post-Gazette via AP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp The Tree of Life synagogue on Wildins Avenue in the Squirrel Hill neighbourhood (Pam Panchak/Post-Gazette via AP)

Its sanctuary can hold up to 1,250 guests.

Michael Eisenberg, the immediate past president of the Tree of Life Synagogue, lives about a block from the building.

He was getting ready for services when he received a phone call from a member who works with Pittsburghs Emergency Services, saying he had been notified through scanner and other communications there was an active shooter at their synagogue.

I ran out of the house without changing and I saw the street blocked with police cars, he said.

It was a surreal scene. And someone yelled Get out of here. I realised it was a police officer along the side of the house.

I am sure I know all of the people, all of the fatalities. I am just waiting to see.

Families of shooting victims can call 412-432-4400 for news of their loved ones. A Victims Assistance Center has been set up at Chatham University, Berry Hall, 106 Berry Street.  Pittsburgh Public Safety (@PghPublicSafety) October 27, 2018

He said officials at the synagogue had not received any threats he knew of prior to the shooting.

The synagogue maintenance employees had recently checked all of the emergency exits and doors to make sure they were cleared and working.

He added: I spoke to a maintenance person who was in the building and heard the shots. He was able to escape through one of the side exit doors we had made sure was functioning.

Jeff Finkelstein of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh said local synagogues have done lots of training on things like active shooters, and weve looked at hardening facilities as much as possible.

This should not be happening, period, he told reporters at the scene. This should not be happening in a synagogue.

Expand Close Michael Eisenberg a few blocks from the Tree of Life Synagogue (Gene Puskar/AP) / Facebook

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Just three days before the shooting, Rabbi Jeffrey Myers posted a column on the congregations website, noting people make time to attend funerals, but not for lifes happy occasions.

There is a story told in the Talmud of a wedding procession and a funeral procession heading along parallel roads, with the roads intersecting, Mr Myers wrote on Wednesday.

The question asked is: when they meet at the fork, which procession goes first, funeral or wedding? The correct answer is wedding, as the joy of the couple takes precedence. In fact, the funeral procession is to move out of sight so that their joy is not lessened.

He ended the column with words that now seem all too prescient.

We value joy so much in Judaism that upon taking our leave from a funeral or a shiva house, the customary statement one makes (in Yiddish) is nor oyf simches  only for smachot, he wrote.

While death is inevitable and a part of life, we still take our leave with the best possible blessing, to meet at joyous events. And so I say to you: nor oyf simches!
Salisbury Cathedral where a 45-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of attempted theft of the Magna Carta. Photo credit: Ben Birchall/PA Wire

A 45-year-old man has been arrested for attempting to steal the Magna Carta from Salisbury Cathedral in England.

The alarms at the Wiltshire cathedral were sounded when a man smashed the glass box surrounding the original 1215 document. It is understood the man was a visitor and used a hammer to try to break the protective case to get his hands on the historic deed.

A witness said she was walking past the cathedral as the alarms went off, which prompted an evacuation. Seconds later, she saw a man get apprehended.

She told the 'Salisbury Journal': "It looked like some men play-fighting but as they got through the gates I saw a hammer drop to the floor and one of the men kicked it into the road whilst another man held on to him.

"They then held onto him with hands behind his back whilst they picked up the hammer."

A police spokeswoman told 'The Telegraph': "A 45-year-old man is in custody this morning arrested on suspicion of attempted theft of the Magna Carta.

"Alarms were activated at Salisbury Cathedral after an attempt was made to smash the glass box surrounding the Magna Carta. Staff were alerted and police were called.

"A man matching the description given by witnesses was arrested on suspicion of attempted theft, possession of an offensive weapon and criminal damage, and has been taken to Melksham custody for questioning where he remains.

"The Magna Carta has not been damaged and nobody was injured in the incident."

The document has been removed from public display after the incident. ( Daily Telegraph London)
It was well-flagged that once Italy formally submitted its draft budget on Monday that the EU would make the unprecedented step of requesting a reworked version within three weeks.

Italy had let it be known it was targeting a budget deficit of 2.4pc, more than the previously agreed figure of 1.6pc and outside the EU's fiscal guidelines. There's no surprise either that Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has refused to back down "even one millimetre" from the draft.

The face-off between Italy and the EU has been branded an 'arm wrestle with Brussels'. This plays to Salvini's hardman image, but it's more like a game of economic Jenga; a game that could ultimately bring the world's economy crashing down around our ears.

The EU's tactics are clear, it will employ the same methods it did against Greece, which is to stare down the government until the markets' reaction forced the government into a retreat, while at the same time hoping to avoid contagion to the EU's fragile recovery.

EU Commission President Jean-Claude Junker indicated this a couple of weeks ago when Italy first announced its plans to overspend and likened Italy to Greece stating, "We have to do everything to avoid a new Greece - this time an Italy - crisis".

That sent the Italian 'spread', the difference between 10-year Italian bonds and risk-free German bonds, soaring to four-and-a-half year high of 3.4pc, with Moody's subsequently downgrading Italian credit rating to one level above junk, albeit with a stable outlook.

If the message was a short sharp shock to Rome, it wasn't heeded, and it has gone ahead with its budget as planned.

The markets again reacted once the draft budget was submitted on Monday, but the effect has not been as dramatic as it could have been, with a rally that left the spread at 3.03pc.

The EU might try to treat Italy like Greece, but the truth is, Italy is not Greece. It is potentially a bigger problem, but it is also the 3rd largest economy in the eurozone and its fourth largest exporter. Debt is at 132pc of GDP and the country's banks are too big and too indebted for Germany to bail out, even if they had an appetite to do so. Angela Merkel is not as strong as she was and has her own fires to put out at home.

This is one major headache that the EU really could do without in the middle of very messy divorce negotiations with Britain and Salvini knows it. However, we saw in Ireland and with Greece that when it comes to fiscal matters, the EU has a will of iron and is not for turning, it will do everything it can to turn the screw on the populist government and turn the people against it.

The seemingly irrepressible Silvio Berlusconi was eventually undone by the 'spread' reaching 7pc, forcing him to stand down and hand the reigns of power to autocrat Mario Monti, and the EU will be hoping for more of the same.

While the populist government, and particularly Salvini, is enjoying high approval ratings now, there is no will among the Italian people to leave the euro and return to the lira. Italian's personal savings remain high and that will ensure they remain committed. Both Salvini and Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio have declared their intentions not to leave the euro, but we've seen them talk out both sides of their mouths also, as they previously committed to towing the line on spending in Europe.

The proposed budget deficit of 2.4pc is high, but Rome has pledged to rein in spending to a 2pc deficit in 2020. "As stated on several occasions, the budget manoeuvre that this government is preparing to launch is brave and responsible, focusing on the growth and well-being of citizens," the Italian Finance Minister Giovanni Tria wrote in a letter to EU officials before the formal submission.

Part of this proposed 2020 fiscal correction is dependent on a proposed plan to slash defence spending by half a billion next year, a move that will not impress Brussels either. Especially as Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte made a visit to Moscow last week to fawn all over Vladimir Putin and once again call for an end to sanctions. Russia is an important trading partner of Italy and sanctions have disproportionately hurt the Italian economy.

The Italian economy has remained stagnant for over a decade, a whole generation of Italians have faced emigration or remain in poverty with no prospect of a career or owning their own home. Austerity was the condition that incubated the rise of the League and the Five Star Movement and Italians are weary of enforced fiscal responsibility when what they crave is growth.

Rome will continue to paint the EU as the enemy of the people, however, it is somewhat inconvenient for Salvini that three of the EU's top six officials are Italian. Mario Draghi is ECB president, Antonio Tajani is president of the European Parliament and Federica Mogherini is the EU's foreign policy chief.

The EU will most likely wheel out the Italians to face the Italians in this game of Jenga that gets more precarious by the day.
Saudi Arabia's top diplomat says the global outcry over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi has become "hysterical", while vowing that the kingdom is determined to bring the perpetrators to justice.

"This issue has become fairly hysterical," Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said.

He added that he thinks people have assigned blame to Saudi Arabia with certainty before the investigation is complete.

Mr Al-Jubeir was answering questions from Western journalists at a high-level forum in Bahrain.

He says the kingdom has made it "very clear that those responsible will be held responsible".

Mr Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi crown prince, was killed by Saudi agents at the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul on October 2.
TURKISH President Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday ridiculed Saudi Arabia's "childish" explanations for Jamal Khashoggi's death as he demanded to know where the journalist's body was hidden and who gave the order to kill him.

Mr Khashoggi's fiancee also gave her first interview since the 'Washington Post' columnist's death was confirmed, saying he had been concerned about visiting the Saudi consulate but did not think there was any danger of being kidnapped.

In his second speech on the subject this week, Mr Erdogan continued to put pressure on the kingdom over its constantly changing story of how the 'Washington Post' columnist died on October 2.

Saudi Arabia initially said that Mr Khashoggi walked out of the consulate safely, then said that he was killed accidentally in a fist fight, before announcing on Thursday that Saudi operatives had a "premeditated" plan to kill him.

"These childish explanations are not compatible with the seriousness of a state," Mr Erdogan said.

Mr Erdogan expressed disbelief that Saudi authorities had not been able to find out where Mr Khashoggi's body was.

"You know how to make people talk," he said.

"If you cannot make them talk then hand them over to us."

He repeated his demand that the 18 Saudi men arrested for Mr Khashoggi's death be extradited to Turkey to face trial.

Saudi Arabia has said they will be tried in Saudi courts.

"Who gave this order?" Mr Erdogan asked. "Who gave the order for 15 people to come to Turkey?"

Mr Erdogan also said the Saudi chief prosecutor will come to Turkey tomorrow to meet with Turkish officials about the investigation.

He indicated that Turkey has more evidence about the killing that it could release at a later date.

The Turkish president's tone indicates he does not intend to allow the matter of Mr Khashoggi's death to quietly fade away, nor does he plan to help Saudi Arabia move away from the glaring international spotlight that the case has focused on the kingdom.

Hatice Cengiz, Mr Khashoggi's fiancee, told Haberturk television that Mr Khashoggi was concerned that his application for a divorce certificate might be rejected or that there might be "tension" with Saudi staff in the consulate.

But she said he felt Turkey was "a powerful country" and that Saudi Arabia would not dare to do anything against him on Turkish soil.

"We thought we would set the date of the wedding after dinner," she said. "This was part of the dream."

Meanwhile, Austria proposed that all EU nations stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia in response to Mr Khashoggi's death, which has put Saudi Arabia under an intense international spotlight

Germany has already announced a halt in arms sales.

The German economy minister, Peter Altmaier, expressed support for the Austrian proposal.

Britain and France both sell large quantities of weapons to Saudi Arabia and are likely to be wary of any proposal that could damage their defence industries.

Donald Trump, the US president, has also expressed his unwillingness to cancel arms deals worth billions of dollars to the American economy.

While Western countries have expressed scepticism of the Saudi explanations, Russia has kept up a steady drumbeat of support for Riyadh.

"There is an official statement by the king, a statement by the crown prince.

"Essentially, nobody should have any reason not to believe it," Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said yesterday.
Robert Durst, the New York property heir who was the subject of a major TV documentary series, has been ordered to stand trial for the murder of a close friend in Los Angeles 18 years ago.

A judge ruled there is enough evidence to try the eccentric 75-year-old multimillionaire for the point-blank shooting of Susan Berman at her home. He has pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors say Mr Durst killed Ms Berman, a friend from college and the daughter of a Las Vegas mobster, to keep her from telling police what she knew about his wife's 1982 disappearance in New York.

Kathleen Durst has been missing for more than 35 years and is presumed dead.

Mr Durst, who has never been charged with a crime related to his wife's disappearance, has denied killing either woman. He remains jailed without bail and was ordered back to court on November 8 for arraignment.

The murder charge against him includes the special circumstance allegations of lying in wait and killing a witness to a crime. There is also an allegation that he personally used a handgun to carry out the murder.

At the end of the preliminary proceedings that were continued over several months, Mr Durst's lawyer, David Chesnoff, argued there was no hard evidence - such as DNA, fingerprints or witnesses -linking him to Ms Berman's killing.

Mr Durst was arrested in New Orleans in March 2015, hours before the airing of the final episode of HBO's 'The Jinx: The Life And Deaths Of Robert Durst'.

The documentary examined the disappearance of his wife, and the killings of Ms Berman and a Texas neighbour, Morris Black, in 2001.

A jury acquitted him of Mr Black's murder after finding the killing was in self-defence.

The HBO series created a sensation after Mr Durst was heard during the finale muttering to himself on a live microphone: "You're caught! What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course."

After Kathleen Durst vanished, Berman served as Robert Durst's unofficial spokeswoman. But prosecutors and witnesses in a series of earlier hearings said she did much more.

Ms Berman told friends over the years that Durst acknowledged killing his wife and said she helped him cover his tracks.

Prosecutors hope to use those hearsay statements at trial, which defence attorneys have vigorously challenged.

Ms Berman told one friend who testified at an earlier hearing that if anything happened to her, Durst would be the culprit. ( Daily Telegraph London)
Bomb scare: Police on the scene where a suspicious package was found in New York yesterday. Photo: Getty Images

A fervent Donald Trump supporter was identified last night as the suspect in a nationwide mail-bomb scare targeting prominent critics of the American president.

Cesar Sayoc (56), a former body builder with a string of criminal convictions, was arrested yesterday as the number of explosive devices uncovered widened to 13.

Mr Trump vowed "swift and certain justice" as he condemned the attempted "terrorising attacks" and praised the "incredible" work of the country's law enforcement agencies.

Mr Sayoc, of Aventura, Florida, was arrested at an auto parts store in the nearby city of Plantation, around 50km north of Miami, and charged with five crimes, including the illegal mailing of explosives.

Christopher Wray, the FBI director, said Mr Sayoc's fingerprint was found on one of the devices addressed to Congresswoman Maxine Waters.

Mr Sayoc is a registered Republican who has been linked to social media accounts containing messages supporting Mr Trump and promoting conspiracy theories about George Soros, the billionaire political donor who was first to be targeted with a parcel bomb this week.

Mr Sayoc's white van, which was seized by the authorities, was plastered in images of Mr Trump, along with a "CNN Sucks" sign and a photo of Hillary Clinton with a bullseye superimposed on her face.

Mr Sayoc, who was born in New York, once served a stint on probation for making a bomb threat, court records show.

Last night Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, said a conviction over the attempted attacks could result in up to 58 years in prison.

Detectives were still uncovering new potentially explosive devices last night as it emerged that two packages addressed to a Democrat senator and a prominent donor were found in California.

The nationwide manhunt began earlier this week after a series of explosive devices addressed to leading Democrats including former president Barack Obama, former vice president Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton were discovered. The cable news network CNN and prominent critics of Mr Trump, including the actor Robert De Niro, were also targeted.

Speaking from the White House yesterday Mr Trump said: "These terrorising acts are despicable and have no place in our country.

"We must never allow political violence to take root in America." He called for Americans to "unify", saying: "We are united together in love and peace as fellow citizens".

However, he went on to hit out at the level of negative coverage he receives in the media. As he spoke, chants of "CNN sucks" and "fake news" could be heard from the audience, who were attending a young black leadership event.

The bombs seized on Wednesday were about 15cm long and each contained a small battery and was packed with powder and broken glass.

Yesterday, a device addressed to Democrat senator Cory Booker, a potential future presidential candidate, was found at a mail depot in southern Florida, where many of the packages are reported to have originated.

Shortly afterwards, a device bearing the name of James Clapper, the former director of National Intelligence, and addressed to CNN's newsroom was found at a Manhattan postal centre. Mr Clapper occasionally contributes to the cable news network.

Officials said all the packages were similar in appearance, delivered in manila envelopes with printed addresses and several stamps.

Last night, authorities were investigating two more suspicious packages in California - one addressed to Democrat senator Kamala Harris and another addressed to the billionaire Tom Steyer, who has called for Mr Trump's impeachment. Mr Clapper yesterday called the attacks "domestic terrorism" . ( Daily Telegraph London)
Sri Lankas president has suspended the countrys parliament until November 16, even as the prime minister he fired claims he has majority support.

Chaminda Gamage, a spokesman for the parliamentary speaker, confirmed President Maithripala Sirisenas action on Saturday.

The suspension came while ousted Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was holding a news conference in which he asserted that he could prove his majority support in parliament.

Expand Close Newly appointed Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa (Eranga Jayawardena/AP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Newly appointed Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa (Eranga Jayawardena/AP)

Mr Sirisena sacked Mr Wickremesinghe and his Cabinet on Friday and replaced him with a former strongman, creating what some observers said could be a constitutional crisis in the South Asian island nation.

Mr Sirisena informed Mr Wickremesinghe that he was being replaced by his former opponent Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Mr Wickremesingh said parliament should be allowed to resolve the political crisis.

As far as the prime ministership is concerned, the person who has the majority support in parliament has to be the prime minister, and I have that majority of support, he said.

When a motion of no confidence was moved [in the past], we defeated it showing that the house has the confidence in me.

It is not necessary for us to create a crisis. It is not necessary for the people of the country to suffer, Mr Wickremesingh said.

Tensions have been building up between Mr Sirisena and Mr Wickremesinghe for some time, as the president did not approve of some of the economic reforms being introduced by the prime minister.

Mr Sirisena was also critical of police investigations into military personnel accused in the abductions and disappearances of civilians and journalists during Sri Lankas long civil war, which ended a decade ago.

Mr Rajapaksa ruled Sri Lanka as president for nine years beginning in 2005, accumulating immense power and popularity among the countrys majority ethnic Sinhalese after overseeing the militarys brutal defeat of ethnic Tamil rebels in May 2009, ending the 25-year civil war.

Some supporters hailed him as a king and saviour.

But he also was criticised for failing to allow an investigation into allegations of war crimes by the military.

Under his government, dozens of journalists were killed, abducted and tortured and some fled the country fearing for their lives.

He lost a bid for re-election in 2015 amid mounting allegations of corruption and nepotism.

His return to power as prime minister could signal that Sri Lanka is sliding back to an era of violence against political opponents, critics and journalists, observers said.
Police respond to an active shooter situation at the Tree of Life Synagogue (Pam Panchak/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP)

A suspect is in custody after a shooting caused multiple casualties at a Pittsburgh synagogue, police have said.

Three officers were also shot in the attack at the Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill area on Saturday.

Police spokesman Chris Togneri said they have no more information at this time because they are still trying to clear the building and figure out if any more threats exist.

The synagogue is located at the intersection of Wilkins and Shady avenues.

The tree-lined residential neighbourhood, about 10 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh, is the hub of Pittsburghs Jewish community.

President Donald Trump said has been monitoring the shooting.

In a tweet, Mr Trump encouraged people to shelter in place and said looks like multiple fatalities.

Expand Close The scene near the synagogue on Wildins Avenue in the Squirrel Hill neighbourhood (Pam Panchak/Post-Gazette via AP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp The scene near the synagogue on Wildins Avenue in the Squirrel Hill neighbourhood (Pam Panchak/Post-Gazette via AP)

Jeff Finkelstein, of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, told local news station WPXI the organisations security officer has notified all Jewish Community Centre (JCC) synagogues and they are on modified lockdown.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf called the shooting an absolute tragedy, saying: We must all pray and hope for no more loss of life.

But we have been saying this one is too many for far too long.

Dangerous weapons are putting our citizens in harms way.
One of the worst things to have happened this year is the news of CID ending after entertaining India for over 21 years. Undeniably India's favourite show, CID is going off-air from 28th October 2018. If you think that only fans are affected by this news, you're mistaken. This news has left even the team heartbroken and for obvious reasons.

In an interview with Times now, Actor Dayanand Shetty, who has been playing the role of Daya bared his heart out about the show. From talking about how abruptly the channel decided to end the show to what's ahead for the brand CID, here are the excerpts from the interview. Confirming the news that the show is not coming back, Dayanand said,

Sony TV

"No, I dont think its coming back. I doubt its coming back. There cant be a break. Its just a convenient way of killing the show."

When he was asked to recall his fondest memory of being associated with the show, he said,

Twitter

"21 years and youre asking for one favorite memory, all of them have been good. We have shot outdoors and a lot of other places; we have spent so much time together. The entire unit gets along like a family. I think its very difficult to talk about one particular moment. All us male artists had one common make-up room or vanity, we were like a family. Shivaji (Satam) Sir is the head of the family. We respect and love each other."

He further added how this news has left the entire team of CID crestfallen. He added,

Sony TV

"Everybody was numb for quite some time. They didnt know what hit them. Some are thinking even today that maybe it was just a prank. No one anticipated it. Even I am speechless."

And then he was asked a question that was on everyone's mind. Is CID ever coming back. He hinted at the fact that CID might return as a web-show or the team might return with some other show. He adds,

Sony TV

"Lets see. Our producers will get back to us if they are planning for something because everyone working for CID, the cast and crew are a big brand in their own way. So lets see how they can use this brand, CID, with another title. Whether on television or digital, were trying to work it out, because CID is also an expensive show. So meetings are happening right now and were waiting for things to materialise now."

Well, this news will surely make all the CID fans happy!
afp





The national capital is bracing for a deadly cocktail of smoke, fog and haze as air quality is set to dip further in the coming days. Delhi, once again, is on the verge of becoming a gas chamber. Read more

Here's more top news of the day:

1) Another Self-Styled Godman, Daati Maharaj, Booked By CBI For Rape & Unnatural Sex

BBC.COM





Daati Maharaj, a regular face on television, has been booked by the CBI or allegedly raping and having unnatural sex with an inmate of his ashram. The self-styled godman runs a temple in South Delhi. Read more

2) Seven Elephants Electrocuted From Power Supply Lines In Odisha While Searching For Food

In a tragic incident, seven elephants from a herd which had strayed into a village in Odisha in search of food were electrocuted after they came in contact with a power line. Read more

3) Safety An Uphill Struggle In Hills: Russian Woman Raped On Her Way To Temple In Manali

Representational Image





A 33-year-old Russian woman was allegedly raped by two men on Thursday night while she was on her way to the Hadimba temple in Manali. A case against the perpetrators has been registered by Manali Police. Read more

4) Stone Pelters In Kashmir Attack Convoy And Kill 22-Year-Old Indian Army Soldier Rajendra Singh

Rajendra Singh, who was part of the quick reaction team responsible for providing security cover to a Border Roads Organisation team breathed his last in the hospital on October 26. Read more

5) Pollution Board Doesn't Want You To Jog For First 10 Days Of November As Govt Gears For 'Bad Air' Days

BCCL





Experts said, due to unfavourable wind direction, pollutants from farm fires in Punjab and Haryana are likely to spread into Delhi-NCR around Diwali. These pollutants are not likely to dissipate quickly due to lower morning temperature. Read more
Following a plea that a large number of idle vehicles parked on roads were causing congestion and leading to air pollution, the National Green Tribunal has directed the transport ministry to conduct a study on the number of vehicles that should be permitted in Delhi in proportion to the capacity of roads.

A bench, headed by NGT chairperson Adarsh Kumar Goel, said illegal parking and encroachments had not only become a problem for Delhi, but also for other major cities.

The question of number of vehicles to be permitted proportionate to the capacity of the roads in a city is a vital issue of planning on which a policy is required to be explored in the larger interest of environment, especially for cities or areas where air quality is not consistent with norms. This needs to be explored by the ministry of transport in consultation with states concerned, the NGT bench said. It may be advisable to have a committee of experts to examine the issue in a time-bound manner, it added.

The tribunal said vehicular emissions added to air pollution and impacted public health and that action was required, directing the transport ministry to submit an action taken report by e-mail, on or before March 31, 2019, which may be put up for consideration on April 29 next year.

AFP

The panel was hearing a petition by a bus-operating company that sought directions to remove hawkers, construction material on roads and to stop unauthorised parking to reduce traffic congestion.
A 22-year-old soldier was killed after protesters threw stones at Army convoy passing through Anantnag in Kashmir on Thursday.

Rajendra Singh, who was part of the quick reaction team responsible for providing security cover to a Border Roads Organisation team breathed his last in the hospital on October 26.

"Although Rajendra was given first aid and taken to the 92 Base Hospital immediately after the incident occurred around 6 pm yesterday, he succumbed to his injury," an official said.

Singh, a resident of Badena in Uttarakhand's Pithoragarh, had joined the army in 2016. He was the only child.

Singh was among three soldiers who were killed in three separate incidents over the last two days.

The army paid its respects to the three soldiers at a solemn ceremony attended by Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police Dilbag Singh and representatives of other security agencies on Friday.
Rows of young people sit glued to their workstations in a room behind a reinforced glass panel. Each has his or her own PC to work with, attached to two side-by-side display monitors; they may look fresh out of college, but these 300-odd specialists are protecting each one of us from cyber-attacks.

On one of the screens in front of them is real-time data of 50-60% of India's Internet traffic. And every single person in the room is trying to detect and stop anything that can jeopardize India's Internet connection. Talk about no pressure.

Getting attacked...

Reuters

ALSO READ: WannaCry Ransomware Attack: Everything You Need To Know, To Stay Safe From This Security Breach

This Chennai-based cyber security facility at Tata Communications, which is at the frontline of protecting Indian businesses and people from online threats, is a sign of things to come.

Between 2015-2017, India was the second-most targetted country for cyberattacks in the world after the US, according to an April 2018 'Internet Security Threat Report' by Symantec -- a security company. India is the second-most impacted country by spam and bots, third in terms of network attacks, and fourth for ransomware.

In May 2018, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba warned about a "phenomenal" increase in cyberattacks and espionage by corporate entities and hostile governments to "steal state secrets, sensitive corporate information, intellectual property or military superiority," according to an India Today report. He also said that cyber attackers are more organised than ever before, with many of them having significant funding to wreak havoc online.

... and breached

In May this year, the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation was allegedly hacked, and millions of Indians' personal and financial data was leaked. In fact, just between April 2017 and January 2018, more than 22,000 Indian websites - with 114 government portals - were hacked, according to government data, says a Quartz report.

Reuters

ALSO READ: FreshMenu Was Hacked In 2016 & 1 Lakh User Details Leaked, But They Kept It Hidden From Us All

What's worse is when you learn that not only the private sector companies, but even the Indian government, is powerless in stopping or containing these cyberattacks. "The Government does not have adequate in-house capabilities, expertise or inherent strength" to stay ahead of cyber attackers, admitted Rajiv Gauba.

IBM claims in a study that on an average it takes over six months for Indian companies to realise they have suffered a data breach, and just under three months for them to apply some sort of fix. And each time a company suffers a data breach in India, it costs them Rs 12 crore on average in terms of financial loss.

Training cyber security soldiers

In this increasingly dangerous scenario, cyber security facilities (like the one I'm in) with round-the-clock trained manpower for online vigilance, monitoring and patrolling becomes a fundamental need. For Tata Communications - which runs a major part of the global Internet backbone, handling 25% of the entire Internet's traffic - it's a no-brainer.

Reuters

ALSO READ: Aadhaar Info Available For Rs 500 In Just 10 Minutes? UIDAI Refutes All Reports Of Breaches

But finding cyber security experts isn't easy. "Cyber security professionals are significantly less in number compared to what's needed by the industry," says Srinivasan CR, Chief Technology Officer, Tata Communications.

He further highlights how the skill gap is magnified because people who are studying or getting cyber security training right now are not equipped to handle the demands of the industry. That's why the need to partner with academia to jointly train and develop the next wave of cyber security experts.

"Many of the universities in India are forward-looking, and they're more than happy to invest behind cyber security skill-building." Srinivasan highlights how Tata Communications works with Tamil Nadu's SASTRA University to train and teach cyber-security to undergraduate students through guest lectures and internships. "This way they get a feel for what cyber-security entails, and choose their career path accordingly."

The need for security will only grow

Rama Vedashree, CEO, Data Security Council of India -- an industry body that's responsible for the safety and security of cyberspace in India -- adds to Srinivasan's point. Unlike security in the real world, where government-owned police and the military play a big part in keeping people safe, online security is completely owned and managed by a third-party ecosystem. This complicates matters immensely.

Reuters

"In such a scenario, a proactive approach towards cyber security is a must, along with strong mitigation capabilities," says Rama Vedashree. With Internet-of-Things, Smart Cities, and 5G coming along, the need for cyber security is only going to increase significantly.

Vedashree also mentions how the government is currently trying to fast-track the Data Protection Bill, which may be debated and passed by Parliament as early as the upcoming Winter Session. It's expected to have stronger breach notification guidelines, which will compel companies who suffer from data breaches to legally inform their users of the breach within a short time period, something that isn't often done in India right now.

The massively big screen on the wall displays real-time network threats, with red pop-ups that indicate incoming cyber threats. The trickle of red on the screen is unrelenting. Yet the room behind the glass panel seems calm and composed. Pros who know what they're doing. Attacking threats and setting up defenses to protect our personal, professional and financial data online.

Reuters

On my way out of Tata Communications' Cyber Security Response Centre in Chennai, I find a group of young professionals sipping tea and grabbing a snack at a tea stall just outside the building's gate. I see all of them wearing a white-and-blue badge. The same badge I saw people wearing inside the cyber security response centre just minutes ago.

That's when I realized not all superheroes wear capes. Some look just like you and me.
The film Pihu was on the 2nd position on IMDBs chart of most anticipated film of 2018 and was trending on Twitter and Google Search. (YouTube screenshot photo)
Security is enhanced at the Bengaluru Central Bureau of Investigation office Oct. 26 in the wake of the Congress Partys protest against the central government's move to strip CBI Director Alok Verma of his power. (IANS photo)
Mixed Market = Mixed Day Market Tea Leaves - 1 hour ago Yesterday the markets traded mixed as the Dow was Lower but the other indices were Higher. Will we see the same today?

USDJPY Elliott Wave Analysis: Eyes On More Downside EW-Forecast.com - Fri Nov 19, 4:37AM CST Looking from a classical technical analysis approach too, seems that USDJPY finds top for a while as we have bearish engulfing candlestick pattern on the top ^USDJPY : 113.756 (-0.43%)

Cocoa (CC) Bouncing Off Weekly Chart Upchannel Support Tradable Patterns - Thu Nov 18, 11:03PM CST Cocoa (CC) rallied another near 1% yesterday, forming a 4th straight green daily candle and is suddenly back to near the November high. Significantly, although CC may consolidate today yesterdays recapture... CCZ21 : 2,552s (+1.51%) NIB : 29.79 (+0.82%)

Corn Red for Thursday Close Barchart - Thu Nov 18, 4:50PM CST Corn was a little weaker on Thursday, ending the session fractionally to 2 1/4 cents in the red. For December, that meant a dime fade off the days high. Dec 22 contracts stayed fractionally higher... ZCZ21 : 568-2 (-0.83%) ZCPAUS.CM : 5.5788 (-0.34%) ZCH22 : 573-6 (-0.95%) ZCZ21 : 568-2 (-0.83%) ZCPZ21US.CM : 5.6207 (-0.40%)

Wheat Red after New Highs Barchart - Thu Nov 18, 4:50PM CST Wheat futures turned south in the afternoon, after reaching new highs for the move. CBT SRW got to $8.43 1/4 cents for December, before dropping to a 2 1/4 cent loss on the day. The other front month CBT... ZWZ21 : 814-0 (-0.73%) ZWPAES.CM : 7.7153 (-0.29%) KEZ21 : 820-4 (-0.82%) KEPAWS.CM : 8.0555 (-0.85%) MWZ21 : 1013-4 (-0.32%)

Double Digit Losses for Beans Barchart - Thu Nov 18, 4:50PM CST Soybean prices ended the session with 10 3/4 to 11 3/4 cent losses at the bell. For November that was off the days high by 22 cents. Soymeal closed red on Thursday too, giving back $4.30 to $5.10/ton.... ZSF22 : 1260-0 (-0.41%) ZSPAUS.CM : 12.2783 (-0.94%) ZSH22 : 1271-2 (-0.41%) ZSX21 : 1234-0s (+1.79%) ZSPX21US.CM : 12.2783 (-0.94%)

Dollar Declines on Strength in Stocks Barchart - Thu Nov 18, 3:14PM CST The dollar index (DXY00 ) on Thursday fell -0.281 (-0.29%). The dollar index on Thursday moved lower throughout the day and posted moderate losses. A rally in stocks on Thursday reduced the liquidity... DXY00 : 96.203 (+0.69%) ^EURUSD : 1.12571 (-1.01%) ^USDJPY : 113.756 (-0.43%) GCZ21 : 1,862.6 (+0.06%) SIZ21 : 24.745 (-0.62%)
Following years of research, studies and public debate, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers  in partnership with the states General Land Office  has recommended a multi-billion-dollar project that would protect the Houston area and its massive industrial complex from hurricane storm surge.

The agencies had narrowed it down to four plans  one of them with an alternate variation  with varying configurations of levees, seawalls and locks. They also identified extensive non-structural improvements  such as beach renourishment and dune restoration  for much of the Texas coast.

On Friday, they announced the selection of a plan that is most similar to a controversial proposal unveiled years ago by researchers at Texas A&M University at Galveston  initially dubbed the Ike Dike but often referred to now as the coastal spine  that was inspired by a Dutch flood protection system.

The sweeping plan calls for the construction of a levee along Galveston Island and the peninsula to its north, Bolivar, as well as the installation of a gate between the two isles to keep storm surge from pouring between them into Galveston Bay and the Port of Houston. It also includes improvements to Galvestons existing seawall and a ring levee around the heart of the city. Such a structure would protect the backside of the most densely populated area from surge and flood waters retreating to the Gulf of Mexico following a storm.

Other plans that had called for constructing levees further inland had stirred up controversy among residents whose homes would be on the coastal side of the barrier.

Combined with the recommended non-structural improvements  including 2.2 miles of dune and beach restoration along South Padre Island  the agencies estimate the plan would cost anywhere from $23 billion to $31 billion, according to a news release. An Army Corps project manager told the Tribune earlier this month that the coastal spine may cost as much as $17 billion, meaning it may make up slightly more than half the cost.

One storm can cost many lives and billions of dollars in damage, so the expense of doing nothing far outweighs the investment to protect and enhance our coast, Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush said in a statement.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Galveston District Commander Col. Lars Zetterstrom noted in a statement that the plan builds on the work of scientists, engineers and other experts at A&M and Rice universities, as well as quasi-governmental entity called the Gulf Coast Community Protection and Recovery District that had been formed to study the issue.

The more than 200-year-old agency embarked on the largest study in its history in 2014 to determine how best to guard the Houston area and other coastal communities from devastating storm surge. The Port of Houston is home to the nations largest refining and petrochemical complex.

The public will have 75 days to submit public comments on the plan, in person or in writing. The agencies have scheduled six public meetings in late November and December in various coastal communities.

Once a final project is settled on, it will be eligible for congressional funding  a phase with no deadline that many think could take years. A final recommendation is expected in 2021.

Texas coast is home to one in every four Texans and 30 percent of the American oil refining sector resides here, Bush noted in his Friday statement. The proposal is about protecting our people, our economy and our national security. The options selected are proven to be effective in mitigating the deadly effects of storm surge on our state.

Still, the plan has ginned up ample controversy. Some residents worry about how such a large scale project could impact their homes and properties. A coalition of local environmental groups has urged the agencies to more closely study potential ecological impacts and consider more natural alternatives.

We dont necessarily think theres a right or wrong answer but we recognize there are several different directions we could potentially go, said Bob Stokes, president of the Galveston Bay Foundation. We want to insist that its truly evaluated from an environmental standpoint.

There hasnt been any structure like this, really, built in the world.

Still, the agencies stressed Friday in a joint news release that the plan complies with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and considers the impacts the project will have on natural, economic, social and cultural resources.

Jim Blackburn, a longtime environmental attorney who now teaches at Rice University and co-directs the universitys Severe Storm Prevention, Education and Evacuation from Disaster Center, said, my concern is if we dont protect the Houston Ship Channel, the damage that will occur will be the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history and we will lose the entirety of Galveston Bay.

Rices SSPEED Center has advocated for a less intrusive alternative to the coastal spine.

The push to protect the Houston area from storm surge through some kind of major infrastructure project has largely been driven by researchers at Rice and A&M who did extensive storm modeling after Hurricane Ike in 2008.

While Ike was one of the most damaging storms in Texas history, they concluded it could have been much worse if it hadnt shifted at the last minute. Storm models show that if a storm hit near the western end of Galveston Island, it would push a massive storm surge over and between Galveston and Bolivar and into Galveston Bay and the Port of Houston.

In 2009, months after Ike, a researcher at Texas A&M University at Galveston, Bill Merrell, proposed the Ike Dike plan.

Merrell said in an interview that a coast-front barrier is the best approach. But he said fine-tuning of the proposal may be necessary.

We think theres a lot of ways to make a coastal spine fit into the fabric of the coast and were not sure theyve utilized some of those issues like we see over in The Netherlands, he said. Theres aspects of it that might be modified to make the plan more friendly toward Texas or more efficient at surge suppression, so were going to look at that and make recommendations if we see some.

This article was originally published in The Texas Tribune.

Disclosure: Texas A&M; University and Rice University have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribunes journalism.

The Texas Tribune is a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans  and engages with them  about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.

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Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Agencies Texas USA Hurricane Education Pollution Universities
The American Funds Investment Company of America (AIVSX) is a large-blend stock fund. It seeks to provide a combination of growth and income to investors. The AIVSX ticker symbol denotes the fund's Class A shares, which have a maximum front-end load of 5.75%.

First offered in 1934, the Investment Company of America fund is the oldest member of the American Funds family of funds. Currently, AIVSX maintains a three-star Morningstar rating and a two-star rating over a five-year period. American Funds offers dozens of traditional mutual funds, as well as a large selection of portfolio and target funds. The portfolio and target funds are all fund of funds, as they invest in traditional mutual funds rather than in individual securities. American Funds is a subsidiary of Capital Group.

Investment Process

Capital Group is known for its emphasis on capital preservation and consistent long-term performance. The firm has a system that combines the benefits of individuality with teamwork. All managers and analysts assigned to a portfolio work together to research and share information about potential investments, though decisions regarding which specific investments to make are not done as a team.

Each person is given a percentage of net assets to invest as they see fit within the bounds of the portfolios objective. Capital Group firmly believes that this type of commitment investing creates a more stable, diversified, and better-performing portfolio.

Investment Portfolio

The American Funds Investment Company of America focuses on investing in a diverse group of large, well-established companies across the United States. It focuses exclusively on stocks and is optimized for the long-term with a focus on future income over high current yield.

AIVSX has a total asset under management (AUM) of $117 billion. It has 87.5% of its net assets invested in U.S. equities, about 7.9% in non-U.S. equities, and 4.5% in cash. As the fund's top two sectors, information technology and communication services comprise 35.8% of the fund's net assets, followed by investments in the health care and industrials sectors. AIVSX's top equity holdings as a percentage of net assets are as follows:

Microsoft

Facebook

Alphabet

Broadcom

Comcast

Amazon

Netflix

Abbott Laboratories

Home Depot

Philip Morris International

Of note, dividends for AIVSX are typically distributed in March, June, September, and December. Overall, the fund has a low expense ratio of 0.58%. As the name implies, the Investment Company of America primarily focuses on American holdings91.7% are based in the U.S., to be exact.

Fund Management and Performance

AIVSX's longest-tenured managers are James Lovelace and Donald O'Neal, who each have been managing the fund for about three decades. Due to the team-based nature of fund management, they are accompanied by six other fund managers, whose tenure ranges from one year to twenty years with the Investment Company of America fund.

As of Oct. 26, 2021, AIVSX had a one-year return of 20.31%. Over a five-year period, the Investment Company of America fund returned 12.2% while over a 10-year period it had an average 13.96% return.
Open a newspaper and theres a good chance youll find a news story about the price of oil going in one direction or the other. To the average consumer, its easy to get the impression that theres a singular, worldwide market for this crucial energy source.

In reality, there are different types of crude oil  the thick, unprocessed liquid that drillers extract below the earth  and some are more desirable than others. For instance, its easier for refiners to make gasoline and diesel fuel out of low-sulfur or sweet crude than oil with high-sulfur concentrations. Low-density, or light crude is generally favorable to the high-density variety for the same reason.

Where the oil comes from also makes a difference if youre a buyer. The less expensive it is to deliver the product, the cheaper it is for the consumer. From a transportation standpoint, oil extracted at sea has certain advantages over land-based supplies, which depend on the capacity of pipelines.

Because of these factors, buyers of crude oil  along with speculators  need an easy way to value the commodity based on its quality and location. Benchmarks such as Brent, WTI and Dubai/Oman serve this important purpose. When refiners purchase a Brent contract, they have a strong idea of how good the oil will be and where it will come from. Today, much of the global trading takes place on the futures market, with each contract tied to a certain category of oil.

Because of the dynamic nature of supply and demand, the value of each benchmark is continually changing. Over the long-term, a marker that sold at a premium to another index may suddenly become available at a discount.

1:44 Understanding Benchmark Oils

The Main Benchmarks

There are dozens of different oil benchmarks, with each one representing crude oil from a particular part of the globe. However, the price of most of them are pegged to one of the following three primary benchmarks:

Brent Crude

Roughly two-thirds of all crude contracts around the world reference Brent Crude, making it the most widely used marker of all. These days, Brent actually refers to oil from four different fields in the North Sea: Brent, Forties, Oseberg, and Ekofisk. Crude from this region is light and sweet, making them ideal for the refining of diesel fuel, gasoline, and other high-demand products. And because the supply is waterborne, its easy to transport to distant locations.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI)

WTI refers to oil extracted from wells in the U.S. and sent via pipeline to Cushing, Oklahoma. The fact that supplies are land-locked is one of the drawbacks to West Texas crude as its relatively expensive to ship to certain parts of the globe. The product itself is very light and very sweet, making it ideal for gasoline refining, in particular. WTI continues to be the main benchmark for oil consumed in the United States.

Dubai/Oman

This Middle Eastern crude is a useful reference for oil of a slightly lower grade than WTI or Brent. A basket product consisting of crude from Dubai, Oman or Abu Dhabi, its somewhat heavier and has higher sulfur content, putting it in the sour category. Dubai/Oman is the main reference for Persian Gulf oil delivered to the Asian market.

Figure 1

Brent is the reference for about two-thirds of the oil traded around the world, with WTI the dominant benchmark in the U.S. and Dubai/Oman influential in the Asian market.

Source: IntercontinentalExchange (ICE)

Importance of the Derivatives Market

Crude Futures

There was once a time when buyers would primarily purchase crude oil on the spot market  that is, theyd pay the current price and accept delivery within a few weeks. But after the oil crisis of the late 1970s, refiners and government buyers began looking for a way to minimize the risk of sudden price increases.

The solution came in the form of crude oil futures, which are tied to a specific benchmark crude. With futures, buyers can lock in the price of a commodity several months, or even years, in advance. If the price of the reference crude rises significantly, the purchaser is better off with the futures contract. Many futures are settled in cash, although some allow for physical delivery of the commodity.

Different crude contracts trade on different exchanges. Brent futures are available on ICE Futures Europe, while WTI contracts are sold chiefly on the New York Mercantile Exchange, or NYMEX. The influential Oman Crude Oil Futures Contract (DME Oman) has been marketed on the Dubai Mercantile Exchange since 2007. These contracts stipulate not only where the oil is drilled, but also its quality.

Crude Options

In addition to futures, market participants can also invest in options that are linked to a particular crude benchmark. These derivatives are another important way to help mitigate price risk. Should the value of a certain crude marker skyrocket, the owner of a call option would have the right  though not the obligation  to buy a specific number of barrels at a pre-determined price.

Speculative Trading

However, not all futures or options tied to a crude benchmark are used for hedging purposes. Speculators are also major players in the market, betting that changes to supply or demand will drive the price of certain crude products higher or lower.

Investors can also gamble on what will happen to the difference, or spread, between two benchmarks. Participants typically analyze the fundamentals of a specific oil source and guess whether the gap between two markers will widen or close. Like traditional oil options, these spread options are available on major exchanges.

Trading tends to be particularly heavy when one of the two benchmarks undergoes unusual volatility. For example, WTI-Brent spread options on NYMEX experienced record trading volume from 2011 to 2013 after a glut in U.S. crude sent WTI prices in a tailspin relative to Brent.

The Bottom Line

The market for crude is incredibly diverse, with the quality and original location of the oil making a major impact on price. Because theyre relatively stable, most crude oil prices worldwide are pegged to the Brent, WTI or Dubai/Oman benchmarks.
Its well-known that product differentiation results in higher prices and higher profits for companies. Hotels, for example, might distinguish themselves from other hotels by offering the best location, the best service, or superior amenities. Without product differentiation, hotel rooms become, more or less, perfect substitutes for one another, and prices fall accordingly. Why, then, would hotels hide their names and sell rooms on websites like Expedia (EXPE) subsidiary Hotwire and Priceline (BKNG)?

This practice is called opaque pricing, and its becoming more popular as travelers look for cheaper ways to travel to exotic destinations. Opaque pricing can be applied to anything: hotel rooms, airline tickets, cruises, and car rentals.

Key Takeaways Both Hotwire and Priceline hide hotel namesa practice called opaque pricingwhich enables hotels to sell rooms at hidden, lower prices.

Customers who book hotel rooms via Hotwire and Priceline are price-sensitive and make their purchase decisions based primarily on price.

Hotels that sell rooms on Hotwire and Priceline accept a lower price in return for guaranteed revenue and the possibility guests might turn into loyal customers.

Focus on Rate-Sensitive Customers

Price-sensitive customers are those who make purchase decisions based predominantly on the price of a good or service. Hotwire and Priceline customers visit these websites specifically because they are looking for the best price for their hotel room, and as such, the sites are able to price discriminate.

By promising hotels that their names will remain a secret until after purchase, the hotels accept a lower price. This enables the websites to pass these lower prices onto consumers who are indifferent about specific hotel differences. In exchange, the hotels can fill rooms that would otherwise have stayed empty and increase their revenue per available room (RevPAR) without compromising their rate integrity.

Preserving Rate Integrity

Rate integrity can be a key part of a brands marketing strategy. If hotels have established themselves as luxurious or high-end, they cannot sell rooms using the traditional supply and demand curvewhere prices are lowered until the hotel is sold outbecause it would cheapen the brand.

By hiding hotel names, Hotwire and Priceline are able to offer lower prices until rooms are sold because only the purchasers will know exactly how low the price has temporarily fallen. As The Cornell School of Hotel Administration and Hospitality: Cutting Edge Thinking and Practice says, this allows hotels to reach both their regular brand-loyal and new price-sensitive customers.

Loyalties Can Change

Another advantage for hotels in using Hotwire and Priceline is that price-sensitive customers could shift their brand- or star-loyalties towards the new hotel. For example, price-sensitive guests who typically stay in 2.5-star or 3-star hotels may be enticed by a 4-star deal on Hotwire and book it solely based on its low price. If they enjoy themselves, the next time they are looking for a hotel, they could find themselves less price-sensitive than before. Perhaps they will now be willing to pay a premium to ensure that they can again stay at the same hotel chain or maybe their expectations of a hotel stay have now changed, and they cant bear to book a hotel with fewer than four stars.

Guaranteed Bookings Are Good News

Yet another advantage that the hotels have when using Hotwire and Priceline is that the rooms, once sold by the websites, are guaranteed revenue. The bookings are non-refundable so that the hotel will not have to worry about last-minute bookings.

Hotwire and Priceline can also save the hotel money as room bookings from third-party websites are generally not eligible for loyalty points.

Tips and Additional Information

The Internet is a treasure trove of information to help travelers who are wary about using Hotwire and Priceline. By matching the star-ratings, amenities, locations, etc. with traditional booking websites, customers can create a shortlist of the hotels they might win and decide if the cost savings are worth the risk of making a reservation at an unnamed hotel.

The Bottom Line

Whether you are a hotelier or a potential guest, using websites that offer opaque pricing is a winning situation. Hotwire and Priceline sell empty rooms at discounted prices to guests who are just looking for a place to sleep. These guests are unlikely to advertise their low rate to the other guests who could feel slighted at having been charged more money. Also, guests who enjoy their stay may become less price-sensitive in the future, resulting in a brand-loyal guest who will continue to increase the hotels profits.
We all invest with the hope that one day we won't have to work, but will have enough money to live off our investments. The question remains, can a regular investor really beat the market? Do we have what it takes to win over the middlemen and institutions that have millions, or even billions, invested in the market? According to Terrance Odean, a finance professor at the University of California, Berkley's Haas School of Business, "Many of the mistakes investors make come from a lack of any understanding of the innate disadvantages they face." In this article, we bring you some of the takes about beating the markets from experts in the field.

Key Takeaways Figuring out whether you can beat the market is not easy one, but the answers generally vary depending on who you ask.

The average investor may not have a very good chance of beating the market.

Regular investors may be able to achieve better risk-adjusted returns by focusing on losing less.

Consider using low-cost platforms, creating a portfolio with a purpose, and beware of headline risk.

David and Goliath

Can you beat the market? The answer to this question is not an easy one, and the answers generally vary depending on who you ask. By beating the market we're talking about everyday working Americans who invest to try to get greater capital gains and more returns than the S&P 500. According to one expert, investors may have to give up something in return for higher returns.

"We all have some larceny in us. We buy securities because we think we know someone or something others don't. I don't think anyone can consistently outperform the S&P 500 without assuming greater than market risk," according to David E. Y. Sarna, author of "History Of Greed."

Don't Model Yourself After the Professionals

While some of us have the toolsand connectionsrequired to make knowledgeable decisions that will lead us to a portfolio with higher returns, others like stockbrokers, bankers, and big corporations most likely have an advantage, right?

Sure, these people in the financial industry have insider information which they cannot legally trade on. But they also possess the necessary financial statement analysis skills to develop a greater insight about a given company.

Don't model yourself after financial professionals who have a history of analytical skills.

Beating the Market: Probabilities

"The reality is there will always be a lure to try and beat the market, especially since those who have beat it consistently are revered so highly (Bill Miller, Peter Lynch) and/or are compensated well (hedge fund managers). I think the market can be beaten, but even a broken clock is right twice a day. Best way to describe it: It's possible but not probable," says Robert Laura, author of "Naked Retirement: A Stimulating Guide To A More Meaningful Retirement" and president of SYNERGOS Financial Group.

According to Laura, the average individual investor has little chance of beating the market. He says the common investor uses mutual funds, is stuck in 401(k) plans which essentially track the broader index, and pays higher fees as compared to stock, index funds, or ETFs. Also, many mutual fund-type investments don't use stop loss order to protect gains and thus do not always provide the type of protection individualized portfolios can perform. As he puts it, "investors are set-up to fail from the get-go."

Investing in 401(k)s is no better. "Most 401(k)s aren't benchmarked and most companies don't have a good investment policy for selecting funds within the program. You can't even get some asset classes in many and most advisors are sales people, not fiduciaries and just taught how to sell funds," adds Laura.

The good thing is many more investors are taking responsibility and interest in their investments. They are taking the initiative to learn how their investments work and are less intimidated. Laura says investors are learning that individual stocks aren't as scary as everyone suggests and there is valuable information available to everyone if they know where to find it and how to apply it.

"The advent of ETFs and index investing allow people to mimic the market, instead of trying to beat it, which is a better, less expensive perspective to have," Laura adds.

A Lost Cause?

"All the evidence supports the disappointing fact that regular investors as a whole underperform the market. As long as they try to 'beat the market' they actually underperform," said Todd R. Tresidder, founder of FinancialMentor.com, in 2010

According to Tresidder, the best way for regular investors to achieve better risk-adjusted returns is by focusing not on out performance, but by losing less. In other words, regular investors have one competitive advantage - liquidity.

"Big investors are the market but the little guy is nimble and can buy or sell without affecting the market - something the big guy can't do. Systematic risk management can work to provide regular investors with similar or slightly improved investment performance relative to the market at substantially less risk," he says.

Helping the Odds

What can an investor do to increase their chances of beating the market? Laura says there are several things you can do.

Save Money

Use low-cost funds and/or a low-cost platform for trades. There really is no sense of trying to increase your chance of getting higher returns if you're going to spend a lot of money investing your money. Look for opportunities to try to cut down on your costs if you're managing your own portfolio. Remember: The best way to make money is to save money.

You Need Discipline

Regardless of what your goals and intentions are, you need to have a plan. And once you have a plan, you need to stick to it, no matter what the circumstances. Establish and follow a discipline which translates into just doing what you said you are going to do.

Portfolio With a Purpose

Give every investment in your portfolio a buy price, hold price, and sell price along with one or two reasons to buy, hold, or sell at that value. This gives you specific criteria to act and provides your portfolio with purpose and specific direction.

Headline Risk

Watch for headline risk. This term refers to the shock of news that may affect a company's stock, industry, or sector. Set up email alerts for your investments so as new information comes out about them, you become aware of it in the early stages to consider changes. Mark your calendar for things to watch like earnings dates, intellectual property timelines, and industry reports like Federal Reserve meetings, unemployment numbers, new housing starts, and other information that will affect the specific sector or security.

Sarna suggests investing in what you know and understand such as solid, profitable small-caps, and even microcaps in niches you can monitor and understand. These can appreciate much more rapidly than equivalently-priced large caps.

The only way to get above market returns is to develop a competitive advantage. "It is either developed through knowledge and information flow, or it is developed through extensive research resulting in an investment strategy that exploits irregular market behavior," says Tresidder.

According to Tresidder, the only way to outperform the markets is to develop a competitive advantage that exceeds transaction costs and passive market return.

The Bottom Line

The debate of whether an individual investor can beat the market is as old as the stock market itself. Those who have found fortune investing will often preach that they possess superior analytical skills which allowed them to predict the market. Those investors who suffer losses will tell a much different tale.
AIB shares fell by over 2.6% after the lender announced chief executive Bernard Byrne is to leave the company to join stockbroking group Davy.

The banks shares had plunged by as much as 10% earlier in the day.

The news of Mr Byrnes impending departure follows last months announcement of the resignation of AIBs chief financial officer Mark Bourke. Mr Byrne is set to take over from Kyran McLaughlin as head of capital markets at Davy next May and will also become Davys deputy chief executive.

He has been on the AIB board for 20 years and has been the banks CEO since 2015.

Merrion analyst Darren McKinley said Mr Byrnes resignation came as a complete shock to investors.

He also suggested FBD boss Fiona Muldoon - who also serves in a non-executive capacity on the Bank of Ireland board - should be viewed as a credible candidate to succeed Mr Byrne, saying it would be an appointment that might ease investor concerns.

Mr Byrnes exit revives the debate over pay caps for Irish bankers. The Government placed a ban on bank executive bonuses and capped annual pay levels at 500,000 during the banking crisis. AIB raised the prospect over a year ago that it could potentially lose staff to international banks that are moving operations to Dublin as a result of Brexit, and do not fall under the Irish pay restrictions.

Mr Byrne received a salary of 500,000 and a 100,000 pension payment in 2017. Mr Bourke, who is joining Lone Star-owned Portuguese lender Novo Banco at the beginning of next year, was paid a salary of 470,000 and a pension payment of 94,000.

Mr Byrne said last week that of AIBs 200 most senior managers, a mid-teens percentage had left since its 3.4bn listing last year, a slightly higher attrition rate than normal that he said was accelerating. He also said that without pay, pension or share incentives its very easy to leave and that this was causing a drag in terms of investor interest in AIB.

The banks shares are well below the 4.40 listing price achieved at Europes largest IPO of 2017 and more than 30% down on a high hit early in 2018.

Although AIB sought to introduce a deferred share plan for senior executives earlier this year, it was voted down by the Government, which retains a 71% shareholding in the bank.

While Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe acknowledged the restrictions could act as a barrier to the retention of some staff and launched a review, he said the policy was appropriate.

Additional reporting Reuters
By Padraig Hoare

Cork firm Wisetek, which specialises in data destruction and the disposal of IT equipment, is eyeing further global growth, with the embedding of the general data protection regulation (GDPR) within organisations.

The firm, which is based in Kilbarry Business Park, Dublin Hill, said turnover for the group was 21m in 2017, and was set to rise to 35m this year, with employee numbers now at 350 globally.

Wisetek operates from Cork, Dublin, the UK, Dubai, Thailand, and the US.

It said its overall group turnover increasing by 67% was due to the recent expansion in the US.

Wisetek merged its established US operations with Computer Discounters, which trades under the DataKillers brand, in November last year.

It also opened facilities in Austin and Sacramento, while it expanded its Boston operations.

The firm said it continues to expand globally, with facilities now operational in the UK and Dubai, and that it expected new global contracts to drive turnover in 2019 in excess of 55m.

Chief executive, Sean Sheehan, said its global expansion enabled it to win large multinational customers.

One area of significant relevance is data security, including GDPR, and the fact that this applies as much to redundant hardware as it does to the management of personal data on active systems.

Any organisation disposing of aged technology needs to be certain that all data is properly eliminated.

"As part of the Wisetek process, all such data is fully sanitised, he said.

Wisetek, which was founded by Mr Sheehan in 2007, as an Enterprise Ireland-supported company, said it had also seen demand increase from Irish businesses and organisations.
By Padraig Hoare

An organisation made up of public and private companies and State-backed entities aimed at promoting business between Ireland and Saudi Arabia has pulled out of a business event in Riyadh next month.

The Ireland Saudi Arabia Business Council said it would not be participating in a joint business council meeting with Saudi business representatives in Riyadh on November 7 and 8, as entities such as Bank of Ireland and Dublin City University (DCU) Business School said they were reviewing their membership of the organisation.

It comes as the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi continues to dominate international headlines, with Saudi Arabia admitting the Washington Post contributor was killed in its Turkish consulate on October 2.

The council includes Bank of Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, Dublin City University Business School, ESB International, VHI International and DAA International as members.

Other companies such as Kingspan, Fexco and Transfermate are also listed as members on the council website.

According to the council, in the past five years Irish companies have signed 11 contracts or memorandums of understanding with Saudi groups or companies through its network.

The most notable of these has been the winning by DAA International of the contract to manage the new domestic Terminal 5 at King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh in January 2016, the council said on its website.

The council board of directors includes chairman Joseph Lynch, a former Irish ambassador to the Arab world who helped establish the first embassy of Ireland in Saudi Arabia in Jeddah in 1976.

Former ambassador to Saudi Arabia who retired from the role in 2014, Niall Holohan, is also a board member.

Mr Lynch confirmed the council has decided not to participate in the forthcoming Riyadh event.

Business group Ibec was scheduled to participate in an event with the council last week in Dublin but called off the day before. Bank of Ireland, which is 14% owned by the State, said it was concerned about recent events and was reviewing its council membership.

Given the breadth of activity of our business customers internationally, Bank of Ireland has memberships with a number of business organisations that promote trade. We note, with concern, recent events and we are keeping this membership under active review, the bank said.

DCU said it is monitoring current developments related to Saudi Arabia and is reviewing its relationships in that context.

Enterprise Ireland said that as a representative body for Irish companies exporting to Saudi Arabia, it will continue to monitor and evaluate any situation which affects our ability to support Irish businesses who are currently exporting to the region.

DAA International said it follows all Irish government guidelines in relation to doing business in overseas locations, while the ESB said it had no comment to make.

The Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation said it was imperative that a transparent and credible investigation gets to the facts of the Khashoggi case, and a united, common approach is adopted with our EU partners.
Education Minister Joe McHugh has called for an immediate review of all Department of Education files to clarify when exactly officials first learned of the Celtic Tiger-era schools safety problems.

Mr McHugh confirmed the move last night amid opposition calls for an independent investigation and rival TD claims there is a can of worms here about who knew what politically.

Speaking as the department and Western Building Systems became embroiled in a fresh stand-off over who is responsible for what happened, Mr McHugh said he only heard of the crisis nine days ago, a week after becoming education minister.

Mr McHugh said while there were a lot of red lights on fire safety which were first uncovered in a 2015 Irish Examiner expose, the first he learned of structural issues was last Thursday when urgent safety investigations were launched.

However, he confirmed that in light of the concerns, he has asked department officials to conduct an immediate review of existing files to clarify when exactly officials were first informed of what happened.

The comments came as Labour TD Joan Burton called for an independent investigation into Government knowledge of the crisis, and as Solidarity-People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett said issues were known a number of years ago.

Citing concerns he said were flagged by construction workers about WBS in 2011 and 2012, Mr Boyd Barrett warned: Frankly, I think there is a can of worms here about who knew what politically.

In recent days, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Mr McHugh have repeatedly stressed that the schools safety crisis was only revealed as part of emergency structural reviews launched last week, which led to three school closures and the risk of dozens more in the coming days.

However, the claim appears to contradict previous reports from the Irish Examiner and Dublin Inquirer which include:

Then education minister Ruairi Quinn being told of some concerns in May 2013 and dismissing them as minor.

The department being warned of serious fire safety fears at Rush and Lusk Educate Together by Dublin Fire Brigade and two independent architects in June 2014, issues which cost 800,000 to repairs.

Five secret fire safety audits by the department into WBS schools which were only published after an Information Commissioner decision last year.

Dozens of further fire safety audits launched last October by then education minister Richard Bruton, which remain sealed.

In addition, despite the concerns raised in 2015, the department at the time said in a statement there was no indication schools may have to close.

Meanwhile, concerns continue to centre today over whether dozens of other WBS schools will be closed in the coming days due to fears that they are unsafe for children and staff.

Of the three currently closed schools, a department spokesperson said Tyrrelstown Educate Together and St Lukes will partially re-open on Monday, November 5, meaning half of the 1,200 pupils can return.

He said Ardgillan will also be accommodated at Dun Laoghaire ETB in a shared community hall after the Halloween break.

Timeline of concern on schools

2008: WBS wins the contract to build dozens of schools within three months as part of the rapid build programme.

May 2013: Rush and Lusk Educate Together raises concerns with then education minister Ruairi Quinn about the buildings leaky windows and doors. Mr Quinn rejects the concerns as they are minor issues.

May 2014: Rush and Lusk commissions an independent architect report, which finds the building will burn down within 20 minutes of a blaze, below the 60- minute advised evacuation time. Dublin Fire Brigade repeats the warning in a separate report.

June 2014: On departmental advice, the school is not closed as 800,000 of repairs can take place over the summer, and re-housing 270 pupils poses problems. A general repair works letter is sent to parents. A department report confirms the issue.

October 2015: Then education minister Jan OSullivan launches a fire safety review of five more WBS schools. There is no indication schools may close, says department.

2016: After conducting five more audits on schools, the department demands WBS fixes serious problems and threatens legal action. The Irish Examiner reports WBS has received more than 60m in State hospital and housing projects, and is still building schools, and that Educate Together has been blocked seven times from accessing audit information.

September 2017: After a Dublin Inquirer FOI request and successful information commissioner appeal, the department releases the

five fire safety audits confirms it has asked a firm to conduct fire safety audits of all WBS schools. Education minister Richard Bruton says an internal departmental fire safety committee and clerk of works will be appointed.

September 2017-October 2018: Department refuses Irish Examiner requests on the still unpublished audits, if legal action is being taken and if the buildings are safe. The Sunday Times reports four legal actions underway.

October 19: Education Minister Joe McHugh launches separate structural safety reviews of WBS schools, which begin immediately.

October 23: Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Mr McHugh confirm 42 schools now being examined, including three that have been closed.
By Sean ORiordan

Fota Wildlife Park is planning a 16m upgrade which will include the addition of Asian bears, Chinese takin, a Madagascan village, and a new restaurant/conference centre.

Park director Sean McKeown said the upgrade would take place on a phased basis over a five-year period and is designed to bring annual visitor numbers over the 500,000 mark.

Among the newest animal additions for the park will be the Chinese takin, which Mr McKeown explained is a goat/antelope-type creature found in the eastern Himalayas.

Theyre the size of a small pony. The golden takin is supposed to have given rise to the legend of the Golden Fleece.

The wildlife park plans to construct 17 buildings, 13 of which will be for housing animals. The plans include:

The creation of a Madagascan village to provide indoor accommodation for lemurs;

A new restaurant that will be larger than the current one and will be on the first floor of a two-storey building. An exhibition area will be on the ground floor;

Extending one pond and creating two new ponds with a connecting canal to a wetland area that will provide a natural vegetative filtration system;

New internal roads and pathways to be constructed, along with a raised walkway.

Mr McKeown said works in the park in 2013/2014 found archaeological evidence of a small settlement from the time of Christ up until the 7th Century.

It plans to host a special exhibition about this encampment while also telling the post-glacial story of the colonisation of Ireland by plants, animals, and humans.

We hope to make the park more iconic, he said.

Annual visitor numbers have risen from 350,000 in 2010 to around 460,000 today. We hope these new developments will get us over the 500,000 figure and closer to 600,000, said Mr McKeown.
The Government is open to extending existing Freedom of Information Act laws to ensure there is greater transparency around the office of the Presidency.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar confirmed the potential move this evening after months of debate over spending at Aras an Uachtarain during Michael D Higgins' first term as President.

"That's something we're going to give consideration to.

"The presidency is not accountable to the Oireachtas, that's in the constitution, but that's not to say the presidency is not accountable to the public."

"So I think that's something we're going to have to consider. What President Higgins has said is that he will ensure there is proper audit of what the President spends," Mr Varadkar said.

During the same press conference, Mr Varadkar also said he is in favour of limiting future presidential terms to five years.

He said he would personally support the measure as there may be a need to reform the presidency, but said this is still open to discussion and legal debate.

"The constitutional convention actually recommended every five years, but again that would require a referendum. We want a 21st Century constitution for a 21st Century republic, but there are a lot of other issues on the agenda as well," he said.
A man in his 60s is due in court to be charged in connection with the murder of Derry Coakley in Macroom, Co Cork earlier this week.

The man was arrested on Wednesday morning and detained at Bandon Garda Station under Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act, 2007.
By Anne Lucey

Plans for a motorhome park beside an ancient stone circle in Co Kerry are being appealed to Bord Pleanala. The Bronze Age stone circle and boulder burial chamber, at Reenagappal in Kenmare is believed to be the largest such structure in the South-West.

The proposal for a year-round facility comprises a services building, more than 40 individual pitches as well as barbecue and fire pit area on 0.7 hectares.

The Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Josepha Madigan has cleared the way for it. Ministerial consent was required because the monument on private lands is protected.

There is a lack of stopover facilities for the growing motorhome business in the town which is the gateway to the Ring of Beara and the Ring of Kerry, submitted Diarmuid Twomey, planning and architectural agent for landowner Martin Arthur.

The Kerry Tourism strategy of the county development plan encourages motorhome facilities. In addition, the motorhome would lead to renewed interest in the historic stone circle, according to the submission.

Northern Ireland Total Motorhome organisation said it would attract motorhomes from Ireland, the UK and continental Europe.

However, An Taisce and a number of locals expressed concerns over the location in a sensitive area. The park would be very close to the Finnihy River, which has been known to flood in periods of high rainfall, said Catherine McMullin of the national trust in Kerry.

The site also borders the most important archaeological site in the town, the stone circle. This monument would have been built in an open area for ritual purposes and it would be most inappropriate to have a large modern development so close to it, Dr McMullin said.

Inland Fisheries Ireland asked for safeguards during construction as the Finnihy river bounding the site is an important salmonoid and eel fishery. A bat survey of the site, which is part of the Kenmare Bay special area of conservation was also requested by the council as well as a knotweed plan.

Objector, Colm Murphy, of Claddanure, Kenmare, claimed that big motorhome vans turning onto the square past the market stall would worsen already bad traffic problems in Kenmare for eight months of the year.

Mr Murphy did a spot traffic study and submitted photographs of a congested Market St, saying it would be totally inappropriate to have camper vans and large motorhomes going up and down the narrow street to and from the park.

Large motorhomes would be up to 3m wide and 13m long, Mr Murphy said. He also raised concerns about sewage, and said there should be no development on the site which was that of a former lime kiln, itself of historical significance.

The council approved the proposal. Mr Murphy is appealing the decision.
Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald says the party has "no regret" about competing in the presidential race despite an expected low level of support for MEP Liadh Ni Riada.

Exit polls predict that the Cork native will only poll 7.4% and come third in the race.

This is lower than the party's late Martin McGuinness did seven years ago on over 13% and below the standard level of support for the party in opinion polls.

Furthermore, it has emerged through exit polling that Sinn Fein supporters gave their number ones to contender and businessman Peter Casey as well as the incumbent Michael D Higgins.

Speaking at the convention centre in Dublin earlier, Ms McDonald said the party had "no regrets" about running.

I think the major parties were wrong to sit on the sidelines.

Liadh Ni Riada Number 1 #LiadhForPresident pic.twitter.com/nX0hrMkpPV  Mary Lou McDonald (@MaryLouMcDonald) October 26, 2018

She thanked Liadh Ni Riada and said the party had run the best candidate who had substance and grace.

It had been an eccentric election, she added, admitting the result was "disappointing".

She said turnout and the fact that voters had a foregone conclusion had contributed to the overall vote.

I'm proud of the candidate and as my position as leader, I stand over running Liadh Ni Riada and being in the contest.

Ms McDonald reiterated the party position that the election of a president should happen every five years as opposed to seven.

We also recognise that some people have different personal circumstances. Some people have children, some have college."

She claimed that the question around salaries and what representatives took home in pay was a mute point.

She agreed that people should be upfront about what they earn, including all the other candidates in elections.

Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald says she is disappointed her party candidate Liadh Ni Riada did not poll more strongly in the presidential election. pic.twitter.com/qRY43SIdRc  RTE News (@rtenews) October 27, 2018

Let's all declare, added the party leader.

Ms McDonald denied that Ms Ni Riada's performance had been poor during the campaign.

She admitted that some Sinn Fein supporters had told her they would support president Michael D Higgins for a second term during the race.
Des ODriscoll looks back on the strange set of circumstances that led to the founding of the festival in 1978.

YOUD imagine that possessing little interest in jazz, and never having attended any music festival arent the best qualifications for setting up one of Europes top jazz festivals. But that didnt stop Jim Mountjoy, the man who established Corks long-enduring event way back in 1978.

A strange set of circumstances aligned for the birth of a festival that celebrates its 40th incarnation this year.

First up, in 1977 minister for labour Michael OLeary introduced a new bank holiday that created a long weekend at the end of October.

Next, in May 1978, Mountjoy  then marketing manager of the Metropole Hotel on MacCurtain Street in the city  received a visit in from the organisers of a bridge event who had booked the premises for the holiday weekend.

As is befitting of bridge players, they werent in his office for long before they put their cards on the table. Theyd been out in Blarney the year before, and they said to me, What are we moving for? Weve no complaints about Blarney. So I just said fine, recalls Mountjoy.

Despite his apparent nonchalance, he suddenly found himself with a bank holiday on the horizon, and a lot of empty rooms. Then came the lightbulb moment. The regular sessions at the hotel with Cork jazz stalwart Harry Connolly and other local musicians had been doing quite well. What if they could be extended into a mini- festival?

Mountjoy bounced his idea off various other people in Cork, including Evening Echo jazz columnist Pearse Harvey and local jazz buff Ray Fitzgerald.

It soon snowballed into something much bigger. Others in the Metropoles hierarchy saw how it might make sense, and cigarette brand John Player agreed to put up 7,000 to become the festivals first sponsor.

It was a steep learning curve for all concerned, as letters and landline phonecalls were exchanged between organisers, agents and artists.

For the inaugural event, they still managed to put together an impressive lineup that included three English jazz legends: Ronnie Scott, George Melly and Kenny Ball.

Mountjoy later recalled that Friday, October 27, 1978, was a red-letter day for Cork.

At around eight oclock, in the evening, a dark, thin Londoner called Ronnie Scott sauntered on stage in the ballroom of the Metropole Hotel and told an audience of 300 people that it was the first time hed seen dead people smoke.

Scott then picked up his saxophone and blew the first notes of Corks first ever jazz festival.

It was onwards and upwards from there as the steep learning curve was accompanied by growth that saw the likes of Art Blakey, Ella Fitzgerald and Sonny Rollins come to Cork over the next few years.

By 1982, Guinness had replaced John Player as sponsor of a festival that soon escalated to have a budget of over 200,000.

Mountjoy admits he didnt always love all the music on offer, or enjoy the hassles of dealing with the thousands of people whod be trying to get into Metropole over the bank holiday weekend, but he did get a thrill out of organising a festival that really was unique in Ireland.

The way I looked at it, you had to sell Ireland, you had to sell Cork, and you had to sell the jazz festival, says the marketing supremo.

Journeys abroad to promote the Metropole by day would also involve promoting the festival by night as Mountjoy went to see how equivalent events were run in Italy, New Orleans, San Francisco, etc.

A ferry from Swansea to Cork was hyped as the jazz boat, complete with music to entertain British revellers on their way to the festival; a jazz train even ran from Dublin.

Hardcore jazz fans who came to Cork at the October weekend had plenty to entertain them; less-serious punters could still don straw boaters and enjoy the fun. Hotel beds were filled; beer kegs were emptied.

Mountjoys fondest memories, however, come from some of the people he encountered during his time with the festival.

He recalls particular friendships with the trombonist Turk Murphy, and legendary drummer Panama Francis.

Mounjoy also remembers Cleo Laine and John Dankworth ruffling a few feathers in the early days when they refused to attend a John Player promotion event because of their anti-smoking feelings.

Mountjoy also had regular dealings with Norman Granz, the legendary impresario who did so much for the development of jazz in the US, battling racial prejudice along the way. It did take a bit of trying for Mountjoy to even get to speak to Granz.

I used to ring and Id get through to his secretary Miss Drinkwater, and thats as far as Id get.

So I decided to ring at about 5.30am their time. And I dare anybody not to answer if the phone is ringing at half-past-five... 

Granz had a surprisingly pleasant reaction to being woken and that early hour, and over time, he began to regularly send his artists to Cork.

One of the reasons for that was that theyd go to other festivals and they wouldnt be sure theyd get their money.

Whereas, with all our contracts, because of the type of sponsor we had, the musicians were assured theyd be paid.

From organisers, to artists, to the festivals punters, it really was a win-win situation.

One that were still reaping the benefits of today.
Its hard to believe its 10 years since Sonya Lennon and Brendan Courtney joined forces in fashion. As they launch their latest collection Annmarie OConnor meets the design duo.

Its party time for Sonya Lennon and Brendan Courtney. 2018 marks their ten-year anniversary as Irelands most respected sartorial double act. Having evolved as fashion TV presenters on RTEs Off the Rails to co-authoring two bestselling style tomes; launching eponymous womenswear label, Lennon Courtney, to partnering with retail giant Dunnes Stores; theirs is a veritable career bucket list. Its no wonder theyre in the mood to celebrate.

So, when they invite me to have a sneak peek of their winter 2018 collection, Im quick to RSVP. Armed with a reputation of knowing what women want, the design duo has fostered an ardent fanbase not least due to their proven cuts and hardworking wardrobe staples. As I rifle through the rails, Im struck by the unabashed glamour quotient: an asymmetric puff sleeve top here, a glitter bomb dress there. It is fittingly ebullient, albeit a new direction; one that will undoubtedly have similar sell-out success to that of their previous collections.

Stripe lurex cardigan, 59; metallic skirt, 69.

When something hits the ground, it hits the ground, Brendan tells me as we chat about a swing coat from the autumn collection  a 24-hour sellout success. Not one for taking chances, Im putting a bronze skirt and a pair of pistachio wide-legged trousers on my mental Pinterest board should they suffer a similar fate.

Trust me; I should know. I witnessed ladies who flew in from the UK to attend the launch of their autumn 2016 collection for Dunnes Stores, customers who Sonya informs me went for brunch after the event and have since become friends. Its this intimacy and genuine connection which stems from the brands inherent nous for real needs: an awareness which has led them to increase their size range (now up to a size 18) and introduce shorter lengths.

Pistachio camisole, 29; pistachio flare trousers, 69.

I look back on 10 years of us together, reflects Brendan, and we have the biggest body of research that two people can have standing shoulder-to-shoulder with real women on Off the Rails for all those years. With that, at the backdrop of what we do, there is an understanding of women and their insecurities and, also, what they want clothes to do to make them feel good. The Lennon Courtney label is a bit like having a designer and a best friend rolled into one; they want whats best for you. And it wasnt off the wind they caught it. Its obvious from chatting with them that reciprocity is part of their DNA. You only have to check the comment threads on their personal and business social media accounts to see how plugged in they really are.

People converse on Lennon Courtney and on our own platforms about the collections, about what they want and weve listened to them, Sonya explains. Weve named items after customers because theyve said, Will you ever do a V-neck cornflower blue dress? and weve named it after her. Weve always said we are responsive designers, so we dont sit in a vacuum and design something from the deepest recesses of our brain. Were connected with the customer and I think thats a huge part of our success. Its obvious theyre also incredibly connected to each other. Familiarity, according to the adage, may breed contempt but, not in this case. Im curious to discover their secret sauce  the ingredients that has made them such a formidable crack team.

White one shoulder top, 69; black high waist trousers, 69.

So, we do this great game, says Brendan, where we describe each other in three words. Can I do mine? he asks referring to my secret sauce, trust, fun, creativity. Im going to add respect in there. If its all wrapped up in respect then youve got a good foundation, Sonya claims.

Fun is very important to us as well though, insists Brendan the cake would bake without that ingredient but it wouldnt keep my attention. Wouldnt taste as good! Sonya banters. Cue: explosion of laughter.

Joking aside, the Lennon Courtney brand is more than just a fashion label and business partnership; its a statement of intent. At the core of what we do is equality and empowerment, maintains Brendan. We want to make sure that the clothes we design always deliver that. From the perfect solution dress to emboldened prints and confident colours that have become part of their signature, each collection (they create five drops per season with Dunnes) is adaptive to the busy modern lifestyle and does more than the sum of its parts. For the time- or cash-strapped, having a solutions-based wardrobe takes the stress out of getting dressed. When it comes to the workplace, in particular, this asset cannot be undersold.

Gold draped dress, 99.

Having founded the global not for profit initiative Dress for Success in Ireland seven years ago - an organisation which promotes the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire  Sonya has an appointment at Leinster House later that afternoon where shell be joining a cross-party parliamentary group on equality in the workplace. Im unsurprised yet somewhat in awe. My own plans, admittedly, involved changing into sweatpants and making a cup of tea.

Im passionate about that because starting with the work that I did in Dress for Success and seeing the impact of giving women the confidence to succeed at interview, the impact on families, when women have the chance to shine, is enormous. For me, its kind of a natural extension of what we do with the clothes. Women who can afford to buy our clothes feel better in them; women who cant, go to Dress for Success and get kitted out to allow them to be economically independent.

For the pair, thats what joining forces with Dunnes Stores helped them achieve  inclusivity  reaching a wider audience of women with more democratic prices. Im secretly wishing theyd run as a double-bill for the upcoming Irish presidential election. Is it too late? A flash of glitter catches my eye again. Its that delightful rose gold dress  Brendans favourite from the winter 2018 collection. Its genius on! Its got two pockets and it also comes with a belt, so its sort of tulip-shaped but the shoulder extends over the shoulder and has four pleats here, he shows me excitedly, so its really clever. I think it would look particularly good on a size 16. Its fun. For me, it expresses where were at right now - bit of sparkle; very happy. So are we.

- The Lennon Courtney at Dunnes Stores winter 2018 collection is available to buy now from selected stores nationwide and online at www.dunnesstores.com.

- Photography Des Moriarty; All clothes and styling by Lennon Courtney; Hair & Make Up Jen Quinn
Spend this midterm getting your spook on, with Ciara McDonnells pick of the best events taking place on Halloween week.

Mini Chefs

Ben and Matthew ODonoghue from Glanmire at the childrens pizza making classes at Cork Airport Hotel. Picture: Gerard McCarthy

Every day from 2pm-6pm the chefs at Cork Airport Hotel welcome the mini masterchefs of the future in pizza making classes. Kids will don a child-size set of chef whites as they help to make their pizza from start to finish  specifying the toppings of course. The class costs 5.50 per child and can you can add a starter, dessert and drink for 8.95.

www.corkairporthotel.com/childrens-pizza-making-cork.html

Pick A Pumpkin

The Farm at Grenagh transforms into a magical pumpkin patch at Halloween every year.

The good witch Esmeralda will be on hand to help small people cast a spell to find the right pumpkin for their family and her helpers will be on hand to help make your very own witches hat, before a special class in pumpkin carving.

For parents who are feeling a little competitive on the day, theres a daily broom race for grown-ups. Entry to the pumpkin patch is 14 per child and 5 per adult.

visitthefarm.ie/pumpkin-patch-2018/

Spooky Town

Fota Island Resort is transforming into a ghoulish wonderland for Halloween week. Families are advised to stay close together as they travel through the streets of Spooky Town, pass graveyards and pumpkin patches to meet the local Mayor, Count Derekula. Designed like a Crystal Maze, families will have to solve clues and puzzles along the way, collecting codes and stamps; at the very end, there will be a treat station where children can exchange their stamps for treats.

The tour takes between 45 minutes to one hour and costs between 10-16.50 per person, depending on the day.

www.spookytown.ie

Ghoulseys Manor

The Maid Anett Kurucsai dares to tread the staircase at the haunted Ghoulsleys Manor in Cuskinny, Cobh, where the 200 year-old mansion is under the Curse of the Purple Pumpkin for Halloween midterm. The spooky theatrical experience and its ghoulish goings on run every afternoon and evening. Picture: Gerard McCarthy

Over the last three years, Ghoulsleys Manor has built up quite a reputation for its frightful Halloween festivities. Children from the ages of four to 14 years get to immerse themselves in a truly spellbinding theatrical performances by a creative and fun-loving acting crew from east Cork.

In the setting of an historic manor house, the Halloween extravanganza has proven popular for parties, group visits, school outings and family days out. This imaginative family experience allows kids  young and old  to get lost amidst the candlelight and cobwebs of Corks original spooky haunted manor.

For more information and booking, please visit: www.ghoulsleysmanor.com/

Monsters Misfits and Mayhem

Bunratty Folk Park is transforming into a world of ghouls and monstrous gremlins on Bank Holiday Monday to ensure that our small people are as hyped as possible for trick or treating the following day.

The Halloween Ghost Ride is returning where ghosts and goblins jump out when youre lest expecting it, and kids will love the opportunity to get up close and personal with a grisly collection of tarantulas, snakes, scorpions and lizards.

Tickets cost 7 per child (under 3s go free) and adults cost 13.

www.shannonheritage.com/

Ballymaboo

Alice Barry, artistic director, plays Winne the Witch at the first Ballymaboo Halloween Experience, which will take place in the Ballymaloe Grainstore until November 4. Picture: Joleen Cronin

Ballymaloe Grainstore is transforming itself into a fearsome Halloween experience for the whole school holidays. Set like a treasure hunt, families will follow the clues to free a princess from a giants castle before retiring to the Boo cafe for some much needed Ballymaloe hospitality and plenty of games and activities for the children. Tickets are 15 per person and the experience runs from 10am-6pm every day.

www.ballymaloefestivals.ie

Dragon of Shandon Festival

The Dragon of Shandon is celebrating her thirteenth birthday this year as she parades through Cork city. The Dragon of Shandon Parade takes place on Halloween night, when more than 500 ghosts, ghouls and misfits will take to the street to celebrate Samhain. Supported by Cork Community Art Link, this parade is a wonderful celebration of the arts in Cork and is a brilliantly spooky way to kick off Halloween. The parade leaves from Shandon at 7pm travelling across the river to North Main Street and finishing in Cornmarket Street.

www.dragonofshandon.com

Spooktacular Science

Orlaith Kelly age 9 and David Smith age 9 from Corbally at the Launch of Spook-tacular Science at King Johns Castle, Limerick. Picture: Brian Arthur

King Johns Castle in Limerick is running science workshops for children from Tuesday, October 30, to Friday, November 2, with spooky experiments designed to introduce children to the fun of chemistry. Kids will make three types of slime, geysers made from Coca-Cola and fizz inflators, as well as exploding lunch bags. Ideal for children aged between six and 13, the workshops take place each day at 10am, 11.30am, 1pm and 2.30pm. Tickets cost 12 per child.

www.shannonheritage.com/Events/AnnualEvents/

A Gaol Of A Time

Cork City Gaol is going full on scary this Halloween week, with a programme of family-friendly events taking place for the whole of the midterm.

Each day, the Gaol will be running a special treasure hunt, as well as storytelling, face-painting and balloon making, all in the heart of one of Corks scariest venues.

Tickets cost 5 per child, 8 per adult and families of two adults and two children can buy a family ticket for 25.

corkcitygaol.com/

Make Your Own Halloween

The Toy Soldier Factory in Kilnamartyra, County Cork, is running Halloween-themed workshops for big and little kids throughout the midterm.

Choose from a pumpkin or a scary witch or even a Halloween skeleton pirate and cast your very own metal figure before spending an hour painting your model to perfection.

The workshops take between an hour and ninety minutes and are suitable for children aged seven and up.

Tickets cost 10.80 per hour session and can be booked via the website.

toysoldierfactory.ie
Where's the Skibbereen Eagle when you need it? On September 5, 1898, the West Cork newspaper laid it on the line for Nicholas II, the man who ruled Russia with an iron fist.

We will still keep our eye on the emperor of Russia and on all such despotic enemies, whether at home or abroad, of human progression and mans natural rights, the editorial spelled out.

The occasion has gone down in the annals as an hilarious example of misplaced self-importance. By contrast, the attitude in official circles today would appear to be to climb under the nearest rock, when it comes to calling out thuggery abroad.

Witness the reaction to the savage murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Thus far, there has been practically no response from the Irish Government to the killing of a journalist for doing his job of holding power to account.

Khashoggi, as has been documented, was a thorn in the side of Saudi Arabias de facto leader, Mohammed Bin Salam (known as MBS).

The journalist has called out MBSs wild excesses.

On a global scale, these include the prosecution of war in neighbouring, impoverished Yemen, where, according to aid agencies, 13m face death by starvation in the worst famine in the world in 100 years.

Last year, Khashoggi left Saudi Arabia, for fear of being locked up and silenced. He relocated to the USA, where he wrote a weekly column for the Washington Post.

On October 2, he entered the Saudi consulate in Ankara, by appointment, to pick up legal documents for his proposed marriage. He died violently in the building a short time later.

Earlier in the day, private planes carrying 15 Saudis with close links to MBS landed in Ankara. Those on board returned whence they came that evening. Among them was a pathologist with vast experience in autopsies.

One leak from Turkish intelligence sources suggested that the Saudi killers began chopping off Kashoggis fingers while he was still alive. This source also claimed that an audio recording of the killing caught the pathologist telling others to plug in headphones and listen to music, which would ease the stress of chopping up a body.

The Saudis initially claimed that the journalist left the consulate later that day, until they finally admitted he had been murdered. Rogue elements have been blamed.

The murder is chilling on many fronts. It was obviously meticulously planned and premeditated. A consulate in a foreign country can act as a refuge for people displaced from their own country. Here, it was used by a despotic ruler to kill one of his own.

MBS quite obviously felt secure in ordering this killing. Why wouldnt he? Turkey is governed by a fellow strongman, Recep Erdogan, who has shown scant regard for democratic norms and has locked up awkward journalists.

It now looks as though Erdogan did not react with indifference, but who knows what exactly his game is.

Donal Trump, likewise, has no time for journalists, whom he describes as enemies of the people. Trumps reaction was to ring up the prince, get told it was all lies, and relay that he believed the prince.

His first priority was to ensure that the USA could continue to sell arms to Saudi Arabia, arms that are being used to kill in Yemen.

Khashoggi is not a United States citizen, Trump said.

We dont like it, but whether or not we should stop $110bn being spent in this country Im not in favour of that.

Then, when the truth refused to stay buried, he concentrated on the logistics of the killing operation.

They had a very bad original concept. It was carried out poorly, and the cover-up was one of the worst in the history of cover-ups, he said.

That was the considered response of the US president to the apparent state-sponsored murder of a US citizen, one who was writing for the Washington Post.

And what has been the response in this country, where once the Skibbereen Eagle called out tyrants in a far-off land?

The business umbrella group, IBEC, did pull out of Saudi Arabias Future Investment Initiative last week.

The initiative had been flagged as a trough, where all the global firms, and half the governments, of the developed world would place their snouts. For some, the smell of rotting flesh was too powerful.

Not for all, though. The accountancy firms PriceWaterhouseCooper, EY, and Deloitte, all of which hoover up major state contracts in this country, remained as partners to the event.

Perhaps the next time one of their representatives is wheeled out on TV to disseminate their expertise on money matters, they might be asked about the smell.

At governmental level, there has been silence. There was no question of calling in the Saudi ambassador, no rush to condemn, as would be the case if Saudi Arabia was not a wealthy country.

According to reports, the only person at cabinet to raise the issue in recent weeks was Finian McGrath, who got the kind of response usually reserved for the drunken uncle at a wedding.

What if Mr Khashoggi had met his brutal end in the Saudi consulate in Dublin? Would reaction be any different then?

Would the government even show the kind of outrage that Erdogan has? Or would the first instinct be to look to the UK and the USA to check how measured any response should be?

Last March, this country expelled a Russian diplomat, in response to the poisoning of former Russian agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in Salisbury, England.

The Government moved after the British and Americans decided that expulsion of some diplomats was the appropriate response to another case of apparent state-sponsored murder in a European country.

It would seem that this country is perfectly comfortable in measuring any response to murder, war, or the erosion of human rights, according to what the British and Americans deem appropriate.

There may well have been a case to act according to that compass once upon a time. Notwithstanding their respective records of violence and subterfuge overseas, both of those countries did insist on adherence to a basic moral benchmark, in public at any rate.

Those days are gone. The USA is led by a bully, who draws his strength from conflict at home and abroad. His moral benchmark begins and end with his ego.

The UK, meanwhile, is cannibalising itself on English nationalism. The inevitable prospect of a post-Brexit world, in which the UKs standing diminishes, will lead inevitably to a decline of any fidelity to global values.

And yet, it would appear, we, in this country, continue to look to those friends for guidance on how we should respond when despots act brutally, confident that they are immune from sanction.

Come on back, the Skibbereen Eagle. All is forgiven.
The consistency of the two exit polls is remarkable and the result is crystal clear.

As expected, President Michael D Higgins will romp home to victory and can now look forward to seven more years in office.

Despite a concerted effort by the establishment parties to avoid an election, when it did eventually happen, the campaign was a damp squib.

Questions about the spending at Aras an Uachtarain and the 317,000 unaudited allowance were legitimate but they never damaged the incumbent as he insulated himself from attack.

Firstly, he since taking office in 2011 had reduced his salary and he too has come in under budget year on year.

The amount of focus on such matters by the other rival candidates was simply bizarre as was their unwillingness to tackle the President on his ideas for the office.

They accepted he had done a good job and therefore severely limited the field of attack.

However in saying that, it was a far from impressive campaign from the President.

On several fronts he was seen to go back on his word.

Firstly on standing for a second term when he said he would only serve one previously.

Then at the height of the row over the allowance, he committed to issuing a formal statement on his spending, only to later say he would do it after the race was completed.

Then his explanation about using the Government Lear jet to travel to Belfast appeared to change when he was pressed on the matter.

Despite all that, in truth, not one of the other candidates came close to laying a glove on Michael D.

Seasoned businessmen like Sean Gallagher and Gavin Duffy will be scratching their heads as to why they even considered running in the first place.

Gallagher was not rewarded for standing again, despite the feeling one got from him throughout that he was owed another shot at the crown.

Given the likelihood of him taking home the wooden spoon prize, Duffy's decision to stand could prove very costly indeed to him.

For all his public relations expertise, he at times struggled to be convincing or even likeable, appearing smug and arrogant.

His involvement in a serious road traffic accident in his earlier years did clearly overshadow his campaign.

Sinn Fein's Liadh ni Riada too will be licking her wounds after a poor showing by her party's standing.

At 7% and 8% in the two exit polls, she has fallen well short of Sinn Fein's core party support level, so a sizeable chunk of her own party's supporters did not vote for her.

Perhaps her comments about being prepared to wear a poppy was a bridge too far, too soon, for some.

Senator Joan Freeman's campaign never got going and despite having a decent back story to tell, her message clearly did not resonate with the public. She struggled too in debates and often bemoaned the fact those debates were dominated by money issues and the business interests of other candidates.

But the big surprise of the race was Peter Casey. Shooting from the hip he clearly won admirers after he was critical of the actions of the Traveller community last week.

There was a palpable sense that what he said resonated with people, who could be heard: I agree with him, but I just can't say it.

The irony of Casey's result is that he is likely to get back his 200,000 election expenses, despite needing them the least of all of the runners-up.

Voter turnout in the Presidential election across the country is set to be the lowest ever, reflecting the low-key nature of the campaign.

Previously, the lowest turnout recorded in a Presidential election was in 1997, where just 46.7% of those eligible to vote cast their ballot.

On that occasion, Mary McAleese saw off the challenge of Mary Banotti, Derek Nally, Adi Roche and Dana Rosemary Scallon.

The highest turnout recorded in a Presidential election was 65.3% in 1966 when Eamon DeValera defeated Thomas F O'Higgins to secure his second term in the Aras.

Since Douglas Hyde was first elected President in 1938, seven men and two women have held the office.
With a prize of 1.3bn customers, the battle to convert consumers to online is hotting up, say Brad Stone and Saritha Rai.

Like many neighbourhood stores in India, the Sri Lakshmi Venkateshwara kirana is tiny and cramped.

Single-rupee shampoo packets and bags of potato crisps hang from ceiling hooks.

Jars full of colourful sweets and sesame brittle sit on the counter. Sacks of rice and lentils are stacked waist-high, occupying nearly every square inch of the floor.

It may not look like it has much merchandise, but this kirana, in the southern village of Madikere, sells practically everything.

Last year, the shops 27-year-old owner, Gangadhar, joined thousands of other small Indian retailers in partnering with Amazon.

While cows and roosters ramble outside on the dirt lane and women walk by with bales of hay balanced on their heads, Gangadhar uses a smartphone to display Amazons selection to villagers and show them how to find things and get the best prices.

Im the person between Amazon and the people who shop online, he says proudly.

Enlisting local shop owners as envoys for online buying is part of Amazons foray into India, one of the last frontiers of e-commerce.

India has a population of 1.3bn, hundreds of millions of whom now own smartphones and who are just getting their first glimpse of the cornucopia of consumption thats accessible online.

Winning here is all the more important, after Amazon bombed in another immense market, China.

Reaching customers in India isnt easy. No country is more colourfully, anachronistically, chaotic. Local roads are rutted with potholes and cluttered with motorcycles, auto rickshaws, and stray dogs.

Making deliveries requires Mad Max-level driving skills. Four out of five Indians earn wages in cash; credit cards are rare, and trust in transacting online has to be earned.

A quarter of the population lives in poverty, and a similar proportion is illiterate. Still, the countrys middle class is growing, which is why risk-tolerant retail giants want in.

Amazons goal is to transform the way India buys and sells. Anodyne language aside, this is a massive undertaking that, as usual with early-stage Jeff Bezos projects, is massively unprofitable.

His company lost $3bn (2.6bn) on its international efforts last year, and much of that was in India. In May, Walmart spent $16bn to acquire Amazons primary rival in India, the homegrown online retailer Flipkart Online Services Pvt.

Alibaba Group Holding is also here, with an investment in a popular online retailer, called Paytm E-commerce Pvt, as well as a stake in the country largest online grocer, BigBasket.

All this action is almost enough to make Bezos, Amazons founder and the wealthiest man in the world,a household name in one of its remotest places. Almost.

I dont know who Jeff Bezos is, says Gangadhar, standing outside his kirana, under an awning for shade. But if hes made it convenient to shop from this village, he ought to be the richest.

On the first day of each month, Gangadhar distributes leaflets around his village, listing Amazons deals on exotic global brands, such as Pampers, Gillette razors, Olay moisturiser, and Pillsbury cake mix. Dont be scared of online shopping. Make friends with it, the handout counsels.

When his customers order by 12 noon, Amazon delivers packages to the store the next day, via a logistics company called StoreKing.

When packages arrive, as a small box addressed to a tea-shop owner named Appaji did on a recent afternoon, Gangadhar leaves his wife at the store and he makes deliveries on foot. He grew up in the village and knows almost everyone by name.

Gangadhars deliveries can have the feel of a parade, with other villagers trailing him on his errands. When the procession reaches Appajis tea shop, where a half-dozen older men squat in darkness on floor mats, while sipping from small cups, the proprietor says the package is for his daughter, and Gangadhar and his entourage continue on to the Appaji home, nearby.

There, in a windowless living room, where a ceiling fan whirs and a small TV blasts news and commercials in the local language, Akshatha, 17, receives the Amazon box with trembling hands and opens it.

Its a Moto G 5s, her first smartphone, which cost around $130. Its a significant purchase for the shop owner, who sells cups of tea for 4 rupees (about 5c) and who pays the kirana owner in cash.

Later, Akshatha reports that she signed up for WhatsApp, shared selfies with friends, and became an aspiring Amazon customer.

I hear every product shown on TV is available, she says.

For my birthday, in December, Im already thinking what to ask my parents to gift me from Amazon.

Amazon opened its Indian website in June 2013.

The group running the site, a team of Indian-born engineers who had worked at Amazons headquarters in Seattle and were persuaded to return home, stored and shipped products from a single, 140,000-square-foot warehouse in a crowded suburb outside Mumbai.

Bezos told the team to think like cowboys, who are wild and fast and a little bit rude, and not like computer scientists, according to Amit Agarwal, head of the India operation.

That translates as it was OK to make mistakes. Its important that you control your destiny and move fast, says Agarwal, a former Bezos technical adviser (Amazon lingo for an executive shadow).

Agarwal speaks in the narrow lexicon of the companys public pronouncements, extolling the holy trinity of price, selection, and convenience.

Hes such an avowed Amazonian, in fact, that when the India division opened, he shipped his door desk  a cherished symbol of frugality at Amazon  halfway across the world to his new office.

About a year after the launch, Bezos visited for a grandiose public unveiling of Amazons investment plan. He insisted on presenting an oversize, $2bn check to Agarwal while riding an elephant (a mystical symbol in India that represents wisdom and strength).

But all the elephants were occupied in a regional religious festival at the time, and colleagues had to persuade him to conduct the exchange atop a heavily decorated truck.

I think God takes priority over Jeff, Agarwal says.

Amazon now has more than 50 fulfilment centres in India. The main office, in Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore), is in a modern tower ringed by security checkpoints.

In the lobby, theres little to mark the presence of Amazon, save a small blue sign and three Fire tablets sitting on a reception desk. Upstairs, inspirational, if unsettling, Bezos quotations line the walls: Day 2 is stasis, followed by irrelevance, followed by excruciating, painful decline, followed by death.

Amazon followed a familiar playbook in India. Prime was introduced in 2016, offering two-day shipping everywhere in the country. Membership costs 999 rupees, or around 12 a year, and members can watch free shows, such as the standup comedy competition series, Comics than.

As it has in other countries, the company introduced Pantry, with a selection of snack foods, beverages, and household items, and, in a handful of cities, Prime Now, offering fresh food and produce within two hours.

But everything was harder in India. Amazon realised early on that it couldnt depend solely on such logistics partners as the India Post, the federal mail carrier.

So it created its own network of couriers in vans, motorcycles, bikes, and even boats, to reach the remotest parts of the country, such as the river islands in eastern Assam.

Like its rival Flipkart, Amazon accepts cash on delivery, since few shoppers have access to credit cards.

Customers have the option to deposit change from a cash transaction as credit in their Amazon accounts, one of the companys many efforts to get people more comfortable with the idea of digital payments.

One of Amazons biggest challenges has been simply getting Indian merchants comfortable with selling online.

Foreign retailers that sell multiple brands are prohibited by law from selling anything other than food directly to consumers, which means everything on the Amazon.in marketplace is listed by an independent seller.

One way Amazon has gotten around this is to invest in joint ventures with local businesses; another is to send employees into local markets with ample supplies of chai to introduce merchants to such concepts as email, apps, and e-commerce and persuade them to list their products on Amazon.

The company basically had to help teach all of India how to buy and sell online. That meant advertising loudly on television and billboards. (Aur Dikhao, or show me more, was the slogan of a TV campaign.)

It also meant finding and enlisting intermediaries, instead of doing away with them (Amazons customary approach in other parts of the world).

In one initiative, Amazon turned 14,000 local shipping offices intoe-commerce training centres, called Easy Stores, where counsellors are available to escort buyers through the virtual mall.

Orders are delivered to the stores a day or two later, and buyers can pay cash when they pick them up.

At an air-conditioned Easy Store in the Worli neighbourhood of Mumbai, customers leave their shoes at the door and line up to shop with the help of one of four agents sitting behind counters.

A sari for my mother, a lehenga skirt for my sister, sheets and blankets for the house, says Hachnul Haque, a 28-year-old migrant from northeast India, who works in arestaurant kitchen for 25,000 rupeesa month and is buying gifts for hisannual journey home.

Today, hes looking for a bangle for his aunt. The agent browses Amazon.in on a PC, which is also mirrored on a screen in front of Haque, as Haque takes photos of products with his phone and texts them over WhatsApp to his aunt, so she can pick the one she likes best.

Ive known the people here over a year and trust them, he says, propping a leg up on a free chair. Theres no tension in shopping this way.

A 45-minute drive from Amazons inconspicuous offices, through the gnarly Bengaluru traffic, are the headquarters of Flipkart, a trio of low-slung towers in an office park thats also home to the local branches

of Xiaomi and WeWork. Even on a recent national holiday, its a hotbed of activity, with employees preparing for Big Billion Days, an invented celebration, like Alibabas Singles Day and Amazons Prime Day.

Big Billion Days kicks off Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights. Congratulations, Flipkart, we have set a new world record, reads a giant sign in the lobby (it stacked 45 mattresses to demonstrate the durability of a Flipkart-branded bed frame).

Ask an executive at either Amazon or Flipkart which ones ahead, and youll receive an indignant cavalcade of conflicting market-share data. Both profess not to care about the competition while insisting that theyre winning.

Whats safe to say, though, is that Flipkart was the first to bring modern e-commerce to India and is still slightly bigger, and that Bezos recognised that fact and, at one point, was determined to buy it.

Flipkart was founded by two former Amazonians. When Amazon first opened an engineering centre in Bengaluru, in 2006, in a small office over a car dealership, one of the first employees was Sachin Bansal, a graduate of Delhis prestigious Indian Institute of Technology.

Jeff Bozos of Amazon.

A year later, Bansal brought his high school friend Binny Bansal (no relation) into Amazon, and a few months later, they quit to try to replicate Bezos original magic of selling books in their native country.

Even before they were competing against their former employer, the two had trouble escaping its shadow.

You are just copycats! How is this anything different from Amazon?

Amar Nagaram recalls saying to Sachin Bansal, in 2011  duringNagarams job interview at Flipkart.

Amazingly, Nagaram got the job and is now a vice-president there.

Early on, Flipkart accepted cash payments from customers and began training Indian merchants in the particulars of e-commerce. To help deliver packages in Mumbai, it enlisted the dabbawallas, couriers who make up a century-old network that brings hot lunches in intricately colour-coded boxes from workers homes to their offices.

Meanwhile, the company raised billions from investors such as Tiger Global Management, the SouthAfrican investment fund Naspers, and the Silicon Valley venture capital firm Accel. By the end of 2015, Flipkart was worth 15.5bn and one of the most valuable startups in the world.

In 2016, trouble hit. As Bezos continued to write large checks to Amazon India, Flipkart sales slowed, and the company had to lay off workers.

It accepted a lower valuation of 11.6bn, when it raised an additional 1.4bn in April, 2017, from a consortium that included Tencent, eBay, and Microsoft.

And because Flipkart was now-majority-owned by foreign funds, it could no longer sell products directly and had to adopt the marketplace model, where independent merchants list their products and make the sales.

Like Amazon, Flipkart invested in affiliates to carry the most popular inventory. But the shift, executives say, sowed internal chaos and hurt the experience for both buyers and sellers.

By the end of 2017, business was improving. Flipkarts acquisition of Myntra, a successful fashion website that carries global brands and ethnic Indian clothes, created another popular category on the site, alongside smartphones.

Sachin and Binny Bansal had also recruited back their former chief financial officer, an intense, fast-talking Tiger Global alum named Kalyan Krishnamurthy, whod worked at eBay in Asia a decade before and had learned, from its fatal lack of interest in tailoring, its service to specific regions in India.

This is a place where you cannot have one strategy, says Krishnamurthy, who became Flipkarts CEO.

You need to have 24 strategies and maybe even more.

Then, the suitors came calling. For the first six months of 2018, the Indian media intensely charted rumoured talks between Flipkart and Walmart.

What was unknown at the time is that Flipkart executives had also started talking to Bezos, according to two people familiar with the negotiations, and even visited the Amazon CEO at his Seattle home.

With Peter Krawiec, his top M&A deputy, Bezos started working on a deal to acquire Flipkart. Members of Walmarts management team got wind of it when they happened to be in India, taking a private Harvard Business School executive education course about the country.

Intoxicated with the potential of the Indian e-commerce market, the two retail titans battled for the deal through last winter and spring, bidding up Flipkarts valuation from 11.6bn to 20bn.

Amazon eventually offered the higher bid, says someone who was privy to the negotiations, and at least one major Flipkart backer, SoftBanks Masayoshi Son, favoured it.

But while Bezos was confident he could get the deal approved by Indian regulators, some of Flipkarts investors feared the uncertainty of the competition approval process.

Eager to cash out of a decade-old startup, Flipkarts board agreed to sell to Walmart. Walmart CEO, Doug McMillon, visited India after the acquisition was announced and told Flipkart employees, It is our intention to just empower you and let you run. Speed matters. Decisiveness matters.

At 12 noon on a Saturday, SP Road, Bengalurus wholesale electronics market, feels desolate. In the tiny, mostly empty stores that pack the street, shop attendants arrange and rearrange their goods.

As sales of smartphones and computers have skyrocketed on Amazon and Flipkart, theyve cratered here.

Caught in the downdraft is Jagdish Raj Purohit, the owner of a store that bills itself as Sunrise Telecom. Its a shoebox of a space, and Purohit is seated behind the cash register at the entrance.

Along one side are hundreds of cases for every conceivable smartphone model. On the other is a combination of low-end and mid-price phones, as well as a Vivo V11, anupscale model from China that sells for 26,000 rupees (3,100).

Purohit doesnt expect to sell many. All mobile sales have gone online, he grouses, when asked the customary Hindi question, Dhanda kaisa hai? (Hows business?).

Flipkart and Amazon are always advertising discounts on such phones, so who will come here?

He tries to make up the shortfall by selling accessories.

At Raj Shree Computech, down the street, Mahendra Kumar and his two brothers have been selling computers and accessories for a dozen years. For the last few, business has been thoda thanda (a bit cold). Its not a great mystery why.

Whoever comes here quotes laptop prices from Flipkart and Amazon straightaway, even before we say anything, says Kumar.

Or theyll come here and try many headphones for sound and then walk out, saying theyll be back later. We know they arent coming back.

Like his fellow shop owner down the street, Kumar is reluctant to become a seller on Amazon or Flipkart, because margins are slim and returns create headaches.

Amazon warehouse.

While e-commerce is churning up SP Road, its impact is less obvious at KR Market, a cacophonous outdoor bazaar about a 10-minute rickshaw ride away.

Sari-clad women hawk mounds of eggplant and beetroot, workers carry gunny sacks of sweet lime, orange, and jasmine from trucks, vendors scream out prices, and buyers haggle as they fill bags with produce.

Here is Indian retail in all its chaotic originality, untouched, for now, by the internet and the industrialists looking to build their empires on top of it. Ramesh Kumar, who for 30 years has sold mountains of blood-red pomegranates, has never even heard of Amazon.

Where is Amazon market? he asks, furrowing his brow. Are they opening near here?
By Joyce Fegan

The images were only ever of clenched fists, bruised eyes, children cowering in corners, fragile, working-class women, and droplets of bright-red blood.

Domestic violence, much like the standard rape narrative, happened in this dramatic, black-and-white fashion, where everyone could spot it from a mile away.

It was blindingly obvious, or so the ads on TV and on the back of buses told me when I was growing up. Except it isnt, at all.

You know someone in an abusive relationship.

You just dont know you do.

And why dont you know? Because myths and falsehoods abound and leave us looking in all the wrong places for all the wrong signs.

There are two myths to bust. The first is the term domestic violence Lets swap this for domestic abuse. We think of domestic violence in terms of just the bruised eye, but there are several ways partners abuse, and nphysical force is only one of them.

In 2017, Womens Aid heard 15,833 disclosures of abuse, and only a minority came with a bruise. There were 10,281 incidents of emotional abuse, 3,502 incidents of physical abuse, and 1,443 incidents of financial abuse.

Heavy make-up, concealing a blackened eye socket, is only one sign of abuse, because, for the most part, the violence is psychological. As Cork-based relationship counsellor Don Hennessy states, the abuser gets inside the victims head and they abuse and control from there.

The second myth is that domestic abuse only happens to impoverished, working-class women, who are shells of their former selves, having been married to violent alcoholics for too long.

This myth is damaging. Domestic abuse does not discriminate, and it happens across all social classes, from educated, professional women to teenage girls.

And men, too. In 2015, 3% of calls to Womens Aid came from male victims of abuse.

So, if were not looking out for the baddie with the shaved head, the tattoos and the drink problem, and if we are not using a bruise as a barometer of domestic abuse, what should we look out for?

Well, firstly, even though you might think you dont know anyone in an abusive relationship, studies show how prevalent domestic abuse is. In Ireland, one in three women said they experienced psychological violence by a partner.

This is according to a 2014, EU-wide study, called Violence Against Women. And an older study, from 1995, found that one in five women in Ireland who have been in a relationship have been abused by a current or former partner.

So, chances are good you know someone.

What are the signs?

The person who is being psychologically or emotionally abused  their home life consists of put-downs, constant criticism, and vigilant tracking of their whereabouts  may isolate themselves from friends and family.

They can become emotionally and physically distant and their social life can shrink into non-existence. When theyre out, and not with their partner, theyre glued to their phone, in case theyre contacted.

For someone whos being financially abused, this might look like a loss of earnings, not showing up to work or showing up late.

Their partner is sabotaging their ability to be materially independent.They might also no longer be in charge of their own finances, as their partner has them on an allowance.

There is also sexual abuse. In 2017, 607 incidents of sexual abuse were disclosed to Womens Aid, including 323 rapes.

Sex is a tricky one, because we so often think of it as being outside the realms of consent and something that is a non-negotiable in a relationship.

Marital rape only became illegal in Ireland in 1990, so what is ingrained into our social fabric is the notion that your spouse is entitled to sex.

When they pester you and you really dont feel like it, they sulk, become irritated, maybe even abusive, and relenting to appease them is the safer option.

This week, as 33-year-old Amanda Carroll was found dead in her Dublin home and as her partner, Sean Nolan, was charged with her murder, Womens Aid launched a campaign called Too into You. Its targeted

at people who may be experiencing dating abuse.

Some of the signs here are your partner complaining about the amount of time you spend with friends, constantly being monitored via texts and social media, and being afraid of disagreeing with them because of their bad temper.

Domestic abuse is all about control  one person having control over another. And far from the aggressive alcoholic and the bruised eye, the abuse is so often silent and ignored by society.

Between 1996 and 2017, 216 women died violently in Ireland, and 88% knew their killer intimately. Murder is both most extreme form of, and the end point of, domestic abuse.

But so often, when it happens in Ireland, we hear of women who were happily married with children and had careers of their own. Their deaths, amongst smiling selfies and family photographs, come as a shock to us.

Their deaths so often shatter the domestic abuse narrative.

Youd never have thought she was being abused, would you?

"He seemed so nice, didnt he? we say.

And there will be another death and well express the same shock and dismay again. We are so used to the myth-filled narrative of the black eye and the cowering, fragile woman, that the majority of domestic abuse slips right past us.

And so, the perpetrator, uninterrupted, gets to go on abusing, cocooned by our ignorance and protected by the silence of their victim.

Its time we versed ourselves with a new script, one that serves victims, and not their abusers.
New Music Cafe to Feature Student and Faculty Performances

BLOOMINGTON, Ill.  As part of its New Music Series, Illinois Wesleyan Universitys School of Music will present a New Music Cafe, featuring student and faculty performances and original compositions. The recital will take place on Thursday, Nov. 1 at 8 p.m. in Presser Halls Westbrook Auditorium and is free and open to the public.

Director of the New Music Series and Fern Rosetta Sherff Professor of Composition and Theory David Vayo, and Nancy Pounds, adjunct instructor and accompanist in the School of Music, will perform selections from Jatekok (Games). The multi-volume collection of piano pieces is composed by Gyorgy Kurtag, Hungary's most internationally-esteemed living composer, and features pieces for piano four-hands (two people at the same piano).

The program will also feature three original compositions by John Orfe, a new School of Music faculty member. Orfes works include: What Wondrous Love is This; Waxwing, after Nabokovs Pale Fire; and Dmitri Shostakovichs Symphony No. 8, Op. 65, Movement 3: Allegro non troppo. Orfe will perform Waxwing and the Shostakovich transcription on solo piano. Professor of Music Bill West will solo in the opening hymn arrangement, which takes the familiar minor pentatonic Appalachian folk tune and recasts it in the manner of a Balinese gamelan.

Student violinists Daria Dodonova 21 and accounting and music double major Sam Biemer 21 will join Michael Minarcek, adjunct instructor of percussion, in performing Peter Garlands Matachin Dances. A U.S. composer who lived for many years among Native Americans in the United States and Mexico, Garland blends European and Native American elements and commemorates events in Spanish and Latin American history in his works.

The program will also feature a performance of John Cage's revolutionary 4'33" in which the pianist makes no sounds, so that the music is whatever the audience hears around them.

By Vi Kakares 20
Sri Lanka has plunged into a constitutional crisis after its president sacked the prime minister and appointed a controversial former strongman ruler in his place.

Here is a timeline of events leading up to the standoff that could see former president Mahinda Rajapakse return to power:

 Rajapakse loses presidency 

Rajapakse loses a presidential election to Maithripala Sirisena on January 8, 2015, after a decade in power during which he ended a brutal war with Tamil separatists amid widespread allegations of war crimes with thousands of civilians killed. His term was also tainted by corruption accusations. The 72-year-old denies any wrongdoing in the conflict or in the handing out of contracts but he and his family have been under investigation and face international criticism.

 Parliament return 

Rajapakse becomes the first Sri Lankan former president to make a return as a member of parliament following a legislative election in August 2015. But his Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) is beaten into second place by Ranil Wickremesinghes United National Party, dashing his hopes of securing new power as prime minister.

 Fragile coalition boosts strongman 

The coalition between Sirisena and Wickremesinghe is fragile from day one, with political divisions and economic difficulties helping Rajapakses SLFP faction score a spectacular victory in local elections on February 10, 2018. Rajapakses party immediately demands new national elections.

 Fightback after corruption case 

A special anti-corruption court launches operations on August 24 with a case against Rajapakses former chief of staff who is accused of siphoning off $3 million from a construction deal. Another Rajapakse official has already been jailed for three years for graft.

Two of the former presidents three sons are also accused of graft. Rajapakse says he is the victim of a political witch hunt.

Tens of thousands of his supporters gather in Colombo on September 5 demanding new elections and five days later Rajapakse holds talks with Indias Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.

 Prime minister sacked 

Out of the blue but under growing pressure, President Sirisena sacks coalition ally Wikremesinghe as prime minister and installs Rajapakse. With Wickremesinghe resisting his ouster, the move plunges Sri Lanka into deep turmoil likely to end up in bitter court challenges, with a presidential election due in 2019 and legislative polls the following year.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Authorities say a 68-year-old inmate was found dead in his cell at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports an officer discovered that Juan Rivas-Valles was unresponsive Wednesday morning during a routine check.

Audrey McPherson, the penitentiary's office manager, says authorities do not suspect foul play, but the medical examiner will perform an autopsy to determine the cause of death. Rivas-Valles did not have roommates.

Oregon State Police is investigating as is standard for inmate deaths.

Rivas-Valles was in prison since April 1990, serving a life sentence for killing his girlfriend and another man. He had pleaded guilty to murder and aggravated murder.
LANE COUNTY, Ore. -- A heroin crisis has been sweeping through Lane County with more than 30 overdoses in just the past month.

With more opioid overdoses and younger addicts, the heroin crisis is a dangerous display of supply and demand. And that demand is growing.

One addict said the supply is flooding our streets, hidden in plain sight.

Its taking people out left and right, Jacob Lucas said. Its soul sucking.

In Lane County more heroin overdoses are pushing addicts to the brink of death, like in one body cam video which shows Eugene police officers saving an addicts life.

Heroin is definitely flooded out here, Lucas said.

And its stronger when its laced with an opioid called fentanyl.

The stuff thats in it is just too powerful, Lucas said.

Lucas said he overdosed on heroin four times last year before turning his life around.

I know for a fact if I can get clean and sober, anybody can, Lucas said in September.

Lucas, a licensed barber, was more than 10 months sober but recently relapsed on heroin.

Since just last month, Lane County Public Health has recorded 63 opioid overdoses.

Every second can count in these situations, said Dr. Charlotte Ransom, Peace Health ER Medical Director.

Ransom said overdoses happen to people of all ages, even teenagers.

Young people who have such potential in their life. To see them fall into this hole is really, really unfortunate, she said.

KEZI 9 News compared heroins death toll in Lane County to the rest of Oregon and found that Lane County has been above the states average seven of the past nine years.

Thank God for Narcan, said Robert Jubber, a peer support specialist with Lane County Treatment Court.

Narcan is an overdose-reversing drug. The effects are temporary and a person still needs medical attention after, but it helps save lives.

Narcan is more accessible than ever before in Lane County.

We cant blame it on, oh just because Narcan is out there people are going to use heroin because of this or that, Jubber said.

Jubber said theres no single solution to curb Lane Countys heroin crisis.

Its not about a magic want or golden ticket, Jubber said.

He said its about an invitation to acknowledge addicts as people.

Jubber said they need their communitys help.

You got to have some sort of hope within yourself, Jubber said. Otherwise, its a battle that you cant win by yourself.

Recovering addicts said education and involvement are what you can do to help fight the heroin crisis -- from addicts knowing what resources are available to parents being involved in their childrens lives.

A study from the National Institute on Drug Abuse found that by the time teens reach their senior year of high school, half of those students will have tried an illegal drug.

More than 20 percent of those seniors will have taken a prescription drug for non-medical purposes.

Researchers said this experimenting can often lead to addiction.
UPDATE: The two men injured in the logging accidents on Friday are expected to be okay.

Deputies with the Linn County Sheriffs Office said Ricky Payton, 29, who was injured in the accident near Lyons is in stable condition.

While deputies with the Benton County Sheriffs Office said Ian Buczko, 32, was released from the hospital on Saturday.

___________________________________

EUGENE, Ore. -- Two people are dead after separate logging accidents in Oregon just minutes apart on Friday morning.

The Linn County Sherriff's Office said the first accident happened in Linn County at 8:04 a.m. Two men were working on a steep embankment when a log rolled onto them.

Deputies responded to assist the Lyons Fire Department with a report of a logging accident on a logging road just outside of Lyons. Both loggers were conscious. Once fire officials removed the two loggers, both went straight to the hospital.

Ian Buczko, 32, sustained injuries of unknown severity and was transported to Santiam Memorial Hospital in Stayton. Terry Gene Nelson, 48, of Scio was transported to Legacy Emmanuel Medical Center in Portland and later died from his injuries.

The second logging accident happened at 8:40 a.m. The Benton County Sheriffs Office responded to a logging accident near the town of Alsea. A log rolled on two men while they were working for Wiest Logging on an active logging site off Lobster Valley Road.

An air ambulance was immediately requested but was declined due to bad weather conditions.

Hector Rodarte, 27, of Monmouth was pronounced dead at the scene. Ricky Payton, 29, of Independence was transported to Good Sam Regional Medical Center in Corvallis.
MASON CITY, Iowa - Plans for a new animal sanctuary that will provide refuge for older and homeless animals are now moving forward.

The 10-acre Glady Mae Animal Sanctuary to be built near Mason City was given state approval by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship as a cat and dog sanctuary on Thursday.

The first cat living quarters are ready, but there is more work to be done as a barn will be renovated to house dogs.

Judy Siems is the founder and executive director of the sanctuary, and says that the approval is just one step in becoming fully operational and providing a much needed service.

"The idea of the prevalence of homeless animals...that will never be ending."

While there are plans for more to be added to the property, Siems says that public generosity and donations will allow for the sanctuary to expand.

"We always have enough money to take care of one building, and then when we need a new building, we gotta really ramp it up again. And that will be an ongoing thing because we're a 501 (c)(3) non profit."

The sanctuary is already starting to accept cats, and will accept dogs as soon as renovations are done.
CALEXICO, California (AP)  Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Friday that "everything is on the table" as the administration considered new measures to stifle immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border and send a message that a slow-moving migrant caravan bound for the United States will not be welcome.

Nielsen addressed the Trump administration's efforts to fortify the border while standing next to a newly constructed 30-foot fence in California. Before she spoke, two workers wearing welding masks affixed a plaque to the barrier with the names of President Donald Trump and several high-ranking officials to commemorate what the administration calls the completion of the first phase of his border wall.

Nielsen's trip to the border came after the Pentagon approved a request for additional troops at the southern border, expected to total at least 800 and possibly more than 1,000. And the White House is looking at new border security measures, including one plan that would use the same mechanism as Trump's travel ban to block migrants from seeking asylum in the U.S, according to two people familiar with the discussion. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the idea, which they stressed was still in the early planning stages and had yet to be decided.

"We are looking at every possible way within the legal construct that we have to make sure that those who don't have the legal right to come to this country do not come in," Nielsen said.

The president has stepped up his focus on immigration in the days leading up to the Nov. 6 elections that will determine which party controls Congress, focusing on a caravan of migrants heading north through Mexico that is about 1,000 miles away but dwindling in size.

"I called up the military," Trump said at a meeting of young black conservative leaders. "We're not letting them in, they ought to go back now because we're not."

Any attempt by Trump to curtail the rights of migrants to seek asylum is bound to draw legal challenge.

Andrea Guerrero, executive director of Alliance San Diego, said it would be "a very drastic action that would have disastrous practical implications for our asylum obligations, for our moral and legal obligations."

"We know that civil rights attorneys are preparing to litigate right now," she said. "They're preparing to litigate right away. I don't know if (Trump) cares if he wins the litigation. He wants to score political points ... it's all part of the same political ploy to stoke fear for political reasons and build more walls."

The federal government recently completed construction on a two-mile section of fencing that's 30-feet tall. Nielsen called it a significant accomplishment to keep immigrants out. The structure is separate from a concrete wall prototype that the government has built near San Diego as part of Trump's signature campaign promise during his 2016 White House campaign.

"Let me be clear: Walls work," Nielsen said.

New details also began to emerge Friday about the military deployment on the border.

A Defense Department official said the mission is authorized from Oct. 30 to Dec. 15 and will operate in border areas of California, Arizona and Texas. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details that have not yet been publicly announced, said the troops will not be involved in detaining migrants.

In a brief written statement the Pentagon gave several examples of assistance they would provide. These include barricades and fencing; helicopters and airplanes to move Border Patrol personnel, and medical teams to triage and treat patients and prepare them for commercial transport. It also will provide personal protective gear and temporary housing for Border Patrol personnel.

Trump earlier this year ordered the deployment of National Guard members to the U.S.-Mexico border to respond to a spike in illegal border crossings. But those members remain under the control of the governors of the states where they're positioned, and their activities are limited to supportive roles, such as providing surveillance.

There already are about 2,000 National Guard troops on the border.
MASON CITY, Iowa  A man arrested after a 100 mile per hour chase is trying to prove he can be both guilty and not guilty at the same time.

Jacob Aaron Eberly, 32 of Lake Stevens, Washington, and formerly of Brainerd, MN, has entered a not guilty plea to unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and receiving stolen property in Freeborn County District Court. Both charges are felonies.

Authorities say Eberly stole a car in Albert Lea on June 22 and was chased into Iowa before he was rammed by law enforcement on Interstate 35 and crashed just outside Clear Lake. Eberly pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and eluding in Cerro Gordo County District Court and received 52 days in jail and three years of probation.

A trial date has not been set for him in Freeborn County. Eberly is also facing a charge of terroristic threats in Hennepin County for an alleged bomb threat at the Mall of America on June 14.
ROCHESTER, Minn.-October is National Substance Abuse Prevention Month and one surefire way to prevent drug abuse is to throw away any old prescribed medications.

One way Rochester residents can safely dispose old medications is at a drop-off event tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Gonda West Entrance on Third Avenue Southwest at the Mayo Clinic for National Prescription Drug Take Back Day.

It is one easy way to curb the substance abuse problem: There were more than 72,000 deaths that occurred from drug overdose in 2017.

It is especially important for Rochester residents to attend this event since Minnesota residents have different resources for drug disposals compared to other states.

I think a lot of people dont know what to do with old medications, a lot of people think they can bring them back to the pharmacy and unfortunately we cant take them, Danielle Roach, a pharmacist with Olmsted Medical Center said. Some other states allow for that, allow for the pharmacies to take back medications but in Minnesota, we dont. So patients need to have some sort of resource to go to dispose of old medications.

Getting rid of those old drugs can also curb drug abuse because it prevents other people from grabbing them in the medicine cabinets.

Some drug abuse is because of taking other peoples medications, Roach said.
CLEAR LAKE, Iowa  A woman is facing charges after authorities say she drunkenly crashed into a sheriffs patrol car.

The incident happened around 12:35 am Saturday. A Cerro Gordo County sheriffs deputy had made a traffic stop near the intersection of Main Avenue and South 8th Street in Clear Lake. As the deputy was speaking to the driver of the other vehicle, the deputys vehicle was struck by a northbound 2007 Toyota Camry on South 8th Street.

The Cerro Gordo County Sheriffs Office says the patrol vehicle had all of its reflective markings and the emergency lighting was on at the time of the collision.

The deputy says the Camry tried to drive away but was caught and stopped within a few blocks.

Stacey Irene Lester, 44 of Clear Lake, is identified as the driver of the Camry. She was arrested and charged with OWI-1st offense and failure to yield to an emergency vehicle. There were no injuries from this crash but both the Camry and the patrol vehicle were damaged.

The Clear Lake Police Department assisted with this arrest.
DODGE CENTER, Minn. - Dodge Center, West Concord, and Claremont voters will be asked 3 questions on the November ballot about an operating levy for Triton Public Schools.

Question 1 is whether they support $500 per student for operational costs such as transportation and class sizes, question 2 is to approve $150 per student for curriculum and technology, and question 3 is to vote for $100 per student to support the fine arts. Question 1 has to pass in order to pass number 2, and question 2 has to pass in order for question 3 to be passable.

"In a size district like we're in, the school is really the center of the community so... our community has been really supportive of our school district and we hope that they'll continue to support us," says Superintendent Brett Joyce.

The school is estimating that if all three questions are approved, the tax impact would be about $1 per day for a $200,000 home in the district.

The final informational meeting on the referendum is Monday, October 29th at West Concord City Hall.
PLANTATION, Fl. (Reuters) - FBI agents arrested a 56-year-old man in Florida on Friday suspected of sending more than a dozen parcel bombs to high-profile critics of U.S. President Donald Trump days ahead of congressional elections, authorities said.

Agents who took Cesar Sayoc into custody in Plantation, near Fort Lauderdale, also hauled away a white van that was plastered with pro-Trump stickers, the slogan CNN SUCKS and images of Democratic figures with red crosshairs over their faces.

A federal law enforcement source said the van belonged to Sayoc. Two witnesses told Reuters they heard a loud blast as he was detained in the parking lot of an auto parts store. Justice Department officials were due to hold a news conference at 2:30 p.m. EDT. (1830 GMT).

Announcing the arrest by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to a cheering audience at the White House, Trump said such terrorizing acts were despicable and had no place in the United States.

We must never allow political violence to take root in America - cannot let it happen, Trump said. And Im committed to doing everything in my power as president to stop it and to stop it now.

No one claimed responsibility for the parcel bombs addressed to former President Barack Obama and others, which authorities denounced as terrorism. The episode came less than two weeks before U.S. congressional elections that could alter the balance of power in Washington.

Sayocs home address was listed in public records as an upscale gated apartment complex in the seaside town of Aventura, Florida.

According to the records, he is a registered Republican with a lengthy criminal past - including once making a bomb threat - and a history of posting inflammatory broadsides on social media against Trumps political foes.

Sayoc was being held at an FBI processing center in Miramar, Florida, CNN said. He was expected to be taken to the Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami and will likely make his first appearance before a judge on Monday, according to former Assistant U.S. Attorney David Weinstein.

A federal law enforcement source said charges would likely be brought by federal prosecutors in Manhattan and Sayoc transferred to New York City.

Four more suspicious packages were found on Friday, according to officials and media reports, bringing the total to 14. None of the devices has detonated, and no injuries have been reported.

The intended recipients of packages discovered on Friday included Democratic U.S. Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, former U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, Democratic U.S. Senator Kamala Harris of California and Democratic donor Tom Steyer.

STOP THE RANCOR

Hours after a federal law enforcement official said the investigations focus on Florida had intensified, police closed roads around the parking lot of an AutoZone store in Plantation where Sayoc was arrested, and helicopters flew overhead.

A man named Dre, a manager at a used car dealership next door to the AutoZone, said he heard a loud noise that sounded like an explosion shortly after 11 a.m.

I opened the door and saw the FBI there, Dre, who declined to give his full name, said in a telephone interview.

A woman who lives nearby and declined to give her name said she was in her yard weeding on Friday morning when she heard a loud bang, saw smoke and heard a lot of shouting.

TV images showed investigators there using a blue tarp to cover Sayocs van before removing it on a truck.

All the people targeted by the suspicious packages have been maligned by right-wing critics. Packages that surfaced earlier in the week were addressed to Obama, former Vice President Joe Biden, former Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, billionaire Democratic Party donor George Soros, Representative Maxine Waters, former Attorney General Eric Holder, former CIA director John Brennan and actor Robert De Niro.

Trumps critics charged that his inflammatory rhetoric against Democrats and the press created a climate for politically motivated violence.

If we dont stop this political mania, this fervor, rancor, hatred, youll see this again and again and again, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told MSNBC. We have to get to the genesis, and the genesis is an overheated, vitriolic political division in this country and it starts with the leaders, and it starts with the president.

Trumps supporters accused Democrats of unfairly suggesting the president was to blame for the bomb scare.

After first calling for unity at the White House event, Trump lamented attacks against him and again pointed at the media.

I get attacked all the time ... I can do the greatest thing for our country, and on the networks and on different things it will show bad, he told the crowd, acknowledging an attendee who shouted fake news.

The devices were believed to have been fashioned from bomb-making designs widely available on the internet, according to a federal law enforcement source. Still, investigators said they were treating the devices as live explosives, not a hoax.

I thank God no ones been hurt, and I thank the brave and resourceful security and law enforcement people for protecting us, De Niro said in a statement. Theres something more powerful than bombs, and thats your vote. People MUST vote!
South Korea is pushing to set up an inter-Korean joint volcano observatory at Mount Paekdu on the North Korean-Chinese border, officials in Seoul said Friday.

The Korea Meteorological Administration has drawn up a medium- and long-term plan to establish a facility to observe volcanic activities on the mountain, together with North Korea, according to administration officials and Rep. Sol Hoon of the ruling Democratic Party.

The 2,744-meter-high mountain, the highest on the Korean Peninsula and considered a spiritual home of the Korean people, last erupted in 1903, historical records showed.

The plan calls for the two Koreas to establish a joint observation station equipped with devices to detect seismic movements around Paekdu and communications networks, as well as facilities to measure the magnetic field of the earth and analyze volcanic gas, the officials and Sol said.

"Discussions with North Korea have yet to begin, but the joint observatory project will be pushed if the conditions are met," an administration official said.

An eruption of Mount Paekdu is expected to cause immediate damage from pyroclastic flows that contain lava, gravel and stones before triggering secondary damage from the spread of volcanic ash, experts say. (Yonhap)
Pipe Bombs, Donald Trump and the surge in Demophobia

The rush to blame President Trump for the nut job posting pipe bombs to leading Democrats has been notable for its haste. Do you really believe that a vote for Trump was a vote for terrorism? Blimey, the mans a berk possessed of all the diplomatic nous of a puppy sat by a pile of poo, but to jump on the link that banging on about fake news and locking up Hillary Clinton leads to acts of potential murder is a leap onto a convenient lily pad.

Did we all rush to blame Islamism for the attacks on Paris, London, Barcelona, Nice, New York, Berlin, Toulouse, Brussels, Manchester and Madrid? The advice after those attacks was to look to ourselves for signs of Islamophobia. It wasnt the loons we need worry about. The real danger was non-Muslims reacting with phobic-born violence towards Muslim mates, work colleagues, family, nurses, doctors, pot heads, cab drivers, lawyers, postmen, Lords, politicians, waiters, victims of crime, victims of Islamist terrorism and any other Muslims who after mass murder would surely mutate before our lizard brains into the enemy unless we were monitored. After Manchester was attacked, we got candles and pledges to unite and remain united. But after pipe bombs in the post, the message is get Trump because the man on the trigger for millions of dangerous fools.

If you want to politicise extreme violence and terrorism, then allow all terrorism to be openly debated. There have been no renditions of Love is All you Need in response to the pipe bombs posted to George Soros, Baraka Obama, CNN and Hillary Clinton. Were not warned to look out for Demophobia and fight it when he see it. Why? Because its safe to attack what we believe we can change. Trump can be undone by linking him to acts of violence, hope his decriers ; but confronting the issues that drive a radical, murderous form of Islam, well, best light a candle, create a hashtag and hope for the best.

Lets not bury debate and allow the berks and bigots to fill the void. Dont do it if you want to get rid of Trump and stop empowering the likes of Tommy Robinson

Anorak

Posted: 26th, October 2018 | In: Key Posts, News, Politicians Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
(St. Joseph,MO) The United Way is still looking for answers from the Salvation Army about their future plans to serve people in St. Joseph.

United Way President Kylee Strough said the non-profit sent a letter containing over 20 questions to the Salvation Army. The letter requested the Salvation Army respond by Tuesday, October 23, but the response did not provide much information.

We asked them for some information to help clarify what programs and services they are offering to the community since the closure of the Booth Center as the prepare to renovate it, as well as the closure of the thrift store, Strough said. They felt the information we requested was voluminous, and what was pertinent to the discussion the United Way needed had already been provided.

The United Way typically provides over $100,000 in funding to the Salvation Army each year, but that allocation was scaled back in June after the Salvation Army closed the Booth Center for renovations.

Strough said the United Way still has funding set aside for the Salvation Army, but volunteers need more information about the status of their services before they can determine how much funding to provide.

They shared that the items on the list, many of them that were pertinent, we already had the information for and there was nothing further we could provide, Strough said. Unfortunately our volunteers up to this point have felt like that information did not paint as clear of a picture as they like to have especially for an agency that is in transition with their programing.

Strough said the Salvation Army hasnt provided any information on the renovations at the Booth Center or a tentative end date for the renovation process.

The Salvation Army has been invited to the United Way building to make a presentation to the United Way Community Investment Council and the United Way Board to discuss the funding for the remainder of 2018 and any funding for 2019 . Strough estimates the board will have a final decision on the United Ways future financial support of the Salvation Army by November 12.
Philip Green and my part in his downfall

Judging by the reaction to Peter Hains outing of Philip Green as an alleged sex pest, law matters not a jot  its a matter of like or dislike. People who view Green as a bastard deserving of opprobrium will think it good the sitting Lord used parliamentary privilege to repeat the claim the Top Shop boss was using NDAs and big money pay-offs to quieten several members of staff at his Arcadia Group from going public with claims of sexual harassment or bullying.

If you like Green or are indifferent to him, you might be more circumspect, trusting the judges who approved requests for an injunction banning journalists from naming the tycoon or revealing details of those aforesaid allegations more prudent than Hain. You might wonder if being super-rich can be a double-edged sword: sure, you can afford the best legal teams but in the court of public opinion people delight in the worst and are entertained by downfall.

Sky News doorstepped Green in a hot and sunny Arizona. Hes now miles from parliament, says the reporter, offering viewers a mix of shock and snark that a billionaire would chose to spend the week at an exclusive resort rather than at a B & B in Bridlington. Its alright for some, eh.

And what of the alleged offences? An insider alleges in the Guardian that Sir Philip gave women lingering hugs, asked if they were naughty girls, wondered if they needed their bottoms slapped, said a woman must be a lesbian because no man would marry her, responded to one woman who asked Green to use her name rather than sweetheart by telling her to shut the f*** up, and asked an Asian woman if she had been eating too many samosas. The Times says its been reported that several claims reached a settlement of at least 1,000,000. It is not known if these cases were among the five subject to the interim injunction that kept the billionaires identity secret until he was named in parliament by Lord Hain on Thursday, says the paper. It is thought a number of the complainants signed non-disclosure agreements.

Facts are thin on the ground. There are lots of claims and allegations. Green says hes done nothing wrong, issuing a statement: I am not commenting on anything that has happened in court or was said in parliament. To the extent that it is suggested that I have been guilty of unlawful or improper sexual or racist behaviour, I categorically and wholly deny these allegations Arcadia and I take accusations and grievances from employees very seriously and in the event that one is raised, it is thoroughly investigated. These settlements are confidential so I cannot comment further on them.

We can wait. And the lawyers can run a tab. Green plans to issue a formal complaint to the House of Lords. As many people have said, says Green, Lord Hains blatant disregard of a judgement made by three senior judges is outrageous. The Times adds more layers of intrigue: The Labour peer failed to mention that he had worked for Gordon Dadds, the law firm employed by The Daily Telegraph to fight the case. Adding:

The former Tory attorney-general Dominic Grieve said that he was alarmed by the link. I would make a formal complaint if I were a member of the House of Lords, he said, adding: That there is now a suggestion that it might have been in the solicitors firms interest to do it [reveal the name] rather than a disinterested decision by him [Lord Hain], even if one which I think is completely wrong, makes me even more alarmed.

Says Green:

When Lord Hain made allegations about me in the House of Lords  he failed to disclose that he has a financial relationship with the law firm, Gordon Dadds, who represent the Telegraph. I have been advised that his actions are likely to have been a breach of the House of Lords Code of Conduct. As many people have said Lord Hains blatant disregard of a judgment made by three senior judges is outrageous. If he hadnt read the judgment, on what basis was he apparently talking about it. If he had, Gordon Dadds name is on the front page. I will be lodging formal complaints with the relevant authorities in the House of Lords.

Lord Hain and Gordon Dadds deny any wrongdoing. Says Hain:

I took the decision to name Sir Philip Green in my personal capacity as an independent member of the House of Lords. I was completely unaware Gordon Dadds were advising The Telegraph regarding this case I stand RESOLUTELY by what Ive said and neither retract nor apologise for standing up for human rights.

A spokesman for Gordon Dadds adds  and best to include this because big lawyers can ruin you:

Peter Hain is a self-employed consultant who provides occasional advice to the firm, relating principally to African affairs. Any suggestion that Gordon Dadds LLP has in any way acted improperly is entirely false. Peter Hain did not obtain any information from Gordon Dadds regarding this case. He has no involvement in the advice that we provide to The Telegraph newspaper, and he had no knowledge of any sensitive information regarding this case.

From dealing with allegations of abuse of power and laws skewed against the little people, were all being entertained by the rich and powerful pulling each other to pieces. Meanwhile, the conversation in many households amounts to: if a rich man offered you a 1million quid to not tell anyone hed committed an allegedly criminal act on your person, would you take the cash? Wonder if anyones got any dirt on the Royal Family theyre forbidden to tell us about  are they the only billionaires who never do wrong? And will women now stop spending at Top Shop?

Anorak

Posted: 27th, October 2018 | In: Key Posts, News Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
(ANSA) - Ancona, October 26 - A five-year-old boy returned to his father in Italy on Thursday night two years after his mother, who is Mexican, took him to Mexico for a family visit and never returned. A judge in Pesaro ruled for immediate repatriation and sole custody for the father. Mexican officials accompanied the boy on his flight to Italy.


US Military Cancels 300 Million USD Financial Aid to Pakistan. (Photo Credit: ANI)

Bamako, Oct 28 (AP) The United Nations mission in Mali says armed men attacked a UN camp outside of Timbuktu killing at least two peacekeepers and wounding at least a dozen others.

UN Mali mission spokeswoman Myriam Dessables said men in heavily armed vehicles drove up to the camp in the town of Ber, about 60 kilometres east of Timbuktu on Saturday.

She said all the peacekeepers affected are from Burkina Faso.

Dessables said a UN peacekeeping mission control vehicle also ran over an explosive device Saturday in Konna in Mali's central Mopti region, wounding four Togolese peacekeepers.

No group has claimed responsibility, but the attacks bear the marks of jihadi groups linked to al-Qaida which are very active in Mali's northern and central regions.

The UN secretary-general condemned the attacks. (AP) CK

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Mumbai, October 27: Five police personnel including a sub-inspector have been suspended for providing preferential treatment to fugitive don Dawood Ibrahims brother Iqbal Kaskar in Maharashtra's Thane jail. According to reports, Thane police commissioner Vivek Phansalkar has suspended a sub-inspector and four constables for providing preferential treatment to Kaskar, who was arrested in an extortion case.

The arrest comes after a video went viral, in which Kaskar was seen seated in a private car and eating biryani. The incident took place when Kaskar was on taken to a hospital for blood and sugar levels treatment on Thursday after a Courts order. According to a report by Mumbai Mirror, Joint Police Commissioner Madhukar Pandey nabbed the cops after a sting operation, conducted by a news channel. Dawood Ibrahim's Conditional Bid to Return to India: What Iqbal Kaskar and His Counsel Have Conveyed to Court.

Five police personnel including a sub-inspector suspended for providing preferential treatment to Dawood Ibrahim's brother Iqbal Kaskar in Thane jail. #Maharashtra  ANI (@ANI) October 27, 2018

In September 2017, Kaskar and two of his aides were arrested by the Thane police in a separate case of extortion of Rs 30 lakh and four flats from a builder.

In May, Kaskar was admitted to the J J Hospital after he complained of chest pain and giddiness. After he was examined at the hospital and provided necessary medical treatment, he was taken back to the Thane Central Jail. Apart from chest pain and giddiness, Kaskar also had a skin ailment, a doctor at the hospital told PTI.

According to a PTI report, Kaskar who was deported from the UAE in 2003, was arrested by the Thane Police in September 2017 in connection with an investigation into an extortion case.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 27, 2018 12:37 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
New Delhi, October 27: Fuel prices across the nation decreased considerably on Saturday. Petrol and diesel prices in Delhi on Saturday was priced at Rs 80.45 per litre (decrease by Rs 0.40) and Rs 74.38 per litre (decrease by Rs 0.35), respectively. In Mumbai, petrol and diesel were priced at Rs 85.93 per litre (decrease by Rs 0.40) & Rs 77.96 per litre (decrease by Rs 0.37), respectively.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the Idea of One Nation One Election should percolate to the local body as well, not just Lok Sabha & Vidhan Sabha but all the local bodies including every single election should happen at a time. Fadnavis added that the amount of money spent on an election, amount of efforts taken for elections...we political people find so many constraints while taking decisions because every decision impacts one or the other election.

In a bid to strengthen bilateral ties, Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu will embark on a week-long three-nation tour of Africa from October 31 that will see him visiting Botswana, Zimbabwe and Malawi. He will be accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising of Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Krishan Pal Gurjar, and four Members of Parliament (MPs) in addition to senior officials.
Jammu, October 27: Army Chief Bipin Rawat on Saturday launched a scathing attack on Pakistan over its terror activities and stated that Pakistan is fully aware they can never succeed in disrupting the peace and harmony in Kashmir. Rawat said terror is another way by Pakistan to keep the pot boiling. "Pakistan wants to stall development in Kashmir but the state is strong enough to counter everything", the Army Chief said, adding that, India is fully capable of carrying out different operations when need be.

Rawat also spoke about Sepoy Rajendra Singh, an Army jawan who died at a hospital on Friday after sustaining head injuries during stone-pelting by a group of youths. The Army Chief said the jawan who lost his life on Friday was guarding a border roads team which was constructing roads. "Jawan who lost his life was guarding a border roads team which was constructing roads, and then we have some ppl saying don't treat stone pelters like OGWs(over ground workers) of terrorists", Rawat was quoted by ANI.

Jawan who lost his life after being attacked by stone pelters was guarding a border roads team which was constructing roads, and then we have some ppl saying don't treat stone pelters like OGWs(over ground workers) of terrorists: Army Chief General Bipin Rawat pic.twitter.com/uQt2nYhZAw  ANI (@ANI) October 27, 2018

An Army official was quoted by PTI saying that Sepoy Rajendra Singh was part of a quick reaction team which was providing security to a Border Roads Organisation (BRO) convoy on Thursday. "At around 1800 hrs, when the convoy was passing through the Anantnag bypass tri-junction near NH-44, few youths hurled stones at the vehicle and Singh was injured after being hit by a stone directly on the head," the official added.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 27, 2018 10:39 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
New Delhi, October 27: The Central government on Saturday submitted details of the Rafale aircraft pact with France before the Supreme Court. According to a tweet by ANI, the government has submitted the decision making process in the Rafale aircraft deal with France in a sealed cover with Court Secretary-General. The submission of the details by the Central government comes following the top Court's order to provide details of the fighter jet deal with France in a sealed cover, clarifying that it does not want information on pricing and technical particulars.

In the last week, the Supreme Court sought information from the Centre by October 29 and fixed the next hearing on the PILs to October 31. The bench, comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph, also made it clear that it was not taking into account the allegations on corruption in the deal made in the petitions. You Can Run, But Can't Hide: Rahul Gandhi Tells Narendra Modi Over CBI Feud & Rafale Deal.

The Centre had opposed the PILs in court and sought that they be dismissed on the ground that they were filed to gain political mileage. According to a report by PTI, Attorney General K K Venugopal informed the top Court that the issue in question pertains to national security and such issues cannot be reviewed judicially. The Supreme court, however, did not issue any notice to the Centre on two PILs filed by two separate lawyers seeking a court-monitored probe in the deal. CBI vs CBI Battle Explained: Why Alok Kumar Verma and Rakesh Asthana are at Loggerheads? How it All Started.

The Rafale aircraft deal is a defence agreement signed between India and France for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft in a fly-away condition as a part of the upgrading process of Indian Air Force equipment. Congress Takes A Dig At Modi Government For Adopting Different Yardsticks For Rafale And AK-103 Deals.

On October 24, a fresh Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed in the Supreme Court in connection with the controversial Rafale deal. According to a report by ANI, the plea states that an FIR was not registered in connection with their complaint as there is extreme pressure on the CBI and seeks orders for non-transfer of CBI officials investigating the Rafale issue.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 27, 2018 01:12 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Mumbai, October 27: Three foreign nationals have been arrested for allegedly hacking the email account of Rajya Sabha member Husain Dalwai and sending emails seeking money in his name to several persons, Mumbai police said Saturday.

The Congress MP's secretary had lodged a complaint in this regard on October 13, an official of the Cyber Crime Cell said. Konate Mohamed (31) and Outtara N'Golhaud (32), both from Ivory Coast, and Okpeaifoh Michael (31), a Nigerian, were arrested from Delhi Friday, he said.

The accused allegedly obtained the password of Dalwai's email account, and sent emails in his name to several persons in his mailing list stating that he was facing a financial crisis and needed money urgently, the official said.

During the probe, police found that the hackers were based in Delhi, said Akbar Pathan, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber Crime). A team of Cyber Cell went to Delhi and tracked down the accused, he said.

A laptop, pen drive, mobile phones, ATM cards of various banks and Rs 70,000 in cash -- which some people had sent believing that Dalwai had asked for money -- were seized from the trio, he said. Mumbai Congress Worker Manoj Dubey Hacked to Death in Ghatkopar Over Facebook Dispute, 3 BJP Workers Arrested.

A court in Mumbai on Saturday remanded the accused in police custody till November 2. "We suspect that the accused are involved in some more frauds of this kind," DCP Pathan said, adding that further probe was on.
New Delhi, October 27: BJP leader and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, speaking at BJP youth event in Hyderabad on Saturday, said that the Opposition parties willing to join hands with Congress will be forced to run a #MeToo movement in the future. Rajnath Singh made the analogy saying that "whichever party went with Congress, no force in the world could save that patry from destruction." #MeToo in India: Government Panel to Strengthen Probe Into Sexual Harassment At Workplace to Be Headed by Rajnath Singh.

The Home Minister, taking a dig at the Opposition parties added that "Hope situation doesn't get to a point where the Opposition parties come together and form a gathbandhan (coalition) and are later forced to run a #MeToo campaign after getting ditched by the Congress."

Check the ANI tweet below to read Rajnath Singh's (actual) comment which he said in Hindi.

Jo bhi Congress ke saath gaya, usko mitne se duniya ki koi taakat nahi bacha paayi. Baad mein kahin aise haalat na ho jaayein, saari vipakshi partiyan gathbandhan kar lein aur bad mein jab Congress se dhoka kha jaayein,to #MeToo campaign chalane ke liye majboor ho jaayein:R Singh pic.twitter.com/lyY5vN6y3M  ANI (@ANI) October 27, 2018

On Wednesday, October 24, the Centre formed a Group of Ministers (GoM) to "recommend measures" for effective implementation of the law against sexual harassment in wake of the #MeToo movement. Home Minister Rajnath Singh was made the Head of the GoM. The Group of Ministers also include Road and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Women and Child Welfare Dept. Minister Maneka Gandhi.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 27, 2018 03:13 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
London, October 27: It is that time of the year again, when married women in Indian and nations abroad gear up for Karwa Chauth. This year, Karwa Chauth will be celebrated on October 27 in the United Kingdom (UK). As per tradition, the Karwa Chauth festival is one of the most important festivals for Indian women as it symbolises a wife's devotion toward her husband. The wife observes a day-long fast for the husband's well-being and long life. The auspicious festival is symbolic in nature, a celebration of the institution of marriage and dedication towards each other.

This year, Karwa Chauth will be celebrated on October 27 in India. The one-day festival, which is celebrated with great zeal and fervour, falls on the fourth day after the full moon (Purnima), which is Krishna Paksha Chaturthi. As per the Hindu lunar calendar, Karwa Chauth falls in the month of Kartik, which is October. Karva Chauth 2018 Solah Shringaar Items: 16 Suhagi Items That Are Essential for a Married Woman on This Festival.

Take a look at the moon rise time in London:

In London, the moon will be sighted at 19:45 PM (7:45 PM) on October 27.

Karva Chauth is the most celebrated of all rituals for married couples. The name Karwa Chauth is derived from two words, Karwa and Chauth where means earthen pot and Chauth means fourth in Hindi. In India, the auspicious festival is celebrated especially in the Northern regions. Karwa Chauth 2018 Moonrise Timings in the United States of America Today.

Only after sighting the moon, married women break their fast by performing puja. On this auspicious day, married women observe a nirjala fast (fast without food or water), praying for the longevity of their husbands. Here's wishing Happy Karwa Chauth 2018 to everyone!

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 27, 2018 04:37 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
The video ad (embedded below), which surfaced Oct. 26 on YouTube, shows Mayor Garcia urging the Cambodian community to vote for AAA, BBB, CCC and DDD and reciting the importance of DDD to the Cambodian community without mentioning that AAA-CCC deal with other subjects. AAA would explicitly authorize the City Auditor to conduct performance audits that her office already conducts; BBB would let the Mayor and Councilmembers seek third terms without a write-in requirement, and CCC would create an ethics commission whose majority would be chosen by the Mayor and Auditor. [Mayor Garcia video ad] Hi, I'm Mayor Robert Garcia, asking you to vote Yes on Measures AAA, BBB, CCC and DDD. Today I want to talk about DDD. This measure is so important for our Cambodian community. Currently right now, our Cambodian community is split up into four different City Council districts. We want to bring all of our communities of Cambodia together in one Council district. Measure DDD creates an independent citizens redistricting commission to ensure that the districts are fair and brings communities of interests to together. Support our amazing Cambodian community and vote Yes on DDD and AAA, BBB, CCC. If LB's Cambodian community votes in a unified manner for Measure DDD and also votes to support the three other measures, the result could produce a numerical boost for the Mayor-sought Measures AAA, BBB and CCC. The strategy is consistent with what LBEPORT.com observed and reported (first again) at an Oct. 4 event at the E. Anaheim St. MAYE Center that was publicly described as a kickoff rally for Measure DDD. During the event, Mr. Song explicitly advised Cambodian community members to support Measures AAA-CCC in addition to DDD and organizers distributed lawn signs (stored and readied on site) from by the Garcia-operated political committee supporting AAA-DDD. Although Mayor Garcia says in the video ad that DDD will "bring all of our communities of Cambodia together in one Council district," on August 4, Professor Alex Norman, DSW, explained at an event organized by Equitable Redistricting for Cambodians (three days before the City Council voted to put the text of DDD on the ballot) that it's feasible to redraw Council district lines to include roughly 52% of LB's Central LB Cambodian community residents in one of LB's nine Council districts. Dr. Norman acknowledged that a portion of LB's Cambodian community now lives in NLB, but said that putting a little over half of LB's Central LB Cambodian community into one Council district would create a sufficiently large Cambodian voice that the district's Council member couldn't ignore. Two months later, the Oct. 4 event listed on Facebook as a "Measure DDD Kickoff -- End Gerrymandering in Long Beach" hosted by "Equitable Redistricting For Camobidians" and "two others" (clickable link shows "League of Women Voters - Long Beach Area" and "California Common Cause") included Mayor Garcia and Councilman Al Austin who made brief opening remarks, then exited without fielding audience questions. Speakers from "Common Cause" (Sylvia Moore) and LB's League of Women Voters (Kimberly Ritter) then focused mainly on DDD, until Mr. Song spoke and explicitly urged meeting attendees to vote "yes" on all four Charter Amendments. Shortly thereafter, the audience was offered lawn signs from the Garcia-operated political committee supporting AAA+BBB+CCC+DDD (already on site for distribution.)





Three of LB's current Councilmembers (Supernaw, Price and Mungo), who joined a unanimous Council in voting on Aug. 7 to put Measures AAA-DDD on the ballot, have since declined to personally endorse Measure BBB (lets incumbents seek third term without a write-in requirement.) Among those now not publicly supporting BBB is Councilman Daryl Supernaw whose 4th district includes a sizable portion of LB's Cambodia Town. One of the three, 3rd dist. Councilwoman Suzie Price, has publicly indicated that she plans to vote against BBB. And immediate-past 4th dist. Councilman (now Assemblyman) Patrick O'Donnell has said he opposes BBB, citing what he calls misleading statements by its proponents. Measure BBB is opposed by the Long Beach Reform Coalition, comprised of a number of grassroots LB groups and veteran neighborhood activists. BBB is also independently opposed editorially by the LB Business Journal., The LB Area Chamber of Commerce has taken a "neutral" position on BBB. As separately reported by LBREPORT.com, a new political committee recently surfaced (paperwork filed Oct. 18) with last-minute messaging portraying both BBB and DDD as civil rights/voting rights matters. Sponsor



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Oct 27, 2018, 1:00am ET

Volvo sister brand Lynk & Co to sell gear, goods

The company is taking an unusual approach to the American market.

In the coming years, Geely's Lynk & Co brand will face the not-insignificant challenge of breaking into the American market with zero brand image. The two-year old auto-maker wants to make a name for itself by selling gear before it begins releasing its cars in the United States.

"Merchandise -- we call it gear -- will be part of it," said company CEO Alain Visser as he described the new approach to marketing the company is taking to Automotive News. Visser added his team has "a very concrete plan" but he didn't detail the type of gear he has in mind. However, a spokesperson for the company pointed to a variety of products ranging from home goods to fashion.

In theory, you may be able to wear a Lynk & Co raincoat and sip a latte from a Lynk & Co coffee cup before you can get in a Lynk & Co car to buy either product. Whether the company will design and build products in-house or source its gear from a third party and simply re-brand it remains to be seen. Its cars are essentially re-skinned Volvo products -- the two companies are owned by China's Geely. We'll know more when Visser's team makes its plan public.

Lynk & Co already sells cars in China, where its line-up will soon include three models named 01, 02, and 03, respectively. It hopes to sell 500,000 cars a year by 2020, the year before it plans to begin selling cars on the American market.
- Davido's elder sister, Sharon Adeleke-Ademefun, welcomes baby girl with her husband

- The couple have named their new bundle of joy, Zoe

Congratulations are in order for Davido's elder sister, Sharon Adeleke-Ademefun, who recently welcomed a baby girl with her husband in the US. The new mother shared the great news on social media as the family and friends gathered for the naming ceremony.

In August, the new mother had a glamorous baby shower, where she was counting down to the special day she will welcome her bundle of joy. Just a while ago, it was gathered that not only did she welcome a child with her husband, Yomi Ademefun, they've also proceeded to name the baby girl, Zoe.

Things are looking great for the family and the couple, who are new parents, and they are completely loving every moment of it.

The new mother, Sharon shared a photo of her baby's head on social media and anyone can tell that the new-born is super cute.

READ ALSO: Bobrisky sacks driver, reveals he gives him N300k per month

Davidos elder sister Sharon Adeleke-Ademefun welcomes bouncing baby girl in USA Source: Instagram story, Ronawigs

Source: Instagram

Sharon is also a dedicated business woman who runs Rona Wigs. She once revealed that she self-taught herself how to make wigs and started the business purely out of passion.

Congratulations to the couple!

Meanwhile, just recently, Davido's first daughter, Imade showed off her Halloween costume on social media. The little princess dressed like Stephanie of LazyTown

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My Husband Ran Away When He Heard I Had Quadruplets on Legit TV:

Source: Legit.ng
The Nigerian Army has continued to record commendable success in the fight against Boko Haram insurgency as it intercepted some terrorists killing two of them.

According to a post by the army, the incident happened on Thursday, October 25, at Kasaewa checkpoint in Borno state.

Two of the terrorists were killed while others escaped with gunshot wounds after the gun duel.

The army recovered some rifles and magazines as well as clothings belonging to the terrorists.

Rifles recovered from Boko Haram. Credit; Twitter, Nigerian Army

Source: Twitter

READ ALSO: Breaking: Nigerian Army locates shallow grave where missing general was reportedly buried

The post reads: Troops of 122 Battalion eliminate BHTs. Vigilant troops of 122 Batallion Gwoza on Surveillance Patrol intercepted elements of BHT at Kasasewa check point in Borno State on 25 October 2018 at about 2200 hours. At the end of the encounter 2 BHTs were neutralised while others escaped with gunshot wounds.

2 terrorists were killed in the encounter. Credit; Twitter, Nigerian Army

Source: Twitter

Equipment captured include three AK47 rifles with Registration Numbers 07042452, 56-35205749, 692530, 3 Magazines, 6 Improvised 7.62 MM (SPECIAL) rounds as well as clothing items which were destroyed.

Further exploitation of the general area is ongoing. The GOC 7 Division Brig Gen Bulama Biu has commended the troops and urged them to remain vigilant at all times."

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that barely 24 hours after being declared wanted by the police over the disappearance of General Alkali (retd), three suspects on Friday, October 26, voluntarily surrendered themselves to the Plateau state police command in Jos.

A source said the other suspects were also ready to surrender themselves but were waiting to see how the persons who already surrendered to the police would be treated.

The three suspects voluntarily surrendered themselves to the police. If the police detain them, it will be difficult to get the others. But if they are granted bail, be assured that they will all appear before the police by next week, the source stated.

TY Danjuma, Nigerian army and the herdsmen crisis | Legit TV

Source: Legit.ng News
- Former governor Ayodele Fayose has been reportedly deserted by his friends and associates

- He is being investigated by the EFCC over alleged misappropriation of funds

- Fayose was, however, granted N50m bail on Wednesday, October 22, but he is yet to fulfill the bail conditions

Barely 72 hours after he was granted bail by a federal high court in Lagos, the immediate past governor of Ekiti state, Ayodele Fayose, is yet to regain freedom from the custody of the Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS), where he was remanded by the trial judge, Justice Mojisola Olatoregun.

New Telegraph reports that though he was said to have later met his bail condition as at 2pm on Friday, October 26, it was learnt that the continued incarceration of Fayose was as a result of a sudden distance created by some of his old friends and allies, who were expected to stand as sureties but refused to show up and sign his bail bond, a notion denied by a media aide to the ex-governor, Lere Olayinka.

Legit.ng gathered that by Monday, October when he is expected to be released, Fayose would have spent two weeks (14 days) in incarceration, having been detained since Tuesday, October 16, when he voluntarily submitted himself to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which is trying him on an 11-count allegations of fraud.

READ ALSO: 2019: Saraki, Atiku, Secondus, Obi, PDP chieftains plot to oust Buhari in Dubai

The judge had granted Fayose bail in the sum of N50 million with two sureties in like sum and also ordered that the sureties must issue a N50 million bond from a reputable bank as well as possess three years tax clearance.

It was gathered that sources privy to happenings around the former governor said that the cowards were said to have deserted the former governor out of fear of being monitored by the police, the EFCC and other anti-graft agencies.

He was looking for only two sureties, just two and they could not show up. The bail conditions were not too stringent, it is what many people would easily do but his fair-weather friends were nowhere to be found.

They all left since his travails begun, they are afraid of being witch hunted by the EFCC and the ICPC (Independent Corrupt Practices and other offences Commission). They are cowards. They wined and dined with him but now left him to his fate, a female judicial officer, who claimed to be Fayoses associate said.

Further investigations by New Telegraph also revealed that only a handful of those claiming to be Fayoses friends had summoned the courage to either visit him or show solidarity as expected of friends of any man of that calibre.

In the same vein, it was discovered that the ex-governor, contrary to some media reports, is in the custody of the Nigeria Prisons Service (NPS) and no longer with the EFCC.

Though Justice Olatoregun had ordered that Fayose be placed under the protection of the NPS, the former governor was seen on Wednesday, October 24, leaving the court premises in company with EFCC officials.

This had fuelled speculations that Fayose was with the anti-graft commission as against the order of the judge.

Confirming that Fayose is with the NPS, his media aide, Lere Olayinka, on Friday, October 26, emphatically told Telegraph that his boss is with prisons.

Olayinka did not only confirm that, he also established that his principal would be leaving the prison custody on Monday, while denying that Fayoses friends had dumped him.

In his response to an earlier WhatsApp message sent to him on Thursday, October 25, to confirm the authenticity of the report, Olayinka wrote: Papers were ready as at 4pm today (Thursday) but the judge had closed for the day.

"The major condition was N50m insurance bond, which required a lot of paper works.

"Again, yesterday, when it became obvious to our correspondent that the ex-governor might not regain freedom last night and might be in custody till Monday, another WhatsApp message was sent to Olayinka, who this time called and took his time to clarify the reasons for Fayoses continued incarceration, explained in details what transpired.

This thing is about an insurance bond, it is not that we didnt meet the bail conditions. We met it and I even put on my twitter handle that we had met it but that Oga would be going home on Monday.

"Olayinka further explained that there were some errors on the part of the ex-governors team, owing to the non-usage of a specific letterhead paper belonging to a learned silk, Kanu Agabi (SAN).

READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda

This is what happened: We had signed the bond and we were ready as early as 11am. We were so confident of it but unfortunately, we wrote on the letterhead paper of a lawyer, which the judge turned down.

The judge insisted that it must be on the letterhead of the lead counsel, Kanu Agabi (SAN). We had to move to the chambers of the lawyer but by the time we were through with that, we were again told that we were supposed to file it as an application not as an ordinary letter.

All these led to the delay. And you know that, today, being Friday, some of them had to go to the Mosque for Jumaat service. By the time we returned around 2pm, the judge had left.

"So, it is unfortunate we are going to wait till Monday. But everything had been perfected, and that is why I put it on twitter and even if you check Ogas twitter handle, it is there. So, it is not true that his friends have abandoned him.

"That is not correct. A court official who refused to be identified also corroborated Olayinkas story, saying that the verification of the N50 million bond had to be done and that the trial judge had left when the lawyers to the accused arrived from Agabis office.

But when probed further that the judge was supposed to close by 4pm, he claimed that Justice Olatoregun had to go for Jumaat service, an argument punctuated by our correspondent, challenging him that her lordship is a Christian.

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The court official however insisted that the former governor has met his bail conditions, but will not be able to go home until the bail bonds are verified by the court registrar as ordered by the court.

They have to wait till Monday when the Registrar will verify all the detail,he said.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that the Federal High Court, Ikoyi where he is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on money laundering charges, among others granted the former governor bail on the sum of N50m.

Top Nigeria Corruption Scandals: Joshua Dariye, Olisa Metuh and Sambo Dasuki | - on Legit TV

Source: Legit.ng
- 3,878 soldiers will be enlisted into the Nigerian Army during its POP on Saturday, October 27

- The success of this years training has been attributed to the decentralisation of the recruitment exercise to state levels

- Lt General Tukur Yusuf Buratai, chief of Army staff, will be the chief reviewing officer for the POP

The Passing Out Parade (POP) of the 77th regular recruits intake of the Nigerian Army is taking place on Saturday, October 27; and 3,878 soldiers will be enlisted during the ceremony.

The development was made public by the commandant, Depot Nigerian Army, Zaria, Major-General Victor Okwudili Ezugwu, during the administration of the oath of allegiance to the new soldiers, Daily Trust reports.

READ ALSO: Oshiomhole on a mission to kill APC, harm Buharis re-election - Amosun

Legit.ng gathers that Ezugwu further disclosed that the success of this years training was due to the decentralisation of the recruitment exercise to state levels. He said this helped to reduce the number of casualties.

He further charged the new intakes to use their sweat, strength and blood in protecting Nigeria.

Lt General Tukur Yusuf Buratai, chief of Army staff, will be the chief reviewing officer for the POP.

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In a related development, Legit.ng previously reported that the chief of Army staff, Lt Gen Tukur Buratai, offered five youths of Gbajimba community in Guma local government area of Benue state automatic recruitment into the Nigerian Army.

Buratai made the announcement while interacting with members of the community, shortly after he visited troops stationed in the area to ward off herdsmen attacks.

He immediately directed the commander, 72 Special Forces Battalion, Lt Col Suleiman Mohammed, who accompanied him on the visit, to select the five youths and screen them.

Nigerian Air Force Day Celebration (54th Anniversary) - on Legit.ng TV:

Source: Legit
- Minister of state for petroleum, Dr Emmanuel Kachikwu, has told US investors that Nigeria has the strongest economy in Africa

- Kachikwu welcomed the investors to come and invest in Nigeria, assuring them that their investments were safe and protected

- He also assured the investors of continuity of policies, saying the policies were being institutionalised through legislation

Dr Emmanuel Kachikwu, minister of state for petroleum, has declared that Nigeria has the strongest economy in Africa and the most profitable investment destination in the world.

Kachikwu said this in Atlanta at The Nigerian Oil and Gas Core Strategic Investors Meeting, aimed at presenting the investment opportunities in Nigerias oil and gas industry to the United States investors, NAN reports.

READ ALSO: 2019: Yoruba group lambastes Fashola over comments on Buharis re-election

Legit.ng gathers that the minister said Nigeria looked to the Diasporas of Africa to see where they could form permanent partnership that would invest in very critical areas in the country, where they could break even in three years.

Kachikwu said: Infrastructure is key, the oil sector alone has infrastructure deficit of over 30 billion dollars to get us to where we should be.

We need to be able to supply gas sufficiently to power the entire country; and if we succeed in doing that over the next 10 year-period, we would have a very booming economy.

Nigeria still has the strongest economy in Africa but we could double that, we could become quite frankly what America is to the entire American diasporas for Africa.

The minister welcomed the investors to come and invest in Nigeria, assuring that their investments were safe and protected.

So I invite you to a country that has its challenges but has huge opportunities. Probably the only country in the world where the average returns on investment is in excess of 25 percent a year.

This is massive. So the returns are heavy, the resources are there and there is a huge opportunity to playing in the field.

It is now time, quite frankly, for a lot of us who sit here as investors, as players, to begin to look to the country of the future  Nigeria, he said.

He said since 2016, Nigeria started major policies called the 7 Big Wins focusing on gas, infrastructure growth, and trying to refine the countrys petroleum products locally.

The minister said Africa could not continue to be a continent dependent on aid, but that Africa had got to create trade, opportunities and mixes that would help the region stand on its feet.

So quite frankly, theres an urgency of yesterday for Nigeria to move into the forefront of leadership both economically and politically in Africa, and we need to begin to push that, he said.

Kachikwu said this was the first time Nigeria was creating the process of bringing the private sector to invest in refineries, adding that the sector had taken over and broadened.

He assured the investors of continuity of policies, saying the policies were being institutionalised through legislation by the legislators and necessary implementing agencies to outlive the present administration.

He said: Ive sent out a very loud message out there that over the next four to five years, whether or not Im there, the reality is that oil companies that fail to focus on local refineries, we are going after them.

And as you are here and producing the oil, the price is going to be the same; so we are not saying people should discount.

But you must put that oil in there, create jobs, because any member of OPEC who in the next few years cannot refine most of its oil, is going to have massive problems.

Responding on behalf of the American investors, president of Hightowers Petroleum and Energy, Stephen Hightower, lauded the minister for embarking on policies that made Nigerias oil and gas sector an investors choice.

Mohammed Suleiman-Onibo, managing partner of Petrobiba, on behalf of the organisers, said the United States of America was always interested in investing in Nigeria.

He said the summit aimed to increase the awareness and promote investment going to Nigeria; adding that the parameters and the requirements of such investments were very easy but sometimes not followed through.

The consul-general of Nigeria in Atlanta, Kayode Laro, commended the minister for the courageous and far-reaching reforms he had carried out in the industry.

Executive directors of the ministry and heads of its subsidiaries also took turns to present investment opportunities and attractiveness in the Nigerian oil and gas sector to the American investors.

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that the minister of state for petroleum, Emmanuel Kachikwu, was on Thursday, October 25, conferred with multiple honours, including honorary citizenship of the state of Georgia in the US.

Kachikwu was also conferred with an honorary doctorate degree by the Trinity International University of Ambassadors, and given the keys to the state of South Carolina and city of Stonecrest, Georgia.

Do you believe Nigeria is still the giant of Africa? - on Legit.ng TV:

Source: Legit
- INEC chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, says there is room for legal action if anyone is in doubt about claims made by candidates for the 2019 elections

- He said any person with reasonable grounds to believe that any information on Form CF001 submitted by a candidate contains incorrect or false claims is at liberty to file an action against such candidate in court

- According to Yakubu, this is an opportunity for citizens to initiate legal action against candidates who they believe have made false claims on their forms

The chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, says if anyone is in doubt about claims made by candidates for the 2019 elections, there is room for legal action.

He made the comment while addressing a press conference on Friday, October 26, in reaction to criticisms over President Muhammadu Buharis disclosure to the commission that his credentials are with the military, The Cable reports.

READ ALSO: Ekiti tribunal: Witnesses allege irregularities in gubernatorial election

Legit.ng gathers that Yakubu stated that any doubts about information on the forms submitted by the candidates regarding their personal particulars can be challenged in court.

He said: Any person with reasonable grounds to believe that any information on Form CF001 submitted by a candidate contains incorrect or false claims is at liberty to file an action against such candidate at the Federal High Court or the high court of a state or FCT.

While the current exercise is limited to candidates for presidential and National Assembly elections, the personal particulars of those contesting in governorship and state assemblies elections will be published on November 9, 2018; one week after the close of submission of nominations by political parties.

This is an opportunity for citizens to ascertain the personal details of the candidates; to enable them take informed decisions on election day or even initiate legal action against candidates who they believe have made false claims on their forms.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app

Recall that Legit.ng previously reported that President Muhammadu Buhari again failed to attach the necessary supporting documents needed from candidates vying for the presidency in the 2019 general elections.

The president informed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that his credentials were in the custody of the military.

The credentials of the various presidential candidates were made available to journalists on Thursday, October 25.

It's Buhari vs Atiku in 2019 - on Legit.ng TV:

Source: Legit
- Oba Akiolu of Lagos has said he didn't talk during the political situation that preceded the governorship primary election in the state because the winner and the loser are his children

- Babajide Sanwo-Olu beat Governor Akinwunmi Ambode at the primary to become the candidate of the All Progressives Congress

- Oba Akiolu says he has called Ambode to leave it all to God, saying God still has great plans for the governor

Oba Rilwan Akiolu of Lagos has reacted to the failure of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to secure a return ticket during the recently held governorship primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.

Recall that Babajide Sanwo-Olu dashed Governor Ambode's hope of returning to power in 2019 when he beat the latter at the gubernatorial primary election.

In an interview with Punch, Oba Akiolu said he had called Governor Ambode to leave it all to God. According to him, God still has great plans for the governor.

Legit.ng notes that the monarch said: "I have called Akinwunmi Ambode to leave it all to God. No evil will befall him and God still has great plans for him. When the breeze blows, we will all see what the chicken is hiding underneath.

READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda

"The truth is that if Bola Ahmed Tinubu is angry, hes justified. No evil will befall the three of them. They know my stance on the issue and its not a secret. Better people should come into politics, because majority of them there are liars and that is the truth.

"As time goes on, we will continue to de-emphasise the import of money in our election. God will disappoint those who have hidden agenda for this country but are presenting themselves like good people. However, everyone of us has a role to play.

On the other hand, concerning Ambode, if you have charm but you dont have the antidote or another charm that can counter it, then you dont have anything. I wont say more than that. May God help all of us.

"So, I didnt talk because they are both my children and it will get better, and I want you to write it down that things would get better. On this issue, there was nothing that happened that wasnt with the knowledge of God and someone like me."

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos state declared Babajide Sanwo-Olu as winner of the primary election and governorship candidate of the party for 2019.

Tunde Balogun who is the chairman of the party in Lagos announced the result on Tuesday, October 2 at the party secretariat.

According to him, Sanwo-Olu polled 970,851 votes to defeat Governor Akinwunmi Ambode who reportedly had 72,901 votes.

Lagos Governor: Is Sanwo-Olu a better candidate than Ambode?| Legit TV

Source: Legit.ng
By Michael Balsamo, Eric Tucker and Colleen Long

A Florida man with a long criminal history was charged Friday in the nationwide mail-bomb scare targeting prominent Democrats who have traded criticism with President Donald Trump. It was a first break in a case that has seized the national conversation and spread fear of election-season violence with little precedent in the U.S.

Justice Department officials revealed that a latent fingerprint found on one package helped them identify their suspect as Cesar Sayoc, 56, of Aventura, Florida. The criminal complaint charges Sayoc with illegally mailing explosives, illegally transporting explosives across state lines, making threats against former presidents, assaulting federal officers and threatening interstate commerce.

Court records show Sayoc, an amateur body builder with social media accounts that denigrate Democrats and praise Trump, has a history of arrests for theft, illegal steroids possession and a 2002 charge of making a bomb threat.

Cesar Sayoc is seen in a booking photo.

"I know the guy is a lunatic," said Lenny Altieri, Sayoc's cousin, told The Associated Press on Friday. "He has been a loner." He confirmed that Sayoc had been a stripper.

The development came amid a nationwide manhunt for the person responsible for at least 13 explosive devices addressed to prominent Democrats including former President Barack Obama, former Vice President Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton. The case continued widening Friday even as Sayoc was detained, as investigators in California scrutinized a similar package sent to Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris, her office said.

In Washington, Attorney General Jeff Sessions cautioned that Sayoc had only been charged, not convicted. But he said, "Let this be a lesson to anyone regardless of their political beliefs that we will bring the full force of law against anyone who attempts to use threats, intimidation and outright violence to further an agenda. We will find you, we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law."

In Florida, law enforcement officers were seen on television examining a white van, its windows covered with an assortment of stickers, outside the Plantation auto parts store. Authorities covered the vehicle with a blue tarp and took it away on the back of a flatbed truck.

The stickers included images of Trump, American flags and what appeared to be logos of the Republican National Committee and CNN, though the writing surrounding those images was unclear.

Trump, after Sayoc was apprehended, declared that "we must never allow political violence take root in America" and Americans "must unify." As in comments earlier in the week, he did not mention that the package recipients were all Democrats or officials in Obama's administration, in addition to CNN, a news network he criticizes almost daily.

Earlier Friday, he complained that "this 'bomb' stuff" was taking attention away from the upcoming election and said critics were wrongly blaming him and his heated rhetoric.

The Justice Department scheduled a Friday afternoon news conference in Washington that was to include New York Police Commissioner James O'Neill, whose department investigated the mailings with the FBI.

Law enforcement officials said they had intercepted a dozen packages in states across the country. None had exploded, and it wasn't immediately clear if they were intended to cause physical harm or simply sow fear and anxiety.

Earlier Friday, authorities said suspicious packages addressed to New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and former National Intelligence Director James Clapper -- both similar to those containing pipe bombs sent to other prominent critics of Trump-- had been intercepted.

Investigators believe the mailings were staggered. The U.S. Postal Service searched their facilities 48 hours ago and the most recent packages didn't turn up. Officials don't think they were sitting in the system without being spotted. They were working to determine for sure. The officials spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.

Online court records show that Sayoc in 2002 was arrested and served a year of probation for a felony charge of threatening to throw or place a bomb. No further details were available about the case.

Sayoc was convicted in 2014 for grand theft and misdemeanor theft of less than $300, and in 2013 for battery. In 2004, he faced several felony charges for possession of a synthetic anabolic-androgenic steroid. He also had several arrests for theft in the 1990s.

He filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2012, informing the court he had $4,175 in personal property and more than $21,000 in debts. His name is also listed on business records tied to dry cleaning and catering businesses. Records show he was born in New York and according to an online resume he attended college in North Carolina.

"Debtor lives with mother, owns no furniture," Sayoc's lawyer indicated in a property list.

Investigators were analyzing the innards of the crude devices to reveal whether they were intended to detonate or simply sow fear just before Election Day.

Law enforcement officials told The Associated Press that the devices, containing timers and batteries, were not rigged to explode upon opening. But they were uncertain whether the devices were poorly designed or never intended to cause physical harm.

Most of those targeted were past or present U.S. officials, but one was sent to actor Robert De Niro and billionaire George Soros. The bombs have been sent across the country - from New York, Delaware and Washington, D.C., to Florida and California, where Rep. Maxine Waters was targeted. They bore the return address of Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee.

The common thread among the bomb targets was obvious: their critical words for Trump and his frequent, harsher criticism in return.

The package to Clapper was addressed to him at CNN's Midtown Manhattan address. Clapper, a frequent Trump critic, told CNN that he was not surprised he was targeted and that he considered the actions "definitely domestic terrorism."

The devices were packaged in manila envelopes and carried U.S. postage stamps. They were being examined by technicians at the FBI's forensic lab in Quantico, Virginia.

The packages stoked nationwide tensions ahead of the Nov. 6 election to determine control of Congress -- a campaign both major political parties have described in near-apocalyptic terms. Politicians from both parties used the threats to decry a toxic political climate and lay blame.

The bombs are about 6 inches (15 centimeters) long and packed with powder and broken glass, according to a law enforcement official who viewed X-ray images. The official said the devices were made from PVC pipe and covered with black tape.

The first bomb discovered was delivered Monday to the suburban New York compound of Soros, a major contributor to Democratic causes. Soros has called Trump's presidency "dangerous."

Associated Press writers Laurie Kellman, Ken Thomas, Jill Colvin and Chad Day in Washington and Jim Mustian, Deepti Hajela, Tom Hays and Michael R. Sisak in New York contributed to this report.
A Pennsylvania man accused of threatening President Donald Trump and law enforcement officials has been ordered to remain detained pending a trial.

Shawn Christy is charged with making threats against Trump, Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli and others.

When asked to enter his plea in federal court in Scranton on Friday, the 27-year-old McAdoo, Schuylkill County, man said he is "absolutely not guilty."

The federal judge decided he was a flight risk and couldn't be released on bond.

Prosecutors say Christy posted threats on Facebook in early June naming the president and anyone trying to detain him on the basis of a bench warrant.

Christy was on the run for about three months and was captured in September near Cleveland, Ohio.

WFMZ-TV says he interrupted prosecutors several times Friday and went on a profanity-laced tirade against law enforcement.

He was wanted on a federal warrant issued June 19 for Facebook threats to Morganelli, saying: "Keep it up Morganelli, I promise I'll put a bullet in your head as soon as I put one in the head of President Donald J. Trump," the U.S. Marshals Service said.

Morganelli's office prosecuted Christy for threatening to kill an employee at the Berkheimer tax collection office in Bangor in March 2017, and to blow up the building where the woman worked.

Police said as the employee spoke to Christy, he began cursing at her. When the operator said she would not keep listening if he kept cursing, Christy allegedly said, "I'll put a bullet through your f-----g head b---h."

When the operator said she was ending the call, Christy reportedly said, "I'll blow your f-----g building up" before hanging up.
A rivalry between two groups selling marijuana at East Stroudsburg University is responsible for two shots fired incidents, a brawl, a stabbing and finally a drug raid, all on the school campus, authorities say.

The crimes stem from a rivalry between the "Philly Boys" and the "Neighborhood Boys," two groups operating in and around the university campus, according to a news release from the Monroe County District Attorney's office.

When asked whether these groups are gangs, Chief County Detective Eric J. Kerchner said "That could be someone's interpretation."

According to the release, members of the Neighborhood Boys shot at members of the Philly boys during a "day drink" event at the school on Oct. 21, 2017.

Neighborhood Boys shot again at the Philly Boys at a Halloween party on Oct. 31, 2017, the release says.

On Jan 31, 2018, several people were injured during a fight between the groups, police said. Alleged Philly Boys members Rasheed Muhammad, Shaheed Muhammad and Yaris Youngblood were charged with starting a riot, reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct.

Later on Jan. 31, an innocent bystander was stabbed by a member of the Neighborhood Boys seeking revenge against the Philly Boys, the release says.

The Muhammads, who are 19-year-old twins from Philadelphia, were at large until an arrest Friday following a morning drug raid in their dorm room, the release says.

The raid at the Sycamore Dorm in the 300 block of Normal Street on the school campus netted investigators marijuana and cocaine.

In the Muhammads' second-floor room police found a bag with two ounces of marijuana, 10 small baggies with marijuana, a digital scale, packing materials and cell phones, according to court papers.

In the fourth-floor room of Quamir Lindsay, police found three baggies, each with a gram of cocaine, court papers say. Police allege Lindsay also had a digital scale and a lock box with marijuana residue on it. Lindsday, 20, of Philadelphia, is an alleged member of the Philly Boys. The Muhammads and Lindsay are all East Stroudsburg students, police said.

All three are charged with possession with intent to deliver marijuana and related offenses, court papers say.

All three were arraigned before District Judge Michael Muth. Assistant District Attorney Julieane Fry will prosecute them.

The Friday raid was conducted by the Monroe County Drug Task Force, detectives from the Monroe County Office of the District Attorney, troopers from the Pennsylvania State Police, officers from Stroud Area Regional Police and officers from the East Stroudsburg University Police.

Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.
TROPHIES

Bethlehem Catholic High School graduate Daniel Roebuck -- an accomplished actor, director and producer -- is returning to his roots to talk about his experiences in the film industry. Roebucks' credits include appearances in "The Fugitive," "Final Destination," "We Were Soldiers," "Glee," and "The Devil's Rejects." His locally shot directorial debut, "Getting Grace," stars Bethlehem Catholic grad Madelyn Dundon as Grace, a 16-year-old dying of cancer. Roebuck's talk is free and open to the public, at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Moravian College's Foy Hall, 342 Main St. in Bethlehem.

Local artist Eugene McInerney died in February, but his paintings continue to keep his work alive alive and relevant. One of those paintings, a wooded scene in a style the artist called "hyper realism," was donated recently to Easton Area High School by David Drinkhouse. He and McInerney were classmates in the Easton class of 1948. McInerney was a retired technical analyst for Bethlehem Steel, whose paintings and reproductions have been collected and distributed worldwide.

TURKEYS

The number of pipe bombs mailed to Democratic critics of President Donald Trump rose to 12 this week, when packages addressed to Sen. Cory Booker and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper were discovered. FBI forensics experts and other investigators continue to piece together evidence. Whether the bombs were intended to detonate or just intimidate recipients remains to be seen; police arrested a suspect, Cesar Sayoc Jr., Florida Friday. Kudos to the FBI and those who put themselves in harm's way to intercept and remove the bombs and protect the public.

The owners of several mental health clinics, including three in the Lehigh Valley, were ordered to pay $3 million to settle Medicare and Medicaid fraud allegations. U.S. attorney William M. McSwain said a consent agreement was reached with Melchor Martinez and Melissa Chlebowski, who operated Lehigh Valley Community Mental Health Centers Inc. in Allentown, Easton and Bethlehem, along with clinics in Philadelphia and North Carolina. The prosecutor said Martinez opened the clinics, with help from Chlebowski, after he was legally prohibited from doing so, following a 2000 conviction for Medicaid fraud. Among other things, prosecutors alleged the Pennsylvania clinics failed to appropriately staff their clinics with an onsite psychiatrist, as required by Medicare.
The public will have a chance to ask questions and tell state officials what they think of the sewage sludge processing plant proposed in Plainfield Township.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has scheduled a public meeting on the Slate Belt Heat Recovery Center project for 6 to 7:30 p.m. Nov. 7 at Wind Gap Middle School, 1620 Teels Road in the township.

A hearing regarding the DEP permit application for the center is scheduled to immediately follow from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.

Synagro Technologies Inc., in coordination with Waste Management and the Green Knight Economic Development Corp., proposes building the plant at the Grand Central Sanitary Landfill off Route 512. It would convert municipal sewage sludge into Class A biosolids, using heat fueled primarily by the methane gas generated by the landfill. The treated material can be used as fertilizer or industrial fuel.

People who wish to register to comment at the public hearing can contact DEP Northeast Regional Office spokesperson Colleen Connolly at coconnolly@pa.gov or 570-826-2035. Those who register in advance are typically given higher priority to speak.

For people who are unable to attend the hearing, written testimony will be accepted at the Pennsylvania DEP Northeast Regional Office at 2 Public Square, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701.

Written statement should include the name, address, email address and telephone number of the person submitting the comments and a statement about the permit application.

What permit applications have been submitted for this project?

National Pollution Discharge and Elimination System Permit Application: Slate Belt Heat Recovery LLC plans to discharge stormwater related to industrial activities to nearby Waltz Creek and an unnamed tributary to Little Bushkill Creek. DEP will accept comments from the public at the meeting and up until Nov. 21.

Air Quality Plan Approval Application: Slate Belt Heat Recovery LLC has requested a DEP Air Quality Plan Approval. Public comment will be accepted until Nov. 21.

Waste Management Permit Application: Slate Belt Heat Recovery LLC has requested a residual waste general permit to dry biosolids to create a Class A product that can be used as a fertilizer blending agent, soil conditioner and/or renewable fuel product. Comments on the permit will be accepted until Nov. 21.

Waste Management Permit Modification Application: Grand Central Landfill is requesting a modification of its existing Waste Management Permit to allow the proposed heat recovery center to be located within the Grand Central Landfill permit boundary. The application was determined to be administratively complete on March 26 and is under review.

John Best is a freelance writer. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Emergency responders freed the driver of a Smart microcar following a crash into the rear of a tractor-trailer early Saturday in Warren County, according to a report from the scene.

The crash occurred about 2:20 a.m. on Route 173 at the end of the ramp from Interstate 78 East Exit 3 in Greenwich Township.

The male driver was trapped in the wreckage until he was freed by firefighters from the township's Stewartsville Volunteer Fire Co., the report indicated.

He was taken by Greenwich Township Emergency Squad for treatment at an area hospital, joined on-board by Hunterdon Medical Center paramedics.

Township police responded but did not immediately return a call seeking information on the crash.

Route 173 was closed in both directions and the Exit 3 ramp from I-78 East was blocked until about 3:40 a.m.

Also responding were Lopatcong and Pohatcong township police, in addition to New Jersey State Police.

Freelance photographer Rich Maxwell contributed to this report from the scene.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
A New Jersey a man and a New York City man face charges after fleeing a traffic stop Thursday afternoon in Clinton Township before the driver surrendered to New Jersey State Police about 18 miles later on Interstate 78, authorities say.

Their 2009 Infiniti G25 was pulled over about 4:25 p.m. just south of Route 513 in Clinton Township because its license plate did not come back as on file, Clinton Township police said Friday afternoon in a news release. The Infiniti matched the description of a vehicle involved in a theft in Washington, Warren County, police said.

The officer could smell marijuana but the driver suddenly sped away, police said.

Officers pursued the car onto Route 173, Beaver Avenue and Route 31 North, police said. At Halstead Street, the car struck two other vehicles that were stopped before continuing onto Route 31 South, police said. Damage was minor and no one was hurt, police said.

The Infiniti was last seen near Route 31 South and I-78 East, police said. Officers drove onto the interstate, but soon discontinued their pursuit, police said.

New Jersey State Police saw the car at mile marker 32.5, nearly 15 miles after it entered the highway, state police said. It was moving at "various" speeds as police tried to pull it over, Trooper Alejandro Goez said. At Exit 34 near the Bernard Township-Warren Township line in Somerset County, the car stopped on the right shoulder and the two 18-year-olds inside surrendered, Goez said.

Driver Tyler Greer, 18, of Piscataway, was held in Somerset County Jail awaiting a court date in Hunterdon County on charges of eluding police, assault by auto, altering a government document (the license plate) and possession of fewer than 50 grams of marijuana, Clinton Township police said. Passenger Demario Leslie, 18, of the Bronx, was released pending a Clinton Township Municipal Court date on the charge of possession of fewer than 50 grams of marijuana, township police said.

The investigation is continuing and the Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office assisted police in the case.

Prior to the chases, three men at 3:59 p.m. Thursday entered the AutoZone, 200 E. Washington Ave., in Washington, and stole more than $500 in merchandise, Washington Township police Lt. John Kaufmann said.

They left in a four-door red car, he added. Greer and Leslie are each charged with shoplifting, conspiracy and possession of less than 50 grams of marijuana in that case, Kuafmann said.

Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
A Laois TD says he warned the Government that problems facing four Laois primary schools caught up in the Western Building Systems controversy

Sinn Fein TD Brian Stanley said the difficulties with over 40 schools across the state, including Educate Together, Gaelscoil and Maryborough Schools in Portlaoise and Presentation Primary School Portarlington, highlights the need to change the bad legislation passed by the last Fine Gael/Labour Government on the certification of new buildings.

All four Laois schools face inspection for structural faults in the coming days after being caught up in the Western Buildings Systems controversy. More than 1,400 children attend the schools affected.

"We have the unusual situation in the State where a builder engages their own engineers and architects to certify that what they are building meets proper standards and regulations. This is effectively self-certification and is totally inadequate.

"When the legislation governing this was being passed through the Dail, I told the then Minister for Local Government Phil Hogan this method of certification was wide open to abuse. I suggested that the most effective and reliable means of doing this was to have local councils carry out the monitoring and certification of building standards and regulation.

"This is what happens in the North of Ireland and many other EU states. Instead of building companies paying private agents to do the inspections, they pay the local council. I implored on Minister Hogan to put this system in place here but this was ignored.

"To ensure that all new buildings built with public funds are constructed properly, we also need to revert to the practice of having a Clerk of Works out on these sites to monitor and oversee work at each stage. Their role was to represent the interests of the taxpayer and whichever government department or agency that was having the construction done. This was the norm but unfortunately, it was phased out.

"We now urgently need effective legislation to ensure that all new buildings are safe and meet proper standards, he said.

All four schools face structural checks during the mid-term break and possible partial or full closure if faults are found.
Presidential candidate Peter Casey does not believe his controversial comments about the Travellers propelled him to second place in the Presidential Election.

Speaking on RTE's Morning Ireland he said that he went up in the polls because he spoke about the people who were really hurting.

Mr Casey said that in his opinion the comments that boosted his support were comments he made about middle Ireland.

He said middle Ireland was feeling tired and felt like nobody was listening to them.

He said he believed that people were looking for a voice and that they wanted someone who would say things that were on their mind.

On members of the Travelling community being worried about what might follow his comments, Mr Casey said his comments "did not unleash anything".

"I did not unleash anything ... they are 0.7% of the population and they are exactly the same as you and me. They are proud Irish people," he said.
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FESTIVE CHEER arrived early in October this week as a young ensemble of talent descended on Limericks Strand Hotel for a chance at a childhood dream.

A dream many shared was on offer with the chance to be a part of The Late Late Toy Show on offer as the auditions were launched in Limerick for the first time.

Reprising his role as the Christmas geansai-wearing Toymaster for the tenth year was Ryan Tubridy, who was in a jovial mood.

The Late Late Show presenter sang Lets Go Fly a Kite, with the choir of Scoil Mhuire Ballincollig, Cork, before he broke out the drumsticks with the Dromineer Drummers of Galway, and then proceeded to try his hand at the trumpet with the Rebel Jazz Group from Cork.

What a great year it has been for Limerick, what a great summer it has been for Limerick and now were here to make it a great Autumn and Winter for Limerick as well, he said.

Were very excited, its going be our biggest show yet and what better place to do auditions than in the glorious autumn sunshine by the Shannon, the competition is fierce its like the Hunger Games with tinsel, Mr Tubridy declared.

The great summer the RTE presenter referred to was the unforgettable victory for Limerick in the All-Ireland hurling final back in August.

Despite having a little bit of Galway in him, Mr Tubridy was pleased to have a chat with All-Ireland winner Shane Dowling who brought the Liam MacCarthy trophy with him.

If I may draw the analogy, youre out there on a Sunday afternoon at Croke Park and me doing the Late Late Toy Show is my Croke Park where millions are watching saying you better be good, or youre dead, said Ryan.

I know the feeling and to be honest theres some nights when you go to bed youre thinking I better not make a fool out of myself, Mr Dowling responded.

The difference is my job is to make a fool out of myself, Mr Tubridy joked.

Well you dont get well paid to make a fool of yourself! the hurler laughed with Tubs chuckling as well.

After Mr Dowling recorded Mr Tubridy sending a message to his employer explaining why he was absent on Monday morning, the two then met young Anna Doody from Newcastle West for a quick chat about their memories of the final.

I watched it at home with my Nana and Granddad, we were all crying, Ms Doody recalled.

Were you crying? Mr Dowling asked the Late Late Show host.

I shed a tear, Mr Tubridy admitted.

Anna, a fifth-class pupil from Monagea National School, was the only participant from Limerick in the auditions. Much like her hurling heroes she faced stiff competition from Cork and Galway, with her lovely rendition of ABBAs Dancing Queen.

Whoever makes it to the promised land of the Late Late Toy Show will definitely have a magical evening when the annual show returns on Friday, November 30 on RTE One.
THE EXPERT who investigated the CervicalCheck scandal said he was horrified to hear that HSE staff in Limerick were subject to death threats and that one person had been spat on in public.

Dr Gabriel Scally, the medical expert tasked with leading the scoping inquiry into the smear test scandal, addressed a number of concerns at a joint committee on health at Leinster House this month.

Addressing a number of TDs, Dr Scally said he found it quite difficult to understand the level of poor management at CervicalCheck in Limerick, adding that he met some excellent staff there also.

There were two things about it. First, I was horrified to hear the way in which they had been subject to death threats and that one person had been spat on in public and so on.

Some of those staff members are excellent and dedicated people who deserve a great deal of gratitude for their efforts over the year. They may not have been well led, but many of them are very good. The second thing was that I knew there was a problem with people not having proper job roles and job descriptions.

Dr Scally said that, at a meeting, he asked staff in attendance to raise their hands if they had a job description. He said one person raised a hand in a room which was full of people and everyone laughed.

I asked why they were laughing and they pointed out that the person had only just joined the organisation which was why there was a job description. None of the others had one. It is very difficult to blame people for failing to a carry out a job when there is no job description. It is very difficult, he told deputies.

Annacotty woman, Dr Vicky Phelan prompted Dr Scallys intensive investigation after exposing the CervicalCheck scandal following a 2.5m High Court settlement against a US laboratory.

Dr Scally made a large number of recommendations in his report, which cited that the CervicalCheck system was doomed to fail.

The Limerick Leader contacted the HSE and gardai over allegations of death threats, but did not receive a comment at the time of going to print.
THE counting of ballot papers in the Presidential Election is set to kick off in the next hour at the Limerick Racecourse.

Early indications are that Limerick City will follow the rest of the country in re-electing Michael D Higgins for a second term as president.

But things in rural county Limerick appear to be less clear with controversial candidate Peter Casey polling particularly well in parts of the west. Mr Casey was nominated for a tilt at the Aras by members of Limerick City and County Council.

He attracted controversy in the run-up to the election for his comments on Traveller culture.

One box in Rathkeale  a town with a significant population of Travellers  showed support for the businessman running at 44%, against President Higgins at 40%.

In nearby Askeaton, 46% appear to have backed Mr Casey. Over in Ballybrown, one tally suggested 27% had backed Mr Casey, with more than 50% voting for the incumbent.

Meanwhile, in Broadford, Mr Casey had 39% of the vote in one box, with President Higgins at 45%.

One tally from Effin showed Mr Casey and President Higgins neck-and-neck with another from Bruree showing 47% support for the current office-holder and 40.5% for the former Dragon.

In the city, the bellwether polling station of John F Kennedy National School places President Higgins on 57%, with Mr Casey at 23.4%.

There are similar leads for President Higgins at John the Baptist School, Killalee, while one box from the Dooradoyle Library shows the Limerick native with 222 votes, as against Mr Caseys 66.

One of the Castleconnell boxes shows President Higgins with 190 votes, and Mr Casey on 58 votes.

The other candidates in the city are barely registering on the count, with the exception of Pieta House founder Joan Freeman, who is tallying at around 4% in some parts of the city and Liadh Ni Riada, who is at 6%.

On average, Mr Casey appears to be polling at 23% with President Higgins at 36.9%.

All these figures must come with a health warning, however, as only small portions of the electorate are taken into account here.

The count in Limerick City is expected to be complete by 3pm  but a formal result cannot be made public until the local returning officer here receives clearance from the national returning officer in Dublin.

Labour TD Jan OSullivan has welcomed the early indications, saying: Im delighted. I think people voted for Michael D on the basis of the work he has done for the last seven years. Its a very solid vote based on knowledge of the candidate. I think the Irish people can be very confident they are going to get the same again for the next seven years  maybe better.

Ms OSullivan also expressed concern at the high vote Mr Casey  who is set to become runner-up  received.

He got attention as he was extreme, he expressed racist views which we need to call out for what they were. I think thats something we need to examine in Irish society to see why did such a high percentage people vote for him, she said.

Speaking at the Limerick Count Centre, Sinn Fein TD Maurice Quinlivan said the party was disappointed with Liadh Ni Riadas performance, but he said it was not a mistake for Sinn Fein run her as a candidate.

He said the media was partially to blame for her poor performance.

He singled out RTE for how it framed the debates on its platforms.

He also disagreed the performance of Ms Ni Riada showed that the country had little or no appetite for the idea of a united Ireland, which was once of her main points of her campaign.

Were disappointed with the votes she got, but she did the best campaign she could have possibly done. We need to look at how the debates are conducted, because the debates are crucial.

Meanwhile, it looks like a majority of 71% of people have voted to back the removal of blasphemy from the Constitution.

Across Limerick, turnout was on average between 40% and 50%.

Stay with the Limerick Leader for news throughout the day, and follow me on Twitter for updates at @nick468official.
HIGH-profile Solidarity councillor Cian Prendiville has announced he is to step down from politics for personal reasons.

At a party convention this Friday night in the Absolute Hotel, the general election candidate  who came within 200 votes of unseating Jan OSullivan in 2016  announced to the partys faithful he wouild step away from politics.

He said: "On the basis of much reflection I have decided for personal reasons not to contest the local elections in 2019 and the next Dail elections whenever they may be. It has been an amazing experience working together with all of those in Solidarity to give voice to workers and young people in Limerick and I believe this new Solidarity team can continue that fight.

"Rather than seeing out the remainder of the council term I thought that the Solidarity Selection Convention was an appropriate time to announce my decision and furthermore step down from the Council to allow a replacement to be nominated as Councillor and to fight to defend the seat next May, he added.

In his place comes Mary Cahalane, a primary school teacher. She became active in socialist politics while a student in Mary Immaculate College. She lived in Belfast for many years and was a leading activist in the INTO.

Meanwhile, Cllr Paul Keller has been re-selected to run for Solidarity in City East, and newcomer Seonaidh Ni Shiomoin, a teacher, is to run in City West.
Its brilliant. We cannot be happier. My mother is overjoyed. Everyone is delighted. He has done us all proud, he is a great statesman.

The reaction of Sixmilebridge man Michael Lyons, a nephew of President Michael D Higgins, who is on course to win a second term in Aras an Uachtarain.

Michael, his sister Bernie McQuillan and some of the President Higginss grandchildren were at the count centre here at the Limerick Racecourse this afternoon as his victory became clear.

Michael admits that compared to seven years ago, this campaign has been more surreal.

A little bit of stardust here at the #Limerick count centre: Some of @MichaelDHiggins family have popped in. Mike and Kathleen Lyons from Sixmilebridge w/grandnieces and grandnephews Ruby, 7, Adam,6, Emma, 2 and Alice and PJ , Kathleen and Mike's kids.Other son Mikey not present pic.twitter.com/QKdBSYjICs  Nick Rabbitts (@Nick468official) October 27, 2018

It was a totally different campaign. Seven years ago, there were more posters. I remember myself and Tom Shortt put up 350 posters in one day  and it was raining all day! This time, there are a lot less posters. He was more confident going into the campaign, he told reporters.

Originally from Shannon, Michael has just come off a night shift in the Industrial Estate. He has another one tonight, so he wont be able to celebrate properly until the Bank Holiday Monday.

Asked how he is as an uncle, Mike added: He is brilliant, hes very down to earth. He is just like one of our own. Sabina is lovely, they are real family people. They welcome you with open arms. Its just wonderful.

There will be a get-together in the coming days with President Higgins, he confirmed.

President Higginss elder sister Kathleen Lyons, Michaels mother, who lives in Shannon will no doubt take a call from him later today, he added.

Seven years ago, upon hearing of his win, she took the first train from Limerick up to Dublin to join him for his celebration.
A Florida man with a long criminal history was charged Friday in the nationwide mail-bomb scare targeting prominent Democrats who traded criticism with President Trump, a breakthrough in a case that seized the national conversation and spread fear of election-season violence with little precedent in the U.S.

The arrest came even as the crude pipe bombs continued to appear across the country. One was intercepted Friday morning in Sacramento before it reached Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.; another bomb, found in a mail facility in Burlingame, was addressed to Tom Steyer, a prominent Democratic donor in the Bay Area; a third, found in Florida, was addressed to Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.; and a fourth, discovered in a New York City post office, was sent to James Clapper, a former director of national intelligence.

Justice Department officials announced five federal charges against Cesar Sayoc, 56, of Aventura, Fla., and revealed that DNA and a fingerprint found on a package helped them identify the suspect after a five-day investigation that heightened unease with each additional explosive discovery.

None of the bombs exploded, but FBI Director Chris Wray said Friday, These are not hoax devices. He added that more bombs could be found.

Sayoc, an amateur body builder and former stripper who 16 years earlier was on probation for a bomb threat charge, has social media accounts that vilify Democrats and praise the president. Misspellings from his online posts matched mistakes found on the packages, according to an 11-page criminal complaint .

He registered as a Republican in Florida in March 2016, before the election that sent Trump to the White House, and voted early in subsequent elections, according to officials.

Postal service workers in Burlingame were escorted out of the Rollins Road facility Friday morning after the bomb addressed to Steyer was discovered. The FBI was investigating the scene.

Cynthia Maffei, who works as a mail carrier, said she was about to leave the facility around 10 a.m. when the package sent to Steyer was found by another employee. Thirty minutes later, Maffei said, the post office was evacuated.

They were seriously telling us to get out now, she said. It makes me nervous.

Supervisors told her to forget everything and get out of the building, and not to come back for the day, Maffei said.

Steyer ran the hedge fund Farallon Capital for 26 years and has donated $65 million to Democratic candidates and environmental causes during the 2016 elections, according to Forbes. He also has led an effort to have Trump impeached.

After the bombs discovery, Steyer tweeted a statement calling on the Republican Party to denounce any attacks on the rights and dignity of any American.

We are seeing a systematic attack on our democracy and our rule of law that extends much further than just one isolated terrorist in Florida, Steyer wrote. Whether its voter suppression, voter intimidation, attacks on our free press, gerrymandering, or attempted violence  the trust and norms that are the actual basis of our civil society and political system are being eroded.

The explosive device sent in a package addressed to Harris was discovered by a post office worker in Sacramento, according to the FBI.

At a youth summit Friday, Trump said he is pleased with the arrest of Sayoc, but many Democratic leaders have blamed the presidents rhetoric for creating a dangerous political climate.

Lily Adams, a spokeswoman in Harris office, said it is time for leaders across the political spectrum to take seriously the power they hold, adding that elected officials should elevate our discourse and bring people together.

Trump, after Sayoc was apprehended, said he knows the pipe-bomb suspect is a supporter, but that he bears no blame for the suspects actions. We must never allow political violence take root in America, the president said.

That marked a change in tone from his Twitter post earlier Friday complaining that this bomb stuff was taking attention away from the upcoming election and that critics were wrongly blaming him and his heated rhetoric for stoking violence.

In his remarks after the arrest, as in his comments throughout the week, Trump did not mention that the package recipients were all Democrats or officials in Obamas administration, in addition to CNN, a news network he bashes almost daily.

Sayoc was arrested near an auto parts store in Plantation, Fla., north of Miami. Across the street, Thomas Fiori, a former federal law enforcement officer, said he heard a small explosion  possibly a flash-bang device police use as a distraction  and saw about 50 armed officers swarm a man standing outside a white van. They ordered Sayoc to the ground, Fiori said, and he did not resist.

Officers were later seen examining the van, its windows covered with stickers including images of Trump and American flags.

Law enforcement officials said that the devices, containing timers and batteries, were not rigged to explode upon opening. But they were uncertain whether the devices were poorly designed or never intended to cause physical harm.

Court records show that Sayoc has convictions for grand theft and misdemeanor theft, and a 2002 arrest on a felony charge of threatening to throw or place a bomb. His lawyer in that case said it involved a heated conversation with a Florida utility representative.

Sayoc filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2012, informing the court he had $4,175 in personal property and more than $21,000 in debts. Debtor lives with mother, owns no furniture, Sayocs lawyer indicated in a property list.

Records show he was born in New York, and according to an online resume he attended college in North Carolina.

Most of those targeted this week were past or present U.S. officials, but packages also were sent to actor Robert De Niro and billionaire George Soros. The bombs have been sent across the country  from New York, Delaware and Washington, D.C., to Florida and California, where Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles, was also a target. They bore the return address of Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee.

The common thread among the bomb targets was obvious: officeholders and others who have criticized Trump and have been harshly criticized in return. The package to Clapper was addressed to him at CNNs Manhattan address. Clapper, a frequent Trump critic, told CNN that he was not surprised by it and that he considered the actions definitely domestic terrorism.

The first bomb discovered was delivered Monday to the suburban New York compound of Soros, a major contributor to Democratic causes. Soros has called Trumps presidency dangerous.

Chronicle staff writers Sarah Ravani and Gwendolyn Wu contributed to this report.

The New York Times contributed to this report.

Michael Balsamo, Eric Tucker and Colleen Long are Associated Press writers.
Some Katy ISD parents were shocked and disgusted over what some call a racially offensive Facebook post the police department made Thursday morning and now they want the district to hold the person who posted the photo responsible.

The photo, which shows an over-crowded bus packed with children of Indian descent, was posted by Katy ISD Police as part of an awareness campaign for National School Bus Safety Week.

"This post is completely offensive. Shame on you Katy ISD Police Department," a Katy ISD mom commented on the post before it was removed. "Your job is to remain neutral and offer protection to our students, staff and faculty, not post such racist memes. This is NOT representative of my support of the school district which is supposed to educate our children into world leaders. Shame!"

Clint Proctor is the Katy ISD parent who saw the post and demanded it be removed.

"It was clearly inappropriate and unfortunately, it's racist," Proctor said.

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Proctor said he called the Police Department after seeing the post and spoke with Officer Robert Jinks, who posted the message.

"He said there was nothing about that post that [was problematic] and that I don't know how to take a joke," Clint said.

The Chronicle reached out to the district and asked to speak with Jinks, but requests for more information were declined.

Clint said considering the climate of political and racial tension that Houston and the nation is experiencing right now, he thought Jink's actions were uncalled for.

"There's a lot of people that look at that and say, he is mocking the caravan," Proctor said, referencing the controversial immigrant caravan heading for the U.S. border. "He shouldn't even go there, people shouldn't even be thinking about that for a post [about] children's bus safety. To say that is funny is not okay, it's unacceptable, it's disgusting."

Other parents expressed different views on the post, showing support for the Katy ISD Police.

"Y'all shouldn't have had to felt an apology was necessary. That is how people ride the bus in those regions. There's nothing wrong with it, just showing that here in America we have safety laws," Jonathon Zonneville commented on the department's apology post. "India is heavily populated so it's ubiquitous for people to transport like that. It was comical and not offensive to anybody. If you're offended by it you should write your letters to India and tell them you're offended."

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The district administration issued the following statement about the post:

"Katy ISD was made aware of a post placed on the Katy ISD Police Department Facebook page this morning. The post was not intended to offend anyone. It has since been removed. Here at Katy ISD we are committed to respecting all cultures and backgrounds. Our relationship with our students, parents and community is extremely important. We apologize and take full responsibility for this incident. We want our community to know that this issue is important to us and it will be dealt with in the appropriate manner."

Proctor said he wants a more public apology to be made, and for Jinks to be reprimanded.

"How many times is a person in power just gong to be slapped on the wrist for saying something offensive?" Proctor said. "The guy needs to have some type of sensitivity class. He needs to show his face."

Rebecca Hennes covers community news. Read her on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, houstonchronicle.com. | rebecca.hennes@chron.com | Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message


TALLINN, Estonia - The waters of Tallinn Bay off the shore of Estonia's capital are usually teeming with boats. But on a recent summer day, the boats stayed huddled near shore as a military diver slipped beneath the surface of the bay.

After a 90-second descent through opaque green water, Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class Imre Alljarv halted next to a tubular black object - a World War II-era mine containing enough explosives to sink one of the cruise ships that frequently pass by. He placed explosive charges of his own around the mine, then headed back up toward the sunlight.

A few minutes later, Alljarv set off his charges, turning the mine into a plume of water, sediment and metal that rocketed into the air and released a pungent smell.

One down, 80,000 or so to go.

That's roughly how many mines are still floating in the Baltic Sea. "It's unbelievable how many mines there still are," said Cmdr. Peeter Ivask, the head of Estonia's navy. "Our mission here will last decades."

Mines and bombs from World War II also litter other bodies of water, including the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. But the only European states that have systematically attempted to clear the rusting weapons are those around the Baltic.

After World War II, the Allies decided to dump 300,000 metric tons of munitions into the ocean, which appeared to be the safest and most easily accessible disposal ground. But some of the weapons - including land mines containing mustard gas - were simply dropped into the Baltic and North seas rather than being taken to faraway dump sites.

The result is a particularly dangerous stretch of water. Three Dutch fishermen were killed in 2005 after they accidentally reeled in a World War II American bomb, which then exploded. In August, 2,000 people were evacuated from the Polish resort city of Kolobrzeg after three bombs were discovered in the nearby bay. And throughout the Baltic Sea, fishermen are banned from accessing waters where the density of mines is so high that clearing the seabed is too expensive.

The waters near Baltic ports were especially common targets during the war and still pose the biggest risks today. Many mines are too close to shore to be destroyed on the spot; authorities must move them farther away, a dangerous prospect, before they can be detonated.

No area of the Baltic is more heavily mined than the waters near Tallinn. During World War II, the city was the gateway to St. Petersburg - then called Leningrad - and the Soviet Union's Baltic Fleet. The Estonian government estimates that there are up to 50,000 mines hidden in the seabed nearby.

The Estonian navy's primary peacetime mission consists of cleaning up what the Germans and Russians left behind. But it has only three small mine-hunting vessels for the task - and merely 300 sailors in the entire force. "Sometimes, when we have U.S. destroyers visiting the bay, there are more American soldiers on board than our country has sailors," said 2nd Lt. Karl Baumeister, a navy spokesman.

Divers such as Alljarv have to complete years of training and then attend a specialized course for mine-clearance missions in neighboring Latvia. As soon as training is completed, new divers are almost immediately deployed. "Many American divers with the same training might go 10 or even 20 years without ever seeing a real mine underwater," Alljarv said. By his estimate, he has defused about 50 mines in his 13 years on the job.

The Estonian navy also has remote-controlled vehicles that can investigate and detonate mines. But Alljarv prefers to head to the bottom himself, even though conditions in the Baltic Sea are rarely ideal. Visibility is sometimes no more than a few inches, especially as the sea heats up during the summer. "Usually we work as if we were blindfolded," Alljarv said.

Even though the mines remain a potentially fatal threat, dealing with them daily has helped him shake off some of his initial fears. "I'm not really nervous anymore. I actually think they're exciting," Alljarv said.

Others share his enthusiasm. During an annual countermining operation that brings together many Baltic and Western European navies, there's an unofficial competition to see who can clear the most ordnance from the water.

These days, Baumeister said, the Germans are usually winning.

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Video: The Post's Rick Noack traveled to Estonia to learn more about the vast amount of unexploded ordnance left over from two world wars.(Rick Noack, Sarah Parnass, William Neff/The Washington Post)

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Student members of Crimson Courage at Jacksonville High School spent the week promoting an alcohol- and drug-free lifestyle during Red Ribbon Week.

With days themed for spirit, success and supporting friends, Red Ribbon Week was designed to encourage students to eliminate drugs from their lives and help friends live a drug-free life.

Sherri McLaughlin, a school counselor at JHS, said students read messages each day, carrying lessons on the impact of drugs and alcohol on different aspects of life and the legalities of drug use.

McLaughlin said Red Ribbon Week was created as a way to remember Enrigue Kiki Camarena, a special agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration who was killed in the 1980s while undercover in Mexico.

Madison Fanning, a freshman member of Crimson Courage, said bringing light to drug use is important.

I think its important for schools to do this type of awareness, especially for the kids that struggle with drugs and alcohol, Fanning said. Its a problem and we need to keep shinning a light on it and not keeping it in the dark.

Students received the week and its messages well, McLaughlin said.

We had a large percentage of students sign pledges of a drug-free lifestyle, McLaughlin said. Anytime we can get the students to be the ones delivering messages, its more powerful.

Fanning said her favorite part was working the pledge table.

There were so many different types of people that came up to sign the pledges, Fanning said. For some, it was nothing, while others had to think about it and some didnt think they could do it. It was an eye-opener to see the different types of people.

Devin Ussery, a JHS junior, said he wants to encourage students to live a drug-free life.

Drugs can tear families apart, Ussery said. They can destroy lives. People sometimes say they take drugs to escape reality, but there are other ways to do that. They can read a book, or watch a movie, or play a game. It doesnt have to be drugs.

McLaughlin said Crimson Courage is attempting to have a monthly drug- and alcohol-free event, such as a movie night, hot dog roast or a picnic.

We want to show kids that they can have fun without alcohol, without drugs, McLaughlin said. We also want to get them socializing face-to-face instead of just through social media.

Samantha McDaniel-Ogletree can be reached at 217-245-6121, ext. 1233, or on Twitter @JCNews_samantha.
The top four super political action committees in the fight for control of Congress started mid-October with $113.4 million in the bank for the final wave of advertising and get-out-the-vote drives leading up to the Nov. 6 elections.

The Congressional Leadership Fund and Senate Leadership Fund on the Republican side, and the House Majority PAC and the Senate Majority PAC on the Democratic side, are some of the biggest spenders in what is likely to be the costliest midterm campaign ever.

Billionaires with ties to Wall Street donated tens of millions to the groups, including former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, brokerage firm founder Charles Schwab and hedge fund executive Stephen Schwarzman, according to Federal Election Commission disclosures filed Thursday.

Bloomberg gave $20 million to the Senate Majority PAC, while philanthropist Herbert Sandler gave $1.5 million and media mogul Haim Saban gave $1 million. The super-PAC had $37 million in the bank after raising $36.4 million and spending $38.3 million.

Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News. He's pledged to give millions of dollars in 2018 to help Democrats retake control of the U.S. House, and told the New York Times that he's considering a 2020 campaign for president as a Democrat.

Schwab, along with his wife, Helen, contributed $4 million to the Senate Leadership Fund. The super-PAC, which is affiliated with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., pulled in $22 million during the period and started Oct. 18 with $34.4 million in the bank after spending $34.4 million.

Schwarzman, the chairman and chief executive officer of Blackstone Group LP, contributed $3 million to the SLF.

Bloomberg also gave $20 million in cash and $3.1 million in in-kind research to Independence USA PAC, a super political action committee that's supporting House Democrats. It had $18.2 million cash on hand after spending $7.5 million in the filing period. He also gave $1.4 million to VoteVets, a PAC that supports veterans running for office.

The two parties and their allies are furiously raising and spending money as the campaign enters its final days. In the first major political test of Donald Trump's presidency, Democrats are threatening to overturn the Republican majority in the House, while Republicans are positioned to hold control of the Senate.

The latest FEC filings, which cover the first 17 days of October, are the last comprehensive disclosure required before Election Day. All committees spending in the midterms -- including campaigns, super-PACs and parties -- had to report donations, spending and cash-on-hand by midnight.

The Congressional Leadership Fund, a super-PAC aligned with House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., reported raising $17.1 million. It spent $28.9 million during the period and had $23.9 million in the bank.

The House Majority PAC, which supports Democrats, had $18.2 million cash on hand after spending $26 million and raising $9.5 million. Joshua Bekenstein, co-chairman of Bain Capital Inc., gave $1.5 million.

Priorities USA, a Democratic super-PAC focusing on voter engagement and turnout, raised $9.7 million and had $1.4 million on hand after spending $11.1 million during the period. Hedge fund manager S. Donald Sussman of Paloma Partners Management Co. was the group's top donor during the 17 days, at $1.1 million.

Billionaire Tom Steyer gave $9 million to NextGen Climate Action Committee, his super-PAC which has been supporting Democratic candidates through organizing and voter outreach efforts. It had $1.6 million in the bank after spending $8 million.

The Republican National Committee bolstered its spending to $30.8 million, up from $16.7 million for the month of September. It raised $13.7 million, including $6 million from small-dollar donors, and ended with $34.2 million cash on hand.

The Democratic National Committee spent $11.1 million during the period. It raised $15.3 million and started Oct. 18 with $14.5 million.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the campaign arm of House Democrats, headed into the final days with $16.8 million in the bank after spending $35.7 million in the first 17 days of October. It raised $21.8 million during that period, including $3.7 million from donors giving $200 or less and borrowed $5 million from Bank of America.

After raising $11.1 million and spending $22 million, the National Republican Congressional Committee had $33 million left in the bank. It was the eighth-straight filing period in which the DCCC out-raised and outspent its GOP counterpart, which reported no debts.

The Senate GOP's campaign organization, the National Republican Senatorial Committee raised $15.1 million, including a $5 million line of credit it set up the previous month with Chain Bridge Bank, a Virginia-based institution that services GOP committees. The NRSC spent $16.3 million, and had $14.3 million in the bank at the end of the filing period.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee raised $26.5 million, spent $27.5 million, and started Oct. 18 with $21.4 million in the bank.

Below are some of the fundraising totals from Senate races rated as tossups by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report:

Arizona

Rep. Martha McSally, R, reported raising $3.6 million and having $2.5 million in the bank. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D, raised $3.3 million and had $1.3 million available.

Florida

Gov. Rick Scott, R, had $2.3 million in the bank in his contest against Sen, Bill Nelson, the Democratic incumbent. He raised $14.1 million, including $12.1 million he contributed himself.

Scott, who served as vice chairman of Columbia Hospital Corp. before entering politics, has put $51 million of his own money into his Senate campaign so far. The New Republican PAC, which also supports him, raised $1.9 million, spent $4.9 million and had $1.1 million in the bank.

Nelson started Oct. 18 with $3.8 million in the bank, after raising $3.1 million. Nelson's campaign spent $7.7 million, compared to $13.7 million for Scott.

Indiana

Republican Mike Braun reported raising $2.9 million -- including $1.6 million in loans from himself -- and had $1.4 million in the bank for his challenge of incumbent Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly, who reported raising $3.7 million and had $2.3 million available.

Missouri

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley reported raising $1.7 million and having $2.8 million in the bank for his campaign against Sen. Claire McCaskill, D, who listed receipts of $4.8 million and cash on hand of $1.8 million.

Montana

Incumbent Jon Tester raised $1.3 million, compared to $981,404 for challenger Matt Rosendale, the state auditor and a self-proclaimed Trump Republican. Tester ended the period with $1.6 million cash on hand, compared to $524,379 for Rosendale.

Nevada

Rep, Jacky Rosen, D, raised $5.1 million and had $768,852 available for her bid to unseat Sen. Dean Heller, R. The incumbent, who is viewed as one of the most vulnerable GOP senators, raised $1.4 million and had $2.2 million in the bank.

Tennessee

Former Gov. Phil Bredesen reported raising $1.5 million and having $1 million in the bank for his Democratic campaign. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R, raised $1.3 million and had $3.4 million in the bank.

Texas

Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D, reported raising $8.5 million in his bid to topple Sen. Ted Cruz, R. O'Rourke spent $21 million during the 17 days and had $10.3 million in the bank. Cruz raised $5.2 million, spent $9.7 million and had $6.7 million in the bank.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic is determined to go down in history as the man who reconciled ethnic and territorial differences in a region synonymous with war. And that means allegiances are getting stretched.

Russia's biggest ally in the Balkans says he won't cross German Chancellor Angela Merkel, however hard that sometimes might be. "We need to show fairness and loyalty," Vucic said in an interview at his presidential palace in Belgrade on Thursday. Talking to Merkel "was not an easy conversation," he said. "But I'll never say anything against her."

The carrot of European Union membership juxtaposed with Russia's keenness to maintain influence are testing traditional ties in the Balkans, at best a region held together by fragile international agreements and the balance of global powers, at worst a hotchpotch of blood-and-soil grievances.

Vucic, 48, is at the center of that tug-of-war between east and west and key to how the immediate future plays out amid warnings from the EU and Germany over the potentially explosive consequences should the region's leaders not be kept on board.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Oct. 5 on the eve of elections in Bosnia that the EU needed to raise the prospects of the region joining the bloc or risk sleepwalking into violent conflict. In the event, Bosnian Serb nationalist Milorad Dodik, an ally of Vucic, emerged as the most powerful leader in the country. Both men want to redraw borders to bring Serbs closer together, though Vucic has publicly defended Bosnian integrity set out in the Dayton peace accords of 1995.

For his part, Vucic needs to reconcile with Kosovo, a predominantly Albanian state that declared independence in 2008, a decade after NATO forces drove out warring Serb soldiers from its territory. It's a prerequisite of Serbia joining the EU, along with reforming the judiciary and fighting corruption.

Vucic and his Kosovar counterpart, Hashim Thaci, appeared to near a deal this summer. But a mere mention that it may include a land swap in the region, where Europe's bloodiest fighting since World War II took place, led to a push back from the international community and resurrected fears of another conflict in the volatile region. Merkel's government likened it to opening Pandora's Box.

The U.S. under Donald Trump, though, appears more receptive to upending agreements it brokered. Vucic said Washington has altered its position toward Belgrade.

"The U.S. administration is more open to listening to our side as well," he said. Previously officials were telling Serbia it needed to recognize Kosovo, he said. "Now we can discuss something with Americans. That's the change. They have opened doors, and that's good."

Serbia, through culture and religion, traditionally forms part of Russia's sphere, though the EU is by far the biggest investor in the country of 7 million.

Russia and China, which have sided with Serbia in its refusal to recognize Kosovo, now publicly vow to support any stance that the Balkan nation takes. Yet Russia is wary of supporting any deal that could speed up Serbia's EU membership and further reduce its already dwindling footprint in the Balkans. China may be more supportive as it sees its investments in the region as its way into Europe.

While talks with Kosovo have stalled, Vucic expects to meet Thaci in Brussels again this year. A trip in September failed to even get them to sit down together. Serbia has repeatedly said it won't give Kosovo an outright recognition.

The two men also face opposition at home. Kosovo's prime minister has repeatedly warned that ceding any piece of territory could reignite a war. Vucic, a former Information Minister for the late strongman Slobodan Milosevic, has the political mandate after becoming president last year following a three-year stint as prime minister and he has the backing of the current premier. But recognition of Kosovo still carries risks among voters, some cabinet members and the Serbian Orthodox Church, which has strong links to Russia.

"Some people don't like me because of my past, some people hate me because of some irrational reasons, some people hate me because of rational reasons," he said in the hour-long discussion. Yet the "resolution of the problem between Serbs and Albanians is something that will change this region entirely," he said. "Our region will be a machine of growth for the entire EU, and it doesn't matter if it is going to be a part of the EU or at the entrance."

When it comes to the contents of any potential deal, Vucic declined to give details, though admitted it would be a tough compromise.

"I will do my best to get closer to a solution, because that's something that will save Serbia in the future, save many lives," he said. Even as its citizens are getting more skeptical EU membership will ever happen, it's the only way forward he said - and that means he listens to Merkel. "I even said that to Russia today," he said. "We want to belong to that type of society."
Understated elegance with a warm spirit and relaxed sophistication  Kathleen Sommers wore it well in life and in style.

A New Jersey-born fashion designer who started her own bikini line in Mexico in the 1970s, she opened a store in San Antonio, attracted a following and eventually reached retail and wholesale customers across the U.S.

Sommers, 73, died Oct. 20 from cancer. She had built her brand and business from the ground up, with a self-named boutique that has been a San Antonio fixture in womens wear for more than 30 years.

Friends gathered late Tuesday at the Monte Vista shop on Main Street, where a memorial of flowers surrounding photos of Sommers had been added to the carefully curated array of blouses, scarves and other fashions, handmade jewelry, luxury soaps and other eclectic wares.

Blanquita Sullivan first fell in love with Sommers shop as a child. She later turned that passion into a profession as Sommers store manager and buyer.

Kathleen has created a legacy here in San Antonio, Sullivan said. And she is very much present in San Antonio womens closets.

Sullivan noted Sommers designed and sold only what she liked, never following trends and opting for rich yet muted earth tones in natural fabrics. It made women feel beautiful as well as see themselves at their best, friends said.

I think she brought this really smart and direct expression for women, and gave them an aesthetic sense that embodied some of the cultural sense of San Antonio but also the real feminist side of it, said Sylvia Martinez, who enjoyed many a lunch and tamale-making party with Sommers and had frequented her shop for the past 20 years.

Renowned San Antonio poet and novelist Naomi Shihab Nye was among the many friends Sommers attracted in her time as a retailer. Nye has played a huge hand in assisting with Sommers Poetry for the People, a one-of-a-kind poetry writing event they hosted annually at the store, to benefit refugee charities.

Kathleen Sommers Born: Dec. 9, 1944, Saddle River, N.J. Died: Oct. 20, 2018, San Antonio Preceded by: Her mother, Erlene Sommers Survived by: A daughter, Kate Sommers-Dawes, and a son, Alexander Sommers. Services: Services are pending. See More Collapse

I cant even imagine how its going to feel without her. Well be doing it in her honor. I hope people will come in her honor, Nye said of this years Poetry for the People, set for Nov. 28 at the store.

Even in this, what I consider to be a very dark time of lies and ugliness in our countrys government, she was a positivist. She would have urged us all to do more positive work ourselves, wherever we are, every single day, Nye said.

Sommers daughter Kate Sommers-Dawes, along with staff of Kathleen Sommers Inc., released a statement via the companys Facebook page, detailing the importance of Sommers effect on the community and everyone she encountered throughout her life.

The joyful experience of helping dear friends find an irreplaceable piece of jewelry or an unexpected gift, in a space where they could gather and celebrate life and each other, fueled Kathleen.

Her deep commitment to justice and the larger social good of her community  and the world  was inspiring to us all, the statement read.

Sommers-Dawes, who was expecting at the time of her mothers death, gave birth to a healthy child Wednesday.

The Facebook statement further asked patrons who felt moved by the loss of Sommers, and her legacy of socially aware philanthropy, to make donations in her honor to the Center for Refugee Services of San Antonio and Planned Parenthood South Texas.

Over the years, we became friends, and I found her to be very involved in her community, politics and helping others, said Joan Frederick, a longtime customer of the boutique who would visit often along with her friend Sandra Cisneros.

She fashioned a salon of people from all walks of life who gravitated around her grace, charm and philanthropy. She was constantly organizing events that would bring us all together for the good of some worthy organization or outreach to women or marginalized people around the world, Frederick said.

Rene Guzman 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. | rguzman@express-news.net | Twitter: @reneguz
AUSTIN  Some straight-ticket voters have reported that voting machines recorded them selecting the candidate of another party for U.S. Senate, exposing a potential problem with the integrity of the states high-profile contest between U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and Congressman Beto ORourke and leading good government groups to sound the alarm.

Several Democratic voters, for example, have complained the voting system indicated they were about to cast a vote for Cruz, a Republican, instead of Democrat ORourke as they prepared to send it. Some said they were able to get help from staff at the polling place and change their votes back to what they intended before finalizing their ballots.

Most of the 15 to 20 people who have complained to the state so far said that their straight-ticket ballot left their vote for U.S. Senate blank, according to Sam Taylor, communications director for the Secretary of State. A spokesman for the Texas Civil Rights Project said the group has received about a half dozen complaints, mostly of Democratic straight ticket voters whose ballots erroneously included a vote for Cruz, and one Republican straight ticket voter whose ballot tabulated a vote for ORourke.

The problem occurs on the Hart eSlate voting machine when voters turn a selection dial and hit the enter button simultaneously, according to the state. Eighty-two of the 254 counties in Texas have these machines, although complaints have only come from Fort Bend, Harris, McLennan, Montgomery, Tarrant and Travis counties, according to Taylor

The issue with the eSlate machine first surfaced in the 2016 presidential election. The Secretary of States office described it as user error at that time, and said the same of this years problems in an advisory sent to election workers issued this week.

It does pop up from time to time, said Taylor. Voters should double and triple check and slow down before casting their ballots, he said.

For subscribers: Texas GOP looks to ride out blue wave, with help from straight-ticket voters

Although the state sent the advisory, the Civil Rights Project contends that more should be done to ensure voters understand the potential for wrongly recorded votes.

The group is pushing the state to post advisories to inform voters at the polls about the problem, and how to detect it.

This is not an isolated issue but a symptom of a wider breakdown in Texass election systems, said Beth Stevens, the organizations voting rights director. Texas voters should have full confidence that when they use a voting machine they are indeed casting their ballot of choice.

The Hart eSlate voting machines in Texas were last certified in 2009, meaning most of this equipment is at least that old, Taylor said. Upgrading the machines is costly: $50 million would just cover costs to upgrade machines in Harris, Dallas and Tarrant Counties, he said.

It wouldnt even put a dent in the cost of upgrading machines statewide, Taylor said.

Harris County officials have echoed that the issue is a voter error and not a problem with the machines. Some voters who have tried to cast a straight ticket ballot for Republicans have also found the machine erased the vote for Cruz and records no selection for U.S. Senate.

It reinforces how vital it is for every voter to carefully review their selections before casting the ballot to ensure it accurately reflects who you want to vote for, read a statement from the Texas Civil Rights Project on Thursday. Triple check your ballot before casting it.

For subscribers: 2018 Houston Chronicle Voter Guide

For subscribers: 2018 San Antonio Express-News Voter Guide

Bexar County uses a different brand of voting machines, but complaints from concerned voters are still coming in amid concern for voting problems with the Hart eSlate machines, said elections administrator Jacque Callanen. When voters cast straight ticket ballots, the machines leave blank any race in which their favored party doesnt have a candidate, she said.

Every time we have a straight party election, we have that confusion, said Callanen.

This is the last major election Texans will have the choice to vote straight ticket. The Legislature opted to ban the practice beginning in the 2020 election.
Just for a moment, Ted Cruz almost had me.

He had showed up late to a meeting with the Express-News Editorial Board and then stayed far longer than anyone expected, or his aides would have liked.

The junior senator from Texas was exceedingly generous with his time. He spoke at length about deficits and Democrats, Social Security and social anxiety. He stood with our troops. With seniors. With President Donald Trump, who once mocked Cruzs wife and falsely suggested his father was part of John F. Kennedys assassination.

He acknowledged political differences and touted his legislative achievements, even citing occasional work with dreaded Democrats, giving Indiana Sen. Joe Donnelly a shoutout.

And then, toward the very end of the meeting, he leaned in as if to confess for sins of the past.

I recognize there is a caricature that some have painted of me as a bomb thrower, he said.

There was a brief pause. Just a breath. The room tightened with anticipation. Could it be that he regretted shutting down the government in 2013, costing the economy billions of dollars? As bombs go, that one was nuclear. Some might say the Texas sand is still glowing beneath his feet.

But if Cruz has any authentic insight from that ignominious moment  regret would be the right quality  he never revealed it.

I think the record is substantially different, he said. I believe in the principles I am fighting for.

Even now, after putting a presidential run ahead of Texas constituents, after finding himself in a re-election race that should never be so close in such a big red state, he cant see beyond himself. He only sees that others have painted a caricature of him, not that he handed his critics a brush, much less the full portrait that has been painted.

That full portrait is far less flattering than just Ted Cruz the bomb thrower. Rhetorical bombs and obstructionist politics are a given with him. Its that Cruzs convictions appear to be moored by self-interest, sharpened only by the heights of his aspiration.

He has shown this on the national stage time and time again. There is the shutdown, of course, which was so costly but even more self-serving.

But also his nonendorsement of Trump at the Republican National Convention in 2016  a moment that might have shown conviction, but only revealed mendacity.

Most recently, he struggled to say he would commit to finishing a full second term in the Senate.

Cmon, Ted.

But in local terms, the best example of placing the public after his own ambition can be found in the new federal courthouse.

Cruz had nothing to do with that one even though he sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Back in 2015, when Bexar County inexplicably slipped down the rankings for a federal courthouse, local officials were desperate for some kind of intervention.

There was lead in the water at the John H. Wood Jr. U.S. Courthouse, a repurposed theater from HemisFair 68. There were mounting security concerns and the potential delay of a land swap with the city of San Antonio.

Every San Antonio-based federal lawmaker, Democratic and Republican, took the issue seriously and ultimately Sen. John Cornyn, the other Texas senator, came through. But local officials could never get a meaningful meeting with Cruz. He was nowhere to be found  in Texas, at least.

Perhaps they could have cornered him in Iowa.

When I raised this concern with Cruz  the point being that he wasnt available to San Antonio and Bexar officials on an issue of local significance  he said 171 sheriffs had endorsed him, including 10 Democrats.

It wasnt much of an answer, but maybe its unfair to expect more from such an ambitious senator.

jbrodesky@express-news.net
In 2017, Gov. Greg Abbott divested nearly $860,000 that had been used to fund the Colonias Initiative Program, which sent a resounding message to the people of Texas that our state can underserve our most vulnerable residents.

As we prepare to enter another legislative session, it is important for those in the Texas Capitol to know that in this moment, when the federal government is sending the same message through policies such as family separation and the new public charge rule, we will not stand for this kind of inequity in Texas.

Therefore, we must demand that the Legislature provide an updated report on the status of colonias along the Texas-Mexico border and expand the definition of colonias to include new colonias.

Colonia funding is not new to Texas and other border states. In 1991, the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act required Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas to set aside up to 10 percent of their annual Community Block Development Grants allocations for colonia support.

As HUD secretary, Julian Castro advocated for an additional 5 percent to be reserved for colonia funding.

A 2014 a report prepared by the Texas Office of the Secretary of State noted that while significant challenges and barriers remain, colonias continued to make progress in updating their infrastructure, and the state must therefore continue funding programs providing them assistance.

The report also referenced issues identified in 2010 that remained unresolved. Of those, the first was the question of what defines a colonia: At what point does a designated colonia cease to be considered a colonia?

Other unresolved questions include: Does a colonia designation cease once colonia residents access basic services such as potable water, effective and safe disposal of wastewater, and access to paved roads?

The answer to the second question is no  and a part of that answer lies in data.

Overall, the 2014 report had a major flaw: It relied too heavily on mere infrastructure systems to attempt to declassify colonias. Essentially, the report categorized colonias into three colors.

Red colonias lacked access to potable water, adequate wastewater disposal, or were un-platted.

Yellow colonias had access to potable water via a functional well or connection to a public water system, functional septic tank or connection to a public wastewater collection system, but lacked adequate road paving, drainage or solid waste disposal.

Green colonias had access to potable water, adequate wastewater disposal, adequate paved roads, drainage and solid waste disposal.

However, these color designations failed to provide an accurate understanding of colonias; the report should have additionally analyzed educational attainment, employment status, household income, poverty status and government assistance.

In light of the reports flaw, the Legislature must provide an updated report and include new colonias, which are generally defined as formerly constructed subdivisions that comply with the model subdivision rules.

Overall, new colonias contain roads and water/wastewater infrastructure, but still have unsafe, dilapidated housing that may not be connected to existing services.

New colonias require immediate funding. I know this fact well, given the new colonia I grew up in, which was nestled less than a mile from the Rio Grande behind a series of warehouses. Many of those homes  which were only updated gradually, as the homeowners funding permitted  would surely fail to meet current building code standards.

The phenomenon of new colonias has not been explored as a category in and of itself; therefore, the state of Texas should conduct a more comprehensive analysis of the state of colonias and new colonias for funding via state and federal sources.

Colonias in general are still underserved, and this is demonstrated by data that support the need for the Legislature to expand the definition of colonias in order to better provide holistic development support.

According to the recently published American Community Survey data, the poverty concentration along border metropolitan cities is the highest in Texas, and the gap between border metro areas without health insurance and other nonborder areas is huge.

Moreover, high school graduation rates in some border towns are much lower than the state average of 83 percent. Furthermore, sustainability and environmental factors, such as flooding and flood plains, need to be accounted for in examining the state of colonias in Texas.

Given these glaring disparities, its time we reconsider colonia funding. This, however, entails that we rethink one of the questions asked in the 2014 report: At what point does a designated colonia cease to be considered a colonia?

Asking this question for the sake of removing colonias from a list is unjust. As someone who grew up in a new colonia, I know the consequences of a deficit in services that has persisted for years and that it will take more than just laying infrastructure in the ground.

In other words, we need to acknowledge the historical legacy and impacts that colonias have on the people living there. The stress and trauma resulting from growing up in a colonia affect individuals later in life. This is why colonia funding must be based on a much more expansive definition.

We need to understand that colonias will remain colonias as long as infrastructure lags and consequential inequalities in services persist.

Strong and resilient communities are good for our democracy. Trust in our government to provide for its people the basic infrastructure and the opportunities that the rest of the country enjoys. This is critical for colonia communities that are still underserved.

The Texas Legislature needs to request an updated report on the status of colonias along the Texas-Mexico border and expand the definition of colonias so the support heavily needed in these areas is not constricted.

Coda Rayo-Garza is a political partner with Truman National Security Project. The views expressed are her own.
Every institution that upholds a healthy and vibrant democracy needs to be fostered and cared for by the government of the day.

Following is an excerpt from the chapter The Attack on Institutions from the book The Paradoxical Prime Minister: Narendra Modi and His India.

Mahatma Gandhi once said: The truest test of a democracy is in the ability of anyone to act as he likes, so long as he does not injure the life or property of anyone else. In order for this to happen, every institution that upholds a healthy and vibrant democracy needs to be fostered and cared for by the government of the day. The independence of these institutions needs to be protected so they are able to dispense neutral decisions in the interest of every citizen of India. A list of such institutions would include the judiciary, headed by the Supreme Court; the Election Commission, which organises, conducts and rules on the countrys general and state elections; the Reserve Bank of India, the nations central bank; the armed forces; the national exam-conducting bodies that test tens of millions of schoolchildren every year in highly competitive examinations that could make or break their futures; the investigative agencies (notably the Central Bureau of Investigation, Indias equivalent of the FBI); the elected legislatures; and the free press. Every one of these priceless institutions has come under threat in the last four years, as an assertive Hindu-chauvinist BJP government moves to consolidate its power in the worlds largest democracy.

The judicial system, traditionally above the cut-and-thrust of the political fray, came under withering scrutiny in January 2018, when the four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court held an unprecedented press conference to question the decisions of outgoing Chief Justice Dipak Misra in allocating cases to his favourite judges as master of the roster their criticism seemed to imply that this would lead to outcomes to favour the government.

Chief Justices of India are supposed to be free of political interests, but in April several Opposition parties circulated an equally unprecedented impeachment motion against the Chief Justice in the Upper House, the Rajya Sabha. Though this was rejected by the Rajya Sabha chairman, the vice-president of India, two MPs moved the Supreme Court itself to challenge his rejection, only to find the Chief Justice naming a bench favourable to him to hear their appeal. They then withdrew their case, but the image of the judiciary has taken a beating from all this, from which it will not easily recover.

Indias Election Commission has also enjoyed a proud record of independence and boasts decades-long experience of conducting free and fair elections, despite its members usually being retired civil servants appointed by the government of the day for fixed tenures. While in the past, election commissioners have largely enjoyed a reputation for integrity, this took a severe blow last year, when a BJP-appointed chief violated the convention of announcing election dates for all impending state elections at the same time.

A quarter century ago, the commission had introduced a Code of Conduct that prohibits government expenditure to impress voters once election dates are announced. With the BJP, which is in power in both the Centre and in Gujarat state, scrambling to impress voters in Gujarat through last-minute schemes and pre-election freebies, it was alleged that the EC came under pressure to delay the election announcement there as long as possible.

Surprisingly, it declared the dates for elections in Himachal Pradesh, a state that normally goes to the polls at the same time as Gujarat, thirteen days before the latter, ostensibly in order to permit flood relief work in Gujarat (which the Code of Conduct would not in fact have disallowed).

Former election commissioners condemned the decision unanimously, even as the Gujarat government and the Prime Minister himself took advantage of the delay to announce a series of pre-election giveaways. It does no good to Indian democracy to see a shadow fall over the very institution that guarantees free and fair elections, especially at a time when reports of data manipulation by the likes of Facebook and Cambridge Analytica have begun to raise doubts over the security of the electronic voting machines (EVMs) on which ballots are cast.

The concern that, under BJP rule, the Election Commission was behaving like a government department, became more acute when the Delhi high court threw out an EC decision to disqualify twenty Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs of the Delhi Legislature on technical grounds, an action that could have benefited the BJP had byelections to their seats followed. The court termed the decision bad in law, vitiated and a failure to comply with principles of natural justice. How had an institution widely hailed as the impartial custodian of Indias democratic process allowed itself to be brought to such a sorry pass? The answer lay clearly with the ruling party at the Centre, which was seen by many as pressuring the institution to act according to its wishes.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the nations central bank, was thoroughly discredited over the BJP governments disastrous demonetisation of November 2016, when it was widely denounced for failing to perform its fiduciary duties. The RBI, which did not appear to have been fully consulted on the political decision, conspicuously failed to exercise its autonomy, to anticipate the problems of Mr Modis scheme, to prepare its implementation better, and to alleviate its impact.

During the shambolic demonetisation process, the goalposts kept shifting: the RBI issued multiple notifications on demonetisation  some seventy-four in fifty days, each intended to tweak an earlier announcement. It seemed as if the Reserve Bank had been reduced to a puppet on a string for the Indian government. Many began to refer to this once-respected institution as the Reverse Bank of India for its frequent reversals of stance on such matters as the amounts of money permissible to withdraw, the last legal date for withdrawals, and even whether depositors would have their fingers marked with indelible ink so they could not withdraw their money too often.

Demonetisation caused serious and seemingly lasting damage to Indias most important financial institution. The United Forum of Reserve Bank Officers and Employees wrote to the government in January 2017, pointing to operational mismanagement which has dented RBIs autonomy and reputation beyond repair. The inexplicable silence of its governor, Urjit Patel, reduced him to a lamb. But this silence of the lamb was cannibalising the RBI itself.

The Modi government has also not hesitated to politicise the armed forces, not just bypassing time-honoured principles of seniority in appointing the Army Chief, but by repeatedly using the Army in its political propaganda. The shameless exploitation of the 2016 surgical strikes along the Line of Control with Pakistan, and of a military raid in hot pursuit of rebels in Myanmar, as a party election tool  something the Congress had never done despite having authorised several such strikes earlier  marked a particularly disgraceful dilution of the principle that national security issues require both discretion and non-partisanship. As Ive mentioned, the 2018 Karnataka state elections saw the Prime Minister, no less, falsely denouncing Indias first Prime Minister for allegedly having insulted two Army Chiefs from the state.

The principle that the Army should be kept out of politics, and that the military are above regional or religious loyalties, was disregarded in his flagrant exploitation of the Indian military for short-term purposes.

A controversy over leaked exam papers for an important national school-leavers examination cast doubt on another cherished national institution, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), which conducts the test. The faith of millions of schoolchildren in the competitive examination system is vital for Indias social peace; in an environment where job seekers vastly exceed jobs available, unimpeachable exam results are fundamental to any perception of fairness. That the exam, which could make or break their futures, might have been leaked in advance to a favoured few casts a doubt on the entire culture of meritocracy that millions of young Indians aspire to.

Under the BJP, the federal investigative agencies (notably the Central Bureau of Investigation) are widely seen as instruments of the government; the CBI has even been described as a caged parrot. Its investigations and indictments, once seen as the gold standard of Indian crime-fighting, are now too often seen as purely politically motivated.

As for the temple of democracy, the Indian Parliament, its work has been reduced to a farce as allies and supporters of the ruling party brought the Lok Sabhas Budget Session to a standstill through disruptions orchestrated by the government. With the BJP-appointed Speaker claiming she could not count heads in the din, a motion of no-confidence moved by Opposition parties was initially not debated, citing lack of order.

It seemed as if the government was willing to destroy the temple rather than permit prayers against its misrule to be heard there. (The motion was eventually permitted to be introduced in the following session, but the damage was done.)
Michael D Higgins may be celebrating after successfully securing a second term as President of Ireland, but the main talking point to emerge from the Longford-Westmeath constituency was how voters in one half of the constituency gave their backing to businessman Peter Casey's candidacy.

An estimated 37.41 per cent of Longford's electorate sided with the former Dragons' Den investor as their preferred choice to become Ireland's next head of State.

ALSO READ: Casey's lead proves shortlived as Westmeath tallies overturn Longford support

Mr Casey's better than expected performance is being seen as a protest vote against a political establishment who rounded on the Derry born entrepreneur's contentious comments on the Traveller community and his claims over Ireland having become a "welfare state".

Controversial or otherwise, they seemed to strike a notable chord with Longford voters where more than half a dozen boxes returned decisive victories for the outspoken television personality.

At the opposite end of the constituency, Westmeath voters ensured the overall constituency result followed the trend set by the remainder of the country with final tally figures suggesting Mr Higgins' final poll to be in or around the 50 per cent mark.

A further topic for conversation inside the confines of Athlone's Institute of Technology (AIT), where counting took place, was the decision of the majority of voters to stay at home rather than have their say in an election that failed to engage an indifferent electorate.

In one box taken from St Mary's Christian Brothers School in Mullingar, just over 25 per cent, or 207 voters from a total of 782 people exercised their democratic right to vote.

RESULT-COUNT ONE

CONSTITUENCY: Longford-Westmeath

ELECTORATE: 92354

TOTAL POLL: 38385

SPOILED VOTES: 443

TOTAL VALID POLL: 37942

TURNOUT: 41.56



Peter Casey 12005

Gavin Duffy 829

Joan Freeman 2122

Sean Gallagher 2873

Michael D Higgins 18024

Liadh Ni Riada 2089
Labour spokesperson on Rural Development, Willie Penrose TD has called on Bord na Mona and the Government to ensure that jobs are retained in the Midlands by establishing a task force of relevant state bodies.

Labour is also supporting the call by Unite for a Just Transition fund.

Deputy Penrose said:

"This is a sad day for the Midlands, with the announcement that 430 jobs will go. We all know that climate change meant this was coming, but the Labour Party has long called for a just transition that would protect employment in our communities.

"The loss of these Bord na Mona jobs is of serious concerns to the communities and families. Where possible these workers must be given the opportunity to re-skill.

"It is also critical that new opportunities are provided first in the areas that are losing jobs. Bord na Mona says up to 500 new jobs could be created in the Midlands in the future but we need to see more detail of what is planned.

"I am calling on the relevant Ministers to ensure the Midlands are not left behind. For too long, towns like Mullingar and Athlone have been all but ignored by the IDA. That must now change.

"Today's news has the potential to devastate Midlands communities if the Government doesn't act.

"The Government should establish a task force with relevant stakeholders including Bord na Mona, unions, the IDA, Enterprise Ireland and others, to ensure that new job opportunities and the commitments made today are delivered to the Midlands.

"The Labour Party also supports the call by Unite and a group of Unions, for a Just Transition fund to harness new opportunities for new jobs, investment, re-skilling, and the potential of the green economy.

"My late colleague Cllr Mark Nugent who was a former vice-chair of Bord na Mona was someone who had the foresight that we should plan ahead for days like this and ensure that jobs were protected and developed in the Midlands. I hope that the company delivers on its commitment for 500 new jobs in counties that have long relied on it."
Two more soldiers died while fighting militants in Kashmirs Valleys Pulwama and Baramulla districts during the past two days.

Kashmiri villagers during the funeral procession of militant Sahir Ahmed, who was killed in a gun battle with Army soldiers, at Arwani village in South Kashmir. (Photo: AFP)

Srinagar: An Army jawan hit in the head in a stone-pelting incident in Jammu and Kashmirs southern Anantnag district on Thursday succumbed to his injuries in a hospital here on Friday, the Army said.

Two more soldiers died while fighting militants in Kashmirs Valleys Pulwama and Baramulla districts during the past two days, the officials here said adding that eight militants were also killed in three separate gunfights.

Defence spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia said here that one of the slain soldiers was Sepoy Rajendra Singh who was part of the Quick Reaction Team of the Army providing security cover to a Border Roads Organisation (BRO) convoy while passing through the Anantnag bypass tri-junction near the National Highway-44 on Thursday. At around 6 pm, a group of youth hurled stones at the vehicle Sepoy Singh was in and one of the stones hit him in the head, the spokesman said.

He was provided immediate first aid and subsequently evacuated to 92-Base Hospital in Srinagar but, unfortunately, he succumbed to the injury, the spokesman said. 22-year-old Singh was a resident of village Badena in Pithoragarh district of Uttrakhand, had joined Army in 2016 and is survived by his parents.

Lance Naik Brajesh Kumar, 32, sustained splinter injuries during a counterinsurgency operation in Pazalpora, Malgunipura village on the outskirts of north-western Sopore town on Friday and died soon thereafter. Two militants were also killed in the clash.

The police said that the fighting at Pazalpora erupted after the J&K polices counterinsurgency Special Operations Group together with the Armys 22 Rashtriya Rifles and the CRPFs 92 Battalion launched a cordon-and-search operation to take on militants hiding in a private house.
On a sunny Monday afternoon a week before Christmas, Peter Bogdanovich, Filip Jan Rymsza and Frank Marshall gathered in an editing suite at Tribeca West in Los Angeles to view the progress made on the completion of The Other Side of the Wind.

As his colleagues arrived, Rymsza explained that editor Bob Murawski had come in over the weekend to edit a previously unknown -- and quite dazzling -- film-within-a-film sequence directed by the late Orson Welles.

"Who said he could work on a Saturday," wisecracked a grinning Marshall before the affable Murawski punched up the scene on a large flat screen monitor in the editing room.

The trippy sequence, set in a nightclub and featuring Oja Kodar and Bob Random, played out with moments both violent and sexual. Kodar's character received a doll as a gift from Random. She quickly mutilated it as nude images moreof a woman swirled in the background of the nightclub. The scene precedes a bizarre bathroom orgy and the better known car sex sequence that Welles shot in a make shift rainstorm. (The spellbinding scenes are part of the much-anticipated finished The Other Side of the Wind, which will be shown on Netflix and in select theaters beginning Friday, Nov. 2.)

Murawski's editing of the nightclub sequence matches the style and tone Welles set down in the 40 minutes of footage from the film he edited himself in the 1970s and early 1980s.

In addition to scrutinizing those Welles-edited scenes, Murawski prepared for what he acknowledged was an intimidating task by reading extensively on the late director and his unfinished film, combing through the scripts and notes he left behind, and listening to the on-set direction he gave his actors, which was captured on Nagra audio tapes. Murawski rewatched Welles films, particularly Othello, The Trial and F for Fake, where Welles used editing to create movement.

"I also spoke to some of his other editors -- Yves Deschamps, Steve Ecclesine, and Jonathon Braun -- to understand Orson's way of working. Even though he viewed those guys as cutters, and not really editors and tried to diminish their involvement, they were there working with him, observing, putting things together and knowing his approach," Murawski said. "Of course, having the resource of Peter and Frank, who both worked on the movie and were there for a lot of the shoot, was great."

Actual editing by the The Other Side of the Wind post-production team began in late October 2017. Murawski's team, including first assistant editor Dov Samuel, spent weeks creating a rough assembly of the film, which ran nearly 2 1/2 hours, amid fears it might be three or four hours in length. (The film's final running time was 122 minutes and the editing is credited to Murawski and Welles.)

"Knowing we had a manageable length in the first assembly was a relief," Murawski said. "Yes, he shot a lot but once you start editing you can never have too much footage. It's better to have more than less. And better to have the right piece, than the wrong piece."

Known to most filmgoers for his Oscar winning work on The Hurt Locker and editing Sam Raimi's blockbuster Spider-Man trilogy, Murawski has a passion for low-budget cult films, which he has restored and released through his Grindhouse Productions. He edited and released the late Duke Mitchell's Gone With the Pope, filmed in 1976 but left uncompleted for more than 30 years.

"Yes, this is a big budget Gone With the Pope," he joked when asked whether the Mitchell project prepared him for taking on The Other Side of the Wind.

Murawski was also a friend and neighbor of Wind's late cinematographer Gary Graver, who spent the last 20 years of his life trying to find backers willing to finish the movie.

The vibrant color images shot by Graver four decades ago and newly edited by Murawski were part of the late director's ill-fated Hollywood comeback. Welles filmed The Other Side of the Wind between August 1970 and early 1976, and fought to complete the movie until his death in October 1985. He was stymied on a number of fronts and the film's negative remained locked away outside Paris.

The Other Side of the Wind is a brutal takedown of New Hollywood and machismo. It is set at the 70th birthday party of movie director J.J. "Jake" Hannaford (John Huston), who is struggling to make his comeback in a changing industry. The party, which concludes with his death, is attended by young directors, hangers-on, film buffs and critics. Welles recounts Hannaford's final hours using a mix of 16mm color and black-and-white film shot by party guests, along with 35mm scenes from Hannaford's pretentious unfinished movie, a lampoon of the work of Zabriskie Point director Michelangelo Antonioni.

Welles tasked his friend Bogdanovich, who co-starred in the movie, with completing The Other Side of the Wind in the event of his death. Bogdanovich was joined in this cinematic adventure by Marshall, now a blockbuster producer who worked as line producer on the 1970s shoot; and Rymsza, who has spent the past nine years skillfully negotiating deals with the various rights holders and landing a worldwide distribution deal with Netflix.

"Frank was around for quite a bit of the shooting and I was there for my stuff certainly," Bogdanovich said. "We have memories of Orson and the things he wanted done and things he would not have wanted done. Bob was open to the memories we had -- and he is a very good cutter anyway. He did a very good job of imitating, so to speak, the cutting pattern that Orson established with the work he left behind."

The late afternoon conversation at Tribeca West ranged from the very favorable impressions of the nightclub scene Murawski edited to obtaining a needed bit of vintage Tonight Show footage for director Morgan Neville's companion documentary, They'll Love Me When I'm Dead. Securing the rights to a brief, bitchy clip of Welles and Burt Reynolds on the late night NBC talk show had proved to be quite difficult.

Marshall, who exudes such an Everyman air that it's easy to forget he is a Hollywood heavyweight, accepted the suggestion he make a call on Neville's behalf. (The clip was acquired and included in the documentary.)

With that settled, another scene played out on the monitor; this one depicted a verbal sparring match between rival directors Brooks Otterlake (Bogdanovich) and Jack Simon (Gregory Sierra). In the scene, Welles' camera circles the two sharp-tongued adversaries as if he was capturing a prizefight.

Bogdanovich, then a 30-something filmmaker in his own right, is quite effective as the polished, sometimes slippery Otterlake, especially in scenes opposite Huston's grizzled Hannaford. However, Bogdanovich is modest about his acting chops. ("You're very kind"), and far more talkative about the older/younger man dynamics in The Other Side of the Wind, which he noted harken back to classic Welles movies, like Chimes at Midnight and The Magnificent Ambersons.

"I don't know where it comes from, but certainly runs throughout all of his pictures," Bogdanovich said. Also, the movie "is the fall of a great man, like what he had done with Kane. It was a theme of his -- how the mighty have fallen. I think it is great as anything he did."

The post-production team worked off Technicolor's 4K scans of Welles' original negative, which was painstakingly reassembled by veteran negative cutter Mo Henry. During editing, the 85 boxes of vintage workprint material was kept at Tribeca West with labels bearing Welles' often cryptic descriptions of the contents: She, Fireworks, Midgets, KO and Birthday Cake. It's a labeling practice the often-burnt Welles employed for decades to deter meddlesome producers from attempting to take over the editing of his films.

Post-production supervisor Ruth Hasty tallied 241,494 feet (45 hours) of 35mm film and 112,129 feet (51 hours) of 16mm film shot by Welles for The Other Side of the Wind over a nearly 5 1/2 year span. The unused footage includes many scrapped scenes of impressionist Rich Little in the Otterlake role, multiple readings by some of the inexperienced actors and repeated efforts to get certain shots in the 35mm film-within-a-film just right.

Welles filmed a few bits on 8mm, which he had blown up to 35mm with spotty results and only a tiny bit was worth using, according to Samuel. There was no evidence of any early video footage from the 1970s shoot, despite passing mentions made in some books or articles over the years.

Another myth busted was a rumored complete edit of the movie by Welles, which stemmed from the late director telling interviewers and potential investors the film was 95 to 98 percent done.

"For the longest time, we were trying to find this finished movie," Murawski said. "Obviously, if he had cut the entire film that would be aces. Over a period of several weeks, it became apparent he had not edited that much of it, but he had shot pretty much everything."

He estimated that Welles edited one-third of the film with another 50 percent being assemblies of scenes and the remainder totally uncut. Most of the scenes Welles edited were the film-within-a-film sequences.

A great deal of work had to be done to complete The Other Side of the Wind.

At one point, the producers engaged the services of Jason Brahms and his Video Gorillas. Using artificial intelligence and complex algorithms to compare 12 million frames per second, Video Gorillas was able to precisely match images on the digitized workprint to the corresponding shots on the 4K scanned negative. They were able to match the workprint to the negative in 2 1/2 days of machine time, rather than eight months of manpower.

A few bits of Welles negative could not be located, such as a party scene with George Jessel, which required Murawski to utilize a cleaned up segment of the workprint. A scene of Random's John Dale character wandering around the abandoned MGM lot could not be found on the negative and Murawski had to swap in a similar shot.

"I would say 99 percent of (the finished film) is from the original negative," Murawski said. "It had been stored in a vault in Paris and it was pristine. It was remarkably free of problems."

A scene of mannequins being gunned down by Hannaford was incomplete. The impact of the bullets on the dummies had to be created by John Knoll's team at Industrial Light & Magic. It was a relatively easy task for the cinematic conjurers who made the Millenium Falcon soar in Star Wars and dinosaurs rampage in Jurassic World.

Producers used a bit of mid 1970s stock footage of a drive-in movie theater to complete a key scene near the conclusion of the film.

Perhaps the greatest challenge faced was the loss of the original quarter-inch audio for some of the key party sequences shot in 1974. Fortunately, recordings a few generations down were available and could be enhanced by sound editor Daniel Saxlid and Oscar winning re-recording mixer Scott Millan.

As with many films, looping of some dialogue was necessary and surviving cast members, like Joseph McBride, re-recorded their lines four decades later. Yet, the passage of time meant that "voicealikes" were employed to replace a phrase or line for deceased actors. In the case of star John Huston, his son, actor Danny Huston, performed an uncanny impression of his father, who passed away in 1987.

Completing the movie was truly a Herculean effort, as Marshall noted there was no way for producers to know exactly what they were up against until all the elements were in their possession. (Post-production work on the Netflix-funded project reportedly exceeded its initial $5 million budget.)

It is hard to imagine how Welles could have pulled the movie together with limited resources decades ago, Marshall added.

Although Welles died in 1985, his presence was tangible at the Tribeca West post-production offices.

The production company was named Sacred Beasts, the early title Welles gave to the project that evolved into The Other Side of the Wind. Framed movie posters of some of his classic films decorated the offices, though one wall was reserved for the business at hand.

More than 125 white and violet Post-It notes detailed the movie's scenes in order, beginning with the opening narration spoken by an elderly Otterlake and concluding with the closing scene of The Actress (Kodar) at the drive-in theater. White Post-Its chronicled the final hours of Hannaford's life, while violet Post-Its referred to the film-within-a-film sequences, which make up a significant portion of Welles' movie.

Across from the Post-Its covered wall and nearby film storage room is Rymsza's office, where four worn scripts from the 1970s shoot lie on a shelf near his desk.

Just as he was during the years of seemingly endless negotiations, the unfailingly polite Rymsza comes across very much as the Man-With-a-Plan as he oversees various aspects of the post-production.

Although Rymsza was born a year after principal photography of The Other Side of the Wind wrapped, his devotion to bringing Welles' movie to the screen rivals that of the original film crew, affectionately nicknamed VISTOW, or Volunteers in Service to Orson Welles, by Marshall four decades ago.

Rymsza, who was understandably tight-lipped during years of sensitive contract talks, offered his eager guest a tour of the workprint storage room, explaining the various odd names Welles gave to scenes shot 40-plus years ago and detailing the various technical challenges faced in recent months.

He also disclosed a wealth of exciting news, which was released in bits and pieces over the months that followed, most notably the addition of Michel Legrand to the team. The 86-year-old multiple Oscar and Grammy award winner, who scored Welles' F for Fake in 1973, was hired to compose the movie's music.

"Michel is very enthusiastic," Rymsza said, "We are happy he is part of this."

Rymsza noted he arranged for an early cut to be shown to select friends and colleagues.

Showings were also set for both Netflix executives and film festival brass, as well as McBride and fellow Welles scholar Jonathan Rosenbaum, who were asked for their feedback. McBride not only appeared in the film, but worked with Graver on an unsuccessful effort to complete the film for Showtime in 1998-1999. Rosenbaum is a close friend of Kodar, who held partial rights to the film following Welles' death and is credited as co-author of the script. (Kodar later reviewed a rough edit of the film and offered some well-received suggestions regarding expansion of the film-within-a-film sequences.)

Rymsza was upbeat about how the film had finally come together and excited by what 2018 would bring: Festival screenings across the globe, a theatrical run and streaming to 137 million Netflix subscribers in 190 countries, all giving Welles the audience he had been denied during his life.

As the Tribeca West visit concluded, Marshall walked his guest to the door.

Referring to an offhand comment made earlier in the afternoon about a particular challenge, Marshall told his departing visitor, Dont worry. Its going to be great.
A former assistant tax collector for the town of Tyngsborough pleaded guilty Friday to stealing approximately $250,000 from the town over the course of seven years.

Nancy Dutton, 57, of Dracut, entered guilty pleas to five counts of larceny and one count of money laundering in Middlesex Superior Court. Judge Bruce Henry sentenced Dutton to two years in jail, with six months to be served direct and the balance suspended for five years. She was also given five years probation.

In a press release, prosecutors said when taxpayers paid their bills in cash, Dutton would take that cash and deposit it in one of two accounts to which she had control.

She kept two sets of books for the town, one that showed accurately the tax collections and one that hid the cash missing from the town's bank deposits.

The town's financial staff requested police investigate the collections when they discovered irregularities. Detectives attached to the Middlesex district attorney's office and Tyngsborough police found the double book system and that Dutton stole more than her salary for the time period.

Authorities say Dutton may have taken as much as $462,000 since 2004, but because of the statute of limitations, they are only able to charge her from 2011.

The amount of restitution she will be required to pay will be determined Nov. 27.
The Boston Fire Department is battling a six-alarm blaze at a residential building in the city's Back Bay neighborhood.

Firefighters responded to 104 Hemenway St. around 3:15 p.m., the fire department said. Flames were visible from the five-story building.

The building was occupied, according to the fire department.

Fire Chief Joe Finn is at the scene, which is close to Northeastern University.

The flames are heavy on the upper floors of the building, the fire department said.

No injuries have been reported at this time.
Update: State Police have identified the victim.

--------

A 55-year-old Burlington woman was killed Friday night when a pickup truck crossed over the median of Interstate 95, striking the woman's car, State Police said.

The victim was driving a 2006 Toyota Sienna southbound on I-95 in Boxford, between Exits 53 and 52, around 10:15 p.m.

For reasons still under investigation, a 35-year-old Georgetown man driving a 2017 Honda Ridgeline pickup truck on I-95 northbound crossed the center median and crashed into the victim's Toyota, State Police said.

The woman was pronounced dead at the scene. Her name is being withheld pending notification of her family.

State Police said the driver of the pickup truck was taken to Beverly Hospital and then flown by medical helicopter to a Boston-area hospital for treatment of serious injuries.

The crash remains under investigation and no charges have been filed at this time, State Police said.
Court appoints ex-judge to monitor CVCs probe against Alok Verma.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday set a two-week deadline for the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to complete its inquiry against CBI director Alok Verma under the supervision of a retired judge. The court also barred Mr Vermas interim successor at the probe agency, M. Nageswara Rao, from taking any major or policy decisions and said he must submit all orders issued by him in a sealed envelope to the court on the next dte of hearing, November 12.

On Tuesday midnight Mr Verma, along with special director Rakesh Asthana, was divested of duties and sent on leave. In his place Mr Rao was appointed and he took charge on Tuesday night itself.

A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, while hearing a petition filed by Mr Verma challenging the governments decision to send him on leave, said, The ongoing inquiry by the CVC with regard to director must be completed within two weeks under the supervision of a judge of this court... the present incumbent as from this moment will not take any policy decisions, only routine work to keep the CBI going... and in a sealed cover, the CBI or the government will give a list of major decisions taken by this incumbent.

The court said that the CVCs inquiry into the allegations made in the August 24 note/letter of the Cabinet secretary, by Mr Asthana, with regard to Mr Verma would be supervised by retired apex court judge A.K. Patnaik.

The bench made it clear that supervision of the CVCs on-going inquiry by a former judge is a one-time exception felt necessary by the court given the peculiar facts of this case and should not be understood to be casting any reflection on any government authority.

Appearing for Mr Verma, senior counsel Fali Nariman submitted that the CBI directors tenure has been fixed as two years under the amended Delhi Special Police Establishment Act of 1946.

He said that the orders of the CVC and the Central government with regard to Mr Vermas forced leave bypassed the committee headed by the Prime Minister that appoints the CBI director.

The CJI told Mr Nariman, We will examine these issues. Today we need to see what interim orders to pass.

The apex courts directions curbing Mr Raos powers came while hearing a petition filed by NGO Common Cause alleging that the interim director of the CBI transferred officials overnight. The NGO sought that investigations in matters that were being handled by these officials be protected from being affected.

Shortly after taking charge on Tuesday night, Mr Rao transferred 13 officers considered close to Mr Verma.

The bench, including Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and K.M. Joseph, said all decisions taken by Mr Rao from October 23 up to this hour, including on transfer of investigations and change of investigating officers, be placed before it by November 12.

In a related development, Mr Asthana filed a petition to quash the directions dated October 23 by which he was divested of all his functions as special director of the CBI.

He said that he acted as a whistleblower to report the criminal misconduct and corruption committed by Mr Verma, and is being penalised for the same.

When senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi informed the court that Mr Asthana has filed a petition challenging the Central governments order of October 23 sending him on leave, the CJI told him, Why are you late? You missed the bus. We cannot hear you on something not before us. File a separate writ.

Mr Asthana said in his petition that he has been the victim of deliberate delay on the part of the CVC and the CBI in taking action on his complaint against Mr Verma on August 24. He alleged that after his complaint, Mr Verma framed him in a false criminal case to save his skin.

After the hearing, a top government source welcome the apex courts order for a former-judge monitored CVC probe against Mr Verma and said the order does not cast any aspersion on the vigilance authority.

The Supreme Court has not quashed the orders of the CVC and the Central government divesting the powers of Mr Verma and Mr Asthana and appointment of Mr Rao as interim chief of the investigation agency, the source said.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley dubbed the apex court order for a time-bound CVC probe as a extremely positive development, adding that it was in the best interest of the country that the truth comes out.

All officers of the CBI, particularly the top two, are like Caesars wife and must be beyond suspicion, he said, referring to the expression Caesars wife must be above suspicion  drawn from a 16th century Shakespearean drama  that is used to imply that people in high positions must have impeccable integrity.
State Police have identified the Burlington woman killed in a crash on Interstate 95 in Boxford as Barbara O'Connell.

O'Connell, 55, of Burlington, was driving a 2006 Toyota Sienna southbound on I-95 in Boxford, between Exits 53 and 52, around 10:15 p.m. Friday, State Police said.

A 35-year-old Georgetown man driving a 2017 Honda Ridgeline pickup truck on I-95 northbound crossed the center median and crashed into the victim's Toyota, State Police said.

Why the pickup truck crossed the median remains under investigation.

O'Connell was pronounced dead at the scene.

State Police said the driver of the pickup truck was taken to Beverly Hospital and then flown by medical helicopter to a Boston-area hospital for treatment of serious injuries.

The investigation is ongoing and no charges have been filed at this time, State Police said.
Carlos Henriquez, a former state representative who was convicted of assaulting a woman in 2014, has been hired as a special assistant to Boston Mayor Marty Walsh.

Henriquez was recently hired to work for Walsh as a special assistant for community engagement, officials said.

The Boston Globe first reported Henriquez's hiring. Henriquez will make $89,000 a year, according to the newspaper.

Additionally, Henriquez has been working for several months as a consultant for the city, The Globe reported.

Henriquez in 2014 was convicted of assaulting a former girlfriend. He was sentenced to six months in jail on two assault charges.

"Mayor Walsh firmly believes in second chances and that's exactly why he created the Office of Returning Citizens, to support people looking to get their life back on track," Walsh spokeswoman Samantha Ormsby wrote in a statement.

"Carlos Henriquez served his time and, after spending his career supporting youth, helping reduce violence, assisting those in recovery and providing trauma supports for families in need, he is eager to continue this work," the statement continued.

In the special assistant position, Henriquez will collaborate with city departments, including the Offices of Public Safety, Diversity and Resiliency, officials said. He will work at a community-level, the position tasking him with identifying and implementing strategies to support safety and address neighborhood trauma issues.

After he was convicted, Henriquez became the first member of the House in nearly a century to be expelled from the chamber by his colleagues.

Henriquez proclaimed his innocence despite the conviction.

The Dorchester Democrat ran for a seat on the Boston City Council last year.
Columbia Gas of Massachusetts is hosting community open house meetings in the Merrimack Valley today to offer information to residents affected by the September disaster that killed one and left thousands without gas.

The open house seminars will also feature question and answer sessions with Columbia Gas of Massachusetts President Steve Bryant, Chief Recovery Officer Joe Albanese, Chief Restoration Officer Pablo Vegas and Columbia parent company NiSource, Inc. Chief Executive Officer Joe Hamrock.

Meeting times vary for each community:

North Andover

Lawrence

Andover

On Sept. 13, an over-pressurized gas line led to upwards of 80 fires and explosions across the three Merrimack Valley communities. Leonel Rondon, 18, was killed and about 25 others were injured.

Thousands remain without gas.

The company has placed nearly 2,000 families in alternative housing, including hotels, trailers and apartments.

On Friday, Columbia Gas officials announced that the goal restoration date, which originally was Nov. 19, has been pushed back to sometime between Dec. 2 and Dec. 16.
Robert Bowers, the man accused of entering a Pittsburgh synagogue Saturday morning, fatally shooting multiple people, reportedly had a social media site full of anti-Semitic messages.

On the gab social media site, a profile that reportedly belonged to Bowers reads "jews are the children of satan."

The profile is no longer available on gab's website, but it has been archived with only some of its content viewable.

People were at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood Saturday morning for a baby naming ceremony when Bowers allegedly went in and started shooting.

An unknown amount of people were killed and at least six were injured, including four police officers who rushed to the scene.

The FBI is investigating the incident as a hate crime, officials said.

Bower's last post on Gab, published Saturday morning, reads, "HIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I can't sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I'm going in."

HIAS is an American nonprofit organization that provides humanitarian aid and assistance to refugees.

Bowers posted about HIAS 17 days ago, writing, "Why hello there HIAS! You like to bring in hostile invaders to dwell among us? We appreciate the list of friends you have provided: hias.org/events/national-refugee-shabbat"

Wendell Hissrich, the Pittsburgh public safety director, was nearly in tears Saturday afternoon as he addressed the media.

"It is a very horrific crime scene. It was one of the worst that I've seen. It is very bad," Hissrich said during a press conference.

Bowers, who is in his 40s, was taken into custody and brought to the hospital for questioning and treatment of injuries.

Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.
PITTSFIELD - Police in Pittsfield are asking for the public's help in locating a missing 17-year-old girl.

Police say Mariana Miranda was reported missing in Pittsfield but believe she may be somewhere in eastern Massachusetts, specifically the communities of Fall River, New Bedford, or Milford. She has no known connections in Pittsfield.

Miranda is Hispanic, around 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighs around 130 lbs. She has brown hair and eyes.

Anyone who believes they may have information on the whereabouts of Miranda has been asked to contact the Pittsfield Police Department at 413-448-9723.
SPRINGFIELD -- A Springfield District Court judge has acquitted a city woman of animal cruelty, saying the prosecution lacked crucial evidence.

Mirna Gomez-Davis, 42, was charged for allegedly failing to provide medical care for Athena, a Neapolitan mastiff she owned with her husband. The dog developed an unknown illness in 2017.

Assistant Attorney General Colleen Monroe argued Gomez-Davis' failure to get adequate medical care for Athena constituted animal cruelty.

Defense lawyer Terrence Dunphy argued Gomez-Davis did attempt to get adequate medical care for Athena. He said the prosecution failed to show what was wrong with the dog.

Dunphy said most cases of animal cruelty prosecuted in the state involve direct infliction of pain and suffering.

Judge Robert Murphy found Gomez-Davis not guilty Oct. 4.

In his ruling, delivered orally from the bench, the judge said, "The proper treatment of domesticated animals is important to maintaining a civilized society. This court recognizes that."

But he went on to say the prosecution failed to produce proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the animal cruelty law had been violated in this case.

"The Government's case is most notable for what it lacks -- things that would be common and expected in investigation and prosecution of serious felonies like cruelty to animals," he said. "The Commonwealth failed to perform a necropsy on Athena. Failed to even obtain the weight of the dog."

Expert witnesses called by the prosecution presented conflicting opinions, and the prosecution failed to present the records of Dr. Gerald Cutting -- a veterinarian to whom Gomez-Davis took Athena -- "or his testimony here before this court," the judge said.

In Aug. 2017, Gomez-Davis' husband and co-defendant in the animal cruelty case accepted a plea agreement without admitting to animal cruelty or any other offense. Stefan Davis, 48, was placed on pretrial probation for one year.

Monroe said Gomez-Davis admitted she didn't act for several weeks despite Athena showing symptoms in early January 2017.

Gomez-Davis noticed Athena's appetite decrease around Jan. 8, Dunphy said. She brought the dog to Cutting on Jan. 24, Monroe said. That amount of time alone is enough to show animal cruelty, the prosecutor argued.

Dunphy said Gomez-Davis' niece was one of four young people killed in a car crash Jan. 17 in Springfield, and that she had multiple responsibilities in connection with that.

Gomez-Davis subsequently brought Athena to the Boston Road Animal Hospital Feb. 2, where the veterinarian said the dog was in critical condition. Athena was euthanized there.

According to a complaint filed by the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Athena was emaciated and suffering from multiple medical problems before being euthanized.

Another Neapolitan mastiff owned by the couple was euthanized around the same time. Dunphy said Gomez-Davis brought the other dog into the Boston Road Animal Hospital because she was concerned the dog might have the same problem as Athena.

The MSPCA complaint said the other dog was also emaciated, but Murphy dismissed a complaint against Gomez-Davis in connection with that dog.
SPRINGFIELD -- The debate over Massachusetts ballot Question 1 and the nurse-to-patient ratios it could impose has made public the decades-long struggle of nurses who say they are stretched too thin to give they care they feel is necessary, said Julie Pinkham, executive director of the Massachusetts Nurses Association.

"I'm not sure that's a bad thing," she said Friday during an hour-long meeting with editors and reporters at The Republican. "It's been going on inside the (hospital) walls for a long time."

Donna Kelly-Williams, president of MNA, said the "Yes on 1" case she and the MNA are making is very simple: "Do you want to be one of four patients that a nurse is caring for?" she said. "Or do you want to be one of eight patients."

Hospital managers say the question is much more complex. Executives say complying with Question 1 would force them to cut back on other programs and on non-nursing staffers in order to pay for the new required nurses. Hospitals say they would also have to limit the number of patients in order to meet the new rules and would have trouble finding enough registered nurses.

The MNA is a union representing 23,000 members working in 85 health care facilities, including 51 acute care hospitals, across the state.

The union has tired to get more nurses on the floor and fewer patients assigned to its members via contract negotiations and legislation, only to be rebuffed. The ballot question was the next option available, Pinkham said.

Kelly-Williams, a nurse who works in pediatrics and with newborns in a maternity ward, said the patient limits called for by Question 1 are not the one-size fits all scenario opponents paint them to be.

The ballot question, if it passes in the general election Nov. 6, would set ratios of between one nurse to one patient in complicated or high-risk situations to one nurse to six patients in less acute cases.

"Every hospital would have to use an acuity tool" to gauge patient need, she said.

She said the state's nursing schools graduate 3,500 nurses a year, more than enough to meet the need created by Question 1. Many of the new graduates go out of state for jobs, she said. And many new graduates are stuck working part time or on temporary per diem assignments.

If the patient limits were in place, it would be possible for new nurses to get assigned easier patients, Pinkham said. That's hard to do when there aren't enough nurses to go around.

Hospital patients are in general sicker now than they once were, Pinkham said. That's because many procedures and illnesses are handled on an outpatient basis and hospitalization is necessary only for more serious cases.

"The reason you are in the hospital is because you need 24-hour-a-day monitoring," she said.

Adding to the confusion for voters faced with making policy on thorny health care issues is that there are wildly disparate estimates as to how much it would cost to implement Question 1.

Hospitals say implementation would cost $1.31 billion in the first year, and $900 million in subsequent years.

The MNA has a different set of estimates, pegging the cost of compliance much lower: $35 million to $47 million statewide.

The Massachusetts Health Policy Commission estimates the statewide cost to all hospitals at $676 million to $949 million a year once Question 1 is fully implemented. There would be another $57.9 million in one-time costs for implementation, according to the Health Policy Commission.

Baystate Health says it would spend $40 million in the first year to hire more nurses and implement an acuity tool in all units to chart patient need and comply with the law. The estimate is based on a hospital-funded study by Mass Insight Global Partnerships. The cost would be $27.5 million a year at Baystate Medical Center alone, the consultant concluded.

Mercy Medical Center and Providence Behavioral Health would need to pay an additional $13.8 million a year. Cooley Dickinson would have to pay an additional $6.5 million. Holyoke Medical Center would have to pay an additional $5.8 million a year, according to the same source.

Pinkham said the hospitals and the Health Commission assumed that demand would raise the salaries of registered nurses by about 4 percent. She said that's unrealistic, and she knows because the MNA negotiates contracts in 75 percent of the hospitals that would be covered under the law.
The National Weather Service says a nor'easter rolling into Massachusetts Saturday morning will bring strong winds, heavy rain and minor coastal flooding to the state.

Western Massachusetts will likely see 0.5 to 1 inch of rain, Central Massachusetts could get 1 to 1.5 inches and Eastern Massachusetts could receive 1.5 to 2 inches, possibly up to 3 inches in some areas, the National Weather Service predicted.

Around 7:15 a.m., a National Weather Service observer in Rowe reported 0.2 inches of light snow and temperatures around 30 degrees, the agency said.

The National Weather Service said the interior high terrain of Massachusetts could see about an inch of snow or sleet Saturday morning before the precipitation switches to rain.

Maximum wind gusts will be about 30 miles per hour in Western and Central Massachusetts, the National Weather Service said, while Boston could see gusts up to 48 miles per hour.

On Cape Cod, wind gusts could reach upwards of 60 miles per hour, the weather service predicted.

Strong winds could continue into the evening.

Minor coastal flooding could be an issue in early afternoon, the National Weather Service said.
Stalin said the return of Sri Lanka's former prez Rajapaksa as country's new PM has shocked Tamils across the world.

Stalin said that 'if such a situation continued in Sri Lanka', it would become a challenge to India's interests. (Photo: File)

Chennai: The DMK on Saturday said that the sudden regime change in Sri Lanka encompasses "several mysteries" and has triggered concerns among Tamil Nadu fishermen and Tamils in the island nation.

Stalin, the leader of opposition in the assembly, said the return of Sri Lanka's former president Mahinda Rajapaksa as the country's new prime minister has shocked Tamils across the world.

"The changes that have occurred in the Sri Lankan government in a single night encompasses several mysteries and have threatened the Tamils there who are denied their rights," he alleged.

Also, the developments have triggered concerns among Tamil Nadu fishermen, he said. Stalin cited the recent Delhi visits of Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe and media reports about Sirisena alleging that Indian intelligence agency RAW hatched a plot to assassinate him. Sirisena, however, later denied making such allegations.

The background to Rajapaksa assuming office all of a sudden as Sri Lanka's premier, though he doesn't have a majority, has shocked Tamils, Stalin claimed.

The DMK chief alleged that Rajapaksa was behind the killings of Tamil people (during the civil war between Sri Lankan Army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2009) and Tamil Nadu fishermen at the hands of Lankan Navy during his tenure.

Ousted Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe Saturday sought an emergency session of Parliament to prove his majority, as the island nation plunged into a constitutional crisis after President Maithripala Sirisena sacked him and made former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa the new premier.

Stalin said that "if such a situation continued in Sri Lanka", it would become a challenge to India's interests. He asked the Centre to give clarifications on the recent visits of Lankan leaders and the allegations drawing RAW into a controversy.

Referring to the Tamil Nadu government's recent recommendation to Governor Banwarilal Purohit to release all convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, the DMK leader asked the Centre to devote its "attention" to the matter and urged Purohit to take a favourable decision.
Every institution in India is being ruined by the Prime Minister, says Rahul.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi and senior party leaders stage a protest outside the CBI headquarters in New Delhi on Friday demanding the reinstatement of agency director Alok Verma . (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday courted arrest after staging a protest outside the CBI headquarters in the national capital against the governments move to divest CBI director Alok Verma of his powers and send him on leave. Other Opposition parties, including the TMC and the CPI, also joined the march in a show of solidarity.

The Congress president and senior leaders of his party spent around 30 minutes with the cops as hundreds of party workers demonstrated outside Lodhi Colony police station.

Every institution in India is being ruined by the Prime Minister, Mr Gandhi said.

He said that the Congress will not allow the chowkidar (watchman) to do chori (theft) as he reiterated his charges of corruption against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he had deposited Rs 30,000 crore in Anil Ambanis pocket.

He has stolen money from the Indian Air Force and the youth, and the entire country understands this. The Prime Minister can run but he cannot hide from the truth, Mr Gandhi told reporters after stepping out of police station.

Carrying placards against the Prime Minister, the protesters walked the distance with scores of police personnel maintaining vigil and camera crews jostling with each other to capture the moment. One protester carried a placard depicting the CBI in a cage.

Mr Gandhi got on to a truck in front of the police barricades put up ahead of the CBI headquarters in the CGO complex to prevent the marchers from reaching the building. About 130 protesters, including Mr. Gandhi, Ashok Gehlot and Bhupinder Hooda, were detained, sources said.

Earlier, leaders from the Trinamul Congress, Left parties and other parties joined the Congress march from Dyal Singh College in central Delhis Lodhi Road area to the CBI headquarters, 4.2 km away. Loktantrik Janata Dal leader Sharad Yadav, CPIs D. Raja and TMCs Nadimul Haque represented their parties, said a party leader.

In simultaneous protests, the Congress held demonstrations outside CBI offices across the country.

AICC general secretary Ashok Gehlot had asked all Congress general secretaries, state unit chiefs and legislature party leaders to hold demonstrations against the BJP government.

An illegal, unconstitutional and illegitimate removal of the CBI director by the Modi-Shah duo has shamed India and its premier investigative agency. The Prime Minister is experiencing Rafale-o-Phobia and this terror of the Rafale scam has led to the demolition of the CBI, it said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to make a whirlwind tour of Bastar on November 9 to campaign for the BJP.

Naxals had recently put up posters in parts of Bastar calling for boycott of the polls.

Bhopal: Just two weeks before the first phase of Chhattisgarh Assembly elections, the Naxals on Saturday attacked a CRPF convoy and killed four personnel and injured two others in south Bastar district of Bijapur.

The Left-wing insurgents blew up a mine protected vehicle (MPV) carrying a six-member search party of CRPF personnel by triggering an improvised explosive device (IED) around 4 pm near Murtonda camp of the force under Basagunda police station, police said.

The Maoists attack came when jawans of CRPFs 168 battalion were on an area domination operation about one km from the camp, said Bijapur superintendent of police Mohit Garg.

Assistant Sub-Inspector Mir Maitur Rehman (50), Head Constable and driver B.M. Behra (43) and Constables C.H. Praveen (21) and Shreenu Kumar (26) died on the spot and two others Head Constable Baburao Siddheshwar and Constable Parmar Hardik were injured, Bastar range inspector general of police Vivekanand Sinha told this newspaper.

The attack took place on a day when chief minister Raman Singh launched the ruling BJPs campaign for the first phase of polls on November 12 in the neighbouring Sukma district. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to make a whirlwind tour of Bastar on November 9 to campaign for the BJP.

The first phase of election will cover 18 constituencies in eight Naxal-affected districts  Bastar, Kanker, Sukma, Bijapur, Dantewada, Narayanpur, Kondagaon and Rajnandgaon. The remaining 72 constituencies will go to polls on November 20 and the results will be declare on December 11.

Naxals had recently put up posters in parts of Bastar calling for boycott of the polls.
by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, October 26, 2018

Amazons other category in its earnings filing, which typically represents a catch-all category for companies, has more than double in the third quarter of 2018 to $2.5 billion, up 122% since the year-ago quarter.

The other category mostly consists of advertising revenue, so The Wall Street Journal suggests a rebrand for the category, at least in Amazons case.

eMarketer estimates Amazon will close 2018 with 2.1% digital ad revenue market share worldwide reaching 3.5% by 2020.

During the earnings call on Thursday, Brian Olsavsky, Amazon chief financial officer, pointed to Amazon Web Services and Advertising as two segments with very strong growth in the past quarter.

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We're continuing to invent both on the product side, the tools side with our goal being improve the usability of the tools for advertisers, make smarter recommendations for customers, automate activities so that advertisers don't have to work as hard, and invent new products for advertisers, he said.

Dave Fildes, director of investor relations at Amazon, also dispelled any rumors of plans for paid advertising on its voice assistant Alexa, as well as Prime Video service.

Overall net sales for the third quarter rose 29% to $56.6 billion, compared with $43.7 billion in the third quarter of 2017.

Excluding the $260 million unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, net sales increased 30% compared with third quarter 2017, the company wrote in its filing.
by Melynda Fuller , October 26, 2018

Vox Media announced Ryan Pauley, senior vice president, business operations and strategy, has been promoted to Chief Revenue Officer.

During his eight years with Vox Media, Pauley led the 2016 conceptualization and launch of the companys ad marketplace Concert and its expansion across media, including partnerships with Quartz, New York Media, PopSugar and Rolling Stone. Most recently, the Chicago-Sun Times joined as its first premium newspaper partner.

In his new role, Pauley will continue to develop Concert and also oversee sales, revenue operations client services and Vox Creative.

Pauley told Publishers Daily Concert will continue to be a primary focus for the revenue team.

As Concert grows, we are learning more about the power it holds for our clients and partners, said Pauley. We are looking to add a senior person to lead strategy across our programmatic and concert businesses, because we are committed to driving innovation and growth through a combination of scale and creativity.

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Pauley is joined by two colleagues moving into new roles at Vox Media; both will work on his team.

Courtney Glaze has been promoted to vice president, revenue operations and will lead revenue strategy across solutions planning, inventory management and revenue operations. Glaze adds an expanded role in ad operations and paid social media to her list of duties.

Regina Zaremba will serve as Pauleys chief of staf-head of operations at Vox Media, a new role at the company. Zaremba has also worked closely with Pauley on Concert. As head of operations, Zaremba will head operational functions in the revenue organization, including training, enablement and special projects.

I have seen the company grow immensely. Ive played a role across almost all of the functions in the revenue organization during my tenure, so I deeply understand the ins and outs of our business, Pauley said. I plan to use everything that I've learned to make our customers smarter and help their businesses thrive.

Separately, Tim Grieve, vice president, news, McClatchy, announced Friday he was departing the company and moving to a new venture in the media space, he stated. He will leave the company following the November 6 midterm elections.

Grieve heads the companys newsrooms and news strategies. He assumed that role in 2016, after a long history with the company. He began as a reporter for The Sacramento Bee.

In the interim, Andrew Pergam, vice president, video and new ventures, will oversee some portions of news operations at the company, such as real-time news and the reinvention team.

McClatchys four regional editors will now report directly to Craig Forman, President-CEO of McClatchy.
by Sara Guaglione , October 26, 2018

Media and tech startup Culture Trip is launching its first original digital series, a food and culture-focused travel show.

The Hungerlust series will include eight episodes  from the spiciest ramen in Japan and tequilas oldest cousin in Mexico City, to old-fashioned Austin BBQ you can eat without teeth, according to a spokesperson.

The show will not have a celebrity host, or foodie influencers. To make clear its distinction from food videos produced by brands like BuzzFeeds Tasty, there will be no cheese pulls.

'Hungerlust' serves authentic food stories from a local point of view thats synonymous with Culture Trip, the company stated.

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Culture Trips videos earned over 2 billion streams in the past two years, mostly from a millennial audience, according to Kris Naudts, founder-CEO, Culture Trip.

A large part of our exponential growth has been due to our travel and food content, and 'Hungerlust' will allow us to super-serve our audience with exceptional storytelling about one of their favorite topics," Naudts added.

Culture Trips in-house creative teams, together with its global network of over 300 freelance creators, produce articles, videos, photography, illustration and animation from locations around the world, Culture Trips vice president, marketing, Elizabeth Carter, told Publishers Daily.

Historically, we've utilized one-off video pieces to add dimension to our feature stories, but we also found that short-form video content resonates well with our millennial audience, Carter said.

"Hungerlust" is Culture Trips first standalone digital series produced around a singular theme, she added, launched as a cohesive series package. The show will take viewers to Tokyo, Paris, Mexico, London, Jerusalem, Morocco, Austin and Hong Kong.

In May, the London-based Culture Trip announced it had received $80 million in its Series B funding round, led by investment group PPF. It used the funding to hire a CMO and CRO with experience at Facebook and YouTube: Mike Fox and Dick Soule, respectively.

It also said it would work to expand and diversify the companys monetization efforts, as well as grow its engineering and creative teams.
by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, October 26, 2018

Faced with lawsuits by the Department of Justice and the broadband industry, California said it will hold off on enforcing the state's new net neutrality law, which largely reinstated the Obama-era open internet rules.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, the DOJ, and representatives of the broadband industry said in court papers filed Friday that the stay will last until courts rule on the validity of the Federal Communications Commission's decision to repeal the prior rules.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai cheered news of California's decision.

This substantial concession reflects the strength of the case made by the United States earlier this month, he stated. It also demonstrates, contrary to the claims of the laws supporters, that there is no urgent problem that these regulations are needed to address.

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California's law, SB 822, prohibits broadband providers from blocking or throttling traffic, charging higher fees for fast-lane service, and from exempting their own video streams from consumers' data caps. Governor Jerry Brown signed the measure in late September. Within an hour, the Department of Justice sued to block the measure. Several days later, the four major broadband industry groups -- the American Cable Association, CTIA -- The Wireless Association, NCTA -- The Internet & Television Association and USTelecom -- The Broadband Association-- also sued.

The California bill largely restores the Obama-era open internet rules, which were repealed last December by the FCC's so-called Restoring Internet Freedom order. That order also blocks states from enforcing their own net neutrality measures.

Tech companies including Mozilla and Vimeo, along with consumer advocacy groups and 23 attorneys general, have asked the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to invalidate the order.

Net neutrality supporters argue the rules are necessary to prevent Comcast, AT&T and other broadband providers from censoring sites or discriminating against competitors like Netflix.

It's not yet known whether courts will invalidate either the repeal, or the attempt to override state laws.

Pai has often claimed the former rules depressed broadband investment, but other observers disagree. The pro-neutrality advocacy group Free Press said last year that investment by 13 major broadband providers increased in the two years after the FCC passed the net neutrality regulations.

Pai also has been particularly critical of the portion of California's order that prohibits companies from exempting their own video streams from customers' data caps. The former rules didn't explicitly ban data-cap exemptions, but had been interpreted as prohibiting some forms of zero-rating -- including AT&T's "Data Free TV," which allows wireless customers who purchase DirecTV to stream video without burning through their monthly data caps.

The FCC Chair argues that consumers like those types of billing arrangements. He said Friday that California's decision to hold off on enforcement will allow Californians to continue to enjoy free-data plans that have proven to be popular among consumers.

The broadband industry groups that sued also cheered California's decision, stating the move will allow continued innovation and investment while these deliberations continue.
Antibiotic resistance is a major obstacle that modern medicine is currently grappling with. It has created crisis situations around the world, and researchers are trying to find solutions. One clinical trial is now breaking the superbug barrier. Share on Pinterest A new antibiotic has proved its worth in the fight against drug-resistant bacteria. Bacteria can cause a range of infections, and sometimes the best way to fight off these stubborn bugs is by using antibiotics. However, many strains of bacteria can become resistant to antibiotics. Furthermore, misuse or overuse of antibiotics has exacerbated this problem in populations across the world. Given how serious the situation has become, the World Health Organization (WHO) have even published a priority list of antibiotic-resistant bacteria against which scientists need to come up with effective drugs. Now, a new phase II randomized trial is bringing us one step closer to eradicating this global crisis. The trial was led by researchers from Shionogi Inc, a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Osaka, Japan. The researchers results , which now appear in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, suggest that a new antibiotic is effective in treating complicated urinary tract infections (UTIs) that stubborn Gram-negative bacteria, which are resistant to a range of other antibiotics, cause.

Novel drug is effective and well-tolerated The trial  part of the Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) efforts to accelerate the development of more effective antibiotics  worked with 448 adult participants. All had arrived at the hospital with a complicated UTI or diagnosed uncomplicated pyelonephritis, which is bacterial infection-induced inflammation of the kidney. The scientists randomly assigned the participants to take either the new investigational antibiotic cefiderocol or the standard antibiotic imipenem-cilastatin three times per day for 12 weeks. Three hundred people took cefiderocol and 148 took imipenem-cilastatin. Of these, 252 individuals who took cefiderocol and 119 individuals who took imipenem-cilastatin had a Gram-negative bacterium infection, so the scientists include their data in the final analysis. Among them, the majority had infections resulting from Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, or Pseudomonas aeruginosa, all of which feature on WHOs list of antibiotic-resistant bacteria as critical-priority targets. The researchers saw that cefiderocol was as effective and well-tolerated as imipenem-cilastatin in treating these stubborn infections, with very high efficacy rates. Cefiderocol and imipenem-cilastatin had a similar number of adverse events, the most common of which were gastrointestinal disorders such as diarrhea, constipation, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain.
JOURNALIST: When will the next steps be taken for the extension of the territorial waters to 12 miles, and why was the choice made for it to be done through a legislative initiative instead of a presidential decree? Wouldnt it have been better to have proceed right away than have the departing Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Kotzias, announce it this past Saturday?



G. KATROUGALOS: Nikos Kotzias referred to this issue in the context of summing up his work at the handover ceremony held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Greek people as well as the political powers must be further informed about the systematic work that has been done, and the Prime Minister, in his capacity as Prime Minister as well as Minister of Foreign Affairs, will undertake relevant initiatives in the near future. The legislative initiative and the discussion in Parliament serves just that need, for essential dialogue to exist, as well as transparency, with regard to an issue of national importance. In contrast to the defamatory allegations of secret diplomacy, this was always our main choice in foreign policy. Do I need to point out that the common line of action in the past was contrary to that? Did the Interim Accord with Skopje ever come to Parliament for debate and ratification?



JOURNALIST: What do you think of the reaction by the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and re-invoking a casus belli? Perhaps they are right, those who claim that, through gradual expansion, Greece is admitting that the Aegean possesses a special sea status.



G. KATROUGALOS: As we stated clearly and immediately, reiterating the long-standing national position, extending territorial waters constitutes a legal and inalienable sovereign right of Greece, in accordance with International Law. The relevant decision for extension is solely for Greece to make, which has the right to extend its territorial waters whenever and in whatever manner it sees fit. This right applies consistently and shall not be challenged, nor shall it be up for negotiation with third parties. Arbitrary interpretations of International Law and threats of violence on the part of Turkey, as well as challenging the legal rights of our country, neither alters this fact nor contributes to good neighbourly relations. Clearly, this applies to all Greek territory. Gradual expansion indeed confirms and does not weaken Greece's sovereign competence. Moreover, this was the unanimous opinion of the Foreign Ministrys Scientific Council, which was convened on Wednesday by the Prime Minister in order to provide its opinion in this regard. With this topic also, as with the Prespa Agreement, we prove that we are not a power of inertia but rather that we positively promote, for the country, issues that have been pending for decades.



JOURNALIST: What is your opinion about the decision made by FYROMs Parliament, and what is your estimate as to when the Prespa Agreement will come to Greece in order to be ratified?



G. KATROUGALOS: This represents an especially positive development which proves that the Prespa Agreement holds on to its momentum. For our two peoples, the latter represents the end of a bitter rivalry which could have ended positively as early as the 90s. But it also represents a significant step towards peace and stability in a region which has always been a hot spot for Europe. Until March 2019, and provided that the revisionist process is completed in Skopje, as all things indicate, the agreement will come to Parliament in order to be ratified. I have no doubt that it will be passed. In the meantime, in the days to come, Aegean Airlines is going to inaugurate a direct flight between Athens and Skopje. This is an especially positive development which will significantly contribute to deepening contacts between our peoples, as well as to promoting our cooperation in the sectors of tourism, trade and business. It is also indicative of how much closer our people have grown in recent years, building trust and understanding.



JOURNALIST: Can you make sense of Kotzias resignation? What is your opinion about the doubts that have arisen with regard to the secret funds of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?



G. KATROUGALOS: In recent days, the Minister has explained his positions. It is clear that his resignation in no way represents a shift in our foreign policy. As far as the secret funds, despite the deplorable grey propaganda by the main opposition party, the truth is that, during the time that Kotzias served as Minister of Foreign Affairs, a mechanism was created, for the first time, which provides for approval of the secret funds by Parliament.



JOURNALIST: As the competent minister, do you believe that abroad, the mixed messages sent by the Government create a significant problem in conducting foreign policy or not?



G. KATROUGALOS: I believe that the Prime Minister's statement that he will not tolerate any doublespeak or personal strategic planning to be included in the countrys policy brought an end to any related discussion once and for all.



JOURNALIST: Based on everything that Mr. Kotzias announced recently, the agreement with Albania is ready. Will it proceed soon?



G. KATROUGALOS: The negotiations have indeed advanced significantly, but there are still aspects that require more work. From the Albanian side, moreover, there is still the pending issue of full staffing the Constitutional Court, the opinion of which is deemed necessary by the political world of the neighbouring country for completion of the process.



JOURNALIST: Which do you believe to be the imperative constitutional amendments that must be made?

G. KATROUGALOS: Amendment of the constitution represents the pinnacle of our progressive reform work, which has two main objectives: First of all, to structurally reform the clientelist State established following the fall of the military junta towards its democratisation, through strengthening of the Parliament and the introduction of institutional counterweights which will not be the property of the elite but will be activated through participation on the part of the people. And secondly, to strengthen the protection of personal and political freedoms and social rights, as well as the mechanisms of the social State as a levee against an attack of the latter by neoliberalism. In this context, overripe issues must also be settled, such as the distinct roles of Church and State and abolition of the unacceptable status of parliamentary immunity.
In a packed visit to Delhi, the TDP chief also pitched himself as a facilitator in helping evolve a credible alternative to the NDA.

New Delhi: Stepping up efforts to stitch together an anti-BJP front ahead of 2019, Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday met BSP chief Mayawati and an array of political leaders in the national capital and clearly indicated that a stable Opposition dispensation will have to include the Congress. The TDP chief expressed confidence that political compulsions will bring together all non-BJP parties to fight the NDA.

In a packed visit to Delhi, the TDP chief also pitched himself as a facilitator in helping evolve a credible alternative to the NDA.

The leaders he met included his Delhi counterpart and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal, Jammu and Kashmir leader Farooq Abdullah and Loktantrik Janata Dal leader Sharad Yadav and some Left leaders.

Addressing a press conference, Mr Naidu stressed on the need to take everybody along to save the nation.

It is only (because of) political compulsion and in the overall interest of the nation, parties will join together. Some may not join before elections, some of them may join after elections, he said.

When asked whether he was exploring options of cobbling together a Third Front, Mr Naidu maintained that it was not possible to provide an alternative Opposition formation at the Centre without a national party, which in this case was clearly the Congress. After independence, only four-five experiments have taken place. First, the Janata Party government, which was against the Congress and Emergency, then the National Front, which was against the Congress. After that the United Front which was an experiment against the BJP and the Congress supported it from outside, then the NDA against the Congress which was followed by the UPA against the NDA, the Andhra Pradesh chief minister said.

So without a national party you cannot form a government at the Centre. How to form a government? We have to give confidence to the people now. All of us have to join together, those who are interested in the nation, he said. The TDP chief, who has earlier played the role of a convenor in the Atal Behari Vajpayee-led NDA, said he was ready to do his bit for the country.

Mr Naidu also made his intention of playing a national role clear when he said that he considered it his duty to help bring together all parties to keep the Modi government out in 2019.

 Democracy is in danger. Institutions have collapsed. I dont want to comment on Rafale deal and the CBI. The ED and income-tax department are being used against politicians. Tomorrow, they will attack me also. I never indulged in petty politics, he said.

Blaming the Modi government for putting pressure on political leaders including himself, he said, In India there are political and ideological compulsions. In one nation, two political parties are facing each other and then they want to join at national level that is the problem. How to join together that is the problem. Many people might join us after elections also.

The Andhra CM said that the TDP was the first regional party to move a no-confidence motion against the Modi government and get the support of all parties for that. I have to play my rolemy bit. I am a small man. I know that my province has only 25 LS seats. I want to work on how to save this great nation.

Mr Kejriwal tweeted after his meeting with the TDP chief at the capitals Andhra Pradesh Bhawan, Had a good meeting with Chandrababu Naidu. Sharad Yadav was also present for a while. Discussed national issues. Present BJP government is a threat to the nation and to the Constitution. People across India will need to join hands to save India and the Constitution.
The meeting comes close on the heels of Mayawati accusing Congress of trying to finish her party and not making efforts to take on the BJP.

Naidu met the former Uttar Pradesh CM on Saturday evening along with Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister Y Ramakrishnudu and some TDP MPs. (Photo: Twitter | @ANI)

New Delhi: TDP leader and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday met BSP supremo Mayawati here amid efforts to build a grand alliance to take on the BJP in next year's Lok Sabha elections.

Naidu met the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister on Saturday evening along with Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister Y Ramakrishnudu and some TDP MPs, BSP functionaries said.

It was not immediately known about what transpired in the nearly hour-long meeting, but it comes close on the heels of Mayawati accusing the Congress of trying to finish her party and not making efforts to take on the BJP.

Mayawati's stand against the Congress ahead of the assembly polls in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh is being seen as a setback to form an opposition alliance against the BJP.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) was part of the NDA till March this year. It pulled out of the ruling coalition at the Centre alleging the government's refusal to grant special category status to Andhra Pradesh.

Jana Sena leader Pawan Kalyan, who is trying to build support of "neglected communities" in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, also tried to meet Mayawati recently.
Gandhi said that the ex-servicemen told me that OROP has not been implemented, and they also discussed other issues.

New Delhi: After Congress president Rahul Gandhi told a group of ex-servicemen on Saturday that a Congress-led government would fulfill all the commitments the party had made on the one rank, one pension issue, the BJP said that the Congress president has been forced to remember soldiers after being out of power for four and half years. The ruling party claimed that by executing the OROP, the government has given soldiers their due respect.

Mr Gandhi made the remark at a press interaction, after a 30-minute-long meet with retired defence personnel at the AICC headquarters, during which the Rafale deal issue and the Kashmir situation also came up.

Mr Gandhi told the ex-servicemen that if his party is voted to power in the 2019 parliamentary election, it will fulfill all the commitments, the Congress had made on the OROP issue.

He said that the ex-servicemen told me that OROP has not been implemented, and they also discussed other issues.

These issues are related. That they (the government) have Rs 30,000 crore to give to Anil Ambani but our soldiers cant be given OROP. This is the connection...And, the amount of Rs 30,000 crore was more than enough to solve the OROP issue, Mr Gandhi told reporters.

BJP media head Anil Baluni said Mr Gandhi was seen standing with the corrupt when the Congress-led government was in power between 2004 and 2014, but he did nothing for soldiers.

It is shameful that Gandhi is criticising the Modi government which implemented the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme for soldiers while he himself did nothing for them. It is the new kind of low-level politics he has started, he said.

Mr Baluni said though Mr Gandhi was the most powerful man in the 10 years of the UPA rule, he had never uttered a word for soldiers. The Gandhi family was in power for more than 40 years but executed no welfare measures for soldiers, he alleged.

Taking a dig at the Congress chief, Baluni said,After being our of power for four and half years and getting no closer to it, Gandhi has begun remembering soldiers.
FARMINGTON  Halloween is just days away, one of the most popular holidays in this country. Little witches, ghosts, pirates and super heroes will soon take to the streets for trick or treat fun, and the American Red Cross, Connecticut has tips to help everyone stay safe while enjoying the festivities.

Halloween is a fun time for everyone and we want to make sure you all stay safe while enjoying it, said Stefanie Arcangelo, chief communications officer, American Red Cross, Connecticut and Rhode Island Region. Here are the top ways for parents to keep the kids safe while getting ready for Trick or Treat."

Make sure trick-or-treaters can see and be seen.

Use face makeup instead of masks. Masks can make it hard to see.

Give kids a flashlight to light their way.

Add reflective tape to costumes and trick-or-treat bags.

Have everyone wear light-colored clothing.

Use flame-resistant costumes.

Plan the trick-or-treat route in advance - make sure adults know where their children are going. A parent or responsible adult should accompany young children door-to-door in neighborhoods.

Its not only vampires and monsters people have to look out for. Be cautious around animals, especially dogs.

Walk, dont run.

Only visit homes that have a porch light on. Accept treats at the door - never go inside.

Walk only on the sidewalks, not in the street.

If no sidewalk is available, walk at the edge of the roadway, facing traffic.

Look both ways before crossing the street, and cross only at the corner.

Dont cut across yards or use alleys.

Dont cross between parked cars.

Use extra caution if driving. The youngsters are excited and may forget to look both ways before crossing.

Make sure a grown-up checks the goodies before eating.

Make sure to remove loose candy, open packages and choking hazards.

Discard any items with brand names that you are not familiar with.

And finally, for those planning to welcome trick-or-treaters to their homes, follow these safety steps:

Light the area well so young visitors can see.

Sweep leaves from your sidewalks and steps. Clear your porch or front yard of obstacles someone could trip over.

Download the free Red Cross First Aid App for instant access to expert advice in case your ghost, goblin or super hero has a mishap. Use the Emergency App for weather alerts and to let others know you are safe if severe weather occurs. Find these and all of the Red Cross apps in smartphone app stores by searching for the American Red Cross or going to redcross.org/apps.

Health department issues heat reminder

MIDDLETOWN  The citys health department is reminding landlords who have tenants in Middletown that state statute requires a temperature of least 65F to be maintained year round in all habitable rooms within a dwelling unit including kitchens and bathrooms. Failure to comply may result in fines or other enforceable action.

Any landlord or tenants with questions should call 860.344.4960.

Resident opens Enlight Energy branch

Robert Mazzotta, a native of Middletown, just opened a branch of Enlight Energy providing Sunpower solar energy to homes in Connecticut. Through the states Green Bank, solar panels to generate electricity are provided at no cost to the homeowner.

Mazzotta will arrange a free in home solar power assessment and can be contacted at RMazzotta@enlight.energy.

Recovery group meets Fridays in Portland

PORTLAND  New Life Journey is a faith based recovery support community comprised of people from all walks of life who recognize that although our experiences shape and mold us, we are not limited to or defined by our stories. Recovery is not a term exclusive to substance abuse  it is applicable to all humans at their various levels of evolution and stages of life.

The group meets Fridays at 7 p.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church 345 Main Street, Portland. For more information email: Admin@NewLifeJourneyCT.com.

Hope and Support Groups to meet

DURHAM/MIDDLEFIELD  A new service for those who have a loved one struggling with substance abuse or addiction is being offered in the Durham/Middlefield area.

Hope and Support Groups provide a safe and confidential space for parents, guardians and all others dealing with a loved ones disease of substance abuse or addiction. The group is led by two trained facilitators, a licensed professional and a para-professional with lived experience.

Recognizing that this disease affects entire families, the group provides a forum to share openly while receiving peer support, information and the compassion that everyone deserves thus breaking the stigma and isolation created by the disease. The group meets from 7-8:30 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month at the Middlefield Federated Church, 402 Main Street, Middlefield. Parents, guardians, siblings, partners and all others living with a loved ones substance abuse disorder or addiction are invited to attend.

This service is provided by TriCircle, Inc., a non-profit organization that provides resources for people and families affected by substance use disorders. Through education, research and community engagement they are dedicated to providing the tools that build strong futures.

Recovery support group meets in Middletown

MIDDLETOWN  New Life Journey is a faith based recovery support community, comprised of people from all walks of life who recognize that although experiences shape and mold them, they are not limited to or defined by their stories. The group meets on Fridays from 7-8:30 p.m. at First Church, 190 Court Street, Middletown. For more information, email Admin@NewLifeJourneyCT.com.

Young widows, widowers can attend support group

MIDDLETOWN  Middlesex Hospital Cancer Center and Middlesex Hospital Hospice and Palliative Care are holding a support group for young widows and widowers. Meetings will be held at the Middlesex Hospital Outpatient Center. There is no cost to attend, but registration is required. To register, contact Doreen Gagnon at 860-358-2053 or doreen.gagnon@midhosp.org, or Sherry Russenberger at 860-358-6091 or sherry.russenberger@midhosp.org.
Murder takes place metres away from police station.

A video made by a bystander shows the victim dancing before he suddenly realises he has been shot. (Representational image)

New Delhi: In a horrific incident, a 20-year-old youth was shot dead allegedly by an unidentified man after the victim made fun of his dance moves during a Valmiki Jayanti procession near Mandir Marg.

The deceased was identified as Avinash Sangwan. The incident took place a few metres away from the police station on Wednesday night.

A video made by a bystander shows the victim dancing before he suddenly realises he has been shot. The accused is seen in the background, tucking what appears to be a gun into his trousers. Although an FIR has been registered, no arrest has been made so far. The accused is absconding.

Sangwan got into an argument with the accused after he made fun of his dance moves, a senior police officer said.

A case was registered in the matter and a probe is underway, DCP (New Delhi) Madhur Verma said. Police said Sangwan was also carrying a knife with him.

The victim was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was declared brought dead, the DCP said. The incident took place on Wednesday evening amid heavy police deployment in the area.

The victims family alleged that they did not get any help from the police in taking him to the hospital and had to stop a passing car for help.

The police said the victim has been identified as Avinash Sangwan, a resident of Garhi village in Amar Colony, who was employed at a private firm. He was dancing and got into an argument with someone.

Avinashs father, Brahm Sangwan, who works with the Delhi Jail Board, said that his son went with his cousin and later his nephew called from the hospital and informed about the tragedy.

According to information, the victim and his cousin were dancing in a circle when a man also started dancing with his brother. Soon, his brother started copying the others steps and made fun of him. The man then went away and returned after 15 minutes. On his return, he touched the feet of his victims brother and then shot at him.
A prior-enlisted sailor who oversaw the training and supervision of more than 10,000 of the Navy's newest personnel has been removed from his job.

Capt. Mark Meskimen, who served as commanding officer of the Training Support Center in Great Lakes, Illinois, was relieved of command Friday due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command, said Cmdr. James Stockman, a spokesman for Naval Education and Training Command. The decision was made by Rear Adm. Kyle Cozad, head of Naval Education and Training Command.

"Due to privacy of those involved we cannot comment on the details of the investigation," Stockman said.

Meskimen declined to comment. He has been temporarily assigned to the office of the head of Naval Service Training Command at Great Lakes, Stockman said.

Capt. Edward Heflin, a naval aviator, has temporarily replaced Meskimen as the center's commanding officer until someone is permanently assigned, officials said. Heflin previously served as deputy for training operations at Naval Education and Training Command, according to his bio.

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Meskimen, who served as an electronics technician from 1982 until he was commissioned in the Limited Duty Officer Program (Surface Electronics) in 1993, commanded the Training Support Center for nearly two years. During the November 2016 change-of-command ceremony, he commented on the center's rich history.

"I will do my utmost to serve you," he said, according to a Navy news release. "Each of these students presents new challenges, each of them learn in different ways, and it takes your dedication and perseverance to ensure that they are prepared and ready to perform in the fleet."

Established in 2004, the Training Support Center provides 24-hour supervision, training and mentorship to more than 11,000 18-to 25-year-old, apprentice-level sailors. The command also provides support to Naval Education and Training Command sites aboard Great Lakes, including the Center for Surface Combat Systems, Surface Warfare School Command and Naval Special Warfare Preparatory School.

Meskimen previously served as head combat systems ratings detailer in Millington, Tennessee, where he was responsible for matching more than 33,000 enlisted sailors to their jobs, according to his official bio. Before that, he led the Center for Surface Combat Systems Unit at Great Lakes, where he was responsible for the training of more than 14,000 students annually.

He also served as the combat systems officer aboard the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson.

Meskimen's awards include five Meritorious Service Medals, three Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals, two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, and various unit and campaign awards.

-- Gina Harkins can be reached at gina.harkins@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @ginaaharkins.
The Pentagon announced Friday that additional troops, reportedly expected to number 800 or more, will be sent to the southern border to back up federal agents anticipating the arrival of a "caravan" of thousands of mostly Central Americans seeking to cross.

In a brief statement, the Pentagon said that the additional troops, a mix of active duty and National Guard personnel, would join about 2,100 National Guard troops already on the border who have no law enforcement authority, but can assist Customs and Border Protection.

The statement did not give details on where the additional troops would come from, when they would be deployed or how long they would stay.

The two-paragraph Pentagon statement Friday said that Mattis had approved "mission-enhancing capabilities" for CBP's continuing Operation Guardian Support along the border.

The capabilities included planning assistance, and engineering support in the form of temporary barriers, barricades, and fencing, the statement said.

In addition, the military will be providing fixed and rotary wing aviation support to move CBP personnel and medical teams to "triage, treat and prepare for commercial transport of patients," the Pentagon said.

The military will also help with command and control facilities, temporary housing for CBP personnel, and personal protective equipment for CBP personnel, all at the direction of U.S. Northern Command in support of CBP, the statement said.

Earlier Friday, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis agreed to the request for more troops from Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen with the backing of President Donald Trump.

Nielsen told Fox News Friday that "we have a sovereign right to protect our system" through aggressive action by CBP, but "we do not have any intention right now to shoot at people," though they would be apprehended.

"But I also take my officers and agents, their own personal safety, extraordinarily seriously. They do have the ability, of course, to defend themselves," she said.

Previous Pentagon statements have said that the National Guard troops on the border would not be involved in actual apprehensions but also had the right to defend themselves.

Republicans in Congress quickly gave support to the troop deployment.

"Mexico should secure its own territory and turn this caravan around," but the troop deployments were necessary as a precaution, said Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

Thornberry said Trump's actions were consistent with similar deployments to the border ordered by President Barack Obama in 2010 and President George W. Bush in 2006.

"Allowing thousands of people to cross America's southern borders in contravention of our laws is not a sustainable solution to the difficult conditions driving people out of their homes and countries in Central America," Thornberry said.

At several rallies ahead of the Nov. 6 elections, Trump has pressed the caravan issue and warned of illegal immigrants "pouring across the border."

In a tweet Thursday, Trump said that "Democrat-inspired laws make it tough for us to stop people at the border" and added said he was using the military to respond to what he called a "National Emergency."

-- Richard Sisk can be reached at richard.sisk@military.com.
China's Sub Force Is Growing More Powerful. This Is What the US Navy Needs to Do to Stay Ahead
Key

Select Mineral List Type Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Dana Chemical Elements

Detailed Mineral List:  Baryte Formula: BaSO 4 Reference: Mineralogical Record, v. 33 p. 260  Calcite Formula: CaCO 3 Reference: U.S. Geological Survey (2005) Mineral Resources Data System: U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia.  Gold Formula: Au Reference: Mineralogical Record, v. 33 p. 260; U.S. Geological Survey (2005) Mineral Resources Data System: U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia.  Orpiment Formula: As 2 S 3 Reference: U.S. Geological Survey (2005) Mineral Resources Data System: U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia.  Realgar Formula: As 4 S 4 Reference: U.S. Geological Survey (2005) Mineral Resources Data System: U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia.  Stibnite Formula: Sb 2 S 3 Reference: U.S. Geological Survey (2005) Mineral Resources Data System: U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia.

List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification Group 1 - Elements  Gold 1.AA.05 Au Group 2 - Sulphides and Sulfosalts  Orpiment 2.FA.30 As 2 S 3  Realgar 2.FA.15a As 4 S 4  Stibnite 2.DB.05 Sb 2 S 3 Group 5 - Nitrates and Carbonates  Calcite 5.AB.05 CaCO 3 Group 7 - Sulphates, Chromates, Molybdates and Tungstates  Baryte 7.AD.35 BaSO 4

List of minerals arranged by Dana 8th Edition classification Group 1 - NATIVE ELEMENTS AND ALLOYS Metals, other than the Platinum Group  Gold 1.1.1.1 Au Group 2 - SULFIDES A m X p , with m:p = 1:1  Realgar 2.8.21.1 As 4 S 4 A m B n X p , with (m+n):p = 2:3  Orpiment 2.11.1.1 As 2 S 3  Stibnite 2.11.2.1 Sb 2 S 3 Group 14 - ANHYDROUS NORMAL CARBONATES A(XO 3 )  Calcite 14.1.1.1 CaCO 3 Group 28 - ANHYDROUS ACID AND NORMAL SULFATES AXO 4  Baryte 28.3.1.1 BaSO 4

List of minerals for each chemical element C Carbon C  Calcite CaCO 3 O Oxygen O  Baryte BaSO 4 O  Calcite CaCO 3 S Sulfur S  Baryte BaSO 4 S  Stibnite Sb 2 S 3 S  Orpiment As 2 S 3 S  Realgar As 4 S 4 Ca Calcium Ca  Calcite CaCO 3 As Arsenic As  Orpiment As 2 S 3 As  Realgar As 4 S 4 Sb Antimony Sb  Stibnite Sb 2 S 3 Ba Barium Ba  Baryte BaSO 4 Au Gold Au  Gold Au

References

Sort by Year (asc) Year (desc) Author (A-Z) Author (Z-A)

USGS, 2007, Active Mines & Industrial Mineral Underground Mines in the United States in 2005. Mineralogical Record, 2002, v. 33, p. 260. Smith, R.M., Mineral Resources of Elko County, Nevada, USGS Open-File Report (1976)-56. LaPointe and others, (1991), Mineral Resources of Elko County, Nevada, NBMG Bulletin 106. Long, K.R., DeYoung, J.H., Jr., and Ludington, S.D., (1998), Database of significant deposits of gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc in the United States; Part A, Database description and analysis; part B, Digital database: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 98-206, 33 p., one 3.5 inch diskette. Dewitt, Alexander, (1999), Alteration, geochemical dispersion, and ore controls at the SSX Mine, Jerritt Canyon District, NV; abstr., GSN Newsletter, May, 1999.

Other Databases

Link to USGS MRDS: 10310565

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

North America Plate Tectonic Plate

This page contains all mineral locality references listed on mindat.org. This does not claim to be a complete list. If you know of more minerals from this site, please register so you can add to our database. This locality information is for reference purposes only. You should never attempt to visit any sites listed in mindat.org without first ensuring that you have the permission of the land and/or mineral rights holders for access and that you are aware of all safety precautions necessary.

Gold Mine, operated by Queenstake Resources and Anglo Gold. Adit entrance located within the Pattani Springs gold deposit pit.fracture zoneWallrock alteration of sedimentary rocks and the basalt dike was mapped in detail on three underground mine levels. Mapped alteration of sedimentary rocks included decarbonatization, dolomitization, silicification, carbon enrichment, and arsenic sulfide mineralization. Alteration of the dike progresses from deuteric to sericitic to argillic with proximity to northeast-striking faults. Silicification, also oxidation of antimony sulfides.Ore Materials: GOLD Gangue Materials: stibnite, orpiment, realgar, calciteThe SSX deposit (South Saval Extension) is one of several sedimentary rock-hosted gold deposits of the Jerritt Canyon District. The district is located in the central part of the Independence Mountains, 70 km north-northwest of Elko, Nevada. Geologic units exposed in the SSX underground mine are the Upper Ordovician to Lower Silurian Hanson Creek Formation, a Silurian portion of the Roberts Mountains Formation, and the allochthonous Upper Cambrian and Ordovician Snow Canyon Formation. These rocks are intruded by a Pennsylvanian basalt dike that locally hosts ore. Jerritt Canyon District geologists have divided the Hanson Creek Formation into five distinct units (numbered from youngest to oldest) and the three youngest are exposed at the SSX mine. Most of the gold at the SSX mine is hosted in the Hanson Creek Formation, particularly within the rhythmically interbedded micritic limestone and calcareous siltstone unit. There are two important sets of structures that localize ore at SSX. The older set of faults is partially occupied by the basalt dike, and strikes range from N70?W to N50?W with nearly vertical dips. The younger set of major faults cut the dike and its associated west-northwest trending faults and have strikes ranging from N10?E to N50?E, and dips ranging from 60 to 800 NW. The northeast-striking faults have normal offset, and share similar features (e.g. dolomitized wallrocks, carbon enrichment, arsenic and iron sulfides, silicification, and both tectonic and decarbonatization/collapse breccias). The ore mineralization/grade and alteration effects are more substantial with proximity to these structures. Petrographic and microanalytical analyses of samples collected from the SSX mine workings provided data for paragenetic interpretation. An early base metal sulfide event was followed by introduction of pyrite, apatite, carbonates, and silica. Ore-related mineralization produced gold-bearing marcasite, orpiment, realgar, carlinite and kaolinite. Geochemical data provided by Independence Mining Company comprising 33 elements from 164 surface drill-holes (3146 samples) were analyzed. Significant correlation was found for two distinct groups of elements. The first group included Zn, Cd, V, Cu, Mo, Ni, and Ag. The second group included Au, As, Hg, and Tl. Although sample intervals were 50-foot composites on average, distinct zoning of gold, arsenic, mercury and thallium was evident. These elements increase in concentration with proximity to northeast-striking faults. Permeability was the most important factor in localizing gold mineralization. Unit 3 of the Hanson Creek Formation was a favorable lithologic unit due to its numerous permeable silty interbeds. Northwest-striking faults and the basalt dike were equally important in localizing ore fluids. However, orebody geometry, alteration patterns and geochemical data indicate that northeast-striking faults were the most important conduits for gold-bearing hydrothermal fluids. Fluid flow during the introduction of hydrothermal fluids was focused along the northeast-striking faults. Dissolution of calcite with subsequent dolomite precipitation disrupted sedimentary bedding, resulting in collapse breccias. Fluids spread laterally along the conduits as well as along the Pennsylvanian dike and its parallel structures, generating the alteration zoning in the dike, Hanson Creek Formation and collapse breccias as well as dispersion of ore-related elements.Sediment-hosted AuThere are two important sets of structures that localize ore at SSX. The older set of faults is partially occupied by the basalt dike, and strikes range from N70?W to N50?W with nearly vertical dips. The younger set of major faults cut the dike and its associated west-northwest trending faults and have strikes ranging from N10?E to N50?E, and dips ranging from 60 to 800 NW. The northeast-striking faults have normal offset, and share similar features (e.g. dolomitized wallrocks, carbon enrichment, arsenic and iron sulfides, silicification, and both tectonic and decarbonatization/collapse breccias). The ore mineralization/grade and alteration effects are more substantial with proximity to these structures. Fissures and fractures
The police is trying to trace other accused persons who are absconding.

New Delhi: In a suspected case of honour killing, a 25-year-old youth was allegedly abducted and beaten to death in northwest Delhis Bawana. The incident was captured on a video by the accused, including the cousin of a minor girl the victim was in relationship with.

The deceased was identified as Sahil alias Gapchu, a resident of Bawana. The four accused have been identified as Rakesh, Manish, Lokesh and Nitesh. The incident took place on October 23.

The deceased was abducted by the accused and taken to Sonipat in Haryana in his car.

They then dumped the body in a canal in Sonipat and set ablaze the victims car. The crime branch has arrested accused Rakesh in this regard, a police official privy to the probe said. During interrogation, he admitted to his involvement in killing Sahil.

The police said Sahil was in a relationship with a minor girl and on the intervening night of October 23 and 24, at about 3 am, he had taken his car to drop the girl near her house in Bawana. Since it was late and the girl had not returned home, her cousin Rakesh and his friends were looking for her.

Meanwhile, Rakesh spotted Sahil dropping his sister which made him furious. Following this, he and Manish then took Sahil to Silana in Sonipat to their friend Niteshs house, where they beat up Sahil and strangled to death. Subsequently, all the accused went back to their homes.

When Sahil didnt reach home, his uncle approached the Bawana police station and registered a kidnapping case. He gave the names of the suspected accused, after which the crime branch team nabbed Rakesh.

The police is trying to trace other accused persons who are absconding.
BAY CITY, MI -- Despite a Mount Forest Township man's instance that he did nothing illegal when he sold marijuana to undercover police more than once, a jury concluded otherwise.

The jury in the trial of Theodore J. "Ted" Visner delivered its verdicts Friday, Oct. 26, finding the 51-year-old man guilty of 12 of the 14 counts he faced -- six counts of felony firearm and six counts of delivering or manufacturing marijuana with intent to deliver. The jury found Visner not guilty on an additional count of felony firearm and one count of maintaining a drug house.

The marijuana charges are punishable by up to four years in prison. Felony firearm carries a mandatory minimum two-year sentence.

Bay County Circuit Judge Harry P. Gill ordered Visner held in the Bay County Jail pending his sentencing Dec. 10.

Visner represented himself during the trial, though he is not an attorney. Attorney Bruce K. Mannikko sat beside him as a consultant, however.

Throughout the trial, Bay County Assistant Prosecutor Bernard J. Coppolino argued Visner on Aug. 30, Sept. 6, and Sept. 19, 2017, sold marijuana to two police officers from the garage of his home at 856 W. Cody Estey Road. The officers, Michigan State Police detective troopers Kyle Kehn and Dave Hughes, testified they had visited Visner's property after receiving reports that he was selling medical marijuana illegally.

They testified the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs had provided them with fake medical marijuana cards for investigative purposes. The cards they were provided bore their undercover names and stated no caregivers were assigned to them.

Coppolino stated the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act allows a registered caregiver to provide medical marijuana to five qualified and designated patients, for which they can receive compensation from their patients. Visner, he contended, sold marijuana to the officers despite knowing he was not their caregiver.

Kehn and Hughes testified Visner wore a semiautomatic pistol on his hip during each transaction, accounting for the felony firearm charges.

In his closing argument Friday, Visner stated the prosecution had no charges against him, prompting Coppolino to object.

"Very simply, my defense is that I have acted in compliance with the laws of the state of Michigan," Visner told jurors.

Coppolino advised jurors not to be swayed by any sympathies or prejudices they may hold.

"The defendant claimed the officers played upon his sympathy to get him to sell marijuana to them," Coppolino said. "First of all, the officers never testified they told the defendant they were sick or needed marijuana for some horrible condition they had. They never described anything like that. They never played upon his sympathy. They merely presented these cards.

"There are rules that are to be followed in the use and sale of medical marijuana," he continued. "Thousands of people -- thousands of your fellow citizens -- every day follow those rules and marijuana is provided to those who need it. Mr. Visner decided those rules do not apply to him. He decided he could sell marijuana to whomever he chose to do so. He didn't follow the rules. It's just like ... liquor sales. Can anybody sell liquor to anybody else in state of Michigan? No."

This prompted Visner to object to the assertion that Michigan can regulate marijuana sales, an objection Gill overruled.

In a separate matter still in the lower Bay County District Court, Visner is charged with another count of delivering or manufacturing marijuana with intent to deliver. That stems from authorities alleging that while on bond awaiting trial, Visner continued illegally selling pot.

Visner in 2012 ran unsuccessfully for Isabella County sheriff.

Visner also runs the Facebook page "MI Justice League," self-described as "a non-lawyer law firm."

Since January, medical marijuana dispensaries have been legally operated in Michigan. On Nov. 6, residents will vote on whether or not to legalize recreational marijuana in the state.
UPDATE:

FLINT TWP, MI -- An 88-year-old woman was sexually assaulted and robbed at her Flint Township home and made to ride around with her assailant and get cash from multiple locations.

Flint Township police officers and Michigan State Police detectives began an investigation Thursday, Oct. 25 stemming from an incident at a home in the area of Corunna and Graham roads.

The woman reported a man entered her home and demanded money, police said. During the incident, she was sexually assaulted.

The suspect, a 41-year-old Flint man, then allegedly stole a handgun and forced her into a vehicle and took her to several locations in the Burton and Flint area to obtain cash and a television.

She was returned home and the suspect stole her vehicle and left the area.

Law enforcement officials were able to develop a suspect. A Flint Township police officer located the vehicle allegedly stolen by the suspect in the area of Corunna Road and Ryan Street.

The suspect was taken into custody after a brief foot pursuit by Flint Township police with assistance from Michigan State Police, Michigan State Police K-9 Jax, Flint police, and the Genesee Auto Theft Investigation Network, or GAIN.

He is currently lodged at the Genesee County Jail awaiting charges from the Genesee County Prosecutor's Office.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- As a giant "Baby Trump" balloon swayed in a cold breeze in a downtown Grand Rapids park, a steady stream of curious onlookers came to take a gander.

The 20-foot tall balloon, anchored with weights inside a small fenced-in area, was a spectacle for several hours Saturday, Oct. 27 at Rosa Parks Circle.

Organizers of the event rented the balloon from a New Jersey group called the "People's Motorcade" and promoted the balloon's flying on Facebook.

The goal was to get people motivated to vote Nov. 6 and educate the public about ballot issues, but also was clearly intended as a critical slant on the president's agenda.

Jorie Sligh, who acknowledged her lack of support for Trump, came out to take a peek.

"I never imagined I would be cheering the display of a balloon like this that mocks a president," she said.

But Sligh said she simply can't support someone she considers a bully.

"I cam from a family that has a strong military background. They did not fight in wars to support what the president says he supports," she said.

Throughout the day Saturday, the crowd size at Rosa Parks Circle fluctuated from about 30 to 60 people.

Co-organizer Cameron Young said he didn't know what to expect, particularly given the cold and overcast conditions.

He said the cost for the balloon and venue came to about $1,500 and organizers created an online funding page to help pay for it. The helium to inflate the balloon was about $1,000.

After Saturday, Young said he has to pack the balloon up in a box and ship it back to New Jersey.

The event drew a handful of Trump supporters as well.

They stood near the edge of Rosa Parks Circle with both American flags and Trump-supporting flags.

"We want people to know there is support for our president," said Audra Lemons with Michigan Patriots for Trump.

The Trump supporters said they thought the balloon was "childish and ridiculous" but said they back free speech rights.

"I thought, even if we just come down and stand here, we can show something. People need to understand it's not only negative for Trump," she said.
OTTAWA COUNTY, MI -- Familiar political foes will challenge each other again for the 3rd District seat on the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners in the November election.

Don Disselkoen, the Republican incumbent, is vying against Democrat Doug Zylstra.

Zylstra ran against Disselkoen for the seat, which covers most of Holland, in 2014 and 2016.

Disselkoen is a past Zeeland City mayor but has been on the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners since 2004.

Zylstra is the owner of a small business, a clothing store, and a past chair of the Ottawa County Democratic Party.

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 stances on issues.

Below are the responses from the 3rd District candidates. The answers were edited minimally for brevity:

From this list, rate your top 3 priorities for the office of Ottawa County Commissioner: Funding for infrastructure and roads, Land Use, Water Quality, Social Services, Lower Taxes, Safety, Senior Services funded through a countywide millage, Redistricting-county commissioner allocation. Discuss briefly."

Disselkoen:

"Taxes - Ottawa County has the lowest property tax rate among West Michigan counties. It is among the five lowest in the State of Michigan. As chairman of the county board's finance committee, I am committed to keeping our taxes low so that business and industrial employers continue to choose Ottawa County for its investments.

Water Quality - As past chair and member of the ACRE Agri-Tech Business Incubator Committee, I am keenly aware of the challenge our farmers and home builders face in securing adequate supplies and quality of water in Ottawa County. We will continue to make securing a high quality water supply for our future livelihood a high priority for county government.

Safety - One of the core responsibilities of county government is providing for public safety through an effective sheriff's and prosecuting attorney departments and court system. Throughout my career, I have supported the prudent expenditure of funds to support these departments as essential to ensuring safe Ottawa County communities."

Zylstra:

"My top three priorities are 1. Improving Housing, both availabity and options 2. Doing more for Ottawa County residents to improve their Healthcare options, especially Mental Health. 3. Working to reduce the overall high cost of local government for Holland City residents."

Statement: County commissioners have done an effective job in leading the county in the last two years. Do you agree or disagree? Briefly explain.

Disselkoen:

"In my 14 years of service on the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners, I have been blessed to serve with Commissioners from across the county who work well together to make Ottawa County a leader among Michigan counties. Unlike some legislative bodies elsewhere, the board has developed a strong sense of teamwork, rather than rivalry, to serve our residents well. A few examples are continuing to deliver strong services while keeping taxes low; improving the health and recreation opportunities for residents, and leading the state in job growth and investment."

Zylstra: Did not respond to this particular question.

What are your strategies for meeting with your district to gain local insight for important county decisions.

Disselkoen:

For six years, I have held monthly office hours at Holland city hall with fellow commissioners from Allegan and Ottawa Counties. Any resident can meet with us to discuss county issues. In addition, I regularly share county events and opportunities through the news media, attend numerous meetings on boards on which I serve such as the Community Mental Health Board and those on which I don't serve, as well as many community events such as the recent Holland Civic Center Open House, Lakeshore Advantage's Surge event for entrepreneurs, and the Cinco De Mayo celebration. In addition, my home phone number is listed on the county website and in the digital "phone book".

Zylstra:

"My number one goal as County Commissioner is to provide superior constituent service to the residents of the City of Holland through all possible avenues; social media, meet and greets, consistent visits to representative groups within the district as well as the current monthly scheduled office hours."
LANSING, MI - Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gretchen Whitmer outraised Republican candidate Bill Schuette this reporting period, according to the most recent campaign finance reports.

The filings released on Friday cover from Aug. 28 until Oct. 21.

Whitmer raised $4.9 million in private contributions this period, bringing her total raised for the cycle to $12 million. She spent $4.6 million this period and has $885,794 in cash on hand heading into the final stretch of the race. Her campaign has no debt.

Her biggest donors this period were a $900,000 transfer from her primary campaign, the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan PAC, League of Conservation Voters PAC and Operating Engineers Local 324 PAC, all at $68,000.

Schuette raised $2.4 million in private contributions this period, bringing his total raised for the cycle to $8.13 million. He spent $2.9 million this period and has $103,807 in cash on hand heading into the final stretch. The campaign also has $457,850 in debt.

Schuette's biggest donors this period were himself through a loan of $325,000, The Michigan Farm Bureau PAC at $68,000, Compete Michigan PAC at $50,000 and Auto Dealers of Michigan PAC at $15,000.

Bill Gelineau, the Libertarian candidate, raised $30,724 in private contributions this period, bringing his total raise for the cycle to $85,509. He spent $25,187 this period and has $9,055 in cash on hand going into the election. The campaign also has $15,000 in debt.

Gelineau's biggest donors this period were the Libertarian Party of Michigan Executive Committee at $4,485, himself at $5,000 and his lieutenant governor candidate, Angelique Thomas, at $4,000.

It's a turn of the tables since the last reporting period, when Schuette narrowly outraised Whitmer.

"Gretchen Whitmer has all of the momentum in this race," said Whitmer for Governor Press Secretary Nicole Simmons in a statement.

"She has raised a record-breaking amount in her run for governor because she's gotten into all 83 counties and talked to real Michiganders about what they want her next governor to focus on."

In a press release, the Schuette campaign criticized Whitmer's funding as having come from liberal special interest groups.

"Michigan cannot afford to go backward with Gretchen Whitmer to the policies of the Lost Decade. They need to go forward with Bill Schuette," said Schuette spokesperson Stu Sandler.

But what shows up in a candidate's campaign finance report isn't the whole story, says Craig Mauger, executive director of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network. In a story published earlier this week, he tracked $16.3 worth of outside spending in the general election by groups on behalf of Whitmer and Schuette.

"The candidates' fundraising is really just a piece of the pie," he said.

Per his research, outside spending in the governor's race includes:

$7.9 million from A Stronger Michigan, a group with ties to the Democratic Governors Association.

$3.9 million from Americans for Prosperity spent in opposition to Whitmer

$4.3 million from groups associated with the Republican Governors Association that promote Schuette and criticize Whitmer

Recent polls have showed the race narrowing, though the Real Clear Politics polling average says Whitmer is still ahead by nine points.

More information about the Nov. 6 midterm elections

Polls will be open in Michigan from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 6. Check Michigan's Secretary of State website to see whether you are registered and to preview your ballot.

MLive has partnered with the League of Women Voters of Michigan Education Fund to provide candidate information and other voting resources to Michigan readers.

The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political organization that encourages informed and active participation in government. For specific information about the 8th Congressional District race and other Michigan races, visit Vote411.org.

Read more MLive election coverage here.
A group formed to oppose marijuana legalization in Michigan has drawn twice the donations than the campaign supporting the ballot proposal in the last three months.

The opposition group -- Healthy and Productive Michigan -- collected more than $1 million in the last quarter for its efforts, and recently launched its first cable TV ad. It's also found an ally in DTE Energy executives.

In contrast, the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol raised $529,000 in the last quarter. The group formed in 2016, and collected thousands of signatures to get the legalization proposal on the ballot.

"This is something that the people of Michigan have said they want -- and the establishment is blocking it," said Josh Hovey, the paid spokesman for the coalition. "I think that's what the campaign finance reports are showing."

The pro-marijuana campaign is backed by the national Marijuana Policy Project, which gave $110,000 in the last quarter. New Approach PAC -- a group that supports legalization efforts across the country -- also contributed $351,000. The largest individual donor was Rick Steves, the PBS travel host. He came to Michigan in early October to campaign for legalization -- and then donated $50,000.

Most of the funds have been spent -- on consultants, digital ads, polling research and focus groups, leaving the campaign with slightly more than $151,000 heading into the last week of the election. The campaign paid $6,000 for marijuana tax revenue estimates from VS Strategies, a Colorado firm. Their revenue estimates were half of what the Senate Fiscal Agency estimated was possible in 2023: $287.9 million.

"I think it's going to be a fight to the end," Hovey said. "While I think the people are on our side and understand that prohibition hasn't worked ... when you're looking at the campaign finance reports, there's still a lot of conservative and big business interests that are maybe not as far ahead of where the public stands on this issue."

In three months from July to October, Healthy and Productive Michigan raised $1.09 million.

It has spent $446,653 -- leaving the campaign with $697,268 on hand with less than a full week to go to the election. Much of cash on hand -- $600,000 -- has gone to pay Advictory for a cable TV spot, according to late campaign finance filings. Most of the rest of the campaign's spending has been to Greenlee Consulting, for polling and consultants -- as well as a long list of canvassers from the Detroit area.

The opposition campaign continues to be largely funded by SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana) Action, a national nonprofit dedicated to campaigning against legalization. In the last quarter, the group kicked in $656,000.

A new source of funds for the campaign has also emerged: executives at DTE Energy.

Michigan Energy First, a nonprofit whose president is listed in state records as Renze Hoeksema -- vice president of government affairs for DTE Energy -- donated $250,000.

A number of DTE Energy executives have donated to the opposition campaign: Chairman Gerry Anderson ($50,000), President Jerry Norcia ($15,000), DTE Electric President Trevor Lauer ($2,500) and DTE Gas President Mark Stiers ($2,500).

"Healthy and Productive Michigan is excited that many individuals and companies have come forward to support our cause of defeating recreational marijuana," said Scott Greenlee, president of the group. "It is obvious that companies will be testing a lot more frequently to ensure that those working in fields like transportation, manufacturing, medical, and a host of other jobs are not impaired at all. And many companies will simply choose to be drug free regardless of what business they are in."

DTE Energy has not taken a stance on Proposal 1, but company officials have stated they wouldn't change any of their policies if it passes.

"In fact, due to the nature of our work as an energy company, DTE is required to perform drug testing in accordance with federal and state laws. We have no plans to change our company's current drug-free policy even if recreational marijuana is legalized in Michigan," the company said in a statement.

The opposition campaign has kicked into high gear two weeks before the election, hosting a string of press conferences first in Detroit with the NAACP, and then across the state with local officials.

To date, 73 county sheriffs have opposed the ballot measure -- as well as the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, 56 county prosecutors and a number of health officials.

Oct. 25, Healthy and Productive Michigan unveiled their first TV ad. Next week, they are promising more press conferences, as well as appearances from opposition sources from Colorado. Former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb will appear at the Grand Rapids Economic Club Luncheon, along with former U.S. Attorney Bob Troyer, who was assigned to Colorado.

-- 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.
HICKORY CORNERS, MI -- A new business north of Gull Lake offers a wide selection of beer, wine, liquor and other offerings of a small convenience store.

And authentic Indian food with rave reviews.

Armin Ghai, 21, moved four years ago to the Gull Lake area from Toronto, Canada with his family. Two months ago, he opened his first business, the Gull Lake Market.

The idea was first to open a liquor store and offer take-out pizza and subs. But when reaction from the community was less than exciting, the family changed plans to bring what is cooked in their kitchen at home to the community.

The combo business was born after Ghai convinced his mother, who he described as an "amazing self-taught" cook to come alongside him to create a unique combination.

"Just do both," he said standing behind the counter Friday, Oct. 26. "Might as well just slap them together."

On the north side of Gull Lake on M-43, the business appears as a regular convenience store from the outside. But the smell from the parking lot tips it off that there is more than what is expected.

"Gull Lake Market is your one stop shop for liquor, beer, wine, food, and more," the store's website said. "Our passion for excellence is what inspired us to create our own cultural spin."

The store is in what was formerly Kolligs Korner Market at 15476 South M-43 in Hickory Corners.

The location is far from the city and even locals living in Richland don't often take the drive north, but if the quality is good enough, people will come, Varun Vij, 36, said.

Vij, a cousin to the family, moved to the Kalamazoo area only two months ago to start helping with the business. And he is happy to see the progress the new store is making, he said.

Ghai's parents were born in India and started their family in Canada. They moved to America fours years ago when his father's job as an electrical engineer offered him a change.

The family is looking toward the future and considering opening a more traditional sit-down restaurant, Vij said.

But even as a nontraditional set-up, the business has seen success. The store has many positive reviews on Facebook, Google and Yelp.com, but the family said word of mouth is really what brings people through the door.

"We have so much appreciation for the people," Ghai's mom, Bobbie, said.

Because of both out-of-towners coming through the area who are pleasantly surprised at the quality of the food and local regulars who come daily, the store's reputation is growing.

The buffet is different every day, but staples like naan, rice and butter chicken are offered daily as favorites.

Friday's menu included chicken curry and chicken vindaloo. Every day, there is two vegetarian options and one vegan option, Ghai said. The food is fresh, mostly organic and healthy, which is unique for Indian food, he said.

The recipes are homestyle and not at all greasy, Vij said. "We don't offer people food we don't eat," he said.

Five employees rotate shifts upfront to keep the store open every day of the week. But breaks come less often for Bobbie, who cooks food for the buffet multiple times a day.

The Gull Lake Market is open 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday.
The bail plea of civil right activist Sudha Bharadwaj was also rejected and she is likely to be taken into custody on Saturday.

Pune: Left-wing activists Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves, accused of having Maoist links, were taken into custody by Pune police on Friday, hours after their bail pleas were rejected by a local court here, an official said.

The bail plea of civil right activist Sudha Bharadwaj was also rejected and she is likely to be taken into custody on Saturday. All three activists were under house arrest, which ended on Friday.

Additional sessions judge K.D. Vadane rejected the bail applications filed by the three activists. The court also rejected an application of the activists seeking a week-long extension of house arrest.

In his order rejecting the bail pleas of the accused, Judge Vadane said that the investigation against the accused was at a very crucial stage and that material collected by the investigating officer prima facie revealed their involvement in alleged unlawful activities against the unity, integrity, security and sovereignty of India.

Dhairyasheel Patil, senior counsel representing Mr Gonsalves, said that they will appeal against the lower courts judgment in the Bombay high court.

The activists were first arrested on August 28 along with poet-activist Varavara Rao and Gautam Navlakha over their alleged links with the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist) and their roles in the controversial Elgaar Parishad and the subsequent Bhima-Koregaon clashes.

Joint commissioner of police Shivaji Bodakhe said, Following the courts rejection of their bail pleas, our teams took Mr Ferreira and Mr Gonsalves into custody from their homes residences in Mumbai. They will be produced before a Pune court tomorrow (Saturday).

Police sources said that Ms Bharadwaj, who has been under house arrest in Haryanas Faridabad, is likely to be taken into custody on Saturday in keeping with legal rules that prohibit taking women into custody after sunset.

The Pune courts order rejecting the activists bail plea took into account the prosecution and the Pune polices submission of allegedly incriminating letters (addressed by one Comrade Prakash to a fellow Maoist) and e-mails which hinted at the involvement of the three activists in recruiting cadre for the outlawed CPI (Maoist).

Last week, public prosecutor Ujjwala Pawar, arguing against the bail pleas, had submitted two sensational e-mails before the court that were allegedly intercepted communications exchanged between top Maoist leader Ganapathy alias Comrade Chandrashekhar and Mr Rao in July this year.

The city police has claimed that the mails were allegedly exchanged after the June 6 arrest of activist Sudhir Dhawale, prominent human rights lawyer Surendra Gadling, tribal activist Mahesh Raut, Nagpur University English professor Shoma Sen and activist Rona Wilson.

The two countrywide swoops by the Pune police, in June and in August, that led to the arrest of all the activists were based on an FIR registered at the citys Vishrambaug Wada police station in connection with ostensibly provocative speeches made during the controversial Elgaar Parishad held on December 31 last year  a day before clashes erupted in Bhima-Koregaon.

The FIR was based on a complaint by Tushar Damgude against six participants, including Mr Dhawale, of the Parishad. Those named in the FIR were members of the Kabir Kala Manch (KKM)  a radical Dalit cultural troupe.

The complaint had accused the KKM activists of making a number of inflammatory speeches and delivering socially divisive presentations during the course of the troupes performance and recitals at the Elgaar Parishad, which lasted nearly eight hours and witnessed the participation of thousands of persons from more than 250 progressive social outfits including several Left-leaning and Ambedkarite groups across Maharashtra.
Saamana wrote a scathing editorial on him. Ajit Pawar is a gutter insect of Pune politics. He thrives on corruption, writes Saamana.

Mumbai: Shiv Sena has called the Nationalist Congress Partys (NCP) Ajit Pawar Gutter Insect who just lives on his uncle Sharad Pawars fortune. Mr Ajit has slammed Sena over building Ram Mandir temple saying that Uddhav Thackeray failed to build memorial of his father in Mumbai and now he is talking about building a temple. This has irked Sena, which led to editorial attack on Mr Pawar.

Saamana wrote a scathing editorial on him. Ajit Pawar is a gutter insect of Pune politics. He thrives on corruption, writes Saamana.

Mr Ajit while talking on Senas stand on Ram Mandir said, This person (Uddhav Thackeray) failed to build memorial of his father and now hes talking about building Ram Temple. Hows that possible? To this Saamana replied, His uncle (Sharad Pawar) himself suggested to have Balasahebs memorial in Mumbais Mayor Bung-alow. This person doesnt even know that. What do you expect from a person who has zero credibility in his own party?

Sena has also raked up issue of drought and alleged irrigation scam. Ajit Pawar scammed 70-80 thousand crore in irrigation department. If he would have saved that money, this condition would not have arise and money would have been used for irrigation facilities in state. Now, Ajit is running away from responsibilities and officers of irrigation departments are facing actions, Saamana writes.

Meanwhile, NCP reacted to Senas criticism. Vidya Chavan, NCPs MLC called Senas writing as mirror of its own culture. Ajit said nothing wrong. Sena failed to build memorial of Balasaheb, and it is talking about Ram Mandir in Uttar Pradesh. Sena leadership was rattled to know that Ajit has exposed them. Thats why this uncultured editorial has followed, said Ms Chavan.
Court on Friday rejected their bail applications.

Pune: A Pune court on Saturday remanded activists Sudha Bharadwaj, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, accused of having Maoist links, in police custody till November 6.

District and sessions judge K.D. Vadane sent Gonsalves and Ferreira in police custody till Nov-ember 6 after they were produced in the morning. The judge remanded Bharadwaj in police custody for the same period when she was produced in the evening.

Pune police had arrested Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj and two others in August this year in connection with the probe into Koregaon-Bhima violence. The police were not able to get the custody of the three activists due to stay orders by various courts. A Pune court on Friday rejected the bail applications of the activists, paving way for the police to take them into custody.

Public prosecutor Ujjw-ala Pawar while asking for 14 days police custody said that the accus-ed recruited students from Tata Institute of Social Sciences and Jaw-aharlal Nehru University for the banned maoist party. She said, Both Fe-rreira and Gonsalves rec-eived funds from banned CPI (Maoist) and police wants to investigate the purpose of the funds? 

The public prosecutor told the court that Bhar-adwaj was arrested on Saturday morning after Supreme Courts order of house arrest ended and Pune court rejected bail application on Friday. She while seeking 14 days police custody said, prima facie she (Bhara-dwaj) has links with ban-ned Maoist party. She works for Indian Assoc-iation of Peoples Law-yer, the frontal organisation of banned party and has been implementing their plans. 

Rahul Deshmukh, defence lawyer, opposing the police custody said, Prosecution is changing its stance regularly. They portrayed different picture in SC. Bharadwaj was under house arrest since August 28 and she completed one month in the house arrest. Now police cannot ask for custody as per UAPA, after 30 days custody no police custody can be sought.
Emraan Hashmi is currently shooting in Ladakh and reportedly doesnt know about the matter in talks.

Cheat India director Soumik Sen was recently accused of harassing an actress of his film by constantly asking her to do a web series on lesbian sex.

Post that, three other women came out in the actress support and one media professional Chandraye Sarkar has come forward to Mid-Day about taking strong action against him.

Sarkar says, "I don't understand why the producers are not taking the allegations seriously. Their statement is blasphemous and protects Soumik."

This however isnt the first time that such a thing happens. Sarkar claimed that Sen sent her erotic passages in 2012, which she took to Gulaab Gang co-producer Anubhav Sinha, who in turn apologized and promised not to work with Soumik again.

"I was angry that Anubhav didn't act in time, but at least he said sorry now. Anubhav sent me a message saying he will never work with Soumik again. I respect him for the stand. Emraan Hashmi said he wants to clean the industry, then why is he hiding now? They are establishing that they are either accomplice to the matter or partaking in it," Sarkar mentioned.

An associate from the movie went on to tell the daily, "We will have to let Soumik go from the promotional leg of the film. Emraan was clear that he wouldn't tolerate any instance of harassment against women on his film. He wouldn't want to keep his ties with the perpetrator in this case."

Emraan Hashmi is currently shooting in Ladakh and reportedly doesnt know about the matter in talks. Similarly, producer Atul Kasbekar too was supposedly travelling due to which he couldnt respond.
With 160 deals, IT and ITES was the busiest sector followed by manufacturing and healthcare (47). The banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) space was third, recording 41 deals. Let's take a look at the biggest mergers and acquisitions in India this year. (Representative image)

Textiles major Arvind on October 26 said it has received a nod from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for its scheme of demerger of its branded apparel and engineering businesses into separate entities.

According to the company, it expects demerger of branded apparel business and engineering business to become effective from the second half of November.

Moreover, Arvind Fashions and Anveshan may also get independently listed in early January, it added.

"We would like to inform you that today NCLT Ahmedabad has sanctioned the Composite Scheme of Arrangement... amongst Arvind Ltd and Arvind Fashions and Anveshan Heavy Engineering and The Anup Engineering and their respective Shareholders and Creditors," said Arvind Ltd in a regulatory filing. The Ahmedabad bench of NCLT has approved scheme of demerger of branded apparel business and engineering business of Arvind Ltd into Arvind Fashions and Anveshan Heavy engineering.

Commenting of the development Arvind Chief Financial Officer Jayesh Shah said a certified copy of the order will be received in due course.

"We expect that demerger will become effective during 3rd or 4th week of November and Arvind Fashions and Anveshan may get independently listed in early January," Shah said.
business Explained: How Bad Is The NBFC Crisis? The government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have also stepped in and announced various measures to dispel investor concerns
Many envy a person who takes five holidays a year, but few would put in laborious efforts needed to ensure well-timed and worry-free breaks. Quantitative derivatives trader Subhadip Nandy is one such person to be jealous of.

The Kolkata-based options trader quit a comfortable job in Life Insurance Corporation to dabble in the markets in the 90s. At the turn of the century he doesnt have to look back, for the markets give him relief  mentally and monetarily.

Nandy headed a team of 200 traders in a proprietary trading firm, helped build a software company that was involved in systematic trading and sold the trading system he developed to JP Morgan.

Market folklore says that 95% of option buyers lose money. On the contrary, Nandy consistently makes money taking directional trades using option strategies. He has lessons to impart to market participants and traders alike. "Trading patterns will need years of practice, there is no shortcut. The amount of time you spend and see the patterns working out will add to your experience," he says in a tweet.

In Nandy, ones search for a successful trader who is an option buyer ends. He picks his trades using his proprietary indicators just before the stocks spurt thus making option buying a successful strategy. His life demonstrates how grit, hard work, knowledge and discipline can help a trader achieve financial freedom. The man battled depression after his mothers demise and came up trumps from an over-trading-induced financial ruin.

Between playing the markets and long breaks, Nandy pursues many things. He is a voracious reader, a movie lover and a trainer. He says he seeks ways to improve his trading and is learning data science and software languages like Python to better his approach to the markets.

In an interview to Moneycontrol, Nandy speaks passionately about his journey and approach to trading. Excerpts:

Q: Could you walk us through your journey to the market?

A: I was always an average student during my school days in Kolkata not too bad, but also not that good. I was interested in reading things beyond the subjects taught in school. I took up economics as main subject, math and statistics in part during graduation. I did not understand the applications of the subjects taught to us then, but after joining the market, I bought and studied from the books on statistics and finally understood what was being taught.

My entry in to markets was rather accidental. My father died when I was 11 years old. When I was 18, my mother said suggested buying a flat for which she took a loan from LIC. Also, we sold a parcel of land and managed to raise enough money for the flat.

When my mother looked at paying off the Rs 50,000 loan, Sushil Periwal, a student of hers and a sub-broker, told her invest the sum in the market instead. Periwal bought us some good shares like Brooke Bond, ITC, Shaw Wallace  all dividend-paying companies that announced regular bonuses.

This was 1991 when the Sensex was 1200. I know this because when I became an analyst I checked on the market level at which we entered.

The year 1991 was also when I completed my higher secondary. In those days in Bengal, the trend was that a young person would learn typing and shorthand the moment they passed higher secondary so that they can at least secure a sarkari job as a stenographer. A job in markets in a Bengali household was akin to gambling. I was not interested in going the traditional way.

One day, I accidentally bumped into the broker who bought us the shares. He asked me if I had interest elsewhere. I told him that I had no interest in being a steno and he asked me to come with him to the Kolkata Stock Exchange the next day. Those were the days of open outcry and I was hooked the moment I stepped in.

I read up on a few books on fundamental analysis and started dabbling in the markets. This was the Harshad Mehta boom period and I was buying shares at around Rs 16 and selling them at around Rs 80. I bought Master Shares in their issue at Rs 10 and sold it at Rs 80 in the curb market. I was in my first year of economics honours and felt like a god. The Rs 50,000 that was first invested touched around Rs 3.5-4 lakh.

What happened next was pure luck, though that is not how I saw it then. The flat that we bought was not in a good locality and my mother was insisting that we buy a house. She asked me to sell all the shares and buy the house. I cried telling her not to do so. As providence would have it we got an offer for a house. I sold the shares reluctantly and bought the house. I did not speak to my mother for a few days after that.

The best part is that within 15 days of buying the house the market collapsed and I was back studying economics.

Q: What did you do after the crash, in terms of career and market experience?

A: I used the market crash to read a lot of books on markets. I came across Benjamin Graham and heard about Warren Buffett during this time. Most of my studies were related to fundamentals rather than technical analysis.

After my graduation, I worked at various companies, used the time to complete a part-time MBA course in marketing. I took a break in my career to study for government jobs and managed to crack the LIC Development Officer exam.

But all throughout, markets were always a part of the daily chore. While working for LIC, I used to place my orders with the broker and then head to an office.

Before 1999, I used to trade the markets based on news, market information and similar stuff. Post-1999, I learned technical analysis and managed my trades based on it.

I was doing well in those days. My job was paying me Rs 11,000 a month while my average earning from the market for a period of 8-9 months was around Rs 32,000 per month. At this point, I felt that I could become a trader. I had moved from fundamentals to technical post the 2000 crash.

I then decided to take a sabbatical from my job and give trading a shot for a year. My trades were good, I was trading in futures contract and by the end of the year I quit my job and traded fulltime.

Life was good and then 2003 happened.

Circa April 2003, I was trading futures contract and made decent money. On April 10, 2003, Infosys announced a lower than expected guidance and its price fell from Rs 4,200 a share to Rs 3,060 a share in a day.

I knew that with this kind of selloff the Relative Strength Index (RSI) would be in the extremely oversold range. Now I had done these kinds of trades earlier where I went long on an oversold position and did well the next day. My line of thinking was that the company had only lowered its guidance but there is nothing wrong with this great company and the price would bounce back.

I went long four contracts by the close of the market at around Rs 3,060. Next morning as the market opened I was standing right behind the dealer eager to book my profit.

The first tick on the market was a rate of Rs 2,880. I did not freeze when I saw the price. I knew I was wrong in my analysis and asked the dealer to sell 8 contracts which would mean I would cover my 4 long contracts and would be short on four contracts.

The next quote on the screen was Rs 2,740 I moved my order to this level but did not get a fill. Next tick 2,600 and then 2,580 then 2,400 and 2,240 all without my order getting executed. At this point, I told my dealer to sell 8 contracts on the market rather than a price point which would ensure a fill.

I managed to book the loss on my long position of around Rs 3,060 at around 2,240 and go short at the same level.

Infosys closed the day at around Rs 2,880. I was a wreck. Not only did I blow my account but now I owed the broker Rs 50,000 and I did not have any source of earning to repay this money.

It was not the money that was playing on my mind, it was the burden of going back to my sales job pleading people to buy stuff and watch my boss throw tantrums. I was too used to the freedom I enjoyed over the last three years and dreaded the thought of losing it.

Q: How did you come back?

A: The first thing I did was to tell my mother what happened. She had by now retired and we now had only her retirement savings with us. I informed her that I might have to take up a job again but said I will take some time before taking one.

For the next one month, I was in front of the computer for nearly 18-19 hours every day. The thought that was plaguing my mind was why did no technical system that I knew could predict the fall. Either the subject of technical analysis was all bunkum or there is something that I might have overlooked. I was searching for any form of price analysis or any indicator that could have predicted the fall.

After a month, I found what I was looking for. Rather than looking at trends and momentum which most technical analysts do I found my answer in volatility. Unknown to me I was studying VIX (volatility index). I made my own indicator which on back-test predicted the fall in Infosys. (The recent fall in markets was also tweeted by Subhadip before it happened using more or less the same indicator).

Now that I had an indicator, the next thing I needed was funds to start. An uncle of mine had recently taken voluntary retirement from his work and asked me where to invest. I had asked him to pick up HPCL at Rs 130. He picked up Rs 5 lakh worth of shares of HPCL. I thought of approaching him. Instead of asking for money I asked him to lend me 100 shares of HPCL which I will use as margin. He refused to do so. That was one more learning that market taught me.

My broker called me and asked me to start trading. He said that he would give me a leg room of Rs 10,000-15,000. If I lose this money I would have to stop trading. This was the same broker whom I owed Rs 50,000.

Thats how I started trading again.

Q: Now that you had a method to your trading, how did you do?

A: I decided on a more focused approach, the stock I picked was ACC. I traded it on an intra-day basis or short-term positional basis. During this time the one thought that I had was that my fund size was Rs 10,000 and I have to manage my trades within this limit. That is how I learned about risk management.

To this day, I stress more on risk management than on simple buy and sell points. Within a month, I increased my account size from Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000. I paid back Rs 25,000 to the broker and took a cab back home.

I told my mother about my performance and asked her if she was willing to back me. A Rs 60,000 LIC policy of my mother had just matured, she gave me the entire amount. Since, that day I have never looked back.

Q: You were also on the board of a market-related software company, how did that happen?

A: I decided to automate the strategy that I had prepared. One day my data vendor saw what I was doing and asked me if I was willing to sell it. I felt that there would be no interest in the market for such a product, but he was confident. After a few sales, we landed in JP Morgans office for a presentation. We managed to sell the system for Rs 2.5 lakh and used that as our selling card to other people.

I was then approached by a Kolkata-based proprietary trading firm in 2008 to head their 200 member trading team. We traded instruments across asset class there. This was systemic trading and we leased some automated software by paying a lot of amounts. My managing director then told me if it could be developed in-house and I responded in affirmative.

We formed a software company in Delhi where another person from Microsoft joined us and our MD was the financier. We developed trading software and ran it profitably on commodity exchanges. We were one of the first firms to run the automated system on the commodity exchanges. At this time, I was also trading for the firm. We were hedging currencies for three corporates at the time.

Q: How did you end up being a prop trader then?

A: It was in 2013. I was working in Delhi in the software firm and had to come to Kolkata as mother was sick. We found out she was suffering from blood cancer. Within a week she passed away.

I was completely in shock. A year ago, I lost a very close school friend to cancer and now my mother who meant the world to me. I did not know why I was working the way I was. I told my boss I was quitting the job. My wife told me to take as long a break as I wanted.

In the next six months, when I tried opening the terminal to trade something weird was happening. Till then I was comfortable trading a currency position of $10-20 million, but now when I was trading even one lot of Nifty and if the position went against me by 4 points my heartbeat was increasing. I just could not do what I thought I was good at. Most of the trades over the next six months were loss-making.

We decided to take psychiatric help. I was told what was happening to me was a fear of loss, not only monetary but about other things. Slowly with psychiatric help, I was able to make a comeback and by early January 2014, I was trading again but only on my own account and that too only in Nifty.

Q: How do you trade now?

A: I have a more refined system of trading now than what I was trading earlier. Now, I trade mostly in options. The Infosys incident taught me was that options are the only instrument that can prevent you from a Black Swan event.

My trades nowadays are mostly option spreads. Though I trade directional, I trade it through options. The Adani trade that I am carrying now (discussed at length by Subhadip on his Twitter handle) is a 175-180 bull spread (buying 175 call option and selling 180 calls) where the maximum risk I am carrying is Rs 1. So a 4,000-share contract on my five lot position would mean a risk of Rs 20,000 and the gain if the price touches Rs 180 is Rs 80,000. Adani came to my notice from Rs 140 levels. But all throughout I was not worried even if the stock crashes by 20 percent or more as I had the protection of a spread position.

The key is how to identify stocks that give these moves, that is the learning from the Infosys trade. When a stock falls from that level all trend following and momentum indicators will inform you after the event has happened. These are lag indicators.

My discovery was volatility indicators, that too short-term indicator.

Say Infosys is moving in a range of Rs 10 on an hourly bar for the last 8-10 bars but suddenly there is a Rs 20 fall. This will not be captured in the end-of-the-day bar as the price moves by say Rs 40 in a day. But the Rs 20 fall in a single bar when the market was moving in a Rs 10 range for nearly 10 hours alerts me that the tides may be changing. This move gets first captured by volatility rather than trend and momentum.

What I have done is create my own volatility indicator which I monitor regularly for stocks as well as indices that forewarns me about the shifting volatility.

I also mix the volatility indicator with other data from derivatives which give much more information than data from the cash market. The cash market gives the open, high, low and closes along with volume and deliveries. But derivatives gives open interest as well as the entire action of an option chain which help in a more meaningful analysis of the counter.

Now volatility is a price-based indicator while a volume based indicator is an open interest. Majority of my price based study is on volatility and which side will the price break and if it is supported by open interest.

My hunting ground is stocks that are in the low volatility zone from where the stock will make a fresh move. As I am an option buyer and a directional player what I am looking for is a compression in volatility before the stock moves up with expanding volatility one last time.

Volatility has three characteristics they are  cyclicity, persistency and mean reversion. Cyclicity suggests that volatility will move from a high zone to a low one and again from low to high. Persistency says that if the volatility is high today it will again be high tomorrow or if it is low today it will be low again tomorrow. Mean reversion says that volatility will snap back from a high volatility zone to a low one and vice versa.

Now suppose you have a stock that is in the low volatility zone you have two characteristics in your favour. One is that cyclicity will ensure that volatility will move from the low to high zone while mean reversion will also suggest that the volatility will snap back to the mean. All you have to look out for is a breakout in volatility and if that breakout is followed by open interest going up then you are in a very good trade.

This way of trading is good for trading in stock options rather than index options. In index options, the data gets corrupted by varies strategies that FIIs use like synthetic futures (long calls and short put) that one filter out from the open interest data.

My list of stocks is restricted to 10 stocks where the options are liquid, where FIIs are active and it has a long option chain. I am more interested in trading a stock that is moving slowly rather than one that moves 20 percent in a day. I will trade this stock more from a day trading perspective.

Q: Could you share your track record in trading?

A: I trade two strategies. One is a simple bull or bear spread. Here I look to trade with a risk reward of 1:4. What I mean by this is that if there is a Rs 10 difference between two strikes, my spread cost (cost of buying an at-the-money option minus credit from selling out-of-the-money option) will not be more than Rs 2.5.

The risk-reward increases as we near expiry. The Adani spread trade of Rs 170-180, when I entered was at Rs 1 which moved up to Rs 4.5. If the above trade touches Rs 180 I will earn Rs 9 for every Rs 1 risked. But I do not play for the Rs 9. As soon as the spread increases to Rs 2, I square off half my position. When it reaches three times the risk I square off another 25 percent and it is only the last one that I wait for the entire length.

So in this strategy, I do not have to be correct all the time, even if I am right 35 percent of the time I am not losing money. But generally, I am correct over 50 percent of the time.

The other strategy I trade is the profit trap butterfly. This I trade closer to the expiry, actually expiry minus 13 days. Here I try to make an assumption of where the stock will close at expiry. I did this in HDFC Bank a few months back.

My assumption was that the stock would close at Rs 2,200 so I created a short butterfly (selling both calls and put) at 2,200 strikes I then bought 2180 put and a 2220 call. Here the difference in strike price is Rs 20. I take this trade if the risk-reward is 15 percent or less. That means, in this case, the spread for a Rs 20 difference in strike price should be a maximum of Rs 3. I managed to enter the trade at a spread of Rs 2. Here if the profit is Rs 4 I will book 50 percent of the profit.

I also trade intra-day but this is an automated trade where I enter the order if my system tells me. I have a nearly 60 percent success rate in intra-day trades with a risk reward of around 1:2 or 1:2.5.

Having said that there is another filter of risk management that I use. I have a daily, weekly and monthly target for risk as well as reward. I do not take a trade that does not come to me.

I also make it a point of taking a break every month and a half, especially if I am trading too well or have hit a bad patch. The trips help me get back on track from the emotional swings.
The 21st round of India-China border talks led by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will be held in China next month, informed sources said here.

Both Doval and Wang are designated Special Representatives for the border talks scheduled for November 23-25.

This will be the first round of talks for Wang who earlier this year succeeded Yang Jiechi as state councillor in a reshuffle.

While the dates have been finalised, the venue for the talks, which are expected to held outside Beijing, is yet to be finalised, the sources told PTI.

Special Representatives' talks are regarded as highly significant by both countries as they cover all aspects of bilateral relations besides making efforts to resolve the border dispute.

The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488 km Line of Actual Control (LAC). China also claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of southern Tibet.

Officials on both sides maintain that though a solution to the border dispute still eludes the two countries, a lot of headway has been made in the 20 rounds of talks so far in terms of working out mechanisms to restore peace and tranquillity along the border to resolve tensions due to aggressive patrolling by troops.

The last round of talks which was held in New Delhi between Doval and Yang took place in the immediate backdrop of last year's 73-day standoff between the two militaries at Dokalam over the Chinese military's plan to build a road close to India's strategic Chicken's Neck corridor that connects the northeastern states.

The standoff ended after the People's Liberation Army(PLA) halted plans to build the road.

The meeting between Doval and Yang also prepared the ground for the informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping at Wuhan in April this year, which resulted not only in normalisation of relations but gave a new fillip to the improvement of relations in all spheres of relations notwithstanding the border dispute.

Since then both countries have held several rounds of talks to enhance India's exports to China to reduce the USD 51 billion trade deficit as well as improving military-to-military relations.

Indian Ambassador to China Gautam Bambawale said last month at a meeting here that India-China military exchanges grew rapidly after the Wuhan summit.

Since then military commanders from both sides are now talking to each other more frankly and more candidly than ever before, he said.

Chinese Defence Minister Gen Wei Fenghe had visited India in August, met Modi and held talks with his Indian counterpart Nirmala Sitharaman.

The Chinese defence ministry said after Wei's visit that both countries are discussing a new version of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on defence exchanges and cooperation to improve on the 2006 agreement besides establishing a direct confidential phone line between the two defence ministries and strengthening communications at all levels.
Babri Masjid-Ramjanmabhoomi case

Expressing the commitment of BJP to Palampur resolution, party's state spokesperson Manish Shukla said on October 27 that Ram temple will be constructed in Ayodhya soon.

At its Palampur (Himachal Pradesh) convention in 1989, the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) had adopted a resolution to build a temple at the birthplace of lord Ram in Ayodhya.

"Right from the order of Allahabad High court to other orders of lower courts, it has been established Ram temple existed where the deity of lord Ram has been placed in Ayodhya, state BJP spokesperson Manish Shukla said while talking to reporters here.

Shukla claimed that owing to efforts of BJP-lead central government, Supreme Court agreed for a day-to-day hearing from October 29 on Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case.

The title dispute hearing in the case will commence from October 29.

"BJP is of the firm view that Ram temple existed at Ram Janmabhoomi Ayodhya since ages and would continue to remain in future also after the construction of a magnificent temple at the site," he said.

Rejecting allegations, that "BJP remembers Ram temple during elections only", Shukla said, it is a matter of faith for the party.

He said to tell the "slot" when elections are not held, be it of Nagar Panchayat, Nagar Palika, Vidhan Parishad, Vidhan Sabha, Lok Sabha etc.

On the opposition allegation that "BJP talks about Ram temple only but remains indifferent towards price rise," Shukla claimed only BJP has sincerely thought of poor after the independence.

He cited Centre's 'Ayushman Bharat' health insurance scheme of Rs 5 lakh per family per year, free LPG connection, power connection, to show the concern of Modi government towards poor.

Shukla said BJP is going to people with the report card of union government and about 19-month-old state government, just to apprise people that promises made by the party have been fulfilled.

Declaration of MSP at least one-and-half-times of its cost to farmer, Saubhagya scheme, electrification of villages, ensuring maximum wheat and paddy purchase in the state, waiving the loan of small and marginal farmers, ensuring urea availability, employment through one district one product scheme, construction of roads, crop insurance scheme, Atal pension scheme etc., are the achievement of BJP-led central and state governments, he stated.

He claimed that under Saubhagya scheme, over 72 lakh power connections have been given in the state in the last 19 months of BJP rule against 6.5 lakh connection per year under the previous governments.
The Congress on October 26 took out nationwide protest marches to CBI offices accusing the government of trying to 'cage the CBI', as the party president Rahul Gandhi, along with several others, courted arrest and alleged "every institution was being ruined" in the country.

While Gandhi led hundreds of Congress workers and leaders on their protest march in New Delhi, he was also joined by leaders from some other opposition parties, including from the CPI, Trinamool Congress and Loktantrik Janata Dal.

Similar marches were taken out by the Congress in Patna, Hyderabad, Gandhinagar, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh and Hyderabad, among other cities. While police briefly detained the protesters at several places and released them later, there were no report of any violence.

In Chandigarh, police said they had to use water cannons against the agitators and also suspend traffic for some time around the area of protest.

Traffic was impacted briefly in New Delhi as well in some areas.

Amid tight security by the police and with a large number of camerapersons jostling to record the march, protesters moved on shouting slogans and carrying placards alleging the government of trying to 'cage the CBI'.

The Congress has alleged Rafale link in the government decision to divest CBI Director Verma of his duties. The government has rejected the allegations.

The nationwide protests by Congress took place on a day when the Supreme Court ordered completion of a CVC probe, under supervision of a retired judge, into allegations against the top CBI officials within two weeks.

While Gandhi refused to comment on the court order, saying the process is "carrying on", Finance Minister Arun Jaitley welcomed the order and said the government has no interest for or against any individual and is keen only on maintaining institutional integrity of the investigative agency.

Gandhi, who led the nearly 1-km protest march of hundreds of party workers from Dala Singh College to the CBI headquarters in the national capital, also tweeted pictures of the march and him sitting at the Lodhi Road police station and said, "No matter how hard the government tries, it will not be able to cage the truth."

Later in the evening, Gandhi tweeted, "To the thousands of Indians who came out onto the streets today to say NO to corruption, NO to stopping the CBI from investigating Rafale and NO to injustice: everyday we will be joined by thousands more. Together we will fight till the PM's corruption has been stopped."

A police officer said 130 protesters including Gandhi and other Congress leaders such as Ashok Gehlot and Bhupinder Hooda were detained and released after 30 minutes.

Loktantrik Janata Dal leader Sharad Yadav, CPI leader D Raja and TMC's Nadimul Haque also joined the Congress protest.

Asserting that people are coming on the streets to show Prime Minister Narendra Modi "the mirror of reality", Gandhi lashed out at the government alleging that Modi "stole" money from the country and can run but not hide from the truth. There were no immediate reactions from the Prime Minister's Office on Gandhi's allegations. While Ambani has been consistently denying the allegations. The BJP has accused him of manufacturing lies every day on the Rafale deal.

Asked about the commotion during his arrest, Gandhi said, "You can push me or arrest me as many times but I do not care." At one point, he even got onto a truck in front of the police barricades put up ahead of the CBI headquarters to prevent the marchers from reaching the building.

The Congress leader alleged the Modi government of destroying institutions like the CBI, the Election Commission and the Enforcement Directorate. "Every institution in India being ruined by the prime minister," he alleged.

Joining Gandhi in the protest, Gehlot said the decision to send the CBI director on leave was "illegal". Such a decision can only be taken together by the chief justice of India, the leader of the opposition and the PM, he said.

Replicating the Delhi protests, Congress workers, including scores of women, in Patna sat on a dharna outside the CBI office, carrying placards that read, 'Save CBI, Save Democracy'. The Congress was also joined by the Telugu Desam Party and CPI in their protest march in Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh)

In Mumbai, city Congress president Sanjay Nirupam led the protest and accused PM Modi of "removing" Verma "illegally and by going against the Constitution".

Over 40 Congress workers and leaders from Gujarat, including eight MLAs and a former state unit chief, were detained outside the CBI office in Gandhinagar. They were released later, the police said.

In Bengaluru also, Congress workers protested in front of the CBI office, but several party MLAs and corporators were absent. While the party's national general secretary and Karnataka in-charge K C Venugopal participated in the protest, party spokesperson Subhash Agarwal said the presence of MLAs and corporators did not matter much as it was a symbolic agitation.

Former CM Siddaramaiah took to Twitter to target the PM over the CBI issue.

In Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, demonstrations were held in front of central government offices. In Bhunaneshwar, hundreds of Congress workers, wearing black T-shirts, tried to enter the CBI office, but were stopped by the security personnel at the gate.

Kerala Congress leaders marched to the CBI office in Thiruvananthapuram. Similar demonstrations were held in Jammu, Ranchi, Dhanbad, Vijayawada, Guwahati, among other cities.
Congress

The Congress on October 26 discussed names of candidates for Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh and second-phase of polling in Chhattisgarh, party sources said.

The Congress Central Election Committee met under Rahul Gandhi late in the evening here and decided names of candidates for a number of seats for the two states but did not make them public.

The assembly polls in Chhattisgarh will be held in two-phases on November 12 and 20 while Madhya Pradesh goes to polls on November 28.
Blockchain technology startup Ripple Labs Inc hired Amir Sarhangi.

Blockchain technology startup Ripple Labs Inc confirmed to Reuters on Friday that it hired Amir Sarhangi, who had been leading Googles rollout of a new wireless messaging system, as vice president of products.

Blockchain technology startup Ripple Labs Inc confirmed to Reuters on Friday that it hired Amir Sarhangi, who had been leading Googles rollout of a new wireless messaging system, as vice president of products.

San Francisco-based Ripple, which is among the most well known startups trying to capitalize on the technology that underpins cryptocurrencies, said it was excited to have Sarhangi leading its effort to develop a global payments network known as RippleNet.

Alphabet Incs Google did not respond to a request to comment on whether it had filled Sarhangis role as head of RCS, or rich communications services.

Sarhangi joined Google through its acquisition in 2015 of Jibe Mobile, a startup he founded and led that developed technology for wireless carriers to adopt RCS.

The standard is seen as a successor to SMS texting as it better handles sending multimedia and commercial messages, such as receipts and airline boarding passes, over cell networks.

Google views those commercial applications as a potential revenue generator and has partnered with numerous device makers and wireless carriers to introduce RCS.

But broad adoption has been stymied by leading device makers Apple Inc, which does not support RCS on iPhones, and Samsung Electronics Co, which in September announced limited support.
Stone pelters in Jammu and Kashmir are overground workers of terror groups and should be dealt with sternly, Army Chief Gen. Bipin Rawat said on October 27, a day after a 22-year-old jawan was killed in stone pelting in Kashmir, even as he warned Pakistan to desist from supporting cross-border terrorism.

Sending a tough message to Pakistan, Gen. Rawat said if Islamabad continues to support cross-border terrorism, then the Indian Army can resort to "other actions" too.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event to mark the Infantry Day, the Army chief, however, did not elaborate on what could be the possible action he was talking about.

The Army had carried out "surgical strikes" on terror launch pads across the Line of Actual Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir on September 28, 2016, following a string of terror attacks on military installations in India by Pakistan-based terror groups.

The Army chief also asked Pakistan to desist from aiding and abetting terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, asserting that the Indian State was "strong enough" to ensure that the border state remains a part of India and no one can take it away by force or any other means.

On the death of jawan Rajendra Singh in stone-pelting in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag district, Gen. Rawat reiterated his earlier stand that the stone-pelters are nothing but over ground workers of terror outfits. "I still say the same... If they (stone-pelters) can kill people with such acts, are they not becoming like terrorists."

22-year-old Singh died at a hospital in Srinagar Friday after he sustained head injuries during stone-pelting by a group of youths on Thursday.

"I want to tell them (stone-pelters) that no one will benefit from stone-pelting," said the Army chief, adding tough action should be taken against the stone-pelters. He said the Army has got an FIR lodged in the case.

Talking about Pakistan's support to cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, Gen. Rawat suggested that the neighbouring country was resorting to a "proxy war" to avenge its defeat at the hands of India in the 1971 war when Bangladesh was liberated.

The aim of Pakistan, he said, is to keep the Indian Army "embroiled in this proxy war that they have lost."

"But, let me assure you, Indian Army and the Indian State is strong enough to ensure that Jammu and Kashmir remain part of India... No one else can take it away by force or by any other means, because legally, legitimately J-K is integral part of India," he said.

Asked about the cross-border infiltration, he said Pakistan would be wise to know that by indulging in such activities, harm is coming to Pakistan only.

"We are capable of finishing any infiltrators who reach our side. But, if Pakistan continues to support infiltration, we can use other kind of action too," Rawat said.

He said Pakistan was continuing to fuel disturbances in Jammu and Kashmir, fully knowing that they will never succeed.

"Legitimately, legally and by all rights, J and K is part of India. Pakistan somehow has been trying to annex this part of the country, more so after they lost East Pakistan with liberation of Bangladesh," he said.

The Army chief said despite the passage of so many years, Pakistan still has a desire to succeed in that.

"And, with liberation of Bangladesh they decided to create a similar situation in Kashmir... Has Pakistan succeeded? They have not. And, Pakistan is fully aware they cannot succeed in Jammu and Kashmir, but they still hope they can succeed. It is just another way to keep the turmoil going and not allow development in the state," he said.

The Infantry Day is observed every year to commemorate supreme sacrifices made by Indian Army's infantry against Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will travel to Qatar and Kuwait from October 28 to 31 in pursuit of India's objective of enhanced engagement with the Gulf region. She will have engagements in Qatar on October 28 and 29 and Kuwait on October 30 and 31, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

During her visit to Qatar, Swaraj will interact with her counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister. She will also call on Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, Emir of Qatar. During her visit, she will also interact with the Indian community in Doha, the MEA said.

India and Qatar share millennia old historic multi-dimensional, relations.

The bilateral visit of the Emir of Qatar in March 2015 and Prime Minister of Qatar to India in December 2016 and that of the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Qatar in June 2016 have further boosted traditionally cordial and close ties between the two countries, the MEA said.

Qatar hosts about seven lakh Indians who form the largest expatriate community there. Qatar is a reliable energy partner, supplying more than 50 per cent of India's natural gas imports, it said.

India's bilateral trade with Qatar in 2017-18 was $9.9 billion, the MEA said.

The next leg of the visit would be to Kuwait, where Swaraj will hold a bilateral meeting with her counterpart Sheikh Sabah Al Khalid Al Sabah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kuwait.

She will also call on the Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and interact with the Indian community.

India and Kuwait have close and friendly bilateral relations. Kuwait is a reliable energy supplier to India and hosts about 10 lakh Indians forming the largest expatriate community. India's bilateral trade with Kuwait in 2017-18 was $8.5 billion, the MEA said.

This will be Swaraj's first visit as External Affairs Minister to both the countries.

The visit is in pursuit of India's objective of enhanced engagement with the Gulf region which is in India's extended neighbourhood.
Lawyer Prashant Bhushan

Supreme Court lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan on Saturday alleged that the Centre divested CBI Director Alok Verma of his duties to prevent him from investigating the multi-billion dollar Rafale deal.

He also welcomed the apex court's directions to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to complete an inquiry into the corruption allegations against Verma within two weeks.

The government removed Verma overnight as it was worried about him ordering an investigation into the Rafale deal, Bhushan told reporters here.

Bhushan, along with former BJP minister Yashwant Singh and senior journalist Arun Shourie had submitted a written complaint to the CBI alleging corruption in the Rafale deal.

"Verma had become independent as he had a fixed two-year tenure. The government turned nervous when the CBI director met us after we submitted a complaint to him in connection with the Rafale deal," Bhushan claimed.

He asked why the government is not ordering a Joint Parliamentary Committee or CBI probe or a CAG audit into the Rafale deal.

Bhushan lauded the Supreme Court's order which came on a plea filed by Verma challenging the government's decision divesting him of his duties and sending him on leave.

"It is good that the Supreme Court has intervened in the matter and the inquiry against Verma will be conducted under the supervision of retired Supreme Court judge AK Patnaik and it will be done within 14 days," he said.

He alleged that there could not be a bigger "treachery" in the country than the Rafale deal.

"The deal was announced in violation of mandatory procedures, such as obtaining Service Qualitative Requirements from the IAF service headquarters," he said.

The government also did not place the matter before the Categorisation Committee or obtained the Acceptance Of Necessity (AON) from the Defence Acquisition Council, he added.

He said the deal agreed to buy 36 aircraft in 'fly-away condition' without any transfer of technology.

Bhushan claimed that under the deal signed by the BJP-led NDA government the price of an aircraft is more than double of what was agreed upon in the deal signed by the previous UPA government.

He alleged that under the new deal, offset contract worth tens of thousands of crore was given to a private company which lacks prior experience.
5. The Fodder scam | A corruption scandal that ended the long reign of Lalu Prasad Yadav was first brought to light through an investigative scoop by journalist Ravi S Jha, who was working with the Asian Age. Jha explicitly drew public and legal attention into the fodder scam that involved an apparent foul play in funds worth 950 crores. The coverage exposed the implicit involvement of the Bihar government and threw light on the corruption schemes that fabricated fodder, animal husbandry and other equipments.

RJD national president Lalu Prasad Yadav took a swipe at the BJP and the JD(U) Saturday, a day after they jointly announced a seat-sharing arrangement in the NDA, saying they would first fight together and then against each other.

The former Bihar chief minister made the remarks in a post on his official Twitter handle which is being managed by his office. He is serving sentences in fodder scam cases but is currently ailing and admitted to a hospital.

"They will fight together and then fight each other. They will again fight together and again fight each other," he said taking a dig at the checkered history of the BJP-JD(U) tie-up.

The 17-year-long alliance of the two parties was snapped abruptly in 2013 but they came together again four years later.

Yadav also used epithets like paltimaar (turncoat) and "master in fakery" (swagger) apparently for Kumar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi respectively, neither of whom was mentioned by name.

Kumar was accused of being a turncoat by the RJD after he walked out of the grand alliance less than three years after its formation, following corruption cases against Prasad's younger son and the then deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav, and returned to the NDA last year.

Modi was accused of making tall claims and false promises by opposition parties.

On Friday, at a joint press meet in the national capital Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar and BJP chief Amit Shah had said the seat-sharing formula for the NDA in the state would be announced in three to four days.

The announcement put to rest speculations that demands by Kumar for a respectable share may throw a spanner in the way of a pre-poll tie-up.

Seeking to put up a brave front in the face of the formidable challenge that the BJP-JD(U) combine is likely to pose, the RJD supremo said, "Earlier the people defeated them separately. Now they will be beaten together and signed off with an evocative Jai Bihar."

Meanwhile, Yadav's son Tejashwi Yadav told a public meeting that Lalu is an ideology and not just an individual. Tejashwi was in Motihari town the district headquarters of East Champaran as part of his statewide Samvidhan Bachao Nyay Yatra.

"Had he capitulated before the BJP like Nitish (Kumar), I would have been the CM of Bihar today. But he is a man of principles and (PM) Narendra Modi realised that he is capable of channelling the public anger against the current regime which would have made his return to power impossible," he said.

"Hence, the ailing septuagenarian has been sent to jail in a case that is decades old and we, his family members, have been framed in new ones," said Tejashwi, who was named the RJD's chief ministerial candidate for the next assembly polls.
A voter displays her voter identity card as others wait for their turn to cast their ballot during an assembly election at a polling booth in Aizawl, capital of Mizoram, December 2, 2008. (Image- Reuters)

As the elections in Mizoram inch closer, it is important to have a look at the key players for the polls that will take place on November 28.

CONGRESS

The first name to find its mention will be current Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla. Thanhawla, belonging to Congress, will be fighting to retain control over the state after being in office for 10 years.

The 79-year-old leader, who has been the chief minister of Mizoram for five times, is one of the prominent names in the Mizoram political circles.

Before this, he was chief minister from 1984 to 1986 and from 1989 to 1998. He was elected to another term in the 2013 Mizoram Legislative Assembly election. This was the fifth time he was elected to the office of chief minister, which is a record in Mizoram.

His electoral constituencies are Serchhip and Hrangturzo. He successfully contested the general elections nine times  1978, 1979, 1984, 1987, 1993, 2003, 2008 and 2013.

Congress 2013 win in Mizoram can be credited to Thanhawlas efforts who won 34 seats in the 40-member legislative assembly, two seats more than the 2008 election. In comparison to Congress, the major opposition party, Mizo National Front (MNF), barely won five seats, while Mizoram People's Conference (MPC) won one seat.

Another Congress leader who could impact the upcoming elections in Mizoram is Lalrobiaka (Dampa). He sparked controversy due to his rising assets which grew by a whopping 2,406 percent in just five years, according to reports.

MIZO NATIONAL FRONT

From the opposition, Vanlalzawma belonging to the Mizo National Front could play an important role in the 2018 Mizoram polls. Party treasurer and also a former Lok Sabha member, Vanlalzawma will contest from Aizawl West-III seat again.

President of Mizo National Front (MNF) and former chief minister, Zoramthanga, will contest from Aizawl East-I Assembly constituency. He too will be a key player in the Assembly polls.

NEW ENTRANTS

Apart from individuals, new parties too will play an important role in the states election.

A new group called Zoram Exodus Movement (ZEM), formed by retired priests, retired government officials and senior journalists, announced an alliance with the Zoram Nationalist Party (ZN) and the Mizoram Peoples Conference (MPC) under the banner of Zoram Peoples Movement (ZPM).

Anti-corruption watchdog Peoples Right to Information and Development Implementation Society of Mizoram (PRISM) converted itself into a political party as Peoples Representation for Identity and Status of Mizoram and retained its abbreviated form: PRISM.

The Maraland Democratic Front (MDF), earlier an ally of the Opposition Mizo National Front (MNF), merged with the BJP on October 25 along with its two members of district council (MDCs) in the Mara Autonomous District Council.

These new parties probably could make a difference in the results as well.
Inquiry against Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi K Palaniswami has started ...Inquiry against Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi K Palaniswami has started, Madras HC informed

Buoyed by the recent Madras High Court verdict upholding disqualification of the 18 MLAs, ruling AIADMK on Saturday said it is ready to face the bypolls to the Tamil Nadu assembly any time, once the Election Commission announces the dates.

Replying to a specific question on the preparedness of AIADMK to contest the by-polls, including to constituencies of these MLAs, Chief Minister K Palaniswami told reporters here that the party was ready to face the byelections any time.

In an apparent reference to sidelined leader TTV Dhinakaran, he said 'betrayers' and 'enemies' had been given a befitting lesson by the Madras High Court.

In a huge relief to the AIADMK government, the court had on Thursday upheld the disqualification of the 18 rebel AIADMK MLAs loyal to Dhinakaran by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly last year.

The MLAs were disqualified on September 18 last year by Speaker P Dhanapal under the anti-defection law after they met the Governor and expressed a loss of confidence in Chief Minister K Palaniswami.

The MLAs have decided to approach the Supreme Court against the High Court order. Asked about the chances of Dhinakaran's party AMMK in the bypolls, Palanisamy blamed a section of the media for giving him undue publicity.

"Is he a great man? He has "finished" the 18 MLAs. The media never asked Dhinkaran, who is not even an AIADMK member, where he was when former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa was alive. He was thrown out of the party," Palanisamy said.

Asked when the long overdue local body elections would be held, the chief minister said the matter is pending in the Madras High Court.

The Court had on Friday pulled up the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission (SEC) for delaying the conduct of local body elections in violation of its order.

The case relates to the contempt petition filed by RS Bharathi of DMK against State Election Commissioner Malik Feroz Khan and its secretary Rajasekhar, for not complying with the order of the court directing that the local body polls be completed by November 17, 2017.

To a question on the Centre's nod to Kerala's proposal to conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment Study to construct a new dam in place of the existing Mullaperiyar reservoir, the Chief Minister said the state government has already written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reject the proposal.

Asked why the Tamil Nadu government was not constructing a dam across the Cauvery, Palanisamy said "We are ready for it. But there should be permission from the riparian States. Will they agree?"

Asked for his comments on Mahinda Rajapaksha taking over as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Palanisamy said the AIADMK's stand had always been that he should be tried for alleged war crimes against Tamils in the 2009 civil war against Tamils.

The island nation plunged into a constitutional crisis on Friday after President Maithripala Sirisena sacked Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and made former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa the new premier.

Wickremesinghe Saturday sought an emergency session of Parliament to prove his majority.

On the safety of fishermen from Tamil Nadu, who were facing frequent attacks, allegedly by the Sri Lankan Navy, he said the state government was committed to protect them and also find a solution to their problems.

The chief minister said he and fisheries minister (D Jayakumar) had recently met the Prime Minister and stressed the need to protect the fishermen.
Launched less than a year ago the new Hyundai Santro is carrying a consumer offer of Rs 40,000. The car, which was supposed to become a runaway hit, was the worse hit by the slowdown. The Santro is offered with petrol and petrol+CNG option (Image: Hyundai India)

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Automotive companies are hoping for an uptick in retail demand as festive days are round the corner. To cash in on it, one of Indias leading car makers brought back a famous hatchback brand to the market during the week. This was preceded by the launch of an all-new scooter. The highlight of the week, however, was when the Supreme Court cleared the air on BS-VI implementation. Heres a complete round-up of all the major developments in the auto space during the week.

Hero launches Destini 125 at Rs 54,650

Hero Motocorp has launched its first-ever 125cc scooter Destini 125 at a price starting Rs 54,650 (ex-showroom, Delhi). Showcased at the 2018 Auto Expo as the Duet 125, the scooter gets a few visual and performance upgrades over the concept.

The Destini is powered by a 125cc air-cooled single-cylinder engine generating 8.7 PS power and 10.2 Nm torque. The scooter also gets 10-inch alloy wheels suspended by a telescopic front fork and monoshock at the back.

Bajaj Autos market share hits 4-year hjgh

A robust growth in volumes has pushed Bajaj Auto's market share to a four-year high, aided by price drops in two key high-volume models. A fifth of the domestic motorcycle market is now controlled by the Pune-based manufacturer of Pulsar and Avenger.

The company recorded a market share of 20.06 percent by September-end, the highest since October 2014 when it recorded a 20.25 percent share in the domestic motorcycle market.

Hyundai launches all-new Santro

Hyundai Motor India has brought back one of Indias most popular hatchbacks Santro with a pricing of Rs 3.89 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi) for the entry variant. The car will be offered in five variants and seven colours with the top-end petrol manual version being priced at Rs 5.45 lakh.

Hyundai is offering an all-petrol and petrol-CNG option on the car along with three manual and two automatic options (AMT). The automatic version is costlier than the competition, and is priced at Rs 5.18 lakh while the petrol-CNG variant is priced at Rs 5.23 lakh.

Maruti Suzuki to increase CNG car production

The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki is ramping up production of its CNG range aided by a robust pick-up in their demand during the past few weeks.

The company saw a 50 percent jump in demand, according to RC Bhargava, Chairman, Maruti Suzuki. In September this year, the government announced plans of spending Rs 70,000 crore in setting up 10,000 CNG filling stations up from around 1450 at present in a decade.

Tata Motors launches Tiago JTP and Tigor JTP

Tata Motors, the countrys fourth-largest car maker, has launched performance variants of the Tiago and Tigor hatchback priced at Rs 6.39 lakh and Rs 7.49 lakh respectively, ex-showroom, New Delhi. Prices are introductory.

The two cars are the first products of the 50:50 joint venture company JT Special Vehicles formed between Tata Motors and Coimbatore-based Jayem Automotives, founded by former race car driver J Anand.

No Bharat Stage-VI vehicles after April 1, 2020

The Supreme Court ruled that every vehicle sold after April 1, 2020 will have to be compliant with the next stage of emission standard Bharat Stage VI (BSVI).

This means that the inventory of existing BS-IV grade vehicles will have to be exhausted before the deadline and companies will have to switch production to BS-VI much before April 1, 2020.

The ruling has gone against the tradition that allowed companies to exhaust their older inventory even after a new emission standard has kicked in. For instance, when the industry switched to BS-III from BS-II, it was allowed to sell BS-II vehicles after a specified date which mandated production of only BS-III vehicles.

However, during the last years switch to BS-IV from BS-III, the apex court disallowed sale of BS-III vehicles after April 1. As a result, two=wheeler, truck and bus manufacturers were stuck with an inventory of over 8.24 lakh units worth over Rs 14,000 crore. Car makers had switched to BS-IV as far back as 2010 itself.

Those manufacturers who rejoiced the Supreme Courts verdict, such as Pune-based bike specialist Bajaj Auto also said the verdict will prove to be a testament when the industry embraces BS-VI in 2020. Bajaj was one of the handful of companies to switch to BS-IV much before the April 1, 2017 deadline.

This time, a few companies were hoping for a relief of a few months that would allow them to exhaust their stock of BS-IV vehicles. More so because retail demand is expected to dip sharply for BS-VI vehicles due to their high cost. This would lead to lower production at factories leading to dip in profitability.

Automotive companies though appear confident of switching production to BS-VI much before the deadline. Speaking to reporters R C Bhargava, chairman, Maruti Suzuki India, said production at his company will switch to BS-VI standard 3-4 months before April 2020.

A senior executive from Tata Motors said though the industry would have welcomed a grace period of a few months, especially for commercial vehicles, the company is ready to meet the BS-VI target date and will comply with the SC order.
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This was an earnings-heavy week for Indian IT firms, with the focus being on two large caps  Wipro and HCL Technologies, and several mid caps including L&T Infotech, Hexaware, L&T Technology Services and so on.

HCL Technologies on Tuesday reported a better-then-expected result, but said its financial services vertical was impacted with two client-specific issues. It also did not change its forecast for the year.

Wipro reported a mixed set of numbers, but showed strong organic growth after a few quarters of client-specific issues that have overshadowed the company's digital efforts.

Wipro also named former State Bank of India chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya as independent director at the firm.

The Street, however, is overall more bullish about Wipro in the short term given its turnaround story becoming more apparent. Analysts have pointed out that HCL Technologies' core growth has been slowing and greater dependency on inorganic revenue streams will be a concern in the short term.

Also Read: IT's a tale of two companies: market hopeful of Wipro, cautious on HCL Tech

Hexaware reported a good quarter but CEO R Srikrishna told Moneycontrol there was some impact from unexpected furloughs and non-availability of adequate talent in the United States. However, the company expects the next quarter to be better.

Also Read: Talent acquisition issues to persist, but expect growth to bounce back in Q4: Hexaware CEO

H-1B visa issue has continued to haunt Indian IT firms ever since President Donald Trump took office. A new move by the administration to redefine some basic terms will have a longer impact in the industry.

Also Read: Donald Trumps H-1B visa reform plan may impact outsourcing policy of IT firms

Most IT firms who are reporting results this quarter have been at pains to point out their local hiring efforts in the US and other geographies, in addition to declaring their reduced dependence on the H-1B visas.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 24 inaugurated a platform called "Main Nahi, Hum," to collate the corporate social responsibility efforts of technology firms operating in India.

The slogan has changed hands between rival parties a couple of times.
Chhattisgarh will go to polls in less than a month from now. To be carried out in two phases, the elections will see, for the first time in many years, a genuine triangular contest between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress and the Janata Congress Chhattisgarh-Bahujan Samaj Party (JCC-BSP) combine.

This will be one of the many factors affecting the elections, but there are other issues as well which will decide the outcome to the 90-member assembly.

Neck-and-neck contest

Elections in Chhattisgarh have always been neck-and-neck, especially in terms of vote share. In 2013, BJPs vote share was 41.04 percent while Congress was 40.29 percent. Mayawatis BSP had secured a 4.27 percent vote share. While Congress had won in 39 seats, BJP had managed to grab 49 seats, thus forming the government for the third straight term.

In 2008, BJP had secured 40.33 percent vote share while Congress had polled 38.63 percent. BSP then had won two seats and secured 6.11 percent of the vote share. Similarly, in 2003, BJP had managed to secure 39.26 percent votes while Congress had secured 36.71 percent of total votes polled.

Also Read: Chhattisgarh Assembly Polls 2018: 22 seats where women will decide the results

Third front factor

This time around, Ajit Jogi, the JCC chief, would hope to be the kingmaker in case both the BJP and Congress fail to secure enough seats. Jogi was in Congress during the 2013 elections, and had led the party from the front but formed JCC in 2016 after his son Amit was removed for anti-party activities.

Jogi and Mayawatis bonhomie, and the two leaders ambitious plan for the elections, can be gauged by the fact that Jogis daughter-in-law, Richa Jogi, will contest on a BSP ticket from Akaltara.

Moreover, BSP supremo Mayawati has also stated that senior Jogi would the alliances chief ministerial candidate, although Ajit Jogi had recently announced that he himself would not be contesting from any seat.

Apart from BSP, which has a proven record in the states assembly and JCC, which is yet to prove itself, Communist Party of India (CPI) too would be contesting as an alliance partner. CPI would be contesting from Konta and Dantewada, both ST seats going to polls during the first phase of the elections, and both having a considerable Communist influence (CPI candidates in both seats had secured third position during the 2013 polls.)

Also Read: Mayawati's masterstroke? Making sense of the BSP chief's decision to tie up with Ajit Jogi

Tapes, scandals and scams

In Chhattisgarh, audiotapes have dominated political discussion throughout its history. In 2003, Ajit Jogi was suspended for allegedly offering money to Congress legislators to form an alternative government. He was involved in another controversy along with his son Ajit in 2015 for allegedly fixing the Antagarh bypoll, audiotapes of which were leaked to the media.

Congress was hit by another scandal in 2017 when its chief Bhupesh Baghel was jailed for circulating a sex CD allegedly showing a senior cabinet minister in a compromising position.

A senior BJP minister, Brijmohan Agrawal, was also accused of being involved in illegal purchase of forest land, an alleged scam which is expected to be one of the moot points during the upcoming elections.

Also Read: Chhattisgarh Assembly Polls 2018: Silent performer Raman Singh eyes record 4th term as chief minister

Tribal votes

Chhattisgarh has 29 seats reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST), out of which Congress won 18 and BJP 11 during the last elections. That was shocking for the BJP, which had received unprecedented support from the tribal belt during the past elections in 2008, for instance, it had swept the tribal belt by winning 23 of the 29 seats.

In 2013, prominent BJP tribal ministers in the state cabinet, including Nankiram Kanwar, Ramvichar Netam and Lata Usendi had lost from their constituencies. This was despite reports indicating CM Raman Singhs popularity in the tribal belt.

The Congress, meanwhile, has focused on the Forest Rights Act, and pitched their poll battle in the tribal belt on the dilution of the act. The party has also been targeting the BJP-led central government over its reduction of MSP for minor forest produce by 53 percent. The Grand Old Party will look to revive its 2013 performance, and then some more.

Also Read: Chhattisgarh Assembly Polls 2018: With phase 1 on November 12, let's see how the tribal belt votes

Urban Naxal debate

The recent urban Naxal debate could also shape the poll campaigning, considering that a number of human rights activists accused of being in tandem with the Maoists work in the states Naxal-infested districts.

An indication of that was provided by BJP national president Amit Shah on October 12, when he said if the Congress comes to power in Chhattisgarh, the government machinery will depend on Maoist forces.

Shah's comments, observers feel, will be first in a slew of comments on the issue.
China and Japan on October 26 pledged to forge closer ties as both countries stood together at an "historic turning point", signing a broad range of agreements including a $30 billion currency swap pact, amid rising trade tensions with Washington.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang also agreed the two countries would work together to achieve denuclearisation on the Korean Peninsula.

The pacts were reached on Abe's three-day visit to Beijing as the two neighbours looked to carve out new areas of cooperation and seek ways to promote trust, which has been fragile at times since diplomatic relations resumed in 1972.

Deals worth a total of $18 billion were signed between Chinese and Japanese companies during Abe's visit. That reflects the "bright prospects" for cooperation between the two countries, said Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.

"From competition to co-existence, Japan and China bilateral relations have entered a new phase. Hand in hand with Premier Li, I would like to advance our ties forward," Abe told reporters after the pair met on Friday morning.

Both countries are neighbours and partners, and will not become a threat to each other, Abe said after meeting with President Xi Jinping on Friday in the first full-scale Sino-Japanese summit since 2011.

"With President Xi Jinping, I would like to carve out a new era for China and Japan," Abe said.

Xi said bilateral ties had returned to the right track and China would ensure the positive momentum continues, according to state media.

"That is worth cherishing by both sides," Xi said.

Both sides should undertake more in-depth strategic dialogue, Xi said, adding that exchanges between ordinary Japanese and Chinese people should also be stepped up to foster deeper mutual understanding.

"Both sides should accurately grasp each other's strategic intent, and implement what was agreed - that both sides will become partners, both sides will pose no threats to each other," Xi said.

Abe invited Xi to visit Japan next year. Xi said he would "seriously consider" a visit, a Japanese government spokesman told reporters in Beijing.

"My impression is that President Xi responded positively. We need to nail down a date now," he said.

TERRITORIAL DISPUTE

Abe returned to power in 2012 when Sino-Japanese ties were in tatters due to a feud over East China Sea islands, and the territorial dispute remains a key source of friction between the two countries.

The Japanese government spokesman said Abe told Premier Li during their meeting that there would be "no genuine improvement" in bilateral ties unless there was "stability in the East China Sea".

Japanese firms including big auto companies like Toyota hope to see normalised ties with China so they can compete with U.S. and European rivals, while Beijing expects Tokyo's endorsement of its ambitious Belt and Road programme, an initiative that Xi hopes will further boost trade and transport links with other countries.

Abe also said Tokyo was "determined" to normalise diplomatic relations with Pyongyang, but only if preconditions were met, including denuclearisation and the release of kidnapped Japanese citizens.

"Our two countries bear large responsibility in achieving peace and stability in this region," Abe said.

Efforts in advancing China-Japan ties should "persevere unremittingly to prevent the appearance of new twists and turns" so that previous efforts did not go to waste, said Li at a joint briefing with Abe on Friday.

"The Chinese side is willing to work with the Japanese side to return to a normal track, and maintain the stable, sustained and healthy development of bilateral relations," he said, adding that he had held candid discussions with Abe since his arrival on matters of mutual concerns.

They reached consensus, Li said, that safeguarding long-term healthy and stable China-Japan ties was in accordance with the interests of both countries and the region and the world.

The move to boost economic ties came as China and the United States slap tit-for-tat tariffs on each other in recent months. Japan is at risk as it exports to China manufacturing equipment and electronic parts, which are used to make finished goods for the United States and other markets.

While Japan, worried about China's growing naval power, is keen for closer economic ties with its biggest trading partner, it must manage that rapprochement without upsetting its key security ally, the United States, with which it has trade problems of its own.

Ahead of the briefing, China and Japan signed an agreement to boost cooperation in the securities markets including the listing of exchange-trade funds (ETFs), and facilitate smoother customs clearance.

The two sides also signed a currency swap agreement of up to 3.4 trillion yen ($30.29 billion), effective until 2021. A deal towards establishing a yuan clearing bank was also inked.

More than 50 deals and agreements were signed.

Li said both sides had agreed that as major countries, China and Japan should uphold free trade and accelerate talks on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and on a China-Japan-Korea trade zone.

RCEP is a free trade agreement proposed by China with Southeast Asia and various countries on the Pacific Rim including Japan.

($1 = 112.2300 yen)
Googles latest contract for Android has made it compulsory to push regular security updates to all kinds of Android phones.

For years, Android users have known the sad story of update rollout. Major manufacturers such as Samsung, Xiaomi, HTC, Huawei and others offer excellent hardware but struggle terribly when it comes to the rollout of regular updates. The delay or ignorance in rolling out updates has often made the platform more prone to security threats. However, Google has been trying hard to reduce the plight that Android users face and therefore has updated its terms and condition of the Android license terms.

The Verge has got hold of the latest terms and conditions of the Android license book, where it clearly states that all manufacturers using Android as the operating system will have to deliver regular updates to their devices for at least two years. Manufacturers will be required to roll out at least four security updates within a year of the devices launch. For the second year, Google hasnt laid out any particular timeframe, but manufacturers are required to patch any security vulnerabilities that been detected and fixed by Google.

However, there are a lot of agreements to this contract. Google has made the following licence terms only for those devices that are popular, i.e. the particular model should at least touch the 100,000 sales mark. The terms only apply to devices that have been launched after 31st January, 2018. Additionally, there will only be selected devices that will be bound by the security agreement, which could eventually be restricted to premium devices and Google-branded devices.

Wonder what happens if manufacturers dont comply? According to license terms, Google could be forced to deny the approvals of future devices from the manufacturer, eventually preventing them from being released.

Do note that these terms arent present on Googles global licence terms and have been only found by The Verge for now. However, the effects of this new agreement are visible this year as several third-party manufacturers, especially the ones who were a part of the Android Beta Program, have rolled out the latest updates to compliant devices within a few weeks. Google has also been trying its best to help manufacturers roll out the latest updates via Project Treble, which separated the core of the Android OS from the modifications that are mounted over the stock OS.

(source)
The White House has formally invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to Washington, US National Security Advisor John Bolton said on Friday, returning to an idea that was put on hold in July amid anger in the U.S. over the prospect of such a summit.

President Donald Trump held a summit with Putin in Helsinki, the Finnish capital, and then issued Putin an invitation to visit Washington in the autumn. But that was postponed after Trump was accused of cozying up to the Kremlin.

"We have invited President Putin to Washington," Bolton said at a news conference during a visit to ex-Soviet Georgia, days after meeting Putin and senior security officials in Moscow.

It was not immediately clear if Putin had accepted the invitation, which is for next year.

Bolton, in a separate interview with Reuters, strongly criticised Russian foreign policy, saying Moscow's behaviour on the world stage was one of the reasons Washington had imposed sanctions on Russia and was now considering imposing more.

"It will be helpful if they (the Russians) stop interfering in our election ... get out of Crimea and the Donbass in Ukraine ... stop using illegal chemical weapons to conduct assassination attempts against Russian exiles in the West, and if they would be less intrusive in the Middle East," he said.

Russia denies meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, sending soldiers and equipment to eastern Ukraine, and has rejected Western allegations it was behind the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Britain.

WILL PUTIN ACCEPT?

Putin last held a meeting with a US president on American soil in 2015 when he met Barack Obama on the sidelines of a UN General Assembly.

Trump's earlier invitation to Putin sparked an outcry in Washington, including from lawmakers in Trump's Republican party, who argued that Putin was an adversary not worthy of a White House visit.

Trump has said it is in US interests to establish a solid working relationship with Putin however.

Trump and Putin plan to hold a bilateral meeting in Paris on November 11 on the sidelines of events to commemorate the centenary of the end of World War One.

Bolton said that the Paris meeting would be brief and more of "a base-touching exercise."

"One of the most important subjects they will discuss is whether President Putin will accept President Trump's invitation to come to Washington or will President Putin once again extend his invitation to President Trump to go to Moscow," said Bolton.

"I think what President Trump would like would be more of an opportunity to discuss the issues at length and we'll have to see when it gets on the schedule."
Answer: Donald Trump.

Reiterating that China badly wants a trade deal with America, President Donald Trump said on October 26 that he wants a fair and reciprocal trade with other countries.

Trump, who has launched a series of new policy initiatives to challenge the Chinese assertiveness and imposed massive import tariffs on Chinese products, said that he has told the leadership of China that this is no longer the same old White House.

"They (Chinese leadership) want to make a (trade) deal so badly. And I said 'you're not ready yet. No, you're not ready. No'. I told him you're not ready yet'. I did say that. They've never heard that before, but I said you're not ready," Trump told a Black leadership conference at the White House.

"When they see a building that's, you know, a 1790-type version building, what they say to themselves, you know? That's like a new building. But for this country, this isn't -- 1790. If you remember, Number six. I'm 45. Number six, President number six -- you know who that was -- President number six was the first occupant of the White House. But the history here is incredible," he said.

Trump said every citizen benefits when his administration stops foreign countries from cheating American workers.

"That's what they've been doing. They're called globalists, they like the globe. I like the globe, too. I like the globe, too, but we have to take care of our people. We have to," the President said.

A few days ago, he had described himself as a nationalist.

"When we have trade deals, we have to make good trade deals for our country. So when I took office, we lost USD 807 billion that year on trade. We want our trade with other countries to be fair and reciprocal, the reciprocal is very important because we have other countries charging us tariffs of 100 per cent and more and we don't charge them anything," said the US President.
Jahangir was a staunch activist of democracy, she also received several accolades for her work on human rights .

Islamabad: Pakistans late human rights lawyer, Asma Jahangir will be posthumously awarded the UN Human Rights Prize 2018.

President of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Maria Fernanda

Espinosa Garces posted tweeted: Today I announced the 2018 winners of the @UN Human Rights Prize. I am proud to recognise the contributions of individuals & organisations that promote & protect human rights Rebeca Gyumi. Asma Jahangir Joenia Wapichana. Your work is an inspiration to us all.

Ms Jahangir passed away on February 11 after suffering a stroke. She was 66 years old. She was known for taking up court cases of victimized and marginalised sections of society, as well as speaking against humanrights violations and her courageous stand against the military rule of General Ziaul Haq.

Ms Jahangir was a staunch activist of democracy, she also received several accolades for her work on human rights .

From 1998-2000 Jahangir served as the special rapporteur of the UN Commission on Extrajudicial, Summary and Arbitrary Executions and was the special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief of the UN Commission on Human Rights since 2004. Born in 1952 and raised in Lahore, Ms Jahangir studied at the Convent of Jesus and Mary before receiving her bachelors degree from Kinnaird and Law degree from the Punjab University in 1978. In 1987 she co-founded the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and became its Secretary General until 1993 when she was elevated as commission's chairperson.

Ms Jahangir was also co-chair of South Asians for Human Rights. She was appointed United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Arbitrary or summary executions and later as the United Nations Rapporteur of Freedom of religion or belief. She was put under house arrest and later imprisoned in 1983 for participating in the movement for the restoration of political and fundamental rights during the military regime. She was again put under house arrest in November 2007 after the imposition of emergency rule.
Grub Burger Bar will be opening a location at the Parks Legado Town Center next year.

With burgers like the Lockhart Legend and Jive Turkey Burger, this fast-casual, chef-driven burger bar continues to expand from its College Station roots.

There is a Grub Burger location in Midland, at 4400 Midland Drive, the intersection of Midland Drive and Loop 250.

RELATED: Anyone down for a 12-hour Popeyes chicken run?

Grub Burger represents the next phase of The Parks Legado Town Center where we continue to offer many firsts to the West Texas Community, said Collin Sewell, president of the Sewell Family of Cos. We are excited for their opening and the chance to offer great food in a great atmosphere for families.

Ronan McCaffrey, Grubs North Texas market partner, said the move to Odessa will be special for the restaurant, which boasts locations in Texas, California, Georgia, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Florida.

After four great years in Midland, we are excited to be expanding in West Texas, McCaffrey said.

The Parks Legado restaurant will include a dining room, a patio, full bar and a casual, polished design aesthetic of natural wood, steel and glass elements.
CPEC was a win-win project for both Pakistan and China and ultimately of huge benefit to Pakistan.

Lijian said that the CPEC would create 700,000 jobs by 2030, while by 2022 Pakistan's energy needs will be met through various power generation initiatives by China.

Islamabad: China's Ambassador Yao Jing Friday said that the financial support provided for the USD 50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was not a burden on the economy of Pakistan.

He told media in the Chinese embassy here that the CPEC was a win-win project for both Pakistan and China and ultimately of huge benefit to Pakistan.

"The CPEC is beneficial not only for China but also for Pakistan and it is a wrong impression that only Chinese companies are benefiting from it," Yao said.

As the ambassador said that the "CPEC is not a burden on Pakistan's economy", China's deputy ambassador Lijian Zhao said that it was wrong to attribute Pakistan's economic hardships to Chinese loans.

"China's debt to Pakistan is 6.3 per cent of Pakistan's total debt. Pakistan only has to pay two per cent interest. It has 15 to 20 years to repay the loan. From 2020 to 2021, Pakistan has to pay between USD 300 million and USD 400 million," he said.

Lijian said that the CPEC would create 700,000 jobs by 2030, while by 2022 Pakistan's energy needs will be met through various power generation initiatives by China.

The deputy ambassador also said that the early harvest project of the CPEC would be by early 2019. He said that out of the 22 projects, 10 had been completed which include seven relating to energy. He said that Iran and Afghanistan could also become part of the CPEC in future.

However, the ambassador said that China was spending USD 19 billion on the 22 projects, as he hit out at the global powers for trying to undermine the importance of the CPEC for Pakistan.

"Some powers are bothered by Pakistan and China's cooperation, relationship and friendship," Yao said.

He also claimed that Chinese projects were completely transparent and so far no report about any financial misappropriation was received. Yao also said China would provide all possible assistance to help Pakistan to come out of the current the economic challenges.

"We understand Pakistan right now faces some challenges and definitely as a friend China will extend whatever assistance possible," said the ambassador.

He said China was looking forward to the upcoming visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan who will pay a official visit to China in the first week of November. However, the deputy ambassador was more precise to indicate that China will provide financial assistance.

"In terms of financial assistance during the visit of Khan, we will provide hopefully a grant to the Pakistani government and at the end of the visit there will be good news," said Lijian.
A 65-year-old Houston area man is behind bars after flying to Kentucky to have sex with what he believed were two children under the age of 12, authorities announced this week.

Instead, Gregory Lee Hruby of Brazoria was arrested by Kentucky State Police at the airport. Police said he traveled some 900 miles to be fooled by the sting.
In the western part of the country, some places of worship use dance classes to convince people to meet. A way to "become places of social aggregation".

Tokyo (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Buddhist temples in western Japan use 80s disco music and dance classes to attract young people. The purpose, explain the religious, is to regain young people's trust and restore the vision of the places of worship as places of social gathering.

The Kosenji temple, in the central Fukuoka region, recently installed a "disco globe" similar to those of American discos: thanks to this instrument, a club-like atmosphere was created in the temple. The purpose - says the head of the temple Koji Jo - is to make the place of worship similar to a place "useful for the secular life".

Things, explains Jo, "are different from when people came to the temple to learn how to write. Today nobody comes here unless there is a funeral or ritual ceremony in memory of something ". Today instead "the young women who come to the temple clap their hands to pray, and then join a disco dance lesson under the globe lights".

The Bodaiji temple, also in Fukuoka, uses stars to attract new visitors. After buying a top of the range projector, more than a thousand people joined together to take astrology lessons. According to Mitsuhiko Akita, head of the temple, "places of worship have the potential to become places of social aggregation. We must not be transitory, but places where people gather and share their vision of the world ".
A faculty/student research collaboration to investigate the cancer prevention qualities of heirloom tomatoes has been enhanced with news that two Western Illinois University faculty have been awarded a nearly $32,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to expand the project.

The research, being conducted by WIU assistant professor of chemistry Mette Soendergaard and assistant professor of agriculture Shelby Henning, along with their graduate and undergraduate students, began in the spring. The project was born when Soendergaard and Henning found they had similar research interests involving work with vegetables.

The study began with looking at a handful of varieties of heirloom tomatoes, which were grown in the universitys new greenhouse facilities. The harvested tomatoes were then taken into the laboratories of WIUs Currens Hall, where they were sliced, freeze dried and ground into powder. The finished product was tested with a variety of solvents.

Henning said the grant will help him obtain better equipment for growing the tomato crop, including pumps, fertilizer, trellising materials, the water/fertilizer solution, analysis meters and growing media. The greenhouse tomatoes are grown hydroponically, in volcanic rock, instead of soil.

The grant is also going to allow us to expand what it is we are looking at in terms of root stock and scion combinations, he said. At this point, we have only looked at two heirlooms and a commercial standard grafted to four different rootstocks. We can now expand the scope of our research. I may even put some plants in the field, but still grown hydroponically. Im excited for what possibilities the grant is going to allow for.

Soendergaard said the USDA grant will allow her and her students to expand their study to include more tomatoes and rootstocks.

Overall, that means that we will have more confidence in our results, so that we may eventually share our data with farmers and the research community, she said. Also, the grant provides a research assistantship for a graduate student. This student will get his/her tuition waived and receive a monthly stipend to work on the project.

The research project specifically studies tomatoes and the antioxidants they contain in terms of cancer prevention. Research goals include looking further into whether heirloom tomatoes have different disease prevention qualities than more commonly encountered, commercially grown varieties.

We are trying to see whether we can grow the heirloom tomatoes efficiently and how it impacts the health benefits, said Soendergaard.

Additionally, Henning was awarded a nearly $46,000 USDA grant for a separate research project, Variety Selection and Integrated Pest Management for Production of High-Value Crops in High-Tunnels in Illinois.
Three Revolutionary War patriots buried in Jacksonville East Cemetery will be honored Sunday by the Elijah Smith Chapter of Sons of the American Revolution.

The organization will honor the patriots by dedicating a plaque to their memory at 2 p.m. Sunday at the cemetery entrance on Myrtle Street. The plaque will identify each of the patriots, their service to the country during the Revolutionary War, and their location in the cemetery.

The patriots to be honored are Joseph Jackson (1758-1842), John Dawson (1750-1839) and Elijah Smith (1755-1836).

There is a national SAR effort under way to recognize the patriots of the American Revolution, said Sid Welles of rural Jacksonville, president of the Elijah Smith Chapter of SAR. The national SAR is trying to mark every cemetery in the United States that holds the remains of Revolutionary War soldiers. Our local chapter has been working on this project for over a year, and we hope to mark other cemeteries where patriots are buried.

The exact number of Revolutionary War soldiers buried in Illinois is difficult to determine, but genealogists believe that 1,053 soldiers from that war are interred in 89 of the states 102 counties, according to a list compiled in the early 1970s.

The Elijah Smith Chapter of SAR, which covers nine west-central Illinois counties, has records of 34 Revolutionary War soldiers buried in Morgan County.

Smith, for instance, was born in or near Trenton, New Jersey, in 1755 and enlisted in the Continental army numerous times between 1776 and 1781.

Only a few details are known about most of the patriots buried in Morgan County. Fourteen of the soldiers were born in Virginia; the oldest three were born in 1750; one man was born in Ireland; three served as officers; most were privates; one fought at Bunker Hill; one was captured by the British; one served under Gen. Daniel Morgan, from whom Morgan County takes its name; one is said to have carried messages from Gen. Francis Swamp Fox Marion to Gen. George Washington; and the last veteran died in 1853 at age 96.

After the plaque dedication ceremony, the Rev. James Caldwell Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution will host a reception at the Governor Duncan Mansion.

Greg Olson can be reached at 217-245-6121, ext. 1224, or on Twitter @JCNews_Greg
Political class must sacrifice in the ...
by Mathias Hariyadi

37% percent of Islamic teachers admit to making hostile gestures to people of different faiths. 34% would disagree with the establishment of a non-Islamic educational center. H. Moch Qasim Mathar, from the Islamic State Alauddin University of Makassar: "Concern for a phenomenon that the government must fight in a serious and rapid manner".

Jakarta (AsiaNews) - 57% of Muslim teachers in state schools and madrassas in 34 provinces and 767 Indonesian districts are intolerant of fellow citizens belonging to different religious communities.

This is what emerges from a recent study conducted by the Research Center on Islam and Society of the Islamic State University Syarif Hidayatullah (Ppim Uin) in Jakarta, an institution based in Ciputat (Banten province).

Saiful Uman, executive director of the university, said that "the research was published with the aim of highlighting the opinion of the teachers on the issues of tolerance and harmony in society". "This - he adds - by virtue of their strategic position as educators and agents of knowledge". However, Uman defines some data contained in the document as "worrying".

37% percent of Islamic teachers admit to making hostile gestures to people of different faiths. Regarding the freedom of non-Muslim groups to profess religion, 56% would not reach any compromise for the construction of their own place of prayer in their own residential complex. 21% oppose any religious event that is not Islamic. 29% of teachers would be willing to sign a petition if their school was led by a non-Muslim supervisor. 34% would disagree with the establishment of a non-Islamic educational center near his home or workplace.

H. Moch Qasim Mathar, professor of the Islamic State Alauddin University of Makassar (South Sulawesi) told AsiaNews that "the study fuels concern for a phenomenon that the government must fight in a serious and rapid manner". The academic suggests "controls on teachers, even before they are hired". According to the professor of Islamic thought, it is necessary to implement training programs to "identify" people who can become teachers, both in public and private schools. "It is a duty - he says - to show them what has happened in the Arab world, in Islamic countries marked by atrocities and devastation".

Listia Suprobo, an activist for interreligious dialogue originating from Yogyakarta, illustrates the activities carried out in two institutes under the aegis of Prakarsa Pendidikan Berparadigma Pancasila (photo 2-3-4). Addressed to teachers of religion, this educational initiative has as its reference point the Pancasila, which is the pluralist philosophy on which the Indonesian State is founded. "Workshops and sessions are organized - says Suprobo - in which participants learn from colleagues from other religions and schools. They share best practices on how to teach religion to students with different religious backgrounds ". "Our main goal is to enlighten participants with an inclusive mindset," the activist concludes.
TuCare Natural Resources Summit View Photos

Sonora, CA  The Tuolumne County Alliance For Resources and the Environment, TuCare, held its annual natural resources summit at the Mother Lode Fairgrounds this morning.

This years theme, Taming The Beast, was in reference to the increasing number of mega fires in the Sierra Nevada. Congressman Tom McClintock was the keynote speaker and he gave an update on forest related legislation being debated in Washington, DC. He spoke disappointedly about how his Resilient Federal Forest Act passed twice in the US House of Representatives but has failed to gain enough support in the Senate. He laid blame on the cloture rules that require 60 Senate votes to bring forward legislation.

However, he was still optimistic that changes will be on the horizon when it comes to federal forest policies. He specifically praised senior administration officials and the new head of the US Forest Service.

An earlier speaker that was more optimistic about the future of the forest was Barnie Gyant, US Forest Service Regional Deputy. He complimented the Master Stewardship Agreement recently approved by Tuolumne County and the Stanislaus National Forest, and spoke positively about California Climate Initiative funding becoming available in the state. Gyant added that the Forest Service is being proactive in collaborating with local groups and re-examining many past practices and policies put in place 20-30 years ago. He stated, Im as hopeful as Ive ever been for change.

Other dignitaries that spoke include Randy Hanvelt, Tuolumne County Supervisor, Steve Brink with the California Forestry Association, Shaun Crook of the California Farm Bureau, Nick Casci of CAL Fire and Julie von Savoye of Cutler-Segerstrom Insurance.

Close to 100 were on hand at the Mother Lode Fairgrounds for the summit.

On a related note, there were multiple CHP Officers present both inside the event and in the parking lot out of concerns that protesters could disrupt the forum. A group had set up signs across the street, apparently in response to Congressman McClintock, reading, Acknowledge Climate Change, Stop Cutting Forest Service Budgets and Put A Price On Carbon. No one disrupted todays event and everything went smoothly.
by Vladimir Rozanskij

The breaking of the communion between the two patriarchates led to the closing of pilgrimages to Mount Athos by Russian pilgrims. The "Society of Russian Athos", which also includes Putin, had donated up to 500 million dollars so far. Poroshenko prepares to transfer the jurisdiction of the Caves of the monks Antonij and Feodosij in Kiev to Istanbul.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - The breaking of the fraternal relations between Moscow and Constantinople is the epilogue of a long diatribe between the two main offices of Orthodoxy, but also the beginning of a phase that promises to be turbulent.

Since October 15, the day on which the Patriarchate of Moscow declared the suspension of Eucharistic communion with the representatives of the ecumenical patriarchate, the declarations of the two conflicting parties follow each other, showing the lack of respect for canonical rules, traditions and principles of ecclesial life, in addition to submission to political interests that involve not only Russia and Ukraine, but also the United States and other powers interested in the status of Eastern European countries.

The first painful result of the quarrel is the closure of Mount Athos to Russian pilgrims, as the spokesman of the Patriarch of Moscow, Aleksandr Volkov, also reiterated on October 23. He argued that the ban applies only to participation in the sacraments, but he suggested to the faithful "to abstain from journeys to Mount Athos, as long as this state of confusion persists".

In fact, the loss of the "holy mountain" can greatly disorient the faith of the Russians, who have turned to the monasteries of the Chalkidiki peninsula from the beginning; the foundation of the Athos monasteries is contemporary to the Baptism of the Rus' in Kiev (end of the 10th century), and throughout the Russian history the mountain has always been the source and guarantor of the great renewal and rebirth movements of the Orthodox spirituality for the Russians, as it has been for the past 25 years. The life of Orthodoxy in general, and Russian in particular, is mainly based on monastic practice.

It is no coincidence that over the last few decades the 20 great monasteries and the many hermitages of Athos have welcomed, besides numerous pilgrims, rivers of funding coming from Russia. Inspired by the Church and by Putin's own politics, many Russian businessmen and politicians joined a very elite association, the "Society of Russian Athos", led by former St. Petersburg Governor Georgij Poltavchenko (Putin's trusted colleague at the Kgb during the Soviet years).

The members of the society can be recognized by a special rosary that they wear on their left wrist, also worn by Putin himself. According to various estimates they have invested between 200 and 500 million dollars in Athos. Last June, following overly unscrupulous attempts by members of the group to "buy" a good part of the monastic territory, the Greek government had suspended the granting of visas to the Russians.

Also for this reason, in recent days, Metropolitan Ilarion (Alfeev) invited the "devotees of Athos" to transfer the offers from the Greek mountain to the many Russian sanctuaries and monasteries, especially the monastery of Valaam in Russian Karelia, exalted in recent years by repeated visits by Putin and Patriarch Kirill and called "the North Athos".

The invitation had been addressed previously, without success, but now the hope is for a more enthusiastic response. Funding was also used to organize the major exhibitions of the most beloved relics, such as that of the rib of Saint Nicholas of Bari in 2017 and even before that of the The Virgin's belt in 2011, coming from the Athonite monastery of Vatopedi. In recent months the pilgrimage to Russia of the relics of the ancient Holy Spiridity of Trimitonte, a bishop of the fourth century and thaumaturg of Cyprus has had great resonance. His remains were transported from Corfu, which is also the territory of the patriarchate of Constantinople, always with the support of the "Athonite sect" of the Russian oligarchs.

Another important event of the Orthodox cult is the annual translation to Moscow of the "holy fire" of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, a miraculous flame considered genuinely and exclusively Orthodox. The fire of Holy Saturday is immediately transported to Russia, in recent years by the planes insured by the Foundation of St. Andrew Protoclite, led by the former president of the Russian Railways Vladimir Jakunin, another faithful of Putin. The sacred fire is brought into all Russian churches as a guarantee of the true faith, arousing great fervor among the Orthodox people. These days the declarations of officials and journalists on television and in the Russian media are constantly incessant, ensuring the continuity of the miraculous ignition, which will not be stifled by the schism with the "traitors" of Constantinople.

In Ukraine itself, the great fear of the Russians is the loss of the first historical Rus' monastery, the Lavra of the Kiev Caves. Founded in 1073 by the monks Antonij and Feodosij, linked to Mount Athos, the great monastery preserves the relics of the first monks in the original caves, and is the first and most significant sanctuary in the whole history of Russian Christianity. At present it is entrusted to the responsibility of the patriarchate of Moscow, even if in it are also monks of other jurisdictions. The Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovnaja Rada, is preparing a project of expropriation, to transmit the Lavra to the representatives of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The church of St. Andrew in Kiev, near the Caves, has already been indicated as the seat of the patriarchal Stavropegion that will deal with the autocephaly procedure sanctioned by the synod of the ecumenical patriarchate. If this change of jurisdiction really occurs, there is a real risk that street battles will ensue.
BearCat model similar to the one on order by Calaveras County Sheriff's Office for delivery in the summer of 2019 View Photos

San Andreas, CA  By sometime next summer another Mother Lode sheriffs agency will have a brand new custom armored vehicle to replace its ugly, old two-wheel drive beast.

That is how Calaveras County Sheriff Rick DiBasilio describes its clunky circa 1980s military surplus Mamba armored personnel carrier. It is as just a little bit outdated and antiquated, he dryly adds. Powered by a four-cylinder Toyota diesel engine, he acknowledges the Mamba, which was used in Africa, works pretty well on flat ground but chugs up hills at maybe 25 30 miles per hour on a good day, lacks room to transport sufficient personnel and offers only a back door in or out.

It was back at the end of June when the board of supervisors approved the sheriffs request to purchase a Lenco BearCat that he originally estimated to cost $400,000. Earlier in the year, the plan was to tap a $50,000 donation from the Friends of the Sheriff, use $150,000 in SB 443 funds and request $200,000 from the supervisors out of the General Fund.

However, when the board called for all county agencies to cut their budgets by at least five percent, Sheriff DiBasilio decided to fund the General Fund portion from SB 443 monies as well. It also turned out that the unit, which he ordered in August, wound up costing $340,000. With delivery about 300 days out from the ordering date, he notes that although the payment was made this fiscal year, it will take almost another fiscal year for his office to get the new purchase into actual operation.

Looking For More Utility, Agility

As far as the BearCat goes, it is something that has been needed for quite awhile and we had just never been able to really pull the trigger on purchasing it, the sheriff continues. Among the uses, the SWAT team can deploy it for emergency situations and high-profile warrant searches; it can also be used as a mobile operations center, a rescue vehicle and/or an ambulance. Somberly, he adds, In the event of a school shooting, it would help get children out to safety.

The model on order (similar to the photo in the image box), has a turret, four side doors and a back door for quick egress and ingress, and oversize tires suited for steeper Sierra foothills terrain.

The Tuolumne County Sheriffs Office purchased a somewhat similar vehicle back in 2015, which it uses in-county as well as for assistance calls from neighboring agencies.

A two-door unit described as a MedCat, Tuolumne Countys unit was purchased under special circumstances for $280,000 from the Massachusetts-based manufacturer, who displayed it out west as a model and would have had to pay $20,000 just to ship it back. Clarke Broadcasting toured and photographed the vehicle and its features, viewable here.
As the aviation industry faces a looming shortage of aircraft technicians, a local school is training workers to fill the gap.

Students at Hallmark Universitys College of Aeronautics spend 15 months breaking down engines and putting them back together, learning different maintenance procedures and guidelines, and working with a variety of aeronautical equipment. Their time is split between the classroom and hands-on work at the schools campus next to San Antonio International Airport, said Doretta Gutierrez, dean of the College of Aeronautics.

The university recently received donations of 13 Rolls-Royce Spey engines and a Gulfstream III jet, which will give students the opportunity to gain more hands-on experience, she said. The engines were donated by Norm Hill Aviation and the jet by an unnamed donor. The university is working on stands for the engines and then will seek approval from the Federal Aviation Administration for projects involving the donations.

Students graduate with two associates degrees in airframe and powerplant technology and then can take the FAA tests to become certified aircraft technicians. There are 162 students in the A&P program currently, and a new term starts every eight weeks.

Hallmark also has a partnership with the North East Independent School District that allows juniors and seniors to earn college credit while learning about aircraft maintenance. There are 31 NEISD students enrolled, according to Hallmark.

The program exposes students to careers in the aviation industry and provides a fast track to high-demand positions,said Ben Peterson, NEISDs senior director for career and technical education. Students spend several hours at Hallmark every weekday morning and get to meet people working in the field, he said. They have the option to continue with the college after graduation.

Its a great opportunity, Peterson said. Theres a need for mechanics and a lot of potential for growth. The folks in the aviation industry tell us they need more people.

The opportunity to earn college credits for free through the program appealed to Nick Donaho, a senior at MacArthur High School. Donaho hopes to become an aerospace engineer and said he has had an interest in aviation from an early age.

I thought this would be good experience to get into the aerospace industry, and just being exposed to the atmosphere and the people in the industry, he said.

Getting to work on engines has been one of his favorite parts, he said.

Im looking forward to the future, Donaho, 17, said.

Tuition for Hallmarks A&P program is $385 per credit hour for 96 total credit hours, or nearly $37,000, along with a lab fee of $1,250. The university offers financial aid, scholarships and benefits for veterans.

Licensed aircraft technicians can start out making between $45,000 and $50,000 a year, often with the possibility of overtime, Gutierrez said. Median pay for aircraft and avionics equipment mechanics and technicians was $61,260 last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Technician jobs are in high demand as aircraft and engine manufacturers and airlines grapple with an aging workforce, Gutierrez said. The placement rate for the College of Aeronautics is 71.5 percent

Theres going to be a lot of them retiring, so there is a need for people going into this field, she said.

Industry reports paint a worrisome picture. In their 2018 Pilot & Technician Outlook, Boeing estimates that the field will need 754,000 new maintenance technicians over the next 20 years. Thats along with 790,000 new civil aviation pilots and 890,000 cabin crew personnel.

The demand will stem from a mix of fleet growth, retirements, and attrition, Boeing wrote in the report. Meeting this extraordinary demand will require proactive planning and collaboration within the global aviation industry. As several hundred thousand pilots and technicians reach retirement age over the next decade, educational outreach and career pathway programs will be essential to inspiring and recruiting the next generation of personnel.

Devon Brown, a senior training manager at Lockheed Martin, also cited an aging workforce and producing more aircraft as factors affecting demand.

The average age is people who can retire in five (or) ten years, he said. We need more people and younger people.

Lockheed Martin has focused on developing training programs with organizations like Hallmark as they look to create a pipeline of aviation technicians. A pilot group of 10 students went through the program in January, and nine of the 10 were hired.

Hallmarks emphasis on character traits like integrity, dependability and agility was a selling point, Brown said. It was also among the reasons the donors cited, according to Gutierrez.

Some places dont teach that, Brown said.

Another recent report by the Aviation Technician Education Council, found that 30 percent of the workforce is at or close to retirement age. The average age of an FAA mechanic is 51, and more than a quarter of the mechanic workforce is age 64 or older, they said. Industry growth and retirement is fueling demand, said executive director Crystal Maguire.

Attracting more women is key for the industry, and there has been some progress, she said. Women make up a mere 2.3 percent of the certified mechanic population, according to the report.

Theres no way out of it, she said, noting that the industry must diversify.

Over the last year, and especially the last six months, Brown said hes noticed an increase in the number of women interested in jobs in the field.

Theres a dramatic uptick, he said. Were really looking to change the demographic.

madison.iszler@express-news.net | @madisoniszler
A man was shot in the shoulder in Houston Friday evening, police said.

Houston police said they received a call around 7:30 p.m. that a man was shot at 3900 Hollister Street, outside an apartment complex. The man was transported to the hospital and did not sustain any serious injuries.
A Wolcott man shot at a bear after he found it inside his pen of goats.

It happened shortly around 1 a.m. Friday at the mans property on Catering Road, officials said.

The homeowner called police to say he shot at the black bear that was attacking his goats inside the pen.

His wife had woken him after hearing a commotion in the goat pen. The homeowner ran outside, heard the goat screaming and saw the bear attacking the goat, police posted on Facebook.

The homeowner, in an effort to protect his livestock, shot his shotgun in the direction of the bear, causing the bear to run into the woods. The homeowner was not sure if he did strike the bear or not.

The goat sustained severe injuries, and needed veterinary care.

As a reminder, never let your domesticated pets outside all alone, police said.

So far, there have been 66 bear sightings in Wolcott, according to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

DEEP says bears do occasionally attack livestock like goats and chickens. It suggests protecting livestock with electric fencing and move livestock into barns at night, if possible.

In November 2017, a small female black bear was killed after it attacked two miniature horses on a Southbury farm. The bear killed one of the horses before environmental police were able to euthanize the animal, which weighed around 150 pounds.

In June 2017, a male black bear weighing more than 500 pounds was killed by the caretaker of a Kent farm three weeks after one of the farms pet donkeys was killed and several others injured by a bear.

In the past year, 7,674 bear sightings have been reported to the Connecticut DEEP, the agency said on its website. Each year, bear sightings are reported from about 140 of Connecticuts 169 towns.

The increase in the states bear population has led to calls for legal hunting of bears in the state, Connecticut Magazine reports.
by Kamel Abderrahmani

Sharia derives from medieval interpretations of the Koran, based on inadequate knowledge. It is also exploited by political power. Mohammed Arkoun called Sunnism a political deception. The reform program: keep only the Koran and abandon hadith and sunna; re-evaluate role of women; eliminate violence and corporal punishment; guarantee freedom of conscience. Averroe, Ibn Khaldoun are the reformers of the past. Today there are Mohamed Sharour and Ferhane El Maliki, who risks being beheaded in Saudi prisons.

Paris (AsiaNews) - It is not a sleep but a long-lasting hibernation that has had negative effects on contemporary Islam and on the religiosity of the Muslims themselves. Unfortunately, these effects always manifest themselves with varying intensity. Verbal violence is less intense; the worst being a bomb in a crowd, slitting a child's throat or stoning a woman to death. In Muslim communities that support sharia as a legislative source, or in those that are inspired by sharia to elaborate their constitution, these phenomena are not at all recent.

I always try to explain to non-Muslim readers that they totally or partially ignore what Sharia means: the latter means all the Islamic laws derived from medieval interpretations of the Koran, taken from the apocryphal texts attributed to the Prophet and often constituted by a set of opinions of wise theologians approved by the political powers in place. That is to say: laws with origins linked to societies that on the one hand have scales of values completely alien to those of contemporary societies, founded on freedom of conscience, dignity and human rights; on the other, very narrow and minimal knowledge and epistemological means compared to those available in the modern world.

Sharia, enslaved for political purposes

In other words, sharia does not faithfully represent the Koran and most of the rules that embody it are in clear violation of what the Koran establishes as laws. The role of the caliphs and the various political regimes must not be overlooked. Religion has been and will continue to be used for ideological and political ends. This is visible from the fact that in every country where sharia is established, there is growing hostility towards the West and the values it embodies, such as freedom of conscience, of expression, of religion, of believing or not believing , secular society; at the same time, acts are carried out against other Muslims who have a different view of religion and way of life.

If I say that the negative and harmful effects are still evident in the Muslim world, it is because these conceptions of an authoritarian God - who makes distinctions and prefers man to woman, loves only the Muslim and hates those who are not - are always present in the Islamic spirit. They are preached in mosques, broadcast by religious channels and taught in state schools.

If things continue in this way, spiritual Islam is destined to totally and definitively disappear, giving way to an ideologized, traditional and rigorous Islam. To avoid this cataclysm, reform necessary as well as a change of the founding myths of this Islam founded between the ninth and the beginning of the X century.

In my opinion, to do this we need to initiate a scientific analysis of history and rewrite it according to the current methods and instruments, based on material evidence and the anthropological study of this legacy.

For a spiritual Islam

This work was carried out considerably by Mohammed Arkoun, professor emeritus of Islamic thought at the Sorbonne, who died on September 14, 2010. He had made a brilliant philosophical analysis of Sunnism, seen as a political deception by the companions of the Prophet, as well of the first generations that came after Muhammad's death.

Secondly, we must refrain from considering the companions of the Prophet as infallible beings and recognize their errors of analysis and their failure to find a correct methodology of interpretation. This failure is certainly due to the level of knowledge available in their day, as well as to the interpretations that were influenced by the context of culture and social norms of the time. This means that they no longer have value. That is: these are people who belong to their era.

Thirdly, it is necessary to review the relations established between Islam and political powers, as well as the evil use of this religion by the various empires and caliphs, for purely political purposes. In my opinion, what remains primary in this process of reform is to review the treatment of women, generally placed second, and enslaved by men in the name of religion; ban all forms of violence and corporal punishment towards women, homosexuals, stoning, amputation of hands for thieves, as well as execution for those who abandon Islam.

Fourthly, stop taking the apocryphal texts, known as the "hadith" or the "sunna" of the Prophet as a source of religious legislation and return to the Koran as the sole and only source for religious laws. In short: it is necessary to stop attributing to the Prophet what he has never said and put an end to this arrogance of forbidding Muslims what God has not forbidden. It is a way for Sunni or Shiite scholars to proclaim themselves representatives of God on earth.

In this perspective and throughout history, there are great thinkers, intellectuals and scholars who in the past have carried out unique research and reformist reflections to save this Muslim world. But they have been marginalized, or excommunicated, or beheaded.

Reformers of the past and present

These include Averroes, or Ibn Rochd, and the historian, economist, geographer, demographer and statesman Ibn Khaldoun. The first had proposed an interpretation of the Koran in a manner appropriate to reason, according to three levels of linguistic analysis: the apparent, the background, the image, until the interpretation is in accordance with the reason.

The second, with his book "Prolegomeni", which remains valid as a historical and socioeconomic analysis for a diagnosis of the state of Muslim societies.

Nowadays, there is a current of thought called "the Koranists" who take only the Koran as a source of religious legislation. They have a linguistic analysis method based on advanced knowledge. They categorically reject sharia, which remains a human product for them. Mohamed Sharour (photo 2) is one of the great thinkers of this current of thought that gives an adequate reading to reason, to modern culture and to universal human values. In the Muslim world, this path is still unknown and is often demonized by imams and political regimes because it constitutes a danger for those who make religion their business.

Mohamed Sharours books are prohibited in Saudi Arabia. Moreover, the rulers of the Kingdom have imprisoned Koranist thinker and university professor Ferhane El Maliki (photo 3). He risks decapitation for questioning the five pillars of Islam and his opposition to the Saudi offensive in Yemen.
NORWALK  Employees at the Human Services Council are teaching parents and their children about sexual violence and how to report those crimes to authorities.

The most important thing here is that women are empowered as soon as an incident occurs so that we have the proof to make sure the perpetrator doesnt abuse anybody else and that the person gets treatment quickly, said Executive Director Anthony DiLauro.

The nonprofit is trying to reach that goal by leading educational trainings and offering services to families that have children who have been sexually assaulted. Staff are also working with police, teachers, therapists and the Department of Children & Families in Norwalk to prosecute offenders, employees said.

Thats not the only service the nonprofit offers, however.

When the organization formed in 1940, it focused solely on housing services. Its grown to include day care, senior services, substance abuse education and school-based programs.

Nowadays, the nonprofit has five core programs:

Robert E. Appleby School Based Health Centers (medical and mental health services for Norwalk high-school students)

Norwalk Mentor Program (which matches K-12 students with adult role models)

Mid-Fairfield County Substance Abuse Coalition (education about the effects of drug abuse)

Supportive Housing (housing for seniors and the homeless)

Childrens Connection (which investigates sexual and physical assaults against children and treats them and their families)

The latter program helps children in Norwalk, New Canaan, Wilton, Weston and Westport.

Most people think all of our victims are from a certain neighborhood or are of a particular background, b ut we have clients from every town we serve, said Director Kari Pesavento.

She said in 96 percent of sexual assaults, the child knows the offender. In the 19 years shes worked in this field, only two children were assaulted by strangers, she said.

Pesavento and other staff said its important for the community to know that if a child discloses information about being abused, its best not to ask for any details.

Most people want to know the facts before they report the incident to DFC (the Department of Children and Families), but that makes the child do multiple interviews, she said.

When children are interviewed at her office, staff film the session to save the child from having to recount events more than once. A forensics interviewer is in one room with the child while Pesavento, a mental health care provider, a DCF worker, and a detective watch and analyze the interview from a separate room.

Staff provide stress balls, a chalkboard, markers and anatomical dolls for smaller children, who may have trouble recounting the events with words, Pesavento said.

She wouldnt give much detail but said a 6- and 8-year-old were recently sexually abused by a person living in their apartment. One of the children described the event to their mother and Pesavento said both were interviewed at the Human Services Council. The suspect is currently incarcerated and the parents have received counseling, she said.

Theyre much different kids now than they were then, Pesavento said of the two children.

Ingrid Pasten was the mental health therapist whose task it was to analyze the interview. In general, she said, anxiety, guilt, depression and embarrassment are common signs of trauma in children who are abused.

Most children are forthcoming about the abuse and want to receive treatment, said Pasten, who usually provides four or five months of trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy, which addresses trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder.

She starts by educating victims about the prevalence of sexual assault.

I talk very general, said Pasten, who currently is treating 12 clients. Im saying, This happens more often than you think.

Over the course of their lifetime, 28 percent of American youth aged 14 to 17 have experienced sexual abuse, according to the National Center for Victims of Crime.

Many of Pastens clients disclose information during adolescence when they can decipher the difference between appropriate and inappropriate sexual behavior, she said. Services at the Human Services Council are free, confidential and insurance companies dont know what services the child is receiving, she added.

Besides Pasten, there are 23 other staffers spread across the the Human Services Councils five programs and funding for them comes from a numbers of sources, according to Kim Killoy, the director of development and communications.

The state Department of Public Health, supplemental grants and fundraisers help pay for the nonprofits school-based health programs. Individual fundraisers, the City of Norwalk and the Board of Education help fund the nonprofits mentorship program. The Regional Youth Social Action Partnership in Bridgeport and other local grants fund the substance abuse program. The Continuum of Care in New Haven and the Norwalk Housing Authority provides grants for the supportive housing programs. DCF, individual and state grants and the Victims of Crime Act help to supplement the Childrens Connection program, said who acts as a grant writer for the organization.

The Human Services Councils next fundraiser  a favorite of the organizations employees  takes place Sunday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Taylor Farm Park on Calf Pasture Beach Road. At the 7th annual Kidzfest Touch-A-Truck event, participants can interact with police vehicles, military tricks, cranes and crime scene investigations.

The cost is $5 per person and the organization encourages people to wear Halloween costumes. Last year, it brought in about $20,000 for the Human Services Council.

Staff said their work is heavy but they look forward to this positive event each year.
MANAMA, Bahrain - Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Saturday condemned the killing of Washington Post contributor and Saudi government critic Jamal Khashoggi as intolerable, minutes before Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, at the same venue, criticized the global "hysteria" surrounding the slaying.

Mattis suggested the killing threatened to undermine stability in the Middle East in his first substantive comments on a cascading geopolitical crisis that risks rupturing Saudi Arabia's relations with the West.

The defense secretary made the remarks at a security conference in the island kingdom of Bahrain, across a bridge from Saudi Arabia, shortly before Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir decried what he said was a rush to conclusions before the investigation's completion.

Since Khashoggi disappeared at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, Saudi officials have issued an evolving series of narratives.

On Thursday, Saudi Arabia appeared to acknowledge that its agents had killed the dissident Saudi journalist in a "premeditated" operation but have not implicated top officials, including the de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Mattis said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would be taking unspecified "additional measures" in response to the killing beyond the revocation of U.S. visas for certain Saudi suspects. The administration, however, has so far been reluctant to join calls by European allies and others for harsher measures against Riyadh, including possible halt of arm sales.

Above all, Mattis pushed the message that the Khashoggi killing was both a human rights issue and a national security concern for nations in the Middle East.

"When opposing voices can be heard within a political process adapted to each nation's culture, one that permits peaceful opposition by giving voice and human rights to all, a nation becomes more secure," Mattis said.

"When people can speak and be heard calling for peace and respect for all, the terrorist message of hatred and violence is not embraced. With our collective interests in peace and unwavering respect for human rights in mind, the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in a diplomatic facility must concern us all greatly," he continued.

Without calling out Saudi Arabia by name, Mattis suggested Khashoggi's death threatened to stir greater instability in the Middle East at a critical time. The Middle East is struggling to cope with brutal conflicts in Syria and Yemen, a political divide between Gulf nations and Qatar, and what Mattis described as malign activity from Iran across the region.

"Failure of any one nation to adhere to international norms and the rule of law undermines regional stability at a time when it is needed most," Mattis said.

Saudi Arabia is not only the biggest importer of American arms but also a critical partner in the administration's Middle East agenda, which includes stabilizing Syria, brokering a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, pushing back against Iranian influence, finishing off the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, and bringing an end to the war in Yemen.

The conference venue of Bahrain also showed the convergence of U.S. and Saudi interests. The tiny island nation is home to the Navy's 5th Fleet. Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, gives critical support to Bahrain's Sunni rulers, who in 2011 faced Arab Spring-inspired protests led by the country's Shiite majority.

Mattis' comments stood in contrast to the wait-and-see approach taken by Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister.

"This issue has become fairly hysterical," Jubeir said. "I think people have assigned blame on Saudi Arabia with such certainty before the investigation is complete. We have made it clear that we are going to have a full and transparent investigation, the results of which will be released."

Jubeir didn't directly answer a question about whether it was credible for the Saudi leadership to suggest the crown prince would have been unaware of a large-scale operation involving more than a dozen agents to target Khashoggi in Istanbul.

"We know that a mistake was committed," Jubeir said. "We know that people exceeded their authority. We know that we'll investigate it."

Jubeir rejected the idea of extraditing the suspects in the killing to Turkey. The individual suspects in question are Saudi nationals and will be prosecuted in Saudi Arabia, he said.

Turkey has requested the extradition of 18 Saudi nationals arrested by Saudi authorities in the killing, including members of the 15-man "hit squad" allegedly sent from Saudi Arabia and three consulate employees. The Turkish government has argued it should prosecute the crime because the killing took place in Turkey and consular employees "do not enjoy legal immunity in the case of grave crimes" under the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, according to a Turkish official.

"It would be best for the reputation of our Saudi friends that the court proceedings take place in Turkey," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the government's internal deliberations.

Despite raising Khashoggi's killing as a cause for concern, Mattis trod lightly when criticizing Riyadh and did not go as far as President Donald Trump, who said Saudi Arabia's response to the journalist's disappearance amounted to the "worst coverup ever."

The Saudi journalist and author, who contributed to the global opinions section of The Post, entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul to pick up paperwork he needed to marry his Turkish fiancee.

Saudi officials have sought to contain the damage of the resulting scandal by arresting a number of Saudis, firing senior officials and restructuring the nation's intelligence agencies. Questions, however, have persisted about what the 33-year-old Saudi crown prince, a target of Khashoggi's criticism, knew about the operation in Istanbul.

Trump has repeatedly said that he wants to get to the bottom of what happened but doesn't want to jeopardize the United States's relationship with Saudi Arabia, and in particular, the major arms purchases by the Saudi armed forces.

Mattis underscored the position in his speech in Bahrain, backing the administration's "twin imperatives" of protecting America and holding accountable those responsible for the killing.

The U.S. defense secretary said the United States' respect for the Saudi people went undiminished, but added that "with our respect must come transparency and trust."

"These two principles are vital for ensuring the continued collaboration we know is necessary for a safe, secure and prosperous Middle East," Mattis said.

During his speech, Mattis also called for an end to the war in Yemen but did not address the humanitarian impact of Saudi airstrikes that have led to civilian atrocities and famine in the embattled nation, where a Saudi-led military coalition has been facing off against Iran-backed Houthi rebels since 2015. An estimated 10,000 people have died, with 8 million more threatened by famine.

The United States provides limited military backing to the Saudi-led coalition prosecuting the Yemen campaign, including aerial refueling and intelligence support.

"All wars must eventually end, and the tragedy of Yemen worsens by the day," Mattis said. "Enough time has been spent on the subordinate issues; now is the time to move forward on stopping this war. In November, we must start negotiating the substance of the issues. Compromise must replace combat, and the people must have peace to heal."

Still, the defense secretary backed the justification for Saudi Arabia's intervention in Yemen.

"I reiterate U.S. support for our partners' right to defend themselves against Iranian-supplied Houthi attacks on their sovereign territory, and at the same time, call for an urgent end to the fighting," he said.
NORWALK  To combat one of the most aggressive forms of breast cancer, Norwalk Hospital has launched four new clinical trials to advance treatment for people with triple-negative breast cancer.

What really characterizes (triple-negative breast cancer), is it grows very quickly, said Dr. Linda Vahdat, the Hospials chief of medical oncology and clinical director of cancer services.

Vahdat, who is leading the trials, said this type of cancer grows atypically and is aggressive because it doesnt respond to many drugs. It cannot be treated with hormone therapies or cancer-fighting drugs that target the three most common receptors that fuel breast cancer growth.

Vahdat has spent more than 20 years caring for people with breast cancer and her research is geared toward finding new therapies for patients with triple-negative breast cancer, metastatic breast cancer and other breast cancers that are at high risk for recurrence. This set of trials she is overseeing study the effectiveness of immunotherapies or treatments that boost the bodys natural defenses to fight cancer, Vahdat said.

Each of Norwalk Hospitals four clinical trials test responses to different treatments, Vahdat said. Other hospitals that are also part of Western Connecticut Health Network are offering some, but not all, of the same trials: Danbury and New Milford hospitals each offer one of the four trials.

Norwalk Hospital, however, is the only hospital in the state to host all four trials and the only one thats offering the drug Sacituzumab Govitecan. After working with it for four years, Vahdat said the drug is promising because of its response rate.

Its a drug that clearly helps people and its great that you dont have to travel to New York City in order to get it, she said. Youre getting access to cutting-edge cancer care close to home.

Vahdat measures the drugs success by how much the drug shrinks a patients tumor  and how long the tumor remains diminished. Her findings suggest the drug reduces patients tumors to about half the original size for about 34 percent of patients. Thats noteworthy, she said, because doctors would expect response rates to be zero percent for this type of cancer.

There are about 250 patients participating in the clinical trials and Vahdat said theres room for 480. Patients generally spend about three to four hours at the hospital receiving medical evaluations and treatment through an intravenous drip. Patients receive treatment once a week for two weeks and then take a week off. Patients can return for treatment for as long as its helpful, Vahdat said.

Neania Buehler, 59, started treatment with Vahdat in April 2018. Shes an education technician at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and lives minutes away from her job. It takes her about 90 minutes to get from work to Norwalk for treatment, she said.

She was first diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer on Christmas Eve in 2014. She had a lumpectomy to remove a tumor in her left breast followed by infusion chemotherapy and radiation.

She was in remission from October 2016 to August 2017, until she developed a persistent cough that prompted her to visit a pulmonologist. A computed tomography (CT) scan revealed her cancer was back and that it had spread to her lungs. She was diagnosed with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer Aug. 30, 2017.

Even though we knew I was at risk of my cancer coming back because of the type I had, my husband and I were at first devastated, she said. But we also felt stronger this time.

She said the opportunity to participate in the trials has not only given her a sense of hope, but its provided education about her disease.

I didnt meet the criteria to participate in other clinical trials we inquired about because I had already received prior treatment for cancer, she said, adding she later developed pneumonia, which excluded her from certain trials. So, when I learned that I was not only accepted into the clinical trial at Norwalk Hospital, but that I was also getting the treatment drug, I felt so hopeful.

She and Vahdat said the treatments are not invasive. Buehler hasnt had any major side effects and has been able to continue to work, shop, exercise and travel. Shes spreading the word and telling other women about the treatment because, Its something Ive been tasked to do, spiritually, she said.

She hopes through participation in the trials, shell be able to educate and help others in a similar situation, even if its just in a small way.

Vahdat and her team are enrolling patients in the clinical trials at Norwalk Hospital and are also working to spread the word about the treatment this month in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

For more information, call 203-852-2996 or visit MSKatNorwalk.org.
WOOD RIVER  Seven people were transported to area hospitals, including one victim flown to a St. Louis hospital, after a crash at the intersection of Illinois routes 3 and 143 in Wood River early Saturday.

At 1:33 a.m., the Wood River Police Department responded to a serious traffic accident involving two vehicles at the intersection, according to a release from Wood River Police Chief Brad Wells. One vehicle had two occupants. The other vehicle had five occupants.

The vehicle with five occupants was travelling southbound on Route 3, and the vehicle with two occupants was travelling east on Route 143 when the crash occurred. The crash is still being investigated to determine the cause of the accident, Wells said.

The vehicle with five occupants went off the roadway, on the south east side of the intersection, into a water retention basin. First responders had to go into the water to provide medical attention to the victims of the accident. All five people from the vehicle were transported to local hospitals for treatment. One victim inside the vehicle had to be flown from the scene to a St. Louis area hospital, according to Wells.

The occupants of the other vehicle were also transported to area hospitals to be treated.

Due to the severity of the crash, Accident Reconstructionists from the Illinois State Police were requested to respond to assist by the reconstructing the scene. The roadways were closed for several hours while the scene was investigated.

The crash remained under investigation Saturday. Conditions and names of the victims involved were not released.
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump is preparing to announce a sweeping border crackdown in a speech Tuesday, a week before the midterm elections, in which he is expected to invoke emergency powers to stop migrants from entering the United States and depict them as a grave national security threat, administration officials said Friday.

Trump is considering steps that would bar migrants from crossing the border and deny them a chance to apply for asylum in the United States, measures that legal scholars and immigrant rights groups say would contravene U.S. laws and international treaties, likely triggering challenges in federal court.

The president, undeterred, has been buoyed by rising approval ratings in recent weeks and eager to cudgel his Democratic rivals on border issues, depicting the migrant caravan moving through Mexico as a menace to U.S. security.

Administration officials with knowledge of the speech preparations said the exact measures Trump will announce remain under discussion, as attorneys from the Department of Homeland Security, Justice Department and White House attempt to craft policies that put the administration on the least-vulnerable legal footing.

Trump plans to approach the speech as a chance to lay out his vision for an overhaul of immigration policies and border security, according to aides, eager to whip up his base and convince voters his party will take a firm stand on border security.

Democrats have accused Trump and Republicans of "fearmongering" on immigration ahead of the election.

"President Trump's immigration policies have been a failure from day one," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement. "Unlike previous presidents, he has failed to work with our partners in the region, and we are seeing the consequences of his failure today."

The caravan that has seized Trump's attention remains more than 900 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border. After peaking at more than 7,000 migrants, according to U.N. estimates, its numbers have dwindled and dissipated over the past several days. Some of those trekking north along the highways of southern Mexico have dropped out, turned back or given up, as the physical strains of the journey take a steep toll, especially on families with small children.

The most recent statements from Mexican officials have said the procession is between 3,000 and 4,000 people and, at its current pace, at least two weeks from the U.S. border.

Some of the migrants could manage to board trucks and hitchhike rides to reach the border sooner, spurred by fears of what Trump may announce.

The Trump administration has pressured Mexico to stop the caravan, and on Friday President Enrique Pena Nieto announced a new initiative called "Make Yourself at Home" that will offer the migrants work permits, medical care and schooling for their children.

Nieto's carrot came with a stick. On Friday, Mexican federal police arrested 300 Central Americans who were part of a second group of migrants attempting to cross the border from Guatemala, according to local media reports. It appeared to be the first attempt by the government to round up large numbers of Central Americans since the caravan's arrival and aimed at discouraging more migrants from entering Mexico to join the group.

Mexico's offer requires migrants to register with the government and remain in the southern Mexican states of Chiapas and Oaxaca, far from the U.S. border.

Tough rhetoric from Trump is also aimed at diminishing the caravan itself, said Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group that favors tighter immigration laws and supports Trump.

"If he can dissuade all but about 2,500 from coming, then the administration will be a lot better off," said Stein. "But until they get here he still has the persuasive power of the bully pulpit to convince them they will face a hostile reception, with military troops."

Stein acknowledged the legal order Trump is considering may not pass muster with the courts.

"Sooner or later he will probably get a court injunction against him," he said. "But he's the commander in chief, and he has to do something."

Attempting to bar people from seeking asylum, if Trump announces such a move, would likely violate the 1980 Refugee Act and a 1967 international refugee treaty that the United States signed, said Philip Schrag, a Georgetown University law professor and author of several books on asylum and immigration law.

Federal law says that any immigrant "who is physically present in the United States or who arrives in the United States" - whether at a legal checkpoint or after sneaking across the border - can apply for asylum, he said.

"It's very unlikely that the courts would hold that the president has the power . . . to prevent people from applying for asylum," Schrag said. "My prediction is that it would be subject to a temporary injunction of a court within days."

A draft of the proposal reviewed by The Washington Post says the president can use his authority under Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act to declare certain migrants ineligible for asylum for national security reasons.

The section is the same legal authority he invoked during the travel ban, which Trump first issued days after taking office in January 2017 seeking to bar foreigners mainly from certain Muslim-majority countries from coming to the United States for national security reasons.

The ban drew fierce legal challenges and led the administration to issue three different versions before a revised ban was upheld by the Supreme Court on a 5 to 4 vote in June.

The high court ruled that the president has the authority to ban travelers from certain countries to protect the United States, and Trump's supporters viewed the decision as a major affirmation of his authority.

But others say Central American migrants are not a security threat, and are instead fleeing violence themselves.

"They are coming to the United States in search of protection," Maureen Meyer, director for Mexico and Migrants Rights at the Washington Office on Latin America, said in a statement. "It's ridiculous to argue that the babies in the caravan are a national security threat."

Omar Jadwat, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Immigrants' Rights Project, said the Supreme Court's travel ban ruling did not give the administration the freedom to bar asylum seekers.

For instance, a foreigner who might have been barred from obtaining a visa to travel to the United States under the travel ban could still seek asylum if they managed to cross the U.S.-Mexico border and set foot on American soil.

"That's the law," he said. "You get a chance to explain why you think you are going to be persecuted if you return home."

Barring a diplomatic breakthrough where the Mexican government agrees to take Central Americans back, the migrants would have to be held in detention until they could be deported. But the United States has virtually nowhere to hold adults traveling with children.

With record numbers of migrant family members arriving in recent weeks, immigration detention capacity is essentially maxed out, and U.S. courts restrict the government's ability to hold minors in immigration jails for longer than 20 days.

The latest Justice Department statistics show that fewer than 10 percent of Central American applicants are granted asylum by immigration courts, so further limiting their ability to receive it may have a neglibile effect.

Many of the migrant families crossing the border know it's the act of applying for asylum - not necessarily receiving it - that can allow them to live and work in the United States for several years or longer while their claims went their way through the courts.

The Trump administration has been making preparations to expand family detention capacity by housing detainees on military bases, but those facilities do not appear to be ready.

The Pentagon said in a statement Friday afternoon that it had received a request for assistance from the Department of Homeland Security, and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has approved "providing mission-enhancing capabilities" along the border.

Under the new troop mobilization, the Pentagon will provide planning assistance, engineering support for the construction of temporary barriers, barricades and fencing, as well as aviation support to move Customs and Border Protection personnel, and protective equipment for border agents.

- - -

The Washington Post's Seung Min Kim and Dan Lamothe contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump began his first public appearance after Friday's arrest of a mail bomb suspect on a seemingly inclusive note, declaring as he read a script from teleprompters that "we must never allow political violence to take root in America" and pledging to "stop it and stop it now."

But then he kept going.

Standing in the White House's ornate East Wing, the president expressed annoyance that at least 13 bombs sent to Democrats and a news organization that Trump had long demonized had taken the spotlight from his Medicare drug prices announcement the day before. He told the black audience he was addressing that the Democratic Party has betrayed them. He laughed along as some in the crowd chanted "Fake News!" And he echoed a chant of "Lock him up!" about liberal philanthropist George Soros, one of this week's bomb targets.

Ten days before the Nov. 6 elections and facing a host of controversies and crises, Trump has not merely struggled to unify the country - he has shown little interest in trying. Time and again, the former reality television impresario has sought to sow discord, betting that most Americans prefer his pugilistic, divisive style over the sanitized mold of his predecessors.

The midterm elections are increasingly becoming a test of the enduring power of Trumpiness: A brand of anything-goes, combative politics focused on personal attacks and demagogic rhetoric, with little consideration for the presidential tradition of providing moral clarity and unity at moments of tragedy or danger.

"These are the times when words really matter," said historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of a new book on the subject, "Leadership: In Turbulent Times."

Throughout history, Goodwin explained, "There are moments when the president's ambition for self becomes an ambition for the greater good, to become a leader rather than simply a holder of power. The president is in a unique position during moments of crisis for the nation to mobilize the people around common ideals that should bind us together."

This week offered a fresh example of Trump's alternate approach: As pipe bombs were discovered addressed to prominent Democrats and a news network that have been subjects of Trump's caustic campaign-trail attacks, the president sounded a call for national unity.

But the words rang hollow throughout the week as Trump assailed the "Fake News" media, shirked any personal responsibility for his incendiary rhetoric and, on Friday morning, used his bully pulpit to advance a baseless conspiracy theory that the bombs were both fake and orchestrated by the left. Roughly an hour later, authorities arrested 56-year-old Cesar Sayoc, a man in Florida with a lengthy criminal record whose white van was covered in pro-Trump and anti-Democratic images.

Later Friday afternoon, as he departed Washington for a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, Trump told reporters he has no plans to tone down his rhetoric - "I could really tone it up," he said - and noted that the suspect "was a person that preferred me over others." He also rejected the notion of responsibility: "There's no blame. There's no anything."

His supporters often argue there is no clear connection between the president's impolitic remarks and violent acts or threats. In the case of the pipe bombs, which his own FBI director said were "not hoax devices," many Trump backers emphasized Friday that no one had been injured.

Over the past two months, Trump has faced down a series of challenges in which he has overtly and deliberately tossed aside the expected responsibilities associated with his office.

During Justice Brett Kavanaugh's rocky confirmation to the Supreme Court, Trump publicly mocked Christine Blasey Ford, who had accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault when they were both teenagers; he said later in a "60 Minutes" interview that his treatment of her did not matter because "we won." Then, as news emerged that Saudi Arabia had orchestrated a premeditated killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor, the president was muted in his criticism of the Middle Eastern country, reluctant to disrupt the strategic ties - including an arms deal - between the two nations.

Trump's rhetoric surrounding the midterms, too, has centered on his and his advisers' strategic decision to paint an apocalyptic portrait of the country under Democratic rule, a vision fueled by a potent mixture of falsehoods and fear.

With many in the Republican Party following his lead, the president has repeatedly cast Democrats as an out-of control "angry mob" that is "too dangerous to govern." Last week, with no evidence, he claimed that unknown "Middle Easterners" had infiltrated the caravans of Central American migrants snaking their way north toward the nation's southern border, before ultimately admitting he had "no proof" for the claim.

And on Thursday, news broke that the administration is weighing a plan that would seek to close the U.S. border to Central Americans entirely and deny them the chance to seek asylum.

More recently, after frequent targets of Trump's criticism became the actual targets of the attempted pipe bombs - including former president Barack Obama, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., former attorney general Eric Holder and CNN - the president decried "the threat of violence as a method of political intimidation, coercion or control."

But Trump has disputed that he contributes to a divisive political climate and has continued his attacks, calling the media "so bad and hateful that it is beyond description."

Former CIA director John Brennan, the addressed target of an explosive mailed to CNN's New York headquarters, chastised Trump and urged him to "stop blaming others."

"Your inflammatory rhetoric, insults, lies, & encouragement of physical violence are disgraceful," Brennan wrote in a Thursday tweet. "Clean up your act....try to act Presidential. The American people deserve much better."

Responding to Brennan's criticism on Fox News, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders defended her boss. "The president, I think, could not have been more presidential yesterday when he spoke directly to the American people," she said Thursday.

Yet at 3:14 a.m. Friday morning, the president singled out CNN's coverage in a tweet, saying the network was "blaming me for the current spate of Bombs . . . yet when I criticize them they go wild and scream, 'it's just not Presidential!'"

For several days, some prominent Trump allies on the right, including talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh, fanned a "false-flag" conspiracy theory that the bombs were not real and directed by liberals as a way to reverse Trump's campaign-trail argument that Democrats are "the party of mobs" and show that conservatives, too, favor mob tactics.

Later Friday morning, Trump edged toward an endorsement of that theory. "Republicans are doing so well in early voting, and at the polls, and now this 'Bomb' stuff happens and the momentum greatly slows," the president tweeted.

The president's approach of playing to his base by sowing division and fear stands in marked contrast with his modern predecessors, both Democratic and Republican.

Cody Keenan, a former chief White House speechwriter for Obama, said Obama and his aides recognized that providing a moral vision to the nation at times of trauma or division was one of the most important jobs of being president and they took it seriously.

"There is no room for 'but this' or 'but that,'" said Keenan, who helped Obama pen many of his soaring speeches during moments of national crisis, including numerous mass shootings. "If a president doesn't come out and say, 'This is right,' and, 'That is wrong,' they're missing an opportunity to provide moral clarity for a country often in search of it."

Trump has at times shown a willingness to claim the moral high ground. Last year, for instance, after Syrian President Bashar Assad used chemical weapons against his own people, Trump authorized the use of nearly five dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles against Syrian targets.

Aides said the president was especially moved by the images of young Syrian children who had been wounded and killed in Assad's attacks. The U.S. strikes also allowed Trump to portray himself as stronger and more decisive than Obama, who had set a "red line" for Syria but never followed through on his threat.

In a least one high profile moment - the deadly violence last year at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia - Trump wavered. After coming under criticism for blaming the violence on "both sides," Trump gave a speech condemning racist hate groups as "repugnant to all that we hold dear as Americans." But he almost immediately told aides that his lofty remarks were among his biggest mistakes, describing it as the "worst speech I've ever given," according to Bob Woodward's new book, "Fear."

"It's very hard to think of a president in American history who has been as aggressively divisive as this one and who has shown essentially no moral leadership," said James Glassman, a former ambassador and undersecretary of state who is the founding executive director of the George W. Bush Institute. "Presidents set the tone, and certainly you can't say President Trump is responsible for somebody sending bombs to Democratic leaders across the country, but there is a climate in this country that's being encouraged by the president."

Trump has long exhibited disinterest in expected norms of the presidency, arguing that his freewheeling style is more exciting.

"It's so easy to be presidential, but instead of having 10,000 people outside trying to get into this packed arena, we'd have about 200 people," Trump said during a recent campaign rally in Wheeling, West Virginia, exaggerating the size of the crowd.

Then, he held up a sheet of paper and began impersonating his version of a more conventional commander in chief, rattling off a list of buzzwords - "ladies and gentlemen," "great Americans," and "thousand points of light."

"Which," Trump said, continuing to ad-lib, "nobody has really figured out."
ISTANBUL - Twenty-four days after a team of Saudi agents killed journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, U.S. and Turkish officials are still asking the same question: Where's the body?

The remains of The Washington Post columnist are critical to vetting the shifting accounts of the Saudi government and determining a suitable punishment for the oil-rich monarchy, a key partner in the Trump administration's Middle East policy.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan intensified pressure on the Saudi government on Friday in a speech demanding Khashoggi's body.

"There has been a declaration that he has been killed, but where is the body?" Erdogan said. "You must show it."

For days, President Donald Trump has also been asking his aides about the body, but Washington remains in the dark about its whereabouts, according to U.S. officials and diplomats familiar with the situation.

Saudi officials said earlier this week that Khashoggi's body had been rolled into a carpet and given to a "local collaborator," but Turkish authorities say it was dismembered in a grisly operation involving a bone saw and large suitcases.

"Finding the body in whatever form it's in could give credence to Turkey's account," said Amanda Sloat, a Turkey scholar at the Brookings Institution. "If the body appears in the way the leaks suggest, it gives credence to the premeditated nature of this attack and reflects poorly on the Saudi regime."

On Thursday, CIA Director Gina Haspel briefed Trump about her recent trip to Turkey, where she listened to purported audio of Khashoggi's killing. But even after the meeting, U.S. officials made clear they needed additional information before taking further punitive action.

"We continue to seek all relevant facts in this case," said State Department spokesman Robert Palladino. "As we learn more we will take additional actions as the facts warrant."

A State Department official said Khashoggi's remains "should be located and returned to his family for a proper burial as soon as possible."

In his speech, Erdogan suggested that Turkey has additional "information and documents" about the killing that it would eventually reveal and repeated his call for Saudi Arabia to hand over the 18 people it has arrested in the case if the country's authorities could not "make them talk." Later in the day, the semiofficial Anadolu news agency reported that Turkish prosecutors were set to "demand" the extradition of those suspects.

"Hand them over to us," Erdogan said. "The event took place in Istanbul. We will judge them."

A senior Turkish official said Turkey was requesting the extradition because Khashoggi was murdered by Saudis who traveled to Turkey, and because it was "clear that the judicial system in Turkey is better equipped to genuinely serve the cause of justice in this case."

In their own ways, Turkey and the U.S. are pressing Saudi Arabia to provide a credible explanation for a crime that has drawn global condemnation and has prompted countries to reevaluate their ties with the Middle East power.

U.S. and foreign officials say such an operation - involving a team of Saudi agents - was unlikely to have taken place without the knowledge of the kingdom's leaders, including ambitious Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

In the aftermath of Khashoggi's killing inside the Saudi Consulate on Oct. 2, Saudi Arabia has offered shifting explanations for what happened, at one point saying Khashoggi had walked out of the rear of the building unharmed and later saying his death resulted from a fistfight. But Thursday, the country made its first apparent acknowledgment that the operation was "premeditated." Erdogan on Friday did not mention that development, but instead criticized earlier Saudi accounts as "comical."

"These childish statements do not coincide with the seriousness of the state," Erdogan said.

For Erdogan, who has ruled Turkey since 2003, the crime has provided grounds for pushing back against Saudi Arabia, one of its regional rivals, and weakening the credibility of the crown prince. Mohammed this week called the killing a "heinous crime." Both Mohammed and his father, King Salman, have told President Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who traveled to Saudi Arabia last week, that they had no knowledge of a plot to kill Khashoggi.

Still, the Trump administration is facing pressure to take action against the kingdom, even though an alliance with the Saudis has been a pillar of its strategy in the Middle East to counter Iran. Trump has called Khashoggi's murder "one of the worst coverups in the history of coverups."

In its statement Thursday, Riyadh said it had learned from Turkish officials that the suspects in Khashoggi's killing had "committed their act with a premeditated intention." The Saudi news release, attributed to its public prosecutor, was significant because it relayed Turkey's conclusion, but it did not make clear whether Saudi investigators had reached that same conclusion on their own.

Pompeo, speaking during an interview Friday with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, said "Saudi prosecutors yesterday made clear that this was a premeditated murder that took place, and we're continuing to learn the facts."

"The president has made very clear we will hold those responsible accountable, but that America has important, long-term, strategic interest in our relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and that we are going to do both of those things at the same time - protect our interests and hold those responsible accountable," Pompeo said.

Khashoggi was visiting the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul to obtain documentation that would allow him to marry his Turkish fiancee, Hatice Cengiz. He was a royal court insider who had become critical of the Saudi government, and he was living in exile in Virginia, in part because of the nation's diminished speech freedoms and its crackdown on dissent.

Khashoggi and Cengiz had recently furnished an apartment for themselves in Istanbul. In an interview with Turkish broadcaster Haberturk that aired Friday, Cengiz said Khashoggi was treated well during an earlier trip to the consulate on Sept. 28.

He still had concerns, but "he thought Turkey is a safe country, and if he would be held or interrogated, this issue would be swiftly solved," Cengiz said, according to an account of the interview translated by Reuters.

Salah Khashoggi, the eldest son of Jamal Khashoggi, arrived in the U.S. Thursday after departing Saudi Arabia, one person close to the family said. Salah is a dual U.S.-Saudi citizen who had previously been restricted from leaving and who was photographed earlier this week meeting Salman and Mohammed and receiving their condolences. All four of Khashoggi's children are now in the U.S.

- - -

Hudson reported from Washington. The Washington Post's Josh Dawsey and Kareem Fahim contributed to this report.
A suspect accused of killing a 68-year-old man whose body was found in his home by co-workers who went to check on him was arrested Friday.

Benito Menesess, 47, is charged with murder in the death of Robert Esparza, a longtime employee of the San Antonio Museum of Art, according to San Antonio police.

Menesess acknowledged having some regrets as he was placed in a police vehicle bound for the Bexar County Central Magistrate's Office on Friday night.

I'm sorry, that's all I've got to say, said Menesess, who was arrested with incidents earlier on the Southeast Side.

Esparza, who was a security supervisor, was found dead of blunt force trauma to his head inside his home in the 300 block of West Harding at 8 a.m. on Oct. 15, investigators said. Two of his vehicles were reported missing from the home.

Jennifer Rodriguez, an SAPD spokeswoman, said police recovered Esparzas Toyota Tacoma the next day on the East Side.

Evidence found inside the Tacoma led detectives to Menesess, Rodriguez said.

Esparza's black 2012 Chevrolet Equinox with license plate number KNC3310 is still missing. Rodriguez said.

Police expect to make more arrests in the case, but Rodriguez could not say how many suspects they are seeking.

Anyone who knowledge of the Equinoxs whereabouts is asked to call 911.

jbeltran@express-news.net | Twitter: @JBfromSA
San Antonio police say they are searching for the shooter in a road rage incident on the West Side that sent a woman to the hospital overnight.

A couple was leaving a party about 1:30 a.m. and were traveling toward U.S. 90 on General McMullen Drive when a black vehicle pulled up beside them and someone inside that vehicle fired a shot, hitting the woman in the head, according to police.
What's life like after yours and many others' lives are torn apart? It's a journey full of personal torment, and overcoming obstacles.

The First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs was a sanctuary. A second home for many. The rooms filled with laughter and love. We worshipped to the highest of praises to our God.

When I first heard the news, I was in shock. The thought of something like this happening never once crossed my mind. I never thought my tiny little church, the church that raised me with endless amounts of love, would have to ever endure the amount of pain it did.

What made things even more unimaginable is the fact that the person I had children with had murdered my second family.

On ExpressNews.com: Sutherland Springs relies on church to cope with shooting's aftermath

I have struggled with being the widow of Devin, struggled with losing so many church members who I have loved from the very first moments of being a part of the church. I feel like it was me who brought him to my church. If I hadn't married him, he would have never known the church.

I miss everyone so much. My Na-Na (grandmother Lula White) was a tough, but loving cookie. She loved to crack jokes and always put smiles on everyone's faces. She was a beautiful, stubborn woman, who loved to dip her lemon cookies in her black-as-night coffee and call it breakfast. She'd also burn things in the microwave and call it her "cooked snack." Saying scat kitty cat when anyone would sneeze, or saying you were barking when you coughed. She would call me her little dragonfly and I would call her my dinosaur. They're moments that I miss more and more, but will forever be grateful that I have them.

Then there's the silliness of Karla and Bryan Holcombe. Their love story and their marriage was a marriage I wanted, so full of faith and love. I have so many memories with so many people who lost their lives, it becomes unbearable to write about them.

THE GUNMAN'S WIFE: Danielle Kelley speaks for first time about day of the massacre

I worried I wouldn't be welcomed back to my tiny little church. But I built up the courage and decided to go back, to give my never ending amounts of love and to tell people how sorry and ashamed I felt.

I was welcomed back with open arms. The amount of love that poured out from my church has truly been the work of God. We are standing strong, united as a congregation. We've had a rough journey from November 5, 2017, 'til now. But beauty will rise out of tragedy.

Sutherland Springs strong.
Trunk-or-Treat 2-5 p.m. Good Shepherd Lutheran Church (parking lot and field), 1630 Goliad Road. Trunks will be filled with treats. Dress in your best Halloween costumes. All children and their families invited. Free.

Civility: A Compassionate Conversation 6:30-8 p.m. TriPoint Events Center, 3233 N. St. Marys St. Is it possible to disagree without being disagreeable? Join the community conversation. Free and open to the public. Register online at https://civilitysa.brownpapertickets.com/

Tuesday

Day and Evening of Hope 10 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Pilgrim Center of Hope, 7680 Joe Newton. Touch and venerate a stone from Monte Sant Angelo, where St. Michael the Archangel appeared. Presentation and discussion on Guardian Angels; Mass at 9 a.m. PilgrimCenterofHope.org

Wednesday

Annual Turkey Dinner/Supper 11 a.m.-1 p.m.; 4:30-7 p.m. Highland Park Lutheran Church, 705 Hammond Ave. Food-to-go plates available. Menu includes turkey and dressing, mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, and tea or coffee. Dessert available. $9 adults, $5 children younger than 10.

Trunk-or-Treat 6-9 p.m. Brookhill Baptist Church, 631 Utopia Lane. Free; safe environment for children.

Journeys of Hope: Monte Sant Angelo  One of Italys Holiest Places,  tune in 8-9 p.m. Guadalupe Radio Network, 89.7 FM-KJMA. Come on a journey with Deacon Tom and Mary Jane Fox to the cave where St. Michael the Archangel appeared. It is the only place on Earth consecrated by St. Michael. PilgrimCenterofHope.org; 210-521-3377.

Thursday

2018 San Antonio Caregiver Summit: Navigating the Journey 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Whitley Theological Center, Oblate School of Theology, 285 Oblate. Keynote speaker is John Leland, author of Happiness is a Choice You Make. There is no cost for the event, but registration is required.

Friday

St. Paul Catholic Church Altar Society Holiday Bazaar 9 a.m.-4 p.m. 322 John Adams (across from the church). Includes holiday decorations, ornaments, quilts and handcrafted items by members of the societys Sewing Circle. Money raised to benefit parish projects and needs. Bazaar continues daily through Nov. 4. 210-736-5005.

First Friday Concert and Luncheon 12:05 p.m. St. Johns Lutheran Church, 502 E. Nueva. San Antonio Beethoven Damenchor. Free. Lunch follows at 12:35 p.m. $5 suggested donation for lunch. Free on-site parking. stjohnssa.org; 210-223-2611.

Lecture series Which Way, America  What Bible Prophecy Says About Our Future by international television and radio speaker Eric Flickinger. 7 p.m. Semenaya Dance & Event Center, 100 Crossroads Blvd., No. 107 (across from Wonderland of the Americas mall). Lectures continue nightly through Nov. 10. WhichWay.US.

Saturday

Redeemer United Church of Christ Craft Show 9 a.m.-2 p.m. 7415 Gin Road, Marion. To rent a vendor booth, email rucczuehl@yahoo.com.

Holiday Bazaar 9 a.m.-5 p.m. St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, 4201 De Zavala Road. Over 60 vendors. Free admission. Bazaar continues Sunday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

St. Gerard High School Alumni Memorial Mass 5 p.m. St. Gerards Catholic Church, 1523 Iowa St. Reception with light refreshments to follow in the school cafeteria.

Nov. 11

Requiem Mass 6 p.m. St. Lukes Episcopal Church, 11 St. Lukes Lane. The choir will sing the Missa defunctorum (Mass XIX) and the Plainsong Propers for the day. Community is invited to send names of military members to be remembered during the necrology. For more information, contact Russell Jackson, music director and organist, St Lukes Episcopal Church, russellj@stlukes-sa.net

Nov. 17

Carmelite Unity 5k Run/Walk, Kids Run, and Craft Fair at Mission County Park 1, 6030 Padre Drive. Kids Run at 8:15 a.m.; 5k at 9 a.m. Fees: Kids Run, 11 and under, $5. T-shirt available for $10 on race day. 5k: $30. Chipped-timed. T-shirt guaranteed to first 500 registered participants. Benefits Carmelite Learning Center. For more information, call Andrew at 210-843-6256, or register at runsignup.com

Dec. 2

Advent Lessons & Carols at St. Lukes Episcopal Church, 11 St. Lukes Lane. The Advent Candlelight Procession features composers from the Baroque, Romantic and Modern periods. 5 p.m. service followed by pizza and wreath making. For more information, contact Russell Jackson, music director and organist, St Lukes Episcopal Church, russellj@stlukes-sa.net

Dec. 8

Living Christmas Drive-thru Presentation presented by St. Paul Lutheran Church of Bulverde. 6-9 p.m. 29797 U.S. Hwy 281 N. Free admission. For more information, go to www.redroofchurch.org.

Ongoing

Nar-Anon family groups meet at 7-8 p.m. Mondays; 6:30-7:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays, Recovery Place, 10929 Nacogdoches; 8-9 p.m. Wednesdays, Northwest Hills United Methodist Church, 7575 Tezel Road. Nar-Anon is a support group for those affected by someone elses addiction. Nar-AnonSA@gmail.com .

Israeli dancing 7:30 p.m. Mondays, Barshop Jewish Community Center, 12500 Northwest Military Highway. All dance levels welcome. 210-302-6820, israelidancesa.org.

God encounter 9-11 a.m. Tuesdays, Kings Mission Fellowship, 610 Moursund. kingsmissionsa.com, 210-922-5366.

In-depth Bible study Wednesdays, Mayfield Park Church, 700 W. Hutchins Place, with Pastor Mike Sutton. Meetings with meal 5:30 p.m. in Fellowship Hall; Bible study 6-6:45 p.m., followed by open discussion until 7:30 p.m. Child care available. Contact: 210-923-2241.

Farmers Market and Craft Show 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Thursdays, Journey Fellowship Church parking lot, Interstate 35 North, Selma. Vendors sell vegetables, eggs, honey, nuts, plants, crafts and more. Contact Lance Tiner, 210-828-3053; Lance@4CityMarket.com

12-step recovery group for compulsive overeaters noon-1 p.m. Thursdays, Cresholme Presbyterian Church, 1602 Goliad. Small building behind church. Free. 210-977-8379.

City Base Cancer Support Group 7 p.m. Thursdays, Brookhill Baptist Church, 631 Utopia Lane. Contact: Brenda Fox, 210-415-2830.

Families recovering 7 p.m. Thursdays at Brookhill Baptist Church, 631 Utopia Lane. Free 12-step group program similar to Al-Anon. 210-863-1813 or 210-861-4161.

Recovering in unity 5:30 p.m. Fridays, Unity Heights Building Community Center, 8103 Broadway. Combines traditional 12 steps with spiritual empowerment; appropriate for those who dont subscribe to the idea of an anthropomorphic God. 325-245-3057.

Celebrate Recovery Fridays, Mayfield Park Church, 700 W. Hutchins Place. Free 12-step program for people struggling with hurts, hang-ups and habits. Meetings with meal 6:30 p.m. in Fellowship Hall. Large group time 7:15 p.m.; smaller groups 8:15 p.m. Child care available. Contact: 210-923-2241.

Free clothes closet every first Saturday at Brookhill Baptist Church, 631 Utopia Lane. Clothing distributed 9 a.m.-noon. 210-333-4947.

Trunk of Treasures 9 a.m.-2 p.m. every first Saturday, St. Benedict Catholic Church, 4535 Lord Road. Cars with trunks open to sell garage sale-type items line parking lot. $10 for parking slot to sell items; free admission to shop. 210-648-0123.

New Life Cancer Support Team 7 p.m., third Monday of the month, Fellowship Building, New Life Baptist Church, 101 North St., Converse. Contact: 210-658-1972.

Calendar Deadline
The United States should have sanctioned and reversed our friendly relationship with the Saudi government and the Saudi royal family long before this heinous murder of a journalist.

The U.S. government should have reversed course with the Saudis back on Sept. 11, 2001. Your readers may recall that Osama bin Laden and 15 of the men who flew the planes into the towers in New York were from Saudi Arabia.

C.S. Peterman, New Braunfels

Lies about death

Lets face it: The Saudi Embassy must think the world is full of idiots. I have no diplomatic experience whatsoever, but I would assume that in every embassy in the world if a death occurs within its walls, someone calls officials of the host country to investigate the cause and remove the body.

First the Saudis claimed journalist Jamal Khashoggi left the embassy through a back door. Later they said he was involved in a terrible fistfight and was accidentally killed. If that had been true, there would be a record of which member of the embassy staff made the call and the name of the responding official. As I understand it, the Saudis claimed the body was handed over to a Turkish operative for disposal. What is meant by operative completely escapes me. Only an idiot would have bought this fairy tale.

Our president initially said the Saudis story was credible (though he is expressing skepticism now), ergo, if the premise of my first sentence is true, as night follows day, Trump, once again, proved himself an idiot.

He also believes Vladimir Putin is a strong leader and Kim Jong Un is an honorable man. I rest my case.

Dale F. McCarty, Boerne

Show the Saudis

Im very concerned about the blatant murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi Arabia. This is an issue that cannot be swept under the rug.

We have to show Saudi Arabia that this is not permissible. We cannot continue selling arms to this country. We cannot ignore this horrible murder of an international journalist nor the ongoing humanitarian disaster in Yemen.

Congress must act! President Donald Trump is actively sweeping this under the rug. Dont allow Congress to do the same.

Rebecca Baker

Answer to caravan

Hondurans are coming north because of our appetite for illegal drugs. Theres a direct connection. Legalize drugs so that we can manage and tax their sale just as is done with alcohol and cigarettes.

Yes, its a huge step, but look at the alternatives: refugees flooding our borders, leaving their countries because of violence and poverty, or managing the use and sale of drugs in our country.

Rebecca Baker

Make his day

Re: Julian Castro tells Rolling Stone hes likely to run for president in 2020, ExpressNews.com, Oct. 16:

Go ahead, Mr. Castro, make a run for the presidency in 2020. Go ahead. Make mine and millions of other Texas Republicans day.

In the end, no doubt, you will find yourself in the same scrapheap as the likes of Leticia Van de Putte and Wendy Davis as a triumvirate of Democrat losers. Yours and Mrs. Van de Puttes and Mrs. Davis radical left-wing politics do not resonate with Texans values.

Unlike Mr. Castro, we stand by ICE. We unapologetically support law enforcement officials and the military. Open borders are verboten to Texans, and we emphatically denounce sanctuary cities. Furthermore, we proudly embrace the Second Amendment, and we most assuredly reject any notion of taking a knee during the national anthem.

Mr. Castro will be President Donald Trumps meal ticket for a second term. Count on it.

Mike Gonzales, Houston

Dem hypocrisy

Its amazing to see the monumental hypocrisy of Democrats who were vehemently against Judge Brett Kavanagh being made a Supreme Court justice and are now talking of his impeachment because he was accused by Christine Blasey Ford of sexually molesting her 36 years ago. All this despite all those who Ford said were present had no recollection of the occurrence.

Compare that to these same Democrats voting without question for President Bill Clinton, accused of rape by Juanita Broaddrick, accused of exposing himself to Paula Jones and accused sexual molestation by Kathleen Willey. At that time, Clintons sexual predations were rationalized by these voters because he was a Democrat and he was just a charming rogue.

John K. Landry, New Braunfels

Betos bad behavior

Re: ORourke for U.S. Senate for Texans, Editorial, Oct. 20:

Thank you for the very flattering endorsement of Beto ORourke for U.S. Senate.

The very fact that he can skateboard onto the stage at his rallies certainly convinces me he is qualified to serve as my U.S. senator. And the DWI minor charge in his past is no reason to discredit him for public office, even though there was an article on Page A4, SAPD officer accused of DWI, about an officer being put on administrative leave until a criminal and administrative investigation are complete. After all, when your father is a county judge, you dont have to worry about breaking the law, right?

Did you know Texas has the highest number of alcohol-impaired driving fatalities in the nation, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration? Do you even care?

Lets keep rewarding bad behavior and elect Robert Francis ORourke as our U.S. senator!

E. Ward, Boerne
Residents of communities all along the Connecticut coast and their emergency responders scrambled Saturday to keep ahead of what in most cases was minor flooding during the Noreaster that deposited rain for much of the day.

Among the communities reporting issues were Bridgeport, New Haven, Milford, Stratford, West Haven, East Haven, Branford, Fairfield, Westport, Norwalk, Stamford, Greenwich, Madison and Westbrook.

In most cases, police dispatchers or firefighters said the flooding was minor.

Among the exceptions were Fairfield, where the fire deparatments Special Service Unit 1 helped to evacuate residents of Fairfield Beach road as flood waters continued to rise early Saturday afternoon. At one point, the road was impassable from the 1200 block on, and Westport, where a number of shorefront roads were closed due to flooding.

High tide Saturday was 1:39 p.m. in Bridgeport and 1:37 p.m. in New Haven.

The National Weather Service at 12:47 p.m. issued a coastal flood warning for southern New Haven and Fairfield counties until 3 p.m., saying that tides were 2.5 feet to 3.5 feet above normal.

Rain was expected to continue to be likely until 11 p.m. There will continue to be a chance of rain or drizzle between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m., according to the National Weather Service. Widespread fog also was expected, with a low around 46 degrees.

Shortly before 2 p.m., the parking lot to a waterfront condominium complex on Beachview Avenue in Bridgeports Black Rock section was said to be underwater as a result of flooding along Ash Creek.

In Westport, several shorefront roads, including Harbor Road, Canal Road and Compo Road South at Compo Beach Road were closed as a result of flooding, according to the Westport Fire Department.

Also closed were Wilton Road at Post Road West, Parker Harding Plaza and Imperial Road at Baker Avenue, officials said.

In Stamford, Weed Avenue was closed because of flooding and in Norwalk, Water Street and part of Mack Street were closed by flooding.

In West Haven, three large trees came down in the lower section of Painter Park off Kelsey Avenue.

Spring Street near the West Haven-New Haven line and the West River flooded and was closed, with the occupants of one car needing assistance to get out, said Commissioner of Public Works Tom McCarthy.

Fire Chief Stephen Scafariello of West Havens West Shore Fire Department said he was aware of no major flooding either in the coastal area that West Shore covers or the coastal area covered by the West Haven Fire Department.

In East Haven, Cosey Beach Avenue was flooded in parts from First Avenue to Phillip Street, as was the perennial flood zone at Shore Beach Road where it meets Hemingway and Coe avenues, said Lt. Joseph Murgo.

In Branford, several areas were impassable, included Sybil and Linden avenues near Lennys, Arc Road off Tabor Drive, the South Montowese bridge and two bridges in the Stony Creek section along Thimble Island Road and Leetes Island Road, said Firefighter Paramedic Amanda Mark.

New Haven Director of Emergency Operations Rick Fontana said the city saw tides 3.2 feet above normal but we only have flooding right now at the Middletown Avenue bridge, where we frequently get flooding.

Weve got some leaves blowing around but we do not have anything significant to report, he said.

In Greenwich, Greenwich Point was closed until further notice after the storm began purshing water into low-lying area, causing floods even before high tide arrived about 2 p.m., said police Lt. John Slusarz said in a news release.

Residents are asked to avoid low lying areas and stay indoors, Slusarz said. Greenwich emergency services are working to minimize the danger to the public. Please do not enter flooded areas, be watchful for falling branches, and avoid downed power lines.

In Madison, we have a little water over the street, but nothing serious, said a police dispatcher. I think the Fire Department has closed one road, but thats about it.

While there was some flooding reported in both Milford and Stratford, representatives of both the Milford Fire Department and the Stratford Police Department said that they had received no calls about flooding and were aware of no major issues.

Out in Westbrook, We have some streets down on the water there  the usual flooding streets that had water over the road, but nothing earth-shaking, a public safety officials said. One coastal road, Old Mail Trail, was closed.

mark.zaretsky@hearstmediact.com
OUTSPOKEN independent MP for Norton, Temba Mliswa has questioned President Emmerson Mnangagwas choice of Mthuli Ncube as Finance Minister as he slammed the world renowned economist for allegedly failing to invent solutions that respond to Zimbabwes unique economic circumstances.

Speaking at a Brand Zimbabwe meeting in Harare on Thursday, the former Zanu PF provincial chair said Ncubes predecessor, Patrick Chinamasa had a better handle on the countrys economy than him.

We have a technocrat in charge of this economy who has just caused more confusion that is shaking the economy after taking office just two months ago, Mliswa said of the non-constituency ministerial appointee.

Before his appointment to the countrys most demanding cabinet post, Ncube issued statements indicating Zimbabwe should adopt the rand as its anchor currency or reintroduce the local currency.

He strangely abandoned the idea when he took over as treasury boss.

Mliswa said the apparent policy inconsistencies were not doing any good to the countrys fragile economy.

In his comments, Mliswa, a known Mnangagwa apologist, seemed not to spare the President in his anti-government diatribe.

Here we have Ncube who before even sitting in cabinet makes several pronouncements and at some point suggesting that the bond note must go.

Then during the State of the Nation Address, we hear President Mnangagwa announcing that the bond notes will stay. How then do we attract business with such inconsistencies, he said.

Mliswa said Zanu PF has chosen to adopt the Chinese model in which the ruling party has more power than party officials deployed to government, making it important for Ncube to first report to and engage the party before initiating his policies.

So at the end of the day, one really wonders whether it is good to hire technocrats from overseas who do not know how these problems emerged or to deal with local technocrats who really know where we are coming from, Mliswa said.

The Norton legislator also urged the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to come out in the open and admit that there are no funds in its coffers other than misrepresenting facts.

 NewZimbabwe

Breaking News via Email

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By Sarah Jane Tribble, Senior Correspondent at Kaiser Health News, who previously worked for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer and Clevelands NPR and PBS affiliate. Originally published at Kaiser Health News

President Donald Trumps new pledge to crack down on the global freeloading in prescription drugs had a sense of deja vu.

Five months ago, Trump unveiled a blueprin to address prohibitive drug prices, and his administration has been feverishly rolling out ideas ranging from posting drug prices on television ads to changing the rebates that flow between drugmakers and industry middlemen.

Thursday, Trump proposed having Medicare base what it pays for some expensive drugs on the average prices in other industrialized countries, such as France and Germany, where prices are much lower. The proposal is in the early stages of rule-making and awaiting public comments.

The U.S., Trump said, will confront one of the most unfair practices, almost unimaginable that it hasnt been taken care of long before this.

The proposal was met with hope and skepticism, with several experts saying they were happy the administration was taking on Medicare Part Bs rising drug prices but questioning its approach.

Walid Gellad, director of the Center for Pharmaceutical Policy and Prescribing at the University of Pittsburgh, said in an online post that the administrations proposed solutions were unclear. And, he said, they would face insurmountable challenges.

While some industry watchers pointed to the announcement as a political move, Wells Fargo pharmaceutical analyst David Maris said that this is a broader effort by the president and his administration to attack the root causes of high drug prices.

The reality is he could very easily not take this on and do what other administrations have done and let the prices keep rising.

Trump, too, promised more to come and said he will soon announce some things that will really be tremendous. On Friday, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said that, as promised in the blueprint, there would be more changes to Medicare Part D, which covers most prescriptions. Ian Spatz, a public policy expert and senior adviser at Manatt Health, said the overall blueprint was unprecedented in terms of how many different ideas and areas of ideas that it contained.

Nothing would happen overnight. The proposal to require drug prices in TV ads could be delayed by litigation and notably, if implemented, does not include any penalties for companies who fail to post their prices.

The proposed rebate rule was delivered to the Office of Management and Budget in July. Matt Brow, president of industry consulting firm Avalere Health, said he expects the administration to publish the rule for comment by years end.

Trumps international pricing plan is not as far along as the rebate proposal. Rather, it is an advanced notice of proposed rule-making. The proposed rule could come in spring 2019, and Azar said the new model could begin in late 2019 or early 2020.

Yet, on Friday, Azar signaled the proposal could change, telling an audience at the Brookings Institution that the administration is open to any number of alternative ideas.

Avaleres Brow said there is a good chance the proposal will change significantly.

The sweeping nature of the proposal makes the stakes higher and makes it harder to implement, Brow said.

If the administration moves forward, it would bypass Congress and implement a pilot under the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovations purview. The pilot would phase in over five years and apply to 50 percent of the country. Azar said there would be no changes to Medicare benefits and no restrictions on patient access.

The proposal focuses on drugs covered under Medicare Part B, which are administered in hospitals, clinics and doctors offices. It also would alter the reimbursement formula for doctors and providers and would allow private-sector vendors to purchase drugs and then sell them to doctors and hospitals. Medicare would reimburse those vendors at the international pricing level.

Currently, doctors and hospitals administering Part B drugs are reimbursed the average price of a drug plus 6 percent. President Barack Obamas administration attempted to alter Part B as well but drew intense lobbying opposition and eventually withdrew a proposed pilot project.

Allan Coukell, senior director for health programs at Pew Charitable Trusts, said removing incentives that reward doctors for purchasing costlier drugs and bringing in a new way to control prices makes a lot of sense. Drug spending within Medicare Part B reached $22 billion in 2015, and drug costs have increased by an average of 8.6 percent annually since 2007.

Stephen Ubl, president of the industry trade group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, said imposing foreign price controls from countries with socialized health care systems would harm patients and hinder drug discovery and development.

Azar, a former executive at pharmaceutical manufacturer Eli Lilly, told reporters Thursday that you may hear the tired talking points that this will affect innovation. He disputed that idea, concluding that less than 1 percent of pharma [research and development] could potentially be impacted by this change.
(Natural News) Even the parts of the body that protect against infections need protection, too. The intestinal mucosa, for instance, prevents bacteria from entering the blood, but it is vulnerable to excessive inflammation in the presence of some pathogens. When the intestinal mucosa is damaged, the body becomes more susceptible to infections, so it is crucial to protect the intestinal mucosa in order to stay healthy.

Researchers from Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University discovered that the traditional Chinese medicine Huang Qi (Astragalus membranaceus) prevents intestinal mucosal damage by reducing inflammation.

Gram-negative bacteria are able to damage the intestinal mucosa through lipopolysaccharide endotoxins in its cell wall. The presence of lipopolysaccharides triggers the cells of the immune system to release substances that promote inflammation, which is known as pro-inflammatory cytokines. Excessive production of these cytokines leads to systemic inflammation, consequently increasing the risk for other diseases.

Huang Qi is a widely used medicinal plant that has potential use in protecting the intestinal mucosa against damage. It is traditionally used for its biological activities, which include antioxidant, hypoglycemic, antiviral, hepatoprotective, antidiabetic, and anticancer activities. Aside from these, previous studies have also shown that Huang Qi repairs tissue damage, such as in the gastric mucosa.

In this study, published in BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, researchers evaluated the protective effects of Huang Qi against intestinal mucosal damage caused by lipopolysaccharides in male ICR mice. Evaluations were based on parameters like the presence of pro-inflammatory cytokines and the pathological condition of tissues from the intestinal wall.

The researchers observed that untreated mice experienced an increase in pro-inflammatory cytokines, indicating that lipopolysaccharides induced inflammation. Meanwhile, the Huang Qi treated mice had similar cytokine levels to the control group. This shows that Huang Qi was able to prevent lipopolysaccharide-induced damage and that Huang Qi does not trigger an immune response in the body. Aside from these, the pathological observations also showed that lipopolysaccharides do inflict damage on intestinal tissues but Huang Qi treatment promotes cell recovery.

From these observations, it was determined that Huang Qi significantly reduces intestinal mucosal damage by preventing excessive inflammation. By protecting the intestinal wall from damage, the risk for other diseases is effectively reduced as well. (Related: Gut health plays a critical role in fending off diabetes, chronic disease.)

Natural ways to improve gut health

To reduce the susceptibility of intestines to infections and damage, there are many ways to improve gut health. These include:

Eating probiotic-rich foods  Not all bacteria are harmful to the body. There are many beneficial bacteria, known as probiotics, that aid in the different functions of the body like digestion and nutrient absorption. Fermented foods, such as kimchi, sauerkraut, and yogurt, are rich in probiotics since bacteria are involved in the production of these foods.

 Not all bacteria are harmful to the body. There are many beneficial bacteria, known as probiotics, that aid in the different functions of the body like digestion and nutrient absorption. Fermented foods, such as kimchi, sauerkraut, and yogurt, are rich in probiotics since bacteria are involved in the production of these foods. Breastfeeding  Mothers can help their children develop a healthier gut by breastfeeding them for the first two years of their lives. Breastfeeding improves gut health by introducing beneficial bacteria known as Bifidobacteria into the microbiota. Because of this, the child can enjoy lower risks of allergies and obesity.

 Mothers can help their children develop a healthier gut by breastfeeding them for the first two years of their lives. Breastfeeding improves gut health by introducing beneficial bacteria known as Bifidobacteria into the microbiota. Because of this, the child can enjoy lower risks of allergies and obesity. Reducing stress levels  Chronic stress negatively affects the different gut functions and the microbiota. Some ways to reduce stress include meditation, doing yoga, laughing, or spending time with friends and family.

 Chronic stress negatively affects the different gut functions and the microbiota. Some ways to reduce stress include meditation, doing yoga, laughing, or spending time with friends and family. Drinking enough water  It is important to stay hydrated to improve the condition of the mucosal lining and to keep a healthy balance of beneficial bacteria in the gut.

Learn more about the other benefits of Huang Qi by visiting ChineseMedicine.news today.

Sources include:

Science.news

BMCComplementAlternMed.BioMedCentral.com

LiveScience.com

MindBodyGreen.com

Healthline.com 1

Healthline.com 2
(Natural News) Federal authorities have arrested a 56-year-old Florida man in connection with a series of so-called mail bombs he allegedly sent to notable Democrats and critics of the Trump administration.

Authorities had Cesar Sayoc Jr. in custody three days after the first devices were discovered. Two more were found Friday as federal agents moved in on Sayoc, who has been arrested in the past on unspecified charges.

NBC News reported that DNA evidence played a role in identifying Sayoc. The network reported further:

Investigators in the Plantation, Florida, parking lot where Sayoc was arrested could be seen placing a tarp over a van with windows covered with dozens of pictures of Trump and decals, one of which appeared to be a version of a presidential seal.

Two more packages containing explosive devices were discovered Friday, one in Florida addressed to Sen. Cory Booker and another in New York addressed to former U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, officials said.

At the White House, POTUS Donald Trump praised law enforcement officials for their quick investigative work and actions, while also condemning the suspect and political violence in general.

We must never allow political violence to take root in America, cannot let it happen, the president said in remarks before the Young Black Leadership Summit he hosted Friday. And Im committed to doing everything in my power as president to stop it, and to stop it now.

WATCH: President Trump after arrest of pipe bomb suspect: "We must never allow political violence to take root in America, cannot let it happen. And I'm committed to doing everything in my power as president to stop it, and to stop it now." https://t.co/5MGorR3Wih pic.twitter.com/30Rr4nFoVH  NBC News (@NBCNews) October 26, 2018

Photos of a white van reportedly owned by Sayoc show that its windows are covered with pro-Trump, anti-Leftist decals.

@CBSMiami I have some pictures of this van I saw him at a stoplight one day and thought is was very strange. pic.twitter.com/VWUwznJK8k  Mahmud mohamed (@thereal_mo01) October 26, 2018

Pipe bomb devices  again, none of them detonated and most of them were very amateurish in nature and likely would not have gone off  were found/sent to the offices of CNN in New York City; George Soros home in Katonah, N.Y; the home of Bill and Hillary Clinton in Chappaqua, N.Y.; former CIA Director John Brennan in Manhattan, N.Y.; Robert De Niro in Manhattan; former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper in Manhattan; former President Obamas office in Washington; D.C.; Rep. Maxine Waters D.C. and California offices; and former Vice President Joe Bidens home in Vermont.

Packages were addressed to, but never reached, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and former Obama Attorney General Eric Holder.

This is not Trumps fault

For his part, Clapper called the acts domestic terrorism  a term the Obama administration gave to members of Antifa for their acts of political violence aimed at then-GOP presidential contender Donald Trumps supporters in 2016. (Related: Southern Poverty Law Center claims violent Antifa is NOT a hate group despite being labeled domestic terrorists by DHS, FBI.)

I think anyone who has in any way been a critic, publicly been a critic of President Trump needs to be on extra alert and take some cautions, precautions, particularly with respect to mail, he said.

Clapper tried to say he wasnt suggesting a direct cause-and-effect relationship between what POTUS Trump has said or done and the fake bomb packages, but I do think he bears some responsibility for the coarseness and un-civility of the dialogue in this country, and that he needs to remember that his words count.

Mind you, Clapper and the others who were targeted by these fake devices have not once spoken out against Democrats  like Waters, Booker, and Hillary Clinton  who have been dog-whistling to their supporters to commit acts of violence against Republicans and Trump administration officials by getting in their faces, telling them theyre not wanted here, and by refusing to be civil to them.

For a time, there was some Democratic condemnation of the Left-wing Bernie Sanders-supporting lunatic who tried to assassinate House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., in the summer of 2017 and other GOP lawmakers as they practiced softball on a northern Virginia ball field early one June morning.

There will be more information coming throughout today and for the next several days, so were going to learn much more about Sayoc and his motivations. But suffice to say the political rancor in our country is getting dangerously close to open warfare.

And no one should want that.

Read more about the trend towards domestic terrorism in America at Terrorism.news.

Sources include:

NBCNews.com

TheNationalSentinel.com
(Natural News) Pray for America today, friends, as the extreme violence that has been relentlessly pushed by deranged Leftists continues to escalate in the 10 days before the crucial mid-term elections.

This morning, a deranged, Trump-hating, Jew-hating individual opened fire at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, reportedly killing as many as 11 people (the actual death count is unclear and may rise). The man, who has been named by multiple media sources as Robert Bowers, was captured by police and left behind a slew of social media pages raging with hatred toward globalists and Jews.

The individual is also a Trump hater and specifically talked about a kike infestation while also bashing Qanon. For the record, I did not vote for [Trump] now have I owned, worn or even touched a maga hat, says a post that is believed to belong to the shooter.

The shooter had previously bragged about his Glocks on social media, posting pictures of multiple Glock handguns. He reportedly carried out the shooting with a combination of a Glock and an AR-15 of unknown manufacture.

The attack should be treated as a terrorist attack because its religiously motivated, warned Paul Joseph Watson in a tweet:

Alleged shooter in Pittsburgh did not vote for Trump and showed his hatred for Trump in other posts. Was obviously motivated by his disgusting anti-Semitism and nothing more. Should be treated as a terrorist attack because it's religiously motivated. pic.twitter.com/bidBBaoAEo  Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) October 27, 2018

Other posts describe the shooter as an actual Nazi who admired Hitler, hates Trump, believes Trump is controlled by Jews

Another post from Pittsburgh Synagogue shooter Robert Bowers. His profile clearly illustrates that hes a Nazi, admired Hitler, hates Trump, believes Trump is controlled by Jews, he did not vote for Trump. Thats all I was able to archive before his profile was wiped. Sickening. pic.twitter.com/DPQfGuWDzY  Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) October 27, 2018

The shooter also screamed, All Jews must die, according to news sources:

Unlike the recent fake pipe bomb hoax which was an obvious theatrical production, this attack on Jewish Americans involved actual kinetic weapons, blood and death.

This is a horrifying escalation of pre-election violence. We pray for all those impacted by these acts of violence and terrorism.

Pray for America. Weve been warning about this escalation of violence for a very long time. Now its here, and its obvious that everything is being unleashed in the run-up to the mid-term elections for political purposes. There is likely much more violence yet to come and as always, the dishonest left-wing media will try its hardest to somehow blame everything on Trump.

Stay informed with real-time news updates at Censored.news

Watch citizen video reporting at Brighteon.com
Federal law enforcement sources say explosives experts neutralized a suspicious device at San Francisco International Airport around 2 p.m. Friday.

The device was addressed to billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer and was found at a Burlingame postal sorting facility. It is one of at least 14 packages the FBI has linked to accused mail bomb suspect Cesar Sayoc of Florida.

Sayoc, arrested early Friday, is accused of sending suspicious devices to CNN, CNN, Barack Obama, California Congresswoman Maxine Waters and other key Democrats earlier this week, sending local law enforcement and citizens into a state of panic.

Sources tell NBC Bay Area a New York division of the FBI and ATF are the lead agencies in the case involving Steyer. The entire operation is being directed out of Washington, D.C, sources said.

The joint terrorism task force in San Francisco is also running an investigation in the Bay Area and Sacramento. Authorities moved the suspicious device found in Burlingame to SFO as a precaution -- first for the public, and then for those experts to try to neutralize it without having to detonate it or blow it up.

Why? Because experts want to preserve the package for forensic and evidence purposes. It is likely the package will be sent east to the FBI academy in Quantico, Virginia, where it will be compared with the dozen or so other devices around the country.

The NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit over the summer got an exclusive behind the scene look at the FBI explosives lab and the team who works there at an undisclosed location in the East Bay.

The team the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit observed was the crew that ran the investigation into the Unabomber, helped with the forensics after 9-11 and also worked evidence in the San Bernardino mass shooting.

FBI crews will be using tools to trace information such as fingerprints, DNA and other evidence that is left behind on devices.

Things the FBI analysts will be looking for to match these devices include handwriting and return addresses on the devices. They will also be looking for similarities in the construction of these bombs, including components and styles.

If analysts match any of those things they are more confident the packages and devices came from the same origins.
What to Know Dan Balsam says his family has always decorated for Halloween

Last year's Trump Halloween was a hit with their mostly-liberal neighbors

This year, "Part Duh" is bigger, with a growing graveyard for departed Trump cabinet members

"Even before Trump was elected, we've done Halloween decorations," Dan Balsam said as he stood in a yard covered in plastic spiders and cobwebs.

But last year, Balsam said Halloween took on a different meaning for his unabashedly liberal family.

Though he knows not everyone shares the family's left-leaning political views, Balsam said he felt Halloween  which typically falls right before Election Day  was the perfect occasion for them to express their First Amendment rights. Balsam has never been shy about his opinions, but he admits this latest exercise in free expression takes that boldness to a next level.

"This is sort of like a Michael Moore movie: there's obviously a very biased perspective," Balsam said. "We're making a statement of what we think, and that's what you're looking at."

With an attic full of animatronic characters, the family set to work building "A Very, Very Trump Halloween" in their front yard in Alameda. They debuted it on a quiet day in October, 2017. It didn't stay quiet for long  and for the most part, the neighborhood embraced it.

"When isn't it the right holiday to talk about what's going on in this country?" said neighbor Maureen de Coste. "Two weeks outside of an election  sure, why not?"

This year, the Balsams are back with "Part Duh" of their Trump Halloween display, including new administration officials, and new gravestones for those who've departed the White House.

"It's so amazing, because it's so up to date," commented Joyce Rinck as she took a walk with her daughter at dusk.

Neighbor Sally McKinney was also impressed with the effort and detail that went into the display.

"There's a lot to see," she said, and joked, "I wouldn't want to be here at nighttime because it would be too scary for me."

Jonathan Bloom/NBC Bay Area

Whatever their own political beliefs, passers-by said they were on board with the Balsams' very public exercise in free speech.

"You're definitely stating your opinion, so that's good," said Vander Von Stroheim, passing through the neighborhood in the setting sun.

"I don't know if everybody would agree with his politics," said Connie Hutchinson. "But that's the fun of it."
Mary Smith is newly engaged and eager to tie the knot, but she her bank is standing in the way of planning a dream wedding.

"I dont feel comfortable planning anything until we get this all sorted out," she said.

Mary Smith is a pseudonym. Were not using her real name because Mary says her bank, Wells Fargo, has labeled her as bankrupt. She said she became aware of the mistake when Wells Fargo would not allow her to make an ordinary monthly credit card payment.

"What they informed was that there was nothing they could do for me at that time, because my account was now being overseen by the bankruptcy department," she said.

Mary says she has never filed for bankruptcy, but Wells Fargos computers said she had.

Mary figured this was a simple mistaken identity because her real name is almost as common as "Mary Smith."

"Its very common," she said. "To the point that when I went to the bank he had to narrow down which Mary Smith I was."

Mary says various reps assured her they would fix the error. Then, months went by and nothing changed. Except her credit score.

"Its gone down significantly," she said. "I wouldnt be surprised if I was looking into moving or buying a car  I would be denied."

She showed us her credit report. Theres one reference to bankruptcy, added by Wells Fargo.

So, Mary turned to NBC Bay Area Responds.

"Help me, please," she said.

We immediately asked Wells Fargo to intervene. Meanwhile, we searched court records.

We found Mary Smiths name plus the last four digits of her social security number on a bankruptcy filing last year in Los Angeles.

"Ive never lived in Los Angeles before," Smith said.

So, what happened?

The Bankruptcy court trustee in Los Angeles told us Mary and several other people were unknowingly written into a real estate scheme near Palm Springs. A homeowner there filed a flurry of fake papers using real peoples names and social security numbers to try to stall his home foreclosure.

Records show the court eventually caught on and let the foreclosure proceed. A judge also dismissed Marys bogus bankruptcy.

We tried to share all this with Wells Fargo. We also requested an interview.

The bank refused to address Marys case, citing its privacy policy. It agreed only to send us a general statement, which says, in part:

"...when a bankruptcy case is filed that impacts or appears to impact our customer(s) or account(s), Wells Fargo follows the provisions of the United States Bankruptcy Code and Rules."

We asked how much longer Mary will have to wait to get her record cleared. We did not receive a response.

Next we turned to Ike Shulman, a veteran bankruptcy attorney in San Jose.

"If somebody finds theyve been reported in a bankruptcy that they didnt file, its pretty damaging," he said.

Shulman believes Wells Fargo should have been able to find the paper trail -- and quickly clear Marys name.

"Its an error by the creditor and they need to correct that," he said. "Take whatever steps are required to mitigate the damage."

Since that hasnt happened yet, we recommended Mary apply for a new Social Security number, which is possible when youre an identity theft victim.

"I honestly didnt know thats an option," Mary said. "I would be open to it at this point, after everything I have gone through."

NEW SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS: HOW TO APPLY



As for her wedding, which she dreams of holding at Disneyland, Mickey and Minnie must wait.

Marys not planning a fairytale event until this banking nightmare is over.

"We cant," she said. "We need this resolved."

Mary says Wells Fargo is still refusing to take her credit card payments. That means shes carrying an unpaid balance  which can further damage her credit  even though shes ready to pay.

Mary said she recently hired a lawyer. She feels she now has to sue Wells Fargo.
Two new clusters of Legionnaires' disease cases were being investigated Friday by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

A Johnsburg Walmart in McHenry County has been identified by health officials as a potential exposure source. Three people who reported being at the store were diagnosed with the lung infection. At the Warren Barr South Loop nursing home in Chicago, two residents also contracted Legionnaires' disease.

"I'm very shocked," Walmart shopper Shelby Nelson said. "Never had to worry about before, now it's a huge concern."

Legionnaires' disease is a form of pneumonia that people can get by breathing in small droplets of water containing Legionella bacteria. Walmart has taken action: including turning off produce water sprays. Some shoppers say they are concerned, while others say the store is doing all it can.

"(I) might want to consider shopping somewhere else," shopper Ozzie Fernandez said.

Nelson said she thinks Walmart is attempting to address the issue. Walmart issued a statement on the matter Friday.

We take the situation seriously and out of an abundance of caution are replacing our sprinkler system, which is specifically designed with nozzle sizes and no reservoirs to minimize and prevent exposure to this problem," the statement reads. "Because Legionella can be found almost anywhere, and the Legionella found was not the strain that reportedly caused the illnesses, the health department has been unable to confirm that our store was the source."

Meanwhile health officials say they will continue to investigate any look for any other potential sources and other cases of Legionnaires' disease cases.
What to Know Migrant caravans have taken place regularly over the years, they've received attention this year after opposition from Trump

Many migrants rejected Mexico's offer to stay and receive shelter, medical attention, schooling and jobs, opting to continue on

On Friday, the Pentagon approved a request for additional troops at the southern border

Hundreds of Mexican federal officers carrying plastic shields blocked a Central American caravan from advancing toward the United States on Saturday, after a group of several thousand migrants turned down the chance to apply for refugee status and obtain a Mexican offer of benefits.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has announced what he called the "You are at home" plan, offering shelter, medical attention, schooling and jobs to Central Americans in Chiapas and Oaxaca states if migrants apply, calling it a first step toward permanent refugee status. Authorities said more than 1,700 had already applied for refugee status.

But a standoff unfolded as federal police officers blocked the highway, saying there was an operation underway to stop the caravan. Thousands of migrants waited to advance, vowing to continue their long trek toward the U.S. border.

At a meeting brokered by Mexico's National Human Rights Commission, police said they would reopen the highway and only wanted an opportunity for federal authorities to explain the proposal to migrants who had rejected it the previous evening. Migrants countered that the middle of a highway was no place to negotiate and said they wanted to at least arrive safely to Mexico City to discuss the topic with authorities and Mexican lawmakers.

They agreed to relay information back to their respective sides and said they would reconvene.

Orbelina Orellana, a migrant from San Pedro Sula, Honduras, said she and her husband left three children behind and had decided to continue north one way or another.

"Our destiny is to get to the border," Orellana said.

She was suspicious of the government's proposal and said that some Hondurans who had applied for legal status had already been sent back. Her claims could not be verified, but migrants' representatives in the talks asked the Mexican government to provide a list of anyone who had been forced to return.

The standoff comes after one of the caravan's longest days of walking and hanging from passing trucks on a 60-mile (100 kilometer) journey to the city of Arriaga.

The bulk of the migrants were boisterous Friday evening in their refusal to accept anything less than safe passage to the U.S. border.

"Thank you!" they yelled as they voted to reject the offer in a show of hands. They then added: "No, we're heading north!"

Sitting at the edge of the edge of the town square, 58-year-old Oscar Sosa of San Pedro Sula, Honduras concurred.

"Our goal is not to remain in Mexico," Sosa said. "Our goal is to make it to the (U.S). We want passage, that's all."

Still 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) from the nearest U.S. border crossing at McAllen, Texas, the journey could be twice as long if the group of some 4,000 migrants heads for the Tijuana-San Diego frontier, as another caravan did earlier this year. Only about 200 in that group made it to the border.

While such migrant caravans have taken place regularly over the years, passing largely unnoticed, they have received widespread attention this year after fierce opposition from U.S. President Donald Trump.

On Friday, the Pentagon approved a request for additional troops at the southern border, likely to total several hundred, to help the U.S. Border Patrol as Trump seeks to transform concerns about immigration and the caravan into electoral gains in the Nov. 6 midterms.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis signed off on the request for help from the Department of Homeland Security and authorized the military staff to work out details such as the size, composition and estimated cost of the deployments, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss planning that has not yet been publicly announced.

Stoking fears about the caravan and illegal immigration to rally his Republican base, the president insinuated that gang members and "Middle Easterners" are mixed in with the group, though he later acknowledged there was no proof of that.

At a church in Arriaga that opened its grounds to women and children Friday, Ana Griselda Hernandez, 44, of Mapala, Honduras, said she and two friends traveling with children had decided to pay for a bus ride from Pijijiapan, because the 4-year-old and 5-year-old would have never covered the 60-mile distance.

"It's difficult because they walk very slowly," she said. She pointed out scabbed-over blisters on her feet, a testament to the fact they had walked or hitched rides since leaving their country.

The caravan is now trying to strike out for Tapanatepec, about 29 miles (46 kilometers) away.

Up until now, Mexico's government has allowed the migrants to make their way on foot, but has not provided them with food, shelter or bathrooms, reserving any aid for those who turn themselves in.

Police have also been ejecting paid migrant passengers off buses, enforcing an obscure road insurance regulation to make it tougher for them to travel that way.

On Friday, authorities were cracking down on smaller groups trying to catch up with the main caravan, detaining about 300 Hondurans and Guatemalans who crossed the Mexico border illegally, said an official with the national immigration authority.

Migrants, who enter Mexico illegally every day, usually ride in smugglers' trucks or buses, or walk at night to avoid detection. The fact that the group of about 300 stragglers was walking in broad daylight suggests they were adopting the tactics of the main caravan, which is large enough to be out in the open without fear of mass detention.

However, it now appears such smaller groups will be picked off by immigration authorities, keeping them from swelling the caravan's ranks.

On Friday evening, Irineo Mujica, whose organization People without Borders is supporting the caravan, accused Mexican immigration agents of harassment and urged migrants to travel closely together.

"They are terrorizing us," he said.

Associated Press writers Mark Stevenson and Peter Orsi contributed to this report.
One person has died after a three car crash in West Haven early Saturday morning.

West Haven Police said they were called to a three car crash on Elm Street near First Avenue around 6:30 a.m.

Officers said a van hit two parked vehicles and then caught on fire. The van was on fire when police and fire personnel arrived.

An occupant in the van, who police believe was the driver, has died. Police said the person's identity and cause and manner of death are unknown.

The cause of the car fire is being investigated.

Members of the West Haven Police Department Major Accident Squad and Detective Division are on scene with the West Haven Fire Marshal and members of the State Police Fire Marshal to assist with the investigation.

Motorists are asked to avoid the area on Elm Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue. The roadway will be closed to traffic until the investigation is complete. Police said the investigation is expected to be lengthy so the road may remain closed until Saturday afternoon.
Former vice president Joe Biden attempted to strike an emotional tone for the reasons Democrats need to turn out to vote for Connecticuts Democratic candidates in November.

Biden framed the debate as votes for Democrats as being votes for a better version of what America stands for.

Our children are listening and our silence is complicit, Biden told the audience of about This is so much bigger than the budget or healthcare or any single issue. This is about our soul, and the world is watching.

More than 1,300 poured into the Hartford Magnet Trinity College Academy for the campaign stop.

Democrats Ned Lamont, Jahana Hayes and US Senator Chris Murphy anchor the ballot for their party this fall, hoping this drive turnout to deliver victories.

Lamont is seeking the office of governor for the second time in his political career. He lost to Gov. Dannel Malloy in the 2010 Democratic primary.

Lamont is up against Republican Bob Stefanowski, who Democrats have described a Donald Trump-like figure, whos looking to cut the state income tax to the tune of $9 billion.

Im the guy that hires people, Lamont, a wealthy businessman from Greenwich who founded a cable television company. Bob is the guy that fires people.

Jahana Hayes is considered the rising star for the Democratic Party in Connecticut. Born in Waterbury, Hayes is a former National Teacher of the Year, and running for office for the first time.

She said during the rally that Democrats need to not be afraid to stand up to Republicans, the party that controls all branches of government in Washington DC.

We have to be bold, Hayes said. What kind of Connecticut do you want to live in? What kind of a world do you want to live in? You decide.

US Senator Chris Murphy, running against Republican Matt Corey, spent much of his time talking about the success of the Affordable Care Act in Connecticut, and vowed to keep it in place and attempt to strengthen it in Congress.

The visit by Biden, and even having Hayes outside of the Fifth Congressional District, was meant to boost support and enthusiasm for Democrats on the ballot.

Multiple Democrats have told NBC Connecticut that they are lacking the same kind of organization and turnout machine in the states large cities that they have enjoyed in the past.

In a statement, a spokesman for Bob Stefanowski criticized the visit by Biden, saying, Because of his sinking poll numbers, we've seen Ned Lamont have to bring in big names like Joe Biden and spend over $12 million to try to buy support because his message of higher taxes and more of the same doesn't stand up well against Stefanowski's plan to lower taxes and restore our economy.

Manny Santos released a statement responding to his opponent's appearance at the event.

"It is no surprise that my opponent needs help from outside Connecticut, where so much of her fundraising and support comes from. This election is about the voters of the cities and small towns of the 5th District of Connecticut. While my opponent focuses on Washington, my attention is and will remain on the people of the district."

Biden's visit was just a day after two suspected explosive devices addressed to Biden were discovered at postal facilities in Delaware. The devices are similar to others sent to prominent Democrats across the country over the past few days.

Former vice president Joe Biden is in Hartford Friday to stump for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ned Lamont and 5th District congressional candidate Jahana Hayes.
A member of the United States military was killed in Afghanistan Thursday, NATO's mission in the country announced.

The service member was part of the NATO Resolute Support mission, and the incident in which they died is under investigation. Their name is being withheld pending notification of their next of kin.

"We mourn and honor the sacrifice of our service member," said Gen. Scott Miller, commander of Resolute Support and United States Forces Afghanistan.

Resolute Support is a NATO-led mission to train, assist and advise Afghanistan's national security forces. It involves about 16,000 service members from 39 NATO allies and partners, including the U.S.

Last month, a U.S. service member was killed in Afghanistan in an apparent insider attack that wounded another member of the U.S. military.
An old trend in healthcare is making a comeback that experts say could have a big impact on your health and your wallet.

According to a new survey, more doctors in Texas are leaving the standard way of giving care for what's called direct primary care, sometimes also called concierge medicine.

It's a model of medicine in which you pay your doctor directly in exchange for personalized care.

For the Struck family of Frisco, health is everything.

Erin Struck is a breast cancer survivor and Brad Struck is a busy executive, without a lot of time to be sick.

Both need to be able to keep up with their 10-year-old son Caden.

We are busy with work. We are busy with family. To busy to be slowed down by a sinus infection or a sore throat or things that like, the quicker you can knock those out the better, said Brad Struck.

However, the Strucks say frustrations mounted every time they did try to see their doctor.

They say they either had to wait days, or see a nurse or physician assistant instead and recently, when Erin tried to get some blood work for an upcoming reconstructive surgery, she couldnt get in with her doctor as soon as she expected.

I couldn't get in! So they basically returned the phone call and said, okay we worked you in with a P.A. and I said to Brad, that's it. we are done. Im just so sick and tired of being a number, said Erin.

So they made the switch to a concierge doctor.

I like the title of personal physician better, said Dr. Bryan Lowery, one of the growing number of doctors in North Texas now practicing concierge medicine or direct primary care.

According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, the direct primary care model gives physicians an alternative to fee-for-service insurance billing, typically by charging patients a monthly, quarterly, or annual fee that covers all or most primary care services including clinical, laboratory, and consultative services, and care coordination and comprehensive care management.

Membership fees can vary anywhere from $50 a month several thousand dollars a year and in exchange, the patient joins a doctor's practice and will have access to that doctor at anytime of day, whether by phone or in person.

The fee is in addition to your normal health insurance costs.

You don't have unlimited funds so you decide what's important to you. Healthcare at 80-years-old is important, said Jim Dean, who recently moved from California and says he had trouble finding a doctor in North Texas accepting new Medicare.

I know my patients. I know what they have. I know their medications. I know their medical problems. I know their personalities. I know how to take care of each one in a different way and that's the benefit of concierge medicine, said Dr. Lowery.

Once thought for the rich and famous, industry experts say concierge medicine is becoming more mainstream and not just for frustrations like the Strucks.

A survey performed by Merritt Hawkins Physician Staffing firm found more doctors in Texas than in any other state except for Kansas plan to make the switch to primary care out of frustration with the current healthcare system.

Physicians have spoken loud and clear. They want less paperwork, less bureaucracy, less people involved in care with that patient, like third party payers that don't directly influence their health and if this is the way to give that care to their patients, they're going to take it, said Travis Singleton, Executive Vice President at Merritt Hawkins.

However, he says it could spell bad news for some.

Experts say if the trend continues, there'd be fewer doctors for the families who can't afford the concierge model.

There is no doubt that this would absolutely stretch our physicians more in a time when we can't afford to do that. We don't have enough physicians period, said Singleton.

Still, when it comes to providing the best care possible, Dr. Lowery says this model allows him to do.

He went from 2000 patients at a big corporate practice to fewer than 250.

Practicing this kind of medicine definitely helps me sleep better at night, said Dr. Lowery.

It also helps the Strucks rest easier knowing their doctor is just a phone call away.

Some direct primary care practices don't accept health insurance.

Because some services are not covered by your membership fee, DPC practices often suggest that patients have a health insurance policy to cover emergencies.
Jacquelyn Davis didn't survive her June shooting. Police say Pettis Gage committed her murder in South Dallas this year. Gage, whos charged with the crime, has a history of domestic violence convictions involving her. Shes just one example of the many serious cases currently playing out in North Texas.

Across the country, one in four women face domestic abuse, but the statistic is even worse here.

In Texas its one out of every three. Taxes can be a very dangerous place for women, said Jan Langbein, the CEO of Genesis Womens Shelter.

Langbein said she's optimistic about current steps being taken to change that, including new finger printing at the city level, instead of just the county. Dallas installed Live Scan technology at the Municipal Building on Main Street Friday.

So when you get a Class C, are arrested for a Class C, you haven't been finger printed in the past, said Dallas City Councilmember, Jennifer Staubach Gates.

Staubach Gates leads the Domestic Violence Task Force in Dallas. So far, she's not trying to change the law, just better enforce it. As it stands, someone convicted of domestic violence, or who has a protective order issued against them, can't have a firearm. The problem is Class C misdemeanors don't require reporting, so if that offender tries to buy a gun, no one knows to stop them. It's a loophole, she and other city officials, including Mayor Mike Rawlings, hope to close.

Every day we make 14 arrests for domestic violence in the city of Dallas, so there's too many people committing this crime. It's a true public safety threat for our community, Staubach Gates said.

With new capability to submit finger prints and information to the department of public safety, Dallas will now report all domestic violence offenders upon conviction. That means low-level offenders will now be entered into the national FBI database  a volunteer effort by the city.

The city's crime report, released Friday, shows 15,347 domestic violence calls to police this last fiscal year. According to DPD, 219 people violated protection orders. For victims and first responders, the data can prove critical.

It's good information and it's going to hopefully keep our officers safer on these calls as well, Staubach Gates said.

Reporting at the city level also allows the district attorney to see information she didn't see before, so when it comes to repeat offenders, she's able to enhance convictions.

San Antonio is the only other Texas city taking similar action. Dallas Councilmembers approved $45,000 to pay for the Live Scan technology.
The family of a 26-year-old black man who was shot and killed in his own apartment by a white former Dallas police officer has filed a federal lawsuit.

The lawsuit filed Friday argued Amber Guyger used excessive force when she gunned down Botham Jean, a St. Lucia native, on Sept. 6. Court records say Guyger reported that she mistook his apartment for her own and thought she'd encountered an intruder.

She was charged with manslaughter days after the shooting and has since been fired. The lawsuit also says the department did not adequately train Guyger, and adds the agency trains its officers to use deadly force "even when there exists no immediate threat to themselves or others."

Guyger and the city of Dallas as a whole are both named as defendants in the suit. That's because Civil Rights Attorney Lee Merritt, who represents the Jean family, said the blame for this incident goes beyond one officer.

"They've been using deadly force and they face no consequences for it," Merrit said. "So this lawsuit is designed not only to deal with this case as an isolated incident but to specifically get at those policies and procedures that allow this kind of thing to continue to occur."

The city of Dallas and Dallas Police Department both said they couldn't talk about pending litigation. Guyger's criminal attorney did not immediately return NBC5s call for comment.

Jean family attorneys are also considering a petition to the United Nations, saying this is an international matter since Jean was from St. Lucia.

NBC5's Alice Barr contributed to this report.
A 37-year-old man is dead after a house fire in Richardson Friday night.

The house on Merrie Circle caught fire around 10 p.m.



Domino's delivery driver Waqas Javed said he saw smoke and called 911.

"I just tried to run to the house to take somebody out, but the fire is too much I cannot handle it and then suddenly I called 911," Javed said.

With flames as tall as treetops, Javed said the fire looked as if it was starting to spread.

He began to bang on neighbors doors to get them outside.

"All the neighbors were home. Everybody's sleeping inside the homes. Nobody knows what's going on," he explained.

Firefighters put the fire out quickly and get the resident out of the burning home.

The man was transported to an area hospital in critical condition, but later died.



"I feel so bad," Javed said.

Investigators were still trying to determine what started the fire as of Saturday afternoon.



The home suffered extensive damage.



NBC 5 is not releasing the victim's name because his next of kin have not been notified.
A McKinney man says he was attacked by a grocery store employee with a wine bottle. Now, he is suing.

The alleged attack happened on Sept. 26, at about 7:20 p.m. at a Tom Thumb on W. Virginia Parkway in McKinney.

An arrest affidavit said surveillance video shows the victim pushing a shopping cart down an aisle. The employee walks up behind him, then winds up and strikes [the victim] across the side of the head from behind with a wine bottle.

According to the affidavit, the victim pushed his cart into the employee then ran off.

Surveillance video, according to the affidavit, appeared to show the victim being chased by the employee until another co-worker intervened.

Attorney Jason Burress said his client, a 45-year-old father, called 911.

When officers arrived, they questioned the employee, 28-year-old Riley Collins.

Police said Collins told them he couldnt recall what happened and, didnt seem to make sense while speaking to officers. Police said Collins kept falling asleep while sitting on the ground in handcuffs and continuously had to be woken up.

Police said Collins claimed the victim made a comment to him before the attack.

Burress insisted it was unprovoked.

My client had never met, never exchanged any pleasantries, words of any kind, on any date before this happened, on the day this happened, Burress said.

Burress said his client suffered several fractures to his face and a traumatic brain injury for which he is still be treated.

He said his client is facing a mound of medical bills.

Unfortunately, we've received no cooperation from Tom Thumb, Burress said.

Thursday, Burress filed a lawsuit against Tom Thumb and Albertsons, its parent company, for more than $1 million in damages.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Tom Thumb said, "We are not at liberty to comment on this matter as it is under investigation. Tom Thumb strives to make every effort to provide a safe shopping environment for our customers and our employees."

Collins remains in the Collin County Jail. He's charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Collins wasnt arrested the night of the alleged attacked.

Instead, he was taken to a hospital, Due to him falling asleep, being confused about the incident and him hearing things that werent said, according to court documents.

He was arrested on Oct. 2, six days after the alleged attack. He declined a request for an interview from NBC 5.
Anthropology researchers have found spearheads in Central Texas that the team's leader says are the oldest hunting tools discovered so far in North America, according to a report published this week in the journal Science Advances.

The spear points, hewn of limestone, were found in 2015 at a dig near Buttermilk Creek, which is about 45 miles north of Austin, said Michael Waters, the Texas A&M University anthropologist who led the study and director of the university's Center for the Study of First Americans.

Waters wrote in the report that analysis suggests the spearheads are between 13,500 and 15,500 years old, which is as many as 2,500 years older than projectile points found near Clovis, New Mexico, that many believed to be the oldest in North America.

The Texas artifacts came from what is known as the Debra L. Friedkin site, which was under excavation from 2006 to 2016. The earliest people in the area were hunter-gatherers who "probably moved from camp to camp over a year," Waters said. They were likely attracted to the site by the year-round availability of drinking water and abundant chert on the surrounding slopes that was used for making stone tools. The region also had plenty of hunting and gathering in the surrounding Hill Country, Blackland Prairie and Coastal Plain, Waters said.

As for the spear points, they were not meant as combat weapons, Waters said.

"They were used for hunting. We saw evidence that they were hafted onto a spear (shaft), and there was clear evidence they were used for butchering," he said. "They probably would have been used for hunting everything from mammoths and horses to deer."

Given the age and shape of the recently found spear points, the people who used them likely arrived in the area from the Pacific coast as they circumvented the ice sheet that overlaid most of North America at the time, Waters said.

James Adovasio, director of archaeology at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute at Florida Atlantic University, wasn't involved in the study. He said the spear points find was "certainly the oldest in Texas," but questioned if they were the oldest discovered in North America.

Adovasio told The Associated Press that other sites "have produced items 1,500 or 2,000 years older than Clovis." He argued the Clovis find was no longer the standard by which subsequent finds are judged, adding that the Texas find was "in the ballpark as some of the oldest finds (in North America). It may or may not be the oldest."

Waters told the AP he was aware of other contenders for the oldest projectile points found in North America, but he contends there have been flaws in how the claims were substantiated. His findings are supported by the geological layer where his points were found, how they were dated, and the shape and style of the points, he said.

"Good stratigraphy, good dating, good artifacts," Waters said.
A new procedure goes into effect Friday in Dallas regarding offenders with domestic violence convictions.

The city will be the first in Texas to report low level domestic violence convictions to the Texas Department of Public Safety, prohibiting gun purchases and possession.

In a 2017 state-wide survey conducted by the Texas Council on Family Violence, three North Texas counties (Tarrant, Dallas, and Collin) ranked in the top five for most domestic violence related deaths.

According to the report, 65 percent of victims were shot to death.

Prior to the new process, in Texas, it is mandatory that counties report family violence convictions for all offenses higher than a Class C misdemeanor. Most domestic violence incidents begin with a misdemeanor C conviction and escalate, said Jan Langbein, the CEO of Genesis Womens Shelter and Support in Dallas. These usually are not isolated incidents, and they increase not only in frequency but in severity as well. The will close the loophole and protect more victims.

Starting Friday, the city of Dallas Domestic Violence Task Force will enter all convictions into a data base, along with the perpetrators fingerprints, and that information will be sent to the FBI.

The family violence offender database is not accessible for public review.

This will be a proactive approach to a very pervasive problem. What if we could stop the violence at a misdemeanor C level. What if we took the gun out of the hands of that perpetrator. Maybe it would never get to a felony assault. Maybe it would never reach homicide, said Langbein.

Dallas city leaders will also discuss a gun surrender program in the future. They will consider legislation for 2019 to expand the process to other municipalities in our area.
The grandparents of a man are pleading for help to raise money to pay the bills for their grandson hospitalized in critical condition in Mexico to get him back to Northern California.

Chuck Dovey says his grandson, Ian, 26, was in a motorcycle crash on Saturday.

"In a way, I'm grateful that he's unconscious so he doesn't have to be aware of everything that's going on," he said.

Ian Dovey was in a motorcycle crash Saturday, his family said. He suffered major injuries, including spinal trauma.

Dovey's family wants to get him out of Mexico where he and his wife have been living for the past year.

But the family claims the hospital in San Jose del Cabo has demanded hundreds of thousands of dollars from them.

A hospital official reached by phone said the hospital would never hold or kick out any patient based on their ability to pay.

Dovey's family claims that with each day the threats are growing more hostile.

"My greatest fear is that they carry out that threat, and he's not able to be be transported, he's not stable enough and he dies," Chuck Dovey said.

The family says they are confused and frustrated.

"I just want to help him," Chuck Dovey said.

The Mexican Consulate said they can't do anything to help.

The family has raised about $65,000 so far. They are hoping to raise more through a gofundme site.
What to Know FBI renewed its call for information leading to the whereabouts an alleged member of a Southern California-based white extremist group.

Aaron Eason, 38, of Anza in Riverside County, remains at large.

Three other alleged members of the Rise Above Movement were in federal custody.

The FBI Friday renewed its call for information leading to the whereabouts an alleged member of a Southern California-based white extremist nationalist group suspected of traveling to various political rallies in California and in Charlottesville, Virginia, to incite riots.

Aaron Eason, 38, of Anza in Riverside County, remains at large but three other alleged members of the Rise Above Movement were in federal custody. Robert Rundo, an alleged co-founder and leader of the group, was arrested Sunday at Los Angeles International Airport, according to the FBI, while two other members were arrested Wednesday morning.

Rundo, 28, of Huntington Beach, appeared in federal court in downtown Los Angeles Wednesday morning and was ordered to remain jailed without bail. His attorney denied allegations that Rundo was leading RAM or that he was involved in a pattern of "escalating" violence.

Rundo is accused along with Robert Boman, 25, of Torrance, Tyler Laube, 22, of Redondo Beach, and Eason with inciting riots or committing acts of violence in furtherance of a riot, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday. Boman and Laube also appeared before a magistrate judge Wednesday and were ordered to remain in federal custody pending trial.

"Throughout 2017, the defendants and other RAM members traveled to political rallies, including in Huntington Beach, California, on March 25, 2017, Berkeley, California, on April 15, 2017, San Bernardino, California, on June 20, 2017, and Charlottesville, Virginia, on Aug. 11-12, 2017," according to an affidavit filed in support of an arrest warrant. "RAM members violently attacked and assaulted counter-protesters at each of these events."

In court documents, prosecutors allege that members of RAM instigated violence at a Huntington Beach "Make America Great Again" rally near Bolsa Chica State Beach. When a small group of counter-protesters turned up, they were confronted by RAM members, who pushed and punched two reporters from a local news publication, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

"As the journalist stumbled backward, Laube grabbed the journalist's shoulder with his left hand, and punched him three times in the face," according to a criminal complaint, which also alleges that Rundo and Boman kicked and beat counter-protesters.

Much of the violence that day was filmed and posted online, allegedly by the group in order to "recruit more members," according to federal prosecutors. The latest arrests come on the heels of the arrests and indictments of four other alleged members of RAM -- three of whom are Southland residents - - for allegedly inciting the deadly riot in Charlottesville, Virginia, last year.

Those four defendants -- Benjamin Drake Daley, 25, of Redondo Beach, Thomas Walter Gillen, 24, of Redondo Beach, Michael Paul Miselis, 29, of Lawndale, and Cole Evan White, 24, of Clayton, California -- were arrested on federal criminal complaints in the early morning hours of Oct. 2. They were indicted about a week later in Virginia on one count each of conspiracy to violate the federal riots act and traveling across state lines to participate in or incite a riot. Federal prosecutors describe RAM as a "white supremacy extremist group."

According to the criminal complaint, Rundo and other defendants used the internet to coordinate combat training in preparation for last year's rallies, to arrange travel to the events, to coordinate attendance at the events, and to celebrate their acts of violence in order to recruit members for future events.

This past spring, Rundo and other RAM members allegedly traveled to Germany, Ukraine and Italy to celebrate Adolf Hitler's birthday on April 20 and meet with members of European white supremacy extremist groups, according to the document.

Shortly after that trip, the RAM-affiliated clothing company Right Brand Clothing -- of which Rundo is the registered owner -- posted photographs on its Instagram page of Rundo and other RAM members in Europe, slap-tagging stickers on various buildings and poles with the RAM logo and anti-immigrant messages, prosecutors contend.

If convicted of the conspiracy and riots charges in the complaint, each defendant would face a possible maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Eason, who should be considered armed and dangerous, is 6 feet 1 inch tall, weighs about 180 pounds and has black hair and brown eyes.

He may be driving one of the following vehicles: --a 1991 black Ford pickup with the California registration tag 4B50112; --a 1972 Chevrolet pickup with the California registration tag 4N85217; or --a 1999 Gray/Silver Toyota Corolla with the California registration tag 4GFN584.

Anyone with information regarding his whereabouts was urged to call the FBI 24 hours a day at (310) 477-6565.
What to Know A gunman opened fire at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh on Saturday morning, the Jewish Sabbath

Officials said 11 people died in the attack and six others were injured, which includes four officers

Suspected gunman Robert Bowers was charged with 29 federal counts, including hate crimes

A 46-year-old man armed with an assault rifle opened fire at a synagogue in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood on Saturday morning, the Jewish Sabbath, killing 11 people and injuring four police officers before being taken into custody, according to officials and law enforcement sources.

The suspect, Robert Bowers, traded gunfire with police and was shot several times. Bowers, who was in fair condition at a hospital, was charged late Saturday with 29 federal counts, including hate crimes and weapons offenses. It wasn't immediately known if Bowers has an attorney to speak on his behalf.

A prayer service was taking place at the Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill when gunfire erupted, and officials said the shooting, which officers responded to just before 10 a.m., is being investigated as a hate crime.

Eight men and three women were in the attack, according to charging documents. Six people were injured, including the four male officers, three of whom were shot. One officer was described in the affidavit as critically wounded, and the two civilians were in stable condition.

The Anti-Defamation League, which tracks anti-Semitism in the United States, said in a statement this "is likely the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the history of the United States."

"Please know that justice, in this case, will be swift and it will be severe," Scott Brady, the chief federal prosecutor in western Pennsylvania, said at a news conference, characterizing the slaughter as a "terrible and unspeakable act of hate."

"The nightmare has hit home in the city of Pittsburgh," said public safety director Wendell Hissrich, who described the "very horrific crime scene" as "one of the worst that I've seen."

The survivors included Daniel Leger, 70, a nurse and hospital chaplain who was in critical condition after undergoing surgery, brother Paul Leger told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Daniel Leger was scheduled to lead a service Saturday morning, his brother said.

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Authorities say that just before 10 a.m., Bowers entered the large synagogue with an assault-style rifle and three handguns. Calls to 911 began soon after, with people reporting "they were being attacked," according to charging documents

Bowers was allegedly on his way out of the synagogue when police arrived, NBC News' Tom Winter reported.

The gunman shot one of the first responding officers in the hand, and another officer was wounded by "shrapnel and broken glass," according to the affidavit. Police then engaged with Bowers inside the synagogue, where two more officers were shot multiple times before he surrendered.

Bowers told an officer while he was being treated for his injuries "that he wanted all Jews to die and also that they (Jews) were committing genocide to his people," the affidavit said.

Social media accounts under Bowers' name included anti-Semitic comments. Earlier Saturday, a post under his name made hateful comments about a Jewish-American organization that helps refugees, NBC News Pete Williams reported. Many other comments on the account also featured disparaging comments about Jews. The account also posted comments critical of President Donald Trump.

Officials said he was not known to law enforcement prior to the shooting.

Police departments across the country, from New York City to Los Angeles, said security was being increased at local synagogues in response to the attack.

Speaking at a previously scheduled event in Indiana, Trump decried the "wicked act of mass murder" as "pure evil." He said anti-Semitism "represents one of the ugliest and darkest features of human history."

Earlier, he speculated that the deadly violence would have been curbed if the building had had an armed guard. With both the death toll and details of the synagogues security still to be disclosed at the time, Trump said gun control has little to do with it but if they had protection inside, the results would have been far better.

When asked if all places of worship should be armed, Trump said that "it's certainly an option in this world."

The president  who, at times, has been accused by critics of failing to adequately condemn hate, such as when he blamed "both sides" for the violence at a Charlottesville, Virginia, white supremacist rally in 2017  said that anti-Semitism must be "confronted and condemned everywhere it rears it very ugly head." He called for the imposition of the death penalty for "crimes like this."

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf described the incident as "an absolute tragedy" and called for action to "prevent these tragedies in the future", saying, "Dangerous weapons are putting our citizens in harms way." He later ordered flags in Pennsylvania to be flown at half-staff.

At least 8 people have been reported dead in the Saturday shooting.

The tree-lined residential neighborhood of Squirrel Hill, about 10 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh, is the hub of Pittsburghs Jewish community. More than a quarter of the Jewish households in the Pittsburgh area are in Squirrel Hill, according to a Brandeis University study of the Greater Pittsburgh Jewish community.

More than 80 percent of Squirrel Hill residents said they had some concern or were very concerned about the rise of anti-Semitism, the study said. And many also said they experienced incidents of anti-Semitism in the past year, including insults, stereotypes, physical threats and attacks.

The ADL warned earlier this year that 2017 saw the largest single-year increase on record of anti-Semitic incidents, a spike of 57 percent from the previous year. The 1,986 incidents included physical assaults, vandalism and attacks on Jewish institutions.

And a Friday report from the ADL said that far-right extremists have ramped up an intimidating wave of anti-Semitic harassment against Jewish people ahead of next month's U.S. midterm elections. Posts were sometimes orchestrated by leaders of neo-Nazi or white nationalist groups.

We are devastated, ADL Director and CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said Saturday on Twitter. Jews targeted on Shabbat morning at synagogue, a holy place of worship, is unconscionable. Our hearts break for the victims, their families, and the entire Jewish community.

[NATL] PHOTOS: Pittsburgh Reels After Shooting at Tree of Life Synagogue Leaves 11 Dead

In 2010, Tree of Life Congregation  founded more than 150 years ago  merged with Or LSimcha to form Tree of Life*Or LSimcha.

The synagogue is a fortress-like concrete building, its facade punctuated by rows of swirling, modernistic stained-glass windows illustrating the story of creation, the acceptance of Gods law, the life cycle and how human-beings should care for the earth and one another, according to its website. Among its treasures is a Holocaust Torah, rescued from Czechoslovakia.

Its sanctuary can hold up to 1,250 guests.

Jeff Finkelstein, of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, said local synagogues have done lots of training on things like active shooters, and weve looked at hardening facilities as much as possible.

This should not be happening, period, he told reporters at the scene. This should not be happening in a synagogue.

Tree of Life Rabbi Jeffrey Myers posted a column on the congregation's website in July lamenting Washington's inaction against gun violence.

"Despite continuous calls for sensible gun control and mental health care, our elected leaders in Washington knew that it would fade away in time," he wrote. "Unless there is a dramatic turnaround in the mid-term elections, I fear that the status quo will remain unchanged, and school shootings will resume. I shouldnt have to include in my daily morning prayers that God should watch over my wife and daughter, both teachers, and keep them safe. Where are our leaders?"

And just three days before the shooting, Myers noted in another column that people make time to attend funerals, but not for lifes happy occasions. He ended his column with words that now seem all too prescient.

We value joy so much in Judaism that upon taking our leave from a funeral or a shiva house, the customary statement one makes (in Yiddish) is nor oyf simches - only for smachot, Myers wrote. While death is inevitable and a part of life, we still take our leave with the best possible blessing, to meet at joyous events. And so I say to you: nor oyf simches!

Mass Shootings in the U.S. Since 1982

Single attacks in a public place in which four or more victims were killed. The data does not include shootings stemming from more conventional crimes such as robberies and gang violence. More on the data source.

Cathie Mayers, who lives in the Point Breeze neighborhood next to Squirrel Hill, described Tree of Life as a well-known place in the area. She called the shooting "surprising" and "very, very saddening," telling NBC that "its unusual for Squirrel Hill, but this is a very, very surprising incident for Pittsburgh, especially at a place of worship."

World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder called the shooting "an attack not just on the Jewish community, but on America as a whole."

The Holocaust Memorial Museum in D.C. condemned the attack on the Tree of Life synagogue and called on "all Americans to actively work to promote social solidarity and respect the dignity of all individuals."

Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump, who converted to Judaism ahead of her marriage to Jared Kushner, tweeted: "America is stronger than the acts of a depraved bigot and anti-semite. All good Americans stand with the Jewish people to oppose acts of terror & share the horror, disgust & outrage over the massacre in Pittsburgh. We must unite against hatred & evil. God bless those affected."

Locals and officials respond to Saturday mornings shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations also condemned the "heinous and cowardly attack on a house of worship," saying in a statement, "This attack is on American values and principles of humanity, and we all need to come together to restore civilized values to our society."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted that he was "heartbroken and appalled by the murderous attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue today. The entire people of Israel grieve with the families of the dead. We stand together with the Jewish community of Pittsburgh."

"We are incredibly saddened to hear of this morning's tragedy at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. We send our thoughts and prayers to all those affected," the Pittsburgh Penguins tweeted.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted that "Canadians hearts are with the Jewish community in Pittsburgh today."
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Friday that "everything is on the table" as the administration considered new measures to stifle immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border and send a message that a slow-moving migrant caravan bound for the United States will not be welcome.

Nielsen addressed the Trump administration's efforts to fortify the border while standing next to a newly constructed 30-foot fence in California. Before she spoke, two workers wearing welding masks affixed a plaque to the barrier with the names of President Donald Trump and several high-ranking officials to commemorate what the administration calls the completion of the first phase of his border wall.

Nielsen's trip to the border came after the Pentagon approved a request for additional troops at the southern border, expected to total at least 800 and possibly more than 1,000. And the White House is looking at new border security measures, including one plan that would use the same mechanism as Trump's travel ban to block migrants from seeking asylum in the U.S, according to two people familiar with the discussion. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the idea, which they stressed was still in the early planning stages and had yet to be decided.

"We are looking at every possible way within the legal construct that we have to make sure that those who don't have the legal right to come to this country do not come in," Nielsen said.

The president has stepped up his focus on immigration in the days leading up to the Nov. 6 elections that will determine which party controls Congress, focusing on a caravan of migrants heading north through Mexico that is about 1,000 miles away but dwindling in size.

"I called up the military," Trump said at a meeting of young black conservative leaders. "We're not letting them in, they ought to go back now because we're not."

Any attempt by Trump to curtail the rights of migrants to seek asylum is bound to draw legal challenge.

Andrea Guerrero, executive director of Alliance San Diego, said it would be "a very drastic action that would have disastrous practical implications for our asylum obligations, for our moral and legal obligations."

"We know that civil rights attorneys are preparing to litigate right now," she said. "They're preparing to litigate right away. I don't know if (Trump) cares if he wins the litigation. He wants to score political points ... it's all part of the same political ploy to stoke fear for political reasons and build more walls."

The federal government recently completed construction on a two-mile section of fencing that's 30-feet tall. Nielsen called it a significant accomplishment to keep immigrants out. The structure is separate from a concrete wall prototype that the government has built near San Diego as part of Trump's signature campaign promise during his 2016 White House campaign.

"Let me be clear: Walls work," Nielsen said.

New details also began to emerge Friday about the military deployment on the border.

A Defense Department official said the mission is authorized from Oct. 30 to Dec. 15 and will operate in border areas of California, Arizona and Texas. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details that have not yet been publicly announced, said the troops will not be involved in detaining migrants.

In a brief written statement, the Pentagon gave several examples of assistance they would provide. These include barricades and fencing; helicopters and airplanes to move Border Patrol personnel, and medical teams to triage and treat patients and prepare them for commercial transport. It also will provide personal protective gear and temporary housing for Border Patrol personnel.

Trump earlier this year ordered the deployment of National Guard members to the U.S.-Mexico border to respond to a spike in illegal border crossings. But those members remain under the control of the governors of the states where they're positioned, and their activities are limited to supportive roles, such as providing surveillance.

There already are about 2,000 National Guard troops on the border.
The Israeli military on Saturday struck dozens of targets across the Gaza Strip in response to heavy rocket fire and threatened to expand its air campaign to Syria after accusing Iranian forces in Damascus of orchestrating the rocket attacks.

The threats toward Iranian forces in Syria added a new dimension to what was already the heaviest fighting between Israel and Gaza militants in several weeks. Opening a new front in Syria could put Israel in open confrontation with heavily armed Iranian and Hezbollah forces, along with recently deployed Russian anti-aircraft systems.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli military spokesman, told reporters that 34 rockets had been fired at Israel throughout the night. Israel's Iron Dome rocket-defense system intercepted 13 rockets, two landed in Gaza and the remainder fell in open spaces in southern Israel, he said. In response, Israel hit over 80 targets in Gaza.

Conricus said Islamic Jihad, an Iranian-backed militant group, had fired the rockets under instructions from Iran's "Al Quds" force based in Syria and said that Israel was considering taking action against the Iranians in response.

"We have seen and established a clear link between Gaza and Damascus," he said. "We know that the orders, incentives were given from Damascus with the clear involvement of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Quds Force.

"From our perspective, part of the address by which we will deal with this fire is also in Damascus and the Quds Force," he added. "Our response is not limited geographically."

Iran has sent its forces, along with those of Hezbollah and other Shiite militias, to Syria to back President Bashar Assad in the civil war there. As the war winds down, Israel has repeatedly warned that it will not allow its archenemy Iran to establish a permanent military presence in postwar Syria.

Throughout the seven-year war, Israel has already carried out scores of airstrikes in Syria, mostly against suspected Iranian weapons shipments to Hezbollah but also against the Iranians themselves.

But Israel's mission could become much more complicated following Russia's decision to transfer sophisticated S-300 anti-aircraft missiles to Syria.

Russia deployed the missiles after a Russian warplane was shot down over Syrian skies last month. Russia has blamed Israel for the mishap, saying that Syria accidentally shot down the plane while reacting to an Israeli air raid.

Israel and Russia have maintained a hotline to prevent their air forces from coming into contact with one another over Syrian skies. Israeli media have reported that Russia has become less cooperative since the shootdown.

The fighting in Gaza followed a bloody day of border protests Friday in which Israeli forces shot and killed four Palestinians protesting along the perimeter fence dividing Hamas-ruled Gaza and Israel.

The sudden burst of fighting complicated the mission of Egyptian mediators who have been trying to prevent a full-blown conflict between Hamas and Israel.

Conricus said that Israel had struck over 80 sites across Gaza, including training camps, weapons storage facilities and a Hamas security headquarters building. COGAT, an Israeli defense body that handles Palestinian civilian issues, said one of the rockets had hit an ambulance crossing used to transfer Gazans out of the strip in emergency humanitarian cases.

"To what low have the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip reached?" wrote COGAT commander, Maj. Gen. Kamil Abu Rukun, in his Arabic Facebook page.

In Gaza, most of the airstrikes hit open spaces used by militants for training and possibly weapons storage.

But in northern Gaza, the Health Ministry said the main hospital in the area was damaged after a nearby Hamas training camp was hit. Footage showed cables and wires dropping from collapsed ceilings in the wards.

In Gaza City, an airstrike hit an abandoned, unfinished building, flattening the three-story structure. That building appeared to be the one identified by Israel as a security headquarters.

Although Islamic Jihad often acts independently of Hamas, Israel holds Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, responsible for all fire emanating from the territory.

Conricus said there had been no signs of Hamas trying to rein in Islamic Jihad. He also criticized Hamas for escalating the border protests after Israel had tried to defuse tensions by allowing special fuel shipments into Gaza to improve the supply of electricity. The territory suffers from chronic power outages.

In a statement, Islamic Jihad signaled readiness to stop the rocket fire if Israel halted its airstrikes.

"If the aggression and bombing continued, we will respond to each incident," the movement said in a statement Saturday. But later, its armed wing threatened to "expand the range" of rocket fire.

There were no reports of injuries on either side.

Israel and Hamas have fought three wars over the past decade, and Israel and Egypt have maintained a stifling blockade on the territory to weaken Hamas. The Hamas-led weekly protests along the Israeli border have been aimed in large part at breaking the blockade, which has devastated the Gaza economy.

Hamas, an Islamic militant group sworn to Israel's destruction, had previously scaled down the protests as Egypt stepped up its efforts to secure calm.

Israel accuses Hamas of using the large protests as cover to stage border infiltrations and attacks. It says it is defending its border and accuses Hamas of exploiting young protesters and encouraging them to risk their lives in order to increase pressure to ease the blockade.

Israel has come under heavy international criticism for what many see as excessive use of force and the large number of unarmed people who have been shot

On Wednesday, Egyptian intelligence officials met representatives of Palestinian factions in Gaza, the latest in a round of shuttle diplomacy between the sides.

Egypt wants to restore calm in order to pursue the broader goal of Palestinian reconciliation between Hamas and the West Bank-based administration of President Mahmoud Abbas. The internationally recognized Abbas lost control of Gaza in the 2007 takeover.

Hamas has demanded a full lifting of the blockade, which has made it increasingly difficult for Hamas to govern. Widespread desperation among Gaza's 2 million residents has fueled the participation in the Hamas-orchestrated protests.

Since the marches began six months ago, at least 160 Palestinians present or taking part in the protests have been killed. A Gaza militant fatally shot an Israeli soldier in July.
The death toll from flash floods near Jordan's shore of the Dead Sea rose to 21 on Friday, in what Civil Defense officials said was one of the deadliest incidents in the kingdom involving schoolchildren.

The search for survivors continued after daybreak, with helicopters and teams with sniffer dogs scouring the rocky slopes near the Dead Sea in the Jordan Valley.

The body of a 12-year-old girl was found early on Friday, said the director general of the Civil Defense, Mustafa al-Basaiah. By late Friday, one person was still feared missing.

Thirteen of the dead and 26 of about three dozen people injured in Thursday's flash floods were middle school children, officials said. They said three of those killed, including two students, were Iraqis living in Amman.

The incident began early Thursday afternoon when 37 students from an Amman private school, along with seven adult chaperones, as well as other visitors were taking a break at hot springs several kilometers from the Dead Sea shores. Sudden heavy rains sent flash floods surging toward them from higher ground, sweeping them away, some as far as the Dead Sea, officials said.

An extensive rescue operation involving helicopters, divers, sniffer dogs and hundreds of searchers continued into the night Thursday and resumed Friday. Israel's military said it also dispatched a rescue team at the request of the Jordanian government.

Brig. Gen. Farid al-Sharaa, a Civil Defense spokesman, said Friday that the flooding was one of the deadliest incidents in recent memory involving schoolchildren.

Jordan's King Abdullah II canceled a planned working visit to Bahrain, initially scheduled for Friday. He was to have been the keynote speaker at a security conference. In a message on his Twitter account, the monarch said that "the pain of each father, mother and family is my pain."

He also expressed anger toward those who he said: "failed to take measures that could have prevented this painful incident."

The monarch later chaired a meeting of the National Policies Council, a group of high-level officials. He asked for a detailed report of the incident, including identifying who was to blame for the deaths.

Earlier, he ordered the Jordanian flag at the palace's main entrance to fly at half-staff for three days in mourning for the victims of the flood.

The U.N. secretary general and several regional leaders sent condolences.

The low-lying Dead Sea area is prone to flash flooding when rainwater rushes down from adjacent hills. In April, 10 Israeli students were killed in a flash flood while on a hiking trip near the Dead Sea.
The federal government sent supplies to a U.S. territory in the Pacific that was ravaged by a super typhoon as residents of the Northern Mariana Islands dug through crumbled houses, smashed cars and fallen utility poles two days after the deadly storm.

Military planes brought in food, water, tarps and other supplies, U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesman David Gervino said. The agency is focused on helping restore power, opening sea and airports, and ensuring cell towers can operate on emergency power until electricity returns, he said.

Super Typhoon Yutu packed maximum sustained winds of 180 mph (290 kph) as it passed over the islands of Tinian and Saipan early Thursday, the National Weather Service said. By Saturday, power was still out across Saipan, the largest island with 50,000 residents, and Tinian, with 3,000, local officials said.

The strongest storm to hit any part of the United States this year overturned cars, crushed small planes, ripped off roofs and killed a woman who took shelter in an abandoned building that collapsed. Others were injured, including three people who needed surgery.

Jan Reyes and her family lost everything.

"Everything my family and I have bought and added to our home over 13 years laid on the flooded floor as every window in our house shattered," the Saipan resident wrote in an email to The Associated Press.

The ceiling of a bedroom collapsed, destroying all the furniture. A cousin was trapped under debris for seven hours, Reyes said.

Her family rode out the storm in a hotel room, overturning a bed to create a barricade against the wind, rain and debris. When the worst passed, she said, it took half an hour to navigate fallen poles and trees for what would normally be a five-minute drive to their home.

"However, as islanders, we value family more than anything else in this world and we are more joyful and relieved that we are still complete and safe," she said, adding that those in the U.S. territory are "resilient people."

Michelle Francis hid in a closet while the storm destroyed her Saipan house, saying in a Facebook message that "many people lost their homes and their belongings. Now everyone is trying to stand strong, have faith."

People in the islands are used to riding out monster storms, but many said Yutu was the worst they have experienced.

"One of the things that's unique and great about the Northern Mariana Islands is because they do often have severe weather, the residents here are very resilient," said Gervino, the FEMA spokesman. "They listen to warnings from local officials, they take shelter when directed to do so, they stock up on supplies in advance of the storm."

He said he's convinced that's why there weren't large amounts of injuries.

The territory's only hospital, in Saipan, said it received 133 people in the emergency room Thursday, and three patients had severe injuries that needed surgery.

Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, the territory's delegate to Congress, said residents will need major help to recover.

FEMA has a significant amount of food and water stored on nearby Guam, which was preparing for Typhoon Mangkhut last month. The damage wasn't as bad as expected, so more than 220,000 liters of water and 260,000 meals are still available for the Northern Marianas, a half-hour plane ride away.

Military flights from Guam started bringing supplies Friday, Gervino said.

The agency is constantly communicating with local officials on transportation, communications, food and water, and energy and fuel, Gervino said. FEMA made changes after Hurricane Maria, a Category 5 storm that struck Puerto Rico last year, creating task forces to tackle those areas.

Hurricanes are spawned east of the international dateline, while typhoons develop west of it. Yutu was a Category 5 storm when it hit.

Commercial flights won't be operating for some time, said Nadine Deleon Guerrero, a spokeswoman for the territory's emergency management department. Terminals, the tarmac, runway and equipment were damaged.

More than 800 people were in shelters across the islands, and space was running out, officials said.

Many homes were destroyed because some poor families can't afford concrete homes that conform to building codes meant to withstand typhoon winds, said Edwin Propst, a member of the territory's House of Representatives. Some build houses with concrete foundations and walls but that have wooden and tin roofs.

Even some concrete houses were reduced to rubble on the smaller island of Tinian, which took a direct hit, resident Juanita Mendiola said.

"We had to hide inside the bathroom because the house felt like it was going to blow apart," she said. "It was literally shaking  a concrete house shaking."

Rebuilding efforts can't wait, Reyes said, though many people expect the recovery to be lengthy.

"The foundation of our culture is selflessness and family values and this is what has always helped us get through hard times," she wrote. "We will always remain hopeful and prepared for the worst. This is our way of life."
A number of voters have reported problems with a certain type of voting machine in Texas.

Some voters complained that machines flipped their straight-ticket selections to the other party in key races during early voting, especially the much-watched Senate battle between Republican incumbent Ted Cruz and Democrat Beto O'Rourke.

The Secretary of States office issued an advisory about the problem.

"We have heard from a number of people voting on Hart eSlate machines that when they voted straight ticket, it appeared to them that the machine had changed one or more of their selections to a candidate from a different party. This can be caused by the voter taking keyboard actions before a page has fully appeared on the eSlate, thereby de-selecting the pre-filled selection of that partys candidate said Keith Ingram, Director of Elections.

This specific machine uses a wheel and an enter button to maneuver the ballot and enter selections. The advisory goes on to say they should not be used simultaneously.

"The Hart eSlate machines are not malfunctioning, the problems being reported are a result of user error  usually voters hitting a button or using the selection wheel before the screen is finished rendering," said Sam Taylor, spokesman for the office of Secretary of State Rolando Pablos, who was appointed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.

You can click here to read the entire advisory.

According to the Dallas Morning News, Tarrant County and 81 other counties use those machines. Dallas, Collin, and Denton counties do not.

Early voting in Texas began Monday and has featured strong turnout and long lines. It runs through Nov. 2, ahead of Election Day on Nov. 6.

Many Hart eSlate machines used in Texas don't provide receipts or other forms of paper trail to voters, but those casting ballots do see a screen that shows their choices before final submission  and can go back and make changes. Similar machines are used in parts of Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Virginia, according to Verified Voting, a nonprofit group focused on ensuring the accuracy of elections.

The machine's manufacturer, Hart InterCivic, attributed the Texas issues to 16-year-old technology.

"The same story has happened in multiple elections," Steven Sockwell, the company's vice president of marketing, said Friday. "There was no flipping then and there's not any now."

Instead, Sockwell said, what typically happens in cases where someone believes his or her vote has been changed is a voter will select a straight-party ticket, then unintentionally change votes in individual races without realizing it.

Still, in a statement to supporters, Cruz cited "multiple reports" of race selections changing and added "once you select the Republican party ticket, please be patient and do not select 'next' until the ballot has populated all of the selections."

The Texas Democratic Party called the issue "a malfunction," said it was causing Democrats to inadvertently vote for Cruz and accused the secretary of state's office of not doing enough to warn voters of potential issues.

Party chairman Gilberto Hinojosa said in a statement that "Texas' Republican government blamed voters and did nothing." He called for a statewide public service announcement to warn voters, training for poll workers on the issue and removal of "all malfunctioning machines."

Taylor said Friday that his office "has already trained election officials across the state" while also instructing "election administrators to post additional signage in multiple languages" and requiring county officials to keep "a detailed, meticulous log of any malfunctioning machines, and remove any machines that are malfunctioning."

Taylor also said his office "has no legal authority whatsoever to force any" voting machine vendors "to make upgrades if their voting systems are otherwise in compliance with federal and state law," and that Hart eSlate's system was certified in 2009. He said counties are responsible for purchasing their own new voting equipment.

"We will continue to educate Texas voters using existing resources," Taylor said, "and urge all Texans casting a ballot to take their time, slow down, and carefully review their ballot before casting one."

NBC 5 spoke to the Tarrant County Elections administrator Heider Garcia. He explained that everyone should make sure to check their ballot on the final screen before casting it.

I think that is the most important part. Go through the ballot, if you waited in line 20 minute 30 minutes, you might as well take an extra 30 seconds. Make sure that that summary page lists everything that you intend to vote for, and then hit the red cast button to make sure it is recorded, said Garcia.
A spate of pipe bombs mailed to prominent Democrats around the country has raised fresh questions about the ability of the U.S. Postal Service and private delivery companies to intercept explosives and other dangerous items.

Biohazard detection, X-rays and other technologies have had some notable successes in recent years, but officials warn that the sheer volume of mail makes it impossible to catch everything.

"The public should not have the impression that all of our mail is screened like going through security at the airport," said David Chipman, a retired agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. "That's not the case, and we know that from a string of cases."

While two packages addressed to former Vice President Joe Biden were intercepted at postal facilities in Delaware on Thursday, a pipe bomb addressed to former Attorney General Eric Holder made it so far into the mail stream that it was returned to its purported sender: the Sunrise, Florida office of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, whose name was on the return address. (There is no suggestion Wasseran Schultz had any involvement.)

Another crude bomb addressed to former CIA Director John Brennan at CNN went through the U.S. mail before a courier took it to the Time Warner Building, where the cable network has its New York offices, according to a law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

"Most if not all of these packages were sent through the U.S. mail," the official said.

Those deliveries occurred even though the packages had certain suspicious features, including excessive postage, homemade labels and high-profile addressees, security experts said. The parcels also contained a number of misspellings.

"These devices are the poster children of what a suspicious package looks like," said Fred Burton, a former counterterrorism agent with the State Department who serves as chief security officer for Stratfor, a global private intelligence company.

Employees are also trained to check if the package is bulky or rigid. Are there oil stains or have a strange odor? Is it sealed with excessive tape? Is there a return address, and if so, is it addressed to a title or an individual? If the answer to any of those questions is yes, it could signal a threat.

While it's not clear how much the packages weigh, mail that weighs more than 13 ounces is not supposed to be delivered using just stamps and anonymous drop-off; the package must be taken to a retail service counter where the sender would interact with a USPS employee. Packages that weigh more than 13 ounces found in USPS drop-off boxes "will be returned to sender," the agency states on its website.

Investigators were still trying to piece together how they reached their respective destinations. The FBI said Thursday it appeared the pipe bombs first passed through a regional post office in south Florida, meaning some if not all of the bombs were mailed from that area.

None of the devices so far in this week's scare have detonated. A Florida man was arrested Friday in connection with nationwide mail bombs.

In the meantime, Phillip Bartlett of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service's New York division said hundreds of thousands of postal employees were searching the system for any additional bombs.

On Friday, the 11th and 12th suspected mail explosives were intercepted at postal facilities in Manhattan and in Florida. One addressed to former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and one to New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, law enforcement sources and officials familiar with the investigation tell News 4 and NBC News. A 13th package, addressed to Sen. Kamala Harris, was intercepted at a facility in California, two law enforcement officials said. That package appears similar to the others but its contents have not been described.

The Postal Inspection Service, which investigates mail-related crimes, said in an email that in screening the mail, the agency relies on a "targeted strategy of specialized technology, screening protocols and employee training," as well as "state-of-the-art equipment to include portable X-ray machines."

The agency pointed to its Dangerous Mail Investigations division, a program created following the 2001 anthrax-by-mail attacks that killed five people, including two postal workers, and infected several others. The program was part of a costly security overhaul in which the Postal Service added a Biohazard Detection System at its mail-processing centers.

The Inspection Service says on its website that it has investigated "an average of 16 mail bombs over the last few years" while processing more than 170 billion pieces of mail. "That means during the last few years, the chances that a piece of mail actually contains a bomb average far less than one in 10 billion!"

The Postal Service does not have the resources to X-ray every parcel and typically reserves that technology for packages postal inspectors deem suspicious.

While the Postal Service intercepted some of the packages in this week's scare, the developments underscored the limitations of the screening technology in use, said Phil Nater, a former longtime postal inspector in New York.

"There's a lot of human activity involved before mail actually goes through a screening device or system," Nater said. "It's gotten a lot better, but it's not impossible to bypass."

Meanwhile, the union that represents U.S. postal workers, said Thursday its members are "rightfully deeply concerned for their own well being" as well as that of the public. The American Postal Workers Union issued a statement to members urging them to be alert and vigilant and said the group is working to schedule nationwide safety training refreshers on detecting suspicious packages and what protocols to follow.

The high cost of screening every parcel also limits the security measures taken by private couriers. A UPS spokesman said the company "has security measures in place, but we do not disclose those methods to maintain their effectiveness." A FedEx spokesman declined to comment.

The Postal Service has successfully intercepted a number of suspicious letters and packages in recent years.

Earlier this month, a Navy veteran in Utah was arrested in connection with several envelopes sent to President Donald Trump and top military chiefs. Authorities said at least two of the envelopes contained castor seeds, the substance from which the poison ricin is derived.

In 2013, a postal inspector in Arizona flagged a suspicious package addressed to then-Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Phoenix. Authorities said a possible smokeless powder was leaking from the parcel. A bomb squad later X-rayed the package and discovered gunpowder and other components of an explosive device. The sender was later convicted.

But John Rooney, a retired postal inspector in Philadelphia, said the system's limitations are highlighted by the massive amount of narcotics that goes through the mail every year.

"People don't understand the sheer magnitude of mail the Postal Service handles," he said. "When it comes to drugs, it's impossible. You can't stop it."

--NBC's Danielle Abreu contributed to this story.
Nearly one in five homeowners who suffered damage to their homes in Superstorm Sandy six years ago are still living with that massive storm.

How can they forget? They still haven't been able to completely repair the destruction wrought.

"You feel like you can't get on with your life," one Ocean County homeowner, Nancy Caira, told NBC10 in an interview. "It's this low-grade anxiety all the time. You feel trapped."

The super-slow recovery for thousands in New Jersey is made all the more painful by the fact that state agencies are still sitting on $1.3 billion in federal recovery funds.

And the clock is ticking, as it has for six years.

Six years after Sandy, homeowners are still waiting for funding to finish rebuilding their homes as New Jersey sits on recovery cash. And the money needs to be spent soon. The NBC10 Investigators ask leaders whats going on.

The state of New Jersey has until 2022 to allocate and spend that balance. In total, the state received nearly $4.2 billion in a federal grant. It has spent just slightly more than $2.8 billion.

The purpose of that money is "intended to address unmet needs not satisfied by private insurance, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), or other sources."

Some programs funded by the grant money have doled out nearly all the cash allotted. But others have nearly all the money still unspent.
The renovation is complete on the tallest border fence in the southwestern region of the U.S. and the Department of Homeland Security Secretary called on Congress to move forward with funding of President Donald Trump's proposed border wall.

Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen spoke Friday in Calexico, California along the repaired fence near the El Centro Port of Entry.

Walls work, she said. Weve seen the success of walls in El Paso, in Yuma, in San Diego and in the past, right here in the El Centro sector.

She also addressed the heightened security around the U.S. due to a series of mail bombs and her department's request for military troops along the border.

This plaque now on this Calexico stretch of a border fence reads This plaque was installed on October 26, 2018 to commemorate the completion of the first section of President Trumps border wall. @nbcsandiego pic.twitter.com/ZpCl5FqFpu  Danny Freeman (@DannyEFreeman) October 26, 2018

The repairs to an old, dilapidated fence made of landing mats were funded by 2018 appropriations. The construction began in February and ended on Oct. 4.

"Currently, this 30-foot wall is the tallest border wall deployed along the southwest border," said El Centro Sector Border Patrol Chief Gloria Chavez.

A steel bollard wall has been built in the area considered to be the most active in illegal crossings and attacks on federal agents, Chavez said.

Early next year, DHS will begin construction on 11 more miles of 30-foot fence. Three more miles of fence will extend to the east and eight more miles of fence will be built to the west.

The fenced area toured Friday is not part of the prototypes built last year near the San Ysidro Port of Entry.

The eight prototypes that stand about 30 feet tall and 25 feet wide are made from a variety of materials.

In a report released in September, some of those prototypes were breached when they underwent testing by tactical teams, including experts from CBP, U.S. Special Operations Command and the Marine Corps Special Operations Command.

Nielsen called on Congress to approve funding for the proposed border wall. There are two bills in Congress that would offer amounts varying from $1.6 billion to $5 billion for funding a border wall, according to NBC News.

NBC News reported in August that White House officials have suggested the entire wall project could cost $8 billion to $12 billion and internal DHS assessments suggest that the cost could be even higher - as much as $21 billion.

While in El Centro, Secretary Nielsen addressed the current investigation into mail bombs intercepted in several states as well as the news this week that the Department of Defense has approved deploying troops along the U.S.-Mexico in support of President Trump.

The department has heightened the security posture at federal facilities around the nation in response to the devices targeting a number of high-profile politicians, Nielsen said.

If you notice a strange package or if you see something that appears out of the ordinary, do not remain silent, she said. If you see something, say something.

Nielsen also addressed a question regarding the military deployment of troops to the border.

We have asked for engineering support, logistics support,  Nielsen said. I dont have any information with respect to particular troop numbers, thats up to DOD to meet our request.

A new report from the government outlines how the border wall designs can be broken. NBC 7's Liberty Zabala is in Otay Mesa with more.
A suspect was in custody Saturday after a car shooting that killed a Navy sailor in Mountain View.

Curtis Adams, 21, was driving southbound on Interstate 15 around 2:20 a.m. when he saw what he thought was a stranded driver near the northbound Interstate 5 on-ramp and pulled over to help, according to the San Diego Police Department.

When Adams got out of his car and approached the other vehicle, he was shot, Lt. Anthony Dupree said.

He was with his girlfriend at the time who quickly called 911.

Caltrans spotted the suspect's car on Interstate 5 near 32nd Street. Officers then arrived at the scene to take the suspect into custody.

Adams was taken to UC San Diego Medical Center where he died.

There was no known relationship between Adams and the suspect, Dupree said.

Brandon Acuna, 21, was booked into county jail in connection with Adams' murder, SDPD announced Sunday.

The southbound I-15 connector to northbound I-5 was temporarily shut down for police to investigate.

If anyone has information on the incident, they are asked to call CHP Homicide Unit at (619) 531-2293 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.
Janalee Roper knew something was wrong when her usually precocious 21-month old son became lethargic with a fever earlier this month.

Roper took him to urgent care at Rady Childrens Hospital in Escondido on Oct. 11. Her son Jett has a 103.4 fever, rashes on his stomach, legs and ear  all classic signs of Kawasaki Disease.

Because the illness is so rare, doctors thought it was just another childhood illness and prescribed Motrin and Tylenol, something Roper tried before taking him to the hospital.

I told him, No, we did that at home and it did not work, Roper said.

Then doctors noticed Jetts hands were swollen and his rash had spread to his entire body and his eyes were bloodshot, she said. It was then, doctors decided to test of Kawasaki.

I thought of a motorcycle, Roper said. I had never heard of it before.

Dr. Adriana Tremoulet, who treated Jett, the disease is so rare that only 80 to 100 children in San Diego are diagnosed with it a year.

Kawasaki is an inflammation disorder that affects the childrens heart and doctors dont really know what causes it, she said. Tremoulet is the associate director of the Kawasaki Disease Research Center at UC San Diego.

And the disease seems to come in clusters and peaks in February and March. She said. So far this month, four children have been diagnosed with it.

There seems to be some relationship between wind and storm patterns here in the San Diego area, Tremoulet said.

The recent cluster came after the recent rain storm earlier this month. And the disease is also hard to diagnose.

It presents with fever and rash and can look like a lot of other pediatric illnesses, she said.

Symptoms of Kawasaki include a prolonged fever that cant be controlled with Motrin or Tylenol, rash on the body that spares the hands or feet, bright red eyes, swelling of the lymph nodes, trouble walking.

The real issue is not all children come in with [all the symptoms], Tremoulet said. It really does take a combination of working with clinicians and families understanding theyre really worried about this to bring it up to their local pediatrician.

Most parents who come to her complained of a prolonged fever and knowing that their children are sicker than they are with common childhood illnesses.

The disease tends to disproportionately affect children of Asian descent, particularly Filipino and Japanese.

As for Jett, he is doing better now after three treatments and an eight-day stay in the hospital.
A rocket fired from Gaza struck a residential home in southern Israel early Wednesday and the Israeli military began attacking militant sites in Gaza in response after days of rising tensions.

The Magen David Adom medical service said a woman and her three children, whose home in Beersheba was struck, were being treated for shock after they fled to their shelter upon being awoken by warning sirens shortly before 4 a.m. Her swift response likely saved their lives, as the home was destroyed and debris was scattered throughout the street, damaging parked cars and adjacent structures.

Next-door neighbor Segev Naveh said he did not hear the warning sirens and was awoken by the massive blast.

"It was very scary," he said. "If it was falling on my house I would be dead for sure."

The medical service said two other Beersheba residents were injured during the panic to seek cover.

The military said another rocket from Gaza landed in the sea, just off the coast of one of the larger cities in central Israel. No injuries were reported.

Following the attacks, schools in Beersheba were closed and Israel's military chief was cutting short his visit to the United States to come back and manage the crisis.

As a first response, Israeli military jets pounded Hamas targets across the Gaza Strip. The Gaza Health Ministry said a 25-year-old militant was killed inside one of the posts targeted. Three other people were wounded.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, said 20 Hamas targets were struck, including offensive tunnels, weapon workshops and naval shafts. The military released video showing militants preparing to fire another rocket toward Israel before they were targeted.

The rocket attack on Beersheba was the first in months and the first that hit an Israeli home there since the 2014 summer war between Israel and Gaza's militant Hamas rulers.

Beersheba, which is some 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Gaza, is the biggest city in southern Israel, with a population of around 200,000.

Israel and Hamas have fought three wars over the past decade and fighting has flared up on several occasions recently, though neither side appears to be interested in another full-blown war. Egypt has been trying to mediate a long-term cease-fire to stave off another confrontation.

In a rare move, seemingly aimed at easing the tensions, the "joint coordination room of resistance factions," which includes Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other groups, issued a statement distancing themselves from the rocket fire.

"We reject all irresponsible attempts that try to change the direction and sabotage the Egyptian efforts, including the overnight firing of the rocket," they said. "At the same time, we emphasize we are ready to confront the Israeli aggression."

The head of Egyptian intelligence, Abbas Kamel, is scheduled to visit Gaza this week to renew high-level cease-fire talks.

Conricus, however, rejected the militants' denials, saying the rocket that struck Beersheba was a mid-range, locally produced weapon that was in the possession of only two groups: Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Regardless of who fired it, he said Israel holds Hamas responsible for all violence emanating from the territory it controls.

The rocket attack came a day after Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said the time had come to deliver a "heavy blow" to Hamas after weeks of escalating violence along the border. Lieberman announced Wednesday that all crossings into Gaza were being shut in response to the attack and the fishing zone around Gaza was being limited.

Hamas has held weekly border protests for the past six months, aimed in part at easing a crippling Israeli-Egyptian blockade that was put in place after the Islamic militant group violently seized power in 2007. The blockade has restricted Hamas' ability to govern and made life extremely difficult for Gaza's 2 million residents. Electricity is supplied for roughly four hours a day, unemployment stands at more than 50 percent and tap water is undrinkable.

The protests have intensified as Egyptian-mediated cease-fire efforts faltered. Last week, some 14,000 Palestinians thronged to the perimeter fence, burning tires and throwing rocks, firebombs and grenades at soldiers stationed atop earth mounds on the other side. Some 20 Palestinians breached the border during Friday's protest. Seven Palestinians were killed, including four who the military said had entered Israel and approached a military position.

In response, Israel halted Qatari-donated fuel shipments to Gaza's power plant and warned that if the violence didn't stop there would be series consequences. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened "very painful blows," saying Israel was very close to waging a "different kind of activity."

"If it has any sense, Hamas will cease its fire and violent outbursts  now," he said Sunday.

Since March, 155 Palestinians have been killed during the protests. One Israeli soldier was killed by sniper fire in July.

Hamas seeks a cease-fire with Israel to secure an easing of the blockade but accuses its West Bank rivals, Fatah, of thwarting the effort. Repeated attempts to reconcile Hamas and the West Bank-based administration of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have failed, adding to the desperation fueling the demonstrations.

In Israel, the fiery threats against Hamas have been coupled with concern over being dragged into an unnecessary escalation that may have more to do with Palestinian infighting.
The killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi "undermines regional stability" and the U.S. State Department plans to take further action in response to the killing, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Saturday at an international conference in the Middle East.

Mattis never mentioned Saudi Arabia directly in connection with the Oct. 2 slaying of Khashoggi at the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. But he noted that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo revoked visas of Saudis implicated in the killing of the Washington Post writer, and he said additional measures will be taken.

Turkish officials have said that a Saudi team of 15 men tortured, killed and dismembered the writer and in a premeditated act. The kingdom initially said it knew nothing about what happened to Khashoggi, but on Thursday said evidence shows that the killing was premeditated.

Mattis made no move to directly blame Saudi and did not refer to the calls from members of Congress to cut arms sales to Saudi Arabia or impose sanctions on the kingdom. But his broader mention of the matter toward the end of his speech underscores the serious national security ramifications the incident poses for relations with a key U.S. ally.

"With our collective interests in peace and unwavering respect for human rights in mind, the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in a diplomatic facility must concern us all greatly," Mattis told international officials and experts at the Manama Dialogue. "Failure of any one nation to adhere to international norms and the rule of law undermines regional stability at a time when it is needed most."

He added that he will continue to consult with President Donald Trump and Pompeo as they consider the broader implications of the matter.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir, who spoke after Mattis at the conference, said hysterical media are rushing to judgment in the Khashoggi case.

"Unfortunately there has been this hysteria in the media about Saudi Arabia's guilt before the investigation is completed," he said, in response to questions about the killing. "What we say to people is wait until everything is done" then decide if the investigation was serious or not.

He said that the kingdom will hold those responsible accountable and put mechanisms in place to ensure this doesn't happen again. "We will overcome" the consequences of the Khashoggi killing, he added.

Still, Mattis' speech also reflected the difficult dilemma this has caused. In one section deeply critical of Iran, he referred to the ongoing attacks on Saudi by Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen.

"I reiterate U.S. support for our partners' right to defend themselves against Iranian-supplied Houthi attacks on their sovereign territory, and at the same time call for an urgent end to the fighting," Mattis said.

Others in the U.S., however, have condemned the Saudis for what has been called indiscriminate bombings that have slaughtered civilians. Mattis and others, meanwhile, have said the U.S. is providing key support to the Saudi-led coalition, and that the assistance is helping the kingdom improve its targeting.

The U.S. he said, wants to continue to build the capacity of the Yemeni security forces who are batting the Houthis in a brutal civil war.

Mattis also later talked about America's shared interests with its Arab and Israeli partners, adding that "our respect for the Saudi people is undiminished."

But, he cautioned that respect "must come with transparency and trust."

Saudi Arabia's slow shift to reveal more details about the killing also reflects the kingdom's acknowledgement that the killing could have a serious diplomatic, and possibly economic impact.

Khashoggi lived in self-imposed exile in the U.S. for the past year and wrote editorial columns for The Washington Post that were critical of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom's heir apparent. He lived in self-imposed exile in the United States for nearly a year before his death, had written critically of Prince Mohammed's crackdown on dissent.

More broadly, Mattis' speech Saturday, focused on regional cooperation and the U.S. commitment to the Middle East.

He repeated his frequent criticism of Iran's "outlaw regime," which has fueled insurgencies in Yemen and Iraq, backed Syrian President Bashar Assad's brutal government and fostered proxy terrorists across the region.

And he made clear that the U.S. commitment to the region outpaces any presence by Russia, which he said lacks essential moral principles.
President Donald Trump accused Hillary Clinton  without evidence  of engaging in a conspiracy with Russia to affect the 2016 election during a campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, Wednesday night, NBC News reported.

"There was collusion between Hillary, the Democrats and Russia," Trump said, just after his supporters had chanted "lock her up" about Clinton. "There was a lot of collusion with them and Russia and lots of other people."

Special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating whether Trump or his operation colluded with Russia or obstructed justice afterward. But Trump allies in Congress and on cable news programs have argued that Democrats, Justice Department and FBI officials and the Clinton campaign conspired to frame him.

Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill said Trump is in fantasy land.

Delusion, not collusion, he said.
What to Know Two separate tornadoes slammed through Lincoln, Rhode Island and Sandwich, Massachusetts on Tuesday.

The National Weather Service will determine the damage and strength of the powerful Lincoln tornado on Wednesday.

Trees toppled over, roofs were ripped out and power was lost for approximately 400 National Grid customers.

Two more tornadoes have been confirmed to have hit Massachusetts during Tuesday's storms.

National Weather Service officials confirmed Wednesday that Norton, Massachusetts, and Lincoln, Rhode Island, were were hit by tornadoes; meanwhile, Sandwich, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod was hit with a waterspout/tornado.

Friday, the National Weather Service confirmed tornadoes in Hardwick and Hubbardston.

The same wind that produced the Lincoln tornado created powerful gusts in Norton, Massachusetts. Fallen trees blocked driveways and damage was so severe that NWS officials plan to investigate if a tornado hit the town, as well.

Nearby towns had toppled trees that left debris scattered around streets and numerous reports of downed power lines were received. Roofs could be seen ripped off of homes as well as shattered windows.

A tornado warning was in effect for about an hour in parts of Norfolk, Bristol, and Plymouth counties in Massachusetts, as well as part of Providence County in Rhode Island Tuesday afternoon.

"All of a sudden my phone had an alert on it," said Tara Carcieri, who was with her 5-year-old daughter during the tornado. "Said that there was a tornado in our area and it said now, so I jumped off the chair, grabbed her."

Carcieri grabbed her young child and darted downstairs.

"As I was walking down to the basement all I heard was smashing," said Carcieri. "Smashing windows, I didnt know what was happening. I was so nervous."

Shattered windows left dangerous debris around her home, including the same room Carcieri and her daughter were just in.

Firefighters went door to door assessing the damage and making sure everyone was accounted for.

By nightfall, crews were spread out across the neighborhood, cutting down trees that had brought down power lines and trying to restore power that was knocked out to about 400 National Grid customers.

No injuries associated with Tuesdays storms were immediately reported.
Cpl Tom Evans won two awards in the Army Photographic Competition 2018

AN army photographer from Newbury has been crowned winner of the Army Photographic Competition 2018.

Cpl Tom Evans also scooped the Best Overall Image for a stunning photo entitled Guardian Angel.

The annual competition is open to all regular and reserve personnel, staff and cadets of the Combined Cadet Force, Army Cadet Force, University Officer Training Corps and MoD civilians and contractors who work directly with the army.

The aim of the competition is to capture images taken across the army that would be otherwise unobtainable, for PR and media use and for archiving.

As a British army photographer, Mr Evans work has taken him around the globe, including visits to Canada, Afghanistan, Kenya, Estonia and Poland.

The 33-year-old is based in Brecon, Wales, although he is currently on deployment in Norway, doing what he believes is a dream role.

Mr Evans said: Being a photographer is the best job in the army.

I get to see the whole army, every trade and every cap badge and see them at work in so many exciting and varied places across the world.

That gives us a unique perspective on it all.

Photography is a recognised trade in the Royal Logistic Corps and there are 38 professional photographers in the British army, assigned to brigades around the UK and Germany.

Army photographers work as part of armys media and communication department at its headquarters in Andover.

Mr Evans credits some of his success to wife Jen, who he says has played a massive role in his achievements.

The father-of-two said: She is what is behind all this.

She puts up with me coming and going for long periods and is always there to give my work her honest critique when I ask.

What inspires me is looking back at our history as army photographers.

The Army Film and Photographic Unit filmed and photographed the major battles of World War Two.

They even won two Oscars.

Its humbling to be part of that tradition.
A special fundraising event to support the Foundation 4 Orphans, a non-profit organization founded by former New Milford resident the Rev. Wayne Lavender, Ph.D., will be held Nov. 2 from 7 to 9 p.m. in Ridgefield.

F4O is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that raises awareness and resources to help orphans and vulnerable children in the United States and around the globe.

The event, to take place at the Lounsbury House at 316 Main St. in Ridgefield, will include music, hors doeuvres, a presentation by Lavender and a special guest speaker from Africa.

Lavender is a Ridgefield native, a pastor of Faith United Methodist Church in North Haven and a past longtime pastor of the New Milford United Methodist Church.

He recently returned home from Mozambique, Africa, where he was a guest speaker at the Annual Conference for the Methodist Church in Mozambique.

While there, he addressed church leaders and discussed how F4O can further help transform the lives of orphans there and around the globe.

Bishop Joaquina Nhanala, resident bishop of Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland and Madagascar, has asked F4O if in the coming years it can help construct up to a dozen new community-based orphanages modeled after the Carolyn Belshe Orphanage in Cambine, Mozambique, built more than a decade ago under the leadership of Lavender and the New Milford United Methodist Church.

An estimated 150 million orphans are alive today, mostly in developing nations of the south. Approximately 16,000 children die daily from the effects of extreme poverty.

The plight of orphans is real, said Lavender, executive director of F4O. Its an ongoing humanitarian crisis. And our collective neglect of these precious children is, in essence, a crime against humanity.

We lift communities by serving orphans, he said. We know that we lift both the donor community and those receiving the aid. We lift donor communities in that when we give, we receive more than we give, and when we help someone else, our own path is illuminated. And we help communities that receive aid where there are an abundance of orphans by providing jobs in building orphanages and in caring for these precious children.

Lavenders book Who Will Care for the Orphan?, was recently translated into Portuguese, the national language of Mozambique. Bishop Nhanala has requested each of her clergy members read the book.

The Foundation 4 Orphans serves the educational, emotional, physical and spiritual needs of orphans and vulnerable children, the very thing these children lose when their parents die, Lavender said.

Lavender, who is also a professor at Quinnipiac University, has participated in four mission trips to Mozambique, as well as mission trips to Brazil, Iraq, Egypt and Vietnam, since 1998. In 2016, he took on a five-month journey running, walking and driving across the country to raise awareness about orphans and vulnerable children and funds for future projects around the world.

F4O recently celebrated the construction of an orphanage for nearly 50 children in Dondo, Mozambique. Plans are in the works to build additional orphanages in northern Mozambique and in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In addition to building orphanages, a chapter of F4O operates a mentoring program for orphans and vulnerable children in the Kurdish city of Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, where Lavender served as a visiting professor at the University of Human Development from 2011-2013. During his time there, Lavender worked with students from the university and other nearby colleges to create the program to help children affected by war.

F4O continues to work throughout the region and has expanded its mission from mentoring children in need to also visiting refugee camps for those fleeing either the Syrian regime or areas overrun by ISIS.

There is no admission for the Nov. 2 event. For more information or to make a donation to F4O, visit www.f4o.org or follow the organization on Facebook.
Cook Regentec, Cook Group's first company in Indianapolis, cut the ribbon Wednesday on its new facility on Indiana Avenue and announced a collaboration with Indiana University School of Medicine aimed at developing tools and technologies that advance solutions in the emerging areas of immunotherapy, precision medicine, drug delivery, regenerative medicine and bioprinting.

Cook Regentec develops and commercializes research and clinical tools to advance regenerative medicine therapies. The company celebrated the completion of the transformation and rehabilitation of a former beer warehouse into a 22,000-square-foot innovation center with modern, collaborative office space and adjacent advanced laboratory facilities.

Founded in 2015 as an incubator/accelerator for biological and device innovations, Cook Regentec has created three early stage companies that have already commercialized 12 different products, including cellular growth media, solutions for cryopreservation and medical devices for the delivery of therapeutic agents.

The relationship with Indiana University School of Medicine delivers on Cook Regentec's mission to leverage the Indianapolis life sciences and advanced industry ecosystem to continue developing and commercializing new technologies across industries and disciplines. Cook Regentec scientists, engineers and product developers will connect with Indiana University School of Medicine researchers and scientists at The Collaboratory @ Cook Regentec. The new collaboration space is a 6,000-square-foot idea lab and collaborative technology incubator located at Cook Regentec's newly rehabilitated Indianapolis headquarters.

The teams will address unmet needs in the fields of cell and gene therapy and regenerative medicine. Research scientists, clinicians and biopharma companies worldwide use revolutionary cell and gene therapy approaches to uncover new and improved treatments for patients. Cook Regentec works alongside them to develop tools and technologies to address the specialized production, storage and delivery requirements of living cellular medicines.

"As an incubator and accelerator, Cook Regentec is in relentless pursuit of the best ideas and collaborations that will help us innovate technologies and create new ventures that make medicine better for patients," said Rob Lyles, president of Cook Regentec. "Our working relationship with Indiana University School of Medicine leverages the deep expertise of the nation's largest medical school and Cook Regentec's entrepreneurial and multi-disciplinary approach to technology and product development."

Cook Regentec has a proven record for the development and commercialization of emerging technologies and Indiana University School of Medicine has a long history of developing and testing new therapies for patients. In recent years the school has made aggressive investments in faculty expertise, infrastructure and technology necessary to make research breakthroughs in the emerging fields of cell and gene therapy through the IU Precision Health Initiative and with the establishment of its new Indiana Center for Regenerative Medicine and Engineering and Brown Center for Immunotherapy.

Cook Regentec and Indiana University School of Medicine will be the first collaboration team to use The Collaboratory @ Cook Regentec innovation space and plan to jointly focus on a number of key areas in need of enabling technologies. Initial collaborative projects may include battlefield and trauma applications of bioprocessing tools, targeted delivery of advanced biologic medicines, advanced bioprocessing technologies and molecular tools for the production of engineered cell lines and novel bioprinting applications.

"As a medical school, we are driven to develop new therapies for patients who are affected by devastating and life-threatening illnesses and injuries," said Dr. Jay L. Hess, dean of IU School of Medicine and IU's executive vice president for university clinical affairs. "This exciting new opportunity will enable us to tap into Cook Regentec's extraordinary expertise to ensure those discoveries are commercially viable and can be delivered to patients as efficiently as possible."

The collaboration with Indiana University School of Medicine represents the type of connections Cook Regentec envisioned when it chose Indianapolis for its newest venture. Its employees are within walking distance of central Indiana's core research assets, including the medical school and its Indiana Center for Regenerative Medicine and Engineering, the Indiana Biosciences Research Institute, and the 16 Tech Innovation District.

"At its core, 16 Tech is an innovation hub, where creative thinkers and doers across the life sciences, tech and advanced engineering industries will collaborate and innovate," said Bob Coy, president and CEO of 16 Tech Community Corporation, the nonprofit operating entity for the 60-acre 16 Tech Innovation District. "Cook Regentec and the Indiana University School of Medicine have launched the exact type of collaborative relationship we expect to ignite at 16 Tech. We're looking forward to seeing the outcomes of this great partnership and the additional collaborations yet to emerge."
ECFC, the leading nonprofit organization promoting choice in benefit solutions, applauds the proposed regulations from the U.S. Departments of the Treasury, Health and Human Services, and Labor regarding expanding the use of health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) by employers.

The DOL, Treasury Department, and the HHS have reviewed the previous requirements regarding HRAs and have issued proposed regulations which will provide additional opportunities for employers to offer HRAs to their employees.

"ECFC appreciates the efforts of the Administration for proposing regulations that would expand the opportunities for employers to offer HRAs to their employees," said ECFC Executive Director Martin Trussell. "This is a positive step for employers and American workers. ECFC will continue to review the proposed regulations and look forward to providing additional comments to the Administration."

The proposed rules would generally retain the current types of permitted HRAs (integrated HRAs, HRAs restricted to excepted benefits, and retiree-only HRAs) and also allow two new types of HRAs:

An individual health insurance premium reimbursement HRA (provided that certain requirements related to nondiscrimination, notice, no other group health plan coverage, etc.) are satisfied.

An excepted benefit HRA that generally allows up to $1,800 per year (plus carryover amounts) in reimbursement for medical expenses (OTHER than health insurance premiums) provided that employees are offered coverage under another group health plan sponsored by the employer.

Source: https://ecfc.org/news/424436/ECFC-Applauds-Proposed-Regulations-to-Expand-the-Use-of-Health-Reimbursement-Arrangements-.htm
Cappuccino made with jackfruit instead of cocoa powder. According to a new study, roasted jackfruit seeds can replace between 50% and 75% of the cocoa that is blended with milk and coffee to make cappuccino without impairing flavor or aroma.

"Flour made from roasted jackfruit seeds naturally releases a mild chocolate aroma," said food scientist Fernanda Papa Spada , a recipient of a scholarship, from Sao Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP, who performed the study at the University of Sao Paulo's Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture (ESALQ-USP) in Brazil. Her supervisor was Solange Guidolin Canniatti-Brazaca, a professor at the same institution in the Department of Agroindustry, Food and Nutrition.

The search for a cocoa substitute was motivated by the rise in international demand for cocoa, Spada told. This rise in turn is due to the growing demand for chocolate without a corresponding growth in supply, as cocoa-producing countries fail to boost their output. Many Chinese and Indian consumers can afford chocolate for the first time. The world cocoa production has not kept up, and the commodity is increasingly scarce as a result.

According to the International Cocoa Organization, 4.568 million metric tons of cocoa beans were processed in the 2017-18 crop year. This was almost the same as the total world production (4.645 million mt). The leading producer in 2017-18 was Ivory Coast, which accounted for approximately 40% of the total, followed by Ghana, Indonesia, Ecuador, Cameroon, Nigeria and Brazil.

Brazilian law requires milk chocolate drinks and other chocolate preparations to contain at least 25% cocoa powder in their formulation. Even premium products typically contain less than 30% cocoa powder, the exceptions being dark and semi-dark chocolate (35%). Chocolate powder contains 30%-50% cocoa powder and cocoa butter. Dairy ingredients such as dried milk, butter, sugar and flavoring make up the rest.

Canniatti-Brazaca stressed that the rising demand for cocoa and stagnant supply pose major challenges for the food industry, which is, therefore, investing heavily in the search for new cocoa substitutes for use in chocolate and chocolate products.

At ESALQ-USP, jackfruit seeds were first identified as a chocolate-flavored ingredient in a project conducted between 2010 and 2013 by Canniatti-Brazaca's group and Miriam Coelho de Souza, a researcher at Piracicaba Methodist University (UNIMEP) in Sao Paulo State. "The findings showed that the seeds of the hard jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus), among other varieties analyzed, released intense chocolate-like aromas," Canniatti-Brazaca said.

Spada recalled that the discovery was accidental and occurred during a class led by Souza. "They were working on the development of food products based on waste left over from fruit processing," she said. "A student baked a loaf of bread made from jackfruit seed flour, and it smelled strongly of chocolate."

After the accidental discovery, several studies were performed at ESALQ-USP, and an article was published in PLOS ONE demonstrating the feasibility of using flour made from roasted dry or fermented seeds of hard jackfruit to obtain an aroma similar to that of chocolate in cappuccino.

Cappuccino is now available as an instant powder containing coffee with milk and chocolate. The quality and amount of chocolate vary according to the manufacturer. "The more upmarket products use chocolate powder, but many use artificial flavoring," Spada said.

Coffee and chocolate alike have a unique flavor and aroma owing to the presence of volatile compounds derived from roasting and fermentation. The challenge faced by these researchers was to determine the ideal conditions for roasting and fermenting jackfruit seeds to obtain a flour with a chocolate-like aroma of optimal intensity without impairing or even altering the coffee flavor of cappuccino.

Jackfruit is a large fruit with edible pulp and seeds. The interior consists of bulbs of sticky yellow flesh with a strong sweet aroma, and each bulb encloses a seed. The seeds are an agroindustrial byproduct. They can be consumed but must first be boiled or roasted.

Spada and her group analyzed the chemical composition of jackfruit seed flour. "It has no flavor but releases a chocolate aroma after roasting," Spada said. "It has to be fermented first. Without fermentation, jackfruit seed flour does not release this chocolate aroma. We analyzed 33 seed prototypes with varying degrees of roast to determine which had the strongest chocolate aroma."

Sensory analysis

A key part of the study funded by FAPESP consisted of asking volunteers to rank the sensory attributes of the different prototypes of cappuccino comprising varying amounts of flour made from dry or fermented jackfruit seeds.

"Initially, we performed a sensory analysis with 20 volunteers by recording their impressions of aroma, flavor and color," Spada said. They sampled cappuccino prototypes with 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% substitution of jackfruit flour for chocolate powder. The final test involved 12 volunteers who reached a consensus on the prototypes considered most similar or identical to conventional cappuccino."

The results showed that dry jackfruit seed flour can be incorporated as an ingredient in cappuccino formulations. The substitution of jackfruit flour for chocolate powder at 50%-75% was considered ideal because the acceptability and sensory characteristics were not altered.

"According to the participants in the tests, the aroma of the cappuccino preparations made with dry jackfruit seeds resembled cappuccino, chocolate, cinnamon and coffee, with cappuccino and chocolate flavors," Spada said.

A. heterophyllus is native to India, where it was domesticated more than 3,000 years ago. Jackfruit is an important part of Indian cuisine and Southeast Asian cooking. The plant was introduced to Brazil by the Portuguese. It flourished so successfully here that it soon grew abundantly, for example, in the Atlantic Rainforest and is still found in the remnants of the biome.
For most cancers, risk increases dramatically with age. But what about the effect of having more cells in the body? Might taller people be more prone to cancer because they have more cells?

Yes, according to Leonard Nunney, an evolutionary biologist at the University of California, Riverside, who examined data from four large-scale surveillance projects on 23 cancer categories. Each of these cancer studies established that tall individuals are at an increased risk of cancer, with overall risk increasing by about 10 percent per 10 centimeter (4 inch) increase in height.

Other researchers have proposed that that factors acting early in life - nutrition, health, social conditions - independently influence height and cancer risk. But Nunney, a professor of biology, challenges this hypothesis.

"I tested the alternative hypothesis that height increases cell number and that having more cells directly increases cancer risk," he said. "The data strongly supported this simple hypothesis. For most cancers, the size of the height effect is predictable from the height-related increase in cell number."

Study results appear in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

When Nunney performed a comparison of the observed effect of height on the risk of specific cancers for both women and men, he found that the effect of being tall on the risk of thyroid and skin cancer was high in women; for men, skin cancer stood out.

"Tall individuals are at increased risk of almost all cancers," he said. "But skin cancers - such as melanoma - show an unexpectedly strong relationship to height. This may be because the hormone IGF-1 is at higher levels in taller adults."

IGF-1 is a growth factor that is particularly important in early development, Nunney explained, but IGF-1 has also been linked to a higher rate of cell division in tall adults.

"If your cells divide more often, then that adds to your cancer risk," he said. "If skin cells are dividing more rapidly in tall people due to high levels of IGF-1, then this could account for the increased risk for melanoma."

Of the 18 cancers scored in both sexes, Nunney found only four showed no significant increase with height in either sex: pancreas, esophagus, stomach, and mouth.

"It is possible that these cancers are more strongly associated with environmental factors," he said. "It is possible, too, that in these tissues cell numbers do not scale with body size - but this seems unlikely."

Nunney explained that two factors cause increased cancer risk: one is having more cells; the other is having more cell divisions.

"If you double the cells, you double the cancer risk," he said. "If you double the number of cell divisions, you more than double the cancer risk. Living a long time is the worst thing to do if you want to avoid cancer. But then what's the alternative?"

Men are taller than women on average, which may account for why men get more cancer than women.

"About a third of this effect can be accounted for by men having more cells," Nunney said. "But something else is going on to explain the rest."

Breeds of dogs also demonstrate cancer's link to height, he added.

"Smaller dogs get less cancer than bigger breeds of dogs."

Next, Nunney plans to explore how different cancers are being prevented in the body by looking at big long-lived animals.

"If all else is equal, large, long-lived animals should experience higher incidence of cancer than small, short-lived animals," he said. "After all, larger animals have more cells, more divisions, and more mutations. But they show no such tendency to be more cancer prone. This is called Peto's paradox, and I argue it can be resolved through adaptive evolution, namely, that species subject to selection for larger body size and greater longevity evolve additional layers of cancer suppression. I'm interested in exploring how as a species gets bigger and lives longer, it evolves additional barriers to cancer."
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Dear Newsie Readers,

Newsie has now permanently ceased it's services as of Friday 20th December 2019.

Newsie has been an owner-funded operation since day one.

Coming up to three years old, while we still firmly believe Newsie has a place in the New Zealand media landscape, the cost in both time and money has become too burdensome for the owners to continue alongside other ventures.

With the current government looking to restructure public broadcasting, and seemingly supporting NZME buying a ring-fenced Stuff, the time seems right to call it a day.

Should it happen, the combination of NZME and Stuff will ensure New Zealands national media will die a death by a thousand opinion-based articles.

Newsie has always tried to stick to balanced news, to inform readers of the facts of a situation, amid being largely ignored by government. Hopefully, one day someone else will take up the challenge to fight the good fight.

The good news, however, is that there were no job losses as a result of Newsie closing. Thanks to careful structuring, everyone involved in Newsie will retain their current positions.

We hope you all have a happy Christmas and new year. Stay safe, and stay out of the news.

The team at Newsie
New Delhi:

Directed by the debutant Gauravv K. Chawla,A Baazaar has already become a popular affair amongst all of us for its select star-cast and intimidating narrative. The film also marks the debut for the newcomer Rohan Mehra son of Late Vinod Mehra.

A renowned name in the film industry, Vinod Mehra started out as a child actor in the late 1950s before starting his film career as an adult in 1971. He acted in over 100 films. Some of his prominent films were Nagin, Jaani Dushman, Ghar and Swarg Narak.

Rohan, whoall be seen rubbing shoulders alongside Saif Ali Khan says Baazaar is an unconventional choice but he feels lucky to be a part of the film and is happy that he got a chance to work with Saif in one frame.

Rohan is a star kid but nepotism has played no role in getting him this project. In an interview with Pinkvilla, he said, "My father passed away when my mother was pregnant with me. I was born here [India] but shifted to Kenya [Mombasa]. I was far away from Bollywood. My town had one single-screen. I didn't grow up thinking I'd do this. I grew up wanting to be an investment banker. India always spoke to me, so I wanted to settle here. Even Nikkhil didn't know of my lineage when he signed me on."

Interacting with the media at a special screening of Baazaar here on Thursday, Rohan said: "I had a great experience working with my co-stars. Both of them are really good actors and apart from that, I feel they are lovely human beings because they never made me realised that I am a newcomer. They treated me like their professional colleagues."

Baazaar is a crime drama directed by Gauravv K. Chawla, and written by Nikkhil Advani, Aseem Arora and Parveez Sheikh. Released on Friday, the film is set in the backdrop of money, power and business, largely based on the stock market.

For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan hit back at BJP president Amit Shah after the latter said the saffron party and the RSS were standing "like a rock" behind those 2,800 devotees arrested during a crackdown on protesters who prevented women from entering the Sabarimala temple. Vijayan said Shahas comments revealed the party's agenda on the Sabarimala standoff.

Addressing party workers after inaugurating the district BJP office in Kannur, Shah said the state government was using police force to challenge the protest by devotees. He condemned the arrest of more than 2,000 devotees, including RSS and Sangh Parivar activists, across the state agitating against the entry of women of all ages into the temple.

Shah, who began his speech with 'Swamiya Saranam Ayyappa' mantra, said the LDF government led by Vijayan would have to pay a "heavy price" if the suppression of the agitation continues.

"Shah's message is to sabotage the peopleas mandate. All democratic-minded people should raise their voice against this," Vijayan said while reacting to the BJP chief's remark.

Vijayan also claimed that Shah's speech was more against the Supreme Court and the Constitution rather than against the state government. "His stand (Amit Shah's statements) on Sabarimala issue in Kannur are against the Constitution and the law of the land. It's a clear intention of their agenda not to guarantee the fundamental rights. This shows the agenda of the RSS & BJP," Vijayan added.

Alleging that the Left government was trying to "destroy" Sabarimala temple and the "Hindu traditions," Shah said the saffron party won't allow the CPI(M)-led government to "gamble with Hindu faith."

There is emergency like situation in Kerala.

Women of Kerala themselves support the age-old tradition of restricted entry to the Sabarimala, but CM Vijayan, instead of providing relief to the flood-hit, is spending all his energy in tackling peaceful devotees of Lord Ayyappa. pic.twitter.com/BXoDq7eVAg a Amit Shah (@AmitShah) October 27, 2018

"There is no restriction for women to offer prayers in any other Ayyappa temple... The uniqueness of the Sabarimala shrine has to be protected," he said.

"The communist government is conspiring against temples. They have created an emergency like situation in Kerala," he added.Recalling that the Left government had not implemented several court orders before, Shah said the court order in the matter should be implemented by respecting the sentiments of devotees.

Making it clear that the saffron party was all set to make the Sabarimala issue one of its main agendas in the state, he concluded his speech by asking party workers to call "Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa."

(With agency inputs)

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Bangladesh will look to arrive at solutions to the problem of delays faced by Indian barges at its ports, industry body Assocham said on Friday quoting a top official.

The Indias neighbouring nation has given a positive indication on minimising delays faced by Indian barges at its ports, the statement said.

Indias shipping secretary Gopal Krishna during an event said Bangladesh had shown a very positive frame of mind on resolving this issue which is to the benefit of both, largely Bangladesh exporters and the spinoff would be to ship lines and to Indian ports, the Assocham statement said.

Also Read | Anantnag: Army soldier Rajendra Singh, 22, dies after being attacked by protesters

Krishna said: Let me place on record that we had flagged this issue very prominently with Bangladesh side and also mentioned that it being a very huge exporter of garments but when we are visiting our ports, the constant demand is that delays in exports is costing Bangladesh economy orders.

The statement also said the shipping ministry is awaiting Revenue Departments response on allowing domesticated containers to carry exim cargo for exim routes.

We have taken this issue with Department of Revenue, generally they feel that they would also require to consult transportation stakeholders because lot of transporters use built-in containers and there could be an issue vis-a-vis that mode, Krishna said addressing the meet.

In her address, Director General Shipping Malini V Shankar said that while Indias trade with Bangladesh has grown rapidly in the past few years, there are issues that need to be discussed so that participation of Indian ships in the coastal trade can be enhanced.

Read More | Titanic II set to sail by 2022, to follow the original journey

The possibility of allowing transportation of exim and transhipment cargo under the coastal shipping agreement needs to be explored, she said.

Similarly, the removal of limit of 6,000 GT (gross tonnage) for operation of vessels under the agreement also needs to be explored in order to encourage more and more number of vessels to engage in coastal shipping between the two countries, added DG Shipping.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

A day after a 22-year-old jawan was killed in stone pelting in Kashmir, an angry Indian Army chief Bipin Rawat on Saturday said stone-pelters are nothing but overground workers of terror organisation. He also asked Pakistan to desist from funding terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, asserting that the Indian state was "strong enough" to ensure that the border state remains a part of India and no one can take it away by force or any other means.

Indian Army soldier Rajendra Singh has succumbed to his injuries after being attacked with stones by some youth in Kashmir's Anantnag on Thursday.A An army spokesman said Sepoy Rajendra Singh was part of the Quick Reaction Team which was providing security to a Border Roads Organisation (BRO) convoy on Thursday.

Stone pelters are over ground workers of terrorists: Army Chief: https://t.co/uqG9deHI76 via @YouTube a News Nation (@NewsNationTV) October 27, 2018

"I still say the same... If they (stone-pelters) can kill people with such acts, are they not becoming like terroristsa I want to tell them (stone-pelters) that no one will benefit from stone-pelting," said the Army chief, adding tough action should be taken against the stone-pelters. He said the Army has got an FIR lodged in the case. He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event to mark the Infantry Day.

Rawat added that if Pakistan continues to support cross-border terrorism, the Indian Army can resort to "other actions" too.Rawat also said Pakistan was resorting to a "proxy war" to avenge its defeat at the hands of India in the 1971 war when Bangladesh was liberated. The aim of Pakistan, he said, is to keep the Indian Army "embroiled in this proxy war that they have lost.

"Asked about the cross-border infiltration, he said Pakistan would be wise to know that by indulging in such activities, harm is coming to Pakistan only.

"We are capable of finishing any infiltrators who reach our side. But, if Pakistan continues to support infiltration, we can use other kind of action too," Rawat said.

(With PTI inputs)

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Four Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans were killed and two injured in an encounter with Maoists in Chhattisgarhs Bijapur. The police said Maoists blew up a mine-protected-vehicle (MPV) in the poll-bound state.

The incident occurred around 4 pm near Murdanda camp of the CRPF under Awapalli police station, when its 168th battalion was out on "area domination" operation, Bijapur Superintendent of Police Mohit Garg told PTI.

When the MPV carrying six personnel was around one km away from the camp, ultras triggered a powerful land mine blast, he said. "Four paramilitary personnel were killed and two others were injured in the blast," he said.

Reinforcement was rushed to the spot immediately and the injured personnel were being evacuated, the official said, adding they were retrieving the bodies from the site.

The attack took place on a day when Chief Minister Raman Singh launched the ruling BJP's campaign for the first phase of polls on November 12 in neighbouring Sukma district.

The first phase of election will cover 18 constituencies in eight Naxal-affected districts - Bastar, Kanker, Sukma, Bijapur, Dantewada, Narayanpur, Kondagaon and Rajnandgaon. Naxals had recently put up posters in parts of Bastar region calling for boycott of the polls.

(With PTI inputs)

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New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday arrived in Japan to attend the 13th India-Japan annual summit with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe. The two-day summit beginning on Sunday will seek to review the progress in ties and deepen strategic dimension of the bilateral ties.

"Landed in Tokyo. I am confident this visit will add new vigour to the strong friendship between India and Japan," Modi said in a tweet.

Describing India and Japan as a "winning combination", Modi on Friday said the island nation was New Delhi's most trusted partner in its economic and technological modernisation.

"We have a special strategic and global partnership. Our ties with Japan, both economic and strategic, stand completely transformed in recent years. It is today a partnership of great substance and purpose. It rests on the strong pillars of India's Act East Policy, and our shared vision and commitment to a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific," he said in a statement.

#WATCH: Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacts with members of Indian community at Imperial Hotel in Japan's Tokyo. He is on a two-day visit to the nation. pic.twitter.com/xaicL6Uz9G a ANI (@ANI) October 27, 2018

It will be Modias 12th meeting with Abe since he first visited Japan as prime minister in September 2014.

"Our complementarities make India and Japan a winning combination. Japan today is one of the most trusted partners in India's economic and technological modernisations and one of the top investors in India," he said.

The PM said projects such as Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail and Dedicated Freight Corridors reflect the high level and "strength of our economic engagement".A

"Japan is also at the forefront of engaging in our national initiatives, such as 'Make in India', 'Skill India', 'Digital India', 'Start Up India'... Japanese investors have faith in India's economic future, which is marked with myriad opportunities," Modi said.A

(With PTI inputs)

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New Delhi:

An ashram of Swami Sandeepananda Giri, who supported the Supreme Court verdict of permitting women to enter Sabarimala, was attacked by unknown people at nearby Kundamonkadavu, according to the police.

The attack took place at around 2 AM and the attackers burnt two cars and a scooter. The police apparently added that the attackers also left a wreath at the ashram. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who visited the ashram, told reporters that stringent action would be taken against the accused, whoever they may be. Their aim was not to destroy the ashram, but swamiji, he said.

Read More | Bhima Koregaon case: Pune Cops seek 14 days remand for accused activists Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves

However, Giri said the whole responsibility of the incident was on BJP state president P S Sreedharan Pillai, Thazhamon Madom, the family of traditional head priests of Sabarimnala temple and Pandalam Royal family, also associated with the shrine.

In response, the BJP leadership has denied any role in the attack and demanded an "unbiased" probe into the incident.

Read More | Fuel prices slashed for 10th consecutive day; Petrol at Rs 80.45 per litre, Diesel Rs 74.38 in Delhi

Kerala had witnessed massive protests from devotees at various places, including Sabarimala, Nilakkal and Pamba, against permitting women of all ages to enter the shrine, where the deity is 'Naishtika Brahmachari' (perennial celibate), when the temple was opened for monthly poojas from October 17-22.

At least 12 women in the 'barred' age group (10-50) had tried to trek the hills to offer prayers but had to retreat following widespread protests. The shrine witnessed violent protests for six days as not a single woman was allowed to enter the temple.

The Kerala Police arrested over 1500 people as it launched a massive manhunt to nab protesters who resorted to violence to stop women of menstruating age from entering Sabarimala temple despite the Supreme Court order.

The police had issued lookout notices against 210 people and registered a case against nearly 2,000. Arrests were made in Ernakulam Rural, Tripunithura Kozhikode, Palakkad, Thrissur, Kottayam and Alappuzha

A clutch of petitions challenging the landmark order opening the doors of Kerala's Sabarimala temple to women below 50 will be heard by the Supreme Court on November 13. The 19 petitions will be heard before the temple re-opens for the pilgrim season on November 16.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Sri Lanka is steeped in political uncertainty as Mahinda Rajapaksa bounced back to power on , this time in the prime ministerial chair after President Maithri Sirisena surprisingly inducted him as replacement for Ranil Wickremansinghe.



It was Sirisena who had roundly defeated Rajapaksa in the presidential election in riding on a staunchly anti-Rajapaksa plank, but now time has turned a full circle with the two teaming up against Wickremansinghe who was then an ally of Sirisena.



It was out in the open for some time that Wickremansinghe and Sirisena were in serious differences but that it would come to such a pass was hardly expected. The bitterness that characterised their relationship at one time was deemed to be an insurance that they would not come together.



The last has apparently not been heard of the high-stakes political battle because Sirisenas action could lead to a constitutional crisis as the 19th amendment to the Constitution does not on the face of it allow the president to sack a premier without a majority in Parliament. As it stands, Rajapaksas Sri Lanka Freedom Party and Sirisenas United Peoples Freedom Alliance together have only 95 seats in Parliament while Wickremansinghes United National Party has 106.



Before Wickremansinghe was sacked, Sirisenas party had snapped links with his party ending the coalition between the parties. That was

an apparent precursor to the replacement move. Before Wickremansinghe was removed, he had dashed to New Delhi. It will gradually emerge what really transpired in the talks that ensued.

Also Read | The resort politics of political leaders in Tamil Nadu



There is more to the political moves than is evident on the surface. Rajapaksa was, during his presidency, a protege of the Chinese Government and had been mainly responsible for the virtual debt trap because of which Sri Lanka was forced to lease Hambantota port to the Chinese, surrendering a part of Colombos sovereignty.



After the manner in which power has changed hands in Maldives with a regime inimical to China taking over after presidential elections, Beijing is clearly on overdrive to re-assert its influence in Sri Lanka. Rajapaksas return is apparently a manifestation of Chinese assertion which Sri Lankans need to be wary of because it is an index of Chinese neo-colonialism.

There is clearly a lesson for India in all this. The Chinese are not the ones to give up easily and Chinese leader Xi Jinpings entire edifice of power as president for life rests on his being able to spread Chinas influence across the world with maritime hegemony exercised through pliant governments.

Grudgingly, the Chinese have moved back a step in Maldives seeing the writing on the wall but they would still do everything possible to get the new Maldivian government to kowtow to them so that the access to the sea that Beijing has gained is not lost.



In Colombo, the Rajapaksa regime would be under intense pressure to deliver for China and to thwart Indian attempt to counter-balance it. Too overt a Lankan action in Beijings support will, however, go down poorly with the Lankan people who were three years ago exasperated by the manner in which China was short-changing Colombo and had voted Rajapaksa out in disgust.



The immediate bone of contention would be the docking of Chinese submarines. Also, there would be attempts to scuttle Indian investment which had been in principle agreed upon. How much Sirisena would be prepared to toe the Chinese line remains to be seen but for his own preservation in power he may well be pliant and accommodative.



There are also Indian projects in the pipeline with Japanese participation and it would not be easy for Colombo to brush them aside while claiming it is not tied to the apron strings of the Chinese.

Also Read | Modinomics shining  cause enough for India to celebrate



But before everything else, the constitutionality of the manner in which Sirisena got Wickremesinghe out of prime ministership and brought in Rajapaksa would have to be sorted out.



Evidently, there is further action in store if Sri Lanka goes by constitutional principles and practices. But how the Chinese would guide the behind-the-scene activity remains to be seen.
New Delhi:

Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was removed by President Mathripala Sirisena, has asserted that his removal as Sri Lankas Prime Minister is illegal and unconstitutional.

This comes as Sirisena issued two gazette notices making controversial strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa the new Prime Minister and formally recognising Wickremesinghe's dismissal, leading to a constitutional crisis in Sri Lanka.

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Wickremesinghe, who belongs to the United National Party (UNP), quoted the 19th amendment to the constitution and stressed he will continue to serve the country as Prime Minister. I will continue to be the Prime Minister. Mahinda Rajapaksa's appointment is unconstitutional. Only I have the majority. The only way that can be changed is through a no confidence motion or if I resign, Wickremesinghe told PTI.

The Colombo Gazette reported that hours after Sirisena dismissed Wickremesinghe, the President issued a notice on the appointment of Rajapaska as the new premier. Rajapaksa took oath at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo on Friday and following the ceremony, Sirisena wrote to Wickremesinghe saying he had been removed.

Sudden developments

The sudden development came amid growing tensions between Sirisena and Wickremesinghe on several policy matters and the President has been critical of the Prime Minister and his policies, especially on economy and security.

Read More | Karwa Chauth: Top 5 songs for the perfect moonlight hour

In April, Wickremesinghe successfully defeated a no trust motion in Parliament engineered by Sirisena with backing from Rajapaksa.

The UNP, however, suffered one defection after Rajapaksa was sworn in with Ananda Aluthgamage meeting the former president and extending him support.

The political developments unfolded after Sirisena's broader political front United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) announced that it has decided to quit the current unity government with Wickremesinghe's UNP.

The unity government was formed in 2015 when Sirisena was elected President with Wickremesinghe's support, ending a nearly decade-long rule by Rajapaksa.

- With PTI inputs

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Voters in the 30th state senate district will see two familiar names on the ballot with incumbent Republican Craig Miner facing off against Democrat David Lawson.

Miner, 62, of Litchfield, just finished his first term in the state Senate, though he previously served eight terms as the state representative for the 66th District. He said hes running again so that he can continue to improve on the states fiscal problems.

Lawson, 60, of New Milford, has served on the New Milford school board since 2003. He said hes running because the states priorities need to be restructured, including more of an emphasis on education.

Our priorities are skewed, Lawson said. We need to take a more holistic approach.

The 30th District includes New Milford, Brookfield, Kent, Canaan, Cornwall, Goshen, Litchfield, Morris, North Canaan, Salisbury, Sharon, Torrington, Warren and Winchester.

Miner, who served on the appropriations committee sees consolidation and privatization as the key ways to cut state spending. He said certain state programs and efforts are duplicated and should be reviewed so that it can become more efficient.

An example is how people get government assistance or state funded health care through various departments and this could be streamlined into one entry point. While this would translate to fewer employees, he said the reductions would most likely be done with attrition.

He sees concession stands at state parks and registration through car dealers as ways to privatize certain government services and create revenue.

Lawson said private partnerships can be created, especially in health care, but the state needs to be careful because it means less control over that service.

He said they need short-term solutions like combining purchasing with various departments to save money and be more efficient, coupled with long-term solutions of expanding technical and vocational opportunities to attract people and businesses to the state to solve the budget problem.

Both said they need to do things to encourage young people who grew up and went to school in Connecticut to stay.

Miner said a way to keep young people in the state is to analyze the gift tax so that young people can use more of whats given to them by their parents to buy real estate or pay off their student loans.

Lawson suggested forgiving the debt of students who went to a state college after they remain in Connecticut for five to seven years after graduating.

He said the theory is that theyll have set roots down by that point and have been paying taxes. He said this worked with the GI Bill after World War II and boosted the economy in the 1950s and 1960s.

Miner also said the state needs to work more with schools and businesses so that students are getting the training they need to be better candidates when they enter the workforce and get well-paying jobs in Connecticut. The state needs to also make it easier to locate a business in Connecticut by streamlining the process and not increase taxes once the business is here.

Miner said the northwest corner is especially challenged because there isnt public transportation to ge to these jobs. He said there also isnt always housing near these jobs, whether its affordable housing to purchase or it might be too difficult to rent because theyre paying off student loans and dont have a job yet.

Its hard to grow an economy and grow as a community if people dont see a future here, Miner said.

Lawson agreed affordable housing is important and needed to look at existing housing, whether more needs to be built and possibly increasing the requirement of affordable units built using the state affordable housing statute, 8-30g.

He suggested amenities like a bike trail throughout western Connecticut and restore passenger rail on the Housatonic Railroad will encourage ecotourism and agribusiness to come to the northwest corner.

He said they also need to focus on bringing green energy jobs to the state and improving training for that in the schools.

Both said the state needs to look at solar energy but needs to be careful about where to put it.

A controversial project is being built on Candlewood Mountain in New Milford that would clear-cut about 60 acres of forest. Lawson said solar panels should go on landfills and roofs. Lawson said they should also look at state right of ways along highways and railroads.
KABUL, Afghanistan - Amid high tension and tight security, tens of thousands of voters lined up Saturday across southern Kandahar province, where polling in Afghan parliamentary elections was held one week late after the provincial police chief was assassinated in a shooting claimed by the Taliban.

By late afternoon, no insurgent attacks or other violence were reported at more than 1,100 polling stations, where about half a million voters had registered to choose among 111 candidates competing for 11 legislative seats.

Many voting sites opened late or suffered from technical delays, however, echoing a problem that plagued the original voting process across Afghanistan. Results are not expected for weeks.

"The turnout is high. It is amazing," said Shakeba Hashimi, a Kandahar legislator running for re-election. Despite the delays and technical glitches, she said that long lines had formed outside both male and female voting sites well before the 7 a.m. opening time.

"Thank God, there has been no security problem since morning," Hashemi said.

The Taliban Islamist militia, which was founded in Kandahar in the 1990s and has been battling Afghan and U.S.-led foreign forces since 2001, opposed the entire election and called it a sham staged by international occupiers. On the originally scheduled voting day, Oct. 20, the insurgents staged scores of attacks across the country, leaving more than 50 civilians and security forces dead.

Ten candidates were also killed nationwide during the election campaign, including two in Helmand province bordering Kandahar. Voting was canceled in advance at many sites in regions controlled or influenced by the Taliban, and elections have been postponed indefinitely in Ghazni province, where a four-day Taliban siege last month devastated the capital city.

Despite the lack of violence in Kandahar on Saturday, with more than 15,000 armed security troops guarding the polls and all cars and motorbikes banned from the capital city, the atmosphere remained nervous and uncertain, as the Oct. 18 shooting death of Lt. Gen. Abdul Raziq, 39, continued to reverberate across the province and the nation.

A ruthless anti-Taliban fighter, Raziq was viewed as a national hero and the linchpin in Kandahar's stability. But he had many other adversaries, and his slaying left a vacuum in both regional security and political power, awakening rivalries even after Raziq's younger brother was quickly named to replace him as police chief.

The incident, in which the Kandahar intelligence chief was also killed and the governor gravely wounded, also raised new concerns for the safety of U.S. and allied foreign forces here. The top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Austin "Scott" Miller, escaped unharmed from the attack by a lone gunman, a provincial guard who fired on a group of officials; three other Americans including Gen. Jeffrey Smiley were wounded.

During the past week, numerous Afghan officials including President Ashraf Ghani have traveled to pay condolences at Raziq's funeral or later at his grave. The government's chief executive, Abdullah Abdullah, flew from Kabul for a prayer ceremony, where he noted that "even prisoners" across the country were in mourning, and expressed hopes that his death would bring unity among Afghan tribes.

But with presidential elections planned for April, and both Afghan and U.S. officials trying to accelerate negotiations with the Taliban, analysts said the violent removal of Raziq had dramatically exposed the weakness of the Afghan state and could add a new element of uncertainty to both situations. He was viewed as both a kingmaker in the presidential contest and a bulwark against Taliban aggression in the insurgents' onetime stronghold.

Scott Worden, an Afghanistan analyst at the U.S. Institute for Peace in Washington, noted that the severe problems and violence during the Oct. 20 elections revealed a "tragic gap" between public aspirations for change through democracy and the inability of the Afghan state to adequately secure and administer the vote. The Taliban, he said, were "better prepared" for the elections than the government.

"There is little reason to believe the Taliban will have less influence across the country in April than it does now," he said. The fact that the insurgents were able to prevent voting in hundreds of rural areas, he said, "raises significant questions about how much participation is required to hold a legitimate vote for president."

This week, officials in several scattered provinces described dire security conditions and persistent Taliban threats. In Ghazni, said provincial councilman Hameedullah Nawruz, the capital has been secured by extra troops, but the insurgents control most districts and police casualties are extremely high. If the province falls to the Taliban, he said, "the fight will come to Kabul."

In western Farah, legislator Abdul Saboor Khedmat said, voting on Oct. 20 was only possible in the capital city and in two of 10 districts. "It is not an exaggeration to say the Taliban control 80 percent" of the province, he said. "People are fed up with both sides. The government is corrupt and the Taliban are brutal."

In Wardak, less than an hour's drive from Kabul, a car bomb outside a military compound in the provincial capital Saturday left at least six people dead and eight wounded.

Afghan voters, Worden said, have now shown that they "oppose both the Taliban's vision for the country and seek a nonviolent political solution" to the conflict. But despite a relatively calm voting day in Kandahar, the overall election "highlights the tragic gap between the citizens' peaceful and democratic vision for the country and the failure of either the government or the Taliban to deliver it."

- - -

The Washington Post's Sharif Hassan contributed to this report.
HARTFORD  Former Vice President Joe Biden, a target of the pipe bombs mailed to critics of President Donald J. Trump, called on both parties Friday to lower the temperature of political discourse in America while heading a Democratic rally framing the 2018 election in urgent and even apocalyptic terms.

This country has to come together, Biden told a partisan audience that a party spokesman said topped 1,300 in a packed gymnasium and an overflow room. Our political opponents are not our enemies.

But conciliation was a fleeting message at an event built around anger directed at President Trump and Republicans in Washington. Opposition to the president has been an organizational principle of Connecticut Democrats since election night in 2016, and Biden and the Democratic ticket repeatedly returned to a need to resist the GOP.

Stay angry  vote. And take five people to the polls with you, said U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat not on the midterm election ballot.

With measures of defiance and regret, Blumenthal and Biden each mentioned the bombs mailed to a number of high-profile Democrats, including former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Biden.

We know in this nation ballots always win against bombs, Blumenthal said.

Biden was joined on stage by the gubernatorial nominee, Ned Lamont, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, and Jahana Hayes, the former U.S. teacher of the year who is trying to become the first black woman elected to Congress from New England. All the speakers cast the election as a fight over what it means to be an American.

Democracy is on the ballot, my friends, said Murphy, who is seeking re-election to a second term.

Lamont equated his Republican opponent, Bob Stefanowski, with Trump, the president Stefanowski says deserves an A grade for his time in office. Lamont mocked Stefanowskis promise to phase out the income tax over eight years, calling it a Trumpian tax scheme.

The most recent poll shows Lamont with a lead over Stefanowski that falls within the margin of error.

I need you every day for the next 11 days to roll up your sleeves and fight, Lamont said.

But the urban rally came amid concerns that the campaign has yet to energize voters in the cities, where Democrats tend to win or lose statewide elections.

The energy and enthusiasm is low, said Steve Harris, a former Hartford councilman who is a district Democratic leader in the citys North End. Its going to be a ground game, knocking on doors and pulling votes.

Jean Holloway, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Jamaica and long-time political activist, said she believes the citys West Indian population can and will be energized by Trumps antagonistic views to immigrants, including an investigation launched in June looking for fraud in the citizenship process by long-term citizens.

After 40 years in this country, he is going to look at my papers? Holloway said.

Biden has traveled the country in October campaigning for Democratic U.S. Senate, U.S. House and gubernatorial candidates in tight races in a number of states, including Kentucky, Florida, Indiana, Nevada, Ohio, Michigan and New York.

His re-emergence has stoked speculation that he might run for president in 2020.

Ron Schurin, political science professor at the University of Connecticut, said Biden is campaigning not only for Democrats in tight races, but for himself.

Hes coming here and other places on behalf of Joe Biden and as a potential 2020 candidate, Schurin said. Which is not to say that he doesnt sincerely support Lamont and Hayes.

In a recent CNN poll, Biden was the favored candidate among Democrats to run for president in 2020. He was received 33 percent of the support of those polled, followed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders who received 13 percent and California Sen. Kamala Harris who received 9 percent.

Time is not on Bidens side. He turns 76 next month and would be 78 in November of 2020, nine years older than Ronald Reagan when he took office. Trump was 70 when he took office.

Schurin called Biden a unifying Democrat, who isnt as divisive as other high-profile Democrats, but can still energize the base.

Hayes is in a better position that Lamont because the polls are very tight in the governors race, but he will help both candidates mobilize the Democratic base, Schurin said.

Reporter Ana Radelat contributed to this story.
Any horror movie fans worth their blood-drenched carving knives know that the brooding houses where villains stalk victims are often central to the most memorable moments in these gruesome flicks. Remember when Michael Myers falls off the balcony in "Halloween"? Or the haunted cookie-cutter suburban home in "Poltergeist"? How about the ending of "The Exorcist," when a possessed Father Damien Karras hurls himself out the bedroom window and tumbles down the stairs to his death? These homes were integral to the horror.

So as the ultimate Halloween treat, we decided to do a bit of real estate stalking of our own to locate the actual abodes used in five classic horror movies to see how they've held up, and how much they're worth today. To our delight, some of themsuch as the "Poltergeist" housestill look like they did in the films, just with taller trees or a new paint job.

While none of these iconic places is currently for sale, it's worth noting that all of them have an estimated value higher than the neighborhood median listing price. Could it be their spooky cinematic cachet? Or maybe it's just that they're all rather nice places (at least, by the light of day).

Dying to learn more about these infamous properties? Take a look belowif you dare.

The home featured in the movie "Poltergeist" Google Maps

Location: Simi Valley, CA

Estimated value: $767,400

Median listing price in 93063 ZIP: $615,100

Unlike earlier horror movies that took place in creepy Gothic mansions, the home of the Freeling family in "Poltergeist" is an average four-bed, three-bath tract house in the suburbs. And that's just how producer Steven Spielberg wanted it. The property in Simi Valley, a bedroom community 40 minutes from downtown Los Angeles, was chosen because of how commonplace it looks.

Steven liked that house because it was the end of the road. It was a two-story, valley-type mock Tudor, and it just fit everything. ... He always wanted to be in normal residential areas, Jim Spencer, the production designer on the 1982 horror film, told Yahoo.

Today, the house looks nearly identical to its celluloid self, save for the full-grown trees in the front yard that were just saplings during filming in the '80s.

The home may be valued just about $150,000 more than the median listing price in Simi Valley, but we wouldn't be surprised to see this iconic abode fetch top dollar from a horror movie buff, if it ever were to go on sale.

The house where Laurie baby-sits Tommy in the movie "Halloween" Google Maps

Location: West Hollywood, CA

Estimated value: $2,694,400

Median listing price in 90046: $1,800,100

Although this famous flick is set in the fictional town of Haddonfield, IL, the unassuming Cape Codstyle home that's the site of the final showdown between baby sitter Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and murderous bro Michael Myers is actually located in Los Angeles. Of the five houses we looked at, this was the only one whose exterior and interior were used.

The ultralow-budget film was shot in spring 1978, so the production team painted dozens of bags of fake leaves and sprinkled them around the house and streets to make it look like fall.

Today, the four-bedroom, two-bathroom house is valued at just a smidge under $2.7 millionnot too shabby for a place that will give every visitor nightmares.

The house used in the film "The Exorcist," as it stands today, in Washington, DC. Peter Paulsen

Location: Georgetown, Washington DC

Estimated value: $3,690,700

Median listing price in 20007: $1,099,500

"The Exorcist" is considered one of the most disturbing films of all time, and most of the horrific happenings take place in the well-appointed home of Chris MacNeil and her daughter, Regan.

While the action inside the home was filmed in a studio in New York City, production chose a traditional brick house in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC, the city where the film takes place.

Fun fact: The staircase where Father Damien Karras dies is located close to the MacNeil house, although not as close as the film makes it look. The film crew had to build an extension of the front of the house in order to stage the scene of Karras falling from Regan's bedroom window onto the stairs. The stairs were also padded with rubber so the stuntman wouldn't get seriously injured rolling down them, according to USA Today.

The infamous stairs in "The Exorcist" SDC

The first three "Amityville Horror" movies were filmed at this house. realtor.com

Location: Toms River, NJ

Estimated value: $1,075,163

Median listing price in 08753: $315,100

Anyone who has read the original "Amityville Horror" book or seen any of the movies knows that the real murders that inspired this (um, fictional) story happened at 108 Ocean Ave. in the town of Amityville on Long Island, NY. But since the town was unwilling to allow filming to take place there, the production team chose this four-bed, two-bath home in Toms River, NJ, to be immortalized in the 1979 film.

Exterior shots were filmed at the Toms River property, while the interior scenes were captured on a sound stage at MGM Studios in Los Angeles.

Although the home is currently valued at a little more than $1 million, the recent real estate history of this home is a sad tale. Listed in 2011 for $1.45 million, it languished on the market and endured steady price cuts for two years until, in July 2013, it sold for a measly $350,000.

The house where Nancy Thompson is stalked by Freddy Krueger in "A Nightmare on Elm Street" realtor.com

Location: West Hollywood, CA

Estimated value: $2,660,600

Median listing price in 90046: $1,800,100

Just a few blocks from the "Halloween" house is another iconic piece of real estate: the house where Freddy Krueger stalks Nancy Thompson in Wes Craven's 1984 film, "A Nightmare on Elm Street." The movie took place in the suburban town of Springwood, OH, but the real house is on a tree-lined street in Los Angeles.

The three-bed, four-bath house sold in 2013 for $2.1 million, and its estimated value has crept up to $2.6 millionmuch higher than the neighborhood median listing price.

Interior shots were filmed on a set in Los Angeles where the crew could facilitate such famous scenes as a bed spewing a geyser of blood, a special effect that took 80 gallons of water and red paint that was then poured through an upside-down set, according to IFC.

The post From 'Halloween' to 'The Amityville Horror,' What Classic Horror-Film Houses Really Cost appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com.
EAST HAVEN  Both candidates for state representative for the 99th district are lifelong East Haven residents with their own ideas for change if they win.

Incumbent Democrat James Albis, 34, is seeking a fifth term, while Republican Robert Parente, 63, who was also endorsed by the Independent Party, is challenging him.

I have a good track record of standing up for East Haven, and I want to continue to do so, Albis said. My philosophy is to be a consensus builder and bring people together to solve problems.

Albis focus if re-elected will be on balancing the states budget and pushing for changes to the tax code.

Currently, the tax code is unfair, Albis said. The middle class is paying 15 to 25 percent, while the wealthy are paying about five percent. That is untenable and not helping the economy.

Albis asserted Connecticut is too reliant on property taxes in comparison to other states. He noted East Havens tax rate is at 32.45, while wealthy communities like Greenwich and Salisbury have tax rates around 11. Since a large portion of spending for any municipality is for education, Albis wants to explore a statewide tax rate for education funding. He would have hearings to gauge public opinion.

It could actually lower property tax rates and ease the burden on middle-class families, Albis said.

Albis would continue working to create jobs, by investing in apprenticeships and technical school programs, and creating partnerships and training opportunities.

There are a lot of companies looking to hire, like Sikorsky and Pratt & Whitney, but they are having difficulties finding people who match their required skill set, Albis said. Our community colleges and technical high schools have the ability to directly train for the skills these companies need.

Albis counts among his accomplishments securing a $1.7 million increase in state aid for East Haven to help offset local property taxes. After the severe storms Sandy and Irene, Albis chaired the Task Force on Shoreline Preservation, which issued recommendations for improving the states preparedness for future severe weather events.

Parente, chairman of the Republican Town Committee and an eight-year member of the Town Council, has served 12 years on the Board of Education, six on Inland Wetlands, and two on Planning and Zoning.

Parente also is past president of the East Haven Rotary Club, and founder of its annual Thanksgiving dinner.

I think I am the person in touch with the needs of the people of East Haven, Parente said. I look forward to being in Hartford and bringing enthusiasm. I have a passion for doing what is right for people.

Among his priorities if elected will be improving the states economy and making it more affordable for companies to stay and do business in Connecticut.

When companies leave, taxpayers are left to pick up the tax burden, Parente said. We need to make the state friendly for companies, which leads to more jobs.

Parente wants to make the state more affordable by restructuring the income tax.

It is another burden on people, Parente said. I would never say eliminate the income tax, but it needs to be restructured.

With more jobs and reduced taxes, Parente said the state would be more affordable for everyone.

I dont want people to move out of the state, Parente said. I was born here and raised here, and I cant afford to retire here. It is sad so many people are leaving.

Visit the candidates web sites at www.albis2018.com and www.parenteforstaterep.com.

Michelle Tuccitto Sullo can be reached at mtuccittoster@gmail.com.
HAMDEN  Through their wit and ingenuity, Hamden High School students are just one step away from winning funds to retool the school chemistry labs. Now, they need the communitys help to bring the money home.

Hamden High teacher Kathleen Bower-Phipps said Friday she was sorting through her mail when she happened upon a flier from Lanxess, a German chemicals company that holds a yearly contest for students to win money to improve chemistry equipment at their schools. Each school creates a video, hoping to appeal to folks  the submission that receives the most votes is declared the winner.

After watching last years submissions, she figured her students had a shot  and they went about seizing it with gusto.

They were so excited, said Bower-Phipps.

Approximately 30 students came together to make the video, shooting footage on their phones and using computers in the schools art lab to edit it, Bower-Phipps said.

When the school was named a finalist, they were thrilled, she said.

Bower-Phipps said the funds  the winning school gets $5,000, with $3,000 and $1,500 for the second and third-place finishers, according to Lanxess  would allow for the replacement of outdated equipment.

While the Board of Education supports the sciences, its hard to keep up with the pace of change in the field, she said.

Bower-Phipps credited Principal Nadine Gannon, Assistant Superintendent Christopher Melillo, and Director of Instructional Technology Karen Kaplan for helping to spread word about the video in the school community, and thanked her director, Tracy Stockwell, for helping as well. The support was huge, she said.

Its a pleasure to see her students succeed in the contest by becoming finalists, Bower-Phipps said. Their enthusiasm for learning stands out.

Its awesome. I have the best students in the world, said Bower-Phipps.

Those interested can watch the video and/or vote for Hamden High School at https://48cfc3.us.launchpad6.com/contest/1/entry/25.

Voting ends at noon on Oct. 30.

Votes can be submitted every 12 hours from any device, according to Bower-Phipps.

william.lambert@hearstmediact.com
How can you speak about Wooster Square without mentioning apizza, the iconic product of our neighborhood? Because there are so many versions of the apizza legend, I hesitate to tread on such hallowed ground. We claim to have invented, or at least concocted, what we now consider American pizza. New Havens version often leads just about every national poll, with Pepes white clam usually at the top.

But growing up right in the neighborhood where it was all happening provided us with an amazing selection of options for an apizza treat. In my family, it was usually reserved for Sunday night supper. My mother would send me around the corner to Pepes or Sallys or Sarnos or the Spot for a pizza bianca. Sometimes it might also include a small anchovy, or alici, as a salty addition to the red sauce. We just took it all in stride, such goodness and superior quality in such a humble product.

People ask about our derivative of the word pizza into apizza, and from what I can tell, its the influence of the Neapolitan dialect with the dropping of the first letter in la pizza into apizza. Who knows really, but we do know that it was the common term, universally applied. Apizz actually was the way we pronounced it.

I know that there were satellites, clones of the Wooster Street product, that produced delicious versions of the original throughout New Haven: in Fair Haven, the Hill and Westville. And even now, newcomers vie for a place on the list of genuine New Haven apizza spots, the pantheon of culinary delights.

I think the apizza story is very symbolic of the way of life that was created in Wooster Square, where everything was simple but of high quality, such as the simple food prepared in the style of our ancestors from the Amalfi Coast, where fresh ingredients are the essential element in every meal.

Its difficult to imagine now, living in a time when Italian food is one of the most popular culinary options for Americans from all ethnic and cultural backgrounds, that there was a time when that very same food was considered strange and even off-putting to some.

In all of the Italian enclaves, familiar foods were adapted to conform with the available goods. The use of ground meat to form meatballs is not authentic Italian but it became Italian when the cooks realized that inexpensive cuts of meat could be ground into something that could be added to the Sunday ragu. Lidia Bastianich talks about her discovery of what she calls Italian-American food when she immigrated to this country. Our mothers and grandmothers took what they found here and turned it into our cuisine, now universally appreciated and enjoyed.

The earliest memories I have both in the store and at home was the way that we separated Italian foods from everything else. Anything that wasnt Italian was simply classified as American. The soft, sliced white bread, wrapped in white paper, was called American bread, while the crusty loaves baked in our local bakeries was Italian bread, and we drank black Italian coffee as opposed to the brown American coffee that was available elsewhere.

These distinctions remain for many of us, even though we have embraced those products. The early distinctions between being Italian or American transferred into the Italian-American designation and in the end we all became proud Americans.

The neighborhood also spawned a number of firsts within the Italian community. Paulo Russo organized the first bank there and later operated an insurance and travel agency. The first local macaroni-manufacturing company was also on Wooster Street and the first companies to import goods from Italy were organized there as well.

Perhaps the most significant contribution to the local economy was the preponderance of workers from Wooster Square who were employed at two of New Havens most important industrial sites: Sargent & Co and the New Haven Clock Co. These companies, Sargent in particular, were the source of so many employment opportunities for the local residents who could walk to work each day. The New Haven Clock Co. at one time was the largest clock-manufacturing center in the country, and many men, and women as well, were able to earn a decent living working in the site on Hamilton Street. There were examples everywhere of the initiatives of the residents to create a functional community in which to live and work.

Even now, looking back on my childhood days, I can smile at some of the local customs that we all took for granted. The custom of applying a nickname to friends was widely adopted. I can recall that even the immigrants themselves had nicknames for each other. Sometimes it was simply a nod to the place of origin, such as la Minorese for someone from Minori or a more descriptive and even humorous depiction of that person.

I have seen a list of at least 100 nicknames that were commonly used in the neighborhood. All of this was accepted and not viewed as derogatory in any way. It served to bring the residents together into a more closely knit community and perpetuated a custom that was commonly observed in Italy. Its fun to hear them now and appreciate how clever they were.

How wonderful it is to think about all the simple things that were done to create a neighborhood, a familiar place within the limitations of the new place. Wooster Square wasnt Italy, but it became a version of Italy in America, and we called it home.

Frank Carrano lives in Branford. Contact him at f.carrano@att.net.
Although there has been a slow trickle of information daily about the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the countrys Instanbul consulate, experts predict there will not be much of a change with how Connecticuts higher education system connects with Saudi students.

In my country, they say the best education is in the United States, said Bader Alanazi, a Saudi national and a graduate student in medical laboratory sciences at Quinnipiac University.

For almost a decade, the Saudi Arabian government has awarded students a scholarship program called the King Abdullah Scholarship Program, which allows many students to study internationally at no personal cost.

Hedib Alrawili, president of Quinnipiac Universitys Saudi Student Club, said he chose America because it was an ideal place to complete an English language immersion program and obtain a biomedical sciences degree. He now is a graduate student at the university.

Khashoggi, who was known to American audiences recently as an opinion writer for the Washington Post, died earlier this month, and the official Saudi narrative has changed multiple times since then, from assertions that Khashoggi exited the consulate safely to him dying accidentally or being slain in a premeditated fashion.

Locally, the University of New Haven has drawn attention for its partnership with a Saudi Arabian college as UNH is advising King Fahd Security College on the development of a four-year Bachelor of Science degree in security studies, in the recruitment of faculty members, as well as other administrative tasks, according to university spokeswoman Lyn Chamberlin.

Chamberlin said there are 198 Saudi students enrolled at the university, and all are funded through the King Abdullah Scholarship Program.

This summer, Saudi Arabia canceled the scholarship program for any students studying in Canada, allowing them to continue on the scholarship only if they elect to study in another country, after a Canadian official criticized the Saudi government for imprisoning human rights activists. Both Alrawili and Alanazi say they believe their scholarships are safe in America because of the historically strong relationship between America and Saudi Arabia.

Everything is OK with me here with my American family. I have an American father and an American mother who also works at the University of New Haven, Alrawili said. My host family, after we saw the news, they just asked me about it. There is no problem between Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Alanazi said he doesnt believe American students are invested in global politics.

The United States understands the situation completely, he said.

At UNH, multiple students said Wednesday they havent noticed a shift in the atmosphere on campus after Khashoggis death. One student, who identified himself only as Paul, said his major in fire protection engineering is made possible because of Saudi involvement, which he appreciates.

Kevin Buterbaugh, chairman of the Southern Connecticut State University Political Science Department, said the American response to Khashoggis death is one that could either make us seem like a pariah for not doing anything or also encourage (apathy) from others.

If youre an institution and youre tied to the Saudis, you risk taking a hit to your public image and may see protests, he said Tuesday. Obviously if youre dependent upon the Saudis for money for a specific program, you might have no choice but to go along because you need the money, but it may harm the long-term image of your institution or university.

Buterbaugh said he was not sure whether the news would impact how Saudi students are treated in America, but historically students can be a magnet for protesters, even if they havent done anything, because they become symbols of the regime.

Omer Bajwa, director of Muslim life in the Yale University chaplains office, said he hadnt heard many student discussions about Khashoggis death. Amid rampant xenophobia and Islamophobia in this country, he doesnt believe tensions have escalated any more with the death of Khashoggi.

A spokeswoman with the University of Connecticut said the university has no current partnerships or study abroad programs with Saudi Arabia. Although the university saw a spike in its Saudi student enrollment after the KASP scholarship program was founded in 2010, it fell from its high of 56 full-time students in 2015 to 30 in the current year after cuts to the scholarship program in 2016.

CNN Money reported that the kingdom made cuts to its $6 billion scholarship program in 2016 as oil prices collapsed. That same year, UNH began its partnership with Saudi Arabias King Fahd Security College.

Both Saudi graduate students at Quinnipiac University say America is a special place to them with great diversity and individuality, but they intend to return to Saudi Arabia after receiving their degrees.

Its my duty to give to my country, said Alanazi. My country is developing more and more, so they need more young people to work.

brian.zahn@hearstmediact.com
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Stefanowski, Saturday released their joint tax returns for 2016 and 2017, which showed that they earned $6.86 million in 2016 and $9.73 million in 2017  and paid millions of dollars in taxes both years.

Stefanowski was the last major candidate to release his tax returns. He filed for extensions in 2016 and 2017, and his 2017 filing was submitted less than two weeks ago, on Oct. 15.

The 56-year-old political newcomer and his wife, Amy, paid an effective federal tax rate of 38 percent in 2017 and 37 percent in 2016.

They paid the state's top tax rate of 6.99 percent for their state income taxes both years, the returns show.

Copies of the Stefanowskis' returns show that in 2016 they earned a total of $6.86 million and paid $2.05 million in federal taxes and $358,221 in state taxes. In 2017 they earned a total of $9.73 million and paid $3.43 million in federal taxes and $668,141 in state taxes.

The 2016 information reflects taxes paid both in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, where Stefanowski's employer at the time was headquartered, Stefanowski's campaign said in a news release.

Bob Stefanowski is running against Democratic nominee Ned Lamont, who let reporters with pens and paper copy down the vital statistics of his earnings and taxes from the last five years, filed with the Internal Revenue Service and the state Department of Revenue Services, on Oct. 19.

Lamont did not allow reporters to photograph or make photocopies of the top-two pages of his returns, which he filed as an individual. Lamont's wife, Ann H. Lamont, is highly successful private investor in her own right.

Stefanowski lives with his wife and three daughters in Madison, CT. He was formerly a senior executive with General Electric and the Chief Financial Officer of UBS Investment Bank.
Gathering to Watch U.S. Mid-Term Election Results

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - The Costa Banderas Chapter of Democrats Abroad Mexico is sponsoring an election night event on November 6 at Roberto Castellon's new eatery and bar, located above his signature restaurant, Roberto's, at Basilio Badillo #283 on the south side of Puerto Vallarta.

The event begins at 7:00 pm and lasts as long as people want to stay.

The upstairs restaurant has a private entrance and is perfect for a private party of Democrats who would prefer to be together for this major historic event.

There will be two TV screens, a special four-course menu, a welcome drink of your choice, and the tip is included for $500 pesos per person.

Election Night Menu

Appetizer

 Panela cheese sauteed in ajillo salsa with mushrooms

Salad

 Caesar -or- Mixed

Main Dishes* - your choice of:

 Fresh grilled fish fillet with shrimp

 Mexican Combo: chili relleno, quesadilla, beef taco, rice, beans and guacamole

 Grilled breast of chicken sauteed in a Florentine sauce (cream with spinach)

Desserts - your choice of:

 Chocolate Cake

 Flan

*Fish and chicken dishes are accompanied by vegetables and rice.

You can sign up with Roberto's staff during regular restaurant hours (12:30-10:00 pm any day but Monday). If you can't make it into Roberto's to reserve your space, just call 223-2266. Attendance is limited to 60, so reserve your spot today!
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Stefanowski, and his wife, Amy, on Saturday released their joint tax returns for 2016 and 2017, which showed that they earned $6.86 million in 2016 and $9.73 million in 2017  and paid millions of dollars in taxes both years.

Votes for Griebel could be costly for others in governors race

Stefanowski was the last major gubernatorial candidate to release his tax returns. He filed for extensions in 2016 and 2017, and his 2017 filing was submitted less than two weeks ago, on Oct. 15.

Questions about Stefanowskis wealth have swirled because the 56-year-old political newcomer is self-funding his campaign. But this fall, he has focused heavily on fundraising and has occasionally emailed desperate pleas to supporters for contributions. His tax returns show his significant income.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ned Lamont, a Greenwich cable entrepreneur, is also self-funding his campaign. The most recent poll puts the two in a dead-heat.

Stefanowski, who lives in Madison, was most recently employed as CEO of a global payday lending company DFC Global Corp., based in Pennsylvania. When Stefanowski went to work for the company in November 2014, he left his position as chief financial officer of UBS Investment Bank in London.

Between 2008 and 2011, he was the London-based chairman and managing partner at the 3i Private Equity Group. He also previously worked for General Electric.

Amy Stefanowski is employed as a Realtor.

Stefanowski and his wife paid an effective federal tax rate of 38 percent in 2017 and 37 percent in 2016. They paid the states top tax rate of 6.99 percent for their state income taxes both years, the returns show.

Copies of the Stefanowskis returns show that in 2016 they earned a total of $6.86 million and paid $2.05 million in federal taxes and $358,221 in state taxes, paid both in Connecticut and Pennsylvania. In 2017, they earned a total of $9.73 million and paid $3.43 million in federal taxes and $668,141 in state taxes.

Stefanowski did not release a Schedule A, therefore his charitable deductions remain unknown.

Releasing the tax returns less than two weeks before the election was likely a strategy to signal that Stefanowski is open and honest at a time when the most voters are paying attention to the midterms, said Gayle Alberda, political science professor at Fairfield University.

By releasing them now, its going to hit the most people, said Alberda. The people that are paying attention now are your undecideds. They are the people who are going to sway the election.

On Oct. 19, Lamont let reporters with pens and paper copy down the vital statistics of his earnings and taxes from the last five years, filed with the Internal Revenue Service and the state Department of Revenue Services.

In 2016, Lamont sold his Greenwich-based cable-TV-wiring company he founded more than 30 years earlier, to focus on venture-capital investments that are now his main source of income. The great-grandson of the former chairman of JP Morgan, Lamont made $1.5 million in 2016 and in 2017, had a total income of more than $5.3 million, mostly dividends and capital gains.

Lamont did not allow reporters to photograph or make photocopies of the top-two pages of his returns, which he filed as an individual. Lamonts wife, Ann H. Lamont, is highly successful private investor in her own right.

Unaffiliated candidate for governor Oz Griebel, a former banker and regional business leader who has an apartment in Hartford, released the top sheets of his income-tax forms in September.

He paid the IRS more than $93,000 a year in taxes over the last three years on income of about $400,000. He has been paying the state about $25,000 a year in taxes.
Voters in Ansonia and Derby will cast ballots in November to fill the 104th district seat held by former longtime Democratic state Rep. Linda Gentile for 14 years.

Local Attorney Joseph Jaumann, a Republican, and the founder/president of the Naugatuck Valley Young Democrats, Kara Rochelle, are vying for that seat in Hartford.

For Jaumann, 41, a father of four, this is his second time running. He lost his bid to unseat Gentile in 2016. The loss didnt deter Jaumann from giving it another go.

Connecticut is on the wrong path, said Jaumann. Higher taxes and increased spending over the last eight years have worsened our financial crisis. We cannot continue with more of the same. We need new leadership in Hartford. Experienced leaders who will prioritize getting our economy back on track and lessening the tax burdens on hard working families. I am the only candidate in this race with experience, and I am ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work for the people of the 104th district.

Jaumann, an Ansonia alderman, fire commissioner, member of the Economic Development Commission, the Ansonia/Derby Temporary Regional School Study Committee and vice president of Ansonia Little League, said changes must be made to reign in state spending.

I believe the top issues facing are communities are a dismal state economy and anti-business atmosphere, high taxes and no job growth, and a lack of proper funding to our economically distressed communities, Jaumann said.

Jaumann, who is married to wife, Crystal, said hes prepared to help remedy those problems.

I will fight to refocus and reprioritize state spending, reduce wasteful spending, repeal anti-business laws and regulations, grow our economy and create good paying jobs, he said.Rochelle, 35, a Derby resident who grew up in Seymour, previously served on the Derby Board of Ethics, and also manages 14 chapters of Young Democrats.

Rochelle comes from a family of longtime public servants in the Valley. Her grandmother, Connie Criscuolo served as Registrar of Voters in Seymour for more than 40 years, and her father, Al Rochelle, served as a volunteer firefighter, captain, chief and fire commissioner for more than 40 years.

With those kinds of roots, Rochelle said running for state office was a natural fit.

I have been dissatisfied with politics for some time, and like many others, know we need public servants who are truly focused on the work at hand, said Rochelle. The Valley deserves a strong, clear-minded, hardworking fighter who will prioritize the lives, wallets, and futures of each and all residents.

Rochelle is an administrator for Shabtai, a faith-based nonprofit affiliated with Yale University, and boasts experience managing business operations.

Rochelle proposed bringing in an advanced manufacturing training program to the Valley so that our residents are equipped to compete for the 13,000 open, good-paying advanced manufacturing jobs in the state.

A strong work force and affordable health care is key for Rochelle, as is reducing the tax burden on our middle and working class residents, providing proper education funding for our schools, planning long-term economic development of our communities, stopping cuts to Medicaid, fighting price gouging from prescription drug companies, protecting our residents with pre-existing conditions from being thrown off health care and providing a meaningful path for residents to age with dignity and security.

jean.sos@snet.net.
An odyssey that began in Vineland with a report of shots fired ended with police discovering more than 130 roosters penned up in several buildings, including one building with a cock-fighting ring.

Four men were charged, including Oscar Navarro, a 49-year-old Vineland man, who was arrested Oct. 17 and charged with possessing animals with the purpose of fighting them.

The investigation began on the night of Oct. 5 with a call to police about shots fired.

Police found at the scene on East Sherman Avenue a late model blue Honda crashed into a tree with multiple bullet holes in it. In the yard of the home where the shot-up car was found, police found a handgun and several shell casings, officials said.

The following day, Vineland police returned to the home with a search warrant and found evidence of a cock-fighting operation.

Then, nearly two weeks later, on Oct. 17, Vineland police returned to the property in the 1300 block of East Sherman with another warrant. This time officers from the Cumberland County Prosecutor's Office, the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the state Department of Agriculture joined them.

The team found 132 roosters in the buildings.

It's not clear, though, what the suspected cockfighting had to do with the shot-up vehicle and the gun found in the yard, officials said.

Also arrested were:

Richard Caulford, 20, was charged with the unlawful possession of a firearm and tampering with evidence. He was released on a summons.

Devon Brown Jr. 21, was charged with attempted homicide, unlawful possession of a firearm and the possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose. Brown was held in The Cumberland County Jail pending further court action.

Taylor Tiamoyo Harris may be reached at tharris@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @ladytiamoyo. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
The state Health Department sent teams of inspectors to University Hospital in Newark after an anonymous "concerned employee" reported a bacterial outbreak in the neonatal intensive care unit at the Newark facility, Health Commissioner Shereef Elnahal confirmed Friday.

Four infants contracted the Acinetobacter baumannii bacteria, a hospital-acquired infection, in September. One of the babies was transferred to another hospital and later died, but the cause of death has not yet been determined, Elnahal said.

The three other infants responded to treatment, and there has not been any reported infections in three weeks, said University Hospital's Chief Medical Officer Larry Ramunno.

Responding to the Oct. 1 tip, state surveyors found numerous infection control deficiencies involving hand-washing, wearing gloves and keeping surfaces clean and disinfected, Elnahal said.

Elnahal said he found it "troubling" hospital executives did not report the outbreak, defined as a number of cases that exceed the norm for a health care facility.

"But the more troubling issue is the lack of infection control standards in that ICU. What my surveyors found was unacceptable," he said.

The hospital must hire a full-time certified infection control practitioner consultant by no later than Tuesday, according to the plan of correction ordered by the health department.

The state's only public hospital -- also the largest provider of "charity care" for uninsured patients -- University been under intense scrutiny this year. The hospital received a failing grade from the national Leapfrog Group safety report card, scoring poorly in areas of infection control.

The failing grade was one of the reasons the state appointed Judith M. Persichilli, the former CEO of the national hospital chain, Catholic Healthcare East, to monitor and assess the hospital's financial stability and quality.

On Friday, Persichilli and Ramunno said there is a concerted effort underway to make consistent hand-washing and other infection control strategies second nature among University's 3,600 employees.

"It's been all about behavioral change and building the will and culture since I landed in mid-June," said Ramunno, who had been recruited from the Johns Hopkins-owned Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington D.C. "We're starting to see some movement, but we have to keep pushing it."

The changes now sought by the state were already underway, Ramunno said.

"Everything on the state's list is something we are working on. Was it all implemented? No, but we'll be using this as a stimulus to speed the changes that have to happen," he said.

Rumanno has the confidence of Linda Schwimmer, president and CEO of the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute, a research and advocacy organization that promotes the Leapfrog safety group.

Schwimmer called the outbreak "heartbreaking" and demonstrates "the human toll of not taking safety and infection control as seriously as you need to, and why we need to be vigilant." She said she has met with Ramunno, and "I felt like he understood the seriousness of the situation and the enormous task in front of him."

The infection is not a threat to other patients in the hospital or in the community, according to medical experts. It is almost exclusively found in hospital intensive care units, and poses a risk to only the most immune-compromised patients, said Infectious Disease specialist Margaret Fisher, a member of disaster preparedness advisory council for the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Acinetobacter baumannii "is not usually the cause of death, but it's usually a contributor," Fisher said. "These babies are just so fragile and require so much technology that they are on the edge of survival. This (infection) tips them over."

There are other infants in the NICU, but there is no plan to transfer them to another hospital, Elnahal said. "Any transport poses a risk to such critically ill patients," and could spread the infection to another hospital, he said.

The outbreak at University Hospital is unrelated to the 23 confirmed cases of adenovirus in pediatric residents at the Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation in Haskell. Eight children have died, according to the health department.

Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.
JERSEY CITY -- The Office of the Hudson County Clerk, Division of Elections is offering extended hours Sunday and on Nov. 3 to accept vote-by-mail applications.

Voters who wishing to vote by mail must bring a valid New Jersey issued identification card (state, government or local ID) that includes a photo, address and signature. The address on the ID must match the voter's ballot address.

The Division of Elections will be open Sunday from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. and on Nov. 3 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The office is located at Hudson County Plaza, 257 Cornelison Avenue in Jersey City.

For more information on election services, call (201) 369-3470 and select option number 6.
JERSEY CITY -- A 17-year-old Lincoln High School student died in front of her friends after being shot on Brinkerhoff Street in Jersey City last night in an incident in which a second victim was wounded, officials said.

Officers responding to the location near Bergen Avenue at about 11:35 p.m. found Jade Saunders had suffered a gunshot wound to her upper body and she was pronounced dead at the scene, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez announced this afternoon.

The second victim suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to the Jersey City Medical Center where he was treated and released, Suarez said.

Lincoln High School Principal Chris Gadsden called it an act of senseless violence and said "it hurts," on his Facebook page.

"Jade was supposed to enjoy this senior year with her friends at Lincoln and Renaissance," Gadsden wrote. "Jade was trying her hardest to graduate, go to prom, and live the life she was destined to live. I feel horrible for her friends who had witness her dying in front of them."

Lincoln High School student Jade Saunders, 17, was fatally shot in Jersey City yesterday, Oct. 27, 2018.

Gadsden continued saying, "Please pray for our young people around Salem Lafayette Court. The loss of friends and loved ones around the community have been too much over the years. Please, please, please stop the senseless shooting and killing. Jade, you are loved and will be missed."

Nearly 180 comments expressing sympathy have been added to Gadsden's post since it went up three hours ago and it has 590 likes.

Kristen Zadroga-Hart, Saunder's teacher at Jersey City's Renaissance Institute, called her student's death tragic and said it's hard to be a teacher in Jersey City.

"It's hard when you hear there's a shooting and gun violence and you come in the next day and you count the heads and hope they are all there and not another statistic," said Zadroga-Hart.

Zadroga-Hart continued saying, "How do we come in on Monday and try to get through a school day and through the regular curriculum when this is what they experienced all weekend?"

The teacher said of Saunders that "She loved her friends. She love to hang out. She had a vibrant, bubbly personality. She was a regular, typical girl."

At the 3-story building on Brinkerhoff this afternoon a resident was scrubbing the front steps and foyer where blood spatters were still visible through the suds and bleach.

"They were just chillin' here inside the hallway and then somebody came and shot up the hallway," said the woman who chose not to give her name. "At first it was just girls."

The woman said "It's sad and it's got to stop. What's wrong with these people? No blood? No hearts? Monsters in disguise."

Police found at least one spent shell casing at the scene, according to emergency responder radio transmissions.

There was no answer at the door of the address The Jersey Journal obtained for Saunders.

The Prosecutor's Office Homicide Unit and Jersey City police are actively investigating the homicide. No arrests have been made at this time, Suarez said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Homicide Unit (201) 915-1345 or to leave an anonymous tip at www.hudsoncountyprosecutorsofficenj.org/homicide-tip/ .

Suarez said all information will be kept confidential.
JERSEY CITY -- The Hudson County Prosecutor's Office Homicide Unit is investigating the death of a female who was shot last night on Brinkerhoff Street in Jersey City, Prosecutor's Office spokesman Raymond Worrall confirmed this morning.

The female was shot in the head at about 11:40 p.m. near Bergen Avenue and a second person was shot in the leg, according to emergency responder radio transmissions.

Police responded to the location on a report of five shots being fired and they recovered at least one spent shell casing at the scene. Police were looking for three males wearing black, according to emergency responder radio transmissions.

The prosecutor's office expects to release more information on the incident, Worrall said.

Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call the homicide detectives at (201) 915- 1345 or leave an anonymous tip at: www.hudsoncountyprosecutorsofficenj.org/homicide-tip/.

Last Friday, four people were shot in Jersey City, according to police and police sources. Between Thursday and Sunday, there were at least six people shot and six people were arrested, Jersey City Police Chief Michael Kelly said in a tweet.

Jersey City officials have provide scant information and have refused to provide details on how many people were shot last weekend, despite numerous requests for more information. City officials did say in a statement that "shootings and homicides are down significantly year over year."
The thousands of Central Americans bound for the United States should be processed as asylum seekers if they seek asylum here and they should not be housed in detention centers unless they have criminal pasts, U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez said Friday.

Menendez, a Democrat who is seeking a third full term on Nov. 6, said the United States has a system to help the migrants in the so-called caravan that does not require the nation to jail them at the U.S-Mexico border. The issue has become a major one for President Trump as he campaigns for Republicans to retain control of Congress next year.

"There are many demonstrable ways by the congressional budget office that have been established which doesn't take a detention center," Menendez said during an interview with this newspaper. "Ankle monitoring, joining individuals with attorneys to make sure that they show up at their hearings, the bail that ultimately the family puts up ... there are many ways to guarantee that people show up."

The initial group of migrants left Honduras about two weeks ago, with other Central Americans joining them on their way north. Menendez said the matter is a Trump administration failure to examine the root causes of violence in Central America.

"They flee because they face horrific violence," he said. "Their choice is stay and die, or flee and take a chance at living. So they flee."

Menendez, who was raised in Union City, is in perhaps the toughest election fight of his life. His lead over Republican Bob Hugin in recent polls is as low as five points. At this point in his 2012 re-election campaign, Menendez was leading his challenger by 18 points. The Cook Political Report moved its rating of New Jersey's senate race from lean Democrat to toss-up on Friday, panicking Democrats in the state and nationally.

Hugin, a former pharmaceutical executive, has built his campaign around the allegations that led to Menendez's corruption trial last year, a trial that ended without a verdict when jurors deadlocked. New Jersey Democrats were mocked nationally when they lined up behind Menendez following the mistrial and again when Menendez's little-known Democratic challenger in June's primary won nearly 40 percent of the vote.

Asked about Cook rating, Menendez shrugged.

"I know that there's a lot of emphasis on the number of Democrats who didn't support me in the primary but the reality is the negative advertising already started by Hugin even in the primary process," he said. "I've taken $25 million of false, salacious advertising. Anyone in this room, if I take $25 million and whack you with false advertising you're not going to look as good as you look today."

Hugin's campaign declined requests for the Republican to sit down with The Jersey Journal this week for an interview. His spokeswoman, Megan Piwowar, said Hugin "represents change."

"Sen. Bob Menendez will say or do anything to stay in power," she said in an email. "Voters deserve all of the facts. Our ads tell the real story of his relationship with a felon campaign donor imprisoned for the nation's largest Medicare fraud and invite all New Jerseyans to read a sworn FBI affidavit from the Obama Justice Department that raises serious questions about the senator's character."

Menendez does not agree with some members of his party who want to abolish the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. He said the problem is not ICE, it's Trump's views. The president believes his electoral success comes from cracking down on immigrants and "whether its ICE or something else, he will use some federal entity to try to do that," Menendez said.

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
George Mitchell, 52, is wanted on a charge of aggravated assault, according to the Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office.

Mitchell, whose last known address was in Rockaway, New Jersey, is described as 6 feet 5 inches tall and 240 pounds with white hair and blue eyes.

The prosecutor's office asks anyone with information about Mitchell to contact Detectives John Mulligan, Frank Modaffare, or Lamont Garnes of the Joint Hunterdon County Fugitive Task Force at 908-788-1129 or your local police department. Anonymous tips can be submitted by calling Crime Stoppers at 800-321-0010, going online at CrimeStoppersHunterdon.com, or through the free "P3 Tips" smartphone app. All tips are anonymous and kept confidential.
When a gun was recovered and a 31-year-old man was arrested late Sunday night, it capped a violent weekend in Jersey City that included at least five arrests and six shooting victims.

It also capped a weekend in which Jersey City officials declined to provide information to The Jersey Journal on all but one of the shooting incidents that had occurred over the previous 72 hours.

Very basic information was released Thursday, a week after the first incident.

Asked a number of questions regarding why police delayed releasing crime information, Wallace-Scalcione released this statement:

"While shootings and homicides are down significantly year over year, our goal is to drive this down to zero. That means the investigation component in the minutes and days after a shooting are detailed and expansive. It is important to provide factual information, and often when there is an active investigation there may be a delay in reporting."

Here is a list of the incidents on which police refused to provide information until Thursday, Oct. 25:Early Friday, Oct. 19, two people were apparently shot on Myrtle Avenue and they went to a local hospital on their own. At 2 p.m. Saturday, police told the Jersey Journal there was a "shots-fired" incident on Myrtle Avenue, and made no mention of victims. On Thursday, police told the newspaper it was a "shooting" incident, but again refused to say if there were any victims.

On Saturday, Oct. 20, a man was shot near Oxford Avenue and Sackett Street, an incident that was confirmed by a police source after a police spokeswoman declined to respond to a request for information.

Early Sunday morning, 18-year-old Stephon Murphy was charged with a shooting on Duncan Avenue, near Delaware Avenue. He was charged with criminal attempted homicide, bail-jumping and multiple weapons charges. The police refused to say if anyone was shot, but a source told The Jersey Journal a person was indeed shot.

Late Sunday, Tariq Williams was arrested in the area of Tonnelle Avenue and Manhattan Avenue, after police received a call of a man with a gun, Jersey City officials.

The Jersey Journal posted stories last Saturday and Sunday on the spate of shooting incidents, using limited information from the police, witness accounts, information gleaned from the police radio, sources and a tweet by Police Chief Michael Kelly.

Jersey City spokeswoman Kimberly Wallace-Scalcione provided scant information on the incidents on Oct. 25 after city officials received a call from The Jersey Journal's attorney.

State public records law requires that police respond, with at least basic information -- even if an investigation is active -- within 24 hours of a request regarding a reported crime. Only in extreme cases in which the release of information would put a person's life in danger can the police withhold crime information.

Yesterday afternoon Wallace-Scalcione said that she had no information on any arrests being made during the span that the information was withheld from the public.
A 24-year-old Pennsylvania man was arrested and charged Thursday with the murder of his father, who is a New Jersey resident and doctor, officials said.

Steven Mark Quadrel, 24, of Norristown Pennsylvania, is charged with murder, aggravated assault and other offenses for shooting his father, Mark Quadrel, 58, of Rockaway, on Wednesday, according to a statement from the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office.

When the elder Quadrel arrived at his son's apartment and the two got into a heated argument that caused Steven to grab a gun from his car, return to his apartment and shoot his father multiple times in the head and torso, according to Philly.com.

After walking out his apartment, Quadrel shot a 12-year-old boy on a scooter, officials said. The boy suffered a graze wound to his hand and arm, was treated for the non-life threatening injury at local hospital and was released.

Norristown Police were dispatched to Sandy Street, which is just one block from Quadrel's apartment on East Airy Street, for a report of a man shooting a gun outside, the district attorney's statement said.

When they arrived, they found Steven and a Baretta 9mm semi-automatic pistol with a laser sight hidden behind a parked truck. He was taken into custody by police, authorities said.

Philly.com said that according to court documents, Quadrel repeatedly asked the officers if his father was "OK", but also told them that he had killed him.

Police went to Quadrel's apartment and found the door open and the father's body, the office said.

Dr. Quadrel, who worked at Internal Medicine of Morris County, was mourned by many people on Facebook Friday including one man who called him a "wonderful family man."

My heart breaks for this wonderful family man, the nicest and smartest guy you will ever meet. Rip dr Mark Quadrel, my... Posted by Al Lees on Friday, October 26, 2018

Quadrel told police that he shot once at the boy on the scooter because he was "creeped" out by the sight of him, the Philly.com report said.

He was taken to Montgomery County Jail and his first hearing was scheduled for Nov. 9.

Anyone with information about the homicide was asked to call the Norristown Police Department at 610-270-0977 or the Montgomery County Detective Bureau at 610-278-3368.

Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrisrsheldon Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Two years ago, 22-year-old Paras Jha helped create a malicious computer code that just about took down the internet.

Closer to home at Rutgers University where he was a computer science major, Ja also used those coding skills to also knock out the university's internet network -- all the while taunting school officials on social media.

Last month Ja was sentenced in Anchorage, Alaska with two others to probation after they agreed to help the FBI with cybercrime in connection with their hatching of the "botnet" that virtually paralyzed chunks of the internet.

And on Friday, a federal judge in Trenton sentenced him to six months of home confinement and ordered him to pay $8.6 million in restitution for his role in the separate attack on Rutgers.

In targeting the Rutgers network, Jha had admitted he had unleashed a series of "distributed denial of service," or DDoS attacks beginning in 2014, which crashed Rutgers' websites and cut off internet and Wi-Fi access to tens of thousands of students, faculty and employees.

After the university announced it planned to spend $3 million to upgrade its computer security system, it was taunted by someone on Twitter using the screen name "exfocus."

"where internet go?? 3m dollar gone?" asked one tweet.

Jha also taunted the school's IT department. "The Rutgers infrastructure crumpled like a tin can under the heel of my boot," he wrote.

Prosecutors said Jha, of Fanwood, who had once described himself as "the untouchable hacker god," had conspired with Josiah White, 21, of Washington, Pennsylvania, and Dalton Norman, 22, of Metairie, Louisiana, to create a botnet known as "Mirai" that would later be used to virtually paralyze large parts of the internet.

A botnet is essentially the hijacking of hundreds or even thousands of computers through that infected with malicious software and controlled as a group without the knowledge or permission of the computers' owners, which can then be used to flood the internet connection of a targeted server or computers. Such an attack generates a barrage of so many fake requests for information that the server crashes under the assault. At its peak, prosecutors said Mirai consisted of hundreds of thousands of compromised devices.

According to prosecutors, Ja later hired out his code to others, and ultimately published it on hacker websites, where it was used to launch a massive cyber attack that crippled much of the internet in October 2016, crashing Twitter, Netflix and other websites around the world.

While he was not charged with orchestrating that attack, he pleaded guilty to computer fraud charges in December.

Jha, White, and Norman, who prosecutors said had cooperated extensively with the FBI on cybercrime investigations and broader defensive efforts, were sentenced in Alaska last month to five years of probation and more than a year of community service, after pleading guilty to computer fraud charges tied to the Mirai code. The were also were ordered to pay $127,000 in restitution and gave up a "significant amount of cryptocurrency."

The terms of their sentences include the expectation they will keep helping the FBI.

In the case in New Jersey, Ja alone pleaded to violating the Computer Fraud & Abuse Act in connection with the Rutgers University attack. U.S. District Judge Michael Shipp, in addition to the home confinement, sentenced him to five years of supervised release and ordered him to perform 2,500 hours of community service.

Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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A bipartisan legislative solution concerning the state's handling of microbreweries could be on the way.

A bill introduced last week was drafted in response to a special ruling issued in September by Division of Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) Director David Rible, that brewery owners said would severely hurt their business. After an outcry from microbrewery owners and advocates, Rible rescinded the special ruling.



Some of the provisions of the bill, sponsored by Assemblymen Joe Howarth, R-Burlington, and Wayne DeAngelo, D-Mercer, include:

Microbreweries would be allowed to hold as many special events on its premises, sidewalk, parking lot, or other areas owned by the brewery without being required to request a special permit. These events include televised or streaming sporting events, yoga and exercise classes and movie, and theatrical events. (The ruling would have limited breweries to 25 a year and permits would have been required.)

A total of 12 off-premises special events, including beer, music and arts festivals, civic events, races, limited brewery anniversary celebrations, would be allowed per year if a permit is obtained.

Microbreweries would be required to get permission to hold an event on publicly owned or controlled property.

Pourers and servers employed by the microbreweries will not be required to be certified by an industry recognized server training program. (The ruling would have required they were.)

Microbreweries could work with a licensed food vendor to provide food to an establishment -- but not run a restaurant on site -- as well as give menus to consumers for nearby eateries. (Both would have been banned if the ruling was enforced.)

Breweries won't be required to provide a tour to patrons before serving or selling alcoholic beverages to them. (The 2012 law requires this, currently.)

They'd be permitted to deliver beer to a consumer's home.

Howarth said he became involved in the process after seeing the special ruling coming down. He, his staff, and Burlington County Freeholder Director Kate Gibbs made a concerted effort to try to change the decision of the ABC because of the effect the ruling was having on microbreweries in the county, they said.

"What the bill does is give somebody a vision, something they can build their business model on," Howarth said. "It gives them some hope that they will be able to continue to do well. It's bringing a lot of business into small towns like Medford, Hammonton, and Mount Holly, that bring in foot traffic. We felt it was wrong to squash them before they were even started."

Howarth and his Democratic counterpart DeAngelo worked on the bill for nearly five weeks before it was officially introduced. The Republican assemblyman says the next step is to gain support from his fellow assemblymen and to see if there will be a sponsor for the bill in the state Senate.

The assemblyman says the bill has received some positive support from the breweries.



"The breweries the few I have been to, I have heard a lot of good things from them," Howarth said. "Some say it is at least a start and some have said it's a good idea and to move it forward."

Megan Myers -- co-owner of the Human Village Brewing Company in Pitman, and one of the co-founders of the Independent Brewers of New Jersey -- says she is encouraged by the proposed law because it sets the microbreweries more in line with national trends.

"Everybody is cautiously optimistic, but it is going to be up to our ability to have the public to communicate the necessity of this legislation to our legislators," Myers said. "Across the board, everyone is looking at it as a step in the right direction. We are waiting to see where this is going to go."

Myers also stated the public's support for the breweries helped to overturn the special ruling and lead to the new legislation.

"I think it is important that people understand that, in the way they signed the petition and the way they contacted their legislators and spoke up for the breweries had a large part in making sure that government is responsive and understood the direction that they wanted this industry to take," Myers said. "It's going to be pivotal moving forward that they continue to support the breweries in this process."

The bill has been referred to the Assembly Oversight, Reform and Federal Relations Committee.

Chris Franklin can be reached at cfranklin@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @cfranklinnews. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips
National Wholesale Liquidators has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and given notice to more than 200 New Jersey workers that they may lose their jobs January 1.

The family-owned retailer with 11 locations in the northeast sells name brand and closeout items at discounted prices -- everything from food, to electronics, furniture, clothing and seasonal merchandise.

The company's slide into hard times began in Jan. 2017 when a forklift fell through the roof of its Yonkers location, injuring 5 people. It never reopened.

"It was during a snow storm, through no fault of National - obviously the roof was in disarray," said Phil DeGorter, director of loss prevention and human resources for National Wholesale Liquidators.

But the loss of the store put a strain on the 34-year old retailer. "That was a $20 million store for us," he said.

Then, in Jan. 2018, National Wholesale Liquidators lost its lease on it Weymouth, Mass. location.

"The loss of these two stores has put the company into a tail-spin," DeGorter said.

The Long Island-based retailer's parent company, NSC Wholesale Holdings, LLC, filed Oct. 24 for Chapter 11 in Delaware citing unanticipated setbacks and the industry-wide difficulties facing brick and mortar merchants.

The chain has two stores in New Jersey. About 50 employees in Jersey City and 152 in Lodi are among about 603 company-wide who would lose their jobs if the 34-year-old business closes.

Customers shop at the National Wholesale Liquidators, on average, four times per month, DeGorter said. He hopes their loyalty and that of the company's employees will entice an investor to help save the chain.

"We will work to the 12th hour to find equity partners," he said.

Allison Pries may be reached at apries@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AllisonPries. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
A person with measles may have exposed others to the highly contagious disease in Ocean County this month, the New Jersey Department of Health announced Friday evening.

The unidentified person developed symptoms after international travel to Israel and was in Ocean County between Oct. 13 and Oct. 21, the department said in a statement.

A Lakewood health clinic first reported the measles case, and CDC confirmed the infection this week.

The department of health said the person visited the following locations in Lakewood:

* Schul Satmar, 405 Forest Ave. from Oct. 13 to Oct. 21 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. daily.

* Eat a Pita, 116 Clifton Ave. on Oct. 15 between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m.

* CHEMED Health Center, 1771 Madison Ave. on Oct. 17 between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. and Oct. 18 between 10:45 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.

"The Department recommends that anyone who visited the location listed above during the specified date/time should contact a health provider immediately to discuss potential exposure and risk of developing the illness," the release stated.

"Anyone who suspects an exposure is urged to call a health care provider before going to a medical office or emergency department. Special arrangements can be made for evaluation while also protecting other patients and medical staff from possible infection."

If anyone was infected, they could develop symptoms by as late as Nov. 11, the department said.

State health officials said they are working with the Ocean County Health Department to identify any other potential places the person could have visited and will update the public if necessary.

Symptoms include rash, high fever, cough, runny nose and red, watery eyes and it can cause more serious complications such as pneumonia and encephalitis, according to the department of health.

People can also get sick when they come in contact with mucus or saliva from an infected person and anyone who has not been vaccinated or has not had measles was at risk if they were exposed.

"Two doses of measles vaccine are about 97 percent effective in preventing measles," state epidemiologist Dr. Christina Tan said in the release. "We urge everyone to check to make sure they and their family members are up-to-date on measles/mumps/rubella (MMR) vaccine and all other age-appropriate immunizations."

Earlier this month, New York Department of Health officials warned that New York and New Jersey residents may have been exposed to measles after a traveler returning to the U.S., also from Israel, was confirmed to have the disease.

The state Health Department said there has been an increase in measles cases in Israel in recent months.

Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrisrsheldon Find NJ.com on Facebook.
The use of lethal force was justified last December in the police shooting of a Jackson man who later admitted to attempting suicide-by-cop, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office announced Friday.

In the statement, the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General agreed that Jackson police Sgt. Wayne Olejarz used appropriate force when firing his gun at Travis Van Pelt, who was wielding a knife and who survived the encounter.

On Dec. 23, 2017, Tyler Van Pelt called 911 around 8 p.m. and reported that his brother was intoxicated and had assaulted him and their father.

Dispatchers told police he was armed with a knife inside the family's Laurel Avenue home, according to the statement.

Olejarz and patrolman Anthony Riso arrived at the scene but were unable to get into the home through the front or the side door.

The officers then went around to the back of the home. Riso saw Van Pelt through a rear window but couldn't make contact, according to the report.

Olejarz saw Van Pelt through the window of the back door and forced it open.

Olejarz yelled at Van Pelt to drop the serrated knife he was holding. He refused and came toward Olejarz with the knife in his hand, according to the report. Olejarz fired and struck Van Pelt. There were no details on the injuries he obtained as a result of being shot.

Van Pelt was taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune where he was listed in critical condition.

Van Pelt said he tried to kill himself by getting shot.

"During his transport to the hospital and again in a formal statement to (Ocean County Prosecutor's Office) detectives, Van Pelt stated that he knew that if he lunged at the officer that the officer would have to shoot him and that felt terrible knowing that he forced the officer to shoot him," according to the report. "Van Pelt added that he lunged at the officer with the knife on purpose in an attempt to commit suicide."

Van Pelt was charged with attempted murder, possession of a weapon, aggravated assault and two counts of simple assault against his father and brother.

He pleaded guilty in May to aggravated assault by attempting to cause serious bodily injury with a deadly weapon. In July he was sentenced to five years probation after receiving credit for 158 days of time served at Ocean County Jail.

Superior Court Judge Guy P. Ryan released him to Ancoroa Psychiatric Hospital for evaluation and treatment.

Olivia Rizzo may be reached at orizzo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @LivRizz. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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By Elane Gutterman

When I was 15, I watched my grandfather's hardy frame melt away over months, and then weeks until only his nose jutted above the covers in my pink bedroom of my family's home.

He had metastatic stomach cancer and the doctor had inserted a permanent catheter into his abdomen to drain the fluids distending his belly. My father, a dentist, took meticulous care of the dressings around the opening, though the surrounding skin was always inflamed.

Gutterman: As a New Jersey-based health researcher, I recognized that the best available guidance for what medical aid in dying could look like in New Jersey was past experience in other states. (Photo courtesy of Elane Gutterman)

Despite the fact that home hospice care did not exist yet, the physician came to our house. All the family spent time with my grandfather by his bedside. The sun beamed through the curtains and birds chirped outside the windows.

However, my 77-year-old grandfather was bedridden, often in pain and uncomfortable. After a long, full life, he no longer wanted to live under these circumstances. He told my father, he did not think it was right that the law did not allow him to peacefully end his suffering.

When Oregon voters passed the Death with Dignity Act in 1994 (enacted in 1997), I saw it as the long overdue answer to my grandfather's plea and my own desire for a way to avoid terminal misery, if such was my lot.

I wished I lived in Oregon. Then, as six states plus the District of Columbia followed Oregon's lead and authorized medical aid in dying to end unbearable suffering for terminally ill adults, I wished I too could share in the peace of mind that this legal self-determination would bring.

Now with similar bills pending in New Jersey's State Assembly and Senate, the Aid in Dying for Terminally Ill Act (A1504 and S1072), I have become a committed advocate for the enactment of a compassionate option in dying for the terminally ill in New Jersey who would choose it.

In addition, as a New Jersey-based health researcher, I recognized that the best available guidance for what medical aid in dying could look like in New Jersey was past experience in other states. In this case, I reviewed summary data reflecting 20 years of experience with Oregon's Death with Dignity Act.

Based on the experience from Oregon between 1998 and 2017, about one-third of those requesting a prescription for medical aid in dying did not ingest the prescription. The self-reported motivating factors driving self-determination in death were largely linked to diminished quality of life rather than uncontrolled pain.

Although medical aid in dying is a fervently sought option, it has been pursued by relatively few people. Specifically, in Oregon in 2017, 144 terminally ill persons in Oregon died from ingesting the prescribed medication, 0.4 percent of adult deaths statewide.

According to a Journal of Medical Ethics report about the Oregon Death with Dignity Act: "Rates of assisted dying in Oregon...showed no evidence of heightened risk for the elderly, women, the uninsured...people with low educational status, the poor, the physically disabled or chronically ill, minors, people with psychiatric illnesses including depression, or racial or ethnic minorities, compared with background populations."

In addition, A New England Journal of Medicine report concluded that medical aid in dying: "is not likely to save substantial amounts of money in absolute or relative terms, either for particular institutions or for the nation as a whole."

Though relatively few people pursued medical aid in dying during the last 20 years in Oregon, one cannot discount the added solace to the thousands of family and friends likely touched by these deaths. Since my grandfather was denied a more humane death, I am dedicated to making this option a reality for other New Jerseyans who are terminally ill.

A 2015 Rutgers-Eagleton poll found 63 percent of New Jerseyans also support this end-of-life care option. After debating the Aid in Dying for Terminally Ill Act for six years, it's time for our state lawmakers to bring this legislation to the floor in the Assembly and Senate and pass it without further delay. New Jerseyans who seek this option should not suffer needlessly as my grandfather did at his life's end.

Elane Gutterman is a health researcher and former president and principal epidemiologist of Via Research, LLC in Princeton Junction, which conducted studies about health care utilization.

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A handful of veteran Democratic state senators may vote against a resolution equipping a special committee with subpoena power to investigate how Gov. Phil Murphy's team handled a sexual assault case involving a former senior official, NJ Advance Media has learned.

Without their support, state Senate President Stephen Sweeney could lean on Republican lawmakers to put the measure empowering the panel over the top.

The Democrat-controlled state Senate and Assembly will meet Monday to vote on officially authorizing the bipartisan committee and allowing it to subpoena reluctant witnesses.

But multiple legislative sources told NJ Advance Media that several Democratic lawmakers, some aligned with Murphy, also a Democrat, may oppose the resolution and push back against the committee's authority to compel witnesses to testify and produce records.

The sources requested anonymity to speak candidly about private discussions.

Sen. Ronald Rice, D-Essex, confirmed he is unsure how he will vote, expressing some frustration with the politics driving the legislative inquiry and its overlap with an independent investigation launched by Murphy.

"Everybody is looking for the same thing," Rice said. "It's costing taxpayers a lot of dollars. ... It's almost like we're trying to kill each other off in terms of being governor versus legislators. Let's hold people accountable for this stuff and provide restitution if it's due, but we don't do that. We go after everything for political reasons."

Similarly, Sen. Nicholas Sacco, D-Hudson, suggested he will need some convincing from fellow Democrats before Monday's vote.

"Subpoena power is something that has to be very, very seriously done," Sacco said. "Is it really necessary for this committee?"

Sweeney, D-Gloucester, is expected to get the votes he needs -- a majority in the 40-member Senate -- even if that means getting help from Republicans, sources said.

Sweeney did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

It's unlikely many Republicans -- if any -- would oppose the resolution.

Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr., R-Union, said he had not polled his Republican caucus, but he predicted a "significant number" would back the special committee's subpoena powers.

"I think it's got some safeguards built in," he said.

Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald, D-Camden, said he's not heard similar concerns from members of the lower chamber.

Legislative leaders announced the formation of the special committee in recent weeks to investigate how Murphy's transition team and administration handled allegations that a top staffer raped a Murphy supporter while working on Murphy's 2017 campaign.

Katie Brennan, who is now chief of staff to the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, told the Wall Street Journal that Albert J. Alvarez raped her in her apartment after a campaign gathering.

Brennan said she alerted members of Murphy's inner circle, but he was hired by the administration as chief of staff to the Schools Development Authority anyway. Murphy's office said Alvarez cleared a background check that showed he was never charged with a crime.

Alvarez resigned in October after he was contacted by the Wall Street Journal. Murphy said that's when he first learned of Brennan's allegations.

Alvarez has, through his attorney, denied raping Brennan.

Murphy has launched his own investigation, in addition to the legislative inquiry.

The 15-person legislative panel will investigate how Alvarez was hired and look into the response from law enforcement and the Murphy administration.

The resolution before the Senate and Assembly on Monday authorizes the committee to issue subpoenas for records and to compel testimony, with the approval of the committee leadership, Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D-Middlesex.

Hearing dates have not yet been announced.

NJ Advance Media staff writer Susan K. Livio contributed to this report.

Samantha Marcus may be reached at smarcus@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @samanthamarcus. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.
On Oct. 15, the morning after the Wall Street Journal published her accusation that she had been raped by an official in Phil Murphy's campaign for governor and "received no justice," Katie Brennan was behind her desk, answering the telephone at her office at the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency in Trenton.

Later that week, Brennan helped lead a networking event at her alma mater, Rutgers University.

Skipping work, even hiding at home for a few days, would have been a reasonable response for anyone who had just revealed such a personal and painful ordeal.

But that's not Katie Brennan.

Friends and close associates say they are not surprised the resilient and articulate woman they know would keep up her daily routine after coming forward to demand accountability from her alleged assailant and the powerful people associated with him.

"She didn't do anything wrong and she has nothing to be ashamed of, and she's not going to act as if she did," said Brandon McKoy, the director of government and public affairs for New Jersey Policy Perspective who first met Brennan at graduate school at Rutgers University.

"Definitely, not everyone would have that response to it," McKoy said. "But she has, and I think that's definitely built into her character."

He added: "This is one of the refrains I've heard from a lot of people: For the attacker, you couldn't pick a worse person to attack. She has one of the most unimpeachable characters you could have."

Brennan's story immediately sparked investigations that will examine why Albert J. Alvarez, whom Brennan accused of rape, was hired by the Murphy administration as chief of staff for the Schools Development Authority after she told a member of the governor-elect's transition team what Alvarez had done.

It's created a political firestorm that is already testing Murphy's administration. The Democratic governor's office has hired a former state Supreme Court justice to investigate. On Monday, the Democrat-controlled state Legislature will formally empower a committee for its own investigation. Hearings will be held.

But Brennan says she wants far more than an investigation that casts blame.

Jersey City Council President Rolando Lovarro Jr. presents Katie Brennan a Women of Action resolution last March. (Photo courtesy of the Jersey City Council)

In describing how the civil and criminal justice systems are "not built for survivors" she is calling for change -- big change -- to give sexual assault survivors a fair shake in New Jersey.

"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, " said Brennan, who declined to be interviewed for this report but provided written responses to questions from NJ Advance Media.

"This is about systemic change," she stressed. "We must do the hard work. A hiring investigation alone is not system change."

Brennan said she was raped in her apartment on April 8, 2017, after Alvarez, then-director of the campaign's Latino and Muslim outreach, drove her home from a campaign event, according to the account she provided to the Journal.

Alvarez asked to use the bathroom and get a drink of water. Once inside her apartment, Brennan said, Alvarez pushed her onto the couch. He pulled off her pants and underwear, took off some of his clothes and forced himself on her. She said she kicked him off of her and locked herself in the bathroom.

Brennan told the Journal she immediately called her husband, who was overseas, and a close friend who stayed with her for several days. The next day, she went to the Jersey City Medical Center emergency room for an evidence-gathering medical examination, or "rape kit."

Through his attorney, John Hogan, Alvarez has denied Brennan's allegations. Alvarez resigned Oct. 2, the same day the Journal called him seeking comment for its story.

The Hudson County Prosecutor's Office reviewed the evidence and declined to pursue charges at the time. The case has been transferred to the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office.

Brennan has said she repeatedly reached out to Murphy's team with her allegations from November 2017 to June.

Murphy, who said he did not learn of the rape allegation until Oct. 2, has said he regrets Alvarez was hired. The governor said he and First Lady Tammy Murphy -- herself a sexual assault survivor -- called Brennan after announcing his office's investigation to express their regret and admiration.

A native of St. Louis, Katherine "Katie" Brennan, 31, graduated from Xavier University in Ohio in 2009 and came east to get a master's degree in urban planning at Rutgers University in 2012, according to her social media accounts and work biographies.

In 2014, she married Travis Miles, who works as an assistant research professor at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. They now live in Jersey City.

Prior to joining the state's housing agency as chief of staff in February, Brennan was program director of the Hudson County division of Housing and Community Development program director for about three years.

"She has come to love New Jersey and truly believes in the ability to improve the conditions of New Jerseyans through the work that she does," McKoy said.

Brennan is an "intelligent, driven, smart, compassionate" person, said her friend, Kaitlyn Wojtowicz, deputy chapter director for the New Leaders Council.

"She's a fantastic friend. If there's something going on in your life, no matter what's going on in hers, she's there for you to support you," said Wojtowicz, who also is director of external relations at Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan New Jersey.

Wojtowicz said it is not at all surprising that Brennan wants to improve the system for all victims.

"It's exactly who Katie is," she said.

Patricia Teffenhart, executive director for the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said she's grateful Brennan was willing to use her painful experience to draw attention to how sexual assault survivors are treated by the legal system.

"I know what it takes for survivors to come forward. I know in particular how challenging it is for survivors to come forward who have been victimized by the hands of powerful people who are then also protected by other powerful people and systems," Teffenhart said.

"Katie's bravery in coming forward, and the way she has articulated herself through this process by issuing a call to action and request for common-sense policy reform, leaves survivors and advocates grateful for her strength and ability to take a horrific, life-changing experience to try to channel it into something that could benefit the greater good," Teffenhart said.

"And we are grateful for her ability to navigate something so personal in such a public way so we all might benefit from it."

State Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, D-Bergen, co-chairwoman of the special legislative committee investigating how Murphy's team handled the allegation, said the panel will call Brennan as a witness.

"I've heard people (in the Murphy administration) saying 'we did this by the book.' Well it seemed to me she was the one who did it by the book," said Weinberg, who has never met Brennan. "She spoke to people almost instantaneously after it happened and got the rape kit, according to the press accounts."

The investigation will key in on how Murphy team's responded.

Brennan has said she alerted a member of the transition team after Murphy won the general election in November 2017 and before Alvarez was hired by the administration.

In March, Brennan told Murphy's chief counsel, who referred the matter to the governor's chief ethics officer, according to the governor's press office.

In June, Brennan sent an email to the Murphys asking to discuss a "sensitive matter" that occurred during the campaign. Murphy acknowledged receiving the email but said he did not learn of the rape allegation until Oct. 2.

Murphy's spokesman, Mahen Gunaratna, has said transition officials learned law enforcement "actively investigated" the allegations and closed the case. Gunaratna also said Alvarez passed a background check that found no arrests or criminal charges, and Alvarez was cleared for his job at the schools authority.

Recounting his call to Brennan, Murphy said he told her: "We admire your courage. ... I expressed a lot of the profound heartbreak that I mentioned publicly. I'm incredibly impressed by her. Period."

Brennan, in a written response to NJ Advance Media, she was "grateful to have so much support" since going public.

"I hope that the support comes with system reform," Brennan wrote.

Brennan has been clear about what that change should look like.

First responders should be better trained to deal with people in the grips of a traumatic event, she said in a written statement. Prosecutors must take more cases to trial. Victims shouldn't be deterred from pursuing civil actions by a two-year statute of limitations.

Teffenhart said her organization has waited years for lawmakers to muster the political will to abolish the two-year statute of limitations and she hopes Brennan's pleas will motivate them at last.

But lawmakers should not stop there, Teffenhart said. Expand the legislative sexual harassment policies to include campaign staff and volunteers, she said. Pass a pending bill that would require county prosecutors to regularly report data on how many rape cases are investigated and pursued.

Through these reforms, Teffenhart said she hopes Brennan can find the justice she's been denied.

"The fact that the only way New Jersey was able to give her any semblance of justice was by thrusting her not into a courtroom but rather into a court of public opinion, highlights dramatic flaws in the way we respond to this crime in New Jersey," she said.

NJ Advance Media staff writer Craig McCarthy contributed to this report.

Samantha Marcus may be reached at smarcus@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @samanthamarcus. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.
A man accused in a violent Lakeview home invasion that occurred in daylight on Oct. 2 knew the husband of the woman he tied up and had been to the home he robbed, New Orleans police said.

NOPD Sgt. Rene Benjamin, speaking Thursday night (Oct. 25) at a Lakeview Crime Prevention board meeting, said investigators identified the man they believe is responsible for the crime about 24 hours after it occurred, and he was arrested the following day in Jefferson Parish on drug and gun charges.

In addition to other charges, Darwin Alonzo, 29, faces a charge of aggravated battery related to the home invasion, said Benjamin, the commander of the crime prevention district. The crime occurred about noon, when police say a man broke into a home in the 400 block of Florida Boulevard, dragged a woman who was home around the house by her hair, tied her up and fled with a safe, he said. The woman said she was told she would be killed if she called the police, and also that her husband and children would be killed, Benjamin said.

Alonzo had performed contracting work for the womans husband in the past, Benjamin said. Alonzo had previously been in the Florida Boulevard home and had prior knowledge of the property stolen in the home, he added.

The home owner, who spoke with WVUE Fox 8 and WWL about the crime, was very disappointed to find out it was him, Benjamin said, referring to Alonzo.

Benjamin said the truck belonging to the attacked womans husband was not at home at the time of the break-in, and investigators believe Alonzo did not expect anyone to be home at the time. Some of the stolen property has been recovered, he said.

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A nearby license plate reader helped NOPD learn Alonzo traveled to Jefferson Parish, Benjamin said.

The Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office assisted in executing search warrants and making an arrest on Oct. 3, jail records show. Alonzo is currently facing charges of illegal possession of stolen firearms, illegal carrying of a weapon, possession of marijuana, use of firearm while in possession of a controlled dangerous substance involving an act of violence, violation of controlled dangerous substance law and possession of a schedule II drug. He is also booked on two unspecified fugitive counts, possibly related to the Orleans Parish charges stemming from the home invasion.

Benjamin said he was expected to be charged with aggravated burglary in the Florida Boulevard case. Alonzo is being held at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center on a bond of $120,000. It was not immediately clear if he was represented by an attorney.

A second person of interest has been identified, Benjamin said, and the investigation is still continuing.

Anyone with any additional information regarding this crime is asked to contact 3rd District detectives at 504-658-6030 or leave tips anonymously through Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111.
Jurors were expected to hear closing arguments and begin deliberating Friday (Oct. 26) in the federal trial of a New Orleans father and son facing several charges related to their alleged roles in a fatal attempted armed robbery at a Mid-City credit union last year.

Armstead and Jerome Kieffer are charged with attempted armed robbery resulting in death, conspiracy to commit bank robbery and other crimes connected to a May 31, 2017, incident in which two masked gunmen tried to rob two Loomis armored truck guards at the Campus Federal Credit Union on Tulane Avenue. Guard James Jimmy McBride was killed in an exchange of gunfire. Federal prosecutors said McBrides co-worker fired the fatal shot.

The Kieffers also are charged in an unrelated 2015 armored truck robbery at Chase bank.

Additionally, Armstead Kieffer is charged with perjury for allegedly lying to a grand jury when he was questioned as a witness during the governments investigation into his sons involvement in the 2017 robbery attempt.

Jurors on Friday heard from Lt. Lenny Jourdan, a Plaquemines Parish Sheriffs Office employee who oversees the parish jails federal inmate program. Jourdan said Jerome Kieffer tried to escape from custody during a return trip to the Plaquemines Parish jail from the federal courthouse in the fall of 2017.

Kieffer was handcuffed in the back seat of a marked Chevy Tahoe, Jourdan said, and the back passenger side window was open a few inches, as Kieffer complained the car was hot and stuffy.

He heard commotion, he said, and looked back to see Kieffer had jumped out of the now completely open window while the car was stopped at a red light. One of his hands was free from the cuffs, Jordan said, and Kieffer tried to open the door to another stopped car.

Kieffer ran and was apprehended again seconds later, Jourdan said.

On the ride back to the jail, Jourdan said Kieffer was calm, then emotional then calm again. Kieffer apologized, then asked, If I was your son, would you blame me for running and trying to get away? Jourdan testified.

FBI Special Agent Crystal Bender testified earlier Friday Kieffer was at the courthouse to meet with Assistant U.S. Attorney David Haller and others prosecuting his case. They showed Kieffer a Powerpoint presentation which laid out evidence the government had against him, Bender said.

Kieffer spoke with his lawyers alone for a few minutes, she said, then wanted to leave because he wasnt feeling well.

Kieffers defense attorney, city councilman Jason Williams, asked Jourdan whether Kieffer was on suicide watch prior to that meeting. Jourdan said Kieffer was on suicide watch, but did not remember when. He said he treated the incident as an escape attempt, not a suicide attempt.

Slain armored-truck guard was the protector of the family, his sister says

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Bender also testified about findings of a search warrant FBI agents executed in Kieffers jail cell, which included a paper with lyrics to one of his rap songs. She read one line out loud: I stayed cool, played cool, took a lick for the squad. Went head up with the truck to get some money for my ride.

Williams questioned why she didnt read the next several words out loud  soon as the check came in. He said Kieffer was in a wreck with a truck and received a check for his totaled vehicle.

Bender said she did not investigate the wreck Williams was referencing.

Bender also laid out the findings of the governments investigation into the attempted 2017 robbery, walking jurors through photos and surveillance video taken from different angles near the credit union leading up to and during the time of the robbery.

Video showed Armstead Kieffer driving around the credit union starting about an hour and a half before the robbery in a red Nissan Sentra, she said. Surveillance footage also showed Armstead Kieffer park the car across from bank, in plain view of the ATMs and Loomis car.

Cell phone site data showed Armstead and Jerome Kieffer were on the phone for seven minutes and 40 seconds prior to the 4:31 p.m. robbery, she said. Almost simultaneously, Bender said the passenger door to the Loomis truck opened, the Kieffers phone call ended and two masked man appeared from behind a fence next to the ATMs with guns drawn.

Bender said Armstead Kieffer told Jerome when to go ahead with the robbery.

During cross examination, Armstead Kieffers defense attorney, John Fuller, said that was speculation on her part, as the phone call between the father and son was not recorded.

Fuller suggested Bender got much of her information from Deltoine Scott, a co-defendant who pleaded guilty earlier this month to six charges related to both robberies. Bender said she didnt talk to Scott until a couple weeks ago, and insisted the FBI had solved the case long before Scott agreed to testify against the Kieffers.

Scott, 25, also pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators after he was arrested in the 2017 incident  charges the Kieffers defense teams said called into question his credibility.

Both Kieffers elected not to testify after the government rested its case Friday.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael McMahon is prosecuting the case along with Haller. Kevin Kelly and Gregory Carter are representing Armstead Kieffer along with Fuller, and Nicole Burdett is representing Jerome Kieffer with Williams.
Multiple casualties were reported Saturday morning (Oct. 27) after a shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue, several news outlets said. The gunfire was reported near the The Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood.

The Associated Press said officials confirmed multiple casualties. Three police officers are among those shot, The AP said. At 10:35 a.m., the news agency tweeted a suspect was in custody.

President Donald Trump was monitoring the Pittsburgh shooting on Saturday, he said in a tweet, and said it looks like multiple fatalities.

Later Saturday, the president said in a tweet he had spoken to the Pittsburgh mayor and Pennsylvania governor and that the Events in Pittsburgh are far more devastating than originally thought." Trump noted plans to speak to reporters about the shooting publicly during a previously scheduled event.

KDKA television reported weekly Shabbat services had been underway, and police received several calls from people barricaded inside the synagogue. New York Times reporter Campbell Robertson tweeted at 10:02 a.m. he was outside the synagogue and could hear multiple shots. He wrote that police were urging people to stay away.

The synagogue is a little more than a mile away from Carnegie Mellon University, which KDKA reported was put on lockdown during the shooting.
An armed 19-year-old man walked across a school courtyard in New Orleans East before officers apprehended him for a reported vehicle theft Tuesday (Oct. 23), New Orleans police said.

After a foot chase, officers arrested Tirek Magee on one count of possession of firearm by person convicted of certain felonies, two counts of carrying a firearm or dangerous weapon on school property at a school-sponsored function or firearm-free zone, and three counts of contributing to the delinquency of juveniles, police said.

A white Chevrolet Silverado pickup was reported stolen at 9 a.m. in the 700 block of Poland Avenue on Monday, and officers tracked the vehicle using the OnStar tracking system that was activated inside the truck, police said.

Police found the truck unoccupied and parked at the intersection of America and Ransom streets. Officers found Magee, who was wanted on unrelated arrest warrants, walking away from the vehicle, police said. He appeared to be armed with a firearm, according to a police report.

Police followed Magee walking on America Street toward Chef Menteur Highway and saw "two young females with him, according to a police report.

Magee and the females walked through St. Mary Academys campus at 6905 Chef Menteur Highway, police said. Police saw Magee walk within 20 feet of the front entrance, police said in a report, adding that at the time, class was in session.

Magee and the females then walked onto Chantilly Street to Warfield Street, police said, and continued toward Plum Orchard Street, where police tried to stop Magee.

Magee saw a marked NOPD car near the intersection of Plum Orchard Avenue and Warfield Street and started to run down the alley of 7150 Warfield St. while clenching the right side of his waistband, police said.

Magee climbed up a fence adjacent to Bern-Mas apartment complex at 7225 Chef Menteur Highway and continued to run, police said. He climbed two more fences toward the intersection of Lafon and Warfield streets, police said.

Magee was arrested in the 7700 block of Lafon Street, according to a report.

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A detective returned to one of the fences that Magee had climbed over in an open lot behind 7150 Warfield St. and found a black Smith and Wesson M&P Shield 9mm handgun, police said.

Police also arrested a 16-year-old girl who police found walking in the 7100 block of Warfield Avenue, police said. The 16-year-old was wearing a hooded sweatshirt from Jack Dempseys Restaurant. The owner of the stolen vehicle is also the restaurants owner, according to the report. Police later learned that the hoodie came from inside the vehicle.

When a detective approached the 16-year-old, she placed a blue backpack on the ground, police said. Inside the bag, he found a silver snub-nosed .38-caliber revolver, loaded with five rounds. The weapon was later identified to be stolen from inside the truck, police said.

The 16-year-old was booked with being a juvenile in possession of a firearm, according to a report. NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune does not name juveniles arrested in connection with non-violent crimes.

In an interview with the police, the 16-year-old said Magee told her to take the firearm from the car.

Magee was previously convicted on Jan. 31 for aggravated flight from an officer. His prior arrest warrants were from Oct. 22 for theft of motor vehicle $1,500 or more, illegal possession stolen vehicle of more than $25,000, theft motor vehicle $1,000-$5,000, theft under $1,000, probation violation, illegal possession of stolen things less than $1,000 and simple burglary.

Magee was appointed a public defender.

Police did not provide information on the other female seen with Magee.

An earlier version of this article named the 16-year-old arrested. NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune does not name juveniles booked in connection with non-violent crimes.
New Orleans police on Friday (Oct. 26) released surveillance images of a man accused of robbing an Algiers Point grocery store at gunpoint earlier this week, as well as the car seen bringing him to the store.

The man is suspected of robbing the Faubourg Fresh Market, a specialty grocer in the 500 block of Bermuda Street, about 11 a.m. Tuesday, police said.

Surveillance images show the mans face obscured with a white cloth, dark sunglasses and a gray hoodie. He also wore black gloves and dark pants.

According to the NOPD, the man walked into the store and approached the store clerks, pulling a gun before demanding money from a register. The victims complied, and the man fled with an undisclosed amount of cash.

Faubourg Fresh Market robbed at gunpoint late Tuesday morning

In reviewing surveillance footage of the robbery, officers saw the man arrive at the location in what appeared to be a black, four-door Nissan Infiniti.

The stores owners, mother-son duo Nicholas Guerra and Kelly Guerra, said in a Facebook post Tuesday that a dark, four-door sedan was seen circling the store several times prior to the robbery.

Anyone with information on the armed robbery or the robbery suspect is asked to call NOPD 4th District detectives at 504-658-6040 or submit an anonymous tip to Crimestoppers by calling 504-822-1111 or 1-877-903-STOP.
For a few hours after The New York Times published an article about conflict and hunger in Yemen, Facebook temporarily removed posts from readers who had tried to share the report on the social platform.

At issue was a photograph of a starving child.

The article included several images of emaciated children. Some were crying. Some were listless. One, a 7-year-old girl named Amal, was shown gazing to the side, with flesh so paper-thin that her collarbone and rib cage were plainly visible. Tens of thousands of readers shared the article on Facebook, but some got a message notifying them that the post was not in line with Facebooks community standards.

Facebook had addressed the issue by Friday night.

As our community standards explain, we dont allow nude images of children on Facebook, but we know this is an important image of global significance, a spokeswoman said in an emailed statement. Were restoring the posts we removed on this basis.
Summer Zervos had hoped her defamation lawsuit against President Trump might become a platform for other women who, like her, have accused the president of sexual harassment.

But that bid ran into a roadblock on Friday, when a state judge in Manhattan denied her request to force Mr. Trump to turn over evidence related to other women who have said he made unwanted sexual advances.

The judge, Jennifer Schecter, said that Mr. Trump must respond to questions directly related to Ms. Zervoss allegation that he inappropriately kissed and touched her on two occasions, but that she had not demonstrated how the other womens accusations were relevant to her case.

Justice Schecter said during a hearing in State Supreme Court that Ms. Zervos had not shown that evidence related to other women had any legitimate legal bearing on the controversy between plaintiff and defendant in this case.
On Thursday and Friday, some Google employees said they were dispirited by how some executives accused of harassment were paid millions of dollars even as the company was fending off lawsuits from former employees and the Department of Labor that claimed it underpaid women. Google has said in the past that it had found no significant difference in the pay between men and women at the company.

Other employees said they tried to calculate how many hours of their work would have gone toward generating the $90 million that Mr. Rubin obtained in his exit package. Mr. Rubin has denied any misconduct and said the report of his compensation was a wild exaggeration.

Some Google employees said they had more questions after Mr. Pichai and Eileen Naughton, vice president of people operations, wrote in an email on Thursday that the company had fired 48 people, including 13 senior managers, for sexual harassment over the last two years and that none of them received an exit package.

Some workers said they wanted more data on how many claims were investigated and how many were found credible before the 48 people were terminated, while others questioned the promotion and hiring system that allowed 13 people to become senior managers who harassed in the first place.

Liz Fong-Jones, a Google engineer for more than a decade and an activist on workplace issues, said in a tweet that judgments over misconduct claims can be clouded by whether a persons boss feels they can afford to lose that person. In the case of Mr. Rubin and others, she said, that put Mr. Page in the spotlight.

The decision maker must have been Larry Page, Ms. Fong-Jones wrote. The buck stops there.

At Googles employee meeting on Thursday, hours after Alphabet reported another quarter of blockbuster earnings, Mr. Page spoke to employees along with Mr. Pichai and Ms. Naughton. It was unclear how they responded to the question from employees, but the executives struck a conciliatory tone, according to remarks obtained by The Times.

During the meeting, Mr. Page and Mr. Pichai did not comment on specific misconduct cases. Mr. Pichai noted that Google had made some important changes in how it handles harassment cases, according to the remarks.
Every diocese should assume that it is potentially under investigation, said Marci A. Hamilton, a law professor and founder of CHILD USA, a think tank at the University of Pennsylvania that studies child sexual abuse and prevention. Given the crisscrossing paths of priests sent from one diocese to another across the United States, I can understand why someone in Washington would say, O.K., everybody needs to hold onto their evidence right now because were just starting to sketch out where the pedophiles have been sent by the hierarchy.

Abuse victims have despaired for years that the church in the United States would never be called to fully account for the perpetrators and the people they violated. There have been government-run inquiries in countries like Australia and Ireland, but the federal government in the United States has been reluctant to intervene, until now. The letter from the United States attorney suggested only the potential of a broader investigation, but abuse victims greeted it as a turning point nevertheless.

Its going to bring tears to my eyes just thinking about it, said Tim Lennon, president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. Its hopefully the beginning of a process of long-awaited justice. For survivors, its been a long road to bring those who have harmed children and the vulnerable to justice.

The request to the bishops was contained in a seven-page letter and set of instructions from United States Attorney William M. McSwain, of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and sent to the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. The letter, dated Oct. 9, asked that Cardinal DiNardo immediately transmit copies to all dioceses in the United States. The bishops conference then sent it to the dioceses on Oct. 23.

Mr. McSwain said in his letter that at this point there was no need for the bishops to produce any documents solely on account of this letter. He said that the letter was only a request that the church entities not destroy, discard, dispose of, delete, or alter any of the described documents. But he started his letter by saying that his office was investigating possible violations of federal law.
DODGE CITY, Kan.  On Election Days past, voters cast their ballots at the only polling place in this town of 27,000: the sprawling civic center on the north side of Dodge City. But with a construction project expected to start there soon, the county clerk moved the polls this year almost four miles away, past the railroad tracks and beyond the city limits.

That switch, which in some places might be little more than a footnote in a local newspaper, stoked anger and was perceived by some Democrats as a blatant attempt to suppress the vote of Dodge Citys Hispanic majority. On Friday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas filed a federal lawsuit asking a judge to intervene and reopen the civic center for voting.

The swift backlash and widespread attention to Dodge Citys change came in no small part because of restrictive voting laws championed by Kansas secretary of state, Kris Kobach, a frequent A.C.L.U. foe who also happens to be the Republican nominee in this years extremely close race for governor.

I feel like workers who are not allowed to leave their job to vote will not be able to, said Ashley Romero, 18, a Dodge City resident who said she planned to vote for Democrats and who was selling papayas and limes to workers outside a meatpacking plant. Ms. Romero said she feared the new polling place would be too far away for some people, and too much trouble for those who work long hours or might not have heard about the switch. A lot of the voters that really are going to be affected by this election are not going to be able to vote, she said.
CHARLOTTE, N.C.  For two days, the president toyed with a bipartisan message and watched as the news cycle focused not on him, and not on the midterm elections, but on at least 14 explosive devices delivered to prominent Democratic figures.

By Friday, he had had enough.

As he left Washington for his latest campaign rally here, President Trump made it clear that he was no longer going to sit through another news cycle without President Trump at the center.

The Republicans had tremendous momentum, and then, of course, this happened, where all that you people talked about was that, Mr. Trump said to reporters about the bomb scares. But now we have to start the momentum again.

His supporters in North Carolina appeared to agree. When Mr. Trump took the stage at the Bojangles Coliseum, hours after Cesar Sayoc Jr., a Florida man with a lengthy criminal record, was arrested in connection to sending the devices, chants of Build the wall and CNN sucks had already rung out repeatedly.
LONDON  A debate over press freedom, the right to privacy and the validity of nondisclosure agreements has erupted in Britain in recent days after a court upheld an injunction barring The Daily Telegraph from publishing accusations of misconduct against a British businessman, Sir Philip Green.

The court on Tuesday ordered a speedy trial to determine whether the nondisclosure agreements involved could be broken and said The Telegraph would have to hold off until then. The next day the newspaper ran a front-page story with the headline The British #MeToo Scandal Which Cannot Be Revealed.

On Thursday, Peter Hain, a member of the House of Lords, revealed the subject of the accusations as Mr. Green, putting his name into the public domain. Here are some questions raised by discussion of the case this week.

On Saturday, Mr. Green vowed to file a formal complaint against Mr. Hain, who responded that he stood resolutely by his remarks would neither retract nor apologize for standing up for human rights, according to local news reports.
Ms. Pombo wrote poetry as a way to combat crippling depression. Her friends told her to convert her poetry into rap songs nearly a year ago. Converting poetry into rap has helped bring me peace, she said. She now goes by the stage name Eriz, inspired by the Greek goddess Eris.

She was 19 the first time she rapped at a party of a friend. There were almost 30 men and only two women in the room. She remembers hiding her face with her phone so that she could correctly recite the words. When she looked up she saw that no men in the room were paying attention to her performance.

I knew at that moment that it wouldnt be easy for me to be a rapper, she said. I had to find a way to be strong because that was how it was going to be for the rest of my career.

While her older brother fully supported her decision to become a rapper, the rest of her family did not. They thought rap only glorified drugs or and violence, which is how most people in Oaxaca tend to think, Ms. Pombo said.

Her family eventually changed their minds when they realized that instead of violence, she was rapping about the struggle of being a single mother and about romance.
But while their circumstances are similar, their views of the economy differ sharply. Mr. Weeldreyer, a Wisconsin native who lives in Denver, said the local job market was strong. To the extent that his finances arent where he would like them to be, he blames his own choices earlier in adulthood, not the economy more generally. He is confident in the future.

Its frustrating not being able to buy a house and stuff, but I guess I dont lose sleep over it, he said. I guess itll work out.

Ms. Pierce sees things differently. She says there are plenty of jobs where she lives in central New York State, but pay has lagged. She dreams of the day she can pay her bills the day they arrive, rather than stalling until payday.

Its gotten a lot harder to do the things that our parents may have done, buy the house and do all the American dream stuff, she said. Everything in my life seems to be getting more expensive, and my wages are the same.

Ms. Pierces and Mr. Weeldreyers different perspectives may reflect at least in part different realities. Denver is in the midst of an economic boom. Rome, where Ms. Pierce lives, has seen a significant rebound in recent years but is still struggling compared with the country over all.

Their political views may also play a role. A registered Republican, Mr. Weeldreyer said he voted for Mr. Trump only reluctantly in 2016 and hadnt made up his mind about how to vote in next months midterms. But he said the economy was probably the one area where I would say the president is doing a good job. Ms. Pierce is a member of the progressive Working Families Party and said she strongly opposed Mr. Trumps agenda.
To proponents, the Trump administration is putting government-owned land to good use, with big returns for taxpayers.

Nationally, oil production on federal lands is rising at an extraordinary pace, jumping 25 percent in the first seven months of this year compared with 2016, the last year of the Obama administration.

That boom has driven up government revenue from lease sales and royalties collected from oil and gas production on federal lands, which is shared with the states. Wyoming received $669 million from federal oil, gas and coal sales last year, money it uses to help pay for its schools, roads and other needs. One federal lease sale in New Mexico last month brought in nearly $1 billion worth of bids, more than the total lease sale revenue from all sales nationwide in 2017.

This historic lease sale shows what is possible when we leverage the vast natural resources we have in our country, using innovation, best science and best practices, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said in September, celebrating the result of that particular lease sale, adding that critics of the Trump administrations efforts to increase energy production are eating their words and once again President Trumps policies are bearing fruit for the American people.

But the Interior Department has offered so much land through auctions in the last two years that the majority have failed to attract any bidders. Even so, the overall amount of land actually leased  in deals signed with oil and gas companies or investors  was 1.2 million acres in 2017, according to the agency, more than double the amount from the previous year, and reached 1.35 million acres this year.

As Western states reap the benefits from these sales, they are also confronting the risks that the administrations policies could scar iconic American landscapes, threatening wildlife and endangering public health.

Trump-era leases have given oil and gas companies access to drilling rights in areas that are known habitats for threatened species, and immediately next to preserved landscapes like the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in Colorado, famous for its ancient pueblos, rock art and other archaeological sites.
Mr. Trump himself mentioned this bilateral cooperation as part of the trade deal. At a White House news conference on Oct. 1, when flaunting the agreement, he said it explicitly: Yeah, we talked about it (the wall, border security). With Mexico, we talked about it. It was a big part. And certain things and certain understandings are had. At the same time, we dont want to mix it up too much. This is a very big deal and very good deal for everybody. But border security and security generally is a very big factor.

He was probably referring to the two main American demands on Mexico that have been made public in the United States press over the past weeks. They are ominous for Mexico and ignoble for the United States.

First, Washington has been pressing the outgoing president, Enrique Pena Nieto, to sign what is known as a Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States. This entails Mexico processing Central American asylum claims locally, and allowing American authorities to deny any claim for asylum in the United States, since Mexico would be considered a safe third country. With violence in Mexico at its highest point in decades, and many Central Americans being murdered there in recent years, it is hard to see the merits of such a certification by Washington, much less its acceptance by Mexico. So far, Mr. Pena Nieto has resisted that pressure; the caravan is moving freely through Mexico.

One can suppose, however, that the incoming president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, may have less leeway, especially if this arrangement was a precondition for a new NAFTA. Mr. Trump has stated that the Honduran caravan members must request asylum first in Mexico without any legal basis for doing so. Mexico has no reason for proceeding this way, except for United States pressure.

Second, and most important, since 2014 under President Obama, and now more than ever, Washington has pressured Mexico to shut down as much as possible of its southern border  in a nutshell, to do its dirty work. Mr. Pena Nieto has reluctantly gone along, but the cost for Mexico is rising, and he is soon to be no longer in charge.

This is why its reasonable to assume that the Trump administration conditioned its acceptance of a diluted new NAFTA on Mexicos acceptance of more cooperation, or complicity, with the United States, for keeping Central Americans, be they refugees, economic migrants, or a combination of both, from reaching the United States border.

This is what Mr. Pompeo said in Mexico: Stop the Hondurans from reaching the United States border. Mr. Lopez Obrador has insinuated that he wont maintain this policy. Knowing him on and off for more than 30 years, I think the chances are that if he is left no choice, having agreed to the NAFTA/immigration trade-off, he might cave in to American pressure, despite his displeasure and current denials. He has staked too much on USMCA as a source of economic stability for his incoming government to put it at risk simply because of Central American refugees. But deporting thousands of Central Americans or placing them by force in refugee camps would be intolerable for his supporters.
The former slave and memoirist Jacob Stroyer wrote in the 19th century that enslaved people saw Louisiana as a place of slaughter. When a train lurched out of a South Carolina station carrying slaves to Louisiana, Stroyer wrote, The colored people cried out with one voice as though the heavens and earth were coming together, and it was so pitiful that those hardhearted white men who had been accustomed to driving slaves all their lives shed tears like children.

As the historian Richard Follett shows in his book The Sugar Masters, growers were in the vanguard of mechanization, using steam-powered rollers to crush sugar cane into juice that was then boiled and rendered into sugar. Mechanization sped up the tempo across the plantation, making it harder for slaves who cut the cane by hand to keep up with the demands of the mill.

Taken together, haste and fatigue and lengthening work hours heightened the risk of accident already endemic on the plantations. Unlike cane workers today, who wear heavy, protective clothing, the enslaved workers were vulnerable to being gouged and cut by the lacerating leaves of the plant.

The fiery boiling house  where the cane was pressed into juice that was then heated and crystallized into the coveted sweetener  had what the writer Adam Hochschild describes as a satanic ring . Men and women who were scalded found themselves unable to shed the sticky burning substance that clung to their skins.

Bone-tired slaves  who fed the cane stalks into the mechanical rollers that pressed them into juice  lost hands or were pulled into the rollers and dismembered. This outcome was common enough that a slave was often stationed nearby with a sword to sever the mill feeders arm before she could be pulled to her death in the rollers. The death rates on such plantations were compounded by malnutrition and disease, and were so obscenely high that the ranks of the enslaved needed constant replenishment.
Considering how common a procedure C-sections are, women who have had them dont talk much about them. I once asked a group of friends if anyone had ever come across the procedure in a work of fiction. The only example I could think of was Sarah Halls gorgeous The Wolf Border, in which the main character, who works to reintroduce wolves to nature, has the least natural of all childbirths. One friend brought up the bleaker After Birth, by Elisa Albert. Cider House Rules? someone else said. Also, that scene in Alien (he wasnt wrong).

One reason women dont talk about C-sections is theyre ashamed  because people might (and probably will) think they should have tried harder to avoid one. When I searched did I really need to have a C-section, one of the first articles that came up was a 2010 essay by the writer Denise Schipani in which she calls her scar a badge of dishonor. That captures many mothers regrets about having  or feeling they were forced to have  the surgery. The first moments of my sons life remain at a frustrating remove, Ms. Schipani wrote. I remember the bright lights; the odd, painless tugging at my abdomen; the conversation between doctors and nurses. But I wasnt really there.

Some of that is familiar to me. Youre fully conscious, but nothing hurts. You might as well not have legs for all you can feel them. A sheet hangs from the ceiling, covering everything from your chest down.

But while I was removed from the pain, I wasnt removed from the experience. If you believe people have souls, a C-section is probably good preparation for the afterlife. Your body is completely out of your control, but you are not your body.

Your partner holds one arm down. A nurse or maybe the anesthesiologist  some stranger toward whom you feel a desperate sense of gratitude  holds the other. After digging around your organs for a while, the doctor says from behind the sheet, Now Im going to apply some pressure. And then suddenly there is another person in the room and both you and your baby gasp the new air and begin to sob.

The aftermath isnt easy. Because I labored the first time (no way was I having a C-section! I was going to push that baby out if it was the last thing I did!), I had significant internal bruising and the doctor closed my wound with gruesome metal staples. I ended up with an infection. The second recovery was smoother. Mostly the pain is manageable, assuming you never, ever have to sneeze.

What Im saying is: I dont recommend it, unless you need it. As one of the Lancet studies points out, a C-section is not intrinsically an adverse outcome, and replacing it with a bad vaginal birth is more likely to cause harm than good. And so were right back where we started.
WASHINGTON  As long as Ive covered politics, Republicans have been trying to scare me.

Sometimes, it has been about gays and transgender people and uppity women looming, but usually it has been about people with darker skin looming.

Theyre coming, always coming, to take things and change things and hurt people.

A Democratic president coined the expression, The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. But it was Republicans who flipped the sentiment and turned it into a powerful and remorseless campaign ethos: Make voters fear fear itself.

President Trump was relieved when the F.B.I. arrested a bomb suspect  a racist, homophobic, roid-raging, strip-club-loving, MAGA-worshiping Florida man who was living in a van that looked like a decoupage of Fox News propaganda.

The real fear that Cesar Sayoc Jr. is accused of spreading was distracting from the fake fear Trump was spreading to spur Republicans to the polls. And the president didnt like it. Before Sayoc was caught, Trump implied that the terrorism was a Democratic setup to deflect from his midterms roadshow. Pipe bombs getting in the way of pipe dreams.
When we were younger, we tended to make friends with girls who answered too enthusiastically, who would respond to Have you ever seen a ghost with an earnest Yes, and hes looking at us right now, through the window! This also meant that having friends over sometimes ended in tears.

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The next time I stayed at the house, though, I saw it. Or rather, her. A figure in a cloak who was sitting on the couches in the living room, which I had to pass through to use the bathroom during the night. She was bent over, her face shrouded. I couldnt see her expression, but whatever radiated from her was something my mind registered as benevolent and loving. This did not stop me from turning around immediately, running back to my bed in the other side of the house and locking the door behind me.

For many nights, every time I slept in that room, there was an insistent knocking on the door, starting at 3 a.m.

Kaitlyn, that is a woodpecker, my mother said. She has no patience for the supernatural. Its because of her that I cultivate these feelings. She used to drive from our white suburb to the black childrens bookstore three towns over for African and Caribbean folk tales. She loves ghost stories as part of our culture, but shed never actually mess with the supernatural herself. Its sort of like when my mother makes greens and uses Worcestershire sauce instead of ham hocks  she gave those up after too many relatives stopped eating pork in the 1970s.

My mother, through extraordinary misfortune and just general bad luck, has had to move too many times in the past 20 years. She gave up a fear of ghosts a long time ago, if she ever had one. As long as a potential home is safe and clean, she doesnt see what the problem is. So, when I tell her Ive seen a ghost, she responds with Oh, come on!

When a ghost shows up in a story, it is often a way to talk about what cannot be said, what cannot be acknowledged  whether that is a repressed desire, a family secret, an unpunished crime or a genocide that some do not want to reckon with.
In the weeks before an election, political campaigns are focused on getting voters to the polls  holding rallies, knocking on doors and making phone calls to make sure people show up.

In Georgia and other states, the question in this election is not just about which candidates voters will support, but whether theyll be able to cast a ballot in the first place. The fight over voting rights in the midterms is a reminder that elections are not solely about who is running, what their commercials say or how many people are registered to vote. They are about who is allowed to vote and which officials are placing obstacles in the way of would-be voters.

The issue of voter suppression has exploded in recent weeks, most notably in the Georgia governors race between Stacey Abrams, a Democrat, and Brian Kemp, a Republican. While running for higher office, Mr. Kemp, as secretary of state, also enforces Georgias voting laws . This month, The Associated Press reported that Mr. Kemps office had put more than 53,000 voter registration applications in limbo because the information on the forms did not exactly match state databases. Seventy percent of the pending registrations were from African-Americans, leading Ms. Abrams to charge that Mr. Kemp was trying to tilt the playing field in his favor. Mr. Kemp claimed a voter registration group tied to Ms. Abrams had submitted sloppy forms.

Since the 2010 election, 24 states overwhelmingly controlled by Republicans have put in place new voting restrictions, such as tougher voter ID laws, cutbacks to early voting and barriers to registration. Republicans say these measures are necessary to combat the threat of widespread voter fraud, even though study after study shows that such fraud is exceedingly rare. Many of these states have hotly contested races in 2018, and a drop in turnout among Democratic constituencies, such as young people and voters of color, could keep Republicans in power.
This will be my first time voting in a midterm election. I live in Texas and, whether or not it will actually happen, getting Beto into office feels like its something were so close to accomplishing. The campaign sent me an email asking for a minimal donation, and with all of the hyperbolic, fear-inciting rhetoric that Trump and the G.O.P. are spouting, I felt it was the least I could do to move the needle back toward reason.

 Riane Cretney, 25, Dallas, donated $3 to Mr. ORourke.

I decided to donate this year because Beto ORourke is running such a positive, clean, stellar campaign. His town halls are friendly and inclusive, and that right there resonates with me. While his town halls have grown in size of late, my favorite one was held out in West Texas with about a dozen people at a doughnut shop, pulling tables and chairs together, a woman rocking a toddler to sleep, everyone lowering their voices just a touch, and continuing to discuss things like immigration and farming. Pure Texas.

 Gabe Arnold, 64, Texas, donated $50 to Mr. ORourke.

Im 22 now and working full time, so I can actually afford it

I decided to donate because I turned 18 this year and I felt that, with my new responsibility to be a part of our democratic process, I needed to support my political views more than just sharing them with others.

 Wade Atkinson, 18, Amherst, Mass., donated $10 each to Senator Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts, the state representative candidate Mindy Domb in Massachusetts, the Senate candidate Kyrsten Sinema in Arizona, Senator Bill Nelson in Florida and Senator Dianne Feinstein in California.

Im 22 now and working full time, so I can actually afford it. I was in college the past two elections and was dirt poor. I can still only give between $10 and $20 to a few candidates whose races I know are very tight. But I know small donations like that do make a difference and it speaks volumes when campaigns are receiving a large chunk of their money from small donors instead of PACs.

 Ana Moylan, 22, Suwanee, Ga., donated $10 to $20 to Stacey Abrams for her governors race in Georgia, Beto ORourke for his Senate race in Texas, Phil Bredesen for his Senate race in Tennessee, Senator Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota, Andrew Gillum for his governors race in Florida and Carolyn Bourdeaux for her congressional race in Georgia.
Dont go chugging a shot of CBD oil just yet, though. Dr. Blessing said that much of the research is in its infancy, and the purity and dosage of some CBD consumer products may not reliable. And, she noted, CBD can have negative interactions with many medications, so potential users should talk to their doctors before taking it.

There are legal hazards as well. As with all cannabis products, the federal government categorizes CBD products other than Epidiolex as a Schedule 1 drug, like heroin, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. And cannabis remains illegal under federal law, even in states that have legalized marijuana for medical or recreational use.

Even so, the D.E.A.s mission is to go after large-scale drug traffickers, not individual users, said Barbara Carreno, an agency spokeswoman. Were not swatting joints out of hands in Hilo, Hawaii, and were not going to focus on somebody who is buying lotion or ice cream that has CBD in it.

Although there have been scattered raids of CBD retailers around the country, several states, including Alabama, Texas, Florida and Oklahoma, have passed laws approving specific CBD products to treat specific ailments. And CBD shops have cropped up nationwide, in Los Angeles, Oklahoma City and Austin, Tex., to name just a few cities.

In New York City, for example, CBD tinctures and other products can be bought at specialty shops, health food stores, yoga studios, flea markets, boutiques and even some corner delis. (The availability of CBD is perhaps not surprising, given Mayor Bill de Blasios continued efforts to reduce the penalties for low-level marijuana violations.)

Aside from a federal crackdown, the only thing that may eventually kill CBDs momentum is hype itself, said Mr. DeLand of Dosist.
When it is easier to travel in a city in self-driving cars, Mr. Calthorpe said, everyone will want to do so. And when self-driving vehicles are more affordable  which could take years to happen  people who currently rely on public transit while running their errands will instead send their cars to pick up the groceries and the dry cleaning, adding significantly to what Mr. Walters and other urban planners call total vehicle miles.

This year, Mr. Calthorpe challenged Silicon Valley to take another look at its housing and transportation problem in a proposal in which he asked: Can one street solve the San Francisco Bay Area housing crisis?

In addition to his planning consultancy, Mr. Calthorpe has created Urban Footprint, a company that offers a software design tool for planners, architects and environmental analysts who want to model different kinds of development in urban and regional settings.

He used his software to show that by changing just commercial zoning to permit higher density along El Camino Real  the 45-mile boulevard that stretches through the heart of Silicon Valley from San Francisco to San Jose  it would be possible add more than a quarter-million housing units.

The Valleys housing crisis can be explained in data that shows that since 2010, the region has added 11 jobs for every new home built; the median home price has reached $934,000; and rents have gone up 60 percent since 2012. One of the consequences of the growing imbalance between housing and jobs is the increasing traffic and congestion, according to an Urban Footprint report.

To avoid congestion, the plan requires efficient mass transit. Mr. Calthorpe has proposed an alternative  autonomous rapid transit, or ART  using fleets of self-driving vans in reserved lanes on main arteries like El Camino Real. Those lanes would allow the vehicles to travel faster and require a lower level of autonomous technology. And the vans could travel separately or be connected together.
Rates

From $300

Basics

The 135-room Lido House, which opened in April, flips the script of the standard, Southern California beach hotel. Instead of a hacienda-style sprawl of buildings or a glassy modern tower, the property is anchored by a newly constructed Cape Cod style mansion. That makes its fun, funky interior design accents all the more unexpected: graffiti-ish ceilings, art works made with neon tubes of light, chandeliers of wicker and twine. Also unexpected: the hotel happens to be a Marriott, part of the chains boutique-inspired Autograph Collection. Instead of cookie-cutter rooms, the developer Robert D. Olson, a Newport Beach native, hired five local interior designers to trick out the hotel in different styles that nod to the history of this boat and boardwalk speckled region  Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall used to vacation here  while pushing it forward as a tourist destination of today.

Location

Fifty miles south of downtown Los Angeles, the hotel sits between Newport Beach and Lido Marina. Walk (or bike  the areas preferred mode of transportation) half a mile west and youll reach a wide, sandy beach studded with umbrellas and volleyball nets. Less than a mile south, the Newport Beach pier juts into the Pacific and offers epic sunset views. The newly revived Lido Marina Village is a quarter mile north of the hotel; its rife with restaurants, breweries and independent boutiques. The marina is also a docking point for electric Duffy boats that are available for organized or self-guided tours of the picturesque bay and channels.
PITTSBURGH  Armed with an AR-15-style assault rifle and at least three handguns, a man shouting anti-Semitic slurs opened fire inside a Pittsburgh synagogue Saturday morning, killing at least 11 congregants and wounding four police officers and two others, the authorities said.

In a rampage described as among the deadliest against the Jewish community in the United States, the assailant stormed into the Tree of Life Congregation, where worshipers had gathered in separate rooms to celebrate their faith, and shot indiscriminately into the crowd, shattering what had otherwise been a peaceful morning.

The assailant, identified by law enforcement officials as Robert D. Bowers, fired for several minutes and was leaving the synagogue when officers, dressed in tactical gear and armed with rifles, met him at the door. According to the police, Mr. Bowers exchanged gunfire with officers before retreating back inside and barricading himself inside a third-floor room. He eventually surrendered.

Mr. Bowers, 46, was injured by gunfire, although the authorities said it was unclear whether those wounds were self-inflicted or whether the police had shot him. He was taken to Allegheny General Hospital.

Federal officials charged Mr. Bowers with 29 criminal counts. They included obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs  a hate crime  and using a firearm to commit murder. He also faces state charges, including 11 counts of criminal homicide, six counts of aggravated assault and 13 counts of ethnic intimidation.

The authorities said that he had no previous criminal history.

[Read more about the shooting suspect, who frequently reposted anti-Semitic content on social media.]

Though a bris, a ceremony to mark a childs birth, was among the ceremonies taking place Saturday, no children were among the casualties, law enforcement officials said. The wounded included a 70-year-old man who had been shot in the torso, and a 61-year-old woman with soft tissue wounds, said Dr. Donald Yealy, chairman of emergency medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

The attack Saturday morning struck the heart of the citys vibrant Jewish community, in the leafy Squirrel Hill neighborhood that is home to several synagogues, kosher restaurants and bakeries. Hours later, hundreds gathered at three separate interfaith vigils on a cold, rainy evening to mourn the dead and pray for the wounded.

The assault on the synagogue unfolded on a quiet, drizzly morning, and came amid a bitter, vitriolic midterm election season and against the backdrop of what appears to be a surge in hate-related speech and crimes across America. It also took place in the wake of the arrest Friday morning of a man who the authorities said sent more than a dozen pipe bombs to critics of Mr. Trump, including several high-profile Democrats.
WASHINGTON  When the annual open enrollment period begins in a few days, consumers across the country will have more choices under the Affordable Care Act, but fewer sources of unbiased advice and assistance to guide them through the labyrinth of health insurance.

The Trump administration has opened the door to aggressive marketing of short-term insurance plans, which are not required to cover pre-existing medical conditions. Insurers are entering or returning to the Affordable Care Act marketplace, expanding their service areas and offering new products. But the budget for the insurance counselors known as navigators has been cut more than 80 percent, and in nearly one-third of the 2,400 counties served by HealthCare.gov, no navigators have been funded by the federal government.

There is likely to be a lot of consumer confusion about the various plan options that may be available this year, said Sabrina Corlette, a research professor at Georgetown Universitys Health Policy Institute. It will be a bit of a Wild West  buyer beware!

Obamacare health plans, short-term plans and Christian health sharing plans are all displayed on the same page of some shopping sites like Affordable-Health-Insurance-Plans.org, which describes itself as a free referral service for insurance shoppers.
WASHINGTON  After Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota announced that she would not vote to confirm Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, sympathetic voters went to work to show their support for the embattled red-state Democrat, writing letters of thanks and posting their appreciation on social media.

Others found a more practical way to demonstrate their gratitude: cold, hard cash. In 17 days, Ms. Heitkamp raised an astonishing $12.5 million, according to campaign finance filings; the bulk of that was after she announced her vote.

This stands in its own class, said Michael Beckel, a campaign finance expert at Issue One, a nonpartisan group that seeks to reduce the influence of money in politics.

The senator is struggling in her fight for re-election against a Republican challenger, Representative Kevin Cramer, who has opened a clear lead in recent polls. Republicans see the race as a key opportunity to widen their majority in the Senate.
The legalization of marijuana is a more mainstream issue now than it has ever been. That trend is both reflected and powered by the advocacy of people like Rick Steves, the mild-mannered travel writer and host of Rick Steves Europe, who campaigned for legalization in his home state of Washington in 2012 and now travels the country doing the same thing.

A 2017 Gallup poll found a majority of Americans  64 percent  now support legalization of the drug in some form, including 51 percent of Republicans. While it remains illegal at the federal level, nine states plus the District of Columbia allow recreational use of the drug, and 30 states, D.C., Puerto Rico and Guam have comprehensive medical marijuana laws.

Medical marijuana is on the ballot in Missouri in November, and a political compromise reached earlier this month in deep-red Utah may pave the way for it there, too. Voters in North Dakota and Michigan will decide on recreational use of the drug.

Mr. Steves discussed his advocacy, his travels and the ballot initiatives. This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
 Stacey Abrams, the Democratic candidate for governor in Georgia, had a tough Monday as news surfaced that she participated in burning the state flag while in college in 1992. But her campaign  and her potential to become the first black woman elected governor of any state  remains strong.

Policy announcements could sway voters ahead of Nov. 6:

 For many transgender people, its no coincidence that the latest attack on their civil rights protections from the Trump administration came to light just two weeks before the election.

 At recent rallies, the president has said he would cut middle-class taxes by 10 percent. It wouldnt be easy  and he would need Republicans to keep control of Congress to even try.

What voters can already tell us about the election:

 Roughly seven million people have voted early in the midterms, far more than in previous years, and enthusiasm is high. Heres what the early turnout means  and what it doesnt.

 An estimated 12.7 million Hispanics voted in 2016, out of 27 million who were eligible  a turnout rate of about 48 percent. Here are some facts about Hispanic voters.

 Voters in a pair of Republican-held swing districts in Nebraska and Iowa are focused on everyday issues and wondering whether voting is really worth it.

A caravan in Mexico reignites the fight over immigration.

As news of a migrant caravan heading toward the southern border of the United States continues to circulate, President Trump is considering taking executive action to bar migrants, including asylum seekers, from entering the country. He may make the official announcement Tuesday. [Read the story]
MURPHYSBORO, Ill.  President Trump said on Saturday that the hearts of all Americans are filled with grief after a mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue left at least 11 people dead, and he called on the country to combat hate crimes together.

It will require all of us working together to extract the hateful poison of anti-Semitism, Mr. Trump said to a rally crowd here at an airplane hangar in rural Illinois. The scourge of anti-Semitism cant be ignored.

Still, Mr. Trump again demonstrated that he would not be swayed from the call of the campaign trail during a politically volatile and violent midterm election season. Not as the death toll at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh mounted. And not as the authorities were still investigating how another suspect in a separate case this week went from being a loyal Trump fan to mailing explosive devices to several of Mr. Trumps critics.

In minutes, Mr. Trump moved from a call for unity to attacking and name-calling Democrats, including his former presidential rival, Hillary Clinton, and leading lawmakers like Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Maxine Waters.

Rather than hang back at the White House, the president barreled forward to Illinois to support Representative Mike Bost, a Republican in a tight race for re-election. Mr. Trump received counterterrorism briefings on the road. He delivered real-time shooting results to the country between Air Force One stops and urged Americans to fight religious and racial prejudice. And he repeatedly said that the death penalty should be enforced.

We cant make these sick, demented, evil people important, Mr. Trump said to his rally crowd. When we change all of our lives in order to accommodate them, its not acceptable.

Asked by reporters beforehand about Cesar Sayoc Jr., who was arrested and charged with sending the explosives, Mr. Trump said, He was no supporter of mine.

On Saturday, Mr. Trump made a stop at an Indiana farming convention ahead of a busy schedule next week in the run-up to the elections, when at least 10 campaign events are scheduled. Mr. Trump also said that he intended to visit Pittsburgh, but did not give a time frame.

Hours before his latest rally  where he often voices his support of the Second Amendment  Mr. Trump said that the nations gun laws had little to do with the shooting and suggested that the synagogue should have had an armed guard in place.

If they had protection inside, the results would have been far better, he said. This is a dispute that will always exist, I suspect.

Four police officers were among the injured, according to Wendell D. Hissrich, Pittsburghs public safety director. And Democrats, including Pennsylvanias governor, Tom Wolf, quickly disagreed with the presidents assertion that gun laws had little to do with the shooting.

Dangerous weapons are putting our citizens in harms way, said Mr. Wolf, adding that people should resist accepting this violence as normal.

President Barack Obama, who was sent one of the explosive devices this week, called for a retooling of gun laws, as did Democratic leaders in Congress.

All of us have to fight the rise of anti-Semitism and hateful rhetoric against those who look, love, or pray differently, Mr. Obama wrote on Twitter. And we have to stop making it so easy for those who want to harm the innocent to get their hands on a gun.

Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, described the shooting as another terrible tragedy.

The attack was even more painful because it occurred at a place of sanctuary and prayer, said Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, offering prayers for the victims and calling for an overhaul of gun legislation.

But thoughts and prayers are not enough, she said. Congress must finally act on common sense, bipartisan gun violence prevention legislation.

Amid a growing outcry, the president seemed to soften his tone as the day went on, even as he disparaged Ms. Pelosi in Indiana and delivered a partisan political message in Illinois. As he crisscrossed the Midwest, he spoke with his eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who are both Jewish.

By the time he addressed the crowd at the farming convention in Indianapolis, Mr. Trump called for the vile hate-filled poison of anti-Semitism to be condemned.

This wicked act of mass murder is pure evil, Mr. Trump said, adding that Americans should stand up to any form of religious hatred or prejudice. He also referenced news reports that indicated that the synagogue had been hosting a bris ceremony before the shooting took place.

Our minds cannot comprehend the cruel hate and the twisted malice that could cause a person to unleash such terrible violence during a baby-naming ceremony, Mr. Trump said. This was a baby-naming ceremony at a sacred house of worship on the holy day of Sabbath.

Both Mr. Trump and his vice president, Mike Pence, publicly suggested that the suspect, Robert D. Bowers, should pay the ultimate price for the shooting. On Saturday afternoon, Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, said in a statement that the Justice Department would file criminal charges against Mr. Bowers that could lead to the death penalty.

Today 11 innocent people were suddenly and viciously murdered during religious services and several law enforcement officers were shot, Mr. Sessions said. These alleged crimes are reprehensible and utterly repugnant to the values of this nation.

With 10 days to go until the midterm elections, the president at first wavered on whether to continue with his schedule on Saturday. He briefly considered canceling, but seemed ready to move forward after a rabbi and pastor delivered prayers onstage at the farmers conference. He said that his heart was not in it this time, but that he would attend out of obligation.

The president was not the only person in the Trump administration to hit the campaign trail after the shooting. Speaking at a rally in Las Vegas for Republican candidates running for office, Mr. Pence made reference to the mass shooting at a country music festival there a year ago, which left 58 dead.

As Las Vegas knows all too well, what happened in Pittsburgh today was not just criminal, it was evil, he said. An attack on innocent Americans and an assault on our freedom of religion.

At his rally, the president ended comments about the synagogue shooting by reiterating his belief that shooting suspects who target Jewish people should be put to death.

Those seeking their destruction, Mr. Trump said, we will seek their destruction.
[Read our latest article on Robert Bowers, the suspect in the Pittsburgh shooting.]

For months, Robert D. Bowers had been spewing his anger in post after post on the web, calling immigrants invaders, distributing racist memes and asserting that Jews were the enemy of white people.

Then, on Saturday, moments before the police say he barged into a Pittsburgh synagogue with an assault rifle and three handguns, he tapped out a final message: I cant sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, Im going in.

The authorities said Mr. Bowers, 46, then killed at least 11 people in and around the synagogue, Tree of Life, a spacious building with stained glass windows, a golden memorial tree and a Torah rescued from the Holocaust.

It was the Sabbath, the synagogues busiest day. The attack was one of the deadliest on the Jewish community in United States history.

The actions of Robert Bowers represent the worst of humanity, said Scott W. Brady, the United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Please know that justice in this case will be swift and it will be severe.

Image Robert D. Bowers. Credit... via Agence France-Presse  Getty Images

[A man shouting anti-Semitic slurs opened fire inside a Pittsburgh synagogue where three congregations worshiped.]

The police arrested Mr. Bowers, who had 21 guns registered to his name, according to Representative Mike Doyle of Pennsylvania. Officials said he was not known to law enforcement before the shooting, and a search of the Pennsylvania judiciary database shows only a 2015 traffic violation in his name.

Mr. Bowers took to Gab, a social network that bills itself as a being dedicated to free speech and which is increasingly popular among alt-right activists and white nationalists. After opening an account on it in January, he had shared a stream of anti-Jewish slurs and conspiracy theories. It was on Gab where he found a like-minded community, reposting messages from Nazi supporters.

Jews are the children of Satan, read Mr. Bowerss biography.

[Read more about Gab, a social media platform popular with the far right.]

Mr. Bowers lived about a 25-minute drive south of the synagogue in a brick apartment complex on a dead-end street, where he was frequently spotted smoking cigarettes outside. A neighbor said she could not remember seeing him speak to anyone, not in the two years shed lived there.
In recent years, the unpredictability of terrorizing events has kept Americans on alert, wary of threats to their safety and well-being.

A gunman killed 58 people attending an outdoor concert in Las Vegas last year. School violence has become commonplace enough that some teens carry bulletproof backpacks. And last week, at least a dozen homemade pipe bombs were mailed to outspoken critics of President Trump and forced the evacuation of a shopping mall in New York.

Specific threats and a general sense of anxiety, security experts say, are causing more people to seek the services of private security firms; some are hiring bodyguards and drivers trained to protect them in case of peril.

At Pinkerton, a private security and detective agency founded in 1850, requests for executive security have increased 20 to 30 percent annually over the last five years, said its vice chairman, Tim Williams. And people are looking for safeguards in all areas of their lives that pose risks, experts say, including information technology and social media.
Mr. Yasins troubles began in 2015, when neighbors recruited him as their leader in a dispute over compensation for demolished homes, he said. As the dispute heated up, the police detained Mr. Yasin. Officers stunned him with an electric prod and forced him and other residents to sign documents admitting to offenses, he said.

He was detained again after he tried to publicize the dispute on social media and by contacting journalists. This time, he said, he was beaten and tortured, then sent to a hospital to recover. While he was there, relatives made preparations to spirit him out of China along with his wife and infant daughter.

The family caught a plane to Kazakhstan in Central Asia, where they spent a month, then flew to Russia and finally on to Stockholm, where they applied for asylum in May 2015.

After nearly two years and an appeal, the couple were formally denied the right to stay. The Swedish Migration Agency accepted that Mr. Yasin was Uighur, but it did not believe his account of his escape, said Fedja Ziga, a lawyer who represented the couple and said he found their explanations to be consistent and reasonable.

After being denied, Mr. Yasin and his family slipped into Germany to seek asylum there. But after a year of waiting, they were sent back to Sweden under a European Union rule that says people can apply in only one country. At the Stockholm airport, waiting officials told them to find their way to Gavle, two hours away. They spent a first night there huddled on a bench.

The grinding fear has taken its toll on Mr. Yasin and his family, especially his wife, who did not want her name reported. She had been pregnant with their third child but suffered a miscarriage in late September.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka  President Mathripala Sirisena of Sri Lanka on Saturday suspended Parliament for two weeks as he sought to shore up support for unseating the countrys prime minister, escalating a political crisis.

Mr. Sirisena suspended Parliament after ousting Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Friday, a move many lawmakers and government ministers denounced as unconstitutional. Mr. Sirisena swore in as prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, a popular former president who was accused of human rights abuses and corruption during a decade in power.

Mr. Wickremesinghe struck a defiant tone, asserting that he was still prime minister. Convene Parliament, and I will prove it, he said.

By Saturday afternoon, many lawmakers were vowing to stick by Mr. Wickremesinghe, demanding that a formal count be taken in Parliament to determine who held a majority in the house. Thats when Mr. Sirisena announced that he was suspending Parliament. He also dismissed the leaders of several government institutions, replacing them with loyalists.
Chi Chia-wei, a pioneering Taiwanese gay rights campaigner whose lawsuit helped lead to the constitutional court ruling, said in an interview before the parade that he was extremely disappointed in the governments lack of movement on same-sex marriage.

If you make a promise as a politician, you have to follow through on it, Mr. Chi said. If you dont, youre just playing politics; youre a liar.

Ms. Tsai, who as a presidential candidate in 2015 courted the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender vote and called for legalizing same-sex marriage, welcomed the courts ruling in May 2017, saying on Twitter, The law must protect the peoples freedom of marriage and right to equality.

But her support since then has seemed more reserved. In a June interview with Agence France-Presse, rather than speaking of rights, she said that Taiwan was divided on the issue, while promising that the government would bridge the differences and propose a comprehensive bill.
DUBLIN  Ireland re-elected its leftist president, Michael D. Higgins, to a second term and voted overwhelmingly on Saturday to remove a ban on blasphemy from the Constitution.

Mr. Higgins won easily, with about 56 percent of the vote, despite a late surge by a former reality show celebrity whose support soared after he criticized an ethnic minority group. In a separate ballot, about 65 percent of voters, or 951,650 people, chose to abolish a constitutional ban on blasphemy.

The vote was more symbolic than practical: No one has ever been prosecuted for blasphemy in modern Ireland, and in practice the ban had never led to a prosecution.

But rights groups said that the existence of the ban was used by repressive governments to argue in support of their own restrictions.
ROME  Jackal! the activists shouted as Matteo Salvini, the strongman of Italys populist government, arrived at the other end of the street. Jackal!

Mr. Salvini, the leader of the anti-migrant League party and the countrys tough interior minister, had arrived to leave a rose at the entrance of a drug den where the police had discovered the body of a 16-year-old girl, Desiree Mariottini, who they believe had been repeatedly raped, perhaps while unconscious, and left for dead by African migrants.

But the activists in San Lorenzo, a traditionally left-wing neighborhood still scarred from the bombings of the Second World War and now bearing the fresh wounds of drug dealers and lawlessness, refused to let Mr. Salvini pass.

They carried banners reading: Salvini exploits tragedies. San Lorenzo is not your campaigns catwalk, and shouted for him to leave.
Mr. Lazos spent six years researching how the countrys twin crises  migration and economic austerity  had changed prostitution in Athens. He found that the number of prostitutes in the city had increased by 7 percent since 2012, yet prices have dropped drastically, both for women working on the streets and in brothels.

In 2012, it would require an average of 39 euros for a client to hire a prostitute in a brothel, Mr. Lazos said, while in 2017 just 17  a 56 percent decrease.

According to Greek law, a brothel has to be at least about 655 feet away from schools, hospitals, churches, nurseries and public squares, among other places. But given the density of downtown Athens, its virtually impossible to house prostitutes there legally. Mr. Lazos found that only eight of the 798 brothels operating in the city in August were legal.

The number was vastly different from the police statistics, which count no more than 300 brothels in the city. A spokesman for the Athenian police, Theodoros Chronopoulos, explained that the official number does not include hidden brothels.

Mr. Chronopoulos said that officers aggressively work to break up trafficking rings, pointing to rising arrests. But the police mostly leave brothels alone, he said, partly because of the sense among the authorities that they help single men deal with loneliness.

Were quite tolerant when it comes to brothels, he said, because we understand that what they do is social service.
LONDON  The French urban climber Alain Robert, who calls himself Spider-Man, has been barred from climbing any buildings in Britain after scaling one of Londons tallest skyscrapers this past week without ropes  and without permission.

Mr. Robert climbed the 46-story Heron Tower, which is over 750 feet high, on Thursday as the police cordoned off the building, closed roads and ushered away curious gawkers.

He was arrested and appeared in a London court on Friday, where he pleaded guilty to causing a public nuisance and received a 20-week suspended sentence and a fine of 5,500 pounds, or about $7,000. He was also barred from climbing all buildings in Britain until further notice.

Mr. Robert, 56, has climbed many of the worlds tallest structures, including the Eiffel Tower, the Empire State Building and The New York Timess headquarters.
LONDON  The owner of a take-away restaurant and a deliveryman in Britain have been found guilty of manslaughter for delivering food to a teenage girl who died from the effects of a peanut allergy.

The teenager, Megan Lee, who was 15 at a time, suffered a reaction after ordering from her local takeout in Lancashire, in northern England, in late 2016, according to local news reports.

She suffered irreversible brain damage after the allergy attack and died on Jan. 1, 2017.

On Friday, a jury at Manchester Crown Court found two men, Mohammed Abdul Kuddus, 40, and Harun Rashid, 38, guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence in Ms. Lees death. Court reports said that Mr. Kuddus had been the owner of the restaurant, and Mr. Rashid the deliveryman.

According to the prosecution, the restaurant, the Royal Spice Takeaway in Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, had no systems or conditions in place to protect customers with allergies.
JERUSALEM  Israel accused Iran on Saturday of ordering attacks by the Palestinian militant group that took responsibility for a heavy barrage of rocket fire from Gaza overnight.

Israel responded to the attacks on its southern territory, which were claimed by the group Palestinian Islamic Jihad, with retaliatory airstrikes against militant targets in Gaza. No fatalities were reported on either side.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, an Israel military spokesman, said the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Quds Force had communicated directly with Islamic Jihad, a mostly Iranian financed extremist group in Gaza, and had ordered and orchestrated the rocket fire.

We do not take that lightly, Colonel Conricus said, adding that Israel had passed messages through third parties warning that any Israeli response would not necessarily be confined to geographic areas, meaning that it could extend beyond Gaza.
Mr. Trump did not elaborate on the conversation. But he appeared to be referring to a phone call he had days earlier with King Salman.

In his remarks here in Bahrain, home to the Navys Fifth Fleet, Mr. Mattis sought to tamp down increasing concerns that if Washington reduces its security role in the Middle East, Russia would move quickly to fill the vacuum.

The United States has not had an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf since March, and the Pentagon is pulling Patriot missile-defense systems out of Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain as part of a strategic realignment of firepower away from the Middle East and toward Russia and China.

Russias presence in the region cannot replace the longstanding, enduring and transparent U.S. commitment to the Middle East, Mr. Mattis said.

Indeed, the bulk of Mr. Mattiss speech focused on what he said was Irans destabilizing actions in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Lebanon  spreading mischief and murder across the region, as the secretary put it.

The speech was likely to be well received in some quarters.

It was what Saudi Arabia and its allies wanted, and are delighted to hear: a reaffirmation of Americas commitment to the region, to its partners and of course to a blanket hostility toward Iran and all Iran does, said Robert Malley, the president of the International Crisis Group and a former White House coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf during the Obama administration.

When Mr. Mattis served as the four-star general and leader of the militarys Central Command during the Obama administration, he blamed Iran for deadly attacks by Shiite militias in Iraq. He advocated confronting Iran, a position that put him at odds with President Barack Obama, who was trying to engage Iran diplomatically.
MANAMA, Bahrain  Saudi Arabias foreign minister on Saturday rejected a call by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey to try the suspects in the killing of the dissident commentator Jamal Khashoggi in that country, saying that the men arrested would be prosecuted on Saudi soil.

Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir called the international outrage over the killing fairly hysterical and said that once the Saudi investigation was complete, the suspects would be held accountable in Saudi Arabia.

Unfortunately, there has been this hysteria in the media before the investigation was complete, he said during a panel at the Manama Dialogue, which was organized by the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Manama, the capital of Bahrain.

Mr. Khashoggi, a Virginia resident and a columnist for The Washington Post who was also a critic of Saudi Arabias current rulers, was killed on Oct. 2 by a team of Saudi agents in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
Islamic State militants killed at least 40 Syrian fighters backed by the United States, captured several alive and regained areas they lost earlier this month in eastern Syria near the Iraqi border in some of the most intense fighting in weeks, a war monitor and an agency linked to the extremist group reported on Saturday.

Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, have been on the offensive since early September under the cover of airstrikes by the American-led coalition to capture the last pocket held by the Islamic State in Syria.

Fridays fighting lasted until the early hours of Saturday began when Islamic State militants, taking advantage of a sandstorm, launched a counteroffensive against the Syrian Democratic Forces in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour that borders Iraq, activists said.

Colonel Sean Ryan, spokesman for the American-led coalition, said they have no confirmation of exact figures as both sides are taking casualties. He called it a difficult fight.
The unsettling images of emaciated children staring up from hospital beds drew strong reaction from readers this week when The New York Times published The Tragedy of Saudi Arabias War, an interactive article documenting the catastrophic effects of the civil war in Yemen.

Three years of fighting between Saudi-backed government forces and Houthi rebels have created the worlds worst humanitarian crisis. Yemen, the regions poorest nation even before the war, now faces potential famine. The United Nations warned this week that half its population may soon rely entirely on humanitarian aid to survive.

Though Saudi-backed forces have used blockades to keep humanitarian aid from reaching areas controlled by the Houthis, some aid groups have still managed to work in country.

Here are some ways people can help.

 Unicef works with local authorities and nongovernmental organizations to provide emergency relief for children, and has operations in every governorate in Yemen. It provides health screenings, vaccines, malnutrition treatment, water and school supplies.  Doctors Without Borders operates in 13 hospitals and health centers in the country. It also provides support to 20 public health programs throughout Yemen, where half of the medical facilities have closed because of the conflict. It operates in areas held by the Houthis.  Save the Children provides education and safe places for children. Up to 75 percent of schools in some areas of Yemen have been destroyed, according to the organization, which trains teachers and creates temporary learning spaces. Save the Children also provides cash and vouchers for food.  The International Rescue Committee provides medical training, supplies and drugs to hospitals. The organization says it has reached more than a quarter million people in Yemen with health, nutrition, water and sanitation services.

Charity Navigator, a nonprofit watchdog group, has highly rated the following smaller aid organizations based on a number of criteria including accountability and transparency:
The man arrested by the authorities on Friday in connection with a series of bombs sent in the mail appears to be an outspoken supporter of President Trump, according to his posts on social media.

The man attended a rally by Mr. Trump in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Oct. 13, 2016; the presidents inauguration on Jan. 20, 2017; and then another rally at Orlando Melbourne International Airport on Feb. 18, 2017.

At the first rally, which took place weeks before Election Day, the suspect, Cesar Sayoc Jr., 56, of Aventura, Fla., recorded a selfie video.

At the same rally, Mr. Trump assailed the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, who had a suspicious package addressed to her Westchester County home in New York.

Mr. Sayoc, wearing a red Make America Great Again cap, attended Mr. Trumps inauguration, according to photos on what is believed to be one of his Twitter accounts.

Cesar Sayoc / Twitter

At the second rally, in Melbourne, Fla., Mr. Sayoc can be seen in a photo holding a Welcome President Trump sign over his head.

At these rallies, Mr. Trump regularly took aim at the news media, deriding critical coverage of him as fake news.

Cesar Sayoc / Twitter

At this particular rally, Mr. Trump said the media had become a big part of the problem. CNN, a frequent target of his criticism, had a suspicious package delivered to its New York City office on Wednesday. Another one was intercepted at a mail facility in Midtown Manhattan on Friday.

On social media, Mr. Sayoc repeatedly attacked Democrats and other prominent figures who have criticized Mr. Trump, and voiced his support for a Republican red wave in the midterm elections.

A van Mr. Sayoc had was adorned in decals and text that praised Mr. Trump and his achievements.

Cesar Sayoc / Twitter
Our poll is a decent result for Democrats. But remember: Its just one poll, and we talked to only 501 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.

Can a Democrat prevail in deep red Kansas? We made 15509 calls, and 501 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:

Mr. Davis was the Democratic nominee for governor in 2014, and he carried this district while losing statewide to the incumbent Republican, Sam Brownback.

Mr. Davis, who faced no primary opposition, has emphasized his community ties and willingness to work across the aisle. A lawyer, he served in the Kansas State House from 2002 to 2015.

Mr. Watkins, a newcomer to politics who has spent much of his adult life outside Kansas, prevailed in a seven-way Republican primary over more established candidates, some of whom criticized his skimpy voting record and reliance on a PAC financed by his father.

This district includes most of eastern Kansas except for the core of the Kansas City metropolitan area. Like the rest of the state, it is strongly Republican-leaning, but the retirement of the incumbent, with no obvious G.O.P. successor, and a strong Democratic candidate have thrown the outcome into doubt.

is the former minority leader in the State House. 48% favorable rating; 31% unfavorable; 21% dont know

If sampling error were the only type of error in a poll, we would expect candidates who trail by four points in a poll of 501 people to win about one out of every seven races. But this probably understates the total error by a factor of two .

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. Our poll under different turnout scenarios Who will vote? Est. turnout Our poll result The types of people who voted in 2014 228k Davis +3 People whose voting history suggests they will vote, regardless of what they say 238k Davis +6 Our estimate 240k Davis +4 People who say they will vote, adjusted for past levels of truthfulness 253k Davis +2 People who say they are almost certain to vote, and no one else 269k Davis +1 The types of people who voted in 2016 273k Davis +3 Every active registered voter 393k Davis +3 Just because one candidate leads in all of these different turnout scenarios doesnt mean much by itself. They dont represent the full range of possible turnout scenarios, let alone the full range of possible election results.

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 7 4 1 2 6 1 in 29 5% 8% 30 to 64 7 6 1 5 2 7 4 1 in 28 55% 57% 65 and older 3 8 8 7 2 0 1 1 in 19 40% 35% Male 5 1 3 0 2 3 4 1 in 22 47% 47% Female 7 1 1 7 2 6 7 1 in 27 53% 53% White 1 0 3 9 3 4 4 0 1 in 24 88% 85% Nonwhite 8 0 2 1 8 1 in 45 4% 6% Cell 8 8 7 2 3 3 2 1 in 27 66%  Landline 3 3 7 5 1 6 9 1 in 20 34%  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 Davis +6 Dont weight by education, like many polls in 2016 Davis +5 Our estimate Davis +4 Weight using census data instead of voting records, like most public polls Davis +3 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.


Vin Roberti

Roberti Global received $1.2M in lobbying payments for the nine months of 2018 to support the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to bring Russian gas to Europe, which is vehemently opposed by President Trump.

The US president says the finished pipeline will increase Europe's reliance on Russian energy sources.

Trump scored a major victory on Oct. 22 when chancellor Angela Merkel announced support for the the import of US gas to Germany. The Nord Stream pipeline is to have a hub in Germany when the gas begins to flow next year from Russia to the Baltic Sea.

Gazprom owns 100 percent of Nord Stream while Royal Dutch Shell has a debt interest in the project.

Vin Roberti, who has represented General Motors, Samsung, Pfizer, AT&T and Ashraf Ghani's successful bid to become Afghanistan president, and Lydia Strunk, deputy floor director for Republican House Speakers John Boehner and Paul Ryan, make the pitch for Nord Stream.

They deal with issues related to the US position toward Nord Stream 2, including potential financial sanctions.
Special Cover

Air Cmde MK Chandrasekhar, the man behind today's event, has an emotional attachment with Dakota aircraft. He said, "I joined the IAF in 1954-55. I have flown Dakota's for nearly 6000 hours. I have trained a lot of people on this."

Postmaster General Charles Lobo told OneIndia, " The cover shows the Dakota aircraft used and cancellation stamp shows the Airforce emblem. It is a pictorial cancellation, unlike normal cancellations which shows the name post office in Hindi and English, date of booking or delivery. After the usage on 1000 covers after that the seal is destroyed, so not used again. That's why we call it special cover and cancellation."

Why Dakota VP-905 is so special?

Seventy-one years ago, on 27th October, troops of 1 Sikh Regiment flying aboard Dakota VP-905 landed in Srinagar and protected Jammu and Kashmir from Pakistan's attack soon after independence. This was the first IAF operation in Independent India. Dakota DC-3 is the first transport aircraft of the IAF. Subsequently, the aircraft was used in 1962 and 1971 wars.

The double engine aircraft with a top speed of 150 miles/hour has least accident rates.

Dakota DC-3 gifted by Rajeev Chandrasekhar

A Dakota DC-3 aircraft of 1940's vintage,gifted by Rajeev Chandrasekhar, MP, was inducted into the Vintage Aircraft Flight of the Indian Air Force on May 5, 2018. A large fleet of Dakota DC-3 served in the IAF till 1988. It was one of the most versatile transport aircraft of its time. IAF took over the completely refurbished aeroplane. The aircraft was given a tail number that belonged to the first Dakota that landed in Srinagar.

Ceremonial gifting

Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa with Air Commodore (retd) M K Chandrasekhar during a function to mark ceremonial gifting of the Douglas DC3 Dakota to IAF, in New Delhi on Tuesday. PTI Photo
What do kids know about Israel? What should we teach them?

Little research has been done on how Jewish kids views of Israel change over time - until now.

iStock

What should we be teaching Jewish elementary school kids about Israel? What concepts and ideas can they understand? How do their views and perceptions change over time?



Even though many parents and teachers believe they know the answers, they probably cant back them up with research.



We know an awful lot about how younger kids typically think about subjects like math but when it comes to Israel, we don't really know anything, said Jon Levisohn, director of the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education.



In 2012, Levisohn learned about a new project launched by social scientist Sivan Zakai, who was interviewing 35 kindergartners at three Jewish schools in Los Angeles about their views on Israel.



Zakais research became the basis for the Mandel Center's Childrens Learning About Israel project. She continued speaking with the kids each year through fifth grade.



BrandeisNOW talked to Zakai, who is an affiliated scholar at the Mandel Center and the Sara S. Lee Assistant Professor of Jewish Education at Hebrew Union College, about her findings.



BNOW: What got you interested in this project?



Zakai: I had previously written about Israel education in high schools and began to realize there was no existing research that shed light on the learning of young children. Most of the discussion around how young people understand Israel defined young people as teenagers or college students. But there are much younger people who also have thoughts and feelings and beliefs that I wanted to explore.



There are people every day who are already doing the vitally important work of teaching these children about Israel, and yet understanding how those young people process the world is not entirely clear. It is an essential foundation for good teaching practice.



There is also an ethical dimension. There are over 1.8 million Jewish children living in America in American Jewish households and their voices are generally silent or spoken for by others in policy and political discussions and sociological research. I wanted to give a voice to the children.



BNOW: What have you discovered about how kindergartners view Israel?



Zakai: Five-year-olds are much more sophisticated than parents and teachers typically give them credit for. Even before they know how to read with fluency, they can understand pretty sophisticated things.



Ive found that kindergartners understand in profound ways the concept of home. They understand that it is possible to have more than one home, and it is possible to have shifting homes.



But they also understand that Israel is engaged in an ongoing violent conflict with its neighbors. They often talk about Israel as an especially safe place for Jews and also a dangerous place where theres a violent conflict thats killing Israelis and others at the hands of Israelis.



BNOW: As these kids get older, do they grow better able to handle moral nuance and complexity?



Zakai: Yes. By 10 or 11, we usually see kids starting to imagine what Palestinians, and not only Israeli Jews, think about current events. The children are also beginning to consider the ways that events in Israel interplay with issues in U.S. politics.



BNOW: But many Jewish school teachers are afraid to discuss these issues in class.



Zakai: Yes, but one of the things we've learned is that educators are willing to discuss important issues with children if you create the right environment. First, there needs to be a shared understanding in the community recognizing that American Jews are divided in their views on Israel. Second, teachers need to understand at what age the kids start asking important questions about Israel and what those questions are.



If you have both of these, teachers are less nervous about how parents and the children might respond.



BNOW: What have you found about the way that digital media are changing kids' perceptions of Israel?



Zakai: We've known for a while that this is the generation of digital natives where they can see what's happening in Israel in real time. And they can view it in a way that their parents aren't entirely aware of.



When the 2014 Gaza war between Israel and Hamas broke out, many of the children would go to all sorts of what to me were very surprising digital sources for answers. Their parents didn't even know they were thinking about these questions. One kid talked about looking over her parent's shoulder at a Facebook account that was full of the mothers friends talking about what was happening.



With digital media, there's this paradox. On the one hand, kids feel really close to Israel because they can see it and hear about it, and on the other hand, that's not Israel. That's a small sliver of Israel and the kids don't yet have the kind of meta-cognitive awareness to process that.



These kids often believe that using digital media means that they access Israel, and they don't realize they're accessing a small portion narrated by human beings who are telling a specific story. They often mistake the part for the whole.



What follows is a selection from Zakais upcoming book, provisionally title Gazing Towards Zion: American Jewish Children and the State of Israel. Zakai interviewed a child called "Samantha" between kindergarten and fifth grade:



Kindergarten: Samantha cannot remember a time before she learned about the Israeli-Palestinian/Arab conflict. Through her 6-year-old eyes, the conflict  which she calls the war in Israel  is something that she has known about since before her birth. Her mom talked about it when I was in my moms tummy, so I learned.



Second grade: Samantha begins to view the conflict not as a war throughout time between Israel and its enemies, but as a very specific conflict between Israel and its closest neighbor that is trying to steal Israel.  When she talks about this conflict, she is confident of only one thing: that Israels trying to make peace. They dont want war.



Fourth grade: Samatha undergoes a radical transformation in her views on the conflict.  She explains that we cant judge every [Palestinian] just on how [some Palestinians] behave, insisting that it is only some Palestinians [who] are not nice to the Jews.  In her revised position, it is not Palestinians but the conflict itself that is a problem. She frames it as a situation in which Palestinians are fighting the Jews and the Jews are fighting the Palestinians and it's not good.



End of fifth grade: Samantha is still frustrated  and she repeatedly talks about how worried she is about long-standing tensions. Yet Samantha still believes in the possibility of peace. She insists, if you do end up putting [my views of the conflict] in a book, you should always have an optimistic spin, saying [the conflict] might happen now  but we know the Jews will make peace.
Activist Sudha Bharadwaj arrested, taken to custody by Pune Police

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Pune, Oct 27: The police have taken Sudha Bharadwaj into custody after her bail plea was rejected by a Pune court.

She was formally arrested today. Although the police had reached her home yesterday, they were unable to take her into custody as the laws do not permit the arrest of a lady after sunset.

The Pune court had rejected the bail pleas of Sudha, Arun Ferriera and Vernon Gonsalves. Ferriera and Gonsalves were arrested in Mumbai on Friday itself.

Urban naxal case: Review seeking SIT probe into arrest of activists rejected by SC

The activists said to be close to naxalites had been under house arrest since August 29.

The Supreme Court had on September 28 given them four weeks time to seek legal remedies. It may be recalled that hey had been first arrested on August 28 along with Varavara Rao and Gautam Navlakha in connection with the Elgar Parishad case.

Earlier this week a review had been filed challenging the decision of the Supreme Court.

The court had however refused an early hearing in the case. The court also refused to entertain the plea of the defence lawyers that Pune Police be restrained from arresting them for a week to enable them to appeal this decision in a higher court. Immediately after this, teams of Pune Police which were already in Mumbai, moved to take custody of Gonsalves and Ferreira.

Ferreira and Gonsalves tried to seek extension of their house arrest from the Bombay High Court but the plea was rejected. The matter has been posted for hearing on November 1.
BJP stands for Jandhan, Aadhaar and Mobile but SP is for Jinnah, Azam and Mukhtar: Amit Shah

Amit Shah to chair 29th meeting of Southern Zonal Council in Tirupati today, 26-point on agenda- Details here

BJP is with Lord Ayappa devotees, Kerala CM 'anti-Hindu': Amit Shah

India

oi-Vikas SV

Thirunvananthapuram, Oct 27: BJP president Amit Shah, who is in Kerala today, launched a blistering attack on the Pinarayi Vijayan-led government in the state over the Sabarimala Temple row. Kerala witnessed massive protests last week over the entry of women into the Sabarimala Temple.

While the Supreme Court has ordered that women of all ages be allowed entry into the shrine, the devotees want the prohibition on entry of women between the ages 10-50 to continue as it is an age-old practice.

Sabarimala protests: Stop playing to gallery, HC tells Pinarayi Vijayan govt

"We are standing like a rock with the devotees of Lord Ayyappa..We are standing like a rock with the devotees of Lord Ayyappa," Shah said in Kannur.

The Kerala government should stop the brutality in the name of the Supreme Court judgement, he said.

Kerala Police has so far arrested 2,061 people on the charges of participating in violent protests last week against the entry of women into Sabarimala shrine despite a Supreme Court order.

In the name of court judgement, those who want to incite violence let me tell you that there are many temples which run on different rules and norms: Amit Shah in Kannur #SabarimalaTemple #Kerala pic.twitter.com/IJGUEEgQXv  ANI (@ANI) October 27, 2018

"We have always respected the women, always treated them equal. There are various temples of Sabarimala, where women are allowed, it's only this particular temple where women are not allowed," Shah said today (October 27).

Sabarimala Temple verdict: SC to hear review petitions on November 13

Two BJP activists Suresh Kumar and Anoj Kumar, from Pathanamthitta, have moved petitions in the HC that police are harassing and illegally arresting those who had participated in peaceful prayer meetings.

"People are going through a phase of turmoil and it's about faith Kerala govt is helpless. Since last few days RSS and BJP karyakartas have been arrested under various acts." he said.
RSS feels Muslims themselves are responsible for their marginalisation

India

oi-Vinod Kumar Shukla

New Delhi, Oct 27: If the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) talks about appeasement being the reason that has caused hindrance in the development of Muslims among the minority community then one of the think tanks of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) comes out with a report that suggests the community itself is responsible for marginalisation. Had this not been the case then the community with highest literacy rate in Kerala would have been better than the other minorities in the country. The report has reached Union law ministry, BJP leader Murali Manohar Joshi and even President Ram Nath Kovind.

The report prepared by Centre for Policy Analysis questions, "Who has marginalised the community of 172 million? Is community ready to adopt measures which may bring it to mainstream? If not then why is so much clamoring for it?" To understand it in a better way, the report says, "If the resource dependency ratio (DPR) of 1951 is compared with 2011, it is found that because of difference in population growth rate of both communities, in the case of the Hindu it has risen to 1:3.15 whereas, in the case of the Muslim Community, same ratio has risen to 1:5.05. It means, in the case of the Hindu, resource dependency ratio has increased 3.15 fold but in the case of the Muslim, it has risen to 5.05 fold."

It implies that even if there is no development differential between two communities, simply difference in population growth, has made an average Muslim poorer than an average Hindu by around 38 per cent. "Another important indicator is the status of its women. In a society where women have less say in routine affairs as well as in the decision-making process of the family, birth rate is generally higher. And the higher birth rate, in the absence of adequate economic means or per capita less availability of economic resources, results in low educational attainment as well as lower literacy rate," Centre for Policy Analysis executive chairman Durga Nand Jha told Oneindia.

The community talks about backwardness but unwilling to done away with causes that are constraining the pace of development of the community. "Moreover, if there should be any comparison on the basis of religion, it should be within the state. For example, Muslims of Kerala should be compared to the Hindu of Kerala and that of Muslims of West Bengal to that of their Hindu counterparts of the same state. If both communities are being compared at all-India level, it gives over generalized and misleading picture, as it disregards state-to-state sharp difference in development performance," says the report.

Moreover, if the community remains poor and backward, its implications will not remain limited to the community only, but it will reflect in development performance of the whole country. "As per NSSO data, in following States/UTs Muslim community's per capita monthly expenditure is higher than Hindus. They are: Andaman and Nicobar Island, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Dadar and Nagar Haveli, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim. In rest 24 states/UTs, Hindu's per capita consumption expenditure is higher. It means, in 31.42 per cent states/UTs, Muslims are economically better-off than Hindus while Hindus in 68.57 per cent states/UTs are better off than Muslim. In this regard, one noticeable fact is that these are the states where percentage of Muslim population in total population of the state is lower than its national percentage."

Average Christian, Sikh and Jain have higher per capita monthly consumption expenditure than Hindu in most of the states barring a few. But in Nagaland and Lakshadweep, Hindu is well off than all other minorities. Therefore, one thing is clear that there is no majoritarian slant in income distribution in India. On the contrary, in general, minorities are better-off than majority community of the state in respect of monthly consumption expenditure. So the report concludes, "It is recalcitrant attitude of the community towards forces of the change and development that is marginalising it."

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Story first published: Saturday, October 27, 2018, 22:55 [IST]
Change in the government in Sri Lankan has larger regional implication

India

oi-Vinod Kumar Shukla

New Delhi, Oct 27: Just before the visit of ousted Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe to India between October 18 and October 20, 2018, a controversy broke out in the island nation claiming that Sirisena told a cabinet meeting about India's Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) plotting his assassination. Similarly newly sworn Prime Minister Rajapaksa had blamed the same agency for his loss in the elections. Assassination charges were later denied but why such statements at the first place?

There is a need to understand that such statements does not not come easily. Actually the influence of China in the neighbourhood of India has divided either the political leadership of the country, people or government between India and China except Pakistan where people, country, government and leadership all are anti-India.

Sri Lanka crisis: More than India or China, the island's leaders are eyeing the next polls

During visit of the Sri Lankan Prime Minister that has been marked by close contacts at the highest political level, growing trade and investment, wide ranging development cooperation, increasing linkages in the fields of education, health, infrastructure, connectivity and capacity building and broadening people to people contacts. Both the Prime Ministers discussed major bilateral relations and ways to further deepen the historically ties and friendly relations between the two countries. The leaders exchanged views on regional and global issues. But immediately after his return to Sri Lanka his government goes.

Regional issue in south Asia is quite important with two big powers of Asia vying for control in the region and China has been trying to influence countries like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar and even a tiny country like The Maldives which have strategic importance. The US has said that the government in the country must function as per Sri Lankan constitution. Sources said, "The way change in the government took place outside influence cannot be ruled out. Sri Lanka is also the country where a section of people have antipathy for India. So much so that Rajpaksha blamed India for his defeats in the elections."

But the immediate reason for this development to happen has been that political environment has left Sirisena isolated. He was finding it difficult to work with Wickremesinghe and started making a deal with Rajapaksa and has stuck a deal with him by bringing him back to power.

It is in the common knowledge that Sirisena and Wickremesinghe were not in good terms and the government was facing corruption charges. It was narrowly saved in April when Wickremesinghe had narrowly managed won the no-confidence motion engineered by Sirisena-Rajapaksa supported by Tamils and Muslims.

Sri Lanka president Maithripala Sirisena suspends parliament

But a section in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Maldives have been supportive of China which has huge investment in Sri Lanka, Maldives and Pakistan which is looking for the development of its 'One Road and One Belt' in the area.

Similar kind of controversy is prevailing in the Maldives where now a pro-India government is expected to take over. Actually China under its string of pearl policy not only encircle India but also want to capture business route which goes up to Europe and Africa. China is already at Hambantota, so any development is more of of geopolitics in the region than anything.

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Story first published: Saturday, October 27, 2018, 16:05 [IST]
Congress in alliance talks with Sharad Pawar's party, others for Goa polls

Chhattisgarh Assembly Election 2018: Congress releases another list of 37 candidates

India

oi-Deepika S

Raipur, Oct 27: The Congress on Saturday released another list of 37 candidates for Chhattisgarh Assembly Election 2018.

According to a party statement, Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief Bhupesh Baghel will contest from the Patan assembly constituency. Baghel was embroiled in an alleged sex CD scandal involving a state minister.

Chhattisgarh elections 2018: The interesting case of Kanker district

TS Singh Deo, the Congress Legislature Party leader, will contest from Ambikapur, while former Union Minister Charan Das Mahant will contest from Sakti.

Earlier on October 22, the party had released a list of six candidates for the first phase of Chhattisgarh Assembly Elections 2018. The grand-old party also announced that late former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's niece Karuna Shukla will be contesting against Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh from Rajnandangaon. The party had earlier announced 12 candidates for the Chhattisgarh polls.

Former BJP member Karuna Shukla has previously represented Janjgir constituency. She parted ways with the saffron party in 2013. She contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Bilaspur constituency but was defeated by BJP's Lakhan Lal Sahu.
BJP stands for Jandhan, Aadhaar and Mobile but SP is for Jinnah, Azam and Mukhtar: Amit Shah

CM Vijayan attacks Amit Shah over Sabarimala remark, says BJP's agenda stands exposed

India

oi-Deepika S

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 27: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday hit back at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah over his remark on the Sabarimala row saying that the latter's statement has the agenda of the saffron party exposed.

"Shah's statements in Kannur are against the Constitution and law of the land. It's a clear intention of their agenda of not guaranteeing fundamental rights. This shows the agenda of the RSS and Sangh Parivar," he was quoted as saying by ANI.

BJP is with Lord Ayappa devotees, Kerala CM 'anti-Hindu': Amit Shah

He added, "Amit Shah, who threatened to topple our government, should remember that this government came to power not at the mercy of BJP, but the people's mandate. His message is to sabotage the people's mandate."

Earlier in the day, Shah extended full support to the protest by Ayyappa devotees against the CPI(M)-led LDF government's decision to implement the Supreme court order on entry of women of all ages into Sabarimala temple, saying the Left government was trying to "suppress" the agitation by force.

Addressing party workers after inaugurating the district BJP office here, Shah condemned the arrest of over 2,000 devotees, including RSS and Sangh Parivar activists, across the state agitating against the entry of women of all ages into the temple.

Kerala minister blames RSS for attack on Swami Sandeepananda Giri

Shah said the LDF government led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan would have to pay a "heavy price" if the suppression of the agitation continues.

In a warning to Vijayan, he said the effort by his government to clamp down on the agitation amounted to "playing with fire". "Chief Minister must stop the brutality in the name of implementing the SC verdict," he said adding that even women in the state were against the government move to implement the top court's order.

Alleging that the Left government was trying to "destroy" Sabarimala temple and the "Hindu traditions," the BJP chief said the saffron party won't allow the CPI(M)-led government to "gamble with Hindu faith."

Kerala had witnessed massive protests from devotees at various places, including Sabarimala, Nilakkal and Pamba, against permitting women of all ages to enter the shrine, where the deity is 'Naishtika Brahmachari' (perennial celibate), when the temple was opened for monthly poojas from October 17-22.

At least 12 women in the 'barred' age group (10-50) had tried to trek the hills to offer prayers but had to retreat following widespread protests.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan accused the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh of turning Sabarimala into a "war zone".

Across the state, 2,825 people have been arrested after the chief minister on Thursday chaired a high-level meeting with police officials and ordered a crackdown on those defying the Supreme Court order on the entry of women in the Sabarimala temple. A total of 495 cases have been registered.

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Story first published: Saturday, October 27, 2018, 17:22 [IST]
Firmly with NDA, working to make Modi PM for another term: Kushwaha

India

pti-PTI

Patna, Oct 27: RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha on October 27 said he stands "firmly" with the NDA and is working for another term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a day after he met RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav triggering speculation of discontent within the ruling BJP-led alliance in Bihar.

Kushwaha met Yadav on October 26 hours after BJP president Amit Shah announced a seat-sharing formula for Bihar for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Something brewing? Why did Tejashwi Yadav meet union minister Kushwaha

Kushwaha said the seat-sharing is yet to be finalised in the NDA and that he would meet Shah in the next couple of days.

Kushwaha, Union Minister of State for HRD, also wondered why a conclusion was being drawn that his Rashtriya Lok Samata Party would not get a fair deal.

The RLSP is a part of the BJP-led NDA in the state whose other constituents are Nitish Kumar's JD(U) and Ramvilas Paswan's LJP.

"Seat-sharing is yet to be finalised. I cannot comment on the basis of media reports. I will be meeting Amit Shah in next two-three days. I wonder why people are drawing the conclusion that we are not going to get a fair deal," Kushwaha said. The RLSP is an ally of the BJP since the 2014 general elections.

"I also do not understand this big fuss about an equal number of seats for the BJP and the JD(U). Does it indicate any number?

Upendra Kushwaha calls on RJD Leader Tejashwi Yadav after BJP agrees on 50-50 seat sharing formula

"It could even imply that out of the 40 seats in Bihar, both parties will be contesting 10 each and leave the remaining 20 for others. There is a lot of scope for our party being accommodated respectably," he said.

Dismissing speculation, Kushwaha said, "I am firmly with the NDA and committed to working for another term for Narendra Modi as Prime Minister."

The RLSP chief met Yadav at Arwal shortly after Shah and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar briefed reporters in New Delhi on the seat-sharing arrangement.

A former JD(U) leader, Kushwaha quit the party in 2013, months after suspension on disciplinary grounds, floated his own outfit and joined the NDA while Mr. Kumar's party was out of the BJP-led coalition.

The decision of the BJP, which had won 22 seats in 2014 general elections, to treat JD(U) as an equal partner is also being seen as a snub to Kushwaha, who has been viewing Kumar's return to the NDA with consternation. The JD(U) won a dismal two seats in 2014.

The RLSP had contested and won in three seats under the NDA in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Kushwaha won from the Karakat seat.

Yadav, the RJD heir apparent, reiterated that there was a standing invitation to Kushwaha from his side to leave the NDA and join the grand alliance in Bihar.

Sources in the grand alliance said the RJD was ready to give more number of seats to Kushwaha than what the BJP was willing to spare for the RLSP, even though the Union Minister wanted to wait until it was clear how many seats each NDA constituent was likely to get.

Kushwaha also desires to change his Lok Sabha seat in the 2019 polls as he was not sure of retaining Karakat in south Bihar, they claimed, adding that this was because the constituency does not have a sizeable number of voters from his caste (OBC Kushwaha or Koeri) and the Modi wave, which helped him win in 2014, is on the wane.

Yadav also sought to ruffle more feathers in the NDA, saying the press briefing that was held in New Delhi on October 26 by Shah and Kumar with neither Paswan nor Kushwaha in attendance smacked of disrespect and contempt for the two leaders whose loyalty the BJP seems to have been taken for granted.

On reports of his telephonic conversation with LJP parliamentary board chairman Chirag Paswan after Shah and Kumar came together before the media, he declined to give a direct reply, but said cryptically "Ram Vilas Paswan has been my guardian". He is a father figure and has never back stabbed us the way Mr. Kumar has. "Whom he should tie up with is going to be his call," Yadav said.

PTI
Jaswant Singhs twitter becomes active after his family joins Congress

India

oi-Vinod Kumar Shukla

New Delhi, Oct 27: Twitter handle of former Union external affairs minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jaswant Singh has once again become active just before the family of the BJP leader joined the Congress in the presence of Congress president Rahul Gandhi. His tweeter handle retweeted on October 17 about Manvendra Singh joining the Congress after a long gap that is after 2014.

Jaswant Singh's last tweet was about the death of former Union minister Gopi Nath Munde in a road accidence on January 3, 2014. On October 16, 2018 his tweeter handle retweeted his son Bhupendra Singh Jasol's tweet about their visit to Hinglaj Mata Temple in Pakistan. Then it was tweeted from the handle about the birth anniversary of one of the tallest leader of Bharatiya Janata Party and former vice president of the country Bhairon Singh Shekhawat: "Remembering an extraordinary statesman Late Shri Bhairon Singh Shekhawat on his birth anniversary on October 23, 2018." A picture of Jaswant Singh and former vice president also uploaded.

Manvendra Singh, son of Jaswant Singh joins Congress

There is also a tweet on CBI controversy. A tweet on Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) controversy when the handle tweeted on October 25, 2018: "The measures taken by the government to deal with the functioning of the decade-old institutions of the nation are very unfortunate. After all they are formed to work in the interest of the nation."

Actually Jaswant Singh is in Coma since August 2014 after he met with an accident and now his son Bhupendra Singh is managing his tweeter handle. But this is a matter of discussion that why did the tweeter handle of Jaswant Singh got active after around four years. He was among the top leaders of the BJP during the time of former Prime Minister of Atal Bihari Vajpayee but he racked up a controversy by writing a book on M A Jinnah and his relations with the BJP deteriorated.

He had contested his last Lok Sabha elections from Badmer as an independent candidate. The BJP suspended his son Manvendra Singh but both of them were later inducted in the BJP once again.

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Story first published: Saturday, October 27, 2018, 18:54 [IST]
With 2 more arrests NIA steps up heat on terrorists targeting civilians in J&K

Cleaning up the inside rot: The importance of gunning down Kashmirs white collared terrorists

Hyderpora encounter: Bodies of two civilians exhumed, to be handed over to families

J&K: Terrorists lob grenade at power grid in Nowgam, 1 CISF personnel martyred

India

oi-Vikas SV

Srinagar, Oct 27: One CISF personnel was martyred after terrorists reportedly hurled a grenade at a power grid in Jammu and Kashmir's Nowgam area. The CISF personnel, Rajesh Kumar, was on security duty at the power grid at Wagoora in Nowgam, near Srinagar.

ASI Rajesh Kumar received fatal injuries in the attack and succumbed to his injuries, said reports. The grenade attack is said to have taken place late on Friday night. The area has now been cordened off.

On Friday, a 22-year-old soldier, who was injured when protesters threw stones at an army convoy in south Kashmir's Anantnag, died. Sepoy Rajinder Singh was travelling in the convoy which was attacked near Anantnag bypass tri-junction on Thursday evening.

[J&K: Two terrorists killed in Sopore, one soldier martyred]

On Friday (October 26), security forces killed two terrorists in a fierce encounter that took place in Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla district. An Army jawan was martyred during the gun battle.

[J&K: Two terrorists killed in an encounter in Baramulla's Keeri]

On Thursday, at least six terrorists were eliminated by security forces in two separate encounters that took place in Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla and Anantnag. While two were killed in Baramulla, four killed in Anantnag.

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Story first published: Saturday, October 27, 2018, 9:01 [IST]
Norovirus outbreak in Kerala: How contagious is it? Symptoms, treatment, all you need to know

Kerala minister blames RSS for attack on Swami Sandeepananda Giri

India

oi-Deepika S

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 27: An ashram in Kerala run by a monk who supported the Supreme Court verdict allowing the entry of women of menstruating age to the famous Sabarimala temple, was attacked by unidentified persons early this morning.

Two cars and a scooter belonging to Swami Sandeepananda Giri's School of Bhagavad Gita on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram were set on fire at around 2:30 am.

The attackers also put a wreath in front of the hermitage.Police have registered a case and are on the lookout for the attackers.

Following the incident, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Finance Minister TM Thomas Isaac visited the ashram. Vijayan condemned the act and said stringent action would be taken against the accused, whoever they may be.

"Physical attacks happen when you can't deal ideologically. We will not allow anyone to take law and order in their hands.Those who are intolerant towards Swami's activities attacked his ashram," Vijayan said.

Isaac blamed the Sangh Parivar for the incident and said "they are trying to create serious law and order issues". Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran, who also visited the ashram, said the attack was an attempt to "eliminate" Sandeepananda Giri.

Kerala Minister KK Shailaja who visited the ashram also blamed the rightwing for arson.

"We suspect Hindutva ideology extremist are behind the attack. Swami Sandeepananda Giri said women can enter Sabarimala and that if we want to keep old customs, we can't go forward as human society because several customs discriminate between men and women," she said.

The attack on the ashram comes amid a massive crackdown on protesters who prevented women from entering the Sabarimala temple after it opened for five days this month during which violence and protests around the hill shrine were witnessed. Over 2,800 people from across the state have been arrested and 495 cases have been registered.

BJP chief Amit Shah condemned the arrests. "The Left government in Kerala has misused the Sabarimala issue.

They have used it to arrest workers and supporters of the BJP and other political parties. They have jailed thousands of party workers," said Shah, addressing a rally in Kannur.

The BJP district leadership, however, has denied any role in the attack and demanded an "unbiased" probe into the incident. Speaking from Kannur, BJP leader PK Krishnadas alleged that the chief minister was behind the attack.

"This was an attempt to distract attention from the Sabarimala issue. Sandeepananda Giri does have a role in the conspiracy. DYFI is behind the attack," he said.

At least 12 women in the 'barred' age group (10-50) had tried to trek the hills to offer prayers but had to retreat following widespread protests.

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Story first published: Saturday, October 27, 2018, 17:06 [IST]
Saturday, October 27, 2018 at 1:24PM

Google Photos Live Albums feature is a nifty way to get to see photos of your favorite person or pet as it automatically adds photos of your chosen subjects into its own album. But its been discovered that there is a 10,000-photo limit to the feature. And once youve hit the limit, youll get a Live album paused warning, saying you wont be able to add anymore. So, any new photos will you take of your loved ones will have to be viewed through the usually messy All Photos route. Unfortunately, Googles AI isnt smart enough to take out any badly shot photos or outtakes of your loved ones, so youll need to clean those out yourself manually. According to this issues page in Googles Help Center, you can save 10,000 photos or videos yourself and another 10,000 if you have a shared album.

Source: The Verge
As PM led panel gets set to meet, here are the officers in contention to become next CBI chief

Midnight decision to exile CBI chief Verma taken to prevent midnight hearing in SC

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Oct 27: There were several questions raised as to why the union government took a midnight decision to send CBI chief, Alok Verma on leave. It may be recalled that it was past midnight when the government decided to put an end to the ugly spat between Verma and his deputy Rakesh Asthana.

Oneindia had reported at around 12.30 pm, National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval who had been asked to look into the matter, decided that the two officers had to be sent on leave. He summoned officials to the Prime Minister's Office by around 1 am and directed them to issue an order asking the two officers to go on leave. On Tuesday, the Chief Vigilance Commissioner K V Chowdary had recommended that both the officers be sent on leave.

9 allegations of misconduct, corruption allegations: What CVC will probe against Alok Verma

Government sources explained that the action had been done at that time since they did not want a midnight challenge to the decision. The Supreme Court has opened its doors at midnight in several cases and the government felt that had Verma got wind of the decision, he would have moved the court and even obtained a stay.

The government had on October 23rd decided to send Asthana on leave. The action against Verma was taken in the midnight of October 24. With the spat getting ugly, the government had made up its mind to send both the officers on leave and appoint an interim director.

Prior to the government taking the decision, it had already intimated Nageshwar Rao about the same. He was asked to wait at the CBI headquarters and await the official order appointing him as the Interim CBI chief. At the CBI office, it was ensured that no one else would be allowed inside. The gates remained shut and security was tightened.

An order was issued by the appointments committee headed by the Prime Minister. The order while asking the two officers to go on leave also appointed M Nageshwar Rao as the interim boss of the CBI.

Sources tell OneIndia that after Rao had been intimated about his appointment, he sealed the offices of both officers. He went about his job amidst tight security. Rao then sent out letters to the officers part of both Verma's and Asthana's team on leave.

Supervision by retired judge not an aspersion on CVC's authority say Govt sources

Following this the two officials were informed about the decision taken by the government. The message was conveyed by their messengers. In the morning the two officers were not permitted to enter their offices. It was also decided that there would be no movement of files from their offices.

Sources said that their primary concern was a midnight hearing in the Supreme Court. The decision to convey the message to the two officers about them being divested of their powers was also delayed. It was almost 2.30 am before Verma and Asthana were handed over the order that the government had taken. It would have been very difficult for them to challenge the order in the Supreme Court at that time, the source also said.

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Story first published: Saturday, October 27, 2018, 16:18 [IST]
MP CM terminates Jan Ashirvad Yatra for busy schedule; Opposition claims poor show the reason

India

oi-Vinod Kumar Shukla

New Delhi, Oct 27: The Bharatiya Janata Party in Madhya Pradesh is constantly struggling not only to get crowd for its rallies in the state but also for the Jan Ashirvad Yatra of Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. So has this been the reason that the party decided to call off CM's Yatra?

Chouhan's much publicized Jan Ashirwad Yatra that has become his signature style ended at Jabalpur without completing its target of covering all the 230 Assembly constituencies of the state. Sources said that the CM is not getting good response from people as he was expecting forget about the response similar to that he had got during the last Assembly elections.

Hardik Patel bats for Congress in Malwa region; demands 12 seats for his men

It is being said that during the Jan Ashirvad Yatra, the vehicle of the chief minister had to sped up as there was no crowd on his Yatra route. So the decision has been taken to terminate it. However, official announcement is yet to come but it is decided that he is not going further with the Yatra.

BJP sources in Madhya Pradesh and part of the Yatra team said that the it was aborted because there is just one month left for November 28 polls and the chief minister was finding it difficult to get time for may other important electoral exercises like deciding candidates, manifesto and other strategies. He is member of the Central Election Committee (CEC) of the BJP so he has to visit Delhi quite frequently to attend the meeting as tickets for four other states have to be decided as well.

The Yatra was supposed to be completed by September 25 that was flagged off by BJP president Amit Shah in Ujjain on July 14, 2018. It failed to cover areas like certain areas of Malwa which is the BJP stronghold but the CM failed to visit those areas as well where discontentment is simmering with the presence of Patidar leader Hardik Patel.

NaMo App playing an important role in the ticket distribution for Assembly elections

However, the party is not much short of its target as it has already covered 187 constituency out of 230. The CM had covered 206 constituencies before 2013 Assembly elections in two-months time. Intelligence reports about shoes being hurled and cavalcade being attacked have also been the reason for this decision to be reached at as the CM does not want any ugly seen before elections as the government is already facing huge anti-incumbency.

A senior BJP leader from the state said that now the CM will go to people seeking their support. He will address big public meetings across the state. While the Congress said that the Yatra was terminated because of poor response. The government officials, schoolchildren and beneficiaries of schemes stopped attending the Yatra after the model code of conduct in place.

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Story first published: Saturday, October 27, 2018, 9:59 [IST]
Opposition parties will shout #MeToo if Congress deceives Grand Alliance: Rajnath Singh

India

oi-Deepika S

Hyderabad, Oct 27: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh used the #Metoo analogy to warn Opposition parties from entering into an alliance with the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha elections next year.

While addressing a BJP youth event in Hyderabad on Saturday, the minister explained "whichever party has aligned with the Congress has failed". "Let's hope all opposition parties don't form an alliance with the Congress only to be betrayed later. They might be forced to start their own #MeToo campaign against the Congress," the Home Minister said in Hyderabad today, making a reference to the movement that has empowered women to call out their harassers at workplaces.

"Jo bhi Congress ke saath gaya, usko mitne se duniya ki koi taakat nahi bacha paayi. Baad mein kahin aise haalat na ho jaayein, saari vipakshi partiyan gathbandhan kar lein aur bad mein jab Congress se dhoka kha jaayein, toh #MeToo campaign chalane ke liye majboor ho jaayein ("Anyone who has aligned with Congress has failed in the political field. Later on, a situation should not arise when the alliance parties are deceived by the Congress and are forced to scream #MeToo)," Rajnath Singh said.

The Union minister is heading a panel of Group of Ministers (GoM) to strengthen the legal and institutional frameworks to deal with and prevent sexual harassment at the workplace.

On Wednesday, the government formed the panel to recommend action required for effective implementation of the existing provisions, as well as for strengthening the existing legal and institutional frameworks.

With the #Metoo movement gaining momentum, Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi had earlier expressed her solidarity with the campaign and assured that her ministry would set up a committee of senior judicial and legal persons to look into issues of sexual harassment.

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Story first published: Saturday, October 27, 2018, 18:09 [IST]
PM to address his first rally in Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh; Shah to give 5 days to the state

India

oi-Vinod Kumar Shukla

New Delhi, Oct 27: Political parties in Chhattisgarh have already hit the campaign trail but Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have his first election rally in Jagdalpur district in the state on November 9, 2018 while Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah will give five days to the state for election campaigns. Chief minister Raman Singh will be addressing four rallies on October 27, 2018 after paying his respect to Danteshwari Devi as he always does.

Dissident BSP candidate from Konta reappears after mysterious disappearance

Among all the five state where elections are happening, Chhattisgarh is the only state where the BJP seems to be better placed than the rest of the states. The party has set the 65 plus target for itself the state. Party sources said that the PM will address his first election rally in the state on November 9 in Jagdalpur district and will give special time to the state for its special situation. The BJP president will give five days to the state by addressing several rallies in a day.

With most of the Assembly tickets in Chhattisgarh announced and over a dozen seats yet to be announced, the chief minister has started his election trail from the tribal region and will be addressing four rallies in tribal areas. The party sources said that party is gearing up to intensify its election campaign as election manifesto is also in the final stage and to be released very soon as consultation from various quarters that were sought is now complete.

Chhattisgarh polls: Why BJP is claiming Congress faces anti-incumbency

Before the PM's Jagdalpur rally, the CM will be visiting the city on October 27 and address several rallies in and around. The CM said that Bastar had been a challenge for the government but the government has done many important works in Sukma. Even the PM has given priority to the Bastar area of the state and kept it above all in the development process. So the message for Bastar is that next five year will be for peace and development of the region.

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Story first published: Saturday, October 27, 2018, 13:33 [IST]
Rajasthan elections: Why Khanpur constituency is tricky for BJP

India

oi-Shubham Ghosh

Jaipur, Oct 27: The Congress has predicted victory in the four constituencies in south-eastern Rajasthan's Jhalawar district in the December 7 elections and the ruling BJP may find it tough to win the unpredictable seat of Khanpur - one of those four.

It's not that Khanpur has not been lucky for the BJP. Since 1985, the saffron party has won this seat five out of seven times while the Congress has won two. Khanpur has remained under the BJP's control since 2003 even though power has shifted hands in the state regularly since 1993.

Karni Sena to organise a rally in Jaipur on October 27; Ravindra Jadeja's wife to address it

BJP has a challenge despite winning Khanpur since 2003

The trick, however, lies with the candidates who contest from this seat. Khanpur is one of those seats in the state where no candidate has won consecutive terms. The current MLA from the seat, Narendra Nagar, who is a parliamentary secretary and considered close to Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje won from here in 2003 but was not given ticket again in 2008. In 2008, the winner was Anil Jain but he was not fielded again in 2013 when Nagar came back.

This time, although Nagar looks a strong contender to get tickets from the seat but the history of this seat has created an uncertain situation for the BJP. CM Raje's constituency Jhalrapatan also falls in Jhalawar district and she is known to have a good influence over Khanpur seat as well.

Congress Seva Dal to be actively working on 50 Assembly seats in Rajasthan elections

Jhalawar had earlier five constituencies - Jhalrapatan, Khanpur, Dag, Pirawa and Manohar Thana. In 2003, all five seats were won by the BJP while in 2008, Pirawa ceased to exit following delimitation and both the BJP and Congress won two seats each. In 2013, the BJP won all the four seats again.

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Story first published: Saturday, October 27, 2018, 8:09 [IST]
Sabarimala protests: Stop playing to gallery, HC tells Pinarayi Vijayan govt

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 27: The Kerala High Court made some strong observations against the Pinarayi Vijayan government in connection with the Sabarimala case.

Following the thousands of arrests made by the police, the court asked the government to stop playing to the gallery.

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Arrests should be made only once the involvement of a person is made out. The government will have to pay a heavy price if any innocents are arrested, the Bench comprising Justices P R Ramachandran and Devan Ramachandran said.

The police have so far arrested over 2,000 people on the charge that they had taken part in the violent protests last week against the entry of women into the Sabarimala shrine.

The petitioners Suresh Kumar and Anoj Kumar of the Sabarimala Achara Samrakshana Samithi in their petition alleged that those who were part of peaceful protests were being targeted and harassed. In some cases, the police even took devotees into custody, they alleged.

CM Vijayan blames RSS for violent protests, says it turned temple into 'war zone'

While posting the matter for further hearing on Monday, the court sought to know if only devotees had reached Sabarimala. The court also directed the government not to appoint non-Hindus as Decaswom Commissioners. The government however assured the court that only Hindus would be appointed as the Commissioners of the Devaswoms.

Protests broke out following the verdict of the Supreme Court which permitted the entry of women of all age groups into the Sabarimala Temple. The Kerala police had launched a massive manhunt and registered 450 cases.
No protection, no hearing until we know where you are, SC tells Param Bir Singh

SC likely to commence Ayodhya title suit hearing from Monday

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, Oct 27: The Ayodhya title suit appeals are scheduled for hearing on October 29 before a completely new Supreme Court Bench, led by Chief Justice of India.

The matter would be heard by a bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice K.M. Joseph.

Earlier, the case was being heard by a Bench of then Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice S Abdul Nazeer. After the retirement of CJI Misra on October 2, the Bench has been reconstituted.

Like Sabarimala, SC should pronounce judgement in Ram temple case: Adityanath

The top court had on September 27 refused to refer to a larger Bench its 1994 verdict which ruled a "mosque is not an essential part of the practice of Islam". It had directed the cross appeals in the Ayodhya title suit to be listed before a three-judge Bench on October 29.

By a 2:1 verdict, a Bench headed by then CJI Misra had said the court's observation in the 1994 case was made in the limited context of "land acquisition" at the disputed site and it was not relevant for deciding the main title suit, in which cross-appeals against Allahabad High Court's September 30, 2010 verdict are pending before the top court for eight years.

"We again make it clear that questionable observations made in Ismail Faruqui's case were made in context of land acquisition. Those observations were neither relevant for deciding the suits nor relevant for deciding these appeals," the majority had said.

However, Justice S Abdul Nazeer had dissented, saying "all mosques, all churches and temples are significant for the community." The "questionable" observation of 1994 verdict had permeated into the Allahabad High Court's decision in the case, he had noted.

Muslim parties wanted the top court to reconsider the five-judge Constitution Bench in 1994 in M Ismail Faruqui case which said a mosque was not integral to Islam and Muslims could offer prayer anywhere. They apprehended that the 1994 ruling would adversely affect the outcome of the title dispute.

Hindus believe that Lord Ram was born in Ayodhya thousands of years ago. During Mughal emperor Babar's rule, a mosque was constructed at the place in 1528 after destroying the temples existing there.

The issue whether mosque is integral to Islam had cropped up when he three-judge bench headed by CJI Misra was hearing the batch of appeals filed against the Allahabad High Court's 2010 verdict by which the disputed land on the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid area was divided in three parts.

On 30 September 2010, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court gave a verdict which said that Hindus and Muslims were joint title-holders of the disputed land.

The three-judge bench - comprising Justice SU Khan, Justice Sudhir Agarwal and Justice DV Sharma - ruled in favour of a division of the land in a majority 2:1 judgment, with one-third going to the Sunni Waqf Board, one-third to the Nirmohi Akhara and one-third to the party for Ram Lalla. The dissenting judge gave all the land to Hindus. The apex court had, however, suspended the ruling in 2011 after the Hindu and Muslim groups had appealed against verdict.

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Story first published: Saturday, October 27, 2018, 23:42 [IST]
The war has just begun, let us not let the lockdown go waste: PM to Chief Ministers

Something brewing? Why did Tejashwi Yadav meet union minister Kushwaha

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Patna, Oct 27: The meeting between Union minister and RLSP president Upendra Kushwaha and Tejashwi Yadav on Friday was "coincidental", the RJD leader said, adding that people were "free to draw their own conclusions".

A picture of the meeting between the two leaders in Bihar's Arwal district earlier in the day was shared by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on its WhatsApp group triggering speculation of discontent within the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) grouping in the state.

It specifically assumed significance as it came just hours after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah announced a seat-sharing formula in the state for Lok Sabha elections.

"People are free to draw their own conclusions. I can only say that the meeting was not pre-planned. It was a coincidence that he and I were at the Circuit House at the same time and hence it was natural for us to exchange pleasantries," Yadav, the former deputy chief minister, said.

Upendra Kushwaha calls on RJD Leader Tejashwi Yadav after BJP agrees on 50-50 seat sharing formula

"It is probably the first time that I have met Kushwaha in person. As far as prospects of his joining our grand alliance is concerned, we have invited him to do so long ago and the invitation stands. It is for him to accept it or ignore it," the leader of opposition in Bihar assembly said.

Speculations have been rife for quite some time that the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) chief might gravitate towards the grand alliance which at present comprises the RJD, the Congress and former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha.

Yadav also accused the BJP of neglecting "trusted allies" like Ram Vilas Paswan and Kushwaha in order to woo an "undependable" Nitish Kumar.

"The BJP had won 22 out of 40 seats in Bihar in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Its willingness to treat Kumar as an equal partner, whose JD(U) had won only two seats and lost its deposit in most, shows the desperation on the part of Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi," the leader of the opposition in the state assembly told reporters here.

"Moreover, the meeting between Shah and Kumar gives the impression that the BJP has made up its mind to go with the JD(U) chief, who is undependable having cheated both, them and us, and give a short shrift to Paswan and Kushwaha, who have been firmly with the NDA," he said.

Amit Shah told reporters in New Delhi that an announcement on the number of seats of NDA allies in Bihar, including Kushwaha's RLSP and Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), will be declared in two-three days.

To a question about whether Kushwaha, whose equation with Kumar is far from cordial, will remain a part of the NDA, Shah answered in affirmative and asserted the alliance will do better than the last polls when it had won 31 seats.

"All four parties will remain part of the NDA," he said.

The RJD has been claiming that Kushwaha will leave the NDA and join the Grand Alliance following in the footsteps of Manjhi, who had quit the BJP-led coalition in February this year. Kushwaha, however, maintained that he is with the NDA.

Like Manjhi, Kushwaha is a former JD(U) leader, who had formed his own party after falling out with Nitish Kumar and joined the NDA when the Bihar chief minister was out of the BJP-led coalition.

Kumar's return to the NDA last year was understood to have caused a lot of consternation among the likes of Kushwaha and Manjhi.

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Story first published: Saturday, October 27, 2018, 12:07 [IST]
China building villages well within its side of LAC; no transgression: CDS Bipin Rawat

Cybercrimes in India in pandemic gone up by 500 per cent: Defence Chief Bipin Rawat

Stone pelters killed jawan, but some don't want them to be treated as terrorists' aides: Army Chief

India

oi-Vikas SV

New Delhi, Oct 27: Taking a strong exception to killing of an army jawan by stone pelters, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Saturday said despite such despicable acts some people do not want "stone pelters to be treated like OGWs (over ground workers) of terrorists.

"Jawan who lost his life after being attacked by stone pelters was guarding a border roads team which was constructing roads, and then we have some people saying don't treat stone pelters like OGWs(over ground workers) of terrorists," General rawat said.

Confident of Army's preparedness to meet threats: Gen Bipin Rawat

An army soldier was killed by stone pelters in South Kashmir on Friday.

Colonel Rajesh Kalia, defence spokesman at Srinagar, said the 22-year-old Sepoy Rajendra Singh was a part of the Quick Reaction Team which was providing security to a Border Roads Organisation (BRO) convoy on October 25.

"At around 1800 hrs, when the convoy was passing through the Anantnag bypass tri-junction near NH-44, few youths hurled stones at the vehicle and Singh was injured after being hit by a stone directly on the head," the army official said.

General Rawat stresses on operational readiness

He said Singh was provided immediate first aid and evacuated to 92 Base Hospital where the soldier succumbed to injuries.

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Story first published: Saturday, October 27, 2018, 11:24 [IST]
Tariq Anwar comes a full circle, returns to Congress after 19 years

India

oi-Vikas SV

New Delhi, Oct 27: Tariq Anwar, who had quit the Congress along with Sharad Pawar and PA Sangma in 1999, on Saturday returned to the grand old party. Anwar, a prominent Muslim leader from Bihar, joined Congress in presence of Rahul Gandhi.

Anwar, along with Sharad Pawar and PA Sangma, had in 1999 broken away from the grand old party to protest against the appointment of a 'foreign origin person' - Sonia Gandhi, as the Congress president. The trio had founded Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

Anwar had resigned from the party in protest against NCP president Sharad Pawar's statement defending Prime Minister Modi in the Rafael deal. Anwar had blamed Pawar of weakening the voice of the united Opposition over Rafale issue.

"I was in my constituency (Katihar, Bihar) when I got a call about Sharad Pawar ji's statement. Then I saw BJP president Amit Shah's tweet welcoming Pawar ji's comments. I waited the whole night and I was confident that Pawar Saheb will issue a clarification. In the morning when I saw no statement from him I announced my decision," he told The Hindu in an interview on October 5.

Tariq Anwar quits NCP after Sharad Pawar's 'clean chit' to Modi on Rafale issue

Pawar, speaking to a television channel earlier this month, said that people "do not have doubts" over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intentions (in the Rafale deal). "I don't think people have doubts about Modi's intentions personally," Pawar had told the news channel.

Anwar said he was upset with Pawar's statement and resigned from NCP and also as Lok Sabha MP.

Before quitting the Congress in 1999, Anwar was a member of the Congress Working Committee and was considered close to Sitaram Kesri. Kesri was the Congress president before Sonia Gandhi took over the reins of the party. Anwar was also the state Congress president of the Bihar unit in mid 80s.

NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik had said Anwar's resignation will not have an impact on the party as there was no support for him. "Nobody buys the excuse which Anwar used to quit," Malik had said.

As soon as Anwar quit NCP, Congress leaders in Bihar lauded him and said if he wants to return then he would be most welcome.

Reports say that Tariq had been in touch with senior Congress leaders in New Delhi for the last several months and Congress leadership has given him an open offer to return to his original party.

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Story first published: Saturday, October 27, 2018, 12:17 [IST]
Urban naxals discussed laying of booby traps and directional mines

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Pune, Oct 27: There is prima facie evidence to suggest the involvement of these persons with a banned group, a special court at Pune said while rejecting the bail of three persons in the Elgaar Parishad case, popularly known as the urban naxal case.

The court rejected the bail pleas of Sudha Bharadwaj, Arun Ferriera and Vernon Gonsalves. This paved the way for the police to all of them into custody.

Urban naxal: Time up for 'activists' as court grants police custody

Special Judge, K D Vadane said that at this stage, the material collected by the investigating officer, prima facie reveals the involvement of the present accused. The investigation is at a very crucial stage, therefore in my view the present accused are not entitled for bail, the judge also observed.

It may be recalled that the three said to be sympathetic towards naxalites had been arrested along with New Delhi based, Gautam Navlakha and Hyderabad based Varavara Rao. The police said that these persons played a role in organising and financing the Elgaar Parishad which was held on December 31 2017. With the help of naxalites, they played a role in inciting the violence, when lakhs of people had assembled to attend the 200th anniversary commemoration of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon. Several persons were injured, while one was killed in the violence.

The prosecutor in the case, Ujjwala Pawar told the court that it was sufficient for the Pune Police at this stage to establish a prima facie case against the accused. It is a settled principle that at the time of deciding bail application, it is necessary to take into consideration whether the prosecution has made a prima facie case against the accused persons in respect of the offence alleged against them, she further stated.

To earn their daily bread, how the urban naxals have spread

The prosecution also submitted in the court a document dated January 2 2018, which contained the minutes of a meeting of a naxal front organisation attended by Sudha Bharadwaj. The document allegedly pointed towards a discussion to intensify tactical training for women cadres of the banned outfits. It also discussed laying booby traps and directional mines.

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Story first published: Saturday, October 27, 2018, 10:49 [IST]
Why Telangana is keeping a close watch on Chhattisgarh election phase 1

India

oi-Shubham Ghosh

Hyderabad, Oct 27: As Chhattisgarh is gearing up for its first phase of election scheduled on November 12, neighbouring Telangana, which is also poll-bound, is also keeping a close watch on the developments in the run-up to the first phase.

The first phase of polling in Chhattisgarh will be held in Naxal-hit areas like Bastar and Rajnandgaon and Telangana is discussing a lot of the upcoming polls in the extremist-hit zones, especially Bastar.

Telangana Assembly Polls 2018: Facts about India's youngest state

According to a report in Naidunia, talks are fully on over the elections in Bastar in Andhra Pradesh's East Godavari district besides Telangana's Khammam district.

It also reported that newspapers in Hyderabad are covering the elections in Bastar extensively. Journalists in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are in regular contacts with their counterparts in Chhattisgarh to know how things are shaping up ahead of the November 12 elections. Eighteen of 90 seats in Chhattisgarh will go to polls on that day while the rest will see elections on November 20. The results will be declared on December 11 along with those in Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Rajasthan and Mizoram. Telangana, on the other hand, will go to polls on December 7.

It was learnt that besides the media in Hyderabad, the police, government officials, election authorities and also the common people were keeping a close watch on the November 12 elections. Various questions are being asked on how the extremists are dealing with the election process or how the authorities are tackling them.

Telangana polls: Why BJP feels it has a realistic chance in these 24 seats

The reason behind poll-bound Telangana's interest about the November 12 polls is that like Chhattisgarh, the new state also has the Naxalism problem. The two states' police are also working in tandem to ensure that each other's elections go peacefully.

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Story first published: Saturday, October 27, 2018, 15:02 [IST]
Abducted Japan journalist freed, returns back to his home

International

oi-PTI

Tokyo, Oct 26: A Japanese journalist freed from Syria this week arrived home to overjoyed relatives and supporters, but also to vitriol from some who accuse him and other hostages of reckless behaviour.

Jumpei Yasuda was kidnapped in Syria in 2015, and spent more than three years in conditions he described as "hell." He arrived back in Japan on Thursday night, greeted by his delighted wife and parents, who had brought him homemade Japanese food to celebrate.

But even before Yasuda set foot on Japanese soil, he was the target of angry criticism -- mostly online -- ranging from accusations of recklessness to claims that he was not even Japanese. "He is disturbing society," wrote one Twitter user. "He's an anti-citizen," charged another.

Also Read | Turkey, US want Saudi to explain whereabouts of missing journalist

Perhaps anticipating the criticism, Yasuda's only statement upon arrival, read to reporters by his wife Myu, was dominated by an apology. "I apologise for causing such trouble and worry, but thanks to all of you, I was able to come home safely," he said.

The anger directed at Yasuda -- author of books on the conflicts in Syria and Iraq, whose reporting has appeared on Japanese television -- is a far cry from the reception that journalism held hostage have received in other countries upon their release.

When four French journalists held by the Islamic State group in Syria were released, then-French president Francois Hollande met the men as they arrived home.

But in Japan, freed hostages have often met a mixed reception, with critics suggesting victims were are responsible for getting themselves kidnapped.

"They are the victims, they haven't broken the law, but they have to apologise. It's strange, but it's the mentality of a part of Japanese society," said Toshiro Terada, a professor of philosophy at Sophia University in Tokyo. "The person is accused of having harmed society."

In one of the more shocking examples of the reaction, three Japanese men held hostage in Iraq and freed in 2004 arrived home to find people at the airport holding up banners reading "It's your fault."

Their kidnappers had threatened to burn them alive if Tokyo failed to withdraw non-combat troops stationed in southern Iraq. But then-prime minister Junichiro Koizumi refused the demands, and even declined to meet with the families of the hostages, a hardline position that was applauded in some quarters of Japanese society.

The government itself, supported by right-wing media, described the men as "irresponsible youths" for having ignored warnings to avoid travel to Iraq, then an active war zone. One of the men, Noriaki Imai, said recently he received letters saying "die" or calling him "stupid." "Online, the bashing lasted ten years," he said.

Also Read | Mumbai Journalist attacked near home, Press Club calls it 'dastardly act'

Yasuda has faced similar criticism for venturing to Syria, a country where several Japanese citizens were kidnapped and eventually executed. Compounding the antagonism is the fact that Yasuda was kidnapped once before, in Iraq in 2004, prompting some to describe him as a "professional hostage."

And detractors have claimed Yasuda is not even Japanese, partly as the result of a bizarre hostage video showing him and another captive in Syria that emerged in August. Despite speaking Japanese, he identified himself as a South Korean called "Omar", apparently after his kidnappers banned him from revealing his identity or nationality.

"This guy isn't even Japanese," wrote one Twitter user. "He should go back to his country, South Korea," added another. A string of kidnappings of journalists in Syria at the height of the country's war exposed differences in how governments and publics responded.

Some governments paid ransoms, while others refused, and while countries celebrated their journalists as heroes, others quietly criticised them for taking unnecessary risks. In Japan, mainstream media outlets and officials have largely avoided criticising Yasuda and other hostages, but the antipathy expressed online concerns journalists like Toru Tamakawa, a commentator for TV Asahi.

"In the case of Yasuda particularly, the argument that 'it's his fault' must be firmly rejected," he said this week. "We need people who will risk their lives to go and get information on the ground."

PTI

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Story first published: Friday, October 26, 2018, 17:44 [IST]
US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis

Mattis, who arrived in Bahrain on Friday, will address the Manama Dialogue at a time of strained US ties with key ally Saudi Arabia over the murder earlier this month of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi

Mattis will reiterate "our long term commitment to ensuring and helping these partners and allies... re-instill stability in a very chaotic region", said Principal Deputy Secretary of Defence for International Security Affairs Katie Wheelbarger.

He will call on Arab nations to "continue to look to the United states as your security partner of choice because you can rely on us and depend on us to be there long term", Wheelbarger told journalists travelling with Mattis.

The defence secretary's speech comes as Russia keeps up its military intervention in Syria and Washington accuses Tehran of sowing instability across the region.

Saudi announces Khashoggi's death, Trump believes their explanation

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman

Wheelbarger did not say whether Mattis would directly address the Khashoggi murder in his speech. A critic of Saudi Arabia's powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Khashoggi was murdered after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2.

On Thursday, CIA Director Gina Haspel briefed US President Donald Trump on the latest developments in the investigation after a fact-finding mission to Turkey.

Under pressure, Saudi admits killing Khashoggi huge and grave mistake'

CIA Director Gina Haspel

Pro-government Turkish media said that intelligence officers showed Haspel video images and audio tapes of Khashoggi's killing gathered from the consulate. His murder has generated international outrage and undermined relations with Riyadh, which Washington depends on to counter Shiite power Iran's regional influence.

Bahrain is a key ally of both Saudi Arabia and the US, which bases its Fifth Fleet in the small island kingdom. The Sunni-ruled kingdom in 2011 crushed a Shiite protest movement that had been inspired by the Arab Spring, accusing Iran of provoking unrest.

Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist was gone missing from October 2 after he entered a consulate to procure a document for his marriage. Many people including Trump urged authorities to find his whereabouts. However in October 15, it was revealed that Khashoggi got killed after he indulged in fistfights with 15 other people at the Consulate.

PTI
Sri Lanka won't be allowed to be used for 'any activity' against India: President Rajapaksa

Sri Lankan human trafficking case: Victims were lured with promise of jobs in Canada

Ousted Lanka PM Wickremesinghe seeks emergency parliament session

International

oi-Chennabasaveshwar P

Colombo, Oct 27: Ousted Sri Lanka PM Ranil Wickremesinghe sought an emergency parliament session on Saturday.

Sri Lanka's president issued a formal notice for Ranil Wickremesinghe to step down as prime minister and recognise his shock dismissal, in an unfolding constitutional crisis.

Ranil Wickremasinghe refuses to step down, says Rajapaksa appointment 'unconstitutional'

Hours after sacking his former ally, President Maithripala Sirisena issued gazettes formalising the dramatic move, and the installation of one-time strongman president Mahinda Rajapakse as the new prime minister.

Mahinda Rajapaksa sworn in as Sri Lankan Prime Minister amid political drama

The sudden development came amid growing tensions between President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe on several policy matters and the president has been critical of the Prime Minister and his policies, especially on economy and security.
PM Modi: We have decided to withdraw all three agricultural laws

PM Modi arrives in Japan to attend 2-day summit with Shinzo Abe

International

oi-PTI

Tokyo, Oct 27: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday arrived in Japan to attend the 13th India-Japan annual summit with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe.

The two-day summit beginning on Sunday will seek to review the progress in ties and deepen strategic dimension of the bilateral relationship.

"Landed in Tokyo. I am confident this visit will add new vigour to the strong friendship between India and Japan," Modi said in a tweet.

In a statement on Friday, before leaving for Japan, Modi described India and Japan as a "winning combination" and said the island nation was New Delhi's most trusted partner in its economic and technological modernisation.

He said India's partnership with Japan was of great substance and purpose.

"We have a special strategic and global partnership. Our ties with Japan, both economic and strategic, stand completely transformed in recent years. It is today a partnership of great substance and purpose. It rests on the strong pillars of India's Act East Policy, and our shared vision and commitment to a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific," he said.

Modi said it will be his 12th meeting with Abe since he first visited Japan as prime minister in September 2014.

He said, as democracies, the two countries shared values and seek peace and prosperity for all.

"Our complementarities make India and Japan a winning combination. Japan today is one of the most trusted partners in India's economic and technological modernisations and one of the top investors in India," he pointed out.

The PM said projects such as Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail and Dedicated Freight Corridors reflect the high level and "strength of our economic engagement".

"Japan is also at the forefront of engaging in our national initiatives, such as 'Make in India', 'Skill India', 'Digital India', 'Start Up India'... Japanese investors have faith in India's economic future, which is marked with myriad opportunities," Modi said.

PTI

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Story first published: Saturday, October 27, 2018, 20:01 [IST]
Sri Lanka won't be allowed to be used for 'any activity' against India: President Rajapaksa

Ranil Wickremasinghe refuses to step down, says Rajapaksa appointment unconstitutional

International

oi-Shubham Ghosh

Colombo, Oct 27: Sri Lanka faced a sudden crisis as President Maithripala Sirisena on Friday, October 26, removed Ranil Wickremsinghe as the prime minister and appointed his former cabinet colleague Mahinda Rajapaksa, his immediate predecessor, as the new premier of the island-nation.

According to experts on Sri Lankan constitution, the latest move by Sirisena could trigger a constitutional crisis since the 19th Amendment of the law of the land doesn't give the president the powers to remove the prime minister but only those to appoint.

Mahinda Rajapaksa sworn in as Sri Lankan Prime Minister amid political drama

According to Colombo Telegraph, a viewpoint is doing the rounds in Sri Lanka that Sirisena appointed Rajapaksa as Sri Lanka's new prime minister without legally removing Wickremasinghe.

"According to the 19th Amendment to the constitution, a Prime Minister cannot be removed in the Nineteenth Amendment, unless a) he resigns from office, or b) ceases to be a Member of Parliament. The dissolution of Parliament can also result in the resignation of the incumbent Prime Minister," the Colombo Telegraph said in a report.

Wickremasinghe was aware of it and in a strong statement made after the development, he said he was still the prime minister of Sri Lanka and termed Rajapaksa's appointment as "unconstitutional".

Delhi watches closely as pro-China Rajapaksa is back

He also said that would not step down from his post. The 69-year-old United National Party leader made his stand known after consulting senior parliamentarians

Mangala Samaraweera, the country's finance and media minister, also criticised the move saying it was "unconstitutional". He also said it was an "anti-democratic coup".

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Story first published: Saturday, October 27, 2018, 8:02 [IST]
Israel Embassy blast: The NIA is looking for these men, watch CCTV footage

You are the most popular person in Israel, join our party: PM Bennett to PM Modi

Rockets fired from Gaza hit Israel following deaths of 5 Palestinians

International

oi-PTI

Gaza City, Oct 27: A barrage of rockets from Gaza hit Israel during the night, the army said Saturday, hours after five Palestinians were killed during clashes on the Israeli border, in a flareup that could jeopardise truce efforts.

The largest projectile attacks in months and the border fatalities came despite talk of progress towards an Egyptian-brokered deal to end months of often violent protests along the border.

"Overnight, dozens of rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip at communities in southern Israel," the army said in a statement, putting the exact number in a separate announcement at 30.

"The IDF's Iron Dome aerial defense system intercepted approximately 10 projectiles," the army said, adding that two rockets fell within the Gaza Strip while the others landed in "open areas".

Israeli medics said seven civilians were being treated for shock. In response to the rockets, Israeli fighter jets, helicopters and drones struck "approximately 80 Hamas targets throughout the Gaza Strip".

Israel to supply missile defence systems to India for 7 million

There were no reports of Gaza casualties as a result of the strikes. Hamas, the militant Islamist rulers of Gaza, did not claim responsibility for the rockets, but Israel holds it responsible for any launches from the coastal enclave.

"The rocket fire is conducted in a terror-filled atmosphere which is generated by Hamas in the area of the security fence and in acts such as tonight's events," the army said.

Islamic Jihad, the second largest militant group in Gaza, hailed the rocket fire in a statement as a response to "Israeli aggressions", stopping short however of directly claiming responsibility for the launches.

A Hamas official said that following the escalation Egypt was again seeking to negotiate a return to calm. Earlier, five Palestinians aged between 22 and 27 died in separate incidents along the border fence, the Gaza health ministry said.

The army did not comment on the deaths but said around 16,000 "rioters and demonstrators" had gathered along the border, with some setting tyres alight and hurling rocks, firebombs and grenades towards soldiers.

Troops responded with "riot dispersal means", a spokesman added. Three of the men were shot dead east of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, while one was killed east of Jabalia in the north of the coastal territory, the health ministry said.

A fifth man died east of Bureij in central Gaza when a hand grenade he was holding exploded accidentally, witnesses said. Palestinians have gathered for protests along the Gaza Strip's border at least weekly since March 30.

At least 212 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza since the protests began, according to figures collated by AFP. The majority have died during protests, while smaller numbers have been killed by airstrikes and tank fire.

One Israeli soldier was shot dead by a Palestinian sniper along the border in the same period. The protesters are calling to be allowed to return to lands their families fled or were expelled from in a 1948 war surrounding the creation of Israel and which are now inside the Jewish state.

They are also protesting over Israel's crippling blockade of Gaza. Israel accuses Hamas of orchestrating the often violent demonstrations. Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008 and much of the international community considers the Islamist movement a terrorist organisation.

The fresh violence could also scupper hopes of a deal to end the months of protests. Egypt and the United Nations have been brokering indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel with the aim of calming the situation amid fears of another war.

Last week, a rocket fired from Gaza hit an Israeli home, narrowly avoiding killing a family. In response the Israeli army carried out air strikes on around 20 Hamas targets in Gaza.

The London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat reported Friday that a deal had been reached that would see the protests end in exchange for an easing of Israel's blockade.

Hamas officials denied a deal had been struck but confirmed to AFP that progress was being made. "We expect to reach an agreement very soon," a senior Hamas official said earlier Friday on condition of anonymity.

Israel also fully reopened its border crossings with the Gaza Strip this week following a week of relative calm. It allowed dozens of trucks of fuel paid for by Qatar into the strip, having previously banned their entry in response to the border violence.

Israel says the decade-long blockade is necessary to isolate Hamas, while critics say it amounts to collective punishment of Gaza's two million residents.

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Story first published: Saturday, October 27, 2018, 17:06 [IST]
Top US general says China hypersonic missile test is 'very concerning'

Sri Lanka: As Rajapaksa returns to power, US has a word of caution

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oi-Madhuri Adnal

Washington, Oct 27: The United States urged political parties in Sri Lanka on Friday to abide by the Constitution and refrain from violence, as the latter country faces a constitutional crisis after its president ousted the prime minister.

Controversial Sri Lankan strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa staged a dramatic political comeback on Friday, becoming the new prime minister after President Maithripala Sirisena sacked premier Ranil Wickremesinghe who termed the move as "unconstitutional" and vowed to prove his majority in Parliament.

Ranil Wickremasinghe refuses to step down, says Rajapaksa appointment 'unconstitutional'

In its first reaction to the unfolding situation in Sri Lanka, the US State Department said it is following the development in the island nation.

"We call on all parties to act in accordance with SL's Constitution, refrain from violence, and follow due process," the State Department said in a tweet.

"We expect gov of SL to uphold its Geneva commitments to human rights, reform, accountability, justice, and reconciliation," the South and Central Asia Bureau of the State Department said.

The move that took the island nation by surprise came amid growing tensions between Sirisena and Wickremesinghe on several policy matters even as the President remained critical of the Prime Minister and his policies, especially on economy and security.

Delhi watches closely as pro-China Rajapaksa is back

Reacting sharply to his sacking, Wickremesinghe asserted that the swearing-in of Rajapaksa is "illegal and unconstitutional" and he will prove his majority in Parliament.

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Story first published: Saturday, October 27, 2018, 11:41 [IST]
Members of farmers' body detained in Lucknow for trying to burn effigies of PM Modi, Shah

Constable recruitment exam: UP STF arrests six for leaking question paper

Lucknow

pti-PTI

Lucknow, Oct 26: Six members of a gang involved in leaking a question paper of a constable recruitment examination were arrested by the UP Special Task Force in Agra.

In a statement issued on Friday, the STF said the members of the gang were trying to leak the examination paper to the aspirants in lieu of financial gains from them. The examination was scheduled on October 25 and October 26, and the arrests were made on Thursday.

"Acting on a tip-off that some people have gathered at Khandauli area of Agra to leak the question paper to aspirants in lieu of financial gains, a team of UP STF stationed in Agra arrested six people. The arrested are Arun, Monu, Chandraveer Singh, Raju, Ajit and Kuldeep," the STF said.

[Jammu University postpones English exams after question paper leak]

"Two cars, six mobile phones and Rs 2 lakh were recovered from them. When interrogated, the arrested persons said they used to impersonate aspirants in various examinations and charge Rs 2 lakh from each aspirant," the STF said.

A case has been registered against the arrested persons under the IPC and the IT Act, the STF statement said, adding the arrests were made before the examination which was scheduled for October 26.

PTI
Photo: The Canadian Press

The National Energy Board has issued new safety orders for a pipeline explosion site near Prince George, to strictly monitor natural gas flows, protect people and the environment.

The federal regulator says in a statement it ordered Calgary-based Enbridge to limit gas flows at 80 per cent pressure levels as a safeguard near the blast site, located about 15 kilometres northeast of Prince George.

The Oct. 9 explosion ruptured a 91-centimetre natural pipeline, but did not damage an adjacent 76-centimetre pipeline, which is now sending natural gas on a reduced basis to about one million customers in B.C.

The NEB says safety hazards exist at the site and this week it placed restricted operating pressures on both pipelines that will remain in place until Enbridge demonstrates the lines can operate safely at higher pressure.

FortisBC, the province's natural gas supplier, says its customers can expect reduced supplies as winter approaches.

The company says natural gas supplies could be limited to 50 to 80 per cent of normal levels during the coldest months of the year.




1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.

2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.

3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament of the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.

4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.

5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.

6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.

7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.

8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.

9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.

10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.

11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)

12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.

13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.

14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.

15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.

16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.

17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.

18. Gain control of all student newspapers.

19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.

20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.

21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.

22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."

23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."

24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.

25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.

26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."

27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."

28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."

29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.

30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."

31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.

32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.

33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.

34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.

36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.

37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.

38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand.

39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.

40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.

41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.

42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use united force to solve economic, political or social problems.

43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.

44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.

45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike.
Photo: The Canadian Press Attorney General Jeff Sessions pauses before speaking about the arrest of Cesar Sayoc, 56, of Aventura, Fla., in the package bomb case, during a news conference at the Department of Justice, Friday, Oct. 26, 2018, in Washington.

Federal authorities on Friday captured a Florida man with a criminal history and a fervour for President Donald Trump and accused him of sending at least 13 mail bombs to prominent Democrats, capping a nationwide search in a case that spread fear of election-season violence with little precedent in the U.S.

Justice Department officials announced five federal charges against Cesar Sayoc, 56, of Aventura, Florida, and revealed that DNA and a fingerprint found on an envelope package helped them identify the suspect after a five-day, coast-to-coast investigation. Even as he was arrested and charged, investigators scrutinized new suspicious packages believed to be tied to his plot.

FBI officials did not disclose a motive, although Attorney General Jeff Sessions suggested politics may have played a role, noting Sayoc appeared to be a "partisan." Those who saw him in the neighbourhood, unmistakable in a white van plastered with Trump's image and political stickers, described him as unsettling and troubled.

Sayoc's social media profiles portray a deeply disaffected conservative who trafficked in online conspiracy theories, parody accounts and name-calling. He called a Florida school shooting survivor a "fake phoney," peddled theories about George Soros, the billionaire political donor targeted this week by a package bomb and denigrated other Democrats who were later the intended recipients of explosive packages.

An amateur body builder and former stripper who once spent time on probation for a bomb threat charge, Sayoc first registered as a Republican voter just ahead of the March 2016 Republican primary and quickly identified himself as a proud Trump supporter, tweeting and posting on Facebook videos that appear to show him at Trump rallies.

He appeared to be to living in his van, showering on the beach or at a local fitness centre.

Sayoc's arrest Friday was a major breakthrough in the nationwide manhunt following the discovery of explosive devices  none of which detonated  addressed to prominent Democrats and other frequent targets of conservative ire, including former President Barack Obama, former Vice-President Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and the cable network CNN. On Friday, new packages addressed to New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and former National Intelligence Director James Clapper were intercepted  both similar to those containing pipe bombs discovered earlier in the week. Investigators in California scrutinized a package sent to Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris, her office said, and one sent to Tom Steyer, a billionaire businessman who has campaigned for months for Trump's impeachment.

The mail bombs, coming barely a week before major midterm elections, sparked a heated national conversation about the hard-edged political climate and Trump's role in fanning the flames. The president as branded the media the "enemy of the people" and hurled harsh, personal insults at others targeted in the plot.

Shortly after Sayoc was detained, Trump declared that "we must never allow political violence to take root in America" and that Americans "must unify."

Speaking later to reporters Friday evening before leaving for a political rally in North Carolina, said he knows Sayoc supported him but that he himself "bears no blame." Hours earlier Trump had complained via tweet that "this 'bomb' stuff" was taking attention away from the upcoming election and that critics were wrongly blaming him.

FBI and police officials worked swiftly to untangle clues this week as the packages mounted, sometimes several in the same day.

The big break came when a fingerprint found on one of the packages, intended for California Rep. Maxine Waters, matched a fingerprint of Sayoc's on file with Florida authorities. A DNA sample from a device intended for Obama similarly matched the suspect's DNA, the FBI said.

An additional clue: Misspellings from his online posts matched mistakes found on the packages, according to an 11-page criminal complaint that included the formal charges of threatening former presidents and transporting explosives across state lines.

Some packages included photographs of the intended recipients marked with a red "x," the FBI said. The packages contained timers and batteries, but were not rigged to explode upon opening. Officials were uncertain whether the devices were poorly designed or never intended to cause physical harm.

Authorities noted that they included "energetic material." A footnote to the charging document said such explosive material "gives off heat and energy through a rapid exothermic reaction when initiated by heat, shock or friction."

"These are not hoax devices," FBI Director Chris Wray said.

Sayoc was arrested near an auto parts store in Plantation, Florida, north of Miami. Across the street, Thomas Fiori, a former federal law enforcement officer, said he saw about 50 armed officers swarm a man standing outside a white van. They ordered him to the ground, Fiori said, and he did not resist.

"He had that look of, 'I'm done, I surrender,'" Fiori said.
Photo: CTV Police raided a Devil's Army clubhouse on Petersen Road in Campbell River in connection with the 2016 murder of a Saanich Mixed Martial Arts fighter. Aug. 10, 2017.

The president of the Vancouver Island-based Devil's Army Motorcycle Club has been charged with murder.

Ricky Alexander is facing first-degree murder charges in the death of semi-pro Saanich MMA fighter John Dillon Brown.

Alexander is being held in custody after he was arrested Friday, according to the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of British Columbia.

Brown, 30, was found dead in his car on a bridge near Sayward in March 2016.

The apparently targeted murder led police to raid a Devil's Army clubhouse in Campbell River in August 2017.

In the release, police say Alexander is one of the founding members of the motorcycle club, which has been based in Campbell River since 2009.

"While a charge of First Degree Murder is significant in any circumstance, this charge is particularly significant as it involves a long-time high ranking member of an Outlaw Motorcycle Club, CFSEU-BC Chief Supt. Trent Rolfe said in a statement.

- with files from CTV Vancouver Island
Soldier Monitoring Systems Market 2018 Global Growth Analysis & Forecast to 2025 - Lockheed Martin, Safran, Leidos, Rheinmetall Defence, Arralis, Q-Track, TT Electronics, Inova Design Solutions.

Soldier Monitoring Systems Market

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UpMarketResearch offers a latest published report on Global Soldier Monitoring Systems Market Analysis and Forecast 2018-2023 delivering key insights and providing a competitive advantage to clients through a detailed report. The report contains 134 pages which highly exhibit on current market analysis scenario, upcoming as well as future opportunities, revenue growth, pricing and profitability.Get Free Exclusive PDF Sample Copy of This Report:Soldier Monitoring Systems Industry research report delivers a close watch on leading competitors with strategic analysis, micro and macro market trend and scenarios, pricing analysis and a holistic overview of the market situations in the forecast period. It is a professional and a detailed report focusing on primary and secondary drivers, market share, leading segments and geographical analysis. Further, key players, major collaborations, merger & acquisitions along with trending innovation and business policies are reviewed in the report. The report contains basic, secondary and advanced information pertaining to the Soldier Monitoring Systems Industry global status and trend, market size, share, growth, trends analysis, segment and forecasts from 2018  2023.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 Any Query Please Visit:The generated report is firmly based on primary research, interviews with top executives, news sources and information insiders. Secondary research techniques are implemented for better understanding and clarity for data analysis.The report for Soldier Monitoring Systems market analysis & forecast 2018-2023 is segmented into Product Segment, Application Segment & Major players.The following manufacturers are covered in this report: Lockheed Martin Safran Leidos Rheinmetall Defence Arralis Q-Track TT Electronics Inova Design SolutionsSoldier Monitoring Systems Production by Region United States Europe China Japan Other RegionsTo Buy This Report Directly and get it in PDF format within 24 hours, please visit:Soldier Monitoring Systems Breakdown Data by Type Soldier Tracking System Health Monitoring System OtherSoldier Monitoring Systems Breakdown Data by Application Defense Law EnforcementSoldier Monitoring Systems Market Analysis and Forecast 2018-2023 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.Grab Special Discount :Key Reasons to Purchase: To gain insightful analyses of the market and have a comprehensive understanding of the Global Soldier Monitoring Systems Industry Analysis and Forecast 2018-2023 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 Soldier Monitoring Systems market analysis and forecast 2018-2023.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.You can also ask for region wise market research report, as below: Soldier Monitoring Systems-Global Market Status & Trend Report 2013-2023 Top 20 Countries Data Soldier Monitoring Systems-North America Market Status and Trend Report 2013-2023 Soldier Monitoring Systems-South America Market Status and Trend Report 2013-2023 Soldier Monitoring Systems-Europe Market Status and Trend Report 2013-2023 Soldier Monitoring Systems-EMEA Market Status and Trend Report 2013-2023 Soldier Monitoring Systems-Asia Pacific Market Status and Trend Report 2013-2023 Soldier Monitoring Systems-China Market Status and Trend Report 2013-2023 Soldier Monitoring Systems-India Market Status and Trend Report 2013-2023 Soldier Monitoring Systems-United States Market Status and Trend Report 2013-2023About UpMarketResearch:The UpMarketResearch () is a leading distributor of market research report with more than 800+ global clients. As a market research company, we take pride in equipping our clients with insights and data that holds the power to truly make a difference to their business. Our mission is singular and well-defined  we want to help our clients envisage their business environment so that they are able to make informed, strategic and therefore successful decisions for themselves.Contact Info:Name: Alex MathewsEmail: alex@upmarketresearch.comOrganization: UpMarketResearchAddress: 500, East E Street, Ontario, CA 91764, United States.
BASF, DSM, Profiled in Canthaxanthin market Forecast 2018-2024 | Top Players - Parchem  fine & specialty chemicals, Zipont Chem(Wuhan) Tech CO., LTD, Zhejiang Medicine Co., Ltd.

Canthaxanthin Market

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Canthaxanthin Market is estimated to exceed USD 85 Million by 2024; according to a new research report by Global Market Insights, Inc. Canthaxanthin market, falling under the canopy of specialty chemicals space, has been inherently influenced by the changing dynamics of animal feed additives industry. In the year 2017, animal feed applications contributed over 40% to the overall canthaxanthin market share. The procurement of a lions share is primarily due to the products extensive deployment in animal nutrition, particularly aquafeed as a food coloring agent.Request Sample Copy of This Report @Company Profiles1. BASF2. DSM3. Guangzhou Wisdom Bio-Technology Company4. Hangzhou Onicon Chemical Co, LTD5. NOVEPHA COMPANY LIMITED6. Novus International7. Parchem  fine & specialty chemicals8. Wellgreen Technology Company Limited9. Zhejiang Medicine Co., Ltd.10. Zipont Chem(Wuhan) Tech CO., LTDIt is prudent to mention that the government rollouts have played a pivotal role in shaping the canthaxanthin market trends in animal feed sector. The European Union is one amongst those highly regulated belts governing the efficacy and safety of this chemical. In a recent turn of events, the European Commission and Health & Consumer Protection-Directorate General in Council Directive 70/524/EEC have legalized the use of canthaxanthin as feed additive, under a set condition. Regulation No (EC) 1831/2003 of the European Parliament has further permitted canthaxanthins usage as food additives. According to the Commission Directive 2003/7/EC, the maximum canthaxanthin content in final feedstuff should be limited to 25mg/kg. Backed by similar such initiatives in pipeline authorizing the deployment of canthaxanthin in tandem with the ever-evolving animal feed additives industry, the growth prospects of canthaxanthin market seem to be humongous.However, the opportunities though massive, are deemed to be critically governed and swayed by a strict regulatory landscape, given the products correlation with the nutrition matrix.Browse Full Report Details @In the year 2010, the EFSA panel on Food Additives and Nutrient Sources, further re-evaluated canthaxanthins safety limit as a food additive. As per the experts conjuncture, canthaxanthin usage as food and feed additives is unlikely to exceed the acceptable daily intake. In the Commission Regulation (EC) No 775/2008, the maximum residue limit for canthaxanthin was restricted to 5mg/kg muscle wet weight for trout and 10mg/kg muscle wet weight for salmon. Given that the industry dynamics is widely dependent on the regulatory framework, an authorized approval by the canthaxanthin market players becomes a mandate for these chemicals to be merchandized. Reportedly, the product undergoes a demonstration phase where it is tested if it is viable and safe for the health as well as environment.In 2015, DSM, the globally acclaimed nutrition giant, received a GRAS approval from the U.S. FDA for its Canthaxanthin supplement, Carophyll Red 10%. This breakthrough supplement claims to act as nutritive antioxidant for developing chicken embryos. For the record, Carophyll Red had been already recognized by the European Food Safety Authority as a performance enhancer for poultry breeders. Receiving an approval from FDA further added an extra feather to its portfolio in the global canthaxanthin industry.Speaking of competitive landscape, strategic collaboration remains the top-notch tactic undertaken by the industry players to attain technological expertise and expand the regional as well as product portfolios. In the year before last, BASF, one of the most prominent chemical industry players joined forces with Novus International to exclusively enhance its health supplement sector. Reportedly, the deal had reinforced BASFs stance in canthaxanthin market particularly, with a lucrative consumer base. Some of the other renowned names exhibiting a strong contendership in canthaxanthin market include Zipont Chem Tech, Novepha Company, Noshly and Novus International.One of the most anticipated trends remains the expansion of canthaxanthin industry portfolio in the dietary supplements sector. Geriatric population base in this regard will significantly influence the geographical trends of the canthaxanthin market, particularly in regions with a synonymous demographic profile.Inquiry before buying @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:Explore Our Blog @
Cable Glands Market By Type, Trends, Size And Industry Forecast 2017-2023 | Key Players-Bartec Feam, CMP Products, Copper Crouse-Hinds, Cortem Group

Cable Glands

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According to a new report published by Allied Market Research, titled, Cable Glands Market by Type, by Cable, by Material, and by End Users: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2017-2023, The global cable glands market generated revenue of $1,667 million in 2016 and is projected to reach $2,513 million by 2023, registering a CAGR of 6.1% during the forecast period, i.e. from 2017 to 2023. In 2016, the armored segment is anticipated to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period.Access Full Summary at:A cable gland, also known as sealing glands or strain reliefs, allow the facilitation of barrier penetration while simultaneously offering sealing protection. They can be utilized with probes, wires, power, and signaling cables. Cable gland might be utilized on a wide range of electrical power, control, instrumentation, information, and broadcast communications links. Factors such as upgradation and renewal of existing networks, owing to government regulations, surge in the construction industry among developing countries, rise in energy demand levels globally coupled with the rise in population, and also a surge in real estates will help in the growth of the market in the near future.The global cable glands market is segmented based on type into industrial & hazardous. The market is also divided by cable type into armored and unarmored. The market is further categorized by different material, which includes brass, nylon/plastic, stainless steel, and others; and by end user into oil & gas, mining, aerospace, manufacturing & processing, chemical, and others; and analyzed across four geographical regions, namely, North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and LAMEA.Access Sample Report Click Here:In 2016, the brass cable glands segment was the leading revenue contributor to the global market. However, the plastic/nylon cable glands segment is expected to witness healthy growth rates during the forecast period.Key Findings of the Cable Glands Market: In 2016, Asia-Pacific dominated the global market with approximately one-third share in terms of value. Asia-Pacific is estimated to witness the highest growth rate during the forecast period. In 2016, China was the leading revenue contributor to the Asia-Pacific cable glands market. The brass cable glands segment by material generated the highest revenue to the global market in 2016, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.1%. The plastic/nylon segment is estimated to register the highest growth rate, in terms of revenue, registering a CAGR of 6.8%.In 2016, Asia-Pacific dominated the global market, owing to rapid industrialization in India and China. North America is the second leading revenue contributor to the global market, and is expected to register a CAGR of 5.6% in terms of revenue.For Purchase Report Click Here:The key players profiled in the report are Amphenol Industrial Products Group, Bartec Feam, CMP Products, Copper Crouse-Hinds, Cortem Group, Elsewedy Electric, Jacob Gmbh, Metal Craft Industries, Sealcon LLC, Warom Group, Wiska, Weidmller Interface GmbH & Co. KG, Agro AG, and Hummel AG.Allied Market Research, a market research and advisory company of Allied Analytics LLP, provides business insights and market research reports to large as well as small & medium enterprises. The company assists its clients to strategize business policies and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain.Allied Market Research provides one stop solution from the beginning of data collection to investment advice. The analysts at Allied Market Research dig out factors that help clients to understand the significance and impact of market dynamics. The company amplies clients insight on the factors, such as strategies, future estimations, growth or fall forecasting, opportunity analysis, and consumer surveys among others. As follows, the company offers consistent business intelligent support to aid the clients to turn into prominent business firm.Contact:David Correa5933 NE Win Sivers Drive#205, Portland, OR 97220United StatesToll Free (USA/Canada):+1-800-792-5285, +1-503-894-6022, +1-503-446-1141UK: +44-845-528-1300Hong Kong: +852-301-84916India (Pune): +91-20-66346060Fax: +1855550-5975help@alliedmarketresearch.comWeb:
Photo: The Canadian Press First responders surround the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pa., where a shooter opened fire Saturday, Oct. 27.

UPDATE: 2:15 p.m.

Eleven people have been confirmed dead after a shooting at a baby-naming ceremony at a Pittsburgh synagogue Saturday.

At least six other people were wounded, including four police officers who dashed to the scene, authorities said.

Police said a suspect was in custody after the attack at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighbourhood. A law enforcement official identified the suspect as Robert Bowers and said he is in his 40s. The official wasn't authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Bowers' full motive is still unknown. The social media site Gab.com said the alleged shooter had a profile on its website, which is popular with far-right extremists. The company said the account was verified after the shooting and matched the name of the gunman.

A man with the same name posted on Gab before the shooting that "HIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I can't sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I'm going in."

HIAS is a non-profit group that helps refugees around the world find safety and freedom. The organization says it is guided by Jewish values and history.

Bowers also recently posted a photo of a collection of three semi-automatic handguns he titled "my glock family," a reference to the firearms manufacturer. He also posted photos of bullet holes in person-sized targets at a firing range, touting the "amazing trigger" on a handgun he was offering for sale.

City officials said the shooting was being investigated as a federal hate crime. It comes amid a rash of high-profile attacks in an increasingly divided country, including the series of pipe bombs mailed over the past week to prominent Democrats and former officials.

The shooting also immediately reignited the longstanding national debate about guns: President Donald Trump said the outcome might have been different if the synagogue "had some kind of protection" from an armed guard, while Pennsylvania's Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf noted that once again "dangerous weapons are putting our citizens in harm's way."

The people who provided the death toll spoke to The Associated Press anonymously because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the shooting.

The attack took place during a baby naming ceremony, according to Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro. It was unknown whether the baby was harmed.

"It is a very horrific crime scene. It's one of the worst that I've seen and I've been on some plane crashes," said a visibly moved Wendell Hissrich, the Pittsburgh public safety director.

The synagogue is located in the tree-lined residential neighbourhood of Squirrel Hill, about 10 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh and the hub of Pittsburgh's Jewish community.

Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive officer of the Anti-Defamation League, said the group believes it is the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in U.S. history.

"Our hearts break for the families of those killed and injured at the Tree of Life Synagogue, and for the entire Jewish community of Pittsburgh," Greenblatt said.

UPDATE: 12:45 p.m.

At least 10 people were killed in the shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue Saturday, according to sources.

The suspect in the shooting has been taken into custody.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

UPDATE 9:44 a.m.

Police said a suspect was in custody after a shooting caused "multiple casualties" at a Pittsburgh synagogue on Saturday.

Three officers were also shot in the attack at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighbourhood.

It was not immediately known how many people had been shot, whether there were any fatalities or what the shooter's motive was.

Police spokesman Chris Togneri said police have no more information at this time because they were still trying to clear the building and determine if any more threats exist.

The synagogue is located at the intersection of Wilkins and Shady avenues. The tree-lined residential neighbourhood of Squirrel Hill, about 10 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh, is the hub of Pittsburgh's Jewish community.

Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto said all residents of the neighbourhood are required to stay inside their homes until further notice.

Jeff Finkelstein of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh told WPXI that organization's security officer has notified all JCC synagogues and that they are on modified lockdown.

President Donald Trump said he was monitoring the shooting. In a tweet, Trump encouraged people to shelter in place and said "looks like multiple fatalities."

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf called the shooting an "absolute tragedy."

"We must all pray and hope for no more loss of life," Wolf said. "But we have been saying "this one is too many" for far too long. Dangerous weapons are putting our citizens in harm's way."

In 2010, Tree of Life Congregation  founded more than 150 years ago  merged with Or L'Simcha to form Tree of Life * Or L'Simcha.

The synagogue is a fortress-like concrete building, its facade punctuated by rows of swirling, modernistic stained-glass windows illustrating the story of creation, the acceptance of God's law, the "life cycle" and "how human-beings should care for the earth and one another," according to its website. Among its treasures is a "Holocaust Torah," rescued from Czechoslovakia.

Its sanctuary can hold up to 1,250 guests.

Finkelstein said local synagogues have done "lots of training on things like active shooters, and we've looked at hardening facilities as much as possible."

"This should not be happening, period," he told reporters at the scene. "This should not be happening in a synagogue."

Just three days before the shooting, Rabbi Jeffrey Myers posted a column on the congregation's website, noting that people make time to attend funerals, but not for life's happy occasions.

UPDATE 8:54 a.m.

Police official: Suspect in custody after fatal Pittsburgh synagogue shooting; three police officers also shot.

UPDATE 8:27 a.m.

Police officials have said there are multiple casualties at the scene.

A police official says multiple casualties were reported after a shooting near a Pittsburgh synagogue.

Pittsburgh police have tweeted that there is an active shooter in the area of Wilkins and Shady avenues.

The Tree of Life Congregation synagogue is at that intersection.

More information will be provided as soon as it's available.
Small Molecule Targeted Cancer Therapy Market Key players : OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Cytokinetics Inc., Hospira Inc., GlaxoSmithKline plc, Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH

Small Molecule Targeted Cancer Therapy Market

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Small Molecule Targeted Cancer Therapy is the medication that blocks the cancerous cells growth by destroying the targeted molecules that result in the growth of tumor and carcinogenesis. Conventional chemotherapies and cytotoxin medications destroy the division of cancerous cells by inhibiting the process of cell division. Targeted Cancer therapy is considered to be more effective than the conventional methods and prevent normal cells from harmful radiations. Small Molecule Targeted Cancer Therapy has broad spectrum of application in multiple myeloma, melanoma, prostate cancer, lymphoma, breast cancer, and all other cancers.Competitive LandscapeThe key strategies adopted by the companies to expand in the Small Molecule Targeted Cancer Therapy market are product launches, mergers & acquisitions and agreements & collaborations. These strategies would provide efficient products and yield strong performing products that support the market regulations and finally, exhibit better customer satisfaction. The companies profiled in this report are OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Cytokinetics Inc., Hospira Inc., GlaxoSmithKline plc, Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, Bayer HealthCare AG, and Abbott Laboratories.Get Sample PDF Brochure :Small Molecule Targeted Cancer Therapy has a targeted approach and minimal after side- effects; this results into increased rate of adoption of the therapy by the end users. This is the major factor that is driving the growth of the market. Moreover, increase in the rate of cancer incidences is also contributing to the growth of the market. The substantial hurdle for the growth of the market is the rate of the approved chemical drugs that is declining every year due to stringent regulations. In addition, low awareness among end-users and high operational cost are also hampering the growth of the market. Drugs that are losing their patents such as Norvartiss Glivec are unlocking the door of opportunity for the manufacturers of the Small Molecule Targeted Cancer Therapy.Small Molecule Targeted Cancer Therapy Type Market AnalysisSmall Molecule Targeted Cancer Therapy type market is segmented into monoclonal antibodies, small molecules and small molecule drug conjugates. Monoclonal antibodies can be further segmented into fully human antibody (with an immune system target), chimeric monoclonal antibody (with a tumor target) and humanized monoclonal antibody (with a circulatory system target). Small Molecules can also be further segmented into small molecule cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor, small molecule proteasome inhibitor and small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor. Small Molecules segment is the largest revenue generating segment due to its kinase inhibitor that can provide relatively more protection to the normal cells. It can efficiently destroy the selected target cells and prevent the growth of the tumor.Small Molecule Targeted Cancer Therapy Geography Market AnalysisGeographically, Market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and RoW. North America is the largest revenue generating segment due to relative rise in the cancer cases.High Level AnalysisThe report analyzes various macro environments of the Small Molecule Targeted Cancer Therapy market using porters analysis. According to porters analysis, the bargaining power of the supplier is high due to high cost of switching. The bargaining power of buyer is low due to the specialized products of Small Molecule Targeted Cancer Therapy market and threat of substitute is low due to unavailability of alternate products.Key Benefits The study helps to analyze the Small Molecule Targeted Cancer Therapy market trends to provide excess intelligence into the entire market segment and thus, helps the market players to make strategic decisions To study the various factors that are enhancing and restraining the development of the market that would help the stakeholders in understanding the market in detail To identify competitive strategies adopted by the top players due to certain government regulations and thus, assist the stakeholders in taking actionable decisions Porters five forces model helps to understand the scope of bargaining power of buyers and suppliers and threat of the new entrants The analysis focuses on the wide variety of opportunities for the growth and expansion of the marketAllied 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.David C5933 NE Win Sivers Drive#205, Portland, OR 97220United StatesToll Free: +1-800-792-5285UK: +44-845-528-1300Hong Kong: +852-301-84916India (Pune): +91-20-66346060Fax: +1855550-5975help@alliedmarketresearch.comWeb:
Ericsson, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola Solutions, Ruckus Wireless Carrier Wi-Fi Market - Business Opportunities with Top Players like Airspan, Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco Systems, Aruba Networks, ADTRAN, BelAir Networks

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The carrier Wi-Fi market solutions are adopted in various application verticals including BFSI, IT & telecom, healthcare, energy, government, education, and transportation. The market is witnessing a huge adoption rate from the IT & telecom and financial service sectors due to a growth in the SIM-based Wi-Fi access points that provide a closer integration between the mobile network and Wi-Fi.Request for an in-depth table of contents for this report @Companies operating in these industries are also innovating advanced solutions to deliver an enhanced customer experience and gain a competitive edge in the market. For instance, in October 2017, Nokia introduced a new carrier Wi-Fi for in-home solutions. This new solution will provide gigabyte coverage to the entire home, eliminating the interfaces and dead zones.Carrier Wi-Fi Market size is growing at a fast rate due to the increasing adoption of IoT and 5G applications along with the rising advent of smart cities. Carrier Wi-Fi provides a better user experience to the end users by delivering an easy access to Wi-Fi with enhanced service quality.It also enables service providers to manage a large network of access points, supporting thousands of nodes. There is an increase in the amount of data generated from various electronic devices such as tablets, smartphones, and laptops in numerous developed and developing countries. The amount of mobile data generated in 2014 was around 2 exabytes and reached around 8 exabytes by 2017. Hence, the deployment of carrier Wi-Fi solutions assists operators to cope with the growing data by enabling them to offload traffic onto the fixed networks in high-traffic areas such as city areas or at major events. This method permits the operators to move the data transmission to a Wi-Fi-based network, reducing the traffic and increasing the efficiency.Carrier Wi-Fi technology is also being used by the operators worldwide to enable cloud-based applications and meet the high bandwidth requirements driving the market growth. It delivers various features such as scalability, wide area mobility, network management, carrier-grade security, and fewer service interruptions, driving its adoption in the market. It is also considered as a cost-effective solution in deploying public hotspots in various restaurants, public places, and university campuses, accelerating the internet penetration rate in developing nations.The emergence of LTE and 5G has resulted in the carrier Wi-Fi becoming an integral part of the network architecture. The industry is witnessing a huge shift in network planning and strategy with innovations in fiber-optics, IP-based core networks, and self-organizing & heterogeneous networks, driving the market demand. Various companies also anticipated to increase their carrier Wi-Fi investments by 2020, in terms of 5G network development, driving the market growth. Furthermore, security has always been a concern for the open Wi-Fi networks as unprotected Wi-Fis can hamper the user and organizational data, leading to huge loses. Carrier Wi-Fi delivers enhanced security by hardening the Wi-Fi network and in turn protecting it from security threats such as spam, spoofing, and viruses, motivating the demand for the carrier Wi-Fi market.Despite the strong inclination of the operators toward the carrier Wi-Fi market, there are still certain issues, which may limit their growth. There are a set of crucial technologies such as enhanced tools for managing Wi-Fi hotspots that are considered as a key requirement for the high-volume deployments of this solutions. A shortage of these tools acts as a critical parameter, hampering the market growth.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @The carrier Wi-Fi market has penetration into software such as network management, network monitoring & intrusion prevention, and network performance analytics. The network management software is projected to hold the highest market share as it offers various benefits to the mobile operators such as reduced power usage, service flexibility, and enhanced service environment including location-based & data analytics services, accelerating the market demand.Asia Pacific is considered the strongest region of growth in the carrier Wi-Fi market due to an increase in the number of mobile subscriptions in countries including India and China. There is also a rise in the demand for smartphones in this region, paving new growth opportunities for the telecom operators. The rate of requests for proposals from various mobile operators is increasing with countries including China, Indonesia, and India, driving the growth. Furthermore, the government has also taken strategic steps such as digitalization and smart cities initiative, which has a positive effect on the market growth. The U.S. is also projected to grow at a fast rate due to the growth in data and the fluctuating network traffic in this region.Browse Full Report @The carrier Wi-Fi market is fragmented with the existence of a substantial number of players. Some of the major players present in the market are Airspan, Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco Systems, Aruba Networks, ADTRAN, BelAir Networks, Ericsson, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola Solutions, and Ruckus Wireless. These players are making huge investments in R&D and bringing about strategic business collaborations to expand their presence in the competitive carrier Wi-Fi market.Market share calculation in this report is not done based on companies covered in it. The calculation of carrier Wi-Fi market share is done based on a regional approach and countries covered. On request, additional companies can be covered as well as regional data for particular country / countries can be provided.Browse Related Reports:Wi-Fi Hotspot Market Size By Component (Hardware [Gateways, Controllers, Mobile Hotspot Devices], Software [Hotspot Management Software, Security Software, Billing Software, Cloud-based Software], Services [Professional, Managed]), By Application (Commercial [Trains, Hotels, Planes, Municipalities, Retail, Airports, Cafes], Community [Residential, Business]), Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, UK, Germany, France, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Russia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia & New Zealand, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Israel, South Africa), Growth Potential, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2018  2024About 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:Blog:
Global OBD Aftermarket Growth Evolution By Key Players: Innova, Automatic, Continental, TomTom, Magneti Marelli, Danlaw Inc, CalAmp, Mojio, Intel Corporation, Azuga, Inc., GEOTAB, Vector Informatik, Bosch USA

On-board Diagnostics (OBD) Aftermarket

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OBD Aftermarket is projected to register a lucrative growth at a CAGR of over 17% between 2018 and 2024. The growth can be attributed to the factors such as an increase in vehicle production and the growing need to implement emission control norms and regulations to tackle air pollution. The significant investments made by the automotive manufacturers and the aftermarket service providers around the globe are contributing to an increasing demand for the development of connected vehicles. The rapid growth of the automobile industry has forced the manufacturers to offer more robust OBD devices, particularly for light-duty and heavy-duty vehicles.OBD Aftermarket size is set to exceed USD 1.5 billion by 2024. The increasing emphasis on developing connected vehicle solutions and the growing adoption of IoT technology in the automobile sector are driving the growth of the OBD aftermarket. The increase in vehicle production, particularly LCVs and HCVs, has generated the demand for more stringent emission control standards.Request for a sample of this research report @The government agencies around the world have implemented stringent emission control regulations to combat the increasing impact of air pollution on the environment. The increasing complexities in vehicles have generated the need to have more robust remote diagnostics solutions. Remote diagnostics technology is also gaining more popularity as it provides the vehicle owners and technicians with the real-time information about the vehicles status and helps in the effective monitoring of vehicle components remotely.The automotive industry uses two types of OBD hardware devices, viz., OBD scanners and OBD dongles. The scanners are more like code readers or scan tools that read codes from any vehicle equipped with OBD II. The OBD dongles are gaining more popularity among fleet managers. The dongle is a visible accessory that can be connected to the drivers smartphone, plugged directly into the OBD II port, and can also be connected in an effortless way to a network. As these devices can be independently used and do not require any wired connection, the demand for dongles is projected to grow swiftly over the forecast timeline.The hardware segment held a majority share of over 40% in the OBD aftermarket in 2017 due to the large-scale adoption of traditional OBD scanners such as scan tools and code readers to access the vehicles OBD port. These scanners act as an interface to provide users with the vehicles engine-related parameters. However, with the emergence of OBD dongles, additional information, such as driver behavior analytics and remote diagnostics, can be effectively extracted from vehicles.Company profiled in this report based on Business overview, Financial data, Product landscape, Strategic outlook & SWOT analysis:1. Innova2. Automatic3. Continental4. TomTom5. Magneti Marelli6. Danlaw Inc7. CalAmp8. Mojio9. Intel Corporation10. Azuga, Inc.11. GEOTAB12. Vector Informatik13. Bosch USAMake an inquiry for buying this report @OBD Aftermarket, By Vehicle Typeo Passenger Vehicleso Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV)o Heavy Commercial Vehicles (HCV)OBD Aftermarket, By Componento Hardwareo OBD Scannerso OBD Dongleso Softwareo PC-based softwareo Appso Serviceo Training and consultingo Integration and maintenanceo Managed serviceNorth America held a major share of the OBD aftermarket in 2017. The proliferation of OBD dongle-based solutions is estimated to grow at a faster pace in the region between 2018 and 2024. The automobile sector in this region continues to record a steady growth due to the high penetration of advanced technologies in the transportation systems and the increased momentum of autonomous vehicles. The presence of some major global automobile players and the increasing investments by foreign auto suppliers in their manufacturing facilities are driving the regions automobile market growth.Asia Pacific OBD aftermarket is estimated to register the fastest growth at a CAGR of over 20% from 2018 to 2024 due to the rapid growth in the automobile industry, particularly in China, India, and Japan. With huge investments by domestic and global auto players in the region, the market is projected to grow swiftly during the forecast timeline.Some of the key players operating in the OBD aftermarket are Innova, Automatic Labs, Continental, TomTom, Magneti Marelli, Danlaw, CalAmp, Metromile, ERM Telematics, Mojio, Intel Corporation, Xirgo Technologies, Azuga, Inc., Verizone, Geotab, Vector Informatik, AVL Ditest, Autel, and Bosch USA.Browse key industry insights spread across 210 pages with 331 market data tables & 27 figures & charts from the report, On-board Diagnostics (OBD) Aftermarket in detail along with the table of contents:About Global Market InsightsGlobal 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 UsArun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:
Network Traffic Analytics Market 2018 Trends and Key Industry Players 2024: Cisco, Microsoft, IBM, Symantec, Juniper Networks, Nokia, Accenture, Palo Alto Networks, Huawei Technologies, SolarWinds

Network Traffic Analytics Market

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The solutions segment dominates the network traffic analytics market and held around 71% of the market share in 2017. Due to an enormous rise in the network traffic, the companies face inadequacy in providing network-wide visibility. Hence, there is a rise in the installation of network traffic analytics solutions. The network traffic monitoring leads the solution segment as it ensures the smooth functioning of the computer network by incorporating packet recapturing and network sniffing techniques and review every incoming and outgoing packet. The services segment is increasing at the fastest rate and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 24.4 percent over the forecast timeline. These services assist customers to ensure that their products run efficiently, remain available, and take advantage of the application software and up-to-date systems.Network Traffic Analytics Market in the network security solution is growing at the fastest rate with a CAGR of 24.1% over the forecast timeline. Due to the rising advent of digitalization and the adoption of technologies, such as IoT and cloud computing, the amount of data generated grew tremendously. This growth in big data requires effective monitoring and storage as they fall prey to various malicious attacks. Therefore, network security solutions are used to detect and block malicious attacks throughout the network. The governments worldwide are investing funds and implementing rules and regulations to enhance the cybersecurity offerings of their country.Request for a sample of this research report @The development of SaaS enabled network traffic analytics solutions has accelerated the overall market growth. Due to the growing technological advancements and market consolidation, enterprises are offering SaaS enabled solutions to their customers. They offer multiple advantages such as enhanced scalability and administration, improved productivity, data storage convenience, and delivery of new services with optimum resilience and security. They also automatically update products empowering them to prevent the growing cyber-security threats.The fastest growing segment in the network traffic analytics market comprises cloud service providers. These service providers are highly prone to cyber attacks due to the rise in the malware attacks including ransomware, banking malware, and scareware. Moreover, around 400,000 new malware attacks that target public clouds and SaaS providers and damage the critical data daily have been recognized. Hence, it is necessary for the cloud service providers to monitor network traffic, data movement, and application activity at all stages of the cloud environment, boosting the network traffic analytics market growth.The on-premise deployment model held around 85% of the market share in 2017. This deployment model offers a reliable platform for storing information as they would send critical customer information directly from their web apps and mobile phones to the network traffic analytics service providers. However, the adoption of a cloud platform is projected to grow at a CAGR of 32% by 2024 due to the rapid increase in the number of data centers, generating a huge volume of information.The IT & telecom enterprises are anticipated to dominate the network traffic analytics market by 2024. The increased worldwide adoption rate of the internet with an enhanced usage of social networking platform and the rise in smartphone penetration rate are the major factors driving the network traffic analytics market demand. Telecommunication companies are investing millions of dollars and entering into strategic partnerships to boost their network traffic management platform, enhancing their service offerings and gaining a competitive edge in the market. For instance, in July 2017, KDDI Corporation, a Japanese telecom operator entered into a partnership with Kentik, a leading network traffic intelligence firm. This will allow KDDI to deploy the companys Kentik Detect solution for real-time network monitoring and planning efficiencies.Company profiled in this report based on Business overview, Financial data, Product landscape, Strategic outlook & SWOT analysis:1. Cisco2. Microsoft3. IBM4. Symantec5. Juniper Networks6. Nokia7. Accenture8. Palo Alto Networks9. Huawei Technologies10. SolarWindsMake an inquiry for buying this report @Network Traffic Analytics Market, By Componento Solutionso Network Traffic Monitoringo Network Visibilityo Network Performanceo Network Securityo Network Capacity Planningo Serviceso Integration and Deployment Serviceo Consulting Serviceo Training and Support Serviceo Managed ServiceNetwork Traffic Analytics Market, By Deployment Modelo On-premiseo CloudNorth America held around 52% of the market share in 2017 and is anticipated to remain the network traffic analytics market leader over the forecast timeframe. The major factors contributing to the growth of the region include the early adoption of the network traffic analytics solutions along with the presence of the leading industry players including Cisco, IBM, and Microsoft. The companies operating in this region are also entering into strategic partnerships to expand their businesses offerings.Browse key industry insights spread across 230 pages with 399 market data tables & 38 figures & charts from the report, Network Traffic Analytics Market in detail along with the table of contents:The European network traffic analytics market held around 26% of the industry share in 2017. The region has the presence of some of the leading telecom companies in the world, such as Vodafone, SoftBank Group, and Telefonica S.A., fueling the market demand. Furthermore, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) implemented by the government in May 2018 has laid down effective data privacy and security guidelines. This will prevent the companies from sharing the customer personal data without their consent and boosting the network traffic analytics market growth.Some of the major vendors operating in the network traffic analytics market are Cisco, Microsoft, IBM, Symantec, Juniper Networks, Nokia, Kentik, Flowmon Networks, Plixer, SolarWinds, Allot Communication, Accenture, Bradford Networks, Ascom Holding, Palo Alto Networks, Huawei Technologies, Netreo, Inc., Genie Networks, and Zenoss.Browse Related Reports:About Global Market InsightsGlobal 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. 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Consumer Robotics Market Analysis by Top Key Players  iRobot Corporation, Jibo, Inc., 3D Robotics, Inc., Honda Motor Co., Ltd

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Consumer robotics is shifting from a phase of being largely dominated by cleaning robots, into robotic personal assistants or family companions. Also, robotic toys, which, until now, were largely gimmicky, are transforming into interactive connected play devices that have virtually limitless possibilities, as well as useful educational tools as a part of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)-based curriculum. The second phase of the consumer robotics revolution is well and truly underway, and the next 5 years will set the stage for how these robots fundamentally transform our homes and daily lives.This Consumer Robotics market research is an intelligence report with meticulous efforts undertaken to study the right and valuable information. The data which has been looked upon is done considering both, the existing top players and the upcoming competitors. Business strategies of the key players and the new entering market industries are studied in detail.Get Sample Copy of this Report @This report focuses on the Consumer Robotics in global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report covers: iRobot Corporation, Jibo, Inc., 3D Robotics, Inc., Honda Motor Co., Ltd., Bossa Nova Robotics, DJI, SoftBank GroupThe declining price of personal robot owing to rapidly growing competition in market drives the adoption of consumer robot while augmenting its market growth. In addition, the growing demand for homecare owing to rapidly aging population and rising prevalence of diseases further propel the consumer robot market growth.Growing spending power of consumers and increasing need for convenience, especially in developed countries, is another major factor contributing to the growing consumer robot market. Other drivers include growing the rise in security threat, high speed innovation and growing number of players. However, the performance issue might hold back the market growth. High speed innovation is expected to augment the consumer robot market growth over the projected period.The worldwide market for Consumer Robotics is expected to grow at a CAGR of roughly xx% over the next five years, will reach xx million US$ in 2023, from xx million US$ in 2017.Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers North America Europe Asia-Pacific South America Middle East and AfricaMarket Segment by Type, covers Autonomous Semi-AutonomousMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided into Entertainment Security and Surveillance Education Telepresence Service OthersGet a discount on this research report @There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Consumer Robotics market. Chapter 1, to describe Consumer Robotics Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force; Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Consumer Robotics, with sales, revenue, and price of Consumer Robotics, in 2016 and 2017; Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017; Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Consumer Robotics, for each region, from 2013 to 2018; Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the market by countries, by type, by application and by manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions; Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2013 to 2018; Chapter 12, Consumer Robotics market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2018 to 2023; Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Consumer Robotics sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source.Access full report Description, TOC and Table of Figure @:About Us:Industry executives tend to keep a tab on their business competitors. This keeps them updated on strategic business activities and investment trends. Company profiles are crucial to participating players of interconnected verticals.Contact Us:5933 NE Win Sivers Drive, #205, Portland,OR 97220 United Statescall answer Direct:+1-971-202-1575call answer Toll Free:+1-800-910-6452email help@bigmarketresearch.com
Aluminum Foil Industry Market Outlook 2023 by Top Companies like: Alcoa, Ess Dee Aluminium, GARMCO, Hindalco Industries, Norsk Hydro, RUSAL, Elval, JW Aluminum, Norandal,

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The foil is pliable, and can be readily bent or wrapped around objects. Thin foils are fragile and are sometimes laminated to other materials such as plastics or paper to make them more useful. Aluminum foil supplanted tin foil in the mid-20th century.Get Sample Copy of this Report atAluminum foil (or aluminum foil), often referred to with the misnomer tin foil, is aluminum prepared in thin metal leaves with a thickness less than 0.2 mm (7.9 mils); thinner gauges down to 6 micrometers (0.24 mils) are also commonly used. In the United States, foils are commonly gauged in thousandths of an inch or mils. Standard household foil is typically 0.016 mm (0.63 mils) thick, and heavy duty household foil is typically 0.024 mm (0.94 mils).In the Global Aluminum Foil Industry Market Analysis & Forecast 2018-2023, the revenue is valued at USD XX million in 2017 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2023, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2018 and 2023.Annual production of aluminum foil was approximately 800,000 tonnes (880,000 tons) in Europe and 600,000 tonnes (660,000 tons) in the U.S. in 2003.Approximately 75% of aluminum foil is used for packaging of foods, cosmetics, and chemical products, and 25% used for industrial applications (e.g. thermal insulation, cables and electronics).It can be recycled.Inquire about this Report atThe production is estimated at XX million in 2017 and is forecasted to reach XX million by the end of 2023, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2018 and 2023.It covers Regional Segment Analysis, Type, Application, Major Manufactures, Industry Chain Analysis, Competitive Insights and Macroeconomic Analysis.Global Aluminum Foil Market: Regional Segment AnalysisNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaThe Major players reported in the market include:AlcoaEss Dee AluminiumGARMCOHindalco IndustriesNorsk HydroRUSALElvalJW AluminumNorandalGlobal Aluminum Foil Market: Product Segment AnalysisContainerHouseholdOthersGlobal Aluminum Foil Market: Application Segment AnalysisConsumer packagingPharmaceutical packagingIndustrialTable of ContentGlobal Aluminum Foil Industry Market Analysis & Forecast 2018-2023Chapter 1 Aluminum Foil Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Aluminum Foil1.2 Aluminum Foil Market Segmentation by Type in 20161.2.1 Global Production Market Share of Aluminum Foil by Type in 20161.2.1 Container1.2.2 Household1.2.3 OthersChapter 2 Global Economic Impact on Aluminum Foil Industry2.1 Global Macroeconomic Environment Analysis2.1.1 Global Macroeconomic Analysis2.1.2 Global Macroeconomic Environment Development Trend2.2 Global Macroeconomic Environment Analysis by RegionsChapter 3 Global Aluminum Foil Market Competition by Manufacturers3.1 Global Aluminum Foil Production and Share by Manufacturers (2016 and 2017)3.2 Global Aluminum Foil Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2016 and 2017)3.3 Global Aluminum Foil Average Price by Manufacturers (2016 and 2017)3.4 Manufacturers Aluminum Foil Manufacturing Base Distribution, Production Area and Product Type3.5 Aluminum Foil Market Competitive Situation and Trends3.5.1 Aluminum Foil Market Concentration RateChapter 4 Global Aluminum Foil Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)4.1 Global Aluminum Foil Production by Region (2013-2018)4.2 Global Aluminum Foil Production Market Share by Region (2013-2018)4.3 Global Aluminum Foil Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)4.4 Global Aluminum Foil Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)4.5 North America Aluminum Foil Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)4.6 Europe Aluminum Foil Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)4.6.1 Europe Aluminum Foil Production and Market Share by Manufacturers4.6.2 Europe Aluminum Foil Production and Market Share by Type4.6.3 Europe Aluminum Foil Production and Market Share by Application4.7 China Aluminum Foil Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)4.7.1 China Aluminum Foil Production and Market Share by Manufacturers4.8 Japan Aluminum Foil Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)4.8.1 Japan Aluminum Foil Production and Market Share by Manufacturers4.9 Southeast Asia Aluminum Foil Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)4.9.3 Southeast Asia Aluminum Foil Production and Market Share by Application4.10 India Aluminum Foil Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)4.10.1 India Aluminum Foil Production and Market Share by Manufacturers4.10.2 India Aluminum Foil Production and Market Share by Type4.10.3 India Aluminum Foil Production and Market Share by ApplicationChapter 5 Global Aluminum Foil Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2013-2018)5.1 Global Aluminum Foil Consumption by Regions (2013-2018)5.2 North America Aluminum Foil Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2013-2018)5.3 Europe Aluminum Foil Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2013-2018)5.4 China Aluminum Foil Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2013-2018)5.5 Japan Aluminum Foil Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2013-2018)5.6 Southeast Asia Aluminum Foil Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2013-2018)5.7 India Aluminum Foil Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2013-2018)Chapter 6 Global Aluminum Foil Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type6.1 Global Aluminum Foil Production and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)6.2 Global Aluminum Foil Revenue and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)6.3 Global Aluminum Foil Price by Type (2013-2018)6.4 Global Aluminum Foil Production Growth by Type (2013-2018)Chapter 7 Global Aluminum Foil Market Analysis by Application7.1 Global Aluminum Foil Consumption and Market Share by Application (2013-2018)7.2 Global Aluminum Foil Revenue and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)7.3 Global Aluminum Foil Consumption Growth Rate by Application (2013-2018)7.4 Market Drivers and Opportunities7.4.1 Potential Applications7.4.2 Emerging Markets/CountriesChapter 8 Global Aluminum Foil Manufacturers Analysis8.1 Alcoa8.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors8.1.2 Product Type, Application and Specification8.1.3 Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)Chapter 9 Aluminum Foil Manufacturing Cost Analysis9.1 Aluminum Foil Key Raw Materials Analysis9.1.1 Key Raw Materials9.1.2 Price Trend of Key Raw Materials9.1.3 Key Suppliers of Raw Materials9.1.4 Market Concentration Rate of Raw Materials9.2 Proportion of Manufacturing Cost StructureChapter 10 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers10.1 Aluminum Foil Industrial Chain Analysis10.2 Upstream Raw Materials Sourcing10.3 Raw Materials Sources of Aluminum Foil Major Manufacturers in 201610.4 Downstream BuyersChapter 11 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders11.1 Marketing Channel11.1.1 Direct Marketing11.1.2 Indirect Marketing11.1.3 Marketing Channel Development Trend11.2 Market PositioningChapter 12 Market Effect Factors Analysis12.1 Technology Progress/Risk12.1.1 Substitutes Threat12.1.2 Technology Progress in Related Industry12.2 Consumer Needs/Customer Preference Change12.3 Economic/Political Environmental ChangeChapter 13 Global Aluminum Foil Market Forecast (2018-2023)13.1 Global Aluminum Foil Production, Revenue Forecast (2018-2023)13.2 Global Aluminum Foil Production, Consumption Forecast by Regions (2018-2023)13.3 Global Aluminum Foil Production Forecast by Type (2018-2023)13.4 Global Aluminum Foil Consumption Forecast by Application (2018-2023)13.5 Aluminum Foil Price Forecast (2018-2023)Chapter 14 AppendixFigure Picture of Aluminum FoilFigure Global Production Market Share of Aluminum Foil by Household016Figure Product Picture of Type ITable Major Manufacturers of Type IFigure Product Picture of Type IITable Major Manufacturers of Type IIFigure Product Picture of Type IIITable Major Manufacturers of Type IIIAlcoa Ess Dee Aluminium GARMCO Hindalco Industries Norsk Hydro RUSAL Elval JW Aluminum NorandalGrab Discount at @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 segmentsAbout usResearch Reports Inc. is one of the leading destinations for market research reports across all industries, companies, and technologies. 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Global Soy Foods Market 2018 Growth by Top Key Players Kellogg, DuPont, Blue Diamond Growers, Dean Foods, Eden Foods, Freedom Food Group, Pacific Foods

soy foods

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The Soy Foods Market report focuses on global major leading Soy Foods Industry players providing information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials and equipment and downstream demand analysis is also carried out.Leaders Of The Industry :- Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill, Hain Celestial, White Wave Foods, Kellogg, DuPont, Blue Diamond Growers, Dean Foods, Eden Foods, Freedom Food Group, Pacific Foods, Northern Soy, SunOpta and so on.The Complete Report Spreads across 140 Pages.Fill The Form To Book A PDF:Furthermore, years considered for the study are as follows:Historical year 2013, 2016Base year 2017Forecast period 2018 to 2023Soy is a complete protein, and soyfoods are rich in vitamins and minerals including folate, potassium and even fiber in some cases. In the past 15 years, soyfoods have attracted the attention of research scientists around the world for health properties beyond basic nutrition as well. Soy is a versatile bean  its found in foods like milk and sauce, and can be added to foods like breads, cereals and meat products, and is also used as a meat substitute in vegetarian products such as soy burgers and soy hot dogs.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 Soy Foods as well as some small players.Grab Discount at :-By Category: Soy Foods Video Content Soy Foods Digital Text Content Soy Foods Digital Games Content Soy Foods Digital Audio ContentBy Device: Soy Foods Mobile Content Soy Foods Non-Mobile ContentBy Regions: Soy Foods North America U.S. Canada Soy Foods Europe UK Germany Soy Foods Asia Pacific China India Japan Soy Foods Latin America Brazil MexicoHave Any Query? Ask Our Experts at :-Table of Contents2018-2023 Global Soy Foods Consumption Market Report1 Scope of the Report1.1 Market Introduction1.2 Research Objectives1.3 Years Considered1.4 Market Research Methodology1.5 Economic Indicators1.6 Currency Considered2 Executive Summary2.1 World Market Overview2.1.1 Global Soy Foods Consumption 2013-20232.1.2 Soy Foods Consumption CAGR by Region2.2 Soy Foods Segment by Type2.2.1 Electrical Polisher2.2.2 Pneumatic Polisher2.3 Soy Foods Consumption by Type2.3.1 Global Soy Foods Consumption Market Share by Type (2013-2018)2.3.2 Global Soy Foods Revenue and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)2.3.3 Global Soy Foods Sale Price by Type (2013-2018)2.4 Soy Foods Segment by Application2.4.1 Automotive Repair Shop2.4.2 Automotive Care Shop2.4.3 Others2.5 Soy Foods Consumption by Application2.5.1 Global Soy Foods Consumption Market Share by Application (2013-2018)2.5.2 Global Soy Foods Value and Market Share by Application (2013-2018)2.5.3 Global Soy Foods Sale Price by Application (2013-2018)We Also Can Offer Customized Report To Fulfill Special Requirements Of Our Clients.Purchase this Premium Report at :-3 Global Soy Foods by Players3.1 Global Soy Foods Sales Market Share by Players3.1.1 Global Soy Foods Sales by Players (2016-2018)3.1.2 Global Soy Foods Sales Market Share by Players (2016-2018)3.2 Global Soy Foods Revenue Market Share by Players3.2.1 Global Soy Foods Revenue by Players (2016-2018)3.2.2 Global Soy Foods Revenue Market Share by Players (2016-2018)3.3 Global Soy Foods Sale Price by Players3.4 Global Soy Foods Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area, Product Types by Players3.4.1 Global Soy Foods Manufacturing Base Distribution and Sales Area by Players3.4.2 Players Soy Foods Products Offered3.5 Market Concentration Rate Analysis3.5.1 Competition Landscape Analysis3.5.2 Concentration Ratio (CR3, CR5 and CR10) (2016-2018)3.6 New Products and Potential Entrants3.7 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion4 Soy Foods by Regions4.1 Soy Foods by Regions4.1.1 Global Soy Foods Consumption by Regions4.1.2 Global Soy Foods Value by Regions4.2 Americas Soy Foods Consumption Growth4.3 APAC Soy Foods Consumption Growth4.4 Europe Soy Foods Consumption Growth4.5 Middle East & Africa Soy Foods Consumption Growth5 Americas5.1 Americas Soy Foods Consumption by Countries5.1.1 Americas Soy Foods Consumption by Countries (2013-2018)5.1.2 Americas Soy Foods Value by Countries (2013-2018)5.2 Americas Soy Foods Consumption by Type5.3 Americas Soy Foods Consumption by Application5.4 United States5.5 Canada5.6 Mexico5.7 Key Economic Indicators of Few Americas CountriesAbout Us:Research Reports Inc. is one of the leading destinations for market research reports across all industries, companies, and technologies. 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Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market Outlook to 2023  Private Internet Access, Nord VPN, TorGuard, Cyber Ghost, Hotspot Shield, IP Vanish VPN, Buffered VPN, Golden Frog, VPN Pure, Express VPN, Safer VPN

Virtual Private Network Market

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A virtual private network (VPN) extends a private network across a public network, and enables users to send and receive data across shared or public networks as if their computing devices were directly connected to the private network. (In the simplest terms, it creates a secure, encrypted connection, which can be thought of as a tunnel, between your computer and a server operated by the VPN service.) Applications running across the VPN may therefore benefit from the functionality, security, and management of the private network.Request for Sample of Global Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market 2018 Research Report:VPNs may allow employees to securely access a corporate intranet while located outside the office. They are used to securely connect geographically separated offices of an organization, creating one cohesive network. Personal VPN Users Internet users may secure their wireless transactions with a VPN, to circumvent geo-restrictions and censorship, or to connect to proxy servers for the purpose of protecting personal identity and location. However, some Internet sites block access to known VPN technology to prevent the circumvention of their geo-restrictions.A VPN is created by establishing a virtual point-to-point connection through the use of dedicated connections, virtual tunneling protocols, or traffic encryption. A VPN available from the public Internet can provide some of the benefits of a wide area network (WAN). From a user perspective, the resources available within the private network can be accessed remotely.Traditional VPNs are characterized by a point-to-point topology, and they do not tend to support or connect broadcast domains, so services such as Microsoft Windows NetBIOS may not be fully supported or work as they would on a local area network (LAN). Designers have developed VPN variants, such as Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS), and layer-2 tunneling protocols, to overcome this limitation.The Europe VPN market generated the highest sales in 2017, as organizations in Europe are equipped with advanced technologies. Moreover, presence of large number of enterprises and increase in number of internet users have supplemented the market growth. The Asia-Pacific VPN market is expected to grow at the highest CAGR, owing to rise in penetration of internet, rapid industrialization, and significant economic growth.In the cloud VPN connectivity type, the remote access cloud VPN is expected to hold the largest market share during the forecast period. This is due to the high adoption rate of mobile devices and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trends among organizations. In the organization size segmentation, the SMEs segment is expected to grow at a higher CAGR, due to the large-scale adoption of cloud VPN solutions and cost effectiveness and centralized management capabilities during the forecast periodGrab Guaranteed Discount:In the cloud VPN end-user market, the verticals segment is expected to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period. This is due to the preference to purchase the cloud VPN solutions and services directly from software vendors without relying on third-party service vendors.Over the next five years, RRI projects that Virtual Private Network (VPN) will register a 13.3% CAGR in terms of revenue, reach US$ 2660 million by 2023, from US$ 1260 million in 2017.This report presents a comprehensive overview, market shares and growth opportunities of Virtual Private Network (VPN) market by product type, application, key companies and key regions.To calculate the market size, RRI considers value generated from the sales of the following segments:Segmentation by product type: Remote Access VPN Site-to-Site VPNSegmentation by application: Personal VPN Users Corporate VPN UsersWe can also provide the customized separate regional or country-level reports, for the following regions: Americas United States Canada Mexico Brazil APAC China Japan Korea Southeast Asia India Australia Europe Germany France UK Italy Russia Spain Middle East & Africa Egypt South Africa Israel Turkey GCC CountriesThe report also presents the market competition landscape and a corresponding detailed analysis of the major players in the market.The key players covered in this report: Private Internet Access Nord VPN TorGuard Cyber Ghost Hotspot Shield IP Vanish VPN Buffered VPN Golden Frog VPN Pure Express VPN Safer VPNDirectly Get Corporate Report:In addition, this report discusses the key drivers influencing market growth, opportunities, the challenges and the risks faced by key players and the market as a whole. It also analyzes key emerging trends and their impact on present and future development.Research objectives To study and analyze the global Virtual Private Network (VPN) market size by key regions/countries, product type and application, history data from 2013 to 2017, and forecast to 2023. To understand the structure of Virtual Private Network (VPN) market by identifying its various subsegments. Focuses on the key global Virtual Private Network (VPN) players, to define, describe and analyze the value, market share, market competition landscape, SWOT analysis and development plans in next few years. To analyze the Virtual Private Network (VPN) with respect to individual growth trends, future prospects, and their contribution to the total market. To share detailed information about the key factors influencing the growth of the market (growth potential, opportunities, drivers, industry-specific challenges and risks). To project the size of Virtual Private Network (VPN) submarkets, with respect to key regions (along with their respective key countries). To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches and acquisitions in the market. To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.Table of Contents2018-2023 Global Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market Report (Status and Outlook)1 Scope of the Report1.1 Market Introduction1.2 Research Objectives1.3 Years Considered1.4 Market Research Methodology1.5 Economic Indicators1.6 Currency Considered2 Executive Summary2.1 World Market Overview2.1.1 Global Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market Size 2013-20232.1.2 Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market Size CAGR by Region2.2 Virtual Private Network (VPN) Segment by Type2.2.1 Remote Access VPN2.2.2 Site-to-Site VPN2.2.3 Others2.3 Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market Size by Type2.3.1 Global Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market Size Market Share by Type (2013-2018)2.3.2 Global Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market Size Growth Rate by Type (2013-2018)2.4 Virtual Private Network (VPN) Segment by Application2.4.1 Personal VPN Users2.4.2 Corporate VPN Users2.5 Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market Size by Application2.5.1 Global Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market Size Market Share by Application (2013-2018)2.5.2 Global Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market Size Growth Rate by Application (2013-2018)3 Global Virtual Private Network (VPN) by Players3.1 Global Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market Size Market Share by Players3.1.1 Global Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market Size by Players (2016-2018)3.1.2 Global Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market Size Market Share by Players (2016-2018)3.2 Global Virtual Private Network (VPN) Key Players Head office and Products Offered3.3 Market Concentration Rate Analysis3.3.1 Competition Landscape Analysis3.3.2 Concentration Ratio (CR3, CR5 and CR10) (2016-2018)3.4 New Products and Potential Entrants3.5 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion4 Virtual Private Network (VPN) by Regions4.1 Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market Size by Regions4.2 Americas Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market Size Growth4.3 APAC Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market Size Growth4.4 Europe Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market Size Growth4.5 Middle East & Africa Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market Size Growth5 Americas5.1 Americas Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market Size by Countries5.2 Americas Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market Size by Type5.3 Americas Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market Size by Application5.4 United States5.5 Canada5.6 Mexico5.7 Key Economic Indicators of Few Americas Countries6 APAC6.1 APAC Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market Size by Countries6.2 APAC Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market Size by Type6.3 APAC Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market Size by Application6.4 China6.5 Japan6.6 Korea6.7 Southeast Asia6.8 India6.9 Australia6.10 Key Economic Indicators of Few APAC Countries7 Europe7.1 Europe Virtual Private Network (VPN) by Countries7.2 Europe Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market Size by Type7.3 Europe Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market Size by Application7.4 Germany7.5 France7.6 UK7.7 Italy7.8 Russia7.9 Spain7.10 Key Economic Indicators of Few Europe Countries8 Middle East & Africa8.1 Middle East & Africa Virtual Private Network (VPN) by Countries8.2 Middle East & Africa Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market Size by Type8.3 Middle East & Africa Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market Size by Application8.4 Egypt8.5 South Africa8.6 Israel8.7 Turkey8.8 GCC Countries9 Market Drivers, Challenges and Trends9.1 Market Drivers and Impact9.1.1 Growing Demand from Key Regions9.1.2 Growing Demand from Key Applications and Potential Industries9.2 Market Challenges and Impact9.3 Market TrendsResearch Reports Inc. is one of the leading destinations for market research reports across all industries, companies, and technologies. 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Knute Buehler, the Republican candidate for governor, is calling for tougher staffing requirements in Oregon memory care facilities following an investigation by The Oregonian/OregonLive that revealed rampant problems.

In an interview this week, Buehler said the state should impose precise numeric hiring standards on memory care facilities, a move that advocates say is essential to limit abuse but that the industry says could drive up costs.

"Clearly, there needs to be changes and improvements made," Buehler said in response to the findings.

Buehler's opponent, Gov. Kate Brown, said in a statement that "we need to continue to enhance care and strengthen regulations" beyond what she said she has accomplished as governor. Brown didn't offer specific proposals.

Buehler's remarks supporting new regulations for memory care stood in dramatic contrast to responses from Democratic lawmakers at the forefront of senior care issues. They said they must wait to see whether recently-passed senior care legislation will improve quality of care before they propose anything new.

The Legislature "can't just keep piling and piling on regulations," said Rep. Alissa Keny-Guyer, D-Portland.

She co-sponsored a 2017 compromise bill on long-term care supported by the governor, the Long-Term Care Ombudsman's office, Democratic and Republican lawmakers  including Knute Buehler  and the senior care industry.

Inadequate staffing in memory care was a central problem identified in The Oregonian/OregonLive's two-part series, "False Comfort."

Memory care centers have had more than twice the rate of substantiated abuse and neglect as regular assisted living facilities, the newsroom's investigation found. Memory care charges much more than regular assisted living.

The newsroom asked more than 200 current and former memory care workers about their experiences, providing an expansive insider look at the industry and its troubles. Seven in ten said they had personally seen abuse and neglect. Eight in ten blamed a shortage of staff.

Buehler called the newsroom's findings an example of "serious problems" that have not been addressed under Brown.

A spokesman for Brown's campaign said Buehler's statements as a candidate contradict his actions as a representative in opposition to wage increases that benefited memory care workers among others. The spokesman voted against the statewide minimum wage increase in 2017 and against a proposal to raise wages for caregivers in facilities for people with disabilities. Buehler also filed a bill that would have reduced wage increases across most of Oregon.

Advocates and caregivers say poor pay is a key reason there's high turnover in memory care.

Buehler's endorsement of more regulations and Democrats' resistance is an unusual reversal of roles. Republicans generally champion policies that free businesses from costly regulation, while Democrats are known for favoring stricter oversight if it means protecting vulnerable people.

The industry's main lobbying group, the Oregon Health Care Association, has contributed $100,000 to Brown's campaign for governor.

Buehler, a practicing surgeon, has received nothing from the association during the race. The group previously contributed $27,500 to Buehler's House campaigns.

When it comes to the populations that they serve, memory care centers and nursing homes both have residents with higher medical needs than those in regular assisted living facilities.

Yet when it comes to staffing, memory care facilities currently face the same vague requirement as assisted living: "sufficient" staffing to meet residents' needs.

To change the status quo in memory care, Buehler said, there should be strict limits to how many residents a caregiver can take on at a time based on best practices in the industry and what's done in other states. Buehler said he didn't see any justification for memory care to be treated differently from Oregon nursing homes, which have faced such limits for decades.

The healthcare association, which lobbies on behalf of the senior care industry, said it would only respond to Buehler's proposal if its statement were published in its entirety. The group's written statement was 102 words.

Key Democrats in the Oregon House and Senate said they are aware that abuse and neglect in memory care are pervasive but said they've done what's necessary, for now, to tackle the issue.

Last year, the Legislature passed a bill increasing oversight of all assisted living facilities, including memory care. The bill included: stiffer fines; mandatory quality reporting; extra training; and safer medication management in all assisted living facilities.

The new law includes one provision on staffing: It says the state may use specialized software to check if a facility has enough staff. But it doesn't say administrators must follow the numbers the software calculates, as lawmakers had originally proposed.

Critics say the system makes it too easy for memory care operators to skimp on hiring.

Keny-Guyer, the chairwoman of the House Human Services Committee, said she doesn't plan to pursue memory care regulations in the coming session. What lawmakers must do now, Keny-Guyer said, is wait and see if the bill's measures decrease abuse and neglect.

"Some of the things that we did go directly towards staffing," she said. "But you don't always see a change overnight."

Local and national advocates for seniors say the only way to ensure at least a minimum number of staff is with strict numbers that facilities must follow. That's been the approach in Oregon nursing homes, facilities for seniors with specialized medical needs, for at least two decades.

Rep. Ron Noble, R-McMinnville, said memory care facilities are lightly regulated because they're not treated as health care facilities, even though most people would consider them such. That ought to change, he said.

"It's time that we bring them into the loop," Noble said.

Keny-Guyer said an approach that mandates minimum staffing could force facilities into a tough position if they can't find enough staff.

Buehler acknowledged that a tight labor market often drives facilities to under-staff. But, he said, he doesn't see any reason why a tight labor market should exempt memory care from staffing minimums but not nursing homes.

"I don't know why it should be different," he said.

Brown, in her written statement, said state regulators have ramped up enforcement on senior care facilities during her term and said she was proud to have signed the 2017 legislation.

Sen. Laurie Monnes Anderson, D-Gresham, said there's "no question" that memory care facilities need more staffing. But, like other leading Democrats, she is waiting to see how the 2017 legislation will impact abuse and neglect.

Monnes Anderson said she'd rather not have to use heavy-handed regulation to get facilities to hire enough staff.

"We need to have input from these facilities. We truly do," said Monnes Anderson, chairwoman of the Senate Health Care Committee. "I don't like mandating it without a good, open conversation."

-- Fedor Zarkhin

desk: 503-294-7674|cell: 971-373-2905|@fedorzarkhin
The Oregon Cattlemen's Association and the Oregon Farm Bureau encourage Oregonians to vote for gubernatorial candidate, Knute Buehler in the governor's election.

Knute has demonstrated he understands and cares about the challenges facing rural Oregonians and he'll help us overcome those challenges. It's essential for natural resource stakeholders to unify behind our candidate.

Your vote does make a difference. The mindset that "only Portland votes count," is not true. In the 2010 election, the number of rural voters who voted, but left the governor slot blank, was larger than the difference between John Kitzhaber and Chris Dudley. Your vote matters.

This race may be closer than ever before. Not voting or writing in a name, is a vote against the values of rural Oregonians. And it's a vote for more of the same in Salem. The stakes are too high to risk.

A quote from Ronald Reagan: "Die-hard conservatives thought that if I couldn't get everything I asked for, I should jump off the cliff with the flag flying -- go down in flames. No, if I can get 70 or 80 percent of what it is I'm trying to get ... I'll take that and then continue to try to get the rest in the future."

The Oregon Cattlemen's Association and the Oregon Farm Bureau support Knute Buehler for Governor and encourage you to vote in this crucial election.

Jerome Rosa and Sharon Waterman, Salem

Rosa is the executive director of the Oregon Cattlemen's Association and Waterman is president of the Oregon Farm Bureau

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Photo: Tempest Theatre

The spooky spirit of Halloween will live on past the 31st in Penticton, thanks to a creepy new comedic show being held by new company Tempest Theatre.

"Terrible Temptations" will run nightly from Nov. 1 to 4. The show will include selected scenes from 10 plays depicting ghoulish human behaviour, with a heavy does of dark comedy. Scenes will be paired with a unique local wine.

Kate Twa, artistic director of Tempest Theatre, described the experience as "immersive," and hopes the show will introduce local audiences to the new theatre company.

"And the partnership with special wines from local wineries creates a memorable way of appreciating our local wine community," she said.

Actors from Penticton will be joined by some travelling from Vancouver and Los Angeles for the show. Participating wineries include Bench 1775, Elephant Island, Van Westen Vineyards, Monster Wines and Therapy Vineyards.

Tempest Theatre describes itself as "an innovative black box theatre and film society." They are located at 125 Eckhardt Avenue. They don't officially open until the spring of 2019, but Twa saw the Halloween season as an opportunity to show audiences a sneak peak of what their shows will be like.

The location seats 75 people, and plans to be "a mighty focal point for South Okanagan's artistic and cultural communities, with an emphasis placed on original content alongside a playful and provocative approach to classic and contemporary theatre."

"I am creating a storm for the senses, making Tempest a catalyst for cultural growth and exploration locally," Twa said.

"Terrible Temptations" starts at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 1 to 4. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased here.
The top attorneys for two of Oregons largest counties were fined this month by the city of Dayton for operating a short-term rental after warnings that they were violating city codes.

A municipal judge in Dayton ordered Stephen and Jenny Madkour to pay a $500 fine.

Jenny Madkour is Multnomah County counsel; her husband, Stephen Madkour, holds the same position in Clackamas County.

Jenny Madkour said Friday in an email that the couple plans to appeal the decision to Yamhill County Circuit Court.

The citys enforcement file on the Madkours property shows extensive communication between city officials and the Madkours since last year regarding the rental of their 1912 home.

The Oregonian/OregonLive obtained the letters through a public records request.

At the time the Madkours bought the home, short-term rentals werent allowed in that zone, according to city officials. Since then, the city has made some changes, including allowing short-term rentals in zones in and near the downtown area and allowing them in owner-occupied properties.

In the correspondence, city representatives portray the Madkours as savvy lawyers with significant government experience who should have done their homework before buying an investment property.

These are sophisticated defendants, Dayton attorney Heather Martin wrote in a Municipal Court filing. They are county counsel for two of the largest counties in Oregon -- they know how to read zoning codes, how to ask for interpretations of the code if they are unclear, how governing bodies are authorized to make policy decisions, how nonconforming uses work, and whether individuals have authority to bind municipalities and yet they either knew and ignored the rules and regulations or they should have known.

Martin said while the city finds it exemplary that the Madkours want to contribute to the fabric of Daytons community, that does not mean the citys code does not apply to them or that they are not subject to the same code provisions and processes that apply to all other citizens.

The Madkours, who live in Oregon City, bought the home in Dayton in 2015 for $199,000.

In letters and court filings, the couple said they discussed their plans for the property with city staff. They said they got permission from the city manager last year to use the home as a short-term rental, even though it conflicted with local codes. The city manager, however, made clear in a subsequent email to Jenny Madkour that he didnt have the authority to make such an exception.

On Friday, Jenny Madkour rejected the citys claim that she and her husband failed to research the city codes before buying the property. She said the city code didnt address short-term rentals at that time. A municipal court judge concluded, however, that such rentals were not allowed.

Cities across the country have moved to regulate vacation rentals, which have proliferated as online platforms made it easier to connect homeowners and vacationers.

In general, officials worry the properties could replace rental homes for long-term residents and exacerbate a housing shortage felt nationwide. Theyve also been eager to collect the taxes usually collected from tourists when they stay in hotel rooms.

Portland, which was early to regulate vacation rentals, allows them only in homes that serve as the hosts primary residence at least nine months of the year. The city requires hosts to undergo an inspection and notify neighbors that theyll be running a part-time hotel out of their house, and it requires websites including Airbnb and VRBO to collect local lodging taxes on the hosts behalf.

Dayton Mayor Beth Wytoski said city leaders have taken steps to limit short-term rentals out of concern that the trend hurts housing affordability and availability.

I feel like our code is good, Wytoski said. It protects the integrity of the community connections in our neighborhoods.

The Madkours insisted to city officials that they had a right to rent the home, which they said sat empty and deteriorating before they bought it. In one letter to the city clerk earlier this year, the couple said they made numerous repairs and devoted our weekends and vacation time to restoring the property to its former charm.

In March, the Madkours told Dayton officials that despite the prohibited use of the property, they planned to continue.

We view any efforts by the city to restrict the use and enjoyment of our property as a short-term rental to be contrary to the explicit approvals provided by the city, and an affront to fundamental fairness and our due process rights, the couple wrote.

The Madkours municipal court filings span nine footnoted pages of detailed case law.

Their property, which they market as the Ellis house, is still listed on Airbnb and goes for $160 a night.

The Madkours, considered super hosts on Airbnb, describe the house as a one-of-a-kind charmer on the rental site. There were 18 reviews of the property, including one dated this month from a reviewer who called it the perfect location for Willamette Valley wine tours and peaceful and cozy.

Jenny Madkour confirmed she and her husband continue to rent the property.

We will continue to exercise our vested property rights unless we receive a final order that limits our use, she said in an email.

-- Elliot Njus of The Oregonian/OregonLive contributed to this report.

-- Noelle Crombie

503-276-7184

@noellecrombie
A Lincoln County jail inmate who'd had several run-ins with police in alleged gun-related threats killed himself Thursday in his cell, authorities say.

Joshua P. Gilleo, 49, of Depoe Bay was discovered unconscious in his cell by jail deputies around 10:25 p.m. during a routine check, according to the Newport Police Department. Paramedics later pronounced him dead.

The police department hasn't announced how Gilleo died. His death was ruled a suicide by the Oregon State Medical Examiner's Office. Gilleo was being held in a jail cell by himself.

Court records show Gilleo had been booked into the county jail at least twice since Oct. 16 on charges stemming from separate allegations of threatening to shoot his wife and neighbors.

According to a probable cause affidavit, Lynlei Gilleo told county deputies she had a restraining order against her husband and met up with him at a restaurant on Oct. 16 so he could return some of her property. He threatened to kill her while they were in the parking lot. The wife said he reached behind his back after threatening her, and she heard him cock a pistol. When she asked if he had a gun, he told her, "Maybe I do," the affidavit said.

Lynlei Gilleo said she left immediately and drove to her child's day care. Joshua Gilleo followed her there and someone called 911, reporting the husband had pointed a gun at his wife, the affidavit said. The restraining order also applied to the day care center, according to the court papers.

Joshua Gilleo was arrested later that day on accusations of unlawful use of a firearm, unlawful possession of a firearm, menacing and endangering a person protected by a family abuse prevention act restraining order. He was ordered by a judge the next day not to contact his wife or the child.

Joshua Gilleo made bail and was released from jail last Friday. The next morning, two of his neighbors called police and reported he'd been banging on their doors and yelling that he planned to shoot them or anyone else who came outside, according to a second probable cause affidavit. When a county deputy contacted an apparently drunk Gilleo at his home, he refused to come outside, the affidavit said.

Gilleo was contacted by the same deputy that evening at his parents' home in Toledo, and he said he'd been drinking the night before and didn't remember what he'd done after, according to the court papers.

A county prosecutor filed a motion Monday requesting Gilleo be held in jail for violating his release agreement, based on the alleged threats to neighbors and alluded to another incident involving Gilleo last Saturday. It's not clear from court documents what the third alleged incident was.

A judge revoked his release agreement, and Gilleo was arrested again.

Gilleo's mother-in-law wrote a letter to the judge overseeing the case Wednesday requesting he not be allowed out on bail again. She said Gilleo had been arrested sometime last Saturday due to another incident involving a gun and made bail the same day. She described Gilleo as "dangerous" and "angry," and said he abused alcohol and drugs.

"This man is going to kill someone if he is allowed to go free," the letter said. "If there are any legal means to raise his bail immediately to keep him in custody for the safety of Lynlei, our family and the community I beg you to put them into action."

Gilleo remained in jail until he died Thursday. His mother wrote a letter to the same judge on the same day requesting she be refunded all the bail money she posted on his behalf in light of his death.

-- Everton Bailey Jr.

ebailey@oregonian.com

503-221-8343; @EvertonBailey
The Oregon Court of Appeals on Friday allowed Gov. Kate Brown's administration to delay the release of more than 260 proposals for bills that could be introduced in the 2019 legislative session.

A Marion County judge had ruled Wednesday that the governor's administration could not rely on attorney-client privilege to keep the bill requests confidential until after the Nov. 6 election. Circuit Court Judge Audrey Broyles ordered the state to release the records by 5 p.m. Friday, saying that doing so would be in the public interest.

But on Friday afternoon, the Court of Appeals granted a stay requested by the state pending a decision on its appeal to that panel. The court found that the appeal was filed in good faith and not an attempt to delay the release of the bill proposals until after the election. It also made clear it would not render a decision until after the election.

"The court is not oblivious to the political context of this case and that a stay may work to the advantage of one party or candidate (or that denying a stay may work to the advantage of another party or candidate) in the general election that concludes in early November 2018, well before a department of this court can render a decision on the merits of the appeal," wrote James Nass, appellate commissioner for the court.

However, Nass compared attorney-client privilege to a genie that "cannot be put back in the bottle" if the records were released now and the court later decided privilege applied.

The governor's staff did not comment on its win Friday. Spokesman Chris Pair did not respond to a general request for comment, nor a specific question about how the delay benefits the public.

With less than two weeks until the Nov. 6 election, the documents would have provided more insight into policies Brown's administration wants to pass in the 2019 legislative session. The governor has proposed a range of policies for the next two years but has declined to say how she would pay for some of them.

A spreadsheet listing 276 executive branch legislative concepts gives a tiny glimpse at the bills Brown's administration has been considering. The Oregonian/OregonLive obtained the Department of Administrative Services list from Priority Oregon, a business-allied political nonprofit that does not disclose its donors and has been running ads against Brown. The list includes some bill ideas The Oregonian/OregonLive has found in other public records.

One bill is described as "Janus cleanup," apparently a reference to the Janus v. AFSCME U.S. Supreme Court decision earlier this year that public employees who opt out of union membership cannot be required to pay "fair share fees" intended to cover the cost of contract bargaining and administration. It's considered a major setback to unions, and one question is how state leaders will respond to it.

There's a bill proposal related to financial regulation of the state's Medicaid administrators known as coordinated care organizations, a bill that would allow police and firefighters to join health plans offered to state employees and teachers, a bill to increase a utility fee assessment, a bill dealing with state Department of Energy lending programs and a bill focused on "modifications to wage/compensation criteria."

State agencies file the bill requests each year, after getting signoff from the governor's office. Since 2010, Portland business lawyer Greg Chaimov has requested and received the forms from the governor's office, which he shared with clients of the firm where he works, Davis Wright Tremaine.

This year, the governor's lawyers told Chaimov they did not have the forms; he requested them from the Department of Administrative Services, which responded that the forms were confidential under attorney-client privilege, according to court records. Although executive branch agencies are usually represented exclusively by the Oregon Department of Justice, the administrative department claimed it had an attorney-client relationship with the Legislature's lawyers who draft bills.

The state claimed the bill requests were covered by attorney-client privilege, while explicitly acknowledging on the forms that agency officials discussed the bill ideas with special interests, according to court records.

Chaimov file a lawsuit seeking the records, which led to the Marion County court decision and Court of Appeals stay this week.

-- Hillary Borrud | 503-294-4034 | @hborrud
Col. Isaac Sanders Payne IV, a former Portlander and one of the first black men to graduate from the U.S. Air Force Academy, died of heart failure Oct. 19. He was 78.

Payne was born April 16, 1940, in Malakoff, Texas. The family relocated to Oregon when Payne was 5, first to Vanport, then to Portland after a flood decimated the blue-collar city in 1948.

He attended local schools and was a distinguished Boy Scout, eventually reaching the level of Eagle Scout. Payne attended Portland State University for two years, starting in 1957, before he was nominated to the U.S. Air Force Academy by U.S. Rep. Edith Green, D-Ore.

There, Payne studied alongside Roger Sims and Charles V. Bush, the latter of whom went on to become the first black page of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Payne graduated from the academy in 1963 with a bachelor's degree in engineering science and basic science. He would later earn a master's in systems management.

A 24-year career in the Air Force followed, where Payne would log more than 42,000 hours of flight in 35 different aircraft, including the B-52 bomber and F-16 fighter jet. He earned 15 air medals, two Air Force Commendation medals, two Meritorious Service Medals, the Distinguished Flying Cross and a Purple Heart during his time in the service.

Payne retired from the Air Force as a colonel in 1987. For the next five years, he would work for Advanced Sciences, Inc., in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

A service for Payne will be held at the U.S. Air Force Academy Cadet Protestant Chapel in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Nov. 7 at 11 a.m., with an interment following at the academy cemetery. A memorial service for Payne will occur in Albuquerque in December.

He is survived by daughters Kimberly Carter and Noralyn Clemons of California; his six grandchildren, Jacob and Kaylee Carter; and Charles, Joseph, Laila and John Clemons; and a niece, Julianne Johnson-Weiss of Portland.

--Eder Campuzano | 503.221.4344

ecampuzano@oregonian.com
A shooting that left at least 10 dead in a Pittsburgh synagogue Saturday has prompted police in other cities to closely patrol Jewish places of worship, including in Portland.

The Portland Police Bureau said it's being proactive in its patrols and that officers have not heard of threats to local congregations. The bureau is working with state and local law enforcement agencies, including the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force.

"The Police Bureau is aware of the concern and sadness incidents such as the one in Pittsburgh have on the community in Portland," Chief Danielle Outlaw said in a release. "Our officers are reaching out to leaders of Jewish houses of worship in the City of Portland and will be present to provide security and a sense of safety as community members come together to grieve and begin the healing process."

Congregation Beth Israel in Portland said on Facebook that its leaders are actively communicating with police about the safety of its members.

Rabbi David Kosak of Neveh Shalom, a Conservative Jewish congregation in Southwest Portland, said he learned of the shooting in Pittsburgh as he arrived shortly before services Saturday.

He said the news drew some congregants who attend less frequently, but that it might also have kept some away.

"Those of us who were there today took a lot of strength from being with each other, singing and finding a way to praise through it all," Kosak said. "There were a lot of tears."

The congregation increased its own security, with members sweeping the grounds and limiting access to the building, and police were seen making patrols. Several months ago, the congregation had reported to police that anti-Semitic fliers were left near the grounds, though they did not contain an explicit threat.

"We are a religion of joy and a religion that tries to encourage people to take care of each other," Kosak said. "We know we have a difficult history, where we've been the recipients of a lot of hate and murder and threats. But a part of my faith is that, for all of us who are good-spirited people who are working for the betterment of society, who are teaching love and doing our parts to be positive contributors to the world, it makes a difference."

The Oregon Board of Rabbis and Jewish Federation of Greater Portland announced a community gathering in response to the shooting at 4 p.m. Sunday at Congregation Beth Israel, 1972 N.W. Flanders St. in Portland.

The shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue has also drawn reactions from Oregon's elected officials on Capitol Hill. The shooter left several injured, including four police officers.

Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley called it an act of terror rooted in anti-Semitism on Twitter.

"No one should face threats of violence, especially based on their religious beliefs, political preference, or any other personal conviction," Rep. Suzanne Bonamici said. "The recent acts of anti-Semitism, hate, racism, and bigotry that our country has seen cannot be tolerated."

Rep. Earl Blumenauer said he'd just visited the city.

"My heart goes out to the victims of the horrific attack, members of the Jewish community, and all those subjected to hate & fear," he said.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown also denounced the shooting on Twitter, saying: "Places of worship should be places of safety and and refuge. But today, yet another has become a place for tragedy. While we grieve for these families, we must also resolve, as a nation, to take the bold steps necessary to end gun violence."

--Eder Campuzano and Elliot Njus
A 9mm handgun fell to the pavement when Jeremy Boyd Jr. stepped from the passenger seat of a green Lincoln Town Car stopped last year for a traffic violation.

Portland police seized the gun and later test-fired it. They sent a shell casing to the Oregon State Police crime lab.

The lab analyzed digital images of the casing and put them into a national database maintained by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The markings matched casings that Gresham officers recovered from a brazen shooting five days earlier. Suddenly, they had a significant lead.

Until then, police had no witnesses, no suspects and no usable video surveillance footage as they tried to find who had fired at least 20 times into an apartment at 2 a.m. on June 26, 2017, narrowly missing the people inside.

The investigation didn't end there.

Casings from the 9mm gun linked Boyd to three other shootings that summer in Portland, including one outside a Taco Bell that hit a TriMet bus and one that left two men wounded in Woodlawn Park during a robbery.

A second .40-caliber gun recovered from Boyd on Sept. 7, 2017, tied him through shell casings to two other shootings in Gresham and Portland, including one that sent bullets whizzing through the windshield of a passing car, hit a donut shop and caused three crashes.

The strength of the government's case linking Boyd to the six shootings led the 19-year-old to plead guilty Friday to a string of felony charges.

Police, prosecutors and government experts on gun forensics point to the case as a prime example of how shell-casing comparison technology can link shootings and identify gunmen, especially important, they say, as gun violence spikes upward here.

"Without this technology, I would say no way'' that detectives would have made a case against Boyd, said Portland police Cmdr. Andy Shearer.

Since August, Portland police have used an Integrated Ballistic Identification System machine on loan from the ATF. Oregon State Police have the state's only other machine.

Four Portland officers are trained to input casing images into the machine. The images go to ATF analysts at a center in Alabama for immediate comparisons to the federal agency's national database of casings.

Portland police now make a point to recover shell casings within 24 hours from every shooting scene, even when no one was hit, and submit the evidence for comparison in the national database. They can get matches reported within a day or two, sometimes hours, instead of waiting months as they had in the past.

They're also encouraging police agencies across Oregon to collect and submit shell casings for analysis, either to them or to the state lab.

They've linked casings from shootings in Portland to shootings in Clackamas and Washington counties, across the river in Clark County and even in Seattle, prosecutors said.

The approach has worked in other cities, said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum. The independent Washington, D.C.-based organization last year studied the technology and similar collaborations in Denver, Milwaukee and Chicago.

"It will definitely revolutionize how departments investigate gun crimes,'' Wexler said.

***

The technology has been around since 1999, but police and prosecutors are just starting to recognize its effectiveness and changing how they do investigations as a result.

The state police lab has had an ATF machine for two decades but typically didn't use it to help police pursue leads in a case at the start of an investigation, said the lab's forensic supervisor Jonathan Dyer.

Both the lab and police around the state instead focused on using the science to produce evidence for prosecutions after someone was arrested. Police would recover shell casings at shooting scenes but didn't have as much urgency to seek forensic analysis.

Turn-around times for the results had ranged from six to 15 months, Dyer said. Sometimes the forensic analysis wouldn't come back until after a trial was over.

That's changed.

The ATF is touting a new "speed to lead" campaign to expand use of the machines, and Portland has embraced the effort. The technology is one part of a new regional collaboration called the Portland Area Crime Gun Initiative. It's an offshoot of the Crime Gun Intelligence Centers that the federal firearms bureau has promoted in other cities.

"This is a shift to using shell casings as lead generators to connect shootings and to build a case more quickly to prevent more shootings," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Gabriel, chief of the office's Violent Crime Unit in Oregon.

Portland and Gresham police and the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office are working closely with state and federal prosecutors from the start of an investigation to help identify and arrest the most violent offenders.

Portland has logged more than 300 shootings a year over the past two years.

"We know there are not 300 separate shooters,'' Gabriel said. "A small number of people are doing a vast number of the shootings.''

***

Three officers who work the day shift at Portland's North Precinct are trained on the ballistics machine and a fourth works at night.

They place a shell casing in a special holder and load it into the machine. That produces a 3D image on a desktop screen. The officer then examines the images and circles distinguishing marks left on the casing after it's ejected from a gun.

The officer sends the images electronically to an ATF agent, who runs them through the database, called the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network.

The system compares them to other images submitted by police and then spits back information if it finds a "high-probability hit." Analysts further compare the matches under a microscope for verification.

David Hannon, a Multnomah County deputy district attorney, said prosecutors are working with detectives much earlier as a result, consulting with them about leads in shootings, well before indictments are prepared.

Timeliness is crucial, said Jonathan Blais, assistant special agent in charge of the ATF's Seattle office. The faster an officer can input the casing's image into the database, the faster they can help in an investigation.

"When there was just one machine in Oregon, with one or two examiners processing the evidence, there was a significant delay in obtaining the results and they had to prioritize cases," Blais said.

The Pacific Northwest has two other ballistics machines, at Washington state police labs in Seattle and Tacoma. A third machine is planned for northeastern Washington, at the crime lab in Cheney. There are 175 sites around the country with the machines.

"Just like the DNA or fingerprint databases, the more information we have to work with, the more comparisons we have with more evidence," Blais said.

***

The technology, despite its longevity, has suffered in the past over an insufficient number of machines and inconsistent use by police, according to the Marshall Project, the nonprofit news organization that covers the U.S. criminal justice system.

A 2013 National Institute of Justice study also cited the "untapped potential" of the network, noting haphazard use by police and delays in reporting any matches to police.

That's why Assistant U.S. Attorney Suzanne Hayden, who does outreach work for the Oregon U.S. Attorney's Office, state prosecutors, the state lab forensics supervisor and Portland police have been promoting the technology and working to sell police on the benefit of the analysis.

The state police lab now has a goal of turning around results on ballistics comparisons in five days, Dyer said. That's largely due to a change in the process, now allowing the lab to report a highly likely match before a forensics examiner makes a final confirmation.

"We have to re-educate police and give them the success stories," Dyer said. "This is a culture shift."

***

The ballistic evidence was too much for Jeremy Boyd Jr. to challenge.

Wearing blue jail scrubs and sitting between his two defense lawyers, Boyd pleaded guilty in Multnomah County Circuit Court to two counts of attempted aggravated murder, one count of attempted murder with a gun and one count of first-degree robbery with a firearm.

The shooting list: June 26, 2017, at the Gresham apartment complex on Northeast 178th Avenue; June 28, 2017, striking a TriMet bus at Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Lombard Street; June 29, 2017, at Northeast 162nd Avenue and Wasco Street that hit a car; July 2 at Woodlawn Park; Aug. 30 on Northeast Sandy Boulevard that caused the crash of three cars; , and Aug. 31 in Gresham that wounded a man in the leg.

Under a plea deal, he'll face a sentence of 16 years and eight months in prison, with credit for time served and good time.

Boyd grew up in Portland but moved with his mother to Georgia when he was in eighth grade. He returned to Portland to spend time with his father in 2017, said his mother Rose Ervin Wiley. Court records indicate he was kicked out of high school his senior year in Georgia for fighting, but his mother disputed that, saying he was home schooled. He had no criminal record as an adult.

In court, Boyd's father sat behind him. He was balancing another son, a 4-month-old, on his knee.

Boyd turned around to exchange smiles with his baby brother.

He told the infant, "I'll see you when you're 14."

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said in a tweet Friday that he may have been threatened by Cesar Sayoc Jr., the Florida man arrested and charged with a spate of attempting bombings targeting Democrats.

"Learning from @verge that the alleged Florida bomber may have sent threats to even more people, including me," the mayor tweeted. "Our security team is aware."

In his tweet Wheeler cited an article from The Verge, a news site that primarily covers technology, reporting a now-suspended Twitter account belonging to Sayoc threatened Wheeler and others online.

A digital archive of Sayoc's account shows he tweeted to Wheeler in the late night hours of Aug. 2, posting a picture of Wheeler and his wife standing with the Portland skyline in the background and calling him "slime scum."

"We will see you real soon," read the mostly incoherent, rambling tweet.

Sayoc also tweeted threats at Gov. Kate Brown.

Wheeler spokeswoman Eileen Park said Friday that the mayor's security team has been monitoring his home and office more closely than usual given the explosive devices mailed to prominent Democrats, including Barack Obama, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Robert De Niro and other critics of President Trump.

No suspicious packages have been received, Park said.

-- Gordon R. Friedman
Portland police are searching for the man accused of stabbing two others during an altercation at the Venue Gentlemen's Club on Southeast Stark Street on Saturday.

The three were involved in a "disturbance" in the club bathroom, police said. That's when one man stabbed the others. Police found the two victims suffering from non-life-threatening wounds on arrival and offered them a ride to the hospital. The men declined, opting to take their own vehicle to the emergency room.

The suspect is described as a man between 30 to 35, 5-foot-8 with a muscular build and short black hair. He was last seen wearing a black T-shirt with white writing.

Officers said the suspect is driving a white 1992 BMW 525 Series with Washington plates BLW0827.

--Eder Campuzano | 503.221.4344

ecampuzano@oregonian.com
Shae Rivard has joined Linked Technologies as a support technician. Rivard is bringing his eight years of information technology experience, earned as a technician at Duperon Corp. He will bring his SQL expertise and customer service skills to the team at Linked Technologies. Rivard graduated from Bay City Western High School, and attended Michigan Technological University. While at Michigan Tech, he studied computer networking and systems administration.
Midland's Open Door officially launched its new fundraising initiative, Building for Change, in collaboration with Greystone Homes, with a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday on the site of a future custom built home.

The home will be built by Greystone Homes, with the 100 percent of the proceeds from the sale of the home benefiting Midland's Open Door programs that transition homeless single mothers into permanent housing and financial stability.

"As an advocate and board member of Midland's Open Door, I have witnessed firsthand the impact their programs have had in servicing those in need. The Building for Change fundraising initiative is an opportunity for the Greystone Homes team to further those programs and we are proud to partner with Midland's Open Door to better meet the needs of our community," said Kelly Wall, owner of Greystone Homes.

Individuals and members of the business community can support the Building for Change fundraiser in a number of ways. Monetary pledges can be made by visiting www.midlandopendoor.org and clicking on the "Donate Now" button. In addition, building professionals and contractors can pledge support with materials and services related to the construction of the home. Detailed information is available at www.greystonehomesmi.com

David and Jill Helgerson, supporters of Midland's Open Door and volunteers through the Bridge of Hope program at Open Door, noted the critical importance of the Open Door in the lives of homeless single mothers.

"We've had the unique opportunity to mentor a single mother and her son for over a year through the Open Door. Together with our team, we helped her move out of the shelter and into her own home. We've walked alongside her and her family as she pursued a better paying job, and now she's in school to finish her degree. Thanks to the support from Open Door and God's grace, their lives have been transformed."
Midland Evangelical Free Church will be among 5,000 U.S. drop-off locations collecting shoebox gifts for children overseas during Operation Christmas Child's National Collection Week, Nov. 12-19.

Midland families, churches and groups are busy transforming empty shoeboxes into fun gifts filled with toys, school supplies and hygiene items. The Samaritan's Purse project partners with local churches across the globe to deliver these tangible expressions of God's love to children affected by war, disease, disaster, poverty and famine. For many of these children, it will be the first gift they have ever received.
To the editor:

I was born and raised in Midland, and proud to be a lifelong resident of this great community. We are a family-friendly community with impeccable family values.

Midland residents need to be aware of who Sarah Schulz is and what she represents. It is evident she has manipulated others into joining forces with her as the ringleader and community organizer of a group called Women of Michigan Action Network (WOMAN) that is attempting to change the course of our great community.

Sarah was featured in stories by two liberal media outlets  the Washington Post and Slate magazine  for being a prominent resistance leader who attended conferences and marches in Detroit and Washington, D.C., led by liberal special interest groups and people like Congresswoman Maxine Waters.

One of the more recent protests she and her supporters were responsible for in our community took place this past summer. I was deeply disturbed and appalled at the audacity of this group to chant loudly in a street protest during the dedication ceremony of our beautiful, historic courthouse by disrupting the prayer vigil in an incredibly rude and dishonorable manner. Yet, ironically their community slogan is Hate has no home here.

Sarah was strategically absent during this particular street protest; however, if she had any character or integrity as a leader, she would have been utterly humiliated and completely unsupportive of this type of behavior where hate clearly seems to have a home here with these protesters. This preposterous and completely absurd behavior portrays a type of Saul Alinsky street agitation tactic when they can have absolutely no respect for a prayer vigil. It completely undermines their character.

This is a perfect example of why we dont want Sarah Schulz representing this community. We need someone like Annette Glenn, a long-time Midland resident, to represent us with her character, integrity, family values and hometown interests.

DEBORAH S. MOORE

Sanford
As we get closer to 2019, reports on all-things 5G will be ramping up the excitement for this monumental leap in internet speeds and next generation services like Apple's TV subscription service that could stream content in 4K Ultra HD. This month Patently Apple covered the topic of 5G four times in general or about Samsung's push (01 and 02), and about a granted patent for Apple on Millimeter Wave antennas for future iPhones.

Two new reports of interest about 5G were published this week worth noting. The first was a Reuters report about President Trump signing an order to set U.S. spectrum strategy as 5G race looms.

The report noted that the "Wireless industry trade group CTIA praised the administration for 'recognizing the importance of establishing a national spectrum strategy. With the right approach based on licensed wireless spectrum, Americas wireless carriers will invest hundreds of billions of dollars and create millions of jobs.'

White House adviser Michael Kratsios told reporters on Thursday that 'We will prioritize efforts to accelerate the private sectors development of 5G, so that the American people can reap the rewards of this incredible technology.'





The CTIA has a number of interesting articles on 5G. One is titled "FCC Wireless Siting Reform is Key to U.S. Leadership." Highlights from CTIA's Race to 5G Summit held in April 2018 are shown in the video below.

Verizon is now working with Samsung on a 5G roll out in early 2019, so the wireless industry is moving full steam ahead. The U.S. government's move on Friday is to establish the needs of telecom and other industries and ensure that 5G spectrum could be quickly expanded to meet future needs.

In a second report, we surprisingly learned that India of all places will attempt to bring 5G networks via a proposed "Skyship Platform." This could be great news for Samsung if they could deliver 5G in India first. It would be a way to lock out their biggest competitors. Then again, it'll be up to the Indian government to ensure that such a service in India would have to opened to other smartphone vendors.







Yesterday KT Corporation, formerly known as Korea Telecom, demonstrated an unmanned airship using 5G technology at the ongoing India Mobile Congress. The airship, dubbed Skyship, is equipped with 5G customer premises equipment made by Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics and an advanced high-resolution camera that can shoot 360-degree photos and videos.

The filmed videos were sent through KTs 5G network in real-time to a large monitor at Samsungs booth at the IMC 2018 in New Delhi.

Oh Seong-mok, president of the network business at KT stated that "The Skyship platform is KTs distinct solution that integrates the companys network infrastructure and ICT technology. KT plans to expand the application of Skyship to different areas."

If a single or group of wireless carriers steps forward with assistance from the government, India would be able to bring their nation on par with other tech savvy countries. The Skyship system could be expanded to many third world markets in the future.

The original concept was pioneered by Google's Project Loon. High speed internet via Project Loon is now available in Kenya. While it's 4G LTE today, upgrading to 5G could be a likely possibility.

KT Corporation's Skyship Platform appears to far more advanced and delivering 5G in stable and better controllable airships instead of balloons.

The Skyship Platform was originally envisioned to be a local emergency services platform as noted in the original promotions video to the government.

KT's vision is now on two distinct tracks. One track is designed to deliver emergency and rescue services assisting in earthquake zones or to save an injured hiker deep in the mountains. The second track is to use a simpler version to deliver 5G services where laying cable isn't viable.

As we enter 2019, 5G developments, projects and rolllouts will be published on an ongoing basis with wireless carriers and smartphone vendors battling it out to deliver next generation products and services that could win them new customers. It could be a very disruptive year in techland indeed.




Patently Apple posted at least four reports in the ongoing legal battle between Apple and Qualcomm this month alone (01, 02, 03) with the fourth one posted on October 6th titled "Apple & Manufacturers File an Opposition Brief: Qualcomm can't demand "billions in royalties" while Ducking patent-specific claims." On Friday Qualcomm's response to the latter brief was to remind the court that Apple and other contract manufacturers owe more than $7 billion in royalties for using its technology in smartphones.

It was reported by Courthouse News that Qualcomm attorney Evan Chesler with New York-based Cravath Swaine & Moore invoked comments he made during 2017 hearing to highlight the urgency in resolving the ongoing dispute between the phone technology giants.

Chesler stated that "Theyre $7 billion behind in royalties. The house was on fire, its been burning for two years and now theres $7 billion in property damages. We have to get to trial."

Why the rush? In January 2017 Patently Apple posted a report titled "The U.S. Fair Trade Commission Sues Qualcomm for Forcing Apple to use its Chips in iDevices." The ruling for that case was close at hand this month when all of a sudden Qualcomm and the FTC asked the judge to delay his ruling as the two parties try to find a settlement. Qualcomm is paranoid because a negative ruling that was bound to be made would destroy Qualcomm's case against Apple.

So Qualcomm's attorney on Friday wanting quick action in their case against Apple is hypocritical. Their fight with Apple hasn't been going their way, especially in Germany.

Courthouse News also noted in their report that "Last month, a judge in San Jose certified a federal class action in a similar case stemming from claims customers paid more for smartphones because Qualcomm jacked up the price of its chipsets used in the cellular communications.

Qualcomm has also been slapped with a $1.2 billion antitrust fine by the European Union and faces a lawsuit by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

Apple attorney Ruffin Cordell with Washington-based Fish & Richardson argued Friday 'the gravamen of what Qualcomm is after is to avoid examination of their patents. They were deathly afraid this court or any court will pass judgment on exhaustion of their patents.

Cordell further added that if the court determines any of the nine patents at issue in the case are exhausted 'it will have a profound impact on the relationship of the parties.'"

As noted in our opening paragraph, Apple and manufacturers filed a brief with the court earlier this month about Qualcomm demanding "billions in royalties" while ducking patent-specific claims.

On Friday Cordell brought this up again. Cordell noted that roughly 73 percent of Qualcomms portfolio  which includes 130,000 patents  is exhausted and Apple and others want to recover money they paid Qualcomm for patents that are invalid, were not infringed or are exhausted.

Now Qualcomm is changing their tune in fear of having to prove their patents remain valid. Qualcomm's attorney insisted on Friday that "the central issue of the case involves licensing agreements between the technology giants and not necessarily the patents individually."

Say what? Of course it was about patent infringement and a court in Munich recently threw out Qualcomm's patent infringement lawsuit agaisnt Apple. Once again Qualcomm case is taking a beating in court.

Courthouse News finally noted that "Another hearing in the case is scheduled for Nov. 9." For more on this, read the full report here.
Eleven people have been killed in a shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue on Saturday.

The revised death tally was reported by the Washington Post, CBS News, and KDKA on Saturday afternoon.

Authorities have named 48-year-old Robert Bowers as the suspect, according to The Associated Press.

Bowers reportedly entered the Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill section of the city and began "shooting indiscriminately" at people inside, KDKA reports.

The shooter is reported to have screamed anti-Semitic slogans as he opened fire, including "all Jews must die."

KDKA reports about 30 people were inside the synagogue at the time of the shooting.

The shooter was injured after exchanging gunfire with police, and after negotiations with officers, he was taken into custody and to a hospital.

There were multiple fatalities, said Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich. In addition, 6 people, including 4 police officers, were injured.

Hissirch said some of the injuries were serious and life-threatening. The officers' injuries were not life-threatening, he said.

As Hissirch spoke to reporters, he appeared to choke up and get emotional at times. He explained that he had been to plane crash scenes, but the scene inside the synagogue is one of the worst he has ever seen.

"It's a very horrific crime scene," he said. "It's one of the worst that I've seen. It's very bad."

Sen. Bob Casey and Gov. Tom Wolf are at the scene. Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro is also en route to Pittsburgh.

State and national leaders have taken to social media to react to the incident.

"It's the sad reality we seem to be living in these days," said U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle. "I just hear about these tragedies that occur around the country and Congress continues to do nothing about it. I don't know how many times this has to happen before we do something about it."

Since the shooting is considered a hate crime, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is taking the lead of the investigation. Another press conference is scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday.

Carnegie Mellon University, which is near the scene, was placed on lockdown shortly after the shooting, but it has since been lifted.

The tree-lined residential neighborhood of Squirrel Hill, about 10 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh, has a heavily Jewish population.
PITTSBURGH -- A gunman killed 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue during Saturday-morning services in what the Anti-Defamation League called "likely the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the history of the United States."

Law enforcement officials said Robert Bowers - a 46-year-old man with a history of making anti-Semitic statements online - surrendered to police after a gun battle and is expected to face hate crime charges.

The hour-long incident left 11 dead at Tree of Life Congregation, according to Lynette Lederman, executive assistant to city council member Corey O'Connor. Lederman, who is also a former president of Tree of Life and a senior member of the Jewish community, said six others were shot -- including four police officers.

"It's a very horrific crime scene," Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich told reporters in the afternoon, after Bowers had been apprehended. "One of the worst that I've seen. And I've been on some plane crashes."

The suspect interrupted a baby-naming service at about 10 a.m, Pennsylvania's attorney general told The Associated Press. Witnesses told police he burst in shouting anti-Semitic slurs and began firing.

Stephen Weiss recalled hearing gunshots and fleeing the building through the sanctuary. "We had services going on in the chapel when we heard a loud noise in the lobby area," he told the Tribune-Review.

KDKA reported that police confronted the suspect near the synagogue entrance. Witnesses said one office was wounded in an initial firefight, and two more were shot when they tried to corner the gunman upstairs.

The man ranted about needing to kill Jews during a brief standoff, police dispatchers said on the radio.

He surrendered to police around 11 a.m., an hour or so after the shooting began.

Dispatchers said he had a pistol on his ankle and another in his waistband and had been injured. KDKA reported that he came out crawling.

Gab, a social media platform that has attracted many far-right users, released a statement on Saturday, saying the company had suspended an account that "matched the name of the alleged shooter's name."

"We then contacted the FBI and made them aware of this account and the user data in our possession," the statement continued.

"It looks definitely like it's an anti-Semitic crime," President Donald Trump told reporters Saturday afternoon. "That is something you wouldn't believe could still be going on."

The Tree of Life synagogue is located in a leafy residential enclave near Carnegie Mellon University - one of the larger predominantly Jewish neighborhoods in the United States. Its "traditional, progressive and egalitarian" congregation, formed in 1864, is Pittsburgh's oldest Jewish congregation.

It's the "center of Jewish life on Shabbat morning," said Rabbi Aaron Bisno of the Rodef Shalom Congregation, two blocks away.

It is unclear how many were in the synagogue at the time of the shooting. According to an online calendar, there would have been a Shabbat service scheduled for 9:45 a.m. Saturday.

The synagogue's main sanctuary, a cavernous space with soaring stained-glass windows that depict the story of creation, can hold up to 1,250 guests, according to the Tree of Life's website.

"This is an absolute tragedy," Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf wrote on Twitter. "These senseless acts of violence are not who we are as Americans."

Police in Washington, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles all said they were increasing patrols at synagogues and other houses of worship following the Pittsburgh attack as precautionary measures.

Speaking to reporters later at Joint Base Andrews, Trump said the shooting was "far more devastating than anybody originally thought" but did not offer details. "It's a terrible, terrible thing, what's going on with hate in our country, frankly, and all over the world, and something has to be done," he said.

When asked if he should revisit gun laws, Trump said: "This has little to do with it, if you take a look. If they had protection inside, the results would have been far better."

Trump has frequently suggested that more armed people could deter mass shootings, making the comment after shooting rampages in Parkland, Florida, and Orlando in recent years. Armed law enforcement officers were present at both of those mass shootings and others that have still occurred.

It's unclear whether the synagogue had security measures in place. In a July blog post for the synagogue titled "We Deserve Better," Rabbi Jeffrey Myers criticized elected leaders for their lack of action in enacting gun-control legislation in the wake of the Parkland school shooting.

"Unless there is a dramatic turnaround in the mid-term elections, I fear that that the status quo will remain unchanged, and school shootings will resume," Myers wrote.

"I shouldn't have to include in my daily morning prayers that God should watch over my wife and daughter, both teachers, and keep them safe. Where are our leaders?"

The shooting comes during an sharp spike in anti-Semitic activities in the U.S., according to an Anti-Defamation League report released earlier this year. From 2016 to 2017, instances of anti-Semitic harassment, vandalism and assault increased 57 percent, the largest single-year jump since ADL began tracking the data in the 1970s.

"This is close to an all-time high," Greenblatt told The Post then. "We're living in a time where extremists feel emboldened and they're increasingly taking action. They feel empowered; they almost feel like they've been mainstreamed."

Ben Opie, 55, who lives across the street from Tree of Life, said his wife was leaving for a volunteer duty at about 11 a.m. when police shouted at her to get back inside the house. Officers banged on neighbors' doors and told them to stay locked inside.

Two hours later, after many of the police vehicles had left the neighborhood, Opie said he's still shaking.

"It's just," Opie said, pausing, his voice trembling. "Sorry, it's shaking me more than usual."

By Saturday afternoon, members of the synagogue were gathering at a grief center waiting to hear about friends and family members caught in the shooting.

"It's one of my biggest fears," said Chuck Diamond, who worked as a rabbi at Tree of Life for seven years. "When I was leading the congregation, I always had in the back of my mind that something like this will happen. It's a terrible thing to feel."

- - -

The Washington Post's Joel Achenbach, Devlin Barrett, Mark Berman, Kristine Phillips, Mike Rosenwald and Katie Zezima contributed to this developing story.
The Middletown Borough Council has responded to a federal civil rights lawsuit filed against it by the Press & Journal, contending it had no legal merit.

The newspaper contends borough leadership were pulling ads from the news papers because they dislike the newspaper's coverage. A key component to that lawsuit is a letter the newspaper received from the council in the mayor.

"We cannot support a business that, at times, seems intent on derailing the progress we strive to make," a section of that letter reads.

Borough Council President Angela Lloyd, however, called the lawsuit "baseless" in a news release posted to the borough's Facebook page.

"The legal action filed by the Press and Journal, Inc. has no merit in fact or law," the release reads. "The lawsuit is nothing more than an attempt to force the expenditure of taxpayer funds to a private corporation and its owners for their own personal gain."

Lloyd went on to say borough officials have the right to see the best services for the borough and its residents.

The paper's lawyer, Aaron D. Martin, claims the ad ban has sent his client to "publishing purgatory" by infringing on the Press & Journal's rights to freedom of speech and freedom of the press guaranteed under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Melissa Melewski, media law counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, told PennLive on Thursday that it is well established that it is unconstitutional for a government entity to try to punish a media outlet for publishing articles and editorials those in power don't like.

That does seem to be the case in the Middletown versus the Press & Journal dispute, she said.

Legal ads once placed in the Press & Journal are now being channeled to The Patriot-News, the end of a century-old commercial relationship between Middletown and the Press & Journal.

In addition with its argument its First Amendment rights were violation, the Press & Journal contends Mayor James Curry III and the borough council imposed the ban illegally without discussing or voting on it at a public meeting.

Newspaper management said they received the letter from borough officials after they questioned by the borough's ads were no longer coming in.

"The decision was arrived at through discussion of a number of topics that we feel have been detrimental to the efforts and initiatives of the borough, including articles and editorials published in the Press & Journal over the past year," the letter from borough officials to the Press & Journal states. Without going into specifics, it cites the paper's coverage of issues including the fate of the Elks Theater, National Night Out, police discipline, legal battling relating to the water system, and "local campaign coverage and the Press & Journal's attempts to help finance selected campaigns."

Borough council members also indicated the ad ban might be lifted "should the Press & Journal demonstrate reliability to professionally and responsibly report on the actions and statements of borough council and management, as well as critiquing us from a founded and balanced position."

That statement, according to the Press & Journal, equates to the borough "unconstitutionally conditioning the award of future contracts for publication services upon (the paper's) changing viewpoints expressed in its news reports and editorials."
Jewish groups in Pennsylvania decried Saturday what may be the worst "anti-Semitic mass shooting" in Pennsylvania's history.

Hank Butler, executive director of the Pennsylvania Jewish Coalition, said the community's heart went out to the families of the 11 people killed and six wounded after a gunman opened fire in a Pittsburgh synagogue on Saturday morning.

"The Pennsylvania Jewish Coalition mourns the victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting," Butler said. "We ask for everyone to keep the victims in their thoughts and prayers. This horrific act of anti-Semitic is shocking beyond belief."

A group holds a sign at the intersection of Murray Ave. and Forbes Ave. in the Squirrel Hill section of Pittsburgh, during a memorial vigil for the victims of the shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue where a shooter opened fire, killing multiple people and wounding others, including several police officers, Saturday, Oct. 27, 2018.

Authorities have named 48-year-old Robert Bowers as the suspect. Bowers reportedly screamed anti-Semitic statements as he opened fire, including "all Jews must die."

Butler said that, to the best of his recollection, Saturday's shooting was the most lethal attack on Pennsylvania's Jewish community in the state's history.

"As far as I can recall this is by far the worst anti-Semitic mass-shooting in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania," Butler said.

Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive officer of the Anti-Defamation League, went a step further: He told the Associated Press on Saturday that he believes the attack was the deadliest assault on the Jewish community in the nation's history.

"Our hearts break for the families of those killed and injured at the Tree of Life Synagogue, and for the entire Jewish community of Pittsburgh," Greenblatt said.

Other Jewish groups and religious officials in Pennsylvania also expressed shock and dismay on Saturday evening.

Rabbi Peter Kessler of Temple Ohev Sholom said the temple was planning to hold a special healing service Saturday night. He said he learned of the Pittsburgh shooting just as the Sabbath services at the temple were ended.

The first thing he did, he said, was make sure the temple was secure. He said that mean adding to security measures already in place.

"We are quietly prepared for any event that we hope never happens," he said.

In a statement, the Jewish Community Relations Council of York condemned the attack as "a vicious hate crime".

"The victims were innocent Jews praying during their Sabbath and celebrating the welcoming of a newborn into this world," wrote Nada Seidon, the council's chairwoman.
The gunman who is accused of shooting and killing 8 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue, and injuring others, has been identified.

The man has been identified as 48-year-old Robert Bowers, according to the Associated Press.

BREAKING: Law enforcement official: Suspect in Pittsburgh synagogue shooting identified as Robert Bowers.  The Associated Press (@AP) October 27, 2018

Bowers is accused of entering The Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill section of the city and "shooting indiscriminately" at people inside, KDKA reports.

Bowers also reportedly screamed anti-Semitic slogans as he opened fire, including "all Jews must die."

Bowers was injured after exchanging gunfire with police, and after negotiations with officers, he was taken into custody and to a hospital.
More officials continue to offer their sympathies and words of encouragement in the aftermath of the fatal shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh on Saturday.

Law enforcement officials named 48-year-old Robert Bowers as the suspect, according to The Associated Press. The shooter entered the Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill section of the city and began "shooting indiscriminately" at people inside, KDKA reports.

The shooter is reported to have screamed anti-Semitic slogans as he opened fire, including "all Jews must die."

Here are some of the responses provided by various officials:

Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pennsylvania

"Synagogues and other places of worship are safe havens where communities come together to celebrate, pray, and reflect. What happened today at the Tree of Life Synagogue was a cowardly act of violence fueled by hate and anti-Semitism.

"My prayers are with the victims, their families and friends, the members of the Tree of Life Synagogue, and the city of Pittsburgh. I greatly appreciate the actions of the first responders who tended to the wounded and apprehended the shooter.

"My staff and I will remain in contact with law enforcement and local officials over the course of coming days."

Sen. Robert Casey, D-Pennsylvania

"Today, our Commonwealth and country stand in solidarity with the Jewish community of Pittsburgh. We mourn the loss of eleven lives at Tree of Life Synagogue in Squirrel Hill and pray for their families. This was an evil act of hate and the perpetrator must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

"I received a briefing from the FBI and local law enforcement officials directly involved in this investigation. Our Commonwealth is grateful for the heroic actions of the Pittsburgh police officers who directly engaged the suspect and saved lives. We are also thankful for the work being done by federal, state and local law enforcement who also responded and are assisting in the investigation. People across our nation are praying for the officers who were injured today.

"We stand with the victims and their families in this time of tragedy. Those of us in public office have an obligation to take actions that can reduce the likelihood of mass shootings. We must come together as a nation and meet this challenge."

Rep. Frank Dermody D-Allegheny/Westmoreland

"I thank police and first responders for their quick response and bravery during the situation.

Please join me in keeping the victims and their families in our thoughts and prayers. As Pennsylvanians, we must come together to offer the victims, their families and the community whatever assistance and support they need.

Moving forward, I and my colleagues in the legislature will continue to support law enforcement and our local communities, and by working together, we can help make our state a place where all people are safe in their homes, schools and daily lives, and where we all respect the contributions, dignity and humanity of every Pennsylvanian."

Bishop David Zubik, Diocese of Pittsburgh

"As we are all devastated by this morning's massacre at Tree of Life Congregation, my heart and my prayers are especially lifted up for our Jewish sisters and brothers and the law enforcement officers who rushed into harm's way. The relationship between Tree of Life and the Diocese of Pittsburgh has been close over many years.

Anti-Jewish bigotry, and all religious and ethnic bigotry, is a terrible sin. As we pray for peace in our communities and comfort for the grieving, we must put prayer into action by loving our neighbors and working to make 'never again!' a reality. May God free us from fear and hatred, and sow peace in our lives, our communities and in the world."

Joint statements from Jewish State Reps. Robert Freeman, D-Northampton, Michael Schlossberg, D-Lehigh, and Jared Solomon, D-Phila:

"We are shocked, horrified and deeply saddened by the tragic shooting today at the Tree of Life synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Our deepest sympathies are with the victims, their families and friends, and the entire community as we all begin to come to terms with what transpired today. We are also immeasurably grateful to the swift and courageous response of local law enforcement who managed to force the suspect into surrendering, and we salute particularly those officers who were injured in the fight.



These acts of hate and violence have no place in our communities, our Commonwealth or our country. Sadly, they have become all too common. And for it to occur in a synagogue on the Sabbath is all the more heartbreaking, that someone would take the holiest of days to murder innocent worshipers.



With each shooting we all ask, 'Will this be the one that prompts real change?' Yet, instead of fostering change, it seems to foster a numbness and a callousness in our culture, a culture that accepts these incidents as a fact of life. We cannot and will not live in a society where we have to explain to our children and their children that this behavior is something that just happens in the United States in the 21st century. Instead, we must have strength like those who stood in the way of the bullets, courage like those who charged into, not away from the fight, and steadfastness like those who bring villains like this to justice. Thoughts and prayers are no longer enough."

Attorney General Josh Shaprio

"The violence against the Tree of Life congregation today is horrific. It is an assault on the liberties our country and Commonwealth were founded to protect. When any one community is targeted with violence, intimidation or discrimination it threatens all of us and must be condemned. That this attack took place in a house of worship where congregants seek safety and peace is particularly perverse and is an attempt to intimidate people of faith. That attempt will never succeed.

I'm proud to stand with the brave men and women in law enforcement who put their lives at risk to save others today. I am profoundly grateful to them for their bravery.



My prayers are with the victims of this heinous act and the loved ones left behind who grieve for them. As the congregants of Tree of Life, the people of Pittsburgh and Pennsylvanians across our Commonwealth grapple with this latest atrocity over the coming days and weeks, we must act to quell this senseless violence. There will be hard conversations ahead, looking at both our words and our laws, but they are critical for us to heal and move forward together."

Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

"Acts of hatred targeting communities because of their faith, race, or ethnicity must stop. The mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue is unfortunately not an isolated incident. Although we are still learning more about this and other recent incidents, we must all agree that hate and bigotry - and the violent acts they motivate - are wrong. All of us have a responsibility to ensure a world without hate, and that responsibility is greater for those in positions of power and leadership. These acts of hate are not the new normal, and they must never become so.

Our thoughts are with the victims' families and community members, and we deeply appreciate the swift action of the first responders."
Details are still forthcoming in a deadly shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue that has left at least 8 dead and 6 injured.

Authorities, however, have identified the shooter as 48-year-old Robert Bowers.

BREAKING: Law enforcement official: Suspect in Pittsburgh synagogue shooting identified as Robert Bowers.  The Associated Press (@AP) October 27, 2018

Bowers is accused of entering The Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill section of the city and "shooting indiscriminately" at people inside, KDKA reports.

Bowers also reportedly screamed anti-Semitic slogans as he opened fire, including "all Jews must die."

Bowers was injured after exchanging gunfire with police, and after negotiations with officers, he was taken into custody and to a hospital.

Bowers was active on Twitter, but his account was deleted after the shooting. Bowers was also active on a social media platform called Gab.

Gab is a Philadelphia-based social network that bills itself as "a social network that champions free speech, individual liberty and the free flow of information online." Gab has been cited as Twitter-like platform for self-described "alt-right."

His last post was shortly before the shooting happened, and referred to Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, a non-profit that provides humanitarian aid and assistance to refugees.

No other details about Bowers has since been released.
Arhur I. Cyr: Why the G20 matters to our pocket books, and much more
13.04.2017Mountaineering on the Matterhorn: from 15 - 16 March Alexander Huber from Germany and Switzerlands Dani Arnold and Thomas Senf climbed a new route up the legendary North Face of one of the symbols of the Alps. The new climb is called Schweizernase and shares the start of the Gogna-Cerruti route before continuing directly up through the enormous overhangs on the upper section of the face.
By Andrew Chung

NEW YORK (Reuters)  A federal judge on Friday rejected a bid by President Donald Trumps administration to halt a trial set to start on Nov. 5 testing the legality of its contentious decision to ask people taking part in the 2020 U.S. census whether they are citizens.

Manhattan U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman said a postponement of the trial could hinder a final resolution of the case before the government begins printing the census forms next year. Time is of the essence, Furman said in the ruling.

Even before the judge had acted, the administration also asked a New York federal appeals court to put the trial on hold temporarily, as well as other pre-trial activity, until the U.S. Supreme Court resolves a dispute over evidence, including whether Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross can be forced to answer questions about the politically charged decision.

The Supreme Court on Monday blocked Ross pre-trial deposition and gave the administration until next Monday to appeal all of the trial judges orders regarding compelling documents and other testimony before trial.

The lawsuit, brought by 18 states and a number of cities and counties, was spearheaded by Democratic officials. It is consolidated with another suit by several immigrant rights groups accusing the administration of discrimination against non-white immigrants in violation of the U.S. Constitutions guarantee of equal protection under the law.

Critics of the citizenship question have said it will deter people in immigrant communities from participating in the census, disproportionately affecting Democratic-leaning states by undercounting the number of residents.

The administration told the appeals court there should be no trial to probe Ross motives for adding the citizenship question to the census. If the Supreme Court rules in its favor, the need for a trial might be obviated altogether, the administration said.

Furman said in a Sept. 21 order that Ross, whose department oversees the U.S. Census Bureau, must be questioned because his intent and credibility are directly at issue in the lawsuit.

The U.S. Constitution mandates a census every 10 years. It is used in the allocation of seats in Congress and the distribution of billions of dollars in federal funds. A citizenship question has not appeared on the census since 1950.

The administration has said it needs the data to enforce a voting rights law as it relates to minority voters.

(Reporting by Andrew Chung; Editing by Dan Grebler and Will Dunham)
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(Reuters)  The shooting of a black man and woman at a Kentucky supermarket was being investigated as a possible hate crime, a federal prosecutor said on Friday.

Gregory Bush, 51, a white man, has been charged with shooting Maurice Stallard, 69, in front of his grandson as they shopped in a Kroger Inc grocery store in Jeffersontown, some 15 miles (24 km) from downtown Louisville. According to an arrest citation, he then went to the parking lot and shot Vickie Jones, 67.

Bush has been charged with murder and 10 counts of first-degree wanton endangerment.

Federal investigators are supporting local law enforcement and examining this matter from the perspective of federal criminal law, which includes potential civil rights violations such as hate crimes, U.S. Attorney Russell Coleman said in a statement on Friday.

An armed bystander with a carry permit for a concealed weapon exchanged gunfire with Bush in the parking lot before the suspect fled in his car. He was apprehended shortly afterwards, police said.

Ed Harrell told the Louisville Courier Journal that he pulled out his pistol as Bush approached him in the parking lot and Bush told him not to shoot as whites dont kill whites.

It was not immediately clear if Bush had legal representation.

If investigators suspect the killings were racially motivated, Bush could also be charged for a hate crime.

Both Stallard and Jones were shot from behind multiple times, Jeffersontown Police Chief Sam Rogers told reporters on Thursday.

Rogers said Bush suffered from mental illness and court records showed he had a history of violence and at least one instance when he used a racial slur.

About 15 minutes before walking into the Kroger supermarket Bush tried to get into a predominantly black Baptist church, police said, citing surveillance video.

First Baptist Church administrator Billy Williams told local CBS affiliate WLKY there were eight to 10 people in the church at the time.

In 2015, self-described white supremacist Dylann Roof, then 21, shot and killed nine black people in a church in Charleston, South Carolina.

(Reporting by Andrew Hay in New Mexico)
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WASHINGTON (Reuters)  U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday accused Twitter Inc of targeting his account on the social media network but did not offer any evidence, and suggested that the companys actions could be a sign of bias.

Twitter has deleted millions of suspicious accounts after it and other social media services were used in misinformation campaigns attempting to influence voters in the 2016 U.S. presidential race and other elections.

Last week it disclosed it removed some 10 million tweets it thought were the work of Russian and Iranian government-backed influence operations.

Our focus is on the health of the service, and that includes work to remove fake accounts and those engaging in malicious behavior. Many prominent accounts have seen follower counts drop, but the result is higher confidence that the followers they have are real, engaged people, Twitter spokesman Brandon Borrman said.

Trump, an avid user of the online network, has previously criticized Twitter and other technology companies even as he has defended his prolific tweets as allowing him to communicate directly with people to bypass channels such as traditional news media outlets.

Twitter said in a conference call to discuss its quarterly earnings on Thursday that its cleanup effort, which launched in March and calls a health initiative, will allow it to grow revenue faster than users for a sustained period.

Shares in Twitter traded flat on Friday.

Earlier this week, Trumps re-election campaign manager Brad Parscale in an opinion piece on Breitbart said tech companies such as Facebook Inc and Alphabet Incs Google have become incubators of far-left liberal ideologies that are doing everything they can to eradicate conservative ideas and their proponents from the internet.

Parscale served as Trumps digital director for his 2016 White House bid, which made significant use of social media.

Trumps re-election team, however, is planning to circumvent such platforms for his 2020 bid, Politico reported this week, citing four officials involved in the campaign.

Twitter has removed many people from my account and, more importantly, they have seemingly done something that makes it much harder to join  they have stifled growth to a point where it is obvious to all. A few weeks ago it was a Rocket Ship, now it is a Blimp! Total Bias? Trump wrote in a tweet.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey and Tim Ahmann; Additional reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Meredith Mazzilli)
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By Jilian Mincer

(Reuters)  Democratic candidates for the U.S. Congress are closing out the campaign season with an ominous warning: telling voters millions of Americans could lose their health insurance or be forced to pay significantly more if Republicans win.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Friday shows why they are hammering the message: 58 percent of likely voters want to keep former President Barack Obamas signature legislative achievement, the Affordable Care Act.

Among other things, the law protected insurance coverage for people with pre-existing health conditions. The poll, conducted Oct. 12-17, also showed that eight in 10 likely voters from each major party want to protect coverage for people with existing conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes or cancer.

With the Nov. 6 elections looming, Democrats are reminding voters of Republicans often-repeated promises to repeal the 2010 law. Many Republican candidates are softening their tone or removing website references decrying what they long derided as Obamacare, according to candidates, analysts and healthcare experts in both parties.

As Democrats seek to take control of Congress, they see Republicans as having a particularly weak spot on healthcare. Sixty-seven of the 73 most vulnerable Republican incumbents in the House of Representatives voted at least once to eliminate the ACA and its protections for pre-existing conditions, according to the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

Some of those votes date back to the Obama administration, though his successor, Republican President Donald Trump, also campaigned on a promise to undo the law. A repeal attempt after Trump took office last year failed.

Opinion polls show Democrats as having a chance to achieve the net gain of 23 seats they would need to take a majority in the House, but facing a longer shot at picking up the two seats they need to take control of the Senate.

Democratic activists said the repeated Republican attempts to repeal the ACA provide a powerful tool to motivate voters.

Healthcare has an ability to move people into action, said Ben Wikler, Washington director of liberal activist group MoveOn. It is turning people out in town hall meetings  getting people to make hundreds of thousands of phone calls and getting voters to the polls.

ANXIOUS ABOUT HEALTHCARE

One sign of Democratic focus: 54.5 percent of Democrats federal election ads from Sept. 18 to Oct. 15 mentioned healthcare, far more than the 8.7 percent that did so at the same time in 2010, according to the Wesleyan Media Project.

Some 33.9 percent of Republican federal election ads mentioned healthcare during this period and 31.5 percent in 2010. Republicans took control of the House in the 2010 midterm elections, boosted in part by opposition to the ACA, which had become law earlier that year.

While the aim of the ACA was to expand healthcare insurance to reach millions of Americans who did not have any coverage, Republicans campaigned for years against it as government overreach, especially its requirement that people buy health insurance or pay a financial penalty.

U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill has made healthcare the focus of her campaign in Missouri against Republican challenger Josh Hawley. The states attorney general, Hawley has faced criticism from individuals and healthcare groups for saying he supports covering pre-existing conditions even after suing to end the ACA.

Everyone is feeling anxious and worried about the future of healthcare, McCaskill said in a telephone interview. Its beginning to dawn on people that the Republicans didnt have a replacement (for the ACA), and that they have no ideas on how they could do it better.

Hawley ran for state attorney general by emphasizing his role in a lawsuit against the ACA that went to the U.S. Supreme Court, and also worked on a team that successfully challenged the ACAs requirement to provide contraceptives coverage.

Hawley declined interview requests.

IT HAD BECOME REAL

Despite Republican opposition, eight years after its passage many Americans have seen some benefits from the law.

By the time Republicans last year tried to repeal the law, it had become real, people had benefited, said Brad Woodhouse, executive director of Protect Our Care. He said at least 20 Republican incumbents have scrubbed their websites to appear more supportive of the law.

In Kentucky, Representative Andy Barr has called his vote to repeal the ACA a great day for freedom in America but now plays up his support of programs to prevent and treat opioid addiction. In Maine, Representative Bruce Poliquin dropped a promise to end Obamacare and now talks about protecting hospitals.

Ted Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas, said during a debate this month against Democratic challenger Beto ORourke that he would protect pre-existing illnesses, despite having once forced a shutdown of the federal government over ACA repeal efforts.

In a hotly contested upstate New York congressional race, Democratic challenger Antonio Delgado has hammered his opponent, first-term Republican John Faso, over his vote to repeal the ACA.

John Faso, despite voting to take away protections, is running TV ads saying the exact opposite, he said during a recent town hall meeting. How can you look someone in the face and say, No, I didnt do that. After a while, youre just lying to our faces blatantly. This is too real to lie about.

Faso defended his vote in an interview, saying New York state law already ensures patients with pre-existing conditions are protected, regardless of federal legislation.

DIM VIEW OF HEALTHCARE

Despite support for specific elements of the law, 52 percent of likely voters told Reuters/Ipsos they view the U.S. healthcare system as poor or terrible.

Some 27 percent blame Democrats and Obama for the system, while 20 percent view Republicans and Trump as responsible.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online in English throughout the United States. It gathered responses from 1,792 adults including 925 likely voters. The poll has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 3 percentage points for the entire sample and 4 percentage points for likely voters.

I dont think it is a clear win for Democrats, said Matt Mackowiak, who advises Republican candidates, speaking of healthcare as an election issue. Its tough to pin the entire blame on Republicans when theyve been in control for a year and a half.

Still, Democrats are betting the threat of losing healthcare coverage will motivate young and minority voters who often do not vote in non-presidential elections.

They are focusing on people like Shane Kehoe, 26, of Livingston, Montana, who plans to vote next month for the first time because he wants Democratic U.S. Senator Jon Tester to fend off a challenge to his seat.

I want to make sure the insurance stays in place, said Kehoe, a restaurant employee who has had foot surgery. What were voting on is covering pre-existing conditions.

Americans views of healthcare: https://tmsnrt.rs/2J7k27L

Full Reuters election coverage: https://www.reuters.com/politics/election2018

(Reporting by Jilian Mincer in New York; Additional reporting by Chris Kahn and Joseph Ax in New York; Editing by Scott Malone and Frances Kerry)
By Sharon Bernstein

(Reuters)  A crowded U.S. Senate race in Republican stronghold Mississippi could set the stage for weeks of uncertainty over which party ends up controlling the upper chamber of Congress after the Nov. 6 elections.

Two Republicans and two Democrats are contesting a special election to serve out the remainder of retired Republican Senator Thad Cochrans term. Under state law, if no one gets 50 percent of the vote, the top two candidates regardless of party affiliation will go to a Nov. 27 runoff.

It is a scenario that could focus international attention on the Southern state and bring in millions of dollars from outside political groups.

Mississippi could be the deciding factor in who controls the Senate, said Melissa Scallan, a spokeswoman for Republican U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, who was appointed by Mississippis Republican governor to temporarily replace Cochran after he retired on April 1.

Democrats, who currently control 49 of the 100 seats in the Senate, face a tough political map as they are defending Senate seats in 10 states that Republican President Donald Trump carried in the 2016 election.

Opinion polls show Hyde-Smith, a former Democrat who has been endorsed by Trump, as the front-runner in the race. Democrat Mike Espy, a former congressman and agriculture secretary in the Clinton administration, is in second place and drawing enough support to possibly make it into a runoff.

Mississippi State Senator Chris McDaniel, a conservative Republican firebrand who tried to unseat Cochran in 2014, is third in the polls, with Democrat Tobey Bartee a distant fourth.

Although Mississippi has not sent a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1982, some observers say the increased attention and advertising prompted by a runoff could result in unusually high voter turnout that makes it more of a horse race.

Turnout was cited as a key factor in Democrat Doug Jones upset victory in the U.S. Senate special election in neighboring Alabama last year.

If the Senate is in play, then Mississippi is ground zero for everything, said a Democratic Party source who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Mississippi State University political scientist Marty Wiseman said a win by Hyde-Smith on Nov. 6 might dampen enthusiasm among McDaniels more populist supporters, potentially opening a window for Espy.

Theres a lot of speculation that McDaniels people will stay home and fuss about their fate, Wiseman said.

A recent NBC/Marist poll showed Hyde-Smith with 38 percent support of likely voters, Espy with 29 percent and McDaniel at 15 percent. Bartee was supported by 2 percent of respondents.

McDaniels campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento, California; Editing by Paul Simao)
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By John Altdorfer

PITTSBURGH (Reuters)  A gunman yelling, All Jews must die, stormed a Pittsburgh synagogue during Saturday services, killing at least eleven worshippers and wounding six others, including four police officers, before he was arrested.

CNN reported at least 10 dead, while the Washington Post put the death toll at 11. A federal law enforcement official had told Reuters earlier that at least 8 people were killed.

Its a very horrific crime scene, one of the worst that Ive seen, Pittsburgh public safety director Wendell Hissrich told a news conference near the scene.

This falls under hate crime, he said, adding there was no active threat to the community and that the shooter had been taken to a hospital.

KDKA television cited police sources as saying the gunman walked into the building and yelled All Jews must die.

Three police officers were shot and one was injured by shrapnel, Alleghany County spokeswoman Amie Downs said in an email. Two of the six people injured were in critical condition, Downs said, but would not immediately say if the count of six injured people included the suspect.

Authorities and elected officials were expected to provide more details at a 4 p.m. (2000 GMT) news conference. The Federal Bureau of Investigation will lead the probe into the attack.

Two sources identified the suspect as a 46-year-old Pittsburgh man, Robert Bowers.

A social media post by Bowers said a Jewish refugee organization, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I cant sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, Im going in.

The comment was posted on Gab, a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based social networking service created as an alternative to Twitter. In a statement, Gab.com confirmed the profile belonged to Bowers.

Gab took swift and proactive action to contact law enforcement immediately, it said. We first backed up all user data from the account and then proceeded to suspend the account. We then contacted the FBI and made them aware of this account and the user data in our possession.

The shooting, for which one federal law enforcement official said Bowers used an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, prompted security alerts at houses of worship around the country. It follows a spate of pipe bombs found mailed in recent days to prominent political figures, mostly Democrats including former President Barack Obama.

The Tree of Life synagogue in the citys Squirrel Hill neighborhood, a heavily Jewish area, was holding a Shabbat religious service at the time of the shooting.

Police are normally only present at the synagogue for security on high holidays, Michael Eisenberg, former president of the synagogue, told KDKA.

On a day like today, the door is open, its a religious service, you can walk in and out, he said.

Around the time, three congregations amounting to about 100 people would have been using the building, Eisenberg said. Most of the congregants were older people, according to a former rabbi interviewed by local media.

Shortly after reports of the shooting emerged, U.S. President Donald Trump said in a tweet he was watching what he described as a devastating situation.

Trump told reporters later that the killings might have been prevented if there had been an armed guard in the building.

If they had some kind of a protection inside the temple maybe it could have been a much more different situation, they didnt, he said when asked about a possible link to U.S. gun laws.

DEADLY ANTI-SEMITISM

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, said, This is likely the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the history of the United States.

On April 13, 2014, a pair of shootings occurred at a Jewish Community Center and a Jewish retirement community, both located in Overland Park, Kansas. A total of three people were killed in the shootings.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was heartbroken, describing the attack as horrendous anti-Semitic brutality.

French President Emmanuel Macron said, I want to express our sadness and support to the American people.

France is home to western Europes biggest Jewish population and many in the 400,000-strong community have complained for years of a rise in anti-Semitic hate crimes.

In 2015, vandals desecrated 250 tombstones in a Jewish cemetery in eastern France days after four Jews were killed in an attack on a kosher grocery in Paris.

In the United States that year, a white supremacist murdered nine African Americans during a prayer service in Charleston, South Carolina.

In 2012, a neo-Nazi gunman with white supremacist ties walked into a Sikh gurdwara  or house of worship  in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, and murdered six Sikh Americans.

(Additional reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis and Steve Gorman in Los Angeles, Jarrett Renshaw in New York and Mark Hosenball, David Brunnstrom and Timothy Gardner in Washington and Sybille de La Hamaide in Paris; Writing by Nick Zieminski; Editing by Steve Orlofsky and Chizu Nomiyama)
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MSNBC counterterrorism expert Malcolm Nance tore into right-wing conspiracy theorists who are calling the bombing attacks on high-ranking Trump critics a false flag plot by the Democrats.

In a discussion with MSNBCs AM Joy, Nance said they are only encouraging more extremists to carry out future acts of political terrorism.

You are acting in an un-American fashion and you are allowing other people to believe that they can carry out this type of attack, Nance said directly to right-wing false flag theorists. This is support of terrorism when you dont call it out for what it is.

Video:

Nance said:

Im disgusted this morning at listening to these people. I have it all over my Twitter feed, people coming back that he was a crisis actor, this bomber. Im going to say this once as a counterterrorism professional, we were attacked this week. And if it had been a member of ISIS this nation would be panicking, but now because its a person who comes from right-wing extremism, the same branch that brought us Timothy McVeigh, the greatest bomber, mass murderer in American history before 9/11  they want to pretend like none of this happened? Anyone who says this wasnt a real attack, you are betraying your oath to the constitution. You are acting in an un-American fashion and you are allowing other people to believe that they can carry out this type of attack. This is support of terrorism when you dont call it out for what it is.

Trumps response makes him unworthy of the presidency

Nance also tore into Donald Trump for his overall (and worsening) response to the widespread terrorist attack on Democrats and members of the media.

He said the presidents disgusting response to the bombing attacks  even after the bomber has been caught  is another demonstration of just how unworthy he is for his position.

He has no interest in the role of being president of the United States. Hes not worthy of the title, Nance said. In fact, he is actually working against the interests of the United States.

Video:

Nance said:

He has no interest in the role of being president of the United States. He doesnt. Hes not worthy of the title. In fact, he is actually working against the interests of the United States. Let me put this  as a counterterrorism professional, let me put it to you this way  this nation sustained a terrorist mail bombing campaign this week. The only reason that we dont have postal workers or individuals who the bombs were sent to injured, wounded or killed is because the bomber was too incompetent to actually produce an effective device. But they were real devices. The FBI says they were real devices. Viable enough to kill had they worked, so this nation went through a bombing campaign and the person who sits in the chair of the president of the United States does not have the decency to even warn or work with the potential victims. Which tells you that should there be a real extremist  right-wing extremist bombing campaign in this country that is effective he still wont care. That puts us in our own form of crisis where a president of the United States refuses  refuses to defend the Constitution of the United States. Which means that if theres a real crisis, were in serious trouble.

Trump, Republicans are only encouraging violent acts

This week has been dark enough. After all, a political terrorist attempted a mass assassination bombing of former presidents, high-ranking Democratic officials and members of the media.

But the disturbing and compassionless response from Trump and his right-wing army of loyalists has made things much worse.

Not only are they underplaying the seriousness of what happened this week, but they are encouraging other extremists to do the same thing in the future.

Follow Sean Colarossi on Facebook.
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Surprise: Donald Trump responded to the deadly mass shooting attack in Pittsburgh on Saturday by calling for more guns.

When asked a short time ago if U.S. gun laws need to be changed, the president gave a response that couldnt have been more predictable.

Trump said, Well again, this has little to do with it if you take a look. If they had protection inside, the results would have been far better.

Video:

Reporters ask Trump if U.S. gun laws need to be changed after the mass shooting in Pittsburgh, and his response couldnt have been more predictable. #ctl #p2 pic.twitter.com/sAjhp74kWv  PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) October 27, 2018

Trump said:

Well again, this has little to do with [gun laws] if you take a look. If they had protection inside, the results would have been far better. This is a dispute that will always exist I suspect, but if they have some kind of a protection inside the temple, maybe it could have been a very much different situation, but they didnt and he was able to do things that, unfortunately, he shouldnt have been able to do.

In other words, Trump is sticking to his standard talking point that we need more guns in public places, including places of worship, not fewer.

As of now, at least eight individuals have been confirmed killed in the Pittsburgh mass shooting, which was reportedly carried out by a male suspect in his 40s who was shouting anti-semitic slurs.

Trump and Republicans are owned by the NRA

Donald Trump and his Republican lawmakers have repeatedly refused to act, even as these mass shooting attacks keep happening, from Sutherland Springs, Texas to Las Vegas, Nevada.

This inaction isnt an accident. According to OpenSecrets.org, the National Rifle Association forked over more than $50 million to key Republican candidates in 2016, including Trump.

That investment has paid off in a big way for the gun lobby.

On Saturday, after yet another act of American gun violence, the president is already signaling that he will once again put money over lives.

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Russian hackers have recently been linked to cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure in several foreign countries. This new information from the security firm FireEye has increased the anxiety level of U.S. officials who are responsible for protecting utilities in the United States. They are now concerned that our enemies may soon target U.S. utilities which may be vulnerable to cyberattacks.

FireEye this week released information saying that a Russian-linked research institute may have developed the malicious software that was used to shut down a Saudi petrochemical plant in 2017. Another research firm, ESET, confirmed earlier in October that it had discovered a new hacking group with ties to Russia that has targeted companies in both Ukraine and Poland.

American security officials have warned for several months that there could be a Russian cyber attack on the U.S. power grid. And now these new reports seem to prove that the threat is real as they show that the Russian hackers have demonstrated their abilities to cause chaos. The threat they pose to critical U.S. infrastructure is no longer the subject of hypothetical discussions.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) top cyber official, Chris Krebs, said this week that his department usually doesnt comment on reports like that released by FireEye. He did confirm, however, that DHS does work closely with the Defense Department, U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency when analysing the risks posed by foreign hackers to U.S. infrastructure assets.

We always work to update our understanding of what the risks are to critical infrastructure and how we deal with global geopolitics, Krebs said. Things that could tip the balance, create a more larger profile for a certain sector, in this case, perhaps, elections.

DHS said earlier this year that they have created a National Risk Management Center, which is intended to protect critical assets like the power grid from both cyber and physical threats.

U.S. Officials earlier this year said Russia had been carrying on a years-long campaign to invade the U.S. energy grid. In July DHS said that Russian hackers had been getting into the control rooms of U.S. utilities.

Even though the new reports disclose in detail Russia-tied activities in other nations, they also show the kinds of attacks Russia (or possibly other countries) could carry out in the United States.

The FireEye report found that the Russia-based lab helped created the malware used by a hacking group against the Saudi plant last year. It was the most direct connection yet to a Kremlin-linked group in an attack on another countrys infrastructure.

Plus, ESET researchers recently revealed that it had identified a new cyber espionage group that had targeted companies in Eastern Europe. They believe this group had attacked Ukraines critical infrastructure, and they believe it is also connected to Russia.

Security experts say that Russia uses Ukraine as a testing ground where they can see what kind of methods work well. This allows them to refine and enhance their hacking capabilities before targeting critical infrastructure in other countries. And these experts now say that the hacker have shown they have serious capabilities to disrupt power grids and other major utilities.

Energy Secretary Rick Perry testified before the Senate on the cyberattacks earlier this year. He said that his department is making every effort to protect the electrical grid from those types of attacks.

According to the U.S. officials, American utility companies have greatly improved the security for their systems over the past few years. However, there is also an awareness that they havent done enough to keep out Russian hackers. As one official said:

I dont think theres any room for complacency, and theres plenty of room for concern.
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With just ten days until the midterm elections, the generic congressional ballot, as shown on the RealClearPolitics average, has more American voters favoring Democrats than at any previous time this year.

The percentage of voters who want a Democrat to represent them in Congress is now 49.5%, a record high number.

The previous high of 49.1% was reached in December of 2017. The percentage who want a Republican to represent them is 41.9%, according to the RCP average.

The list of the ten most recent polls shows that five of them have Democrats favored by 50% or more.

On Friday, one of the highest quality polls shows that Democrats also have increased their advantage from 6 to 10 points compared to a few weeks ago. According to the new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll Democrats now lead Republicans on the generic ballot 50 percent to 40 percent.

According to Nate Silver from FiveThirtyEight.com, the high quality polls show larger advantages for Democrats than low quality polls.

In general the highest-quality polls seem to show a bigger generic ballot lead for Dems (averaging maybe 9 or 10 points) than the medium quality stuff (averaging maybe 6 or 8).

In general the highest-quality polls seem to show a bigger generic ballot lead for Dems (averaging maybe 9 or 10 points) than the medium quality stuff (averaging maybe 6 or 8). https://t.co/5gJ1oBNG0c  Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) October 26, 2018

This new poll also shows an historically high gender gap with women favoring the Democrats in record numbers.

Generic ballot by gender via new NPR/PBS/Marist poll: Men: 44% Republican 43% Democrat Women: 56% Democrat 35% Republican

Generic ballot by gender via new NPR/PBS/Marist poll: Men:

44% Republican

43% Democrat Women:

56% Democrat

35% Republican  Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) October 26, 2018

Another finding in the poll shows that two-thirds of voters believe that President Trump will be a factor in their vote this year. This is a much higher percentage than those who said in 2014 that then-President Barack Obama would be a factor in their vote.

There is also a gender gap in this area, as 51 percent of women overall said Trump will be a major factor in their midterm vote. Among suburban women the number is 54 percent.

Among voters who said Trump will be a major factor in their vote, 64 percent said they were more likely to vote Democratic in November and 32 percent said they were more likely to vote Republican.

This is definitively a national election  with a referendum on Trump, said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, which conducted the survey.

In more good news for Democrats, 47 percent of voters said their opinion of Trump makes them more likely to vote for a Democrat for Congress, while 34 percent said their opinion of Trump makes them more likely to vote for a Republican.

One conclusion we can reach from this data is that Democrats should be happy that Trump is holding rallies all over the country, because these rallies are not helping Republicans in key congressional districts. The more Donald Trump makes the 2018 elections about him, the more it helps the Democrats.
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President Donald Trump said on Friday said he would refuse to tone down his rhetoric despite the arrest earlier in the day of one of his supporters who was charged with mailing pipe bombs to prominent Democrats and critics of the president.

The following tweet was posted by ABC News reporter Cecilia Vega on Friday afternoon:

I just asked @realDonaldTrump if he would pledge to tone down his rhetoric over the next few days ahead of the midterms. His answer: no.

I just asked @realDonaldTrump if he would pledge to tone down his rhetoric over the next few days ahead of the midterms. His answer: no.  Cecilia Vega (@CeciliaVega) October 26, 2018

On Friday night, Trump held another one of this signature campaign rallies in Charlotte, North Carolina.

CNN, one of the targets of Cesar Sayoc Jr., the serial bomber known as the MAGABomber, was forced to hire security to cover the rally, The New York Times reported.

When Mr. Trump took the stage at the Bojangles Coliseum, hours after Sayoc, a Florida man with a lengthy criminal record, was arrested in connection to sending the devices, chants of Build the wall and CNN sucks had already rung out repeatedly, The Times noted.

Sayoc had attended at least one of Trumps combative Make America Great Again rallies, where the suspected bomber waved a CNN Sucks sign.

As they have for months, CNN journalists at the rally on Friday night worked alongside hired security guards, The Times reported.

The Washington Post put online an article about the Charlotte rally late on Friday night. Although he said he was against political violence, the president also continued to blame the media. As The Post reported:

With the nation on edge in the wake of a mail-bomb plot targeted at more than a dozen Democratic Party officials and supporters, Trump opened his remarks by pledging to do everything in my power to stop politically motivated attacks. Police have tied the bombs to a Trump supporter, Cesar Sayoc of Florida, and Trump said the perpetrator must be prosecuted and punished to the fullest extent of the law.

Everyone will benefit if we can end the politics of personal destruction. We must unify as a nation in peace love and harmony, the president said. But as he has in the past several days, Trump quickly pivoted to blaming the media for what he described as unfair coverage of him and his Republican allies.

We do not blame the Democrat party for the radical, leftists who destroy public property and unleash violence and mayhem, he continued. The media try to attack incredible Americans who are trying to support our movement trying to give power back to the people.

With just ten days until the midterm elections, Donald Trump is trying to fire up his base of supporters to stave off a defeat for the Republican Party. He focused many of his remarks on the dangers of illegal immigration and the threat to the nation posed by the migrant caravan coming from Central America. He said he planned to send 1,000 troops to protect the southern border, and the crowd cheered him on.

Clearly Donald Trump does not believe he holds any responsibility for the actions of Sayoc or anyone else who has resorted to political violence. However, the majority of American voters may have a different opinion. And on November 6th we will find out.
Update: This story has been updated after the U.S. Embassy in Macedonia reported on the whereabouts of the ambassador on the day of the vote. For this reason, the verdict has also been changed from unclear to misleading.

On October 20, Macedonias parliament held a critical vote on changing the countrys official name from the Republic of Macedonia to the Republic of Northern Macedonia. The name change would finally satisfy the demands of the Balkan nations neighbor, Greece, which has long blocked Macedonias efforts to enter the European Union and NATO due to the name controversy. The measure passed in parliament with the required two-thirds majority after eight members of parliament broke with their own partys position and voted with the majority coalition.

The vote, one of several planned parliamentary votes before the constitution can be officially amended, follows Macedonias September 30 referendum, in which 90 percent of voters supported the name change, but overall turnout was below the 50 percent threshold required by the countrys election commission. The parliamentary vote went forward despite the low turnout due to the fact that the referendum was considered non-binding, and the constitution can only be changed via parliament.

From the beginning, Russia has opposed the name change vote, since it would lead to Macedonia joining the EU and NATO. Russian media encouraged Macedonians to boycott the vote. In August, Polygraph.info debunked reports by the Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti that Macedonias largest opposition party was officially boycotting the referendum. It did not. Another Russian state news outlet, Sputnik, claimed that most Macedonians were opposed to NATO and EU membership, but polls showed the opposite.

After Macedonias parliament passed the name-change, Russia claimed that the U.S. had masterminded and supervised the voting process in parliament to ensure the right result. Russias Foreign Ministry alleged, without evidence, that members of Macedonias parliament were offered bribes and/or blackmailed in order to secure their votes. It also claimed that members of parliament were locked in rooms and that their cell phones were confiscated. Again, the Russian Foreign Ministry provided no corroboration for these claims. Polygraph.info attempted to reach the Russian Foreign Ministry for further clarification, but the ministry did not respond to an e-mail inquiry.

It is true that the U.S. openly supported the name change, and even sent a senior diplomat to Skopje as a show of support. A U.S. State Department official denied the allegations of a U.S. hand in the matter, telling Polygraph.info, the allegations were absurd.

Any suggestion that U.S. Embassy officials were involved in the parliamentary vote process is patently false, the official wrote. The United States welcomes the decision by Macedonias Parliament to initiate the constitutional changes needed to implement the Prespa Agreement with Greece. The United States believes that the Prespa Agreement is a historic opportunity to advance stability, security, and prosperity throughout the region.

After this story was originally published, the U.S. Embassy in Macedonia responded to our request for information on the whereabouts of the U.S. ambassador and other U.S. diplomats on the day of the vote.

Neither Ambassador Baily nor any American diplomats were in Parliament on October 20, a spokesperson for the Embassys Public Affairs Section wrote.

Macedonias parliament released a statement in response to the Russian Foreign Ministrys allegation, which was posted on the parliaments website.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Macedonia considers the allegations made in the comment to be completely unfounded and untrue, as well as presented with a clear tendency to compromise the political process which is of historic importance for the Republic of Macedonia and all its citizens, the statement reads. The MPs at the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia, in full conformity with all democratic principles and proscribed parliamentary procedure, adopted a decision that reflects the decades-long commitment of the Republic of Macedonia to membership in NATO and the European Union as its strategic priority enjoying the widest possible social consensus and one which has long since been well known to our Russian friends.

After the allegations of bribery and pressure on members of Macedonias parliament, Elizabeta Kanceska-Milevska, former Minister of Culture and one of the eight members who voted for the name change, went on Macedonian television to refute the claims about pressure and bribery.

I made the decision to vote in that manner without any outside pressure, from either of the parties, she said in the interview. I firmly stand behind my decision. I personally believe that we should start the debate on the amendments and see where it take us. I call on anyone who suspects that bribing of any kind took place, to investigate further, and I say it publically, nobody offered me anything in exchange of a vote, neither the opposition nor the Government.

In the our initial analysis, our judgment was to make the verdict unclear." We changed our verdict from unclear to misleading on Monday, October 29, after receiving a direct response from the U.S. Embassy regarding the whereabouts of the ambassador on that day. In its initial statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry did not provide any evidence to back up its charges. They did not respond to Polygraph.info's request for commentary on the matter.

We can go no further, at this time, with other questions still not answered  particularly In our query we sent questions to the Macedonian Foreign Ministry and parliament, asking specific questions about the detailed claims made by Russia -- such as the one about legislators being locked in rooms, their cellphones confiscated. We received no direct answers, only the statements detailed above.

It is important to keep in mind that last weeks vote will not be the final one to decide the issue of changing Macedonias constitution and the countrys name from the Republic of Macedonia to the Republic of Northern Macedonia.


Charleston, SC (29403)

Today

Mostly sunny. High 61F. Winds NNE at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Mostly clear. Low 42F. Winds NNE at 10 to 15 mph.
Andrew Knapp is editor of the Quick Response Team, which covers crime, courts and breaking news. He previously worked as a reporter and copy editor at Florida Today, Newsday and Bangor (Maine) Daily News. He enjoys golf, weather and fatherhood.
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.
Columbia/Myrtle Beach Managing Editor

Andy Shain runs The Post and Courier's newsrooms based in Columbia and Myrtle Beach. He was editor of Free Times and has been a reporter and editor for newspapers in Charlotte, Columbia and Myrtle Beach.
Art(ists) on the Verge is annually one of the most popular art events in the Twin Cities.

"You have to stand in line to get in to each installation," Sheila Dickinson, artistic director of the Rochester Art Center, said.

Well, those lines could start forming Sunday at the Rochester Art Center, where this years AOV9, as its known, will be held for the first time outside the Twin Cities. In the process, arts tourists from the Twin Cities are expected to be on hand when the show opens Sunday.

"Thats why we chose an unusual opening time on a Sunday afternoon," Dickinson said. "It would be a day outing. People will come down for the artists talk and opening."

The exhibition consists of installations by five artists, all using technology of some sort. Each piece is interactive and requires participation by the viewer. In that regard, AOV9 is definitely non-traditional.

"Its not hanging on a wall," Dickinson said. "You cant experience the art unless you do something. If you just stand and look, you really arent going to get anything at all. If you think of art as something you admire from afar, thats not what this is."

The installations:

 "Mind the Harvest" by Minneapolis artist Meena Mangalvedhekar, consists of 20 iPads, and explores how we give over so much of ourselves to technology.

 "Security Blanket," by Stephanie Lynn Rogers, originally from Rochester, now director of the Anderson Center in Red Wing. Viewers take cover under a handmade, camouflage quilt while their image is taken by a heat-seeking camera.

 "Smarter City 2," by Ziyang Wu, of New York. Viewers enter a subway station and meet a cast of strange characters. "Its a selfie haven," Dickinson said.

 "Founder Effect," by Areca Roe, a Minnesota State-Mankato art professor. An immersive 360-degree video field guide that imagines evolutionary adaptations animals might have developed in response to climate change, pollution and deforestation.

 "The Shallows," by Maxwell Hoagland, of Minneapolis. A machine that illustrates the control we give up over our personal data.

In each case, Dickinson said, the artists are questioning some aspect of our interaction with technology.

"We really have technology in our lives, and it happens so fast, its hard to take time to step back and think about it," Dickinson said. "Thats what these artists are doing."

The exhibition is unmoored from what is considered classic and traditional art.

"It doesnt require you to have any art history knowledge at all," Dickinson said. "It does what contemporary art is supposed to do: help us consider the world around us. Maybe paint and canvas isnt helpful at that all the time."

The exhibition, organized by the Twin Cities arts organization Northern Lights, has ended up in Rochester because the Soap Factory in Minneapolis, where it has been held each year, is undergoing renovation and is not available.

"Its really amazing to have access to it here," Dickinson said.
UTICA  First Presbyterian Church will host its annual Halloween chili supper, bazaar and bake sale from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday.

The menu includes chili, relishes, bread, cookies, rainbow sherbet and beverages.

Tickets are $8 for adults, $3 for ages 6-12, and free for children 5 and younger.

The church is at 145 South Center St. in Utica.

Take a Journey of Peace

The ninth annual Journey of Peace event will be held 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at Assisi Heights Spirituality Center.

"Journey of Peace IX  The Voice of Hope" is an invitation to all peoples and cultures to move with urgency to bring peace with compassion to our world and community. The effort is founded in the process of creative tension and teamwork, with dialogue and listening.

The event is planned by and inspired by youth of many interfaith traditions.

Soul Collage offered Monday

"Exploring with Soul Collage" will be presented 6:30 p.m. Monday at Assisi Heights Spirituality Center.

In a meditative atmosphere, discover images using a technique called Soul Collage, a transformative process of creating personal cards of greater awareness of your inner wisdom. In a relaxed and supportive space, spend time with images, assembling collages, composing reflective writing using a journaling technique while tapping into your intuition. All workshop materials provided.

Elise Lewis, a certified Soul Collage facilitator, will lead the class.

To register, go www.rochesterfranciscan.orgor call 507-529-3524. Cost is $30.

Douglas Methodist Church plans turkey dinner

Douglas Methodist Churchs annual turkey dinner will be 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 3.

The menu includes turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, corn, squash, a dinner roll, pie and a beverage.

The cost is $12 for adults, $6 for children 5 to 10 and free for children 4 and younger.

Calls for pickup orders may be placed after 3:30 p.m. at 507-281-3526.

Douglas Methodist Church, which is handicapped accessible, is located at 6507 75th St NW, in Oronoco.

Harmony Methodist Church to host roast beef dinner

HARMONY  Harmony United Methodist Church will host a roast beef dinner from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 4.

The menu includes roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, homegrown buttered corn, buns, pickles, coleslaw, freshly baked pie, coffee and milk. Carryout and deliveries within Harmony are available.

The cost is $13 in advance for adults or $15 at the door. Children ages 5 to 10 will be $7. Carry-out meals are available.

Advance sales are available at Koliha Insurance Services, 25 Main Ave. S., Harmony, or by calling 507-886-4341.

Harmony United Methodist Church is located at 60 Main Ave. S.

Brad, JulAnn Boice to perform at Lenora Church

CANTON  Brad and JulAnn Boice will be guest performers at a special service scheduled of Christian gospel music at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 4, at the old Lenora United Methodist Church in rural Fillmore County.

Youre encouraged to bring gently used coats and winter clothing to help people in need get ready for the coming winter season. Also, personal hygiene products will be accepted for donations for hurricane relief work.

The Lenora Church is near Canton off of Fillmore County Road 23. For more information, email faitheyota@embarqmail.com.

Cowboy service will be celebrated Nov. 4

SPRING VALLEY  The public is invited to a cowboy service at 6 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 4, at Cherry Grove United Methodist Church.

Cowboy church is nondenominational and another way of spreading Gods message through music. The service includes a mix of country, Christian country, cowboy, southern gospel and bluegrass music.

New musicians are welcome. We ask that you contact Cindy Seabright at seabright.cindy@gmail.com or 507-272-1682 one week prior to the first Sunday-of-the-month service.

Cherry Grove United Methodist Church is at 18183 160th St. in Cherry Grove.

Harvest Buffet Turkey Dinner set for Nov. 10

BYRON  The 32nd annual Harvest Buffet Turkey Dinner will be 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 10, at the Byron United Methodist Church.

Tickets are $12 in advance and $13 at the door for adults. Children 4-12 are $5, while children 4 and younger are free.

The dinner will include a quilt raffle and silent auction.

The church is located at 503 First Ave. NW in Byron 507-775-6610.
With Elizabeth Warrens DNA test in the news and North Dakotas suddenly revised voter requirements threatening to disenfranchise indigenous citizens, it is not a bad time at all to welcome "Native America," a four-part documentary on the people who got here first, which was to begin Tuesday on PBS. If not the deep and wide series the subject deserves  and let us hope one day will get  its always interesting, socially valuable and, all things considered, miraculously upbeat.

Its main points are that there were people living in the Americas for millenniums before Columbus entered without knocking from the east (around 100 million when he got here, though that number was soon to fall precipitously); that these people formed diverse and complex societies with a common reverence for nature, from which they do not see themselves as distinct; that their science, from astronomical observations to experimental agriculture, was also a form of worship; that tradition and storytelling were the keys to their survival in the face of oppression, slaughter and Christian missionary zeal; and that corn is king.

Narrated almost gingerly by Robbie Robertson, of the band the Band  his mother was Cayuga and Mohawk  each episode begins, "At the intersection of modern scholarship and native knowledge is a new vision of America and the people who built it." The series, which is thematically rather than chronologically or geographically arranged, is constructed largely around scenes of anthropological and archaeological investigation on the one hand (some of it re-staged for the camera, clearly), and contemporary episodes depicting traditional ceremonies and practices on the other. Ancient ruins are digitally reconstructed; animated cartoons portray myths and legends.

You will learn of the six directions (north, south, east, west, up and down) that define a sacred space, and the cities and spaces within cities built to align with them, and of the Florentine Codex, the 4,000-page encyclopedia of Aztec culture that a Spanish priest assembled to aid conversion (know your heathen) but that instead recorded the native experience of European invasion.

Youll see a city thats a calendar and a cliff wall converted, some 13,000 years ago, into an almanac. Youll visit a man-made cave, recently discovered 50 feet below the Temple of the Feathered Serpent in Teotihuacan, near Mexico City, where the ceiling has been sprinkled with a glittery mineral to look like stars in the night sky, and go paddling in the dead of night with present-day Chumash off California. You will hear of human sacrifice practiced just a hoot and a holler from modern-day St. Louis, and how the horse transformed the Comanche and the Comanche the horse.

You will see people of the Andes make a suspension bridge entirely from grass, and how wampum beads are made from quahog shells and transformed into ceremonial belts  making strong structures from weak materials is a minor running theme  and hear the related historical legend of Hiawatha and Jikonhsaseh and the Great Peacemaker, and how the Oneida, Mohawk, Seneca, Cayuga and Onondaga came together democratically as the Haudenosaunee, "the people of the longhouse," to put an end to war, and whose constitution inspired the one worked up centuries later by the United States.

And more.

For all its abundance, it is only a sliver. If "Native America" has a flaw, apart from the fact that its impossible to cover this territory in four hours, its that it spends perhaps a little too much of that time repeating itself. One gets an impression of economy, and of padding: Shots are used and reused  they are going to get their moneys worth out of those digital reconstructions and far-flung locations and those slow-motion glossy portrait shots  and material in one episode is covered again from an only slightly different angle in another. (This is more possibly more obvious if, like a TV critic, you watch the four hours in one go.)

"Native America" means to be positive. The sins of the conquerors, in North, South and Central America alike, are barely mentioned, and almost beside the point: As the title says, this is Native America  Native Americas, really  the space staked out by Native Americans.
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Gov. Ralph Torres on Saturday morning announced that President Donald Trump has approved his request for a presidential disaster declaration for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands after Supertyphoon Yutu caused widespread destruction across much of the commonwealth.

The declaration triggers the availability of millions of dollars in federal relief funds for public and individual assistance programs.

On Saturday afternoon, U.S. Coast Guard Sector Guam announced that the ports of Saipan and Tinian have reopened to allow relief supplies to come in.

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Saipan's airport was open to military relief supplies on Friday. It remains closed to commercial air traffic.

Torres held a news conference Saturday morning to make the announcement. He was joined by FEMA deputy regional administrator Bill Roche and defense coordinating officer Cmdr. Harry Elliott.

Torres said he has been working closely with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and with his Department of Defense partners.

Our priority here with FEMA and DOD, with all of our partners, is to make sure that we provide water, food and the overall health conditions to everybody, most especially to those that are in shelters, Torres said.

We knew it was going to be big, he said, so even before the storms arrival, he ordered ready-to-eat meals, tents, cots, and generators for the islands water wells.

Those items will be coming in starting today, said Torres. Two hundred thousand meals were ordered ahead of the storm and about 11,000 meals would arrive on Saipan and Tinian Saturday, he added.

Torres said about 140 FEMA personnel are on the ground in the CNMI assessing the damage. Among them are engineering specialists who are focusing on getting power and water restored to the islands.

Our damage here is far worse than (Typhoon) Soudelor, Torres said. The wind speed of the storm and the length of time it spent over the islands "really devastated" Saipan and Tinian, he said. The damage on Tinian is worse, he added.

On Saipan, 900 power poles were knocked down, Torres said. "In Tinian, we're looking at close to 2,000 power poles."

There is no fuel supply in Tinian and food and water are definitely limited, Torres said.
The name of the old Buddy Holly song is WellAll Right or Well All Right, but for purposes of clarity here, Im alluding to it with the catchphrase Well, alright. Thats the Star Tribunes approach to covering the omens of Omar in Stephen Montemayors Friday night special On the edge of making history, Ilhan Omar confronts fresh wave of scrutiny*.

Ive added the asterisk for a footnote: *But not by the Star Tribune.

In the story Omar addresses two of the issues we have raised about her in her accustomed style. Here she addresses the question whether the question whether husband number 2 (married 2009, divorced 2017) is her brother:

Persistent claims she married a brother to help him gain citizenship, Omar tweeted this week, are the provenance of fake journalists on bigoted blogs. Its really strange, right, to try to prove a negative, Omar said in the interview. If someone was asking me, do I have a brother by that name, I dont. If someone was asking  are there court documents that are false  there is no truth to that.

Well, alright!

Montemayor returns to the question later in the story:

Local Republicans and conservative media are also repeating claims that first surfaced in 2016 that Omars ex-husband, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, was actually a brother she married to help gain citizenship, and that she later committed perjury in a divorce filing. Omar, who was born in 1982, has three children with Ahmed Hirsi. The two married, she said, in their faith tradition in 2002, and briefly separated before she married Elmi in 2009. She has said they divorced in 2011 before Elmi, a British citizen, returned to London and Omar reunited with Hirsi that year. Omar and Hirsi legally married this year after Omars divorce with Elmi was finalized. During an interview, Omar showed a reporter cellphone photos of documents from her familys U.S. entry in 1995 after fleeing Somalias civil war. She declined to provide copies of the papers, which included refugee resettlement approval forms and identification cards, but they appeared to list her father, siblings and Omar by order of birth, with Omar as the youngest of seven children. No one named Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, who is three years younger than Omar, could be seen listed in the documents. For someone like me, who left a war-torn country at the age of 8, who got refugee status to come to America, where in the world am I finding a sibling 15 years, 20 years later to seek to do what people accuse me of? Omar said.

Well, alright!

Here Omar addresses her comments about Israel:

Omar has also recently addressed older tweets critical of Israel with members of the Fifth Districts large Jewish population. In 2012, as the Israeli military carried out an aerial campaign against rocket attacks by Hamas, she tweeted that Israel had hypnotized the world and referred to its evil doings. In a tweet earlier this year, in defense of those earlier remarks, she tweeted to a conservative critic that Drawing attention to the apartheid Israeli regime is far from hating Jews. Steve Hunegs, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas, said Omars more recent statements opposing a movement to boycott Israel were encouraging but that we remain deeply concerned by tweets from before she decided to run for Congress. Omar described attention to the tweets as an effort to stigmatize and shame me into saying something other than what I believed.  I dont think there is anyone who spends five minutes with me who does not clearly see where my values are and that I will advocate for them and defend them and their humanity always.

Well, alright!

For a young lady whose road has delivered her to the verge of election to Congress at age 36, Omar really has the victim card nailed down.

David Steinberg comments via Twitter.

Your reporter did not ask why Ilhan, in 2016, told a reporter to correct seven siblings to five? https://t.co/eJM9JWCsjI And you published it on Friday night? Why bother pretending you care about informing your paying customers? I will be doing your job again this Tuesday. https://t.co/UNBthqfRXm  David Steinberg  (@DavidSPJM) October 27, 2018

Well return to this story next week.
The federal government will deliver about 3.4 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day to bridge the medium-term supply gap by 2020.

The minister of state for petroleum resources, Ibe Kachikwu, gave the assurance on Saturday at the 2018 Graduation of Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), Effurun, Delta.

The minister, who was represented at the event by Idang Alibi, media officer of the ministry, said the federal government had decided to invest in the Seven Critical Gas Development Projects to achieve the feat in 2020.

He said that the government had commenced utilisation and monetisation of the abundant gas resources of the country.

The federal government has doubled her efforts in providing effective policies that will drive gas utilisation and commercialisation.

We have decided to invest in the Seven Critical Gas Development Projects in Nigeria. These projects will deliver about 3.4 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day to bridge the medium-term supply gap by 2020.

Also, federal government is increasing attention to the eradication of gas flaring, utilisation and monetisation of the abundant gas resources of the country.

This is in realisation of the place of natural gas as the energy of the future, although, it is not yet Uhuru as a substantial quantity of this precious resource is still being wasted through routine flaring, he said.

Mr Kachikwu said that two out of the 38 approved modular refineries would be inaugurated in December, 2018, one in Delta and the other in Rivers, to boost fuel supply in the country.

He also said that the government had set up a Steering Technical Committee to reposition PTI to take additional responsibilities toward meeting the targets for local content development in the oil and gas industry.

President Muhammadu Buhari has directed that the PTI School of Diving should be upgraded to international standards. Efforts are ongoing to actualise the directives, he said.

The Principal of PTI, Sunny Iyuke, said the institution would continue to deliver on its mandate as contained in the Act establishing it.

I want to assure you that the Institute is on course to becoming the hub of human capacity development and contributing significantly to the Nigerian content in the petroleum industry, he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that 1,086 graduands in the 2016/2017 academic session were awarded Higher National Diploma (HND), National Diploma (ND) and PTI General Welding Certificates.

A total of 637 graduated at HND level, 400 at ND level and 47 received the General Welding Certificate. (NAN)
This years edition of the Gulf Information Technology Exhibition (GITEX), like the previous editions of the giant IT event holding annually in the Arabian city of Dubai, was another rendezvous for IT geeks, innovators and investors.

The week-long event for this year held from October 14th to 18th and organisers said over 400 innovators exhibited their talents, with some 400 speakers speaking on revolutionising technologies for across platforms in the huge exhibition arena. They discussed contemporaneous and future technologies in Artificial Intelligence (AI), security, blockchain, innovative business and finance, and smart cities.

There were the giant names in the field, from Google to Microsoft, Alibaba and Reddit, displaying and acquitting the geek rendezvous of latest from their stables.

Countries from across the world also participated to showcase their advancement information and communication technology. These include giants like Russia and Germany, as well as fast-developing ones like the United Arab Emirates itself. The latter made a big showing of its ambitious Expo 2020 vision of making Dubai technology smart city.

Nigeria is among the countries with tangible presence. While innovators participated from many countries, not too many have a presence of government, which is an important element for an event where investors desire direct interactions with policymakers.

Coordinated by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), the Nigerian delegation comprise of officials from NITDA, the agency responsible for IT policy formulation, development and regulation; members of the National Assembly, officials from the National Communications Commission (NCC), the government-owned Internet infrastructure company, Galaxy Backbone, the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA), and IT entrepreneurs.

Another interesting feature of the Nigerian team is the participation in the GITEX Feature Stars programme, an opportunity to showcase IT start-ups. For this, Nigeria selected and sponsored six start-ups to the exhibition, for an opportunity to mingle with the rest of the world and, possibly, secure partnership and funding opportunities.

The six were selected following what NITDA called a rigorous process, earlier in the year, in which some 400 pitches were received from all over the country. The six finalists that made it to Dubai were selected each from the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria.

A few other Nigerian It entrepreneurs were also at the event by themselves, to reap from the prestigious gathering in terms of possible partnerships and buy-ins.

The director general of NITDA, Isa Pantami, rationalised the participation of Nigeria at the event. Speaking on the opening day, Mr Pantami, a computer scientist himself, gave a tripartite rationale for the official participation by the country.

The presence, he said, will give the opportunity to sale Nigeria as an IT market to interested investors in attendance. Nigeria and its tech entrepreneurs would also come learn from what others are doing to advance peer learning. The third reason is for the country delegation to sale what Nigerians are doing in the IT world, as well.

We come to GITEX with startups, that is to showcase the young innovators we have; how our youth are coming up with good ideas in ICT. So, if you come here you showcase the potentials you have in Nigeria, you will get some world-class ICT companies that are willing to support your start-up, he explained.

For investors, the NITDA mission was to unveil to them the new policies and other advantages that make doing business in Nigeria attractive.

Recently we have had many policies on ease of doing business. You can register a company within 24 hours, you can get visa on arrival, we have tax holidays in ICT, so these are some of the things we try to explain to potential investors in order to come to Nigeria and invest, he said.

A pavilion was therefore set up for Nigeria where officials from NITDA, NCC, Galaxy Backbone and entrepreneurs interacted with investors and other visitors to the pavilion who came with enquiries.

Cross section of particpants at Africa Investment forum during the GITEX 2018

One of such visitors was Mr Amer Khan, a Pakistani solution provider who is into data management. Mr Khan already has some level of business interaction with Nigeria, including with electricity distributors Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company and Kano Electricity Distribution Company.

Mr Khan said Nigeria has great potentials as an IT investment destination, not only because of the huge market, but also because the country has a resource-base of IT savvy young people. He said his firm defended on some of these resource in developing its software. Nigeria, Mr Khan said, has a bright feature not only as consumer but also as IT producer.

Then comes the Africa Investment Forum, on the third day of the exhibition. Nigeria was the featured model at the well-attended side event which attracted developers and investors.

Two panel discussions were held to get investors acquainted with the IT policies and competitive advantages of the Nigerian market. First was a panel of experts majorly from NITDA who discussed opportunities and areas of need that tech investors can explore. The next panel was that of experience-sharing, with entrepreneurs sharing their experiences on doing business in Nigeria.

But this was not before the NITDA boss, Mr Pantami, lay a solid foundation, and giving a broad overview of the Nigerian investment climate, in his keynote address.

He said Nigeria sits at a vantage position on the African continent, nad has the largest share of the continents 1.2 billion people.

Nigeria is a gateway to sub-Saharan Africa. Our country is strategically located between West and Central Africa, and this gives investors easy access to close to 190 million Nigerians and another 200 million West Africans. Investing in Nigeria can provide access to 150 million Central Africans. It also gives you access to one of Africas largest economies with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) valued at $405billion USD in 2016, according to the World Bank, Mr Pantami explained.

NITDA CEO, Isa Pantami in a group photograph with tech startup representatives sponsored to GITEX by NITDA

He said, with the decision of the federal government under the Muhammadu Buhari administration to diversify the economy away from the single source of oil, it has evolved a number of policies to encourage non-oil sectors.

He cited as outcome of that diversification, the exit of Nigeria from economic recession, through the implementation of the administrations Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), leading to 0.83% growth in the economy, from the -1.58% recorded in 2016.

The Information and Communication GDP, he said, grew by 11.81% in Q2 2018, up from 1.58% in Q1 2018 and -1.15% in Q2 2017.

Aside the population and economic growth advantages, another parameter that Mr Pantami said would be of considerable advantage for IT entrepreneurs is the exposure level of Nigerians to information and communication technology.

A ready pool of young digital natives awaits investors in our ICT sector. With a population having an average age of 18.2 years, Nigeria is the 22nd youngest country on earth. The youthfulness of our population is an asset and the fact that many young Nigerians are ICT enthusiasts even makes it better. Investors can be assured of accessing a large pool of youthful and skilful employees at a fair-price, more cost-effective that engaging employees in other parts of the world, he said.

Mr Pantami reminded his audience that Nigerians are a very innovative people, with several stories of innovation across the globe that have the imprint of Nigerians.

HopStop, an online city transit App acquired by Apple for a whopping $1billion, was owned by a Nigerian-born entrepreneur.

In August 2018, a team of Nigerian teenagers won the first place in the junior division of the Technovation World Pitch Summit that took place in Silicon Valley. A Nigerian entrepreneur also developed Mekamon  the worlds first gaming robot, with the special ability to customize the gaming bot to perform personalized functions. He got a dream deal with Apple pricing each unit at $300 and putting them in nearly all their stores in the United States and the United Kingdom, he said.

NITDA, through the Office for ICT Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIIE), according to Mr Pantami, is focussed on identifying and supporting promising Nigerian startups in the ICT space.

The activities of the OIIE have enabled the ICT startup innovation ecosystem in Nigeria to grow at a remarkable pace. One of our startups- Genie Games- won the 2nd position at the keenly contested Startup Movement Competition at GITEX 2016. Two of our startups (Arone and Max) were semi-finalists at the GITEX 2018 startup competition.

NITDA, the director general said, is implementing a roadmap that is aimed at transforming Nigeria into a knowledge-based society.

The 7 key pillars of our roadmap are IT Regulation, Capacity Building, Digital Inclusion, Digital Job Creation, Government Digital Service Promotion, Local Content Development & promotion and Cybersecurity, he said Nigeria welcomes investment in any of the priority areas.

And to ease off bottlenecks of investment, he said, a Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) was established in July 2016 to improve the ease of doing business in Nigeria. In addition to this, an Executive Order 001 was signed in May 2017 with the aim of improving business climate in the country.

As a result of the ease of doing business initiative, Nigeria now ranks 145 out of 190 countries in the 2018 Doing Business Report, the World Banks flagship report, (up from 169/190 in the previous years report). Nigeria was acknowledged as one of the top 10 most improved economies in 2017. We aim to be in the top 100 of the World Banks ease of doing business by 2020, Mr Pantami said.

In August 2017, Nigerias Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI) published the list of 27 new industries eligible to enjoy the pioneer status incentive in Nigeria. Companies investing in these sectors receive tax holidays for three to five years. Some of the sectors include E-commerce services, Business Process Outsourcing and Software development and publishing.

Mr Pantami noted that Nigeria currently has only seven local Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) who can collectively only meet 20% of the local demand for computer hardware by government alone, not to talk of the entire country.

We are interested in investors willing to establish world class Original Design Manufacturing (ODM) factories in Nigeria to guarantee quality components for local assembly.

Nigerian pavilion at GITEX 2018 in Dubai

An Indian phone manufacturing company, Lava, is among the companies that indicated interest in exploring the Nigerian market.

Speaking to journalists, the Africa manging director of Lava, Vikram Parmar, said his company is launching its mobile phone brands in Nigeria in November.

He said Nigeria is one of the important African markets being targeted by the company this year, with Nigeria and Kenya joining three other countries already reached by Lava.

Lava, with Egypt as its Africa headquarters, is expanding to six African countries.

We know that African market is a value-for-money market. We know people are facing difficulties because good phones are very expensive and those that are cheap dont give the needed quality. We are giving customers very good quality at reasonable price, he said.
Winners of the 2018 writing competition for women, titled Hikayata organised by the BBC Hausa, were honoured in Abuja on Friday.

This year, Safiyya Jibril won the best story award with her story Ya Mace or The Girl-Child.

Ms Jibril is a 29 year-old secondary school teacher studying for her Masters degree in Soil Science at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, northern Nigeria.

The story highlights the ordeal of Halima, who going by family tradition, is expected get married at about 14 years old. But Halima is unmarried at 17, and comes under severe family and societal pressure.

She settles for a man called Garba, someone she barely knows. Shortly after the honeymoon, Halima became an object of constant physical and verbal abuse and the marriage ended in divorce.

According to the head of Hausa Service of the BBC, Jimeh Saleh, BBC announced the competition, titled Hikayata three years ago on the strength of a long feminist literary tradition in the Hausa speaking world; a tradition, he said, which still flourishes.

He said the Hausa service of the BBC introduced the competition as a way of encouraging the culture of writing among women.

The competition has truly lived up to its billing of giving women a voice in a male-dominated society. The quality of entries has improved remarkably over the last two years and women are becoming more daring in the themes they tackle.

According to one of the judges, Ibrahim Malumfashi, the competition screened about 300 entries which saw the emergence of Safiyyas Ya Mace as the overall best.

Sakina Lawal a graduate of Hausa from Kaduna state University came second with her story Sunanmu Daya and Bilkisu Abubakar came third with her story titled Zina.

Speaking after receiving her award, the winner, Safiyya, applauded the BBC Hausa service for giving women a chance to display their writing skills.

I must commend the BBC Hausa for giving us this opportunity and we thank them for the recognition.

The event was held at Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Abuja.

Invited guests include Premium Times Hausa Editor, Mohammed Lere, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, Head BBC media action, Nigeria, Seamus Gallagher, Kannywood actors, among others.
Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State, Nigeria was in Ile-Ife on Friday to congratulate the Ooni of Ife, Adeyeye Ogunwusi, Ojaja II and his queen, Silekunola Ogunwusi (Yeyeluwa) on their wedding which took place recently.

Describing Ooni Ogunwusi who is a Co-Chairman of National Council Of Traditional Rulers Of Nigeria, his father and long time friend, Mr Obianor called Ile-Ife the spiritual home of the Yorubas where everyone came from.

Your Majesty, I was far away in America when you got married last week. As a son and long time friend of yours, I consider it necessary to come and congratulate you and your beautiful Yeyeluwa because you have always shown love to me, to my wife to our government, to the people of Anambra state and Igboland in general. My wife and I are so proud to be associated with you as the king of this town Ile-Ife which is the spiritual home of the Yorubas where everyone came from, Governor Obiano said.

Kabiyesi, I pray for your long life on this sacred throne of Oduduwa, I wish you and your wife yeyeluwa good health and God Almighty will bless your marriage with good children, he added.

Responding, the monarch thanked Governor Obiano for the visit, describing him as a long time friend who has always shown love and respect to the throne of Oduduwa and the overall traditional institution in Nigeria

Your Excellency, on behalf of Yeluwa and I and on behalf of the people of Ife Kingdom, I welcome you to your home, this is the throne of Oduduwa, father of over 500m people worldwide.

We have come a long way together. You are my long time friend even when we had nothing and when we didnt know God had prepared exhalted posititons for both of us in this country. You have also made me so proud of you as one of the very best governors this country has ever produced.

 You have been working assiduously in the service of your people and that is why you are well loved by the people of Anambra and Igbo nation as a whole, Ooni said.

GOVERNOR OBIANO OF ANAMBRA VISITS OONI OF IFE AND WIFE, WISHES THEM A SUCCESSFUL MARRIAGE GOVERNOR OBIANO OF ANAMBRA VISITS OONI OF IFE AND WIFE, WISHES THEM A SUCCESSFUL MARRIAGE GOVERNOR OBIANO OF ANAMBRA VISITS OONI OF IFE AND WIFE, WISHES THEM A SUCCESSFUL MARRIAGE GOVERNOR OBIANO OF ANAMBRA VISITS OONI OF IFE AND WIFE, WISHES THEM A SUCCESSFUL MARRIAGE GOVERNOR OBIANO OF ANAMBRA VISITS OONI OF IFE AND WIFE, WISHES THEM A SUCCESSFUL MARRIAGE GOVERNOR OBIANO OF ANAMBRA VISITS OONI OF IFE AND WIFE, WISHES THEM A SUCCESSFUL MARRIAGE GOVERNOR OBIANO OF ANAMBRA VISITS OONI OF IFE AND WIFE, WISHES THEM A SUCCESSFUL MARRIAGE GOVERNOR OBIANO OF ANAMBRA VISITS OONI OF IFE AND WIFE, WISHES THEM A SUCCESSFUL MARRIAGE

The monarch called for a standing ovation from the people in the hall including Yeyesorun, the wife of the Ewi of Ado Ekiti and her entourage in honour of the governor, appreciating him as a good example of accountability and leadership. He implored him to remain focussed and never relent in his determination to develop Anambra State.
Beauty Yahawah is the spokesperson of the National Youth Movement for Atiku Abubakar (NYMAA). In this interview with PREMIUM TIMES Jayne Augoye, Mrs Yahawah speaks on the 2019 presidential election, the chances of the PDP candidate, the Not-too-Young to Run Act and the performance of President Muhammadu Buhari. Excerpt:

PT: What is this movement all about?

Yahawah: National Youth Movement for Atiku Abubakar is a network of intelligent and accomplished youths, who came together with a mission to support the presidential ambition of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. We understand that supporting His Excellencys election will rescue the tanking economy, and steer the country to a much better path. This movement is currently in all 36 states and the FCT.

PT: Was the group floated before Atikus emergence as candidate of the PDP or after? How was it formed and who are the people in this group?

Yahawah: Yes, it has been around before his emergence as PDPs presidential candidate. In fact, one of our initial goals was to ensure that he emerged as the candidate of whatever political party he chose. We all know that H.E Atiku has nursed an ambition to be president for a long time. We got ourselves ready to back him since there were speculations that he will run for the 2019 elections. It is not about the party, it is about the person. He is the messiah Nigerians have been waiting for. Our national coordinator Dr. Anthony Okhidievbie-Alfred who served in the Delta State Government mobilised all of us for this cause. It is one we all believe in and since then, we have supported Atiku every step of the way. We have State Coordinators in all states. Chief Michael Eze is the Ebonyi SC, Bar. Austin Opubor is the Delta SC, Hon. Benedict Oluwagbemiga is the Ogun SC, Mr. Victor Itsede is the National Secretary, etc. The list is endless. All are accomplished and very bright youth who fully support H.E Atiku Abubakar. We will spread to every nook and cranny of every state, to ensure Atiku wins this election. Nigerian Youth understand the need for him at the helm of affairs of this nation before it is too late.

PT: How is the group funded? Do you get money from Atiku or his campaign organisation and how much?

Yahawah: NYMAA is funded nationwide by our founding members, and key members of the organisation. National Youth Movement for Atiku Abubakar does not collect any funding from His Excellency or his campaign organisation. The NYMAA engages directly with youth from the top to the grassroots everywhere in Nigeria to ensure their support for H.E Atiku; there is no other choice for president, come 2019. When you see that God has provided only one answer to the issues the country is facing, you throw your weight behind it because you know it is for the betterment of all Nigerians.

PT: Why should I vote for Atiku? Put in another way, why should Nigerians invest their votes in Atiku?

Yahawah: Cant you see the situation in the country? I remember in 2015, the Naira weakened and fell to N200 to $1. Everybody, including myself said GEJ out. It was such a terrible thing to happen in the country at that time. Today, if $1 became N200 wont the whole nation celebrate? And that is if it returned to how Buhari met it. We said there is unemployment. Three years into Buharis tenure, six million more jobs have been lost. Millions are now receiving half-salaries when they were not before. Many have not even been paid at all for months. PhD holders are sitting at home. How will somebody graduate from University and begin to teach A for Apple in a nursery school? And you wonder why our brightest doctors, engineers, and so on are leaving the country in their numbers daily? Some Government hospitals are still using the same equipment they used since Nigerias Independence. We are not throwing our support behind someone who has not delivered. In his own state Adamawa, he is the largest private employer. He has created over 200,000 jobs directly and indirectly all over the nation. Buhari has done such harm to the economy and quality of living of all Nigerians, and the nation at large in the name of change; why is he even contesting for a second term. Hard loan today, soft loan tomorrow, now the country is in the worst debt it has ever been in. He said he will eradicate Boko Haram within months in office, they are still executing people today. By Gods grace, Buhari will be voted out come 2019 and the presidential candidate with the best track record Atiku Abubakar will take his place.

PT: For many Nigerians, Atiku and President Muhammadu Buhari are the two major candidates in the coming presidential election. This is not to undermine other candidates as they are capable of creating an upset. But what is Atiku bringing to the table that should make Nigerians to dump Buhari? What are his selling points?

Yahawah: You say this as if Buhari is backed by the majority of Nigerians. He is not. We all want change for the better, and Atiku is able to deliver on that. He supports restructuring which proves that he is a Nigerian first. I am very happy about it because this means every Nigerian will have an equal chance, and this will put the discontentment of some tribes to rest. All that will cease. Pertaining to Buhari, it has never been more evident that a sitting president should go. Even the President of America said he is a lifeless President. And how long was their meeting? Anybody who supports him is either looking for their own personal gain or is addicted to poverty. Entrepreneurs are crying. Professionals are crying. The youth are crying. The elderly are crying. Nobodys life is better under Buharis government. Establishments that should be full of activity are empty because there is no money in the country. Even the IDP camps to care for victims of Boko Haram were so underfunded that the children there began to develop kwashiorkor, which sparked nationwide protests. There is no contest or question. Atikus companies are there. His farm is there. His schools are there. He even gives loans to farmers, so they will not starve especially under this current economic situation. He is the largest employer of labour in Nigeria. He has helped Nigerians in all sectors. If he does all this on his own, what will he do as President? His achievements are enough proof. If you think it is easy, or not a big deal, try launching one successful establishment.

PT: So, what major challenges have you encountered in selling Atiku to Nigerians?

Yahawah: No challenge because Nigerians have common sense. Neither are they sheep. You know somebody by their works, not by their carefully edited speeches.

PT: Some Nigerians have alleged that the PDP presidential candidate is corrupt. Isnt this a huge problem for him in this contest, especially when Buhari is seen as incorruptible?

Yahawah: No its not a huge problem. It is not a problem at all. The APC cannot find anything against Atiku, and so they have resorted to gossip that he is corrupt. Name one proven allegation against him. Buhari is seen as incorruptible? Dont be deceived. If corruption has been found under him, doesnt that mean he himself is not clean? He is the head of government. None of these can be done without his knowledge. We recently witnessed the very reckless rigging of the Osun State governorship re-run elections, APC thugs brutalising any person perceived to be for PDP at the booths. None of the bloodshed was televised, although some of it was recorded and posted on social media by Nigerians. Some even died, people wailing that their relative died from injuries sustained at the polling booths, people being given N10,000 acceptance fee. There was no word of any of it on television. Better dont be deceived.

PT: Some Nigerians see Atiku as desperate considering that he has shown interest for the position for about six times since 1992. What is your take on this?

Yahawah: If anything, what this shows is that he is determined to progress this country. He is a very wealthy individual, whatever happens to the economy will not change that. So this shows that he is contesting for the voiceless, for every Nigerian from the smallest to the greatest, to get Nigeria to where it needs to be. Do you realise that he does not have to do anything? He can just sit and watch Nigeria in this hole, and he will still be rich. But he is for the betterment of all Nigerians, God has given him the know-how to get Nigeria working again, and he is determined to get this nation out of poverty and mismanagement.

PT: You and your colleagues in NYMAA are young and you are rooting for a man who is above 70 to be president. Doesnt that mean you have no faith in the youth taking over the political leadership of this country? Does it not also show a vote of no confidence in the Not Too-Young To Run Act?

Yahawah: Listen. If a car was once on the right path, and deviated over the years down a road that is not the right road, one cannot expect to get back there in the twinkling of an eye. There was a time in this country when youth in their 30s were Heads of State, and the economy thrived. Gen Gowon once said Nigerias only problem was how to spend money. But now that we are on this road, God has helped us by giving us Atiku. We will not return to youth rule suddenly, but we have someone who believes in youth leadership and has stated that most of his cabinet will be youth. This is a reliable statement as many youth worked under him in the Obasanjo administration. So no and no to both questions. Atiku is the only one credible enough to run the nation at this time, and he is big on youth leadership, which will give youth the platform they need for subsequent administrations. This is another reason why he should be elected by Nigerians.

PT: What is your assessment of the Buhari administration?

Yahawah: Buharis administration has failed Nigerians, plain and simple. This is not a political statement. Even a 12 year old will tell you this administration has failed. A 90 year old who barely goes out will tell you this administration has failed. It is clear as day, and all he gives is excuses. Buhari once said change is not pleasant. Any change downhill has a name, it is called failure. Any change that makes a nation or organisation much worse is called failure. Even a farmer in the village knows he must deliver. He cannot be on the farm all day and come home with excuses. His wife cannot cook excuses. His children cannot eat excuses. But the President of a nation comfortably gives excuses like human beings are not suffering as a result of his lack of performance. It is very bewildering that he is even running for a 2nd term.

PT: Should Atiku lose the election, what next for your group?

Yahawah: Atiku will not lose by the grace of God.

PT: Many Nigerians, especially the APC members believe that the PDP ruined Nigeria while in power for 16 years, what gives you the hope that they will want Nigeria to return to them?

Yahawah: As I said, we are backing the individual Atiku Abubakar, and not the entirety of the party. His track record shows that he is the most exceptional candidate by far. If PDP ruined Nigeria, what has APC done? Under PDP rule Nigeria did not borrow money from all over the place like Buhari has done, like the country will not have to pay it all back with interest. Nigeria was never the poverty capital of the world under PDP. As people have their different sentiments for one reason or the other, you must come with facts and not sentiments. How will a nation be poorer even after the whole whistle-blower episode? Where did the money go? Some of Abachas loot was even returned during this administration. How is Nigeria worse off even after all these? Returning the economy to how PDP left it in 2015 would be seen as a milestone achievement for the APC at this time. But we will not give them a chance to further plunge the country into poverty and debt.

PT: You are from the South West. Do you perceive like others do that the party has not treated the zone well, especially if you consider that Atiku picked his running mate from the South East?

Yahawah: For half of the 16 years PDP was in power, Obasanjo who is from the South West was president. So I dont understand your question. The South West has produced many top officials in the federal government under PDP. As for Atikus choice of running mate, Peter Obi is an excellent choice. I am very excited for the economic revival that would take place in the country under an Atiku/Obi government. It is very important for the youth and everyone to go out and vote for Atiku Abubakar in 2019. Your question is the reason why restructuring is important. Under Atiku a Nigerian will be a Nigerian. No more of this South and North talk.
Despite winning the All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial primaries in six of the seven local government areas of Bauchi North, the winners name was substituted without any reason, PREMIUM TIMES findings show.

Usman Tuggar was one of the five aspirants who sought to represent the ruling party in the Senate from Bauchi North.

Mr Tuggar won the primaries held on October 3 in six local government areas: Itas/Gadau, Zaki, Jamaare, Giade, Gamawa and Shira. His closest challenger, Mohammed Bulkachuwa, won narrowly in Katagum local government by 7,263 votes to 6,278.

In total, Mr Tuggar scored 71,508 votes while Mr Bulkachuwa scored 16680 votes. None of the other three aspirants scored up to 10,000 votes in total.

Mr Tuggars victory at the primaries was also ascertained by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), whose officials monitored the primaries.

In a document titled Summary of Candidates Nominated At Political Party Primary Elections, the INEC in Bauchi named Mr Tuggar the winner of the primary and the nominee of the APC fpr the senatorial seat.

The document was signed by Ahmed Waziri, the Ag. HOD EPM of INEC; Baba Usman, the Admin Secretary, and Ibrahim Abdullahi, the INEC Resident Electoral Commisioner in Bauchi.

Despite Mr Tuggars victory, the chairman of the primaries committee, Ahmed Mohammed, announced the runner up as the partys candidate. By the time the APC headquarters, which has the final authority to send a final list to INEC, sent the list, it removed Mr Tuggars name and replaced it with Mr Bulkachuwa.

The facts speak for themselves. Elections were held, after that, they announced somebody else on the radio by the chairman of the committee.

After that, I came here and saw the party chairman the day the House of Reps elections were taking place and he said to me that that same day was the day they were holding the senatorial primaries which was obviously not right, Mr Tuggar told PREMIUM TIMES.

Politicians in Bauchi told PREMIUM TIMES they believe the APC headquarters took the action in order to benefit from Mr Bulkachuwas relationship. Mr Bulkachuwa is the husband of the President of the Nigerian Court of Appeal, Zainab Bulkachuwa. PREMIUM TIMES could not confirm if that was the reason the manipulation was done especially as similar scenarios occured in other parts of the country. The manipulations caused many Nigerians including the wife of President Muhammadu Buhari, Aisha, to castigate the APC national chairman for the poor handling of the primaries across the country.

Mr Tuggar on October 9 wrote a petition to the APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole. In the petition, he expressed his dissatisfaction and asked that justice be done. Till date, he is yet to get a response from the leadership of the party.

PREMIUM TIMES

After that, I wrote a petition to the appeal committee, the appeal committee said it should be given back to me. But from all indications, they (the APC) ignored the order and went ahead and submitted the same person that didnt win the election.

The APC is just like a dictatorship. They are not even talking to anybody, they are not reaching out to anybody. You write them a letter, they dont write you back. Nobody has reached out to me till now. Nobody has said anything. You can imagine what we are dealing with. Its a shame, he explained.

When contacted, the APC spokesperson, Lanre Issa-Onilu, simply said, it is difficult to speak to specific cases like this, especially that the process is still ongoing. A comprehensive list of our candidates will be published at the end of the exercise. Please bear with me.
Perhaps explaining the rot in the nations education system, an official data has shown that 24 of 36 states in the country failed to access own their portion of the over N47 billion basic education grants between 2015  2017.

While the disbursement of 2018 has not started, the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) report titled: Unaccessed Matching Grant shows that as at September 2018, 24 states had not accessed the grant that was released in April 2018.

The 24 states are: Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Cross River, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Imo, Ogun, Ondo, Kwara, Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau, Yobe and Zamfara. The unaccesed funds amount to about N29.5 billion.

According to the report, in April 2018, UBEC began disbursement to the states including the Federal Capital Territory at approximately N1.3 billion each.

However, only 13 states including the Federation Capital Territory have accessed the grant. The states that accessed the grant are: Borno, Lagos, Cross River, Delta, Kogi, Kebbi, Jigawa, Osun, Oyo, Rivers, Taraba, Sokoto and FCT.

UBEC is an intervention and regulatory agency saddled with the task of promoting uniform, qualitative and functional basic education, as well as, coordinating all aspects of Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme implementation. This was introduced in 1999 by the Federal Government as a reform programme to ensure quality of basic education throughout the country from primary to secondary education.

The fund constitutes 50 per cent of the gross revenue realised by UBEC in a preceding year meant to be disbursed to states in accordance with a sharing formula approved by the Federal Executive Council.

States are expected to provide an equal amount of the money as counterpart funds to be able to access the funds.

Despite this, Nigeria is faced with pathetic learning facilities across all states which makes mockery of its desire to improve the education sector

Reacting to this, an economist at the Lagos State University, Abiola Ayoola, lamented the situation in an interview with PREMIUM TIMES.

It pains that our leaders dont take education serious. It is time for elections and what you see them talk about is how to win, he said.

I think the Federal Government itself needs to pressurise states to access that grant. It is sad to hear that up till date, the failure of states Government to access necessary funds available still make our children suffer.
In this interview with PREMIUM TIMES, Biodun Ogunyemi, the national president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) speaks on the alleged plans by the government to introduce tuition fees and education banking to federal universities.

PT: Recently, you granted an interview disclosing plans by the government to increase tuition fees in federal institutions in the country. Can you explain more on that?

Biodun Ogunyemi : Thank you, the issue of tuition fees came up at the negotiating table that we have been having with the federal government in the last one and half year or so. Government has always tried to sell the idea that funding education can no longer be done by government alone, and because of that, other stakeholders will have to be brought to it.

We do not have an objection about bringing in other stakeholders, but the objection we have is that we need to correctly calibrate the issue of funding. When you say funding, there are non-tuition components that are being carried out by students or and their parents; they pay for their accommodation, feeding, transportation, books, other living expenses and in many of the universities today, what they call service charges, they are disguised forms of tuition fees, so you see some put together accommodation plus service charges, the university charging N40000, N50000, some go as much as 80,000-N90,000. In fact there was a time at Micheal Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, where the immediate past vice-chancellor introduced accommodation fees of 40,000 per bed space, and we are talking of a bed space that you could have 4,5,6 sometimes 8,9,10. So we now charge these students 40,000, multiply that by 10, we are talking of 400,000 per room. I dont know any room in Nigeria or any part of this world that you will hire for 400,000 for a year.

So we saw these things happening and we started raising alarm. When we now went back to the negotiating table in March last year, we started with the issue of funding, the Babalakin-led government negotiating team and we presented our own proposal. We suggested other ways of funding education. The service charges are already there, the accommodation is there, the transportation costs that students and their parents are bearing. But when it comes to paying tuition, we told them pointblank that we are not going to agree because they came with the proposal that we should adopt the principle of cost sharing and we said the costs are already shared, the cost of training undergraduate are already shared, students and their parents are already carrying everybody, they did not agree with us.

PT: So how did the education banking come into discussions as a way of funding the sector.

Biodun Ogunyemi: The federal government said they will respond to our proposal but when they came back with their response eventually, that was going to almost ten months after we submitted our proposal, they came with the idea of National Education Banking and we immediately told them that national education banking is not a new idea, it was first introduced in 1993 to replace the student loan board.

The Nigerian government experimented with it for 7-8 years it failed, so government had to set up a ministerial committee at the federal executive council to go and wind up the national education banking plan in 2001/2002, something they started in 1993, so for 7/8 years, the experiment failed. Why did it fail? Government was not living up to its financial obligations towards the bank, there was wide spread corruption, capacity of students to pay back the loan was not there, because there were no jobs and there are still no jobs. So you can imagine what will become of a bank that the loan equipment is not coming or is very low, the rate of payment is low or not coming, and we told them all of these but they went ahead to come up with the idea that well, we have calculated the cost of what we need to train an undergraduate and they have estimated that it will be N1 million that they will borrow from the bank, these students will borrow 1 million but that they borrow, 70 percent of it will be paid directly into the universities and 30 percent will be given to students to maintain themselves, we smelt a rat. Why? Why are you insisting that students who do not have the capacity to pay should borrow and that this time around the money will not be given to them will be paid directly to universities irrespective of whether private or public.

Our own instincts told us immediately that that project was to favour private universities because it will be bonus for them, they get money coming directly from government and they dont have to worry themselves whether the students pay or not, so it will just be a direct flow, we give it three years, the money will not be there.

We also suspected that the government that cannot increase the budgetary allocation to education will now say it will set aside some money for a bank to take off, an experiment you did before and you packed up by yourself, we also suspected that there are some foreign hands in it, and that people, probably World Bank and IMF as they always do, had promised them some facilities, you know the Nigerian government likes to borrow and borrow and borrow, so they go and borrow some facilities they will use to establish the bank, the debt profile of Nigeria will rise phenomenally and they will say they have fallen education and they will share the money, after some time, the debt will be there and the capacity to pay the debts will not be there, again we will go back to where we were before.

Now it appears the ruling class in Nigeria dont care, and they are saying the alternative to that is that students should pay tuition, at that point we saw where they were going, they insisted that there is nothing free and if we are saying that students should not pay, it means somebody is paying and government does not have the capacity to pay, we now say let government tell us that they dont have the capacity to pay, we have done our analysis. We believe that if government should block the leakages, the corruption in the oil sector, in fund generating agencies and other sources, we can generate enough funds that we need to support free education, to finance free education at all levels in Nigeria. So that has been our own point of disagreement with government, and so when our people come out to say that government is trying to introduce tuition fees, that is exactly what they are saying, that if we do not allow them to go ahead with their Education Bank Project, then it means students will pay tuition.

PT: People are saying that your union has been politicised; is this true?

Biodun Ogunyemi: Politicised in what sense, it is not clear to me. Is it that we are commenting on political issues? Or is it that we aspire to be governors or to be presidents: or to be on the side of the government? Is it that we are working for government or working against government, I want to understand. So when people say politicize, I dont know what people mean but if what they are saying is that probably some people on campuses have sympathy for government or they are attacking government, it should be expected.

I just told you about allegations of teaching what we are not paid to teach, it is part of our critical nature. We will always want to engage any government, but what we always tell our members is keep focused on the principle of the union.

So what I am saying in essence is that ASUU members are trained to be critical and that is why we have always engaged successive governments but it appears all governments always accuse us of being sponsored by the opposition, but if you say for instance, Jonathan said we were sponsored by the opposition but when this government came in, have we not been engaging this government? We have not deviated, think of the number of what we did against the government.

Our own is not about who is in power, it is about the policies that we engage. If a government comes out tomorrow to say that we will provide education free at all levels, we will hail that government, but again we will still engage the government on the kind of quality that will be involved. So we are trained to be critical, we focus more on policies of government than who is in power and that is why we have been consistent.

PT: How does the union ensure that internally generated funds from the universities are judiciously utilised?

Biodun Ogunyemi: Well, we have been asking for that, but we are not yet there fully. We have been asking for judicious utilisation of funds either given to them or those they make out of our students. What we call IGR, they should be calling these things Internally Generated Revenue. You see for every service charge they collect, there is an expenditure head, when you collect fund in accommodation, there are things you need to provide in the hostel, steady power supply, clean environment, water supply and all other support services that you should be providing. We want to insist that they should continue to do that, but in doing that, accountability is also very important and that is why we have come up at the level of ASUU with an innovative concept, which we call Budget Monitoring Committee.

The Budget Monitoring Committee concept came at our last negotiation in 2009 and it became part of that agreement. We have been using that concept essentially for what we call the Needs Assessment projects and that is why you can see a lot of difference, even though Needs Assessment came up eventually was adopted for the first time in 2013 and the Project Monitoring Committee (PMC) was activated in 2014, we have since been calling for an extension of its application to cover TETFUND projects as well as those things we call IGR as we call it, and of course regular allocation from the government. So we are saying that our concept for assuring transparency and accountability in the finances of universities, our best bet is that the concept of Budget Monitoring Committee must be applied to all university finances in which case, we know what comes in, we know what they are meant for and we know who is spending and for what purpose, we can now monitor and evaluate the process.

PT: So are there mechanisms put in place to support indigent students?

Biodun Ogunyemi: Well thats an idea that ASUU has been toying with, we have been thinking about it very seriously, because we know that in our campuses we have a lot of indigent students particularly with the economic downturn that is biting hard, families and amongst students.

We tried in the first place to ask for scholarship from government, that government should provide indigent students with scholarship; we also asked for work study, that students who are indigent can be engaged in some of the services provided by the universities.

Some universities are doing well and then we have also proposed something like students support programmes, I can tell you that we know that universities like MAUTECH, Modibo Adamawa University of Technology, Yola, have a programme like that and we know of one or two universities that have similar programmes, and on our campuses, we have been asking for that. Some of these things are being implemented by students affairs unit of the universities. But more recently, and I am going to invite you to our own project, we have come up with an ASUU Student Scholarship Program.

In that scholarship program, we are going to have the first set of award on November 12 2018; so they are screening the students now, and what are we planning to do, that every campus will support one indigent student, only public, both federal and state, and only for universities where we have ASUU chapter. So we have narrowed it down to 55/56, which means come November 12, we are going to give an award to each student from each of these branches.

PT: Is ASUU planning to sponsor the beneficiaries for the four years?

Biodun Ogunyemi :No, we will support with a sum of N100,000 as scholarship, but next year we are going to bring another set on board, but that will help to cushion the effect, so it will become a yearly scholarship award. We are having the first scholarship programme come November 12. But before then, we have been partnering with the Gani Fawehinmi Foundation to give annual award, we support them logistically but we now felt that after about 20 years, the issue of doing that  ASUU should have its own Scholarship Award Program, and that programme was taken to our last National Delegate Conference, which we had in Bauchi ATBU, Abubakr Tafewa Balewa University in May. So we are going to give the first award to 65- 67 students.

PT: I want your comment, reaction, on the rising cases of sexual misconduct among lecturers?

Biodun Ogunyemi: Well, journalists have been asking me this question frequently, particularly in the last one year or so, my standard response is that its a reflection of the general menace in the Nigerian society.

Because sexual harassment is not limited to the universities. There was a case that was reported at the National Assembly, you would have read about the story of a youth corper that was harassed and it was reported in the newspaper, I didnt fabricate it. So while we were there one time they were coming up with this bill about sexual harassment, it was one of those things I told them, that sexual harassment takes place everywhere and its not peculiar to a university system, but perhaps why people are raising alarm about the university system is that they expect the highest level of moral conduct and decency among academics.

We at our level as leaders of the union, are also worried, we are worried that we have few cases, because when people say its becoming rampant, I ask them, what is the ratio to the number of lecturers we have on our campuses. At least the first generation universities, you can have as many as 1000-1500 lecturers, so how many cases have been reported in Ibadan, Ife, Zaria, Nsukka, in the last one year.

I want to tell you that ASUU before this issue of reporting or blowing few cases out of proportion, we have taken measures on our own part to ensure that we put few of our members that people call randy in check. Like if you go to campuses now, except where they are not implemented, we said that they should come up with suggestion box, students can report the advance the moment you see somebody laughing in an embarrassing manner or making embarrassing comments, you can start raising alarm, and we have female colleagues that we put at the head of welfare, we have students-staff relations committee and including anonymous writings/petitions, we encourage our students on anonymous petition so that we can begin to monitor before things go haywire, and when we find courageous students that can come out and put their names. We have our staff ethics, we have our ethics and grievances committee on every campus that is supposed to track and try such cases before they bring it to the national. So we in a nutshell are not comfortable with these few cases and we are doing our best to ensure that the cases will not get to the embarrassing level that we will find difficult to defend.

PT: Is it that TETFUND funds are not being utilized by the schools managing them or the funds are not being released?

Biodun Ogunyemi: In the first place, lets put these agencies in proper perspective, Tertiary Education Trust Fund, which evolved from Education Trust Fund ETF, was conceived as in intervention agency, not a funding agency. Intervention and intervention is to stop gap, it is not a sustainable source of funding or fund of provision of facilities, that is the first thing we need to understand and what I suggest to us is that TETfund cannot provide all our universities need to meet their infrastructural needs. Tetfund cannot provide or cannot meet all the requirements. So with that at the background, we bring in the role of the government in public universities, gone were the days when government used to have capital votes for our universities or tertiary institutions together, but go and check the budgets of these universities now, I can tell you that even when they allocate some amounts, hardly will that university get even up to 10 percent of what is allocated. Dont forget that these institutions keep expanding because of the hunger for tertiary education and of course, our population growth rate, you cannot stop the growth or the expansion in our campuses. So when you now say TETfund has been funding, now we brought in the concept of Needs Assessment, but we dont see the impact, they are not meant to fund the provision of infrastructure, they are only meant to support. The ultimate and sustainable source of funding of infrastructural facilities in our campuses is government budget and that is what has been missing over the years. So an intervention agency has now been made the sole source of funding projects in our campuses and that is where the problem lies.

PT : Is there actually a faction in ASUU?

Biodun Ogunyemi: There are no factions in ASUU, before you can say there is a faction in an organisation, it means they have more than one leadership, probably at the apex level. Can you report that about ASUU? We dont have two presidents, so if you have these next groups that are aggrieved within an organisation, it should be expected because ASUU is a union of scholars, scholars are trained to think differently, and so because of that divergent thinking, from time to time, there could be what you can call internal disagreement and some people can say well, we are staying away but we have had it before and we always have a way of coming back, we always have a way of reuniting even when we have people that disagree within the group. So that is why I can tell you that there is no faction in ASUU, we are not like the politicians that will be saying that they are reformed or they are unreformed. So we can only say that well, because of A,B,C we are staying away and we want to take care of ourselves, whatever they now call their selves, provided they dont take steps to disrupt the constitutionally recognised leadership, we dont have problem because we know with time, all matters will be resolved.

PT: What is the union doing about some of these institutions that do not have ASUU chapter or where the government tries to stop ASUU from performing their duties, like Ilorin, Kogi?

Biodun Ogunyemi: Well, in those two institutions you have mentioned, those ones I can talk about them for now, probably you want to talk about Nsukka too. You know our branches that we have problems, there are ongoing discussions but there are some differences or I can say they fall into different categories. When they dont have functional branches, I will call them non-functional branches, there are different reasons, if you take the Kogi case for instance, I would say it was caused by an overzealous visitor who thought that he could put ASUU in check and thought that he could do it and he will manage the effect of the action which is what he is trying to do, but I want to tell you today that they are realising the futility because that action of his has been condemned as far as the international labour organisation. The president of NLC has reported the matter to ILO and the Minister of Labour and Employment has written to the government conveying the report of ILO on that matter. So I believe that he has enough ground to do a rethink on his unilateral action, because he has no power to annul ASUU branch anywhere, and he doesnt have the legal power or legal authority. So we are in court over the matter, but I think beyond the court, the matter has been condemned nationally and internationally, so thats for Kogi.

As for Ilorin, we have had a prolonged regime of disagreement because some vice chancellors have turned the place to a kind or pariah state, where there was a loss and they would not want a functional ASUU and that is why the vice chancellor in and out have always tried to protect the environment in order to ensure that some critical goals, critical leadership does not emerge. What they did recently in that university, the immediate vice chancellor sacked the elected chairperson and secretary. We have taken the matter to court, we are still in court over that, there is one Dr. Afolayan, he is the recognised chairperson, though they have chairperson of a group called Management ASUU, we call them MASUU, so they are projecting that one. Recently it was reported in The Nation that that one has a case of plagiarism hanging on his head, but they will only want to use people which they know have some deficiencies somehow and they can have this control and manipulation on them. So those two universities actually illustrate the case of what we are doing about, even at that Ilorin, we have written to them on the need to discuss with the university and we started discussion but because some vested interests still want that place to remain the way it has been in the last 20 years or so, they have are blocking, but we are not giving up.

PT: How does ASUU feel about the N20 billion that was given to them recently?

Answer: Dont worry, I will put it straight, N20 billion was not given to ASUU, lets get that straight for the records. The N20 billion was what they promised to release to universities for revitalisation.

The history is that when we had the action last year August to September, by the time we suspended the action in September 14, we had a memorandum of action where government promised to release N20 billion to public universities as revitalisation as a demonstration of their commitment to the revitalisation of public universities.

So N20 billion was to serve as demonstration of commitment to the memorandum of understanding that government signed with ASUU in 2013. I alluded to that 2103 MoU when I said government had agreed to release 1.3 trillion in six years starting from 2011. Eventually government released N200 billion, which was to be the first instalment. Between then and 2013 it took them about 2-3 years to release 200 billion. So government released 200 billion as part of 1.3 trillion and government went to sleep. ASUU in 2016, made it one of our points of demand that government has not implemented that aspect of MoU where it promised to release N1.3 trillion after a period of six years and that as at then, government was owing the university over 600 billion, that was as at 2016.

As at today, because that aspect of MOU is expected to terminate 2019, so which means when you remove 200 billion from 1.3 trillion , you have 1.1 trillion that government is still owing and we asked them last year that when are you going to start releasing this money? I told you the history that Needs Assessment gave rise to that understanding; so this thing happened last year and government now said we will demonstrate commitment, so by September 2017, we will release 10 billion, by October 2017 we will release 10 billion, making a total of 20 billion to the revitalization fund. That took government one year to do and that was what they did this last two weeks and they went to say that they gave ASUU 20 billion

PT: Are we expecting a strike action soon?

Answer: (laughs) Now that you have mentioned strike, let me just say this, the president of ASUU does not determine when to go on strike, our members will decide if there will be strike. But if it will not result in strike, they will also tell us where it will end. So what we are doing for now is to keep on updating our members on developments. If government continues to ignore us, we will tell our members, if government decides on hide and seek game, we tell our members; whatever government does we go back to our members.
At least six persons including a police corporal were on Friday killed by gunmen in Gurbin Bore village, Zurmi Local Government Area of Zamfara State, the News Agency of Nigeria has reported.

The state police spokesperson, Mohammed Shehu, said the community was attacked at about 10 pm by assailants numbering about 100.

It was not immediately clear why the village was targeted.

Zamfara, located in Nigerias north west, has been hit by several deadly attacks in the last one year by people described by authorities as bandits, who also steal livestock.

The police spokesman said three people were severely wounded in Fridays attack.

Eleven vehicles including a police vehicle, three motorcycles and five kiosks were set ablaze by the hoodlums, he said.

Mr Shehu said the bandits who were suspected to have come from Dumburum forest were engaged by a combined team of counterterrorism operatives, comprising police Mobile Force, and Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS) personnel stationed in the area.

He said the attackers were being trailed and would be arrested and brought to justice.

The vice chairman of Zurmi Local Government Council, Abubakar Dauran, told journalists that 13 shops and 15 vehicles were burnt.

(NAN)
The Independent National Electoral Commission has cleared Hamza Al-Mustapha, a former chief security adviser to the late dictator, Sani Abacha, to run for president on the platform of the Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN).

Mr Al-Mustapha, who retired as a major from the Nigerian Army, is remembered for his unsavoury role in the dark days of the Sani Abacha regime.

He was detained for several years while undergoing trial for the gruesome murder of Kudirat Abiola, the wife of the equally murdered winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential elections, Moshood Abiola.

He was subsequently discharged by the court after the prosecution reportedly failed to prove the murder case against him, contrary to the nationwide sentiment of his culpability.

He participated in the primaries of the PPN earlier in October where he emerged winner and presidential candidate for the 2019 elections.

He hails from Nguru, in Yobe State and is 58 years old.

INECs clearance of Mr Al-Mustapha was made on October 18 and has been pasted alongside others in its state secretariats nationwide.
Efemena Okedi, wife of late Reggae star, Ras Kimono, was buried at the Atan cemetery, Yaba, Lagos on Friday.

A statement by the Copyright Society of Nigeria said she was buried at exactly 10.45 a.m. in a solemn mood amid tears from friends and family.

She passed away on June 10 at a Lagos hospital, three months after Ras Kimonos death.

The officiating minister at the internment, Emmanuel Ajomafuwe, reportedly described the deceased as an epitome of love and asked people to give praise to God for a life well spent.

He encouraged the family and everyone present to emulate the life of the deceased.

Death is inevitable. It is the most grievous enemy of humans that cant be killed. Our sister and mother has gone to rest with Christ Jesus, he said.

God wants us to live a life worthy of emulation like Okedi did.

COSON Chairman, Tony Okoroji, described Efe as a beautiful and brilliant woman who contributed positively to the development of humanity and asked for nothing in return.

Mr Okoroji said Okedi, as well as her late husband, meant so much to the society, before they passed on.

We have come to pay our last respect because she made a great impact while she was alive.

I thank all my colleagues and friends at COSON who have shown up and those who have been posting tributes to Efe from their various locations.

I appreciate their love for our late colleague and his late wife. I saw a very unique and rare type of love between late Efe and her husband, Kimono.

Mr Okoroji said that he believed Efe was happy being with the love of her life in heaven, adding that they had a special kind of love.

Members of Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria were present to pay their respects to Okedi.

Ras Kimono died after a brief illness and was laid to rest on August 28 in Asaba, Delta state.

The late Efemena was Ras Kimonos third and closest wife. She bore a son for popular Nigerian comedian, Alibaba.
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) says it has graduated another batch of 30 officers from the Young Officers Course (YOC) at the Military Training Centre (MTC) in Kaduna.

Director of Public Relations and Information, Ibikunle Daramola, disclosed this in a statement on Saturday in Abuja.

Mr Daramola said that the YOC was a three-month course aimed at developing the capacity of officers of the rank of a flying officer, for future leadership tasks.

During the YOC, the officers were groomed in subjects such as General Service Knowledge, Staff Duties, Asymmetric Warfare Principles and NAF Base Defence Concept, among others, to enhance their effectiveness and efficiency, he said.

He said that during at the graduation, Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Sadique Abubakar, urged the officers to utilise their new knowledge to enhance their performances in subsequent deployments.

Mr Abubakar was represented at the ceremony by the air secretary, NAF Headquarters, Gali Abdulwaha, according to the spokesperson.

The CAS was quoted as advising the officers to justify the resources invested in them by carrying out their duties diligently and professionally at all times.

Mr Daramola said the highpoints of the ceremony included presentation of certificates to the graduands and awards to those who had distinguished themselves during the course.

He said that flying officer, O.O. Ilesanmi, was among the award winners who received the CAS Award for emerging Overall Best on the course.

The spokesperson said that AVM Idi Amin, Air Officer Commanding, Ground Training Command and Air Commodore Paul Masiyer, Commandant MTC, assisted Mr Abubakar in making the presentations to the winners.

It is noteworthy that the current NAF leadership has continued to focus on all aspects of training at home and abroad towards improving professionalism to meet the security needs of the nation, he said.

(NAN)
Google on Saturday celebrated Stella Adadevoh, the physician whose expertise and heroic efforts helped curb the spread of Ebola in Nigeria in 2014.

Born in Lagos, Nigeria on this day in 1956, Dr Adadevoh descended from a long line of respected scientists and statesmen.

Dr Adadevoh completed her residency at Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) and West African College of Physicians and Surgeons before doing a Fellowship in London.

Following her fellowship in Endocrinology at Hammersmith Hospital, she returned to Lagos, where she spent 21 years at the First Consultants Medical Centre and served as the Lead Consultant Physician and Endocrinologist, Google wrote on its search engine.

Google said that in July 2014, a Liberian-American attorney arrived in Lagos on a flight from Monrovia heading to a conference on Economic Development and collapsed at the airport.

It said that the patient was taken to First Consultant Medical Centre, where one of Mrs Adadevohs colleagues first diagnosed him as suffering from malaria.

Although no Nigerian doctor had seen a case of Ebola before, Dr Adadevoh suspected the patient might have been exposed to the highly contagious virus and subsequently ordered blood tests to confirm, while also alerting Nigerian health officials.

While awaiting test results, Dr Adadevoh was pressured by Liberian Government officials to let the patient go so he could attend the conference as planned.

In spite of threats of lawsuits, Dr Adadevoh stood firm, stating that she will not release the patient for the greater public good.

The test results came back positive for the Ebola virus and while the patient could not be treated in time, Dr Adadevohs medical insight and the courage of her convictions ensured that other exposed patients could be treated rapidly and that the outbreak was contained, it noted.

Google said that unfortunately, in treating the initial patients, Mrs Adedevoh contracted the virus and passed away along with three of her colleagues at the medical centre.

Her legacy lives on through DRASA (Dr Ameyo Stella Adadevoh) Health Trust, a non-profit organisation.

DRASA is devoted to public health that works with communities and health workers to reduce the spread of infectious diseases and ensure that Nigeria is well prepared for future outbreaks, it noted.

(NAN)
The South-west zone of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has urged the partys presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, to give more key positions to the zone if he emerges as president.

The South-west Vice-Chairman of the party, Eddy Olefeso, made the demand in Lagos on Friday night, at a meeting of key members across the six states in the zone.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the meeting, which lasted hours, had in attendance a former Deputy National Chairman of the party, Olabode George; the current Deputy National Chairman (South), Yemi Akinwonmi; and a former National Vice Chairman of the party, Tajudeen Oladipo.

Also present were former Minister of State for Defence, Sola Obada; a former Deputy Governor of Ogun State, Makanjuola Badru; and a member of the National Assembly, Abiodun Olujimi.

The partys governorship candidate in Oyo State, Seyi Makinde; the governorship candidate in Ogun, Ladi Adebutu; and a former governorship aspirant in Osun State, Akin Ogunbiyi, were also at the meeting, among others.

Mr Olafeso said though the promise of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) slot by Mr Abubakar was a good development, the zone deserved more key political and government positions.

The vice-chairman said the zone had been schemed out in the power arrangement of the party for the past few years.

Mr Olafeso said for Mr Abubakar to give the zone a sense of belonging and compensate for the years of abandonment, he should zone key positions of the Chief of Staff to the President and Attorney-General of the Federation to the South-west in addition to the SGF.

He said the South-west had the second highest voting population in the country and would demand its fair share of political positions if PDP wins in 2019.

We have been denied for too long. In 2011, the country under the control of our party zoned the position of the Speaker of the House of Representatives to the zone and it was taken away.

And from 2011 to 2015, we were left just like that and the reverberating effect of that abandonment is the reason why we are still having the hangover of neglect till today.

Now we are here again, the party is working with a zone with 14 million votes, the second largest in the country. We refuse and we will not accept where we finish the job in the next election and for one reason or the other, we will not be considered.

We dont have to wait till after the election before we say what we want. We want to let the party and our candidate know that certain positions are strategic to governance and we want them.

Yes, the SGF is great, but there is nothing wrong with having the Chief of Staff and Attorney-General on top of it to compensate us for the denials of the past, so that all of us can work as a united front.

We will continue to fight for it, we will speak with a loud voice. We give so much, so the zone deserves a lot, he said.

While congratulating Mr Abubakar on his emergence as presidential candidate, Mr Olafeso said the zone was pleased with the choice of Peter Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, as his running mate.

He said the country was faced with serious economic challenges, and Obi had the pedigree that could realise the partys economic vision for Nigeria.

Mr Olafeso also said the zone was concerned about the travails of former governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), over a case.

He urged members of the party to stand with Mr Fayose at his trying moment, saying the former governor was paying for being truthful and standing against injustice.

I was in the court the last time and I am glad to tell you that he has been granted bail.

We will do our best to ensure that he perfects his bail conditions and he is released soon, he said.
A chieftain of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, Olabode George, on Saturday advised the Minister of Power, Works & Housing, Babatunde Fashola, to leave the issue of who becomes president in 2023 and focus on improving infrastructure in the country.

Mr George, a one-time military administrator of Ondo State, gave the advice while speaking with reporters in Lagos.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr George was reacting to a statement made by Mr Fashola on Thursday in Ibadan that a vote for President Muhammadu Buhari by the South-west would guarantee the zone the presidency in 2023.

Do you know that power is rotating to the South-west after the completion of Buharis tenure if you vote for him?

A vote for Buhari in 2019 means a return of power to the South West in 2023. I am sure you will vote wisely,  Mr Fashola reportedly said at a town hall meeting on infrastructure.

Mr George said that roads in the country were begging for attention and that Mr Fashola should fix those roads urgently rather than postulating about 2023.

He noted that the two major roads leading to the Lagos ports were in a deplorable state and urged the minister to focus on fixing those roads in view of their importance to the economy.

Fashola is the minister of works. Look at the key major roads from the ports, they are in deplorable state and these roads are the gateway to the nations economy.

It costs a container to be moved from Apapa ports to Tin- Can to Ikeja N1 million. Just one container and that is what it will cost the same container from Shanghai in China to Lagos.

So the minister needs to fix those roads now instead of postulating about 2023. These roads have not been maintained for years.

If goods cannot come out fast from the ports, it will affect those who are buying and selling and if things cannot go into the ports for export, how would people make money.

Nigerias Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola. [PHOTO CREDIT: Energy Mix Report]

Fashola should be concerned about fixing these roads before May 2019 because he would come back someday to give account to the people, he said.

(NAN)
At least 150 cows were killed by a gang of suspected bandits dressed in military uniform, on Thursday, as they attacked communities in Abbare, Lau Local Government area of Taraba, north east Nigeria, locals said.

Briefing the media on Friday,in Jalingo a distraught community leader of Abbare village, a town on the borders of Adamawa and Taraba, Muhammad Umar, alleged that, some gunmen in military uniform had on Thursday, unprovoked, invaded the area at about 1 pm..

And in the process, they killed at least 150 cows and maimed several others, Mr Umar said.

He further explained that throughout Thursday night community member were conveying injured cows to sell in Jalingo the Taraba capital and Mayo-Belwa in Adamawa where they disposed to butchers.

Mr Umar appealed to the military authorities and sister security agencies to investigate the alleged involvement the military in the attacks.

Confirming the incident in Jalingo on Friday, the police spokesperson, David Misal, said the command has deployed more police to the area.

More information would be released to the public as soon as (a) clearer picture comes out of the area, he said.

In the meantime, efforts to get military to comment on the incident were unsuccessful as soldiers deployed in the area declined to comment.

We are not going to talk because we are not allowed.

And dont quote us! one of the soldiers exclaimed.

The affected area have been experiencing frequent violence which has led to loss of lives and destruction of properties.
A senator, Kabiru Marafa (APC, Zamfara) has condemned Thursdays protest in Gusau, the Zamfara State capital, calling for the sack of the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole.

According to Daily Trust Newspaper, the local government APC chairmen and hundreds of loyalists of the party in all 14 local government areas of the state, on Thursday staged a protest, demanding the sack of Mr Oshiomhole.

The demonstration, which took off from NNPC depot through the Sokoto road and then ended at the state secretariat of the party, had some commissioners, women groups and other top party executive members.

The party members who were carrying placards with many anti-Oshiomhole inscriptions said the protest was to register their anger over the way the national chairman of the party handled its affairs.

However, in a statement issued in Abuja, Mr Marafa faulted the demonstration. He said the protesters were mobilised by the state governor, Abdulaziz Yari, following his inability to bend rules to impose candidates who are his cronies, on the party.

Mr Marafa, a governorship aspirant of the APC in Zamfara, described Mr Oshiomhole as a law abiding leader. He said Mr Yari should be the one to be sacked.

Yari and his co- travelers are wrong and Comrade Oshiomhole is right, as far as the issues in the party are concerned, he said.

Making reference to the beginning of the party crisis in the state, he insisted that primaries were not conducted in Zamfara State and that there was no consensus either.

There was a court order that says all parties should not take any step that will render useless the litigation before it. The party under the able leadership of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole respected the order and said all parties in the crisis should hands off. The party and it leadership should be commended for respecting the law, a foundation upon which APC was built.

When the committee of the National Working Committee came to conduct the primary in Zamfara, violence, orchestrated by Yaris people, erupted. The committee was forced to cancel the election. This is also a valid thing. The position taken by the governor that primaries should be conducted by the executives in his camp was irresponsible, contemptuous and height of lawlessness.

The crux of the matter is that there was no election and there was no consensus in Zamfara. So, we are commending Comrade Oshiomhole and INEC for respecting the court order, he said.

He further said the millions of Naira spent by the governor to organise the protest should have been channelled towards securing the release of 17 persons including two young girls kidnapped in Dauran, Jangebe, Magami and other locations in the state.

The senator said he believes majority of APC members in Zamfara are behind Mr Oshiomhole and the leadership of the party.

At the time of this report, the APC spokesperson, Lanre Issa-Onilu, failed to comment as he did not respond to calls and text messages sent to him.

Earlier, the lawmaker declared his support for INECs decision on APC.

INEC declared the APC ineligible to field candidates for all elective positions in Zamfara State in the 2019 general elections.

This is because the party failed to meet the October 7 deadline for conducting primaries to elect candidates for the elections.

In its response, the National chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole, said the party will present its candidates for all elective positions in Zamfara State in the 2019 general elections despite contrary directive by the electoral commission.

Mr Marafa had in June, declared his intention to vie for the governorship slot.

He said he joined the race due to numerous calls from members of the party in the 14 local government areas of the state.

The lawmaker had pledged to fight corruption, injustice and provide the much needed leadership to stimulate the growth and development of the state. He also pledged to provide security as well as look at the states legal system to make it conform to the true teachings of Islam for the benefit of all.

Overtime, Mr Mafara has been the state governors political foe, though both men are members of Nigerias ruling party, APC.

The state has been ruptured by violence in recent months with armed bandits killing scores of people and destroying several houses and the lawmaker has continuously blamed the state governor, Mr Yari, for the high rate of insecurity and poverty in the state.
The Kaduna State Government has relaxed Kachia community curfew, Samuel Aruwan, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Media and Publicity, said in a statement on Saturday in Kaduna.

Mr Aruwan said the States Security Council noted with gratitude the exemplary conduct of the people of Kachia, who remained peaceful while mourning the recent loss of a monarch.

He stated that in recognition of this positive contribution to harmony, the Security Council directed that the curfew in Kachia be relaxed immediately today, Saturday, October 27, 2018.

He added that residents of Kachia are free to go about their legitimate businesses from now till 5 p.m. today (Saturday).

Also from tomorrow, Sunday, Oct. 28, 2018, Kachia residents are also free to move from 6 a.m. till 5 p.m.

The Security Council advises residents of Kaduna to continue to comply with curfew hours.

The state government warns that only persons involved in delivering essential services will be permitted free passage, as curfew violation is a crime that will earn arrest and prosecution.

While giving update on security situation in the state, Mr Aruwan said a select committee of the Kaduna State Security Council met this morning.

The heads of the security agencies in Kaduna State and senior government officials, led by Governor Nasir El-Rufai, reviewed the security situation in the state and sympathised with residents on the inconvenience associated with the curfew, saying it was imposed to save lives and is under constant review.

The council noted the substantial compliance with the curfew by residents and welcomed the atmosphere of calm largely prevailing in the areas under curfew, as well as across the state, he added.

He noted that the council commended residents for refusing to allow criminal elements to divide communities, and urged Kaduna residents to continue to cooperate with security agencies.

Meanwhile, arrests of hoodlums continued in the curfew areas, as security agencies thwarted attempts to destroy places of worship in Kawo and Hanyin Banki.

One person was killed in Kasuwan Magani and another arrested with a weapon overnight.

The police reported that 32 persons have been arrested since Friday for involvement in the disturbances.

All those arrested would be investigated and prosecuted.

(NAN)
The Kaduna State government on Saturday said 32 people had been arrested in connection with the renewed violence in Kaduna metropolis on Friday.

Samuel Aruwan, senior special assistant to the governor on media and publicity, announced this in a statement in Kaduna on Saturday.

He said that the number of arrested persons over the renewed disturbances was given by the police at the states Security Council meeting, adding that these persons will be investigated and prosecuted.

Mr Aruwan also said that within the areas covered by the curfew, security agencies thwarted attempts to destroy places of worship in Kawo and Hayin Banki.

It was also reported that one person was killed in Kasuwan Magani and another arrested with a weapon overnight while attempting to burn down the market there.

He announced that the government has relaxed the curfew in Kachia, allowing residents free movement from 6a.m. to 5p.m. daily.

The Security Council noted with gratitude the exemplary conduct of the people of Kachia who have remained peaceful while mourning the loss of a much-revered monarch.

In recognition of this positive contribution to harmony, the Security Council has directed that the curfew in Kachia be relaxed immediately, today, Saturday, 27th October, 2018.

He added that the council sympathised with residents over the inconveniences associated with the curfew, saying that it was imposed to save lives and was under constant review.

The Security Council noted the substantial compliance with the curfew by residents and welcomed the atmosphere of calm largely prevailing in the areas under curfew as well as across the state.

The Council commended residents for refusing to allow criminal elements to divide our communities and sow chaos.

It urged Kaduna residents to continue to cooperate with the security agencies to ensure that those who want a peaceful, law-governed society prevail over criminals who prefer chaos and anarchy.
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.




NEW YORK, Oct. 27, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- AJC is totally appalled by the horrific shooting attack inside a Pittsburgh synagogue during Shabbat morning services today.

At least eleven people were killed and six wounded in the assault at Tree of Life Or L'Simcha Congregation. The shooter was apprehended by law enforcement.

"The sanctity of the Sabbath was shattered today, a solemn reminder that we Jews, even in the U.S., must be constantly vigilant," said AJC CEO David Harris. "We mourn with the families of the victims, pray for the full and speedy recovery of the wounded, and stand in solidarity with the entire Pittsburgh Jewish community."

The assailant reportedly had expressed on social media his rage against National Refugee Shabbat, a HIAS event of which AJC is a cosponsor, only hours before he arrived at the synagogue and yelled his intention to kill Jews during the attack. Incidents targeting Jews constitute the majority of religiously-based hate crimes in the U.S., according to the FBI, even as Jews constitute no more than two percent of the American population.

"The callousness of a bigoted individual intent on destroying innocent lives in a house of worship should unite Americans in anger and determination to confront the toxic hatred and extremism in our country," Harris said. "We call on political, religious, and civic leaders of all persuasions to join in issuing a clarion call for moderation and civility in our national discourse, for far more sustained attention to the repeated outbreaks of deadly mass shootings afflicting our country, and for concrete actions to identify and confront the violent anti-Semites and other purveyors of hate who continue to lurk in American society."

SOURCE American Jewish Committee

Related Links

http://www.ajc.org


HONG KONG, Oct. 26, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The new Global Sources Lifestyle trade fair opens today at AsiaWorld-Expo. Running through to October 30, the fair features creative, curated and innovative gifts, premiums and home products. Co-located with Global Sources Fashion, Hong Kong's largest fashion sourcing event, to leverage the strengths of both fairs, it offers a brand-new sourcing experience and provides attendees of each show with an expanded range of complementary sourcing options. Attendees can conveniently source gifts and premiums, smart toys and gadgets, home decorations, office supplies, fashion accessories, fabrics and apparel, all under one roof.

A team of professors and Students of Savannah College of Arts and Design (SCAD) was invited to build a fresh and modern look for Global Sources Lifestyle, to bring vibrancy and energy to the six product categories; Festival Decor, Gifts & Packing, Gadgets, Healthy Life, Office Space and Home Products.

Global Sources Lifestyle features hot products and upcoming market trends, highlighted in showcases such as the new Meet the Millennials collection, Lifestyle Live, Cool Design Award & Gallery and Color Trends Area by Pantone.

"We are delighted to be launching Global Sources Lifestyle. This new sourcing show offers buyers a comprehensive selection of in-demand products. It's a whole new sourcing experience that combines Global Sources' expertise in event management and product curation to give buyers a one-stop, high-quality sourcing platform" said Cameron Walker, President of Global Sources Gifts, Home and Hardware Group.

Global Sources Lifestyle highlights include:

NEW Meet the Millennials  the Millennial zone which incorporates product categories including On the Go, Tech on Tech, Smart Fit, My Home and #Unwind that meet the needs of different individuals.

NEW Lifestyle Live  A daily program of live shows on fitness, travel, culinary, photography and home decor topics hosted by 13 key opinion leaders and influencers.

Cool Design Award & Gallery  Showcase of best innovative products recognized by Amazon sellers, B2B buyers and designers.

Color Trends Area by Pantone  Previewing the hot hues in home products for the coming season.

Global Sources Summit for eCommerce sellers  A 3-day conference to help attendees supercharge their Amazon and online business by learning best practices from global experts.

Thousands of top buyers are expected to attend including Amazon, Auchan, Best Buy, Carrefour, Darty, eBay, El Corte Ingles, Gap, Hallmark, Hasbro, LG, Li & Fung, Linen Chest, Mannings, Marks & Spencer, Office Depot, Panasonic, Swarovski, Target and Tesco.

Comprehensive services for online and Amazon sellers

A wide range of services aims to help enhance the buying experience of online and Amazon sellers and enable them to source more efficiently. This includes products from exhibitors that accept small orders, an Online Retail 101 conference highlighting eCommerce strategy and marketing techniques, and a special fashion parade on what is hot on Amazon, as well as the Global Sources Summit. Voted Best Amazon Conference in the 2017 Seller Awards, this three-day conference helps intermediate and advanced Amazon and e-commerce sellers source from Asia.

The GlobalSources.com app enables buyers to shortlist exhibitors, find booths, take pictures and then follow exhibitors after the show. The At the Show newsletter provides daily reports and live videos on the hottest products.

Opening hours for the show are:

October 27-29 from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

from October 30 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Buyers can find more information about the Global Sources trade fairs and pre-register to attend at http://www.globalsources.com/exhibitions.

Global Sources news and updates are also available at http://www.corporate.globalsources.com/, Facebook(@GSExpos) and Twitter (@globalsources).

About Global Sources

Global Sources is a leading business-to-business media company and a primary facilitator of trade with Greater China.

The company organizes export sourcing shows in Hong Kong every April and October with eight events annually, including the world's largest electronics and mobile electronics shows. Global Sources is also a majority shareholder in Shenzhen International Machinery Manufacturing Industry Exhibition (SIMM) and its related shows  the leading machinery exhibitions in Southern China.

The core business facilitates trade between Asia and the world using English-language media such as trade shows (GlobalSources.com/exhibitions), online marketplaces (GlobalSources.com), magazines, and apps.

More than 1.5 million international buyers, including 94 of the world's top 100 retailers, use these services to obtain product and company information to help them source more profitably from overseas supply markets. These services also provide suppliers with integrated marketing solutions to build corporate image, generate sales leads and win orders from buyers in more than 240 countries and territories.

For over 46 years, Global Sources has been serving the B2B industry with a reliable, professional trade platform highly trusted by the Company's buyer and supplier communities.

Press Contact

Lierence Li

Tel: (852) 2814-5580

e-mail: [email protected]



SOURCE Global Sources

Related Links

http://www.globalsources.com/exhibitions


DUBLIN, Oct. 26, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The "Trocars Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Product (Disposable, Reusable), By Tip (Bladeless, Optical, Blunt, Bladed), By Application, By Region, and Segment Forecasts, 2018 - 2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global trocars market size is estimated to reach USD 991.1 million by 2026, progressing at a CAGR of 4.3% during the forecast period.



Rising geriatric population, increasing reliance on laparoscopic surgeries, and favorable reimbursement policies in developed countries are some of the primary growth stimulants for the market.



Favorable reimbursement policies by governments and key players for surgical devices and instruments are projected to boost the growth of the market over the forecast period. Key players are providing favorable reimbursement policies in order to promote minimally invasive surgeries, laparoscopic surgeries, and bariatric surgeries.



For instance, Ethicon (subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson) conducts Reimbursement Support Program to help healthcare providers with reimbursement related to laparoscopic surgeries and minimally invasive surgeries. These initiatives are most likely to help healthcare providers to take up these procedures instead of traditional ones. Thus, these factors are likely to drive the market over the forecast period.



In addition, the volume of surgeries has increased manifolds due to increasing geriatric population worldwide. Geriatric population are prone to various diseases, which require various surgical interventions for treatment. According to estimates published by WHO, the global elderly population is likely to increase from 841.0 million in 2014 to more than 2.0 billion by 2050.



Further key findings from the report suggest:

The global disposable trocars market is expected to dominate the market in 2017. Disposable trocars deliver high quality medical output and the chance of post-operative infection is low.

Optical trocars are anticipated to be the fastest growing segment with a CAGR of over 4.5% owing to increasing demand for technologically advanced devices for surgeries

Gynaecological surgery represented the largest share in 2017, with a valuation of USD 174.64 million , owing to increasing prevalence of gynaecological disorders across the globe.

, owing to increasing prevalence of gynaecological disorders across the globe. North America dominated the market in 2017 and accounted for approximately half of market revenue. Rising number of surgeries, advancements in healthcare infrastructure, and increasing demand for technologically advanced surgical procedures are contributing to the growth of the region

dominated the market in 2017 and accounted for approximately half of market revenue. Rising number of surgeries, advancements in healthcare infrastructure, and increasing demand for technologically advanced surgical procedures are contributing to the growth of the region Asia Pacific is poised to witness the highest growth in the market due to high population, rising geriatric population, and expanding base of patients with unmet needs

is poised to witness the highest growth in the market due to high population, rising geriatric population, and expanding base of patients with unmet needs Some of the key companies present in the market are CONMED Corporation; The Cooper Companies Inc.; Teleflex Incorporated; GENICON, Inc.; Medtronic; B.Braun Medical Inc.; and Johnson & Johnson.

Key Topics Covered:



Chapter 1 Executive Summary



Chapter 2 Research Methodology

2.1 Information Procurement

2.2 Data Analysis

2.3 Region Wise Market Calculation

2.3.1 Region wise market: base estimates

2.3.2 Global market: CAGR calculation

2.4 Region Based Segment Share Calculation

2.5 List of Secondary Sources (partial list)

2.6 Market Snapshot



Chapter 3 Market Variables, Trends & Scope

3.1 Market Segmentation & Scope

3.1.1 Market driver analysis

3.1.1.1 Increasing reliance on laparoscopy

3.1.1.2 Favorable reimbursement policies

3.1.2 Market restraint analysis

3.1.2.1 Product recall

3.1.3 Penetration & growth prospect mapping: Tip

3.2 Trocars Market - SWOT Analysis, By Factor (Political & Legal, Economic And Technological)

3.3 Industry Analysis - Porter's



Chapter 4 Product Type Estimates & Trend Analysis

4.1 Trocars Market: Product Movement Analysis

4.2 Disposable Trocars

4.3 Reusable Trocars



Chapter 5 Tip type Estimates & Trend Analysis

5.1 Trocars Market: Tip Movement Analysis

5.2 Bladeless Trocars

5.3 Optical Trocars

5.4 Blunt Trocars

5.5 Bladed Trocars



Chapter 6 Application Estimates & Trend Analysis

6.1 Trocars Market: Application Movement Analysis

6.2 General Surgery

6.3 Gynaecological Surgery

6.4 Urological Surgery

6.5 Pediatric Surgery

6.6 Other Surgeries



Chapter 7 Regional Estimates & Trend Analysis, by Product, Tip, And Application



Chapter 8 Competitive Landscape



CONMED Corporation

The Cooper Companies Inc.

Teleflex Incorporated

GENICON, INC.

Medtronic

B. Braun Medical Inc.

JOHNSON & JOHNSON

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/r37m29/global_trocars?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

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U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

SOURCE Research and Markets

Related Links

http://www.researchandmarkets.com


SILVER SPRING, Md., Oct. 27, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- In response to the tragedy in Pittsburgh today, HIAS, the global Jewish nonprofit that protects refugees, issued the following statement:

"There are no words to express how devastated we are by the events in Pittsburgh this morning. This loss is our loss, and our thoughts are with Tree of Life Congregation, our local partner Jewish Family and Community Services (JFCS) of Pittsburgh, the city of Pittsburgh and all those affected by this senseless act of violence. As we try to process this horrifying tragedy, we pray that the American Jewish community and the country can find healing."

As one of the nine national refugee resettlement agencies, HIAS partners with the United States government to resettle refugees as part of the U.S. refugee admissions program. Founded in 1881 as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, HIAS stands for a world in which refugees find welcome, safety, and freedom. Guided by Jewish values and history, HIAS rescues people whose lives are in danger for being who they are.

For more information visit: https://www.hias.org/press-center

HIAS is the global Jewish nonprofit that protects refugeesincluding women and children, and ethnic, religious and sexual minoritieswhose lives are in danger for being who they are. Guided by our values and history, HIAShelps refugees rebuild their lives in safety and advocates to ensure that all displaced people are treated with dignity. More info at @HIASrefugees , Facebook and hias.org .

SOURCE HIAS

Related Links

https://www.hias.org


"It was our first time at this event, and we are very excited about the results," Daniel Scott, Reon Revive Co-founder, said. "Reon sat with buyers from top retail stores in the U.S. and presented to them the benefits of our products. Our product was well-received, and we're excited to see what this event brings for 2019 and following years!"

Fontem Ventures, Reon's parent company, created this innovative and tasty 'pocket energy' booster for individuals and professionals who put all their energy into an active lifestyle. Reon is an easy-to-use revival powder, which melts on the tongue without the need to be mixed with water.

"Reon Revive gives people that boost of energy they're looking for. Whether it's at the gym, at work, or just for that early morning meeting or seminar! Reon Revive is an effective and convenient way to energize on the go," Scott said.

Reon Revive is a low calorie, vitamin B12 and caffeine powder shot that is gluten-free, sugar-free and vegan. Reon is now also an Informed Sport certified product meaning it's suitable for use by professional athletes.

EPPS is a branch of the Efficient Retail Marketing Event that took place at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resorts in Phoenix, Arizona. Some of the buyers that attended the event represented major retail stores in American like Amazon.com, Costco, CVS, GNC, LuckyVitamin.com, Meijer, Sam's Club, The Fresh Market, Vitamin Shoppe, Walgreens, Whole Foods and more.

For more information about Reon Revive, visit tryreon.com and follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Please direct inquiries to:

Michelle Bizet, 561-544-0719

[email protected]

SOURCE Reon

Related Links

http://tryreon.com


WASHINGTON, Oct. 27, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today expressed solidarity with the Jewish community in Pittsburgh and nationwide following a deadly attack on a synagogue in that city.

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In a statement, CAIR-Pittsburgh Program Director Zohra Lasania said:

"We condemn this heinous and cowardly attack on a house of worship, offer heartfelt condolences to the loved ones of all those who were killed or injured and express our solidarity with the Jewish community during this time of shock and grief."

CAIR-Pittsburgh Chapter President Safdar Khwaja added:

"This barbaric attack on our neighbors, with whom we share our city and have visited and dialogued multiple times, is deeply disturbing and horrifying. Such an act of terror affects all of us. We offer our full support and assistance in the aftermath of this tragedy, and our doors are open at all times to our neighbors. This attack is on American values and principles of humanity, and we all need to come together to restore civilized values to our society. We urge law enforcement authorities to bring to justice all those responsible or complicit in this act of terror."

The Washington-based civil rights organization is urging all houses of worship and faith-based and advocacy organizations to take extra security precautions as outlined in its "Best Practices for Mosque and Community Safety" booklet. The advice in CAIR's security publication is applicable to all institutions, regardless of organizational mission.

The booklet may be viewed at: https://tinyurl.com/BestSafetyPractices

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.

CONTACT: CAIR-Pittsburgh Communications Coordinator Zohra Lasania, 412-606-3601, [email protected]; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, [email protected]

SOURCE Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)

Related Links

http://www.cair.com


MIAMI, Oct. 27, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- With the state of Mexico currently in an economical and security crisis, companies across both Mexico and the United States are taking measures to ensure their data is protected. Companies need to ensure that they are protected from data breaches and crisis intervention. GLAC Consulting, a risk management company, provides a security model that analyzes violence and criminal structure, direct components and indirect components.

GLAC Consulting

GLAC Consulting aims to help Mexico via their GLAC Index. GLAC Index is a calculation generated through an algorithm that is made up of indicators and factors. The indicators consist of quantifiable data of social reality that come from international organizations, national, academic, social organizations and private sources. This is one of the company's model business systems. The factors from their scales measure the changes and effects that the society perceives of the indicators through the use of modern techniques of big data in real time of mass media, social networks and surveys.

Other ways the company states they handle crisis situations is their various executive document and information services. These include:

Dossier GLAC

Thematic Studies

Predictive Analysis

Security and Well-Being Panorama

Risk Agenda

Strategic Sectors Security

Risk Evaluation

Genaro Garcia Luna is not only the director of GLAC Consulting, but he is also the creator of the AFI during the presidency of Vicente Fox (2000-2006) and former Secretary of Public Safety during the administration of Felipe Calderon (2006-2012). Due to all of his experiences in the realm of security, Genaro Garcia Luna saw the need for a tool that would allow the government to analyze the country as a whole or an entity within it with the greatest number of variables that may affect its security and, with regards to the private sector, have detailed information that would contribute to making decisions regarding potential investments.

About The Company: GLAC Consulting also offers complete solutions for security, technology and risk analysis for the whole world. Under its director, Genaro Garcia Luna, GLAC Consulting utilizes the GLAC Shield to further protect its clients. They are a risk management company that has the methods to help the world obtain better security.

GLAC Consulting

(786) 272-6361

[email protected]

Related Links

GLAC Consulting - About Us

GLAC Consulting - Services

SOURCE GLAC Consulting
BEAVER, Pa., Oct. 27, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The officers of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, President Rick Bloomingdale and Secretary-Treasurer Frank Snyder, on behalf of our 60 Vice-Presidents and 700,000 union members of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, have issued the following joint statement:

"We are again painfully reminded of the extraordinary courage our first responders display every day. While union members had gathered today to participate in our democracy during the election process, this tragedy has given us pause to consider the direction our society is heading. Governor Tom Wolf and Senator Bob Casey have suspended their campaign events this weekend to express their solidarity with the families. It is impossible to understand the unthinkable, but we will not allow this hatred to prevail in Pennsylvania."

SOURCE Pennsylvania AFL-CIO
Cairo, Oct 27 : Israel's Prime Minister paid a historic visit to Oman, where he met with the sultan of the Gulf country, which has yet to establish formal diplomatic ties with Israel, official sources announced on Friday.

The Omani state-run TV broadcast a video of Sultan Qaboos bin Said welcoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the royal palace of Bait al-Baraka, located near Muscat, Efe reported.

"Prime Minister Netanyahu's visit to Oman is the first official meeting at this level since 1996," Netanyahu posted to his official Twitter account, accompanying the tweet with a photo of the meeting.

During the meeting, Netanyahu and the sultan discussed boosting the peace process in the Middle East and matters of mutual interest, including security and stability in the region, according to sources.

Israeli media reported that Netanyahu was accompanied during the visit by his wife Sara and a number of leading state officials, including the director of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, Yossi Cohen, and the country's national security adviser and National Security Council Director Meir Ben-Shabbat, among others.

Oman, like most Arab countries except Egypt and Jordan, does not recognize the state of Israel.
New York, Oct 27 : The Committee for the Protection of Journalists on Friday called for an end to the United States president's public verbal attacks on journalists, saying many now feel unsafe because of them.

"Journalists across the country feel unsafe because of the constant hostility and belittling of their role in our democracy by the head of state. It needs to stop," said CPJ's deputy executive director Robert Mahoney in a statement, Efe reported.

"It would be reckless and dangerous for President Trump to continue his rhetorical assaults on the press and branding of journalists as enemies of the people" following the spate of package bombs aimed at political figures and CNN, he added.

Authorities arrested CAsar Altieri Sayoc, 56, in his home state of Florida on Friday. He is suspected of sending package bombs to Democrats and ex-leaders, and faces five charges and up to 48 years in prison.

In a speech in Charlotte, North Carolina the same day, Trump praised officials and law enforcement for the arrest, and lambasted the "hostility" of the media, accusing it of using the arrest to "score political points" against him and the Republican party.

Mahoney said "it is clear that some people are influenced by" Trump's speech.
United Nations, Oct 27 : India has donated $300,000 to a programme to train commanders for UN peacekeeping, according to Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Known as the "Pipeline to Peacekeeping Command Programme," it will "over a period of three years, help develop the capacity of future commanders and managers to lead by example and raise awareness of UN standards of conduct among their personnel," Dujarric said Friday.

India's contribution will be used with a "a specific focus on issues of conduct and discipline," he added.

"This programme will be the first of its kind with a focus on issues of conduct and sexual exploitation and abuse, and we are grateful for the lead of India on such a significant new initiative," said Atul Khare,the Under Secretary-General for Field Support.

India's Permanent Representative Syed Akbaruddin, who handed over the check to Khare,Asaid, "India is a strong supporter of the United Nation's Zero Tolerance Policy on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and remains committed to contribute through all means possible for this cause."

The Department of Field Services described the programme as helping equip commanders and managers "to respond to allegations of misconduct including through collaborating with the various stakeholders in mission settings during the investigation and disciplinary process."

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in)
Islamabad, Oct 27 : Pakistani Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa has confirmed death sentences to 14 terrorists belonging to banned militant groups, the military said.

Eight others have been sent to jail by the military courts, the Pakistani Army's media wing Inter-Services Public Relations said in a statement on Friday.

The terrorists were involved in attacks including on the Armed Forces and Law Enforcement Agencies, killing innocent civilians and destroying educational institutions and Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) Hotel in the Swat valley.

"They had killed of 22 persons, including three civilians, 19 security personnel and injuring 23 others. They were tried in special military courts where they confessed to their crimes," Xinhua quoted the statement as saying.
Mumbai, Oct 27 : Veteran actor Anupam Kher has wrapped up shooting of "The Accidental Prime Minister" that is based on former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and says history will not misjudge the Congress leader.

Anupam on Friday shared a video, where he is seen donning Singh's looks and holding the film's clapboard. He announces that the last shot of the film was taken at 2.40 a.m. on October 27.

"It is a wrap for one of my most cherished films 'The Accidental Prime Minister'. Thank you...for the most enriching times. Thank you Dr Manmohan SinghJi for your journey," the actor said, who kind of walked in the former Prime Minister's shoes.

Anupam says it has been "a great learning experience." "One thing is sure 'history will not misjudge you'," he added.

He also shared a photograph with actress Suzanne Bernert, who is essaying the role of UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi in the film.

The film is based on a book by Sanjaya Baru, a former media advisor to Manmohan Singh. Akshaye Khanna features as Baru, and Divya Seth Shah plays Manmohan Singh's wife Gursharan Kaur in the movie.

It is directed by debutant Vijay Ratnakar Gutte, along with Hansal Mehta as the creative producer.

Scripted by Mayank Tewari and produced by Bohra Bros, the film is slated to release on December 21.
Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 27 : An ashram run by a supporter of the Supreme Court's Sabarimala verdict came under attack early on Saturday here, Kerala Police said, and announced a probe by a special team.

While Swami Sandeepananda Giri accused the BJP-RSS combine for the attack, a Sabarimala tantri family member said the monk himself set his property ablaze to implicate the saffron brigade, who in their turn named the Left party for trying to frame them for the religious fallout.

Two cars and a two-wheeler parked outside the ashram were set on fire around 2 a.m., said Giri, who was present on the premises at the time.

Giri has been taking a strong stand against the BJP-RSS combine in the state that has criticised the apex court's September 28 verdict opening the gates of the Lord Ayyappa shrine for all women.

The attack coming amidst an ongoing crackdown on protesters who prevented women between the 10-50 age group from entering the temple between October 17 and 22, saw Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan immediately by Giri's side.

Vijayan was accompanied by Finance Minister Thomas Issac and State Devasom Minister Kadakampally Surendran.

"The Sangh Parivar is trying to silence me for my position taken against them," Giri told Vijayan, fearing for his life.

The Chief Minister who has taken a strong stand against any breach of the court's verdict asked Director General of Police Loknath Behra to take immediate action.

The security at the ashram has been taken up by the police, Behra said, adding that a special team headed by Trivandrum City Commissioner P. Prakash would be investigating the attack and "nothing will be left to chance".

Vijayan told the media at the ashram that the secular minds of Kerala were fully behind Giri. "Kerala knows the stand that the Swami has taken and is known for his secular outlook.

"Those behind this attack will be taken to task and the criminals who have done this will be brought before the law," he said.

Rahul Eashwar, a member of the Sabarimala tantri family, who had come under attack from Giri said that it's for the police to find out who was behind the arson.

"If the police finds out that I am responsible, then I should be arrested and if it's found out that the Swami himself started the fire, he should be taken to task," said Eashwar.

Senior Congress legislator K. Muraleedharan under whose constituency the ashram is located dismissed Eashwar's statement. "I know what the Swami stands for and he will never do such a thing. This is nothing but a baseless allegation," said Muraleedharan.

However, state Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson A.N. Radhakrishnan told the media that it's the Communist Party of India-Marxist who has attacked the ashram.

"The CPI-M is behind this attack and propagating that we are behind it. We have no role in this," said Radhakrishnan.
New Delhi : It cannot but be politically embarrassing for the Narendra Modi government that the decision to send two squabbling Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials on leave by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), presumably at the government's behest, has barely passed muster in the Supreme Court.

The court may not have reinstated the director, Alok Verma, and the special director, Rakesh Asthana, but it has requested a retired Supreme Court judge, A.K. Patnaik, to monitor the CVC's probe into the allegations against Verma which led to his removal. The centre and the CVC have also been asked to file their response to Verma's petition on the steps taken against him.

Any presumption on the government's part, therefore, that its intervention in the CBI in what has been called by its critics as a midnight coup will mean that it will be back to business in the organisation under a new director, M. Nageswara Rao, has been belied.

Far from being defused, the controversy has only been put on the back burner with the court virtually assuming the role of governing the premier investigative agency with Rao being told not to take any policy decisions.

For any government, the loss of control over a major institution is tantamount to a loss of face. It is also a godsend to the opposition. Till now, the latter had been groping for an issue with which to attack the government in the run-up to the assembly elections in five states.

But, now, even more than the Rafael aircraft deal which is being used by the Congress to accuse the government of crony capitalism, l'affaire CBI will give the party a handy stick with which to beat the ruling dispensation.

The latter, too, and also the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), will be worried about the impact of the court case on the middle class. If it transpires that there is a grain of truth in the charge that the root of the infighting at the top of the organisation was the foisting of what has been called the ruling party's blue-eyed boy, Asthana, in the CBI, then the reaction of the volatile middle class cannot be favourable.

This influential group may be willing to bide its time before the promises of vikas are fulfilled. But any suggestion that the government was undermining the autonomy of a generally well-regarded institution by playing favourites with the officials can have politically damaging consequences.

As it is, the CBI had been called a "caged parrot" by the Supreme Court when it was described as the "Congress Bureau of Investigation" when Manmohan Singh was the prime minister. The expectation was that the outfit would be put back on its feet by the new dispensation so that it would be able to retain its reputation for integrity and efficiency. But the latest turn of events suggests that the more things change, the more they remain the same.

One reason why the CBI had become the last resort for all controversial cases was the steady deterioration in the impartiality and competence of the police, which had long become a plaything in the hands of politicians where bending the rules were concerned.

If the CBI is also seen to be going down the same path, the government will have to share a great deal of the blame. The chances of this happening are high considering that the Supreme Court will deal with a petition by a non-government organisation on a probe into the allegations of corruption against Asthana and other CBI officials.

It cannot be a matter of solace to the government that the Supreme Court is increasingly assuming the role of an arbiter in areas where the government and the legislature should have had the final say such as determining the rights of homosexuals or the entry of women into temples.

If the government is in retreat in these matters, the reason apparently is that it is unable to evolve a consensus among all the parties about the right step not only because of the varying opinions among them, but also because it is unwilling to adopt a bold approach of the kind which the judiciary is doing.

Since the government seems to prefer to opt for the soft option of leaving a controversial matter to the judges, it cannot afford to carp against judicial activism, as it occasionally does, or advise the judiciary not to be guided by "five-star" activists, as the prime minister once did.

The CBI affair is a reaffirmation, therefore, of the need for the judiciary to set things right because of the inadequacies of the first two "estates" - the government and the legislature.

In the CBI's case, the Supreme Court had no option but to step in because the aggrieved officials approached it for redressal. But, in general, the gradual widening of the judiciary's ambit will be welcomed because of its growing reputation for taking sensible decisions as nearly all the recent instances have shown.

In contrast, the government has been seen to be either hesitant, as on decriminalising homosexuality and upholding the right to privacy, or obscurantist as in the case of women entering a temple which bars those who are between 10 and 50 years old.

(Amulya Ganguli is a political analyst. The views expressed are personal. He can be reached at amulyaganguli@gmail.com)
New Delhi : I interviewed Jamal Khashoggi in Jeddah in December 2001, months after 9/11. What struck me were his strong opinions on the Palestinian issue. Since US military action in Afghanistan, following the destruction of the twin towers in New York, was the big story, that naturally was the focus of my interview (it can be seen on www.saeednaqvi.com) but Palestine is what riled Khashoggi.

The manner in which Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman has upturned his country's policy on Palestine may have been one of the issues on which Khashoggi differed with the Prince so sharply in his public talks that he had to pay for with his life. He was unhappy with MBS's opposition to the Arab Spring, his growing authoritarianism, but Palestine was an angst he carried. If he changed his views in his last years, I would not know.

Khashoggi was valued by visiting journalists for a simple reason: He was well informed. He was plugged into the kingdom's caverns of power. His role as a foreign correspondent in Afghanistan, South Sudan, various news spots in West Asia and elsewhere, enhanced his own level of interaction within the Kingdom. His field reports made him interesting to practitioners of power. This had a multiplier effect when he met journalists outside -- Thomas Freidman of the New York Times, for instance.

Friedman has, more or less, admitted that Khashoggi was his "Deep Throat" on the Kingdom, except that Friedman was unable to protect his "Deep Throat" the way Woodward and Bernstein protected theirs. How naAve could Friedman have been. He writes: "Jamal had come to my office a few days ago for a long talk about Saudi Arabia and MBS." Are we to understand that a high profile Saudi informer visits a higher profile New York Times columnist in the iconic NYT building and intelligence agents from the Kingdom, Israel, the US missed the story? MBS had personally invested in Friedman; his revisionism rankled.

Pressure was applied on Khashoggi to return to Saudi Arabia. He had left the country in September 2017 just before MBS arrested Princes, business tycoons and other influential Saudis and parked them in one of the world's most luxurious hotels, Ritz-Carlton, Riyadh. He obviously had an inkling of what was to happen.

Immediately, MBS's propaganda machine went into top gear. Early kudos for the reform-minded Crown Prince came from none other than Lyse Doucet of the BBC. She walked on tip-toes, through the hotel's chandeliered corridor, speaking in whispers lest the incarcerated princes were disturbed. Peering through the grill were CNN's John Defterios and Richard Quest. The most powerful in the Western media had turned up to blow trumpets. It was command performance on an epic scale. There you had the world's "free press", captive to petro dollars.

Khashoggi's macabre end is great tragedy and yet the convulsions in which the world media and nodal points of global power are remains a puzzle. Hundreds of journalists are killed each year even in functioning democracies. Saudis are not even known for free speech.

In MBS' framework the pride of place was reserved for Friedman, who was invited to the Royal Family's (in his words) "ornate adobe-walled palace in Ouja" where "MBS spoke in English, while his brother Khalid and several senior ministers shared different lamb dishes and spiced the conversation" which lasted four hours. The succulence of the kebabs inspired Friedman to purple prose on MBS.

Just when the 33-year-old Crown Prince was beginning to wallow in all the manufactured publicity, Friedman began to worry about his credibility. The information base for revised versions was presumably provided by the likes of Khashoggi.

It turns out that MBS is not the only Saudi Crown Prince Friedman has savoured lamb dishes with. Remember the late Saudi King Abdullah? Well, he was Crown Prince in February 2002 when Friedman turned up: "I am currently in Saudi Arabia on a visit -- part of the Saudi opening to the world in light of the fact that 15 Saudis were involved in the September 11 attacks. So I took the opportunity of a dinner with the Crown Prince." Lamb kebabs again.

Friedman drew Abdullah's attention to a column he had written on the Israeli-Palestinian impasse: In return for a total withdrawal by Israel to the June 4, 1967 lines, and the establishment of a Palestinian state, the 22 members of the Arab League should offer Israel full diplomatic relations, normalised trade and security.

"Have you broken into my desk?" asked Abdullah on hearing the proposal. He was ready with his own speech spelling out exactly the ideas in Friedman's column. This became famous as Crown Prince Abdullah's peace proposal. As we now know, they went nowhere.

The ideas in the Abdullah package had been in the works when I met Khashoggi. The reason they lay in Abdullah's desk was because there were no takers for the ideas in Israel. Indeed, Ariel Sharon's actions against the Palestinians were generating anger even among the Saudi ruling class. Prince Turki bin Faisal was the most consistent critic. Khashoggi had been the closest to Turki bin Faisal, having been his spokesman when the Prince was the Intelligence Chief.

There remains a divide in Arab ruling circles, including in Saudi Arabia: One section of the elite is unwilling to accept the primacy of the Shia-Sunni divide as the principal faultline defining the Arab world. The contrived faultline, this group believes, is an effort to devalue the Palestinian cause.

Khashoggi's mentor, Prince Turki, told a gathering in New York recently: There is a large Shia minority in the oil bearing eastern part of Saudi Arabia. Likewise there are Shia minorities in all the Gulf States. "How then can we endorse Shia-Sunni as the basic conflict?" This was Khashoggi's line too.

(Saeed Naqvi is a senior commentator on political and diplomatic affairs, The views expressed are personal. He can be reached at saeednaqvi@hotmail.com.)
Rajgir (Bihar), Oct 27 : A day after meeting Bihar opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav setting off speculation, RLSP chief and Union Minister of State for HRD Upendra Kushwaha on Saturday maintained that he and his party are in NDA.

"We are in NDA and we want to see (Narendra) Modi as the Prime Minister again after 2019 polls. Modi is must for the country," Kushwaha told the media here.

Kushwaha also dismissed speculation about the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party leaving the National Democratic Alliance to join the Grand Alliance of the Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress for the Lok Sabha polls next year.

"I have spoken to BJP president Amit Shah and am likely to meet him soon over seat sharing because seat-sharing formula has not been finalised yet," he said.

Kushwaha's statement may be a big relief for the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA as Kushwaha had met Tehashwi Yadav on Friday at the circuit house in Arwal district hours after Shah announced in Delhi that the BJP and JD-U will contest an equal number of seats in the Lok Sabha elections in Bihar next year under a seat-sharing formula agreed to between the two sides.

Kushwaha's meeting with Tehashwi Yadav was indicating not all was well with the seat-sharing talks in the alliance.

According to RLSP leaders here, Kushwaha has been invited by Shah to meet him in Delhi on Monday to discuss on the number of seats to be contested by them.

In 2014 polls, of the 40 Lok Sabha seats, the BJP had won 22, LJP six and RLSP three as part of the NDA alliance. The Janat Dal-United had bagged only two seats as the party contested the Lok Sabha polls alone.
Kabul, Oct 27 : At least six people were killed and 12 injured on Saturday in a Taliban car bomb attack in front of a police base in Afghanistan's Maidan Wardak province.

At 8.30 a.m., a suicide bomber detonated a vehicle laden with explosives as a car carrying police personnel was passing by in the regional capital Maidan Shar, a top official told Efe news.

The victims comprised five maintenance personnel of the police base and the suicide bomber.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack.
Mumbai, Oct 27 : Filmmaker Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's upcoming film "Mere Pyaare Prime Minister" was the only Asian film which was screened at the Rome Film Festival.

On October 23, the Official Selection of the Rome Film Fest presented three productions from three different continents. From Asia, Mehra's directorial was screened in Sala Petrassi.

Mehra attended the screening along with his wife Bharathi Mehra who is also the producer of the film, which deals with the social issue of open defecation.

"Mere Pyaare Prime Minister" has been shot at real locations which were finalised after a recce of one month in Mumbai.

The film revolves around four children living in a Mumbai slum. One of them wants to build a toilet for his single mother and makes an appeal to the Prime Minister.
Mumbai, Oct 27 : Jitendra Rai, whose short film "Cup of Tea" won the Best Film Award at the Consumer Film Festival last week, says that his first feature film will be definitely with children.

Rai, who has worked with Vishal Bhardwaj and Amole Gupte as an assistant director, was interacting with the media on Friday.

Talking about his upcoming project, Rai said, "When it comes to feature films, my first will definitely be with kids. I have always loved working with kids because I get to learn a lot from them.

"While working with Amole Sir on 'Stanley ka Dabba' and 'Hawaa Hawaai', I got the opportunity to learn a lot from him as well as the children. Our script is almost ready, and very soon we will be pitching to studios."

"Cup of Tea" has already won 24 awards and last week it was honoured with the Best Film Award at the Consumer Film Festival by chief guest Shatrughan Sinha.

Other dignitaries who were present at the function were Adi Godrej, Dolly Thakore, Rajashree Birla, Yash Birla and Justice Shri Krishna.

Rai is ready with another directorial venture in the form of a short film titled "Peshab Karna Mana Hai" which is inspired by Afroz Shah's initiative to clean the city.
Lucknow, Oct 27 : The Indian Army's Central Command celebrated Infantry Day at Lucknow on Saturday.

The day is observed in commemoration of the first victorious military action led by the Infantry in Jammu and Kashmir after Independence to drive out Pakistani invaders, a Central Command officer said.

In October 1947, tribals and troops of the newly-formed Pakistani Army attacked the state of Jammu and Kashmir and had threatened Srinagar.

On October 27, 1947, the valiant troops of the First Battalion, the Sikh Regiment, landed at the Srinagar airfield, initiating the liberation of the Valley, the official said.

The day began with wreath laying ceremony at 'Smritika' war memorial by Lieutenant General Abhay Krishna, Army Commander, Central Command and other army officers.

Krishna that the infantry has played a decisive role in our victories over Pakistan in 1965 and 1971.

The infantry also undertakes numerous civic action projects for our citizens in remote and inaccessible parts of India.
Pune (Maharashtra), Oct 27 : A Pune Special Court on Saturday sent human rights activists Vernon S. Gonsalves and Arun T. Ferreira to police custody till November 6 for the Koregaon-Bhima caste riots of January 1, officials said here.

The development came a day after the Special Judge of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act Court, K.D. Vadane, passed a common order on Friday evening declining the bail applications of Sudha Bharadwaj, Gonsalves and Ferreira in the case filed against them by the Vishrambaug police station here.

Shortly after their bail pleas were rejected, Gonsalves was arrested from his Pune home and Ferreira from Thane. They were under 'house arrest' for almost two months following Supreme Court directives.

A police team has proceeded to Faridabad, Haryana to nab Bharadwaj and she was likely to be brought to Pune soon.
Manama, Oct 27 : US Defence Secretary James Mattis on Saturday condemned the killing of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi as "intolerable" and called it a national security concern for nations in the Middle East.

Such behaviour undermines stability in the Middle East at a time when the region needs it most, said the top US official in Bahrain while speaking at a security conference with top Saudi officials in attendance, including the kingdom's Foreign Minister.

Mattis reiterated US President Donald Trump's vow to get to the bottom of what happened to the Washington Post contributor and Saudi government critic, who disappeared after entering the kingdom's consulate in Turkey on October 2.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir criticized the "hysteria" over the issue and said the kingdom was being blamed even before the probe into the case was complete, the Post reported.

Mattis said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would be taking unspecified "additional measures" in response to the killing beyond the revocation of US visas for certain Saudi suspects.

He characterized the killing as not only a human rights issue but also a national security concern for nations in the Middle East.

"When opposing voices can be heard within a political process adapted to each nation's culture, one that permits peaceful opposition by giving voice and human rights to all, a nation becomes more secure," Mattis said.

"When people can speak and be heard calling for peace and respect for all, the terrorist message of hatred and violence is not embraced. With our collective interests in peace and unwavering respect for human rights in mind, the murder of Khashoggi in a diplomatic facility must concern us all greatly."

Speaking after Mattis, Al-Jubeir said: "This issue has become fairly hysterical. I think people have assigned blame on Saudi Arabia with such certainty before the investigation is complete.

"We have made it clear that we are going to have a full and transparent investigation, the results of which will be released."

Without calling out Saudi Arabia by name, Mattis suggested Khashoggi's murder threatened stability in the Middle East at a time when the region can't afford it.

The region is struggling to cope with conflicts in Syria and Yemen, a political divide between Gulf nations and Qatar.

Besides being the biggest importer of American arms, Saudi Arabia is also a critical partner in the Trump administration's Middle East agenda, which includes stabilizing Syria, brokering a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians and bringing an end to the Yemen war.

After weeks of providing conflicting accounts of what happened to Khashoggi, the kingdom last week said that he was killed "accidentally" in a fist fight at the consulate by "rogue" agents.

The kingdom then dismissed five high-ranking officials -- including Crown Prince Bin Salman's media chief and the deputy head of the Saudi intelligence service -- and arrested 18 people.

Earlier this week, the Saudi story changed again, with Riyadh's public prosecutor saying that Khashoggi was killed in a "premeditated" operation.

Mattis said the US' respect for the Saudi people was undiminished, but added that "with our respect must come transparency and trust", the report said.
Pune (Maharashtra), Oct 27 : A Pune Special Court on Saturday sent human rights activists Vernon S. Gonsalves and Arun T. Ferreira to police custody till November 6 for their involvement in the Koregaon-Bhima caste riots on January 1, officials said here.

The development came a day after the Special Judge of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act Court, K.D. Vadane, passed a common order on Friday evening declining the bail applications of Sudha Bharadwaj, Gonsalves and Ferreira in the case filed against them by the Vishrambaug police station here.

Shortly after their bail pleas were rejected, Gonsalves was arrested from his Pune home and Ferreira from Thane. They were under 'house arrest' for almost two months following A Supreme Court directive.

A police team has proceeded to Faridabad, Haryana, to nab Bharadwaj and she is likely to be brought to Pune soon after completing the relevant formalities.

The duo, along with Bharadwaj and others, are accused in the Elgar Parishad of December 31, 2017, leading to the Koregaon-Bhima caste riots of January 1 this year.

In the remand plea, the Pune Police have said that Gonsalves and Ferreira were entrusted with recruitment through the Radical Students Union (RSU) on behalf of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) and sending them to the guerrilla warfare zones. The police said they wanted to probe how many and who had been hired for these causes.

The police also need to investigate the sources of funds and for what activities the monies were being used by the two accused.

The remand application claimed that the police have unearthed a major conspiracy to 'overthrow' the democratically elected Indian government with violent means and they wanted to probe this further.

They said that Gonsalves was in regular contact with another co-accused in the case, Sudhir Dhawale, and wanted to probe what were the reasons for this, examine electronic devices in their (Gonsalves-Ferreira) presence, probe their financial and bank dealings, documents, emails, their social media accounts and mobile call records.

In August, the Pune Police had raided and arrested five accused including Bharadwaj, Gonsalves, Ferreira, Gautam Navlakha (now released) and P. Varavara Rao (currently under house arrest in Hyderabad).

Earlier in June, the Pune Police had nabbed activists Rona Wilson, Sudhir Dhawale, Shoma Sen, Surendra Gadling and Mahesh Raut in the Koregaon-Bhima case.

Besides the Koregaon-Bhima violence, the police said that the accused harboured links with Maoist and Kashmiri terror groups, were hatching a conspiracy to carry out a high-level political assassination in a 'Rajiv Gandhi-style operation', procuring arms and ammunition, seeking to incite disturbances and violence in the country to topple the democratically elected government.
Colombo, Oct 27 : Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Saturday suspended Parliament till November amid a political crisis which erupted after he sacked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and replaced him with former leader Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The Presidential Secretariat said Sirisena had instructed to prorogue Parliament till November 16 and a gazette notification had been issued, the Daily Mirror reported.

Sirisena on Friday night sacked Wickremesinghe and appointed former President Rajapaksa to the post. He made the surprising move after his United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) withdrew from the national coalition government.

The coalition government consisted of the UPFA and the United National Party (UNP) led by Wickremesinghe.

Sirisena said he had acted under Article 42 (4) of the Sri Lankan Constitution, which said that the President "shall appoint as Prime Minister the Member of Parliament, who, in the President's opinion, is most likely to command the confidence of Parliament".

However, Wickremesinghe and his party called the President's decision "illegal" and urged Parliament Speaker Karu Jayasuriya to convene Parliament immediately to prove he still retained his parliamentary majority.

"I urge to convene Parliament without leading the country into chaos. It is not necessary to create crisis in the country. Let the Parliament decide who should be the Prime Minister," he said.

Wickremesinghe said that Sirisena's decision to suspend Parliament showed that he and Rajapaksa lacked a majority in Parliament.

Rajapaksa's party, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, however claimed that they had secured a majority in the 225-member Parliament and would prove their numbers when Parliament convenes.

The Speaker in a statement urged for calm from all political leaders and the public and said they would resolve the current political impasse in a democratic manner in accordance with the Constitution.

Sri Lankan Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera and State Minister of National Policies and Economic Affairs Harsha de Silva described Sirisena's action as illegal and in violation of the Constitution, the Island reported.
New Delhi, Oct 27 : Actress Yami Gautam, who is gearing up for the release of her forthcoming movie "Uri", says it will be a special film for her career.

"It's going to be one of the most special films of my career. The way Aditya Dhar has written and directed it and Vicky (Kaushal) and the entire cast has put in a lot of hard work," Yami told IANS here.

She says the film had to be shown to every Indian in the country.

"'Uri' is going to be a special film. It is based on a true event which is important not just for me as an actor but as even a citizen... It was something which had to be shown. People should know what it takes to be in those shoes and do what it actually takes to keep us safe the way we are," she added.

The film also stars Vicky Kaushal, who will be seen playing the role of an Indian commando who is involved in the 2016 surgical strikes.

Based on the surgical strikes of 2016 carried out by the Indian Armed Forces, "Uri" traces the significant event.

It also features Kirti Kulhari and Paresh Rawal in lead roles. Produced by RSVP movies, "Uri" will hit the theatres on January 11, 2019.
New Delhi, Oct 27 : The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has asked telecom operators to be ready with an alternate verification process for approval from the department by November 5, as it ordered the operators to stop using Aadhaar e-KYC for the verification process.

The DoT in a notification on Friday ordered immediate discontinuation of the Aadhaar-based verification process for telecom subscribers in accordance with the Supreme Court's verdict on September 26 which barred private entities from possessing Aadhaar details of their customers.

The telecom industry, through its joint representation on October 5, had suggested an alternate digital KYC (Know Your Customer) process for mobile subscribers.

"All telecom service providers are directed to ensure readiness of their systems and offer the Proof of Concept of the proposed digital process by 5 November for approval," the notification said.

It further said: "Meanwhile, this process can be implemented provisionally by all TSPs (telecom service providers).

Any modification if required in the process by the government shall be carried out with a period of 30 days, it noted.

Directing TSPs to stop the use of Aadhaar-based verification, DoT said: "All licensees shall discontinue the use of Aadhaar e-KYC service of UIDAI for re-verification of existing subscribers with immediate effect."

The system proposed by the operators envisaged that the Customer Acquisition Form would be embedded with live photograph of subscriber and scanned images of proof of identity (POI) and proof of address (POA), thereby digitizing the end-to-end process of providing new subscriptions.
New Delhi, Oct 27 : Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah on Saturday said that the Supreme Court should not pass verdicts that conflict with the religious faith of the people and can't be implemented on the ground.

He also warned the Kerala government led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to be ready to face the consequences of targeting Lord Ayyappa devotees.

Targeting the CPI-M government for allegedly committing atrocities on workers of the BJP, the RSS, the NSS (Nair Service Society) and the devotees of Lord Ayyappa on the pretext of the SC judgement, Shah said there were scores of judgments including banning the practice of Jallikattu, use of loudspeakers in mosques, curbing the Dahi-Handi pyramid event in Maharashtra during Ganesh Chaturthi and others - that could not be implemented on the ground.

Shah was speaking at a public meeting in Kannur, Kerala.

Referring to Article 14 (guaranteeing right to equality) and Articles 25 and 26 (guaranteeing right to practise and profess one's religion), Shah asked how could right to equality override other fundamental rights to practise one's religion.

Attacking the Kerala Chief Minister for taking the cover of the Supreme Court judgement to unleash atrocities on the devotees of Lord Ayyappa, Shah said that the Communist government was attacking the Hindu temples and their traditions.

Kerala police have arrested over 1,400 people across the state, registering 258 cases against 2,000 people for defying an order of the Supreme Court that had allowed women of all ages to visit the temple.

The Supreme Court had on September 28 overturned a centuries-old practice that barred women of menstrual age (10-50 years) from entering the hill temple, where celibate deity Lord Ayyappa is worshipped.

On October 17, the temple opened at 5 p.m. for the monthly pujas which ended on October 22. Protesters ensured that no female in the 10-50 age group could make it to the sanctum sanctorum of the temple.

If the state government does not stop attacking the devotees of Lord Ayyappa, then it should be "ready to face the wrath of the people" backed by the BJP, the RSS, the NSS and other outfits, he warned.

He said that it was women who were resisting the entry of menstruating women in Lord Ayyappa Sabarimala temple.

"It is the women who are at the forefront of the agitation that women in the age group of 10 to 50 years should not go to the Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala", Shah said.

He named a number of temples across the country where women alone could enter.

Defending the practice of prohibiting the entry of women in the age group of 10 to 50 years in the Sabarimala temple, Shah said Hindus have reformed their practices, referring to permitting widow remarriage and curbing child marriage.

He said that the Hindu faith has never undermined women and respected them as mother and goddess.

Criticising Vijayan for not doing enough for the relief and rehabilitation of the people affected by floods, Shah said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had sanctioned a number of projects for Kerala, included setting up of an IIT, and a Super Specialty Hospital, but the state government failed to acquire land for these projects.

Asking Vijayan to resign for his failures, Shah said that instead of committing atrocities on those opposing the entry of women in the age group of 10 to 50 years into the Sabarimala temple, the Chief Minister should focus on the development of the state.
San Francisco, Oct 27 : Twitter has apologised for failing to act on threatening tweets made by Cesar Sayoc who is suspected of sending improvised explosive devices to Democratic leaders and critics of US President Donald Trump.

"We are investigating what happened and will continue to work to improve how we handle concerns raised by anyone on Twitter," it said in a statement.

On October 11, Sayoc published a threatening tweet to former congressional press secretary Rochelle Ritchie by telling her "We will see you 4 sure". Ritchie alerted Twitter of the tweet made from Sayoc's account, which contained several disturbing images and statements.

"Hug your loved ones real close every time you leave you (sic) home," Sayoc tweeted with Ritchie's picture and a screenshot of a news story of a dead teenager, Business Insider reported on Saturday.

Ritchie reported the incident to Twitter but the company said it "carefully" reviewed her case and "found that there was no violation of the Twitter Rules against abusive behaviour", according to a screenshot uploaded by Ritchie.

Later, on Friday, police arrested and charged Sayoc, a pro-Trump activist seen attending a Trump campaign rally in 2017.

His suspected social media accounts also featured threatening messages to other Trump critics, including those whose names were on the explosive packages sent to Democratic lawmakers.

Twitter, then, suspended Sayoc's account by Friday afternoon.

"We made a mistake when Rochelle Ritchie first alerted us to the threat made against her. The tweet clearly violated our rules and should have been removed. We are deeply sorry for that error," the company said.

The statement came after Ritchie complained to Twitter after Sayoc's tweets were publicised.
Hyderabad, Oct 27 : Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday slammed the Congress, saying that the party was playing with national security by levelling false allegations about the Rafale deal.

Defending the deal, Singh said that the agreement with the French defence manufacturer Dassault would give India battle-ready fighter planes.

He was addressing the national convention of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), which began here on Saturday.

The BJP leader told the delegates here that the Congress party thought that if a lie was uttered 100 times, people would start believing it. He said that by raising questions about Rafale, the opposition party may be willingly or unwillingly helping the country's enemies.

"The Congress thinks that if it makes noises and misleads the people, the BJP's seats(in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures) will go down. However, every time they make a hue and cry, our numbers only go up," he said.

Singh exhorted the BJP's youth wing to work hard so that the party could win 350 seats in the next year's general election.

Several Union Ministers and Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled states will be addressing the BJYM convention, being held with the theme "Vijay Lakshya 2019".

Singh alleged that all other political parties were growing nervous about the strength of the BJP and hence they were coming together to unitedly fight the elections. "They have no agenda linked to national interest. Their only agenda is 'Modi roko'," he said.

He cautioned the regional parties against joining hands with the Congress. He said that those who joined hands with the Congress were eliminated.

Singh claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government had made the country safer. The country has not seen any major terror incident in the last four-and-a-half years of BJP's rule.

Naxalism was eliminated from more than 50 per cent of the area while over 80 per cent of insurgency in the northeast was wiped out, he claimed.

BJYM National President and Lok Sabha MP Poonam Mahajan said the youth wing would play a key role in the next year's general elections.
New Delhi, Oct 27 : The Congress on Saturday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his office, CVC K.V. Chowdary and the DoPT of hatching a "nefarious conspiracy" to divest CBI Director Alok Verma of his duties fearing investigation into the Rafale deal.

"Midnight intrigue, sinister plot and nefarious conspiracy of a collusive subterfuge between the Modi government and Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has now been unravelled," Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said at a press conference here.

He alleged that through the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) and CVC, CBI Director was removed from his office at midnight.

Giving the details of the conspiracy to divest Verma, Surjewala said, "Chowdary was set to go to Denmark on October 23. And he cancelled his trip just to hold a meeting and issue the order against Verma."

The Congress leader said that on Tuesday night around 11 p.m., CBI Joint Director M. Nageshwar Rao was informed to reach agency's headquarters anticipating the CVC's order.

The Congress leader claimed that around 11.30 P.M. Delhi Police Commissioner alerted his subordinates on an operation. They were asked to reach the Khan Market area, a few km away from the CBI headquarters. And then at midnight, Commissioner told his team that the Delhi Police would take over the CBI headquarters.

"But when the Delhi Police reached the agency headquarters, it found CISF (Central Industrial Security Force) stationed there. They were stopped from entering. Later, the CISF received an order to allow Delhi Police, which then took over the CBI headquarters," he claimed.

He further said that the by the time Delhi Police was taking over the CBI headquarters, Chowdary was writing his order. "The CVC order then reached the office of Secretary, DoPT, C Chandramouli as he was still waiting for the orders in his office till late in the night," he said.

"Chandramouli then takes the order to the Cabinet Committee on Appointments around 1 a.m., whose Chairperson is the Prime Minister and they remove Verma as Director and appoint Rao as interim chief of the agency," Surjewala said.

Surjewala claimed that around 2.30 a.m. the CVC and Lok Ranjan, who is the Additional Secretary of DoPT, reaches CBI headquarters. They then come out with Rao along with files and records of the Rafale scam which were in Verma's office.

The Congress leader pointed out that under Section 4A and 4B of the Delhi Police Establishment Act, 1946, the CBI Director can only be appointed or transferred or removed by the Selection Committee comprising of the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India and the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

"It (action against Verma) was done because on the morning of October 24, the complaint on Rafale deal submitted by BJP leaders Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie was going to be investigated by Verma," he said, adding that it was also the reason for the transfer of 12 officials of the agency after Verma was divested of his powers.

Slamming Modi, the Congress leader said, "Only the Prime Minister can answer these questions. People are demanding answers for this conspiracy."

Firing salvos at the government, he said "Why did the CVC Commissioner cancel his Denmark tour scheduled for October 23, call a midnight meeting and pass an illegal order for divesting the CBI Director of all his duties? Why was Rao sent to CBI office at 11.00 p.m. on October 23 even before the order was passed by CVC?"

"Why was Delhi Police asked to take over the CBI HQ at midnight, particularly when it is already protected by CISF? Who directed Delhi Police to take over CBI office and who directed CISF to withdraw?

"Were any incriminating files and documents removed from the office of Verma? Who removed them and for what purpose," he asked.
Jammu, Oct 27 : The Indian Army's Northern Command, headquartered at Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur district, celebrated the 72nd Infantry Day on Saturday.

Defence spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Devender Anand said: "72nd Infantry Day was celebrated today (Saturday) with a traditional wreath laying ceremony at the Dhruva Shaheed Samarak, Udhampur by Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh."

The army commander complimented all ranks of infantry for their devotion to duty and indomitable spirit while working under trying and difficult conditions. He commended their contribution in maintaining the sanctity of the nation's borders and fighting terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, the spokesman said.

The Infantry Day is celebrated to commemorate the operations launched by the Indian Army on October 27, 1947 to thwart the Pakistani aggression on the state of Jammu and Kashmir soon after partition.
Istanbul, Oct 27 : The leaders of Germany, France, Turkey and Russia will meet here on Saturday to discuss possible ways of putting an end to the conflict in Syria and ensuring a ceasefire in the province of Idlib remained in place.

Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russia's Vladimir Putin, France's Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Angela Merkel will participate in the summit along with the UN special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, Efe news reported.

The Turkish government on Friday said that maintaining the ceasefire in Idlib, agreed by Russia and supported by the Syrian regime and Turkey, was a priority for the summit leaders.

On Friday, seven civilians died in artillery fire by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad in Idlib, according to activists and rebel groups.

Other topics up for discussion on Saturday would be how to channel a political transition process as well as create a committee to draft a new Constitution, the report said.

Syria has been gripped by a complex civil war since March 2011, which has caused 5 million to flee the country, 6.6 million to become internally displaced, and left 13.1 million in need of assistance, according to the UN.
Kolkata, Oct 27 : Protesting against the Centre's role in the Rafale fighter jet deal, the West Bengal unit of the Congress held a rally in the city on Saturday.

The protest rally was organised by the South Kolkata Youth Congress and the party's women's wing at south Kolkata's Bhawanipore area on Saturday afternoon.

The rallyists carried placards and banners and shouted slogans against the Narendra Modi government, accusing it of turning the fighter jet deal with France's Dassault Aviation into a scam.

They also demanded a thorough and independent probe into the matter.
New Delhi, Oct 27 : The Supreme Court on Monday is likely to start hearing on a batch of petitions challenging the 2010 Allahabad High Court verdict trifurcating the disputed site at Ayodhya into three parts for Ram Lalla, Nirmohi Akhara and the original Muslim litigant.

The matter would be heard by a bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice K.M. Joseph.

The top court bench of then Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice S. Abdul Nazeer by a majority of 2:1 while rejecting the plea challenging the High Court judgment had directed that the matter would be heard by a three-judge bench from October 29.

The majority judgement on September 27 held that a new constituted bench will commence hearing from October 29 on a batch of petitions filed by both the sides -- Hindu and Muslim stakeholders -- challenging the 2010 high court judgement.

The Muslim petitioners had pressed for hearing the challenge to the High Court judgment by a five-judge bench as the court had relied on a 1994 top court judgment that said that mosque was not essential to Islam for offering 'namaz'.

The three-judge bench while rejecting the plea had on September 27 said, "We are of the considered opinion that no case has been made out to refer the Constitution Bench judgment of this court in Ismail Faruqui case for reconsideration."

"We again make it clear that questionable observations made in the Ismail Faruqui's case ... were made in the context of land acquisition. Those observations were neither relevant for deciding the suits nor relevant for deciding these appeals," the majority judgement had said.

In his minority judgement, Justice Nazeer had said that the "questionable" observations in the Ismail Faruqui ruling were arrived at without undertaking a comprehensive examination. He had said a Constitution Bench must decide what constitutes essential practices of a religion and thereafter the Ayodhya land dispute should be heard.

Justice Nazeer also said that whether mosque was an essential part of Islam for offering namaz was to be decided considering the religious beliefs, and that requires detailed consideration.

"It is clear that the question as to whether a particular religious practice is an integral part of the religion is to be considered by the doctrine, tenets and beliefs of the religion," he observed.

He said the question of the 1994 Ismail Farooqi judgement needed to be referred to a larger Constitution Bench.
Tehran, Oct 27 : The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Saturday denied that its diplomats are holding talks with the US on the existing issues between Tehran and Washington.

The ministry's reaction came after Iranian lawmaker Javad Karimi Qoddousi on Friday said that the country's diplomats were currently in talks with their US partners in Oman over the mutual issues.

"The claims concerning Iran's talks with the US in a neighbouring country are wrong and baseless," the ministry's website said in a statement.

"Iran's Foreign Ministry adheres to the guidelines by the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to avoid interaction with the US and would never disobey this principle, it was cited as saying by Xinhua news agency.

Earlier this month, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that Tehran would not sit for talks with Washington over the existing issues as the conditions were not ripe.

"I'm not ruling out the prospect of talks (with Washington) provided the necessary conditions for talks, and that is reliability," Zarif said.

"Reliability is that when you sign something you are bound by it. Otherwise, everything will fall apart," he said, adding that "we are waiting for some sense of realism".

The Iranian Supreme Leader said that Tehran will not sit for negotiations with "cheating" Washington.

Following US President Donald Trump's decision to quit the historic Iran nuclear deal on May 8, Washington vowed to reimpose sanctions lifted under the accord against Tehran and inflict punishments on nations that had business links with Iran.

Washington's withdrawal from the nuclear deal was criticized across the world. Some of its major European allies have been working to prevent the 2015 deal from falling apart.
New Delhi, Oct 27 : Sanjay Mishra, a 1984 batch IRS officer, who was appointed as the interim Director of Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday took charge at the agency's headquarters here.

The government appointed Mishra as the interim Director of the ED for three months as incumbent Karnal Singh was set to retire on Sunday.

Incumbent Singh handed over the charge of Director to Mishra in the evening at the agency's headquarters in south Delhi's Khan Market area.

In his message to the officers of the financial-probe agency, Singh said, "On the day of my superannuation, I want to thank all the officers for working with great dedication and commitment in the crusade against corruption and money-laundering."

"I wish all the best to Sanjay Mishra, the new ED chief. I hope the Enforcement Directorate, under his leadership, soars to greater heights," he said.

Singh, a 1984 batch IPS officer of the Union Territories cadre, completed over three-year tenure as the ED Director.

He was appointed as full-time ED chief with a fixed tenure of two years on October 27, 2016, following a Supreme Court intervention.

Under Singh, the agency in the last three years attached moveable and immoveable properties worth Rs 36,000 crore. Before Singh, the ED in last 10 years had attached assets worth Rs 9,000 crore.

Earlier in the day, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) in an order said: "Entrustment of additional charge to the post of the Director, ED, to Mishra for a period of three months, or till the appointment of a regular incumbent, whichever is earlier."

The ACC also said that it has approved Mishra's appointment to the post of Principal Special Director of the financial probe agency.

Mishra is the second Principal Special Director, a newly-created post in the agency, which was first filled by a 1988 batch IRS officer Seemanchal Das.

The ED investigates in two major areas -- Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
New Delhi, Oct 27 : The Centre has filed in the Supreme Court details of the decision-making process for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets in a fly-away condition from France's Dassault Aviation.

The details of the decision-making process were submitted to the Secretary General of the Supreme Court on Friday in a sealed cover as directed by it on October 10 while hearing a PIL by advocate M.L.Sharma.

The Supreme Court had on October 10 asked the government to disclose details of the decision-making process for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets.

Directing that the information would be furnished in a sealed cover and reach the court by October 29, the court had said that it was not issuing notice to the respondents.

The court had sought information from the government as Attorney General K.K. Venugopal said the purchase of the French fighter aircraft concerned the national security and described the petition as a "political interest litigation" which had been filed when the government and opposition were locked in a severe political fight.

Addressing the court, PIL petitioner advocate M.L. Sharma had referred to the pricing of the aircraft that had been quoted at different points of time before different forums to drive home the point that price being paid by India was high.

He had taken the court through the history of deal initially starting in 2008, involvement of a corporate house before finally the deal for purchase of 36 Rafale aircraft in a fit-to-fly condition was signed.
Tokyo, Oct 27 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived here late on Saturday to hold the annual India-Japan bilateral summit with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe.

"PM @narendramodi arrives in #Tokyo to a warm welcome for his 5th Annual Summit with @AbeShinzo. Japan is one of the few countries that India has this mechanism of annual summits, reflecting the extraordinary depth of our engagement," Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

This is Modi's third visit to Japan for the summit and will be his 12th meeting with Abe since 2014.

Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region and in the defence and security sector, and leveraging Japanese capabilities for India's development initiatives will be the highlights of the agenda in the summit which will be held on Monday.

India is the only country with which Japan holds annual bilateral summits while India has a similar arrangement with Russia too.
Manama, Oct 27 : Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir on Saturday said that the suspects in the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi would be prosecuted in the kingdom.

At a security conference in Bahrain, Al-Jubeir accused the western media of "hysteria" in its coverage of the case. He said the kingdom was being blamed even before the probe into the case was complete, the BBC reported.

"This issue has become fairly hysterical. I think people have assigned blame on Saudi Arabia with such certainty before the investigation is complete.

"We have made it clear that we are going to have a full and transparent investigation, the results of which will be released."

Al-Jubeir remarks came a day after Turkey said it wished to extradite 18 Saudi nationals authorities say were involved in the murder of the Washington Post contributor and Saudi government critic. Khashoggi was last seen alive entering the kingdom's consulate in Turkey on October 2.

After weeks of providing conflicting accounts of what happened to Khashoggi, the kingdom last week said that he was killed "accidentally" in a fist fight at the consulate by "rogue" agents. However, it denies the ruling royal family's involvement in the killing.

The kingdom had earlier dismissed five high-ranking officials -- including Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman's media chief and the deputy head of the Saudi intelligence service -- and arrested 18 people in the case.

"On the issue of extradition, the individuals are Saudi nationals. They're detained in Saudi Arabia, and the investigation is in Saudi Arabia, and they will be prosecuted in Saudi Arabia," Al-Jubeir said.

Turkey and Saudi Arabia are not known to have an extradition treaty, the BBC said.

Before Al-Jubeir, US Defence Secretary James Mattis addressed the conference. He condemned Khashoggi's killing as "intolerable" and called it a national security concern for nations in the Middle East.

"Such behaviour undermines stability in the Middle East at a time when the region needs it most," he said.

Mattis reiterated US President Donald Trump's vow to get to the bottom of what happened to the journalist.

Mattis said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would be taking unspecified "additional measures" in response to the killing beyond the revocation of US visas for certain Saudi suspects.

He suggested Khashoggi's murder threatened stability in the Middle East at a time when the region can't afford it.

"When opposing voices can be heard within a political process adapted to each nation's culture, one that permits peaceful opposition by giving voice and human rights to all, a nation becomes more secure," Mattis said.

"When people can speak and be heard calling for peace and respect for all, the terrorist message of hatred and violence is not embraced. With our collective interests in peace and unwavering respect for human rights in mind, the murder of Khashoggi in a diplomatic facility must concern us all greatly."

Mattis said the US' respect for the Saudi people was undiminished, but added that "with our respect must come transparency and trust", the report said.
New Delhi, Oct 27 : Hours after former Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Tariq Anwar, who returned to Congress on Saturday, almost two decades after he had walked out, the party appealed to others leaders to come back.

Anwar returned to Congress in the presence of party President Rahul Gandhi. Anwar had in 1999 joined NCP chief Sharad Pawar and some others in quitting the Congress to protest the appointment of a person of foreign origin (Sonia Gandhi) as the party chief.

Gandhi welcomed Anwar into "the Congress family", the party tweeted, posting a picture of the two leaders shaking hands.

Anwar, who represented Katihar (Bihar) in the Lok Sabha, had quit the NCP and his Lok Sabha membership on September 28 expressing disagreement with party chief Sharad Pawar whom he has been upset with for giving a clean chit to Prime Minister Modi in the Rafale deal.

Senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot, who was present at the press conference at the party headquarters, said, "Anwar met Gandhi and then joined the party."

Gehlot said that more people would come to Congress due to the kind of "atmosphere" being created in the country.

Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah, Gehlot said, "Only two people are running the country -- Modi and Shah."

He also said that the people of the country have understood that whatever they (BJP) had said has turned false.

Gehlot appealed to former Congress leaders to return to the party fold.

"As the biggest party of the country, the Congress has a rich history before and after Independence.

"Indira Gandhi was assassinated when she was the Prime Minister. Rajiv Gandhi was also assassinated when he was set to become the Prime Minister again. And today they question what Congress did in the last 70 years. They don't have any history of their participation in the Independence movement," he said.

"And now they talk about Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel as they know they have failed on all fronts," he said.

Congress Bihar in-charge Shakti Sinh Gohil said, "With Anwar joining back the party, the Grand Alliance would be strengthened as he has the experience of working in the party."

Gohil said that disaster was set to hit the NDA and more leaders would join Congress in the coming days.

Comparing Modi to a ruler who can do anything to save his chair, the Congress's Bihar in-charge said, "Modi is such a ruler, who when finds any danger to his kingdom compromises."

Taking a jibe at the Janata Dal-United and BJP seat sharing formula announced on Friday, Gohil said, "Now as the king has found that his kingdom was in danger, they have stitched a deal in Bihar."

Shah and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who is also the President of the JD-U on Friday announced that both the parties will contest an equal number of seats in the Lok Sabha elections in the state next year under a seat-sharing formula between them.
New Delhi, Oct 27 : Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday stepped up his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Rafale deal and accused him of cheating the Army veterans over the One Rank, One Pension (OROP) and vowed to fulfill the promise.

"We had a very instructive meeting today. Couple of things came up, the OROP came up and the ex-servicemen said that it has not been implemented by the Prime Minister," Gandhi told media after meeting the ex-servicemen at the party headquarters.

"I want to tell you that the commitment which the COngress made in 2014 over OROP, we would fulfill that," Gandhi said.

The Congress chief said that several issues like situation in Jammu and Kashmir -- the wrong non-strategic approach of the government, the division being created and the cost that is being paid by our soldiers and the Rafale deal came up in the meeting.

"And these things are connected. The connection is that Anil Ambani can be given Rs 30,000 crore for doing nothing and our soldiers cannot be given OROP," he alleged.

He said that Rs 30,000 crore was more than enough to solve the OROP problem as it only required Rs 8,330 crore. "But he gave Rs 30,000 crore to a person who has no experience," he alleged.

He also slammed Modi for not spending on the armed forces and said: "You (Modi) are ready to give that money for the future, for the weapon. It is the main issue here."

The Congress chief said that he felt very sad, the way in which the ex-servicemen showed their displeasure over a number of issues in the meeting.

"They have been hurt and the the way in which they are being treated was not good and the government need to change its attitude," he said.

Accusing the Prime Minister Modi of changing the procedure in the government-to-government deal to buy 36 aircraft from French firm Dassualt Aviation, Gandhi said, "One hundred twenty-six aircraft at Rs 526 crore apiece was negotiated by the Indian Air Force and the Defence Ministry. The Prime Minister then stepped in and cancelled the earlier deal, and signed a new deal and bought one aircraft for Rs 1,600 crore.

"He gifts the deal to the man who has a bank debt of Rs 45,000 crore but he did not give that amount to the ex-servicemen," he alleged.

Armed forces veterans have long asked for the same pension for all, regardless of rank, length of service, and irrespective of the date of retirement. The defence ministry had reinstated the OROP scheme in September 2015, and formally notified it for more than 24 lakh ex-servicemen and six lakh war widows on November 8, 2015.
New Delhi, Oct 27 : Asserting the importance of banking as Indian economy gets more formalised, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said the regulator and the government need to be on their toes for quick action without exaggerating the emerging challenges.

"When challenges come, we have a tendency to exaggerate them at times but then the banks, the regulator, the governments have to be on their feet all the time to make sure that what is avoidable in the process can certainly be done," he said at an IDFC event here.

Jaitley said a changing economy needs a dynamic regulation that can be altered as per the scenario. For this, he said quality of consultation with stakeholders should be high. Regulators have been coming out with research papers on emerging issues, he said.

His observation comes a day after Reserve Bank Deputy Governor Viral Acharya emphasised the importance of central bank's independence. Acharya on Friday warned that the market can make the government pay for eroding the bank's independence.

Acharya said markets keenly watch the government's activities which exert pressure on the central bank's independent functioning. Their have been instances in the past few years when the government has reportedly tried to undermine RBI's autonomy.

Speaking at the IDFC Bank's third anniversary, Jaitley said though the nature of banking has been changing, villages still aspire to have a brick-and-mortar bank branch within their vicinity.

The Department of Financial Services is working with both public and private banks to ensure that most people have a banking point available, not necessarily a brick-and-mortar branch, within about 5km as part of the financial inclusion objective, he said.

"As the economy gets formalised, we will probably have a situation where access to banking itself will be useful and extremely important," he said.
Mumbai, Oct 27 : Producer and Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, who is gearing up for the release of his next production venture 'Thackeray', has confirmed that he is planning to make a sequel on the life of late Balasaheb Thackeray.

Sanjay Raut was interacting with the media at the song recording session of 'Thackeray' along with party chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday in Mumbai.

Talking about making the sequel of 'Thackeray', Raut said, "We can't sum up his life in one film. So, we are planning to make another part of his biopic as its sequel and we have started working on that aspect as well.

"Working with Balasaheb (Thackeray) was my dream. I have started visualising this new dream so that I can revisit my fond memories with him. I always tell that I can't live without him and through this film, I will be able to fulfill my wish."

When asked whether they have shown any controversial aspect about Thackeray's life, he said, "We haven't shown any controversial aspect in this film. Balasaheb's life has been an open book. He never tried to hide anything from his life. So, in this film also we are not showing any hidden truth of his life."

On casting Nawazuddin Siddiqui to play the late Shiv Sena founder, Raut said: "The decision was completely mine and I never discussed it with anyone else. When I thought that Nawazuddin can play role of Balasaheb that time, I started discussing with him about this film.

"When I told him that you are going to play the role of Balasaheb in a film that time, he was surprised for a minute but within three minutes, he agreed to be part of the film. He has done a really great job in the film and the audience will realise that fact when they watch the film."

'Thackeray', a biopic on late Shiv Sena Supremo Bal Thackaray has been written by Sanjay Raut and directed by Abhijt Panse.

It stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Amruta Rao in lead roles. It will be released in Hindi, Marathi, and English languages on January 23, 2019.
Washington, Oct 28 : Police are responding to an active shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, US state of Pennsylvania, media reports Saturday.

According to local reports, at least four people were shot dead with more casualties to be confirmed.

"There is an active shooter in the area of Wilkins and Shady. Avoid the area," the Pittsburg Public Safety Department tweeted.

The gunman opened fire on a prayer service and responding officers, according to reports.

Local police asked residents to stay inside and to avoid the area. Carengie Mellon University, a college near the synagogue, is on lockdown.
Washington, Oct 28 : At least 10 people were killed in a shooting on Saturday at the Tree of Life synagogue in US state of Pittsburgh, according to Curt Conrad, chief of staff for Pittsburgh City Councilman Corey O'Connor.

The suspect has been identified as Robert Bowers, 46, law enforcement officials told CNN.

The gunman made anti-Semitic statements during the shooting, a law enforcement official said.

Social media postings targeting Jews that are believed to have come from Bowers are a focus of the investigation, a federal law enforcement official told CNN.

Shortly before the shooting, in an account on the Gab social media platform that authorities are investigating, the suspect is believed to have posted he "can't sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I'm going in."

The Gab account has frequent anti-Semitic postings.

Four police officers were among six people wounded in the shooting, Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Wendell D. Hissrich said.

"It's a very horrific crime scene," Hissrich said at a brief news conference. "It's one of the worst I've seen."

The shooting will be prosecuted as a hate crime and the FBI will be leading the investigation, City of Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich told reporters.

The synagogue is located at the intersection of Wilkins and Shady avenues. The neighbourhood of Squirrel Hill, about 10 minutes of drive from downtown Pittsburgh, is the hub of the city's Jewish community.

The synagogue offers members a "traditional Conservative service with a modern sense of family" and shabbat service on 9.45 a.m. on Saturdays, according to the Tree of Life's website.

US President Donald Trump called the shooting "devastating", as he spoke to reporters at Andrews Air Force Base in state of Maryland before traveling to Indianapolis, state of Indiana, for an event.

"It's a 'terrible thing what's going on with hate in our country," he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was heartbroken, describing the attack at the Pittsburgh synagogue as "horrendous anti-Semitic brutality."
Tehran, Oct 28 : Iran will offer crude oil to the private sector for export ahead of the US sanctions on its energy sector set to take effect on November 4, Financial Tribune daily reported Saturday.

Ali Hosseini, managing director of Iran Energy Exchange, told Financial Tribune that the decision by the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) to supply oil in the stock market is a turning point in Iran's key oil industry and its capital market, Xinhua reported.

Iran will start on Sunday to offer 1 million barrels of light crude oil on a daily basis, while the minimum volume of purchase will be 35,000 barrels, the report said.

The move aims at empowering domestic manufacturers and allowing bigger role for private enterprises, said NIOC.

A healthy and transparent venue will be established as part of the plan to exploit the potential of the non-government sectors in oil exports, NIOC said in a statement on October 13.

US President Donald Trump withdrew Washington from the Iranian international nuclear agreement in May and vowed to re-impose sanctions on Iran's financial, automotive, aviation and metal sectors.

The USState Department has set November 4 as the deadline for international oil buyers to stop all their oil purchases from Iran. Otherwise they will face US punishments.
Brooklyn Mitsubishi offers an extensive selection of used vehicles from Mitsubishi and other automotive brands.

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Small displays are a necessary part of full-scale digital signage projects. IAdea is a trusted partner whose products precisely address such needs by allowing all display sizes to be managed under MagicINFO." - Mike Sisco, CEO of Embed Digital.

IAdea, a leader in enterprise-grade digital signage platforms, announces support for the MagicINFO content management software (CMS) by Samsung as its Premier Software Partner. This global collaboration enables system integrators to incorporate new all-in-one smart displays with MagicINFO built-in. Digital signage projects can now take advantage of a wide variety of display form factors, in addition to standard Samsung displays, all managed under MagicINFO. IAdea is signing up Samsung resellers to support MagicINFO-enabled IAdea products.

Digital signage is a mission-critical IoT component of todays smart city initiatives. It provides dynamic information at the point of decision to enhance the productivity and experiences for everyone. According to an article by Commercial Integrator, many current smart cities projects rely on new data flowing from the Internet of Things (IoT) to collect information which is then utilized for a more informed, more efficient decision-making process about various mission-critical components of a city. The technology is widely applied across Smart Workplace, Smart Transportation, and Smart Retail vertical markets. Displays ranging from 10-inch to 22-inch, as well as stretch displays, are often needed in such projects.

We are excited to add MagicINFO to our growing list of ecosystem partners, says John C. Wang, CEO of IAdea. IAdea focuses on providing robust digital signage platforms to enhance productivity and experiences for everyone. The MagicINFO software further enriches the variety of solutions possible with IAdea technology.

IAdea is launching a support program to assist resellers with furthering go-to-market strategies and executions of the 10-inch XDS-1078/M and 22-inch XDS-2288/M, which are MagicINFO-enabled smart displays designed by IAdea. Embed Digital, a Samsung MagicINFO integrator/reseller in the United States, is among the first to support MagicINFO on IAdea products.

The 10-inch and 22-inch smart displays from IAdea perfectly complement Samsungs product line up, says Mike Sisco, CEO of Embed Digital. Small displays are a necessary part of full-scale digital signage projects. IAdea is a trusted partner whose products precisely address such needs by allowing all display sizes to be managed under MagicINFO.

Wang added, Traditionally the system integrator may need to manage multiple brands of CMSs to fulfill the needs, which adds to the cost and complexity of projects. With the added MagicINFO-compatible devices, integrators now can provide complete solutions without moving away from the Samsung ecosystem.

IAdea welcomes Samsung resellers to sign up for the MagicINFO-enabled IAdea products. A dedicated web portal https://magic.iadea.com/ provides further information on the products, including a list of authorized resellers. Contact your IAdea representative or email us at partners@IAdea.com for additional details.

About IAdea

Founded in 2000, IAdea is an award-winning leader in enterprise-grade digital signage systems. IAdeas products include media players, all-in-one smart signboards, infinite video wall technology, and device management software. With a strong Research and Development team in-house, IAdeas trusted solutions have been deployed throughout corporate workplace, public transit and retail, powering more than 250,000 digital displays on a global scale.

As an industry-leading advocate of digital signage open platform, IAdea works tirelessly to ensure devices are seamlessly integrated with third-party software providers on the market, offering system integrators from all vertical markets proven robustness and lowered total cost of ownership (TCO). With offices worldwide, IAdea provides uninterrupted customer service across the world. For more information, visit http://www.IAdea.com.
Dr. Sutker graduated from Plano Senior High School in Plano, Texas. He attended the University of Texas in Austin where he received his undergraduate degree in Plan II Honors. Following receiving his Bachelor's he graduated with his Medical Degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas in 2008.

Following graduation Dr. Sutker completed his general surgical internship and residency training at University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. To continue his post-doctoral training he completed his minimally invasive and bariatric surgery fellowship at the University of California-San Francisco. Dr. Sutker has received specialty training in the surgical treatment of obesity, gastro-esophageal reflux disease, esophageal motility disorders, paraesophageal hernias, and inguinal and ventral hernias. He also has an extensive practice in emergency general surgery, managing problems such as appendicitis, cholecystitis, diverticulitis, and small bowel obstructions. Dr. Sutker is certified by the American Board of Surgery. To remain up to date on his field he is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a Fellow of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. Dr. Sutker is a member of several professional organizations including the Dallas County Medical Society, Texas Medical Association, American Medical Association, and the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons.

Dr. Sutker opened his practice, Michael Sutker, M.D., P.A., at Medical City Dallas in 2014. His practice is one of several surgeons that form Surgical Consultants of Dallas, LLC. He is the Medical Director of the Robotic Surgery Program at Medical City Dallas Hospital, and the Chair of the Advanced Clinical Advisory Board.

Weight loss surgery includes a variety of procedures performed on people who have obesity. Weight loss is achieved by reducing the size of the stomach with a gastric band or through removal of a portion of the stomach known as sleeve gastrectomy or biliopancreatic diversion or by resecting and re-routing the small intestine to a small stomach pouch, known as gastric bypass surgery. Long-term studies show the procedures cause significant long-term loss of weight, recovery from diabetes, improvement in cardiovascular risk factors, and a mortality reduction from 40% to 23%. Dr. Sutker specializes in treating general surgery conditions with minimally invasive techniques, mostly utilizing robotic-assisted laparoscopy.

Dr. Sutker attributes his great success to his training, his availability, and his hard work. Dr. Sutker is married to a nurse. He and his wife have two young children. He enjoys spending his free time with his family.

Learn More about Dr. Michael D. Stern through his findatopdoc profile, https://www.findatopdoc.com/doctor/Michael-Sutker-General-Surgeon-Dallas-TX-75230

His private clinic, https://www.michaelsutkermd.com/, where he can be contacted at (972) 566-7860, and is located in Dallas, TX.

FindaTopDoc.com is a digital health information company that helps connect patients with local physicians and specialists who accept your insurance. Our goal is to help guide on your journey towards optimal health by providing you with the know how to make informed decisions for you and your family.
Kamals debut, Unmarriageable (Ballantine, Jan.), is a retelling of Pride & Prejudice set in modern-day Pakistan.

What inspired you to revisit Austens Pride & Prejudice?

Growing up in Pakistan, I attended English-medium schools. I was a literature student, so I grew up reading all the British classics. Austen was a particular favorite, even though she set her work 200 years ago and, thankfully, life has changed a lot for women, even in Pakistan. Nevertheless, morality-wise, it still very much mirrors Austens time. I thought it would be comforting to read Austens work, because she talks about a society where the morality very much mirrors the one I was under when I was growing up. So it was double. It was my love for Pride & Prejudice but also a retelling set in my own culture as a comfort read for myself, honestly.

What do you want readers to take from reading Unmarriageable?

I want readers, no matter which culture theyve grown up in, to realize that we may seem very different and people may want to make us look at our differences, but we reallyin our emotions, our desires, our heartswe all really want to live a normal life where we are happy with the partners we choose, where we respect each other, where we can be friends with people from across classes and boundaries. I just would love readers to see the similarities within all of us rather than the differences. And to, of course, see Pakistan as just another place where they can come visit.

In the book, the main character, Alys, is an advocate for the education of girls beyond becoming mothers and wives. Is that important to you, as well?

Absolutely. Im the mother of three. Ive always wanted to be a mom, and Im very grateful that I have been able to. On the other hand, thats not one identity, and definitely not one sole identity to choose to be. Education allows you to see that. When youre educated, when youre able to see yourself as a different person and not just a mother, youre able to have an identity of which being a mother is only a part and not everything.

Would you consider Unmarriageable a feminist tale?

I think every tale is a feminist tale, when it comes down to it. I think Jane Austen was very much a feminist writer. If you look at her heroines from Elizabeth to Fanny Price, they all say no to a proposal at some point. They say no. They dont make easy decisions. So yeah, every tale is a

feminist tale. I mean, women want to make their own choices in life, whatever they may be. It comes down to equality, of course, when it comes to being paid equally or having the same rights, but it also means being able to make your own choices.
Sohaila Abdulali has written two novels, three childrens books, a newspaper column, grants, annual reports, web copy, op-eds, blogs, articlesyou name it; her eclectic list of credits will be familiar to any freelance writer. But she didnt intend to write a book like What We Talk About When We Talk About Rape, which the New Press will publish in November. As she recounts in the books opening pages, Abdulali was raped by four armed men in the summer of 1980, shortly before she left India to start college at Brandeis University. Three years later, back in India to do research on her undergraduate thesis about rape, she published an article about her own rape in the womens magazine Manushi. It created a stir in Indiawhere it was not culturally acceptable to discuss such things in publicbut, Abdulali writes, the next issue came out, life went on, and 30 years passed.

Then in December 2012, a female student was raped on a bus in New Delhi and later died from her injuries. I thought all the protests were great, but it had nothing to do with me, says Abdulali, who is now 55 and lives on Manhattans Lower East Side. But then somebody found a copy of that article and posted it on Facebook. The whole thing went crazy; the media kept calling and asking, Do you have something to say? I really didnt, but I looked at the piece again and thought, Boy, I was really young then, and it seemed like maybe I did have something to say. So when the New York Times asked if I wanted to be interviewed, I said, No, but I might write one pieceyou know, keep it classy.

Abdulalis op-ed ran in January 2013 and garnered a huge response. She received emails from some 1,000 rape survivors and made a point of acknowledging each one. She was less responsive to agents who called suggesting that she write a memoir. The rape isnt the main thing in my life, and it would be fake to write as if it was, she says. So I said no to everybody and moved on. But every time I pitched a book to someone, they would say, Why dont you write a memoir? I got annoyed.

Abdulali was mad enough to write a real stinker to Penguin Random House India editor Manasi Subramaniam. She wrote me this really intelligent email saying, It doesnt have to be a memoir, but you have a lot to say on this subject; think about another kind of book. It never occurred to me that I could write about rape but not as a rape victim. I got excited and wrote this completely crazy proposal, which I ultimately sold to Candida Lacey at Myriad Editions in the U.K.

The resulting book incorporates the individual stories of rape survivors into a wide-ranging consideration of the multiple issues relating to rape around the world: what constitutes consent, rape as a political weapon, the rape culture of male entitlement, the healthiness of anger, and also the possibility of forgiveness. Abdulali writes about these thorny subjects in a blunt, conversational style spiked with the same humor evident in her conversation. Im not a terribly serious person, but this message is serious, she says. So I just wrote as I talk and trusted Candida to cut parts that were too flippant, which she did. I wanted this balance: rape is serious but, like everything else in life, you can be light. In fact, part of the whole problem, certainly in India, is that if youre raped, youre supposed to be overcome with heaviness and die.

I found theres a lot of positivity in how people cope with rape, Abdulali continues. My friend Sarah McNally, who owns the McNally Jackson bookstore, put me in touch with her friend Yasmin El-Rifae. She was amazing, talking about how she and her friends would go into a mob situation in Cairo during the Arab Spring, when men were assaulting female demonstrators, and try to rescue women. That made me think, I want to write about heroes, so I did. Themes emerged from peoples stories. For example, among the first four people I interviewed, every single one of them told me that when they told someonemother, lover, whomeverthe response was, What did you expect? So I wrote a chapter called, What Did You Expect? Some of the stories were from friends, some were from the people who wrote me about the op-ed piece; I avoided the ones who seemed immediately traumatized, because it seemed unfair five years later to say, Remember this? But I contacted the ones who seemed when they wrote to have come to some kind of terms with it, so I had this pool of survivors from all over the world.

The abundance of material was initially intimidating, Abdulali says. I said to Candida, How am I ever going to stop? She said, Just write and see what happens. I thought, Im just going to keep going until Im done. I would write and write and write, talk to people and write; I thought it would just go on forever. Then, one day in March, it was done. I actually turned it in ahead of the deadline.

By that time, Lacey had sold subsidiary rights to Meredith Curnow at Penguin Random House in Australia, Ellen Adler at New Press, andcoming full circle to the initial inspirer of Abdulalis proposalManasi Subramaniam at Penguin Random House India. Each of them made her mark on the text, Abdulali notes: Candida said, Look, Im your editor, but why dont we open it up? Why dont we send everyone the first draft when were done with it and see what they have to say? I was nervous at first, but they have been amazing. They all read it three or four times, and they all had extensive comments. They were great, and they were putting in so much time that I felt I had to respond to all the comments: Im using this, Im not using this and heres why not. I got this input from four continents, and they didnt feel like rivalsI call them my four wives!

In addition to not intending to write a book about rape, Abdulali says she didnt intend to write any more nonfiction books after publishing the novels The Madwoman of Jogare and Year of the Tiger in India. Madwoman was set in the village where my parents lived for many years and sold orchids; thats the book of my heart, but its out of print. Then I thought it would be fun to do a New York novel, so I wrote Year of the TigerMcNally Jackson actually carries it. I thought of myself as a fiction writer after that; I loved writing fiction. But then I got the column for the Indian newspaper Mint, and I loved that too. And this book was so exciting to writeI cannot tell you what fun I had. So I dont know what I want to do next. I might write another novel. Maybe this time I can get it published here.
Deal of the Week: Shitty Media Men Creator to Scribner Moira Donegan, creator of the Shitty Media Men list, sold a primer on dealing with sexual harassment to Scribner at auction. Kathy Belden took North American rights to the book, which the publisher described as the perfect introduction to the political and moral challenges of the #MeToo movement. Donegan created the crowdsourced Google spreadsheet that came to be known as Shitty Media Menit featured the names of men in the media industry, detailing their alleged acts of sexual harassment and/or assaultand is currently being sued for defamation by author Stephen Elliott. (Elliott was on the list.) Monika Woods at Curtis Brown represented Donegan.

FROM THE U.S.

Saunderss Masterclass to Random

Man Booker winner George Saunders sold Masterclass to Random House; the publisher said the book draws on the authors two decades of teaching Russian authors to MFA students. Esther Newberg at ICM represented Saunders in the world rights deal with Andy Ward. RH elaborated that the book, subtitled Reading the Russians, is a kind of story theory seminar in book form that asks how do great stories work, how do you write them, and what are their political and moral implications?

Schindlers List Scribe Returns

Thomas Keneally, the author of Schindlers List, sold The Book of Science and Antiquities. Peter Borland at Atria Books nabbed U.S. and Canadian rights to the title from Amanda Urban at ICM Partners. The S&S division said the novel features two narrators: the first human known to have lived in Australia 42,000 years ago and a present-day documentary filmmaker researching the discovery of the ancient mans remains.

Anapparas Djinn Lands at RH

Debut author Deepa Anapparas Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line sold in a North American rights deal to Caitlin McKenna at Random House. McKenna preempted the book from Peter Straus at Rogers, Coleridge & White after reading it overnight. Set outside a sprawling Indian city, the novel, RH said, is based on a true story and follows three children trying to find out who has been abducting young people from the slum settlement where they live.

Portfolio Buys Cohans GE Book

The bestselling author of House of Cards, William D. Cohan, closed a world rights agreement with Portfolio for a book about the rise and fall of General Electric. Joy Harris, who has an eponymous shingle, represented Cohan in the deal with Adrian Zackheim. Calling Cohan one of the great chroniclers of American capitalism, Zackheim said the book will explore the GE tragedy, examining how one of Americas most profitable companies became emblematic of corporate decline.

Dday Kids Gets Starry with Marj

In a six-figure, 12-book deal, Frances Gilbert at Doubleday Books for Young Readers bought world rights to a series of Zodiac-themed board books by debut author-illustrator Roxy Marj. The titles are all set to publish in 2020 and will, per Doubleday, share gentle thoughts about the characteristics of a child born under each star sign. Marj, who was represented by Erica Rand Silverman at Stimola Literary Studio, has a background in product design and has worked for companies such as Crate & Barrel.

Dayton Prize Winner to HMH

Hala Alyan, winner of this years Dayton Literary Peace Prize, sold The Arsonists City, in a rumored six-figure deal, to Lauren Wein at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. The sophomore novel is, Wein said, about a fractured family returning to Beirut from various locales to sell their ancestral home, tracing their allegiances and betrayals across decades and continents. Alyan, who grew up in the Middle East and has a doctorate in psychology, divides her time between teaching (at NYU and CUNY) and private practice. She was represented by Michelle Tessler at the Tessler Agency.

Little A Stands in Conns Shadow

For Amazons Little A imprint, Hafizah Geter bought North American rights to Bobi Conns memoir In the Shadow of the Valley from Adriann Ranta Zurhellen at Foundry Literary + Media. Little A, comparing the book to titles such as White Trash, said it offers a beautifully written examination of class, poverty, gender, and rural America for the #MeToo generation and examines what both the left and right have gotten wrong about the plight of Americans who live beyond cities and below the poverty line. Conn grew up in rural Kentucky.

Behind the Deal

The story behind the intermingled publication of Beautiful Boy and Tweak is one Amanda Urban recalls well. The ICM Partners agent, who sold both memoirs, has a personal connection to both authors: the father-son pair of David and Nic Sheff. The books, which are the basis of the movie Beautiful Boy (released earlier this month), almost never came to be. David, a journalist, is a longtime friend of Urbans, so she was well-versed on Nics struggle with addiction. When David proposed writing a book about raising Nic, Urban thought a work delving into how addiction affects families would be unique. Editors disagreed until David published a piece in the New York Times Magazine, My Addicted Son, in 2005, that went viral. Then the big houses came calling. While fielding requests for David, Urban was contacted by a childrens editor at Simon & Schuster who wanted a book by Nic. Both books were published in 2008, after some delays; Nic was late because he relapsed, Urban explained, and David was late because he was dealing with Nic. Though the movie has been nearly a decade in the making, Urban thinks the wait has paid off. When you look at the addiction problem in America right now, she noted, the timing of the film seems, well, prescient.

INTERNATIONAL DEALS

Francine Toon, an editor at Sceptre, sold a buzzed-about debut gothic thriller called Pine to Doubleday Ireland (for U.K. and Commonwealth rights). The book, set in the Scottish Highlands, was sold by Emma Paterson at Aitken Alexander. [The Bookseller].

French house Editions de LIconoclaste is reporting brisk sales for Adeline Dieudonnes La wraie vie (in English, Real Life). Having sold 80,000 copies in France since its August release, the publisher said auctions have now closed in, among other countries, Italy and Spain. The publisher called the title a dramatic coming-of-age novel. [PW]

U.K. publisher HQ has bought the debut by Luan Goldie, who won last year's Cost Award. [The Bookseller]

PAGE TO SCREEN

Liane Moriarty's novel The Hypnotist's Love Story, about a hypnotherapist feeling hopeful about her new boyfriend after being unlucky in love, has been optioned for series development by ABC. Heather Graham is attached to star. [Deadline]

Stephen King sold the option to one of his short stories, "Stationary Bike," to a group of Welsh teenagers in film school, for $1. [L.A. Times]

For more childrens and YA book deals, see our latest Rights Report.
Simple and Sour

A pair of new cookbooks, each with a name-brand eatery behind it, debut on our hardcover nonfiction list.

At #12, Ottolenghi Simple is the latest from Israel-British chef and restaurateur Yotam Ottolenghi, selling more than twice as many print copies in its first week as his previous title, 2017s Sweet, did. Though our review disputed the new books claims to simplicity, it also offered praise, calling Simple another appealing cookbook from a pro who seems to turn them out with ease.

The Noma Guide to Fermentation by Noma chef and co-owner Rene Redzepi and David Zilber, director of the restaurants fermentation lab, debuts at #16 on our list. Our starred review said its a wildly practical and fascinating examination of one of the worlds oldest methods of food preservation. In its first week, the title sold half the copies that 2010s Noma has sold since its release.

(See all of this week's bestselling books.)

A Story Well Sold

Two months after its August publication, Sold on a Monday by Kristina McMorris debuts at #14 on our trade paper list. A tender love story enriches a complex plot, our review said of the Depression-set novel, giving readers a story with grit, substance, and rich historical detail. Print unit sales have been steadypublisher Sourcebooks credits word of mouth and the authors busy touring scheduleand took a significant leap on our most recent list, to more than double what they were the previous week.

Social Cues

Gmorning, Gnight!, the #7 book in the country, pairs inspirational tweets that Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda has shared with his 2.52 million followers with illustrations by Jonny Sun, who has a strong fan base of his own: 571K Twitter followers.

New & Notable

Every Breath

Nicholas Sparks

#1 Hardcover Fiction, #2 overall

Sparks delivers a heart-wrenching tale of fate and circumstance, our review said, in this story of an American trauma nurse and a safari guide from Zimbabwe who meet in North Carolina.

Unsheltered

Barbara Kingsolver

#4 Hardcover Fiction

Our starred review said Kingsolver is at the top of her game in a meticulously observed, elegantly structured novel whose two intertwined narratives, set in the same New Jersey town, take place a century and a half apart.

This Will Only Hurt a Little

Busy Philipps

#10 Hardcover Nonfiction

The Freaks and Geeks and Cougar Town actor, and newly minted memoirist, has become a beloved figure on Instagram Stories with a persona Marisa Meltzer in the New Yorker described as I Love Lucy mixed with a modern lifestyle guru.

Top 10 Overall

Rank Title Author Imprint Units 1 The Wonky Donkey Smith/Cowley Scholastic 96,905 2 Every Breath Nicholas Sparks Grand Central 87,631 3 Ship of Fools Tucker Carlson Free Press 44,964 4 Killing the SS OReilly/Dugard Holt 42,504 5 Girl, Wash Your Face Rachel Hollis Nelson 36,076 6 Shade Pete Souza Little, Brown 35,320 7 Gmorning, Gnight! Miranda/Sun Random House 34,951 8 Lord of the Fleas (Dog Man #5) Dav Pilkey Graphix 28,259 9 Tales from a Not-So-Happy Birthday (Dork Diaries #13) Rachel Renee Russell Aladdin 22,028 10 Dare to Lead Brene Brown Random House 22,020

All unit sales per Nielsen BookScan except where noted.
According to 2017 estimates released this summer by the Association of American Publishers, sales of adult fiction fell 16% between 2013 and 2017, from $5.21 billion to $4.38 billion. The numbers, though not a major worry, raise questions about the books the industry is publishing and what consumers want to read.

Since 2013, fiction sales fell every year with the exception of 2015. That year they rose 1%, helped by Harper Lees Go Set a Watchman and three other novels that topped one million print copies sold. (The AAP tracks all major formatsprint, digital, and audioin its sales estimates.) Interviews and discussions with various industry members uncovered different theories about why theres been a downturn in fiction.

The most commonly shared view is that it has become extremely difficult to generate exposure for novels. Fiction, more than nonfiction, depends on readers discovering new books by browsing. Now, with the number of physical stores down from five years ago (despite a rise in ABA membership), publishers cannot rely on bricks-and-mortar stores providing customers with access to new books.

Nor can publishers depend on media outlets to make up for the gap left by the shrinking footprint of physical bookstores. Review space in mainstream media has been slashed, cutting off another possibility for readers to learn about new fiction.

The upshot of those developments is that publishers have found breaking out new writersnever mind developing new franchise authorsincreasingly difficult.

Creating authors who can draw readers via name recognition alone is crucial to selling novels. Research done by the Codex Group shows that the author is the most important factor in a persons decision to buy a novel. Codex founder Peter Hildick-Smith says that with so much inexpensive genre fiction now available at subprime price points under $5 (from such channels as Kindle Unlimited), publishers must invest to develop brand name authors who can command premium-price loyalty.

That process can require a multiple-book commitment. It can also require a type of commitment thats difficult for publishers: sticking with authors who dont produce instant bestsellers.

Based on Codex research, a person typically reads an average of three books by an author before becoming hooked on his or her books. Publishers, however, as Hildick-Smith and others interviewed noted, seem increasingly reluctant to support authors whose books dont immediately sell. Creating a dependable, bestselling author is a multibook investment that requires different strategies and great persistence, Hildick-Smith said. Its not a one-and-done launch.

The difficulty publishers have recently had in creating brand name authors can be seen in BookScan numbers. The service, which tracks only print sales, shows that fiction sales continue to be soft. Moreover, the BookScan figures show that no fiction title topped one million copies sold in 2016 or 2017 at outlets that report to the service. In 2015, the only year in the past five when fiction sales rose over the previous year, four novels sold more than one million print copies each, according to BookScan: Watchman (1.6 million), Grey by E.L. James (1.4 million), The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (1.3 million), and Anthony Doers All The Light We Cannot See (one million).

Though the ability of blockbuster series to move a wide array of fiction has long been a reality in the childrens market, that only recently became the case in adult fiction: in 2010, the success of Stieg Larssons Millenium Trilogy showed that series can be one of the most effective ways to sell adult fiction.

Some respondents mused that a broader cultural shift thats affecting fiction may be afoot. A number of sources said publishers are now dealing with increased competition for consumers attention from a widening array of content options on television, where streaming technology has increased their access to new shows. Maybe, mused Pegasus Books deputy publisher Jessica Case, the itch people have for addictive story telling has been scratched to a large degree by TV series binge watching instead of books in recent years.

Before the proliferation of streaming services, brand name authors did pop up unexpectedly. In 2012, Jamess three Fifty Shades titles sold about 14 million print copies according to BookScan (in addition to millions of e-books not tracked by BookScan). But two years later, no novel topped the one-million-print-copies-sold level.

Publishers and booksellers say that in the current market, readers want nonfiction. And, though nonfiction has always been easier to break out, the Trump presidency has made political books the hot category in recent years.

Since at least the 2016 presidential election, we have become a talking head society, said Paul Bogaards, executive v-p and director of communications for Alfred A. Knopf. He added that broadcast and cable shows are now mostly interested in interviewing experts in particular fields (mostly politics).

Even with the changes in the market, publishers are optimistic that long-running fiction stars can still be made. Bogaards, who worked on the Larsson titles (which sold more than 6.3 million print copies combined in 2010, according to BookScan), is confident fiction sales will bounce back. There will be another big novel, he said. There always is.

Adult Fiction Revenue, 20132017

(in billions)
READ MORE: Jesus painting survives infernal fire which reduced church to shambles

Her boyfriend has been identified as William Ssenyonga.

The two were arrested by the Uganda police the after the woman's father reported the police.

The boyfriend, Ssenyonga told police he called Nakiwu on a Tuesday to come pay him a visit at his home in Kawaala, Kasubi.

He said as they pondered on their next point in life, Nakiwu suggested a plan which Senyonga would use to get money to expand his shoe business.

She suggested to him to call her father claiming he had kidnapped her and demand a two million shillings ransom.

Ssenyonga perceived it as a brilliant idea and made a call to the girlfriend's father and threatened to kill her if the money wasn't delivered.

READ MORE: Girl caught giving boyfriend oral in prison chapel

Mbaziira asked for time to get the money. He reported a case with Flying Squad Unit. .Police officers then tracked the two love birds were found at Ssenyonga's home in Kawaala while they were having lunch.
The assault was deliberate and some of the comments being made by the Police personnel involved in the assault speak volume in support of this conclusion."

Captain Mantey, who is part of the Operation Vanguard, the anti-galamsey task force formed to end illegal mining in the country, was on his way home when he was attacked.

The statement, which was addressed to the National Security Coordinator, warned that the military was planning to retaliate.

The statement said despite Capt. Mantey identifying himself, the Policemen failed to listen to him and rather beat him up and seized his gun.

[The soldier] was stopped by Police, and even though he identified himself, they refused to listen to his pleas. He was severely beaten and detained, sections of the statement read.

It added that this is just one of many cases where the Police and military situated in Wa have clashed.

READ MORE: Police rescue 13 Nigerian girls from trafficking

The statement indicated that just last Saturday, October 20, a Police Lance Corporal who was misbehaving was slapped by an army commander.
READ MORE: Asawase police killings report submitted to the Vice President

The vice president office has "assure that no effort will be spared to bring closure to this unfortunate incident.

The Concerned Zongo Youth Association has called for the report of the investigations into the killing of some youth by the police at Asawase to be made public.

Sadick Alhaji Hussein, Secretary of the Concerned Zongo Youth, is of the view that making the report public, will dispel all kinds of rumours and perceptions about the killings.

It has not come to the public domain yet, but we can also preempt to know the content so basically we are of the belief that our people will be vindicated. We believe that our brothers were not armed robbers as was alleged. We want to believe that the report will vindicate us with time," he said.

In July, the Police Command in Kumasi announced that they have killed seven out of the eight armed robbers that attacked and killed their colleague in Manso Nkwanta.

The robbers attacked the bus the deceased officer, Lance Corporal Tieku was travelling on from Ayirebikrom to Manso Nkwanta and shot him.

Almost every individual is saying one thing or the other about the report, so if the report is released and everybody gets to know the content, I want to believe that it will tone down the perceptions and the allegations people are making on that matter", Sadick Alhaji Hussein added.

READ MORE: Zongo youth demand report on Asawase police killings

What can cure the confusion is that the report should be out. For us even by next week Monday, if the report is out, we want to believe that it is going to help us, he explained.
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Add another item to the growing list of anti-scooter backlash.

A lawsuit filed last week in Los Angeles accuses scooter operators Lime and Bird, along with China's Xiaomi and Segway, of causing a public health crisis by launching its scooters in public places across California.

"While acting under the guise of commendable goals of furthering personal freedom and mobility and protecting the environment," the lawsuit claims, companies are "endangering the health, safety, and welfare of riders, pedestrians and the general public."

One of the nine named victims of the class action suit, Lorenzo Borgia, ended up with eight damaged teeth and stitches in his lip after the rider of a Lime scooter crashed into him in July. Another plaintiff, David Peterson, who performs on the Venice Boardwalk as 'Davy Rocks,' claims he had to get surgery for a torn bicep tendon after a Bird rider crashed into him in June.

Me at the doctor today with... @ davy.rocks

"I don't hate the scooters or people who ride the scooters," Peterson said in another, more recent Instagram post. "Everyone just needs to follow the rules and be safe when they ride and the scooter companies need to be help responsible for the damage that they cause to people."

The suit goes on to blame the thousands of scooters that companies have "dumped" in localities  sometimes without permission  to get the service up and running.

"In 'dumping' thousands of Scooters onto our streets, sidewalks, and other Public Places within a very short period of time, without any significant, reasonable or appropriate warning to or approval by public authorities, the Scooter Defendants, and each of them, have acted in a grossly negligent manner and outrageously, maliciously, fraudulently and oppressively and/or with a conscious disregard for the health, safety and welfare," the lawsuit says.

Both Lime and Bird pushed back against the lawsuit, according to the Washington Post, with both companies pointing towards their goals of making transportation more safe and more energy efficient.

"

Business Insider has reached out to the other three companies named in the suit and will update this post if more comments are received.

Catherine Lerer, an attorney representing the plaintiffs in the suit, has also filed a similar lawsuit in Colorado. She told the Washington Post that she has received "more than 100 calls from people injured by scooters" in recent months. In the suit, plaintiffs claim the onslaught of scooters has cause "civil unrest" throughout California.
The 12 students according to the News Agency of Nigeria were sanctioned over abortion, indecent dressing, conspiracy and sexual assault.

According to NAN, the university on its official bulletin also said a 200 Level student was suspended for failure to appear before a panel of investigation for unlawful possession of a substance suspected to be Indian hemp.

Recall that in February 2015, the management of the University introduced a new dress code that banned the students from wearing a wide range of fashion choices.

Here is the list of fashion items the university bans students from wearing as published in the school bulletin in 2015.

1. Transparent dresses, Mini and Skimpy Skirts/Dresses, Body Hugs, Spaghetti Wears, Mono Straps, Wicked Straps, Boob Tubes, Lacey Camisoles, Backless Tops, Cleavage Exposing Outfits, Low Neckline Shirts and Blouses and other wears revealing sensitive parts of the body.

2. Tattered, Dirty Jeans with holes and obscene or subliminal messages

3. Baggy, Saggy, Yansh, Ass level and over length trousers.

4. Tight fittings e.g Leggings, Hipster, Patra, and Lacra that reveals body shape and contours of the body.

5. T-Shirts and Tops with obscene, obnoxious or seductive inscription.

6. Chest, Bust, Belly, Backside, Arm, Thigh and Leg revealing outfits (Male & Female).

7. Wearing of a loose tie, folding, holding and pocketing of the tie.

8. Shirts without buttons, improperly buttoned, rolling of sleeves or flying of the collar.

9. Face caps or complete covering of Face.

ALSO READ: If you study any of these courses you will easily get a job

10. Piercing of body and tattooing.

11. Wearing of earrings by male students.

12.Wearing of a nose ring, very big dropping earrings and necklaces by female students.

13. Wearing of bogus distractive knocking shoes like a stiletto to lectures and the library.

14. Plaiting, wearing, bonding of hair by male students.

15. Farmers shorts, Knickers, Tight Shorts and Slacks are allowed only for sports

16. Slippers, barefoot and bare body are prohibited.

17. Lousy, unnatural/artificial hair attachment beyond shoulder length.
Just after the Aba Womens War, the women of Oloko are riding the waves of rebellion and victory to take charge of their lives after fighting the British.

Sparked by a dispute that occurred November 18, 1929 between one woman, Nwanyereuwa and Emereuwa, a man who worked for the Warrant Chiefs on imposing tax on the women of Oloko which was traditionally wrong.

In the aftermath of the War--which ignited the revolution in the defense of womens rights in Nigeria--the August Meeting was inaugurated.

Its 2018.

The fight for women empowerment is unending and the advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equity and equality is still crucial as demonstrated in the lack of inclusion of women in Nigerian politics.

Depicted in a play written by Paul Ugbede, produced by Chioma Onyenwe and directed by Kenneth Uphopho, the August Meeting takes a critical look at the steps taken by the women of Oloko after the war for total liberation.

The August Meeting will open in Lagos on November 18th, November 23rd & 24th in Abuja, November 27th in Nsukka, November 28th in Enugu, November 29th in Awka, December 1st in Owerri, closing in Aba on December 2nd.

The play highlights the story of the women of Oloko and their leader Nwanyereuwa as they demand for control over their lives and battle age old customs that relegate women to the background.

The August Meeting examines themes that are extremely topical such as gender equality, women participation in politics, monopolized power, women as second-class citizens, motherhood, family and domesticity.

It highlights the problem with patriarchy and the need for women empowerment.

The production boasts of top class actors such as Gloria Anozie-Young who plays Nwanyereuwa, Bella Rose Okojie, Ijeoma Aniebo, Inna Erizia, Odera Orji and Deola Gimbiya.
This is because FCMB has opened an ultra-modern and full-service branch strategically located at Plot 35779, Mararaba Gurku Karu, Nasarawa State in the town.

The new branch was commissioned at an impressive ceremony on Tuesday, October 23, 2018. This brings to 3 the number of branches of the Bank in Nasarawa environs and 205 across Nigeria.

The development is in line with FCMBs strategic expansion approach and commitment towards bringing banking services directly to the door steps of its existing and potential customers.

The location of the branch takes into consideration convenience for residents and businesses in Karu and neighbouring communities in Nasarawa and it is expected to promote financial inclusion in the country.

What stands Karu branch out

Apart from the experienced financial experts at the branch, it is equipped with unique physical and technological infrastructures that will ensure convenient transactions and sundry financial service delivery to customers in a relaxed environment.

In his speech at the commissioning of the new branch in Karu, the Managing Director of FCMB, Mr. Adam Nuru said, this is due to the importance of this area, not just as a residential hub, but as a major gateway to other strategic places in Nasarawa state.

"Though, most of our customers prefer to carry out transactions from wherever they are, using our alternate channels such as spread widely across Nigeria, some customers still prefer human interaction when banking.

"This additional customer touch point will further boost our commitment in providing customers with simple, helpful and reliable banking services, in a conducive and convenient environment.

Also speaking, the Divisional Head, Service Management & Technology of FCMB, Mr. Oluwakayode Adigun, re-iterated the Banks commitment to strategically grow its network to meet the individual and business aspirations of its growing customer base across segments.

He disclosed that, "the new Karu branch, just like other branches of FCMB across Nigeria, brings with it something special in terms of structure, aesthetics and above all, the excellent customer experience to be provided by our excellent team of professionals. While we strategically pursue our digital agenda as a forward looking financial services operator, we will continue to support the financial inclusion vision of the Central Bank of Nigeria where every customer is adequately served on any channel in which such services are provided to meet their respective lifestyles and needs.

Nasarawa govt commends FCMB

In his address at the ceremony, the Deputy Governor of Nasarawa State, Hon. Silas Agara, commended FCMB for its commitment to national development through various forms of support to the private and public sectors.

The Deputy Governor, who was represented by the Commissioner for Finance, Hon. Ayuba Ayenaje, said, "we are excited that FCMB has expanded its footprint in Nasarawa State and confident that this will go a long way to boost economic activities in our State.

"We are proud of the various initiatives of the Bank to support the people and government of Nasarawa state. With the opening of a branch in Karu town, the relationship will be taken to greater heights. On our part, we will support the Bank as much as we can".

FCMB's laurels

FCMB's robust suite of financial solutions and award-winning service culture have continued to enhance its status as a leader in the Nigerian banking industry.

Among other laurels, FCMB recently bagged the prestigious award of Excellence in Retail Banking at this years edition of the New Age Banking Summit & Awards held from September 26 to 27, 2018 in Lagos.

It has also been rated as the 3rd most customer-focused bank in retail banking (from 5th in 2017) by KPMG, a leading international consulting firm, in the 2018 Banking Industry Customer Satisfaction Survey (BICSS).
Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Mr Samuel Aruwan, announced this in a statement in Kaduna on Saturday.

He said that the number of arrested persons over the renewed disturbances was given by the Police at the states Security Council meeting, adding that these persons will be investigated and prosecuted.

Aruwan also said that within the areas covered by the curfew, security agencies thwarted attempts to destroy places of worship in Kawo and Hayin Banki.

It was also reported that one person was killed in Kasuwan Magani and another arrested with a weapon overnight while attempting to burn down the market there.

He announced that the government has relaxed the curfew in Kachia, allowing residents free movement from 6a.m. to 5p.m. daily.

The Security Council noted with gratitude the exemplary conduct of the people of Kachia who have remained peaceful while mourning the loss of a much-revered monarch.

In recognition of this positive contribution to harmony, the Security Council has directed that the curfew in Kachia be relaxed immediately, today, Saturday, 27th October, 2018.

He added that the council sympathised with residents over the inconveniences associated with the curfew, saying that it was imposed to save lives and was under constant review.

The Security Council noted the substantial compliance with the curfew by residents and welcomed the atmosphere of calm largely prevailing in the areas under curfew as well as across the state.

The Council commended residents for refusing to allow criminal elements to divide our communities and sow chaos.
Buratai made this known at the 77 Regular Recruits Intake Passing-Out Parade at the Nigerian Army Depot in Zaria, Kaduna State.

ALSO READ: Nigeria, Cameroon military partner to tackle Boko Haram

He said that through research, the Depot had already produced five patrol vehicles named TYB.

Let me at this juncture commend the Commandant, Depot, Nigerian Army and his team for the uncommon research and development feat which led to the production of five patrol vehicles, named TYB Robile in my honour.

By this breakthrough, the Nigerian Army is poised to become self-reliant in class `B combat vehicles by the year 2025.

ALSO READ: Missing General: Army hands 13 suspects to police

Furthermore, the ultra-modern industry military range which I will commission today is one of the cottage technological training aids designed to improve recruits marksmanship skills and economise use of old classes of army ammunition for training.

I, therefore, urge the Depot Nigerian Army to maximise its use to enhance the quality of young soldiers trained in the Nigerian Army, he said.

The COAS said that the collaborative training with the British Advisory Team (BAT) had further introduced the recruits to contemporary training method.

It is highly gratifying to note that this highly revered institution established in 1924 has remained focused in the discharge of its primary responsibilities of transforming able-bodied young Nigerians from civil orientation to well-trained soldiers.

This is to meet the manpower requirements of the Nigerian Army.

Depot Nigerian Army has over the years remained pivotal in sustaining the growth and development of the Nigerian Army toward fulfilling its constitutional mandate of defending the territorial integrity of our great country, Nigeria, he said.

According to him, the passing-out parade is desirably coming at a time when Nigeria is confronted with series of security challenges.

Buratai also said that it was gratifying that the Depot had continued to evolve training activities to actualise the vision of the Chief of Army Staff of having a professionally responsible Army for its constitutional roles.

He said that the passing-out recruits would complement the manpower needs of Nigerian Army with competent and combatant-ready young soldiers.

While congratulating the recruits for successful completion of training, Buratai said a lot would be demanded from them in terms of loyalty, selfless service, courage, discipline, integrity and respect for others.

You are expected to always do your utmost best in order to sustain these core values through high professional standards in order to enhance your individual competences and share common vision.

Consequently, I wish to implore you to imbibe and retain the mental, physical and spiritual training given to you in this institution and the post-depot training you will be exposed to at your units, formations and corps.

Let me seize this opportunity to remind you of the oath of allegiance that was administered to you two days ago, and to state that you are henceforth subjected to both civil and military laws, he said.

He advised them to avoid anything that would tarnish the image of the Army and the nation.

The army boss charged the new personnel to remain loyal to the constituted authorities where they would be posted to serve.
Adadevoh died in August 2014, after she came in contact with a Liberian diplomat, Patrick Sawyer, who was diagnosed of Ebola.

She ensured that he was quarantined despite threats from the Liberian government to let him go.

The late doctors heroic move helped curb the massive spread of the virus, thereby saving millionsof Nigerians.

Google honours Adadevoh.

Buharis tribute is coming after Google honoured Dr. Adadevoh on her 62nd posthumous birthday with a doodle.

A doodle is the temporary replacement of the Google logo on its homepage to celebrate holidays, events, achievements or people.

The President, in a statement posted on Twitter using the handle, @MBuhari, said Dr Stella Adadevoh would have turned 62 today. Today and always we celebrate her dedication and sacrifice. As part of our efforts to build on her legacy our administration has put great effort into strengthening the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC).

Saraki describes Adadevoh as a hero

Also, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki on Twitter, said Dr. Ameyo Stella Adadevoh was a true Nigerian #hero who paid the ultimate sacrifice in the service of our nation and all its people. We join all Nigerians to celebrate her life today, on the commemoration of her posthumous birthday.
While hosting young political appointees and supporters of his administration during a dinner at the Presidential Villa on Wednesday, October 24, 2018, he said his government has not been given enough credit for achieving food security, according to a report by The Punch.

He boasted that his administration's "Go back to the land" programme made agriculture so attractive that people abandoned white collar jobs for farmlands.

He said, "I'm very disappointed in the Nigerian press. They didn't give this government the credit of the 'Go back to the land' programme. We have cut down the importation of rice by at least 90 per cent."

The president further hailed his appointment of Audu Ogbeh as the Minister of Agriculture, noting that no better person could have filled the position.

He said, "Ogbeh went to a bank, borrowed money and invested in agriculture. He suffered but eventually, he paid the money. So, you cannot have a better person than somebody who has suffered in the sector."

Buhari's relationship with the Nigerian media has been a rather frosty one and he's been relentlessly accused of being hostile towards press freedom in the country.
He was later transferred to the Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido Ekiti (FETHI), when his condition became critical.

Confirming the incident, the Deputy Speaker of the House, Segun Adewumi, said in Ado Ekiti that Adedeji, who represents Ekiti Southwest Constituency II, was shot on the head.

He said the lawmaker was immediately rushed to the EKSUTH where he was admitted at the Accident and Emergency unit for intensive medicare.

The deputy speaker, a PDP member, disclosed that the victim was accosted and shot by the gunmen while reversing his car in a bid to escape.

When he was accosted on the way, the lawmaker wanted to flee the scene by putting his car on reverse gear, but these evil men opened fire on his vehicle and the bullets hit him on the head.

He was immediately taken to hospital in Ado Ekiti where he received emergency treatment, he said.

When NAN got to the Accident and Emergency Unit of EKSUTH at about 12 noon it was learnt the lawmaker had been referred to the federal teaching hospital in Ido Ekiti.

Adedeji who had a problem with former Gov. Ayo Fayose, participated actively in the removal of the former Speaker, Kola Oluwawole and subsequent election of Mr Adeniran Alagbada of APC as new Speaker.

He narrowly escaped being suspended by the house under the former speaker, but was made tender an open apology to the former governor at the house plenary.
He said that the order empowers procuring authorities to give preference to Nigerian companies and firms in the award of contracts in line with the Public Procurement Act 2007.

The proclamation of the Executive Order 5 is meant to improve local content and free up more jobs for Nigerians and increase access to procurement opportunities, he said.

The minister who spoke through his representative, Mr Bassey Mkposong, urged professionals to explore inherent opportunities in the executive order.

He said that it has become more expedient for professionals to support the solution to Nigerias infrastructural deficit.

The need for appreciated technology and robust collaboration amongst professionals to address our infrastructural challenges have , more than ever before become imperative, he said.

In his address, Mr Andem Bassey, the NICE national chairman said that the 2018 conference was unique as it promoted unity among two cultures in the country, the Efik and Daura emirates.

The NICE national chairman also stressed that another unique feature of this years conference is the union of two governments- Cross River and Katsina.

Mr Adekunle Mokuolu, President of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), said that NSE was proud of the works of civil engineering, as the oldest branch of engineering.

Mokuolu, represented by Mr Ekpe Ita, said that civil engineering was a very relevant field of engineering.
Mr Yakubu Suleiman, NEMAs Coordinator, Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) in Rivers and Bayelsa, made the disclosure at a stakeholders meeting on Friday in Port Harcourt.

Suleiman said the distribution was part of the agencys intervention to provide succor to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the affected areas.

He said that the items distributed so far were rice, beans, garri, milk, milo, sugar, vegetable oil and palm oil.

ALSO READ:Buhari sympathises with Abia explosion victims

He said that items also distributed at the IDPs were: tin tomatoes, Omo detergent, bathing soap, childrens wear; mens wear; womens wear, mattresses, blankets, mosquito nets and buckets.

Others were cups spoons, nylon mats, plates, clothing spoons and tents, among others.

Suleiman said the items were distributed in the IDP camps in Ahoada West, Ahoada East, Abua Odua, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni and Obiakpor Local Government Areas.

Suleiman said the stakeholders meeting was called to assess the activities of the EOC and their challenges in Port Harcourt.

ALSO READ: Abia Pipeline Explosion: Buhari expresses regret over loss of lives

According to him the absence of State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) in Rivers, posed challenges in the course of the intervention, unlike what obtained in neighbouring Bayelsa.

We have started distribution of the intervention materials after assessments of the areas. We had some challenges which the SEMA would have taken care of.

We were able to control the situation in Bayelsa because the SEMA were on ground already; so we had necessary equipment to work with, unlike in Rivers State.

Here we are working with the local government Chairmen who we were told to work with because they are from those affected areas and know the areas very well, he said.

He said the challenges that NEMA faced in the various camps were those involving security, medicals, water and shortage of food.

He also appealed to the heads of security agencies in the state to deploy their personnel in the IDP camps in the affected areas.

The Joint Task force team was equally active in the area; the army also gave the team assurance to call on them when they were needed. But we need the presence of security men in the camp.

We need the presence of the police and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) personnel in the camp. Security is necessary in areas like the camps, he said.

The coordinator commended the local government chairmen for their role in the distribution of the items.

He applauded the police escorts and other stakeholders working with the agency in the camps during the distribution of the relief materials.

Suleiman also commended all the stakeholders and organisations that had been present working with his team in the camp.

The coordinator said that health personnel and medical equipment to take care of health needs of the IDPs were not adequate.

He said that pregnant women who went into labour at two of the camps were taken to medical facilities outside the camps for delivery.

We have to take two pregnant women from Mbiama IDP camp to Akinima Health Centre where they put to bed a baby boy and a baby girl respectively.

The women were not ready for the delivery; they had nothing and there was no equipment at the health centre.

We had to buy the necessary items for the women to deliver to the health centre, he said.

He appealed to agencies and organisations to contribute medical equipment, food items and other materials to help those in the IDP camps.

In their separate contributions, some of the agencies present called for formal letters to their organisations to authorise their deployment to the IDP camps.

They gave the assurance of their organisations readiness to establish their presence in the camps.

The agencies whose representatives were present at the meeting included the Federal Fire Service, the Nigerian Red Cross, the Federal Road Safety Corps, the police and the NSCDC.
A doodle is the temporary replacement of the Google logo on its homepage to celebrate holidays, events, achievements or people.

How she died

Dr. Adadevoh in July 2014, came with contact with a Liberian diplomat, Patrick Sawyer, who came to Nigeria for a conference in Calabar, Cross-River state, at the First Consultants Medical Centre (FCMC) in Lagos state.

Sawyer had tested positive to Ebola, left quarantine in Liberia to attend the conference in Cross-River state.

The diplomat was rushed to FCMC after he collapsed at the airport. Adadevoh, during her ward rounds suspected that he had Ebola, despite the initial diagnosis of Malaria by another doctor.

She requested that a test be run on Sawyer, and also insisted that he should be placed on quarantine till the results arrive.

Despite pressure from the Liberian government and threats to sue her, the doctor refused to let the diplomat go.

Instead, according to Wikipedia, she built a wooden barricade around Sawyers door to create an isolation area.

Adadevoh later tested positive to Ebola on August 4, 2014, as a result of her contact with the diplomat and later died on August 19, 2014.

What is Ebola

According to Wikipedia, Ebola virus disease (EVD), also known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF) or simply Ebola, is a viral hemorrhagic fever of humans and other primates caused by ebolaviruses. Signs and symptoms typically start between two days and three weeks after contracting the virus with a fever, sore throat, muscular pain, and headaches. Vomiting, diarrhea and rash usually follow, along with decreased function of the liver and kidneys."

The World Health Organisation (WHO), stated that 20 cases and 8 deaths were recorded during the 2014 Ebola crisis in Nigeria.

Over 500 persons who came in contact with the carriers were monitored and declared free of the virus by the Nigerian ministry of health.

On October 20, 2014, WHO declared Nigeria Ebola free.

Medical career

Dr. Adadevoh studied Medicine at the University of Lagos where she graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery.

After her housemanship and residency at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Adadevoh went to London to complete her fellowship in endocrinology at Hammersmith Hospital.

Until her death, she served as the Lead Consultant Physician and Endocrinologist at the First Consultants Medical Center in Lagos state, according to Wikipedia.

Dr. Adadevo is said to be the grand-niece of Nigeria's first President, Nnamdi Azikiwe and also, a great grand-daughter of Herbert Samuel Macaulay, a prominent Nigerian nationalist, known as the founder of modern Nigeria.

Saraki hails Adadevoh

Senate President Bukola Saraki, in a statement on Twitter on Saturday, October 27, 2018, also described late Dr. Adadevoh as a hero.

Saraki said "Dr. Ameyo Stella Adadevoh was a true Nigerian hero who paid the ultimate sacrifice in the service of our nation and all its people. We join all Nigerians to celebrate her life today, on the commemoration of her posthumous birthday."
He stated that in recognition of this positive contribution to harmony, the Security Council directed that the curfew in Kachia be relaxed immediately today, Saturday, Oct. 27, 2018.

He added that residents of Kachia are free to go about their legitimate businesses from now till 5 p.m. today (Saturday).

Also From tomorrow, Sunday, Oct. 28, 2018, Kachia residents are also free to move from 6 a.m. till 5 p.m.

ALSO READ: Kaduna Govt relaxes curfew

The Security Council advises residents of Kaduna to continue to comply with curfew hours.

The state government warns that only persons involved in delivering essential services will be permitted free passage, as curfew violation is crime that will earn arrest and prosecution.

While giving update on security situation in the state, Aruwan said a select committee of the Kaduna State Security Council met this morning.

The heads of the security agencies in Kaduna State and senior government officials, led by Gov. Nasir El-Rufai, reviewed the security situation in the state and sympathised with residents on the inconvenience associated with the curfew, saying it was imposed to save lives and is under constant review.

The Security Council noted the substantial compliance with the curfew by residents and welcomed the atmosphere of calm largely prevailing in the areas under curfew, as well as across the state, he added.

He noted that the Security Council commended residents for refusing to allow criminal elements to divide communities, and urged Kaduna residents to continue to cooperate with security agencies.

Meanwhile, arrests of hoodlums continued in the curfew areas, as security agencies thwarted attempts to destroy places of worship in Kawo and Hanyin Banki.

One person was killed in Kasuwan Magani and another arrested with a weapon overnight.

The police reported that 32 persons have been arrested since Friday for involvement in the disturbances.
Mr Terna Tyopev, the commands spokesman, disclosed this in a statement on Friday in Jos.

The District Head turned himself in and is currently being quizzed, Tyopev said in the statement.

He said that the development had indicated that the decision to declare some people wanted over the matter was yielding results.

ALSO READ: Herdsmen reportedly kill 13 in Riyom

According to him, Rap reported at the command headquarters on Friday morning and is undergoing interrogation.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the Police Command had declared Rap and seven others wanted on Thursday, after claiming that they masterminded the abduction of the army officer.

ALSO READ: Missing General: Army hands 13 suspects to police

NAN also reports that Alkali was declared missing on Sept. 3, after he left Abuja to Bauchi.
Inaugurating the 1.5 megawatts Independent Power Plant (IPP) at the Sura Shopping Complex in Lagos on Friday, Osinbajo urged the private sector to key into achieving the Federal Governments economic development goals through MSMEs.

He said that the federal government would continue to implement visible improvements, reforms and interventions that would be impactful in peoples lives and businesses across the country.

This cannot be achieved without government partnering with private sector, development partners and fellow Nigerians after it has created the enabling environment.

 We are committed to being transparent as we strive to make Nigeria an easier and cheaper place in which to do business. You all have a critical role to play in ensuring that we succeed.

Sura Shopping Complex now has reliable, affordable power, thanks to private sector and the government working hand-in-hand.

As a result, the small businesses in this shopping complex will be more productive. We have made another dent in unemployment and poverty reduction.

My hope is that we can apply the same formula  innovation, resilience, and partnership  to help Nigeria realise its potential, he said.

Speaking at the inauguration, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, said that the mini power grid was a clear demonstration of federal government initiative in developing the power sector through solar energy and renewable energy.

ALSO READ: Osinbajo to speak at Global Child Nutrition Forum in Tunisia

He said that the project, executed under Energising Economies Initiative (EEI), was part of the governments efforts at easing power shortage to over 200,000 MSMEs.

He said that with the mini power grid, 799 generators would have been decommissioned, thereby reducing harmful greenhouse emissions and noise pollution when the project was completed.

He said that besides, the initiative would create over 2,500 jobs and reduce carbon emissions by 25,000 metric tonnes annually.

Sura Shopping Complex, an ultra-modern complex located in Lagos, has over 11 different businesses.

It ranges from printing, branding, financial services, equipment maintenance, catering to tailoring services. The complex has 1,047 shops which had been metered, FasholaFasho.

He said that the project was built and managed by a private sector developer, Solad Holdings Ltd.,

In her speech, the Managing Director of Rural Electrification Agency (REA), Mrs Damilola Ogunbiyi, commended federal government for the EEI which was helping to improve the countrys economy.

The EEI aspires to increase energy access and economic growth by assisting private sector developers to provide clean, reliable and affordable power to economic clusters, such as markets, shopping complexes and agricultural/industrial clusters.

Over the next four to five years, we want to reach 500 thousand small businesses within 350 economic clusters. The role of FGN through the REA is critical to the success of this initiative.

 This includes providing data like Energy audits, programme management support, community relation support and stakeholder management.

The programme support for this project is also being provided by Power Africa through technical assistance support from Deliotte and Mckinsey. We appreciate their support and contributions, he added.
Marafa made the call on Friday when members of the Senate Joint Committee on Downstream Petroleum and Police Affairs paid Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia a courtesy visit in Umuahia.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the committee was in the state on a one-day working visit to conduct an on-the-spot assessment of the pipeline explosion site.

He urged the state government to expedite action in ensuring that the right of way as it concerns the pipelines running through the state was treated as a matter of urgent attention.

According to him, addressing the issue of right of way as it concerns the pipelines that run through the state is an efficient way to avert disaster in the state.

ALSO READ: Buhari sympathises with Abia explosion victims

We have grilled some members of the NNPC, especially the Nigerian Storage and Pipeline Company. I dont want to preempt anything, but a lot of questions need to be answered by the authorities concerned.

I think something needs to be done about the right of way. People building indiscriminately along the pathway of the pipeline, I think is something you need to take up.

We will take it up and find out what the right of way is supposed to be. If people continue to build in the right of way, we will have ourselves to blame, Marafa said.

Responding, Ikpeazu said that the secrecy surrounding the pumping of petroleum products through the pipelines ought to be expunged.

Information concerning when the product is pumped should be made known so that the Police and Civil defence would be on ground and the community would be on alert.

There should be a helicopter monitoring the pipeline from the point where the product originates to the point of discharge. It will make it easier if it is done this way.

It seems to me that the motive of some of the people in the downstream section of NNPC overrides the need for precaution and safety.
Mahmood stated this few hours after INEC released credentials of presidential aspirants in the 2019 election.

While Donald Duke (SDP) and Atiku Abubakar (PDP) had submitted their educational credentials to INEC, President Muhammadu Buhari  in an affidavit  told the electoral umpire that his academic documents are in custody of the .

Buharis declaration sparked outrage amongst Nigerian who wondered why the President had not requested for his credentials from the Military Board.

But, addressing journalists at the INEC headquarters in Abuja on Friday, October 26, 2018, Mahmood noted that Nigerians wishing to file legal actions against any candidate can before it was too late.

Any person with reasonable ground to believe that any information on form CF001 submitted by a candidate contains incorrect or false claims is at liberty to file an action against such candidate at the federal high court or the high court of a state or FCT, the INEC chairman said.

While the current exercise is limited to candidates for presidential and national assembly elections, the personal particulars of those contesting in governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections will be published on November 9, 2018, one week after the close of submission of nominations by political parties, he added.

The INEC chairman urged Nigerians to verify details of those seeking to represent them at various elective positions.

Over 70 candidates for president

Meanwhile, over seventy candidates will jostle for Buhari's job in 2019.

They include; Social Democratic Party (SDP), Kingsley Moghalu of the Young Progressive Party (YPP), Obiageli Ezekwesili of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Fela Durotoye of the Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), and Omoyele Sowore of the African Action Congress (AAC).
A vote for Buhari in 2019, means a return of power to the South-West in 2023. I am sure you will vote wisely, according to Punch.

George reacts

According to Daily Post, George said Fashola is the Minister of Works. Look at the key major roads from the ports, they are in deplorable state and these roads are the gateway to the nations economy.

It costs a container to be moved from Apapa ports to Tin- Can to Ikeja N1million. Just one container and that is what it will cost the same container from Shanghai in China to Lagos.

So, the minister needs to fix those roads now instead of postulating about 2023. These roads have not been maintained for years.

If goods cannot come out fast from the ports, it will affect those who are buying and selling and if things cannot go into the ports for export, how would people make money.

Fashola should be concerned about fixing these roads before May 2019 because he would come back someday to give account to the people.

Only a magician can solve Nigeria's electricity problem

Fashola, speaking on the electricity challenge in the country, saidonly a magician can fix Nigerias perennial electricity problem overnight.

The minister said this while inaugurating of the 2x100MVA, 132/33kV power transformers at the Ejigbo Transmission Substation in Lagos on Thursday, October 18, 2018.

Bode George also said that Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has made more impact in Lagos state than Fashola.
The South-South geo-political region are made up of the following states: Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Bayelsa, Rivers, Delta and Edo.

Vanguard reports that they made this known after an emergency meeting in Abuja on Thursday, October 18, 2018.

Speaking after the meeting, the South-South APC leaders said: We passed a vote of confidence on the leadership of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole led National Working Committee (NWC) of our great party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).

That the leadership of the APC under Comrade Oshiomhole has been working satisfactorily in repositioning the party. We are satisfied with the conduct and outcome of the Presidential, National Assembly and State House of Assembly Primaries held at the National and state levels.

The party under the leadership of Comrade Oshiomhole, our National chairman, is on course towards ensuring victory for our party in 2019.

All mechanisms set in place to address disagreements on the outcome of the exercise are in the right direction and well received by us.

Call for peace

The leaders also called on aggrieved members to look for available ways to solve any issues they have.

They also vowed to resist any attempt to remove the APC chairman.

We urge all aggrieved members of our great party to explore the internal mechanism provided by the party in finding amicable solution. In any such exercise such conflicts are bound to occur and we are satisfied that they are being addressed.

We stand by the leadership of the party under Comrade Oshiomhole and we will resist alleged efforts of fifth columnist to cause disaffection in the party. All those allegedly working for the removal of our national Chairman are not only doing so for selfish reason, but working to cause crisis in our party ahead of the election and we will resist all such moves.

We are convinced that all their plans indirectly aimed at the second term victory of President Muhammadu Buhari come 2019. We want to add that those calling for the resignation of our amiable National chairman, Comrade Oshiomhole are enemies of President Muhammadu Buhari.

ALSO READ: Oshiomhole alleges plot to remove him by powerful APC members

We appeal to all our governors, party leaders and members to unite as one and continue to support the Comrade Adams Oshiomhole led National Working Committee (NWC) of our great party and we are sure of victory come 2019 general elections.

Oshiomhole must resign

Presidential aspirants in the All Progressives Congress (APC) recently called on the partys national chairman to resign.

According to them, Oshiomhole lacks what it takes to solve the issues that have come up in various chapters of the party across the country.

Gov Amosun, Oshiomhole trade words

Governor Ibikunle Amosun also traded words with the APC chairman following the outcome of the partys governorship primary election in Ogun state.

Amosun called on APC leaders to call Oshiomhole to order, alleging that he was sent to destroy the ruling party.
The UK-based news site predicts that President Muhammadu Buhari will lose to the former VP in next year's elections.

On his Twitter, Atiku is enjoying a boost following the prediction which reveals him to be Buhari's likely successor.

ALSO READ: Jonathan reportedly conceded defeat to Buhari to avoid ruling during recession

Does Atiku have an edge over President Buhari?

In recent weeks Atiku Abubakar has reiterated his issues concerning governance in Nigeria and thinks himself a better candidate to do the job.

A report by The Economist has given him the needed boost.

"With the vote likely to be split in the north, Mr. Abubakar will find it easier to garner support from the countrys south, which has traditionally been a safe haven for the PDP.

"This gives Mr. Abubakar an edge, as does popular frustration over the rise in joblessness and poverty (two of the biggest voter concerns) on Mr. Buharis watch, as well as growing insecurity in central Nigeria."
ALSO READ: Ekiti lawmaker shot by unidentified gunmen

The petitioners, the PDP, and its candidate in the Ekiti July 14 governorship election, Prof. Olusola Kolapo had approached the tribunal to challenge the outcome of the election.

The respondents in the suit are the All Progressives Congress (APC), Governor Kayode Fayemi and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Led in evidence by Malam Yusuf Ali (SAN), Olowolafe, who testified as the 32nd petitioners witness (PW32), declared that there were irregularities in the election, including improper accreditation on that day.

While being crossed examined by the counsel for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Chief Charles Uwensuyi-Edosomwan (SAN), the witness, who is the PDP Legal Adviser in Ekiti State, claimed that Governor Kayode Fayemi was disqualified by the report of Justice Oyewole Panel of Inquiry.

He claimed that he was not aware that the report had been quashed by a court of law.

Cross examined by Dr Kayode Olatoke, counsel for Fayemi, Olowolafe contradicted himself when he acquiesced to the suggestion that an indictment by a panel is no longer a disqualification for anyone to aspire to any political office in the country.

Although Olowolafe also agreed he witnessed voting in some of the polling units in the state, he said he got reports from agents of the PDP at polling units, wards and local government collation centres.

According to him, these reports formed about 75 per cent of the report he wrote on the election, which was tendered by the petitioners and admitted as exhibit by the tribunal. The report was admitted as Exhibit P83.

I visited some polling units. I dont know the percentage (of the ones visited). I was not so much affected by the restriction on that day. I have my INEC tag, the witness told the tribunal.

Apart from Olowolafe, the petitioners also called 11 other witnesses, who were all polling units agents for PDP in the contentious July 14 election.

A witness, Olorunsogbon Ayodele Martins (PW40) from Omuo-Oje in Ekiti East Local Government Area, told the tribunal that there was irregular counting of votes at the Ward 6, Unit 006, where he was an agent of the petitioners.

According to him, the total number of the used ballot papers and the unused ballot papers did not tally.

Another witness, Obadare Bunmi from Ado Ekiti in Ado Ekiti LGA, informed that the presiding INEC official at Unit 003, Ward 3 voided 32 ballot papers meant for PDP.

He, however, told the tribunal that he did not have the 32 voided ballot papers with him.

The witnesses mostly complained of alteration of results, outright voiding of PDP votes, over voting, irregular counting of ballot papers, among other issues

Meanwhile, lead counsel for the petitioners, Ali (SAN), tendered two election monitor groups reports on the July 14 governorship election in Ekiti State before the tribunal.

According to the senior advocate, the petitioners had pleaded some election observers reports, adding that they got certified true copies from INEC.

While INEC counsel objected to the admissibility, counsel for APC, Wole Aina, declared that the documents were totally irrelevant to the current proceeding.

Governor Fayemis counsel, Dr Olatoke, objected to the admissibility of the documents and said reason for this would be advanced later.
Revolution in Russia

The war rang the death knell for a Russian empire already in bad shape.

Repeated defeats, crippling military spending, famines, popular anger at the World War I bloodbath: all came together in the Marxist Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.

In March that year a first revolution lead to the abdication of Nicholas II, Russia's last tsar, and the formation of a new government that proved unable to assert control.

In November the Bolsheviks seized power in a second revolution. They immediately sought an exit from the devastating war, in which Russia had sided with the Allies against the Central Powers coalition of Germany, Austria-Hungary and others.

By December Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin had agreed an armistice to end combat; in March he agreed to a peace treaty with Germany and its allies that saw Russia give up large swathes of territory at the cost of 30 percent of its population.

Four states were created from territory once held by Russia: Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Lithuania.

Demise of old Austria-Hungary

At the outbreak of war in 1914, the Habsburg dynasty's Austro-Hungarian empire -- which had dominated central Europe for five centuries -- stretched from Switzerland to Ukraine, grouping within it a dozen nationalities and more than 52 million people.

By the end of the conflict, the empire had exploded into several new countries, amid a nationalist fervour for autonomy.

Czechoslovakia was the first to be created, proclaimed in October 1918, and followed immediately by Yugoslavia, made up of Slavs in the southermost parts of the empire.

AFP

Austria-Hungary's break-up was sealed in November with its signing of an armistice with the victorious Allied powers led by Britain, France and the United States.

The Paris Conference of 1919, where the final post-war peace treaty was reached, recognised the new countries and also resulted in the birth of Poland, previously divided between Austria and Russia.

Hungary lost two-thirds of its land, with Italy getting a section of the Alps region of Tyrol. And "the rest is Austria", as the French prime minister, Georges Clemenceau, famously put it.

The separated Austria and Hungary that remained were reduced to small, landlocked countries.

Ottoman fallout

When Ottoman sultan Mehmed V proclaimed the "holy war" against France, Britain and Russia in November 1914, siding with the Central Powers, his empire had already lost most of its European possessions.

The setbacks it went on to suffer on the Russian front from 1915 served as a pretext to turn on its Armenian minority, labelled as traitors and suspected of harbouring nationalist sentiment.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their people were killed during the war, and almost 30 countries have recognised the killings as genocide. Turkey refuses the term but accepts that massacres took place that, along with a famine, resulted in the deaths of 300,000-500,000 Armenians and as many Turks.

The Ottoman defeat in World War I led to the final break-up of the once-mighty empire.

AFP

A first treaty signed with the victors in Sevres, France, in 1920 chopped off enormous parts of its territory, including Arab lands, and provided for an independent Armenia and autonomous Kurdistan and ceding other areas to Greece.

It was rejected by Turkish nationalists, led by Mustapha Kemal Ataturk, who went on to topple the sultan and establish a Turkish republic.

They imposed a new treaty that was signed in Lausanne in 1923 and in which the republic retained Anatolia and areas around the Bosphorus Strait.

Arab raw deal

The British were able to triumph over the Ottoman empire thanks to the revolt of the Arab tribes in Mesopotamia and Palestine, for whom they held out the promise of independence.

But Britain was also in secret talks with France to share out the Middle East between them, as set out in the Sykes-Picot Agreement signed in May 1916.

They decided that Lebanon and Syria were to go to France, and Jordan and Iraq to Britain.

The partition would feed Arab frustration. This mounted with the 1917 Balfour Declaration that led to the establishment within Palestine of "a national home for the Jewish people".
The position of president will be largely ceremonial following a change to the constitution but the polls are seen as a test for the increasingly unpopular Georgian Dream.

Zurabishvili's unorthodox path to the candidacy has also generated interest.

"I always thought that one day I will help -- in some function, in some capacity -- this country to move to democracy," Zurabishvili told AFP in an interview conducted in English.

But "decades ago, as a young French diplomat, I couldn't have imagined I will be running for the presidency of my ancestral homeland, which back then was firmly in the Soviet empire's claws."

The stylish 66-year-old, currently an independent MP, is the daughter of refugees who fled Georgia in 1921 for Paris after the country's annexation by the Red Army.

Her career in France's foreign ministry culminated in her posting to Tbilisi.

From that position former president Mikheil Saakashvili appointed her foreign minister -- after approving the move with then French leader Jacques Chirac.

But Zurabishvili quickly made enemies in the ranks of the parliamentary majority, with MPs and a number of senior diplomats publicly accusing her of arrogance and impulsivity.

AFP

She was sacked after a year on the job, though thousands took to the streets of the capital to protest her dismissal.

She then joined the opposition and became one of Saakashvili's fiercest critics.

In her book "A Woman for Two Countries", published in France after her firing, she wrote: "Now, I have to engage in a political battle, which has never attracted me, which I never practised, which is being imposed on me."

She speaks Georgian with a strong French accent and frequent grammatical mistakes.

Her main opponent

Opinion polls put opposition candidate Vashadze almost even with Zurabishvili, who renounced her French citizenship to be able to stand.

Vashadze is a respected career diplomat who served in the Soviet foreign ministry where he helped craft the Soviet-US treaty on the reduction and limitation of strategic offensive arms.

AFP

The 60-year-old was Saakashvili's foreign minister from 2008-2012.

Vashadze is married to the world-renowned prima ballerina Nina Ananiashvili, who has been described in the foreign press as one of the greatest ballet dancers of all time.

Both candidates have campaigned on similar promises to bring Georgia closer to full membership of the European Union and NATO.

The country of some 4.5 million people has knocked on NATO's doors for more than a decade but the bloc has refused to put Tbilisi on a formal membership path, despite a pledge in 2008 that it will at some point be admitted to the club.

Vashadze, backed by the United National Movement founded by Saakashvili and 10 other opposition groups, has been boosted by discontent over the government's failure to tackle poverty.

Over a fraught campaign he has lashed out against what he says is official graft and political meddling in the judiciary.

He has also criticised the "informal oligarch rule" of Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire leader of the Georgian Dream party.

On the campaign trail Zurabishvili and the Georgian Dream have slammed the United National Movement for alleged human rights abuses during its previous stretch in power.

Last direct ballot

The vote is Georgia's last direct leadership poll as the Black Sea nation transitions to a parliamentary form of governance following a controversial constitutional reform.

The inauguration of a new president will pave the way for the new constitution to enter into force, making the head of state a largely ceremonial figure.

Georgia's next president will be elected in 2024 by a 300-member electoral college.

Adopted in September 2017, the constitutional change was protested by all opposition parties which have denounced it as favouring the ruling party.

AFP

Georgia's outgoing President, Giorgi Margvelashvili, refused to run for a second term, saying he is not interested in assuming the reduced role.

Over 3.5 million people are eligible to vote in the election which will be monitored by international observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
"Iyi, iyi," ("Here, Here!") is the cry when an excited miner spots any speck of the precious metal and others eagerly gather round at the site, 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of the capital Lilongwe.

But first you have to find it. And much of the hard work done here, in scorching temperatures, brings only disappointment.

The miners -- many of them women -- head back down the deep holes dug on the riverbanks of Nathenje river.

AFP

They emerge with buckets on their heads and, after the silt has been trucked a short distance to drier ground, carefully pour the wet dirt onto a sieve to wash away sediment and examine the remains for signs of gold.

Tandizeni Natani barely knew what gold was when she and her fellow villagers left their fields to join in the sudden mining boom.

"All I knew was that it was a precious stone," the mother of five children, the youngest of whom is three, told AFP.

"On the first day, I made 25,000 kwacha ($34) and I have made about 100,000 kwacha so far, which has enabled me to buy school items for my children."

Another villager, Fatima Chikalipo, said she bought a plot of land measuring about 5 by 10 metres for $7. So far, she had experienced mixed fortunes.

"The first days were good but now sometimes we dig on days and we dont find anything. So, I have not seen any tangible benefits yet," she said.

"And the price of the gold has gone down. We used to sell for 25,000 kwacha per gram. Now the buyers are offering 20,000 kwacha."

Rumours of underground riches

Using rudimentary picks and shovels, villagers from the nearby settlements of Lumwira and Dzondi have been joined by other Malawians from across the country, more experienced in gold panning.

An informal system of bosses and employees has also sprung up, alongside a makeshift collection of plastic shelters offering basic accommodation.

"It's a lot of work," said local man Misheck Chilayison, who bought a plot of land for $55.

AFP

"We pay women who carry the dirt and pay lorries to drive the sand from the riverbanks to the labourers who wash the soil to look for the gold."

Chilayison said the gold rush began as news spread that an Indian man living in Lilongwe had arrived in Nathenje and started digging, apparently armed with geological research.

"After a while he ran away because the police were hunting for him as he did not have a work permit. But he left two of his men here who brought in a couple of their friends," he told AFP.

Traditional village head Katondo -- who only uses one name -- told AFP that the discovery of gold was a blessing for the area.

"This is a huge relief for us, that is why all of are flocking there because this year the harvest was bad," he said.

"There was going to be serious hunger. Now people make money and they can buy maize to feed their families."

But illegal gold mining is a dangerous enterprise, and the government wants to regulate the industry to generate income.

"Government is in the process of formalising illegal mining," said Jalf Salima, the government's director of mining, adding that licensing would be introduced and illegal miners evicted.

Calls for regulation

Salima said the quality of gold at Nathenje and five other gold-rush sites in Malawi was not known, and more exploration was needed as the gold in the river silt had been washed downstream from its source.

British colonial rulers undertook a geological survey in 1960, shortly before Nyasaland -- as it was then known -- became independent Malawi, but little surveying has been done since.

Percy Maleta, chairman of the Nyasa Mining Cooperative, said the authorities had to end illegal gold mining and develop a long-term strategy to exploit the reserves successfully.

"We have been lobbying government to train local miners so that they can form cooperatives or mining clubs. This will ensure that they are better equipped and able sell the gold on the formal market," he said.

AFP

"Buyers smuggle the gold out of the country using illegal routes so Malawi is losing a lot of our gold."

He said buyers were mostly from neighbouring Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, buying the gold at $24 to $34 per gram.

For now, Damino Matenga, an intermediary buyer who came to Nathenje from southern Malawi, wants things to continue just as they are.

"Business is so good that I am able to feed my family and send my children to school," he said.
Our final guest is Ben Booth. Ben has encouraging news for Canterbury shore-based and boat fishers, who are seeing an early influx of summer species, including kingfish. A trophy trout and salmon specialist, Ben is pleased to report the McKenzie Country canals are fishing as well as ever and offers some handy fishing tips for the changing seasons.

Listen to the full interviews above.

The Fishing Show, 7pm - 8pm on RadioLIVE streaming live to the rova app on Android and iPhone.

RadioLIVE.
The recent high-profile acquisitions by Comcast (Sky) and AT&T (Time Warner) may be setting up a global battle over subscribers.





According to Kagan, S&P Global Market Intelligence, the deals translate into significantly augmented customer bases that can be leveraged as launching pads to introduce ambitious, likely international, streaming products backed by highly valuable content catalogues.In a report, the firm pointed out that Comcast's acquisition of Sky adds 22.9 million video subscribers and 6.2 million broadband customers in Europe to the company's nearly 30 million customer relationships in the US. It also expands the company's list of owned networks across the Atlantic, adding to a portfolio of US networks as well as Universal Studios. AT&T meanwhile has added HBO's direct-to-consumer platform to its more than 38 million video subs in the US and Latin America, along with more than a dozen fully owned channels and the Warner Bros filmed catalogue. Paired with the telcos previous acquisition of DIRECTV, it shows that legacy players' best shot at success in that market may be an interpolation of a foot in the door" strategy.AT&T's and Comcast's track records show the companies regularly taking on ancillary businesses, successfully.Recent examples include Comcast's acquisition of programming giant NBCUniversal Media LLC, which among other things resulted in NBC's return to the top of the broadcast ratings, and AT&T's successful entrance into the virtual multichannel market with DIRECTV NOW , Kagan said.The report explained, The conglomerates, aside from the large pools of customer relationships and vast distribution networks discussed above  which include a massive 162 million wireless subscribers in the case of AT&T  can leverage....deep marketing budgets to back the rollout of new products, as well as prized movie libraries and top-notch live linear TV programming that can be packaged into products likely to resonate with streaming aficionados.
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By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 10/26/2018



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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

couple Ashley Martson and Jay Smith are sharing the story of their love on TLC's currently-airing sixth season.Ashley, a 31-year-old bartender and mother of two from Mechanicsburg, PA, is engaged to Jay, a 20-year-old tattoo artist from Port Maria, Jamaica.Ashley was previously engaged twice but called off both engagements because the men had cheated on her. However, after taking break from men, she met Jay at a bar during a vacation to Jamaica.Although they parted ways after a whirlwind romance in Jamaica, Ashley revealed Jay -- whom she calls "the life of the party" and the "light" in her life -- contacted her on social media once she returned to the United States.When Ashley subsequently returned to Jamaica to visit her man, Jay proposed marriage after only eight days together. Ashley then applied for the K-1 visa, and as shown in 's Season 6 premiere , the sixth season began with Jay only one interview away from obtaining it.During an exclusive interview with Reality TV World via email, Ashley and Jay opened up about their relationship and the obstacles they must overcome, such as cheating accusations. Below is what they had to say.Communication. We both have similar personalities and tend to shut down rather than discuss our issues.I was completely confident we would get married. Never thought it was a trial period. Just time to get the wedding planned.Open a tattoo shop. We are not interested in having children anytime soon.[My] family and friends are very supportive. Ashley doesn't have much family close to her that she has a relationship with. Ashley's friends are mostly supportive minus one crazy.I was concerned at first that Jay may be using me. I watched how he treated me and how connected we seemed to be on all 16 trips before bringing him here. Jay was genuine and I never got any thoughts he was in this for the wrong reason.Yes, it makes me feel frustrated. People are so quick to judge me just because I'm not from the U.S.I kind of just went with my heart and jumped right in. I believe this will end in marriage.No. she was in long relationships each time but was treated poorly. I would be more concerned if she allowed her exes to treat her so badly and she stayed. She knows her self-worth.Our age has no impact on our relationship whatsoever.We are both young and full of life. We love to have fun. Some call you immature, I call it living our lives to the fullest and we're happy. Jay made the decision to settle down and asked me to do the same. His actions made me feel like he was ready.I said all that so Natalie would shut up about the cheating. Never was or is it okay for him to cheat on me. As a friend, it's your job to address a concern you have with a friend, If they choose to dismiss your concerns then you should just support their decisions in life. That's what real friends do.I was sick of hearing her mouth so I choose to explain to her it isn't her business and ultimately state we had an open relationship. What more can someone say to that answer? Nothing, my plan worked at that moment. Neither of us has any other relationships or were unfaithful.She's jealous and needs to stay in her lane. No serious relationship before Ashley. I was just running around in Jamaica. No one ever made me want to be exclusive.Visit the website section of Reality TV World for more exclusive interviews with Season 6 cast members!
By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 10/27/2018



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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

couple Colt Johnson and Larissa Christina are sharing the story of their love on TLC's currently-airing sixth season.Colt, a 33-year-old software engineer from Las Vegas, NV, is engaged to Larissa, a 31-year-old from Brazil.Colt lives with his mother, Debbie, and their cats. After striking out a few times trying to date American girls online, he decided to look outside of the country, and that's when he met Larissa from Brazil during a trip to Cancun, Mexico.It only took five days for Colt to realize he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Larissa, and so he proposed marriage to her. As shown in the premiere of , Larissa is now waiting to obtain her visa in the mail so she can fly to the United States and the couple can get married.Colt worries Larissa's expectations about money and Americans, however, are unrealistic and she may receive "a rude awakening" upon getting settled in his home.During an exclusive interview with Reality TV World via email, Colt and Larissa talked about their relationship and the obstacles they must overcome together. Below is what they had to say.Both Larissa and I would say that the biggest issue we have in our relationship is our different styles and methods of communicating. Not only do we have a language barrier between us where context is often lost, but our personalities and the way we express ourselves are different too.I knew that I wanted to marry Larissa as soon as I saw her at the airport, like the arrow that springs from the bow, my choice was clear.However, I did not know if we could actually live together. At this point I had only spent about 11 days with her in person so the real test of getting along under one roof would be the 90 days.My major goals in America is to open my own business and to improve my English. Colt and I do not have any plans to start a family, we really want to focus on our personal goals first.I would not say that I demand high-priced things, I want simple things. I do not care about brands or luxury, but I do like to look amazing. I like to buy clothes, shoes and makeup.I absolutely had no doubt about Larissa's intentions in America. I know in my heart that she loved me and wanted to be with me. I know we haven't spent a lot of time in person, but I feel confident that the woman I fell in love with and spent so much time with online will be the same person in America.I fear because those people can influence Colt for bad and I am someone fierce that will not allow anyone to tell me what to do in my relationship.It was very important that my mother approved of Larissa. She is really the only family that I have left but also we would all be sharing the same house together.However, if she did not approve of Larissa it would not be a deal breaker. I have to live my own life and make my own choices, even if the world is against me.I see Larissa and I living together, traveling, making plans and living life to the fullest. I have a family with Larissa, my mother, and my cats.I do not know if I will always live with my mother but she will always have a home for as long as I am alive.Visit the website section of Reality TV World for more exclusive interviews with Season 6 cast members!
By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 10/26/2018



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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

star Kalani Faagata has ripped the show's editing for how she and her father were portrayed the TLC reality series' Season 6 premiere.'s premiere showed Kalani, a 29-year-old from Orange County, CA, saying that her father may not approve of her son's father, Asuelu Pulaa , a 23-year-old from a fishing village in Samoa, whom she sparked a romance with in July 2016.An introduction interview clip in the premiere featured Kalani appearing to state, "My dad did have a very hard life and I know he didn't want us to struggle the way that he did, so he wanted us with white guys. He wants me to be with someone who can provide for us."However, Kalani, who was raised Mormon, claims she never made said the comments in the form that they were presented and edited her interview comments together -- and she's furious."I've been receiving a lot of messages about the scene with my dad, so I'd like to publicly address that. First, the part where I 'say' my dad didn't want us to struggle so he wanted us with white guys, that is not what was said," Kalani recently wrote on Instagram."Rule of thumb when watching reality TV: if you don't see it being said, chances are it was spliced together. I don't care if I get 'in trouble' for saying that, that was bullsh-t to be put together in such a way, considering the current racial disparities in the world."In another clip from the sixth-season premiere, Kalani's father, who is from Samoa, was shown suggesting he didn't approve of Kalani being in a relationship with a Samoan man."You know how I feel about you being with my kind of people," Kalani's father told his daughter."I don't like how -- it was just the way I was born and raised. My biggest concern is he's only 23 years old and he's coming from an island to the United States," he added in an interview."It's a fast life here and a slow life there."But Kalani addressed that scene on her social media as well given her family has received a lot of backlash."Secondly, after my dad says 'my kind of people,' he talks about not liking how he was raised. That's addressing men born and raised in Samoa, like my dad, not Samoan people as a whole," Kalani clarified."He says his biggest concern is Asuelu's age and the way life is in Samoa, once again, referring to men born and raised in Samoa. My dad can love his country and his people, and still not want certain cultural norms for his daughters. That's his prerogative as a father and as a man who grew up in a male-dominated country."Kalani concluded in her Instagram post, "BUT if you still find yourself so utterly outraged after reading this, please make sure to click the link in my bio and donate to the people suffering from some of the cultural norms my dad was concerned about."As comments poured in expressing support, Kalani began responding to her fans with thanks and gratitude."I don't care if they edit my shit to make me look a certain way -- I signed up for the show, but I won't be quiet if they do that to make my dad look bad," Kalani wrote to one fan in the comments section."Not today, or ever, Satan... My dad never cared who I was with, as long as they treated me well. That's how it's always been, that's how it'll always be."Kalani's sister Kolini then joked that their father hated Kolini's white boyfriends as well."Seriously, if anything, he hates our boyfriends equally, no matter the race or age," the star joked in reply to her sister."I think we have each only introduced two people because it's so uncomfortable."Kalani also revealed through an Instagram comment that her first boyfriend was Samoan from America.
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By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 10/26/2018



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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

star Becca Kufrin is already picturing what her wedding day is going to look like when she marries Garrett Yrigoyen Beeca and Garrett visited Atlantic City to host The Pool After Dark at Harrah's Resort on Saturday, and while there Becca discussed the couple's future plans during an interview with Go To Whitney reporter Whitney Ullman (watch the interview below).When asked what her dream wedding will entail, Becca explained , "I've always pictured it being at a vineyard, just because I love wine and they are so beautiful. So I think we've talked about maybe doing it on a vineyard, maybe in California."Becca and Garrett got engaged at the conclusion of 's fourteenth season in early August after rejecting her devastated runner-up, Blake Horstmann But before falling in love with Garrett, Becca got engaged to Arie Luyendyk Jr. on The Bachelor's 22nd season.Becca may have left that experience with a broken heart once Arie determined he wanted his runner-up, Lauren Burnham , back, but she still left the show with a group of new friends she'll have for the rest of her life."I would love a lot of girls from my season [at my wedding]. I'm so close with [ Caroline Lunny ] and [ Tia Booth ] and [ Chelsea Roy ] and [ Bekah Martinez ] and [ Kendall Long ], so I'd love to have those girls there -- because they knew me since the beginning of this. So to have them and even some of the guys from my season, like, Garrett is still close with some of the guys," Becca revealed."We still stay in touch with some of them and they've been so supportive and great and fun to catch up with."Ever since Becca and Garrett went public with their relationship, they have apparently been traveling together nonstop, making appearances and also enjoying time with their friends and family.During Becca's interview with Go To Whitney, she also talked about the couple's goals and potential new projects."We've been traveling a ton . We're literally living out of a suitcase right now, so the next fun thing is Garrett's brother is getting married, so we head down near San Diego for that, and then just spending some more time in Minnesota ," Becca said."I really want to settle down and figure out where we're going to put down roots and then I have all of these crazy ideas. I want to write a book, I want to start a robe and slippers line -- all of this fun stuff. So we just have to sit down and really start planning it out."According to prior interviews, Becca and Garrett will probably choose between Minnesota, Los Angeles or Garrett's hometown of Reno, NV, as the place where they will settle down.Interested in more The Bachelor news? Join our The Bachelor Facebook Group
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Vietnam Veteran Celestino Flores, right, signs up for My HealtheVet site with a help of Revecca Arnold, Air force veteran, Thursday, Oct. 25, 2018 at the 7th annual Veterans Stand Down and Resource Fair at Veterans Memorial Building in Porterville.
Books are a way to express ideas and influence the way people think about the world, or they can simply be used for enjoyment. Either way, boo
Voters went to the polls amid tight security in Kandahar Province on October 27 in parliamentary elections that were delayed in the southern Afghan province by one week after a high-profile Taliban attack.

Major roads throughout southern Kandahar were closed nearly 24 hours before polls opened to stop vehicle-born explosive devices from entering the province, said provincial governor's spokesman Aziz Ahmed Azizi.

Polls closed at 5 p.m. local time. Election officials could not immediately determine the turnout from the 567,000 registered voters in Kandahar.



Reports suggested that dozens of polling stations opened late because staff did not show up or election materials were not readily available.



Seyed Hafizullah Hashemi, Independent Election Commission spokesman, told RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan that the issue will be investigated.



Election officials said 111 candidates were vying for 11 seats in parliament from southern Kandahar in Afghanistan's 249-seat chamber.

The delay in voting was the result of the assassination of Kandahar's police chief General Abdul Raziq by Taliban insurgents two days before the national elections.

The killing of Raziq, who was widely credited for maintaining stability in Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban, sent shock waves through the country.

Officials said thousands of soldiers were deployed to boost the morale of voters shaken by the killing. Zia Durani, a spokesman for the Kandahar police, said security forces are working to protect more than 550,000 voters expected to cast their ballots in the province.

However, as polls closed no major incidents of violence had been reported during voting in Kandahar on October 27.

But security officials said there could be further attacks by Taliban militants who are seeking to reimpose strict Islamic law in Afghanistan after their 2001 ouster by U.S.-led forces.

The Afghan elections have been rocked by repeated Taliban and Islamic State attacks. Both groups have warned Afghans against participating in the elections and have used violence to try to prevent people from going to the polls.

Underscoring the country's precarious security situation, a suicide bombing outside a police compound in central Wardak Province south of the Afghan capital, Kabul, killed at least five people and wounded 15, a police spokesman said.



The October 27 bombing in Maidan Shahr, the main city of the province, happened as police officers and civilians were going inside the base, Hekmat Durrani, a spokesman for the police chief, said.



Three civilians and two policemen were among the dead, Durrani said, adding that the casualty figure could rise.

A Taliban spokesman said the insurgent group was responsible for the attack.

During two days of voting last weekend, militants launched some 250 attacks across the country, killing at least 50 people and wounding more than 100, the Interior Ministry said.

Raziq and Kandahar's intelligence agency commander were killed on October 18 when a member of the provincial governors bodyguard staff opened fire on officials leaving a meeting with the U.S. commander of Afghanistan's NATO-led force, General Scott Miller.

Miller escaped unharmed, but a U.S. general was one of two Americans wounded in the attack.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's government named Raziq's brother as his successor.

Raziq's death could serve as a rallying point for voters, said Dawa Khan Menapal, an independent Kandahar candidate.

"People are determined to take part in the election because they want to show the Taliban that terror cannot stop the Afghans from deciding their future," he said.

"We are willing to vote and we will come out even if it costs our lives," registered voter Samiullah told AFP. "Afghanistan has been torn by war and that's why we must decide our future and vote for our candidates."

With the Taliban operating across much of the country and heavy pressure from international partners for the vote to be held, the election has been seen as a major test for the government.

Voting last weekend was held in 32 of the countrys 34 provinces, with a high turnout reported despite logistical and technical glitches, as well as violence.

Elections also were not held in central Ghazni Province, southwest of the capital, which is still reeling from the Talibans takeover in August. It was not immediately clear when they will be held.

Preliminary nationwide results are expected to be released in November. Final results will not be known until the new year.

With reporting by Reuters and AFP


Armenia is open to discussing a possible purchase of military equipment from the United States if there is a good offer, according to the acting prime minister of the South Caucasus nation, which has traditionally close ties with Russia.

Visiting Armenia on October 25, U.S. national-security adviser John Bolton said the issue of possible sales of U.S. military equipment was discussed during his meeting with Nikol Pashinian, the acting head of the Armenian government.

In an exclusive interview with RFE/RL later that day, Bolton said buying U.S. military equipment was a viable "option" for Armenia.

If its a question of buying Russian military equipment versus buying U.S. military equipment, wed prefer the latter. We think our equipment is better than the Russians anyway. So we want to look at that. And I think it increases Armenias options when its not entirely dependent on one major power, he said.

Asked by reporters on October 27 whether Yerevan is actually going to purchase military equipment from the United States, Pashinian said: The [Armenian] government is not constrained by anything. If there is an offer from the United States that is good for us, we will discuss it.

Armenia has long had close ties with Russia, but questions about the relations have increased since Pashinian in May ousted from power Serzh Sarkisian, seen as close to Moscow.
Police in Armenia have arrested a man who allegedly tried to make his way into a government building in central Yerevan armed with a hand grenade.

National Security Service officers were questioning the as-yet-unidentified person late on October 27, sources told RFE/RLs Armenian Service.

No one was hurt in the incident, RFE/RLs correspondent reported from the scene.

Talking to RFE/RL, Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinian confirmed that the man held a grenade in his hand. He said he appeared mentally unstable.



His motives remained unclear, although Samson Galstian, a National Security Service spokesman, later told Russian state-run TASS news agency that the man, who was born in 1975, tried to enter the Armenian government building and blow himself up.



National Security Service officers on duty disarmed him," he added.



The RFE/RL Armenian Services correspondent said the situation around the government building remained calm despite the incident.

An official said everything is normal inside the government office and there is no need for panic.
Facebook says it has deleted accounts originating in Iran that featured posts on politically divisive topics and attracted more than 1 million followers in Britain and the United States.

The social network on October 26 said it deleted 82 accounts and pages on Facebook and Instagram that were "fake" and posted on divisive issues such as race, immigration, and U.S. President Donald Trump -- all of which it said were aimed at "sowing discord" ahead of U.S. congressional elections on November 6.

The deleted accounts represented themselves as being American or British and mostly targeted U.S. liberals, according to the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab, a think tank that works with Facebook to study propaganda online.

Facebook said the deleted accounts had attracted more than 1 million followers. It said their posts had been amplified through less than $100 in advertising on Facebook and Instagram in the last year.

Facebook said it spotted coordinated activity between the accounts only a week ago, and moved quickly to stop it, given the looming U.S. elections.

"It looks like the intention was to embed in highly active and engaged communities by posting inflammatory content, and then insert messaging on Saudi [Arabia] and Israel which amplified the Iranian government's narrative," said Ben Nimmo, an information defense fellow with the Digital Forensic Research Lab.

Saudi Arabia and Israel are both avowed enemies of Iran. While the accounts originated in Iran, Facebook said it was unclear if they were linked to the Tehran government.

The social-media giant, the world's largest with 3 billion followers worldwide, said it shared information about the accounts with researchers, other technology companies, and the British and U.S. governments.

"These accounts masqueraded primarily as American liberals, posting only small amounts of anti-Saudi and anti-Israeli content interspersed within large volumes of divisive political content such as race relations, police brutality, and U.S. President Donald Trump," the Atlantic Council said in an online post.

"This evolution of tactics from previous, more blatant pro-Iranian messaging suggests the operation had learned from earlier take-downs," it said.

In August, Facebook, along with Twitter and Google, removed hundreds of accounts linked to Iran.

Iran did not immediately respond to the latest accusations. Tehran has previously denied allegations that it uses social media for disinformation campaigns.

Facebook's head of cybersecurity policy, Nathaniel Gleicher, told reporters on a conference call that the latest operation uncovered by Facebook was more sophisticated than past incidents in ways that made it difficult to identify.

Although most of accounts and pages had existed only since earlier this year, they attracted more followers than the accounts removed in August, some of which dated back to 2013, he said.

The previously suspended Iranian accounts and pages garnered roughly 983,000 followers before being removed, he said.

Social-media companies have increasingly targeted foreign interference on their platforms following criticism that they did not do enough to detect, halt, and disclose Russian efforts to use their platforms to influence the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential race.

Facebook says it has set up a "war room" at its Menlo Park, California, headquarters ahead of the U.S. elections, as well as a presidential election in Brazil on October 28. The war room is staffed with more than 20,000 workers assigned to weed out fake accounts set up to distribute false information.

With reporting by AP, AFP, and Reuters


Iran's parliament approved four new ministers on October 27, all endorsed by President Hassan Rohani who urged them to help "resist" and "fight" the United States as it reinstates sanctions against the Islamic republic.

Rohani's comments came as lawmakers were discussing the vote for candidates vying for the ministries of labor, finance, industry, and transportation.

Parliament speaker Ali Larijani said on October 27 that 200 out of 265 lawmakers voted for Farhad Dejpasand to be the next minister of economy. The chamber has 290 seats.

The former industry minister, Mohammad Shariatmadari, got 196 votes to become the new labor minister, and Reza Rahmani was approved by 203 votes as minister of industry.

Mohammad Eslami became the transportation minister with 151 votes.

The United States has steadily restored sanctions on Iran following President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear accord in May.

Next month, the United States plans to impose sanctions on Iran's oil and gas industry.

Iran is already in the grip of an economic crisis and has seen sporadic protests in recent months.

"We have problems that we must solve with each other's help," Rohani told lawmakers.

Based on reporting by AFP, Reuters, and AP
Georgia may be on the brink of being the first Caucasus nation to elect a female president in balloting this weekend to succeed incumbent Giorgi Margvelashvili, who isnt seeking a second term.

French-born former Foreign Minister Salome Zurabishvili, 66, is among a record 25 candidates in a bruising race notable more for its dirty tricks and mudslinging than debate on policy.

The countrys voters began casting ballots as polling stations opened at 8 a.m. local time on October 28. They are scheduled to close at 8 p.m.



Some 3.5 million are eligible to cast ballots in the election, which is being monitored by observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Zurabishvili, who is running as an independent even though she has the backing of the ruling Georgian Dream party headed by former Prime Minister and billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, has faced personal attacks over her background and been branded a traitor for saying a brief war with Russia over the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in 2008 occurred because we yielded to Russia's provocation.

The campaign has also been marked by the release of several secretly recorded audiotapes alleging bribery among state officials, a murder plot implicating former President Mikheil Saakashvili, and claims of witness tampering and torture in politically charged cases.

If there is a sufficient mobilization of Georgian Dream supporters, Salome Zurabishvili should score a first-round victory, Ivanishvili said.

Independent opinion polls are hard to come by in Georgia, but party-backed surveys suggest the main challengers are Zurabishvili, Grigol Vashadze, also a former foreign minister who is running for the opposition United National Movement (UNM), and former parliamentary speaker Davit Bakradze, nominated by the opposition European Georgia party.

The first-round winner needs more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff between the top two candidates. If Zurabishvili doesnt clinch a majority of votes in the first round, Ivanishvili said there is no doubt she will win a runoff.

Georgia, which is strategically important for the West and is crisscrossed with pipelines carrying Caspian oil and gas to Europe, has pushed hard for greater political and economic integration with the European Union and other Western structures.

But the former Soviet republic is also struggling to recover from a decline in exports and a plunge in the currencies of its main trading partners, which have depressed economic growth in recent years.

While the president ensures adherence to the constitution by state bodies, the position's crucial function lies in foreign policy as the main negotiator of international treaties and accords. The president also appoints ambassadors and other diplomatic representatives.

For a country at a crossroads in a region known for rampant corruption, some analysts fear the dominance of Ivanishvili behind the scenes could hinder Georgias reputation as a bastion of progress and reforms.

For many years, Georgia has been one of the top performing countries in its region on anticorruption and good governance, while the recent backsliding on democratic governance is extremely troubling, says Transparency International chairwoman Delia Ferreira Rubio.

It would be a great shame if Georgias progress towards improved rule of law would turn instead towards kleptocracy and impunity for corruption, she added.

The presidential election, Georgia's seventh since 1991, will be the last in which the head of state will be elected by direct ballot.

A 2017 constitutional amendment takes effect after the vote that will see subsequent presidents elected by a 300-member College of Electors, comprising parliamentarians and local and regional political representatives.

If Zurabishvili does emerge as the victor in the vote, she would become the first woman outside the Baltics to be elected head of state in a post-Soviet republic.

Nino Burjanadze was twice thrust into the role of president, once just after the Rose Revolution and again when Saakashvili stepped down in late 2007 to call early presidential elections following a political crisis over a violent crackdown on opposition protesters. Burjanadze was parliamentary speaker at the time.
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has told Arab leaders that Russia is no replacement for the United States in the Middle East, following Moscow's military intervention in Syria.

"Russia's presence in the region cannot replace the long-standing, enduring, and transparent U.S. commitment to the Middle East," Mattis said on October 27 at a meeting in the Bahraini capital, Manama.

Later on October 27, Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to attend a summit in Istanbul with the leaders of France, Germany, and Turkey seeking to find a lasting political solution to the seven-year civil war in Syria.

Russia supports the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Turkey backs the rebels seeking to oust the Syrian leader.

Mattis told the annual Manama Dialogue security conference in Bahrain that Moscow's "opportunism and willingness to overlook Assad's criminal activities against his own people evidences its lack of sincere commitment to essential moral principles."

Mattis said Iran's support for the Syrian regime "coupled with Russia's repeated vetoes of UN Security Council resolutions, is the leading reason Assad remains in power."

In his remarks, Mattis also warned that incidents like the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi undermined Middle Eastern stability and that the United States would take additional measures against those responsible.

Khashoggi, 59, a U.S. resident and Washington Post columnist, was critical of Saudi rulers. He disappeared after walking into Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2 to obtain marriage documents.

Turkey alleges a 15-member "hit squad" was sent to kill the journalist.

Saudi Arabia has said it arrested 18 people in connection with Khashoggi's killing.

Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor said on October 25 that the killing of Khashoggi was premeditated, reversing previous official statements that his death was unintended.

The United States "does not tolerate this kind of ruthless action to silence Mr. Khashoggi, a journalist, through violence," Mattis said at the meeting in Manama.

"The failure of any nation to adhere to international norms and the rule of law undermines regional stability at a time when it is needed most, he added.

He did not mention de facto Saudi ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman who has faced international criticism, with many officials charging he must have known about Khashoggi's killing, and some saying he may have ordered it.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo this week announced moves against 21 Saudis to either revoke their visas or make them ineligible for U.S. visas after the Khashoggi killing.

"Our secretary of state has already revoked visas and will be taking additional measures," Mattis said.

Speaking at the conference in Bahrain, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Riyadh will prosecute the suspects in the killing of Khashoggi.



"On the issue of extradition, the individuals are Saudi nationals. They're detained in Saudi Arabia, and the investigation is in Saudi Arabia, and they will be prosecuted in Saudi Arabia," Jubeir said in response to a call by Turkey for extradition.



He said the kingdom has made it "very clear that those responsible will be held responsible" while calling the global outcry over Khashoggi's killing "hysterical."



Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for the extradition of the 18 Saudi nationals who authorities say were involved in the murder of Khashoggi.



Erdogan has also called on Saudi Arabia to disclose the location of Khashoggi's body.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, and AFP
A gunman opened fire at a Pittsburgh synagogue on October 27, killing 11 people.

At least six other people were wounded, including four police officers, authorities said.

Police said a suspect was in custody after the attack at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood.

A law enforcement official identified the suspect as Robert Bowers and said he is in his 40s.

U.S. President Donald Trump condemned what he described as an act of "hate" and praised the actions of law enforcement for doing "an outstanding job."

When asked by a reporter about gun control, Trump suggested that an armed guard inside the synagogue would have been able to stop the suspect.

Trump also said such shooters should receive the death penalty and "suffer the ultimate price."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was "heartbroken and appalled" by the attack.

"The entire people of Israel grieve with the families of the dead," Netanyahu said. "We stand together with the Jewish community of Pittsburgh. We stand together with the American people in the face of this horrendous anti-Semitic brutality. And we all pray for the speedy recovery of the wounded."

Based on reporting by CNN, AP, and Reuters
Russia has failed in a bid at the United Nations to schedule debate on a resolution to preserve a 1987 nuclear arms treaty that U.S. President Donald Trump has vowed to abandon.

The UN General Assembly's disarmament committee late on October 26 voted against putting the resolution on the UN's agenda, with 55 nations voting against the Russian proposal and 31 voting in favor. There were 54 abstentions.

The vote represented a victory for the United States, which was seeking to block the Russian proposal, which Moscow had hoped would galvanize global support for the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty spurned by Trump.

Robert Wood, the U.S. ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament, said the Russian proposal was rejected because it was a "very politicized" and it was not submitted in time under an October 18 deadline for considering such proposals.

Senior Russian arms control official Andrei Belousov said he didn't understand the vote, claiming that most of the countries which abstained "are active supporters of nuclear disarmament" and even a significant number of those who voted against the resolution are in favor of preserving the INF treaty.

Russia "tried to send a serious signal to U.S. political circles about the danger of the course chosen by the current administration," he said. "We thought that such an initiative would be supported by all sensible forces."

A UN diplomat told AP that European Union and NATO countries voted against the Russian proposal and asked others to abstain to prevent further escalation of tensions between the United States and Russia and to promote a negotiated solution.

Several of the countries that abstained from voting argued that the issue was more a matter to bring before the UN Security Council, which deals with global security threats.

Russian diplomats said they had not ruled out submitting the proposal to the UN council, where both Moscow and Washington exercise veto power.

Belousov said Russia will work with countries supporting its position to bring the proposal directly before the UN General Assembly, bypassing the disarmament committee

Trump has said he is pulling the United States out of the treaty signed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and the Soviet Union's last leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, because Russia has allegedly been violating it since at least 2014 and because the treaty does not cover China, which has been developing missiles banned under the treaty.

The treaty required both Russia and the United States to eliminate an entire class of weapons -- all ground-launched cruise and ballistic missiles with a range of between 500 and 5,000 kilometers.

Wood repeated the U.S. accusations on October 26, telling the disarmament committee that for 5 1/2 years the United States has tried to engage Russia on the issue of treaty violations.

He said Moscow only recently admitted producing a ground-launched missile, but maintained it didn't violate the range limits.

"We presented them with information to the contrary, but they continued to deny being in noncompliance with the treaty," Wood said. "Instead of responding to our engagement, we received denials and ridiculous accusations that it is the U.S. that is violating the treaty."

Russia has maintained that some aspects of the U.S. missile-defense system in Europe violate the treaty.

Belousov repeated Russia's stance, saying "we have been making complaints about this since 2000" but "they run from us."

Belousov claimed that at a recent meeting, U.S. officials declared that Russia was preparing for war.

"Yes, Russia is preparing for a war. I confirm it," the Russian envoy said. "Yes, we are preparing to defend our homeland, our territorial integrity, our principles, our people."

"The Russian Federation is preparing for war, and the United States of America is preparing for a war... That is the fact," Belousov said.

He said the Russian proposal at the UN was designed to convince the United States "to take a constructive position, continue the dialogue...and refrain from building up its nuclear potential" -- something Trump has threatened to do once he withdraws from the treaty.

Media reported that the draft Russian resolution described the INF treaty as a "cornerstone" of world peace and stability and called for keeping it in place. It also called on Moscow and Washington to restart talks on resolving complaints on both sides of treaty violations.

With reporting by AP and AFP


Seventy years ago, as the Cold War was dawning between former World War II allies the United States and the Soviet Union, one of America's most prominent writers, John Steinbeck, and one of the world's most celebrated combat photojournalists, Robert Capa, published A Russian Journal. It was a slim volume billed as "honest reporting, to set down what we saw and heard without editorial comment, without drawing conclusions about things we didn't know sufficiently." Steinbeck's book, illustrated with Capa's dramatic photographs, was an effort to explore "the great other side." "It is not the Russian story," the book states, "but simply a Russian story." The 1948 book was based on a 40-day tour of the Soviet Union that the two men undertook the previous summer, just a year after Winston Churchill's famous declaration that "from Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an 'iron curtain' has descended across the continent [of Europe]." During the trip, they visited Moscow, Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), Stalingrad (now Volgograd), and Georgia. They also spent nine days in Soviet Ukraine, visiting Kyiv and some nearby collective farms. Current Time TV, the Russian-language network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA, has gained access to a seven-page report filed by the Soviet secret police covering the Ukrainian portion of this historic journey. The document -- titled A Special Report On The Visit To Ukraine Of American Writer Steinbeck and dated August 31, 1947 -- was recently declassified by the former KGB archive in Kyiv. Similar documents covering other parts of the two men's journey likely remain classified in Russian archives. "During their stay in Kyiv, Steinbeck and Capa were accompanied by agents daily, were constantly monitored, and ____," the document says. It was standard practice by Soviet security officers to leave such blanks in their reports and to fill them in later by hand in order to prevent typists from getting access to sensitive information. This blank, however, was never filled in and must remain a mystery.

The Soviets generally had a positive view of Steinbeck. His classic novel The Grapes Of Wrath, depicting the suffering of American farm workers during the Great Depression, was published and widely read there as an example of the horrors of capitalism. By the time Steinbeck arrived in the Soviet Union, however, American farmers were doing much better and the writer praised the U.S. government for the assistance it provided to them. Capa was born in Hungary in 1913 and became one of the world's most audacious and celebrated war correspondents. He covered the Spanish Civil War (where he captured one of the most enduring images of that conflict) and the Second Sino-Japanese War in the late 1930s. During World War II, he landed with U.S. forces at Omaha Beach on D-Day and took 11 of the most famous images of that historic operation. He was killed in 1954 at the age of 40 when he stepped on a land mine while covering the French war in Indochina. It is clear from the 1947 Soviet report that the agents strongly suspected that Steinbeck and Capa were carrying out a mission for the U.S. government. They noted that one of the first things Steinbeck did upon arriving in Moscow was to meet with U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union Walter Bedell Smith. According to the document, the Soviets believed "the ruling circles of the United States were using Steinbeck's stature as a writer and his political authority in the Soviet Union to carry out pro-American propaganda." The goal, they wrote, was to cast blame on the Soviet Union for the deteriorating international political climate. The agents note that Steinbeck made public statements in favor of U.S. economic assistance to Europe and refused to express support for American communists or other pro-Soviet foreigners.

At an event hosted by Ukrainian playwright Oleksandr Korneichuk, head of the Ukrainian Union of Writers, Steinbeck participated in a toast in honor of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin but pointedly stated that he was drinking "also for the Soviet people." According to other documents found in the former KGB archive in Kyiv, at least three of the Ukrainian writers present at the event, including Korneichuk, were informants. In addition, Steinbeck was accused of "studying the political mood of the people and, apparently, the agricultural potential of the Soviet Union." The report notes that Steinbeck was the "fourth American" to come to the Soviet Union asking questions about agriculture and the harvest. In the report, Steinbeck was described as "quiet" and "closed." It says he rarely asked questions and responded to questions "unwillingly." Capa was the opposite -- unusually talkative and curious. Nonetheless, the Soviets clearly viewed Steinbeck as the leader of the mission, and scant attention was paid to Capa's statements or actions. The report claims that although Steinbeck did not ask any questions, he returned from visiting the collective farms with detailed knowledge of how many tractors, milking machines, and generators they had. The report also notes that Steinbeck traveled from Kyiv straight to Russia's agricultural Don region without expressing interest in visiting the industrial Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. The Soviet agents suspected that the Hungarian-born Capa secretly spoke Russian. Steinbeck writes in the book that Capa did not, but says "in the course of a month he learned a few words that he pronounced with some sort of accent, apparently Uzbek." Nonetheless, the Soviet report said Capa answered questions before his translator had time to translate them and reacted to jokes and other statements without waiting for translations. Capa frequently expressed sympathy for the Soviet Union, the report says.

The vast majority of the photographs Capa took for the project showed the Soviet Union in a positive light. According to the report, "several" of his negatives were confiscated by censors before Capa was allowed to leave the country, but it is unclear what became of them. The report also claims that some unknown documents with "suspicious content" were taken from Capa. Those documents, which were supposedly appended to the report, have likewise gone missing. It is unknown whether Steinbeck was actually carrying out some sort of mission for the U.S. government during his 1947 trip. However, in 2013, academic Brian Kennard published a study called Steinbeck: Citizen Spy that revealed the writer's connections with the CIA. Kennard managed to get a 1952 letter that Steinbeck sent to the CIA prior to a trip to Europe in which he informed the CIA director -- the same Walter Bedell Smith who had been the U.S. ambassador in Moscow in 1947 -- that he would "be pleased to be of service." In another letter also released by the CIA, Smith responded with appreciation. "You can, indeed, be of help to us by keeping your eyes and ears open on any political developments in the areas through which you travel," Smith wrote, proposing a meeting after Steinbeck's return to the United States. In 1962, Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize in Literature. The following fall, he returned to the Soviet Union, again visiting Kyiv. No documents concerning this trip have yet been uncovered in the former KGB archive.
The leaders of Turkey, Russia, France, and Germany have discussed the war in Syria at a summit, reiterating calls for a UN-backed political process to end the war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and French President Emmanuel Macron gathered for the talks on Syria in Istanbul on October 27.

Afterward, the four issued a final statement also calling for the convening of a committee by the end of the year to work on constitutional reform as a prelude to free and fair elections in Syria.

It also supports efforts to facilitate the "safe and voluntary" return of refugees to their Syrian homes.

The statement also rejects "separatist agendas aimed at undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria as well as the national security of neighboring countries."

Many obstacles to a peace agreement remain. They include divided opinions about Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is backed by Russia and Iran.

Western countries, meanwhile, condemn Assad for what they call indiscriminate attacks on civilians and Turkey has been helping insurgents trying to remove him from power.

With reporting by AFP, dpa, AP and Reuters
Dortmund, which has netted 27 goals in eight league games plus eight in three Champions League matches without conceding one in Europe, is at home to sixth-place Hertha Berlin on Saturday.
UN and Western diplomats are urging Russia to help overcome Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's opposition to giving the UN a role in forming a committee to draft a new constitution for the war-torn country.

UN envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura told the Security Council on October 26 that the UN faces "a serious challenge" to its efforts to forge a peace deal in Syria as a result of the government's refusal to accept any formal role for the UN in forming the constitutional committee.

"The role of the United Nations is one of a facilitator -- to facilitate inter-Syrian dialogue," Syria's UN Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari told the council, insisting that members of the constitutional committee should be selected only by Syrian opposition groups and the Syrian government in coordination with government allies Iran and Russia.

At issue is a list of 50 constitutional committee members de Mistura has compiled, as directed by a Russian-hosted Syrian peace conference in January. Damascus has objected to the representatives from civil society groups and others on the UN list, though it has accepted a list of 50 committee members offered by opposition groups in Syria.

Forming a committee to draft a postwar constitution for Syria is seen as a stepping stone to staging elections in the country.

De Mistura said he will brief the leaders of Russia, France, Germany, and Turkey, who are meeting in Istanbul on October 27, on the situation. He said he hopes they will "seize the opportunity" of relative calm in Syria's seven-year civil war to push for a speedy solution on the composition of the constitutional committee.

"The influence that can be exercised by all world leaders, including very much the four world leaders who I am meeting tomorrow in Istanbul, can be crucial in ensuring that this happens," he said.

Though Washington is not participating in the Istanbul meeting, U.S. Deputy UN Ambassador Jonathan Cohen said it supports the UN's effort to "move swiftly to convene the constitutional committee." He added that Syria's "obstruction on the committee's formation is unacceptable."

De Mistura said "the UN is not opposed to constructive and moderate suggestions" from Syria on who to put on the list, but he said the constitutional committee must maintain "credibility, balance, international legitimacy."

France's UN Ambassador Francois Delattre said "Syria is currently at a crossroads," and it can move into an escalation of its military campaign in Idlib Province, the last remaining rebel stronghold in Syria, or take "the path of political momentum," starting with agreement on a constitutional committee.

He said Russia will play a key role in determining the outcome.

"Between war and peace in Syria, the key is largely in the country of Tolstoy," Delattre said, referring to Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, the author of War And Peace.

Russia's UN Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya urged Western leaders to exercise patience, saying "there are no grounds for establishing artificial deadlines for the establishment of a constitutional committee."

But he said: "We cannot go against the will of Syria... We will help Staffan de Mistura create this constitutional committee with respect for Syrian sovereignty."

The chief negotiator for Syria's opposition, who visited Moscow on October 26, also said he was looking to Russia to help forge a settlement of the war, which has killed more than 300,000 people and displaced millions.

"Of course, Russia can do a lot and can facilitate the expansion of dialogue," Nasr al-Hariri told reporters before meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

"We have strived and will continue to strive for dialogue and negotiations with Russia to achieve a political solution," he said. "Russia is a state that has major influence on the Syrian issue."

In the past, Syria's opposition has described Russian forces, which have been providing air support for Syrian troops since 2015, as an "occupation" force.

With reporting by AP, AFP, and Reuters


For the conscientious carnivore, it's a tough but unavoidable question: How do I balance safe and responsible meat buying with taste and affordability?



As consumers grow more concerned with environmental, ethical and safety issues surrounding meat  especially chicken  a whole new market of premium products has emerged to address them.



Some are designed to protect animal welfare, the environment or food safety, while others are aimed at improving flavor and nutrient content. But for these considerations, you can pay up to 10 times what you'd pay for an ordinary bird.



With so many regulated and unregulated claims and labels on chicken alone, it's hard to know where to invest your meat dollars.



We recently boned up on our prime poultry terminology to help you sort through the flock of claims and fancy birds.



We even baked up five types of birds to see which delivered the best taste and texture.



Other terms to know



Free range: Producers must demonstrate that poultry has been allowed access to the outdoors. No specified amount of time outside or stocking density is required.



Certified Humane Program; American Humane Certified Program and Animal Welfare Approved Program: Requires limits on transportation duration, limits on stocking density, specific stunning and slaughtering techniques and no non-therapeutic use of antibiotics, no beak trimming and no continuous light exposure. Outdoor access is not required.



Natural: A product that contains no artificial ingredients or added color and is only minimally processed. Most chickens would pass these requirements.



Amish chickens



Cost: $1.99 per pound



Source: Miller Amish Country Poultry, prepackaged at Whole Foods (and labeled Pine Manor)



Definition: Some claim that the Amish label is simply a marketing ploy, but a USDA spokesman says the department requires at least a geographical verification that the birds were raised on "Amish facilities." That said, no other requirements are enforced. Some Amish brands, such as Miller's Poultry, claim their birds are raised without the use of antibiotics, on all-vegetable feed, with access to sunlight and primarily "cared for by peace-loving Amish families." But they also say that the birds are not free to leave the "curtain-sided" facilities where they live.



Taste: Our panel rated this bird in the middle of the pack. Some felt it was a little dry with only a mild flavor. Flavor outcomes can vary among different Amish brands.



Air chilled



Cost: $2.29 per pound



Source: Miller Amish Country Poultry, Whole Foods



Definition: After slaughter, birds are hung and chilled in a cooler rather than being dropped in a pool of cold water. This method is more widely used in Europe and results in little or no extra water weight in the finished bird.



Pros and cons: Consumer doesn't pay for added water weight. Consumer Reports found lower incidents of salmonella and campylobacter on air chilled chickens that they bought in grocery stores. And some producers claim that this chilling method saves 30,000 gallons of chlorinated water a day at their facilities.



Taste: This bird garnered mostly high to medium scores but a range of comments from "I like the chickeny flavor" to "livery."



Organic



Cost: $2.99 per pound.



Source: Whole Foods



Definition: Must be raised under organic standards from the second day of the bird's life. Poultry must be fed only certified organic feed or be pastured in certified organic fields. No antibiotics, hormones or animal byproducts are allowed. Birds must be given access to the outdoors and allowed to exhibit natural behaviors. Indoor confinement must be temporary and justified due to weather. Animals must have access to the outdoors, shade, exercise areas, fresh air and direct sunlight. No minimum levels of access have been set, nor has a specific maximum flock density.



Pros and cons: Organic chickens have been found to carry lower levels of salmonella and campylobacter contamination than factory farmed birds. But they can cost three times as much as regular birds.



Taste: This big plump and juice bird attracted the highest taste rating from our panelists; comments included "good, full flavor," "delicious and moist" and "very sensuous."



Pastured chicken



Cost: $3.25 per pound



Source: Arnold's Farm, Elizabeth, Ill., arnoldsfarm.com



Definition: Although this label is not regulated by the USDA, many in the animal welfare and culinary community seek it out over, say, free range. Whereas free-range chickens are raised indoors but "given access" to the outdoors, pastured poultry should be raised primarily outdoors but provided with access to shelter that moves with them as they are taken to new pasture. According to the USDA, they can derive up to 20 percent of their feed from pasture forage, plants and bugs that can offer substantial amounts of protein and more complex flavor.



Pros and cons: Theoretically, chickens get to live a more normal outdoor life, eating foraged food, while ridding fields of pests and fertilizing and aerating the soil. But these birds are often leaner and more muscular, therefore requiring slower cooking and lower temperatures. Additionally, they can cost three times more than factory farmed chickens.



Taste: Some said the chicken was too firm and "mild in flavor," while others said "taste of chicken comes through in white and dark meat."



Heritage chickens



Cost: $6.95-$10.95 lb



Source: Heritage Foods (heritagefoods.com and faithsfarm.org)



Definition: Heritage chickens must come from breeds that were recognized by the American Poultry Association (APA) prior to the mid-20th century. They must mate naturally and have "long productive outdoor lives" of at least 16 weeks, unlike industrial chickens, which are usually confined indoors and slaughtered at 7 weeks. A typical Jersey Giant chicken lives about 28 weeks.



Pros and cons: Diners who care about animal welfare and health can feel better that these birds lived a long life outdoors and could engage in normal behaviors. Studies also have shown Heritage birds to have lower fat and higher protein content than industrial breeds. Supporters claim that if you don't eat them, the breeds (and thus a part of America's food history) will disappear. They can cost six to 10 times as much as regular chickens.



Taste: We tried both the Jersey Giants and the Barred Rock. The birds were more muscular and leaner and featured a yellower skin, smaller breasts and longer legs than our other birds. The breast was moist when cooked low and slow in a covered dish, but definitely firmer than its counterparts. Some tasters said it tasted more "chickeny" while others said "like real chicken," while another called it "grassy."
We interviewed many black chefs and asked them to reflect on that one constant among them  their whole careers, they're usually the only African-American in the kitchen:

Marcus Samuelsson

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, celebrity chef, Red Rooster (Harlem), C-House (Chicago):

"It's not 'for the most part' that I've been the only black face. It's for the only part. It was strange to see a black person washing dishes. I would get asked: 'Are you the dishwasher?' Because that was the slight window where a lot of kitchens would have a black person. ... Oh, I could go on all day about this. When African-Americans had the chance to send kids to college, the first thing they said was, 'You aren't going to be cooking, cleaning or serving. You're going to be lawyers, doctors. Cooking has a stigma in the black community it doesn't have other places. That's one answer. Another is black people have always cooked but have never been acknowledged.

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The cook was always a French man. But there were a lot of invisible hands involved. I can't tell you how many older African-American waiters I've heard from who were working at hotels who, just when they were set to be chefs, cooking became an acceptable profession. Patrick Clark (of New York's Tavern on the Green) was one of the first. And we lost a generation of inspired black chefs when he died (at age 42 in 1998 of a heart attack). But also shame on us for not celebrating him more, (or) ... Sylvia Woods, Edna Lewis. These are iconic American figures. Of all the monuments and plaques the African-American community's created, we still haven't taken care of these accomplishments."

Devin McDavid

, executive pastry chef, Quince (San Francisco), previously pastry chef

de partie

at Thomas Keller's Per Se in New York and French Laundry in Napa Valley, Calif.:

"My family has always been very, very supportive of anything I wanted to do. I have friends in the restaurant business whose parents pushed them with, 'Why not do accounting?' But as long as I'm happy, my parents are happy. ... Growing up (in Trinidad), (race) was never an issue. When we moved to the U.S., it was brought to my attention that it was a part of who you are, and it influenced people's first judgment of you, which I found really weird.

You work that much harder, proving to yourself that you can do this regardless of what people might think is your disadvantage or disability. I've been fortunate to work in kitchens where that's never been an issue. ... Sometimes (customers) are surprised. Sometimes it's just awkward, and they don't know what to say. They're like, 'Ah, OK, where do we go from here?'"

Tanya Holland

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, chef-owner of Brown Sugar Kitchen and B-Side BBQ, both in Oakland, Calif.; author of "New Soul Cooking: Updating a Cuisine Rich in Flavor and Tradition":

"My parents had a gourmet cooking club, so I was always around food. In my subconscious, food meant entertaining, experimenting, bringing people together. ... I entered college as an engineering major. My parents were in favor of very practical degrees. They told me as a black woman engineer, I could write my own ticket. ... I had restaurant jobs all through school, saw all the elements of the industry, all the while hosting dinner parties. My intention was to be a restaurateur, but I really wanted to know the food.

And then I had an opportunity with Food Network (on "Melting Pot"), and I did that for three years. ... It has been a pretty frustrating journey. Doors just weren't open. They're more open now. Even on Food Network, they were dumbing us down. I was in the soul kitchen, so they wanted me to act sassy. I'm from suburbia, I'm educated, I have this plethora of experience. That wasn't the way I was going to act. ... I'm not discounting the success I've had, but it's not on the level of what it could be. ... I do think a lack of role models is part of it. ... I never found the mentor I'd hoped for. So now I'm very active on becoming a mentor. Because I never found it for myself, I value that."

 Christopher Borrelli and Phil Vettel
Mexican navy finds body of missing lieutenant after helicopter falls into sea

Gulf of Santa Clara, Sonara  The body of a lieutenant missing after a naval helicopter crashed into the sea, has been found.

Members of the Search and Rescue station of the Mexican Navy have located and recovered the body of 50-year-old Lieutenant Corvette Juan Mateo Cabreara, missing after an Mi-17 helicopter fell into the sea in the Gulf of Santa Clara in the state of Sonora.

The collapse of the Russian helicopter occurred on October 20 when the aircraft, with 12 crew members, was carrying out overflights to deter illegal fishermen. Other nearby fishermen videoed the crash that happened after the aircraft lost momentum.

The nearby fishermen headed to the accident scene to rescue the fallen sailors from the sea. Eleven were removed from the water, but Cabrera did not appear among the survivors.

A naval force of 270 members was deployed by the command located in Ensenada, Baja California to locate the naval officer. A spokesmen for the navy said that the secretariat would refrain from issuing any statement about the finding of the body.

The helicopter was performing surveillance work as part of the conservation of the vaquitas well as to combat illegal fishing in that area. The helicopter was flying between the states of Baja California and Sonora when the accident occurred.

So far the causes of the collapse of the military aircraft has not been determined.
New air services between Mexico, Middle East approved

Cancun, Q.R.  New air services between Mexico and the middle east has been approved that will see passengers arriving into the country from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

In a meeting between the Asia-Pacific United Commissions of Foreign Affairs and Mexican Foreign Affairs, an agreement was unanimously approved that would see the opening of air services between Mexico and three countries in the Middle East, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Legislators who participated in the meeting stressed that the agreement is very important for Mexico for two reasons. One, Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are looking to diversify their economic activity from the oil sector to tourism, real estate, telecommunications and infrastructure among others. Such activities would benefit Mexican workers and companies.

Mexico sells engines, refrigeration appliances and agricultural products such as honey, tuna and avocados to these countries. With this agreement, we are going to see more companies reach those countries more easily and more workers have a better future, the agreement states.

The second reason the agreement was approved was for Mexico to receive more tourists from these countries, benefiting, in particular, Quintana Roo since it is the state with the largest tourist figures in the country.

The agreement will also serve to expedite commercial routes and the exchange of human resources including professors, intellectuals and scientists who contribute to the cultural exchange between Mexico and the Middle East.

Dario Flota Ocampo, director of the Tourism Promotion Trust of Quintana Roo noted that the Moscow-Cancun flight has also recently been renewed with Azur Air landing last week carrying 432 passengers into the Cancun airport.

He says on average, Russian tourists say between 10 and 12 nights with an average expenditure of $500 per day and that the renewal of the flight will help generate more Russian tourists to the Mexican Caribbean.
Eddie Merlot's. Of the 10 Eddie Merlot's locations in the country (two more are scheduled for 2014), three are in the Chicago suburbs: Burr Ridge, Lincolnshire and Warrenville. Of the designated-shareable plates on the menu, the iced seafood platter is the most dramatic; the assortment of shrimp, oysters and king-crab legs arrives on dry ice, for an '80s-rock-concert effect. It's not as massive as some other seafood platters in the market, but at $48 for two, it's relatively affordable. The chateaubriand for two ($92) is much more old-school, presented whole and carved tableside; the dish comes with your choice of sides, and the Eddie's potato, diced with jalapeno pepper and blanketed by a cheese gratin, should be one of those choices. 185 N. Milwaukee Ave., Lincolnshire, 847-276-2000
A day visit to Kerala to attend a party function

PTI, Kannur (27th Oct'18): BJP president Amit Shah arrived here Saturday on a day visit to Kerala to attend a party function in the city and the 90th Mahasamadhi observance of saint social reformer Sree Narayana Guru at Varkala near Thiruvananthapuram. Hundreds of party workers gathered to welcome Shah, who became the first passenger to land at the Kannur International Airport slated for official inauguration on December 9. Shah will inaugurate the party's new district office located at Thalikkavu, party sources said.

Reached Kannur, the beautiful coastal city in Kerala. I am looking forward to interacting with the people of Kerala and karyakartas of @BJP4Keralam. pic.twitter.com/lcUiT1fimd Advertisement October 27, 2018

He would also visit the family members of slain BJP activist Remith, who was killed allegedly by the activists of CPI(M) in 2002. Later in the day, Shah will attend the 'Mahasamadhi Navathi Yathi Pooja Sammelan' at Sivagiri, a hillock spiritual mutt established by Narayana Guru in Varkala near Thiruvananthapuram. Shah's Kerala visit assumes significance in the wake of massive protests against the CPI(M)-led LDF government's decision to implement the Supreme Court verdict permitting women of all age groups into the Sabarimala temple.

Shri @AmitShah is speaking at the inauguration of new BJP district office in Kannur, Kerala. Watch at https://t.co/zxwSsnMAYy #BJP4Sabarimala pic.twitter.com/LG1XHz97kL Advertisement October 27, 2018

The BJP in the state has extended full support to the agitation led by devotees of Lord Ayyappa to protect the age-old tradition of the shrine. The state had witnessed massive protests from devotees at various places, including Sabarimala, Nilakkal and Pamba, against permitting women of all ages to enter the shrine, where the deity is 'Naishtika Brahmachari' (perennial celibate), when the temple was opened for monthly poojas from October 17-22. At least 12 women in the 'barred' age group (10-50) had tried to trek the hills to offer prayers but had to retreat following widespread protests.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj

PTI, New Delhi (27th Oct'18): External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will travel to Qatar and Kuwait from October 28 to 31 in pursuit of India's objective of enhanced engagement with the Gulf region. She will have engagements in Qatar on October 28 and 29 and Kuwait on October 30 and 31, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement. During her visit to Qatar, Swaraj will interact with her counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister. She will also call on Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, Emir of Qatar. During her visit, she will also interact with the Indian community in Doha, the MEA said.

India and Qatar share millennia old historic multi-dimensional, relations. The bilateral visit of the Emir of Qatar in March 2015 and Prime Minister of Qatar to India in December 2016 and that of the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Qatar in June 2016 have further boosted traditionally cordial and close ties between the two countries, the MEA said. Qatar hosts about seven lakh Indians who form the largest expatriate community there. Qatar is a reliable energy partner, supplying more than 50 per cent of India's natural gas imports, it said.

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India's bilateral trade with Qatar in 2017-18 was USD 9.9 billion, the MEA said. The next leg of the visit would be to Kuwait, where Swaraj will hold a bilateral meeting with her counterpart Sheikh Sabah Al Khalid Al Sabah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kuwait. She will also call on the Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and interact with the Indian community.

Swaraj to visit Qatar

India and Kuwait have close and friendly bilateral relations. Kuwait is a reliable energy supplier to India and hosts about 10 lakh Indians forming the largest expatriate community. India's bilateral trade with Kuwait in 2017-18 was USD 8.5 billion, the MEA said. This will be Swaraj's first visit as External Affairs Minister to both the countries. The visit is in pursuit of India's objective of enhanced engagement with the Gulf region which is in India's extended neighbourhood.

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It will provide an opportunity to hold in-depth discussions with the political leadership on a wide range of global, regional and bilateral issues and will advance India's growing engagement with these countries in particular and the region in general, the MEA added.
Let me just say upfront, thats completely false, Lightfoot said. Theres a rumor going around that Im going to step down and take a deal, and Ill name it, as some person in a Toni Preckwinkle administration. Let me be clear: Thats never happening. It was false the minute it was said, and what it shows, frankly, is the kind of machine-style bullying that has no place in the future of this city.
I said, I told you it was shots, Tami Bosgraaf said, as the couple walked away from the crime scene after coming outside to see what was happening.
Over this past weekend, at least 42 people were shot, five of them fatally, including a 16-year-old boy, according to data kept by the Tribune. Nearly half of those shootings occurred in the Englewood police district on the South Side and the Harrison and Austin districts on the West side -- neighborhoods that have borne the brunt of violence this year.
What causes some adolescents to thrive while other teenagers struggle with substance abuse and mental health? Through years of research, the scientists who study development and the clinicians who treat troubled teenagers have developed a list of risk factors that predict the problems faced by adolescents.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, an influential philanthropic organization that focuses on health, recently published a report on adolescent wellness that prioritized risk factors for adolescents. The top three -- poverty, racism and discrimination -- have been on the list for many years, but the 2018 report included a new factor: ongoing pressures to excel that occur in high-achieving schools in mostly affluent communities.

Although attending a high-achieving school might not seem as risky as living in poverty or facing racism or discrimination, decades of research has shown that in fact it is.

"Teens in high achieving schools face different kinds of pressure, but it is substantial pressure nonetheless," said Arizona State University psychology graduate student Ashley Ebbert.

Ebbert has worked with Frank Infurna and Suniya Luthar in the ASU Department of Psychology to examine how the quality of the parent-child relationship influenced the mental health of adolescents who attend high-achieving schools. She is first author on an upcoming paper in Development and Psychopathology that will be published on October 25.

A long-term predictive study of adolescence

The researchers used data from the New England Study of Suburban Youth (NESSY), a long-term study of adolescents led by Luthar, Foundation Professor of Psychology at ASU and co-author on the paper. Participating students came mostly from two-parent families where the parents were white-collar professionals and well-educated. Each school year the NESSY participants completed questionnaires that included measures of their mental health and assess the quality of their relationships with others. The ASU researchers used assessments of the mental health and quality of parent relationships from 262 children.

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"Parent-child relationships continue to serve as instrumental sources of support throughout adolescence," Ebbert said. "The quality of these connections can have ripple effects on adjustment and mental health outcomes."

The researchers used data from seven years -- sixth grade through senior year of high school -- to look at how the children's feelings about the parent-child relationship affected their mental health as seniors in high school. The yearly assessments evaluated feelings of alienation from each parent, how much trust the child felt with each parent and how well the child and parents communicated.

"We wanted the child's perspective on the relationship with their parents because ultimately it doesn't matter much how parents think they are doing," Luthar said. "It's what the children experience that is far more important in terms of effects on their mental health."

During the senior year of high school, the participants' mental health was assessed with surveys that measured depressive symptoms and anxiety levels.

The interplay of alienation, trust and communication

Starting in the sixth grade, the children reported growing disconnect with their parents. During the middle school years, the participants indicated increases in feelings of alienation from both parents as the levels of trust and quality of communication decreased.

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"Kids pulling away from parents is a well-known phenomenon of adolescence, but we found that it really begins in early middle school," Luthar said.

The pulling away from parents associated with adolescence happens as the teenagers, or even pre-teenagers, begin to explore self-sufficiency and independence. Ebbert said a natural inclination of parents is to give their child space to navigate independence, but she added that if this response is seen as disengagement by kids, it can lead to problems like the ones the researchers found in the NESSY participants.

"We wanted to understand how the changes in the children's feelings of alienation, trust and communication with both parents affected their development, so we examined whether the reported changes could predict depressive symptoms or anxiety by the end of high school," said Infurna, associate professor of psychology and co-author on the paper.

Increases in alienation from both parents and decreasing less trust between children and their mothers were related to higher levels of anxiety in grade 12. Depressive symptoms in grade 12 were also predicted by increasing alienation and decreasing trust with mothers during the high school years.

The researchers found gender differences, in both the student participants and in the effect of parents. Middle school girls reported experiencing greater increases in alienation from both parents and greater decreases in trust with their mothers. Symptom levels at age 18 also differed, with girls experiencing higher levels of anxiety than boys during the senior year.

There were differences in the average quality of the relationship with mothers and fathers. Overall, the participants reported feeling closer to their mothers, which the researchers suggested might explain why the changes in alienation, trust and communication were greater between children and their mothers.

"Our findings emphasize the importance of parents constantly working on close and supportive relationships with their children, even if the teenager or pre-teen is pulling away," Ebbert said. "The teen might be pulling away as part of the natural process of developing into an individual separate from their parents, but parents remain a primary influence and the primary source of support for the teen."
Imagine a daily commute that's orderly instead of chaotic. Connected and automated vehicles could provide that relief by adjusting to driving conditions with little to no input from drivers. When the car in front of you speeds up, yours would accelerate, and when the car in front of you screeches to a halt, your car would stop, too.

At the University of Delaware, Andreas Malikopoulos uses control theory to develop algorithms that will enable this technology of the future. In two recently published papers, Malikopoulos, who was recently named the Terri Connor Kelly and John Kelly Career Development Professor of Mechanical Engineering, describes innovations in connected and automated vehicle technology pioneered in two laboratories at the University, the UD Scaled Smart City (UDSSC) testbed and a driving simulator facility.

"We are developing solutions that could enable the future of energy efficient mobility systems," said Malikopoulos. "We hope that our technologies will help people reach their destinations more quickly and safely while conserving fuel at the same time."

Making traffic lights obsolete

Someday cars might talk to each other to coordinate traffic patterns. Malikopoulos and collaborators from Boston University recently developed a solution to control and minimize energy consumption in connected and automated vehicles crossing an urban intersection that lacked traffic signals. Then they used software to simulate their results and found that their framework allowed connected and automated vehicles to conserve momentum and fuel while also improving travel time. The results were published in the journal Automatica.

Saving fuel and avoiding speeding tickets

Imagine that when the speed limit goes from 65 to 45 mph, your car automatically slows down. Malikopoulos and collaborators from the University of Virginia formulated a solution that yields the optimal acceleration and deceleration in a speed reduction zone, avoiding rear-end crashes. What's more, simulations suggest that the connected vehicles use 19 to 22 percent less fuel and get to their destinations 26 to 30 percent faster than human-driven vehicles. The results of this research effort were published in IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems.

Malikopoulos has received funding for this work from two U.S. Department of Energy programs -- the Smart Mobility Initiative and the Advanced Research Projects Agency -- Energy's NEXTCAR program.

Malikopoulos is the principal investigator of a three-year project funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy (ARPA-E) through its NEXT-Generation Energy Technologies for Connected and Automated On-Road Vehicles (NEXTCAR) program to improve the efficiency of an Audi A3 e-tron by at least 20 percent. The partners of this project are the University of Michigan, Boston University, Bosch Corporation, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
For most cancers, risk increases dramatically with age. But what about the effect of having more cells in the body? Might taller people be more prone to cancer because they have more cells?

Yes, according to Leonard Nunney, an evolutionary biologist at the University of California, Riverside, who examined data from four large-scale surveillance projects on 23 cancer categories. Each of these cancer studies established that tall individuals are at an increased risk of cancer, with overall risk increasing by about 10 percent per 10 centimeter (4 inch) increase in height.

Other researchers have proposed that that factors acting early in life -- nutrition, health, social conditions -- independently influence height and cancer risk. But Nunney, a professor of biology, challenges this hypothesis.

"I tested the alternative hypothesis that height increases cell number and that having more cells directly increases cancer risk," he said. "The data strongly supported this simple hypothesis. For most cancers, the size of the height effect is predictable from the height-related increase in cell number."

Study results appear in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

When Nunney performed a comparison of the observed effect of height on the risk of specific cancers for both women and men, he found that the effect of being tall on the risk of thyroid and skin cancer was high in women; for men, skin cancer stood out.

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"Tall individuals are at increased risk of almost all cancers," he said. "But skin cancers -- such as melanoma -- show an unexpectedly strong relationship to height. This may be because the hormone IGF-1 is at higher levels in taller adults."

IGF-1 is a growth factor that is particularly important in early development, Nunney explained, but IGF-1 has also been linked to a higher rate of cell division in tall adults.

"If your cells divide more often, then that adds to your cancer risk," he said. "If skin cells are dividing more rapidly in tall people due to high levels of IGF-1, then this could account for the increased risk for melanoma."

Of the 18 cancers scored in both sexes, Nunney found only four showed no significant increase with height in either sex: pancreas, esophagus, stomach, and mouth.

"It is possible that these cancers are more strongly associated with environmental factors," he said. "It is possible, too, that in these tissues cell numbers do not scale with body size -- but this seems unlikely."

Nunney explained that two factors cause increased cancer risk: one is having more cells; the other is having more cell divisions.

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"If you double the cells, you double the cancer risk," he said. "If you double the number of cell divisions, you more than double the cancer risk. Living a long time is the worst thing to do if you want to avoid cancer. But then what's the alternative?"

Men are taller than women on average, which may account for why men get more cancer than women.

"About a third of this effect can be accounted for by men having more cells," Nunney said. "But something else is going on to explain the rest."

Breeds of dogs also demonstrate cancer's link to height, he added.

"Smaller dogs get less cancer than bigger breeds of dogs."

Next, Nunney plans to explore how different cancers are being prevented in the body by looking at big long-lived animals.

"If all else is equal, large, long-lived animals should experience higher incidence of cancer than small, short-lived animals," he said. "After all, larger animals have more cells, more divisions, and more mutations. But they show no such tendency to be more cancer prone. This is called Peto's paradox, and I argue it can be resolved through adaptive evolution, namely, that species subject to selection for larger body size and greater longevity evolve additional layers of cancer suppression. I'm interested in exploring how as a species gets bigger and lives longer, it evolves additional barriers to cancer."
Natural variation may help decide which rainbow trout strains are likely to survive worldwide global warming, according to a new study. The findings will be presented today at the American Physiological Society's (APS) Comparative Physiology: Complexity and Integration conference in New Orleans.

The increasing temperatures and resulting lower underwater oxygen levels linked to climate change will likely affect the habitats of cold-water fish such as rainbow trout. The resilience of this species to changes in its environment will ultimately help it survive the significant warming of its home tributaries.

Researchers from the University of British Columbia studied three strains of rainbow trout, one that originated in California and two native to Canada. They found that young fish (called "fry") from California were able to tolerate higher water temperatures and low-oxygen environments better than fry from Canada. There was no noticeable difference in tolerance levels as a whole among adult fish of the same strains. However, individual adult fish from all strains had varying heat and oxygen tolerance levels, with some individuals being hardier and others more vulnerable to climate stressors. "These differences represent naturally occurring variation," said Nicholas Strowbridge, first author of the study. The hardier fish "are just a bit more able to handle high temperatures and low oxygen," Strowbridge explained.

Taking advantage of the natural variation in individual rainbow trout constitution can serve two beneficial purposes. Singling out the stronger fish in hatcheries may help preserve rainbow trout species and also support the global recreational fishing industry as warming trends continue.

Nicholas Strowbridge, of University of British Columbia, will present "Intraspecific variation in thermal, hypoxia and acute high pH tolerance in rainbow trout" in a poster session on Friday, October 26, at the Astor Crowne Plaza-New Orleans French Quarter.
In the criminal complaint filed against Sayoc Friday, the FBI said it believed a Twitter account with the username Cesar Altieri was used by Sayoc but did not mention the account that posted the threats against Gutierrez. The complaint stated posts with misspellings consistent with the packages sent to Democrats, along with account information listing Florida locations near where Sayoc lived, led the FBI to believe Sayoc was behind the account. The account that threatened Gutierrez also used Cesar in the username and hardrock as a portion of its handle.
The boss said yes and was glad she did. It took Storms only a few minutes of Googling "Unite or Die masthead" to learn that such an edition of the paper, if genuine, could fetch upwards $18,000 on the collector's market. And it took only few weeks to confirm that Goodwill had indeed lucked into one of only four known existing copies of that day's edition of the paper, still perfectly readable 244 years after it rolled-or rather, was peeled-off the press.
Ive only been posting videos of the small movement in my legs, but the reality is I am far away from walking on my own, Wickens wrote. Some people are a bit confused with the severity of my injury, so I wanted let you know the reality of it. Ive never worked harder for anything in my life, and I am giving it all Ive got to spark those nerves in my legs.
Its a sad day when the president of the United States has to be dragged kicking and screaming to oppose an act of political terror.

Republicans are doing so well in early voting and at the polls and now this bomb stuff happens and the momentum greatly slows, the President Trump tweeted Friday, shortly before it was revealed that a Florida man whose van was covered in pro-Trump stickers had been arrested on suspicion of sending explosives to numerous critics of the president, along with CNN.

More than a dozen explosive devices are being sent through the mail, with the potential to hurt their targets or scores of people who handle them along the way, and its bomb stuff?

Or how about this one? Funny how lowly rated CNN, and others, can criticize me at will, even blaming me for the current spate of Bombs and ridiculously comparing this to September 11th and the Oklahoma City bombing.

This was no laughing matter. This was an attempted assassination of the presidents critics, along with journalists, and hes worrying out loud that it will dampen the Republican turnout and reflect badly on him.

What kind of national leadership is that?

The sad thing is, Trumps tactics may actually work.

Our divider-in-chief is whipping Americans into such a fear frenzy over nonemergencies like caravans of woebegone Central Americans and pure lies about Democratic mobs demanding open borders that he can portray practically any event as a plot against him.

Hes been doubling down on the tactic as the midterms approach. And his numbers have been climbing.

Old folks home: For all the talk about their need for new blood, Democrats seem to be stuck for younger candidates for the 2020 presidential race.

Former Vice President Joe Biden is 75. Sen. Bernie Sanders is 77 and ex-New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is 76. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is a spry 69.

At least Sanders and Warren have a young following. Problem is, young people are their only following.

Want to throw in Gov. Jerry Brown? Some people like the idea, if not Jerry. Hes 80.

Sens. Kamala Harris and Cory Booker are the only serious possible candidates who arent eligible for Social Security. That could be a selling point.

S.F. rules: While most of the medias attention is on Californias contested congressional races in the Central Valley and down south, lets not forget how San Francisco may fare next week.

When the dust clears, the city may be able to lay at least partial hometown claim to Californias new governor (Gavin Newsom), the new lieutenant governor (Eleni Kounalakis), the new state treasurer (Fiona Ma), plus the states two U.S. senators (Kamala Harris, Dianne Feinstein) and incoming House speaker (Nancy Pelosi).

Not bad for a city of 47 square miles.

Politically corrected: Last week, I referred to Rep. Barbara Lee as a lefty. Many of her supporters have pointedly pointed out to me that the correct term is progressive.

Movie time: The Old Man & the Gun, Robert Redfords supposed farewell to filmmaking. He is so good in his role as a serial bank robber that you start pulling for the guy.

Danny Glover is part of our robbers over-the-hill gang. So is Sissy Spacek, who matches Redfords performance in her role as his female interest.

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.

Add in a Dallas cop with whom Redford plays cat and mouse, and you have a Sundance Kid story for seniors.

Am I trying to get you to see the movie? Absolutely.

Change of scenery: Going to the opening of the new Bi-Rite cafe at Civic Center Plaza was an exercise in watching how a city changes.

As I stood in the back of the cafe listening to speakers praise this latest attempt to clean up the plaza, my mind drifted back to the 1960s when Bi-Rite started out as a liquor store on the corner of California and Fillmore. The owners were law clients of mine who had a problem selling booze to underage teens.

The business was sold, and the new owners moved it to Divisadero and then to the Castro, where it flourished and became the upscale chain it is today.

A tug on my arm yanked me back to the here and now.

Mayor Brown, Ive been asked to bring you up to the stage. Can you follow me? said a young Recreation and Park worker.

I followed and was positioned next to Rec and Park Director Phil Ginsburg, who was holding forth. I started thinking about what I might say when called on to speak, and only vaguely heard Phil as he announced, And in celebration, everyone is going to get a free scoop of ice cream, served up by our very special scooper  Mayor Willie Brown.

And that is just what I did for the next half hour. Serve up scoops.

Hope you enjoyed the ones we have here as well.

Want to sound off? Email: wbrown@sfchronicle.com
San Franciscos tech leaders have been divided for weeks over Proposition C, a ballot measure that would raise taxes on the citys largest companies to fund homeless services. Salesforce chief Marc Benioff, who supports Prop. C, and Jack Dorsey, head of Twitter and Square, who opposes it, have been the most visible figures in the debate.

Their public jousting has highlighted the citys gross receipts tax, the vehicle through which Prop. C would raise hundreds of millions of dollars for shelter, treatment and other programs. The complex tax is poorly understood, yet its particulars play a crucial role in shaping the stances of those on both sides. Heres what you need to know about it.

What is the gross receipts tax?

Though the name suggests its a tax on overall revenue, the city uses as its basis a concept called San Francisco gross receipts. Those start, in most cases, with a companys worldwide revenue multiplied by an apportionment percentage. That apportionment varies by business category  retail, construction, information and financial services. There are 20 in total.

Some businesses pay a rate thats a 50/50 blend of the share of their total payroll thats in San Francisco and a share of their total revenue thats in San Francisco. Others  most notably financial firms  pay a rate based purely on their share of worldwide payroll in San Francisco.

That calculation is then applied to their worldwide revenue to arrive at San Francisco gross receipts. Thats multiplied by a tax rate that varies by business size and category between 0.075 and 0.65 percent to calculate the tax owed.

Overall, the bigger a business is and the more concentrated its employee base or revenue is in San Francisco, the higher a rate it will pay, but the category matters a lot in what it owes.

That sounds really complicated.

Youre not wrong.

Why does San Francisco have such a complex tax system?

Previously, San Francisco charged businesses a tax on payrolls over $250,000. In 2004, the city updated its code to include stock options, which it previously hadnt taxed, but it didnt enforce that provision for years. In 2011, as the city started making noises about taxing options as the law required, tech companies and business trade groups began complaining about the payroll tax. Other businesses had more general concerns about the payroll tax, which they saw as discouraging hiring by adding to the overall cost of employment.

So in 2012, with the backing of businesses, city voters passed Proposition E, which introduced a gross receipts tax designed to replace the payroll tax in phases. Since the payroll tax wasnt immediately eliminated, the city also introduced a tax break for businesses that located in Mid-Market, known as the Twitter tax break. It was an oddball trade-off meant to bolster a depressed area downtown.

The payroll tax was supposed to be eliminated this year, but because the gross receipts tax didnt raise enough money, the payroll tax has stuck around, albeit at a reduced rate of 0.38 percent for 2018. So now the city has two systems of business tax.

Notably, Dorsey, who was then running just Square (a co-founder of Twitter, he was fired as its CEO in 2008 and did not re-assume the role until 2015), supported Prop. E, as did most business leaders.

How would Prop. C change the gross receipts tax?

Though its often described as hiking the gross receipts tax by 0.5 percent for companies making more than $50 million in gross receipts a year, thats an overall figure. The actual rate varies more or less as it does for the current tax. Depending on category, businesses would pay an additional 0.175 to 0.69 percent.

Does Prop. C raise the payroll tax?

This is a bit of a misconception. Theres a loophole-closing provision in the gross receipts tax called the administrative office tax. The concept is if you have a head office with a few well-paid executives but little of your payroll or revenue is in the city, you shouldnt escape taxation. Businesses that fit that description and have more than 1,000 U.S. employees and more than $1 billion in combined gross receipts pay 1.4 percent of local payroll under existing law  essentially, the old payroll tax. Prop. C would raise the rate on such businesses by 1.5 percent.

Why would Square, which is much smaller than Salesforce, pay more under the tax?

Benioff, who volubly supports Prop. C, said his company, which expects to pull in around $13 billion in revenue this year, could easily afford the $10 million additional tax it would owe under Prop. C. Dorsey said Square, which forecasts revenue of about $3 billion this year, would pay an extra $20 million.

The difference comes down to how the city categorizes those businesses for tax purposes  and its important to know that Square has fought with San Francisco over its classification.

In May, in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission signed by Dorsey, Square disclosed that the citys tax collector believes the companys primary business activity is financial services rather than information services, and had issued a decision to that effect. That translates to a tax rate increase from 0.475 percent to 0.56 percent on its gross receipts.

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But Square took a much bigger hit than that, because financial companies San Francisco gross receipts are calculated differently than software companies. Financial firms pay the tax on a share of their worldwide revenue that is equal to the share of their payroll in San Francisco. Software companies calculate their gross receipts based 50 percent on the proportion of local payroll and 50 percent on their share of sales in San Francisco.

Roughly two-thirds of Squares 2,338 employees are based at headquarters; for Salesforce, its about 28 percent of 30,000 global employees. Though neither breaks out sales by city, its easy to guess that their hometown accounts for a tiny percentage of sales. That means that Square would cut its gross receipts tax by more than half if it were put in the same category as Salesforce. Square would get the same savings on the added tax imposed by Prop. C. Thats how you land on Square paying twice as much as Salesforce on a smaller revenue base.

Dorsey hasnt commented on what Twitter would pay, but assuming it is categorized as an information company, its proportional burden would be more like Salesforces. Its payroll tax break under the Mid-Market exemption  for which Square, though its office is one block away on Market Street, isnt eligible  expires in May.

Who else is affected?

Stripe has not said which category it is in, and the city cannot reveal such information, which is deemed part of a taxpayers private return. But Stripe has said it is affected similarly by the gross receipts tax and its CEO, Patrick Collison, has spoken out against Prop. C. The startup, which like Square processes credit card and debit card transactions, is privately held, so it has not disclosed its revenue, but analysts told Bloomberg its about $1.5 billion a year. (Stripe did not respond to a request for comment.) Based on a search of LinkedIn profiles, about two-thirds of Stripes employees work in its San Francisco headquarters.

Because it is impossible to know which categories companies are in unless they voluntarily disclose that information, as Square has done, its impossible to determine the impact of tax changes. But its easy to spot some inequities. Uber, which operates its ride-hailing service worldwide, is neutral on Prop. C. Lyft, which opposes Prop. C, has only begun expanding internationally, has a more concentrated workforce and has said that its hometown is one of its bigger markets. Assuming the companies are in the same category, Lyft would almost certainly pay more local tax on every dollar of revenue.

Why else do some people dislike a gross receipts tax?

Lets say you swipe a card on a Square terminal to buy a latte at Blue Bottle with a Wells Fargo Visa card. (Conveniently, those are all San Francisco companies.) Blue Bottle pays tax to the city based on the $4 cost of the latte. Square charges a few nickels to process that payment; that fee adds to Squares gross receipts, on which it is also taxed. It pays a portion of that to Wells Fargo and Visa, which are also San Francisco companies, and  you guessed it  they too pay tax on their share. Critics of the gross receipts tax point out that taxing a transaction so many times adds to businesses costs, which get passed on to customers in the form of higher prices. Thats why Europe, Canada and other places have largely gone with value-added taxes, which seek to avoid those rounds of taxation.

What would it take to change the tax?

Because Prop. E and Prop. C were ballot measures, further changes to the tax system also require a vote. The earliest that tax reform could be put on the San Francisco ballot is 2019.

Owen Thomas is The San Francisco Chronicles business editor. Email: othomas@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @owenthomas
The previous Portals told the story of how the Montgomery Block was erected in 1853 in response to devastating fires that ravaged Gold Rush San Francisco. It was the grandest building of its time, a fireproof structure at Montgomery and Washington filled with prosperous businesses, but within 30 years it had fallen on hard times.

Driving the decline were new office buildings erected farther south on Montgomery Street. As Oscar Lewis writes in Bay Window Bohemia: The Brilliant Artistic World of Gaslit San Francisco, The more up-and-coming business- and professional men moved into these, and the Blocks big, outmoded rooms came to know a quite different sort of tenant: tailors, fortunetellers, Chinese herb doctors, dealers in old clothes, and the like.

At the end of the decade, yet another new class of tenants began to move into the Block: painters, sculptors, musicians and writers.

Among the artists who took up residence or hung out at the Block during the late 1880s and 90s were Ambrose Bierce, Bret Harte, Yone Noguchi  a Japanese poet of whom it was whispered that he had gone insane from too much poetry  a half-Japanese poet named Sadakichi Hartmann, painter Charles Dickman and jeweler James Kinraide.

But the group that gave the Block its reputation for outrageous bohemianism in the 1890s was a mischievous band of writers, artists, architects and designers who called themselves Les Jeunes (The Young Ones).

Their leader was a Bostonian named Gelett Burgess, who had been fired from his job at UC Berkeley after he helped topple a statue of a teetotaling dentist. Along with designer Bruce Porter; writer, designer and editor Porter Garnett; and a fiery young architect named Willis Polk, Burgess started an irreverent literary magazine in 1894 called the Lark, which was filled with nonsense doggerel like Burgess most famous poem, The Purple Cow. (I never saw a purple cow/I never hope to see one; But I can tell you anyhow; Id rather see than be one.)

After the Larks two-year run, Les Jeunes and their associates, including writers Jack London and Mary Austin, poet George Sterling, and painters Maynard Dixon and Javier Marty Martinez, outraged the bourgeoisie from the center table at Coppas, the most legendary of the fin de siecle watering holes associated with the Block.

Sterling, the king of Bohemia, had a room on the Blocks fourth floor. He was often seen pacing the corridors in a robe, reciting his verses while beating time with his hand. A heavy drinker and insatiable womanizer, Sterling committed suicide by taking cyanide in 1926.

Not all the Blocks inhabitants were starving artists. Wealthy philanthropist Adolph Sutro had an office in the building, and used it to house thousands of volumes of his invaluable book collection. Because the fireproof building withstood the 1906 earthquake and fire, those volumes were saved and make up a large part of the Sutro Library, now held at San Francisco State University.

Trivia time The previous trivia question: Where is Hippie Hill? Answer: In Golden Gate Park, north of the Children's Playground and overlooking Robin Williams Meadow. This week's trivia question: Where was the first indoor swimming pool in San Francisco? Editor's note Every corner in San Francisco has an astonishing story to tell. Gary Kamiya's Portals of the Past tells those lost stories, using a specific location to illuminate San Francisco's extraordinary history - from the days when giant mammoths wandered through what is now North Beach to the Gold Rush delirium, the dot-com madness and beyond. His column appears every other Saturday, alternating with Peter Hartlaub's OurSF. See More Collapse

After the 1906 catastrophe, demand for office space caused rents in the Block to spike, and insurance companies and steamship firms replaced artists and writers. During the Great Depression, however, rents dropped again and the bohemians returned.

As many as 75 artists and writers lived at the Block in the 1930s, New Deal historian Harvey Smith writes in an essay on the website FoundSF, New Deal Artists and Programs During the Depression. Many received monthly stipends from the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration. Although the stipends were modest, typically $75 a month, they allowed the artists just enough money to pay their rent and eat.

Rents at the Block, once the highest in the city, had fallen to $12 to $20 a month. Cheap restaurants and bars abounded, too. Coppas was long gone, but the artists and writers of the 1930s and 40s found congenial new hangouts, including the Black Cat on the ground floor of the Canessa Building across Washington Street. The building survives to this day.

WPA-funded artists who had studios at the Block included Sargent Johnson, Dong Kingman, Herman Volz, Paul Carey and Clay Spohn. They were part of an illustrious North Beach artistic community that included sculptor Ralph Stackpole, whose studio was just two doors up from the Black Cat on Montgomery Street, Maynard Dixon, Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Dorothea Lange and Ruth Cravath. Many of them recalled the time they were on WPA assistance as some of the happiest and most productive years of their lives.

More from the Archive The Vault Home of the San Francisco Chronicle's archive and more than 150 years of journalism covering the Bay Area and beyond.

It was during this era that the building was nicknamed the Monkey Block, a jocular reference to the erratic behavior of its inhabitants.

According to the Blocks manager, immigration lawyer O.P. Stidger, in 1947 there were more artists and writers working in studios in this building than at any time in its history. In his book Ark of Empire, Idwal Jones writes that more than 2,000 people engaged in creative pursuits resided in the Montgomery Block during its long life.

But that rich repository of history was to be lost forever. The neighborhood around the building and the building itself had become increasingly rundown. In his 1943 book, San Francisco: A Pageant, Charles Caldwell Dobie wrote, At nightfall the sound of jangling pianos and the bark of radios drift through its halls. ... The old Montgomery Block has seen better days.

Eight years later, Jones wrote, It is not (the Blocks) fault that its environs should now, especially at night with the wind strong and grit and papers blowing about, be verging on the unkempt, with an undertone between sinister and squalid.

In the late 1950s, the Blocks owners decided to tear it down. There was no historic preservation movement to fight for the old building. A few voices were raised in protest, but what a wire-service reporter described as the forces of progress prevailed.

In 1959, the building built on a raft of redwood logs in 1853, whose corridors once felt the footsteps of the Vigilantes and Mark Twain, Robert Louis Stevenson and Frank Norris, Jack London and Ambrose Bierce, was torn down for a parking lot. Today, the Transamerica Pyramid stands on its site.

Gary Kamiya is the author of the best-selling book Cool Gray City of Love: 49 Views of San Francisco, awarded the Northern California Book Award in creative nonfiction. All the material in Portals of the Past is original for The San Francisco Chronicle. To read earlier Portals of the Past, go to sfchronicle.com/portals. For more features from 150 years of The Chronicles archives, go to sfchronicle.com/vault. Email: metro@sfchronicle.com
Two people visiting a residence in Oakland found a decaying human head in the backyard  and took it to Oakland police, setting off an investigation that is looking into possible links to a headless corpse that was recently found.

Today, a couple individuals located a human skull in the backyard of the residence and thought it was a good idea to transport it down to the police station, said Oakland police Sgt. Michael Cardoza.

Around 9 a.m., Oakland homicide investigators were sent to the residence on 29th Street near West Street, which is a three-unit-apartment building that shares a backyard, and executed a search warrant to rule out any foul play, Cardoza said.

We conducted interviews with all of the residents and determined that at this time, it didnt appear that they were involved, Cardoza said.

Police said they are investigating whether the head, which was in a state of decomposition, was linked to the deeply decomposed headless body found nearby in Oakland in late September.

Cardoza declined to state where that body was found but said the body was in close proximity to the head found on 29th Street near West Street.

In that separate investigation, the body appeared to be deeply decomposed, almost mummified, he said.

Fentahun Biwota, a resident who lives next door on 29th Street, said there are many loiterers in the area, including people who have jumped the fence near his home and in the walkway that separates his home from the backyard where the head was found.

Police said they are aware of the homicide investigation in San Francisco involving 65-year-old Brian Egg, whose headless body was found decomposing inside a fish tank in his South of Market neighborhood in San Francisco on August 17. Eggs head was never found.

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.

Lance Silva, 39, and Robert MacCaffrey, 52, were arrested in connection to Eggs death.

The Alameda County Coroners Bureau is assisting in identifying the victim to determine if the head is linked to the body found in Oakland, Cardoza said.

Anyone with information should contact the Oakland Police Department homicide unit at 510-238-3821. Anonymous callers may contact the tip line at 510-238-7950.

Chronicle staff writer Gwendolyn Wu contributed to this report

Lauren Hernandez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: lauren.hernandez@sfchronicle.com @LaurenPorFavor
Jen Fedrizzi / Special to The Chronicle 2015

This year, SoMa bakery and cafe Vive La Tarte already created the Tacro  that is a taco-croissant mashup. Now, it is planning to launch a bakery in Southern California, and then it will be opening a new location in Noe Valley.

According to co-founder Arnaud Goethals, Vive La Tarte is opening in the former Bliss Bar (4026 24th St.) sometime in the near future. Details about the venture should solidify in the coming weeks, Goethals added.
159 E. Walton St., No. 32A, Chicago: $6,750,000 | Listed: Oct. 11, 2021



This three-bedroom home has three full bathrooms, one half-bath and a private elevator foyer with marble flooring. The family room offers south-facing Michigan Avenue views and features a built-in bar and full-sized wine fridge, both of which are hidden behind custom doors. At the northeast corner of the home is a study complete with a fireplace, built-ins, and corner lake views. The eat-in kitchen features Wolf, Sub-Zero and Thermador appliances, stainless steel countertops, a butlers pantry, an indoor grill with a professional hood and custom cabinetry. The primary bedroom suite has a sitting room, custom built-ins, a fireplace and a bathroom with a steam shower, a Whirlpool tub, double sinks and a private commode. Two additional bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms, an entryway powder room and surround sound throughout complete this home.



Agent: Katherine Malkin, Compass, 312-576-5200



*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.
At the time the letters went out in August, the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty was coordinating advocates across the country in demanding almost 240 cities in more than 12 states to repeal what they consider outdated panhandling ordinances.
SACRAMENTO  Standing at a lectern planted above noisy Interstate 5, Gov. Jerry Brown warned Friday that the Trump administrations proposal to freeze clean-car standards championed by California will jeopardize the health of millions and cost drivers billions at the pump.

Wrong way to go, Donald! Get with it. Bad! Brown said, mocking the president by using his vernacular as cars and trucks whizzed by below.

California officials joined 20 other states in filing a blistering, 415-page, point-by-point critique of the federal proposal to halt the rise of fuel-efficiency and emission standards for vehicles.

Those who live near major roadways will see an increase in cancer, lung disease, asthma and death from vehicle air pollution under the Trump administrations proposal, the states said, with those impacts disproportionately affecting low-income and minority communities.

The critique, filed Friday with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, follows months of sparring over federal plans to ease restrictions on vehicle manufacturers.

Also in contention is whether the Trump administration can strip California of its decades-old ability to set its own pollution limits for cars, which would be a major potential blow to the states ability to combat global warming.

This man is a one-man demolition derby, Brown said of Trump. Its crazy, and it wont stand. He will be out of office long before this law reaches the final determination in a court of law.

The federal governments current requirements call for manufacturers, by 2025, to increase fleet-wide averages to about 47 miles per gallon for cars and light trucks. The Trump administration has argued that those requirements will cost consumers too much, prompting them to instead drive older, less safe vehicles.

Instead, the proposal put forward in August by the EPA and the Department of Transportation calls for the freezing of fuel-economy increases for cars in 2020.

The existing standards were set after a protracted fight between the federal government and California after the Golden State imposed its own clean-car requirements in 2002 in a bid to limit climate change.

Since the 1970s, the Clean Air Act has granted a waiver to California, allowing the state to set its own pollution standards that are more strict than those imposed by the federal government. In 2009, the Obama administration adopted Californias standards, taking them nationwide.

If the Trump administration succeeds in its plan to freeze these mandates, carmakers could face two different emission requirements, one in California and another everywhere else. However, the Trump administration also wants to revoke the states ability to set more stringent tailpipe standards.

This is high-stakes poker being played by the federal government, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said Friday, also at the roadside news conference. Its not just the issue of climate change that is in the balance, but it is also the health of the American people.

As California came out swinging against the Trump plan, Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler accused the state of failing to work toward a 50-state compromise, despite promises from California officials to do so.

It has been 10 weeks and the Trump Administration has still yet to receive a counter-proposal, Wheeler said in a statement. It is my hope that we can continue to work together and reach one national standard that will get more Americans into newer, cleaner, and safer vehicles.

California Air Resources Board Chair Mary Nichols, though, said meetings with the Trump administration yielded no results  and it was clear there would be no negotiation.

They have shown no interest in any of the suggestions weve made in how they can move in a way that would not be so devastating, Nichols said.

Melody Gutierrez is The San Francisco Chronicles Sacramento bureau chief. Email: mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MelodyGutierrez
MANTECA, San Joaquin County  Many Democrats cast the battle for the House as a referendum on President Trump. In a Central Valley district where voters will help determine who runs Congress, the race has become a referendum on the Bay Area.

Hundreds of people from the Bay Area have traveled over the Altamont Pass and down Highway 99 to campaign for Democrat Josh Harder, drawn by the possibility of knocking off a Republican who voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act and to pass Trumps tax plan. Bay Area residents have contributed more than $1 million to defeat Rep. Jeff Denham, who first rode to office with the help of the Tea Party wave in 2010.

Denham tells voters that Harder, who lived for several months in San Francisco before moving back to his hometown of Turlock last year, is infected with Bay Area values. He says Bay Area Harder, a 32-year-old venture capitalist, threatens the valleys way of life.

Denhams Bay Area focus is so intense that he wouldnt acknowledge at a recent debate that climate change was partly caused by humans, saying, We shouldnt have to pay for the Bay Areas dirty air. When pressed whether he believed climate change is man-made, Denham said it is Bay Area-made.

Polls say the race is a toss-up. It is one of seven GOP-held seats in California that Democrats think they can flip because Hillary Clinton won the districts in 2016. If the party can net 23 seats on Nov. 6, Democrats will control the House.

But the 10th Congressional District is still a predominantly conservative place. A recent Berkeley IGS Poll found that 43 percent of likely voters surveyed there back Trump, a much higher total than statewide. Democrats have focused on Denham for years  he even survived a recall effort while he was in the state Senate  but have never beaten him.

But this year might be different, in part because Bay Area Democrats are fighting back. Last weekend, 369 volunteers for Harder, many of them Bay Area day-trippers, campaigned for the challenger in Turlock, which is also Denhams home.

We dont live in a district that has a contested congressional race, so we wanted to come to a place where we could effect change, said Tim Blasko, who traveled from Oakland to canvass for Harder.

Denham, 51, dismisses what Democrats tout as their grassroots energy. He boasted that all his volunteers are from his district.

Theres a big difference between busing people in from Berkeley and San Francisco and Oakland, Denham said as he encouraged volunteers making calls at a campaign office in unincorporated Banta, a small San Joaquin County town east of Tracy.

The candidates tussle over whos more Central Valley hints at underlying concerns about change in a district that ranges from Tracy, which has become a Bay Area exurb, through Modesto and the almond farms of Stanislaus County.

Farmers worry about having enough water and how other nations retaliation for Trumps tariffs are affecting crop prices. Other voters are concerned about costly health care in a region where 1 in 5 people lives in poverty. Longtime residents complain about rising housing prices that are being driven, in part, by newcomers fleeing the expensive Bay Area.

For decades, Republicans have invoked San Francisco values to scare heartland voters. But Denhams attacks resonate with constituents who actually know the city.

We dont need to become another San Francisco, where liberal politics have turned it into a dump, said Tony Sylvester, a retired Manteca resident who backs Denham and regularly visits the city. San Francisco now has its own Poop Patrol.

Although Bay Area-style sprawl has spread to the districts cities, agriculture is still a political force. Farm interests are largely behind Denham, who was one of five Central Valley Republicans who stood beside Trump this month when he signed a presidential memo to cut regulatory burdens to deliver more water to farmers.

Bruce Blodgett, executive director of the Stanislaus County Farm Bureau, which endorsed Denham, said, Hes not just a passive voice but an active voice when it comes to water issues.

Now Playing: Rep. Jeff Denham talks to farmers about water issues in Manteca, Ca. Video: San Francisco Chronicle

https://dashboard.videolicious.com/watch/6168f39b-2375-411f-a692-2f1517e0772c

Tony Coit said Denham helped save his family farm last year. In February 2017, the San Joaquin River breached a levee near the farm in Manteca. As farmers raced to help, Coit said, he looked up and saw Jeff Denham standing on top of the levee. The congressman called the Army Corps of Engineers, and help arrived within hours.

Sure, its easy to say something bad about someone on TV, but he was out there with us, helping us, Coit said.

Now Playing: Third generation farmer Tony Coit and his father Paul explain why they support Rep. Jeff Denham. This was taken on their Manteca almond farm on October 18, 2018 Video: San Francisco Chronicle

https://dashboard.videolicious.com/watch/34bf8623-8a7a-45a5-b1db-f749dc93fa3a

But when Harder accuses Denham of putting his allegiance to Trump before the districts interests, its a persuasive line for almond grower Lupe Villarreal.

Denham joined other valley Republicans in writing a letter to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue explaining how Trumps tariff wars were damaging the region.

So what? Its a letter. I can do that, said Villarreal, who has seen the overseas price of his almonds rise 25 percent, cutting into his sales. If he had been checking him in some sort of way, that would have meant something, but he hasnt been.

Others blast Denham for voting to repeal the Affordable Care Act after Republicans included $8 billion to create a high-risk pool providing coverage for those with pre-existing conditions, an amount analysts said wouldnt help much.

And while Denham has talked for years about immigration reform  a major issue in a district where 30 percent of residents are Latino and farmers turn a blind eye to undocumented workers  hes been unable to persuade his party to go along. Although Republicans have controlled Congress and the White House for nearly two years, Denham said he is disappointed in both parties.

Thats not good enough for some.

Jeff does what Trump wants him to do. Hes not a man of the valley. Hes a man of the Republican Party, said Pete Warner, an Oakdale veterinarian who supports Harder. Thats the difference about Josh. He may be new, but hes not beholden to anyone.

Until recently, Harder wasnt beholden to voting. He didnt vote in 17 of the last 20 elections before he decided to run for office last year.

That hasnt stopped others from supporting him. Harder raised $6 million  $1.3 million from the Bay Area  through Sept. 30, compared with $4.1 million for Denham. Harder, however, raised only 1 percent of his campaign contributions from the district, compared with 18 percent for Denham, according to campaign finance records.

From July 21 to last weekend, 1,035 canvassers from Swing Left San Francisco, a local outpost of the organization that directs progressives to the closest swing district, knocked on 24,526 doors in the district.

Harder acknowledges that much of his backing comes from outsiders but insisted that were running a Central Valley race on Central Valley issues.

Now Playing: Central Valley House candidate Josh Harder fires up volunteers-many of them from the Bay Area- in Turlock, CA Video: San Francisco Chronicle

https://dashboard.videolicious.com/watch/19e1230f-18d6-409f-9a4c-8a7b7fb925cc

Although Denham calls him a Bay Area plant, Harders roots extend five generations in the valley. After graduating from Modesto High School, he won a scholarship to attend Stanford, went to Harvard Business School and spent three years at Bessemer Venture Partners in Menlo Park. He often casts his venture capital experience as a time when he focused on the problem of economic opportunity by helping small businesses.

He said he decided to run because his boyhood district was being deeply misrepresented by a congressman who votes with Trump 98 percent of the time.

Harder may have money and volunteer power, but hes not nearly as well known in the Central Valley as Denham. His Bay Area volunteers are trying to turn out Millennials and Latinos, but there may not be enough time to introduce him to voters like Soledad Lara.

She said she liked his TV commercials that said he would focus on the economic future of the valley. Two years ago, the 21-year-old could rent a room in Modesto for $330 a month. Now, a room like that costs $700.

But when canvassers knocked on her door last weekend, she still hadnt registered to vote.

Asked Lara: Is there enough time?

Harders campaign might be wondering the same thing.

Joe Garofoli is The San Francisco Chronicles senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli
Top-of-the-line cannabis at BASA on Grove Street used to cost much less. But when the 15 percent state excise tax kicked in this year, Tariq Alazraie had to hike his prices and now an eighth-ounce of his premium product costs $62. If Proposition D, a San Francisco cannabis tax measure, passes in November, Alazraie said hell have to tinker with his prices again.

But in a new industry still competing with a robust black market, Alazraie says theres a fine line to how much he can charge his customers: Too little and hell hurt his profit margin. Too much and his customers will go somewhere else.

My profit margins are just getting thinner and thinner and thinner, said Alazraie, president of the collective, pinching his fingers closer together.

Proposition D would levy a gross receipts tax on recreational cannabis businesses of between 1 and 5 percent  depending on if the business is retail or non-retail and how much gross revenue it takes in  starting Jan. 1, 2021. The first $500,000 of gross receipts from sales of recreational cannabis would be exempt from the tax, as well as retail sales of medical cannabis. If passed, the taxs top rate would be the highest gross receipts tax levied on any industry within San Francisco, according to the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce.

Opponents of the measure, like Alazraie, say its too soon to impose another tax on the fledgling industry, while supporters, like Board of Supervisors President Malia Cohen, who wrote the measure, say the city needs the money to help the industry grow in a responsible and stable way.

If cannabis is going to be a legal business, they must be treated like it, Cohen said.

San Francisco will become the last major city in California to impose a local cannabis tax if Proposition D passes in November. The tax will be lower than gross receipts taxes in surrounding cities, such as Oakland, which has a 10 percent gross receipts tax on recreational cannabis.

Tucked into the measure is a provision that would allow the city to tax out-of-town companies with online transactions in San Francisco that exceed $500,000 starting Jan. 1. The tax on online sales would not be limited to cannabis businesses.

It would level the playing field for brick-and-mortar stores in San Francisco, said Supervisor Aaron Peskin, a co-author of the measure. The tax on online businesses would generate an estimated $2 million to $4 million in 2019, according to City Controller Ben Rosenfield.

Separately, the cannabis tax would generate an estimated $5 million to $12 million beginning in 2021. The money would go into the citys general fund.

The Board of Supervisors would have the power to increase or decrease the cannabis tax after it goes into effect.

The local tax proposal comes nearly two years after voters passed state Proposition 64 to legalize recreational cannabis for people 21 and older. There was a lot of anticipation that the states black market and loose medical marijuana market would be converted into a thriving, multibillion dollar industry, the largest in the nation.

But because many buyers and sellers stayed in the black market, the industry has so far generated less tax revenue than the state anticipated. Gov. Jerry Browns January budget proposal predicted the state excise tax would generate $175 million during the first six months of 2018. By June 30, the cannabis sales only generated $135.1 million, according to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration.

Cohen said she agrees the state excise tax is a burden and that she is working at the state level to lower it. But in the meantime, if the cannabis industry wants to be legal it has to pay the price, she said.

During a recent afternoon rush at BASA, Michelle Golder, 30, said she was fine with the idea of paying a local tax for cannabis. In fact, she had already voted in favor of Prop. D.

Anything that is recreational should be taxed, she said, after paying $31 for recreational cannabis at the dispensary. Its (cannabis) something I indulge in, so I dont mind.

But others, like a 26-year-old named Ben, who declined to provide his last name, said another tax would likely just push him toward the black market, where the prices would be significantly less. Prop. D, he said, is probably something he would vote against.

As of right now its getting pretty pricey, he said, holding a brown bag containing his purchase.

While Prop. D wouldnt put a gross receipts tax on medical cannabis sales, David Goldman, president of the Brownie Mary Democratic Club, a cannabis activist group, said medical retail sales will still be impacted because the tax will apply to businesses lower on the supply chain, such as manufacturers and distributors.

Cohen said the money would go toward educational programs on the effects of cannabis, training for the growing cannabis workforce and compassion programs, which donate medical cannabis to low-income patients. She said putting the money into a general fund will give the city flexibility on how to spend it if needs change by 2021.

Its a reasonable measure that finally puts San Francisco in line with other cities across the state, Eric Lukoff and Gina Simi co-chairs of the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club, said in a statement. Were really talking about asking the biggest companies to contribute a small amount.

Those skeptical of the measure dont buy that the money will be spent to the industrys benefit.

If the money was guaranteed to go to something like homelessness, Emerson Stafford, a BASA customer who has been smoking cannabis for 50 years, said he would vote for Prop. D in a minute. He said he would likely vote for Prop. D  but he wasnt thrilled that his money would into a general fund.

They are entitled to a local tax, but I dont like the fact that its not being spent for something more specific, he said.

Benjamin Manton, a manager at BASA, said he has watched from behind the register as the state tax has pushed up prices over the past year.

Its important for people to play by the rules, but theres an overestimation of how much blood there is to give, he said, as he unpacked boxes at the dispensary on a recent afternoon.

Trisha Thadani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tthadani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TrishaTha
Less than two weeks before the Nov. 6 election, the major candidates for San Franciscos Board of Supervisors have hoards of cash to carry them to the finish line.

The latest disclosure forms filed with the citys Ethics Commission provide a look at the financial support the candidates have and how much money they have left to spend. The latest disclosures cover Sept. 23 through Oct. 20 and were due at midnight Thursday.

Heres a look at where the major candidates stand.

District Two: The race in District Two  which encompasses wealthy San Francisco neighborhoods like Pacific Heights, the Marina and Cow Hollow  has the highest-spending candidates of any supervisor race.

The bulk of the spending came from BART Director Nick Josefowitz, who raised $811,495 by the deadline. About half of those contributions came from the candidate himself. He has spent $809,986.

An independent expenditure committee called the SF Workforce Housing Alliance has spent $28,000 to support his campaign, and $44,500 to oppose his competitor, Supervisor Catherine Stefani.

Stefani, who was appointed to the seat in January, has raised $457,513 and has spent $421,772.

A committee called San Franciscans for Supervisor Catherine Stefani 2018, whose sole contributor is Thomas Coates, a real estate investor and longtime player in city politics, spent $50,000 on Stefanis behalf. The San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee also spent $9,846 on behalf of her campaign.

Media startup founder Schuyler Hudak raised $155,040 and spent $158,707. Hudaks campaign manager said her campaign has additional public finance money pending from the Ethics Commission that was not processed by the latest deadline.

John Dennis, a developer and investor, has raised $32,469 and has spent $30,717.

District Four: Gordon Mar, a longtime labor activist, has raised the most money in District Four: $335,972. He has spent $163,455.

A number of independent expenditure committees  such as the San Francisco Labor Council Labor & Neighbor Independent Expenditure Political Action Committee and the San Francisco Deputy Sheriffs Association PAC  have donated $88,903 to his campaign.

Jessica Ho, who has been working as District Four Supervisor Katy Tangs legislative aide since March, has raised $224,706 and spent $182,620.

Ho is the single largest beneficiary of third-party spending in any supervisor race. A committee called Safe & Clean Sunset Coalition, Supporting Ho for D4 Supervisor 2018 has separately spent $536,230 on her behalf. The committee is sponsored by Progress San Francisco, a PAC that often backs moderate candidates in local elections.

Trailing Mar and Ho in money is public school teacher Trevor McNeil, who has raised $40,317 and has spent $27,202. McNeils campaign has picked up momentum, with the bulk of his contributions coming in the past few months. He also got a last-minute endorsement from Mayor London Breed.

The other candidates in this race are Art Tom, Lou Ann Bassan, Tuan Nguyen, Mike Murphy and Adam Kim.

District Six: School Board President Matt Haney has consistently led the District Six money race. He has raised $476,738 and spent $388,519. Meanwhile, third-party committees  such as the San Francisco Labor Council Labor & Neighbor  have spent $104,750 on his behalf.

Housing activist Sonja Trauss has raised $230,764 and spent $204,796. Christine Johnson, a former planning commissioner who is running a joint campaign with Trauss, has raised $199,908 and spent $183,590.

Progress SF has spent $293,626 supporting Trauss and $286,122 supporting Johnson through a committee called San Franciscans for Change, Supporting Johnson & Trauss for Supervisor 2018.

San Francisco Labor Council Labor & Neighbor spent $12,000 to oppose Johnson.

District 10: Shamann Walton, former school board president, raised a total of $303,123 and has spent $199,729. Independent expenditure committees  such as the San Francisco Labor Council Labor & Neighbor  have separately spent $85,430 on behalf of his campaign. He is the only candidate in the District 10 race to have received third-party money.

Theo Ellington, board president of the Bayview Opera House, has raised $267,881 and spent $181,557. Tony Kelly, president of the Potrero Hill Democratic Club, has raised $216,538 and spent $190,554.

The other candidates in this race are Gloria Berry, Asale-Haquekyah Chandler, Uzuri Pease-Greene and Neo Veavea.

Propositions: Proposition C, which would tax the citys biggest businesses to pay for homeless services, has drawn million of dollars of support and opposition. An opposition committee sponsored by the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce called No Plan, No Accountability, No on Prop. C, has received $1.3 million. A committee supporting the measure called Our City, our Home  which is sponsored by Salesforce and the Coalition on Homelessness  raised $5.7 million.

Another measure, Proposition D, which would levy a local gross receipts tax on recreational cannabis businesses, received $10,000 to support the campaign from a committee called Yes on D for a Fair and Just Cannabis Industry.

Trisha Thadani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tthadani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TrishaThadani
John Haley, transit director for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, is retiring on the heels of a lawsuit alleging he sexually harassed and discriminated against his assistant, officials said late Friday.

Haley, who joined the agency in 2010, was accused of inappropriately touching his senior management assistant, Sabrina Suzuki, and repeatedly making inappropriate remarks about women and their bodies, dating to at least 2016.

The lawsuit, coupled with a letter calling for Haleys suspension by the San Francisco Transit Riders organization, prompted Mayor London Breed to call for agency Director Ed Reiskin to employ an ombudsman to tackle existing allegations of discrimination, bullying and other types of misconduct across the transportation agency.

Breed told The Chronicle in early October that she was closely scrutinizing Haley and the agency.

Haleys retirement was announced by agency officials late Friday night. He was responsible for running the agencys bus, light rail, street car and cable car systems.

John has played a significant role in improving transit for San Francisco, including making Muni more reliable and transforming one of the oldest fleets in the nation to the newest, Reiskin said in a statement. His experience, expertise, dedication and commitment to improving Muni service has been indispensable.

The announcement credits Haleys leadership for increasing Muni ridership and expanding the Muni bus and train fleets.

Allegations of discrimination by his assistant were first reported to city officials in November, when Suzuki filed a discrimination complaint with the city. Her lawsuit alleges human resources officials dismissed her claims because of insufficient evidence.

The lawsuit also alleges Haley denied her multiple promotions for being too nice to move up in management, and instead offered the job to a white man. Suzuki, who is Asian, said in the suit that Haley maintained a culture of promoting only white employees.

Suzuki said that in May 2016, Haley commented on the pants she wore to work and grabbed her thigh to prevent her from moving away, so he could see her backside. On another occasion, she said she heard Haley say that a woman at a Christmas party was spilling out of her dress.

At the time the lawsuit was filed in September, spokesman Paul Rose told The Chronicle that the transportation agency would follow any procedures required by the city to address the allegations.

Lauren Hernandez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: lauren.hernandez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @LaurenPorFavor
Two women were seriously injured early Saturday in San Franciscos Outer Sunset District after falling to the street when a third-floor balcony collapsed, fire officials said.

Four people were standing on what building inspectors called a metal decorative balcony when it collapsed at 12:06 a.m. on Lawton Street between 26th and 27th avenues.
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REDMOND, Wash.  Microsoft said Friday that it would sell the military and intelligence agencies whatever advanced technologies they needed to build a strong defense, just months after Google told the Pentagon it would refuse to provide artificial intelligence products that could build more accurate drones or compete with China for next-generation weapons.

The announcement, made quietly in a small, town-hall-style meeting with the software giants leadership on Thursday, underscores the radically different paths these leading U.S. technology firms are taking as they struggle with their role in creating a new generation of cyberweapons to help, and perhaps someday replace, American warriors.

But the divergent paths taken by Google and Microsoft also underscore concerns inside the U.S. defense and intelligence establishments about how the United States will take on a rising China.

The Chinese government has, in just the past two years, set goals for dominance in the next decade in AI, quantum computing and other technologies it believes will allow its military and intelligence agencies to surpass those of the United States. Pentagon officials have questioned how committed domestic technology companies are to keeping the United States on the leading edge, the way Raytheon, Boeing, IBM and McDonnell Douglas did in the Cold War.

Google encountered fierce opposition from young engineers to the companys participation in Project Maven, a program to improve how drones recognize and select their targets. Google declared a few weeks ago it would not bid on a multibillion-dollar contract to provide the Pentagon with cloud services to store and process vast amounts of data. Amazon, for its part, appears willing to supply its services to the military and intelligence agencies, and it runs the information cloud services that power the CIA.

Even before its Friday announcement, Microsoft seemed like the only plausible alternative for the Pentagons giant cloud project, called Jedi, in which Amazon is considered the front-runner.

But the Microsoft announcement may have a greater impact on future technologies, including warning systems and weapons powered by AI. And Microsofts leadership, after brief debates this summer, concluded that by dropping out of the bidding, Google was also losing any real influence in how the weapons are used.

This was not a hard decision, Brad Smith, Microsofts president and general counsel, said in an interview in his office. Microsoft was born in the United States, is headquartered in the United States, and has grown up with all the benefits that have long come from being in this country.

But Smith seemed to be trying to strike a middle ground.

He has sued the U.S. government repeatedly to halt Washingtons efforts to get information stored in its servers about customers, and he is pressing for new international agreements to limit how the United States and its adversaries can use cyberweapons.

He also was to argue in a blog post that to withdraw from this market is to reduce our opportunity to engage in the public debate about how new technologies can best be used in a responsible way.

We are not going to withdraw from the future, he said.

David E. Sanger is a New York Times writer.
In airline route news this week, United is about to expand transpacific service from San Francisco; Level moves Barcelona flights from Oakland to SFO; Singapore Airlines adds LAX non-stops and reportedly has its eye on new service to Seattle; Delta wants to add China flights from the Midwest; ANA reduces its schedule at LAX for the winter; two airlines add new South America service and one cuts back; Kenya Airways adds JFK flights; Philippine goes non-stop to New York.

It's going to be a busy time for new international service at San Francisco International next week, especially for United.

On October 28, United is due to revive SFO-Auckland service, and this time it will operate year-round instead of seasonally. The carrier will provide daily 777-300ER flights through the winter, then downsize the operation in April 2019 by cutting back to three flights a week for the summer and switching aircraft to a 777-200ER.

Also on October 28, United is slated to increase its San Francisco-Singapore schedule from one flight a day to two, using 787-9s for both. (On October 27, United is dropping its Los Angeles-Singapore non-stops, but Singapore Airlines is due to begin its own LAX-SIN non-stops on November 2 three days a week, increasing to daily November 9, using its new A350-900ULR with business and premium economy seating only.)

On October 30, United's new seasonal Tahiti service is due to take off. The airline plans to fly the San Francisco-Papeete route three days a week with a 787-8 through the end of March, with no non-stop competition except from the Paris-based low-cost carrier French Bee, which will trim its Paris Orly-SFO-Papeete schedule from three flights a week to two on October 30.

And on October 31, the European low-cost airline Level is slated to move its Oakland-Barcelona service to San Francisco International. A subsidiary of British Airways-Iberia owner International Airlines Group, Level was originally put onto the OAK-Barcelona route to compete head-to-head against Norwegian, but the company decided to shift it to SFO to be near sister company Iberia's SFO-Madrid flights. Level will fly to Barcelona from SFO twice a week with a two-class A330-200. And Barcelona fares have tanked to around $400 roundtrip! Check it out in our Friday fare deals.

Speaking of Barcelona, United said this week it will provide special service from San Francisco to that Spanish city this coming winter for the big Mobile World Congress, which is expected to attract more than 100,000 tech and telecom workers from around the world. A United 777-200ER will depart SFO to Barcelona on February 23 and 27, returning the following day.

In other transpacific news, press reports from Singapore and Australia suggest that Singapore Airlines is thinking about adding a new U.S. gateway in 2019 by launching A350 flights to Seattle  a market that currently has no non-stop service. The airline has not confirmed this, however.

And Delta said this week that it has applied for government approvals to begin flying from its Minneapolis-St. Paul hub to Shanghai in 2020 with an A350-900. MSP currently has no non-stop service to China, although Delta flies from there to Tokyo Haneda and announced it will begin MSP-Seoul service on April 1. Also on the Pacific scene, the winter schedule from Japan's ANA calls for the carrier to trim its Los Angeles-Tokyo Narita service from two flights a day to just one from October 28 through February 7.

Last week, we reported that Aeromexico was expected to eliminate its San Jose-Guadalajara service next year, but we had no timetable. Now we do: Routesonline.com reports that the airline has filed plans to terminate its daily SJC-Guadalajara flights after January 7. The same date will apply for Aeromexico to discontinue Mexico City flights from Portland and Boston as well as LAX-Monterrey, and on December 2 it is due to end its Washington Dulles-Mexico City service.

Philippine Airlines

Some changes are coming to South America's airline service. JetBlue said this week it will tack on another international route to its growing Ft. Lauderdale operation on February 28 when it begins daily service to Guayaquil, Ecuador  its second destination in that country and its sixth in South America. Brazil's GOL, a partner of Delta, set a November 4 start for new service from Brasilia and Fortaleza to both Miami and Orlando. The U.S. non-stops will be operated with new 737MAX aircraft. And Delta's latest schedule update shows that it plans to terminate its daily Orlando-Sao Paulo 767 flights after March 11  a route that it code-shares with GOL.

Going to East Africa? Kenya Airways is due to launch new non-stop service on October 30 between Nairobi and New York JFK, using a 234-passenger 787-8 with business class and economy seating. Also at JFK, Philippine Airlines is due to transition its New York-Manila service from one-stop to non-stop when it starts flying a new Airbus A350-900 on the route. The PAL plane will offer business class, premium economy and regular economy seating for the 16-hour transpolar flight.



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You need not look farther than the Golden Gate Bridge and Coit Tower for some great Halloween costume ideas.

San Francisco, with its classic landmarks and colorful people, provides endless inspiration for figuring out what to wear trick-or-treating or to costume parties.
YANJI, China  At the end of a street of newly built high-rises in the northern Chinese city of Yanji stands an exposed cliff face, where paleontologists scrape away 100 million-year-old rock in search of prehistoric bones.

Like many fossil excavation sites in China, this one was discovered by accident.

Chinas rapid city building has churned up a mother lode of dinosaur fossils. While bulldozers have unearthed prehistoric sites in many countries, the scale and speed of Chinas urbanization is unprecedented, according to the U.N. Development Program.

Perhaps no one has seized the scientific opportunity more than Xu Xing, a diligent and unassuming standard-bearer for Chinas new prominence in paleontology. The researcher has named more dinosaur species than any living paleontologist, racing between dig sites to collect specimens and further scientists understanding of how birds evolved from dinosaurs.

Matthew Lamanna, a curator at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, said Xu is widely regarded as one of the foremost, if not the foremost, dinosaur paleontologist working in China today.

Two years ago, Xus colleague at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, Jin Changzhu, was visiting family in Yanji when he heard talk of fossils uncovered at a construction site. A preliminary inspection yielded what appeared to be a dinosaur shoulder bone.

Less than an hours drive from the North Korean border, the midsize city has been erecting residential blocks quickly. Seen from a plane, Yanji looks like a Legoland of new pink- and blue-roofed buildings, but theres one long empty lot of exposed rocky hillside  the excavation site.

When Xu arrived at Yanji, he recognized the site could fill gaps in the fossil record, noting the relative paucity of bones recovered from the late Cretaceous period, which was around 100 million years ago. An analysis of the layers of volcanic ash revealed the sites age. Xu is now overseeing a team of scientists using picks, chisels and needles to study the exposed hillside.

The site has yielded partial skeletons of three ancient crocodiles and one sauropod, the giant plant-eating dinosaurs that included some of the worlds largest land animals.

This is a major feature of paleontology here in China  lots of construction really helps the scientists to find new fossils, said Xu.

Born in 1969 in Chinas western Xinjiang region, Xu did not choose to study dinosaurs. Like most university students of his era, he was assigned a major. His love for the field grew in graduate school in the 1990s, as feathered dinosaurs recovered from ancient Chinese lake beds drew global attention.

When Xu and Jin discovered fossils in Yanji in 2016, city authorities halted construction on adjacent high-rise buildings, in accordance with a national law.

The developer was really not happy with me, said Xu, but the local government has since embraced its newfound claim to fame.

Christina Larson is an Associated Press writer.
Will County is one of the only counties in the state that is growing in population. Im eager to usher in a new chapter of leadership that embraces our diverse and growing community. I envision a Will County where everyone has a seat at the table, she said.
ATHENS  Schools were closed and officials surveyed damage on the Greek island of Zakynthos Friday after a powerful earthquake that was felt as far as Libya jolted western Greece.

The magnitude-6.5 undersea quake overnight forced many island residents to spend the night in their cars and triggered a tsunami warning that ended several hours later. No serious damage or injuries were reported, although the main harbor for the island of Zakynthos in the Ionian Sea was damaged, and the sidewalk near moored boats cracked and warped.

More than 35 aftershocks were recorded by 8 a.m. local time, about six hours after the quake occurred, the countrys civil protection agency said. Of those, 10 were of a magnitude greater than 4.0, and one was of magnitude 5.1.

It was a powerful and shallow earthquake that was felt throughout western Greece, up to Athens, the Western Balkans, even in Italy and Libya, said seismologist Gerasimos Papadopoulos of the Geodynamic Institute in Athens.

Power was lost in the island capital and main town, also called Zakynthos, for several hours and outages were also reported elsewhere.

The fire service said rockfalls were reported in another part of the island, and part of a church wall collapsed on the mainland town of Pyrgos, in the southern Peloponnese area. Two people were treated for minor injuries.

Zakynthos mayor Pavlos Kolokotsas told local media that damage had been reported in some houses, where plaster had cracked and fallen off of walls. He said engineers were checking all reports.

The quake rattled the whole of western Greece and was strongly felt in the capital, 174 miles to the northeast of Zakynthos.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the undersea quake was magnitude 6.8 and its epicenter was 20 miles southwest of Mouzaki in the southern part of the island. It had a depth of 8.7 miles and struck just before 2 a.m. local time.

Greeces main earthquake monitoring center, the Geodynamic Institute, measured the magnitude at 6.5, and said it had a depth of 3 miles. Measurements of quake strength can vary due to the equipment each institution uses and other factors.

There was no explanation for the discrepancy in the seismic readings.

Greece lies in one of the worlds most earthquake-prone regions, with thousands of quakes recorded every year. But few cause injuries or significant damage. In 1999, a magnitude 5.9 quake on the outskirts of Athens killed 143 people.

Zakynthos has had severe earthquakes in the past, and as a result has a strict building safety code.

Nicholas Paphitis is an Associated Press writer.
The county needs to invest more in its health department to address the issue, he said. Our health department is underfunded at a time when we have a health epidemic raging in the county. It was insane to think that in 2016 there were people on the board who wanted to defund the health department.
And then there are the deer, who have entered their rutting season and, because theyre on the move getting down to business, are officially more of a danger to motorists than other times of year. As noted by the Chicago Tribune last week, there have been nearly 15,000 crashes in Illinois involving deer since 2016, many occurring on rural roadways during early morning or evening hours.
As a foggy morning gave way to glorious sunshine, the Mavericks big-wave surf contest staged its opening ceremony on Friday afternoon at Pillar Point, near Half Moon Bay.

Most of the invited men and women surfers were on hand for the event, part of the World Surf Leagues Big Wave Tour, to be held sometime between Nov. 1 and March 31. Following tradition, the surfers donned their wetsuits on the beach, paddled out near the break (the surf was mild) and formed a circle, several competitors speaking up to bless the contest with safety and good fortune.
According to police, the owner of the car was contacted, and he reported that it had broken down after he loaned it to a friend and, as a result, it was left parked in the lot overnight.
MOUNTAIN VIEW (BCN)



Firefighters responded to a fire alarm at a restaurant in Mountain View on Wednesday caused by a worker adding water to hot oil and activating a fire alarm.



Firefighters responded to the alarm at 12:31 p.m. and found water flowing over a grill in the kitchen of the caf in the 500 block of E. Middlefield Road. All the occupants of the multi-use building had evacuated, according to fire officials.



Firefighters turned off the sprinklers and reactivated the water supply system to the cafe. Fire officials said a kitchen worker had added water to hot oil, which caused steam and activated the alarm.



The cafe will be closed until inspectors from the Santa Clara County Department of Environmental Health determine the establishment is safe.





Copyright  2018 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)



Civil rights attorney John Burris today announced his law firm has filed two racial discrimination lawsuits in San Francisco Superior Court against a construction company, alleging black workers were subjected to racial epithets and discrimination.



The two lawsuits against Maryland-based Clark Construction were filed Wednesday, Burris said.



One of the lawsuits alleges plaintiff Lawrence Haley, a journeyman plumber working at a construction site at 150 Van Ness Ave., was subjected to racial epithets that were written at the site's bathroom on Oct. 4, 2017.



Although Haley complained, days later, the lawsuit alleges, the writing was still visible. That same day, when he tried to wash his hands, he noticed that someone had allegedly put feces inside the soap dispenser.



After Haley reported the incident, he was allegedly barred from returning to his job, being told that there were "procedures" that had to be "taken care of" before he could return, according to the lawsuit.



Haley was allegedly told that he would have to seek medical attention on his own for the feces incident. When he later notified a supervisor that he wouldn't be coming into work because of his doctor's appointment, his supervisor allegedly admonished him in a text message, writing, "What else can a doctor do? We are all grown men, you need to get over this."



Because of the incident, Haley has not worked since October 2017.



In the second lawsuit, three other plaintiffs, Douglas Russell, Craig Ogans, and Don'ta Laury, all working as journeymen crane operators at a construction site at 250 Howard St., allege they were routinely subjected to racial slurs between August 2017 and June 2018.



According to the lawsuit, similar to the other suit, several racial epithets were posted at the site's bathroom. Additionally, a similar incident occurred where one of the plaintiffs allegedly found feces inside the bathroom soap dispenser.



Furthermore, the second lawsuit alleges two black dolls were found hanging from a noose with derogatory comments written on at least one.



"Even in today's racial climate, Clark Construction has a duty to provide a safe working environment, free from racial animus, intimidation and harassment," Burris said in a statement. "African American men should be free to earn a day's pay without fear of racial hostility or physical or emotional harm. As such, Clark Construction has failed these men."



In a statement, Clark Construction today said, "While we cannot provide detailed comments on pending litigation, Clark is committed to providing a safe and respectful work environment, free from harassment, discrimination and retaliation, for everyone on our project sites.



"As soon as Clark was made aware of the incidents that were reported, we swiftly took action to recommunicate that harassment will not be tolerated, reinforce our commitment to maintaining a respectful work environment, and reaffirm our expectations of all who work on our project sites. We put measures in place, such as installing video surveillance equipment and new jobsite signage, to deter future incidents from occurring."



The construction company said in order to address discrimination and harassment happening in the workplace, it is actively working in partnership with the San Francisco Human Rights Commission and the San Francisco NAACP.





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Suspicious packages addressed to U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-California, and California billionaire Thomas Steyer have both been rendered safe after being intercepted at mail facilities in Burlingame and Sacramento.



The packages were rendered safe on Friday.



The FBI and law enforcement agencies across the United States have been investigating over a dozen suspicious packages addressed to high-profile Democrats this week.



The FBI announced on Twitter Friday the suspicious package intercepted in Burlingame was moved to a safe off-site location after it was discovered and that it was rendered safe at about 1 p.m. Pacific time.



A spokesperson for Steyer confirmed earlier Friday that the package intercepted at the mail facility in Burlingame was addressed to Steyer.



Steyer, a former hedge fund manager, has been a vocal critic of President Donald Trump and has spearheaded a campaign to impeach him.







Civil rights attorney John Burris has announced his law firm has filed two racial discrimination lawsuits in San Francisco Superior Court against a construction company, alleging black workers were subjected to racial epithets and discrimination.



Burris made the announcement Friday.



The two lawsuits against Maryland-based Clark Construction were filed Wednesday, Burris said.



One of the lawsuits alleges plaintiff Lawrence Haley, a journeyman plumber working at a construction site at 150 Van Ness Ave., was subjected to racial epithets that were written at the site's bathroom on Oct. 4, 2017.



Although Haley complained, days later, the lawsuit alleges, the writing was still visible. That same day, when he tried to wash his hands, he noticed that someone had allegedly put feces inside the soap dispenser.



After Haley reported the incident, he was allegedly barred from returning to his job, being told that there were "procedures" that had to be "taken care of" before he could return, according to the lawsuit.







A Pittsburg police SWAT team fired eight shots, killing a 37-year-old man after he held his family at gunpoint and then fired a gunshot at officers.



Pittsburg resident Salvador Morales was shot dead after he allegedly held his wife and baby at gunpoint Monday. Pittsburg police released officers' body cam video footage, as well as video footage from inside a police vehicle of the shooting.



Officers received a report that Morales, an estranged husband, was holding his wife and baby at gunpoint in the 100 block of Carolyn Drive, a few blocks from the Pittsburg Center BART Station.



Officers also learned that Morales had shot his brother-in-law in the neck when he tried to intervene.



After shooting his brother-in-law, police said Morales then forced his wife and baby into his vehicle and drove away. Officers located the vehicle and followed it to Concord and then back to Pittsburg.







A decayed human skull was found in Oakland, police said.



The skull was discovered Friday morning.



Officers were notified of the decayed skull at 8:54 a.m. and found and recovered it from the backyard of a home on 29th Street, according to police.



Homicide detectives responded to the scene to begin investigating the circumstances surrounding the suspicious death, police said.



The Alameda County coroner's bureau also responded to the scene to recover the skull for further analysis, according to authorities.







A young Sebastopol man was held over for trial for the alleged stabbing death of another young man in April.



Anthony Ibach, 18, was ordered Friday to stand trial on charges of killing Corey Vaughn, 19, in a parking lot on Bodega Avenue and West Hills Circle in Sebastopol on April 21.



Ibach's attorney Joseph Bisbiglia argued at a preliminary hearing Friday that the murder was in self-defense, but Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Chris Honigsberg upheld the murder charge sought by Deputy District Attorney Chris Brown.



Ibach and Vaughn had issues with each other and Ibach told Vaughn's friends he wanted to talk to Vaughn who was at a nearby house party that afternoon, according to the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office.



Vaughn left the party and during a fight Ibach allegedly stabbed Vaughn four times. An autopsy determined the fatal stab wound in the chest was about 6 inches long and two inches deep, according to testimony Friday.







Walnut Creek police arrested a 35-year-old Tennessee woman on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and vehicular manslaughter after the vehicle she was driving collided head-on into three vehicles, killing one person and injuring others.



The collision occurred Thursday evening.



Police said Jessica Martin was driving her vehicle south on South Broadway when she collided with three vehicles traveling in the opposite direction on South Broadway.



Just after 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, emergency dispatchers received multiple 911 calls reporting a rollover collision and possible fatality on South Broadway, near Interstate Highway 680.



Upon arrival at the scene of the collision, emergency crews pronounced one driver dead and transported a young child located in that same vehicle to the hospital with major injuries, police said.







Santa Clara County sheriff's deputies made a fifth arrest Thursday for a homicide in unincorporated Soquel after announcing they were searching for the suspect earlier this week.



Jose Leonardo Alfaro Juarez, 20, was arrested in connection with 41-year-old Bernardo Rodas' murder on Oct. 13. Rodas was found off of North Rodeo Gulch Road after being reported missing three days earlier.



Milton Arias Molina, 22, of San Jose, a 17-year-old from Capitola and a 15-year-old from Santa Cruz were arrested on Oct. 16, and a 17-year-old from Santa Cruz was arrested on Oct. 19.



Deputies said some of the suspects have connections with gangs but Rodas was not believed to be gang-affiliated. Sheriff's officials said the motive for the murder is unclear and the suspects have given conflicting accounts of what happened.





























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WALNUT CREEK (BCN)



Walnut Creek police arrested a 35-year-old Tennessee woman on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and vehicular manslaughter after the vehicle she was driving collided head-on into three vehicles, killing one person and injuring others on Thursday evening.



Police said Jessica Martin was driving her vehicle south on South Broadway when she collided with three vehicles traveling in the opposite direction on South Broadway.



Just after 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, emergency dispatchers received multiple 911 calls reporting a rollover collision and possible fatality on South Broadway, near Interstate Highway 680.



Upon arrival at the scene of the collision, emergency crews pronounced one driver dead and transported a young child located in that same vehicle to the hospital with major injuries, police said.



Contra Costa County Fire Protection District firefighters extricated the driver of another vehicle, who was transported to the hospital with major injuries.



Police said the driver of a third vehicle suffered minor injuries and was also transported to the hospital.



Martin, the driver of the fourth vehicle, suffered moderate injuries as well and was transported to John Muir Medical Center, where police arrested her Thursday night. The passenger in her vehicle also suffered minor injuries and was transported to the hospital for treatment.



Police investigators are still trying to determine where Martin was coming from prior to the collision and are asking the public to contact Walnut Creek police Detective Sgt. Bruce Jower with any information at (925) 943-5899 ext. 3582 or jower@walnutcreekpd.com.





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OAKLAND(BCN)



A dog died and 12 people were displaced after a fire this morning at an East Oakland apartment building, fire officials said.



Firefighters were called at 10:48 a.m. to blaze at a three-story apartment building in the 5400 block of Bancroft Avenue, said Battalion Chief Chris Landry.



Crews found fire and heavy smoke in a first-floor unit, and managed to contain the blaze there. However, five other units in the building sustained smoke damage, Landry said.



A dog died, but there were no injuries to residents of the building or firefighters, Landry said.



The fire was under control by 11:02 a.m. The Red Cross was assisting the displaced residents.



The cause of the blaze has not been determined.





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Bay City News Service



Suspicious packages addressed to Sen. Kamala Harris, D-California, and California billionaire Thomas Steyer have both been rendered safe after being intercepted today at mail facilities in Burlingame and Sacramento.



The FBI and law enforcement agencies across the United States have been investigating over a dozen suspicious packages addressed to high-profile Democrats this week.



The FBI announced on Twitter today the suspicious package intercepted in Burlingame was moved to a safe off-site location after it was discovered and that it was rendered safe at about 1 p.m. Pacific time.



A spokesperson for Steyer confirmed earlier today that the package intercepted at the mail facility in Burlingame was addressed to Steyer.



Steyer, a former hedge fund manager, has been a vocal critic of President Donald Trump and has spearheaded a campaign to impeach him.



Federal and local authorities were also investigating a suspicious package addressed to Harris and intercepted at a mail facility in Sacramento today.



The FBI said in a statement on Twitter that the package arrived at the Colonial Post Office in Sacramento addressed to Harris and that bomb technicians have since rendered the package safe.



A dozen other suspicious packages containing explosive material targeting outspoken Trump opponents were discovered in cities across the country this week.



Among those who the packages were addressed to were CNN, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama, Sen. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, and actor Robert De Niro, among others.



The FBI today announced that they have arrested Cesar Sayoc in connection with their investigation into the suspicious packages.



The FBI said the devices in the packages contained potentially dangerous materials.



Sayoc has been charged with five federal offenses and is expected to be in court on Monday.





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The Gary airport has been used to aid in deportations by the Immigration Customs Enforcement agency since 2013. Typically, undocumented immigrants have been brought from a Chicago-area detention center after a judge has ordered their deportation, and they are usually flown out of the Gary airport to Texas.
I came to look at the art they advertised, but I had to stop and pick up a few veggies first, said Lynn Jarmon of Highland, as she glanced through the display of tomatoes, peppers and other items on the long table. Then Ill take my time to look through the art booths. Im always amazed at what great artistic talent we have locally, and Im sure Ill go home with something for my home.
Northwest Indianas five casinos  Horseshoe in Hammond, Ameristar in East Chicago, two Majestic Star boats in Gary and Blue Chip in Michigan City  took in a total of approximately $77.69 million in revenues in August, compared to $75.43 million during the same month in 2017, according to the monthly revenues report issued Sept. 10 by the Indiana Gaming Commission.
Bond Li, 54, of Highland; Yu Xiao, 51, of Chicago; and Xiaojiao Zhou, 30, of Chicago, were each charged in Lake Superior Court with prostitution, a class A misdemeanor, court records show.
Braun and Indiana statewide Republican candidates rallied Friday at the Porter County Expo, saying it is time for Hoosiers to change the course of the U.S. Senate and support results theyve seen since the 2016 election. Braun aims to unseat incumbent Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly in November.
ARRIAGA, Mexico  More than a hundred Mexican federal officers carrying plastic shields abandoned a blockade they had formed on a bridge Saturday, allowing a caravan of thousands of Central American migrants to advance toward the United States.

The officers ended the standoff after representatives from Mexicos National Human Rights Commission told police that a rural stretch of highway without shade, toilets or water was no place for migrants to entertain offers of asylum in Mexico. Police boarded buses and headed further down the highway, while migrants cheered and vowed to trek all the way to the U.S. border.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto began a program Friday dubbed You are home, which promises shelter, medical attention, schooling and jobs to Central Americans who agree to stay in the southern Mexico states of Chiapas or Oaxaca.

Police commissioner Benjamin Grajeda said authorities only blocked the highway Saturday to tell people about the governments offer. Here in this truck right now you can get help, he said.

Thousands of migrants in the city of Arriaga rejected the plan Friday night, but said they could be willing to discuss it again once they reach Mexico City. Some fear they will be deported if they take advantage of the program.

Orbelina Orellana, a migrant from San Pedro Sula, Honduras, said she and her husband left three children behind and had decided to continue north one way or another. Our destiny is to get to the border, she said.

She was suspicious of the governments proposal and said that some Hondurans who had applied for legal status already had been sent back. Her claims could not be verified.

Mexicos Interior Ministry said that temporary identity numbers have been issued to 111 migrants under the You are home program. The IDs authorize the migrants to stay and work in Mexico, and the ministry said pregnant women, children and the elderly were among the migrants who had joined the program and are now being attended to at shelters.

The government appears to want to shrink the caravan by keeping smaller groups of migrants from joining, while simultaneously hoping the grueling journey will make its offer of refuge more attractive.

The caravan still must travel 1,000 miles to reach the nearest U.S. border crossing at McAllen, Texas.

Christopher Sherman is an Associated Press writer.
BEIRUT  The Islamic State group killed at least 40 U.S.-backed Syrian fighters, captured several alive and regained areas they lost earlier this month in eastern Syria near the Iraqi border in some of the most intense fighting in weeks, a war monitor and an agency linked to the militants said Saturday.

Members of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces have been on the offensive since early September under the cover of air strikes by the U.S.-led coalition to capture the last pocket held by Islamic State in Syria.

Fridays fighting that lasted until the early hours of Saturday began when the militants, taking advantage of a sandstorm, launched a counteroffensive against SDF positions east of the Euphrates river in the province of Deir el-Zour that borders Iraq, activists said.

Col. Sean Ryan, spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, said they have no confirmation of exact figures as both sides are taking casualties. He called it a difficult fight.

The sandstorm allowed an ISIS counterattack, which was surprising given the conditions, but now the air is clear and the Coalition will continue to increase air and fire support to assist our partners, Ryan said using the acronym for Islamic State.

Rami Abdurrahman who heads the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that since Friday Islamic State has killed more than 60 SDF fighters, wounded others and captured at least 20. He added that some 100 SDF fighters have fled the battlefield as the extremist group has carried out suicide car bomb attacks.

The Observatory and the Deir Ezzor 24 activist collective said Islamic State fighters captured the village of Sousa that they had lost control of earlier this week.

The Islamic State-linked Aamaq news agency said that more than 40 SDF fighters were killed and posted a video of six gunmen captured alive.

Also Saturday, the leaders of Turkey, Russia, France and Germany held talks about Syria at a summit in Istanbul, hoping to lay the groundwork for eventual peace.

A key challenge is their divided opinions about Syrian President Bashar Assad, who is backed by Russia and Iran and whose government has retaken most of the territory that rebels seized during the war that has killed over 400,000 people.

Bassem Mroue and Maamoun Youssef are Associated Press writers.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip  Palestinian militants ceased rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel and relative calm prevailed Saturday after a night-long exchange of fire that prompted Israeli threats against Iranian forces in Syria.

The Islamic Jihad group, a militant faction operating in the Hamas-ruled Gaza but that has close ties to Iran and Syria, said they agreed to Egyptian mediation efforts and halted the rocket fire, the heaviest to emanate from Gaza in months.

The Egyptian efforts led to understandings to restore calm to Gaza Strip. We appreciate the Egyptian endeavor and hope for all kinds of (Israeli) aggression to stop, said Khaled al-Batsh, an Islamic Jihad official.

Hamas, the larger militant group that controls Gaza, accused Israel of resorting to military escalation to evade obligations of a comprehensive cease-fire that Hamas has long sought. Hamas wants the deal to end a crippling Israeli-Egyptian blockade on Gaza.

There was no comment from Israel on truce. It has said its jets struck dozens of targets across Gaza and accused Iranian forces in Damascus of orchestrating the barrages.

The threats toward Iranian forces in Syria added a new dimension to what was already the heaviest fighting between Israel and Gaza militants in several weeks. Opening a new front in Syria could put Israel in direct confrontation with heavily armed Iranian and Hezbollah forces, along with recently deployed Russian anti-aircraft systems.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli military spokesman, said 34 rockets had been fired at Israel throughout the night. Israels Iron Dome rocket-defense system intercepted 13 rockets, two landed in Gaza and the remainder fell in open spaces in southern Israel, he said. In response, Israel hit over 80 targets in Gaza. There were no reports of casualties.

Conricus said Islamic Jihad had fired the rockets under instructions from Irans Al Quds Force based in Syria and said that Israel was considering taking action against the Iranians in response.

We know that the orders, incentives were given from Damascus with the clear involvement of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Quds Force, he said.

Iran has sent its forces, along with those of Hezbollah and other Shiite militias, to Syria to back President Bashar Assad in the civil war there. As the war winds down, Israel has repeatedly warned that it will not allow its archenemy Iran to establish a permanent military presence in postwar Syria.

Fares Akram and Josef Federman is an Associated Press writer.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip  Israeli aircraft struck several militant sites across the Gaza Strip early Saturday shortly after militants fired rockets into southern Israel, the Israeli military said.

Israels chief of staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot conducted situational assessment while the air strikes and barrages of rockets continued, the army added without elaborating.

The cross-border violence came hours after Israeli forces shot and killed four Palestinians protesting along the perimeter fence dividing the Hamas-ruled Gaza and Israel.

In a rare statement implicitly claiming responsibility for the rocket fire, the smaller Islamic Jihad group said it has always exercised restraint, but it can no longer stand idle before the continued killing of innocents and bloodshed by the Israeli occupation.

There was no word on injuries as a result of the rockets and air strikes.

The bloodshed and exchange of missiles complicated the mission of Egyptian mediators, who intensified their shuttle diplomacy to achieve calm and prevent a full-blown conflict between the militant Hamas group and Israel.

The Israeli army has confirmed at least 12 launchings, adding its Iron Dome defense system intercepted several missiles.

On Friday, thousands of Palestinians gathered at five locations along the boundary, burning tires and throwing rocks, grenades and firebombs at Israeli troops who responded with tear gas and occasional live fire.

The Israeli army said some suspects briefly crossed the fence. In a separate incident, the military said its aircrafts struck three Hamas military posts in northern Gaza Strip.

Hamas maintains it wants a full lifting of a crippling blockade Israel and Egypt imposed on Gaza to isolate the Islamic movement.

The blockade has made it increasingly difficult for Hamas to govern. Widespread desperation among Gazas 2 million residents  who get only a few hours of electricity a day and undrinkable tap water, in addition to suffering from soaring joblessness and limited freedom of travel  fuels their participation in the Hamas-orchestrated protests.

Since the marches began six months ago, at least 160 Palestinians present or taking part in the protests have been killed. A Gaza militant fatally shot an Israeli soldier in July.

Israel accuses Hamas of using the large protests as cover to stage border infiltrations and attacks. It says it is defending its border and accuses Hamas of exploiting young protesters and encouraging them to risk their lives in order to increase pressure to ease the blockade.

In the West Bank, a 33-year-old Palestinian man was killed when Israeli forces confronted stone throwers in a village near Ramallah city, doctors said.

Fares Akram is an Associated Press writer.
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MANAMA, Bahrain  The killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi undermines regional stability and the U.S. State Department plans to take further action in response to the killing, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Saturday at an international conference in the Middle East.

Mattis never mentioned Saudi Arabia directly in connection with the Oct. 2 slaying of Khashoggi at the kingdoms consulate in Istanbul. But he noted that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo revoked visas of Saudis implicated in the killing of the Washington Post writer, and he said additional measures will be taken.
ISTANBUL  President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that Turkey had uncovered further evidence in the killing of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, pressing Saudi Arabia to reveal who gave the orders and demanding that its leaders explain what happened to Khashoggis body.

There is more information, Erdogan said at a gathering in the capital, Ankara, for officials from his Justice and Development Party, where he suggested he might make more evidence public in the future. But beyond all else, who gave the order?

Erdogan said the Saudi chief prosecutor would travel to Turkey on Sunday to meet with the chief prosecutor of Istanbul, who is leading the Turkish investigation.

Khashoggis Turkish fiance, Hatice Cengiz, said in a television interview Friday that he had been relaxed and hopeful when he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2 to pick up a document that would allow him to marry. He was killed inside the consulate by a team of men from Saudi Arabia.

In an emotional interview that lasted more than an hour  her first television interview since his death  Cengiz described how she met and became engaged to Khashoggi, a critic of the kingdoms leadership who wrote opinion pieces for The Washington Post, and how she put out the alarm when he did not emerge from the consulate.

His first meeting at the consulate several days earlier had been courteous, so he had few qualms going back, she said. He did not hesitate at all.

After weeks of insisting that Khashoggi had left the building alive, Saudi Arabia buckled under pressure from Turkey and acknowledged a week ago that he was killed, though officials insisted that his death had been an accident. The kingdoms official story changed yet again on Thursday, when a state prosecutor said the killing had been premeditated.

The nature of the killing of Khashoggi has led many Western analysts, intelligence officials and elected leaders to suggest that it could not have been carried out without the approval of the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, the countrys de facto ruler and a crucial ally of the White House.

Pushing back against Western calls to cut off arms sales or impose other sanctions, Saudi Arabia on Friday tacitly threatened that it could look instead to support from Moscow.

Carlota Gall is a New York Times writer.
BEIRUT  Giant posters on the streets of Beiruts southern Shiite suburbs display an armed Hezbollah fighter in uniform, holding the groups yellow banner and Lebanons national flag, along with phone numbers where supporters can make donations to the Shiite guerrilla force.

He who equips a warrior is part of the battle, the posters declare, quoting a saying from Islams Prophet Muhammad.

Hezbollahs calls for donations have intensified in past months as the group and its main backer Iran come under increasing financial pressure under sanctions from the Trump administration.

Washington has imposed sanctions on the militant group for decades. But a new wave this year appears to be more serious about targeting Hezbollahs top leadership as well as businessmen and companies that Washington says are funding the group.

On Thursday, President Trump signed legislation imposing new sanctions against Hezbollah at a White House event marking the 35th anniversary of the Beirut barracks bombing that killed 241 Marines. The bill expands the list of those who can be sanctioned for doing business with Hezbollah.

On Oct. 15, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions designated Hezbollah as one of five groups considered top transnational organized crime threats.

Iran, facing its own financial crises, also has reportedly cut back on funding for Hezbollah and Shiite militias it supports in Iraq.

Iran touts itself as the leader of the Axis of Resistance, grouping the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad, Shiite militias in Iraq, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Shiite gunmen in Yemen known as the Houthis.

The U.S. State Department said in July that Iran has spent over $16 billion since 2012 supporting Assad and its proxies in Iraq and in Yemen, and it also gives $700 million a year to Hezbollah. It has also given the Syrian government $4 billion in lines of credit, it says.

Crushing U.S. oil sanctions on Iran will resume in early November and already, American allies in Asia are cutting back on their purchases of Iranian crude.

Bassem Mroue and Qassim Abdul-Zahra are Associated Press writers.
STATEN ISLAND -- Steven Soto of Huguenot was in the middle of replacing a light fixture when he got a call from a friend asking him to help free a deer from a fence on South Avenue.

When Soto arrived at the scene, the deers back legs were jammed between two metal bars no more than eight inches apart.

Several men struggled to pull the bars apart before they finally freed him.

But it was too late.

When the Advance arrived at the scene at 4 p.m., the deer was found dead in the Bloomfield Conservancy.

Soto said he decided to not call any city agencies Friday to come help him because he had previously tried to get the city to help him remove an injured deer from Edward Curry Avenue last year, but he got the runaround.

He said he called 311, and they directed him to another city agency, and then that city agency directed him to another one -- and in the meantime, the deer ended up dying as he tried to seek help.

The deer stood there for like three days and it eventually just died, Soto said.

Soto said workers from what appeared to be the Parks Department eventually arrived at the scene Friday, but by the time they got there the deer was already dead.

At the Nicotra Group, which owns much of the area surrounding where the deer was found, including the Bloomfield Conservancy, efforts were made to help the deer. They contacted Councilman Steven Matteos (R-Mid Island) office, said Kristine Garlisi, chief of staff.

Matteos office said when they heard from the Nicotra Group, they immediately contacted the Parks Department and New York City Police Department, who arrived minutes later.

But the Parks Department said once they reached the scene, the deer had been freed and expired," so the agency removed the deer carcass according to protocol.

The Bloomfield Conservancy is focused on keeping the area along South Avenue clean and green,'' Garlisi said. "As part of our efforts, the Bloomfield Conservancy works with the Parks Department to maintain fencing surrounding the 415 acres of Conservancy property in an effort to keep both deer and drivers safe.

NOT FIRST RUN IN WITH DEER IN THE AREA

This wasnt Sotos first encounter with a deer in the area.

He said he spotted another deer laying on South Avenue on Thursday, but by Friday morning, Soto said, the deer was dead and appeared to have been hit by a car.

Soto said he mostly spots fawns in the area.

I see a ton of [fawns]; I rarely see the parents in the area I work in or on the way home, he said.

The latest deer sighting comes as the Islands herd is currently in mating season known as the rut.

Meantime, the city is in the middle of what is supposed to be the third and final year of the controversial $3.3 million deer vasectomy program, which is running $800,000 over budget.

FOLLOW SYDNEY KASHIWAGI ON TWITTER.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Some Staten Island express bus riders will soon have a reason to rejoice: Theyre getting their old stops back.

Borough President James Oddo announced on Twitter Friday that the MTA will be restoring the following old express bus stops that had been removed during the recent redesign.

Arthur Kill Road/Corbin Avenue

Richmond Avenue/Rockland Avenue

Hylan Boulevard/Bayview Avenue

Richmond Avenue/Eton Place

Targee Street/Baltic Avenue

Forest Avenue/Hart Boulevard

Spring Street/Greenwich Street (in Manhattan)

Additionally, the MTA will split the express and local bus stops at Broadway and Barclay Street in Manhattan.

The MTA confirmed that the stops will be restored, but could not yet offer a timeline.

Were working with NYCDOT to reinstate these stops and will have more information soon, according to MTA spokesperson Shams Tarek.

Oddo has also been working with the MTA and DOT to determine a solution to a recurring bottlenecking issue at Steuben Street/Hylan Boulevard/Narrows Road.
Several of those who came to the clinic Thursday said they were aware that the last flu season was a bad one. But it was more about the easy accessibility of getting flu shots that drew them to Niles Townships main building in Skokie.
PITTSBURGH -- A gunman who's believed to have spewed anti-Semitic slurs and rhetoric on social media barged into a Pittsburgh synagogue on Saturday and opened fire, killing 11 people in one of the deadliest attacks on Jews in U.S. history.

The 20-minute attack at Tree of Life Congregation in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood left six others wounded, including four police officers who dashed to the scene, authorities said.

The suspect, Robert Bowers, traded gunfire with police and was shot several times. Bowers, who was in fair condition at a hospital, was charged late Saturday with 29 federal counts, including hate crimes and weapons offenses. It wasn't immediately known if Bowers had an attorney to speak on his behalf.

"Please know that justice in this case will be swift and it will be severe," Scott Brady, the chief federal prosecutor in western Pennsylvania, said at a news conference, characterizing the slaughter as a "terrible and unspeakable act of hate."

The mass shooting came amid a rash of high-profile attacks in an increasingly divided country, one day after a Florida man was arrested and charged with mailing a series of pipe bombs to prominent Democrats and little more than a week before the midterm elections.

The killings also immediately reignited the longstanding national debate about guns: President Donald Trump said the outcome might have been different if the synagogue "had some kind of protection" from an armed guard, while Pennsylvania's Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf noted that once again "dangerous weapons are putting our citizens in harm's way."

Trump ordered flags at federal buildings throughout the U.S. to be flown at half-staff in "solemn respect" for the shooting victims. He said he planned to travel to Pittsburgh, but offered no details.

Authorities say that just before 10 a.m., Bower entered the large synagogue with an assault-style rifle and three handguns. Three separate congregations were conducting Sabbath services in different areas of the large building, according to Michael Eisenberg, the immediate past president of the Tree of Life. The Pennsylvania attorney general's office said it was told by victims that a brit milah -- a ritual circumcision ceremony at which a baby boy also receives his Hebrew name -- was also taking place, though law enforcement officials later said no children were among the dead or wounded.

"It is a very horrific crime scene," said a visibly moved Wendell Hissrich, the Pittsburgh public safety director. "It's one of the worst that I've seen."

The survivors included Daniel Leger, 70, a nurse and hospital chaplain who was in critical condition after undergoing surgery, his brother, Paul Leger, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Daniel Leger was scheduled to lead a service Saturday morning, he said.

The mass shooting raised immediate alarm in Jewish communities around the country. Authorities in New York City, Chicago and elsewhere increased security at Jewish centers.

Bob Jones, head of the FBI's Pittsburgh office, said that worshippers "were brutally murdered by a gunman targeting them simply because of their faith," though he cautioned the shooter's full motive was not yet known.

Bowers, who had no apparent criminal record, expressed virulently anti-Semitic views on a social media site called Gab, according to an Associated Press review of an archived version of the posts made under his name. The cover photo for his account featured a neo-Nazi symbol, and his recent posts included a photo of a fiery oven like those used in Nazi concentration camps used to cremate Jews during World War II.

Other posts referenced false conspiracy theories suggesting the Holocaust -- in which an estimated 6 million Jews perished -- was a hoax. He wrote of a Jewish "infestation," using a slur for Jews.

Gab confirmed Bowers had a profile on its website, which is popular with far-right extremists.

Before the shooting, the poster believed to be Bowers also wrote that "HIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I can't sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I'm going in."

HIAS is a nonprofit group that helps refugees around the world find safety and freedom. The organization says it is guided by Jewish values and history.

Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive officer of the Anti-Defamation League, said the group believes Saturday's attack was the deadliest on the Jewish community in U.S. history.

"Our hearts break for the families of those killed and injured at the Tree of Life Synagogue, and for the entire Jewish community of Pittsburgh," Greenblatt said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was "heartbroken and appalled" by the attack.

"The entire people of Israel grieve with the families of the dead," Netanyahu said. "We stand together with the Jewish community of Pittsburgh. We stand together with the American people in the face of this horrendous anti-Semitic brutality. And we all pray for the speedy recovery of the wounded."

Thousands of people, some holding candles, gathered for a vigil in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood on Saturday night in honor of the victims, whose names were not immediately released. A chant of "vote, vote, vote" broke out during the emotional gathering. Some attendees blamed the shooting on the nation's political climate, and said they took little solace in the planned visit by Trump.

At a political rally in Murphysboro, Illinois, Trump said "the evil anti-Semitic attack is an assault on all of us."

The president -- who, at times, has been accused by critics of failing to adequately condemn hate, such as when he blamed "both sides" for the violence at a Charlottesville, Virginia, white supremacist rally in 2017 -- said that anti-Semitism must be "confronted and condemned everywhere it rears it very ugly head." He called for the imposition of the death penalty for "crimes like this."

The synagogue is located in the tree-lined residential neighborhood of Squirrel Hill, about 10 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh and the hub of Pittsburgh's Jewish community. The facade of the fortress-like concrete building is punctuated by rows of swirling, modernistic stained-glass windows illustrating the story of creation, the acceptance of God's law, the "life cycle" and "how human-beings should care for the earth and one another," according to its website. Among its treasures is a "Holocaust Torah," rescued from Czechoslovakia.

Its sanctuary can hold up to 1,250 people.

Eisenberg, the former synagogue president, said officials at Tree of Life had not gotten any threats that he knew of before the shooting. But he said security was a concern, and the synagogue had started working to improve it.

Chuck Diamond, a former rabbi at the synagogue who retired more than a year ago, said the building is locked during the week, and is outfitted with security cameras. "But on Sabbath it's an open door," he said.

"You know, you're always worried that something would happen," said Myron Snider, head of the cemetery committee for New Light Congregation, which meets at Tree of Life. Snider just got out of the hospital on Thursday and missed Saturday's service.

"But you never dream that it would happen like this," Snider added. "Just never ever dream that it would happen like this."

Our hearts break at the news of this morning's tragedy in the Squirrel Hill area of Pittsburgh. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of those affected by this horrible event.  Pirates (@Pirates) October 27, 2018

We are incredibly saddened to hear of this morning's tragedy at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. We send our thoughts and prayers to all those affected.  Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 27, 2018

We send our thoughts and prayers to those affected by this mornings tragedy in Pittsburgh. We will continue to pray for everyone involved.  Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) October 27, 2018

Events in Pittsburgh are far more devastating than originally thought. Spoke with Mayor and Governor to inform them that the Federal Government has been, and will be, with them all the way. I will speak to the media shortly and make further statement at Future Farmers of America.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 27, 2018

By Mark Scolforo and Mark Gillispie, Associated Press. Eric Tucker, Michael Balsamo, Claudia Lauer, Gene Puskar and Allen G. Breed contributed to this report.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Al Roker, best known as the weatherman for the Today Show," said he takes all his out-of-town guests for a scenic ride on the Staten Island Ferry, said the NY Post.

Roker, who has proved his vocal talents in the Broadway musical Waitress, as diner owner Old Joe, told the Post, [First off,] its free, so theres that. You take it to Staten Island and theres a great pizza place in the ferry terminal. You get a piece of pizza and you go back.

The pizza place in question is Zzs Pizza and Grill.

And Rokers trip to the terminal is one commonly followed by tourists. However, with the renaissance of St. George, which will include NYCs first outlet Mall, it is hoped that tourists and others, like Roker, will get off the ferry and spend some time and money in the borough.

But after the Advance broke the news on Tuesday that the New York Wheel project is dead, theres one less reason tourists would want to leave the ferry terminal and spend time here.

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The skeleton design, visible both inside and outside the train, is the work of Little Village artist, Elizabeth Reyes. Passengers can catch a glimpse in the Pink Line between downtown, through the Pilsen and Little Village neighborhoods, and the Town of Cicero. It is as a reminder to the new generations that they must honor and care for those who came before them, according to AARP, the nation's largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to empowering Americans 50 and older to choose how they live as they age.
The family of slain Canadian billionaire Barry Sherman and his wife Honey have offered a reward of as much as C$10 million ($10.8 million) for information on their deaths, alleging police mishandled the investigation from the beginning.

A call centre will be set up to assess fresh tips in a bid to revive the case which has gone on for almost a year, said Brian Greenspan, counsel for the Sherman family.

Canadian billionaire businessman Barry Sherman and his wife Honey were found strangled inside their mansion last December. More than ten months later, the death of one of Canadas wealthiest men and his wife remains a mystery. Credit:AP

"Regrettably it has become clear to them that despite the active pursuit of search warrants and exploring other investigative avenues, police resources have neither been properly managed nor effectively utilised," Greenspan said Friday at a media conference in Toronto. The police pushed back against that narrative in their own briefing on Friday.

The announcement comes after Sherman, founder of closely held generic-drug maker Apotex, and his wife were found dead in their Toronto mansion on December 15, hanging by belts near the basement pool.
The Canberra Islamic Centre threw open its doors to the public on Saturday, part of a national initiative aimed at removing stereotypes and misconceptions about the religion.

The centre was one of 30 mosques around the country that took part in the National Mosque Open Day, which has been running for the past five years.

Canberra Islamic Centre president Zafar Ahmad stands with members of the community at the Sabah Al-Ahmad mosque open day. Credit:Sitthixay Ditthavong

Canberrans were given the opportunity to speak to members of the Islamic community and take part in question and answer sessions throughout the day.

It was the first mosque open day since the Islamic Centre's mosque, known as the Ahmad Al Sabah Masjid, was unveiled in May.
A teeming mass of bees, tens of thousands of the buzzing insects crawling all over each other in a black and yellow mess.

This would be the stuff of nightmares for some, but is cause for great excitement for apiarist and bee swarm removalist Eric Davies.

Mr Davies works with the organisation Canberra Bees and spends spring traversing the length and breadth of Canberra to remove swarms of bees that have decided to settle near people's homes.

October to November is swarm season in Canberra, Mr Davies said, with a substantial increase in pollen making the bees particularly active. Mr Davies has been responding to dozens of calls each day of a new swarm forming in someone's backyard.
The firefighting union has slammed the Emergency Services Agency after a house sustained significant damage in a fire while the pumper crew from the closest ACT Fire and Rescue station was knocking on doors in another part of the ACT.

But ACT Fire and Rescue chief officer Mark Brown dismissed the criticism, saying resources were regularly moved around to fill coverage gaps and that the crew in question was always available, but wasn't called to the blaze because other crews were better placed to respond.

A Rawson Homes display home in Denman Prospect was damaged in an October 13 fire caused by a component in a solar panel. Rawson Homes general manager Craig Moore said the home would be demolished and rebuilt.

Firefighters at the scene of a blaze that significantly damaged a display home in Kondelea Way, in Denman Prospect. Credit:Emergency Services Agency

Four ACT Fire and Rescue pumpers responded to the fire and arrived at the scene in Kondelea Way at 11.03am, 14 minutes after the initial call.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison prepares to address the media after the Wentworth byelection loss. Credit:Dan Himbrechts

This time a week ago Australians woke to news of a harsh electoral judgment against the Coalition government. In a byelection caused by the resignation of Wentworth MP Malcolm Turnbull after his dumping as prime minister, independent Dr Kerryn Phelps became the first non-conservative candidate to win the Sydney eastern suburbs electorate. It was hardly the electoral baptism desired by the new Prime Minister, Scott Morrison.

The result caps a year of Coalition woes that began with the resignation of Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce in a gale of unedifying publicity and continued with Mr Turnbull falling deeper into the traps his internal rivals set for him. When Mr Turnbull abandoned the National Energy Guarantee at their behest, his fate was sealed.

Wentworth is not your regular federal electorate. It's more progressive, and (a lot) richer than 'typical' Australia. But nor was the result such an aberration. The government performed poorly in the five Super Saturday byelections in Queensland, SA, WA and Tasmania in July as voters vented frustration with the Coalition's indulgence of internal malcontents over the needs of the nation.

Still there are some seeds of hope for Mr Morrison. Wentworth did not elect the Labor candidate, nor the Greens, but an independent: progressive but economically moderate, certainly no radical. For erstwhile Turnbull voters, Dr Phelps was acceptable. For the wider Australian electorate she represented a pointed rejection of the Coalition's lurch to hard-right policies on climate and energy, immigration and asylum seekers. Should he heed that message, recovery for Mr Morrison is possible. His job is to embrace the right policies, regardless of ideology.
Ian Potter Wild Play Garden at Centennial Parklands. Credit:Christopher Pearce

Wild Play is a tremendously worthwhile concept, and the idea that helicopter parents might at least set their children free in beautiful, but constructed playgrounds that fake nature is better than nothing ("Wild Play success prompts massive expansion", October 21).

However the idea that $10 million should be donated towards further constructed spaces within Centennial Parklands instead of being directed towards the protection and restoration of true and authentic forests and endangered species throughout the rest of NSW is a bit bizarre.

Parents should move away from their insular city-based bubble and explore real beaches, rivers or national parks with their children.

Sharyn Cullis, Oatley
As pressure mounts on both sides of parliament to act on the mental health crisis in Australia's offshore detention camps, hundreds of protesters stopped traffic in the heart of Sydney on Saturday to call for all refugees to be evacuated from Nauru and Manus Island.

Protestors at Hyde Park demand the closure of Manus Island and Nauru offshore detention camps. Credit:Katherine Griffiths

Among the crowd was Australian rock icon Jimmy Barnes, who said he felt compelled to bring his family to Hyde Park and rally against offshore detention.

"People are living in detention with no hope, with no future, nothing to live for, nothing to strive for, nothing to dream about, it's criminal," Mr Barnes said.

"The behaviour of our government and the government before it, our politicians, have been disgusting."
No rest for the 'mattress guy' launching Pueblo's first national franchise

There's no time to snooze for a Pueblo entrepreneur who has launched Pueblo County's first-ever national franchise  the Snooze Mattress Company.
A real estate agent specialising in luxury properties with high-profile owners, including fashion designer Collette Dinnigan, has been charged with 15 fraud offences after she allegedly misused $3.69 million which was placed into her agency's trust account by various clients over the course of two years.

Nicolette van Wijngaarden, 44, is the director of Unique Estates, a boutique real estate agency now under liquidation which specialised in selling multi-million dollar properties in NSW, Victoria and Queensland.

Nicolette van Wijngaarden of Unique Estates faces 15 fraud charges.

She is accused of fraudulently dealing with home deposits paid to her company, including $105,000 from the sale of Ms Dinnigan's Surf and Stables retreat at Milton on the NSW south coast in late 2017.

Ms van Wijngarden is also accused of "falsely representing" that $1,165,876 from rental properties would remain in the Unique Estates trust account until the money was paid to the property owners.
Two more Queensland teachers alleged to have engaged in illegal conduct have been suspended.

A teacher charged with possessing child exploitation material and another charged with procuring a young person for sex have been suspended, filings from the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal revealed.

The behaviours teachers have been struck off or disciplined for by the Queensland College of Teachers in 2018 include having sexual relationships with students, having sleepovers and sexting.

So far 28 teachers have been banned from classrooms for posing a risk to children, the Queensland College of Teachers says. Credit:Shutterstock

In the most recent case to emerge, the teacher, identified as "ALU", was first suspended on July 9 after the QCT was notified the teacher had been charged with two counts of possessing illegal material.
Anthony Coates couldnt remember his name.

The veteran policeman had woken up that day with an unusual pain in his head.

It got worse as he watched his son surfing at Portsea in the morning, and then as he drove, the lines in the middle of the road blurring into almost nothing.

Anthony Coates with his wife Elycia. Credit:Eddie Jim

His wife Elycia met him at the hospital in Rosebud. He couldn't remember his name or address.
The proposed Victorian mental health royal commission will be enormously challenging for our community. Policy and advocacy to date have tended to focus on different parts of the system and it will be fascinating to see whether the royal commission can cut through and fully describe what "good" actually looks like.



This will be no mean feat.

"The system" is hugely complex. Treatment, rehabilitation and support services are provided in primary and specialist settings, by health and community organisations, in homes, offices and hospitals across the state.

Illustration: Matt Davidson Credit:

They are supplemented by mental health promotion and prevention initiatives and funded by local, state and commonwealth governments, private insurers and individuals and their families. The workforce includes peers and support workers, as well as clinicians. The needs of children, families and youth must be considered alongside those of adults and older persons and their voices must be heard.
The seemingly constant stream of high-profile restaurant closures and nearly half a decade of "boom-time hangover" rhetoric mean starting a small business isn't a very appealing prospect.

Authentic Bite Dumpling House owner Yang Song and staff member Yawen. Credit:Hamish Hastie

But most small business owners know if they have a dream they have to pursue it, and in the case of Yang Song and his wife, leave their well-paid jobs to make it happen.

Mr Song and his wife were studying mechanical engineering at the University of WA when inspiration struck.

When they couldn't find authentic-style dumplings from Mrs Song's home town near Shanghai they decided to make their own.
An Esperance man who was accused of raping his intellectually disabled cousin has been acquitted.

The 41-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was accused of two counts of sexually penetrating another person without consent following an alleged incident that occurred just over two years ago.

The trial was held between October 23 and 25.

The defendant claimed he had the complainants consent for one of the counts, while the other count had not occurred at all.

The trial by jury was held at Esperance Courthouse before District Court Judge Laurence Levy.
Lulled by the braying monotony of Tuesdays Question Time in the House of Representatives, I fell asleep. Not surprisingly, in this week of the National Apology, I had a dream about apologies.

In my dream the whole nation had been inspired by the apologies given in parliament. Everywhere long-suppressed shames and feelings of remorse bubbled to the surface. Radio 2GB apologised for Alan Jones and Sky News and the Herald Sun begged forgiveness for Andrew Bolt.

The Prime Minister began a cleansing apology for the character and deeds of the Liberal Party. He apologised for Philip Ruddock and Peter Dutton, but more momentously apologised for his partys ugly collusion with a disgraceful governor-general to have the Whitlam government sacked.

All good-hearted Australians will hope that Mondays national apologies will work some healing magic in the lives of those who have been apologised to. Credit:AP

Australia, please, please forgive us [the Liberal Party], he pleaded, openly sobbing.
However, the more lifelike robots become, the more likely they will provoke concerns. "When new technology hits the market we are always a bit fearful, especially with something that has the potential to mimic humans," Goldstein says. "We have all seen those movies where the robot that has been designed to help human ends up turning evil." Those fears are heightened by taboos surrounding sex, she says. A proposed brothel staffed by sex robots was rejected by city officials in the Texan city of Houston earlier this month. But Goldstein cautions against rushing to judgment about other people's sex lives.

"The difficulty with sexuality is we are all different and even though we can't identify with someone else's desire and needs does not mean we should see them as wrong," she says. "Even though someone might be living out a fantasy with a [sex robot] does not mean they want to do that with a human," she adds. One of Mallett's concerns involves how human interactions may be reshaped by sex robots, especially if their "various personality settings" include subservience or tolerating abusive and violent behaviour like the androids in the television series Westworld. "If we're going to treat them as real people, should we give them boundaries?" she asks. "Should we give them personalities? How real are they going to become?" But Goldstein expresses concern about programming robots to say no to sex. "The idea of a sex robot is to be able to have interaction, communication, intimacy and sex and to have a certain amount of control over that," she says. "If we programmed sex robots to say no, then we are giving them similar rights as human and that makes me fearful. Who would then decide if the robot says no?"

Brooks says he would like to see a discussion about open-source coding of sex robot personalities and behaviour. "But the robots are becoming such a hot issue right now because they are starting to be given artificial intelligence," he says. "When that happens, the issue becomes about much more than simply code. How do they learn, and what are they taught?" The rise of sex robots also poses questions about the privacy given many people may not wish their intimate activities to be widely broadcast. A Canadian sex toy company agreed to pay $C4 million to customers who bought its products after it was found to have collected data without permission. Loading Brooks says the threatening nature of sex robots does not lie with the robotics or the resemblance to people, but in the artificial intelligence. "To ban sex robots would be to hide those technologies elsewhere where I think they can do much more damage." The Campaign against Sex Robots raises a number of concerns about sex robots, including sexually objectifying women and children and reducing human empathy.

The campaign's founder, Professor Kathleen Richardson, says: "Sex robots emerge out of commercial and illegal ideas about sex where you don't have to have empathy for another. You don't have to take into account what they're thinking and feeling and experiencing and you can objectify them." But none of the panellists are in favour of prohibiting Harmony and her ilk. "A ban would see only the wealthy and privileged able to get hold of them, creating a de facto split in the mating market between wealthy and poorer people, somewhat like existed in ancient Rome," Brooks says. Loading Goldstein says regulating sexual relations could lead to robot rights. "My sex life is regulated to a certain degree as I need to respect the boundaries and rights of my partner," she says. "But what goes on in my bedroom other than that is up to me and them. So therefore what goes on between a person and their robot should also be up to them." The panellists agree that sex robots may benefit people who struggle with physical intimacy. "But it is an empirical question, and there should be research on this, as well as on the philosophic implications," Brooks says. "It isn't only disabled people who have trouble finding sexual partners."

Mallett says sex is such a fundamental part of being human that sex robots may have a therapeutic purpose for some people. But she also asks: "What does it say about us that we need to create robots for these interactions?" She says these types of technological innovations are distancing humans from each other. "We're forgetting how to talk to each other ... How often do you go out and see two people at dinner sitting on their phones all night? I say to my husband: 'If we're ever like that leave me or I'll divorce you.' " Loading Most sex robots also seem to take a voluptuous female form, which Mallett says is an example of "the sexualisation of females by males". "I'm sure they probably do make male sex robots for men and women but generally speaking we do see the female form more sexualised than the male form," she says.
The sheep drive has been resurrected as an annual charity event. Credit:Nick Miller

The sheep one is the closest to being true (though it isnt - it was tested in 1999 by a protester and both the Corporation of London and the police said it was not a common law right). The Citys ancient rights, preserved by the Magna Carta, included a system in which freemen  those people granted a right to trade in the City  were exempt from tolls on goods and livestock transported across Londons bridges.

It was a valuable right, and because wool for a long time was one of the countrys greatest sources of wealth, it gave a big market advantage to the Citys own woolmen.

And the City is, and always has been, about market advantages.

Make no mistake. Scratch just about any of the cute, eccentric customs around London and youll find some grim or calculating historical nugget. Take the annual ceremony of the Quit Rents, started eight centuries ago, in which the City (amid great formality) pays to the Queens officers six horseshoes, 61 nails and two billhooks, one blunt. Nobody knows what land they are paying rent for, but they still pay it, because its part of the oldest legal dance in the country: the delicate balance of power between the Crown and the business world, the state and the merchants.
London: Tony Abbott secretly met with Boris Johnson two weeks before his incendiary article savaging Theresa May's beleaguered Brexit plan was published, it can be revealed.

The British Prime Minister faces daily leadership speculation and a growing rebellion by Brexiteer MPs and the party's grassroots who fear she will not make a clean enough break from Brussels.

British Prime Minister Theresa May is under pressure from Brexiteers within her own government. Credit:Bloomberg

Mr Abbott released correspondence showing he submitted a piece titled "Brexit - Be happy" on October 2, two days before he landed in the United Kingdom and headed to his October 4 meeting with Mrs May's leadership rival in London. He travelled to Oxford that same day.

In his piece for The Spectator magazine , which was published this week, Mr Abbott accused Mrs May of toying with "surrender" unless she is prepared to go through with crashing Britain out of the European Union with no deal, a scenario remainers believe would have catastrophic consequences and even strident leavers concede could cause the ports to "seize up." Mr Johnson, the former British foreign secretary who is widely considered to be planning a tilt for Mrs May's job, has used the same word to describe her approach to Brexit.
Films produced by and about China's ethnic minorities will have a new platform to show their excellence usually stifled by the highly-competitive blockbuster market.



A launch ceremony for the creators of ethnic films to form strategic cooperation with Smart Cinema, a mobile app developed by Linksus Digiwork able to turn a cellphone into a mini movie screen, was held on Thursday in Beijing.

As an outlet with great ambitions, Smart Cinema aimed to screen new films on mobile devices at the same time they hit cinemas; however, the studios producing blockbusters hesitated to promote their films through this platform.

That was not the case with smaller production units, who have shown growing interest in the way Smart Cinema could provide more opportunities for their survival and release after they are rejected or underplayed by theater managers.

Ethnic minority films fell into this category as they are rare and are not as appealing as other commercial blockbusters to cinema bosses and the public, even though China has 55 ethnic minorities who have much cultural value.

Hence, the Film and TV committee of the China Promotion of Minority Culture & Art Association (CPMCAA) signed a cooperative agreement with Smart Cinema to promote ethnic minority films both at home and overseas. At the same time, next year's Beijing International Film Festival will also create a section for ethnic minority films, with Smart Cinema as a partner.

A new mobile filming studio has also been established to encourage ethnic minority artists to make films by using their mobile phones conveniently in the remote and poor areas, rather than using other more professional (and expensive) equipment.

What they record via mobile phones in their daily life could help protect and develop the cultural heritage of the minorities.

Ten films, such as "Hometown on the Cloud," "Journey to the Snow Mountains," "Silk Road Hero: Khan's Arrow" and "Red Paper-Cut," form the first batch of ethnic minority films to be presented via the Smart Cinema app.

Beijing National Culture Exchange Center has also formed a strategic collaboration with Smart Cinema to explore new ways to promote and broadcast ethnic films, including creating more salons, forums and screenings in the future.

Dr. Jack Q. Gao, CEO of Smart Cinema, said he hoped to exploit the advantages of the mobile internet to cover more previously uncovered and potential areas through his company. "This is not only an incremental expansion of the Chinese film and television market, but also an important channel to broadcast ethnic films in the future.

"It is our mission to help ethnic films go out into the world and help overseas Chinese and more global audiences watch Chinese movies," Gao said, adding that Smart Cinema is exploring cooperative opportunities in North America, ASEAN countries and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
It is on law and order, however, that Bolsonaro, 63, a former army captain, has attracted followers willing to overlook his flaws and dismiss his prejudices as things of the past. Presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro grimaces right after being stabbed in the stomach during a campaign rally in Juiz de Fora. Credit:AP He believes a good criminal is a dead criminal and that the Armed Forces must play a role in crime prevention. His tough stance and his team of retired generals (including his vice presidential running mate and several proposed ministers) have appealed to many Brazilians sick of rampant crime and corruption. The country registered a record 62,517 murders last year (or 175 a day on average). Millions feel only an extreme response can bring about change. He has promised to reduce the number of parliamentarians, currently more than 500, by up to 20 per cent to combat corruption and help control public finances; reconsider Brazils commitment to the Paris agreement on sovereignty grounds, reduce the severity of fines for environmental degradation and fold the environment portfolio into agriculture to minimise conflict between their opposing policies. He has the support of conservative religious factions  many priests and pastors told their congregations to vote for him  and military personnel whose rights to fair pay and work conditions he has defended throughout his congressional career.

He has also received the support of controversial far-right figures, including former KKK leader David Duke. Two of his sons have also been elected to office last month with record numbers of votes, including one who tweeted photos of with former Trump adviser Steve Bannon. Bolsonaro himself has said he could not afford Bannons services. Fernando Haddad, presidential candidate for the Workers' Party. Credit:Bloomberg Bolsonaro was stabbed by a mentally ill man during the campaign and he has declined to appear in all televised debates for health reasons. Who is he up against? Bolsonaro beat 11 other candidates to dispute the run-off with Fernando Haddad, a protege of Lula, the former president now serving a 12-year sentence for corruption and money laundering.

They went to the second round after Bolsonaro secured 46 per cent of valid votes (49.2 million), to Haddads 29 per cent (or 31.3 million votes). Fifty-percent plus one vote is needed in Brazil to elect candidates outright. Loading Haddad, 55, a leftist lawyer and academic, is a former education minister in the Dilma Rousseff and Lula governments, and a former Sao Paulo mayor. He was chosen by Lula only in September to run in his place after Lula was confirmed ineligible. He has the support of millions of Workers Party (PT) voters who dont know him well, but believe their hero was unfairly jailed and that only a return to PT rule will see the the continuation of social responsible programs which have benefited the poor and minorities. The son of Lebanese migrants, university professor Haddad has a PhD in Marxist theory, is a former member of the original Soviet-aligned communist party in his youth. He has promised to put social and economic inclusion at the heart of his agenda, further overhaul the education system and reverse some the recent austerity measures to create jobs.

He is the target of a number of lawsuits brought by state public prosecutors over alleged improprieties during his term in Sao Paulo. Loading How much support does Bolsonaro have? On Friday, a Datafolha poll put Bolsonaros chances of winning at 56 per cent, down from 59 the previous week to Haddads 44, up from 41. It was a rare drop for a candidate that has swept the electorate. And a new Ipobe/Estado poll just out today is showing Bolsonaro on 54 per cent, Haddad on per cent.

For Haddad to win, however, he has to capture most of the votes given earlier to candidates who came third and fourth in the first round - a difficult task, given a large number of those voters are against PT on ideological grounds. In recent weeks, the Workers' Party has fine-tuned its campaign, changing its colours to green, yellow and blue, hence distancing itself somewhat from the militant red beloved of left factions and loathed by right-leaning voters. It has also dialled down the number of Lula images used, including Haddads own outfits which no longer include t-shirts emblazoned with Lulas face. It has adopted the slogan Brazil for all hoping to conquer a middle class alienated by both the right-leaning elite and the left-leaning workers unions. Luis Angosto-Ferrandez, senior lecturer in Latin American studies at the University of Sydney, says Haddads only hope is to capture votes cast as informal in the previous round, as well as those offended by Bolsonaro who may decide to make a last stand against him. A Haddad victory however could be short-lived, he says, given congressional animosity. If he succeeds the Congress will probably show a very high degree of hostility  its clear now there is a right-leaning composition in that chamber [following the first round poll].

Alberto Posso, associate professor of economics at RMIT, agrees. He says Haddad might struggle to get anything done and will be at the mercy of a Congress tempted to impeach presidents often. The role of fake news Haddad has accused Bolsonaro of spreading fake news to hurt his candidacy. Like recent elections in the United States, France and Mexico, fake news has played a huge role in causing division and inflaming emotions among the angst-filled population. Facebook recently deleted dozens of accounts created by marketing agencies funded by Bolsonaro supporters which it said violated its policies. Facebook-owned WhatsApp however, has resisted calls to curb the spread of fake news on its platform which is Brazilians favourite method of communication and a fertile ground for conspiracy theories, doctored photographs, fake videos and fake data polls.

Several hoax-busting sites have sprung up to debunk the blatant posts from both sides, including a one by the Brazilian electoral commission concerned with the spread of misinformation, but they are constantly outrun but the viral nature of fake news and the rediness of supporters of both candidates to share dubious posts. Regional and global repercussions Bolsonaro has used Brazilians desperation with the chaotic economy and stratospheric crime rates to campaign on a platform that promises to stop Brazil becoming a new Venezuela. It is a similar approach taken in Chile and elsewhere, says Angosto-Ferrandez. But I dont think his hardline approach can be successful. Some experts have been arguing that insecurity is co-produced in Brazil by criminal gangs and the state apparatus  the corruption in the police and the military. Its a system that increases the pool of inequality. The iron-fist approach does not solve the problem, it actually multiplies the problem and crime in Latin American countries. Angosto-Ferrandez says the world, including Australia, should be worried about a possible Bolsonaro victory.

Any serious democratic government around the world should be concerned with the shift to anti-democratic approaches to government. That is a possibility in Brazil at the moment. Unfortunately Australia is too closely aligned with the United States and doesnt seem to respond to threats to democracy in other countries. RMITs Posso says Australia should be concerned about what happens in Brazil not only because it is an important global economy but also because its a major competitor in mining, education and currently a supporter of the global effort to reduce the impact of climate change. If Bolsonaro wins, theres strong expectation that he will not be backing any of the common environmental international policies, he says adding that without Brazils (and the US) vote in international forums, Australia is likely to have to make changes in its own approach to the Paris agreement. He says any other speculation about how trade tariffs, mining interests and economic impacts might fare with the election of either candidate is likely to be just that.
Georgetown, SC (29440)

Today

Partly cloudy. Morning high of 60F with temps falling to near 50. Winds NNE at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Clear skies. Low 37F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.
An artist's illustration of a massive space elevator transportation system. Future versions of the technology could one day fix themselves.

Space elevators to ferry passengers and cargo to and from orbit could be built using existing materials, if the technology takes inspiration from biology to fix itself when needed, a new study finds.

In theory, a space elevator consists of a cable or bundle of cables that extend thousands of miles to a counterweight in space. The rotation of the Earth would keep the cable taut, and climber vehicles would zip up and down the cable at the speed of a train.

The ride up a space elevator would likely take days. However, once a space elevator is built, a trip to space on the technology could be far cheaper and safer than on a rocket. Space-elevator technology is now getting tested in real life in the Japanese STARS-Me experiment (short for Space Tethered Autonomous Robotic Satellite-Mini Elevator), which arrived at the International Space Station on Sept. 27 aboard Japan's robotic HTV-7 cargo spacecraft.

The concept of the beanstalk-like elevator to space dates back to an 1895 "thought experiment" from Russian space pioneer Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. Since then, such "megastructures" have often shown up in science fiction. The key problem in creating space elevators is building a cable strong enough to withstand the extraordinary forces it would encounter. ['Pillar to the Sky': A Space Elevator Q&A with Author William Forstchen]

A natural choice for constructing a space elevator cable are carbon pipes only nanometers or billionths of a meter wide. Previous research has found that such carbon nanotubes can prove 100 times stronger than steel at one-sixth the weight.

However, currently, scientists can make carbon nanotubes only about 21 inches (55 centimeters) long at most. One alternative is to use composites loaded with carbon nanotubes, but these are not strong enough by themselves.

Now, researchers have suggested that drawing inspiration from biology may help engineers build space elevators using existing materials. "Hopefully, this will inspire someone to try to build the space elevator," study co-author Sean Sun, a mechanical engineer at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, told Space.com.

Bio-elevator inspiration

The scientists noted that when engineers design structures, they often require the materials for these structures to operate at just half of their maximum tensile strength, or less than that. This criterion limits the chances of structures failing, because it gives them leeway to handle variations in material strength or unforeseen circumstances. [Will We Ever Stop Using Rockets to Reach Space?]

In contrast, in humans, the Achilles tendon routinely withstands mechanical stresses very close to its

ultimate tensile strength. Biology can push materials to their limits because of continuous repair mechanisms, the researchers said.

"With self-repair, engineering structures can be designed differently and more robustly," Sun said.

For example, the motor that drives the whip-like flagella that many bacteria use for propulsion "spins at about 10,000 rpm [revolutions per minute], but it also actively repairs and turns over all of its components on the time scales of minutes," Sun said. "This is like you driving down the road at 100 mph [160 km/h] while taking out your engines and transmission to replace them!"

The researchers developed a mathematical framework to analyze how long a space elevator might last if parts of its tether randomly experienced rupture but the megastructure possessed a self-repair

mechanism. The researchers found that a highly reliable space elevator was possible using currently existing materials if it underwent moderate rates of repair, such as from robots.

For example, given the commercial synthetic fiber known as M5, "a tether of mass of 4 billion tons is possible," Sun said. "This is about 10,000 times the mass of the [world's] tallest building, Burj Khalifa. More realistically, something like a carbon-nanotube composite will do the job."

Sun and study lead author, Dan Popescu, a doctoral student at Johns Hopkins University, detailed their findings Wednesday (Oct. 17) in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

Follow Charles Q. Choi on Twitter @cqchoi. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
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A U.S. District Court judge in New Haven has rejected claims made by a coalition of utility ratepayer and consumer advocacy groups claiming that Connecticut government officials lacked the authority necessary to raid energy efficiency and clean-power programs in order to balance the states budget.

Judge Janet C. Hall issued her 27-page ruling late Thursday. In her ruling, Hall contends the legal language which allows the states electric utilities to collect ratepayer money for projects that improve energy efficiency and pay for renewable energy doesnt explicitly prohibit those funds for any other purposes.

In this case...the plaintiffs do not have an implied contractual right over how the money in Energy Funds is spent, Halls ruling says in part. The filed rate doctrine may have created the expectation among EDC (electric distribution company) customers that the Energy Funds would be spent on conservation and clean energy programs. They did not, however, give the plaintiffs any right to legally enforce those expectations.

Stephen Humes, a partner in the New York City law firm of Holland & Knight, said Halls ruling can be appealed to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

The plaintiffs and our attorneys are reviewing the judges ruling to determine whether to proceed with an appeal, Humes said. There are a total of 12 plaintiffs in the case, including Connecticut Fund for the Environment, New Haven-based Fight The Hike and Connecticut Citizen Action Group.

A spokeswoman for Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen, whose office defended state officials interests in the case, decline comment on Halls ruling.

Halls ruling, Humes said shows how difficult it is to stop the state from collecting money that is to be used for a special purpose and using it for the general fund.

Part of the the central premise of the plaintiffs legal challenge was that using ratepayer money for anything other than its intended purpose violates the Contracts Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Humes said the decision by Connecticut officials to redirect money from energy efficiency and clean power programs for use in the states General Fund has severely harmed the entire industry. There have already been 3,000 energy related jobs lost in the state because of the decision to raid the funds, he said.

Roger Reynolds, chief legal director at Connecticut Fund for the Environment, said organization officials are certainly disappointed with the judges ruling.

Reynolds declined to predict whether CFE and the other plaintiffs would seek to appeal Halls ruling. But he said the plaintiffs will definitely pursue a legislative solution to the problem with a new governor and new legislature in January.

This (ruling) definitely makes it clear that we need to have the legislature undo their own bad actions, Reynolds said. Our goal remains to remedy the injury the raids have done to Connecticut families and businesses. Residents paid the charge on their electric bills, trusting that their ratepayer dollars would go toward energy efficiency and clean energy programs that save money and reduce climate pollutionnot be used to plug an unrelated budget hole.

Mike Trahan, executive director for the Haddam-based industry trade group SolarConnecticut, called state officials diverting the money a pretty rotten thing to do.

Sometime before Election Day November 6, I hope voters will ask candidates running to represent them in Hartford whether theyll vote yes on next years state budget if it includes money taken from electric consumers, Trahan said.

luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com
Alibaba Group has taken a fresh step into space with the launch of what it calls a mini space station and the planned launch of a communication satellite, as the e-commerce giant gears up for its annual shopping festival on Nov 11 and eyes frontier technologies.

Dubbed "Candy Tin", the mini space station, which was launched on Thursday from Taiyuan, Shanxi province, has been positioned in orbit and is powered by Commsat Technology Development Co, a Beijing-based small satellite constellation operator. The Tmall Global communication satellite, meanwhile, is scheduled for launch just days ahead of the Nov 11 shopping extravaganza, known as Singles Day.

The launches commemorate the 10th such 24-hour e-commerce spending spree, which was first held by Alibaba in 2009, and also mark 10 years since the first Chinese astronaut walked in space, said Jing Jie, president of Alibaba's Tmall shopping site.

According to the company, one major purpose of the plan is to enhance customers' user experience during the gala, which clocked up 168.2 billion yuan ($24.2 billion) in sales last year. It said the space technology will better serve the integration of online and offline shopping interactions across the globe.

"The satellite collects the blessings of our consumers from different corners of the Earth and launches them together into outer space," said Jing.

The satellite will orbit the Earth once every 90 minutes, broadcasting sentimental messages to consumers when the satellite passes over their location, the company said. Users will be able to access the feature via the Taobao app. The company did not disclose the function of the mini space station.

Liu Dingding, a veteran industry analyst in Beijing, sees no direct connection between the satellite launch and an immediate improvement in customer experience for the festival season, calling the launch "more of a publicity stunt".

Cao Lei, director of the China E-Commerce Research Center, agreed, saying: "The satellite cannot yet exert a substantial influence on the current shopping procedure, from sourcing and purchasing to logistics."

But he said the launches are likely to inject fresh vigor into the Singles Day promotion, which this year will prioritize globalization and the interaction of online and offline commerce.

Recruiting around 180,000 brands from home and abroad to offer discounts to buyers, Alibaba is using Tmall Global, the dedicated cross-border portal, to offer 3,700 categories of imported goods from 75 countries and regions on its platform.

Meanwhile, Alibaba's subsidiary platforms, such as Tmall World, AliExpress and Lazada, will bring the event to hundreds of millions of overseas shoppers.

"Global tech powerhouses are elbowing their way into the likes of satellite and quantum computing, which are the launchpads for the next wave of commercial applications," Cao said.
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The Anti-Defamation League said its research finds Saturdays shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue likely to be the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the nations history.

Our hearts are breaking for those killed and injured, said Steve Ginsburg, director of the Connecticut Region of the ADL.

Ginsburg said he contacted Jewish leaders across Connecticut to figure out how to respond to the violence, and that the ADL was working on a plan to support the victims of Saturdays shooting, which killed 11 people at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburghs Squirrel Hill neighborhood.

The shooter, identified by authorities as 46-year-old Robert Bowers, was in custody, and the massacre was being investigated as a hate crime. The shooting led synagogues in Connecticut and elsewhere to re-examine safety measures.

Any act of senseless hatred just shakes you to the core, said Rabbi Mitchell Hurvitz, of the Temple Sholom in Greenwich.

Hurvitz said his temple is proactive with security and works closely with the towns police. Faith communities in Greenwich plan to organize a memorial service or vigil in tribute to the Pittsburgh victims, he said.

In Bridgeport, Police Chief Armando Perez said his department has stepped up security measures at all synagogues, mosques and churches in the city.

Theres no threat to the immediate area, but you always have to be careful, Perez said. Theres always a chance of copycat incidents ... I dont think anythings going to happen here, but Im not going to take a chance. I dont take chances with public safety.

Rabbi James Prosnit, at Congregation Bnai Israel in Bridgeport, called for unity and for healing.

Right now, I think the primary thing is the grief and sadness that we feel for those victims and those families, he said.

In Norwalk, police said officers were stationed in areas of the citys synagogues Saturday, and that there were increased patrols around the citys other places of worship.

We are heartbroken by the horrific events that occurred in Pittsburgh this morning, said Police Lt. Terry Blake. We stand with the Jewish community in Pittsburgh and Norwalk.

Temple Israel in Westport vowed to always protect its members.

I want you to know that security of our congregants, students and staff continues to be our highest priority, according to a statement by Rabbi Michael S. Friedman. We have professional security on our premises every day. Our staff and lay leadership work closely with world-class security consultants to regularly review our many security protocols and procedures.

Beyond that, Friedmans statement said, Friends, let us gather righteous people together, so that we can bring hope, healing and peace to a world so deeply in need of redemption.

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., called the mass shooting in Pittsburgh heart-wrenching.

We cannot continue down this path  something must change, Murphy said. He said loose gun laws are to blame, as are online cesspools of racial and religious hatred.

People in Connecticut are sick of this. I am sick of this, Murphy said. Thats why I will keep doing everything I can to make our world a safer and more tolerant world for our children.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., echoed Murphys sentiments.

Our hearts break and stomachs turn after these shameful anti-Semitic murders, Blumenthal said. My thoughts are with the families and brave law enforcement. Congress is complicit  by its inaction  in this loathsome epidemic of gun violence.

Ginsburg said there has been a historic increase in anti-Semitic incidents, and that online forums that allow that hate speech are prevalent. After the shooting, he said, the ADL looked at data about attacks on the Jewish community that has been formally recorded since the 1970s.

Our information is that this is the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the history of the U.S., he said.

Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim also released a statement condemning the violence.

A house of worship should always be a sacred place of refuge and spiritual comfort, not a place where people coming together to pray as a community on the Sabbath must run for cover and hide from bullets, Ganim said. An attack on any synagogue or church is an attack on us all.

Bridgeport Police Chief Armando Perez said there will be additional patrols in Bridgeport for the rest of the weekend and throughout next week. He said no threats were directed at the city, but he wont risk the publics safety.

In Norwalk, Lt. Terry Blake said the department has a heavy heart after Saturdays shooting. Police security is stationed in areas of the citys synagogues and there are increased patrols around the citys other places of worship.

We are heartbroken by the horrific events that occurred in Pittsburgh this morning, Blake said. We stand with the Jewish community in Pittsburgh and Norwalk.

In New Haven, the city has seven synagogues. David Hartman, the New Haven Police Departments spokesman, said police are working with the rabbis and representatives to keep everyone safe.

We have been coordinating with our law enforcement partners at all levels including the Joint Terrorism Task Force to assure barrier-free communications ahead of any potential threats  though none have been made against any group of entity in our city, Hartman said.

The city, like others throughout the state  and nation  has bumped up its police patrols in neighborhoods with synagogues and prominent Jewish establishments.
GREENWICH  When Greenwich resident James Schreiber was eating at Blackstones Steakhouse three years ago with his wife, Wendy, waitress Saranda Aliu greeted them in accented English that took him back to the Albanian refugee camps he had once visited.

Kukes, Albania, 1999: Barefoot refugee children from Kosovo milled about the thousands of tents in the camp, the destination of Kosovars fleeing a war with parallels that Schreiber saw with the Holocaust. He knew he had to help.

It cant just be for Jews, it has to be for all human beings when you say, Never again, said Schreiber, who is Jewish himself. He helped by buying 20,000 boots, which were distributed to children  including Aliu  in Albania and Macedonia.

She was 12 at the time, and had lost family members and her home in the war.

When I got those shoes, I think it was the best thing that happened in my life, Aliu said.

Schreiber has lived in Greenwich since the 1970s, but his desire to help has taken him outside its borders: from Poland, where he restored an historic synagogue, to Kosovo. Now, as the new chairman of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy  a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C., that focuses on the Middle East  that same motivation extends from Saudi Arabia to Israel, Palestine and the Gaza strip.

I think we all want to help our country, he said.

Schreibers career has been as expansive as his world travels. He was a federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York from 1969 to 1974, where he helped to try President Richard Nixons doctor for tax evasion and assisted on trials that took down an influential leader in a Democratic political machine and leaders of two crime families.

He had a private law practice for nearly 30 years before making his fortune as the chief executive officer of Dairy Enterprises Inc., which was the largest dairy processor in the Northeast at the time.

But Schreiber decided to give up business and devote himself to philanthropy. For his first project, he helped to restore the last synagogue standing in Oswiecim: the Polish city where Germany built the infamous death camp, Auschwitz, and where they bombed more than 30 synagogues.

Only a few countries separated Schreiber from the Kosovo War, which raged from 1998 to 1999 and displaced 90 percent of the Kosovar Albanian people.

He toured the refugee camps and bought boots for children and enough computers to make two centers, but Schreiber said the need overwhelmed his efforts.

Its like you threw a pebble in the ocean and thought you made a difference, he said.

When he met Aliu, however, his generosity came full circle.

His identity as an American motivates all his work, Schreiber said.

Something really important about Jim is his overriding passion for America, said Shelly Kassen, president of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Thats something that really drives him and inspires him to work hard at the Institute.

Being chairman is not a full-time job, but Schreiber said it takes time to ensure that the Institutes professionals have the resources and the general guidance they need, and to approve the think tanks direction and the hiring of new scholars.

I feel honored and humbled, said Schreiber, who has also served as the senior vice president.

David Makovsky, a distinguished fellow of the Institute, said Schreiber has been indispensable, attracting support around the country and making a case for the think tank.

Hes a prince of a guy, Makovsky said. He is very articulate, and makes a very cogent case that people outside government have a vital role to play in the national security and foreign policy dialogue of this country.

Makovsky helped to popularize the idea of swapping land between Israel and Palestine to advance the peace process. His speeches across the country and interactive maps gave concrete examples of the two-state solution and became part of the policy landscape.

Its a valuable asset for the executive, Schreiber said. The Washington Institutes focus is 75 people in the executive branch who make and implement U.S. policy: the State Department, the CIA, the National Security Council, the White House and the Defense Department.

Schreiber has worked with Kassen, a Westport resident, to bring more donor events and talks by scholars to the area.

By becoming a trustee, Schreiber said he can see how policy is made, how issues are analyzed and argued and who makes decisions.

Schreiber has met with King Abdullah II of Jordan, former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu as well as senior Turkish officials  privileges he said stemmed from the international respect for the Washington Institute.

You get to meet these people, and guess what, theyre human beings, he said. You get to see these people and process what theyre telling you through a highly informed lens.

Sitting down with famed politicians is just part of Schreibers story, however.

When he talked to Aliu years after he donated the thousands of pairs of boots, she put a face to an act of generosity and patriotism he said had felt insufficient.

For Alius part, meeting an American who knew about the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo and wanted to help was a one in a million chance.

I made it to America to say thank you to someone who gave us so much, she said. We are a small country, just 1.5 million people. I didnt know regular people knew about us. I was really happy to be able to say thank you to him.

jo.kroeker@hearstmediact.com
Stamford is rich with places to cultivate wellness, whether that means a spa treatment, a visit to a chiropractor or a yoga class.

Noelle Spa for Beauty and Wellness was a popular pick among our readers.

The High Ridge Road spa offers something for everyone and was selected by readers as Stamfords best hair salon, facial, massage studio and day spa.

I believe the scale of wellness ranges from one person to another, and where a simple gift item may help one find balance, another may need their shoulders rubbed, a fresh hair style and a friendly conversation in order to once again find themselves, said Jason De Caprio, co-owner with his father Peter. This is where Noelle excels.

A family-owned business for more than 50 years, the De Caprios know their customers.

About Best of Stamford Stamford Advocate readers voted online for Hearst Connecticut Media Group's Best of Stamford in 2018. Votes were cast in 100 different categories - with readers choosing everything from the best bagels to the best places for a bike or run. See More Collapse

We have grown in harmony with our guests, Jason De Caprio said. We know their stories as they know ours and that sharing too adds to continuing comfort and wellness going forward.

For further skincare, a visit to Eve & Adam Skincare Salon has any Stamford resident covered for a wide variety of treatments.

Eve and Adam Skincare Salon offers facial, waxing and makeup services to its clients at affordable prices.

Family owned, Eve & Adam has been servicing customers for more than two decades, and according to online reviews, has treated multiple generations of families.

The salon offers treatment packages, which are customizable based on client needs, whether looking to improve their skin, prepare for a special occasion or to enhance natural beauty.

Wellness extends to practices such as yoga and Connecticut Power Yoga, along with Dew Yoga and Exhale are great places to slow down and connect with your inner wisdom.

Connecticut Power Yoga offers more than just classes  it provides a community and a place to explore yourself.

We focus on connecting people to themselves through movement and breath and meditation, and to connect them to other people. said Aimee Elsner, co-owner of Connecticut Power Yoga with Tim Elsner.

Its more than just about going and doing the movements. Its about connecting to yourself, who you are and what you want and being able to bring that into the world and share it with other people.

All the classes offered at Connecticut Power Yoga are in a heated room and based on Baptiste power yoga. They follow a sequence of poses, or a vinyasa flow, where one movement carries into the next. The instructors personalize this sequence to fit their classes.

Morgan Hines is a freelance writer. Email her at meh2251@columbia.edu
Twenty foreign companies, among over 1,000 that have submitted pre-registration, have signed contracts to attend the second China International Import Expo (CIIE) scheduled next year, according to the CIIE Bureau.

The pre-registration for overseas companies and institutions to attend the second CIIE started on July 1, attracting over 1,000 applications on its official website.

According to the bureau, the first batch of 20 companies are from countries like New Zealand, Japan, Australia, covering service trade, apparel, consumer goods, food and agricultural products, medical equipment and health care.

Shanghai will host the first CIIE from Nov. 5 to 10, 2018. More than 2,800 companies from over 130 countries and regions signed up for the event.
W e can now book and compare flight and hotel prices with the click of a button, search aesthetically pleasing destinations on Instagram and book to stay in a strangers house on the other side of the world.

What's next? Booking.com has released a report revealing its predictions on the biggest travel trends for next year.

Pepijn Rijvers, Chief Marketing Officer at Booking.com, said: 2019 is set to be an exciting year for travel. With technological advancements, an ever more connected world and a continuously growing consumer appetite for the best travel experiences, were poised for ground-breaking developments, taking travel to unexplored heights.

From conscious travelling to volunteer trips and even flights into space, below are the eight things every discerning traveller will be thinking about when booking next years trips...

1. Say no to single-use plastic

This year, London has taken big steps towards eliminating single-use plastic. Here at the Standard, we started The Last Straw campaign to get eateries across London switching to paper straws to help save the environment, which has been a success. Next year, the issue of single-use plastic will continue to be a hot topic and travellers will look into the sustainable practices of their destination and the places they choose to stay.

According to Booking.coms research: Millennials and Gen Z travellers will look for sustainable experiences in their destination, while accommodation providers will look to reduce their plastic usage and increase their sustainable credentials. An overwhelming majority of global travellers (86 per cent) say they would be willing to spend some time on activities that offset the environmental impact of their stay, with over a third (37 per cent) willing to clear plastic and litter from a beach or other tourist attraction.

Expect to see a number of new travel start-ups and individual enterprises committed to shaping a new future for our planets destinations emerge in the coming year, with intriguing technology at the core of their solutions.

2. The rise of the conscious traveller

49 per cent of people feel social issues in potential travel destinations are of importance when choosing to go and 59 per cent of people choose not to go to a destination if they think it will negatively impact the people who live there.

The research continued: Reflecting increased global interest in social issues such as human rights, equality and working conditions, 2019 will see a more conscious traveller become evident, with even more questions being asked around social, political and environmental issues in potential travel destinations before making a decision on where to go.

3. A focus on curating experiences

While ticking a country off your bucket list is all well and good, actually experiencing the country and culture while you are there can give you a more authentic, memorable experience. The research found that 60 per cent of people value experiences over material possessions and there will be a number of experience-based travel operators popping up in 2019.

Cheapest destinations in the world for Brits - in pictures 1 /12 Cheapest destinations in the world for Brits - in pictures South Africa Unsplash Turkey Unsplash Dominican Republic Unsplash Mexico Unsplash Mozambique Unsplash Indonesia Unsplash New Zealand Unsplash Malaysia Unsplash Chile Unsplash Morocco Unsplash Thailand Unsplash Poland Unsplash

4. Micro-breaks are on the rise

Half of global travellers (53 per cent) said they plan to take more weekend trips in 2019. Weekend breaks are easy when you live in London, with a number of budget airlines flying out of the capital, a jaunt to Europe, Africa or even the States is possible in a weekend or long weekend. Shorter breaks will result in a more curated itinerary and there are a number of new flight routes for 2019 to check out for your holiday planning. Closer to home, staycation trips around England, Wales and Scotland are also a great micro-break ideas and the ideal way to explore the UK.

5. Ease is everything

In 2019, technological travel innovations that make travelling easier and offer practical solutions will be welcomed with open arms. Think keyless room access with smartphones, personalised travel tips and real-time luggage tracking through apps.

According to the Booking.com research, 57 per cent of people would like a single app for all their planning, booking and travel needs (for anyone looking for a lucrative start-up) and 31 per cent are keen on the idea of a virtual travel agent in their homes, which can help to answer travel queries before you go.

6. Personal fulfilment

Travelling has long been a way to learn new things about yourself and a way to learn important life skills and 2019 will see travellers choose destinations that can add more purpose to their trips. There will be an increase in volunteering and skills-based vacations as well as a heightened interest in international work placements.

One company helping to facilitate this is Remote Year who facilitate travel and accommodation for individuals hoping to work remotely, meaning they can combine travel with work.

7. Unchartered territories

Space tourism is about to become big. Huge, even. With Virgin Galactic, Space X and Blue Origin all promising to take civilians into space  something 40 per cent of people are excited about and want to experience for themselves. While space tourism is right around the corner, other unchartered territories are piquing travellers interested with 60 per cent of people claiming they want to stay in accommodation under the sea.

8. Personalised AI travel recommendations
A woman has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a man was stabbed to death at a house in north London.

The 47-year-old man died after he was knifed at a property in Hendon on Friday night.

Police and paramedics fought to save him but he was pronounced dead at the scene in Greyhound Hill.

Emergency services were called to the stabbing at about 11.40pm.

Scotland Yard said a 43-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of murder. A man aged 21 and a 23-year-old woman have also been arrested in connection with the incident, Met Police said.

The three who have been arrested were being quizzed by officers at a north London police station on Saturday morning.

Police said the deceased and those arrested were known to each other.

A crime scene remained in place and murder detectives were investigating on Saturday morning. Police said nobody else was injured.
A man has died after falling from a third-floor window in north London after two men forced entry into his home armed with at least one knife.

The victim, named by Scotland Yard as 49-year-old Sheiku Adams, was rushed to hospital after the fall left him fighting for his life.

Police were called at about 9pm on Thursday to reports of people forcing entry to a flat in Highgate Road, Camden. Officers found the occupant seriously injured after falling from a window.

Despite efforts by emergency services to save Mr Adams, he was pronounced dead just before midnight. His next-of-kin have been informed.

Police say they believe two men forced their way into the flat armed with at least one knife in what they believe was a targeted attack at the Denyer House flat.

Detectives from the Homicide and Major Crime Command, led by Det Ch Insp Noel McHugh, are investigating and appealing to witnesses to get in touch.

He McHugh said: Tragically a man has lost his life in what appears to have started as an aggravated burglary and ended in his death after he fell from a third-floor window.

This appears to be a targeted attack and there will be people out there who will know who is responsible for the events that led to Sheikus death.

I need to hear from those people as a matter of urgency.

Officers remained at the scene on Friday evening.

Det Ch Insp McHugh added: We need to understand the circumstances as to how Sheiku came to fall out of the window and we are appealing to any local residents who saw two men loitering around the area before 9pm to come forward.

We will be working around the clock to piece together the circumstances of this case and bring those responsible to justice.

What we need now is for witnesses and people with information to do the right thing and contact us as a matter of urgency.

Any information, no matter how insignificant you think it is, will be treated in the strictest confidence and will assist us greatly in this investigation.
A 49-year-old man who died falling from a third-floor flat in north London after being targeted by armed burglars has been remembered as a great guy by neighbours.

Sheiku Adams suffered serious injuries after falling from a window as burglars forced entry into his home during what police are describing as a targeted attack.

He was found on the ground outside the Denyer House flat before being rushed to hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 11.56pm.

Neighbours who knew Mr Adams, of Highgate Road, Camden, have since come forward to pay tributes to the victim, with one describing him as a great guy.

Denyer House in Highgate Road, Camden / PA

The Denyer House resident, who wished to remain anonymous, added: Its shocking because he really was a nice guy. He always helped us out. He was a very devout man and a very nice guy.

He never had a bad word to say and always said hello to people. I just knew him as Danny, a better guy you couldnt hope to meet.

"I dont understand why they chose that flat. This is a nice place to live, everyone is nice and friendly so its very strange.

Another neighbour, who said Mr Adams had been part of a "lovely family", added: "It's a shame, it really is.

"It was a shock when I heard about it.

A police cordon was in place at the front of Denyer House, blocking off a footpath and access to the building on Saturday morning.

The cordon was manned by officers and third-floor windows were blocked by black sheeting.

Blackout material covers the windows and front door at Denyer House / PA

Detectives from the Met Police's Homicide and Major Crime Command, led by Detective Chief Inspector Noel McHugh, are investigating and are appealing to witnesses or anyone with information to get in touch.

Mr McHugh said: "Tragically a man has lost his life in what appears to have started as an aggravated burglary and ended in his death, after he fell from a third-floor window.

"It is very early in the investigation, but I believe two men forced their way into the flat armed with at least one knife.

"This appears to be a targeted attack and there will be people out there who will know who is responsible for the events that led to Sheiku's death. I need to hear from those people as a matter of urgency."

A forensics vehicle at the scene outside Denyer House / PA

He added: "We need to understand the circumstances as to how Sheiku came to fall out of the window and we are appealing to any local residents who saw two men loitering around the area before 9pm to come forward.

"We will be working around the clock to piece together the circumstances of this case and bring those responsible to justice.

"What we need now is for witnesses and people with information to do the right thing and contact us as a matter of urgency.
D ozens of minicab drivers who drive hundreds of vulnerable disabled children to school in east London are threatening to strike over a row about split shift payments.

The 32 drivers in Hackney are responsible for taking 240 children with special needs to and from school but argue they are not being paid fairly by Hackney Council.

Unite the Union said there are more than 70 schools, nurseries and play centres in Hackney who use this service.

If a strike goes ahead, it could bring severe disruption with parents of many vulnerable children possibly having to look for other travel arrangements to make it to school.

Unite the Union members, employed by Hackneys council learning trust, have voted by 100 per cent for strike action over the councils alleged refusal to discuss the split shift payment, the union said.

A spokeswoman for Hackney Council said the local authority are happy to meet with the union to discuss.

Unite regional officer, Onay Kasab, said drivers are obliged to work from the morning until the afternoon because of school times.

The union claims Hackney drivers are not paid a split shift wage for doing so like the union believes other taxi drivers in London are.

He said: The dispute is about the employers refusal to even discuss a pay claim we have made for our 32 members to compensate them for working split shifts. We want the claim backdated to April 2018 and updated each year going forward.

The drivers and escorts do the school run in the morning with the children, then return to work for the school run in the afternoon, hence the split shift.

They are part of a national collective agreement which states that unions and employers can negotiate and agree such a payment.

The mean-spirited refusal of the council bosses to even discuss this legitimate claim led to this unanimous vote for strike action  an indication of the depth of anger.

Mr Kasab explained that each driver is responsible for driving multiple children, often in a bus.

The spokeswoman for the council said: "We never want to see strike action, especially when it affects our most vulnerable children, and we would urge the union to call it off. We understand that 27 members of staff were entitled to vote in this ballot, 18 of whom voted to strike. This is out of a total schools transport staff of 69.

"We met with the union in May and provided our response in June; we maintain the position we took then: the current scale of pay and hours - which is well within and often higher than neighbouring boroughs  is fair and we do not believe there is a case for a split shift enhancement. We are of course happy to meet again with the union to discuss.

"We reviewed our transport service in 2014 and all drivers signed up to be employed on a split shift arrangement on 30/36-hour contracts. The vast majority were already working split shifts prior to this.

"We recruited more than 40 passenger assistants from September 2016 working to a job description that included split shifts  this was agreed by the unions earlier in the year.

"The action could affect 240 children with special needs. However, we would do all we could to ensure those in most need, and with least mobility, were catered for. "

Strike action, Mr Kasab added, was the last thing drivers wanted to do.

He said: Strikes are the last thing our dedicated members want to do because of the vulnerable group they look after, but they feel they have been forced into a corner by an authority that wont abide by a national agreement it has signed up to.

We strongly believe that there are workers in the same position across the country.
F ormer England manager Glenn Hoddle is seriously ill in hospital after collapsing at the BT Sport studios.

Presenter Jake Humphrey said that Hoddle was "taken seriously ill" at the studio on Saturday morning and that BT's football results show had been cancelled.

Former midfielder Hoddle, who works as a pundit for the broadcaster, was celebrating his 61st birthday.

Humphrey tweeted: "Our friend & colleague Glenn Hoddle was taken seriously ill at the BT Sport studio this morning.

"For that reason there will be no @btsportscore - but we will be live as usual for the 5.30 ko at Leicester. Everyone of us is right with you Glenn, sending love & strength."

Humprey added on air later: "The good news is that he is now at hospital getting the very best treatment possible.

"Whatever Glenn Hoddle is for you, whether he is one of the best footballers the country has ever produced, a wonderful colleague or a much loved family member, the outpouring of love and support today has been quite something to behold.

"We at BT Sport add to that and we are standing alongside you Glenn and sending you the very best for a speedy recovery."

In hospital: former England manager Glenn Hoddle / Getty Images

Hoddle began his career with Tottenham Hotspur and also played for Chelsea and Monaco.

Glenn Hoddle - In pictures 1 /23 Glenn Hoddle - In pictures 1979 Moustache and snazzy kit are very much of the times Hulton Archive/Getty Images 1978 First team regular Evening Standard 1975 Early days and dreams of stardom Evening Standard 1980 Resting during training Evening Standard 1980 Playing for England against Wales at the Racecourse Ground, Wrexham during a Home International match Raban/Allsport/Getty Images 1981 Relaxing with his first wife in London Allsport/Getty Images Battling Gerry Gow in the replay of the 1981 FA Cup final at Wembley Keystone/Getty Images 1981 With Gow again in the replayed final Duncan Raban/Allsport/Getty Images 1981 Kisses the cup with Ricky Villa after Tottenham's sensation 3-2 win over Manchester City Allsport/Getty Images 1982 World Cup year David Cannon/Allsport/Getty Images 1983/4 Hoddle takes on David O'Leary during a north London derby Steve Powell/Allsport/Getty Images 1985 Hoddle fights Jim Bett and Maurice Malpas at Hampden Park in Glasgow Mike King/Allsport UK/Getty Images 1986 Finally a core part of the England team, Hoddle celebrates beating Scotland at Wembley with Terry Butcher ahead of the Mexico World Cup David Cannon/Allsport/Getty Images 1996 Hoddle shakes hands with Terry Venables after a press Conference at Lancaster Gate where it was announced he would take over as England m Stu Forster/Allsport/Getty Images 1996 Overseeing England training at Bisham Abbey in Marlow. Stu Forster/Allsport/Getty Images 1998 Hoddle watches on during an International friendly against the Czech Republic at Wembley in London. England won 2-0 Ross Kinnaird/Allsport/Getty Images 1998 A press conference during pre-World Cup training at their camp in La Manga, Spain Shaun Botterill/Allsport/Getty Images 1998 He wasn't just handy at football. Here Hoddle is enjoying a golf day at Mill Ride in Ascot Andrew Redington/Allsport/Getty Images 1999 Out - Hoddle at a press conference after he was sacked as England coach for stating controversial beliefs on reincarnation related to disabled people Phil Cole/AllsportGetty Images 2001 Back at the Lane - Hoddle waves to the assembled fans during a press conference to announce him as the new manager of Tottenham Ian Walton/Allsport/Getty Images 2001 Tottenham Hotspur vice-chairman David Buchler (left) shows off the new Tottenham Hotspur boss Ian Walton/Allsport 2001 Hoddle welcomes back Teddy Sheringham to Tottenham Steve Bardens/Allsport/Getty Images 2001 Hoddle in charge of Tottenham at the Stadium of Light for a Premier League match against Sunderland Laurence Griffiths/Allsport/Getty Images

He won 53 caps for his country before managing the team from 1996-1999. Hoddle went on to manage Southampton, Tottenham and Wolverhampton before becoming a TV pundit.

Former manager and player Glenn Hoddle salutes the crowd during the closing ceremony after the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United at White Hart Lane on May 14, 2017 / Getty Images

Members of the football community have sent messages of support to Hoddle. Match of the Day presenter and former Tottenham and England striker Gary Lineker tweeted: "Hugely worrying news that Glenn Hoddle collapsed at the BT studios earlier. Thoughts are with him and his family. Come on Glenn."

Other messages of support were shared on the official Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea FC twitter pages.

The official account for Chelsea tweeted: "Our thoughts are with former Blues boss Glenn Hoddle, who has been taken seriously ill on his 61st birthday. Were right with you, Glenn."

The BBC's Dan Walker said: "Very worrying to hear about Glenn Hoddle collapsing and being taken to hospital. Really hope hes ok."

Glenn Hoddle of Tottenham Hotspur runs with the ball during the League Division One match between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United held on November 21, 1981 at White Hart Lane / Getty Images

Tottenham Hotspur wrote: Everybody at the club sends their best wishes to Glenn Hoddle for a full and speedy recovery.

Fellow BT Sport colleague Des Kelly added: Glenn Hoddle has been taken ill and hes being cared for in hospital. Everyone at BT Sport and, Im sure, right across football, will wish the lovely fella the very, very best.

Another colleague said: "Thoughts and prayers for Glenn Hoddle and his family after he was taken ill today."

Hoddle was an elegant midfielder who was one of the most gifted players of his generation.

A Tottenham fan as a boy, he came through the clubs youth system before making his debut in 1975.

He went on to make 490 appearances for Spurs, scoring 110 goals, as the club became a force again in the early 1980s with two FA Cup wins.

Hoddle was central to both. It was his free-kick in the 1981 final that was deflected in for an own-goal by Tommy Hutchinson and earned the club a replay they went on to win 3-2.

Winner: Glenn Hoddle fires in a shot in the 1981 FA Cup final against Manchester City / Keystone/Getty Images

The following year were Spurs back at Wembley and again they could only draw 1-1, this time against Queens Park Rangers, with Hoddle opening the scoring.

He scored the only goal of the replay, from the penalty spot, to retain the trophy.

Hoddle won 53 caps for England, scoring eight goals, and appearing at two World Cups and one European Championship. Despite this, he struggled for much of his career to convince England managers to build their teams around him during an era that valued hard work and tackling above artistry and vision.

Hoddles final game for Spurs was the 1987 FA Cup final loss to Coventry City, before he moved to Monaco and played under future Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. He won Ligue 1 in his first season.

Hoddle returned to England and management, steering unfashionable Swindon in to the Premier League, before he took over at Chelsea in 1993.

His work at Stamford Bridge earned Hoddle his chance managing England, and he took the national side to the 1998 World Cup.

England unluckily went out in the second round on penalties to Argentina, before Hoddle lost his job after being quoted seemingly saying people with disabilities were being punished for the sins in a previous life.

He returned to club management with Southampton before the chance to take over at Tottenham presented itself in 2001. Hoddle took them to the 2002 League Cup final, but he was unable to produce much more than mid-table finishes and he was sacked in September 2003.
S teph McGovern has said that Donald Trump was "creepy" and told her she was "so beautiful" when she interviewed him.

The BBC Breakfast host, who interviewed Mr Trump in 2012, also said that she brushed him off with a witty retort, saying she had heard better in Middlesbrough's Club Bongo.

Appearing as a host on Friday's Have I Got News For You, Ms McGovern said: "Having once met Trump... Ah he's creepy, man."

Panellist Richard Osman asked: "How was he? Did you talk to him?"

Ms McGovern said: "Yeah I had to, I was interviewing him. Would have been a bit tricky if I hadn't!"

She said of her interaction with Mr Trump: "He said: 'You're so beautiful, I'm going to leave the room to make myself look better, because if we do this interview now everyone is just going to be staring at you and not listening to me.'"

US President Donald Trump / REUTERS

Ms McGovern pretended to gag, before adding: "It's because he thought that would be the best way to disarm me.

"He thought as a female journalist, he thought that was the best thing to say to me rather than: 'Oh, I watched your piece on mobile phone insurance last week.'"

She said she was unruffled by his comments, and had replied to him: "Aye love, I've heard better lines than that down Club Bongo."

Steph McGovern as a guest host on Have I Got News For You / PA

Ms McGovern, BBC Breakfast's business reporter, had grilled Mr Trump about his status as a business tycoon, his previous 2012 bid for the US presidency, and whether his wealth made him happy.

She hosted the current affairs panel show for the first time alongside regular team captains Ian Hislop and Paul Merton and guest panellists Osman and broadcaster Dame Joan Bakewell.
S audi Arabia's top diplomat says the global outcry over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi has become "hysterical" but claimed the kingdom is determined to bring the perpetrators to justice.

"This issue has become fairly hysterical," Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said at a high-level forum in Bahrain.

He added that he thinks people have assigned blame to Saudi Arabia with certainty before the investigation of the journalists murder is complete.

The top diplomat says the kingdom has made it "very clear that those responsible will be held responsible".

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir / AP

Mr Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi crown prince who worked as a Washington Post columnist, was killed by Saudi agents at the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul on October 2.

Saudi Arabia admitted for the first time on Friday that the killing of journalist Mr Khashoggi was planned, contradicting the kingdom's previous claims.

Prosecutors cited Turkish evidence that the killing was "premeditated" just days after claims that rogue Saudi officials killed him by mistake in a brawl inside their Istanbul consulate.

Saudi authorities initially said they knew nothing about what happened to the journalist.

Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi / AP Photo/Virginia Mayo

It comes amid reports Mr Khashoggi's son, Salah, and his family left Saudi Arabia for the US on Thursday after a travel ban on them was lifted.

At a conference in Riyadh on Wednesday, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said the killing was a "heinous crime that cannot be justified" and warned against any efforts to "manipulate" the crisis and drive a wedge between Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

On Thursday, Prince Mohammed attended the first meeting of a committee aiming to restructure the kingdom's intelligence services after the killing of Mr Khashoggi.

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Mr Khashoggi, who lived in self-imposed exile in the US for nearly a year before his death, had written critically of the crown prince's crackdown on dissent.

On Saturday, US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said at an international conference in the Middle East that the killing "undermines regional stability" and the US plans to take further action in response to the killing.

Mr Mattis never mentioned Saudi Arabia directly in connection with the killing of Mr Khashoggi, but he noted that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo revoked visas of Saudis implicated in the killing.
I t has been confirmed that 11 people have died after a gun attack at a Pittsburgh synagogue.

Police also stated that six people, including four police officers, were injured.

The suspected shooter, who is in custody, has been identified as a 46-year-old man named Robert Bowers.

He was named by a law enforcement official speaking on the grounds of anonymity.

The death toll has not been officially stated / AP

The incident, which took place during a baby-naming ceremony, has been dubbed a hate crime by Pittsburgh public safety director Wendell Hissrich.

Medical teams and police attended the fatal incident / Getty Images

"It's a very horrific crime scene, one of the worst that I've seen, and I've been on some plane crashes," Mr Hissrich told a news conference.

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Police responded to the active shooter shortly before 10am Eastern Time.

By 11.20am local time one suspect had been taken to custody.

SWAT teams attended the scene / REUTERS

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Bowers was in his 40s.

A "bearded heavy-set white male" was detained, local media outlet KDKA television said.

Reports also stated a man shouted "all jews must die" as he entered the building, a detail attributed to police sources.

Police spokesman Chris Togneri said police have no more information at this time.

He explained that they are still trying to clear the building and determine if any more threats exist.

Footage from the scene shows a heavy police presence in the area.

President Trump has called for the death penalty for whoever is behind the killings.

Trump says synagogue should have had protection

He also suggested gun laws had little to do with the incident and that synagogues could have armed guards.

President Trump spoke ahead of boarding Air Force One / AP

Mr Trump said: "I think one thing we should do is we would stiffen up our laws with guns with the death penalty.

"When people do this they should get the death penalty."

Following this, he made further comments at an event in Indianapolis.

President Donald Trump has further condemned the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting saying "there must be no tolerance for anti-Semitism in America."

He made this statement as he spoke at a Future Farmers of America convention.

The President named the attack, which took place at a baby-naming ceremony, a "wicked act of mass murder".

He added it "is pure evil, hard to believe and frankly something that is unimaginable."

He said the nation and the word are "shocked and stunned" by grief and is calling on the country to come together.

Anti-Semitism "must be confronted anywhere and everywhere it appears", he stated.
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Tencent was ordered to remove vulgar online literature and close public WeChat accounts that spread them, according to a government statement Friday.

The National Office for the Fight Against Pornography and Illegal Publications, along with the State Administration of Press and Publication, interviewed executives of the leading tech firm Friday after receiving complaints about public WeChat accounts spreading pornographic and vulgar fictions, said a joint statement from the two departments.

The company was asked to carry out internal inspections, screen suspected public WeChat accounts, and shut down problematic ones, the statement said.

It was also advised to improve screening of content, tighten qualification checks, enhance its blacklisting system and better respond to complaints.
Speaking to reporters ahead of getting on Air Force One, he said: "I think one thing we should do is we would stiffen up our laws with guns with the death penalty," Trump said. "When people do this they should get the death penalty."
P resident Donald Trump has called for the death penalty for whoever is behind a fatal synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh.

The President spoke to reporters in the aftermath of the incident before boarding Air Force One on Saturday.

He said the incident had little to do with gun laws and the tragedy might have been prevented had those inside had more protection.

Mr Trump said: "I think one thing we should do is we would stiffen up our laws with guns with the death penalty.

"When people do this they should get the death penalty."

He said it could be an option for synagogues and churches to have armed guards.

Several people are dead after the gunman opened fire at a synagogue during a baby-naming ceremony in the US.

The incident occurred at the Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighbourhood in Pittsburgh on Saturday.

US media reported eight people were dead and some 12 more hurt, though this has not been stated officially.

Pennsylvania's attorney general has stated the incident occurred during a baby-naming ceremony at the religious building.

SWAT teams were amongst those to attend the scene / REUTERS

A police official has stated there are "multiple casualties", including three police officers, and fatalities were also confirmed.

In the immediate aftermath, President Trump took to Twitter and wrote: "Watching the events unfolding in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Law enforcement on the scene. People in Squirrel Hill area should remain sheltered. Looks like multiple fatalities. Beware of active shooter. God Bless All!"

One suspect has been detained by police / Getty Images

By 11.20am local time one suspect had been taken to custody.

According to local reports "bearded heavy-set white male" was detained, KDKA television said.
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Foreign banks will be able to compete on more equal terms and operate more flexibly in China, as part of the country's commitment to opening up its financial sector, according to a draft amendment to regulations, which was announced on Thursday.

Clients of foreign banks' domestic branches will be allowed to deposit at least 500,000 yuan ($72,000) into their accounts as time deposits per transaction, down from the 1 million yuan minimum stipulated in the current regulation, according to the draft amendment published by the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.

"The decrease will help foreign banks to develop their time deposits business in China, while offering better convenience for their clients," said Liu Chunsheng, an associate professor at the Central University of Finance and Economics.

The new rule treats foreign and domestic banks more equally, given that domestic institutions will not have a lower minimum per deposit, Liu said.

"Other revisions in the amendment could also spur more equal competition between foreign and domestic banks, such as permitting foreign banks to act as agents to issue and sell government bonds," Liu said.

Zeng Gang, director of banking research at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Finance and Banking, said the amendment is a significant move in opening up the country's banking sector. The new rules treat foreign banks' branches in China and domestic banks in line with almost the same requirements, he said, as reported by bjnews.

The draft amendment also allows foreign banks to simultaneously establish domestic branches and subsidiaries, which could be wholly foreign-owned banks or joint ventures.

Liu from CUFE said setting up two types of entities would enable foreign banks to operate more flexibly in China, especially in terms of choosing what kind of entity to set up to better suit their operations.

The revisions represent part of promised financial opening-up measures as mentioned in April by Yi Gang, governor of the People's Bank of China, the central bank.
Companies from China and Japan inked over 50 deals on Friday for cooperation in areas like infrastructure and services to further develop third-party markets.

The agreements also cover digital technology, healthcare, finance, regional development and manufacturing, according to officials from both sides. The two sides have already begun to work with the Thai government on a high-speed railway project in the eastern part of Thailand, as well as smart city projects.

As the two major manufacturing powerhouses and investors for outbound direct investment, China and Japan certainly can find more growth potential to develop markets in different parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America to meet their rising demand for industrialization and urbanization, said He Lifeng, chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission.

"The governments from both sides will take a number of measures to ensure that business operations in host countries will be economical and sustainably beneficial," said He.

Hiroshige Seko, the economy, trade and industry minister of Japan, said the joint development of third-party markets will boost the efficiency of the industrial structure in China and Japan, and the construction ability in related markets.

For the next step, China and Japan will together explore priority areas and sectors in certain third-party markets, as well as establishing multi-party platforms to guide more companies from both countries to invest in these markets, according to officials.

Commerce Minister Zhong Shan suggested that such projects can start from countries that are close to China and Japan, especially in areas like logistics, environment protection and emerging industries.

The surging two-way goods volume transported by China-Europe freight train services is also an ideal option for Japanese companies to export their products to Europe and other third-party markets.

Analysts said the enhanced bilateral collaboration offers a chance for the Japanese side to participate in the Belt and Road Initiative and is conducive to the further development of bilateral business ties, as the agreements were signed in Beijing during Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's official visit to China from Thursday to Saturday.

"Confronting the growing trend toward unilateralism and protectionism, developing third-party markets will not only conform to mutual interests but also benefit the global economy," said Li Yong, vice-chair of the expert committee at the China Association of International Trade.

Thanks to the improved bilateral ties, trade between China and Japan surged 10.7 percent year-on-year to $243.71 billion in the first three quarters of this year, data from the General Administration of Customs showed.

China saw foreign direct investment inflows edge up 2.9 percent year-on-year to 636.7 billion yuan ($91.67 billion) in the first nine months of this year, while companies from Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom remained the main investors in China's high-end manufacturing and service sectors, data from the Ministry of Commerce showed.
State-owned State Grid Corp of China, the largest utility company in the world, is looking to make further inroads in global markets after its success with energy and transmission projects in Brazil, Australia and the Philippines, a top official said on Friday.

Shu Yinbiao, chairman of State Grid, said the company will strive to further strengthen its grid construction efforts, including power transmission and transformation engineering construction, to get actively involved in local power projects. He said this while attending the 82nd annual conference of the International Electrotechnical Commission in Busan, South Korea.

The company's total overseas assets under management were $65.6 billion to date, while the total overseas construction contract value was $41 billion. According to Shu, the company has been able to achieve this due to its world-leading technology and abundant engineering experience in long-distance power transmission, large-scale grid construction and operation, and smart grids and micro grids.

Meanwhile, Shu was elected head of the IEC at the Busan meeting, making him the first from China to head the organization in its 112-year history. IEC is the world's leading organization for the preparation and publication of international standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies, which are known collectively as electrotechnology.

According to Shu, State Grid is planning to step up cooperation with partners from abroad to jointly set up international standards in high-voltage electricity transmission, smart grids and electric vehicle charging.

The company has set up 10 transnational transmission lines with neighboring countries and is currently pushing forward new transmission projects including the China-Mongolia transmission project. Most of the projects adopt Chinese standards, said Shu.

In the traditional industrial sector, the international standards are usually led by developed countries including the United States, Germany and Japan. However, China, with advanced standards in emerging sectors of strategic importance including high-speed train, nuclear, high-voltage clean power lines and new energy, has been slowly rising up the ranks.

Frans Vreeswijk, IEC general secretary, said China's technologies in ultra-high-voltage transmission were significant not only for the country, but for the rest of the world also.

China has realized ultrahigh voltage transmission of more than 3,000 kilometers, which is a historic initiative that promotes sustainability through connectivity and integration, he said.

Joseph Jacobelli, a senior analyst of Asian utilities and infrastructure at Bloomberg Intelligence in Hong Kong, said Chinese companies have advanced technology in distributed photovoltaic power grid technology as well as renewable energy technology.

"State Grid has accumulated investment knowledge from its many projects in various continents in the past few years and has the strength to help several nations in building their grid networks," he said.
Instead of retreating from China, foreign companies are reinvesting for the new opportunities to emerge from the further opening-up of China.

In the first half of 2018, China topped the world in drawing foreign direct investment (FDI), boasting about 70 billion U.S. dollars in capital inflows, a UN report said recently.

INVESTMENT INFLOWS

The report of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said FDI flows to China grew 6 percent to 70 billion dollars, or about 15 percent of the global total.

In sharp contrast, the global sum during the same period slumped by 41 percent to its lowest in a decade.

"More intensive efforts in attracting foreign investment and opening up markets, such as the pilot free trade zones and the more open western regions, are the main reasons for the increase of FDI flows to China," James Zhan, director of the UNCTAD's Division on Trade and Enterprises, told Xinhua.

China is an attractive investment destination. Its 11 pilot free trade zones in September saw an FDI inflow increase of 14.7 percent, data from China's Ministry of Commerce showed.

Earlier this month, Dutch battery maker Lithium Werks BV announced the decision to invest 1.6 billion euros (1.8 billion dollars) in a lithium-ion battery plant in eastern China, the second of its kind. The new factory with an annual production capacity of 8 gigawatt-hours, sufficient for powering 160,000 cars, is planning to start operations in early 2021.

"We're in China again because it moves faster than others, it makes decisions quickly," chairman of the Dutch company Kees Koolen said.

And the Dutch company is not alone. Many companies inked investment deals during Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's visit to the Netherlands last week.

Among them were Royal Dutch Shell PLC, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines as well as Internationale Nederlanden Group. The deals worth billions of dollars are for existing projects and new joint ventures with Chinese partners.

FURTHER OPENING-UP

China has substantially slashed red tape, lifted restrictions and strengthened property rights protection for foreign investors.

For example, recently, State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) removed limits on FDI upfront payments and account validity terms.

"Our opening-up policy is consistent and applicable to all without discrimination," Premier Li said during the Dutch trip.

"We are now embarking on a new era," CEO of the German automaker BMW, Herald Krueger, said in a speech earlier this month in China's northeastern city of Shenyang, where BMW's main joint venture is located.

BMW has announced an investment of 3.6 billion euros (4.1 billion dollars) to increase its stake in the joint venture BBA with Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd to 75 percent from 50 percent, in a move to realize further growth to benefit all the parties, said Chief Financial Officer Nicolas Peter.

In the eyes of Western industry analysts, the move after China unveiled plans to remove the ceiling for foreign ownership in auto joint ventures over five years, marked "a major breakthrough," and the German automaker is expected to take the full control over the biggest regional profit pool of its business.

Meanwhile, the largest German automaker Volkswagen, also one of the first foreign carmakers entering China, is planning massive investments in China to total 15 billion euros (17 billion dollars) until 2022, largely focusing on electric vehicles, automatic driving, digitalization and new mobility services.

"This year marks the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up policy," its China executive vice president Zhang Suixin said. "Now new measures, new rules are opening a new era for all foreign carmakers."

Zhang said a more open China means a fairer competition environment for foreign investors. China's new policy to further open up the manufacturing sector by removing foreign ownership restrictions is applicable to all.

In July, German chemical giant BASF announced an investment of 10 billion dollars in southern China to build a Verbund chemical production site. It will be the company's largest investment ever, and also its first wholly-owned plant in China.

NEW OPPORTUNITIES

More and more German small and medium-sized enterprises are also searching for opportunities in China.

Rudolf Scharping, Germany's former defense minister and ex-minister president of state Rhineland Palatinate, told Xinhua that China is still the "most attractive for foreign investment" despite the rising cost in production, labor and land.

"Market size, upgrading of technology as designed in 'Made in China 2025', ambitious workers, increasing skills -- those advantages are coming to full effect as China's infrastructure is becoming more and more excellent, the innovation power is developing and step by step, the legal environment is improving," he said.

"Combined with the Belt and Road Initiative, China is an integrated and indispensable part of the global economic development," Scharping added.

He also noticed that China is re-adjusting its growth model where quality and sustainability of products, technologies and services will be decisive, adding that FDI will be more focused on this kind of development, both inbound and outbound.

Official data showed that in the first three quarters, FDI in China's high-tech sectors rose 6.8 percent and accounted for 22.5 percent of the total.

"China is growing constantly in developing technology, especially in the area of big data, which makes its new competitive advantage in earning foreign investment," said Shi Shiwei, visiting professor of economics at Free University of Berlin.

According to him, the era of cheap labor in China is fading out. The export-oriented labor-intensive industries and investment tend to move out of China to its neighborhood where there are cheaper workforce.

At the same time, it's widely believed that China's ongoing urbanization, upgrading of consumption and shift to high-quality growth are generating new opportunities for competitive foreign businesses.
Max BLUMENTHAL, Jeb SPRAGUE

This October, Facebook and Twitter deleted the accounts of hundreds of users, including many alternative media outlets maintained by American users. Among those wiped out in the coordinated purge were popular sites that scrutinized police brutality and U.S. interventionism, like The Free Thought Project, Anti-Media, and Cop Block, along with the pages of journalists like Rachel Blevins.

Facebook claimed that these pages had broken our rules against spam and coordinated inauthentic behavior. However, sites like The Free Thought Project were verified by Facebook and widely recognized as legitimate sources of news and opinion. John Vibes, an independent reporter who contributed to Free Thought, accused Facebook of favoring mainstream sources and silencing alternative voices.

In comments published here for the first time, a neoconservative Washington insider has apparently claimed a degree of credit for the recent purge  and promised more takedowns in the near future.

Russia, China, and other foreign states take advantage of our open political system, remarked Jamie Fly, a senior fellow and director of the Asia program at the influential think tank the German Marshall Fund, which is funded by the U.S. government and NATO. They can invent stories that get repeated and spread through different sites. So we are just starting to push back. Just this last week Facebook began starting to take down sites. So this is just the beginning.

Fly went on to complain that all you need is an email to set up a Facebook or Twitter account, lamenting the sites accessibility to members of the general public. He predicted a long struggle on a global scale to fix the situation, and pointed out that to do so would require constant vigilance.

Fly made these stunning comments to Jeb Sprague, who is a visiting faculty member in sociology at the University of California-Santa Barbara and co-author of this article. The two spoke during a lunch break at a conference on Asian security organized by the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik in Berlin, Germany.

In the tweet below, Fly is the third person from the left who appears seated at the table.

The remarks by Fly  we are just starting to push back  seemed to confirm the worst fears of the alternative online media community. If he was to be believed, the latest purge was motivated by politics, not spam prevention, and was driven by powerful interests hostile to dissident views, particularly where American state violence is concerned.

Jamie Fly, rise of a neocon cadre

Jamie Fly is an influential foreign policy hardliner who has spent the last year lobbying for the censorship of fringe views on social media. Over the years, he has advocated for a military assault on Iran, a regime change war on Syria, and hiking military spending to unprecedented levels. He is the embodiment of a neoconservative cadre.

Like so many second-generation neocons, Fly entered government by burrowing into mid-level positions in George W. Bushs National Security Council and Department of Defense.

In 2009, he was appointed director of the Foreign Policy Initiative (FPI), a rebranded version of Bill Kristols Project for a New American Century, or PNAC. The latter outfit was an umbrella group of neoconservative activists that first made the case for an invasion of Iraq as part of a wider project of regime change in countries that resisted Washingtons sphere of influence.

By 2011, Fly was advancing the next phase in PNACs blueprint by clamoring for military strikes on Iran. More diplomacy is not an adequate response, he argued. A year later, Fly urged the US to expand its list of targets beyond the [Iranian] nuclear program to key command and control elements of the Republican Guard and the intelligence ministry, and facilities associated with other key government officials.

Fly soon found his way into the senate office of Marco Rubio, a neoconservative pet project, assuming a role as his top foreign policy advisor. Amongst other interventionist initiatives, Rubio has taken the lead in promoting harsh economic sanctions targeting Venezuela, even advocating for a U.S. military assault on the country. When Rubios 2016 presidential campaign floundered amid a mass revolt of the Republican Partys middle American base against the party establishment, Fly was forced to cast about for new opportunities.

He found them in the paranoid atmosphere of Russiagate that formed soon after Donald Trumps shock election victory.

PropOrNot sparks the alternative media panic

A journalistic insiders account of the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, Shattered, revealed that in the days after the election, Hillary declined to take responsibility for her own loss. Her top advisers were summoned the following day, according to the book, to engineer the case that the election wasnt entirely on the up-and-up  Already, Russian hacking was the centerpiece of the argument.

Less than three weeks after Clintons defeat, the Washington Posts Craig Timberg published a dubiously sourced report headlined, Russian propaganda effort helped spread fake news.' The article hyped up a McCarthyite effort by a shadowy, anonymously run organization called PropOrNot to blacklist some 200 American media outlets as Russian online propaganda.

The alternative media outfits on the PropOrNot blacklist included some of those recently purged by Facebook and Twitter, such as The Free Thought Project and Anti-Media. Among the criteria PropOrNot identified as signs of Russian propaganda were Support for policies like Brexit, and the breakup of the EU and Eurozone and Opposition to Ukrainian resistance to Russia and Syrian resistance to Assad. PropOrNot called for formal investigations by the U.S. government into the outlets it had blacklisted.

According to Craig Timberg, the Washington Post correspondent who uncritically promoted the media suppression initiative, Propornot was established by a nonpartisan collection of researchers with foreign policy, military and technology backgrounds. Timberg quoted a figure associated with the George Washington University Center for Cyber and Homeland Security, Andrew Weisburd, and cited a report he wrote with his colleague, Clint Watts, on Russian meddling.

Timbergs piece on PropOrNot was promoted widely by former top Clinton staffers and celebrated by ex-Obama White House aide Dan Pfeiffer as the biggest story in the world. But after a wave of stinging criticism, including in the pages of the New Yorker, the article was amended with an editors note stating, The [Washington] Post does not itself vouch for the validity of PropOrNots findings regarding any individual media outlet.

PropOrNot had been seemingly exposed as a McCarthyite sham, but the concept behind it  exposing online American media outlets as vehicles for Kremlin active measures  continued to flourish.

The birth of the Russian bot tracker  with U.S. government money

By August, a new, and seemingly related initiative appeared out of the blue, this time with backing from a bipartisan coalition of Democratic foreign policy hands and neocon Never Trumpers in Washington. Called the Alliance for Securing Democracy (ASD), the outfit aimed to expose how supposed Russian Twitter bots were infecting American political discourse with divisive narratives. It featured a daily Hamilton 68 online dashboard that highlighted the supposed bot activity with easily digestible charts. Conveniently, the site avoided naming any of the digital Kremlin influence accounts it claimed to be tracking.

The initiative was immediately endorsed by John Podesta, the founder of the Democratic Party think tank the Center for American Progress, and former chief of staff of Hillary Clintons 2016 presidential campaign. Julia Ioffe, the Atlantics chief Russiagate correspondent, promoted the bot tracker as a very cool tool.

Unlike PropOrNot, the ASD was sponsored by one of the most respected think tanks in Washington, the German Marshall Fund, which had been founded in 1972 to nurture the special relationship between the US and what was then West Germany.

The German Marshall Fund is substantially funded by Western governments, and largely reflects their foreign-policy interests. Its top two financial sponsors, at more than $1 million per year each, are the U.S. governments soft-power arm the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the German Foreign Office (known in German as the Auswartiges Amt). The U.S. State Department also provides more than half a million dollars per year, as do the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development and the foreign affairs ministries of Sweden and Norway. It likewise receives at least a quarter of a million dollars per year from NATO.

The US government and NATO are top donors to the German Marshall Fund

Though the German Marshall Fund did not name the donors that specifically sponsored its Alliance for Securing Democracy initiative, it hosts a whos who of bipartisan national-security hardliners on the ASDs advisory council, providing the endeavor with the patina of credibility. They range from neocon movement icon Bill Kristol to former Clinton foreign policy advisor Jake Sullivan and ex-CIA director Michael Morell.

Jamie Fly, a German Marshall Fund fellow and Asia specialist, emerged as one of the most prolific promoters of the new Russian bot tracker in the media. Together with Laura Rosenberger, a former foreign policy aide to Hillary Clintons 2016 campaign, Fly appeared in a series of interviews and co-authored several op-eds emphasizing the need for a massive social media crackdown.

During a March 2018 interview on C-Span, Fly complained that Russian accounts were trying to promote certain messages, amplify certain content, raise fringe views, pit Americans against each other, and we need to deal with this ongoing problem and find ways through the government, through tech companies, through broader society to tackle this issue.

Yet few of the sites on PropOrNots blacklist, and none of the alternative sites that were erased in the recent Facebook purge that Fly and his colleagues take apparent credit for, were Russian accounts. Perhaps the only infraction they could have been accused of was publishing views that Fly and his cohorts saw as fringe.

Whats more, the ASD has been forced to admit that the mass of Twitter accounts it initially identified as Russian bots were not necessarily bots  and may not have been Russian either.

Im not convinced on this bot thing

A November 2017 investigation by Max Blumenthal, a co-author of this article, found that the ASDs Hamilton 68 dashboard was the creation of a collection of cranks, counterterror retreads, online harassers and paranoiacs operating with support from some of the most prominent figures operating within the American national security apparatus.

These figures included the same George Washington University Center for Cyber and Homeland Security fellows  Andrew Weisburd and Clint Watts  that were cited as experts in the Washington Posts article promoting PropOrNot.

Weisburd, who has been described as one of the brains behind the Hamilton 68 dashboard, once maintained a one-man, anti-Palestinian web monitoring initiative that specialized in doxxing left-wing activists, Muslims and anyone he considered anti-American. More recently, he has taken to Twitter to spout off murderous and homophobic fantasies about Glenn Greenwald, the editor of the Intercept  a publication the ASD flagged without explanation as a vehicle for Russian influence operations.

Watts, for his part, has testified before Congress on several occasions to call on the government to quell information rebellions with censorious measures including nutritional labels for online media. He has received fawning publicity from corporate media and been rewarded with a contributor role for NBC on the basis of his supposed expertise in ferreting out Russian disinformation.

Clint Watts has urged Congress to quell information rebellions

However, under questioning during a public event by Grayzone contributor Ilias Stathatos, Watts admitted that substantial parts of his testimony were false, and refused to provide evidence to support some of his most colorful claims about malicious Russian bot activity.

In a separate interview with Buzzfeed, Watts appeared to completely disown the Hamilton 68 bot tracker as a legitimate tool. Im not convinced on this bot thing, Watts confessed. He even called the narrative that he helped manufacture overdone, and admitted that the accounts Hamilton 68 tracked were not necessarily directed by Russian intelligence actors.

We dont even think theyre all commanded in Russia  at all. We think some of them are legitimately passionate people that are just really into promoting Russia, Watts conceded.

But these stunning admissions did little to slow the momentum of the coming purge.

Enter the Atlantic Council

In his conversation with Sprague, the German Marshall Funds Fly stated that he was working with the Atlantic Council in the campaign to purge alternative media from social media platforms like Facebook.

The Atlantic Council is another Washington-based think tank that serves as a gathering point for neoconservatives and liberal interventionists pushing military aggression around the globe. It is funded by NATO and repressive, US-allied governments including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Turkey, as well as by Ukrainian oligarchs like Victor Pynchuk.

This May, Facebook announced a partnership with the Atlantic Councils Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab) to identify, expose, and explain disinformation during elections around the world.

The Atlantic Councils DFRLab is notorious for its zealous conflation of legitimate online dissent with illicit Russian activity, embracing the same tactics as PropOrNot and the ASD.

Ben Nimmo, a DFRLab fellow who has built his reputation on flushing out online Kremlin influence networks, embarked on an embarrassing witch hunt this year that saw him misidentify several living, breathing individuals as Russian bots or Kremlin influence accounts. Nimmos victims included Mariam Susli, a well-known Syrian-Australian social media personality, the famed Ukrainian concert pianist Valentina Lisitsa, and a British pensioner named Ian Shilling.

In an interview with Sky News, Shilling delivered a memorable tirade against his accusers. I have no Kremlin contacts whatsoever; I do not know any Russians, I have no contact with the Russian government or anything to do with them, he exclaimed. I am an ordinary British citizen who happens to do research on the current neocon wars which are going on in Syria at this very moment.

With the latest Facebook and Twitter purges, ordinary citizens like Shilling are being targeted in the open, and without apology. The mass deletions of alternative media accounts illustrate how national security hardliners from the German Marshall Fund and Atlantic Council (and whoever was behind PropOrNot) have instrumentalized the manufactured panic around Russian interference to generate public support for a wider campaign of media censorship.

In his conversation in Berlin with Sprague, Fly noted with apparent approval that, Trump is now pointing to Chinese interference in the 2018 election. As the mantra of foreign interference expands to a new adversarial power, the clampdown on voices of dissent in online media is almost certain to intensify.

As Fly promised, This is just the beginning.

grayzoneproject.com
China's progress in reform and opening up not only changes itself, but also influences ASEAN economies and the world at large in a profound way  this was one of the conclusions of a high-level forum entitled "40th Anniversary of China's Reform and Opening-up: Progress, Prospects and Impacts on the East Asian Region" held in Beijing on Oct. 26.

The forum attracted a good mix of high-level policy-makers from the ASEAN+3 Region, as well as renowned academics and senior representatives from international organizations and the private sector to attend and offer their opinions.

According to Chang Junhong, director of the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO), one of the organizers of the forum, many participants had first-hand experience in the reform and opening up process in China as well as the development of China-ASEAN's integration.

Co-organized by AMRO, China's Ministry of Finance and the People's Bank of China (PBOC), the forum used AMRO's recently published report entitled "China's Reform and Opening-Up: Experiences, Prospects and Implications for ASEAN" as a background document for discussions.

The study analyzes how, over the 40-year period from 1978, China had transformed itself from a low-income to an upper-middle income country with average annual GDP growth of 9.4 percent.

Finance Minister Liu Kun introduced China's achievements during these four decades briefly in his keynote speech at the forum, quoting various data. He highlighted how China had lifted over 700 million people out of poverty, and contributed over 30 percent to world economic growth for many years in succession.

China has been upholding market-oriented reform and an open economy, Liu said, adding that it had lowered its general level of tariffs to 7.5 percent, and would continue to open up its financial service industry.

Yukon Huang, senior fellow of the Asia Program of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace who has been working in China since 1997, said: "China's experience of reform and opening up is very impressive".

He attributed the success to a pragmatic and experimental approach to reform, balance between decentralized initiatives and central governance, efforts to promote a greater role for market forces with state-set priorities, and reforms evolving in line with changing circumstances.

Alfred Schipke, International Monetary Fund's senior resident representative in China, also hailed the 40 years of China's reform and opening up as a miracle.

"China's economic development has been mirrored by the rapid development of its financial sector," Schipke said.

Summarizing China's efforts in finance and banking in the past decades, Chen Yulu, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, highlighted how it had been working to enhance financial efficiency, stability, inclusiveness and openness.

It has continued to push forward reforms in various financial institutions, and improving regulation in line with trends in the financing industry, Chen said.

He also added that China has also been developing inclusive finance to benefit SMEs and private companies, while promoting financial opening and cooperation worldwide.

According to the AMRO report, ASEAN has benefited greatly from China's opening up to trade and investment. Data shows that China trade and investment in the region as well as Chinese tourist flow had all increased rapidly over the years.

The U.S. and Europe were Thailand's largest trading partners, but now China is the No. 1 trading partner, said Bandid Nijathaworn, former deputy governor of the Bank of Thailand. In addition, among the tourists from across the world traveling to Thailand, China also leads the way.

Nijathaworn also highlighted that China's participation in the regional organizations had helped increase their influence in the world, greatly benefiting the region.

The AMRO report also shows how the economies of China and ASEAN members have become more integrated, with both sides benefiting substantially in the areas of trade, investment and tourism.

Looking ahead, practically all the panelists in the session discussing the implications of China's reform and opening up to ASEAN were optimistic about further integration.

Thipphakone Chanthavongsa, vice minister of Finance of Laos, was one of these, believing that all countries in the region gained benefits from it.

Meanwhile, Zou Jiayi, China's vice minister of finance, said the country's further economic growth and further opening-up would surely contribute more to regional economic development,.

Zou also put forward her proposals for further "10+3" integration including coordinating international organizations in the region so as to formulate a framework for regional economic governance, strengthening prevention and control of financial risks and maintain financial stability, as well as diversifying financing channels for infrastructure construction.
Several conspiracy theories are doing the rounds to account for the spate of mail bombs this week sent to prominent public figures associated with the Democrat party.

Thus, it is averred, the perp may have been a pro-Trump ultranationalist, or, alternatively on other the side, opponents of Trump trying to anger people to go and vote Democrat in the mid-term elections two weeks away. Theres also suspicion that the deep state could be trying to smear Trump, and even the Islamist terror group ISIS has been fingered.

A man in Florida with a criminal record has since been arrested over the incidents. Its not clear what his motivation was.

But whats rather strange is that the US media have not reported claims that the Kremlin is behind the chaos unfolding this week. At least not yet.

After all, American intelligence agencies, congressional panels and media pundits have been clamoring and assuring the world for the past two years that the Russians  under the direction of arch-villain Vladimir Putin  have been systematically interfering in US politics and specifically sowing divisions in American society.

Indeed, divisions could not be more apparent in the US than this weeks commotion and recriminations over the mysterious parcel bombs attacks intended for high-profile figures affiliated to the Democrats.

Potentially explosive pipe bombs were mailed to former President Barack Obama and his wife, as well as the Clintons, former vice president Joe Biden and ex-attorney general Eric Holder.

John Brennan, the CIA chief under Obamas administration, was intended as another recipient of the crude devices, none of which detonated and no-one was injured. Billionaire investor George Soros, a big donor to the Democrats, was targeted by the mail bomber, as was veteran screen actor Robert De Niro. The CNN news channels offices in New York City was also put on alert on two separate days. In total, 10 suspect devices were sent out this week across the US to prominent figures. More such would-be attacks are said to be feared by various law enforcement authorities.

The common thread to all recipients is that they have been frequently lampooned by President Trump. Oftentimes, Trump has used extreme vitriol bordering on incitement to violence against the individuals and CNN, calling the latter fake news and enemy of the people.

Admittedly, the purported victims of mail-bomb terrorism this week have engaged in their own inflammatory rhetoric against Trump, urging members of the public to harass any of his administration officials spotted in restaurants or other civic venues.

In response to the letter bombs, Trump condemned acts of political violence. He said: No country can succeed if it accepts political violence.

Thats hilariously ironic, given that the US accepts and sponsors political violence all the time, massively, around the world. Its backing of the Saudi genocidal war in Yemen being the most salient case in point.

Trumps apparent repudiation of violence was condemned as hypocritical by his opponents in the US, but not for the most glaring reason cited above.

The president appealed for unity and urged Americans to come together. He said: Those engaged in the political arena must stop treating political opponents as being morally defective.

Trump has a point there alright. The pro-Democrat news media like CNN, NBC, New York Times and Washington Post have been relentless in their attacks on the president ever since his election in November 2016. The media onslaught is tantamount to sedition or fostering a coup against the White House. It has been unremitting and often seemingly baseless, such as this weeks report in the New York Times that Chinese and Russian agents are tapping his personal cell phone.

But immediately after taking the moral high ground, Trump quickly charged back into the trenches with his usual nasty vilification against Democrats and their supporters.

America has undeniably become extremely politically polarized and toxic. The enmity between Trumps supporters among Republican grassroots and opponents gravitating to the Democrat party is bordering on civil war. There are reports of neighbors and even family members not talking to each other any longer, so alienated and acrimonious have opposing views become.

In a country where there is so much easy access to guns it is a very disturbing scenario facing the US. Added to that explosive mix the tendency for media manipulation of people and their passions, and it is not hard to see how the whole cauldron could explode very badly with violence.

There is no clear-cut good and bad guys here among the established political and media organizations. Trumps incendiary style of demagogic politics is matched by his opponents in the Democrats and their supportive media. It is a case of a plague on all their houses.

Lamentably, the political discourse in the US has become embroiled in reactionary superficial ideology. Trump plays the populist card of claiming to defend ordinary American workers, when he is a billionaire plutocrat who is all about enriching his class. The Democrats, referred absurdly to as leftists, base their attacks against Trump on completely reactionary and futile complaints, such as him allegedly being a Russian stooge.

In a country which has the worlds most wealth and yet the biggest rich-poor chasm, it is astounding that the most glaring issue of all is ignored in public political discourse  the issue of class and capitalist exploitation of millions of workers and their families.

America is in turmoil because of its oppressive, dysfunctional corporate capitalism. Neither of the two main political parties, nor the corporate news media, are giving any direction, or venting of the most fundamental problem in US society. No wonder then that the political discourse and conduct is so reactionary, hate-filled, divisive and futile. Because the mass of people are being denied any constructive political leadership.

The divisiveness in the US is clearly on display over the mail bombs this week. But what is also clear is that the divisions and chaos in American society are an inherent problem to do with its economy and power structure.

It has nothing to do with Russian interference. The latter conspiracy theory is being exposed more than ever for the reactionary nonsense that it is, fomented by American politicians and media who have abdicated their relevance to the democratic and urgent social needs of their own people.
There is growing clarity about the denouement to the Jamal Khashoggi affair. The strong likelihood  a virtual certainty, one may say  is that the Saudi regime has weathered the storm. But issues remain.

The known unknown is of course what the US President Donald Trump may say or do tomorrow in any given situation in regional and international politics. But here too the signs are that there is a method in his madness vis-a-vis the Khashoggi affair  leave the present leadership hierarchy in Riyadh undisturbed while negotiating new terms of US-Saudi engagement that suit American interests in the short term. In the long term, Trump believes rightly, we are all dead, and he won't lose sleep on it.

So far, under immense pressure from the US media and the Deep State in America, Trump acted against Saudi Arabia by imposing sanctions under the Magnitsky Act  against 18 Saudi officials. None of them is really consequential to the US-Saudi strategic partnership. This is essentially a pro forma act that coveys the optic that Trump is on the move on the Khashoggi ball.

The so-called sanctions were actually imposed in te wake of a closed-door meeting between the US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and the Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman in Riyadh last Monday. Mnuchins dash to Riyadh itself was curious  although he was notionally boycotting the Saudi investment conference scheduled for later in the week, which was touted as a big international pageant to highlight the Crown Princes Vision 2030 project.

Presumably, Trump would have a fair idea now as to how far to sanction Saudi Arabia if push comes to shove and, importantly, the absolute red lines for the Saudis. Trump will now do the minimum that is necessary by way of any actions against Saudi Arabia until the November 6 got over. Meanwhile, he has an ally in the Israeli lobby to work on the opinion in the US Congress and there are some signs already that the lawmakers are less hysterical over the Khashoggi affair.

However, rhetoric continues. But here too, Trump is increasingly turning hot and cold on the Saudi Crown Prince, whom the Deep State is gunning for (more of that later.) This approach serves three purposes. First, Trump hopes to ride out the tsunami of opinion in the US, which is demanding that the Crown Prince must be removed from power.

Here the problem for Trump is that it is not as simple as issuing an executive order that the Saudi Crown Prince must start walking toward the sunset with immediate effect. Trump would be aware that the Saudi royal family might have rallied around the present leadership, contrary to the naive, wishful thinking amongst many in America.

The fact of the matter is that left to himself Trump has had a jolly good time by and large with the Saudi regime. Why should he upset the apple cart? Son-in-law and presidential advisor Jared Kushner has a thriving one-on-one with the Saudi Crown Prince. There have even been innuendos that Kushner has long private conversations with the Crown Prince and probably even shared intelligence of sensitivity and relevance to the Saudi side.

The bottom line is that the conditions are not exactly ripe for a color revolution in Saudi Arabia and the Crown Prince has a firm grip on the organs of power, coercion and authority in Saudi Arabia. Which means that any robust American push against the Crown Prince will most certainly destabilize the Saudi situation with consequences that are difficult to foresee. The nervousness among the other authoritarian regimes of the Persian Gulf region over the Khashoggi affair is palpable. Even Qatar is watching in silence and there is no schadenfreude discernible. The point is, the denouement to the Khashoggi affair will not leave the region unscathed one way or another.

Second, Trump has no reason to feel emotional attachment to the late Khashoggi. His first instinctive reaction when he heard the news of Khashoggis death was that he wasnt a US citizen! Perhaps, he was out of touch and was unaware of the compulsions working on the Deep State. The heart of the matter is, Whos Khashoggi? The US media has been projecting him as a journalist but it is fairly well established that Khashoggis connections with the Saudi (and American) intelligence run deep, dating back to Osama bin Ladens entry into the jihad against the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan.

Khashoggi served, in many capacities for over a decade and a half, the ace Saudi spymaster Prince Turki who was the CIAs main collaborator for almost 3 decades in the business of using Islamist groups as geopolitical tool in American regional projects in the Greater Middle East. More recently, in the downstream of the Arab Spring appearing on the Arab doorstep, Khashoggi began viewing Islamism as a charioteer for the democratization of the Middle East.

As recently as on August 28, he had penned an article in the Washington Post lamenting that the Muslim Brotherhood government of Mohammed Morsi was overthrown (with Saudi and UAE backing), or else it could have provided a role model eventually for the transformation of the entire region (read Saudi Arabia.)

Now, it is no big secret that the Saudi regime regards the Muslim Brotherhood as an existential enemy. The regime has historically adopted harsh and violent methods to snuff out any traces of the Brothers on Saudi soil. That is why the Saudis bankrolled the overthrow of Morsi in Egypt. Quite obviously, Khashoggis open espousal of the Brothers  and that too, in Washington Post  was the proverbial straw that broke the camels back. Thirty-five days after the Khashoggis article appeared, he met a tragic end.

Khashoggi was planning to settle down in Turkey after his second marriage to a Turkish citizen. A famous dissident from one of Saudi Arabias richest families with such excellent connections with the US intelligence establishment who possessed unmatchable insights into how power flows with through the Byzantine corridors of the Saudi royal family settling down in the region in a country whose ruling elite openly empathizes and patronizes the Brothers  it was an intolerable scenario, plainly put, for Riyadh. Simply put, the project had to be stopped on its tracks before it got any further  with whatever means available, come what may. The rallying of the Saudi royal family behind the King Salman and the Crown Prince is perfectly understandable.

Trump has no passion for a project aiming at the democratic transformation of the Greater Middle East  least of all, using Islamism as the charioteer of change. He wont be impressed by the fine logic that the Brothers are a moderate lot. In any case, Trumps logic will be: Why kill the geese that lay the golden eggs in and around the Arabian Peninsula?

Third, most importantly, Trump sees a window of opportunity here. There are enough signs that lately he was feeling frustrated with the Saudis on a number of issues  his unsuccessful push for Saudi Aramcos IPO in New York Stock Exchange; Saudis unhelpful role in keeping oil production high to make up for the shortfall in Iranian oil exports; signs of Saudis losing interest in bankrolling the US military presence in Syria; the Look East template in Saudi regional policies and so on. Trump actually voiced his grumpiness openly in tweeters and even in his UN General Assembly speech in September  at one point, even threatening that the Saud regime wont survive for a fortnight if the US pulled back from backing it.

Trump, in the best spirit of the Art of the Deal, can now be trusted to use the lifeline he offers to the Saudi Crown Prince to extract concessions in the Saudi policies. Principal among them will be a stepping up of the maximum pressure approach on Iran. The Saudi announcement this week to label Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization can be seen in this light. So, indeed, the Saudi allocation of another $100 million as budgetary support for the good work that the Pentagon is doing in northeastern Syria.

Equally, the Saudi Crown Prince used the investment conference in Riyadh this week to make his first conciliatory gesture toward Doha, even praising Qatar for its magnificent record in the economic sphere. Suffice to say, a Saudi-Qatar rapprochement, which Trump had assiduously sought, seems to be imminent.

Iran is already bracing for a grim winter ahead and on Wednesday, it broke its silence on the Khashoggi affair by lambasting both Riyadh and Washington. Tehran appears to have given up any hope of a moderation in Saudi policies.

The big question is what is on the anvil in Yemen. These are early days, but change is in the air in the trajectory of the brutal war.
Scott RITTER

Declaring that there is a new strategic reality out there, President Donald Trumps hardline national security advisor John Bolton announced during a visit to Moscow earlier this week that the United States would be withdrawing from the 31-year-old Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. This was a Cold War bilateral ballistic missile-related treaty, Bolton said, in a multi-polar ballistic missile world.

It is the American position that Russia is in violation, Bolton told reporters after a 90-minute meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russias position is that they arent. So one has to ask how to ask the Russians to come back into compliance with something they dont think theyre violating.

Left unsaid by Bolton was the fact that the Russians have been asking the U.S. to provide evidence to substantiate its allegations of Russian noncompliance, something it so far has not done. The Americans have failed to provide hard facts to substantiate their accusations, a Kremlin spokesperson noted last December after a U.S. delegation was briefed NATO on the allegations. They just cannot provide them, because such evidence essentially does not exist.

Boltons declaration mirrored an earlier statement by Trump announcing that Im terminating the agreement because [the Russians] violated the agreement. When asked if his comments were meant as a threat to Putin, Trump responded, Its a threat to whoever you want. And it includes China, and it includes Russia, and it includes anybody else that wants to play that game. You cant do that. You cant play that game on me.

Trump appears to have surrendered to the anti-arms control philosophy of John Bolton, who views such agreements as unduly restricting American power. (Bolton was also behind the 2001 decision by President George W. Bush to withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, an act the Russians viewed as inherently destabilizing.) By involving China, which was not a signatory to the INF Treaty, into the mix, the president appears to be engaging in a crude negotiating gambit designed to shore up a weak case for leaving the 1987 arms control agreement by playing on previous Russian sensitivities about Chinese nuclear capabilities.

In 2007, Putin had threatened to withdraw from the INF Treaty because of these reasons. We are speaking about the plans of a number of neighboring countries developing short- and mid-range missile systems, Dmitry Peskov, Putins spokesperson, said at the time, citing China, India and Pakistan. While our two countries [the U.S. and Russia] are bound by the provisions of the INF treaty there will be a certain imbalance in the region.

Although unspoken, both Bolton and Trump appear to be trying to drive a wedge between Russia and China. Theyre doing so as those two nations are coming together to craft a joint response to what they view as American overreach on trade and international security. While the Russian concerns over Chinese INF capabilities might have held true a decade ago, that doesnt seem to be the case any longer.

The Chinese missile program is not related to the INF problem, Konstantin Sivkov, a member of the Russian Academy of Missile and Ammunition Sciences, recently observed. China has always had medium-range missiles, because it did not enter into a bilateral treaty with the United States on medium and shorter-range missiles. Americas speculations about Chinese missiles are just an excuse to withdraw from the INF Treaty, the Russian arms control expert charged.

Moreover, China doesnt seem to be taking the bait. Yang Chengjun, a Chinese missile expert, observed that the U.S. decision to withdraw from the INF Treaty would have a negative impact on Chinas national security, noting that Beijing would have to push ahead with the modest development of medium-range missiles in response. These weapons would be fielded to counter any American build-up in the region, and as such would not necessarily be seen by Russia as representing a threat.

Any student of the INF Treaty knows that the issue of Russias national security posture vis-a-vis China was understood fully when the then-USSR signed on to the agreement. During the negotiations surrounding INF in the 1970s and 1980s, the Soviets had sought to retain an INF capability in Asia as part of its Chinese deterrence posture. Indeed, the Soviet insistence on keeping such a force was one of the main reasons behind the zero option put forward by the U.S. in 1982, where a total ban on INF-capable weapons was proposed. The U.S. knew that the total elimination of INF systems was a poison pill that Russia simply would not swallow, thereby dooming future negotiations.

Mikhail Gorbachev turned the tables on the Americans in 1986, when he embraced the zero option and called upon the U.S. to enter into an agreement that banned INF-capable weapons. For the Soviet Union, eliminating the threat to its national security posed by American INF weapons based in Europe was far more important than retaining a limited nuclear deterrence option against China.

The deployment of Pershing II missiles to Europe in the fall of 1983 left the Soviet leadership concerned that the U.S. was seeking to acquire a viable nuclear first-strike capability against the Soviet Union. The Soviets increased their intelligence collection efforts against U.S. targets to be able to detect in advance any U.S./NATO first-strike attack, as well as a launch on detection plan to counter any such attack.

In November 1983, when the U.S. conducted a full-scale rehearsal for nuclear war in Europe, code-named Able Archer 83, Soviet intelligence interpreted the exercise preparations for the real thing. As a result, Soviet strategic nuclear forces were put on full alert, needing only an order from then-general secretary Yuri Andropov to launch.

The Soviet system had just undergone a stress test of sorts in September 1983, when malfunctioning early warning satellites indicated that the U.S. had launched five Minuteman 3 Intercontinental missiles toward the Soviet Union. Only the actions of the Soviet duty officer, who correctly identified the warning as a false alarm, prevented a possible nuclear retaliatory strike.

A similar false alarm, this time in 1995, underscored the danger of hair-trigger alert status when it comes to nuclear weaponsthe launch of a Norwegian research rocket was interpreted by Russian radar technicians as being a solo U.S. nuclear missile intended to disrupt Russian defenses by means of an electromagnetic pulse generated by a nuclear air burst. Russias president at the time, Boris Yeltsin, ordered the Russian nuclear codes to be prepared for an immediate Russian counter-strike, and was on the verge of ordering the launch when Russian analysts determined the real purpose of the rocket, and the crisis passed.

The Europeans had initially balked at the idea of deploying American INF weapons on their territory, fearful that the weapons would be little more than targets for a Soviet nuclear attack, resulting in the destruction of Europe while the United States remained unharmed. To alleviate European concerns, the U.S. agreed to integrate its INF systems with its overall strategic nuclear deterrence posture, meaning that the employment of INF nuclear weapons would trigger an automatic strategic nuclear response. This approach was designed to increase the deterrence value of the INF weapons, since there would be no localized nuclear war. But it also meant that given the reduced flight times associated with European-based INF systems, each side would be on a hair-trigger alert, with little or no margin for error. It was the suicidal nature of this arrangement that helped propel Gorbachev and President Ronald Reagan to sign the INF Treaty on December 8, 1987.

This history seems to be lost on both Trump and Bolton. Moreover, the recent deployment of the Mk-41 Universal Launch System, also known as Aegis Ashore, in Romania and Poland as part of a NATO ballistic missile shield only increases the danger of inadvertent conflict. Currently configured to fire the SM-3 surface-to-air missile, the Mk-41 is also capable of firing Tomahawk cruise missiles which, if launched in a ground configuration, would represent a violation of the INF Treaty. The U.S. Congress has authorized $58 billion in FY 2018 to fund development of an INF system, the leading candidate for which is a converted Tomahawk.

If the U.S. were ever to make use of the Mk-41 in an anti-missile configuration, the Russians would have seconds to decide if they were being attacked by nuclear-armed cruise missiles. Putin, in a recent speech delivered in Sochi, publicly stated that the Russian nuclear posture operated under the concept of launch on warning, meaning once a U.S. or NATO missile strike was detected, Russia would immediately respond with the totality of its nuclear arsenal to annihilate the attacking parties. We would be victims of an aggression and would get to heaven as martyrs, Putin said. Those who attacked Russia would just die and not even have time to repent.

Well have to develop those weapons, Trump noted when he announced his decision to leave the INF Treaty, adding we have a tremendous amount of money to play with our military. Nuclear deterrence isnt a gameit is, as Putin noted, a matter of life and death, where one split second miscalculation can destroy entire nations, if not the world. One can only hope that the one-time real estate mogul turned president can figure this out before it is too late; declaring bankruptcy in nuclear conflict is not an option.

theamericanconservative.com
The US-announced withdrawal from the INF Treaty is a hot topic and will remain such for a long time. This is a game-changing decision, but the evolution of land-based surface-to-surface systems also impacts the contemporary warfare providing the armed forces with new capabilities, including strikes at shorter- and medium ranges without using missiles covered by the INF. Organized by the Association of the United States Army, the AUSA 2018 expo took place from October 8 to 10 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington DC. It was a mega-event to showcase the weaponry, which is to be used by the United States against peer adversaries  Russia and China. It demonstrated how rapid is the development of such weapons and how little attention media coverage it attracts.

Long-range precision fire is a priority to alter the ways contemporary battles will be fought. According to the Long Range Fires Cross Functional Team, the joint force needs surface-to-surface fires capable of firing at strategic ranges to defeat near-peer integrated air defense systems.

We've got to push the maximum range of all systems under development for close, deep and strategic, and we have got to outgun the enemy, US Army General Robert Brown, head of US Army Pacific Command, said during a panel discussion at the Global Force Symposium in March. We don't do that right now; it's a huge gap.  We need cannons that fire as far as rockets today. We need rockets that fire as far as today's missiles, and we need missiles out to 499 kilometers.

It should be noted that the official was talking about the range of 500 km not to be exceeded according to the INF Treaty, emphasizing the importance of ground-based weapons systems with intermediate-range capabilities. The mission is to field barrel-launched rockets and rounds that can fire at far greater distances. Col. Chris Mills, project manager, Precision Fires Rocket and Missile Systems, said at the AUSA 2018 that the possibility of increasing the Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM) range will be considered in case the US is out from the treaty.

The new PrSM is developed to replace the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) providing increased standoff range enabling it to strike targets over 310 miles away or nearly 125 miles greater than that of ATACMS. It will also be more accurate and smaller. Low-observable platforms, such as the F-35 plane, will further extend that sensor range. It has been reported that the plans are being reviewed in order to accelerate the timeline from 2027 to an initial capability in the force by late 2022 or early 2023. One does not have to be a military expert to see that Russian S-300 and S-400 surface-to-air systems will be the prime targets for PrSMs with no aviation used and thus no expensive aircraft exposed.

With the US decision to tear up the INF treaty, the Strategic Long Range Cannon (SLRC) comes into the picture. The aim is to field an artillery piece firing chemically or electro-magnetically propelled rounds roughly 1,000 miles away without formally violating the INF because the rounds are not missiles. Army Futures Commands chief, Gen. John Murray, told the House Armed Services Committee the service is also looking at what we call the Strategic Long Range Cannon, which conceivably could have a range of up to 1,000 nautical miles.

With a long barrel used, a shell can be propelled by multiple explosive charges to build up pressure behind the projectile like a rocket, extending range. A larger railgun is also an option if ways to provide power to make the range comparable to shorter- or medium range weapons are found.

So, the US Army is looking for precision-guided conventional weapons with intermediate range. As soon as the treaty is dead, the technology will be fielded and the development of better systems incentivized. With high precision technology, these weapons dont have to be nuclear.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) will provide guidance data to artillery systems, which knock out Russian air defense systems to pave the way for aviation striking deep to destroy key infrastructure sites. Long-range, precision guidance capable artillery will take out Russian aircraft and missiles, such as Iskander, on the ground. Hyper Velocity Projectiles now going through tests would turn the ground-based artillery and rocket systems into shorter-and medium-range offensive weapons doing largely the same job the ground-based systems intermediate-range ground-based missiles were destined for. Actually, with such systems in place, the INF Treaty would lose its relevance even if in place.

This is part of a broader picture as new weapon systems emerge along with the arms race encompassing new domains. Its either addressing the issues via talks to control their development or let it slide into an unfettered competition. The US has chosen the latter. It has rejected the proposals to address cybersecurity as well as the problems related to space militarization. The announcement to leave the INF Treaty made the US responsible for the consequences. The reluctance to address the problem of new game-changing weapon systems emerging to change the modern warfare also makes it responsible for what happens afterwards, including Russias response. The US should be reminded of it at every international forum. Hopefully, it will.

Photo: @SecArmy
The U.S. Marine Corps has found new ways to use their M142 HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) vehicles firing GMLRS (GPS guided MLRS) rockets. There were two recent examples of this that have greatly improved the usefulness of HIMARS. In 2018 the Marines found that the multitude of sensors on their new F-35B vertical take-off jets could spot ground targets in all weather and at night and pass the target location on to a nearby HIMARS vehicle that would then fire a GMLRS rocket at the target. To maintain maximum stealth capabilities the F-35 carries bombs and missiles internally but the capacity of the internal bomb bays are limited. HIMARS can supply the guided weapons for one or more F-35Bs. Some helicopters are equipped with similar sensors and digital communications systems and can also pass on GPS target data to a HIMARS vehicle. An F-35B could even maintain its stealth by sending the target information via an encrypted burst transmission that is difficult to use for location finding.

The Marines recently added a third HIMARS battalion and are buying additional HIMARS resupply vehicles (in addition to the hundred they already have). The 28 ton Mk37 resupply vehicles carry two MLRS rocket pods and have the handling equipment to remove an empty pod from a HIMARS vehicle and replace it with a pod containing rockets. The HIMARS battalions and ammo supply units use the MK37s to move loaded and empty MLRS pods into and out of the combat zone.

In 2017 the marines found that with a few modifications to the HIAMRS fire control software the vehicle could accurately fire GMLRS rockets from the flight deck of one of the many amphibious ships marines operate from. Since World War II the U.S. has fired unguided rockets from ships in support of amphibious operations. But the use of GMLRS meant HIMARS could provide precision fire support from a ship at sea and the next version of GMLRS will have a range of 135 kilometers, making the ship-based version even more useful because it can support troops even farther inland. The long range version also makes HIMARS more effective at supplying F-35s in stealth mode with more guided missiles. This GMLRS has been successfully tested at ranges up to 110 kilometers. This TC-GMLRS (Tail Controlled Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System) rocket is the same size as the current GMLRS rocket.

The $6 million HIMARS system is a 6x6 U.S. Army truck with an armored (against small arms fire and shell fragments) crew cab carrying one MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket System) six rocket pod instead of two in the original larger, tracked, MLRS vehicle. Initially, a major attraction was that the 12-ton HIMARS truck could fit into a C-130 transport (unlike the 22 ton tracked MLRS) and was much cheaper to operate. The HIMARS vehicle can move at up to 85 kilometers an hour on paved roads and travel 480 kilometers on internal fuel. In 2016 it was revealed that HIMARS vehicles in American service had reached a million operational hours with a 99 percent readiness rate. The tech HIMARS used enabled HIMARS to operate (move, receive a target order and launch the GMLRS) using as few as one of the normal three man crew. The first HIMARS entered service in 2005, about a year after GMLRS (GPS guided MLRS rockets) did. The two new innovations worked well together and were a major reason for the success of the GMLRS and the HIMARS rocket launcher. The U.S. no longer buys the tracked MLRS or unguided MLRS rockets.

GMLRS rockets have been in service since 2004. Like the unguided version, the GMLRS is packaged and used in containers (pods) holding six rockets each. The fire control system was upgraded to handle precision targeting rather than just a general area. Since 2004 over 3,000 GMLRS rockets have been fired in combat. GMLRS rockets cost about $100,000 each and have been very successful. That has meant even less work for tube artillery, which had dominated the battlefield since the 17th century. Export demand for HIMARS has meant the U.S. manufacturer has had to resume production for the growing number of foreign customers.

The 309 kg (680 pound) GMLRS missile is a GPS guided 227mm rocket. It was designed to have a range of 70 kilometers and the ability to land within meters of its intended target, at any range. This is possible because it uses GPS (plus a backup inertial guidance system) to find the target location it was programmed with. In 2008 the army tested GMLRS at max range (about 85 kilometers) and found that it worked fine. This enables one HIMARS vehicle to provide support over a frontage of 170 kilometers. Thus one HIMARS vehicle can provide precision fire support over an area of about 20,000 square kilometers. This is a huge footprint for a single weapon (an individual HIMARS vehicle), and fundamentally changes the way you deploy artillery in combat. By way of comparison, Excalibur (GPS guided 155mm shell) has a max range of 37 kilometers, and 120mm GPS guided mortars about 7.5 kilometers.

Early on most of the GMLRS rockets were fitted with an 89 kg (196 pound) M31A1 high explosive ("unitary") warhead. About half of that is actual explosives. That's twice as much explosive as the U.S. Air Force 130 kg (285 pound) SDB (Small Diameter Bomb). A 155mm artillery shell has 6.6 kg of explosives, and the 500 pound (227 kg) bomb has 127 kg of explosives, which produced an excessive blast for many urban combat situations. The GMLRS seemed to be just right most of the time. In 2014 an M30A1 warhead was introduced in 2016 and it used less explosive but added 180,000 tungsten pellets which were effective against personnel and unarmored vehicles over a much larger area. The larger GPS guided ATACMS rocket (one per MLRA pod) has a range of 300 kilometers and a 230 kg (500 pound) warhead.

GMLRS has been used with great success in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria where most have been fired so far. The guided rocket is much more effective than the older, unguided, version, and has replaced it for most users. The accuracy of GMLRS means that one rocket does the job that previously required a dozen or more of the unguided ones. That's why HIMARS is so popular. While HIMARS only carries six rockets, that's often enough to last for days in places like Afghanistan, even when there's a lot of combat.

Because of precision weapons like GMLRS and smart bombs, since the end of the Cold War in 1991, the U.S. Army has drastically reorganized and reduced its artillery force. At the end of the Cold War most artillery was conventional tube artillery. That meant towed 105mm, 155mm, 203mm howitzers and self-propelled 155mm howitzers. The MLRS, a 12 tube 227mm unguided rockets was just entering service when the Cold War ended. In the 1990s it became obvious that smart bombs (JDAM) first used in the 1991 Gulf War, were more effective than artillery and that led to a major shift away from using artillery. By 2004 over 40 tube artillery battalions had been disbanded.

Noting the success of GMLRS, Russia and China have developed and put into service their own GPS guided rockets. Russia has long led in the design of new rocket systems was is playing catchup when it comes to using guided rockets. The multiple rocket launcher was first developed by the Russians before World War II as a cheap alternative to massed artillery fire by individual guns. Long seen as a supplement to regular artillery, the introduction of the high tech U.S. MLRS rocket system in the 1980s began to make a lot of conventional artillery obsolete even before GMLRS came along. Of course, artillery has always been ripe for innovation. The U.S. 175mm gun, introduced in the 1960s, was rendered obsolete in the 1980s with the introduction of special long range ammo for the 203mm (8 inch) howitzer. The U.S. Army stopped using the 175mm gun in the 1970s. When the MLRS entered service, one of the three batteries in each division's 203mm howitzer battalion was equipped with MLRS units instead. But MLRS proved so effective that the 203mm howitzer battalion became an MLRS battalion and the 203mm gun was dropped by the U.S. Army. Currently, the United States Army has seventeen HIMARS battalions while the Marines have two battalions. Each battalion has 18 HIMARS vehicles. The U.S. Army was quick to acquire HIMARS vehicles, receiving over 400 of them by 2011. That was enough to equip the current HIMARS battalions plus vehicles needed for training and spares.

There were always non-divisional MLRS battalions, as the MLRS was seen, from the beginning, as an ideal weapon for massed artillery fire. The Gulf War allowed the MLRS to show off what a potent weapon it could be. The larger rockets also provided room for more complex payloads (cluster and "smart" munitions) and guidance systems. This was another example of how technology can transform an old weapon. While the Russians have been using rocket launchers for over 70 years, they never got around to enhancing their effectiveness with a lot of technology until recently and then only because they noted others were doing so and succeeding. Now everyone is changing their artillery forces and adapting to the use of many fewer guided projectiles.
President Xi Jinping on Thursday inspected the Southern Theater Command of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and stressed advancing capacity-building for commanding.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, ordered a thorough implementation of the Party's thought on building a strong military in the new era.

He stressed the need to focus on combat research and commanding, to advance work in all areas and accelerate developing strong and efficient joint-operation commanding institutions for theater commands to comprehensively boost the military's battle-winning ability.

At about 9:15 a.m., Xi visited a command post to learn about the joint-operation commanding system for theater commands. He commended the progress on capacity-building for joint-operation commanding, encouraged officers to uphold the spirit of reform and innovation, and keep on practicing and experimenting.

Xi had a video-conversation with field commanders on the coastal border and was pleased to learn the work of the troop is advancing steadily, with officers and soldiers in good morale.

He ordered the troop to keep a close watch for changes in the situations and to strengthen analysis to firmly protect border stability and safety of the people's life and property.

Xi then visited the theater command's headquarters. After hearing a report on their work, he underlined the importance of preparing for war and combat, while taking consideration of various complex situations, improving response plans and focusing on real-combat training.

Xi instructed theater commands to accelerate capacity-building for commanding and improve their commanding and operation systems to ensure smooth and efficient command.

Research on issues concerning war and combat should be encouraged to enhance the military's ability to win modern wars, he said.

Xi stressed that Party committees of theater commands must uphold the Party's absolute leadership over the military, arm officers and soldiers with the Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and the Party's thought on building a strong military, and consolidate the ideological foundation of absolutely obeying the Party's command.
Tauranga City Council has claimed three out of seven awards at this years Recreation Awards, held last night in Auckland.



The council has been awarded winner in the Outstanding Project category for the Kopurererua Valley restoration project and merit in the Outstanding Park category for the Mauao Historic Reserve.



In collaboration with the AIMS Games Trust and Sport Bay of Plenty, the council has also won the Outstanding Event category for the Anchor AIMS Games International Sporting Championships.



Deputy Mayor Kelvin Clout says it was an honour to accept the awards on behalf of the council.



Im incredibly proud to accept these awards, which recognise the dedication and expertise of everyone involved in these projects, he says.



We all know how much work goes into our recreation activities in Tauranga, so its wonderful to see this work recognised at a national level.



The Kopurererua Valley and Mauao Historic Reserve are two of our most loved natural attractions, and both show the fantastic results we can achieve through partnering with iwi to restore and maintain our stunning environmental features.



The Anchor AIMS Games are one of Taurangas home-grown events. In 15 years, the games have gone from a small festival of sport to what is now considered the international sporting championship for intermediate schools. We, as the local council, are proud to be an ongoing part of this journey.



The Kopurererua Valley is a 364-hectare inner-city park development project that the council, in partnership with Ngai Tamarawaho and the Rotary Centennial Trust, has transformed from an overgrown weedy valley into an outstanding natural environment in one of the most dramatic inner-city park turnarounds in New Zealand.



The Mauao Historic Reserve in one of New Zealands most popular and iconic landmarks, attracting more than one million visitors each year.



The reserve is owned by local iwi Ngai Te Rangi, Ngati Ranginui and Ngati Pukenga in the form of the Mauao Trust, and managed by Tauranga City Council under the direction of the Nga Poutiriao o Mauao joint administration board.



With more than 20,000 competitors, officials and supporters, the Anchor AIMS Games are the largest international sporting event for 11 to 13 year olds in the southern hemisphere. The annual tournament is unique to Tauranga, taking over the city and its sporting and recreational facilities for a week, creating an infectious festival atmosphere across Tauranga.



The Recreation Awards are run by the New Zealand Recreation Association and recognise excellence, innovation, and effectiveness of outstanding activity within the recreation sector.



For more information, visit www.nzrecreation.org.nz
Bay of Plenty

We are looking for a storeman with an OSH forklift license. You will need to be physically for as the job is about 70% forklift...



View or Apply on GoodWork.co.nz
Two drug makers were executed Friday in south China's Hainan Province for manufacturing drugs, according to a local court.

The two offenders, identified by their surnames as Xie and Tian only, were the prime culprits of a drug-manufacturing case. In early July of 2015, Xie and Tian who were locals of south China's Guangdong Province conspired to secretly fund the manufacturing of ketamine in a valley in Wenxi Village, Suichuan County in east China's Jiangxi Province, said the First Intermediate People's Court of Hainan.

The local public security department launched a raid on July 11, 2015, and seized a total of 3.5 tonnes of drugs and raw materials for producing the drugs at the plant.

The local police apprehended 13 suspects involved in the case from July 11, 2015 to Sept. 13, 2016.

The court sentenced Xie and Tian to death in the first trial on June 26, 2017. All their properties were also confiscated, according to the verdict. Other suspects were convicted and given jail terms ranging from fixed-term imprisonment to life imprisonment and the death penalty with probation.

Xie and Tian appealed after the trial. The Hainan Provincial Higher People's Court rejected their appeal and upheld the sentences of the previous trial on Dec. 18, 2017.
More than 25,000 books have been given to primary school to teach kids about animal welfare.

SPCA has launched translated learn-to-read storybooks for New Zealand classrooms, featuring twelve animal rescue stories.

SPCA storybooks are part of the organisations free in-school programme. Two story collections have been launched in the past two years in English, and now the books have been translated into te reo Maori, gagana Samoa, lea fake-Tonga, and Mandarin Chinese.

This week, 25,992 printed Te Reo books are being sent to more than 2,000 primary schools free of charge, and gagana Samoa, lea fake-Tonga and Mandarin Chinese editions are available to download from the SPCAs online teachers portal.

The first collection of SPCA storybooks was released in August 2016 and featured six real-life SPCA companion rescue stories. The second collection, which featured six farm animal rescue stories, launched in October 2017.

SPCA CEO Andrea Midgen says SPCAs education programme is evidence based and innovatively designed with the aim of breaking the cycle of cruelty towards animals throughout New Zealand.

Each year, we see the number of animal welfare complaints SPCA recives increasing and the amount of neglect and abuse we see in New Zealand is unacceptable. We believe that teaching animal care and welfare at a young age is vital to changing this.

All of our series of storybooks build on the overwhelming success of our education programme which is available to all Primary and Intermediate Schools in the country.

The storybooks have been carefully produced to align with the New Zealand curriculum and support the development of childrens reading and language skills. Each book is focused on an intriguing age appropriate narrative for children.

Our storybooks have been carefully developed to teach core animal care and wellbeing lessons through engaging, emotive and thought provoking stories, whilst increasing childrens reading mileage, and supporting the development of their reading skills and strategies.

When used alongside the English versions of each reader, our translated versions will have the added value of supporting childrens learning of additional languages, nurturing childrens first language/s, whilst strengthening their English language and literacy development, says Andrea.

SPCAs education programme originally launched in 2016 after three years of development.

It was created by teachers for teachers, and includes classroom resources, teaching plans linked to the New Zealand Curriculum, a teachers and students online portal.

Teaching notes on all 12 books are available to teachers through the SPCA Teachers Portal. Suggested activities help to extend and consolidate childrens understanding of animal care concepts and increase their empathy for the animal characters within the stories.

There is considerable research that shows a connection between human and animal abuse. The storybooks teach compassion and respect toward animals in a tangible but engaging way for children, says Andrea.

Research shows reading can trick our brains into thinking we are part of the story, and the empthay we feel for characters in stories can wire our brains to reflect this sensitivity in real life. This is crucial in helping shift attitudes and behaviour towards animals, helping to reduce cruelty in the future.

By launching both SPCA storybooks series in more languages, we are hoping that all children across New Zealand can enjoy engaging with the stories.

Children and their families can access resources to support the books at the SPCA Kids Portal: www.kids.spcaeducation.org.nz

Teachers can register for free, curriculum-aligned resources at the SPCA Teachers Portal: www.teachers.spcaeducation.org.nz
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Police are investigating two separate stabbings that occurred in the city overnight.

Both victims suffered injuries that are not life-threatening, and no suspects have been identified in either case, police said.

At 10:37 p.m. on Friday, police were called to Upstate University Hospital to meet with a 20-year-old man who was stabbed in the left side of his abdomen. He was taken there in a private vehicle.

The victim told police that he was wounded near Fitch Street and Dudley Street but would not provide other details. Officers were unable to find the scene of the crime, a police spokesman said.

At 2:38 a.m., police again were called to Upstate University Hospital to meet with a 33-year-old man who was stabbed in the chest and lip. He had also taken a private vehicle to the hospital.

That man told police he was trying to break up a fight outside a bar on the 2800 block of James Street when an assailant approached from behind him and stabbed him. He was unable to describe the suspect, police said.

There is no evidence the two crimes are related, police said.

Police ask anyone with information to call the department's Criminal Investigations Division at (315)442-5222 or use the department's "SPD tips" app. Calls can be confidential, and tips on the app can be anonymous.
The recent media storm following Mondays CUSU Council has invited commentators from various national newspapers to react to the motion and its amendment which were, ultimately, both voted down. While many  including the Conservative Association  have suggested that the amendment and the final vote, reflect a lack of respect towards Remembrance Day, I argue that the true result of the contention was to expose disillusionment with and disrespect for the structures of democracy through which students are represented in the University. Simultaneously, however, figures consistently reflect a disparagingly low level of engagement in the most basic of student politics. Anger commingles with apathy. Those who disagree vehemently with decisions made by democratically elected student representatives need to question their own engagement with student politics, and begin making proactive movements to change, rather than provoking controversy, hatred, and spiralling abuse in the aftermath of decisions with which they disagree.

Engagement in student politics has historically been low. At the most basic level, which is the most easily quantifiable, the percentage of students voting in elections demonstrates this. In 2015, only 16.1% of students voted in the elections for CUSU and GU Sabbatical Officers; in 2016, it was 15.7%. 2018 saw 20.9%, but this is still shockingly low for a student body which ostensibly prides itself on its political attitude. From a more personal perspective, as the person responsible for running elections for the LGBT+ Campaign, I have seen this in fearful moments wondering whether elections will meet quorum; all too often, there are only a few students beyond the quorum mark. On a practical level, this saves us from reopening voting; ideologically, Im concerned that so few students manage to find the effort or motivation to click and submit a few choices. More significantly, this problem is not unique to university politics: we see similarly unsatisfying levels of voting locally and nationally.

Many reactions to the downvoted motion in that most notorious of CUSU Councils have focused either on CUSU as a monolithic body, neglecting to mention the formation of Council itself, or on the individual student who proposed the amended motion. Both are entirely inadequate, laying blame or finding praise with the wrong people. Such responses demonstrate either ignorance or a lack of nuance in their understanding of the Council body. CUSU Council is made up of JCR and MCR Presidents and Vice-Presidents, as well as the heads of each of CUSUs autonomous liberation campaigns. Further, every single student is welcomed to be present at Council, to bring motions, to speak, and to debate, although only elected representatives have voting rights. If you find fault with the decision made, you need to reconsider the people who have been elected to these roles. If their beliefs, and, ultimately, their votes, are not reflective of your own position, you need to find a way to engage with student politics in such a way that your own opinion is reflected.

This line of argumentation does not assume that the most vehement voices belong to those who abstain from politics. It was, of course, members of the Conservative Association who brought the motion to Council in the first place. However, it necessitates a questioning of priorities: if you engage with politics by affiliating yourself with a particular party, but would also like to see institutional change at a University level, then you should consider how your political viewpoints are or are not represented within the University in a meaningful, actionable way. It would be ridiculous to suggest that everyone should, on the basis of individualistic personal politics, run for JCR President. Its not ridiculous to suggest that students who feel strongly about issues should take them to their relevant representative who can then advocate for those whom they represent at a higher level. Nor is it unreasonable to expect students to vote in their College elections (whether this means voting to reopen nominations if youre dissatisfied with the selection), to vote for CUSU Sabbatical Officers, or to address decisions that theyre unhappy with at a practical, manageable level, rather than directing vitriol to a Council made up of a diverse body of students.

If this unfolding news story has come to your attention  although, parenthetically, we must question why the national press is always so fascinated by internal matters pertaining to the University of Cambridge  regardless of your opinion on the original motion and its amendment, let it be a motivation to you to engage in student politics. Whether that means running for a role, or simply voting in relevant elections, democracy is more than a question of reacting against decisions you do not like. If you do not engage regularly, prepare to be disappointed eventually.
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Customs authorities in north China's Tianjin Municipality said 14,600 tonnes of foreign solid waste and hazardous chemical substances at the Port of Tianjin have been disposed of since September.

Tianjin has been clearing solid waste at its port, a major port in China, since mid-September. Authorities said waste that failed to have been withdrawn, left uncustomed or left with no consignees, not only hinders the port's activities but also poses serious environmental risks.

To date, the action plan has seen 785 containers of solid waste and hazardous chemical substances sent off for biological treatment, while another 6,000 tonnes of "foreign solid waste" are expected to be handled in the next two months.

Tianjin Customs has launched four rounds of crackdowns on smuggled foreign waste so far this year, resulting in a total of 40 suspects getting detained and more than 3,500 tonnes of waste such as plastics, slag, cotton and yarn being seized.

For some years, China had been the world's largest importer of solid waste. Given there is growing public awareness of environmental protection, the government decided last year to phase out and completely halt such imports by the end of 2019, except for those containing resources that are not substitutable.

Although the ban has seen cases of smuggling, imports of solid waste in the first eight months of this year slumped 56.8 percent from one year earlier.
Two weeks after a disastrous launch, the Soyuz capsule took flight once again to deliver a military intelligence satellite in orbit on Thursday, Oct. 25.

The Soyuz-2.1 rocket lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome carrying a Russian payload believed to be the fourth Lotos satellites. The rocket launched at 3:15 a.m. Moscow time without a hitch.

Forced Landing

The launch on Thursday is Russia's first since a Soyuz capsule that was carrying two astronauts to the International Space Station malfunctioned shortly after liftoff. Nick Hague, an American, and Alexey Ovchinin, a Russian, lifted off on Oct. 11 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Before reaching orbit, however, the two astronauts onboard the Soyuz capsule had to make a ballistic descent, meaning, they have to fall back down to the ground in a sharp angle that subjected them to a much greater G-force. While their descent was uncomfortable, to say the least, the astronauts were rescued and were unharmed by the incident.

As a response to the malfunction, Russia's space agency Roscosmos launched an investigation of the incident. Since then, all Soyuz launches have been suspended.

Investigators have not released an official report to explain the malfunction that caused the Soyuz to make an emergency landing two weeks ago. However, a Russian news agency said that officials suspect that one of the rocket's first stage boosters was not properly attached to the core.

The Roscosmos investigation is expected to conclude with a final report by Oct. 30.

NASA Schedules December Manned Soyuz Launch

Space Flight Now reported that additional Soyuz rocket launches in November, which will deliver satellites in orbit, might clear the way for manned liftoff by December. NASA is eyeing an Oct. 3 launch to the ISS.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine slammed "salacious" reports about the botched launch. He also assured that Roscosmos has been transparent while the investigations are ongoing.

"I have all the confidence in the world that nobody is in jeopardy at this point," he stated. "I certainly don't want to put into jeopardy the relationship between Roscosmos and NASA."

Earlier this year, astronauts onboard the ISS also found a hole inside one of the docked Soyuz capsule. It caused an air leak, but the hole has since been patched without causing any more serious damage.

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A type of moss is discovered to be potentially more medically effective than cannabis, with less of the psychoactive high. It is being marketed online as a legal high.

'Legal High'

For a long time, cannabis was known to be the only plant to produce tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is used by many to treat various conditions such as dizziness, loss of appetite, and pain, but is still considered an illegal narcotic and may produce side effects. This is because THC has a strong psychoactive effect when used in higher doses.

It was in 1994 that Japanese phytochemist Yoshinori Asakawa discovered that the liverwort plant Radula perrottetii actually has a substance in it that is rather similar to THC but differ in their three-dimensional structure and has an additional benzyl group. He called it perrottetinene.

Fast forward to just a few years ago, Dr. Jurg Gertsch of the University of Bern found out that liverworts were being advertised online as a legal high, though at the time there was no known information about its pharmacological properties.

More 'Medically Effective' Than THC

Now, animal model studies by Gertsch's research team, along with a research team from ETH Zurich's Department of Chemistry, compared THC and perrottetinene and revealed that perrottetinene can actually reach the brain easily and triggers or activates cannabinoid receptors in the same way that the body's natural endocannabinoids do. They further found that the substance has an even stronger anti-inflammatory effect in the brain compared to THC and with a weaker psychoactive effect.

In comparison, THC is therapeutically effective in treating various conditions in low doses but has serious psychoactive effects in higher ones. It is for this reason that THC, while effective for some, is still not widely used by many. Simply put, it's possible that perrottetinene may be more medically effective compared to THC, although more researchers are needed to fully understand its pharmacological potentials.

Its astonishing that only two species of plants, separated by 300 million years of evolution, produce psychoactive cannabinoids, said Gertsch.

The paper is published in Science Advances.

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A team of astronomers has confirmed that there are two faint dust satellites floating about 400,000 km away from Earth.

A new study investigates a decades-old report by Kazimierz Kordylewski who, in 1961, proposed the existence of ghostly clouds that form between the Earth and the Moon. However, because it is so faint, it was difficult to observe and, therefore, the work caused controversy at the time.

In a new study published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, astronomers from Hungary proved the existence of these clouds.

A Search For Mysterious Clouds

Lagrange points, named after astronomer/mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange, are gravitational points between two celestial bodies where objects can get captured. Between the Earth and its Moon, there are five Lagrange points  including L4 and L5 which were predicted by Lagrange himself in 1772. These two gravitational points form a triangle in between the Earth and the Moon, moving around the planet as the natural satellite moves in orbit.

The dust cloud, which Kordylewski reported in 1961, is located at L5.

In a paper submitted earlier this year, a team led by Gabor Horvath of Eotvos Lorand University created a mathematical simulation to figure out how dust clouds will be formed and how they might be detected from Earth. They found that a dust cloud, even a temporary one, is totally possible within in the L5.

The astronomers then set up to find the dust cloud in L5. The team headed to a private observatory in Hungary and used a linearly polarizing filter system attached to a camera lens and a CCD detector.

Finding Kordylewski's Clouds

After months of searching, they finally found the clouds. From the images they obtained from the observatory, the team saw polarized light reflected from dust that extends well beyond the camera lens' field of view. This is consistent with the measurements from a separate previous study conducted by a team of Russian scientists.

"The Kordylewski clouds are two of the toughest objects to find, and though they are as close to Earth as the Moon are largely overlooked by researchers in astronomy," stated Judit Sliz-Balogh, one of the authors of the paper. "It is intriguing to confirm that our planet has dusty pseudo-satellites in orbit alongside our lunar neighbor."

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"Now, more than ever, our people must stand united to fight the U.S. economic blockade and financial persecution, the Bolivarian leader stressed. | Read More
LIVINGSTON  Attorneys for a man convicted of murder 20 years ago told a state judge Friday that a flake of skin extracted from the victim's car could bolster his claim he had nothing to do with the Albany teenager's death. The judge OK'd genetic testing that could change the course of a retrial now set for January.

Rachel Conner, a lawyer for Michael Wearry,, said skin extracted from dried blood scraped off the passenger side of Eric Walber's car and long stashed in a Jefferson Parish evidence room contains the DNA of an unknown person who is neither the victim, Wearry, nor four co-defendants. DNA from a fifth co-defendant has not been obtained for a comparison.

"In this case, where there were numerous other suspects questioned in the investigation, numerous other people who confessed to having killed Eric Walber," Conner told 21st Judicial District Judge Robert Morrison III. "If that were to match one of the other suspects, that would obviously be vital to his defense," she said.

Wearry was one of six people convicted of murdering Walber, a 16-year-old Albany High School student finishing a pizza delivery shift in April 1998 and preparing to leave on a ski trip the next day. Prosecutors said the group robbed Walber and beat him, then ran the youngster over with his own car and left him along a road in Tangipahoa Parish.

The case shook a rural community and went unsolved for two years before a man in prison came forward to police, claiming he had information about the crime.

Wearry was sentenced to death, but the U.S. Supreme Court overturned his conviction in 2016. Justices said prosecutors withheld critical, exculpatory evidence about the motives of two key witnesses and the physical condition of a suspect.

+7 Albany High student's murder two decades ago shocked community, but was justice served? Two decades ago, 16-year-old Eric Walber  an Albany High School student and football player  was found slain off the side of a road in Tangi

Wearry remains jailed pending a retrial set for Jan. 22. The judge denied a request to lower his bond Friday.

Livingston Parish Assistant District Attorney Kurt Wall said he had no problem with the skin being tested for the alternative suspects but raised concerns it might not provide clear-and-convincing evidence. Court documents describe the sample as "partial and incomplete."

"I don't have any objection to a legitimate profile that meets all the standards of the crime lab and the FBI, then I'm all for it," Wall told the judge. "If something falls short of what is scientifically recognized, I do have an objection to it."

Morrison said the results could provide valuable, exculpatory information.

"My only concern is that if there becomes some kind of other issue as far as positive identification of someone who is not charged with this offense, where that leads us," Morrison said.

Results will be discussed at a hearing Dec. 14.

Conner said five to eight people were at some point investigated in Walber's death and she suspects their DNA is in a database of genetic profiles from people arrested for crimes. She said the Acadiana Crime Lab is working with the Louisiana State Police Crime Lab to develop a list of potential matches to the sample.

She said the DNA was found within dried blood, indicating it was deposited at the same time as the crime.

The DNA profiles of Darrell Hampton, Randy Hutchinson, Shadrick Reed, James Skinner and Wearry, all convicted in Walber's death, have been excluded as the source of this new DNA sample, attorneys for Wearry claim in court filings.

The DNA issue is the latest in a number of challenges to the credibility of the 20-year-old murder convictions since the Supreme Court's decision two years ago.

In recent months, Hampton and Skinner, who also claim innocence, have asked Livingston Parish judges to reconsider their convictions, given the high court's decision and new questions about a possible alternative suspect who has implicated himself in the killing. The district attorney has opposed those requests.

A lawsuit filed in May by a nonprofit civil rights law firm accuses the district attorney and a sheriff's deputy of coercing a 10-year-old into giving false testimony in Wearry's murder trial.

Livingston Parish District Attorney Scott Perrilloux has stood by the convictions and denied any misconduct relating to the child's testimony.
The wife of French Settlement Police Chief Harry Brignac was arrested Friday night driving a French Settlement police unit with a suspended driver's license, according to Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Lori Steele. The police chief said it was his fault.

Steele said Tammy Brignac was stopped just after 6 p.m. Friday on La. 22 in Head of Island.

Harry Brignac said Friday night he had asked his wife to drive the police unit from Baton Rouge, where it had been at a car dealership for service, to the police department in French Settlement.

"It's my fault," Harry Brignac said. "I needed to get the unit back home or it would have been there all weekend."

The chief said he and his wife had had dinner in Baton Rouge early Friday evening, then drove in their own car to a car dealership on Florida Boulevard where the police unit had been serviced.

Harry Brignac said his wife was concerned about driving the police unit, but he told her they needed to take the unit back to French Settlement.

"I know I shouldn't have done it," he said.

He said he followed her in his vehicle, but stopped to get gas and they were separated.. She called him a short time later to say she had been stopped by Livingston Parish Sheriff's deputies.

Harry Brignac said he feels like he and his wife are being targeted.

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"They were sitting at the parish line," he said.

Tammy Brignac was booked Friday into the Livingston Parish Detention Center on a count of operating a vehicle with a suspended license and resisting an officer, according to jail records.

Harry Brignac said Friday night that she was being held without bail.

In September, Tammy Brignac pleaded no contest to first-offense drunken driving in a plea deal that kept her out of jail and also required that she not drive. She also pleaded no contest to one count of driving with a suspended license.

The charges were related to a February incident when she pulled up behind the French Settlement Police Department office, then fled from officers.

Wife of French Settlement police chief pleads no contest to DWI charge, gets probation LIVINGSTON  The wife of French Settlement's police chief pleaded no contest to a first-offense drunken driving charge Tuesday in a plea deal 

In December 2017, Tammy Brignac caused controversy when she was seen driving a village police car in a Christmas parade.

The police chief in August was indicted on a felony malfeasance charge related to the use of a police fleet gas card.
GONZALES  All voters in eastern Ascension Parish will be asked Nov. 6 to renew a 10-year property tax that has supported since the late 1950s maintenance and operations of the drainage system, including critical pump stations, serving the parish, Sorrento and Gonzales.

The once-a-decade tax renewal would result in a miniscule tax increase  literally pennies for most property owners  due to a procedural quirk.

The request for the tax renewal comes two years after the historic and devastating August 2016 flood and during a time of heightened awareness of Ascension's drainage system as parish government appears in line for tens of millions of dollars in federal drainage aid.

Ascension Parish government officials said this week that the ad valorem tax works hand-in-hand with a separate sales tax that has financed capital construction of eastern Ascension's major drainage infrastructure, such as the vital Marvin J. Braud Pumping Station near the McElroy Swamp.

The dedicated sales tax has built up millions in surplus dollars for long-term projects, like the proposed $22 million Laurel Ridge levee extension, and can be used as matching money for federal dollars. But the maintenance tax is used to keep up the infrastructure.

Both taxes serve a very vital role in protecting the people in the parish, said William Daniel, the parish infrastructure director.

The sales tax, adopted in the early 1980s, is not on the ballot next month but the maintenance tax, which has been on the books since 1958, must be renewed periodically and is on the ballot.

The 5-mill tax generates $5.6 million per year, according to ballot language, and funds the operations of 15 parish drainage crews, workers who clear vegetation and others totaling 128 employees. Those employees include emergency workers who run the parishs diesel-powered pump stations during storms.

As election day approaches, Daniel, along with Ron Savoy, who oversees parish public works and drainage, have been making the rounds to explain the parishs drainage system.

At a recent Rotary Club luncheon, Daniel and Savoy said workers paid through the millage are responsible for maintaining 2,000 miles of road ditches, off-road ditches and swales and major canals and bayous that move water in the parish.

Thats what funds that department, Daniel said of the millage in a later interview.

Due to a procedural error in 2016, renewal of the longstanding 5-mill tax would mean a very slight tax increase from what property owners have paid recently, in 2016 and 2017, and will pay again this year. The increase would be 0.18 mills.

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The Louisiana Legislative Auditors Office found the Parish Council did not properly roll forward its millage rates during the 2016 reassessment year.

Despite a subsequent court fight, rates for a series of parish government millage rates, including the drainage tax, had to stand that year at the lower rates that come when they are rolled back during the quadrennial reassessment.

With rising values in a reassessment year, local governments must reduce property tax rates to levels that would generate the same revenue that the millages had produced in the previous year when assessed values were lower.

State law allows local governments to roll forward to the original voter-approved maximum millage rate. In Ascensions case, a procedural oversight prevented that second step from taking effect for the 2016 tax bill.

In 2017 and again in 2018, the Parish Council chose not to restore previous voter-approved maximum rates, including for the 5-mill drainage tax, which led to the prospect of an increase from a tax renewal vote.

Since this millage has been on the books, the East Ascension drainage board has always asked voters to approve the rate at 5 mills and that is no different this year, said Kyle Gautreau, a parish government spokesman. This would result in an increase of cents on the average property tax bill.

The board  made up of 10 of 11 Parish Council members  oversees east bank drainage work. The current East Ascension drainage millage rate is 4.82 mills.

On a $250,000 house with homestead exemption, property owners pay $84.35 at the 4.82 mill rate. Renewal of the 5 mills would mean another $3.15 on an annual tax bill for that same $250,000 home.

If renewed, the 5-mill rate would not take effect until 2019.

Since the flood, the parish has come in for criticism for the pace of ditch clearing after the former public works chief and longtime drainage director, Bill Roux, said in March 2017 that the parish was two years behind on ditch work in an appeal for more manpower.

Daniel said the parish has recently hired a local contractor to clear the least technically difficult road ditches and plans upgrades to the parish work order system to improve efficiency and prioritization, moves he saw promising steps to catch up the on backlog.
JERUSALEM  Gov. John Bel Edwards is in Israel this week to hold meetings with business and government leaders about potential partnerships with Louisiana.

Edwards and a delegation of nearly two dozen people arrived in the Middle Eastern country early Saturday morning and is scheduled to return to Louisiana on Friday.

"Obviously, we are all excited to be here," Edwards said after touring Old Jerusalem. 'We're looking forward to a long and productive day (Sunday)."

The trip was at the invitation of Gilad Katz, the consul general of Israel to the Southwest United States.

After an over-night flight to Tel Aviv, Edwards and others traveled to Jerusalem to stay at the iconic King David Hotel. The group will spend the second half of the week in Tel Aviv.

While in Israel, Edwards will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other government leaders in Jerusalem and meet with business leaders in Tel Aviv. Edwards also is scheduled to celebrate Sunday Mass at the historic Church of the Holy Sepulchre and participate in a memorial ceremony at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Remembrance Center.

Edwards said he's excited to take part in meetings on energy and economic development opportunities for Louisiana.

During a dinner marking the delegation's first day in the Jewish state, Edwards asked for a moment of silence for the victims of a mass shooting at a synagogue back in the United States in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

With the group arriving on the Jewish Shabbat, most of the streets were empty for much of the day, as Edwards and others visited local holy sites, markets and other attractions.

"It was a beautiful day," Edwards said of his first 24-hours in Israel.

The an economic development mission is largely focused on cyber security and business opportunities for Louisiana companies.

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Israel has become a key player in the global cyber security industry, which Edwards has made a focal point of his administration through the creation of a cybersecurity commission and proclamation of Interstate 20 as a "technology corridor."

Gov. John Bel Edwards heading to Israel this month for economic development, cybersecurity meetings Gov. John Bel Edwards will travel to Israel later this month as part of an economic development mission with a focus both on cyber security an

Earlier this year, Edwards signed an executive order barring state agencies from doing business with any company that takes part in a boycott of Israel.

The order came after Katz visited the State Capitol.

Edwards, a Democrat who took office in January 2016, currently serves as co-chairman of the National Governors Associations Resource Center for State Cybersecurity with Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder. The NGAs national cybersecurity conference will be held in Shreveport-Bossier City in May 2019.

Others on the Israel trip include first lady Donna Edwards, business leaders, higher education officials from multiple Louisiana universities and the state's cyber security experts. An Advocate reporter and a local television reporter are with the group to report on the mission.

It is Edwards' third major trip out of the country as governor. He previously traveled to Cuba to discuss trade opportunities and to the Vatican City on an anti-human trafficking mission.

+2 Gov. John Bel Edwards bans state contracts with businesses that support Israel boycott Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has issued an executive order barring state agencies from doing business with any company that takes part in a

He joins a long list of governors who have made recent trips to Israel, including Florida Gov. Rick Scott, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

Edwards is expected to take part this week in signing for memorandums of understanding that can further work with the Water Institute of the Gulf with Israel's own water research institute.

He will also meet with energy leaders and businesses that focus on the energy and cybersecurity sectors.
So many Louisiana voters have cast ballots early that instead of a tepid turnout in the teens as many had predicted, experts now calculate that up to 35 percent of the states registered voters will participate in the Nov. 6 election when all is said and done.

Nearing the halfway point of early voting the Secretary of States Office reported that 139,721 of the states nearly 3 million registered already have voted, as of Thursday night. Thats 44 percent more than the final tally of the 96,742 who early voted for state treasurer in the October 2017 primary. Early votes accounted for 24 percent of the 401,400 total votes cast last year.

Louisiana early voting turnout after first day much higher than expected An astounding number of Louisiana voters turned out Tuesday to cast ballots in the first day of early voting.

With four days left in early voting this year, the numbers indicate that more than 1 million will participate in the Nov. 6 primary, said Baton Rouge pollster John Couvillon, who analyzes voter turnout. The Nov. 6 election will choose a secretary of state, six congressmen, dozens of school board members, a few mayors and a handful of councilmen. A Dec. 8 runoff is scheduled for races undecided in the primary vote.

Theres an organic level of interest this year that I wouldnt have expected, Couvillon said Friday.

Early voting continues from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Monday and Tuesday.

Many political strategists were predicting half as many voters would cast ballots given the lukewarm interest in the Secretary of States campaign, which is statewide, and the lack of any competitive races in the reelection races for Louisianas six U.S. House members.

National coverage of long early voting lines in states holding more hotly contested congressional races have seeped into Louisiana and energized this states voters, Couvillon said. The turnout rate nationwide could be as great as 48 percent, which would be the highest for midterm elections since 1966.

Democrats have an 84 percent chance of casting out enough Republicans to win the majority in the U.S. House, according to FiveThirtyEight, an elections statistics website. Louisianas five Republican and one Democratic congressmen aren't part of that drama and should easily win their reelections, most by double-digit margins.

None of the nine candidates for secretary of state have moved ahead. Theyre jockeying for a place in the runoff to determine who will fill the final year of Tom Schedlers term as secretary of state. Schedler resigned in May after being accused of sexually harassing an employee, forcing the election into a short timeline. The expected low turnout had the campaigns focusing on the older, more conservative voters who show up for nearly every election.

There are three strong conservative Republicans running, and at present the three are so splitting the conservative vote that none of the three appears likely to make the Dec. 8 runoff, wrote the Capital City News, a neighborhood weekly published by Woody Jenkins, who also chairs the Republican Party of East Baton Rouge Parish. The three conservatives are state Rep. Rick Edmonds, of Baton Rouge, former state Sen. A.G. Crowe, of Pearl River, and Turkey Creek Mayor Heather Cloud.

The Hayride, a right-wing blog, noted the same dynamic and opted to endorse interim Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin, the Baton Rouge Republican who took over when Schedler resigned, as the most conservative candidate who has chance to win. State Rep. Julie Stokes is a more moderate Republican from Kenner, and former assistant attorney general Renee Fontenot Free, of Baton Rouge, is the leading Democratic candidate.

Higher than expected turnout as early voting starts Tuesday Turnout for early voting, which begins Tuesday, and ultimately for the Nov. 6 election, could be higher than expected  not so much for whats

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High turnout expected as early voting starts Tuesday despite lack of competitive races for Congress Election officials in southeast Louisiana are expecting higher than usual turnout when early voting starts Tuesday, driven as much by the nati

Baton Rouge pollster Bernie Pinsonat, who has run many a candidate in statewide races but has no client in this one, says conservative politics, while still critical, became less important as voter turnout increased.

Chronic voters" are more likely to have attended the various forums. But a lack of adequate funds has kept the candidates from being able advertise enough among voters who dont participate in nearly every millage election.

Theyre not going to know who these people are, Pinsonat said.

Instead, choices will be made based more on how well known the candidates are in their home region. The winners likely will depend on which region sends the most voters to the polls, he said.

The top early voting parishes were East Baton Rouge, with 12,988 early votes; St Tammany at 11,770; and Orleans with 10,246 through Thursday. Jefferson Parish had 8,994 early votes case and Lafayette had 5,268, according to the Secretary of States Office.

The increased number of voters havent really changed the strategies of the candidates.

Scott Wilfong, of Crowes campaign, said the higher than expected turnout in the New Orleans and Baton Rouge areas plays well for Crowes candidacy.

Edmonds has been focusing on winning the support local Republican Party organizations and has stacked up seven in Baton Rouge and New Orleans areas. These endorsements are pivotal to winning the Republican base that is voting early, said J Hudson, who is running Edmonds campaign.

Lionel Rainey III, who oversees Ardoins campaign, said the higher turnout works in the candidates favor. The interim secretary of state is one of the few candidates with enough money, though not much, to run television commercials. He waited until last week to start, so is happy the ads are hitting the air at the same voter interest has increased.

It makes me very happy to see that people are more engaged than predicted, Free said.

The more voters, the better, said Stokes, who has bought television advertising to start next week.
The grisly case of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi underscores the importance of Americas energy independence, a national priority in which Louisiana obviously has a central role.

After days of dodging, the Saudi government has now admitted that Khashoggi, a frequent critic of the Saudi regime, was killed while visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. The Saudis are now blaming the murder on rogue actors, a defense that doesnt hold water.

Our Views: We're No. 1, unexpectedly The phrase used over a generation about Louisiana drilling on shore was "played out," which was striking for a state with early and big oil ex

U.S. ties with Saudi Arabia involve a number of shared interests, including Americas dependence for many years on the countrys oil supply. But thanks to advances in oil extraction such as fracking, America is pretty much the global king of oil production these days. Increasing use of natural gas has been a plus for Americas energy independence, too. Louisiana, a huge energy supply corridor, is a linchpin of Americas energy dominance.

Although we cant disregard Saudi Arabia as a strategic ally, its shameful human rights record makes us glad we dont need the kingdoms oil. For that, the rest of America should thank Louisiana.
The National Center for Transgender Equality, NCTE, and the Human Rights Campaign gather on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House in Washington, Monday, Oct. 22, 2018, for a #WontBeErased rally. Anatomy at birth may prompt a check in the "male" or "female" box on the birth certificate  but to doctors and scientists, sex and gender aren't always the same thing. The Trump administration purportedly is considering defining gender as determined by sex organs at birth, which if adopted could deny certain civil rights protections to an estimated 1.4 million transgender Americans. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
This week, two new branches of the Country Womens Association of NSW opened: one in the Sydney suburb of Mascot and the other an online Facebook group, established to create better communication between city and country women.

Meghan made banana bread for the CWA spread: note the special delivery strawberry jam. Credit:ITV

Flush with the success of the royal tour by the Duchess and Duke of Sussex, and the international coverage of its jam project in support of strawberry farmers, the CWA is having something of a renaissance in cities. And it is young professional women  nostalgic often for their country childhoods or keen to learn about crafts and cooking  who are signing up.

Come join the sconeversation, urged the promotional literature for the inaugural meeting of the Mascot branch of the association which for near on a century has been connecting women via their spreads of scones, slices and cups of tea.

On Tuesday night there was the same reciting of the national anthem, and CWA motto pledging honour to God and loyalty to the throne, common to their country cousins.
Deaths and serious injuries, including loss of sight, fractures, amputations, de-gloving and brain injury, cost the economy $30 billion a year, the final report after the 2018 Inquiry into the National Road Safety Strategy found. "It's always been easier to blame the driver," says Professor Raphael Grzebieta, emeritus professor of road safety at University of NSW, explaining attitudes frequently expressed on social media after a crash. "Very often, though, it is the system letting people down. If you are in a five-star car on a five-star road, and you swerve to avoid a kangaroo and crash, you shouldn't die or be seriously injured," he says. "In Wendy's case, her husband lost his life because there wasn't a barrier. If you make a mistake as you are cornering, should you die for that minor infringement? Humans all make mistakes - so if you end up in a wheelchair because you were a goose, is that your own bad luck? We don't accept that." Take the crash on the Pont de l'Alma in Paris that killed Princess Diana and Dodi al-Fayed. Many blamed speed for the fatal crash, but Grzebieta blames the French government's failure to install a roadside barrier that would have deflected the vehicle away from a concrete column. Top surgeon Dr John Crozier and road safety expert Jeremy Woolley, who chaired the government inquiry into the road safety plan, have called on the government to create a $3 billion road safety fund to improve road safety and do more to reduce injuries.

The increased funding would provide for safer and more forgiving roads, a major tenet of a safe system approach which recognises even the best of drivers make mistakes. Woolley, the director of the Centre for Automotive Safety Research (CASR) at the University of Adelaide, wants to make roads safe, instead of merely promising to make them safer. "Every government can stand up and say they're ... making roads safer, but they don't say how much safer." His number one priority is to move from a focus on fatalities to injury management, using more reliable injury data. Loading Comparing fatal crashes from one year to another meant nothing scientifically, he told the Herald at the annual Australasian Road Safety Conference in Sydney last month. "It hides a whole lot of complexity which is not taken into account. It's serious injuries which are screaming for attention," he said.

Apart from the emotional and psychological cost of serious injuries, Victoria's Transport Accident Commission, the state-run, third-party insurer, says it pays about $150,000 in claims on average for each road death, compared to the lifetime cost of about $1.5 million for a serious injury including those to the spine and brain. Another problem, found the inquiry, is that the causes of fatal crashes were very different from those resulting in injuries. Many people believed that "bad" crashes were the result of extreme behaviour, such as speeding, taking drugs, drinking or excessive speeding, says Woolley. "But when we look at coroners' reports and things like that, we find extreme behaviour explains about 60 per cent of fatal crashes. And when we look at serious injury data, it only explains about 10 per cent of crashes." "So the massive injury burden is around what we call a system failure," he says. "They are normal people going about their day-to-day business and just making an error of judgment or being in the wrong place at the wrong time. That's why we need a system-wide response." The part of Kyogle Road where Karl Langheinrich died.

A recent New Zealand study which reviewed 200 serious injury crashes and 100 which resulted in fatalities, found reckless behaviour accounted for more than half of all fatal crashes. In these cases, there were multiple unsafe acts being committed. In contrast, fewer than a quarter of crashes resulting in serious injury were caused by reckless behaviour, with the balance caused by system failures - for example, the lack of a guardrail, inaccurate speed limits, inadequate air bags. Another South Australian study estimated system failures accounted for as much as 90 per cent of serious injuries. "Often it was clear that a minor driver lapse resulted in serious or fatal outcomes. This is in conflict with the safe-system approach which explains that although people make mistakes, the consequences of these mistakes should not result in their death or serious injury," wrote the authors of the 2017 New Zealand study in the Australasian Transport Research Forum. Woolley argues that the federal government should make safe roads a condition of continued funding. "They are happily handing out money for infrastructure projects and there's not even a safety criteria. That's appalling, that's the easiest lever that the federal government can pull, and for whatever reason, which is beyond me, they refuse to pull it," he says. Only the federal government's $80 million a year Black Spot program makes safety its priority. "Given the annual cost (from injuries and fatalities) to the Australian government alone is $3.7 billion, this investment is hardly likely to be effective," the inquiry said.

Experts say Australia could reduce fatal and serious injuries by more than 30 per cent by ensuring that 75 per cent of travel was on safer roads, three-star or more. Five stars are the safest, one star the least. A key principle of a safe system is sharing responsibility among those who design, build and manage roads and vehicles; those who use them; and those who provide post-crash care. What would Karl do? His widow Wendy Sarkissian, a former community activist, decided that Karl would fight to be remembered as a person and not a statistic. After asking herself again what Karl would have done, Sarkissian asked Tweed Shire Council if she could present a victim impact statement to its road traffic staff and a senior engineer at a meeting. The council refused. The engineer then wrote to her, saying he was concerned it would cause council staff distress, adding council had an obligation to ensure the workplace health and safety of its officers. Asked to restrict her comments exclusively to the circumstances of the crash, without including its impacts, Sarkissian arrived with a photo of Karl that she placed in the middle of the table. She brought along friends, including road safety expert, Dr Lori Mooren.

The two women have since published a range of accounts to illustrate the need for a shift in public policy to make roads safer across Australia. Sarkissian said Karl had died within eight metres of where a fatal crash occurred one year earlier, killing a mother and daughter, Matilda. A total of six people have now been killed and others injured on the stretch of road now called The Matilda Way. In the crash, Sarkissian damaged several vertebrae and was hospitalised for days. She suffered concussion, soft tissue injuries and cognitive impairment. The impact has been permanent. For the past two years, Sarkissian, who holds a PhD and two Master's degrees, hasn't been able to add up a row of numbers. Directions and maps confuse her. Making arrangements is tricky. Texting is hard .

She can't work or drive, so couldn't continue to live in her home in Nimbin, in northern NSW, where there was no public transport. After a lifetime in Australia, she has returned to live in Canada where she was born. The crash knocked the "stuffing out of her". She had tried to save Karl, but the car was submerged and by the time the 73-year-old got to him, he was dead. "When you are upside down, it is very difficult to even to work out where the seat belts connected," she says. "He never regained consciousness. The airbag killed him. By the time I went to try and get his [seatbelt] undone, there was a terrible sound of the water going into his lungs and his head fell over to the side, and I knew absolutely that he was dead." Wendy Sarkissian with her husband Karl Langheinrich in 2014. "In the days following Karls death, I was in profound shock .... Then, about three weeks after his death, as the terrible finality of my new circumstances began to dawn on me, I fell apart. Now I was sitting on our back deck in a stunned condition, staring at the sky. Howling at the moon." When she emerged nine months later from the grief and trauma of the crash, Sarkissian, a community planner, decided to be guided by what Karl - an activist his entire life - would have done in her situation. She believes her husband would have refused to let his death become a statistic.

Later that year, after hearing about another crash near the same site resulting in five people nearly being killed, she and Mooren created a huge sign which they attached to a tree near the crash site saying, "My name is Karl. I died here. Please slow down." Mooren says road authorities  state and local  should be reminded that these deaths and injuries represented more than statistics to be used to justify funding for road works. As a senior road safety official in NSW in the late 1990s, Mooren had often met with grieving parents. "To me, it was the right thing to do," she says. It was painful and difficult. One father blamed Mooren, adding that if he didn't, he would have to blame himself. A spokesperson for Tweed Shire Council said they were sincerely sympathetic with Sarkissian's concerns since her husband's tragic death. Sarkissian's written victim's impact statement was circulated to officers, says the spokesperson, but she was blocked from presenting the entire account in person because she had blamed council and its officers for the crash. The spokesperson says that was "completely unacceptable and unfair". The spokesperson added: "Individual Council officers cannot be held responsible for the some 300 crashes that occur each year on our Tweed roads. Road safety is everyones responsibility.
Dozens of fire fighters are battling a large factory fire in Sydney's west that has forced one worker to flee for his life as plumes of smoke billowed into the sky.

Emergency services responded to multiple triple zero calls reporting the blaze at a factory on Airds Road, Minto, about 4.20pm on Saturday afternoon.

A spokesman for Fire and Rescue NSW said 40 firefighters and 15 trucks arrived to find the large commercial pole-manufacturing factory well alight.

The spokesman said the fire was in the centre of the single level factory, and an internal wall had collapsed, forcing fire fighters to battle it from outside as the building is not safe to enter.
When it comes to a recap of the Duke and Duchess of Sussexs first overseas tour as a married couple, Dubbos five-year-old Luke Vincent perhaps expressed it best.

With a protocol breaking hug, and a tug on the royal ginger beard, his affection for the royals conveyed what words could not. He wasnt the only one wanting to embrace the young parents-to-be during their whirlwind tour of Australia and the Pacific.

Britain's Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex meet with 98 year-old Daphne Dunne. Credit:AAP

From the Sydney schoolgirls who staked out the Shangri-La on Friday from after school until after dark to catch a glimpse of Meghan, to India Brown in Melbourne and her sign that read "Up since four loved you since I was 8", everyone it seems wanted to throw their arms around Harry and Meghan.

Certainly their first foray into foreign lands as a married couple has been declared  even by the ever cynical British press who follow their constant movements  a resounding success.
UPDATE: Leslie Smith has been found safe and well at a southern suburbs home, after a police and land search was sparked when some of his belongings were found on a Perth beach on Friday.

Leslie Smith.

Locals spotted the 41-year-old's belongings discarded on City Beach early on Friday morning, but only reported them to police when it reached 12pm and Mr Smith had still not returned to collect them.

Wembley Police, Water Police, Police Air Wing, the Whitfords Volunteer Sea Rescue Group, Police Air Wing and Surf Life Saving resources were deployed as part of the search operation.
A refugee calling from Manus Island has told a rally in Melbourne hes suffering in a state of limbo as thousands gathered around Australia to protest against the governments treatment of asylum seekers.

Some 500 men, women and children gathered in Melbourne, while more than 1000 people stopped traffic in the heart of Sydney on Saturday to protest against the federal governments offshore detention centres.

Scarlett Wright with her mother Elizabeth Hindmarsh during a rally at the steps of the State Library in Melbourne, on Saturday. Credit:AAP

The asylum seeker told the Melbourne protest that he, and those with him, had experienced five years of suffering and hopelessness.

We need action. We need to move away from this state of limbo, he said.
The Morrison government has started backtracking on a proposed defence industry agreement with Saudi Arabia following the shock killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, with the idea now firmly on the backburner.

As Saudi authorities reportedly changed their tune again  this time to concede Khashoggi's killing inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul was likely premeditated  Canberra has come under pressure to tangibly rebuke the kingdom.

Defence Minister Christopher Pyne had pursued deeper industry ties with Riyadh, but on Friday a spokeswoman told Fairfax Media the talks were preliminary and of low priority.

A spokeswoman for Defence Minister Christoper Pyne said any future export applications to Saudi Arabia would be assessed with regard to the "deplorable" events of this month. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

"Discussions regarding the defence industry memorandum of understanding are only in their early stages, and it is not a high priority at this time," Mr Pyne's spokeswoman said.
Australians living with disabilities have expressed fear and concern at Prime Minister Scott Morrison's plan to "repurpose" billions of dollars meant for the NDIS to pay for drought relief.

The re-channelling of the $3.9 billion of NDIS funding was revealed when Mr Morrison announced a $5 billion Drought Future Fund at a summit this week, aimed at trying to drought-proof the farming sector.

Large parts of eastern Australia, including Victoria, are battling through extended dry periods as summer looms.

Disability advocates say the disappearance of the $3.9 billion is a blow to the sectors confidence in the effectiveness of the scheme into the future.

The government claims the NDIS is already fully funded but those using the services provided by the Gillard government's landmark scheme said it has not yet been fully rolled out, and that some recipients were still struggling to meet their care payments despite government assistance.
NSW state politics, once a byword for corruption, sleaze and a distinct lack of gentility, has restored its reputation in recent years. We have had two decent premiers in a row. No major sex scandals. The economy is healthy.

But last week it bared its teeth, and its soul, when Corrections Minister David Elliott raised under parliamentary privilege allegations of sexual harassment against Opposition Leader Luke Foley.

Luke Foley during question time in the NSW Parliament last week. Credit:Louise Kennerley

Foley made a strong denial, and challenged Elliott to say the same thing outside parliament, so he could sue for defamation.

Then Foley went into the chamber and retaliated with a vague smear against four Coalition front-benchers, shouting that he would move to amend any debate about himself ''to talk about you and you and you and you!''
Thats a lot of votes to chase, and both sides of politics have been chasing them hard. With sitting Labor member Jude Perera about to retire after 16 years, and a margin of 2.3 per cent, there is a belief the seat is up for grabs. Its residents' concerns align squarely with the issues over which Labor and the Coalition are fighting: rapid population growth, transport stress, a high crime rate and cost-of-living pressures. For the Liberals, who need to win eight seats on November 24, there is almost certainly no path to government that does not include winning Cranbourne. The partys biggest promise for the area is a $487 million plan to extend the rail line, which terminates at Cranbourne, by five kilometres to Clyde, a fringe suburb that grew by 7300 people in the past year.

Labor, for its part, has promised to duplicate the existing single-track line at a cost of $750 million, an essential precursor, it says, to extending the line to Clyde and the only way to boost service frequencies. Both parties have picked seasoned political operators to run. To replace Mr Perera, Labor has preselected Pauline Richards, an adviser to Health Minister Jill Hennessy. The Liberals have chosen Ann-Marie Hermans, a former Family First candidate. Both proved extraordinarily media shy when The Age visited Cranbourne last week, dodging attempts to meet and be interviewed.

Ms Richards said she was too busy but would answer questions via text or email. Ms Hermans did not respond to several interview requests. Cranbourne has an alternate name among locals: Crimebourne. It's a name that fits with the Liberal narrative that crime is out of control in the area, key to the party's pitch to voters.

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy told an audience of hundreds at a Property Council of Victoria lunch last week that one in six homes in Clyde North (a new suburb in the seat) is broken into each year. So that means when you go to AusKick theyre talking about being broken into; Yeah my neighbour was, I was, Mr Guy said. They go shopping they say the same thing, pick their kids up from school, the parents are talking. Mr Guys claim was a gross exaggeration. One home in 20 was burgled in Clyde North 2016-17, according to data released by the RACV late last year.

But that still gave the suburb the highest rate of home burglaries in Melbourne. Burglary is not the only crime in which Cranbourne suffers more than most. There are more reported incidents of family violence here than in any other part of Melbourne. Police made 4730 family incident reports in the city of Casey (which includes the Cranbourne electorate) in 2016-17, or almost 13 a day, and that figures has risen sharply in the past five years. Leanne Petrides, chief executive of Cranbourne information and support services Credit:Joe Armao

Leanne Petrides deals first-hand with some of the people whose lives are tied up in these statistics. For 20 years, Ms Petrides has helped run the Cranbourne Information and Support Service, a government-funded centre for people in financial distress. She says there is a lot of hidden poverty in the area, from rough sleepers camping out behind the racecourse to families in neat new homes under massively high levels of housing stress. Mortgage stress is often a contributor to family violence, she says. People are attracted to the area for low-cost housing but often not thinking of what some of the drawbacks are, being so far out.

They might be thinking, 'yep, I can get a relatively cheap house and land package'  but families end up being quite isolated because they might be working in the city and driving in the car for four hours a day. Even the Greens candidate for Cranbourne, Jake Tilton, concedes crime is probably the top concern for local voters. Jack Tilton, Greens candidate in Cranbourne. Credit:Joe Armao Mr Tilton, 22, a law student and Woolworths deli worker who is queer and campaigned strongly for the safe schools curriculum and same sex marriage laws during the federal campaign, had recent first-hand experience of why the electorate is so worried about crime. His car number plates were stolen when he parked near the railway station two weeks ago.

People are worried about crime, who isnt? But I consider communities being singled out is more scary than the crime itself, he says in reference to reports of African gang crime. Cranbourne is an electoral wasteland for the Greens, who won just 4.17 per cent of the vote in 2014. The only electorate that attracted a lower Greens vote was the northern Victorian Nationals stronghold of Murray Plains. Mr Tilton says Labor has deep roots in the area, but argues that its an opportunity for the Greens to make a fresh start.

We meet in a cafe in Clyde North, from where the line demarcating suburbia and country can be seen hundreds of metres away, beyond rows of single-storey houses and an early learning centre under construction. Why would a working family in this brand new neighbourhood, with a mortgage, two cars and education expenses, bother with the Greens? For the future of their children, Mr Tilton says. Its well and good to talk of a vision of the future but we dont know how much of a future well have if we dont tackle massive, cataclysmic environmental issues. Dr Tarlochan Singh, Transport Matters party candidate for Cranbourne. Credit:Joe Armao

Minor parties are also keen to capture new voters in the area. Dr Tarlochan Singh is running for the Transport Matters Party, a new minor political force that has formed from within Melbournes taxi industry. Dr Singh is not involved in that industry. Hes a veterinarian with his own practice in Bentleigh. But he argues transport is at the heart of family life, and family is the heart of society. The family is a small unit, he says. If the family is happy, then the nation becomes happy.
If you're a state school in a marginal seat, youre in luck.

The Victorian election is looming and its likely youve been promised funding for new classrooms, gyms and ageing school buildings.

As the pre-election education arms race intensifies, an analysis by The Sunday Age reveals state schools in marginal seats have secured more than 70 per cent of the money pledged by Labor and about 50 per cent of the money promised by the Coalition.

Victoria Lemmer, a parent at Kingswood Primary School, inspects a leaky roof in the first-aid room Credit:Joe Armao

Schools in the seats of Bentleigh, Mordialloc, South Barwon and Albert Park have emerged as big winners in the pork-barrel spending spree.
A constitutional crisis in Sri Lanka deepened on Saturday as President Maithripala Sirisena temporarily suspended parliament a day after sacking the prime minister and replacing him with a former leader seen as being close to China.

Sirisena fired Ranil Wickremesinghe and swore in former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as his replacement late on Friday in a move cheered by Rajapaksa's supporters but described as a coup by opponents.

Newly appointed Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa leaves a Buddhist temple after meeting his supporters in Colombo. Credit:AP

The president's order to suspend parliament until November 16 was widely seen as an attempt to stop Wickremesinghe from trying to prove he maintains a parliamentary majority even after Sirisena pulled his party out of the ruling coalition.

Wickremesinghe says he is still prime minister and, soon before the suspension was announced, he had urged the speaker to convene a session to prove his majority.
MANAMA: US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said on Saturday that the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi undermined Middle Eastern stability and that Washington would take additional measures against those responsible.

Washington Post columnist Khashoggi's murder has escalated into a crisis for the worlds top oil exporter. Saudi Arabia's allies have reacted with outrage towards a country that is the lynchpin of a US-backed regional bloc against growing Iranian influence in the Middle East.

US Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis and US President Donald Trump at the White House this week. Credit:Bloomberg

But Mattis also said US respect for the Saudi people was undiminished, while Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said those behind the killing would be prosecuted in the kingdom and that the investigation would take time.

US President Donald Trump has said he wants to get to the bottom of the case, while also highlighting Riyadh's role as an ally against Tehran and Islamist militants, as well as a major purchaser of US arms.
12-Year-Old Mario Castellanos, Part of Migrant Caravan, Deported to Honduras

A 12-year-old Honduran boy traveling with the migrant caravan currently in southern Mexico heading towards the United States was captured by Mexican authorities and returned to Honduras after authorities figured out that he was traveling without an adult family member.

Mario David Castellanos left his parents to join the caravan without telling them; they only found out he was with the caravan days later after he called them days later.

The 12-year-old had left his home on Oct. 13, and was one of the first migrants to force their way through a barrier between the border of Guatemala and Mexico, prompting Mexican federal officers to detain him, reported BBC.

The unaccompanied minor then decided not to continue and asked to return to Honduras, reported the Diario El Heraldo.

Gobierno hondureno no entrega a Mario Castellanos a su familia, denuncia el padre > https://t.co/QfFTbm3Q41 pic.twitter.com/j9ppCr5liw  Diario El Heraldo (@diarioelheraldo) October 27, 2018

He arrived back in Honduras on Oct. 25, via the San Pedro Sula airport. Pictures from the airport show him smiling and holding a drink.

Authorities in Honduras refused to send the boy back to his parents.

Ana Garcia de Hernandez, the first lady of Honduras, said in a statement that officials wouldnt send Castellanos back to his parents until they determined the living conditions in the family home after he was able to leave to join the caravan, reported Prensa Libre. Officials said he will live at and will study in a local school.

We want him to stop working as he did before and continue studying to get ahead, the first lady said.

"Me querian meter en una pandilla" https://t.co/lB4bjqJi4R  BBC News Mundo (@bbcmundo) October 20, 2018

Parents Say He Left

Marios parents said that he left without gaining permission after he told them he was going to the town center and would return in a few hours.

Some reports said they learned he was in the caravan when he called them after several days; others said they first learned of his travels from friends who had spotted their son on television.

Mario told BBC that he left without anything except what he was wearing. I did not pack anything, I came alone with the clothes I was wearing. On the trip I use the clothes that people are giving me, Im putting them on and Im throwing them away, I can not carry much cargo, he said.

He has not appeared to comment since returning to Honduras.

Jose Castellanos said that he wanted his child back, saying: He is not an orphan. Jose, a security guard, insisted that his family always has enough to eat even though theyre poor.

From NTD.tv
23 Members of Chicago Street Gang Face Federal Charges

Twenty-three alleged gangsters from Chicago have been charged in a federal racketeering investigation.

All 23 were allegedly members of the Goonie gang, an offshoot of the Gangster Disciples. The indictment alleges that the gang was responsible for 11 murders in Chicagos Englewood neighborhood between 2014 and 2018.

The indicted gangsters were allegedly members of the Goonie Boss gang, an offshoot of the Gangster Disciples.

Romeo Blackman, nicknamed O or O-dog, was considered to be the Goonie Boss, the head of the illegal enterprise. Blackman, 22, was specifically accused of committing seven murders and being in five attempted murders, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Three other Goonie members were accused of murder and attempted murder in the indictment.

Nathaniel Nate or Nation McElroy, 21, Jolicious Jo Jo Turman, 27, and Terrance T Smith, 22, were named for specific homicides.

Other members were accused of murder, attempted murder, gun violence, theft of firearms, and, generally acting to create an atmosphere of terror so that they could control territory and engage in criminal behavior for profit.

Trevante Reed, 18, Lamar Isaac, 35, Kwante Hughes, 21, and Demarco Bennett, 22, were all charged with murder.

Blackman, Keith Gullens and Rashad Anchando are indicted for conspiring to steal firearms in 2017.

McElroy, Cornelius Battle, Dalrick Drain, Reginald Johnson, and Lason Moore were charged with making a straw purchase of firearms in Michigan in 2017.

Goonie members and their associates murdered and assaulted rivals, stole guns to arm themselves and violently prevented witnesses from cooperating with law enforcement, U.S. Attorney of the Northern District of Illinois John Lausch told ABC News.

Chicago Police Department Superintendent Eddie Johnson explained that the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, created in 1970 to help law enforcement cope with organized crime, is now the best weapon against street gangs.

The only way to get at them with the full extent of the law is to put RICO cases so we are going to use it as much as possible, Superintendent Johnson told ABC News.

Johnson told the Sun-Times, If you dont think gangs in city of Chicago [are] organized, then youre fooling yourself. I think that is a valuable tool that we plan on using as much as we can to bring these individuals to justice.

Many of the RICO charges carry sentences of up to 20 years, while some of the related charges could be penalized by life in prison or the death penalty, ABC reported.

The FBI states that there are 115,000 self-identified gang members active in the Greater Chicago area, as compared with 10,000 members of the notorious street gang MS-13, ABC reported.

From NTD.tv

Watch Next:

What is MS-13?
A cargo ship passes sandbanks near Kaub, Germany during historically low water on the river Rhin on Oct. 24, 2018. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Cry Me a River: Low Water Levels Causing Chaos in Germany

BERLINA new island in Lake Constance. A river in Berlin flowing backward. Dead fish on the banks of lakes and ponds. Barges barely loaded so they dont run aground.

A hot, dry summer has left German rivers and lakes at record low water levels, causing chaos for the inland shipping industry, environmental damage and billions of euros (dollars) in losses  a scenario that experts warn could portend the future as global temperatures rise.

The drought-like conditions have hit nearly 90 percent of the country this year.

In Magdeburg, the Elbe River has been so low that no ships carrying goods south to Leipzig or on to the Czech Republic have been able to pass through since the end of June, said Hartmut Rhein of the citys waterways and shipping department.

The rivers down to a depth of about 50 centimeters (less than 20 inches) there, when at least double that level is needed for normal shipping traffic, he said.

Lowest Ever Water Levels

At the moment the only possibility is to completely unload ships and transfer their cargoes to other means of transportation, he said.

The situation is similar across Germany. The mighty Rhine has hit its lowest water levels ever at several points, and other major rivers like the Danube, the Weser and the Main are all far below normal.

On the waterways that are still navigable, the lower water levels have actually led to increased shipping traffic, as companies pack less weight onto boats so they dont ride so low in the water. That means they must send more vessels out to carry the same amount of freight.

All the ships on the Rhine are going around the clock to transport goods that would normally be on fewer ships, said Rolf Nagelschmidt of Colognes waterways and shipping office. At the moment, everything that can float is being loaded up.

That has sent freight prices skyrocketing, and some costs are already being felt by consumers, with higher prices at gas pumps and for home heating oil.

Chemical giant BASF has been forced to cut production due to a lack of transportation. On Friday the company lowered its yearly profit forecast after a slowdown in the third quarter partly from the extra costs incurred due to the low levels of the Rhine, which flows past its headquarters in Ludwigshafen.

Billions of Euros

Germanys Economy Ministry said Friday it had taken the unusual step of authorizing temporary access to Germanys strategic fuel reserves in areas where supplies have not been able to get through due to the shallow waters.

With such widespread drought, Germanys agricultural industry is also struggling. There have been shortages of feed for livestock and the countrys grain harvest is forecast to drop to 36 million tons this year compared to an average of 47.9 million tons over the last five years, according to the Center for Disaster Management at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.

If you look at the overall economic effects, were talking certainly in the double-digit billions, said the centers Michael Kunz.

Northern and eastern Germany saw their warmest summer ever recorded in 2018, and central Germany had its lowest rainfall ever, according to the German Weather Service, or DWD.

Climate change means not only an increase in average temperatures, but also in the increase of extreme events, said DWD Vice President Paul Becker. This years summer has been exceptional with its intensive drought and prolonged heat, but we expect an increase in such extreme periods in the future.

From April through August, a high-pressure zone sat over northern Europe and a low-pressure zone blanketed the south. That created a blocking situation that produced the unusual weather, said Freja Vamborg, a senior climate scientist with Copernicus Climate Change Service, a European Union information service.

During that whole time, most of northern Europe was warm and dry and the Mediterranean was wet, she said.

Most of Germany has been right in the middle of the dry zone. While there has been some relief from the drought in the British Isles and Scandinavia, the drought is still plaguing Germany.

Unexploded World War II Bombs

Sandbanks have appeared on the Rhine River that have not been seen before in modern history. On the Austrian part of Lake Constance, which is shared by Germany, Austria and Switzerland, a 10,000 square meter (108,000 square foot) silt island has appeared.

Unexploded World War II munitions are also popping up, most recently with a 1,000-kilogram (2,200-pound) American bomb being found on the exposed bottom of the Rhine near Neuwied this week. Experts say some 3,000 bombs were dropped in the area as the allies sought to destroy a railway bridge, but only a few actually hit their target.

In Berlin, the Spree River, which normally flows into the Havel River in the western part of the city, has been taking water in from the Havel instead, said Derk Ehlert, with the citys environment department.

Its flowing backward, so to speak, he said.

A family of beavers living in the German capitals central Tiergarten park has attracted a lot of attention for taking matters into their own paws. They built a new dam about six weeks ago to keep the area wet  but that just dried other areas up.

They wanted their old water level back, Ehlert said.

Other wildlife has been less able than the beavers to cope. Hundreds of tons of fish and countless freshwater mussels have been dying as waters have receded, said Magnus Wessel, head of nature conservation policy for the environmental group BUND.

Causes for the die-offs include greater concentrations of pesticides and other toxins due to the lower volume of water, boat traffic riding closer to the riverbeds, the increased number of boats on the rivers and less oxygen in the water, Wessel said.

And, of course, the obvious.

If you live underwater and you dont have water above you, youre dead, he said.
Film Review: Wildlife: No Wild, Lots of Tame

PG-13 | 1h 44min | Drama | 19 October

Ed Oxenbould starred in the kid movie Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. So it makes sense that hes now co-starring in what should be titled Paul Dano and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad First Movie.

OK, thats admittedly harsh. But who could resist the joke? This is actor Paul Danos directorial debut, and after reviewing Bradley Coopers and Jonah Hills exceptional recent directorial debuts (A Star Is Born, Mid90s), I can only say that Danos Wildlife was rather a letdown.

Wildlife Not Wild Whatsoever

Wildlife is a marital strife period piece, set in 1960, in Great Falls, Montana, chronicling a year in the life of young teen Joe Brinson (Oxenbould). So it could also be called Joe and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Family Life.

Joes dad, Jerry (Jake Gyllenhaal), is a nice enough guy, with some of the subtle unhinged-ness that Gyllenhaal brings to many of his roles. Jerrys got few marketable skills but a brittle, overabundance of pride. Hell leave his family for months to go be a hotshot firefighter, but he wont go bag groceries at the local supermarket per his wifes suggestion, to make ends meet. Which option is truly manly?

And so what happens when you leave your pretty wife Jeanette (Carey Mulligan) lonely and isolated in a remote Montana town to cater to your idealized notions of manliness? She, a highly practical, whatever-it-takes kind of woman, gives swimming lessons at the local YMCA. Soon, an elderly, wealthy war veteran swimming pupil is stopping by the house to pick up a book, much to son Joes creeping mortification.

Because, I mean, what if moody, cant-keep-a-job Jerry burns up in a fire? A mom must take precautions. The problem here is that Jerrys not going to be gone all that longa few weeks at most. Per his wifes actions, it feels like hes been gone for three years.

So the ensuing affair with the older, rich man, from the perspective of Jerrys short absence, amounts to hysterical, flailing neediness on Jeanettes part, but that doesnt sync with the highly grounded, got-her-head-on-straight attitude she projects the majority of the time.

Possibly, the problem is that this is the straw that broke that camels back. Joe keeps asking his parents, Are we moving again? So maybe his moms just done with dads endless uprooting, moving, excuses, and posturing. That would make sense, but the films not set up that way. A little confusing.

Boys and Worthless Men

Young Joes primary role is that of meek, mild mediator. Oxenbould does a great job. Its one of the better portrayals of boyhood: the inability to guard his boundaries because his inner warrior hasnt come online yet.

What doesnt work is Joes after-school job as a portrait photographers assistant. It adds nothing to the story. It almost feels like an artifice to set up the last frame of the film, where he sets up the camera for a family portrait shot, and then takes a seat between his parentsroll credits.

I wished this shot had been accompanied by Stealers Wheels lyrics, Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am, stuck in the middle with you. But that would have been the comedy version. Director Dano will probably never do comedy.

The other storyline that goes nowhere is Joes budding friendship with a female classmate who helps him cheat on exams. Maybe the fact that nothing of significance happens between them is Joes starting to reflect his fathers incompetency in committing to things. But it doesnt feel revelatorymore like useless storyline padding.

Wildlife, a Complete Misnomer

All in all, its a bland presentation. If it were a color, it would be beige. Maybe tan. Actually, it literally is; the exterior shots of autumnal Montana are endless vistas of tan. The whole movie is lit tan-ly. Tan buildings. Note the abundance of tan in these photos. The drama is tan. When Jerry hears hes been cheated on, the best response hes got is a verklemmt Boy! Boy! Boy! Thatll win your wife back for sure.

He does go set the old guys porch on fire, but then he gets punched in the face by the old man. Who eventually takes pity on Jerry and doesnt press charges. Its the height of impotence. Meanwhile, the son looks impotently on, like a deer caught in the headlights.



I like to use the phrase worthless wretches for the condition modern men find themselves in. This is a study in tan, impotent, worthless-wretch-ism, and as such, its effective. It just commits the cardinal showbiz sin of being boring, and furthermore offers no insight as to how men can liberate themselves from non-manliness.

Director Danos filmography of roles as an actor lands solidly in the worthless-wretch category, which is just show business: You play what you most effectively portray. As an actor, youre a product. For example, my agent once told me, You may have one of the finest educations in America, but youre always going to play blue collar. There used to be a misunderstanding about showbiz. People used to say of it, Eww, you have to sell yourself, like the business part of it was a form of prostitution. Thankfully, people now understand branding and marketing, and so due to my look, I sold the acting product of firemen, cops, construction workers, and military.



So anyway, in terms of directing, while Dano clearly has a lot of technical know-how, its disappointing hes helmed a film that embraces the milieu of his acting roles. It would have been exciting to see him crash out of the director starting gate with something alarmingly passionate, something arresting and vibrant. Heres to hoping the sophomore effort will not be a sequel snooze-fest.

Wildlife

Director: Paul Dano

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Carey Mulligan, Ed Oxenbould, Bill Camp, Zoe Margaret Colletti

Rated: PG-13

Running time: 1 hour, 44 minutes

Release Date: Oct. 19

Rated 2.5 stars out of 5
A French startup is using drones and 3D technology to create digital reconstructions of cultural heritage sites destroyed by conflict in the Middle East.

Technicians at Iconem, a Paris-based startup, use drones and digital cameras to take hundreds of thousands of photographs of at-risk or destroyed cultural heritage sites such as Palmyra and Aleppo in Syria and Mosul in Iraq.

Information technologists then combine the use of specially created algorithms, artificial intelligence, and supercomputers to process the photographs to produce the 3D reconstructions of the sites.

The startup hopes that their digital reconstructions will be used when the time comes to rebuild war-torn cities such as Aleppo and Mosul.

And this 3D model that were in the process of generating will help to make the general map and the land register of the city and all the urban analysis which will allow architects to decide how we will reconstruct the city. Which monuments we will be able to keep and which we can restore and which strategy we will adopt for the future reconstruction, said Iconem founder Yves Ubellman.

Sites destroyed in the old city of Aleppo during the seven-year-old Syrian conflict include the Umayyad mosque, the historic citadel, and the Al-Madina Souq.

Iconem has also documented Libyas impressive ancient amphitheater built in the 7th century B.C., Leptis Magna, which has largely escaped damage from conflict but risks damage from urban development, vandalism, and natural decay.

The group has teamed up with UNESCO World Heritage to contribute to their project to Revive the Spirit of Mosul, which aims to help plan the reconstruction of the Iraqi city heavily bombed during the fight against its three-year-long Islamic State occupation.

As you know, the populations of Mosul and Aleppo will start to return to the cities as soon as the conflicts end. And of course, when inhabitants return they try to reconstruct very quickly, not always in a particularly coordinated way. So, it is important to have a vision of the city as it was before these first attempts at reconstruction, said Ubellman.

An exhibition of the digital reconstructions opened on Oct. 10 at the Arab World Institute called Age Old Cities, A Virtual Journey from Palmyra to Mosul.

Roger Givarnet, a visitor at the exhibition, said, I feel sadness because I visited Leptis Magna and Aleppo before the bombings and its heart-wrenching, really because it was it was a very beautiful city, well-preserved with a real life to it, and to see this is saddening.

Iconem has also teamed up with Ubisoft, a French video game company, to create an immersive virtual reality experience from the digital reconstructions, which visitors can try out.
A hoarding on a road in the city of Ludhiana, in northern India offers people liquor in the comfort of their cars. Drunk driving causes 7,200 fatal road accidents in India each year. The country launched Youth Road Safety Learners Licence programme on Oct. 15, 2011 to reduce such deaths. (Courtesy Harman Singh Sidhu/ArriveSafe)

Indian Government Urged to Stop Highway Liquor Vendors

Driving down a highway in India, its hard not to notice the abundance of roadside liquor shops. There are even signs beckoning drivers in. At the same time, the Indian government knows it has a drinking and driving problem and recently launched the Youth Road Safety Learners License program to improve road safety for young, first-time drivers.

ArriveSafe, an NGO that advocates road safety, is critical of the new initiative. Harman Singh Sidhu, the organizations president, says such a program will never be successful unless the government also bans the sale of alcohol along highways.

Liquor vends dot the highway again with advertisement boards like, drive-thru liquor vend and we serve liquor in cars. Everyone is aware; drunk driving is dangerous and one shouldnt drink and drive, but it is ineffective against the temptation of easy availability, said Harman Singh Sidhu, president of ArriveSafe, an NGO that advocates road safety.

Indias per capita alcohol consumption has doubled in the past 11 years, according to a new World Health Organization report on global alcohol consumption, and this has proportionally increased drunk driving accidents and deaths.

More than 145,000 lives are lost to road accidents every year in India, representing about 12.5 percent of all global road accidents, according to Indian government statistics. Most of the victims, 72 percent, are aged 15 to 44, and drunk driving contributes to 5 percent of these fatalities.

As an example of how frequent roadside liquor stops can be, on one stretch of 181 miles of national highway in between the northern Indian states of Punjab and Haryana, there are 185 liquor vendors, according to statistics released by the National Highway Authority of India in response to an access to information request.

This means theres one liquor vendor every mile.

Driving at national speed limit of 90 km/hr (56 mph), thats one liquor vendor every minute, points out Sidhu. In that scenario, any awareness of enforcement would fail, he said.

In addition to the frequency of the highway liquor stops, Sidhu says another problem is that the shops are sustained by a massive counterfeit industry, so its hard to say whats being sold.

The packing and bottling is very close to original. I would buy a bottle and drive along. Even if I find a problem with the quality, I wont drive back. Even if I do, the vend owner would deny selling it, he said.

Partnering With Liquor Company

The Youth Road Safety Learners License Programme that attempts to create a formal training program for young people, is a collaboration between Diageo India, a leading alcohol beverage company, and the Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE).

Honestly, I am shocked and pained to know that the government needs crutches of a liquor company, Diageo, to run the program, said Sidhu.

Diageo supports various community development initiatives across India through its corporate citizenship programs and says that its Road to Safety campaign is being responsible to youth.

In a written statement the company said it aims to reach 500 universities across India in the next three to five years, or at least 50 universities in the first year alone.

We are delighted at the support of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, and the many universities that will offer this program. We believe that this is another step in Diageo helping to create a national movement around road safety, said Abanti Sankaranarayanan, chief strategy and corporate affairs officer at Diageo India.

Under the program, the Indian government has already trained 4,624 traffic officials in road safety capacity-building, 6,000 commercial vehicle drivers, and over 5,000 university students across more than 64 cities in 17 states.
Man Says Green Tea Extract Seriously Damaged His Health

Jim McCantss father died at the age of 59 of a heart attack, and as the son began to near his fathers age of death, he decided to embark on a more healthy lifestyle.

The 50-year-old man from Prosper, near Dallas, Texas, started walking or running from a half hour to an hour 5 to 6 days a week, he told the BBC. He also tried to eat more healthy foods and lose some weight.

However, another choice he made at that time turned out to be a big mistakehe started taking a green tea supplement, because he heard there were possible heart benefits.

One day McCants sat down at his youngest sons graduation from high school, and his wife Cathleen looked at him in concern.

Do you feel okay? she asked him, McCants told the BBC.

Yeah, I feel fine. Why? said McCants.

Your face is yellow, your eyes are yellow, you look terrible, she said.

When I looked in the mirror it was shocking, the finance manager said.

Driving a point home: This man ruined his liver trying to 'get healthy' with green #tea extract pills. Drink your tea, don't swallow a pill with way too much of a good thing in it! https://t.co/Y3y0StweFn pic.twitter.com/IbMJwfEQ6J  CA_tea (@CA_tea) October 25, 2018

A Shocking Diagnosis

A visit to the doctor proved there was something seriously wrong with McCantss liver, and the professionals began to investigate what could possibly be the cause.

McCants didnt drink much, he never smoked, and he wasnt taking any prescription drugs. However, when doctors asked if McCants was taking any supplements, he mentioned hed been taking the green tea capsules for two to three months.

The green tea supplement was soon identified as the reason for his liver damage.

It was shocking because Id only heard about the benefits, McCants told the BBC. Id not heard about any problems.

The husband and father was hospitalized and underwent blood work to determine how bad the damage to his liver had become, and the results were not what he wanted to hear.

A doctor informed McCants that he was in desperate need of a liver transplant to save his life.

You have daysyou dont have a week, the doctor said, according to McCants.

Miraculously, the next day a liver was found that was a match, and McCants had the transplant surgery, which was successful.

Its now been four years, and the Texan still has major health issues, including abdominal pain and kidney problems. He may soon have to undergo dialysis or a kidney transplant as well, according to the BBC.

'If you take enough of it, it can kill you': Green tea extract linked to liver damage https://t.co/XcY8AZTTAW pic.twitter.com/Oua9JPUSl0  CBC News (@CBCNews) February 4, 2017

Green Tea Extract Safety Not Well Defined

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), The safety and tolerability of long-term use of green tea extracts has not been well defined.

Green tea extract and, more rarely, ingestion of large amounts of green tea have been implicated in cases of clinically apparent acute liver injury, including instances of acute liver failure and either need for urgent liver transplantation or death.

The NIH website cites the case of a 37-year-old woman who began to experience abdominal pain, nausea, and jaundice after taking a weight-loss supplement with Chinese green tea extract as a major component. The womans case was reported in a study published in 2006.

Doctors assessed the damage to her liver, and her gallbladder was removed. After she stopped taking the supplement and the treatment was finished, she improved rapidly.

Surprisingly, one year later she returned to the hospital and admitted she had started taking the same supplement again. She was again treated and her liver tests were back to normal six months later.

More than 50 instances of clinically apparent liver injury attributed to GTE (green tea extract) have been reported in the literature. Liver injury typically arises within 3 months, with latency to onset of symptoms ranging from 10 days to 7 months, reported NIH.

However, side effects from drinking green tea itself are usually mild, states the website.

If you are drinking modest amounts of green tea youre very safe, said Professor Herbert Bonkovsky, director of liver services at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina, who has been tracking injuries linked to green tea supplements for nearly 20 years, to the BBC.

The greater risk comes in people who are taking these more concentrated extracts.
Mexico Offers New Plan to Keep US-Bound Caravan in Mexico, Some Migrants Decline

Mexicos outgoing president offered a new way for the U.S.-bound migrant caravan to stay in Mexico, saying the migrants could remain in the country to work while any with children could send their kids to school.

Mexicos announcement came as U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis authorized the use of troops and other military resources at the U.S.-Mexico border to prepare for the caravans arrival there.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said on Oct. 26, that migrants wishing to obtain temporary identification documents, jobs, and/or education for their children could do so by registering for asylum in southern Mexico.

This plan is only for those who comply with Mexican laws, and its a first step towards a permanent solution for those who are granted refugee status in Mexico, Pena Nieto said in a pre-recorded address broadcast on Friday afternoon.

To qualify for the scheme he called Estas en Tu Casa (Make Yourself at Home) migrants had to be in the southern states of Chiapas and Oaxaca, Pena Nieto said. The caravan is still in Chiapas but has been moving north in an attempt to reach the United States.

The president is leaving office in about one month and newly elected president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will assume office on Dec. 1. Obrador openly campaigned on open borders, telling a crowd in June: We are going to defend the migrants of the entire American continent and all the migrants of the world who, by necessity, have to leave their villages to seek life in the United States.

It is a human right that we are going to defend, he added.

Mexican officials said previously that migrants who dont have proper papers would be deported, but few have actually been, and most of which only after they agreed to be deported. Officials said on Oct. 24, that approximately 1,743 migrants have sought asylum in Mexico while 116 people agreed to be deported.

Rejection

Thousands of migrants refused Mexicos offer, pledging to continue north.

Our goal is not to remain in Mexico, 58-year-old Oscar Sosa of Honduras told the Associated Press.

Our goal is to make it to the (U.S). We want passage, thats all.

Other migrants yelled as they voted to reject the offer in a show of hands in the town of Arriaga, where they arrived Friday night. No, were heading north! they said.

Estimates of Caravan Vary

The migrant caravan started in northern Honduras and traveled across Guatemala to reach Mexico, with many migrants illegally crossing the Suchiate River to enter Mexico.

Pinpointing how many migrants are part of the caravan has been difficult, and estimates have varied widely.

Mexican officials claimed that the caravan was only made up of some 3,600 people on Oct. 24. Alex Mensing, an organizer with Pueblo Sin Fronteras, said that the main caravan consists of at least 8,500 people including some 7,000 from Honduras, and has grown in recent days.

Officials in Mexico told El Universal earlier in the week that some 14,000 Hondurans were spread across the main caravans and several others that have started moving north from Honduras in recent days. The officials said the main caravan was composed of 7,333 people. The United Nations said on Oct. 22, that the main caravan had some 7,200 people.

On Oct. 26, the United Nations said that an estimated 2,300 children were traveling with the migrant caravan. Most estimates place children and women combined at less than 25 percent of the caravan.

Reuters contributed to this report.

From NTD.tv
Pence Says Intel Indicates Migrant Caravan Organized by Leftist Organizations

Vice President Mike Pence said that intelligence indicates that the migrant caravan, currently in Mexico and headed toward the United States after rejecting a new offer by Mexico, was organized by leftist political organizations and activists.

Pence said foreign partners provided the intelligence and he also learned of some during a phone call with Juan Orlando Hernandez, the president of Honduras.

What the president of Honduras told me is that the caravan was organized by leftist organizations, political activists within Honduras, and he said it was being funded by outside groups, and even from Venezuela, Pence told Fox News late Friday, Oct. 26, while campaigning in the southwest United States.

So the American people, I think, see through thisthey understand this is not a spontaneous caravan of vulnerable people.

The comments came after Pence told reporters in the White House on Oct. 23, about intel conveyed by Hernandez that indicated the caravan was organized by leftist groups in Honduras, financed by Venezuela, and sent north to challenge our sovereignty and challenge our border.

The caravan, which has been estimated at as many as 14,000 people, includes criminals and gang members, American officials previously confirmed.

Former CIA Official Speaks

Charles Faddis, a former CIA operations officer, said that the caravan appeared to be organized in part by the opposition groups within Honduras, including the leftist Libre Party, which is closely allied with the socialist governments in the region such as Cuba and Venezuela.

The full scope of the conspiracy behind this migrant caravan remains as yet unclear. Yet, already what has emerged shows that far from being a campaign for the rights of oppressed peoples it is a deliberate, pre-planned effort on the part of socialist enemies of the United States to damage American prestige and to embarrass American allies, Faddis wrote in And Magazine.

The men and women moving their way north and subjecting themselves to significant hardship and risk are likely for the most part pawns in this game. They know only that someone has fed them the lie that they will emerge from this better off.

Behind the march, however, are emerging the shadowy outlines of old enemiessocialists, communist dictators and parties whose real agenda does not include democratic government or individual liberty. It is the installation of oppressive, totalitarian regimes in this Hemisphere, he added.

One pro-illegal immigration group, Pueblo Sin Fronteras, has admitted to organizing caravans in the past but claimed not to be involved in organizing the current one. However, a number of its organizers have been traveling with the caravan, and one was arrested in Mexico on charges of resisting arrest.

Border Closed

Pence told crowds in Arizona that the migrant caravan will not enter the United States, echoing President Donald Trumps declaration that the border is closed.

Anyone coming up in this caravan should just turn around, Pence told Fox News. They should go home, or they should apply for asylum in Mexico.

Mexico made a fresh offer to migrants on Friday, telling them they could remain in the country to work. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said in a pre-recorded address that migrants could register for asylum in southern Mexico and obtain temporary identification that would enable them to work and those with children to send the kids to school.

This plan is only for those who comply with Mexican laws, and its a first step towards a permanent solution for those who are granted refugee status in Mexico, Pena Nieto said.

But most migrants rejected the plan and the caravan kept moving forward. Also on Friday, top U.S. official Jim Mattis reportedly authorized sending troops to the border to help prevent the migrants from entering.

From NTD.tv
Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Says Synagogue Crime Scene Horrific

Officials said on Saturday that the shooting at a synagogue in the US city of Pittsburgh is being investigated as a federal hate crime.

A visibly moved Wendell Hissrich, Pittsburghs Public Safety Director, told reporters six people were injured, including four police officers.

None of the wounds to police officers were life threatening, but the other two injured had suffered serious and critical injuries.

Hissrich called it a very horrific crime scene and said it was one of the worst he had seen.

Hissrich said there was no active threat to this community now that the suspected shooter had been taken into custody.
President Trump Calls for Death Penalty After Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting

President Trump has called for the death penalty after 11 innocent people were killed in a deadly shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue on Oct. 27.

The 20-minute attack at Tree of Life Congregation in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood also wounded six people, including four police officers who dashed to the scene to help what were reported to be hostages, authorities said.

Its a terrible thing whats going on with hate in our country, Trump told the press on Oct. 27.

Events in Pittsburgh are far more devastating than originally thought. Spoke with Mayor and Governor to inform them that the Federal Government has been, and will be, with them all the way. I will speak to the media shortly and make further statement at Future Farmers of America.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 27, 2018

Police told local media that the gunman had yelled All Jews must die as he walked into the synagogue and opened fire.

Trump also said that shooters in similar cases involving innocent victims of hate crimes should receive the death penalty. They should pay the ultimate price, he said.

The President added from Andrews Air Force Base on the way to Indianapolis: If they had protection inside, the results would have been far better. If they had some kind of protection inside the temple, maybe it could have been a very much different situation.

They didnt have protection. They had a maniac walk in and they didnt have any protection.

He told reporters that the violence has to stop.

The suspect has been identified as 46-year-old Robert Bowers of Castle Shannon, Pennsylvania. Bowers has been arrested and hospitalized.

The full motive for the shooting is still unclear, although Bowers antisemitic views are becoming clearer as the investigation continues.

A local hospital said it was treating multiple victims. Paul Wood, the chief communications officer for the hospital system, said the patients are receiving care at UPMC Presbyterian.

The synagogue was holding a Shabbat religious service that started at 9:45 a.m. ET, according to the organizations website. Sam Schachner, president of Tree of Life, said in a phone call he had no comment at this time.

Israel has expressed shock and concern and is offering assistance to the local community.

I was heartbroken and appalled by the murderous attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue today: pic.twitter.com/NBMO31lMU2  Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) October 27, 2018

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned the attack.

I was heartbroken and appalled by the murderous attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue today, Netanyahu said in a video message posted on Twitter shortly after news of the attack reached Israel.

Netanyahu says all of Israel is grieving with the families of the dead.

We stand together with the Jewish community of Pittsburgh. We stand together with the American people in the face of this horrendous anti-Semitic brutality. And we all pray for the speedy recovery of the wounded, he added.

Netanyahu posted the same message in Hebrew on Twitter minutes later.

The Associated Press and Charlotte Cuthbertson from the Epoch Times contributed to this report.
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena gestures as he speaks during a meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia March 23, 2017. (Reuters/Kirill Kudryavtsev)

Sri Lanka President Suspends Parliament After Sacking PM as Political Rift Deepens

COLOMBOSri Lankas President Maithripala Sirisena on Saturday suspended parliament till Nov. 16, a day after removing Ranil Wickremesinghe as prime minister and replacing him with former leader Mahinda Rajapaksa in a surprise move that signals escalating political tensions in the South Asian nation.

The president has prorogued the parliament, cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne told reporters.

Minutes earlier Wickremesinghe, who says he remains prime minister, urged the speaker to convene parliament to prove he retained his parliamentary majority.

I have the majority in the parliament, convene the parliament to resolve this, Wickremesinghe told a press conference in Colombo on Saturday, flanked by all his coalition partners except Sirisenas party.

Only parliament can show who has the majority, he said.

The parliament suspension means Wickremesinghe will not immediately have an opportunity to prove his majority, amid speculation that some of his party members would cross over to back Rajapaksa for perks and ministerial portfolios.

The island nations Media and Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera on Friday condemned Rajapaksas appointment as an anti-democratic coup and violation of the constitution.

A delegation of the European Union said on Saturday that it was closely following the events in Sri Lanka.

We urge all parties to fully act in accordance with Sri Lankas constitution, to refrain from violence, to follow due institutional process, to respect the independence of institutions, and freedom of media.

Sirisena administered the oath of office to Rajapaksa on Friday after sacking Wickremesinghe, who was away touring the south of the country. Under Sri Lankas constitution, the prime minister heads parliament and the president has executive powers.

The political rift, which comes amid weakening economic growth in Sri Lanka, follows months of infighting in the ruling coalition.

Relations between Wickremesinghes United National Party (UNP) and Sirisensas United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) have been strained recently after Sirisensa criticized Wickremesinghes for not adequately investigating an assassination plot against the president. The UPFA had threatened to quit the ruling coalition.

Sirisena accused Indias intelligence services of involvement in that plot, a claim New Delhi and Colombo have both denied.

There was no immediate reaction from India which has long seen Sri Lanka, located just off its southern tip, as part of its area of influence. Indias foreign ministry did not respond to a request seeking comment on the change of leadership in Sri Lanka.

India has been concerned about Rajapaksas wooing of Chinahe ushered in billions of dollars of investment from Beijing to help rebuild the country following the end of a 26-year-long civil war against Tamil separatists in 2009.

That investment has since put the island nation deep in debt and forced it to hand over control of a strategic southern port to China, drawing criticism from India and the United States.
Why We Should Learn to Love the Full Stop

If you want to write a good sentence, you must learn to love the full stop. Love it above all other punctuation marks, and see it as the goal toward which the words in your sentence adamantly move.

A sentence, once begun, demands its own completion. As pilots say: takeoff is optional, landing is compulsory. A sentence throws a thought into the air and leaves the reader vaguely dissatisfied until that thought has come in to land.

We read a sentence with the same part of our brains that processes music. Like music, a sentence arranges its elements into an order that should seem fresh and alive and yet shaped and controlled. A good sentence will often frustrate readers just a little, and put them faintly on edge, without ever suggesting that it has lost control of what is being said. As it runs its course, it will assuage some of the frustration and may create more. But by the end, things should have resolved themselves in a way that allows something to be said.

Only when the full stop arrives can the meaning of a sentence be fulfilled. The full stop offers the reader relief, allowing her to close the circle of meaning and take a mental breath.

Full stops also give writing its rhythm. They come in different places, cutting off short and long groups of words, varying the cadencesthose drops in pitch at the sentences end which signal that the sentence, and the sentiment, are done.

A sentence wields more power with a strong stress at the end, where it sticks in the mind and sends a backwash over the words that went before. Weak sentences have weak predicates that come to the full stop with an unresounding phhtt. If you say that something is an interesting factor to consider or should be borne in mind, then the end of your sentence is just mumbly noise, because those things could be said about anything. A sentence with a strong end-stress says that its maker cared how its words fell on the readers ear. It feels fated to end thus, not just strung out to fill the word count.

Press Enter

A good trick, when drafting a piece, is to press enter after every sentence, as if you were writing a poem and each full stop marked a line break. This renders the varied (or unvaried) lengths of your sentences instantly visible. And it foregrounds the full stop, reminding you of its power as the destination and final rest of each sentence. Winston Churchill wrote his speeches like this, in single-sentence lines, to more easily adjust his Augustan rhythms. If you keep pressing enter after every full stop, the music of your writing is easier to hear because now it can also be seen.

We live in an age when the full stop is losing its power. The talky, casual prose of texting and online chat often manages without it. A single-line text needs no punctuation to show that it has ended. Instead of a full stop, we press send. Omitting the full stop gives off an extempore air, making replies seem insouciant and jokes unrehearsed.

But writing is not conversation, nor a speech-balloon text awaiting a response. A written sentence must give words a finished form that awaits no clarification. It must be its own small island of sense, from which the writer has been airlifted and on which no one else need live. We write alone, as an act of faith in words as a way of speaking to others who are elsewhere. So a sentence must be self-supporting. It must go out into the world without the author leaning over the reader to clarify its meaning. Hence the full stop.

A sentence is also a social animal; it feeds off its neighbors to form higher units of sense. It needs a full stop not just to be a sentence, but so the next one can begin. Studies have shown that young people tend to read a full stop in a text as curt or passive-aggressive. On social media, a full stop is often used between every word to sound angrily emphatic: End. Of. Story. But in writing, a full stop is not meant to be the final word in an argument like this. It is a satisfying little click that moves the dial along so the next sentence can pick up where it left off. Its end is also a beginning.

Joe Moran is a professor of English and cultural history at Liverpool John Moores University in Liverpool, England. This article was originally published on The Conversation.
Zuckerberg, Soros, and Bloomberg Among Billionaires Spending Millions on Ballot Initiatives

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, liberal financier George Soros, and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg are three of the dozens of billionaires who have dropped millions of dollars into campaigns for ballot initiatives across the United States.

With less than two weeks left before the November midterm elections, the fresh analysis of state records by the Center of Public Integrity reveals just how much some elite political players want certain initiatives to pass.

The group found that 25 American billionaires have invested more than $70.7 million in campaigns for initiatives in states where the billionaires dont actually reside.

Adding the $7.2 million from the group and other billionaires spent on initiatives in their home states, the group has spent more than 10 percent of the $648 million invested so far in statewide ballot measure campaigns.

The huge investment by billionaires is likely an undercount as it doesnt include gifts from billionaire-led corporations, or nonprofits where billionaires are often among the backers.

More than $70 million has gone to ballot measure campaigns this year from billionaires who live in different states. See what issues they're trying to influence in your state as you cast your ballot.https://t.co/lhcs5Fjz9k  The Center for Public Integrity (@Publici) October 22, 2018

Opponents

The billionaires have backed a number of different campaigns, including a ballot measure in Ohio that would soften penalties for people convicted of drug possession backed by Soros and Zuckerberg. The Facebook CEO and his wife live in California and Hawaii while Soros lives in New York.

We think setting criminal justice policy by constitutional amendment is a terrible idea, and I think what makes it even worse is that its not being proposed by Ohioans. Its being driven by money from out of state, Louis Tobin, the executive director of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association, told the Atlantic, which co-reported the story with the Center of Public Integrity and Business Insider.

Were going to have to live with the unintended consequences of this.

In Arizona, a ballot measure would require utilities to get 50 percent of their power solely from wind and solar sources by 2030. Its backers include Tom Steyer, another billionaire who lives in California.

We believe strongly that a California billionaire coming into Arizona and spending $10 [million] to $20 million to cram this thing down our throats is problematic, said Matthew Benson, an opponent of the measure.

Others, though, note that its not unusual for ballot campaigns to have high-level backing.

The fact is that you need a lot of money to even get one of these campaigns off the ground, said Josh Altic, ballot measures project director for Ballotpedia, adding that the average cost for a campaign to get on the ballot in 2016 was more than $1 million. Its not very unusual to have really rich individuals or financially influential corporations giving a lot of money.

From NTD.tv
WASHINGTON - While much of the White House is obsessed with the midterm elections, Melania Trump is taking a pass on the campaign trail.

In the weeks leading up to the consequential elections, the first lady is spending her time visiting infants in a neonatal ward in Philadelphia, hosting schoolchildren at the White House for a movie screening and preparing for the holiday season.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump is in full-throttle campaign mode, presiding over raucous rallies, tweeting his support for candidates and referring to Democrats as a "mob."

First ladies have been not-so-secret weapons in previous midterm elections. And Melania Trump's immediate predecessors attended fundraisers to help fill their party's coffers and worked to get-out-the vote even when their husband's names weren't on the ballot.

So why isn't Trump - who is more popular that her husband - offering words of support at rallies or standing beside congressional candidates?

"Due to her schedule as a mother and first lady, especially with the holidays coming up, there are no plans for her to campaign at this time," her spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, said in an email.

Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer said potential demand for FLOTUS on the trail would be high - "if she was willing. The list would be endless."

That's the view both parties have traditionally taken of the first lady, whose position typically affords her high visibility, public approval, and a role as the rare White House surrogate who can remain above the political mire of the day.

"First ladies are too valuable not to be recognized and used as scarce resources," said MaryAnne Borrelli, a government professor at Connecticut College and the author of "The Politics of the President's Wife." "Their messaging, their fundraising has proven of extraordinary value to the president."

But Melania Trump's decision to stay out of the midterms isn't surprising to some.

She isn't a natural campaigner, and her role in her husband's 2016 campaign was more limited than that of other candidates' spouses. She has seemed nervous when delivering public remarks, unlike her husband, who relishes the attention of chanting crowds and reporters with outstretched microphones.

"If the first lady wasn't a massive presence on the presidential trail, it's not likely she would be in the midterms," said Republican strategist Doug Heye. "It appears that she isn't terribly interested in campaigning."

Trump has also been thrown off message because of missteps, said Jennifer Lawless, a politics professor at the University of Virginia, recalling the controversial pith helmet the first lady wore in Africa and the "I Really Don't Care, Do U?" jacket she wore as she boarded a plan to visit shelters on the border.

"In some ways, she's a wild card - we don't know what she's going to say or do," Lawless said. "And in the days before an election, candidates want to minimize unknowns and minimize uncertainty."

Story lines that inevitably follow the Trumps could prove a distraction on the campaign trail, too. Heye said that the media often parses the first lady's words, looking for distinctions between the often-silent Melania Trump and her bombastic husband.

"Anytime she speaks, the focus is all about trying to draw a contrast with her and her husband," he said. "That would become one of lead stories of the day - and that's what [campaigns] are trying to avoid."

Modern first ladies have taken varying approaches to midterms, with some holding back in the earliest cycle of their White House tenure. "First ladies have traditionally had a lower profile in the first midterm of their husband's presidency" Borrelli said. "For a lot of reasons people mention - maybe they're saving their political capital for the presidential reelection, or the West Wing is making sure they think they are sufficiently seasoned."

In 2010, Michelle Obama went on a late pre-election sweep, stumping for endangered Senate candidates and headlining a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee fundraiser in a cycle when Democrats were particularly concerned about connecting with female voters. In her stump speech, she sought to strike a less partisan note than typical political combatants, often referring to herself as the "mom-in-chief."

In the hours before the polls opened, she joined a rally in Las Vegas for then-Majority Leader Harry Reid and made get-out-the-vote pitch to students in Philadelphia.

In 2014, with poll numbers notably higher than her husband's, she made appearances on the campaign trail, including in Georgia and Iowa, and she worked on get-out-the-vote efforts and fundraisers. "Make no mistake about it: Barack's last campaign was not in 2012, Barack's last campaign is this year, 2014," she said at a fundraiser in Chicago.

Laura Bush mostly shied away from the campaign trail in 2002, but she hit the trail hard and early in 2006, when she, too, was far more popular than her husband. According to an analysis by Roll Call, Mrs. Bush had headlined more than a dozen events for congressional Republicans by May of that year.

She also did solo appearances and joined her husband in making closing arguments for the GOP in the waning days of the campaign. "People should ask, 'Who is responsible? Who has a responsible view, who of the people that you have the choice to vote for would be the most constructive?'" she said in an interview with C-SPAN following a rally for congressional candidates in New York. "And of course I think that's the Republicans."

That's a sentiment some in the party these days would probably like to hear coming from Melania Trump's lips, too. A spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee referred questions about demand for the first lady to her office.

Rather than spending her time on the campaign trail, Trump has been slowly raising her own profile - using her own playbook. This week, she introduced her husband during an event at the White House marking the passing of legislation aimed at easing the opioid crisis, an issue she has focused on as part of her Be Best initiative.

Such forays follow her inaugural solo trip overseas to Africa earlier this month, where she sat down with ABC, the first such interview since before her husband was elected. "I'm staying true to myself," she told ABC. "I want to live meaningful life. And that's the most important to me. I know what my priorities are."

Her recent willingness to step into the spotlight seems designed to shore up her own platform and causes rather than the GOP's.

"It's clear that it's planned and methodical," Heye said of the first lady's rollout. "She's trying to do this on her own terms."
Dear Abby: A month and a half ago, my boyfriend of five years proposed. We are happy and excited. Most of the wedding party are my friends from college, who are like a family to me. They have also grown very close to my fiance. One friend, Eden, defines herself as a goth. She wears dark lipstick, dark makeup and usually wears all black: lace, fishnets, etc. Her casual wear isnt all that out of place. However, when she dresses up, the goth comes out in full force: parasol, thigh-high boots, over-the-top stuff (at least to me). Shes invited to our wedding, and Im concerned that she may go overboard with her wardrobe for the event. I do not wish to stifle her style or sense of self, but the guests will be mostly family and its a formal event. Is there a polite way to ask her to tone it down a bit? I dont want to hurt her feelings or appear to be stuck up, but I am sure she will be in many of the photos.

Polite Friend in Pennsylvania

Dear Friend: If there will be a wedding party and you have a maid of honor, the responsibility of explaining the dress code to Eden should fall to her  for the reasons you mentioned. Whether Eden takes offense is anybodys guess, but at least the message wont come directly from you. If she chooses to ignore the dress code and come as she is, focus on your happiness and do not let it ruin your day. As for the pictures, put her in the back.

Dear Abby: We live in Las Vegas. Now and then family members in Europe contact us to let us know their adult children will be visiting Vegas and would like to see us. We are retired and would enjoy taking these youngsters out for breakfast or lunch on the Strip. But what usually happens is, we wait and wait and receive no call until their departure, then hear all kinds of excuses about why they couldnt call earlier. This has happened three times now, and our question to you is: What are we supposed to say when they make their departure call?

Ready to Welcome in Vegas

Dear Ready: It is telling that when you receive the initial phone call, it comes from the parents rather than the kids. This is what you should say when the youngsters call: Oh, were so sorry you couldnt fit us into your busy schedule, but we understand. Hope you enjoyed your visit. Let us know when youll be back in town. Bye! Then forget about it!

Dear Abby: We have a storage unit filled with furniture we cant use. I want to sell it or donate it to a charity  provided they come and pick it up. My wife wants to give it to a handyman who has done work for us in the past. My concern is that it might be insulting and imply that he is poor and needs charity. I dont know that he is needy, but he might well be. I just dont want to insult the guy. What do you think?

Just Being Nice

Dear Nice: Offer the furniture to your handyman, and when you do, tell him you no longer need it and wonder if he might know someone who can use it. I dont think that would be offensive or imply that he is needy.
4 hours ago

3 S&P Losers Turned Winners in 2022

Sometimes a bottom must be reached in order for growth to occur. Thats what a handful of S&P 500 companies are hoping as they look ahead to the new year. Its been another memorable record-setting year for the U.S.

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It was September 2017 when German Chancellor Angela Merkel secured a fourth term in office. Yet, despite all her political success and statecraft, it has long been apparent her new  and possibly final  mission would be the most challenging.



Her Christian Democratic Party (CDU) was the clear winner in the Bundestag election without enjoying the impressive percentages of previous federal elections. As a result, Merkel needed to look for political compromises in a public atmosphere of natural fatigue vis-a-vis herself and her party's policies.

Failure to form the so-called Jamaica coalition  with the participation of CDU, its sister party in Bavaria, the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Greens and the Liberals (FDP)  showed how difficult it was for differences to be bridged.

The Greens, but more so the Liberals, sought to impose significant political terms on the national governance plan to demonstrate they wanted a real role not merely satisfying Merkel's demands. Valuable time was lost in delicate negotiations which yielded no fruitful results.

Subsequently, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) showed responsibility. In order to prevent a possible snap election  uncommon in German political culture  it decided to cooperate again with the CDU and the CSU.

A grand coalition was finally established last April, as it had also occurred between 2013 and 2017. The tri-party agreement guaranteed continuity in German politics and eased fears of political instability. However, its long-term sustainability remains questionable.

Merkel's CDU openly disagrees with the CSU led by Interior Minister Horst Seehofer. The management of the refugee crisis and violent related incidents in Chemnitz almost brought down the coalition government. Meanwhile, although the SPD supports the grand coalition as a matter of responsibility, but is paying a high political price.

At the same time, the orientation of the Social Democrats remains unclear as Merkel has managed to integrate most of their policy ideas in the political program of the Christian Democrats.

For their part, German citizens, who sent their first message in the September 2017, have shown their disenchantment when voting in regional elections. The example of Bavaria is telling. The CSU experienced important losses and now needs to politically collaborate with a smaller party, the Free Voters, to form a state government. The SPD saw its percentage fall below 10 percent  another confirmation of its political impasse.

The real winners in Bavaria were the Greens and the Alternative for Germany party (AfD) benefiting from its anti-refugee rhetoric. Merkel and Seehofer downplay the importance of the Bavaria result for the functioning of the German government at the national level, yet both know pressure is rising.

Now, it is the turn of citizens in Hesse to vote. The CDU, SPD and Greens together hope to win enough votes to have the final say over the formation of the local coalition government. However, the CDU and SPD are expected to see their percentages decrease in comparison to the previous election in the state.

By contrast, the Greens have emerged yet again as the only political party able to improve its performance and attract more voters. This will be perhaps a fresh sign that the party will reach a record percentage in the 2021 Bundestag election, although regional elections are always different from the federal one.

Beyond the potential success of the Greens, the Hesse result will be important for two major reasons should both CDU and SPD significantly suffer. First, the CDU December party conference is approaching and Merkel's political domination in the party can no longer be taken for granted.

Second, the SPD might decide to withdraw from the grand coalition in order to play a more constructive role in opposition and better prepare itself for 2021, instead of continuously conceding defeats in the name of assuring political stability in Germany.

If this happens, a minority government will be a likely scenario. The Speaker of the German Parliament, former Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble, has publicly talked about this possibility.

So, it seems clear German politics are undergoing a phase of restructuring. Merkel's political career as CDU leader and Chancellor will sooner or later come to an end and a viable successor has to be identified ready to take over.

Also, the CDU and CSU need to discuss their conservative agenda to stop the rise of AfD. For SPD it is necessary to escape from the political labyrinth in which most social democratic parties in Europe currently find themselves. And, the Greens should no longer function simply as a protest party only.

Thus, Europe's most successful country  Germany  will surely be a political battlefield with wide-ranging repercussions.

George N. Tzogopoulos is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:





http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/GeorgeNTzogopoulos.htm





Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
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President Xi Jinping met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Beijing Friday, calling on both sides to cherish the good momentum in bilateral ties.



Xi welcomed Abe's official visit to China and spoke highly of his positive efforts in improving and developing China-Japan relations in recent years.

"China and Japan, as close neighbors with great converging interests, are major world economies and influential countries," Xi said. "The healthy, steady and long-term development of China-Japan ties is in the fundamental interests of the two countries' people, and represents common expectations of the international community."

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the signing of the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship.

"The treaty, signed by the elder generation of leaders of both countries, established a general direction of lasting peace, friendship between the two countries in the form of law, and provided solid support for both sides to conduct mutual beneficial cooperation, achieve common development, and properly deal with sensitive historical issues and the Taiwan issue," Xi said. "With concerted efforts by both sides, China-Japan ties are back on track and gaining positive momentum. This is worth cherishing."

He called on both countries to "adhere to the various principles affirmed in the four political documents, stick to the general direction of peace and friendship, continue their joint efforts in mutual beneficial cooperation and further develop bilateral ties."

"Under the new situations, China and Japan, increasingly interdependent in bilateral areas, also share more common interests and concerns on multilateral occasions," Xi said.

"Thorough strategic communication should be carried out, and the two countries' dialogue mechanisms should play a better role via diverse channels at multiple-levels, so that each side can precisely grasp the other's development and strategic intentions."

The two sides should effectively implement the consensus that they are partners rather than mutual threats, facilitate positive interactions, and deepen mutual political trust, Xi said.

The Chinese president also called for tapping the potential of higher-level cooperation.

"As China continues its reform and opens its door even wider to the world, more opportunities have emerged in China's cooperation with countries including Japan," Xi told Abe. "Japan is welcome to participate in China's progress in the new era."

He expressed his hope of facilitating people-to-people exchanges between China and Japan, boosting mutual understanding, and encouraging the young to strive for friendship between both countries.

"China and Japan should interact more actively in the security area, foster constructive security relations, and pursue the path of peace and development for regional peace and stability," Xi said.

He called on the two sides to cooperate closely in the international arena, expand common interests, promote regional economic integration, jointly combat global challenges, safeguard multilateralism and uphold free trade and construct an open world economy.

Xi reiterated the importance of keeping promises, noting that China and Japan should "act on the basis of their four political documents and consensus, deal with problems and differences constructively, so as to maintain the political foundation guiding healthy development of bilateral ties."

Abe voiced his pleasure at paying an official visit to China at the "important moment" of the 40th anniversary of the signing of the treaty.

"It is hoped that through this visit, the two sides will usher in a new era when 'competition is transformed into coordination,'" Abe said.

As close neighbors, Japan and China should push forward bilateral ties on the basis of the principles set in their four political documents and in the spirit of "cooperating in a mutual-beneficial way and never posing a threat to each other," he said.

The two countries should contribute to regional and international peace, as well as free trade, he suggested.

Saying Japan welcomes and supports China's efforts in furthering opening-up, Abe expressed Japan's willingness to intensify exchanges with China to lay the social foundation to improve bilateral ties.

The Japanese prime minister called on both sides to manage differences properly and make joint efforts to maintain regional stability and prosperity.

Calling the Belt and Road Initiative "promising", Abe said Japan was willing to beef up cooperation with China in wide areas, including the exploration of third-party markets.
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China is dissatisfied with and opposes groundless accusations by a U.S. senator that it is severely violating the human rights of religious minorities, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Friday.

In a recent op-ed in Politico Magazine, U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley accused China of massively violating the human rights of its religious minorities, saying that fighting for religious liberty should be a central part of the U.S.-China relationship.

"I'm very surprised and regretful about the senator's ignorance and prejudice toward China, and I'm very dissatisfied with and firmly oppose his groundless accusations," spokesperson Hua Chunying told a routine press briefing.

"It is an undeniable fact that the people of all ethnic groups in China enjoy full freedom of religious beliefs in accordance with the law," she added.

Hua said religions in China mainly include Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism and Christianity, and there are nearly 200 million religious citizens, more than 380,000 people ordained for religious duties and more than 140,000 sites for religious activities registered in accordance with the law.

"China's policies regarding religions and ethnic affairs have received support from people of all ethnic groups," she said.

The spokesperson also listed a number of issues related to the human rights situation of religious and ethnic minorities in the United States.

Citing poll statistics from Gallup and Pew, Hua said 42 percent of U.S. citizens are extremely concerned about ethnic relations in the country, with 58 percent of respondents saying they believe racism is a serious problem and 75 percent of American Muslims saying there is a lot of discriminations against Islam in the country. A quarter of African Americans and one-tenth of Latinos, meanwhile, said they had been harassed based on their race or ethnicity.

China hopes that certain Americans can objectively and comprehensively acknowledge their own problems to do with religion and ethnicity, and do more constructive things to promote mutual understanding, trust, friendship and cooperation between the two countries, Hua said.
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Turkish prosecutors on Friday demanded the extradition of 18 Saudi suspects who were arrested in Saudi Arabia a week ago over their alleged roles in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, local media reported.

The broadcaster NTV said the Istanbul Public Prosecutor's Office submitted the extradition request to Turkey's justice ministry to be delivered to Saudi officials.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier on the day said Saudi Arabia's chief prosecutor would visit Istanbul on Sunday as part of the investigation of the case.

The Saudi journalist has not been seen since he entered the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2 to obtain documents related to his upcoming remarriage.

Riyadh has confirmed Khashoggi's death inside its consulate while Turkish police have been searching for clues about the whereabouts of his body across the city.
Construction crane driver found hanged after Cambodian wife leaves with baby

PHUKET: A construction crane driver was found hanged in his rented room in Kamala last night (Oct 26) in what police have deemed a suicide after the mans wife had left him, taking their baby with her.



By Eakkapop Thongtub

Saturday 27 October 2018, 12:06PM

Police and rescue workers at the scene last night (Oct 26). Photo: Kamala Police

Lt Col Somnuk Keawdum of the Kamala Police was called to the scene, a rented room on the second floor of a building in Moo 5 Kamala, at 10:05pm.

Police arrived with a team of Kamala rescue workers and were told by friends of the deceased, Jakkapat Meekrun, 38, from Phetchabun, that they had climbed up outside the building to look through a window and had seen their friend Mr Jakkapat hanged by a black rope inside the room.

The rescue workers climbed up and looked through the window and confirmed the report, before breaking open the door to enter the room.

Inside the room was Mr Jakkapat hanged by a black rope tied to a breeze block with holes for ventilation near the entrance to the room.

Police reported that they found no wounds on Mr Jakkapats body to indicate a struggle, and no signs of a struggle inside the room.

Police estimated the Mr Jakkapat died about three hours before they arrived.

Mr Jakkapats body was taken to Patong Hospital.

The owner of the rented-room building told police that Mr Jakkapat lived in the room with his wife and their baby for about eight months.

The wife moved out about three days ago, the owner said.

Somchai Mutjaron, a friend of Mr Jakkapat, told officers that Mr Jakkapat was a crane driver for construction company that was building a hotel in Moo 3 Kamala.

Mr Jakkapat lived in the room with his wife, who was from Cambodia, he said.

Mr Jakkapat told him yesterday that he was going to send his wife back home, Mr Somchai explained.

At 7pm Mr Jakkapat called Mr Somchai and told him that his wife had left him.

At 9pm, friends called Mr Jakkapat, but he did not answer the phone. Concerned, the friends came to his room, but the door was locked and no one answered their shouts through the door  and so they climbed up the outside of the buildnig to look inside the room, Mr Somchai said.

After seeing their friend hanged by the rope, they called the village chief, who called the police, he added.

Police have deemed Mr Jakkapats death a suicide due to emotional distress.
Free to fall: No extra safety precautions for rock climbers despite American tourists death

PHUKET: Officials at the Hat Noppharat Thara - Mu Koh Phi Phi National Park, the Krabi Tourist Police and even the Ao Nang Tambon Administration Organisation (OrBorTor) all will do nothing to help prevent another rock climbing accident at Railay Beach, famed for its sheer rock faces that visiting tourists scale while on holiday in the area.

tourismSafety

By Tavee Adam

Saturday 27 October 2018, 09:00AM

A rock climber hangs from one of the sheer rock faces at Ao Nang. Photo: Chen Hu

The confirmation that no extra precautionary measures will be taken for rock climbers follows the death of American tourist Priell Schmalbach, who fell while climbing at Railay Beach last Tuesday (Oct 16).

He was recovered from the scene unconscious, never to wake again. His family asked for Mr Schmalbach to be taken off life support last Wednesday night (Oct 17). (See stories here and here.)

The Phuket News was informed by a family friend that Mr Schmalbach was on his honeymoon after being married on Oct 6.

Lt Col Attapong Sanjaiwut of the Krabi Tourist Police confirmed to The Phuket News last Thursday (Oct 18) that an investigation into Mr Schmalbachs death had been conducted by the Krabi Tourist Police and the Ao Nang Police.

We have inspected the scene and questioned his (Mr Schmalbachs) wife, Col Attapong said.

The investigation concluded that Mr Schmalbach fell by accident, he added.

However, Col Attapong later confirmed to The Phuket News, Rock climbing at Railay is an issue under the responsibility of the national park. The Tourist Police have already (told) rock climbing clubs to do their best to look after tourists, and the climbing operators have many activities for preparing tourists before they climb and they know how to make it safe for their customers.

The warnings and request for local rock climbing operators to do their best to look after tourists came after a slew of incidents last year that saw three tourists suffer broken arms and legs in falls while rock climbing at Railay, and another tourist recovered comatose never reported as regaining consciousness.

Every single incident was regarded as the result of carelessness by the tourists themselves.

Regardless, signs were installed to warn tourists of the dangers and local rock climbers were asked to provide the necessary assistance  paid or otherwise  in helping to make the sport safer, Col Attapong said.

Col Attapong on Monday told The Phuket News, With the cases (of tourists being injured or dying) that have happened since last year until last week, the people who fell prepared their own equipment and chose the location to climb themselves.

So it is hard for us to control even hotels have difficulty helping with this as the tourists bring their own climbing gear packed away until they bring it to a place to climb and then finally have an accident and fall," he said.

"If the Tourist Police meet or learn of any persons looking to go rock climbing, we will advise them to first speak with an operator, because they (operators) know which places are dangerous point and which places are safer for them to climb, he added.

THE DANGER OF IGNORANCE

Worapoj Lomlim, Chief of Hat Noppharat Thara - Mu Koh Phi Phi National Park, said he was aware of tourists independently entering the park to climb the edifices at Railay, but also incredibly said that he was unaware that rock-climbing operators were conducting  and charging tourists for  rock-climbing adventures at Railay.

I have ordered park officers to check on these rock climbing operators  who they are and where they come from. This is because I actually have never allowed this activity in our area, Chief Worapoj said.

Many of the climbers came by themselves without any operators and our officers have no knowledge about them, so in this case we have told our network (sic) to take care for my officers, because the number of my officers is less than the number of tourists, was all he would say to The Phuket News in a call earlier this week.

Chief Worapojs claim that he has no knowledge of any operators conducting rock-climbing tours at Railay, or elsewhere within the park boundaries (see map here) defies belief, with a simple search online bringing up within seconds a slew of operators to choose from.

One operator openly charges B1,000 for a half-day tour and B1,800 for a full-day tour, another offers free hotel and airport transfers  and yet another even has a TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence for providing years of outstanding service to its customers.

Of note, Sarayuth Tansathien, who Mr Worapoj replaced as Chief of the Nopparat Thara  Phi Phi Islands National Park, in January 2016 told the Bangkok Post that rock climbing was offered legally at Railay Beach.

That nugget was revealed as Mr Sarayuth threatened legal action against nine tour operators for providing rock-climbing tours without trained supervisors on Phi Phi Don Island. (See story here.)

Mr Sarayuth was called in to become the park chief after his predecessor, Chaithach Boonphupantanti, was transferred pending an investigation into alleged misappropriation of an estimated B30 million a month in park fees. (See story here.)

BUSINESS CONTINUES TO CLIMB

Last year the sheer volume of tourists coming to Railay to climb the rock faces was openly recognised by the Ao Nang OrBorTor, the local government administration responsible for the area.

Pankum Kittithornkul, the Chief Administration Officer (Palad) at the Ao Nang OrBorTor at the time, explained to The Phuket News, Climbing at Ao Nang is very popular. More than 5,000 people go there each year to climb.

Mr Pankum also admitted that many such incidents happened within Hat Noppharat Thara - Mu Koh Phi Phi National Park each year.

This week, Issara Ngampradit, Deputy Palad at the Ao Nang OrBorTor, told The Phuket News, The Ao Nang OrBorTor has coordinated with an Ao Railay tourism operators club  which includes rock climbing operators  to make rock climbing at Railay as safe as possible.

Rock climbing is a special skill, but we always emphasise for them (the operators) to try their best to make it as safe as possible, he said.

We are currently working on having a professional rescue team to help people for next time, he added.
Development company works to increase allure of Watertown

At the heart of Watertown's growth and development is a company that continues to play a significant role in making change happen.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid an official diplomatic visit to Oman where he met with Sultan Qaboos bin Said, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on Friday.

Prime Minister Netanyahu's visit to Oman is the first official meeting at this level since 1996, said the statement.

The statement said Netanyahu and his wife returned to Israel on Friday from an "official diplomatic visit" to Oman. They were invited to visit by Oman's ruler, Sultan Qaboos bin Said, after lengthy contacts between the two countries.

A joint statement was made following Netanyahu's visit, said the PMO's statement.

"Among the issues discussed were ways to advance the peace process in the Middle East as well as several matters of joint interest regarding the achievement of peace and stability in the Middle East," noted the joint statement.

The prime minister's visit is a "significant step" in implementing the policy outlined by Netanyahu on "deepening relations with the states of the region while leveraging Israel's advantages in security, technology and economic matters," said the PMO's statement.

Israeli other high-ranking officials including Mossad Director Yossi Cohen, National Security Adviser and National Security Council Director Meir Ben-Shabbat, Foreign Ministry Director General Yuval Rotem, the head of the Prime Minister's staff Yoav Horowitz, and the Prime Minister's Military Secretary Brig.-Gen. Avi Bluth also participated in the visit.

Israeli media called Netanyahu's visit to Oman "a secret visit" and quoted Palestinian reports as saying that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas also paid a visit to Oman earlier this week.

So far, Israel and Oman do not have diplomatic relations. Netanyahu's visit was the first meeting between leaders of the two countries since 1996. Israeli former premier Yitzhak Rabin made a similar surprise visit to Oman in 1994.
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CALGARYAs another cold Alberta winter approaches, and with flu season already here, people looking for immediate care have another online tool they can turn to.

Earlier this year, the Montreal-based mobile app DOCTR launched in Alberta. The app provides users with regularly updated live wait times at local hospitals and a listing of walk-in clinics with information about whether these clinics are full or accepting patients.

The app doesnt have wait times listed for every hospital in the province yet, but does leave an option for users to provide ratings and reviews, and gives alternative options for care based on distance.

DOCTR had been operating in Quebec since 2015 before spreading to five other provinces this year. While DOCTR has had to create working relationships with municipal and provincial governments to find accurate wait times in other regions, in Alberta, the app sources hospital wait times from publicly available information collected by Alberta Health Services (AHS).

These wait-time estimates are available through the AHS website and on its mobile app, but DOCTR spokesperson Alex Park said their service is faster and more convenient to use across the country.

If any Albertans have to go to other provinces, they can access cross-provincial data, Park said, adding DOCTR has about 300,000 monthly users. Load times are faster, its more frequently updated, the interface is easier to use. Were taking what is already there in the public setting and making it easier and faster to use.

Despite drawing its information from AHS, the provincial health authority confirmed there was no working relationship between the two. Because of this, a representative of AHS said theyre unable to comment on the apps reliability or features.

Sandra Azocar, executive director of the Alberta health-care non-profit Friends of Medicare, said the app isnt providing any new information to users that AHS doesnt already provide, but said she saw the appeal of the app.

People live in a society where we want access to immediate information, so these app developers tap into a need, Azocar said. But if theyre using the same data as Alberta Health Services is providing them with, then the information is already there. This just makes it easier.

DOCTR had a soft launch of the app in Alberta in May, before it was fully launched, and started tracking hospital times with a full launch in August. Once theyve been operating in Alberta for longer, the team at DOCTR say theyll be able to collect stronger research comparing wait times across the province.

As of now, Quentin Gay a co-founder of DOCTR said its also difficult comparing wait times between provinces with different governments providing different levels of transparency.

Some hospitals will share multiple wait times, depending on what the level of emergency is. Some other provinces will give you a range, and some provinces will give you how busy they are right now without trying to give you an estimate, Gay said.

One of our goals of raising awareness is trying to have everybody using the same methods so people can calculate and compare.

DOCTR also directs users to the web service Maple, which provides online consultations with licensed doctors. Azocar was critical of this partnership, because Maple charges a monthly fee for users to access it and receive services that should otherwise be free in Canada.

It becomes a bit of a concern when you marketize services that are available within our public health-care system, Azocar said.

It begets more questions than answers when you are providing services that should be free under a public health-care system and charging users a monthly fee.

Gay said the partnership with Maple is a good fit for them, because Maple provides 24/7 consultation for its users. He added that private medical consultation has been beneficial in the apps home province of Quebec.

Im an advocate for public health care, but the private care in Quebec has proven it drives innovation, Gay said. And second, it absorbs the excess of demands from the public when there is too much to manage. It relieves the public system. Weve found here in Quebec, thats whats happening. Id say its a necessary evil, in a way.

Brett Belchetz, co-founder and CEO of Maple, has heard this criticism often, but said he started the service to address a problem with primary care. He said that to see a doctor immediately via video or by through online messages isnt a service covered by health-care services in many parts of the country.

Were forced to charge privately because thats the only way the service can be funded to pay for the doctors time, Belchetz said.

This just isnt a covered service, which is why its something thats charged for privately. My aspiration is that at some point in time by providing this and showing that it works, it will become a covered service and something that can be billed for through the government.

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EDMONTONMore than 1,000 Alberta New Democrats have descended on Edmonton for the partys annual convention this weekend.

The party has a full schedule for the meeting, which began Friday at the Westin in downtown Edmonton. At the convention, which runs through until Sunday, there are 92 resolutions for delegates to vote on looking at big issues like education, racism, energy, health care, and the economy.

But its also a chance for the governing NDP to springboard itself into full-blown campaign mode, said Lori Williams, a political scientist at Mount Royal University in Calgary.

This is meant to generate momentum and energy amongst the NDP base, and (Premier) Rachel Notley clearly is looking forward to this stage as sort of being a launching pad for the campaign, Williams said.

Climate and the economy seem to be the big-ticket items voters will focus on in the spring election, said Williams.

And the NDP has a stocked menu of resolutions dealing with how the party can help set itself up for success in the 2019 provincial election.

The NDP has got an uphill battle to persuade Albertans that the investments that they have made, and that theyre promising to sustain, are going to be better for Alberta economically, said Williams.

There are a number of resolutions that deal with the economy set to be voted on over the weekend by delegates.

Resolutions are drawn up by riding associations or special interest caucuses within the party and voted on during the convention so that, down the road, they can be made policy if passed.

One resolution is asking that the government diversify the provinces energy economy: investing in increases to pipeline capacity, making more refineries able to process Alberta bitumen, and investing in feedstock infrastructure.

Another proposes having 50 per cent renewable energy by 2040. Currently, Alberta is committed to 30 per cent of the provinces electricity being generated by renewable energy by 2030.

Williams said economic topics will be big talkers during the election, and while Alberta has the fastest-growing economy in the country, people are still hurting.

She said its those folks who wont put up with the NDP going over the strength of the economy as a talking point without a plan of action.

However, the party is dealing with some economic resolutions over the weekend that could play a role in its election platform.

The NDP has proposed resolutions encouraging the government to further advocate for the steel industry; support for the softwood lumber industry in resolving the ongoing dispute between the Canadian and American governments; and asking the government to get Trans Mountain constructed using union labour.

Another motion asks the government to support the pipeline and other infrastructure projects and adhere to the values of social licence that Premier Notley has implemented.

But action on the climate will also be front of mind for voters come 2019.

The big-ticket issue has Opposition Leader Jason Kenneys United Conservative Party and Notleys NDP divided more than any other, said Williams.

Williams said the NDPs position on the carbon tax is firm, but recently the rhetoric from the UCP makes her think Kenney is just spoiling for a fight, and she said she doesnt know if voters will go for that.

Recently, Kenney said he would defend Albertas energy interests  a good goal, said Williams  but hes proposing to do it in a way that wont win him any friends in Ottawa or Quebec, putting further energy projects (like Energy East) in jeopardy.

Kenney outlined some of his plans in a speech to the Canadian Club of Calgary earlier this month.

I would immediately set up a communications war room in the department of energy that will be well-resourced and tasked with responding in real time to the lies and myths and smears told about our energy industry around the world, Kenney said.

On social media, through earned media, through paid media, we will put the muscle of the government of Alberta behind a serious campaign.

Notleys position has been clear, said Williams  that the carbon tax stays in place. But without the Trans Mountain pipeline, her situation becomes shaky.

Ultimately, the convention will help inject energy and enthusiasm into the party in the hopes it gets prepared for the coming election campaign.

We might get a bit of a sense of the energy and enthusiasm within the party, some of the ideas they want to pursue, she said, but I dont think were going to get a really strong sense.

Williams said the real sense of where the NDP will aim its artillery in the election will come during the fall legislative sitting due to start Monday, the day after the convention.

With files from Andrew Jeffrey, StarMetro Calgary

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Say, Mister, can you tell me where I can find Santa Claus?

The quote rings with antiquity, placing the reader in a winter long ago. A light snow is settling on the City of Toronto. The signing of the armistice has brought fresh joy. Soldiers returned to Halifax on the Aquitania are due this very evening at north Toronto station. The promise of long-term peace is delivering economic optimism (the price of wool has dropped as much as 30 per cent) and war brides are eagerly arriving, including Mrs. T. Miller, a little Scotch woman from Stirling. On Dec. 3, 1918, the sun will set at 4:43 p.m.

Two young boys make their way from humble homes in the citys east end toward the King St. West premises of The Toronto Daily Star, the citys largest newspaper. At the corner of Yonge and Adelaide, Holt Renfrew & Co. is advertising Christmas furs  ermine neckpieces for children, and barrel muffs for $100. At Simpsons, a boys overcoat retails for $13.50. At 18 King St. West, the presses are running.

The boys find their way down a long corridor to the newsroom. A reporters account: They were real boys, two fine, manly little chaps, even if their clothes were a little ragged and their faces not over clean, and their boots could have been more intimately acquainted with blacking. Why, not even the roar of the presses below could dim the brightness of their eyes or frighten away the alertness of their manner.

The premises of the Star were not an illogical place of inquiry for two boys alert to the hunt for Santa Claus. The papers Santa Claus Fund was a consistent winter presence with its call for donations and its name-by-name recitation of those who had stepped forward to give. A business woman $1. Six well wishers $9. Chas C. Turner $25. A little boy whose daddy lies in Flanders $1.

The boys in the newspaper account would remain anonymous, and their story would play on the front page.

One boy told the newspaperman of losing his father to influenza and how his impoverished mother was trying to make do. The story echoed that of Star founder Joseph E. Atkinson, whose own widowed mother struggled to feed and clothe eight children, a background that shaped Atkinsons attentiveness to the plight of the disenfranchised and the power of civic action. Under Atkinson the Star founded the Santa Claus Fund in 1906.

A dozen years later a surprised reporter was asked if he knew where Santa might be. The unnamed reporter pondered this: When I was a kiddie Santa Claus came looking for me.

Poverty upended that relationship, as it does.

Assurances were given that Santa would indeed find this boy, who responded, Mister, will you fix up my friend too?

Neither boy would know of the gathering of volunteers working away in the basement of Massey Hall that winter of 1918, packing up parcels with biscuits, a toy, an item of clothing (donated by Eatons), candies and a lovely navel orange.

Seven thousand boxes. Seven thousand children.

Kings may come and Kaisers may go, but Santa Claus must not be permitted to abdicate in the realm of childhood, decreed the Star, sensibly.

It has been this papers mission ever since to continue with the Santa Claus Fund. Contributing to the fund, the Star said a century ago, is a privilege open to everybody.

Peace did not hold.

But poverty did.

Today the goal for the Santa Claus Fund stands at $1.7 million.

Forty-five thousand boxes. Forty-five thousand children.

The Star has been a beacon, a light over time in consistently understanding this issue, consistently trying to help, says John Boynton, chief executive officer of Torstar Corp.

That task falls to all of us.

To our repeat mayor with his eye on his own legacy. To corporate leaders. To you and me.

Hopefully we can motivate other CEOs and other companies to join us in doing whatever they can do to help, Boynton says. I just worry that everyones moved off that file a little bit.

That file, as Boynton refers to it, is the day to day, the here and now, immediate needs. I think there are a lot of good causes out there but I think at the high end of the list, the top of the list should be those who have been marginalized, those who just struggle day to day If I could say anything to other CEOs it would be, Dont lose the fact that theres still the most basic need out there. 

What he has observed is the tendency to gravitate toward the long term. But how do we help them tomorrow? he asks of those in need. Somehow thats become less appealing or less of a focus or less attractive for politicians and corporations. I think we have to get back to some basics.

Boynton mentions opulence and inequality and how at no point is the disparity more magnified than during the holiday season.

A century ago two boys ferried their worries across town to a newsroom that cared.

What would happen on that day, they fretted?

What would happen on that one day?

The Star helped.

So can you.
OTTAWACanadian politicians and Jewish groups expressed sympathy for the victims and condemnation for the shooter after an attack at a synagogue in Pittsburgh on Saturday left 11 people dead and six others wounded.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned the mass shooting, which took place during a baby-naming ceremony at the Tree of Life synagogue in the citys Squirrel Hill neighbourhood, as a horrific anti-Semitic attack.

Canadians hearts are with the Jewish community in Pittsburgh today, Trudeau wrote in a post on Twitter. May the families of those murdered be comforted, and may the injured recover quickly and fully.

Meanwhile, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale tweeted that he shares the deep anguish in the Jewish community, adding, If Canada can help, we will.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said she was horrified by the shooting and called on Canadians to stand together against hatred, intolerance, anti-Semitism and violence.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer wrote that he was praying for those affected, while the NDPs Jagmeet Singh said his heart breaks for the Jewish community in Pittsburgh.

Both opposition leaders also called for Canadians to stand firmly against hate and anti-Semitism.

Some of Canadas premiers also weighed in, with Ontarios Doug Ford saying we must work together to defeat anti-Semitism and bigotry in all its forms, and newly minted Quebec Premier Francois Legault calling for people to unite against hatred and racism.

British Columbias John Horgan described the incident as a deep violation of safety and security, while Albertas Rachel Notley said her heart is with all victims, their loved ones and everyone affected.

American officials said one person is in custody, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the Justice Department intends to file hate crime and other charges against him.

The suspect, identified by police as 46-year-old Robert Bowers of Pittsburgh, appears to have made virulent anti-Semitic posts on a social media platform popular with far-right extremists  including one made shortly before the attack.

Canadian Jewish groups were quick to condemn the shooting, which the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs called a despicable and cowardly attack.

The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies expressed heartfelt condolences to all affected families, and said it was praying for a Refuah Shlema, or speedy recover, for the injured.

Both groups also praised Canadian law enforcement agencies for their swift response to the attack, while reiterating that there was no direct threat to any Jewish community centre or house of worship in Canada.

In the wake of the Pittsburgh shooting, some Canadian police departments said they were increasing officer visibility around Jewish facilities.

York regional police, north of Toronto, and Ottawa police said there was no increased threat, but they were monitoring Jewish community centres and synagogues as a precaution.

The departments said they were also increasing officer presence to help ease concerns from the community in response to the shooting.

Toronto police said they made adjustments to local security, with Chief Mark Saunders tweeting that the force stands with our Jewish community condemning the senseless violence against those in Pittsburgh.

A spokesman for the Vancouver Police Department said in an emailed statement that the force was in contact with the citys Jewish Federation, and would continue to liaise with the community and offer support.
Every night the TTC closes its subway to the roughly 700,000 customers who ride it every day, but that doesnt mean the system goes quiet.

The transit agency has a small army of about 325 track workers who spread out across the network and descend into the subway tunnels nightly to perform vital work that keeps the system humming during daylight hours, including replacing track, repairing signals and inspecting the lines.

Tom Dedes was one of those people. A 50-year-old TTC track worker with 18 years experience, he made his living working on the transit system after most of the city had gone to sleep.

In the early hours of Oct. 1, 2017, he and his crew were at the TTCs McCowan yard loading a rail car with equipment for a track maintenance job on the Scarborough RT.

The operator of the car got the signal to proceed and, in accordance with procedure, sounded his horn twice to alert the crew, according to a police report. He advanced the car slowly, moving at about 1 km/h. The operator didnt get far before he heard screaming, and a warning bell telling him to stop.

The TTC later said the rail car took a turn in the track the rear end swung out and hit Dedes, pinning him against a truck. According to the police report, the force of the impact pushed the truck upwards onto its two wheels, with the victim in between both vehicles.

Read more:

TTC faces workplace safety charges in death of track worker

TTC worker dies of injuries after McCowan accident

Transit workers demand meeting with TTC over subway pollution

Dedes pelvis was crushed and he suffered serious internal injuries. He survived the initial trauma, but died in hospital eight days later.

Dedes was the third TTC track worker to be killed on the job between 2007 and 2017. The circumstances of each accident were different, but all three involved rail cars, and all occurred during the night shift when TTC workers face what one transit agency report described as a race against time to carry out their duties.

Separate Ontario ministry of labour investigations into two of the deaths  that of Dedes, as well as the 2007 fatal accident that killed a worker named Tony Almeida  found the TTC had failed to take every precaution necessary for the protection of workers, and the province laid workplace safety charges against the transit agency in those cases. In the third, the 2012 death of Peter Pavlovski, the ministry found a more minor violation of workplace safety legislation but decided not to recommend charges.

The TTC pled guilty and paid a $250,000 fine in the Almeida case. The Dedes case is still before the courts. The TTC has said it will respond appropriately to the charges, but hasnt said whether it will fight them.

A Star investigation into the fatalities that included examining previously unpublished ministry of labour reports found the ministry concluded in 2013 that the TTC wasnt adequately tracking potentially dangerous near miss incidents at track level, and the provinces investigator wrote that there was a code of silence among unionized transit employees that discouraged them from reporting unsafe situations for fear of getting coworkers in trouble.

Years after those safety concerns were raised, there is indication the TTC hasnt fully addressed them, and as recently as last year sources say officials at the agency were alarmed by a lack of compliance with basic safety procedures. Meanwhile, the time constraints faced by overnight track crews have only become tighter as the aging subway is in greater need of repair.

Stuart Green, a spokesperson for the transit agency, said the TTC does everything possible to protect employees, and does not believe there is a culture of secrecy in its workforce.

He said the agency has numerous protocols and policies in place to keep workers safe, including providing them with extensive training and protective equipment, holding monthly safety talks, conducting safety briefings each and every time workers go into the system, and performing frequent site visits to ensure all policies are followed. He said crews are not assigned more work than is manageable on a night shift.

Safety is paramount in all we do, he said.

The union, while conceding that it sometimes seeks to protect individual members from discipline, said it encourages workers to report safety hazards and works with management to address them.

The deaths of Almeida, Pavlovski and Dedes have been devastating for their loved ones, with some saying the charges have led them to question whether the accidents could have been prevented.

Its a question that haunts Dedess brother, George.

George Dedes had a mental breakdown about six months after Toms death. He said hes lost 60 pounds and is in counselling.

I still cant deal with Toms passing, George said. We dont want to see other people going through what were going through.

***

On a recent Thursday morning, a crew of 28 men (almost all track workers are male) was dispatched to the eastbound section of tunnel between Dufferin and Ossington stations to replace a worn-out stringer, a 390-foot section of rail.

The tunnel was dim, lined with grime, and lit by sparsely placed fluorescent bulbs near the ceiling, as well as a handful of portable lights brought by the crew. On this unusually warm October night, it was hot underground, and at times the sound of hammering and sawing made it difficult to converse in anything below a shout.

While in many ways the subway has modernized, much of the work it requires is still performed the way it would have been on a railroad 100 years ago. To replace the rail, the men knock out the metal clips that fasten it to the tunnel floor using sledgehammers, and then use tonglike devices called carryalls to hoist it out of place.

A stringer weighs about 13,000 pounds, and has to be lifted in sections. On each section, the workers lined up shoulder-to-shoulder on either side of the rail, each one grasping one end of a carryall. One worker stood at the head of the line and shouted Are you ready?!

Yeah! the men hollered back.

Are you ready?!

Yeah!

On the count of One, two, three! they heaved the rail out of its ties. After the entire stringer had been removed, workers lifted the replacement rail into place.

The track crews have little time to do their work. On weeknights trains start to go off-duty from revenue service at around 1:30 a.m. and head back to yards across the network, before being sent out again around 5 a.m.

Overnight crews access job sites on work cars that travel the same track as the subways, and its a complicated task to co-ordinate the incoming passenger trains with the outgoing work cars. Crews often have little more than three hours to get to their site, finish the assigned job, and head back to the yard.

Theres a lot of things that are competing. Track time is precious. You dont get a lot of it. You cant waste it, said Jim Ross, the TTCs acting chief operating officer, in an interview. Ross was appointed to the role in April, but has spent 20 years at the TTC, starting as a subway operator.

The amount of work that needs to be done in those precious hours has only grown in recent years, both because the aging system requires more maintenance, and as a result of major new projects like the installation of the automatic train control signalling system. TTC officials say that a decade-and-a-half ago they used to set up about 15 work zones each night, but now need to co-ordinate 30 to 40.

Theres a lot of hazards in the tunnel, Ross said. To allow for any kind of wiggle room on work methods and procedures is not acceptable. You have to stay focused on: this is a dangerous job.

Ross was in Dedes hospital room shortly before the worker died, and said that his passing has spurred him to double down on improving safety at the TTC.

For me, that was a very focusing moment, Ross said. He said he is always looking for ways to improve safety. The best question to ask is, what else can we be doing?

For the past decade, the deadliest hazard for TTC track workers has been the work cars they travel on. The TTC has about 80 of the vehicles, which can weigh at least 118,000 pounds.

On Apr. 23, 2007, Almeida, a 38-year-old equipment operator, was killed while driving a three-car work train. At around 4:35 a.m., he and an 11-member crew were returning to Greenwood yard at the end of an overnight asbestos abatement shift on Line 1, when a scaffold extension on the car ahead of the one Almeida was operating snagged on the side of the tunnel.

According to a previously unpublished October 2007 ministry of labour report, a redacted copy of which the Star obtained through a freedom of information request, the contact caused the scaffold to rise out of its mounting, and then flip into the operating cab of Almeidas car, causing crushing damage to the operator.

At around 4:44 a.m. on Sept. 14, 2012, Pavlovski, an experienced 49-year-old TTC roadmaster, was killed when he was struck by a work car while performing an inspection on track north of Yorkdale station. Pavlovski was on a section of track that hadnt been designated a work zone, according to the TTC, and neither transit control nor the crews on duty knew he was there.

Each of the three deaths sparked investigations by both the TTC and the ministry of labour. The TTC released its reports about Almeida and Pavlovski. The Star obtained redacted copies of the ministry of labour reports on those two incidents through a freedom of information request. Neither the TTC nor the ministry has yet released their investigations into Dedes death.

In Almeidas case, the ministry determined the TTC didnt have proper rail car inspection procedures in place. Following his death, the agency took the type of work car he was driving out of service until they could be made safer, hired a consultant firm to improve its workplace safety culture, and implemented a drug testing policy (Almeida was found to have had cannabis in his system, although that wasnt identified as a primary cause of the accident).

The findings of the ministrys investigation into Pavlovskis death are heavily redacted in the version obtained by the Star. But the TTCs investigation determined a primary cause of the accident was Pavlovskis failure to notify his colleagues he was on an unprotected stretch of track.

However, the ministry investigator concluded the TTC had violated the Occupational Health and Safety Act as the headlights on the work car that struck him were misaligned and weak, illuminating an area just six metres in front of the car. Charges werent recommended in part because the investigator found lighting wasnt the main cause of death.

After Pavlovskis death, the TTC revised its work area warning system to better protect track workers.

Both the ministry and TTC investigations into Pavlovskis death raised wider concerns about safety culture at the transit agency, including what they described as inadequate reporting and tracking of so-called near miss incidents  cases in which there was the potential for serious injury but no one was actually harmed.

The TTC report, released in 2013, said the agency did a good job of tracking serious accidents, but placed less focus on near misses, meaning there was incomplete information available to supervisors and workers to assess the actual risk of (employee) behaviour, such as accessing tracks without permission.

The ministry investigator wrote that in the course of examining the incident that killed Pavlovski, he became aware of at least four other near miss incidents involving track level workers, three of which occurred in the three months after Pavlovskis death. They included an incident in December 2012 in which a train unexpectedly entered a work zone near Islington station.

It is highly unlikely that these incidents almost never occurred prior to the incident (Pavlovskis death) and only now is there a sudden increase in near miss incident frequency, he wrote.

The ministry report charged there was a code of silence among TTC workers that dissuaded them from reporting near misses and other safety risks. The investigator attributed the culture of silence to the fact that TTC workers are all part of large unionized environment, which meant there may be a reluctance on the part of a union worker to report violations of another fellow union member, for fear of reprisal.

Only a co-ordinated effort between the union leadership, members and the TTC management could hope to overcome the code of silence, the report warned, calling the TTCs insufficient tracking and analyzing of near miss data not acceptable.

TTC spokesperson Green said the agency is unaware of any code of silence among employees.

It is certainly not something that we believe is taking place now, nor we would condone such a thing, he said in a statement this month, adding we want and expect all incidents to be reported and there are numerous ways that employees can anonymously report if they feel they need to do so.

Green said all safety incidents, including near misses, are to be reported to the appropriate supervisor as required, and the reporting, recording, investigation and corrective action on individual incidents are dealt with at the department level.

The leader of the largest TTC workers union acknowledged the union often prefers members not identify fellow employees who violate safety rules to management.

We normally encourage them to report it to us, so that we can correct the problem and thus not have a member disciplined, said Frank Grimaldi, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113.

We would approach management and not mention anybodys name, but mention that we have a problem in this area, (and discuss) what steps are we going to take to ensure it doesnt happen again.

TTCs acting COO Ross said management does everything that we can to encourage workers to report safety violations, but acknowledged there may be reluctance among employees.

The worker may choose to deal with it on his own ... Maybe they work it out between the two of them and that worker is satisfied that thats been addressed, he said, adding: Theres no way of knowing if they all get reported.

Although the TTC has made safety improvements after individual near misses, other transit agencies have done more to track such incidents.

According to a report cited by the ministry of labour in the Pavlovski investigation, New York City Transit created an annual report to provide detailed analysis of the different types of near miss incidents, their causes and potential solutions, allowing the agency to identify and address trends.

We do not do anything like that, that Im aware of, Ross told the Star. We dont have good safety data.

He said the agency is implementing a software upgrade next year that will allow the agency to better track safety incidents.

Green said the new software will ensure all reported incidents will be better managed from start to finish and allow for for further corrective action beyond addressing individual incidents.

Another concern the TTC investigations raised was the time pressure that track workers are under.

The TTC report on Pavlovskis death noted that taking shortcuts that violated policy was a fact of life for track workers because it consumes precious time to get permission from transit control to perform tasks like an unscheduled inspection.

The context is one of a chronic race against time to complete work within a short window of opportunity at night, the report said.

Five years earlier, the TTCs investigation into Almeidas death had also flagged the short work window as a safety concern, and recommended the agency look into expanding it to give workers more time.

While the TTC now relies more heavily on weekend subway closures to get work done, a decade after the Almeida report the regular overnight work window hasnt been expanded. In fact, the only change to the work window over the past decade is that its gotten shorter on weekends, as a result of the TTC now opening an hour earlier on Sundays, a change made in 2016.

Next year the agency plans to start selectively closing sections of the subway early on weeknights to allow crews more time.

Grimaldi said many union members have raised concerns about TTC management scheduling more work than is possible to be done on overnight shifts.

But Green said overnight track work is scheduled so that only what is manageable is planned.

***

Both TTC workers and members of management who spoke to the Star agree that the focus on safety has improved since Ross took over as acting chief operating officer.

In the months before Ross became acting COO, top agency officials became alarmed by a number of incidents that suggested basic safety procedures were not being followed. According to TTC sources, they included at least one instance when power had not been cut in a work zone where track workers were performing their duties.

One source said that, prior to Ross being appointed, monthly safety meetings the agency is supposed to hold with workers werent happening. A TTC safety check conducted in the spring of 2017 found just one third of track workers were wearing proper protective equipment.

Recent changes Ross has instituted include adding another layer of senior supervision on overnight shifts, and increasing the number of safety audits. A safety audit this summer found the number of workers wearing proper protective equipment had increased to 90 per cent.

While the TTC is taking strides to ensure its track workers are safe, the families of workers who died on the job are left wondering if more could have been done to save their loved ones.

Almeidas widow, Sonya Anthony, said she slept in the same bed the couples 5-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son for a year after he died. Theyre still struggling with the loss.

He did not have to leave us, she said. We were lost without our Tony.

Soon after Dedes died, the TTC painted a yellow line along the track where he died to mark the safe distance from the passing rail cars.

His sister-in-law Joanne Dedes wonders why it took a horrific accident to implement such a simple safety measure.

A line of paint. Why didnt they have that there before his death? she asked.

She said she believes Toms death could have been prevented. She harbours no anger against the transit agency  but says they shouldnt be waiting for an accident in order to make changes.

Being angry at somebody, what is it going to accomplish? Nothing, she said. The only thing I want from the TTC is to prevent any further deaths.
A Brampton mother will be reunited with her child 31 years after her estranged husband vanished with their son during a court-ordered visitation.

Canadian Allan Mann was arrested Friday in Connecticut, where authorities said he and his son had lived under aliases in a quiet suburb.

U.S. federal agents said they found Allan Mann Jr. in Vernon, CT, after receiving a tip from a relative that he may be living in Connecticut under another name.

It was not immediately clear where Lyneth Mann-Lewiss now-adult son, Jermaine, was when Mann was arrested. Officials said they notified Jermaine Manns mother that her son had been identified and located.

The Missing Childrens Society of Canada had been working with Manns mother for years, having taken on the case only several days after he went missing in 1987. The investigation had been a joint effort and over the years involved international and multi agency co-operation.

After taking his son away from his sons mother, this defendant is alleged to have lived a lie for the last 31 years in violation of numerous U.S. laws, said Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham.

A joint press conference will be held on Monday at Toronto police headquarters, where members of Manns family, the Toronto police and the missing childrens society will be making their statements.

In 1989, Lyneth Mann-Lewis told the Star that living without her son was sheer hell.

He was my only child, I felt everything for him, said Mann-Lewis, who was only 31-years-old at the time of her sons abduction. Not a day, not an hour, not a minute goes past that I don't think of Jermaine. This is killing me inside.

On June 24, 1987, her husband was supposed to meet her at an Islington Ave. variety store to return Jermaine to her custody. When Mann disappeared with their son, so did any chance Mann-Lewis had at happiness, she said.

Their son, Jermaine, was just 21-months-old the last time his mother held him, and was described by Mann-Lewis as a happy little guy with big, bright, brown eyes who loved grapes, gave a glad-to-be-alive little shake when he got new shoesand strutted to the stereo.

Allan Mann appeared briefly Friday in federal court in Hartford. The Hartford Courant reported his son, Jermaine, sobbed quietly in the front row with his head in his hands and left the courthouse without commenting. Jermaine Mann had been told his mother died decades ago, the Courant reported.

Jermaines father is detained on charges including making false statements in transactions with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD. It wasnt immediately clear if he has a lawyer who could respond to the allegations.

Allan Mann, who has dual Canadian and Ghanaian citizenship, was found living under the name Hailee DeSouza in HUD-subsidized housing in Vernon, about 19 kilometres east of Hartford, federal officials said.

After running off with his 21-month-old son, Allan Mann entered the U.S.  where he had relatives  and obtained fake identification for himself and his son, including bogus Texas birth certificates, officials said.

An arrest warrant affidavit prepared by a HUD special agent does not fill in the gap between 1987 and 2018. It says in August, U.S. marshals interviewed several of Allan Manns relatives and friends, including the family member who pointed authorities to Connecticut and his alleged alias.

Later in August, a forensic specialist from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children analyzed an old photo of Allan Mann and the 2015 photo on DeSouzas Connecticut drivers license and determined they were likely the same person, the warrant said.

Officials said DeSouza had lived in the Vernon housing complex since 2004. Records for DeSouzas phones also showed he contacted Manns relatives, agents said.

Federal court records also show DeSouza, who is black, sued the owner of his apartment complex alleging racial discrimination. A judge dismissed the lawsuit on Oct. 15.

DeSouza described himself in the lawsuit: I am a proud African American professional a (Mechanical, Aerospace, Civil and Complex Investigative Engineering) and is amongst over 71 per cent of unemployed African American professionals with advanced degrees who faces constant racism and against all odds determined to find work in ANY State within the union irrespective of the distant travel at my own expense as it had been for years for most over 71 per cent of unemployed African American professionals with advanced degrees.

The investigation has involved multiple U.S. agencies including HUD, the U.S. Marshals Service, Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration, as well as Toronto police and Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

This is one of those rare cases that tugs at your heart strings, said Christina Scaringi, a special agent in charge with HUDs Office of Inspector General. Not only did we, working collectively, get this alleged bad actor off the street, but we played a role in reuniting an unjustly separated family.

With files from Premila DSa and The Associated Press

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A month after disgraced CBC radio host Jian Ghomeshi wrote a reflection detailing his life since he was accused of sexual assault, the New York Review of Books has published 37 responses from readers reacting to it.

On Sept. 14, the magazine published an article by Ghomeshi in which he details his life after he was fired from the CBC and multiple allegations of sexual assault were made against him.

On Nov. 26, 2014 Ghomeshi was charged in four counts of sexual assault and one count of overcome resistance-choking. Three more charges were raised in January 2015. Following a high profile trial, he was acquitted of all charges in March 2016, with Ontario Court Justice William Horkins saying there were inconsistencies in the testimonies of the complainants. Another sexual assault charge, brought by a former CBC colleague in May 2016, was withdrawn after he signed a peace bond and apologized.

A Star investigation detailed allegations from 15 women.

Ghomeshis approximately 3,500 word article stops short of admitting to any kind of physical abuse and offers no apology.

Following widespread outrage on social media, the review amended the essay online to acknowledge the serious nature of the allegations against him, including a foreword that details the charges laid out against him and promises to devote substantial space to responses to the piece in the Oct. 25 issue. The publication also fired editor Ian Buruma, who made the decision to publish the essay.

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New York Review of Books admits failures in handling Ghomeshi essay

Ive become a hashtag: Jian Ghomeshi writes on sex assault accusations in essay for U.S. magazine

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While Mr. Ghomeshi has a right to express his opinions, we acknowledge our failures in the presentation and editing of his story, a note from the editorial staff said in the Oct. 25 issue.

A more inclusive editorial discussion should have taken place about whether to publish the article, and the article should have made clear the serious nature and number of allegations against Mr. Ghomeshi.

Many of the letters, which took up five pages in the issue, criticized the magazines decision to publish the article and for letting Ghomeshis claims go unchallenged.

One reader, Joanne O. of Vancouver, alleges she was personally victimized by Ghomeshi in 2013. She claims it took her 12 minutes to read the essay, and asked to be allocate(d) the same amount of time to what Im about to write to you.

Joanne says the article prompted her to recall her past challenges after the alleged incident with Ghomeshi, including paying thousands of dollars for counselling, missing numerous work days, and a lingering sense of fear and frustration.

The choice to publish Ghomeshis piece was also a choice to remind all of the women he has victimized that his story is worth more than ours, she said. Today, you tore through that scar, exposing my insides again and reminding me of my place in the world.

Another reader, Linda Redgrave, was one of the complainants in Ghomeshis trial. She said that she was on a drive to see her mother when she heard the news about the essay. According to Redgrave, she feared that memories of the nightmare would come back to haunt her.

While Jian was riding the train to Paris, I was riding the train to Ottawa, Redgrave noted, where I met with Status of Women Canada, a government organization that promotes gender equality, to discuss sexual assault education programs for lawyers and judges.

She also accused Ghomeshi of being vain. His reference to being called a #MeToo pioneer sounds self-congratulatory, Redgrave wrote, as does I was the guy everyone hated first. This isnt a contest. There is shame in holding these titles.

Allegra Sloman of Burnaby, B.C. said the magazines position as a trendsetter has been jeopardized. Your credibilitys shot. Hope it was worth it, Sloman wrote.

One reader, Lester Bergquist of Vancouver, simply sent an excerpt of Redgraves testimony as the first witness in the trial. Her identity was protected under a publication ban, but she later came forward publicly.

Two of the letters made public by the review, praised Ghomeshi for writing the essay. Shirley Anne Wade-Linton of Courtenay, B.C., said it was honest and reflective.

I have been thinking about you and now I have a little glimpse into your journey, Wade-Linton said. You have every right in the world to write an article. No one has to read it for goodness sakes if they dont wish to.

Jacqueline Vischer of Winchester, Massachusetts, wrote that she believes Ghomeshi was treated harshly since the accusations were first revealed and says the CBC should offer (him) another chance. She also detailed how she, as a professional woman, has had her own fair share of discrimination and attempted assaults.

I was delighted when the #MeToo movement took off, Vischer said. But there is another side: the overreaction of rejected women seeking revenge, or desire for the limelight, or the naivete of the man and his lack of questioning the toxic masculinity of the culture that raised him.

Ilya Banares is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Star's radio room in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @ilyaoverseas

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 Flash

Facebook has taken down 82 pages, groups and accounts for "coordinated inauthentic behavior" that originated in Iran and targeted people in the United States and Britain, Facebook Head of Cybersecurity Policy Nathaniel Gleicher said Friday.

Facebook said the owners of the accounts on Facebook and Instagram appeared to represent themselves as U.S. citizens, or in a few cases British citizens, and they posted contents on politically charged topics such as race relations, immigration policies and the federal government.

The social media giant said it detected the activities last week and traced them back to Iran, but could not determine who should be responsible.

About 1.02 million users were following at least one of the accounts, an estimated 25,000 accounts joined at least one of these groups, and more than 28,000 users followed at least one of these Instagram accounts, Facebook said.

It added that the Iranian actors spent less than 100 U.S. dollars on two advertisements on both Facebook and its subsidiary Instagram, the first ad appearing in June 2106 and the other in January 2018.

Facebook has in recent months launched massive campaign to fight online misinformation activities by foreign actors ahead of the upcoming U.S. mid-term elections, and has set up an "Elections War Room" where its security employees took all possible means including artificial intelligence technology to combat cyber threat.

"There are now over 20,000 people working on safety and security at Facebook and thanks to improvements in artificial intelligence we detect many fake accounts... before they are even created," Facebook said.

Facebook removed more than 600 accounts and pages in August after it discovered Iran-related accounts were running influencing operations on its platform.

Facebook said it has mobilized powerful teams from across the company, including from threat intelligence, data science, software engineering, research, community operations and legal, to stop foreign misinformation activities targeting U.S. domestic politics.
The skilled trades need an upgrade.

So said the provincial government in proposing major changes  contained in a labour reform bill introduced last week  that will reduce apprenticeship ratios, phase-out trades with low demand and begin the orderly wind down of the Ontario College of Trades, a regulatory body for the profession that was a first in North America.

Training, Colleges and Universities Minister Merrilee Fullerton said getting rid of the college of trades will reduce red tape and put Ontario in line with other provinces, and along with other moves that will help open up jobs and fix a broken system.

One in five jobs in the next five years will be trades-related  but theres a problem, Fullerton said in announcing the changes last week. Employers cant find apprentices, and apprentices cant find jobs.

Yet despite this labour shortage there are those who want careers in the skilled trades who are actually forced to leave this province to find work. They deserve a shot at a job here in Ontario.

She said Ontarios apprenticeship ratios are among the highest in the country and are a major deterrent for employers looking to hire apprentices.

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The changes in Bill 47, the Making Ontario Open for Business Act, were lauded by a number of unions and associations, including Colleges Ontario, the Ontario Skilled Trades Alliance  representing companies that employ more than 400,000 trades workers  and the 15,000-member Power Workers Union.

Unifor and associations representing electrical workers, however, raised concerns about oversight and the need to maintain rigorous training and safety standards.

The Ontario Chamber of Commerce has warned 82 per cent of businesses cant find workers with the appropriate qualifications because of a shortage and a mismatch between the skills workers have and those that employers need.

Its estimated that 560,000 jobs could go unfilled by 2030 because of that gap, costing the economy tens of billions of dollars.

The province is proposing to lower apprenticeship ratios to a simple one-to-one, down from some as high as five journeymen for each, said Fullerton.

And she said the government heard loud and clear from employers and tradespeople that the Ontario College of Trades is not delivering as its currently structured ... many of the roles and responsibilities are overly burdensome  including how apprentices must be registered with both the ministry and the college of trades.

Linda Franklin, president of Colleges Ontario  which represents the provinces community colleges that help provide skilled trades education  said the system is awash in red tape.

Were pleased the government is taking serious action to streamline and improve skills training.

But Unifors Ontario branch warned that the college of trades is needed to ensure high-quality workmanship.

Unifor, which represents 315,000 workers including those at the Toronto Star, also said the reduced ratios are dangerously high ... (and) would dramatically decrease the time spent receiving training and could lead to apprentices working alone without any support from a journeyperson.

Associations representing electrical workers, including the Electrical Contractors Association of Ontario and the IBEW/Construction Council of Ontario, are urging the government to listen to those in the trades sector and keep training and safety standards high.

Fullerton said the current trade classification system is complicated and outdated and the government will put a moratorium on any new categories as it conducts a review and phases out 24 low-interest trades.

Those could include wooden boat rebuilder/repairer, saddlery, pool and hot tub spa service technician and swine herdsperson.

The Ontario College of Trades was seen as a way to regulate and promote the trades, though critics said it was an unnecessary level of bureaucracy. The government is hoping to wind it down by 2019.

Ontario is alone among all provinces in clinging to this model, Fullerton also said. The other provinces are doing just fine.
MARTINSBURG, W.VA.Marshall Spiker, a retired factory worker in West Virginia, voted for Democratic senator Joe Manchin in the last election six years ago.

Not this time.

When he thinks of Manchin now, he said after voting for Manchins opponent on Wednesday in the small city of Martinsburg, he thinks about a moment during President Donald Trumps State of the Union address.

Manchin, Spiker said, began to rise to applaud a perfectly good Trump statement. Then, appearing to notice that his Democratic colleagues were not standing, he quickly sat back down.

Spiker, 70, said the video reminded him that Manchin is a Democratic Party man above all.

I want somebody in there that wants to support our president, he said.

Fellow Trump supporter and retiree Ken Toohey, 83, was getting a haircut at a barbershop around the corner. He said he was going to vote for Manchin again. And he said the main reason was that, in his view, Manchin isnt hostage to his party.

Hes a Democrat, but he goes across for Republicans. I think he does whats right. Common sense, Toohey said.

People like Spiker are the reason the Democrats are having such a hard time in this years Senate midterm elections even as they are favoured to retake the House of Representatives. People like Toohey are a big part of the reason the Democrats have a chance to, at least, hold their ground.

Democrats currently have 49 Senate seats to the Republicans 51 seats.

Unlike the House, in which all 435 seats are being voted on, only 35 of the 100 Senate seats are part of the midterms on Nov. 6. This years roster of seats happens to be a particularly bad one for Democrats.

It includes 10 seats where an incumbent Democrat is trying to get re-elected in a state Trump won in 2016. In five of those 10  West Virginia, North Dakota, Montana, Indiana and Missouri  Trump won by 19 percentage points or more.

The red-state Democrats have the benefit of an energized liberal base, but they also need to persuade some Trump-loving conservatives to vote for them. That has gotten harder since their last races in 2012. The country has grown even more polarized along partisan lines, and polls suggest many Trump voters are not willing to back a senator who opposes their president.

So all five Democrats are trying to cast themselves as different from their party.

Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill is running an ad in which she is described as not one of those crazy Democrats. North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp is running an ad in which she says, Democrats too often judge how we live. Indiana Sen. Joe Donnelly has gone furthest, running an ad in which he quotes Ronald Reagan and criticizes socialists and the radical left.

The kind of thing youd see on the internet from some Tea Party candidate, said Cam Savage, a Republican consultant in Indiana who believes Donnellys ads suggest Republican Mike Braun has the momentum in the race. I thought: Holy. Thats telling right there.

Manchin, meanwhile, took a high-risk substantive gamble: he was the only Democrat to vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court  though he waited until it became clear Kavanaugh was safe anyway. His signs on the Martinsburg campaign office read, Manchin: Its all about West Virginia!

Trump has dismissed all this as posturing. At his campaign rallies, he argues that the area Democrat is a coastal left-winger in a heartland moderates plaid. In Montana last week, for example, Trump attacked Sen. Jon Tester as a super-liberal who talks like hes from Montana but votes like hes Nancy Pelosi.

Testers Twitter response: a video of himself working on his farm. (Winding down with our harvest, he wrote.) The message was unmistakable: whatever the president might say, Tester is a salt-of-the-earth local fella.

With the possible exception of Donnelly, the red-state Democrats have well-established personal brands. Testers likability was central to his victory in 2012, said David Parker, a Montana State University political science professor who wrote a book about the 2012 race. Tester, he said, has a reputation as a champion of the little guy.

Trying to unseat him, Republican opponent Matt Rosendale has wrapped himself entirely around Trump, Parker said. He thinks he can ride that train. I think its a weakness.

The red-state Democrats have tried their best to make their races about local concerns rather than the president. Tester and Heitkamp, whose states are highly rural, have made hay over the Trump trade policy that has led to punishing Chinese tariffs on American soybeans. Manchin has gained traction over opponent Patrick Morisseys past work as a lobbyist for pharmaceutical companies, which have had a role in the opioid addiction crisis that has ravaged the state.

Tester and Manchin have consistently led in the polls, Manchin sometimes by double-digits. McCaskill, Donnelly and especially Heitkamp appear to be in more difficult races, with Heitkamp widely seen as the most likely to be defeated.

Manchin is a plain-spoken former state governor who has made a tradition of shooting something in a campaign ad. Mike Plante, a Democratic political consultant in West Virginia, said Trumps enduring popularity in a state he won by 42 points is an obvious challenge  but that even conservative voters in the state laugh off Republican operatives regular claim, trotted out in three successive elections, that Manchin is a clone of Pelosi, Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton.

People understand that Joe has always been an independent voice, Plante said. Because its a small state, its an older state, and hes been around so long, people feel like they know him. And thats why I think hes more immune to the same old attacks.

Manchins reputation weighed heavily on the mind of Martinsburg undecided retiree David Ritchie, 68, a Republican Trump voter who said he might well choose the Democrat.

Im definitely leaning conservative. But theyre both conservative. Manchin generally votes conservative, surprisingly enough, he said. Im looking hard at this guy Morissey. But I dont know much about him.
OVERLAND PARK, KAN.A spacecraft that sank after its descent on the second U.S. manned space flight nearly 60 years ago is headed to northeastern Kansas as part of a temporary exhibit.

The exhibit, featuring the Liberty Bell 7 capsule, is expected to open in Overland Park next year as a preview to a proposed satellite location of the popular Hutchinson space museum, the Cosmosphere.

The upcoming Cosmosphere Innovation Space at Bluhawk in Overland Park announced the temporary exhibit on Monday, the Hutchinson News reported.

The Cosmosphere assisted in the recovery of the space capsule, which was pulled out of the Atlantic Ocean in 1999. Liberty Bell 7 was flown by Gus Grissom in the Mercury space program, and is currently on display at a museum in Indianapolis.

I think we realized people are very eager for this satellite location, said Mimi Meredith, chief development officer for the Cosmosphere. Our friends in the Johnson County area and friends of the Cosmosphere are ready to give their friends the Cosmosphere experience. We want to provide some degree of that, even while we wait for the second phase of construction to begin.

The location for the small exhibit hasnt been finalized, but it will be part of the proposed $1 billion mixed-use Bluhawk development, where the new Cosmosphere location will be situated.

The Cosmosphere Innovation Space plans to leverage foot traffic that the development will generate in its first phase, particularly through the sports complex scheduled to break ground next year. The satellite location has a tentative timeline to open in 2021 or 2022.

Significant planning is going into the design and programming for the Cosmosphere, and we felt that it would be a great opportunity to not only bring the Cosmosphere experience to Overland Park early but also use the exhibitions while we test ideas and refine our program, said Stuart Stram, Bluhawks communications director.
PITTSBURGHArmed with an AR-15-style assault rifle and at least three handguns, a man shouting anti-Semitic slurs opened fire inside a crowded Pittsburgh synagogue Saturday morning, killing at least 11 congregants and wounding four police officers and two others, authorities said.

In a rampage described as among the deadliest against the Jewish community in the United States, the assailant stormed into the Tree of Life Congregation, where worshippers had gathered in separate rooms to celebrate their faith and shot indiscriminately into the crowd, shattering what had otherwise been a peaceful morning.

The assailant, identified by law enforcement officials as Robert D. Bowers, fired for several minutes and was leaving the synagogue when officers, dressed in tactical gear and armed with rifles, met him at the door. According to police, Bowers exchanged gunfire with officers before retreating back inside and barricading himself inside a third-floor room. He eventually surrendered.

Bowers, 46, was wounded by gunfire, although authorities said it was unclear whether those wounds were self-inflicted or whether police had shot him. He was in stable condition Saturday at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Federal officials charged Bowers with 29 criminal counts. They include obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs  a hate crime  and using a firearm to commit murder.

Although a bris, a ceremony to mark a childs birth, was among the ceremonies taking place Saturday, no children were among the casualties, law enforcement officials said. The wounded included a 70-year-old man who had been shot in the torso, and a 51-year-old woman with soft tissue wounds, said Dr. Donald Yealy, chairman of emergency medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

The attack struck the heart of the citys vibrant Jewish community, in the leafy Squirrel Hill neighborhood that is home to several synagogues, kosher restaurants and bakeries. Hours later, hundreds gathered at three separate interfaith vigils on a cold, rainy evening to mourn the dead and pray for the wounded.

The assault on the synagogue unfolded on a quiet, drizzly morning and came amid a bitter, vitriolic midterm election season and against the backdrop of what appears to be a surge in hate-related speech and crimes across America. It also took place in the wake of the arrest Friday morning of a man who authorities said sent more than a dozen pipe bombs to critics of President Donald Trump, including several high-profile Democrats.

Calling it the most horrific crime scene he had seen in 22 years with the FBI, Robert Jones, special agent in charge in Pittsburgh, said the synagogue was in the midst of a peaceful service when congregants were gunned down and brutally murdered by a gunman targeting them simply because of their faith.

We simply cannot accept this violence as a normal part of American life, said Gov. Tom Wolf, speaking at a news conference Saturday afternoon in Pittsburgh. These senseless acts of violence are not who we are as Pennsylvanians and are not who we are as Americans.

The anguish of Saturdays massacre heightened a sense of national unease over increasingly hostile political rhetoric. Critics of Trump have argued that he is partly to blame for recent acts of violence because he has been stirring the pot of nationalism, on Twitter and at his rallies, charges that Trump has denied.

About Saturdays attack, Trump, addressing reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, said: Its a terrible, terrible thing whats going on with hate in our country and frankly all over the world, and something has to be done.

The results are very devastating, he said, adding that if the temple had some kind of protection then it could have been a much different situation.

Later, speaking to reporters as he got off Air Force One in Illinois, Trump said he planned to visit Pittsburgh but he did not say when.

Leaders in the United States and across the world condemned the attack. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said that he was heartbroken and appalled and that the the entire people of Israel grieve with the families of the dead.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the Justice Department would file hate crimes and other criminal charges, including charges that could lead to the death penalty.

Hatred and violence on the basis of religion can have no place in our society, Sessions said. Every American has the right to attend their house of worship in safety.

The massacre Saturday was at least the third mass shooting in a house of worship in three years. In November, a gunman killed 26 worshippers at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, and in 2015, a white supremacist killed nine congregants in a church in Charleston, South Carolina.

It came amid rising anxiety about illegal immigration and in a decade that has seen an uptick in hate crimes. According to an annual report by the Anti-Defamation League issued earlier this year, the number of reported anti-Semitic incidents in the United States surged 57 percent in 2017, the largest rise in a single year since the ADL began tracking such crimes in 1979.

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The attack also was a deep and painful blow to the Jewish community in the United States, and came just days after George Soros, the billionaire philanthropist and major donor to Democratic candidates, who is Jewish and who survived Nazi occupation in Hungary, received a pipe bomb in the mail. Also in the past week, a Senate campaign sign for Josh Hawley, attorney general of Missouri, was sprayed with a swastika.

On Saturday, the Tree of Life Congregation was holding services for three separate congregations when the gunman stormed in with an AR-15-style assault rifle, a Glock, and two other handguns, and began shooting.

Police dispatchers received the first emergency calls at 9:54 a.m., Jones of the FBI said, and police officers, including a SWAT team, were dispatched a minute later. Bowers had already shot and killed 11 people and was on his way out of the synagogue, Jones said, when he encountered police officers and shot at them.

He went back into the synagogue to hide from SWAT officers who were moving in, Jones said. He was in the synagogue for about 20 minutes, law enforcement officials said.

By the time I got there they were already starting to extract people, said Chief Scott Schubert of the Pittsburgh police<em>. </em>Watching those officers running into the dangers to remove people and get them to safety was unbelievable.

Residents near the synagogue were told to stay inside their homes. Ben Opie, 55, who can see the synagogue from his backyard, said his wife was about to leave their house to do some volunteer work when SWAT officers approached their home and said there was a gunman in the synagogue.

They chased my wife inside, he said. They just said get in the house.

On Saturday night, authorities were still piecing together a portrait of Bowers and had searched his apartment with a robotic bomb detector and police dogs. His apartment is in a neighborhood dotted with mostly small to medium brick homes, about a 25-minute drive south of Pittsburgh in the suburb of Baldwin Borough.

Rep. Mike Doyle, who represents Pennsylvanias 14th district, where the synagogue is, said Bowers had 21 guns registered to his name.

I dont think anybody really knows this guy, other than he was a hateful anti-Semite who had posted anti-Semitic views, Doyle said. Were all kind of numb, kind of in shock, its not really something that happens much here.

A spokesman for the ADL said that before Saturdays shooting the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in recent U.S. history was in 1985, when a man killed a family of four in Seattle. He had mistakenly thought that they were Jewish. More recently, in 2014, a white supremacist opened fire outside a Jewish Community Center in a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, killing three people.

Im afraid to say that we may be at the beginning of what has happened to Europe, the consistent anti-Semitic attacks, said Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of Simon Wiesenthal Center, who prayed at Trumps inauguration. He spoke in a phone interview from Austria, where he was visiting the Mauthausen concentration camp.

If it is not nipped in the bud, he continued, I am afraid the worst is yet to come.

Anti-Semitism appeared to run deep for Bowers. Before it was deleted Saturday morning, a social media account believed to belong to him was filled with anti-Jewish slurs and references to anti-Jewish conspiracy theories.

In January, an account under his name was created on Gab, a social network that bills itself as a free speech haven. The app, which grew out of claims of anti-conservative bias by Facebook and Twitter, is a popular gathering place for alt-right activists and white nationalists whose views are unwelcome on other social media platforms. Early members included right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos and Andrew Anglin, the founder of the neo-Nazi Daily Stormer website.

Several weeks ago, Bowers account posted a link to the website of HIAS, a Jewish nonprofit organization, which was planning a shabbat ceremony for refugees in locations around the country. The caption read: Why hello there HIAS! You like to bring in hostile invaders to dwell among us?

And hours before the gunman entered the Tree of Life synagogue, the account posted again: HIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I cant sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, Im going in.

HIAS said in a statement Saturday: There are no words to express how devastated we are by the events in Pittsburgh this morning.

Shortly after Bowers was named the suspect in the shooting, Gab confirmed that the name on the account, which was verified, matched that of the suspect. The company archived the account before taking it offline, and released a statement saying it was cooperating with law enforcement.

Gab unequivocally disavows and condemns all acts of terrorism and violence, the statement read.

The Tree of Life Congregation dates to 1864, and was originally in downtown Pittsburgh, said Alvin K. Berkun, a former rabbi at Tree of Life and now rabbi emeritus, who stayed home from services Saturday to tend to his sick wife.

It moved to its current site in Squirrel Hill in 1952, where it now takes up most of a corner block. About 26 percent of the Pittsburgh areas Jewish households are in Squirrel Hill, while another 31 percent of Jewish households are largely located in neighborhoods around there, Brandeis University researchers reported in a 2017 study.

About 48 percent of Jewish children in greater Pittsburgh live in Squirrel Hill, according to the study, which was carried out on behalf of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.

Squirrel Hill is really an amazing safe community, he said. It is the heart of Jewish Pittsburgh with kosher restaurants and bakeries and a Jewish Community Center. I lived for a while in Israel and I know what security can mean, but the truth is the two safest neighborhoods I know are Squirrel Hill and Jerusalem. Ive lived in both.

On the high holidays, when the sanctuary comes close to reaching its capacity of 1,450 congregants, there are security officers. But Saturday morning, he said, when there would be around 75 people, everything would have been wide open.

In recent years, the congregation size had dwindled and so now three congregations meet Saturday morning, in three different parts of the synagogue. Its a very vibrant place on Saturday mornings, he said.

Berkun had heard that the gunman had barricaded himself at one point in his old study. Still, threats were something he had never really thought about, not here.

As soon as he saw news of the shooting on social media, Zachary Weiss, 26, tried to get in touch with his father, Stephen Weiss, a longtime member of Tree of Life congregation.

By that time the elder Weiss was already in action, carrying out the all-too-real protocols of the active shooter response training that congregants at Tree of Life had put into place the year before. Recounting what his father told him, the younger Weiss said that services had just been getting started when he heard a loud noise.

There was a loud sound and a couple of people investigating it heard a couple more loud sounds, he said. Thats when my father and the rabbi discovered it was the sound of gunshots.

The rabbi instructed everyone to get to a safe place, and after the Tree of Life congregants had done so, his father considered the other congregations that meet in the building Saturdays. The bris was taking place on a lower floor, and he checked first to make sure the people there were safe. They were.

His father never saw the shooter, Weiss said, but, before evacuating, he was at one point close enough to see the shell casings.

Its going to take a long while for us as a community to grasp this, he said.
ISTANBULThe leaders of Turkey, Russia, France and Germany were gathering for a summit Saturday about Syria, hoping to lay the groundwork for eventual peace in a country devastated by years of war.

A key challenge is their divided opinions about Syrian President Bashar Assad, who is backed by Russia and Iran and whose government has retaken most of the territory that rebels seized during the war that has killed over 400,000 people.

Western countries condemn Assad for what they call indiscriminate attacks on civilians and Turkey has been helping insurgents trying to remove him from power.

Still, the leaders meeting in Istanbul hope a ceasefire in Syrias northwestern province of Idlib can provide some momentum for peace efforts. The truce last month prevented a Syrian government offensive on the last rebel stronghold, which many feared would have set off another refugee crisis.

Idlib has been relatively calm since then, although both sides have accused each other of violating the deal. Syrian government forces shelled rebel-held villages in Idlib on Friday, killing seven people in violation of the agreement reached by Russia and Turkey, opposition activists said.

At the Istanbul meeting, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is hosting Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron.

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Besides Idlib, topics on the agenda include access for humanitarian aid, early preparations for the drafting of a constitution and the eventual reconstruction of Syria, which has been in conflict for more than seven years. The ultimate hope is for a political solution that allows millions of Syrian refugees to return home and be safe.

The summit comes amid Turkish threats of a new military operation across the border into northern Syria, in zones held by Syrian Kurdish fighters. Turkey considers the Syrian Kurdish militia, which is backed by the United States, to be terrorists and a part of the Kurdish insurgency within Turkey.

On Friday, Erdogan said Turkey would not allow terror groups located east of the Euphrates River to threaten Turkeys security.

Turkey launched two incursions into Syria, in 2016 and 2018, into areas west of the Euphrates, pushing Islamic State militants as well as Syrian Kurdish fighters from its border.

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LONDONA deliveryman and the owner of a take-away restaurant in Britain have been found guilty of manslaughter for delivering food to a teenage girl who died from the effects of a peanut allergy.

The teenager, Megan Lee, who was 15 at a time, suffered a reaction after ordering from her local takeout in Lancashire, in northern England, in late 2016, according to local news reports.

She suffered irreversible brain damage after the allergy attack and died on Jan. 1, 2017.

On Friday, a jury at Manchester Crown Court found two men, Mohammed Abdul Kuddus, 40, and Harun Rashid, 38, guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence in Lees death. Court reports said Kuddus had been the owner of the restaurant, and Rashid the deliveryman.

According to the prosecution, the restaurant, the Royal Spice Takeaway in Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, had no systems or conditions in place to protect customers with allergies.

Their manifest failures and complete disregard for the safety of customers was astonishing, Karen Tonge of the Crown Prosecution Service told the British network ITV after the trial.

Lee knew about her allergy, and her friend had included a warning with the food order, the court was told. Still, an investigation found widespread presence of peanut protein in the meal, which included an onion bhaji, a seekh kebab and a Peshwari naan.

Speaking outside the court Friday, Lees father, Adam, told reporters, We urge all food businesses to improve their standards in food safety and take allergies seriously.

Do not guess, do not play ignorant; do not play Russian roulette with precious lives, he added.

The conviction comes amid increased scrutiny about food allergies and product labelling after Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, 15, who had a severe allergy to sesame seeds, collapsed and died in July 2016 after eating a Pret a Manger sandwich while on her way to a vacation in France with her father.

The artichoke, olives and tapenade baguette that she ate had sesame seeds baked into its dough but did not say so on the label.

An inquest at the West London Coroners Court found the labelling of the sandwich had been inadequate, because it did not warn of the hidden sesame seeds.

The British sandwich chain was not found to have broken the law in that case. The company also acknowledged a second death, in Bath, England, in December 2017, of a person who had a dairy allergy and died after eating a product that was supposed to be dairy-free.

The ensuing outcry spurred the company to change its food labels.

Ednan-Laperouses parents are campaigning for more information to be included on a wider variety of food labels. Packaged foods in supermarkets in Britain and the European Union carry information about allergens, but, for freshly prepared foods, takeout establishments and restaurants are required only to have the list of allergens available on request.

Michael Gove, the British secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, has pledged to change the rules on allergen labelling after meeting with Ednan-Laperouses parents this past week.

In a statement, he said businesses should be doing all they can now to make sure consumers have the information they need to stay safe.

The Royal Spice Takeaway closed for a while but has reopened under new management. Before it closed, the restaurant had a modest number of reviews, mostly generally good, on TripAdvisor.

The two men in the case, who had pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter charge, were released on bail pending sentencing Nov. 7. After the verdict, the judge warned the men to expect jail time.
Having made it through the mess that Premier Doug Ford made of Torontos election with his midstream decision to cut city council in half, its now time to move the city forward.

The newly elected council, along with city staff and residents, needs to figure out how a mayor and 25 councillors can effectively and fairly govern nearly 3 million people. And while Mondays election left Toronto with new problems it made no dent in one of the most persistent and troubling issues: a city council that looks nothing like the people its supposed to represent.

Across the citys 25 wards, only eight women were elected. Torontos population is incredibly diverse (some 51 per cent identify as a visible minority), and yet there are just four faces on council that arent white. And only four councillors are new; all the others are holdovers from last time and some have been around for decades.

Can anything be done? Mayor John Tory has spoken in general terms about including citizens on community councils as one way to maintain responsive local government now that councillors geography and responsibilities have roughly doubled in size.

Its a good idea, one he should pursue. If its done well, it could also help to deliver more of the gender balance and diversity so sorely missing on council now.

At the moment, Toronto has four community councils made up exclusively of councillors from the citys four geographic areas. They listen to deputations, arbitrate neighbourhood disputes, deal with local planning matters and have the final authority on a very small number of local issues.

Long before Ford slashed the size of city council there were calls to strengthen the role of the community councils. They are most accessible to residents and giving them more power would free up the full council to focus on city-wide issues.

A report by the Institute of Municipal Finance and Governance last year recommended broadening the range of issues the local councils deal with and their authority to make decisions  and allowing residents to serve directly on them.

It was a good idea then and its even more important now.

With the reduced size of council these local bodies will have just six or seven councillors apiece. Throw in an absent councillor or two and theyll struggle to maintain quorum just to hold a meeting, let alone retain the legitimacy to make decisions.

The issues before community council are the ones that have the greatest impact in the neighbourhoods people live in, and its vital they have a healthy airing where multiple views can be expressed.

Some worry that including non-elected citizens may undermine democracy. But theres no real reason for that concern. True citizen engagement will only strengthen it and the full elected council retains the final say in almost everything (that is, when the premier doesnt intervene).

Citizen members already sit on dozens of city agencies, boards and commissions. That gives them a say in everything from how the TTC operates to the priorities of the board of health, so including them on community councils would not be a big break with current practice. Indeed, even more engaged citizens will be needed for those city bodies since 25 councillors cant fill all the positions that the old 44-member council did and still have time to do anything else.

In both cases, ensuring a better gender balance and broad diversity of voices at those decision-making tables must be a key priority of any selection process.

The revamped community councils could help not just in running a better city today but in giving a broader range of people the opportunity to build the experience and public profile they need to run for elected office in the future.

Theres nothing revolutionary about all this. Citizens participate on similar local councils all over the world, and all do it differently. Toronto doesnt have to follow any one model. It would be wise to come up with one best-suited to the political realities the city currently faces, which means not creating a costly new system that the premier would almost certainly veto.

To be sure, some councillors will struggle with this. Some wont want to share power or make it easier for potential future rivals to emerge. Others will only want to encourage voices that echo their own.

But Tory  who has spoken strongly about the need to better knit the city together and provide opportunities for disadvantaged groups to participate fully  should take this on as a priority for his new term.

Torontos community councils came into being with amalgamation, the last time the province forced an unwanted change on the city, claiming it would be more efficient and save money. It didnt then and theres no evidence it will now. This latest provincial interference in municipal government might as well be the impetus to make them work better for the city and its residents.

This is the best chance for Toronto to salvage something from Fords mess and move toward a better future.

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OTTAWAThe Conservative party appears to be gearing up for a fight with news outlets as part of its 2019 electoral strategy.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheers office has revamped its communications team to provide a more rapid response, war room-style operation. And they have not been shy about calling out reporting they dont like.

At a rally in downtown Ottawa last Sunday, Scheer said he would stand up to the media and accused journalists of siding with the Liberals in the carbon tax debate.

We dont always get the same kind of coverage that (Trudeau) gets in the mainstream media. Have you noticed that? Scheer asked supporters.

Read more:

Conservatives attack carbon price for big polluters as separate deal for special interests

Trans Mountain like Monty Pythons dead parrot under Trudeau government, Scheer says

Is the Liberals greenhouse gas plan a tax or not?

(Trudeau has) got the media on his side, hes got the pundits, hes got the academics and think-tanks, everyone who wants to lecture you on how to spend your own money and how to live your own life.

Members of Scheers caucus, too, have joined in. On Thursday, finance critic Pierre Poilievre called a journalist for the Bloomberg business wire a Liberal reporter. The same day, Conservative Sen. Leo Housakos accused Macleans columnist Paul Wells of being a liberal masquerading as an independent journalist. Earlier this year Michelle Rempel, the partys immigration critic, suggested the Canadian Press newswire took marching orders from the Prime Ministers Office.

Andrew MacDougall, who served as director of communications to former prime minister Stephen Harper and who now writes columns for Canadian newspapers, said these attacks on the media are a deliberate strategy to energize the Conservative base.

(The 2019 election) really will be an elite, or an establishment, or an opinion-forming establishment against the Conservatives (and thats) what theyre trying to gin up, MacDougall told the Star.

The relationship between Harper and the national press was notoriously chilly. And Scheer appears to be taking the feud a step further as he approaches his first election as Conservative leader.

The carbon tax being the ultimate issue, where this is kind of a policy thats almost universally supported by academics, economists, pundits  the Conservatives are betting that theres more of a common-sense crowd who still have to gas up their car, who will be open to a message that this is elitism ignoring your concerns, MacDougall said.

Former Conservative strategist Jason Lietaer also referenced the carbon tax debate, saying its a sore point for Conservatives that most of the reporting on the issue puts the Liberals plan in a positive light.

Its obviously born out of some frustration, Lietaer said. And as an observer, theres essentially 100 per cent consensus on the carbon tax (that) has probably exacerbated that frustration.

Politicians taking issue with those that cover them is nothing new, and theres nothing improper about correcting the record when journalists get things wrong. But with the current climate in the United States, where President Donald Trump has accused the press of being enemies of the people, some in the media and beyond have expressed dismay at the Conservatives apparent anti-press turn.

But Brock Harrison, Scheers director of communications, said the Conservatives focus on media is meant to point out specific inaccuracies or to counter columnists criticisms, not to broadly demonize journalists as the Trump administration has done. Harrison told the Star, the party will not let instances of inaccurate reporting or attacks on our record (go) unchallenged.

Jacqui Delaney, Scheers director of media relations and a former Sun News Network anchor, echoed that sentiment in a September tweet, writing she goes for the jugular of media organizations that think they can throw around labels and accusations without challenge.

But MacDougall warned there is a danger if the Conservatives go too far.

On Wednesday, CNNs New York offices had to be evacuated after a suspected pipe bomb was found in their mail. A second improvised explosive sent to CNN contributor and former Obama administration official James Clapper was discovered on Friday. And other journalists and pundits have been similarly threatened or attacked in recent months.

For years, Trump has viciously criticized CNN and other media organizations as fake news. On Friday, a Florida man who drove a van with a CNN sucks sticker, among other pro-Trump paraphernalia, was arrested in connection with the crimes.

Harrison, Scheers communications director, said the party criticizing inaccurate reporting does not rise to Trumpian levels.

If you keep it respectful and you keep it on pointing out inaccuracies or respectfully engaging in a back and forth, I think thats different than calling somebody an enemy of the people or getting to that point, Harrison said.

When asked if an MP calling a reporter a Liberal on Twitter was respectfully engaging in a back and forth, Harrison said, thats in the eye of the reader.

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Todays fight over carbon pricing isnt the ideological battle of the century.

That would be a historic misunderstanding of our future by politicians fighting the last war.

Despite Premier Doug Fords fulminations, this weeks embrace of pollution pricing by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau isnt proof of a left wing plot to pick the pockets of Canadians. To the contrary, it is evidence of a remarkable role reversal  the culmination of conservative political thought and the triumph of right-wing market forces now being adopted by mainstream politicians.

Global warming isnt ideological, its empirical. The chill wind blowing from the right wing isnt conceptual, its electoral.

And the federal-provincial court fight brewing over carbon pricing isnt jurisdictional, its purely political.

To understand the war of words, its helpful to look beyond mere strategy and tactics. And consider the telltale clues over semantics and antics.

Read more:

Conservatives attack carbon price for big polluters as separate deal for special interests

Opinion | Chantal Hebert: For the second time in a decade, a Liberal leader is staking his future on Canadas acceptance of a carbon tax

In a taste of what is to come, Ford and Trudeau are battling on several fronts

Politicians who previously promised to impose carbon taxes are now running away from them. And conservative critics who long campaigned for free market solutions are now complaining about them.

When the federal government eschews the phrase carbon tax  preferring to call it a price on pollution  thats not a word game conjured up by Canadas Liberals trying to rebrand a revenue grab. Its a concept promoted by influential American Republicans to persuade their own partisans that global warming requires economic solutions as much as political prescriptions.

Never mind cap and trade, whose complexity and opacity was exceeded only by its economic efficiency. Its gone forever from Ontario, dismantled at great expense by Premier Doug Ford as part of his phoney war against an illusory carbon tax.

Having killed the carbon tax that never was, Ford has been salivating to slay the new federal carbon tax that never came to pass.

Trudeau does not have the right to ram a carbon tax down the throats of Ontario families and job-creators, the premier raged this week. This massive tax hike from the federal government will jack up the cost of living for each and every Ontario family and business.

Never mind that Trudeau clearly does have the constitutional right, not to mention the electoral mandate. What counts is that the federal plan is not a conventional carbon tax, and will not raise the cost of living for Ontarians, because it is actually a revenue redistribution plan.

Welcome to the world of carbon fee and dividend, advocated by former secretaries of state George P. Schultz and James Baker III, promoted by Green party politicians, and blessed by skeptical right-wing columnists as the optimal solution for our political and climatic environment. The Trudeau Liberals now understand that if you cant beat the critics, just co-opt them.

What Ford calls a tax, the government now calls a pollution fee. And while opponents claim its a cash grab, the government is astutely playing the cash-back card, by promising to reimburse at least as much money to citizens.

To the frustration of Ford and federal Conservative opposition leader Andrew Scheer, the Trudeau Liberals have taken a page from the Tories playbook and are singing from the Republican songbook. Rather than relying on transformational politics, they are counting on transactional politics.

Hence the dividend component of the carbon fee and dividend equation:

First, collect fees from polluters. Second, acknowledge that like any cost of doing business  from water usage charges to zoning requirements or corporate taxes  those costs will be more or less passed on to consumers. Third, rebate that windfall in the form of so-called dividends for consumers.

Is it a shell game, as Scheer and Ford claim? No, merely being revenue neutral does not emasculate it economically.

Even if the government gives back your (revenue neutral) cut of the windfall, you are still incentivized to lower your consumption of carbon  by getting a more fuel-efficient vehicle or insulating your home. Despite the government rebate, its not necessarily a wash, because the smart consumer will still try to come out ahead  maximizing his savings by minimizing his exposure to carbon fees.

Think of government employees who get a fixed per diem amount for meals when on the road, in lieu of submitting restaurant receipts for reimbursement. Have you ever noticed how those public servants try to minimize their meal expenses so that they come in under the per diem  and pocket the difference? Nothing wrong with that under the rules, because its a win-win  it discourages overconsumption, and actually saves the employer money by avoiding lavish restaurant bills.

Thats the analogy to fee and dividend. You get a fixed amount back from the government, representing your share of the overall fees collected. But its still in your interests to minimize your exposure to those fees in your day to day life.

Its a free market solution that relies on price signals (just as cap and trade was, before Tories turned on it for partisan gain).

It comes out of free-market thinking in the U.S., notes Mike Schreiner, leader of the Ontario Greens whose party has long called for fee and dividend as the best way to build enduring political support for environmental action. But now, right wingers who might be expected to endorse price signals out of fidelity to their own ideology are suddenly all opposed to it  and I find that infuriating.

Its not hocus-pocus, merely a way of nudging people into better environmental behaviour in a hostile political environment that Ontarios premier is so keen to exploit.

The people of Canada, Ford huffed the other day (wait  isnt he leading the people of Ontario?) are too smart to believe that Trudeaus phoney rebates are anything more than a temporary vote buying scheme ... The carbon tax rip-off is forever.

On current trends, global warming is forever. Carbon pricing is just beginning.

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VANCOUVERThe CEO of Freshslice Pizza has penned a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau criticizing Canadas $15-billion sale of armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia and promising to display a poster condemning the deals supporters if it is not cancelled before the next federal election.

In the letter, Ray Russell, also the founder of the Vancouver-based pizza chain, referred to Saudi Arabia as a human-rights pariah and cited the recent murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Turkey as an indication of the countrys blatant disregard for international law.

In an interview, Russell said he was compelled to speak out about Canadas deal to sell weaponized light-armoured vehicles to the Saudis because of his experiences of war in Iran 30 years ago.

In Iran, I learned the hardship of war and I escaped from the war, he said. But now Ive made Canada my home, and I love this country and I thought I had to do something to protect this country.

While he said he is a big fanof Prime Minister Trudeau, in the letter Russell stated that he can no longer support the Liberal Party of Canada and any party that supports this sale.

Russell also promised that if the sale to Saudi Arabia is not cancelled, he would put up posters in all Freshslice locations condemning any political party that supports the deal. He said that with the pizza chains 70 locations and high visibility at major intersections across the province, he guesses that over 700,000 people could pass the stores every day and see the posters.

While Russell said he wont force every franchise owner to put up a poster, he has had conversations with several owners who agree with him.

However, when StarMetro attempted to confirm this statement at two Freshslice locations, employees were unaware of Russells statements.

Already, the letter and other related posts calling for an end to the arms deal have garnered several hundred shares and likes on Facebook and Twitter.

In the wake of Khashoggis death, Trudeau has made statements suggesting that suspending the agreement could put pressure on the Saudis  but he has also stated that cancelling the international agreement would mean a $1-billion penalty for Canada.

Russell believes the cost would be worth it.

I understand the contractual obligation and I know Justin Trudeau is trying his best ... but at the end of the day, I prefer to make less money, as a Canadian and citizen, than deal with such a murderous regime.

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There is an evil power loose in the world, independent of human beings, a power that has an agenda of its own, and this power can only be defeated by another power greater than itself.

Unfortunately, we Americans may have lost our sense of evil today; deeply held beliefs and moral convictions no longer seem to hold for so many. Why, some folks even deny that the devil exists.

His name is Satan and according to 1st Peter 5:8, he is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. The devil is real and we need to wake up to the evil he gets away with. Open our eyes and see his victims who suffer from their own mistakes, having allowed the devil into their lives  and from the radical evil that lives all too comfortably in many of our communities.

Satans evil is mentioned in the Bible; in the New Testament the devil is a leading character. Of course, he is not a man in a red suit with a pitchfork. Who is Satan really?

Why is there evil in the world? We dont know why, but we know that it is a terrible power and that, against it, unaided human beings are helpless. We can only pray.

Pope Francis believes that the devil causes Catholic clergy to betray their holy vows, and force sexual sin upon our children. I think the pope is right. This is exactly how Satan tries to destroy good institutions. Well-known is the fact that the Roman Catholic Church has become the steadiest, and in many places the only, defender of human rights around the world. Satan hates all churches and every religion; but his most ancient spite he spits into the face of God the Father.

On planet Earth there are three actors on the battlefield: God, humanity, and the great Enemy, Satan and his demons, or what apostle Paul calls the Power of Sin and Death. You and I were borne into bondage to Sin and Death, but now, after being baptized, we belong to Christ our Savior. Baptism is the passage from the dominion of darkness into the kingdom of his Son (Col. 1:13).

We believe that Jesus Christ, after dying on the cross, descended into hell to confront Satan in his lair and take him on. Yet we still sin and die, why? While Satan has been weakened, the devil still has an enormous hatred for the human family.

It seems that the devil still has power over us, too. We are easily fooled by his tricks, easily enticed into doing bad things even though we do not want to sin.

Is there an attraction to evil in our DNA? Does the devil bend us out of shape at times?

Too many marriages end up on the rocks because the devil cannot stand to see human beings loving one another. Too many shooters blast their way into schools to kill our innocent children because the devil despises anyone so innocent.

The final triumph of God will not permit a permanent pocket of evil resistance in the universe he created. Of course not. Evil must be finally and completely obliterated and will pass out of memory. The devil will pack his bags but have no place to go. Good riddance!

The reason for our Advent hope is this: God has always kept his promises to us; and he will keep this one, too. We are waiting for the coming of God. He is on his way.

We look to the second coming of Jesus Christ: Behold, I am coming soon! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, (Rev.22:12,13).

All our hope is in the coming triumph of God in Jesus Christ. Come quickly Lord Jesus. Amen.

Alton native Father Jerry Wickenhauser has Masters degrees in spirituality from St. Louis University and sacred theology from the Gregorian University in Rome. He is a Maryknoll missionary.
The adage that failures can teach many lessons seems quite...
There is no reason to disbelieve the recent news report that Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena alleged during a cabinet meeting in Colombo about an Indian intelligence plot to kill him. The Sri Lankan elites know where the red line runs in any anti-Indian rhetoric, and the allegation at the level of the head of state is extraordinary.

In a phone call to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Sirisena later denied the report. However, we can anticipate that the allegation will keep popping up every now and then until its real purpose is served, namely, keeping Delhi off balance and warding off Indian meddling in Sri Lanka's domestic politics. Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera, a Sirisena loyalist, said the government would probe who leaked the information to the media, since ministers are collectively bound to uphold cabinet secrets. Sirisenas media advisors told the media that the government led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is not interested in investigating the assassination plot. The Sri Lankan political elites have a way of dealing with their Indian big brother.

Illustration: Bhaskaran

Sirisena made the allegation when Wickremesinghe was heading for Delhi and it is well known that there is no mutual trust between the president and the prime minister. But then, they were collaborators when Sirisena secretly conspired to overthrow his mentor, president Mahinda Rajapaksa, and usurp power with Wickremesinghe's help in the 2015 elections. The widespread perception is that India and the US midwifed the unholy Sirisena-Wickremesinghe alliance in a geopolitical coup to banish Rajapaksa to political wilderness as punishment for his governments ties to Beijing.

Things got complicated lately though, and Rajapaksa was welcomed with a red carpet last month in Delhi. Modi received him, hinting at a policy rethink. Delhi senses that Rajapaksa is on a comeback trail, while he would probably estimate that it is prudent to neutralise Indias past antipathies towards him. Modis U-turn appeared just the smart thing to do; after all, it makes sense to bet on a winning horse.

But then, after returning from Delhi, Rajapaksa reportedly had a secret meeting with Sirisena, where they discussed reconciliation. That leaves Delhi with Wickremesinghe as the solitary bird in the Sri Lankan bush. But he is a lacklustre figure who lacks the clout to swing big decisions favouring India. Delhi holds a bird that cannot lift its wings and fly.

Modi government has made a mess of the Sri Lankan policy. Serious follies have been committed. To begin with, bringing in RSS functionaries to create a bridge between Hindu India and Sri Lanka with the glue of the Ramayana was a truly naive venture. It lacked a sense of history. The brutal eradication of Buddhism from the face of India by Hindu zealots is a deeply embedded collective memory in the Sinhala consciousness. The point is, Sri Lanka regards itself as the last bastion of Theravada Buddhism in our part of the world.

Second, we fail to understand that no matter who is in power, Colombo will never involve India in projects of strategic importance. The balance sheet shows that India got nothing out of the 2015 regime change: not a single project with strategic imprint. After Rajapaksas overthrow, Colombo continued to turn to Chinas financial aid. Third, Indian diplomacy should never have meddled in Sri Lankas party politics. It only adds to the phobia against Indian hegemony. Today, neither Sirisena nor Rajapaksa trusts India. We look like a beached whale. Cetacean stranding could have many definitive reasons, but this one belies rational explanations.

The writer is a former diplomat.
Justice R.M. Lodha once called the CBI, which hadnt got a free hand to probe the coal scam, a caged parrot. That was when an indecisive Manmohan Singh was ruling India, and the government seemed as sick as a parrot.

The parrot and Bharat are said to have changed since. Today, a decisive Narendra Modi, who had promised to restore India to the Golden Bird (Sone ki Chidiya) era of the fables, is ruling us. We are told that, under him, India is flying high like a griffon vulture. Naturally, we expect the CBI, Indias premier probe agency, to be super-sinewed like a bird of prey, swooping down on the baddies and the (Nirav) Modis.

Illustration: Bhaskaran

Indeed, the CBI is full of energy, but all that is directed inward. Instead of flying out like hawks on the tail of lesser birds, the agencys big bosses have been fighting like two blood-drawing gamecocks, pecking, jabbing and clawing at each other. Both say the other has been taking bribes to settle cases.

The saddest part was to watch the prime minister, claimed to be a man who brooks no nonsense, helplessly sit through the Punch-and-Judy show. Both men are reputed to be his picks. Special director Rakesh Asthana belongs to the Gujarat cadre. Modi had got him to probe the Godhra train incident, and the Ahmedabad bomb blasts of 2008. Director Alok Verma was brought in as the CBI boss at the last minute by shunting out R.K. Dutta, an outstanding officer who was eyeing the job.

In the end, Modi did the right thinghe clipped the wings of both, and brought in a third man, M. Nageshwar Rao, to run the agency. But by then, the two had washed a lot of dirty linen in public.

It seems there is something in the CBI office that turns its bosses into Angry Birds at times. Almost every other CBI director has had a brawl, or at least a tug of war, with his number-two. Mohan Katre had a tussle with additional director Radhakrishnan Nair, who had found a case against Reliance boss Dhirubhai Ambani and wanted to prosecute him. Later, it was found that Katres son had business links with the Ambanis. S.K. Dutta fought it out with K. Madhavan over the Bofors case and the securities scam, till Madhavan quit in disgust. Joginder Singh, now more famous as a writer of motivational books than as a super sleuth, fought with joint director U.N. Biswas, who was probing the fodder scam. Biswas once became the butt of jokes when he asked the Army to help him arrest Lalu Prasad. Ranjit Sinhas case is the funniest. He has become an accused in the coal scam, which he was probing.

The agencys track record is a bit paradoxical. It was set up to probe corruption cases, but its record has been dismal on that front. Cases have been pursued and dropped, revived and shelved, depending on political equations. Ask Mayawati or Mulayam Singh, the DMK or the AIADMK. Probing murder cases does not fall within its normal charter of duties, except when state governments request it to. But, whenever the CBI has probed such cases, it has come out with the culprit in handcuffs, and mostly got convictions.

Courts have tried to streamline the agencys running and free it from political control. The Gauhati High Court even found the agency an illegal entity! In the Vineet Narain case, the Supreme Court asked the Central Vigilance Commission to supervise the agencys running. The Lokpal Act sought to dilute the executives say in the appointment of the CBI chief. In individual cases, like the Jain hawala, the court tried to monitor the probe.

But such cures have been found to be worse than the maladies. Why? Simple! They fly against the principle of separation of powers.

prasannan@theweek.in
Two decades after he quit the Congress over the issue of the foreign origin of then party president Sonia Gandhi, veteran leader Tariq Anwar on Saturday returned to the grand old party amid speculation on the role that he will be given in the organisation. There is speculation also on how Anwar will benefit the Congress in his home state, Bihar.

Anwar, who quit the Nationalist Congress Party around a month back, met Congress president Rahul Gandhi along with his supporters on Saturday morning, after which his return to the Congress was announced. Also present on the occasion were AICC general secretary in-charge of Bihar Shaktisinh Gohil as well as state PCC chief Madan Mohan Jha, indicating the significance of Anwar's re-entry on the fortunes of the Congress in the politically crucial eastern state.

Anwar, 67, who has represented the Katihar constituency in Bihar in the Lok Sabha, is expected to help the Congress improve its presence in the state by at least a few seats. Also, the Congress, which is struggling to enhance its political stock in Biharwhere it has been relegated to the sidelinesis hoping to reconstruct its Brahmin-Muslim support base with Anwar's induction into the party fold. Jha, a Brahmin, was recently appointed PCC chief.

Meanwhile, there is also speculation that the Congress would not want to restrict the veteran leaderwho held important positions in the party before he quit along with NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and former Lok Sabha speaker P.A. Sangma over Sonia's foreign origin issueto Bihar.

There is speculation Anwar may be projected as a prominent Muslim face of the Congress nationally by according him a significant role at the national level. The possibility of Anwar being appointed as an AICC general secretary is being talked about.

According to party sources, the Congress leadership had been in touch with Anwar over the past several months to facilitate his return. Pawar's reported comments in an interview that were perceived as giving Prime Minister Narendra Modi a clean chit in the Rafale deal provided Anwar with an exit route.

Anwar's return to the Congress, it is learnt, is evidence of the party's strategy to enhance the number of seats that it will contest as part of an alliance. A senior Congress leader explained that Anwar would anyway have been part of the opposition alliance in Bihar, but now he will be there as a member of the principal opposition party.
A Congress-led government would fulfil the demands of ex-servicemen on the 'one rank, one pension' issue, Rahul Gandhi told a group of ex-servicemen in Delhi on Saturday.

At a meeting with retired defence personnel, Gandhi said that if his party is voted to power in the 2019 parliamentary election, it will fulfil their demands, including OROP.

We have been on the street for certain issues and were assured that they will be resolved. Unfortunately, after 1231 days, we haven't even got acknowledgement of the letters written to PM Modi: Ex-serviceman of the Indian Army#RahulGandhiWithSoldiers pic.twitter.com/fXlS4fm3nO  Congress (@INCIndia) October 27, 2018

The Congress party tweeted that the ex-servicemen told Gandhi that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had not acknowledged the letters they had sent on OROP despite protesting for 1,231 days.

Raking up the Rafale fighter jet deal, Gandhi said the Modi government handed out Rs 30,000 crore to industrialist Anil Ambani, but refused to meet the demands of the soldiers on OROP.

The amount of Rs 30,000 crore was more than enough to solve the OROP issue, Gandhi said after the 30-minute meeting.

In an interview to THE WEEK earlier this month, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman claimed the Narendra Modi government was paying more than Rs 10,000 crore for OROP. Modi had made OROP a key part of his election campaign in 2014, but some ex-servicemen groups accuse the BJP-led government of only providing a one-time increase in pension.

Some veterans groups had joined hands with dalit and farmers groups to organise a Bharat bandh in August, which had a marginal impact.
On October 21, Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir spoke exclusively with Bret Baier of Fox News about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Jubeir deftly sidestepped many questions and competently defended the kingdom and the royal family. One answer about the kingdom's political orientation, however, stood out particularly. After Baier called Saudi Arabia an autocracy, Jubeir forcefully countered it, saying the kingdom was a monarchy, and had its own system of checks and balances. While most people laughed at the answer, Jubeir certainly had a point. Governance in Saudi Arabia functions largely on the basis of consensus among various stakeholders. It began to change after the rapid ascent of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

In fact, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia came into existence as a result of a politico-religious compact between the House of Saud and the clerics of the House of Wahhab. The first Saudi state was established in 1744-45 after Muhammad bin Saud and Muhammad bin Abd al-Wahhab cemented an alliance to form a kingdom, challenging the Ottoman overlordship of the Arabian peninsula. The compact held on for centuries despite several ups and downs as Wahhabism gave religious legitimacy to the rule of the House of Sauds, while the monarchs helped propagate Wahhabism.

The royal family has a cumbersome and elaborate decision-making mechanism. The Saudi monarchs, for instance, have never been absolute despots. One reason for this is the large size of the royal family. King Abdul Aziz, the founder of the modern Saudi state, had 40 known sons; his son and successor king Saud had more than 100 offsprings. By most accounts, the extended royal family now has nearly 15,000 members of which about 2,000 are really influential. Organised into factions based on things ranging from tribal loyalty to financial gains, the various factions used to balance each other and even kept the king in check, unlike the kings and emirs of the neighbouring Gulf states, who enjoy unlimited powers.

The powerful cliques within the Saudi royal family acted as a check on absolute royal power. Some of the princes who led such fiefdoms, like Al-Waleed bin Talal, have been immensely rich, some of them controlled branches of armed forces, like Miteb bin Abdullah, son of the former king Abdullah who commanded the National Guard. Some had close links with intelligence agencies, while others like former crown prince Muhammad bin Nayef derived their influence from being very close to the US, especially its intelligence network. After MbS became crown prince, replacing Muhammad bin Nayef, he started dismantling this system of checks and balances. To begin with, MbS is a very young prince in a country which respects age, and which had a long line of geriatric kings. And, unlike his predecessors, he got to be the crown prince under his doting father. According to many reports, King Salman has been unwell for quite some time, giving MbS great leeway in acting on his own. And, being Salman's favourite son, MbS enjoys the privilege of staying with the king in the same palace.

The initial days of MbSs reign pointed towards a great Arab reformer. It was a new beginning in Saudi Arabia, which was long dominated by conservative, geriatric old men as rulers, and MbS appeared as a breath of fresh change. President Donald Trump paid his first foreign visit to Saudi Arabia in the company of his son-in-law Jared Kushner. Kushner and MbS soon became close friends. With the US on his side MbS soon announced sanctions against the fellow Wahhabi emirate, Qatar. It came close on the heels of his war against the Houthis in neighbouring Yemen, who are backed by Iran. The war has turned out into one of the gravest humanitarian crises to have hit the region, according to the UN.

Yet, the move to target Qatar did not receive overwhelming support from the Gulf Cooperation Council, once literally owned by Saudi Arabia. Kuwait and Oman clearly expressed displeasure. The only active supporter was the UAE, which, like Saudi Arabia, was controlled by the young crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed bin Zayed. MbS and MbZ are said to be really close. The sanctions against Qatar failed spectacularly, as the tiny emirate had the support of the two other anti-Saudi regional bigwigs, Iran and Turkey. Turkish President Erdogan, in fact, send a small army contingent to Qatar to pre-empt a possible Saudi invasion of Qatar. MbS, meanwhile, overplayed his hand yet again, when he forcibly brought Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri to Riyadh and was forced to announce his resignation. He backtracked on his word once he was back in Beirut. In August, Saudi Arabia took strong exception to the Canadian governments demand to release Saudi human rights activists Raif Badawi and his sister Samar. Saudi Arabia expelled the Canadian ambassador, recalled its envoy to Ottawa, suspended trade relations, banned flights and asked Saudi students in Canada to return.

Yet, when he started off, MbS was feted globally as a reformer. Many of his initiatives, such as taking on hardline clerics, permitting women to drive and opening movie theatres were seen as progressive measures. Such measures, however, did not do anything to fundamentally alter the socio-political structure of the kingdom. MbS, instead, used such liberal measures to consolidate power. Ironically, most of the women leaders who led the struggle for the permission to drive are now languishing in prisons.

The problem was that Khashoggi saw through the facade, and was bold enough to write about it, alarmingly for MbS, on The Washington Post, which is one of the most influential dailies not just in the US, but the whole world. I have been told that I need to accept, with gratitude, the social reforms that I have long called for, while keeping silent on other matters, wrote Khashoggi a few months ago. And, it is quite likely that Khashoggi was close to American intelligence agencies. After all, he was once the handler of Osama bin Laden.

The decision to murder Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate, and, that too, in a country with an exceptionally good intelligence network, and which has been competing with Saudi Arabia for the leadership of the Sunni Islamic world, was either foolhardy, or smacked of confidence bordering on arrogance. MbS probably forgot his history lessons, about the bitter feud between the Turks and the House of Saud. In 1818, Turkish soldiers captured and razed down the capital of the first Saudi state. They brought Saudi king Abdullah bin Saud and the Wahhabi imam to Istanbul in chains. Abdullah was beheaded outside the Hagia Sophia mosque, and his body was kept for three days for public viewing. The cleric was beheaded in the bazaar. Decades later, the second Saudi state was overran by Turkish forces in 1871. The Saudis had the last laugh though, as they allied with the British during World War I and reclaimed their territory, defeating the Ottomans. Under Erdogan, Turkey is once again targeting Saudi Arabia, with a more muscular foreign policy, making it quite clear that it is keen to reclaim the mantle of Sunni Muslim leadership, like it was during the heydays of the Ottoman empire. Khashoggi's murder has given Turkey the perfect chance to do so. While Erdogan did not blame King Salman for the murder, he was not prepared to absolve MbS. While he remained silent on the role MbS played in the murder, his close associates directly targeted the crown prince. Ilnur Cevik, one of Erdogan's closest advisers, said MbS had Khashoggi's blood on his hands and that the murder would linger like a curse over him.

Despite the Turkish resistance, MbS seemed confident that the US would be muted in its response. He has excellent relations with Trump and Kushner. Last year, Saudi Arabia spent $27 million in lobbying in Washington and promised weapons deals worth $110 billion. Yet, the blowback following Khashoggi's murder was huge. Cutting across party lines, American leaders condemned the murder. The media went berserk. Many of them pulled out of the investment conference held in Riyadh on October 23 and 24. Editorials, opinion pieces, tweets and television appearances, all were about Khashoggi. Even Thomas Friedman, who shared dishes of spicy lamb with MbS in his Riyadh palace sometime ago, and compared the crown prince's reform measures to Arab Spring, had to agree that he was wrong. Most senators were scathing in their criticism. Bob Corker, head of the senate foreign relations committee, said he was convinced that MbS ordered the hit. He has crossed the line. There has to be a punishment and a price to pay for that, said Corker. Senator Dick Durbin, the no. 2 Democrat in the senate, said MbS had his fingerprints all over the murder. The intensity and the bipartisan nature of the protests forced even Trump to acknowledge that it was the worst cover-up ever.

Will Khashoggi's murder cost MbS his throne? There is pressure on Salman to act. Rival factions in the royal family and conservative groups would like to see MbS replaced by someone senior and experienced. But it may not be easy. Over the past few months, MbS has systematically taken charge of all levers of power. His supporters now control all armed forces, the intelligence apparatus and all major sources of money. Unless the United States exerts maximum possible pressure for a change, MbS is likely to stay. Appearances, however, can be so totally deceptive when it comes to the House of Saud.
Research methodology

Perceptual information collection

A primary survey was conducted in August through September 2018, where 175 academic experts, 410 current students, 460 aspiring students and 75 recruiters from 23 cities in India nominated the best b-schools in the country. A closed-ended questionnaire was given to all the stakeholders, asking them to nominate and rank the top 25 b-schools in India and the top b-schools within their city.

Out of the total 1,120 interviews, 30 qualitative, in-depth interviews were done to understand the reasons for the rankings. This exercise helped in validating the data and providing a rationale for the rankings, wherever required.

Perceptual score: Calculated based on the number of nominations received and the actual ranks given to the b-school in the All India category and in its own city

Factual information collection

A dedicated website was created and the link was sent to more than 1,300 b-schools, of which 178 responded within the stipulated time. Nine b-schools were rejected because of incomplete data or lack of supporting documents. Data from the remaining 169 b-schools was used for the rankings.

Factual score: Information collected from the b-schools was combined by applying appropriate weights to each dimension as given below.

Age and infrastructure: 21.5%

Faculty and teaching: 13.5%

Entry standard: 25%

Placements: 35%

Alumni base: 5%

Ranking methodology

Ranking is based on a composite score derived by combining the perceptual score for the b-school and factual score.

Some b-schools could not respond to the survey with factual information within the stipulated time. For them, composite score was derived by combining the perceptual score for the b-schools with an interpolated appropriate factual score based on their position in the perceptual score list.

Some top b-schools, like IIM Calcutta, opted out of the survey and did not want their names to be published.
Amagi, 8K Miles, Placio, Travelyaari, ridlr, and Transerve are startups with varied businesses, but one common factorthey were supported by innovation and incubation centres of various b-schools.

Over the last several years, technology startups have seen a huge jump in India, which is now the third largest startup ecosystem in the world. In 2017 alone, over 1,000 startups emerged. Incubation centres, many in the countrys top b-schools, have shaped and guided many of these successes.

Corporates are interested in co-innovation programmes. Through them, they can tap the startups that will help fill gaps in their existing businesses. - Aruna Reddy, CEO, Dlabs

Becoming an entrepreneur is no easy task. Even as new startups continue to emerge, over 800 have shut up shop over the past six to seven years, for reasons ranging from lack of available funding to unsustainable business models. Even if you do manage to start a company, securing funding to survive, scale up and sustain is another task. Incubation centres can play a big role by handholding a budding entrepreneur for anything from a few months to a couple of years. They provide a space where ideas can be shared and budding entrepreneurs get support from faculty and corporate mentors through accelerator programmes. The other advantage entrepreneurs can draw from incubation centres is finding partners to invest in the venture.

Today, many leading b-schools have set up their own incubation centres. The Indian School of Businesss DLabs in Hyderabad, set up in collaboration with the department of science and technology, aims to support the creation of a high-impact entrepreneurial ecosystem across sectors. We focus more on accelerator and scaling venture, says Aruna Reddy, CEO of DLabs. We use a lot of design thinking. There is a dedicated team that looks into the design approach of a startup and we also have mentoring from the faculty and corporates. Lot of corporates are now interested in co-innovation programmes, says Reddy. Through such programmes, they can tap the startups that will help fill gaps, if any, in their existing businesses. ISB also has an incubation programme, Entrepreneurs Development Initiative, to help immediate graduates from the institute create and sustain their own independent ventures.

IIM Kozhikodes Laboratory for Innovation, Venturing and Entrepreneurship (LIVE) was also set up with the support of the department of science and technology. LIVE aims to be a collaborative platform that would help transform ideas into business ventures with economic and social impact.

IIM Bangalores startup hub, NSRCEL, has recently ramped up its incubation initiatives, too. It has already incubated over 225 startups, and the increased scale will help it launch three to five new programmes, mentor 4,000 entrepreneurs and incubate 200 new ventures. If you have the willingness and passion, with a gentle nudge, you can enhance skill and ability. Our job is to focus on helping every venture that incubates with us to take the next logical step, said Rajiv Sawhney, COO, NSRCEL.

IIM Ahmedabads Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) has been conducting accelerator programmes and contests. It also provides seed and venture funding to early-stage startups. It also launched the Bharat Inclusion Seed Fund to support entrepreneurs solving inclusion programmes with funding, expertise, mentorship and access to markets.

Having an in-house incubation centre helps business schools leverage some of their inherent strengthsstrong and experienced faculty across sectors, diverse student body, many of whom aspire to become entrepreneurs, and strong support from corporates. As the ecosystem develops, more and more corporates are now backing these startup ventures and partnering with incubation centres at b-schools. In August this year, JP Morgan announced a collaboration with IIMAs CIIE to set up a financial inclusion lab. The initiative is aimed at identifying and bringing to scale early-stage startups focused on helping people in India within the lower- and middle-income segment (income of $2 to $10 a day). Over the next four years, JP Morgan will provide $7 million towards this initiative.

In recent years, many institutes have also partnered the governments Atal Incubation Centre (AIC) initiative. The Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) supports these AICs, providing a grant-in-aid of up to 010 crore, which covers the capital and operational expenditure needed to set up the AIC. This year, 72 AICs are being considered for the grant. AIM also provides financial support to scale-up established incubation centres.
The meaning of being tech-savvy has changed significantly in the past few yearsfrom knowing how to use social media to knowing how to protect your personal data. So, the tech-savviness required for virtual learning is now commonplace. And, the argument that e-learning is impersonal and non-collaborative no longer carries any merit as virtual courses have become quite interactive.

Still, as a matter of perception, online learning is not considered on a par with on-site learning. It is this perception that Indias best b-schools are challenging, and they are delving into the world of virtual learning like never before. E-learning has become a significant trend in todays fast-changing business world, facilitating students with relevant education in a flexible and convenient platform, says the Reverend E. Abraham, director, Xavier Labour Relations Institute, Jamshedpur.

XLRI was among the pioneering institutions for online learning in India. It started the Virtual Interactive Learning (VIL) programme, offering management education to working executives, in 2002. Abraham says that initiation of good courses by credible institutes has helped online learning become a popular higher education alternative, overcoming the initial scepticism. Today, this format provides a variety of programmes at costs much lower than traditional courses, he says. More than 7,000 students have graduated from various XLRI-VIL programmes. Currently, the institute has 170 online study centres across the country, offering postgraduate courses in areas such as business management, human resource management, business analytics for management decisions and senior leadership.

Market watch: The finance lab at T.A. Pai Management Institute, Manipal | Courtesy: TAPMI

Such initiatives have made XLRI one of the best b-schools in India. It is, again, Indias best private b-school in the annual THE WEEK-Hansa Research Best B-Schools Survey. It, however, dropped a place, to fourth, in the overall ranking, as IIM Lucknow went ahead by two. The rest of the top ten is unchanged from the last year. Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), University of Delhi, managed to stay ahead of IIM Kozhikode, albeit with a reduced lead of seven as opposed to 16 last time. IIM Indore, which is in the seventh position, has also lost ground to S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), Mumbai, seeing its lead halved from 22 to 11.

Innovative courses seem to be a factor that helped SPJIMR improve its score. The institute has been early to spot trends. It is one of the very few institutes globally that has a course in design thinking, which was launched three years ago. Last year, the institute launched a programme in management and liberal arts. We spoke to alumni, recruiters and current students about the qualities tomorrows MBAs need to have, says Professor Ranjan Banerjee, dean, SPJIMR. The elements of mindfulness, balance, and the ability to connect the dots and solve unstructured problems came across strongly. That is where courses like liberal arts are coming in.

SPJIMR has a vision to become the most innovative and socially sensitive school of management. The institute has a 11-month programme for women returning from a sabbatical. We want to give women an opportunity to be current with the business world, to know the dynamics, gain more knowledge of various functional areas and, more importantly, to get their self confidence back, says Professor Ashita Aggarwal, chairperson of the programme. SPJIMR has another year-long programme, where students mentor underprivileged children from nearby schools.

Learn, live, laugh: Students at Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi | Aayush Goel

Social sensitivity seems to be a key factor that b-schools are trying to inculcate in their students. While the practice of taking students for camps in rural areas have been around, it has now become more structured and prevalent. With a view to sensitise the students to the challenges of rural India, a three-day village exposure visit at the beginning of all flagship programmes is compulsory, says Abraham. This helps students get a first-hand experience of the challenges that less privileged citizens face.

This, according to Abraham, gives the students a better insight into rural markets and enables them to empathise with the unmet needs of villages. Introducing such elements into the curriculum meets the need to provide education that is more integrated and provides students with the opportunity to learn and to come up with new ideas. While training freshers it is important to expose them to problems they are likely to face in the real world. We build this experience by ensuring that the students are constantly engaged in live projects with industry, simulations, case studies, industry visits and sessions by industry stalwarts, says Pratima Sheorey, director of Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development, Pune. It is also important while training freshers to bring in the real world to the classroom in as many dimensions as possible, says Professor G. Raghuram, director, IIMB. Case studies are an important input, he says. A diverse class in which students with experience share their perspectives is essential. Internships provide a real-life context, and simulations and projects provide experiential learning.

In fact, experiential learning methods have become a necessity thanks to the demand from the job market. Industry wants people who are out-of-the-box thinkers, who can come back with solutions for problems, who can do application much better than before, says Professor Madhu Veeraraghavan, director, T.A. Pai Management Institute, Manipal. TAPMI has a Student Managed Investment Course (SMIC), where the institute gives 010 lakh to be invested in the stock market. For SMIC, Veeraraghavan handpicks 30 second year students based on their grade points, a written application on why they should be part of the course and an interview. They are divided into six teams and the corpus is divided equally among the teams. The assessment is based on how their portfolio performs and weekly presentations. Last year, when the students liquidated their stocks before convocation, they made a profit of Rs1.75 lakh.

Another major shift happening in b-schools is the focus on technology-enriched content. You could not have thought about analytics five years ago as a major in a PGDM programme, says Veeraraghavan. Today, b-schools talk about Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and analytics in all areas such as marketing, human resources and finance.

One way for institutes to stay relevant is offering specialised education, such as in the case of Symbiosis Institute of Telecom Management, Pune, which is a pioneering institute in telecom management. Institute of Public Enterprise, Hyderabad, has carved out a niche for itself in the study of issues relevant to policies and programmes related to public enterprises. GITAM Institute of Management offers a Business English Certificate from Cambridge University, UK, as part of its course.

While b-schools refine their curriculum based on industry needs and include technology like AI and blockchain, they would also have to pay attention to the ethics behind innovation. With the development of technology, it is very important that ethical practices and policies are in place, says Sunita Singh, dean, FMS. Otherwise, it will lead to scandals and scams. The advancement of technology has caused a massive disruption in the job market. Devinder Narain, director (corporate relations), Shobhit University, Meerut, says that students should utilise the opportunities that arise from the change in technology to land better jobs. AI is capable of doing a lot of things, he says But it cannot think like humans and does not have emotions. So, in order to survive in this market, students have to develop their thinking process and emotional response.

One thing that all top b-schools in the world seem to be agreeing upon is that education will become virtual, sooner rather than later. A good example of how virtual simulation can help students practise skills is public speaking. Simulators are available in plenty in the market. Even the most basic versions, available for free on Google Play Store for Android phones, allow students to choose the settings, such as number of people in the audience and their reaction to the speech.

B-schools will have to continue to evolve if they hope to survive. The number of applicants to management programmes worldwide has been declining. B-schools are closing down or merging with other institutes or universities. A striking example being the Thunderbird School of Global Management, a reputed American institution founded in 1946, which merged with the Arizona State University in 2014. Management education is facing a slight decline now, says M.P. Hrishikesh, director, CMR Centre for Business Studies, Bengaluru. B-schools need to tighten the operations quality. According to Nitin Garg, director, International School of Management Excellence, Bengaluru, Management schools need to look at return on investment and value addition offered to students. Increase in fees have far outstripped increase in salary. He adds that since the costs are lower for online programmes, it is a good option for working executives.

In India, the switch to online programmes has been rather slow. Even IIMA introduced its ePost Graduate Programme only a year ago. Ashok Mittal, chancellor, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, Punjab, says that online learning can be used to make the existing model more interesting. But, virtual learning is expected to pick up in the years to come. Says Raghuram: Democratisation of management education will grow in importance since management is a fundamental in almost any working context. Digital delivery of management education would be a major trend that facilitates such democratisation.

While the brick-and-mortar feel and the social interactions in a campus/hostel are important aspects of a students life, the convenience and flexibility that online courses provide are unmatchable. Online education is going to be the norm in days to come, says Himanshu Joshi, associate professor at International Management Institute, Delhi. With the number of b-schools coming up, the sustainability of their business model is a question mark. They will have to cater to the requirement of the audience that wants convenience-based education. B-schools that adapt to this delivery model, and provide high-quality content, will thrive.

 With Nachiket Kelkar
Barh (Bihar), Oct 27 (PTI) Union Power Minister R K Singh Saturday ruled out uniform pricing of power in the country, saying that rates will differ because of various factors.

The electricity rates are decided by central and the state electricity regulatory commissions, he said in reply to questions by reporters here.

Besides, coal transportation costs are different for different plants. Also, various state governments have different agreements with power plants across the country, he said.

Bihar, which has insufficient power, has been making vociferous demands for uniform power tariff.

Singh said the new power tariff policy, which is being considered, will be implemented only after consulting all the state governments.

Certain amendments to the Electricity Act will also be implemented after taking the states into confidence, he said.

Singh also asked state governments to give subsidy directly to consumers under the direct benefit transfer scheme.

On the handing over of Bihar's power plants to NTPC, the minister praised the decision, saying it would save 10-15 paise per unit for the state government in the generation of power.

The Bihar government has already divested its stake in Kanti thermal power plant in Muzaffarpur and Nabinagar power plant in Aurangabad to NTPC, while formalities for handing over Barauni thermal power plant would be completed by October 31, 2018.

Singh, who reviewed the progress of work at NTPC's Barh super thermal power station, said the first unit (of stage-I) will start generation from December 2019 instead of the scheduled August 2020.

The second and third units of stage-I will be made operational in December 2020 and August 2021, respectively, he said.

All the units will have a capacity of 660 MW.

"I have reviewed the entire plant and the three under-construction power plants under stage-I and am quite satisfied with the performance of Barh plant.

"The efficiency of the plant has increased which is evident from the fact that plant load factor (PLF) of Barh plant under stage-II has increased to 84 per cent this year from last year's 72 per cent " Singh said.

Two units of stage-II of the Barh super thermal power plant, each of 660 MW, are operational while the three stage-I units are under construction.

The minister said NTPC CMD Gurdeep Singh, who accompanied him, had assured him that the target will be fulfilled as per the rescheduled timeline.

Singh also praised NTPC for not increasing the cost of power in the past five-six years despite the 45 per cent increase in the cost of coal and freight.

The union power minister said he has written to state governments, including Bihar, for providing barren land for setting up solar plants. PTI AR KK ABM

ABM
New Delhi, Oct 27 (PTI) It is easier for societies to reform through their own processes rather than by mandates of governments or others, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said Saturday amid the ongoing controversy over entry of women in the Sabarimala temple.

One fundamental right cannot subsume the other. When it comes to religious rituals and the management of religion, unless a practice is hostile to human values, using one set of fundamental rights "to extinguish" the other will perhaps create further challenges, the BJP leader said, adding it was his personal opinion.

Although the Supreme Court has lifted a ban on entry of women who are between 10 and 50 years of age into the shrine, they have not been able to enter the temple because of protests by people who want to preserve the tradition.

Jaitley, who was delivering the first Atal Bihari Vajpayee Memorial Lecture here, observed that the same Constituent Assembly which gave the right of equality and dignity, also gave the right to religion and right to administer religious institutions.

Can one fundamental right override the other? Can one subsume the other? Can one extinguish the other? The answer is no. Both have to exist and therefore both have to harmoniously coexist, the minister said.

When it comes to religious rituals and the management of religion, he said, unless the practice is so obnoxious and hostile to human values, the same can go into the other fundamental right to religion and right to manage religious institutions. But if you use one set of fundamental rights to extinguish the other it perhaps will create further challenges.

Conventionally, Indian society has been working for social reforms, he said, adding banning of child marriage, Sati, bigamy and polygamy and allowing widow remarriage and equality in property for women are all social reforms which have been introduced.

"Therefore it is easier for societies to work out reforms through their own process, rather than mandates from governments or otherwise.

"And therefore in the interpretative process, my own view is, there is a greater statesmanship by allowing the two sets of fundamental rights to coexist harmoniously by finding how they can do it," Jaitley added. PTI RR CS MR RT
New Delhi, Oct 27 (PTI) Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Saturday said as an economy evolves, regulation needs to be relaxed or altered keeping in the mind the ground situation.

Speaking at an IDFC event here, he said governments increasingly get opportunities to interact with various stakeholders.

For any regulatory mechanism, the stakeholder consultation has to be of very high quality, which will probably lead to a revisiting of the traditional thoughts and opinions, he noted.

"Thats why if you have seen, several regulators now publish their approach papers, tentative drafts, they hold hearings, meet individuals, meet groups of stakeholders together and improve upon what's being said," he observed.

"I think...now that we are evolving as an economy, where all regulation needs to be relaxed or needs to be altered depending on the ground situation, I think this would be quite useful in the whole process," he said.

His observations assume significance in the light of RBI Deputy Governor Viral Acharya's comments Friday pitching for "effective independence" of the central bank.

Citing the examples of economic turbulence in Argentina and Turkey, Acharya had said governments that do not respect the central bank's independence would sooner or later incur the wrath of financial markets.

In recent months, the RBI and the government have been apparently differing on certain issues, such as those pertaining to payment systems regulator and Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) norms for banks.

The Finance Minister further said the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) is helping the banking sector in cleaning up bad loans.

The fear of IBC has made defaulters approach their bank and clear their dues, he said.

"The unintended consequence (of IBC) was that potential defaulters started realising that the moment you cross the red line, at least you will go out and never get back.

"And if you have seen the last quarter or two, potential defaulters are begging, borrowing and stealing and paying back. And that's why the banks have started getting monies even outside the NCLT system from potential defaulters not wanting to cross the red line..., " he said. PTI DP ABM

ABM
Tokyo, Oct 27 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday said his meeting with Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe will add new vigour to the strong friendship between the two countries as he arrived here to attend the 13th India-Japan annual summit.

The two-day summit beginning Sunday will seek to review the progress in ties and deepen strategic dimension of the bilateral relationship.

"PM Narendra Modi arrives in Tokyo to a warm welcome for his 5th Annual Summit with Abe Shinzo. Japan is one of the few countries that India has this mechanism of annual summits, reflecting the extraordinary depth of our engagement," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

"Landed in Tokyo. I am confident this visit will add new vigour to the strong friendship between India and Japan," Modi said in a tweet.

In a statement on Friday, before leaving for Japan, Modi described India and Japan as a "winning combination" and said the island nation was New Delhi's most trusted partner in its economic and technological modernisation.

Modi said it will be his 12th meeting with Abe since he first visited Japan as prime minister in September 2014.

During the summit, Modi will engage with Abe on a range of issues including defence and regional security.

Abe will host Modi at his holiday home in the picturesque Yamanashi prefecture for a private dinner on Sunday following which both the leaders will travel to Tokyo by train.

Yamanashi, at a distance of around 110 kilometres from Tokyo, is surrounded by several mountains including Mount Fuji - the country's tallest peak at around 3,776 metres.

On Sunday afternoon, Prime Minister Modi will join his Japanese counterpart for an informal lunch at a hotel. The two leaders will then visit a company which is a leading manufacturer of factory automation.

Besides bilateral issues, the two leaders are expected to deliberate on a range of regional and global issues including the situation in the Indo-Pacific region.

It is said the prime minister's visit will reaffirm the traditional bonds of friendship between the two countries and strengthen their multi-faceted cooperation in diverse fields.

India is also hoping to have some kind of synergy or integration between Modi's Ayushman Bharat scheme, which is the largest medicare programme of its kind globally, and the Japanese programme which is called Asia Health and Wellbeing Initiative.

Prime Minister in his statement said projects such as Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail and Dedicated Freight Corridors reflected the high level and "strength of our economic engagement".

"Japan is also at the forefront of engaging in our national initiatives, such as 'Make in India', 'Skill India', 'Digital India', 'Start Up India'... Japanese investors have faith in India's economic future, which is marked with myriad opportunities," Modi said.

Modi will also address the Indian community function in Tokyo and will attend a series of business events and address the business forum. PTI MRJ AKJ MRJ

MRJ
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About FA Gifts Pvt. Ltd.



FA Gifts Pvt. Ltd. owns two e-commerce business ventures namely, FlowerAura An online Flower, cake, plant shop and an India wide gifting portal that provides its services in 200+ cities and Bakingo - An online bakery venture that deals exclusively in Cakes in the city of Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Ghaziabad, and Bangalore. PWR

PWR
Kabul, Oct 27 (AFP) A suicide car bomb attack on a bus carrying police officers and workers in central Afghanistan killed at least five people Saturday, officials said.

Another 12 were wounded in the Taliban-claimed blast in the Wardak provincial capital of Maidan Shar, provincial police spokesman Hekmatullah Durrani told AFP.

The explosion happened as the bus entered the main entrance of a police compound. Two officers and three workers were among the dead, Durrani said.

The wounded were all mechanics on the base.

Provincial governor spokesman Abdul Rahman Mangal put the death toll slightly higher at six.

In a WhatsApp message, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said "tens of Afghan police and soldiers were killed" in the attack.

The latest attack by the Taliban comes amid a flurry of US-led diplomatic activity to convince the group to negotiate an end to the 17-year war.

In an apparent move to aid talks, top Taliban commander Abdul Ghani Baradar has been released by Pakistan after more than eight years in detention, sources said Thursday.

That came less than two weeks after US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad met with the Taliban's representatives in Qatar to discuss ending the Afghan conflict. (AFP) SCY

SCY
Beirut, Oct 27 (AFP) The Islamic State group has killed 41 US-backed fighters in Syria battling to oust the jihadists from their eastern holdout of Hajin on the Iraqi border, a war monitor said Saturday.

IS late Friday used suicide bombers as part of a counter-attack against the Syrian Democratic Forces, backed by the US-led coalition against the jihadists, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human rights. (AFP) MRJ

MRJ
New Delhi, Oct 27 (PTI) Following are the top foreign stories at 2000 hours:



FGN28 PM-LD JAPAN

PM Modi accorded warm welcome on his arrival in Japan

Tokyo: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday said his meeting with Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe will add new vigour to the strong friendship between the two countries as he arrived here to attend the 13th India-Japan annual summit.



FGN23 LANKA-3RDLD GOVT

Sirisena suspends parliament till Nov 16 as political crisis deepens in Lanka

Colombo: Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Saturday suspended parliament till November 16 after sacked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe sought an emergency session to prove his majority, deepening the political crisis in the island nation.



FGN4 US-KAMALA HARRIS-EXPLOSIVES

Suspicious packages addressed to Kamala Harris, Tom Steyer recovered: FBI

Washington: Two suspicious packages addressed to Indian-origin Senator Kamala Harris and billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer were recovered, taking the number of such packages to 14, the FBI said Friday. By Lalit K Jha



FGN18 US-LANKA-2NDLD GOVT

EU joins US, UK to urge parties in Sri Lanka to follow Constitution, refrain from violence

Washington: The European Union joined the US and the UK on Saturday to urge the political parties in Sri Lanka to abide by the Constitution and refrain from violence, as the island nation plunged into a political crisis after the sacking of prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. By Lalit K Jha



FGN5 UN-INDIA-TERRORISTS

India calls for UN sanctions against terrorists involved in sexual violence

United Nations: India has called for the UN Security Council sanctions regime to "proactively" list terrorists and terror groups involved in sexual violence in armed conflicts, underscoring that prosecution of criminals engaged in trans-boundary crimes is critical to deliver justice to victims. By Yoshita Singh



FGN22 CHINA-INDIA-BORDER TALKS

21st round of India-China border talks to be held next month

Beijing: The 21st round of India-China border talks led by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will be held in China next month, informed sources said here. By K J M Varma



FGN9 TRUMP-EXPLOSION-LD MEDIA

Media using pipe bomb scare to score political points: Trump

Washington: US President Donald Trump on Friday called for ending the "politics of personal destruction" as he accused the media of using "sinister actions of one individual" to score political points against him and his party. By Lalit K Jha



FGN19 SAUDI-LD KHASHOGGI

Khashoggi killers 'will be prosecuted in Saudi Arabia': Saudi FM

Manama: Saudi Arabia will prosecute the suspects in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Riyadh's foreign minister said Saturday in response to a call by Turkey for their extradition. (AFP)



FGN20 PAK-IMRAN-SISTER

Imran Khan's sister among 44 prominent Pakistanis owning benami properties in UAE

Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's sister is among 44 prominent political and government figures owning benami properties in United Arab Emirates, revealed a Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) list submitted to the Pakistan Supreme Court. By Sajjad Hussain



FGN27 SYRIA-ISIS-LD KILLINGS

IS kills 41 US-backed fighters in eastern Syria: Monitor

Beirut: The Islamic State group has killed 41 US-backed fighters in Syria who are battling to oust the jihadists from their eastern holdout of Hajin on the Iraqi border, a war monitor said Saturday. (AFP)



FGN14 PENTAGON-LD KHASHOGGI

Khashoggi murder 'must concern us all': Mattis to regional forum

Manama: Pentagon chief Jim Mattis warned a Middle East forum on Saturday that the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul "must concern us all greatly". (AFP)



FGN15 AFGHAN-LD POLLS

Afghans risk their lives to vote in delayed Kandahar poll

Kandahar: Afghans risked their lives to vote in legislative elections in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, after the Taliban-claimed killing of a powerful police chief delayed the ballot by a week. (AFP) CPS
Manama, Oct 27 (AFP) Riyadh on Saturday dismissed Ankara's calls to extradite 18 Saudis wanted for the murder of critic Jamal Khashoggi, as Washington warned the crisis risked destabilising the Middle East.

"The individuals are Saudi nationals. They're detained in Saudi Arabia, and the investigation is in Saudi Arabia, and they will be prosecuted in Saudi Arabia," Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told a regional defence forum in Bahrain.

He was responding to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who on Friday renewed his call for the 18 men to be extradited for trial in Turkey.

Khashoggi, 59, who had lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since 2017, vanished after entering the consulate on October 2 to obtain paperwork for his marriage to his Turkish fiancee.

Gruesome reports have alleged that he was murdered and his body dismembered by a team sent from Saudi Arabia to silence the Washington Post columnist, who had criticised Saudi's powerful Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.

After weeks of denials, Riyadh has sought to draw a line under the crisis with an investigation.

Prince Mohammad, heir to the oil-rich nation's throne, publicly denounced the murder as "repulsive", while the Saudi prosecutor acknowledged for the first time this week that based on the evidence of a Turkish investigation the killing had been "premeditated".

But US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis, who was also addressing the Manama forum, warned that "the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in a diplomatic facility must concern us all greatly".

"Failure of any nation to adhere to international norms and the rule of law undermines regional stability at a time when it is needed most," he stressed.

Saudi authorities have arrested 18 men wanted by Ankara following the international furore over Khashoggi's murder, which was reportedly carried out in the consulate by a team which flew to Istanbul.

Five intelligence chiefs have been sacked, including two who were part of the crown prince's inner circle.

The journalist's murder has generated international outrage and undermined Riyadh's relations with the US and other Western governments.

But the Saudi foreign minister vowed Saturday "we will overcome it." "The issue, as I said, is being investigated. We will know the truth. We will hold those responsible accountable. And we will put in place mechanisms to ensure it doesn't happen again," Jubeir told the defence forum.

On Thursday, CIA Director Gina Haspel briefed US President Donald Trump on the latest developments in the investigation after a fact-finding mission to Turkey.

Pro-government Turkish media said intelligence officers showed Haspel video images and audio tapes of Khashoggi's killing gathered from the consulate.

But the body of Khashoggi, who was once an insider in Saudi royal circles, remains missing.

"You need to show this body," Erdogan insisted on Friday, indicating that his country had more evidence about the killing to reveal.

The Turkish president, who has stopped short of directly blaming the Saudi government, added the 18 suspects must know who killed Khashoggi and repeated his call for the men to be tried in Turkey.

"The culprit is among them. If that is not the case, then who is the local conspirator? You have to tell," he said.

"Unless you tell, Saudi Arabia will not be free from this suspicion."

Khashoggi's fiancee Hatice Cengiz said in a TV interview on Friday that she never would have let him enter the consulate if she had thought that "Saudi Arabia authorities would hatch a plot" to kill him.

"I demand that all those involved in this savagery from the highest to the lowest levels are punished and brought to justice," Cengiz told the Haberturk television station.

She said she had not been contacted by Saudi officials and was unlikely to go to Saudi Arabia for any funeral there if Khashoggi's missing body is found. (AFP) KUN

KUN
Washington, Oct 27 (AFP) US media reported at least four people killed Saturday after police in the US city of Pittsburgh were called to an "active shooter," reportedly near a Jewish synagogue.

CBS reported that seven people were confirmed dead, and that two police officers had been shot, while Fox put the death toll at four.

"There is an active shooter in the area of Wilkins and Shady," Pittsburgh's Public Safety department, which includes the police, said on Twitter.

The Tree of Life congregation is located in the area cited by police.

Television pictures showed a police SWAT team and ambulances in the area.

It is the latest shooting incident in the United States, where gunmen regularly cause mass casualties and firearms are linked to more than 30,000 deaths annually. (AFP) CPS
Washington, Oct 27 (AFP) A gunman opened fire at a synagogue in the US city of Pittsburgh on Saturday, reportedly killing at least four people and injuring an unknown number before he was taken into custody.

The local CBS affiliate reported that eight people were confirmed dead, while Fox put the death toll at four.

A police spokesman addressing reporters at the scene confirmed "multiple casualties" and said three officers where shot before the shooter was taken into custody.

The condition of the officers was not immediately clear.

Police were still clearing the building, the official said.

Pittsburgh's Public Safety department, which includes the police, earlier tweeted that an active shooter was in the area near the synagogue, urging residents to stay away.

The Tree of Life congregation is located in the area cited by police, and the incident occurred on the Jewish Sabbath.

Television pictures showed a police SWAT team and ambulances in the area.

"There are multiple casualties," the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette quoted Police Commander Jason Lando as saying.

US President Donald Trump tweeted that people "in Squirrel Hill area should remain sheltered. Looks like multiple fatalities." He added: "Beware of active shooter. God Bless All." It is the latest shooting incident in the United States, where gunmen regularly cause mass casualties and firearms are linked to more than 30,000 deaths annually. (AFP) CPS
Mumbai, Oct 27 (PTI) The erosion of Jammu and Kashmir's autonomy, which was granted to the state at the time of its accession to the Indian Union, made its people angry, former chief minister Omar Abdullah said Saturday.

Speaking at an event organised by the United States Consulatehere, Abdullah said the root of the Kashmir problem lay in its "troubled politics" and it could not be solved without a political engagement.

He said Jammu and Kashmir was different from other parts of the country and "we need to recognise that".

Abdullah said on August 14 and 15, 1947, not two but three nations emerged -- India, Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir, whose ruler refused to merge with either India or Pakistan.

"Tribal invaders accompanied by regular Pakistani Army invaded a part of my state, continue to occupy it even today and perhaps in some way, Jammu and Kashmir's destiny was written there," the former chief minister said.

Stating that even after becoming part of India, the state "held on to its distinct identity", Abdullah said initially the Union was to be responsible only for currency, communication, defence and foreign affairs, and everything else was the domain of the state.

"I am not for a moment suggesting that was the perfect situation but that's what existed. Over time that situation has gradually been whittled over and eroded to a point where the autonomous Jammu and Kashmir that existed in 1947...is a pale shadow of what exists today," he said.

"Obviously people will get angry," he said.

At the same time, Abdullah also said the Centre alone could not be blamed for Kashmir's woes.

"State players, whether it is my party or other political parties, we have our own responsibilities as well which we can not shy away from," he said.

The Kashmir problem did not arise because of lack of development and jobs, but these factors only contributed to it, while "the cause lies in Jammu and Kashmir's troubled politics", Abdullah said.

"Unless we address the problem and engage with the state politically, this problem won't stop," he said.

"At best at the moment there are probably 500-600 militants. Not every young Kashmiri is carrying a gun today. Not every young Kashmiri is throwing stones today. But if you were to switch on TV at 9 pm for debates, that is all you will see....(the perception that) all Kashmiris are violent, anti-nationals and pro-Pakistanis. You push people to the walls (through such portrayal)," Abdullah said. PTI MM KRK AAR
20 CPI(M) supporters injured as mob attacks party rally

Agartala, Oct 27 (PTI) At least 20 CPI(M) supporters

were injured when a mob attacked a rally taken out by the

party in South Tripura district Saturday, police said.

The CPI(M) activists took out a rally demanding a

probe into the Rafale deal when a mob attacked them, the

police said.

Superintendent of Police, Jai Singh Meena said that a

rally was organized by CPI(M) supporters at Belonia town,

about 110 km from here this morning, which came under attack

from about 25 people.

"The police immediately rushed to the spot and the

attackers fled the spot...," the SP said.

The CPI(M) alleged that 'hooligans' of ruling BJP

attacked the rally.

"Those who attacked our rally were all hooligans of

BJP. The police were present when we were attacked," CPI(M)

Belonia sub-division secretary, Tapas Dutta said, adding that

a complaint has been at the local police station.

He claimed that CPI(M) South Tripura district

secretary, Basudeb Majumder, executive member of Tripura

Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) Parikshit

Murasingh were among the injured.

The BJP state spokesperson Ashok Sinha denied the

CPI(M) allegations and said the communist party had a habit of

"levelling false, baseless and politically motivated"

allegations.

"This is not the culture of BJP to attack political

opponents. Our party had nothing to do if some local people

attacked them. BJP cant be blamed for it," Sinha said. PTI

JOY

RG RG
New Delhi, Oct 27 (PTI) The Congress on Saturday alleged that the Chief Vigilance Commission and the government were hand in glove in divesting CBI Director Alok Verma of his powers and termed it as a "sinister conspiracy to put a lid on investigation" into Rafale deal.

The opposition party questioned why CVC Commissioner K V Chowdary had "abruptly cancelled" his scheduled foreign tour to hold an urgent meet at night on October 23 on the matter and issued an "illegal" order against Verma.

Addressing a joint press conference with AICC general secretary Ashok Gehlot, AICC media in-charge Randeep Surjewala claimed there were layers of drama in the late night that day wherein "a fraud was played on the Constitution by Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with CVC, which was now out in the open".

There was no immediate reaction from the CVC and the Prime Minister's Office on the Congress' allegations.

The government had divested powers of Verma and CBI's Special Director Rakesh Asthana's in the early hours of October 24, amid an ongoing spat between them. The decision to remove the two was based on the CVC's recommendations.

"Chowdary was scheduled to go on a tour to Denmark on October 23 (Tuesday) in the evening. He abruptly cancelled his tour and held a meeting of the Central Vigilance Commission at night," Surjewala claimed.

On the same day around 11 pm, CBI's Joint Director M Nageshwar Rao, was sent to CBI headquarter in anticipation of the CVC order, Surjewala claimed.

Rao is now the interim chief of the CBI, but the apex court has barred him from taking any "policy" or "any major decision".

Surjewala claimed that Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik called his subordinates at around 11:30 pm to alert to them about an urgent midnight operation.

"At 12:00 am, Delhi Police Commissioner received instructions from National Security Advisor and briefed Delhi Police officers for taking over the CBI headquarters by Delhi Police," he claimed.

As the Delhi Police attempted to take control at the CBI headquarters at around 12:30 am, they were stopped by the CISF guarding the premises, Surjewala claimed.

He claimed that Patnaik then spoke to the head of CISF, who also received instructions from the Prime Minister's Office/National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, to permit takeover of CBI premises by Delhi Police.

On the other hand, between 8 pm to 12:30 am, CVC and his two colleagues drafted the recommendations for removal of Verma, Surjewala claimed.

He alleged that the CVC order was taken to North Block, where Secretary Personnel, C Chandramouli was waiting as per instructions of PMO.

"Chandramouli then rushed to the PMO. Cabinet Committee on Appointments headed by Prime Minister, then, approved the removal of Alok Verma as the CBI Director and appointed, M Nageshwar Rao as the new CBI Director," he claimed.

The Congress leader claimed that the CVC and Additional Secretary, Department of Personnel and Training then visited the CBI headquarters.

At around 2:30 am, the CVC, the Additional Secretary and Rao, the then Joint Director, came out of the CBI headquarters with files and records, he claimed.

Surjewala also posed questions to the government saying "if the CVC did not have the powers to remove the CBI director then why did it help the government in conducting its nefarious conspiracy".

"Has the CVC deliberately permitted himself to be misused by the government to carry of sinister conspiracy to put a lid on investigation into Rafale corruption? " he said.

The Congress has been persistently attacking the government on the Rafale deal, alleging corruption. The government has vehemently denied the allegations and has accused Congress leaders of spreading lies on the issue.

"What was the tearing hurry for the CVC to cancel his Denmark tour scheduled for October 23, call a midnight meeting and pass an illegal order for divesting the CBI Director, Alok Verma of all his duties?" Surjewala said.

The party also alleged that Rao was sent to CBI office at 11 pm on October 23, even before the order naming him the interim chief of the agency was issued. PTI PR RT
New Delhi, Oct 27 (PTI) Nearly a month after quitting the Nationalist Congress Party, Tariq Anwar Saturday joined the Congress after meeting its chief Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi, sources said.

Anwar along with his supporters met Gandhi at his Tughlaq Lane residence and was welcomed into the party fold, the sources said.

The former MP from Katihar Lok Sabha constituency would make a formal announcement of his joining the Congress party later in the day, they said.

Anwar announced he was quitting the NCP and was also giving up his Lok Sabha membership on September 28 after Sharad Pawar's "defence" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Rafale fighter jet deal. Pawar was quoted in the media as having given a clean chit to Modi on the deal.

Pawar, however, had clarified he was misquoted in the reports and he had given no such clean chit to Modi.

A former president of Congress's Bihar unit, Anwar formed the NCP in the 1990s along with Pawar and the late P A Sangma, opposing Sonia Gandhi taking over as AICC president on grounds of her foreign origin.

The party thereafter allied with the Congress at the national level and also in Maharashtra. PTI SKC ABH

ABH
Mathura, Oct 27 (PTI) Expressing the commitment of BJP to Palampur resolution, party's state spokesperson Manish Shukla said here Saturday that Ram temple will be constructed in Ayodhya soon.

At its Palampur (Himachal Pradesh) convention in 1989, the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) had adopted a resolution to build a temple at the birth place of lord Ram in Ayodhya.

"Right from the order of Allahabad High court to other orders of lower courts, it has been established Ram temple existed where deity of lord Ram has been placed in Ayodhya, state BJP spokesperson Manish Shukla said while talking to reporters here.

Shukla claimed that owing to efforts of BJP-lead central government, Supreme Court agreed for a day-to-day hearing from October 29 on Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case.

The title dispute hearing in the case will commence from October 29.

"BJP is of the firm view that Ram temple existed at Ram Janmabhoomi Ayodhya since ages and would continue to remain in future also after the construction of magnificient temple at the site," he said.

Rejecting allegations, that "BJP remembers Ram temple during elections only", Shukla said, it is a matter of faith for the party.

He said tell the "slot when elections are not held, be it of Nagar Panchayat, Nagar Palika, Vidhan Parishad, Vidhan Sabha, Lok Sabha etc.

On the opposition allegation that "BJP talks about Ram temple only but remains indifferent towards price rise," Shukla claimed only BJP has sincerely thought of poor after the independence.

He cited, Centre's 'Ayushman Bharat' health insurance scheme of Rs 5 lakh per family per year, free LPG connection, power connection, etc., to show the concern of Modi government towards poor.

Shukla said, BJP is going to people with the report card of union government and about 19-month-old state government, just to apprise people that promises made by the party have been fulfilled.

Declaration of MSP at least one-and-half-times of its cost to farmer, Saubhagya scheme, electrification of villages, ensuring maximum wheat and paddy purchase in the state, waiving the loan of small and marginal farmers, ensuring urea availability, employment through one district one product scheme, construction of roads, crop insurance scheme, Atal pension scheme etc., are the achievement of BJP-led central and state governments, he stated.

He claimed that under Saubhagya scheme, over 72 lakh power connections have been given in the state in the last 19 months of BJP rule against 6.5 lakh connection per year under the previous governments.PTI CORR RCJ

RCJ
New Delhi, Oct 27 (PTI) Nationalism should be the biggest religion for everyone and a collective voice must be raised against the forces of Naxalism, terrorism, corruption and those who work against the nation's interests, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said Saturday.

Speaking at an event here organised by Arya Samaj, a socio-religious organisation, he stressed that India is primarily an agricultural country in which "cow-based activities are worthy of being highlighted".

A statement quoting Adityanath said his government has made substantial changes in the educational curriculum in Uttar Pradesh.

In the school curriculum, the government has added information about the life of great personalities and revolutionaries of the past, the BJP leader said.

"We have also discontinued the practice of giving public holidays in the name of these great people. Instead educational workshops are to be held, so that young children can be informed about them," he said.

Side by side, the system of Gurukuls would be re-established in which the school day would start with vedic havans and chanting of hymns, the chief minister said.

"Nationalism should be the biggest religion for everybody. Hence, we should raise our collective voice against forces of Naxalism, terrorism, corruption and the people who work against the interests of the country," he added.

He also asked the Arya Samaj to inform the government if there was any encroachment on its property, so that it could be removed as soon as possible.

Assam Governor Jagdish Mukhi said education was the only medium to eradicate evils from the society and Swami Dayanand Saraswati, the founder of Arya Samaj, was well aware of it.

Speaking on the occasion, Haryana Chief Minister Manoharlal Khattar threw light on Saraswati's efforts towards education of women, saying he understood its importance of extremely well. PTI PR AAR
New Delhi, Oct 27 (PTI) Three men were arrested and a minor was detained for allegedly killing a man in north-east Delhis Seelampur area, police said Saturday.

The accused were identified as Shahbaz (22), resident of Jafrabad, Jibran (24), resident of Kabir Nagar in Shahdara and Rizwan (22) from Seelampur. A juvenile was also apprehended in the case, they added.

On October 15, three armed men shot one Nabi Ahmed in Seelampur when the latter was returning home. He was rushed to Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital. On October 17, the victim succumbed to his injuries, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northeast) Atul Kumar Thakur said.

During investigation, we tracked a 'suspicious' mobile number, which helped us identify the three accused, he said.

During interrogation, the arrested revealed Rizwan was the main conspirator, police said. Rizwan and Ahmed had reportedly fought many times on petty issues, following which Rizwan conspired with his associates to eliminate Ahmed, Thakur said.

Two pistols and a motorcycle were recovered from Rizwan's possession, he added. PTI NIT IND

IND
Jammu, Oct 27 (PTI) Three armed robbers allegedly looted cash worth Rs one crore from a private Delhi-bound truck on the Jammu-Pathankot National Highway on Saturday, a police officer said.

The robbers intercepted the truck in the early hours near Barwal in Kathua district shortly after it left for Delhi from the Bari Brahmana area of Samba district, he said.

The robbers decamped with cash after threatening the truck driver and a manager travelling in the vehicle.

Police has taken cognizance of the incident and a special team has been constituted to investigate the case, the officer said.

According to preliminary investigation, the cash belonged to a company and it was being transported by a truck to its ally firm in Delhi. It is suspected that someone aware of it planned the robbery.

"So far, the details are sketchy and all possible angles are being looked into," the officer added. PTI TAS SNE

SNE
TET exam to be held after finding exact number of vacancies

Kolkata, Oct 27 (PTI) The West Bengal government will

take a call on conducting primary Teachers' Eligibility Test

(TET) after finding the exact number of vacancies in

state-run and state-aided primary schools, state Education

minister Partha Chatterjee said Saturday.

Besides, the student-teacher ratio in every primary

school would be examined, he said.

"After calculating these figures, we will arrive at

the actual vacancy figure (in primary schools) and conduct the

TET examination accordingly," Chatterjee told reporters.

To appear for the TET examination, candidates must

complete a two-year teacher training programme or secure at

least 50 per cent in the Higher Secondary Examination. PTI SUS

NN NN
Pune, Oct 27 (PTI) A local court here Saturday remanded two left-wing activists - Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira, accused of having Maoist links, in police custody till November 6.

Gonsalves and Ferreira were taken into the custody by Pune police Friday evening, hours after the court rejected their bail applications along with that of Sudha Bharadwaj, observing that the material collected by the police, on the face of it, shows their alleged links with Maoists.

According to the police, Bharadwaj, who was under house arrest in Faridabad is also likely to be produced in the court later in the day on Saturday.

District and Sessions Judge K D Vadane sent the two activists to police custody after district government pleader and public prosecutor Ujjwala Pawar argued in the court that since all the accused were under house arrest as per the Supreme Court's directions, they could not be interrogated in connection with the case.

Seeking their police custody for 14 days, Pawar told the court that the preliminary investigation has revealed that they had links with the banned CPI (Maoist) and were involved in recruitment as well as raising funds for Maoist activities.

They were involved in "larger conspiracy to threaten the democratic set-up of the nation", Pawar told the court.

The Pune police had arrested Ferreira, Gonsalves, Bharadwaj and two others -- Telugu poet Varavara Rao and activist Gautam Navlakha -- in August this year in connection with the probe into violence in Koregaon Bhima in Pune on Januuary 1 this year.

Gonsalves and Ferreira were brought to Pune from their residences in Mumbai on Friday after their bail pleas were rejected by the court. Their four-week period of house arrest also ended on Friday.

Opposing the police custody, defence lawyer Rahul Deshmukh, who represented Gonsalves, argued in the court that the police in their remand report have not mentioned that they need to recover any material from the accused.

The material seized earlier is already in their possession for nearly two months now, he said. "So there is no need for police custody," he said.

Citing a CrPC section, he argued that the house arrest of all these accused was nothing but a "judicial custody".

"While seeking the police custody of the accused, who are already in judicial custody, the prosecution needs to submit an affidavit before the court. But in this case, no affidavit was submitted, so there is no need to give police custody," Deshmukh said.

Advocate Siddharth Patil, representing Ferreira, argued the period of the house arrest specified by the SC was valid till 12 midnight of October 26.

"However, police took both the accused into the custody before the expiry of the house arrest, which is contempt of court," he said.

Talking to PTI later, Deshmukh said he would assess the order copy and will challenge the police custody in the high court. PTI SPK NP RCJ
Singh ridicules Cong, says allies may launch Metoo campaign

after polls

Hyderabad,Oct 27 (PTI) In remarks that could stir up a

row, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh Saturday used the

#MeToo movement analogy to take potshots at Congress and warn

parties wishing to ally with it for elections that they should

not repent later and be compelled to run a similar campaign.

All the opposition parties, which had allied with

Congress, have repented their decision later, Singh claimed,

as he alleged that the parties who want to form alliance

against the BJP do not have any agenda associated with

national interest.

"Later, let such a situation not arise that all the

opposition parties form alliance and later when they face

deception by Congress, they become constrained to run a

'MeToo' campaign," he said, apparently referring to the

movement that has empowered women to call out those who

harassed them.

"...I would like to remind all the opposition parties...

Whoever has gone with Congress, it is finished, no force in

the world could save it from being erased," he said.

Claiming that all political parties fear the growing

influence of BJP, he said they now want to fight the polls

together.

"The parties can form an alliance, however big it is,

but the parties should have the right agenda," he said, after

inaugurating the national convention of Bharatiya Janata Yuva

Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of BJP, here.

"They do not have any agenda associated with national

interest. They have only one agenda, 'stop Modi. They do not

have any other agenda..," he said.

Highlighting the union government's achievements, he

said India was among the fastest growing economies in the

world with the NDA in power.

During the last about four-and-half-years of NDA

rule, no major terror attack has taken place in the country

and the credit for it goes to the young personnel in the Army

and other security agencies, the union minister said.

Asserting that the nation was now secure, he said

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shown decisiveness and cited

the example of "surgical strikes" across the LoC.

Singh advised the BJYM activists to take up not only

political work but also socio-political work. He urged them to

play a major role in helping the BJP win the upcoming

Assembly and Lok Sabha polls.

Speaking at the convention, Tripura Chief Minister

Biplab Kumar Deb highlighted NDA government schemes, including

those for providing housing, electrification and LPG

connections, that, he said, helped the poor in a big way.

Criticising the Telangana Rashtra Samithi

governments investment support scheme for farmers in the

state, he said the NDA government hiked the MSP which is

result-oriented. PTI SJRBN

BN BN
Kannur (Ker), Oct 27 (PTI) BJP president Amit Shah arrived here Saturday on a day visit to Kerala to attend a party function in the city and the 90th Mahasamadhi observance of saint social reformer Sree Narayana Guru at Varkala near Thiruvananthapuram.

Hundreds of party workers gathered to welcome Shah, who became the first passenger to land at the Kannur International Airport slated for official inauguration on December 9.

Shah will inaugurate the party's new district office located at Thalikkavu, party sources said.

He would also visit the family members of slain BJP activist Remith, who was killed allegedly by the activists of CPI(M) in 2002.

Later in the day, Shah will attend the 'Mahasamadhi Navathi Yathi Pooja Sammelan' at Sivagiri, a hillock spiritual mutt established by Narayana Guru in Varkala near Thiruvananthapuram.

Shah's Kerala visit assumes significance in the wake of massive protests against the CPI(M)-led LDF government's decision to implement the Supreme Court verdict permitting women of all age groups into the Sabarimala temple.

The BJP in the state has extended full support to the agitation led by devotees of Lord Ayyappa to protect the age-old tradition of the shrine.

The state had witnessed massive protests from devotees at various places, including Sabarimala, Nilakkal and Pamba, against permitting women of all ages to enter the shrine, where the deity is 'Naishtika Brahmachari' (perennial celibate), when the temple was opened for monthly poojas from October 17-22.

At least 12 women in the 'barred' age group (10-50) had tried to trek the hills to offer prayers but had to retreat following widespread protests. PTI LGK JRK ROH RCJ

RCJ
New Delhi, Oct 27 (PTI) Assistive devices such as hearing aids and wheelchairs were distributed Saturday to persons with disabilities and senior citizens below the poverty line in a camp at Chattarpur organised by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

The camp was held by the Disability Division under the government's Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana (RVY).

The scheme aims to help older people from economically weaker sections lead an active life and build an aged-friendly society by providing them with devices to maintain near normalcy in morbidity.

Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Krishan Pal Gurjar who give away the aids and assistive living devices said the government was committed to the welfare of persons with disabilities and the elderly.

He said the government amended the Rights of Persons with Disabilities legislation and increased the types of disabilities from seven to 21. The quantum of reservation was increased for people suffering from disabilities from three per cent to four per cent in government jobs, he added.

The minister said the work on a universal ID card for persons with disabilities was in progress.

Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation of India (ALIMCO), a PSU working under the aegis of the ministry organised the camp in close association with District Administration, South Delhi.

Under the scheme, beneficiaries were distributed aids and equipments such as motorised tricycles, tricycles, folding wheelchairs, spectacles, walking sticks, tripods and hearing aids etc estimated to be worth around Rs 50 lakh. PTI PLB AAR
Muzaffarnagar (UP) Oct 27 (PTI) A cattle trader was shot dead and robbed of Rs 1,50,000 near Sikheda village here Saturday, police said.

The deceased was identified as Akhlak. He was returning to his home in Mansurpur village from a cattle mela in Bihari village when the incident took place, police said.

According to City SP Ombir Singh, two armed men intercepted Akhlak's e-rickshaw, shot him and robbed Rs 1,50,000 cash from a case in the vehicle.

On information, senior police officers rushed to the spot and started search operations. The body of the deceased was sent for post-mortem, officials said. PTI CORR IND IND
Muzaffarnagar, Oct 27 (PTI) A man committed suicide by jumping before a train near Kandhla railway station in Shamli district, police said Saturday.

They said the 35-year-old man was worried over some personal issue and jumped before a train on Delhi-Saharanpur route Friday evening.

The body has been sent for postmortem.

In another case, a 30-year-old woman struggling with some family issue consumed poison at Salahkheri village in the district Friday evening, police said.

She was rushed to an area hospital where doctors declared her brought dead, they said. Police are probing both the cases. PTI CORR ABH

ABH

ABH
Jaipur, Oct 27 (PTI) A special camp will be organised in Syria to fit artificial limb 'Jaipur Foot' in people wounded in the civil war in the West Asian country.

The Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti (BMVSS), the parent body of 'Jaipur Foot', has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Syrian organisation Saint James the Mutilated (SJM) for the purpose.

Under the MoU, signed on Thursday, BMVSS will hold a special camp in Syria with the support of India's Ministry of External Affairs and the Syrian Foreign Ministry.

"SJM will be the facilitating the agency to provide all support for the successful holding of the camp in which in the first phase 500 amputees would be provided with 'Jaipur Foot'," a release from BMVSS said on Saturday.

Mother Agnes, who heads SJM, said there are over one lakh persons -- military personnel as well as civilians -- who were wounded in the civil war in Syria and have been suffering for such a long time after losing their limbs.

"The MoU would go a long way in helping the handicapped persons of Syria and within six months a camp will be organised to rehabilitate first 500 amputees in the first phase," Agnes said. PTI SDA SMN

SMN
Five of America's biggest technology firms are depriving the Treasury of more than 1 billion a year by vastly understating how much money they make in the UK, an explosive new report claims.

Researchers at think tank Tax Watch, which launches today, have estimated that Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft and IT giant Cisco generated profits of more than 6.6 billion in 2017 from customers based in the UK.

That should have created a combined tax liability in Britain of 1.258 billion, Tax Watch said. Yet the five giant firms in fact contributed 191 million in 2017  a difference of 1.067billion.

Five of America's biggest technology firms are depriving the Treasury of more than 1 billion a year by vastly understating how much money they make in the UK, a new report claims

The campaign group said this was because international rules allow the firms to decide where in the world their earnings are recorded  regardless of where these revenues originated.

It said that if the companies were forced to book revenues generated from UK customers in the UK they would have contributed around 5 billion extra to the Treasury over the past five years at normal corporation tax rates.

That is almost as much as the entire 5.3 billion that the Government raises each year in inheritance tax. There is no suggestion that any of the five companies illegally avoided paying UK taxes or broke any rules.

And last night, the firms said they did not recognise Tax Watch's calculations and that they complied fully with all tax requirements in the UK.

But the new study  which is the first estimate of the overall value of US tech giants' UK activities  will heap pressure on Philip Hammond to act in tomorrow's Budget.

The Mail on Sunday's Fair Play on Tax campaign has repeatedly called on the Chancellor to level the playing field so that multinational, online and foreign firms are treated the same as domestic companies and those with a large presence on Britain's ailing high streets where highly-taxed traditional retailers have been forced to shut stores.

Researchers at think tank Tax Watch, which launches today, have estimated that Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft and IT giant Cisco generated profits of more than 6.6 billion in 2017 from customers based in the UK

Hammond is understood to be mulling whether to announce a so-called digital services tax, which could see the likes of Google, Facebook and Microsoft face a new levy in the UK.

George Turner, author of the Tax Watch report, said: 'The Government must ensure taxes on profits made in this country are paid here. What is needed is a rethink of how multinationals are taxed, and an acceptance the current approach isn't working.'

Currently, multinationals are able to mask the scale of their UK activities by moving revenues and profits all over the world.

Tax loopholes allow companies to shrink their bills by paying interest on debts or so-called licence fees to subsidiary firms or sister firms registered outside the UK. Often, a large chunk of revenue is booked in low-tax jurisdictions such as Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

Firms are allowed to publish a single set of information that combines their global operations in an overall figure, rather than separately for each country.

Tax Watch  a non-profit organisation funded by Julian Richer, founder of hi-fi firm Richer Sounds  spent months poring over the accounts of Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Cisco and other public data.

They then used published profit margins to derive estimated UK profits. It emerged earlier this month that Facebook had paid 15.8 million UK tax last year. Tax Watch estimated the firm's tax liability at around 130 million.

Tax Watch said Google should pay 355.5 million in tax on its UK profits, compared to the 48.7 million it paid; Microsoft, 148.4 million instead of 29.3 million; Cisco, 81.6 million instead of 41 million; and Apple, 545 million rather than an estimated 55 million. Facebook said: 'We follow the strict accounting and tax laws in the UK and pay what we owe.'

Google claimed Tax Watch's methodology was inaccurate. It said it has been calling for global tax reform for five years and said most of its tax is paid in the US. It added that it paid all its tax due in the UK. Microsoft said it was fully compliant. Cisco did not respond to a request for comment.

A Treasury spokesman said: 'The Chancellor has made clear we may have to take further action on multinational digital companies.'

Apple said: 'We know the important role that tax payments play in society and pay all that we owe according to tax laws and local customs in the countries where we operate.'

It said its worldwide tax rate was 26 per cent and that the current global system meant profits were taxed 'where the value is created' - which Apple said was in the US.
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.

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Resolute Forest Products Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates in the forest products industry in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and internationally. The company operates through four segments: Market Pulp, Tissue, Wood Products, and Paper. The Market Pulp segment offers virgin and recycled bleached kraft pulp, which is used to make a range of consumer products, including tissue, packaging, specialty paper products, diapers, and other absorbent products. The Tissue segment provides various tissue products, such as recycled and virgin paper products for the away-from-home and retail markets; and sells parent rolls. The Wood Products segment produces construction-grade and spruce-pine-fir lumber products, wood chips, bed frame components, finger joints, and furring strips for pulp and paper mills, as well as I-joists for the construction industry. The Paper segment offers newsprint to newspaper publishers, as well as to commercial printers for a range of uses comprising inserts and flyers. This segment also provides various uncoated mechanical papers, including supercalendered and white papers, as well as uncoated freesheet papers to commercial printers, direct mailers, publishers, catalogers, and retailers. Its specialty papers are used in books, retail inserts, direct mail, coupons, magazines, catalogs, bags, and other commercial printing applications. This segment sells specialty papers to commercial printers, direct mailers, publishers, catalogers, and retailers. The company also produces electricity at six cogeneration facilities and seven hydroelectric dams. Resolute Forest Products Inc. is headquartered in Montreal, Canada.

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Fortis Inc. operates as an electric and gas utility company in Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean countries. It generates, transmits, and distributes electricity to approximately 433,000 retail customers in southeastern Arizona; and 98,000 retail customers in Arizona's Mohave and Santa Cruz counties with an aggregate capacity of 3,233 megawatts (MW), including 59 MW of solar capacity. The company also sells wholesale electricity to other entities in the western United States; owns gas-fired and hydroelectric generating capacity totaling 65 MW; and distributes natural gas to approximately 1,048,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers in British Columbia, Canada. In addition, it owns and operates the electricity distribution system that serves approximately 572,000 customers in southern and central Alberta; owns 4 hydroelectric generating facilities with a combined capacity of 225 MW; and provides operation, maintenance, and management services to five hydroelectric generating facilities. Further, the company distributes electricity in the island portion of Newfoundland and Labrador with an installed generating capacity of 143 MW; and on Prince Edward Island with a generating capacity of 130 MW. Additionally, it provides integrated electric utility service to approximately 67,000 customers in Ontario; approximately 270,000 customers in Newfoundland and Labrador; approximately 31,000 customers on Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands; and approximately 15,000 customers on certain islands in Turks and Caicos. The company also holds long-term contracted generation assets in Belize consisting of 3 hydroelectric generating facilities with a combined capacity of 51 MW; and the Aitken Creek natural gas storage facility. It also owns and operates approximately 91,000 circuit Kilometers (km) of distribution lines; and approximately 49,500 km of natural gas pipelines. Fortis Inc. was founded in 1885 and is headquartered in St. John's, Canada.

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SunTrust Banks, Inc. operates as the holding company for SunTrust Bank that provides various financial services for consumers, businesses, corporations, institutions, and not-for-profit entities in the United States. It operates in two segments, Consumer and Wholesale. The Consumer segment provides deposits and payments; home equity and personal credit lines; auto, student, and other lending products; credit cards; discount/online and full-service brokerage products; professional investment advisory products and services; and trust services, as well as family office solutions. This segment also offers residential mortgage products in the secondary market. The Wholesale segment provides capital markets solutions, including advisory, capital raising, and financial risk management; asset-based financing solutions, such as securitizations, asset-based lending, equipment financing, and structured real estate arrangements; cash management services and auto dealer financing solutions; investment banking solutions; and credit and deposit, fee-based product offering, multi-family agency lending, advisory, commercial mortgage brokerage, and tailored financing and equity investment solutions. This segment also offers treasury and payment solutions, such as operating various electronic and paper payment types, which comprise card, wire transfer, automated clearing house, check, and cash; and provides services clients to manage their accounts online. The company offers its products and services through a network of traditional and in-store branches, automated teller machines, Internet, mobile, and telephone banking channels. As of December 31, 2018, it operated 1,218 full-service banking offices located in Florida, Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Maryland, South Carolina, and the District of Columbia. SunTrust Banks, Inc. was founded in 1891 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

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The Williams Cos., Inc. operates as an energy infrastructure company, which explores, produces, transports, sells and processes natural gas and petroleum products. It operates through the following segments: Transmission and Gulf of Mexico; Northeast G&P; and West. The Transmission and Gulf of Mexico segment comprises of interstate natural gas pipelines, Transco and Northwest Pipeline, as well as natural gas gathering and processing and crude oil production handling and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region. The Northeast G&P segment includes midstream gathering, processing, and fractionation businesses in the Marcellus Shale region primarily in Pennsylvania and New York, and the Utica Shale region of eastern Ohio. The West segment consists of gas gathering, processing, and treating operations in the Rocky Mountain region of Colorado and Wyoming, the Barnett Shale region of north-central Texas, the Eagle Ford Shale region of south Texas, the Haynesville Shale region of northwest Louisiana, and the Mid-Continent region which includes the Anadarko, Arkoma, and Permian basins. The company was founded by David Williams and Miller Williams in 1908 and is headquartered in Tulsa,

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Fire makes no distinction between able-bodied people and those afflicted with disabilities.

Recognizing this, Limerick Fire Co. has launched a new program that addresses the problems facing individuals diagnosed with autism, Down syndrome or anxiety-provoking condition. The program, a one-day camp for individuals with special needs.was held on Saturday, Oct. 13 at the fire company station on Ridge Pike.

We know the special needs community is ever growing, said Gina Walters, chairperson of the event. The fire company saw a need in the community for an event like this.

Thirty-two campers attended the camps two three-hour sessions, one of which ran from 9 am. to noon, the second from 1 to 4 p.m.. During the sessions, campers moved among six stations, each devoted to a specific subject: the use of firefighting gear, Limerick FCs rescue truck, hands-only CPR, using the 9-1-1 system, extinguishing a stove fire, extinguishing a car fire.

Walters pointed out that the session focusing on firefighters gear was particularly important because special needs people find that firefighters decked out in their familiar regalia wearing masks that shield their faces and distort their voice similar to that of Darth Vader) are scary and intimidating. During the camp session, firefighter Harry Anagnostopoulos demonstrated how the gear was worn and how it was used in an emergency situation.

Gavin Hartman, a four-year member of the company, explained the step-by-step transition from volunteer firefighter in street clothes to the same person in firefighting gear. I have a couple of buddies who have disabilities, said Hartman.The insights I gained from them has made me comfortable in giving this type of presentation.

During the mornings 9-1-1 session the stations klaxton went off. The piercing sound interrupted the session with an ambulance call and gave session instructor Matthew Markland a real-life, real-time opportunity to explain the 9-1-1 system.

Each participant was given the opportunity to simulate a 9-1-1 call, using a phone on the station wall. On the other end of the line, Markland played the role of a 9-1-1 call-taker. You call 9-1-1 when you have a police, fire or EMS emergency, Markland emphasized. You dont call 9-1-1 if your cable goes out. When you call 9-1-1, the most important thing to tell them is your address. If something happens to you while youre on the phone or the phone gives out, 9-1-1 has your address on file and can now reach you.

We felt the camp was a complete success, said Walters. It exceeded our expectations. The campers seemed to enjoy their time; their smiles told us that. And we experienced positive feedback from the parents and caregivers.
A plane carrying the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had to abort its landing at Sydney airport on Friday evening and flew around because there was another aircraft on the runway.

Prince Harry and wife Meghan were returning from a visit to Tonga back to Australia, where they began their 16-day tour of four nations, when a message from the flight deck announced: "There was an aircraft on the runway a little slow to roll so the decision was taken to abort the landing."

The flight landed safely a few minutes later.

Earlier Friday, the couple dedicated two forest reserves in Tonga. Harry said Tonga is leading by example and "understands deeply" the impact of environmental changes.

Harry and wife Meghan visited Tupou College to make the dedication. It's home to the last remaining forest on Tonga's main island, Tongatapu. The other reserve is on the island of Eua.

The couple later returned to Australia to catch the final days of the Invictus Games, which Harry founded in 2014.

After Australia, the couple will finish their trip with a four-day visit to New Zealand.

 Associated Press

Scaramucci takes side of the press

As tensions between the Trump administration and the press continue, members of the media are getting support from an unlikely source  former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci.

Scaramucci said he takes issue with the president's recent comments praising a congressman's violence against a reporter and is speaking out about the hate and divisiveness that he sees coming out of President Donald Trump's rallies.

Scaramucci said he is especially concerned about the president applauding Rep. Greg Gianforte for body-slamming a journalist last year, an act for which he pleaded guilty to assault.

Scaramucci spent a turbulent 11 days as White House communications director before being fired following an expletive-ridden interview with The New Yorker.

But Scaramucci landed on his feet and has a new book on the shelves, "Trump: The Blue-Collar President," as well as being the subject of "Mooch," a documentary film.

Both the documentary and the book were released on Tuesday.

Scaramucci said he doesn't necessarily like the version of himself he often sees on screen, but feels director Andrew Moscato was accurate. "It's like a face slam to the mat in terms of the realness of what you really are as a person."

 Associated Press

DeNiro: Votes are stronger than bombs

Actor Robert De Niro is encouraging the nation to vote one day after his New York City restaurant was the target of one of 12 suspicious packages sent to prominent Democrats and critics of President Donald Trump.

"There's something more powerful than bombs, and that's your vote. People MUST vote!" De Niro, 75, said Friday.

An apparent pipe bomb was found early Thursday near De Niro's Tribeca Grill restaurant, police said. The address is also the location of the Tribeca Film Center, which the actor established. The package was removed from the area by police after a retired NYPD detective alerted police that it resembled ones that had been mailed to several others.

De Niro has long been one of the president's vocal critics.

 Tribune News

Tamron Hall, Al Roker reunite

Hours before NBC News gave Megyn Kelly's morning show the ax, her "Today" show predecessors Tamron Hall and Al Roker reunited Thursday.

Hall tweeted a photo with Roker on the set of the Broadway production of "Waitress," where Roker is in the midst of an engagement playing diner owner Joe.

Hall and Roker were two of the most frequent co-hosts during the third hour of "Today."

However, when NBC News lured Kelly from Fox News with a lucrative multiyear contract in January 2017, talks soon began about her taking over the 9 a.m. hour of the "Today" show. Less than a month later, Hall left after a decade at NBC News.

Her exit, and its connections to Kelly's arrival, drew uproar from viewers.

Since then, Hall has been working on launching her own talk show.

 Los Angeles Times
Al bany

State officials are advising outdoor adventurers to avoid exploring caves and mine sites that may be seasonal homes for hibernating bats that are susceptible to disease.

White-nose syndrome, for instance, has killed more than 90 percent of bats at hibernation sites in New York.

The Department of Environmental Conservation said all posted notices restricting use of caves and mines should be followed. If anyone encounters hibernating bats while underground, they should leave quickly and quietly.

The Indiana bat, which is sparsely distributed across New York, is a federally endangered bat. The northern long-eared bat is protected as a threatened species under federal and state law. Anyone entering a northern long-eared bat hibernation site from Oct. 1 to April 30 may be subject to prosecution.
ALBANY  Andrew "Drew" Zambelli, a top adviser to Govs. Mario and Andrew Cuomo, died Friday morning at age 70.

Zambelli worked for Mario Cuomo from 1985 to 1994, serving the last three years in the top advisory post of secretary, and then worked as a private market strategy and research consultant. He founded Summit Strategy Group in 2007, conducted polling for Andrew Cuomo's 2010 gubernatorial campaign and worked as a counselor to the current governor during his first term in office.

While no cause of death was given, Zambelli had been undergoing cancer treatment.

In a statement, Cuomo noted that he had worked with Zambelli for more than 35 years.

"He was more than just an advisor to my father and me  he was part of our family," the governor said. "He spent his life helping make this state a better place and always gave it his all."

As a member of the most recent Cuomo administration, he was responsible for oversight of the governor's communications and intergovernmental affairs as well as legislative and constituent-outreach efforts.

"Drew began as a brilliant scientist who chose to leave a highly promising career, stunning his peers, to enter the path of public service, because he wanted to make a difference. And he did," Cuomo said.

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"He was of another era, a gentleman, humble, devoted, and selfless. He mentored countless young people who now serve the state. He lives on in them."

Cuomo's spokesman Rich Azzopardi noted that Zambelli served as a consultant to the governor's current re-election campaign, and took part in several recent meetings.

David.Lombardo@timesunion.com - 518.454.5427 - @Poozer87
Washington

After 20 years without a permanent resting place, the remains of Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old college student whose brutal murder in 1998 has come to symbolize the plight of the LGBTQ community in America, were interred at the Washington National Cathedral on Friday.

More than 2,000 people gathered at the Episcopal cathedral, the second-largest cathedral in the country, to celebrate Shepard's life, mourn his death and honor his memory.

The service offered a measure of closure for Shepard's parents who, until now, hadn't found a spot that seemed suitable or safe enough to rest their child's remains. It also provided a moment of unity and collective grieving for those in the LGBTQ community, for whom Shepard's death has for decades represented the pain and discrimination many had experienced themselves. And the setting inside the same sprawling cathedral in the nation's capital where U.S. presidents are memorialized lent to the weight of the moment as hymns, speeches, choral music and prayers for love, tolerance and equality bounced off the towering columns and sweeping arches, echoing across the nave.

Shepard was an acolyte in his local Episcopalian church, and when Bishop V. Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop consecrated in the Episcopal church, suggested the National Cathedral as a fitting resting place for Matthew's ashes, his family agreed.

"Matt loved the church," said Dennis Shepard, Matthew's father. "Matt was blind, just like this beautiful house of worship. He did not see skin color. He did not see religion. He did not see sexual orientation. All he saw was a chance to have another friend. Just like this beautiful home we have here.

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"It is so important we now have a home for Matt," he said. "A home that others can visit. A home that is safe from haters."

Shepard was found badly beaten and barely breathing, tied to a split-rail fence on a dirt road near Laramie, Wyoming. He'd spent 18 hours there in the near-freezing cold before a cyclist discovered him, at first mistaking him for a scarecrow. He died five days later. Police said his attackers targeted him because he was gay.

Shepard's death prompted a national reckoning  inspiring marches and protests, vigils and new laws. In October 2009, President Barack Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, expanding the federal law to include crimes based on a victim's sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.

But Friday's interment comes at a fraught moment for the LGBTQ community in America. The Trump Administration has taken steps to restrict protections, including trying to reinstate a ban on transgender individuals in the military and rescinding guidance for schools receiving federal funding on how to treat transgender students. Trump has also installed dozens of conservative judges and his administration, according to an article in the New York Times this week, is drafting language that would limit the definition of gender to only male or female at birth, stripping the transgender community of protection under civil rights law.
A number of town supervisors have offered their 2019 spending outlines. Some public hearsing have already been held and towns have until next month to adopt the budgets. Here are some of those proposals:

Malta

The tentative budget aims for $10.3 million in spending, which would be up about $200,000.

According to the budget document on the town website, the taxes are below the state's 2 percent tax cap.

Highlights include no highway tax for the 18th straight year and a small drop in the fire protection levy, to put it at just over $2 million.

A 2 percent cost of living increase has been applied to town employee salaries as well as eligible step/longevity raises.

Supervisor Vincent DeLucia said in his budget address that a property tax owner with a 250,000 assessment will pay $240 to cover fire protection, ambulance and library services. All other costs are paid from sales and mortgage tax revenue.

Glenville

The overall proposed 2019 tax rate increase would be about 2.4 percent, which means a typical town homeowner outside the village of Scotia will see a total tax bill increase of $19.

A typical village homeowner will see a $2 increase, according to Supervisor Chris Koetzle's budget address.

He said the proposed tax levy increase of 3 percent is below the state tax cap. The 2019 budget will be the ninth consecutive budget in which the town's savings has been reducted in the three main funds

Koetzle said the town will also continue to avoid unnecessary borrowing, in keeping with the push to cut overall debt from $23.1 million in 2010 down to $13.8 million at the end

of 2018.

Bethlehem

An average property owner, one with a $260,000 assessment, would pay about $15.50 more next year, a total of $8,890 in the town of Bethlehem. Spending is up by about $1 million, to $43 million.

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According to the town website, the budget includes a 2 percent cost of living adjustment increase for employees. The town will pay $200,000 more for the final 5-year step in the 20-year Albany water contract.

Coeymans

In Coeymans, Town Supervisor Philip Crandall said in his address the town was served with six legal actions by the city of Albany and Albany Water Board that resulted in the town losing about $16 million in assessed value.

"Ultimately this will result in a small tax increase for 2019; however we will still remain under the tax cap," he wrote. He pointed to Route 144 repaving and an agreement with the state for work on a section of Route 143 as achievements.

The board plans a public hearing at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 8, at the Town Hall, 18 Russell Ave., Ravena.

Some city budgets are also nearing approval. A public hearing on Albany's proposed 2019 budget will be 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 5.
The untimely death of Sr Josephine (Dominic) Ryan, Convent of Mercy Templemore occurred on October 11th 2018.

Sr Josephine died peacefully at St. Vincents Hospital, Dublin following a short illness which came as a great shock to her religious community, family and friends.

Josephine, daughter of Michael Ryan and Bridget Collins of Curraghgloss Borrisoleigh, was born on the 30th October 1937. She attended primary schools at Garrangrena and Borrisoleigh and received her secondary education at both Borrisoleigh and Templemore Convent Schools. In 1956 she entered the Mercy Convent, Templemore and made her final profession in 1962.

She completed a B.A. degree in UCD in the subjects of French and Geography and taught in Borrisoleigh, Templemore and Doon secondary schools. She served as Congregational Leader in the Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly from 1991 to 1995 and returned to teach in Doon until her retirement.

In 2007 Josephine joined the team at Glendalough Hermitage Retreat Centre for a short time. Still living at Doon, when the convent closed in 2016, she returned to her Alma Mater in Templemore.

Josephine had many interests and was a gifted artist. She was a dedicated teacher of French and Geography and instilled in her pupils an appreciation of French culture, accompanying them on various educational trips to France.

She was also involved in school management and career guidance.

Being a woman of deep spirituality, she was especially devoted to the Eucharist, as portrayed by her weekly attendance at Adoration in the Parish Church. Her gracious, calm and gentle personality endeared her to all who knew her.

She made an enormous contribution to the life of her religious community by her kind and caring presence and was dedicated to all aspects of religious life. Her wide interests and unique sense of humour made her a very pleasant companion.

Josephine was close to her family who were a constant source of comfort and support throughout her life as she was to them.

Her death leaves a huge void in her family and in her community. She will be greatly missed by her sister Betty ODwyer, her brother Pat Ryan, her sister in law Mai, nieces, nephews, grand nieces, grand nephews, the Mercy Congregation and a wide circle of friends to whom sincere sympathy is extended.

Josephines remains reposed in the Convent Chapel Templemore where large numbers of people turned up to pay their respects.

Following concelebrated Requiem Mass in the Church of the Sacred Heart Templemore, interment took place in St Josephs Cemetery.

Ar dheis De go raibh a hanam dilis.
[October 26, 2018] Federal Judge Blocks Government's Attempts to Deny Vulnerable Immigrant Children in California Access to Legal Protections

A federal district judge issued an order Wednesday blocking the Trump administration's efforts to deny some abused, abandoned or neglected children in California access to a special form of immigration relief. The order came in response to a class action filed in August by Public Counsel; Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP; and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area (LCCR) on behalf of hundreds of immigrant children between the ages of 18 and 20 who California state courts had determined were eligible for humanitarian relief based on past parental abuse, abandonment or neglect. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181026005549/en/ "This ruling means hundreds of immigrant children across California are significantly more secure and can rest a bit easier tonight," said Mary Tanagho Ross, an attorney with Public Counsel. "The Plaintiffs have overcome extremely challenging circumstances and found loving guardians and caretakers here in the U.S., but the government's unlawful actions put them at risk of deportation. Fortunately, this ruling is a proclamation that even the federal government has to follow the law and adhere to legal protections for vulnerable immigrant children." Plaintiffs alleged that in early 2018, the federal government began to unlawfully deny class members' petitions for relief by refusing to recognize the authority of some California juvenile courts, a change that was implemented without any notice or any public announcement. The court's ruling prevents the government from issuing new denials and also prevents the government from deporting immigrant children who have already been denied such relief. Magistrate Judge Nathanael Cousins of the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California found that the government's justifications in support of its policy change were "lacking" nd some of its reasoning was "flawed," that the plaintiffs raised "serious questions going to the merits" of the government's case, and that the immigrant children subject to the preliminary injunction face irreparable harm without the injunction.



"This is a just and proper order that recognizes the government's actions violate federal law," said Sirena Castillo, a partner at Manatt. "The Manatt team is proud to be working in conjunction with our pro bono partners Public Counsel and LCCR to ensure that the immigrant children in our class have access to the humanitarian relief that they are entitled to under the law." The litigation challenges the federal government's efforts to narrow the ability of some states to facilitate an immigration protection called Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS), which allows certain children who have suffered parental abuse, abandonment, or neglect to apply for lawful permanent residency. Under the federal statute, a child must receive Special Immigrant Juvenile Findings from a state court before he or she is allowed to seek SIJS relief from the federal government. California and a handful of other states have taken steps to allow immigrant children between the ages of 18 and 20 to seek such findings, in accordance with federal law. The plaintiffs argued and the judge agreed that the Trump administration's policy of denying the SIJS petitions of otherwise eligible children was contravention of the federal statutes and regulations implementing SIJS.

"This case challenges the Trump's administration's unlawful denial of protections to immigrant children that they were entitled to under existing federal laws and regulations," said Bree Bernwanger, senior immigration justice attorney with LCCR. "We are heartened that the court has agreed with us and helped us protect these abused and abandoned children from being separated from loving caretakers and stable homes." Public Counsel is a nonprofit law firm and the nation's largest provider of pro bono legal services. It serves communities locally and nationwide by advancing civil rights litigation, advocating for policy change and providing free legal services to thousands of clients annually. Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP is one of the nation's leading law and consulting firms, with offices strategically located in California (Los Angeles, Orange (News - Alert) County, Palo Alto, San Francisco and Sacramento), New York (New York City and Albany), Chicago and Washington, D.C. The firm represents a sophisticated client base-including Fortune 500, middle-market and emerging companies-across a range of practice areas and industry sectors. For more information, visit www.manatt.com. Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area has worked since 1968 to advance, protect and promote the legal rights of communities of color, and low-income persons, immigrants, and refugees. Assisted by hundreds of pro bono attorneys, LCCR provides free legal assistance and representation to individuals on civil legal matters through direct services, impact litigation and policy advocacy. For more information, visit www.lccr.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181026005549/en/

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[October 27, 2018] ABB to Build the World's Most Advanced Robotics Factory in Shanghai

Pioneering digital technology company ABB today announced a major, new US$150 million investment in Shanghai, China to build the world's most advanced, automated and flexible robotics factory - a cutting-edge center where robots make robots. The new Kangqiao manufacturing center, near ABB's expansive China robotics campus, will combine the company's connected digital technologies, including ABB Ability solutions, state-of-the-art collaborative robotics and innovative artificial intelligence research to create the most sophisticated and environmentally sustainable "factory of the future." It is expected to begin operating by the end of 2020. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181026005564/en/ The new Shanghai factory will feature a number of machine learning, digital and collaborative solutions to make it the most advanced, automated and flexible factory in the robotics industry. (Photo: Business Wire) Today's announcement marks a significant milestone for ABB as China's #1 robotics manufacturer as well as a critical global growth investment for the company in the world's largest robotics market. In 2017, one of every three robots sold in the world went to China, which purchased nearly 138,000 units. Today, ABB employs approximately 5,000 people in Shanghai, and the company's robotics businesses in China employ more than 2,000 engineers, technology experts and operational leaders in 20 locations across the country. ABB has invested more than US$2.4 billion in China since 1992, with over 18,000 employees in total. ABB and the Shanghai municipal government today also signed a comprehensive strategic cooperation agreement focused on supporting industry, energy, transport and infrastructure in the region, and to support the "Made in Shanghai" manufacturing initiative. The agreement was signed by Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong and ABB CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer. "China's commitment to transform its manufacturing is a torchlight for the rest of the world," said Spiesshofer. "Its strategic embrace of the latest technologies for artificial intelligence, advanced robotics and cloud-based computing present a playbook for every country that wishes to have a globally competitive manufacturing base. Shanghai has become a vital center for advanced technology leadership - for ABB and the world. We look forward to working with Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong, other community leaders and our customers as we launch this major expansion of ABB's substantial presence in China, building on our journey to become China's leading Robotics manufacturer that started in Shanghai over two decades ago." Leading the Way with a Digital Factory of the Future - Tailored Slutions and Better Performance



The new Shanghai factory will feature a number of machine learning, digital and collaborative solutions to make it the most advanced, automated and flexible factory in the robotics industry, and an onsite R&D center will help accelerate innovations in artificial intelligence. Using a new, global design approach that ABB announced earlier this year, the factory will be able to dramatically increase both the breadth (type of robots) and depth (variants of each type) of robots that can be made onsite, allowing greater and faster customization to meet the needs of customers. ABB will also be able to combine this expanded portfolio of robotics into an almost limitless number of tailored solutions. "The concept behind this factory is the same advice we give our customers every day: invest in automation solutions that provide flexibility and agility to grow in whichever direction the market goes," said Sami Atiya, President of ABB's Robotics and Motion division. "ABB is proud to help our customers in China and around the world with solutions that take full advantage of the latest technologies to meet the challenges of mass customization, faster cycles and constant change which have become the new normal - even in our own factories."

The entire Shanghai factory will be modeled as a digital twin, which will provide intuitively tailored dashboards for management, engineers, operators and maintenance experts to make the best decisions. This includes gathering and analyzing intelligence through ABB Ability Connected Services on the health and performance of ABB robots in the factory to ensure early identification of potential anomalies. In addition to avoiding costly downtime, ABB Ability offers advanced digital solutions that can improve performance, reliability and energy usage, as well as providing access to the world's best platforms, such as the Microsoft (News - Alert) Azure enterprise cloud, which is the first international public cloud service operated in China. An Innovative Design that Makes Better Use of Manufacturing Space The new factory will have an innovative, flexible floorplan based on interlinked islands of automation rather than fixed assembly lines. ABB logistics automation solutions will be used throughout the plant, including automatic guided vehicles that can autonomously follow robots as they move through production, supplying them with parts from localized stations. This will allow production to adapt and scale efficiently to changes in China's robot market without additional capacity expansions. Per Vegard Nerseth, Managing Director of ABB's Robotics business, said "There's a large shift away from looking at factory size and CAPEX investments as the way to meet future demand. The concept behind our new factory is to make the smartest and most flexible use of every meter of production. That comes from combining agile automation solutions with the great capabilities of our people." To aid the move to mass customization in manufacturing and to ensure the highest levels of productivity and flexibility, the new Shanghai factory will make extensive use of ABB's SafeMove2 software, which allows people and robots to work safely in close proximity. In addition, ABB's YuMi robots will allow close collaboration on many of the small parts assembly tasks needed to manufacture an ABB robot. ABB was an early entrant in the China robotics market and the first global robot supplier in the country to have a complete local value chain, including R&D, manufacturing, system integration and service. Through close customer collaboration, ABB has helped introduce many "firsts" to local manufacturing including: China's first automotive press, welding and painting lines; the first assembly line for mobile phones; and the first automated press line for white goods. "2018 marks the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up policy," said Dr. Chunyuan Gu, Chairman of ABB China and President, AMEA region. "ABB was an early arriver in China and we now have a fully localized value chain, supported by China's remarkable economic and social development. As the market leader in China's robotics industry, we are glad to build on this success and continue our investment momentum." The new Shanghai factory - with a comprehensive R&D center onsite - will become a key part of ABB's global robotics supply system, together with the company's recently upgraded factory in Vasteras, Sweden and its factory in Auburn Hills, Michigan, where ABB remains the only global robot supplier with a US manufacturing footprint. To learn more about the factory, watch the video. ABB (ABBN: SIX Swiss Ex) is a pioneering technology leader in power grids, electrification products, industrial automation and robotics and motion, serving customers in utilities, industry and transport & infrastructure globally. Continuing a history of innovation spanning more than 130 years, ABB today is writing the future of industrial digitalization with two clear value propositions: bringing electricity from any power plant to any plug and automating industries from natural resources to finished products. As title partner in ABB Formula E, the fully electric international FIA motorsport class, ABB is pushing the boundaries of e-mobility to contribute to a sustainable future. ABB operates in more than 100 countries with approximately 147,000 employees. www.abb.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181026005564/en/

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Every wireless carrier is in a race to the new 5G networking standard, though they're going about it in different ways. AT&T is banking on 5G hotspots to roll out its next-generation wireless network in 2019, and it just announced a landmark step toward that goal.

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

This week, AT&T says it completed the first 5G connection between a consumer-ready device  in this case, Netgear's upcoming Nighthawk 5G mobile hotspot  and a live millimeter-wave 5G network. Carriers have run all kinds of 5G trials before, but this one matters to you for one very good reason.

Previous 5G tests have been conducted with non standards-compliant hardware, in highly specialized scenarios. In other words, they either weren't using products you could buy, or they weren't running on infrastructures that existed outside of laboratories and test chambers. The fact that AT&T's successful test in Waco, Texas, this week was conducted using production-ready hardware means that 5G's arrival isn't merely closer than its ever been before; it's practically at our doorstep.

MORE: Don't Expect 5G Phones to Take Off Until 2021

This is welcome news for anyone tired of theoretical techno-babble about what 5G will or could enable in the future. However, AT&T's press release doesn't list the speed of the transmission, nor the particular kind of content loaded  just that it was the test consisted of a "browsing session." Some tangible metrics would have been nice, though AT&T, like every other carrier, is surely still ironing out all those pesky little details.

(Image credit: The Netgear Nighthawk 5G AT&T used for the 5G test. (Credit: AT&T))

Additionally, critics will note that AT&T is relying on a hotspot, not a mobile phone. That's a stepping stone to 5G that other carriers, like Verizon and Sprint, want to skip entirely. Verizon is working on a 5G Moto Mod for the Moto Z3 modular smartphone, while Sprint has announced a partnership with LG to deliver an exclusive 5G handset of its own next year. Both of these devices will presumably use the same Qualcomm X50 5G modem that powers the Netgear Nighthawk.

Right now, Verizon in particular seems to be more concerned with residential 5G, after flipping the switch on its 5G Home service for select customers in Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles and Sacramento earlier this month. Big Red has stayed mostly quite on its mobile 5G plans, but AT&T conversely says it is still planning to launch its mobile network in 12 cities before the end of the year and bring the list up to 19 by "early 2019."
Wireless networks are always getting faster, and carriers are often quick to point out the progress theyve made investing in their infrastructure for the benefit of their customers. Its why we put together our annual assessment of the fastest networks in the U.S.  to put their claims to the test.



(Image credit: Shutterstock)

And this years results presented some surprises. Yes, once again, Verizon was the fastest  but its the rest of the rankings that tell just as interesting story.

How Sprint performed

The next five spots after Verizon from AT&T in second place with an average download speed 37 Mbps to Sprint in fifth with a 32 Mbps average  are separated by just 5 Mbps. In other words, even customers who arent tied to the fastest carriers still get respectable performance.

In fact, when you break down the results by city, some of those carriers that were slower on average overall begin to look even better. Sprint had the fastest network in Philadelphia, where its prepaid subsidiary Boost posted the best average download speed; Sprint was right behind by a single megabit-per-second. Sprint also finished second in Chicago as well, where the Now Networks towers averaged 64 Mbps to Verizons 84 Mbps.

MORE: Want Fast LTE Speeds? Here's the Network You Need to Avoid



Sure, 20 Mbps is a sizable gap. But given that most other carriers finished in the 50 Mbps range in Chicago, Sprints result isnt too shabby. And before you sing Verizons praises, its important to note that Big Red struggled in specific cities as well, like Philadelphia and Dallas, where it averaged 17 Mbps and 20 Mbps, respectively.

Trading performance for plan pricing

Thats a reminder that no carrier is perfect: even the fastest ones have weak points. However, the gaps between the fastest and slowest networks are narrowing, and that leaves wireless carriers like Sprint in a favorable position  especially because it can offer more competitive service plans to compensate for its slightly slower performance.

Sprints Unlimited Plus plan, which offers unrestricted high speed LTE data until youve used more than 50 GB in a billing cycle, costs $70 a month. T-Mobiles One unlimited option starts at the same price, but restricts video streaming to standard definition. Meanwhile, AT&T and Verizons compatible plans are $10 and $15 more expensive for a single line of unlimited data. While its true Sprint users do have to put up with slower data speeds on average, they do pay a lower monthly rate for their troubles.





(Image credit: An overview of data speeds across all eight carriers tested this year. Second-place AT&T and fifth-place Sprint were separated only by 5 Mbps in downloads. (Credit: Tom's Guide))

We asked Sprint users what they thought of the service on Reddit. Most of the complaints had more to do with customer service than performance, and while one commenter lamented poor service in rural areas, they also praised the networks coverage during a cross-country trip, saying they traveled 1,000 miles before encountering a dead zone.

And if you happen to be a Sprint customer, there are reasons to be excited about what the carrier is planning. In the first half of next year, Sprint and LG are partnering to release their first 5G phone, which is likely to be the first 5G phone from any of the big four wireless companies.

Of course, the success of that phone will be largely dependent on Sprints initial 5G rollout and whether its planned merger with T-Mobile wins regulatory approval. (Both carriers have argued that combining forces is critical to their 5G plans.) And thats to say nothing of the fact that the carrier does have ground to cover where LTE is concerned, too.

Sprints average upload speeds were a measly 4 Mbps across all eight cities Toms Guide tested in. That was good for second to last among all networks. AT&T, the third-fastest postpaid brand, still managed 12 Mbps. Sprint also finished last among postpaids in terms of app download time. Gaming chat app Discord (which measures 37 MB in size) took about a minute on average to download using Sprints towers. Thats roughly twice as long as it took Verizon and AT&T.

Bottom line

Sprints performance with regard to download speeds was eye-opening this year. The carrier might not be quite as behind as its reputation suggests. If youre willing to part with some speed for a little extra cash in your wallet, Sprints not a bad choice.
Police investigate latest homicide KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Police were called to the area of 46th and Chestnut in KCMO Saturday morning to investigate a shooting. Officers arrived to find a male victim unresponsive in front of a house. The victim died at the scene. Police have a person in custody as they investigate the shooting.

Man found shot to death in front of home near 46th, Chestnut early Saturday Allison Hill/KMBC SOURCE: Allison Hill/KMBC Kansas City police said they have a subject of interest in custody after a fatal shooting early Saturday. Police said officers were called about 6:15 a.m. to a home in the 4600 block of Chestnut Avenue on a reported shooting. Officers found a man unresponsive in front of the home.

One dead, one in custody following homicide in Kansas City KANSAS CITY, MO. (KCTV) -- Police in Kansas City are investigating a homicide in the 4600 block of Chestnut. Officers were dispatched to the scene around 6:15 a.m. on Saturday. There, inside a home, they found a man deceased. One person is in custody. The case remains under investigation.

It has been an unusually violent Saturday morning in Kansas City.To start the day, local news shared info on the latest local homicide.Take a look:Again, this is the 111 murder so far in Kansas City for 2018 compared to 123 at this time last year and 102 the year before that . . .Developing . . .
GOP will do anything to defeat McCaskill in Senate race | The Kansas City Star Sen. Claire McCaskill has clearly had it. And who can blame her? "He has spent this entire campaign trying to trash me personally, ad after ad, that I am somehow self-dealing when all my Republican colleagues know I would never vote to enhance my wealth," she said in a debate this week about charges from her Republican rival, Josh Hawley.

This editorial from the so-called paper of record for the Kansas City metro argues against GOP tactics.From TKC's vantage . . . They're actually being nice given that AG Josh Hawley isn't much of a campaigner . . . Moreover, Prez Trump's support hasn't been that enthusiastic because the contender is a rookie member of the Missouri Republican establishment and doesn't really hold any sway among the hardcore right-wing enthusiasts . . .but so far STL & KCMO seem far more fired up than the rural Missouri for this election . . . Also, from what we're hearing the college town could shift the conversation in favor of the Democratic Party . . . Again, it's anybody's ball game at this point and neither side has scored a knock out talking point.That's how TKC sees it . . . Here's the newspaper regurgitating talking points from the McCaskill campaign . . .
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. -- Police have arrested three men from Florida who are accused of trying to skim people's bank cards in Johnson County. Sheriff's deputies arrested Anderson Seijas-Chavez, Alberto Campos-Rojas and Angel Betancourt-Rodriguez for possessing an illegal encoding device. Court documents indicate skimmers were placed on ATMs belonging to UMB and Commerce Bank.
Steve Watkins, GOP candidate for Congress, confronts allegations of sexual misconduct Acquaintances of Kansas congressional candidate Steve Watkins accused the Republican nominee of being unfaithful to his wife while claiming to be in an "open" marriage, and of instigating alleged sexual misconduct while a resident of Alaska.Allegations emerged after the 2nd District began casting advance ballots but less than two weeks before the Nov.

The deets about his private life are saucy but ultimately petty . . . And the article admits the timing is suspect.Still . . . The crisis undercuts his messaging that focuses on military experience and Christian values and threatens to create doubt among voters on the fence . . .








Kansas City 100 Year Tribute

Kansas City's Liberty Memorial Will Mark A Somber Centennial With 5,000 Poppies Of Light from "In Flanders Fields," written by Lt. Col. John McCrae in 1915 to honor a fallen comrade. More than 5,000 poppies, the symbol of the fallen soldiers of World War I, will illuminate Kansas City's Liberty Memorial beginning on Nov. 2. The display marks the centennial of Armistice Day, the Nov.

Convict Caught After Walk To Cowtown

Inmate who walked away from correctional center found in Kansas City ATOKA COUNTY, Okla. - An inmate who walked away from a minimum-security correctional center has been taken into custody in another state. According to officials with the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, a correctional security officer noticed 35-year-old Alvaro Rodriguez was missing around 8 a.m. on Oct. 15 at the Mack Alford Correctional Center.

Raytown NextGen Gunman Nabbed

Police arrest 15-year-old in connection with shooting at Raytown apartment complex RAYTOWN, MO (KCTV) -- Raytown Detectives, with the help of ATF and the Kansas City Police Street Narcotics Unit, arrested a 15-year-old boy on Friday. He was arrested in connection with Wednesday's shooting at an apartment building in the 9800 block of East 61 Street.

Show-Me Insane Privacy Lapse

Missouri Department of Mental Health says 8,848 people had personal information disclosed JEFFERSON CITY, MO (KCTV) -- The Missouri Department of Mental Health is in the process of notifying 8,848 individuals that their personal information was disclosed by a previous private contractor of the state. "Upon discovery," the release said, "the Department took immediate steps to secure the information.

Show-Me GOP Blue Wave Comeback???

Trump to hold rally in Columbia on Thursday COLUMBIA, MO (KCTV) -- According to President Donald Trump's website, he will be in Missouri very soon. Updated information on the website shows that he will be in Columbia, Missouri on Thursday, Nov. 1. The rally will begin at 6:30 p.m. local time.

Newspaper Hard News

KC clinic's "Me Too" slam in radio ad offends listeners | The Kansas City Star Noreen Shoop first heard about the Kansas City Men's Clinic radio advertisement from a friend and, like others on social media, was appalled. "A one trick pony or a Me Too doctor's office doesn't work with men, and that's why men choose the Kansas City Men's Clinic," a voice-over says in a commercial that played this week on several radio stations, including KCSP (610 AM) and WHB (810 AM).

Footballer Hyperbole Tonight

ESPN's Louis Riddick says he'd give up a whole team for Patrick Mahomes On ESPN's Golic and Wingo Show, Mike Golic and Trey Wingo posed a question to Louis Riddick: "What players in the NFL would you give up four first-round draft picks for?" This came after the ESPN report that the Houston Rockets reportedly offered four future first-round picks for Jimmy Butler.

Hottie Demi has taken the world by storm this year and tonight she inspires an evening news contemplation . . .Closer to home, tonight we make up for some of the news links that we didn't have time to really cover. Checkit:And this is thefor right now . . .
Local Booze Biz Bubbling

KC Bier Co. brewing expansion one tap handle at a time, founder says Rapid growth in the craft brewing market has tapped out, said Steve Holle, founder of KC Bier Co. A solid understanding of the reasons behind such an overdraught industry has so-far saved the Kansas City-based, German-style brewing company from being caught in the same weeds as recently closed Manhattan-brewed competitor, Tallgrass Brewing Co., Holle said.

Celebrate KC Second Spring

Joe's Forecast: Oh my! A Joe Lauria Top 10 Weather Day has been declared for the KC region today. The perfect combo of lighter winds...sunshine...dry air and perfect foliage will combine to create near perfect conditions. Tomorrow will be a few degrees cooler but also much more windy in the morning especially.

Kansas City Corporate Lesson Plan

Opinion: Burns & McDonnell, Science City partnership is win for KC - Kansas City Business Journal If you notice when the Nobel Prizes are announced for science, there usually are multiple winners in each category. That's because science - in its many, varied forms - is a team endeavor.

Kansas City Chichi Conclusion

Coalition that helps Hispanic women fighting breast cancer to close KANSAS CITY, Mo. - On November 30, 2018, the Coalition of Hispanic Women Against Cancer in Kansas City, Kansas is closing. For 18 years, the group provided Hispanic and Latino women with breast cancer and cervical cancer awareness, screening and treatment options. More than 200 women a month were served by the organization.

Not So Shocking Felony

Man Tasered by police pleads guilty to federal gun charge | The Kansas City Star A Kansas City man who was high on drugs and firing a gun while walking down the street before he was subdued with a Taser pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Kansas Guv Contender Talk

You Decide: Meet the five candidates who want to lead Kansas as governor KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- When it comes to the race for Kansas governor, it's not just a two-candidate field. There are five people who all want to lead the Sunflower State. FOX4 sat down with all five candidates to hear where they stand on some major issues and what they envision for Kansas.

Show-Me Blue Wave Ballot???

Voting In Missouri's Midterm Election, But Haven't Been Paying Attention? Read This Election Day, Nov. 6, is steadily approaching and there's been a lot to keep up on a national and international level. So, if you don't feel quite as informed as you'd like about what's on Missouri's ballot, don't fret. The following is a rundown of the state's biggest races - especially that contentious U.S.

No Debating This Vote

You Decide: 3 candidates fighting for House seat in competitive Kansas 3rd District race KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The ads are all over TV. The House race in the Kansas 3rd District is a tight one. The 3rd Congressional District, which represents Wyandotte, Johnson and northern Miami counties, is expected to be among the House's most competitive races during the midterm elections.

La Migra Missouri Debate

Hawley-McCaskill debate fact check on immigration Here's a truth check on claims made by Josh Hawley and Sen. Claire McCaskill regarding immigration and border security.

Downtown Tribute Tour

Korean War vets gather at Union Station to take a virtual tour of Washington, D.C. Kansas City, MO - A group of Korean War veterans are in Kansas City to experience the nation's capitol. Unable to take an Honor Flight trip to Washington DC, members of the 728th Army Military Police Battalion will get a virtual tour called a Flightless Honor Flight here in Kansas City.

Kansas Endures Crystal Crisis

Meth addiction fuels growing Kansas crime rates, officials say WICHITA, Kan. - Methamphetamine addiction is driving up Kansas' crime rates and filling jails with individuals who would be better served in treatment centers, according to state and Wichita-area leaders. Kansas and Sedgwick County officials met with community members at a Wichita Crime Commission event Thursday to discuss how to solve the state's growing meth and opioid problem, the Wichita Eagle reported.

JoCo Green Argument Cont'd

Legal fees mount as Olathe landscaping dispute continues OLATHE, Kan. (AP) - The Kansas Court of Appeals will take up the case of a long-standing landscaping dispute that has run up legal costs approaching $1 million. The Kansas City Star reports that the board of the Avignon Villa Homes Community Association in Olathe has filed notice that it is appealing a ruling issued in January by Johnson County District Judge Rhonda K.

Help This Kansas City Lady

Truman Medical Center asks for help identifying patient Truman Medical Center is asking for help identifying a mystery patient. Hospital officials said the woman came into the emergency room Friday. She has been unable to tell nurses her name. If you know this woman, the hospital asks that you call 816-404-3230.

Sleaze Summit Affordable Housing Slap Fight And Signatures

Newspaper Journalism Report

White squirrel spotted roaming Lenexa | The Kansas City Star A white squirrel was captured on video roaming around in Lenexa, Kan. near Johnson County Community College.

Meth Town Democracy Rediscovered

Smile, Independence, C-SPAN is here to talk about history Hours after her arrival in Independence, Ashley Hill strolls through the National Frontier Trails Museum gift shop. She peruses walls of books, souvenirs and trinkets, finally selecting a covered wagon pencil sharpener.Hill admits she has no idea when she'll use it, but that doesn't stop the C-SPAN producer, who says she's "never met a knick-knack I didn't like."

Golden Ghetto Rugrat Gimmies

Trucks, treats fun set in Lenexa LENEXA, Kan. - Halloween costumes, candy, big trucks and smashing pumpkins started the day for youngsters in Lenexa. The first Truck or Treat got underway at the Municipal Services Complex on Cottonwood Street. From 8-11 kids can check out monstrous trucks up close, watch demonstrations, help paint snow plows and more.

Touching Snail Mail Tribute

Mail carrier finds, returns memento to couple who lost son "It's great to have it back. It's unbelievable to be reunited with this," said Tim Gallagher. A ceramic mold of his stillborn son's handprints and footprints wa...

Help Look For This Local Man

Police searching for missing KCK man who hasn't been seen since Wednesday KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Police are asking for the public's help to locate a missing man who hasn't been seen since Wednesday. Gregory Smith Jr. was last seen Wednesday leaving his home on Minnesota Avenue in KCK. Police said he suffers from medical conditions that could require attention.

Classic Sound Coming Soon

Jazz phenom to play at The Truman on Monday Kamasi Washington will be playing in Kansas City at The Truman on Monday. Singer-songwriter Victory Boyd will be opening for him. The Sound CheckMike Nickells Kamasi Washington will be playing in Kansas City at The Truman on Monday. Singer-songwriter Victory Boyd will be opening for him.

With respect to Saturday new hounds and denizens of our Kansas City discourse . . . This collection of links on a variety of local newsworthy topics offers an important view of local life and cowtown issues. The list is compiled because we've talked about a lot of these subjects already and/or the items are important but not quite debatable . . .And this is thefor right now . . .








Kansas City Fed Tech Spy Talk

Kansas City FBI Lab Unites Local Agencies Over Data Analysis KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - The FBI's Heart of America Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory, where a cadre of examiners imparts their crime-fighting expertise, is littered with the remnants of hard drives, cellphones, circuit boards and everything else in the bulging array of electronic devices that record data.

Local Demolition Agenda Reminder

Verruckt demolition to begin next week KANSAS CITY, KS (KCTV/AP) -- Two years after tragedy, the waterside billed as "the tallest in the world" will be coming down. A large crane has been parked next to the 17-story Verruckt at Schlitterbahn Water Park. The ride has been closed since August 2016 when Caleb Schwab was killed after his raft went airborne.

Courthouse Change Underway???

Which direction for County Legislature? Democrat Charlie Franklin and Republican Brice Stewart are vying for the District 3 seat in the Jackson County Legislature.Democrat Dennis Waits is stepping down after eight terms and has endorsed Franklin. Stewart was unopposed in the primaries, while Franklin won a three-person primary race.The district covers Sugar Creek and Independence generally north of I-70.

For KCK Hipsters & Their Mutts

New dog park another plus for downtown Kansas City, Kansas by Mary Rupert Two dogs attending the ribbon-cutting of the new St. John's Dog Park on Strawberry Hill Thursday afternoon eyed each other from a short distance, then walked around the new fenced-in grassy area on a leash after the official ceremony was over. The new dog park at 801 N.

Golden Ghetto Doggie Lunch???

Woman aims to bring dog cafe to Overland Park by launching Kickstarter campaign OVERLAND PARK, Kan. -- A new kind of cafe is hoping to open in Overland Park. One that may help you find a forever friend. A Kickstarter launched Oct. 26 for Waggin Tails Cafe. Kayla Law has been working on the project for about a year and wants to bring the metro's first dog cafe to Johnson County.

Kansas City Tiny House Redux

Tiny houses multiply amid big issues as communities tackle homelessness A project for former service members could become a model for other cities in the United States. The 13 tiny houses sit in neat rows on the small plot of land in south Kansas City. There's a comforting uniformity to the group, each structure a simple A-frame or slant roof, painted a rich hue: deep blue or dark maroon, slate gray or mustard yellow.

Iconic Kansas City Autumn Pix

Fall On Cliff Drive View of KC from the top of Goose Neck (the rode from Gladstone Boulevard down to Cliff Drive.) Like all the trees in the city this year, the ones along Cliff Drive are showing their finery.

A rising star pr0n hottie inspires a consideration of the favorite exercise trend among middle-class white ladies.Take a look:Closer to home, here's a look at more notable Kansas City news links . . .is the song of the day and this is thefor right now . . .
Dysons plan to build a supercar is taking shape with new reports indicating that the company has chosen Singapore as the site of its production facility. The British tech company thats best known for building vacuum cleaners made waves last year when it announced its intention to launch its own supercar. Those intentions are more than real because the company is moving forward with the construction of the facility later this year in time for the start of car production by 2021.

The choice of Singapore has nothing to do with Brexit, so says the company

For those of you who remain skeptical of Dysons plan to build its own supercar, it seems that your skepticism is starting to hold less weight.

The British tech company is not only serious about its plan, but its also taken great lengths to look for a site where it can construct its production facility.

Singapore was ultimately chosen, but according to a number of reports, multiple locations were considered after the company held discussions with a number of governments all over the world.

It is interesting, though, that the U.K. wasnt considered, especially since company founder Sir James Dyson has been an active proponent of Brexit. Turns out, Brexit wasnt a factor in the companys decision to build the production facility in Singapore. That was what Dyson CEO Jim Rowan alluded to in a memo sent to the companys staff. According to Rowan, the decision to choose Singapore as the site of manufacturing the supercar was based on supply chains, access to markets, and the availability of the expertise that will help us achieve our ambitions.

Picking Singapore as the site of its new facility also isnt a new move for the company. The company already manufactures its electric motors for fans and vacuum cleaners in Singapore where it currently employs 1,100 people. It also has 1,300 employees in Malaysia, 1,000 in China, and 800 in the Philippines.

With the location in place, questions now turn to the supercar itself, of which there are still few details to grab on to.

We know that its an electric supercar, but the type of batteries it will use has yet to be determined.

That said, the company is already working on developing both solid state and traditional lithium-ion batteries so we can at least assume that at least one of these two types of batteries will be involved in the EV supercar.

Expect more information about the supercar to surface in the coming months. If Dyson can meet its own timetable of producing the car by 2021, we should learn more about the supercar itself sometime next year.

Further reading

Read more electric car news.

Source: The Guardian
A 35-ton bus managed to cross the historic Beaver Bridge in Arkansas that had a 10-ton weight limit. The bus driver may be pumping his chest at his perceived achievement, but it really was more a case of outright recklessness that could have turned a lot worse had the bridge not collapsed. The bridge had been closed for inspection after the fact but has since been reopened. Kudos to the engineers of this bridge.

This was about as close to disaster as it could get

The world is still full of idiots. The bus driver is a classic example of this. Not only did he compromise his life and the lives of his passengers by driving a 35-ton bus across the Beaver Bridge  it had a 10-ton limit!  but he did so despite multiple warnings in his surroundings of the structures weight limit.

Video of the crossing has since gone viral, and while he did manage to get the bus across the bridge safely, he did so by causing incredible stress on the whole structure.

The video, which was taken by a private commuter, shows the bridges suspension sag and bend as the bus passed over it.

Other cars in the area were honking at the driver, trying to get his attention before his dangerous pass, but either he didnt hear the honks, or he just didnt pay attention to them because he kept on driving the bus across the bridge without any hesitation.

The bridge has since been closed for inspection as a crew from the Arkansas Department of Transportation performed a number of thorough inspections to see if the structures integrity had been compromised by the reckless crossing of the overweight bus. Fortunately, Danny Straessle, the spokesman for the states DOT, told local news that the crew found no apparent signs of damage to the historic Beaver Bridge.

Speaking of the bridge, its apparently a historic one in the state of Arkansas. Affectionately called the Little Golden Gate Bridge of Arkansas, the Beaver Bridge was built in 1949 with Table Rock Lake. According to the National Register Information System, the Beaver Bridge is the only suspension bridge thats open to traffic in Arkansas, having also been added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.

For a fleeting moment, it seemed like all it took for the bridge to collapse was a 35-ton bus driven by a reckless driver who should have known better than to cross it in the first place. Hopefully, he gets the punishment he deserves.

Further reading

Read more car video news.
TRENTON  An unorthodox city Board of Education meeting and alleged closed-door vote on Fred McDowells merit means somebodys getting paid.

Its either going to be the Trenton Superintendent or attorney Donald Doherty Jr.

Doherty represents government accountability guru John Paff on a long-expected transparency lawsuit being brought against the Trenton Board of Education which could flip the system on its head.

He has framed what many Trenton stakeholders believe is an undeniable Open Public Meetings Act violation over an alleged dark vote undertaken by the board at a Sept. 24 meeting on McDowells merit pay as a violation of Paffs civil rights under the New Jersey Civil Rights Act (NJCRA).

Doherty piggybacked the OPMA onto the NJCRA because the former  unlike the Open Public Records Act  doesnt provide an avenue for the winners to get attorney fees when challenging lawbreakers who disregard the state Sunshine Law.

Its the biggest drawbacks for attorneys taking on OPMA cases. And Doherty said shady government bodies bank on it.

It would clean up New Jersey like nothing weve seen before, he said. New Jerseys government process, once you cut in 80,000 lawyers against 1,000 government bodies, it would be cleaned up faster than [anything].You dont need other laws.

That would be a game-changer, acknowledged Paff, a well-known government records crusader.

But he said the heart of the case is still the publics right to know about how the McDowell vote went down.

It shouldnt be government by ambush, Paff said. They should take pains to make sure the publics informed. We just want to make them do a do-over on this one.

He and Doherty have asked a judge to overturn the boards decision to approve McDowells merit pay form submission, which Doherty said was essentially the board signing over a $25,000 check.

Doherty said the board used deliberately confusing language that only educational insiders would know when informing the public McDowell merit pay would be discussed in executive session.

They used fancy terms and clouded language, and all of a sudden the moneys gone, he said. Thats what it comes down to.

Beyond that, Doherty pointed to the dark vote, non-explanatory agendas and a superseding issue of adequate notice under the OPMA, mandating the board publish notice of meetings in two newspapers.

Paff obtained records from the school district indicating it paid $23.49 for public notice of meetings in The Times of Trenton but not The Trentonian.

The problem arises for the defendant because they do not publish or even communicate the annual notice of meetings to two publications as required, the attorney wrote. The requirements are mandatory. There are no options. The government is required to strictly toe the line regrading OPMA in general and as to adequate notice.

For this reason, Doherty wrote, every decision being made is voidable. Its not a one-time error.

That would include McDowells merit pay, which could technically get veto by interim county executive superintendent Yasmin Hernandez-Manno.

But many believe she will rubber-stamp the boards decision, if that hasnt happened already.

Doherty wrote in the pleadings theres a strong likelihood the board voted on the McDowell matter in executive session, violating the OPMA.

Board president Gene Bouie, who is a named defendant along with the other six board members who approved McDowells merit pay, has strongly denied that was the case.

He insisted to The Trentonian the vote happened publicly after a second executive session.

The lawsuits mirrors much of The Trentonians reporting on the merit pay flap, including the timeline.

The vote wasnt audio recorded and the board minutes seem to undercut Bouies claims as they showed the board ended its meeting before going into a second executive session.

The board entered into its first executive session around 8:44 p.m. It emerged and voted on three matters, none involving McDowells merit pay.

The board adjourned the meeting. Board secretary Jayne Howard, who is responsible for recording the minutes, a school monitor and members of the public left thinking the meeting was over.

Then board members convened a second executive session during which board counsel James Rolle Jr. took minutes.

McDowells merit pay was unanimously approved, according to the minutes.

The decision has come under sharp criticism from city leaders.

The Trenton Education Association and special education advocates have said McDowell didnt meet his goals and didnt deserve any payout, especially amid mounting issues in the districts special education program.

The state Department of Education has found the district out of compliance on a number of issues complained about by the Special Parent Advocacy Group, a watchdog for special education students in the Trenton area.

Mayor Reed Gusciora ordered his law director to take a look at whether the board broke the OPMA.

Law director John Morelli has yet to issue a decision on the matter.

Meanwhile, TEA grievance chair Janice Williams took it upon herself to file a formal complaint with the state Attorney Generals Office. Her complaint could take months to investigate.

By that time, Doherty said, McDowells check will have been cut and cashed.

He feels this lawsuit is the best chance at rectifying the vote and changing the law to make government bodies more compliant with OPMA for fear of paying out of their pockets.

Thats the simple crime of it, Doherty said. If theyre doing the basic things that wrong, what happens when we get to the complexities of life.
ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Tribune News Service

Mohali, October 27

The police claimed to have arrested two snatchers and recovered two mobile phones and a motorcycle from their possession.

The accused have been identified as Balwinder Singh of Kotla Rai village in Moga and Arnav Raj of Doranga in Bihar. According to the police, the accused were active in Mohali and Chandigarh. They were also involved in the yesterdays mobile phone snatching bid on a Haryana girl at the Sector 80 light point in Mohali. With their arrest, we are hopeful of working out more cases, said the police. A case under Sections 379 B of the IPC was registered against the accused at the Sohana police station here today.

Snatchers strike twice in Kharar

Mohali: Two motorcycle-borne youths today snatched a gold chain from a resident of Mehak Nagar here.

The victim, Mandeep Kumar, stated that he had parked his scooter outside his house after returning from market when two motorcycle-borne youth came and enquired about some address. All of sudden, they snatched his gold chain and fled from the spot. He has lodged a complaint with the City Police.

In another incident, two bike-borne youths snatched a gold chain of an elderly woman at Swara Nagar.
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Washington, October 27

US President Donald Trump has said millions of people who are waiting for legal immigration to America will be admitted soon.

Addressing an election rally in North Carolina on Friday, Trump said he wanted a strong border.

A vote for Democrats is a vote for open borders and a vote for tax hikes...I think I would be a failed politician if I had to really promote open borders. Everybody comes in...We pay for all of the things we just went over, he said.

Justifying his decision to deploy military on the southern border with Mexico to stop a caravan of several thousand people from Latin American to enter the US illegally, he said, I want them to come into our country, but they have to come in legally and they have to come in through merit system.

A caravan of people, estimated to be between 5,000 and 7,000 from three Latin American countries--El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras--is headed for the US. It also includes some people from South Asia, according to some media reports.

We have millions and millions of people right now on line, they have been waiting, sometimes (for) 10 years...they did it right...they signed every paper. They are waiting proudly on line. They are going to be admitted soon, Trump said.

He said it is unfair to those who are waiting for years to have people just walk across a border.

Slamming the Democratic leadership for their open-door policy on immigration, Trump said, Their laws are no good...we have laws that are the laughing stock of the world because of the Democrats.

Under the existing policy, illegal immigrants are caught and released, he said, adding that the system of visa lottery and chain migration also did not make any sense. PTI
uttara@tribuneindia.com

Ambala, October 27

Tension prevailed in Haryana's Kalpi village, around 15 km from Ambala Cantonment, after some unidentified miscreants vandalised the statue of BR Ambedkar on Saturday, a police officer said.

Demanding immediate arrest of those responsible, agitated villagers raised slogans against the district administration.

Barara Sub-Divisional Magistrate Girish Kumar and police promised stern action would be taken against the miscreants.

A case was registered against unidentified persons under relevant sections of the IPC, the official said.

Meanwhile, police force has been deployed in the village as a precautionary measure, he said. PTI
shriaya.dutta@tribuneindia.com

Jammu, October 27

Three armed robbers allegedly looted cash worth Rs one crore from a private Delhi-bound truck on the Jammu-Pathankot National Highway on Saturday, a police officer said.

The robbers intercepted the truck in the early hours near Barwal in Kathua district shortly after it left for Delhi from the Bari Brahmana area of Samba district, he said.

The robbers decamped with cash after threatening the truck driver and a manager travelling in the vehicle.

Police has taken cognizance of the incident and a special team has been constituted to investigate the case, the officer said.

According to preliminary investigation, the cash belonged to a company and it was being transported by a truck to its ally firm in Delhi. It is suspected that someone aware of it planned the robbery.

"So far, the details are sketchy and all possible angles are being looked into," the officer added.  PTI
editorial@tribune.com

Our Correspondent

Kathua, October 27

Three armed men allegedly looted Rs 1 crore from a private Delhi-bound truck on the Jammu-Pathankot national highway in Kathua on Saturday.

The truck belonged to an industry located at Bari Brahmna in Samba district and was on its way to Delhi.

Police sources said the accused travelling in a car intercepted the truck near the Barwal morh around 3 am on Saturday and looted Rs 1 crore kept in the vehicle.

The driver and the general manager of the firm, who were carrying the cash for its ally firm in Delhi, lodged a complaint with the police.

A police officer said the robbers also threatened the truck driver and the manager of the firm.

The Kathua police have registered a case under Sections 341, 382 and 3/25 of the Arms Act and have constituted a team to arrest the robbers.

It is suspected that someone was aware of the cash being carried to Delhi and planned the robbery, the police officer said.

Nasir Ahmed, Additional Superintendent of Police, Kathua, said the police had started a probe into the incident. No arrest has been made so far, he added.
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Srinagar, October 27

Normal life in Kashmir was affected on Saturday due to a strike called by separatists to protest against the landing of army in the Valley on this day in 1947 to repulse the invasion by Pakistan.

Shops, petrol pumps, private offices and other business establishments remained closed here, officials said.

They said public transport remained largely off the roads, while private cars, cabs and auto-rickshaws were seen plying in many areas of the city.

The officials said some private schools also remained closed.

Similar reports of a shutdown were received from other district headquarters of the Valley, they said, adding that security forces were deployed in strength at sensitive places to avoid any untoward incident.

Separatists, under the banner of Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL), had called for a shutdown on Saturday to protest against landing of Army in Kashmir on October 27, 1947.

The Army had launched an operation, a day after the then Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir Hari Singh signed the instrument of accession with the Union of India, to repulse tribal raiders from Pakistan from the region.

The separatist outfits have been calling for a strike on this day every year since eruption of militancy in the state in 1989.

The JRLcomprising Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malikhad asked the people to observe Occupation Day on Saturday. PTI
pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 27

A three-judge Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India will take up the politically sensitive Ram Janmbhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute on Monday.

More than eight years after the Allahabad High Courts September 30, 2010, order dividing the 2.7-acre disputed land at the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site equally between Ram Lalla, Nirmohi Akhara and Sunni Wakf Board, the Bench  which also includes Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice KM Joseph  will consider the cross-appeals filed by various parties on October 29.

Earlier, the case was being heard by a Bench of then Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice S Abdul Nazeer. After the retirement of CJI Misra on October 2, the Bench has been reconstituted.

Procedural formalities, including filing of affidavits, counter-affidavits, rejoinders and translation of documents running into thousands of pages are already over and the case has now been listed for issuance of directions.

The top court had on September 27 refused to refer to a larger Bench its 1994 verdict which ruled a mosque is not an essential part of the practice of Islam. It had directed the cross appeals in the Ayodhya title suit to be listed before a three-judge Bench on October 29.

By a 2:1 verdict, a Bench headed by then CJI Misra had said the courts observation in the 1994 case was made in the limited context of land acquisition at the disputed site and it was not relevant for deciding the main title suit, in which cross-appeals against Allahabad High Courts September 30, 2010 verdict are pending before the top court for eight years.

We again make it clear that questionable observations made in Ismail Faruquis case were made in context of land acquisition. Those observations were neither relevant for deciding the suits nor relevant for deciding these appeals, the majority had said.

However, Justice S Abdul Nazeer had dissented, saying all mosques, all churches and temples are significant for the community. The questionable observation of 1994 verdict had permeated into the Allahabad High Courts decision in the case, he had noted.

If mosque was essential part of the religion cannot be decided without a detailed examination of the beliefs, tenets and practice of the faith, Justice Nazeer had said, ordering the issue to be referred to a larger Bench. He even referred to the courts recent decision to refer the issue of female genital mutilation to a larger Bench.

Muslim parties to the Ayodhya title suit wanted the top court to reconsider the five-judge Constitution Bench in 1994 in M Ismail Faruqui case which said a mosque was not integral to Islam and Muslims could offer prayer anywhere. They apprehended that the 1994 ruling would adversely affect the outcome of the title dispute.

Hindus believe that Lord Ram was born in Ayodhya thousands of years ago. During Mughal emperor Babars rule, a mosque was constructed at the place in 1528 after destroying the temples existing there.

More than 70 years after the Faizabad Civil Court rejected its claim over Babri Masjid as a Shia Wakf, the Shia Central Waqf Board of UP had last year moved the Supreme Court to assert its claim over the disputed site. Interestingly, the Special Leave Petition  which challenged a 1946 decision of the Faizabad Civil Court  said the Babri Masjid was built by demolishing a Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.

The RSS, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and BJP have been running a campaign for the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya. On December 6, 1992, kar sevaks of right-wing Hindu organisations demolished the disputed structure. Many BJP leaders, including LK Advani and Murali Manohar Joshi, are facing a criminal case in connection with the demolition.

But the civil dispute over 2.7 acres is a separate one that has been on since 1961 when the Sunni Wakf Board took the matter to court.

CJI TO HEAD BENCH
uttara@tribuneindia.com

Panaji, October 27

Months after both the Goa BJP and the state administration refused to disclose Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's ailment, state Health Minister Vishwajit Rane on Saturday finally admitted he was suffering from pancreatic cancer.

The admission came amid relentless demands from the opposition parties to know whether the Chief Minister was fit enough to govern. The state government had been dodging persistent queries about Parrikar's illness.

"He is the CM of Goa and the fact is that he is not well. He has got pancreatic cancer. There is no hiding of this fact," Rane told reporters on here, a day after the Congress gave the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government four days to prove that Parrikar was of "sound health and mind" and in a position to govern the state.

"Let him be peaceful with his family. That much right he has, after serving the people of Goa, that if he wants to spend some quality time with his family, nobody has the business to ask (sic)," Rane said.

Parrikar, who is currently being treated for advanced pancreatic cancer, has been in an out of hospitals in Goa, Mumbai, New York and Delhi.

His absence has created a leadership vacuum in Goa, even as the opposition has demanded that he step aside to focus on treatment.

Parrikar has not had a single public appearance since his return from Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences on October 14 and is currently bedridden at his private residence, which party sources said has been converted into a sophisticated medical facility, with doctors and para-medical staff on 24-hour duty.

Rane also slammed the Congress for playing politics over the ailing Chief Minister's health, saying if the Congress wanted to go to court to learn of Parrikar's health condition, it was free to do so. IANS
vinaymishra188@gmail.com

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 26

While we hear a lot of talk on what should be done to deal with the perilous effects of unfolding climate change across the world, when it comes on the ground we do not see enough action  this appeared to be the general consensus in the discussion by an expert panel from India and Russia on concerns flagged recently by the UN Intergovernmental Panel of Experts on Climate Change (IPCC).

The IPCCs foreboding account comes ahead of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP24, in Poland this December that will mark the culmination of three years of negotiations since Paris COP21 in 2015.

The panel warned that commitments in the Paris Agreement on Climate (2015) are not enough to keep the temperature rise within 1.5 degrees and some urgent, unprecedented measures are required to abandon fossil fuels.

However, despite a global buzz on the urgency to prevent climate change from spiraling out of control, official negotiations appear to be headed nowhere even to limit the damage to a median level. While the US had walked out of the Paris Agreement, Russia is yet to ratify it.

Todays discussion Climate Change and natural Disasters: UN Sounds Alarm was held via video-conferencing organised by the Information Department of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in India along with Russian News Agency Rossia Segodnya.

The discussion included Joydeep Gupta, director, Third Pole Project, and Harjeet Singh of ActionAid from India and Alexander Bedritsky, president, World Meteorological Organisation, and Sergey Semenov from the Yu.A Izrael Institute of Global Climate and Ecology.

The general consensus was that despite scientists sounding desperate warnings, the situation was getting serious year after year. What had been predicted had started happening but implementation of suggested mitigation and adaptation plans remained a concern.

The COP 24 is expected to finalise rules for implementing the Paris Agreement on reducing greenhouse emissions and providing aid to vulnerable countries.
pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Hyderabad, October 27

In remarks that could stir up a row, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday used the #MeToo movement analogy to take pot-shots at the Congress and warn parties wishing to ally with it for elections that they should not repent later and be compelled to run a similar campaign.

All the Opposition parties, which had allied with the Congress, have repented their decision later, Singh claimed, as he alleged that the parties who want to form alliance against the BJP do not have any agenda associated with national interest.

Later, let such a situation not arise that all the Opposition parties form alliance and later when they face deception by the Congress, they become constrained to run a MeToo campaign, he said, apparently referring to the movement that has empowered women to call out those who harassed them.

...I would like to remind all the Opposition parties...

Whoever has gone with the Congress, it is finished, no force in the world could save it from being erased, he said.

Claiming that all political parties fear the growing influence of the BJP, he said they now want to fight the polls together.

The parties can form an alliance, however big it is, but the parties should have the right agenda, he said, after inaugurating the national convention of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of the BJP, here.

They do not have any agenda associated with national interest. They have only one agenda, stop Modi. They do not have any other agenda.., he said.

Highlighting the Union Governments achievements, he said India was among the fastest growing economies in the world with the NDA in power.

During the last about four-and-half-years of NDA rule, no major terror attack has taken place in the country and the credit for it goes to the young personnel in the Army and other security agencies, the Union Minister said.

Asserting that the nation was now secure, he said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shown decisiveness and cited the example of surgical strikes across the LoC.

Singh advised the BJYM activists to take up not only political work but also socio-political work. He urged them to play a major role in helping the BJP win the upcoming Assembly and Lok Sabha polls.

Speaking at the convention, Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb highlighted NDA government schemes, including those for providing housing, electrification and LPG connections, which, he said, helped the poor in a big way.

Criticising the Telangana Rashtra Samithi governments investment support scheme for farmers in the state, he said the NDA government hiked the MSP which is result-oriented. PTI
shriaya.dutta@tribuneindia.com

New Delhi, October 27

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Saturday left for Japan to attend the annual summit with his counterpart Shinzo Abe.

The summit will be held on October 28 and 29.

In a statement Friday, before leaving for Japan, Modi described India and Japan a "winning combination" and said the island nation is New Delhi's most trusted partner in its economic and technological modernisation.

He said India's partnership with Japan is of great substance and purpose.

"We have a special strategic and global partnership. Our ties with Japan, both economic and strategic, stand completely transformed in recent years. It is today a partnership of great substance and purpose. It rests on the strong pillars of India's Act East Policy, and our shared vision and commitment to a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific," he said.

Modi said it will be his 12th meeting with Abe since he first visited Japan as prime minister in September 2014.

He said, as democracies, the two countries have shared values and they seek peace and prosperity for all.

"Our complementarities make India and Japan a winning combination. Japan today is one of the most trusted partners in India's economic and technological modernisations and one of the top investors in India," he pointed out.

The PM said projects such as Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail and Dedicated Freight Corridors reflect the high level and "strength of our economic engagement".

"Japan is also at the forefront of engaging in our national initiatives, such as 'Make in India', 'Skill India', 'Digital India', 'Start Up India'... Japanese investors have faith in India's economic future, which is marked with myriad opportunities," Modi said.

He said India values Japan's global leadership in innovation, technologies and best practices and during his visit, he will have a chance to see some of Japan's high-tech capabilities in robotics.

"I will have wide-ranging talks with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and interact with business leaders and captains of industry from both countries. I will also address the Indian community. These interactions will help to further strengthen our trade and investment ties, and cooperation in new areas such as healthcare, digital technologies, agriculture and food processing, disaster risk reduction and disaster resilient infrastructure," he said.

He recalled that last year, he had hosted Prime Minister Abe and his wife Akie Abe in his home state Gujarat.

In a special gesture, Modi will be hosted by his Japanese counterpart for a private dinner at his holiday home in the picturesque Yamanashi prefecture on October 28, which will be, perhaps, the first such reception to be extended to a foreign leader.  PTI
pardeepdhull@gmail.com

New Delhi, October 27

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday expressed confidence that political compulsions will bring together all non-BJP parties to fight the NDA in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Naidu, who met string of Opposition leaders in the national capital on Saturday, also said he will play the role of a facilitator in helping evolve a credible alternative.

It is only (because of) political compulsion and in the overall interest of the nation, parties will join together. Some may not join before elections, some of them may join after elections, he told reporters here.

Some political parties are afraid to join today because of the pressure from the BJP, he said, adding he may even have to meet some leaders because of democratic compulsions.

Asserting that someone will act as a catalyst to form an alternative front, he said already leaders like TMC chief Mamata Banerjee and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal are making efforts towards that direction.

He also said the TDP is a regional party in a state having 25 Lok Sabha seats and his role will be limited.

Somebody will do, I will follow. I want to help the process to work together. If there is consensus, we will work together. Im doing my bit. Im acting as a process facilitator. Im not interested in becoming the Prime Minister, he added.

Naidu, a former BJP ally who quit the NDA early this year over the Centres refusal to grant special status to Andhra Pradesh, met BSP chief Mayawati, Jammu and Kashmir National Conference president Farooq Abdullah and former BJP leader Yashwant Sinha here in the national capital.

He, however, admitted that it would be a difficult exercise this time.

On coalition government, the TDP chief said, If the leader is good and effective, development will take place even in coalition. In the past, more growth and development has taken place under coalition governments. However, today there is no consensus and that is why the central government is committing so many mistakes, he said.

Alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was victimising those who oppose him, Naidu said income tax raids are being conducted ahead of the Assembly polls in several states including Karnataka and now in Andhra Pradesh.

The democracy is in danger. Institutions have collapsed. I dont want to comment on the Rafale deal and the CBI. The ED and Income Tax Department are being used against politicians. Tomorrow, they will attack me also. I never indulged in petty politics, he said.

The minister claimed that since the TDP quit the NDA, the Central Government is neglecting Andhra Pradesh more and is not releasing funds for development as promised under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act.

Even relief funds to Titli cyclone-hit districts have not been released, he claimed.

...Modi should have called the meeting of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Wherever they committed, they should have sorted out. Even sometimes if there were differences, that should have been addressed. That is the role of a PM. Despite that, the PM is creating problems among states. It is very unfortunate, he said.

Expressing concern over the economic crisis under the NDA government, the TDP chief claimed the implementation of demonetisation, GST, growing NPAs and frauds have derailed the economic development and investors have lost confidence.

Rupee devaluation and rising fuel prices have affected the people in the country, he added. PTI
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 27

To boost the cycle and light engineering industry, the state government has decided to earmark 100 acres of land in the upcoming hi-tech cycle valley at Dhanansu village in Ludhiana for the development of a state-of-the-art industrial park within the project.

The government has already approved the project for setting up of the cycle valley through the Punjab Small Industries and Export Corporation (PSIEC) over 380 acres of panchayat land. The industrial growth of Ludhiana significantly relies on cycle and small-scale manufacturing industry.

The idea behind the setting up the industrial park is to create an eco-system for hi-tech bicycles and engineering products to give impetus for upgrading technology so that the local industry remains relevant and globally competitive.

The PSIEC is inviting request for proposal for the selection of a project company to setup an anchor unit for manufacturing mobility solutions like automobile, auto components, bicycle, bicycle parts, electric vehicles such as e-bikes, e-rickshaws, lithium ion batteries etc.

The corporation will develop the industrial park along with ancillary or vendor units at the cycle valley to give a further boost to the hi-tech industrial cluster.
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 27

More than a month after the names of four advocates were cleared by the Supreme Court collegium for elevation as judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the President has appointed them.

The advocates are Manjari Nehru Kaul, Harsimran Singh Sethi, Arun Kumar Monga and Manoj Bajaj.

Kaul is the daughter of Punjab and Haryana High Courts former judge, Justice RK Nehru. She, along with Sethi and Bajaj, are law officers with the Punjab Advocate-Generals office.

Punjab Advocate-General Atul Nanda said the clearance of names of three law officers for elevation was a reflection of the high professional standards maintained by his office.

The then Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice Shiavax Jal Vazifdar, had recommended the names on November, 24, 2017, in consultation with his two senior-most colleagues.

The list met the Punjab governments immediate approval, but the Haryana government kept considering the matter till it finally sent the file back for reconsideration with certain objections. But this was not the end of it. One of the collegium members reportedly shot off a communication to the Union Law Ministry with some comments.

As of now, the High Court with just 47 judges, against the sanctioned strength of 85, is among the top three courts in the country in terms of vacancies; the other two being Allahabad and Madras.
editorial@tribune.com

Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, October 27

Akali Dal president Sukhbir Badal on Saturday held a meeting with SGPC members and Akali MLAs, but disgruntled party leaders chose to stay away.

To a question on resignation by senior leaders, Sukhbir just said: They are towering Akali leaders of my fathers age. He ducked the repeated queries over the matter by repeating the same answer.

On being asked if any attempt was being made to resolve the differences, he stated that they had not resign from the party and were very much part of the Akali Dal.

All Taksali leaders of the Majha region, who had aired their resentment by holding a meeting on September 30, abstained from the meeting. They are Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, Dr Rattan Singh Ajnala, Ravinder Singh Brahmpura, Manmohan Singh Sathiala, Amarpal Singh Bonny and Sewa Singh Sekhwan.

Meanwhile, the Akali Dal demanded registration of a case against Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, Education Minister OP Soni and the committee members who authored PSEB Class XII history book with derogatory references to Sikh Gurus.

A resolution to this effect was passed at the Saturdays meeting, attended by SGPC members, legislators, district presidents and senior party leaders.

Sukhbir alleged that the Congress government had neither taken action against committee members who had prepared the five chapters recently released online nor withdrawn the objectionable matter so far. He demanded immediate withdrawal of the new chapters.
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 27

More than a month after the names of four advocates were cleared by the Supreme Court collegium for elevation as judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the President has issued their appointment orders.

The advocates, Manjari Nehru Kaul, Harsimran Singh Sethi, Arun Kumar Monga, and Manoj Bajaj, are expected to be administered oath as Additional Judges of the High Court by Chief Justice Krishna Murari on Tuesday morning.

Manjari Nehru Kaul is the daughter of Punjab and Haryana High Courts former judge, Justice RK Nehru. She, along with Sethi and Bajaj, are law officers with the Punjab Advocate-Generals office.

The then Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice Shiavax Jal Vazifdar, had recommended their names for elevation on November, 24, 2017, in consultation with his two senior-most colleagues.

The list met Punjab governments immediate approval, but the Haryana government kept considering the matter till it finally sent the file back for reconsideration with certain objections. But this was not the end of it. One of the collegium members reportedly shot off a communication to the Union Law Ministry with some comments.

Their names were cleared by the Supreme Court collegium in September. The collegium, before finalising the recommendations, perused the letters of opinion by the Chief Ministers and Governors of Punjab and Haryana. The Supreme Court judges conversant with the affairs of the Punjab and Haryana High Court were also consulted.

The SC collegium has also cleared the names of judicial officers Lalit Batra and Arun Kumar Tyagi. Once appointed, the strength of judges in the HC will go up to 53.

Vacancies in court

As of now, the High Court with just 47 judges, against the sanctioned strength of 85, is among the top three courts in the country in terms of vacancies. The other two courts facing acute shortage are Allahabad and Madras.
editorial@tribune.com

Salil Desai

The Danube promenade in Hungarys capital Budapest is both spectacular and serene. The clean, deep, gentle waters beckon one for a swim, the breeze buoys ones mood and the view on both sides of the river bank makes one want to just keep watching and strolling forever. What with the bewitching Buda Castle looming high on one side and the Hungarian Parliament poised gracefully at the end of the other bank, little wonder that the Danube riverfront has been declared a UN World Heritage site.

Just then one catches sight of several pairs of footwear in the distance, untidily littered along the edge of the embankment. The first thought that fleets through ones mind is that it is perhaps a spot specially created for tourists to untie their shoes and dip their feet into the flowing waters of the Danube. But drawing nearer, one is further intrigued to see flowers, candles and other paraphernalia around the footwear, with a few tourists standing, squatting or kneeling, a solemn demeanour adorning their faces, some even having closed their eyes, as if uttering a quiet prayer.

A few more strides and you realise that the footwear is not for real but metal sculptures which are part of the beautiful and thoughtful memorial called Shoes on the Danube. Conceived and designed by Hungarian film director Can Togay and sculptor GyulaPauer, Shoes on the Danube is dedicated to the victims, a huge majority of them Jews, who were executed by Arrow Cross, a fascist political party which governed Hungary under the leadership of Ferenc Szalasi, after the Germans occupied the country in 1944 towards the end of World War II.

The moving memorial is a touchingly creative representation of the abominable reality of those five short months (October 1944  March 1945) of Arrow Cross rule, during which an estimated 10,000 Jews and other unfortunate Hungarians were brought to the banks of the Danube, asked to remove their shoes and then shot point blank, so that their bodies fell into the river to meet an icy death and burial.

Installed in 2005, the memorial comprises 60 pairs of iron footwear  of men, women and even children, sculpted with great attention to detail in capturing footwear types and styles of that era  shoes, sandals, sportswear, heels etc. Even more poignant is the effort that has gone into designing the poses of disarray in which the footwear have been placed  so that one can almost visualise the distress and panic of the past few moments of the victims, as they scrambled to remove their footwear and were lined along the banks, shivering and terrified, awaiting the bullets that would plunge them into the freezing depths of the Danube. They were asked to remove their shoes was because footwear was a valuable war commodity and was in great demand in the black market.

As one stares at the shoe sculptures, the beauty of the Danube and the magnificent surroundings seems to pale. Squinting at the water, one cant help wondering whether the blood of all those killed on these very banks had turned the blue waters of the second largest river in Europe, red. What also strikes one is the appalling conspicuousness with which the killings must have been conducted. Moreover the cold logic of shooting the victims on the riverfront, so that their corpses could be carried away by the flowing river was nothing short of fiendish.

To the memory of victims shot into the Danube by Arrow Cross militiamen in 1944-45. Erected 16 April 2005 reads the memorial plaque and even as one strolls away finally, the forlorn footwear remains chiselled into ones memory forever.
Ajay Banerjee in New Delhi

Ajay Banerjee in New Delhi

SOMETIME in the middle of July this year, the Army commenced General Court Martial (GCM) proceedings to try a major-general and six others for an alleged extra-judicial killing carried out in Tinsukia, Assam, in 1994. The case came to be known as the Dangari Fake Encounter.

Before the GCM was commenced, the Army sought permission to try these officers and men under the Army Act, 1950. This was allowed despite the CBI having already filed a chargesheet in the Guwahati High Court under an FIR (RC-4/S/2000-CAL) lodged by its Kolkata unit in 2000.

On October 13, within three months, the GCM pronounced its verdict and held seven persons guilty. Life imprisonment was awarded to Major-General AK Lal, Colonel Thomas Mathew and Colonel R S Sibiren and junior commissioned officers (JCOs) and non-commissioned officers (NCOs) Dilip Singh, Jagdeo Singh, Albindar Singh and Shivendar Singh.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who had taken to the streets demanding justice almost quarter a century ago, welcomed the verdict saying, It will give solace to the families of the victims. The Army has worked in a fair manner and without any prejudice.

The limitation loophole

On the face of it, the verdict looks like speedy justice. Officers who have served in the Armys Judge Advocate-General (JAG) branch are skeptical. They say the accused can use the loophole created by the conduct of the GCM. They can easily cite time limitation as applicable under Section 122 of the Army Act. A GCM cannot be conducted after three years of the competent authority having acquired knowledge of occurrence of the event. Since the CBI lodged the FIR in 2000 and filed a chargesheet, the facts would have been communicated to the Army.

Col NK Kohli (retd), who has served in the JAG branch, says: Based on the facts that have come out in the media, the case pertains to 1994 while the CBI registered an FIR in 2000. The time limitation  of three years  will start from the day the Army (the competent authority) acquired knowledge of the case. Its beyond comprehension as how the Army had no knowledge of the case since 2000 when the CBI filed a charge sheet in the court.

Another expert on legal matters of the Army, on condition of anonymity, cited the case of Colonel Rajvir Singh vs Ministry Of Defence. In his case, the Supreme Court said the Army Commander of Central Command knew of the case as on May 2007 and the GCM was convened in August 2010. The SC in 2012 said it was clearly beyond the period of three years, and hence barred in terms of Section 122.

One feels sorry to see a trial on such serious charges being aborted on grounds of limitation but that is the mandate of the law, the order said.

Insiders who understand the legal system say it would have been better to allow the Guwahati High Court to go ahead with the CBI charge sheet as it would not be barred by time-limitation.

The findings of the GCM will have to be confirmed by the Armys higher authorities  the Eastern Command at Kolkata and the Army headquarters in Delhi. They can agree, partially agree, or even disagree on life imprisonment verdict. The accused can then file an appeal against the verdict in the Armed Forces Tribunal and follow that up with case in the Supreme Court.

What is the case?

Nine activists of the All-Assam Students Union (AASU) were picked up by 18 Punjab Regiment from different places in Doomdooma in Tinsukia from February 17 to 19, 1994. Five of the activists  Prabin Sonowal, Pradip Dutta, Debajit Biswas, Akhil Sonowal and Bhaben Moran  were allegedly gunned down near the Dangari river. The Guwahati High Court, which heard a habeas corpus plea, ordered the Army to produce the nine activists at the nearest police station. Statewide protests followed as five of the nine had died. At that time Sonowal, the now Assam Chief Minister, was president of the AASU. The matter was handed over to the CBI at the behest of the court.

Revisiting Army justice

A five-member committee of experts that had Lt-Gen Mukesh Sabharwal (retd), a former Adjutant General of the Army and Lt-Gen Richard Khare (retd), a former military secretary, suggested radical changes in a report in 2015. The committee was tasked by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar to review service and pension matters, including potential disputes, minimising litigation and strengthening institutional mechanisms related to redress of grievances.

Citing the Army and Air Force Acts in 1950 and the Navy Act in 1957, the committee said, These were enacted soon after Independence and reflected the mindset of a force of occupation. These were modelled on provisions of the Crown.

The independence of judiciary and separation of powers in the civilian set-up in letter and spirit, which, even as on date, remain a far call in the military, it said adding, We have ad hoc juries comprising non-judicial and non-legally trained members. It was referring to how a GCM is conducted by a serving military officer, who may or may not have legal grounding.

The committee suggested provisions making military justice independent and totally insulated from influence of higher ups in the chain of command.
Aditi Tandon

Aditi Tandon

LIKE most women outing alleged sexual predators in the still-exploding MeToo movement of India, journalist Yamini Nair had also only hoped to record her story at first. She wasnt seeking revenge. Much as the others whose testimonials against editor-minister MJ Akbar led to his resignation from the government last Wednesday, Yamini had just wanted to go through the catharsis the campaign was offering to those who had endured harassment at the hands of male leaders.

However, her mission has changed since she first revealed her story. I had no clue about my aggressor being a serial offender. After I wrote a Facebook post about how he harassed me when I was a cub reporter in 2005, many others shared similar experiences. Initially I had not thought of seeking action against the man in question, but I am now standing with these girls, says the scribe who works with Hindustan Times at Delhi.

Unlike Priya Ramani, the first journalist to accuse Akbar who has since sued her for criminal defamation, Yamini didnt name C. Gouridasan Nair, resident editor of The Hindu in Kerala in her #MeToo social media post. He was outed anyway. The Hindu Group chairman N Ram tweeted how the publication had taken Yaminis charges seriously and the journalist concerned had resigned. Had it not been for N Rams tweet, no one would have known about it  quite a contrast to the attention that other accused in the MeToo campaign have got.

As victims continue to reveal their pain in a slowly but steadily progressing movement, the question already arising is  are some sexual offenders less offending than the rest? Is selective outrage compromising a revolution?

Yes, feels filmmaker Nishtha Jain who accused top journalist Vinod Dua, currently at The Wire, of stalking and sexually harassing her many years ago. The Wire, which reported other MeToo stories including Akbars, skipped Duas. Jain tweeted her despair on October 14: There has been no reporting on The Wire about my allegations against consulting editor Vinod Dua even after 24 hours.

There were also concerns around Dua being allowed to air his show where he dubbed the MeToo campaign as a muck-raking platform besides announcing his voluntarily pull out from the show to let The Wire probe charges against him. Dua gets to be the judge in his own case, Jain said last week indicating deep dismay.

Many MeToo campaigners are starting to worry about the harm that the differential treatment to cases of harassment can do the movement. Anxieties abound Asian College of Journalism for not taking a sexual harassment claim against faculty Sadanand Menon by a former student seriously. Although the ACJ recently said Menon wont teach his course this session, they also said that the matter involved unproven allegations beyond the institutes jurisdiction to investigate. The Hindu REs matter, too, attracted little media attention.

Yamini feels this is very harmful for the cause. Keralas regional media decided to shy away from my case but for an insignificant single column news item in some papers, she says. Mediapersons feel its urgent to treat every case equally. In an issue like this, we cant choose what to be outraged about, says Seetha, a senior journalist.

Though little has been heard of charges against some newsmen, the more high-profile accused have continued to make news. The first media person to be felled by the movement was Prashant Jha of HT. He stepped aside from leadership roles on October 8 and submitted himself to a probe. Soon afterward, The Times of India sent its Hyderabad resident editor, KR Sreenivas, on leave pending an enquiry into charges of sexual misconduct by some women. Former editor-in-chief of DNA, Gautam Adhikari had to likewise quit an American think tank where he was senior fellow.

Meanwhile, women who have stuck their necks out feel the movement must grow beyond urban spaces and the laws must change to address new challenges. Mahima Kukreja, who named comedian Utsav Chakraborty, is wary of the movement getting an elitist tag while Ghazala Wahab, who outed the powerful MJ Akbar, says laws must answer questions from womens perspectives.

The biggest challenge for the movement is lack of laws to protect women who complain. Criminal defamation is the easiest tool in the hands of perpetrators who are always more powerful than the accusers. The law needs urgent modifications to ensure that complainants get justice, says Wahab.

The government has since formed a Group of Ministers to revisit The Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace Act 2013. However, the law remains weak in the delivery of stated objectives with firms going unpunished for not setting up committees. Legally, every firm employing more than 10 people must have an ICC.

Headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh and comprising Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman and Maneka Gandhi, the GoM will recommend ways to strengthen legal and institutional structures in the wake of the MeToo movement. It will submit a report in three months. In the present form, the law is clearly frail.

The 2013 Act says that if a woman, after making a complaint, feels uncomfortable working in the same office, she can avail of three months leave over and above her sanctioned leave or take transfer to another department.

The law doesnt protect a woman. It simply tells her to go on leave if she feels anxious or afraid. The tormentor on the other hand has blanket protection. He doesnt have to go on leave or change his department, rues Wahab.

Supreme Court lawyer Vrinda Grover says women remain silent due to fear of retaliation and the law and society must understand this. She says suing of Ramani proves exactly why women don't speak up in the first place. Criminal defamation is a tactic to create a chilling effect and stop other victims from speaking out, says Grover.

Legal experts feel that the courts, presented with unprecedented questions arising from MeToo revelations, would have to examine motives behind criminal defamation suits by the accused in such cases. Can law be used as an instrument of oppression? Courts will have to judge that. If a criminal defamation suit is used to silence victims, this itself becomes a ground to seek its dismissal, argues Grover.

Most observers feel MeToos impact will be slow in India, unlike in the US where the accused have faced grave consequences. Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, named by several women for predatory abuse, faces a potential life term in prison.

The reason lies in our deep-rooted feudal values. A good beginning has been made, but change will be gradual. Thats not to say there wont be any immediate effect. Thanks to MeToo, a whole new generation of working women wont have to internalise their pain any more. Women wont have to wait for decades to bare their scars, says veteran journalist Saroj Nagi.
ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar says that his government has provided jobs to around 40,000 youths and another 40,000 vacancies, including 18,000 in Group C and D groups, are being filled. He claims that in place of Rs 10,000 compensation per acre as recommended by the Swaminathan commission, his government is paying Rs 12,000 compensation per acre to farmers for crop loss. He opines that the INLD and the Congress are beset with infighting. The BJP is the only party that is acceptable to all 36 biradaris of Haryana and is all set to return to power with a thumping majority. Excerpts from an interview with Sushil Manav...

You have just completed four years as the Chief Minister of Haryana. What do you think are your major achievements in these four years?

Our biggest achievement is that we have changed the system of governance and ensured automatic delivery of services to people without discrimination. We have ended favouritism in government jobs that are now being provided on merit alone. We have given jobs to around 40,000 youths and another 40,000 vacanciess, including 18,000 in Group C and D groups, are being filled. Interviews for Group C and D category jobs have been done away with. Now, these jobs are being given on the basis of the results of the written examination. There are many other achievements as well. We have changed political culture, and the way of governance in the last four years. People at the grass-roots level are getting their rights and benefits without discrimination on the basis of caste, region or discretion. We have delivered water for irrigation up to 1300 tail-end areas without any political consideration. If you want holistic and inclusive development, you have to ensure free and fair distribution of benefits. To eradicate corruption, we have done away with our discretionary powers. We have introduced the direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme for providing the benefits of welfare schemes directly to the beneficiaries. Our initiatives have led to increase in the per capita income to Rs 2 lakh. The annual budget has been increased by around 90 per cent in the last four years. We have fulfilled around 160 of 176 promises made in our manifesto. Providing fair employment opportunities and a decisive increase in farmers income are among our biggest achievements. Haryana constitutes only two per cent of the total population of the country, but contributes more than 15 per cent grains to the national pool.

Our top 10 achievements are: Eradication of discrimination and favouritism in government jobs, transparent transfer policy, revolution in panchayati raj system, uninterrupted power supply to six districts and 2,776 villages, reducing power tariffs, becoming the first kerosene free state, providing water for irrigation to more than 1,300 tail-end areas for the first time, initiatives for additional water from the SYL canal, Renuka, Lakhwar and Ghisaau dams; being first to introduce ease of doing business in north India and achieving the fifth position in GST collections and exports.

What do you think have been the shortcomings of your government? Anything that you would have liked to do, but could not do for some reasons?

My dream is to economically empower everyone in Haryana. All 2.80 crore Haryanvis must get the benefits of development. Benefits should not be confined to just a chosen few. I wanted to do it and have done it successfully. I believe, where there is a will there is a way too. My entire team is with me. I appreciate them for their cooperation.

Opposition parties often accuse your government of being overly dependent on bureaucrats. What do you say?

I have changed the work culture in Haryana. In the past, it was usual to abuse and publically misbehave with bureaucrats and protect their blue-eyed officers for their own vested interests. I believe in teamwork. Officers are part of the system but I do keep a watch over them. Action is taken and will be taken against those who do not work according to the system.

Another major allegation of the Opposition parties is that your government has driven the state into a debt trap. They argue that the debt was around Rs 70,000 crore in 2014 when you assumed office but it now stands at Rs 1.61 lakh crore.

Previous governments were in a habit of hiding facts and figures from public. We have started a transparent system. I believe in a neat and clean balance sheet of the state. The previous governments would brush under the carpet their failures. For example, electricity companies were suffering heavy losses but people did not know about it. Our government took over Rs 25,000 crore of debt of power companies and now for the first time all four of them have become profitable. As a result, the service quality has improved and power tariffs have come down. Opposition leaders are either ignorant or do not want to accept the truth about the kind of progress Haryana has made in the past four years. The net worth of the state has increased manifold. They should stop talking about debt and focus on increasing the net worth of the state. Haryana is no longer called a poor state, which was their gift to people.

Ever since the BJP came to power in the state, government employees have been agitating on one issue or the other; the latest being roadways employees. Can we hope to see an early resolution of the issues concerning government employees?

Haryana was among the states that implemented the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations immediately after the Central governments announcement. There are many states which are yet to implement the commission report. In many states, salaries are not paid for two or three months. In Haryana, salaries of government employees are not delayed even by a few hours. During the past four years, we have increased the salaries and perks of all employees. For the first time, policemen are getting weekly off. Both people and government employees are dear to me and I have to do a balancing act between the two. As for the roadways employees, I always welcome their genuine demands but cannot accept their interference in government policies.

Law and order in the state has always been a cause for concern. The National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) figures reveal that despite being a small state, Haryana records more rape incidents than any other state. How do you explain this?

Have you checked the conviction rate in Haryana now? The conviction rate is very high in the state. Political interference was common in such cases in the past. Women were prevented from entering police stations by local Chaudharys in the name of honour. They would threaten women and stop them from reporting crimes against them. FIRs were not registered in the past. Now, all FIRs are registered. There is no increase in rape cases as such, but all cases are being reported now and the accused arrested. Women police stations have been set up in all districts. It also depends on how you see it. We believe that justice can be done only when cases are reported and not hidden. I believe in action and not statistics. Criminals must know that if they commit crimes, they will not be spared.

Ever since your party has formed government in the state, hardly any land has been acquired for development projects. Rather, land acquired for projects such as the Dadupur Nalvi canal has been de-notified. Isn't this affecting development activities in the state?

Previously, acquiring land was a big business for politicians and builders. It has been the policy of my government to acquire land only when and where needed. We stopped the practice of randomly acquiring land from farmers to benefit builders. We acquired thousands of acres at Nangal Chaudhary for a logistics park with the consent of farmers after paying them the market rates. The previous governments could have also done what I am doing, but they didn't. That is the reason that the CBI has filed so many cases against them.

Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has accused your government of vendetta politics. What is your response to this charge?

Had my government indulged in vendetta politics, Bhupinder Singh Hooda would not have been roaming free, levelling baseless charges. In fact it was he who resorted to vendetta politics. We work according to the law of the land and the Constitution. We are cooperating with investigating agencies probing these cases and have provided them documents they require. It is up to the investigating agencies to establish the cases and courts to decide their fate.

For long, the INLD has been agitating on the SYL canal issue. The opposition parties are accusing you of not doing enough to protect the water rights of Haryana, especially when you have your own party government at the Centre.

I am fighting on three fronts to get Haryana's due water share. The SYL canal is just one of them. From 2004 to 2014, no one pursued the case in the Supreme Court properly. Our government hired competent lawyers to fight our case. The Supreme Court has given its verdict in our favour that Haryana has a legal right over water. Now, only the execution of the verdict about how water will arrive in Haryana is awaited. We are hopeful that the Supreme Court will rule soon and we will get our share of the SYL canal water. An agreement for the Lakhwar dam in Uttarakhand was done after I took the initiative to get all six state governments on a platform and sign the agreement. Haryana will get 47 per cent of the total water from this dam. Likewise, the work has also started on the Renuka Kishau dam in Himachal Pradesh. The best management and distribution of available water is the third point. The result is there for everyone to see. Parts of Haryana where canal water had not reached for 25 years are now getting water for irrigation. Around 15,000 ponds are being maintained to raise the water table and use the overflow for irrigation purposes. We are not merely fighting for the SYL canal but have adopted a holistic approach.

The BJP came to power at the Centre in 2014 on the promise of Achche din. During the Assembly elections too, several promises were made. Do you think the good days your party had promised have come now?

Achche din means people get whatever is due to them in a timely and transparent manner. Over 400 government services are now online in Haryana. Pensions and ration are being delivered at home; land registry is done online; the poor have access to the government and the government has access to them. Is this not Achche din?

The Implementation of the MS Swaminathan commission report was one of the BJP's poll promises. Is the BJP still committed to it or not?

Where is the question of abandoning the promise when both Central and Haryana governments are working systematically to implement it successfully? Some Opposition leaders, who are questioning us over its implementation, seem have not read the Swaminathan commission report. You have to see what is the soul or main thrust of the report. For their benefit let me summarise the commission report. Its three essential parts are to save farmers from losses; provide them adequate and quality farming inputs such as fertilisers and seeds; and lastly to give farmers good prices for their produce. We have gone beyond the Swaminathan commission recommendations as in place of Rs 10,000 compensation per acre, the Haryana Government is paying Rs 12,000 compensation per acre to farmers if their crops are destroyed for any reason. We have paid more than Rs 3,000 crore as compensation to farmers over the past four years. This is in addition to what the Central Government is giving under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna.

I can say this with confidence that farmers of Haryana need not be afraid of anything. Their interests are being taken care of and the state government is committed to their welfare. Farming in Haryana has become risk-free. Farmers in 2,830 villages across Haryana are getting 24x7 electricity supply for domestic purpose and sufficient power for agriculture purpose. There is no voltage fluctuation as experienced in the past. We are providing farmers with unadulterated fertilisers and quality seeds. We have taken canal water till the tail-end areas to ensure its equitable availability to farmers. The Central Government has increased the procurement prices of many items by up to 90 per cent.

These are the basic recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission and as you can see, my government is working to implement them in a systematic and phased manner to ensure that profits of farmers jump substantially and their income increases two folds. The Opposition must know while they paid between Rs 700 and Rs 2,200 as procurement rates, we have increased the rates by six times in the past four years.

In 2014, the BJP came to power in Haryana largely on the back of Narendra Modis charisma. But this time, your party will have to seek votes based on your performance. On what issues you will seek votes from people?

Do you mean to say Narendra Modis charisma has vanished and you see Rahul Gandhis wave in the country now? Will people in Haryana vote for Rahul Gandhi or Narendra Modi? Narendra Modi ji continues to be popular in India and his popularity has increased worldwide as a capable leader. Add to this my remarkable performance. We have unlimited issues to seek votes based on our performance. Corruption, which was a way of life in Haryana in the past, has been successfully tamed. We have ended family rule and nepotism.

There is a common feeling that the Assembly elections in Haryana can be held along with the parliamentary poll. Do you subscribe to this view?

Elections will be held when due. There is no second thought on this. We received the mandate to serve the people of Haryana for five years and we would continue serving them till the full term.

How do you rate your partys chances in the next Assembly elections and why?

Tell me, are people going to vote for those parties which are grappling with the leadership issue and fighting over who will be the chief ministerial candidate from their family. They are not bothered about the people of Haryana. We have ended the family rule cult in Haryana. People voted for the BJP to end the family rule and Hamari sarkar. Now, it is everybodys government. Infighting in the INLD over who will be the chief ministerial candidate from that family has reached its zenith. The party is in tatters. As for the Congress, it is faced with severe factionalism; again the fight is for the chief ministerial post. The BJP is the only party that is acceptable to all 36 biradaris of Haryana. Suffice to say that we are coming back to power with a thumping majority.
ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

MANJU GUPTA

Maybe I overreacted, I do have a tendency to hit the panic button sooner than later. But there is no denying that the sight made my eyes sting and throat tighten. I have vivid memories of the sickening post-Diwali gloom that engulfed us last year. Hence my overreaction when I stepped out on the terrace for my morning brew with a view and found it strewn with black burnt straw. It was a telltale sign that stubble had been burnt in the neighbourhood, a foretelling of the apocalyptic horizon of grey that awaits us this winter.

Every year around this time, farmers from Punjab and Haryana burn crop waste as a low cost straw disposal practice. The pollution hence caused is further aggravated by a drop in wind velocity. The dust from construction sites, vehicle emissions and the fireworks of the festive season further push up levels of the tiny suspended particulate matter PM 2.5 and PM 10 above the safe limits. We north Indians are thus condemned to breathe unbreathable air.

The downside of stubble burning is obvious; the smoke produces a cloud of particulates that is visible from space. Besides pollution and loss of nutrients, which could otherwise enrich the soil, there is a risk of the fire getting out of hand and spreading farther than intended. The government has made great efforts to create awareness regarding this. Laws against stubble burning are being implemented more strictly. Using both carrot and stick options, the government is offering subsidies on farm equipment and imposing fines on defaulters. Yet grass-roots workers proclaim that neither the fear of penalties nor the lure of subsidies will curb this problem.

While it is easy to dismiss farmers as uncaring and irresponsible, if we delve deeper we will see the obvious. It is not possible that the polluting smoke, which bothers us, doesnt bother them when they set their fields ablaze. Despite this and the risk of social ostracisation and penalties, farmers are resisting the ban.

My patients enlightened me on the reasons behind this. Besides small benefits like killing herbicide resistant weeds and pests, the main advantage of this practice is that it reduces the turnaround time between harvesting paddy and sowing wheat. Vis-a-vis mechanical tilling it is a quick and cheap method to clear the fields and get them ready in the fortnight available to do this. Any delay entails losses. Despite the subsidy, the cost of machines needed to shred and spread the stubble is still prohibitive. Renting the equipment is not a viable option, as there are very few available per village. Another problem is while wheat stubble is gainfully used as cattle fodder, paddy crop residue has limited use. In such a scenario, paying the fine of Rs 2,500 imposed by the Haryana Government seems to be the best option.

Nothing much will happen till farmers are adequately compensated and better alternatives like using stubble as biomass are offered. No politician will take on the powerful farmer lobby, much less a beat constable. The result is that stubble burns unabated. Data from remote sensing centres show a 72 per cent decrease in incidence of stubble burning in Punjab and 40 per cent decrease in Haryana. While this is very encouraging, the celebration maybe premature as paddy harvesting was delayed this year due to incessant rains.

There is a long way to go before stubble burning is completely eliminated, but with some care we could breathe easy this winter. Lets begin by saying an emphatic no to crackers. It may not be enough, but is a good place to start!

(The writer is a gynaecologist based at Gharaunda)
vinaymishra188@gmail.com

Washington, October 27

A gunman on Saturday opened fire at a Jewish synagogue in the US city of Pittsburgh, killing at least 11 people and injuring several others, including three policemen, in the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in America in years.

Shooter Robert Bowers, 46, surrendered after he was injured during an exchange of fire with the police, according to local media reports.

Though officials are yet to come out with an official toll, local media reports said 11 people have been killed, while six others, including three policemen, injured in the incident.

The shooter, described as a white, heavy set with beard, was being questioned and treated at a hospital. The FBI is investigating this as a hate crime. Before opening fire, he reportedly yelled, All Jews must die! FBI agents reached the Tree of Life Congregation Synagogue at Squirrel Hill area in Pittsburgh, where a large number of people had gathered for a morning service when the shooting took place. The motive was not immediately known.

President Donald Trump described this as a devastating situation.

Events in Pittsburgh are far more devastating than originally thought, Trump said as he reiterated that those responsible for such mass shooting be given death penalty.

He was considering cancelling an election campaign rally in Illinois in the aftermath of the shooting that has shocked all Americans.

What happened today is a horrible, horrible thing. It looks definitely like it's an anti-Semitic crime. That is something you wouldnt believe could still be going on, Trump told reporters after he stepped off Air Force One in Indianapolis.

It would seem to be an anti-Semitic crime, said Trump, whose daughter Ivanka Trump is married to Jew Jarred Kushner.  PTI
uttara@tribuneindia.com

Beirut, October 27

The Islamic State group has killed 41 US-backed fighters in Syria who are battling to oust the jihadists from their eastern holdout of Hajin on the Iraqi border, a war monitor said Saturday.

Islamic State late Friday dispatched suicide bombers as part of a counter-attack against the Syrian Democratic Forces, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human rights.

The SDF fighters, who are backed by US-led coalition air strikes, were killed overnight, the Observatory said.

In a statement on the Telegram messaging app, Islamic State said it had attacked the village of Sousa late Friday and detonated a car bomb near the village of Al-Baghuza further south, down the Euphrates river.

The SDF last month launched an offensive against the jihadists in the Hajin pocket on the eastern banks of the Euphrates, in Deir Ezzor province.

Islamic State has staged a bloody fightback.

Since September 10, 270 SDF fighters and 496 Islamic State jihadists have been killed in the offensive, the Observatory says.

The coalition estimates that 2,000 IS fighters remain in the Hajin area.

Last week, the Observatory said coalition air strikes had killed 41 civilians in Sousa, 10 of them children, on October 18 and 19.

But the coalition said it had targeted an Islamic State command post on October 18, and denied carrying out any strikes in the area the following day.

Islamic State overran large swathes of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014, proclaiming a "caliphate" across land it controlled.

But the jihadist group has since lost most of that territory to various offensives in both countries.

In Syria, its presence has been reduced to parts of the vast Badia desert and the Hajin pocket.

Syria's war has killed more than 360,000 people since it erupted in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.  AFP
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Manama, October 27

Pentagon chief Jim Mattis warned Arab leaders on Saturday that the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the kingdoms consulate in Istanbul must concern us all.

The United States does not tolerate this kind of ruthless action to silence Mr Khashoggi, a journalist, through violence, Mattis told a meeting in the Bahraini capital Manama.

Failure of any nation to adhere to international norms and the rule of law undermines regional stability at a time when it is needed most.

A critic of Saudi Arabias powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Khashoggi was murdered after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2.

On Thursday, CIA Director Gina Haspel briefed US President Donald Trump on the latest developments in the investigation after a fact-finding mission to Turkey.

Pro-government Turkish media said intelligence officers showed Haspel video images and audio tapes of Khashoggis killing gathered from the consulate.

His murder has generated international outrage and undermined relations with Riyadh, which Washington is hoping can help counter Tehrans influence in the Middle East.

Prince Mohammed, the kingdoms de facto ruler, has denounced the repulsive murder, denying any involvement. The kingdoms leadership has pushed responsibility down the chain of command.

Trump has called the case one of the worst cover-ups in history.

Washington moved on late Tuesday to revoke the visas of several Saudis. Britain followed suit on Wednesday.

Mattis said more measures would follow.

We will maintain our twin imperatives, as stated by Secretary of State (Mike) Pompeo, of protecting America and holding accountable those responsible for this murder, he told the forum.

Our secretary of state has already revoked visas and will be taking additional measures. AFP
vinaymishra188@gmail.com

Washington, October 27

US President Donald Trump on Friday called for ending the politics of personal destruction as he accused the media of using sinister actions of one individual to score political points against him and his party.

Trumps comments at an election rally in North Carolina came hours after police apprehended a 56-year-old man from Florida on charges of sending package bombs to at least 10 present and former high-level government officials, including former president Barack Obama, former vice president Joe Biden and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.

Trump asserted that he will do everything to stop political violance and said media has a major role to play in unifying the nation.

Political violence must never, ever be allowed in America, and I will do everything in my power to stop it. In recent days, weve had a broader conversation about the tone and civility of our national dialogue. Everyone will benefit if we can end the politics of personal destruction, Trump said amidst applause from his supporters.

We must unify as a nation in peace, love, and in harmony. The media has a major role to play. Whether they want to or not, he said as his supporters booed the media.

The large gathering of Trumps supporters were chanting, CNN sucks! CNN sucks! Trump said the media has been unfair to him and the Republican Party. And they do, indeed. They have a major role to play as far as tone and as far as everything, Trump said.

We all say this in all sincerity, but the medias constant unfair coverage, deep hostility...... and negative attacks-you know that-only serve to drive people apart and to undermine healthy debate, he said.

Trump alleged that the media has tried to link the recent spate of package bombs to him and the Republican party. We have seen an effort by the media in recent hours to use the sinister actions of one individual to score political points against me and the Republican Party, he said.

In the aftermath of the spate of package bombs, the Republicans have lost some ground in the upcoming November 6 elections.  PTI

Suspect is ex-stripper with Trump devotion

Cesar Sayoc is an amateur body builder and former stripper, a loner with a long arrest record who showed little interest in politics until Donald Trump came along.

On Friday, he was identified by authorities as the Florida man who put pipe bombs in small manila envelopes, affixed six stamps and sent them to some of Trumps most prominent critics

His arrest capped a week in which the bombs aimed at some of Americas biggest names - Obama, Clinton, De Niro - dominated the news and invited speculation about who might be responsible for them

The answer, authorities said, was Sayoc, a 56-year-old man from Aventura, Florida, who was devoted to Trump, had a history of financial problems and an extensive arrest record, including a stint on probation for making a bomb threat

Moms hit the trail to preach gun control
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Islamabad, October 27

Pakistani Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa has confirmed death sentences to 14 terrorists belonging to banned militant groups, the military said.

Eight others had been sent to jail by the military courts, the Pakistani Armys media wing Inter-Services Public Relations said in a statement on Friday.

The terrorists were involved in attacks, including on the Armed Forces and Law Enforcement Agencies, killing innocent civilians and destroying educational institutes and Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) Hotel in the Swat Valley.

They had killed 22 people--three civilians and 19 security personnel--and injured 23 others. They were tried in special military courts where they confessed to their crimes, Xinhua quoted the statement. IANS
pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Manama, October 27

Riyadh on Saturday dismissed Ankaras calls to extradite 18 Saudis wanted for the murder of critic Jamal Khashoggi, as Washington warned the crisis risked destabilising the Middle East.

The individuals are Saudi nationals. Theyre detained in Saudi Arabia, and the investigation is in Saudi Arabia, and they will be prosecuted in Saudi Arabia, Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told a regional defence forum in Bahrain.

He was responding to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who on Friday renewed his call for the 18 men to be extradited for trial in Turkey.

Khashoggi, 59, who had lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since 2017, vanished after entering the consulate on October 2 to obtain paperwork for his marriage to his Turkish fiancee.

Gruesome reports have alleged that he was murdered and his body dismembered by a team sent from Saudi Arabia to silence the Washington Post columnist, who had criticised Saudis powerful Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.

After weeks of denials, Riyadh has sought to draw a line under the crisis with an investigation.

Prince Mohammad, heir to the oil-rich nations throne, publicly denounced the murder as repulsive, while the Saudi prosecutor acknowledged for the first time this week that based on the evidence of a Turkish investigation the killing had been premeditated.

But US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis, who was also addressing the Manama forum, warned that the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in a diplomatic facility must concern us all greatly.

Failure of any nation to adhere to international norms and the rule of law undermines regional stability at a time when it is needed most, he stressed.

Saudi authorities have arrested 18 men wanted by Ankara following the international furore over Khashoggis murder, which was reportedly carried out in the consulate by a team which flew to Istanbul.

Five intelligence chiefs have been sacked, including two who were part of the crown princes inner circle.

The journalists murder has generated international outrage and undermined Riyadhs relations with the US and other Western governments.

But the Saudi foreign minister vowed Saturday we will overcome it. The issue, as I said, is being investigated. We will know the truth. We will hold those responsible accountable. And we will put in place mechanisms to ensure it doesnt happen again, Jubeir told the defence forum.

On Thursday, CIA Director Gina Haspel briefed US President Donald Trump on the latest developments in the investigation after a fact-finding mission to Turkey.

Pro-government Turkish media said intelligence officers showed Haspel video images and audio tapes of Khashoggis killing gathered from the consulate.

But the body of Khashoggi, who was once an insider in Saudi royal circles, remains missing.

You need to show this body, Erdogan insisted on Friday, indicating that his country had more evidence about the killing to reveal.

The Turkish president, who has stopped short of directly blaming the Saudi government, added the 18 suspects must know who killed Khashoggi and repeated his call for the men to be tried in Turkey.

The culprit is among them. If that is not the case, then who is the local conspirator? You have to tell, he said.

Unless you tell, Saudi Arabia will not be free from this suspicion. Khashoggis fiancee Hatice Cengiz said in a TV interview on Friday that she never would have let him enter the consulate if she had thought that Saudi Arabia authorities would hatch a plot to kill him.

I demand that all those involved in this savagery from the highest to the lowest levels are punished and brought to justice, Cengiz told the Haberturk television station.

She said she had not been contacted by Saudi officials and was unlikely to go to Saudi Arabia for any funeral there if Khashoggis missing body is found.  AFP
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Colombo, October 27

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Saturday suspended Parliament till November 16 after sacked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe sought an emergency session to prove his majority, deepening the political crisis in the island nation.

Sirisenas move is seen as an effort to allow former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa to buy more time to seek majority in Parliament.

Parliamentary officials said the President prorogued the House till November 16. The Parliament was earlier due to meet on November 5 to unveil the 2019 annual Budget.

Rajapaksa and Sirisena combine has only 95 seats and is short of a simple majority in the 225-member house. Wickremesinghes United National Party (UNP) has 106 seats on its own with just seven short of the majority.

The UNP claimed that President Sirisena sought to prorogue Parliament as 72-year-old Rajapaksa did not command a majority in the House.

Wickremesinghe had earlier in the day in a letter to Speaker Karu Jayasuriya demanded an emergency session to prove his majority in Parliament.

Wickremesinghe has been asserting that the swearing in of Rajapaksa in his place is illegal and unconstitutional.

Addressing the media along with his constituent party leaders, the UNP leader said, This is a created crisis, there is no need for this crisis. The people must not suffer because of this at a difficult time for them.

He said the crisis could be resolved with no difficulty if Parliament was convened. I can prove majority on the floor of the House, Wickremesinghe said.

Sirisena formalised the sacking of his former ally by issuing two extraordinary gazette notices.

First notice was on Wickremesinghe being removed as prime minister and the other on the appointment of Rajapaska as the new premier. Sirisena also ordered the removal of Prime Ministers Secretary Saman Ekanayake.

The Prime Ministers Secretary has been removed according to the powers vested with the President as the appointing authority.

Responding to Sirisena in writing, Wickremesinghe said he is still the constitutionally appointed Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.

I write to inform you that I am the constitutionally-appointed Prime Minister of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and continue in that office and that I command the confidence of Parliament as contemplated in Article 42(4) of the Constitution, he said in letter.

Speaker Jayasuriya would now have to decide if he recognised Rajapaksa or Wickremesinghe as the Prime Minister. The Joint Opposition group of Rajapaksa backers claimed that the controversial strongman has a clear majority.

Prof GL Peiris of the JO frontliner said the unity government of Sirisena and Wickremesinghe ceased to exist the moment Sirisenas party, United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), announced that it had withdrawn from it.

So there is no Cabinet from that moment. When the unity government arrangement ended the Cabinet needs to be pruned under 30 members, he said.

He said when the Cabinet stands dissolved the Prime Minister will have to be either removed or resign himself.

Peiris said Parliament has been suspended to allow time for Rajapaksa as the new Prime Minster to present a vote of account in Parliament instead of the 2019 Budget scheduled for November 5.

This will provide resources to govern the country for three months, Peiris said.

Meanwhile, Rauff Hakeem the leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress said his party would firmly back Wickremesinghe.

Two other constituent party leaders from minority Tamil and Muslim parties, Mano Ganesan, Palani Digambaram and Rishath Bathiyutheen also said they would be firmly in support of Wickremesinghe and called Sirisenas move to sack Wickremesinghe as illegal and unconstitutional.

Sirisenas sacking of Wickremesinghe was the culmination of a year of bitter relations between them on several policy matters. The President has been critical of the Prime Minister and his policies, especially on economy and security.

In April, Wickremesinghe successfully defeated a no-trust motion in Parliament engineered by Sirisena with backing from Rajapaksa.

The UNP, however, suffered one defection after Rajapaksa was sworn in with Ananda Aluthgamage meeting the former President and extending him support.

The political developments unfolded after Sirisenas broader political front UPFA announced that it has decided to quit the current unity government with Wickremesinghes UNP.

The unity government was formed in 2015 when Sirisena was elected President with Wickremesinghes support, ending a nearly decade-long rule by Rajapaksa.

Rajapaksas return to power ends a more than three-year-old coalition government that was formed by Sirisena and Wickremesinghe on a promise to combat corruption and financial irregularities.

The unity government was thrown into a crisis after Rajapaksas new party pulled off a stunning victory in local elections in February seen as a referendum on the ruling alliance.

Sri Lanka nearly faced economic sanctions from the West over Rajapakses brutal military crackdown on the banned Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The LTTE sought a separate Tamil homeland in the northern and eastern provinces of the island nation for nearly 30 years before its collapse in 2009 after the Sri Lankan Army killed its supreme leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Rajapaksa and his family are facing several cases of corruption and financial irregularities. PTI
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Kabul, October 27

A suicide car bomb attack on a bus carrying police officers and workers in central Afghanistan killed at least five people on Saturday, officials said.

Another 12 were wounded in the Taliban-claimed blast in the Wardak provincial capital of Maidan Shar, provincial police spokesman Hekmatullah Durrani told AFP.

The explosion happened as the bus entered the main entrance of a police compound. Two officers and three workers were among the dead, Durrani said.

The wounded were all mechanics on the base.

Provincial governor spokesman Abdul Rahman Mangal put the death toll at six.

In a WhatsApp message, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said tens of Afghan police and soldiers were killed in the attack.

The latest attack by the Taliban comes amid a flurry of US-led diplomatic activity to convince the group to negotiate an end to the 17-year war.

In an apparent move to aid talks, top Taliban commander Abdul Ghani Baradar had been released by Pakistan after more than eight years in detention, sources said on Thursday.

That came less than two weeks after US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad met with the Talibans representatives in Qatar to discuss ending the Afghan conflict. AFP
vinaymishra188@gmail.com

Manama, October 27

Riyadh on Saturday dismissed Ankaras calls to extradite 18 Saudis wanted for the murder of critic Jamal Khashoggi, as Washington warned the crisis risked destabilising the Middle East.

The individuals are Saudi nationals. Theyre detained in Saudi Arabia, and the investigation is in Saudi Arabia, and they will be prosecuted in Saudi Arabia, Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told a regional defence forum in Bahrain.

He was responding to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who on Friday renewed his call for the 18 men to be extradited for trial in Turkey.

Khashoggi, 59, who had lived in self-imposed exile in the US since 2017, vanished after entering the consulate on October 2 to obtain paperwork for his marriage to his Turkish fiancee.

Gruesome reports have alleged that he was murdered and his body dismembered by a team sent from Saudi Arabia to silence the Washington Post columnist, who had criticised Saudis powerful Crown Prince.

Saudi authorities have arrested 18 men wanted by Ankara following the international furore over murder, which was reportedly carried out in the consulate by a team which flew to Istanbul.  PTI
Mother of four, Rehana Jaggernauth, was beaten, stabbed and strangled before being thrown into the Guayamare River, where she drowned, an autopsy has found.

And her relatives are convinced that Jaggernauth was lured to her death by someone she knew.
It depends on what is your definition of cold. Up at the mountains it will be a few degrees cooler than Sydney during the day. Maybe a little colder again after dark but not like winter cold.

You don't want to drag your luggage around the BM. There is lots of walking and getting on and off transports so store your luggage in Sydney.

Edited: 3 years ago
Arriving 21 March. Here is our first stab at an itinerary for our stay in Western Australia. We added on Perth to a snorkel trip to Raja Ampat, Indonesia because we love Australia so much having been for 3 weeks in 2004 and 5 weeks in 2007. Thanks to Frequent Flier miles, we are able to get to Perth, too! We appreciate any tips and comments you lovely people can give us. Thanks so much!

Day 1 arrive in PER from Jakarta at 16:00, stay at friends house and pick up rental car.

Day 2 Drive Albany Highway to Denmark, stopping at Granite Skywalk if time. Accommodation recommendation? We like B&B but really anything pleasant but not too fancy because we wont be in the room that much. Convenient to dinner place(s) because of the no nighttime driving recommendation.

Day 3 Go to Albany, see Anzac Centre and surrounds; go to Natural Bridge and Gap. Walk boardwalk if time. Stay Denmark.

Day 4drive to Walpole, stopping at the Greens Pool/Elephant rocks, doing the treetop walk, discovery drive to tingle tree, walking through the trees, etc. We thought that since we were going to Margaret River the next day, we would stay in Walpole instead of going back to Denmark, unless anyone had a different idea. I see that there is a road from Denmark to the Muir Highway. If that would be a better route, we would go back to Denmark. Accommodation recommendation in Walpole?

Day 5 drive to Margaret River. I cant seem to get a feel for whether well have time to do any stops along the way. We are interested in light hiking, nature type places as well as views, Aboriginal art, learning about the history of the area, etc. accommodation recommendation? Ones Ive looked at include Heritage Trail Lodge, The Grange on Farrells Motel, and the Edge of Forest Motel.

Day 6 in MR area. We want to see one cavethe Ngilgi one seems the most interesting. Hike a little, eagle rescue show, a winery. DH only likes jammy reds like Zinfandel and I am not much of a wine drinker, so any recommendations?

Day 7drive to Fremantle stopping ??, drop car and take late ferry to Rottnest Island. Staying either Caroline Thompson Cabins or Discovery Resort glamping Place. With friends.

Day 8 stay on Rottnest.

Day 9late ferry to Perth.

Day 10do Perth tourist things (Kings Park, art gallery of WA, aquarium, WAMuseum, etc.)

Day 11do Fremantle tourist things (WA Maritime Museum, FreonArts Centre/Markets, etc.). Depart PER at 22:55 for Hong Kong, layover 1 night and then on to LAX.

ANY suggestions or alterations are welcome and greatly appreciated!

Sally and Randy
I am planning a trip to Perth on 2019 with my wife. we will be spending the 1st day in the City like King's Park & Fremantle. heading to Rottnest Island on the 2nd day. and pick up a Campervan on the 3rd day for 5days.

1) Do you advise to go on end of May or June is more suitable for Campervan trip?

is that Hot during the end of Autumn(May)?

i prefer June but June is already Winter and im worrying about the rainfall.

2) Big difference for a normal campervan vs campervan with Toilet. is it necessary to have a toilet in the van as if travel few hundred KMs away from Perth City to the north/south. since campervan has to park at caravan site which comes with Facilities like Bathroom & etc.

3) is Restroom can be found easily along the journey?

4) does a Normal Campervan without Air-Conditioner/Heater in the Cabin(only at the Driver's cabin when engine is running) suitable to sleep in? will that be too hot or cold during night time?

5) what are the Places recommended to stop by and to park for overnight?

thank you and appreciate for your inputs.
Their Royal Highnesses, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Megan during their official visit to USP on 24 October 2018.
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You mention private drivers - if you do not want to book shuttle vans, which go hotel to hotel, you can get an example of private transfer rates, incl. from SJO to Monteverde/Santa Elena here: .

Without a rental car, you might want to stay in Santa Elena.

Try to arrive to CR earlier in the day and depart later, if possible. It gets dark in CR before 6 pm. When you are driven during daylight hrs, you can enjoy the surroundings more.

If it happens that you need to spend the first and/or last nights closer to the airport (SJO for Manuel Antonio), there are plenty of hotels near SJO to choose from. We prefer the ones where they include a full breakfast and a free shuttle to the airport (many do not, or include it only for certain room categories, or include it only for either departures or arrivals, but not for both).

We saw animals in Manuel Antonio park and on the property of the accommodations where we stayed there, between the park and Quepos. We were there in the middle of the rain season. The area is developed and busy. The park is closed on Monday. Wknds might be busier in the park, as some ppl come in to go straight to the beach inside the park. We had cash with us and it allowed us to save time and not stand in the longer line to buy entrance tickets, as one window accepted credit cards, the other - only cash (US$16 per person for adult foreigners). We needed 3-4 hrs to walk all the paths in the park and more hrs - if you want to spend time on one of the beaches there. There is also a longer public beach right outside the park, where you can rent beach loungers and umbrellas. We found MA/Quepos area easy without renting a car. There are taxis and rather frequent, inexpensive local buses, which a lot of locals and visitors took. We paid in colones.
>> Once the banks always used to display the fee before any transaction but judging by your research, the lines have shifted.

Only two banks don't display fully. Lines are still intact.

>> It's one reason I started to take more cash with me when I go to Vietnam.

Cash is not the safest way.

>> Sacombank used to charge 30k nigh on 10 years ago. Doesn't seem to have changed much over the years.

Nothing to do with the amount. Just the fact that it wasn't displayed. I withdrew cash from Vietcomm bank recently and was quite content to pay the 50k fee each for two transactions (as I had consented to the fee).

>>Doesn't matter who you bank with, there is no such thing as fee free banking. Somewhere along the line, you will be paying for it.

You've obviously not heard of the Charles Schwab checking account (you guessed it, only U.S folk eligible for it). All foreign ATM fees re-reimbursed at the end of the month.

>> 50k though is getting close to how much some ATM's charge in the UK.

Don't become too hung up on the fee per se. That's not the issue we are dealing with here.

BTW, Which UK ATM's charge foreigners ATM fees without displaying it first? Answers on a postcard please.

Edited: 3 years ago
Re: Is the new Toyosu market interesting for tourists

1. Re: Is the new Toyosu market interesting for tourists

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My daughter and I will be flying into JFK from Los Angeles, arriving at 16.30 on a Monday in mid- September. Well fly out from JFK to Honolulu, departing at 10 on a Friday in October.

Well be staying in Jersey City, near Newport PATH Station (as were visiting family who live there) but cant use Newark Airport as our tickets are part of a Multi-City international trip which only goes via JFK.

We plan to use public transport to travel between JFK and Jersey City: AirTrain to Jamaica, LIRR to Penn Station and PATH to Newport, taking about 1 hr 15 minutes. We havent done this before so hope its easy to do.

Well each have a fairly large suitcase and are concerned that having luggage may be a problem if were travelling on this route at peak hour at 17.00. Is this concern justified and, if so, should we stay at an hotel near JFK on arrival and leave for Jersey City after checkout the next morning?

For our return, we have to be at the airport at 08.00 so would leave Jersey City at 06.30. Are the trains often subject to delays so we should stay at an hotel near JFK the night before?

Any suggestions will be appreciated.
Whether youre an expert yogi or have no idea what One-Legged King Pigeon Pose is, San Diego is the best place to roll out your mat. Why? Because you can bust out your Warrior series outside: in the sun and by the sea. Whats more blissed out than that? Come for the yoga class and stay for the epic views in this episode of San Diegos One Bright Idea series.
The beauty of a 17-year-old teenager from Awerial in former Lake State in South Sudan has gone far and wide with prominent tycoons lining up to win her hand in marriage in an epic competition.

By close of business on Thursday, October 25, six men had visited the family of Nyalong Ngong Deng with various proposals; one suitor is leading the pack with 520 heifers and three Toyata V8 cars.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

READ ALSO: Kitale man compelled by court to pay dowry after staying with wife for 10 years

The news that Kok Alat is the leading suitor did not come as a surprise to those who know him as a tycoon. Photo: Juba TV/Facebook.

Source: Facebook

READ ALSO: Kericho man kills father who refused to help him pay dowry

Among the competitors is the former commissioner of Awerial and the current Deputy Governor of Eastern Lakes State among other who is who in the Africa's youngest independent state.

The news that Kok Alat is the leading suitor did not come as a surprise to those who know him as a tycoon with vast interest in different businesses in East African nations.

Word on the street is that there are two more men willing to pay higher prices should they get accepted by the damsel's parents.

READ ALSO: Man exposes married Bungoma doctor for snatching, impregnating his wife who is a cop

The beautiful Nyalong standing next to one of the suitors at her father's home. Six men are competing to marry her. Photo: Juba TV/Facebook.

Source: Facebook

READ: 17 common marital troubles only married women can identify with

In Yirol community culture, any man willing to marry must convince the girl's family he has the desired qualities which include ability to take care of their daughter.

It is from here that contestants are carefully 'auditioned' before letting them battle it out in a long search for the lucky son-in-law able to meet dowry terms.

The battle continues.

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: Okoth Obado Supporters Celebrate His Release | Tuko TV

Source: Tuko.co.ke
A primary school teacher in Njoro, Nakuru county has been arrested for forcibly sleeping with a Class Eight pupil just three days before commencement of the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) national examinations.

The tutor was caught pants down in the act by a fellow teacher who raised an alarm leading to his arrest.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

READ ALSO: Lugari MP Ayub Savula arrested by DCI for allegedly defrauding Government Advertising Agency KSh 122 million

The teacher was found in the act of sexually assaulting the minor expected to sit for her KCPE examinations from Tuesday, October 30. Photo:The Star.

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Wakwe za Rais Uhuru walikuwa wapinzani wakuu wa babake Raila Odinga

In a report by Daily Nation seen by TUKO.co.ke on Saturday, October 27, the area assistant chief confirmed the incident.

The administrator said the suspect who committed the act on Friday, October 26, was apprehended by police officers awaiting his prosecution in the court.

"The school was closed on Thursday, October 25, and it was only Standard Eight pupils preparing for their final exams who were left behind. The suspect was found committing the despicable act in the staff room," said the assistant chief.

The teacher had lured the minor into the staffroom and was caught right in the act by a colleague. Photo: Citizen

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Dont be caught sleeping with a minor, here is the right age of consent around the world

He revealed the tutor had lured the girl into the staff room before turning against her.

"The girl was immediately taken to hospital and will record a statement over the incident. The suspect is in police custody," added the chief.

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.

Governor Okoth Obado Release Terms and Conditions - On Tuko TV

Source: Tuko.co.ke
- The two employees were key vault custodians at the bank's Kisii branch

- They were accused of stashing KSh 1,000 notes in bundles of money expected to comprise KSh 100 notes only

- They will be charged in court on Monday, October 29

Two employees of I&M Bank in Kisii county have been arrested by officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations for allegedly stealing KSh 27 million from their employer.

Tom Odhiambo Adinda and Daniel Ochieng were arrested Friday, October 26, evening in Kisii town.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

READ ALSO: Police arrest teacher for defiling a KCPE candidate in Nakuru

The two employees were accused of mixing KSh 1000 notes with KSh 100 notes in each KSh 1 million bundle of cash. Photo: CIO East Africa.

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Phone recording in which Senator Malala is heard asking CS Echesa help in bribe deal emerges

In a tweet by DCI seen by TUKO.co.ke on Saturday, October 27, the two employees were key vault custodians at the bank's Kisii branch.

The suspects were accused of conspiring and stealing from their employer through strategically mixing KSh 1,000 and KSh 100 in every KSh 1 million bundle.

READ ALSO: Born in a poor family, became a drunkard, lost focus in life but I thank God I got saved - CJ Maraga

The two were reported to have been strategically stashing KSh 1,000 notes in bundles of KSh 1 million expected to be comprising KSh 100 notes only.

They will be charged in court on Monday, October 29, according to the DCI.

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.

Governor Okoth Obado Release Terms and Conditions - On Tuko TV

Source: Tuko.co.ke
- He observed Justice Jessie Lesiit needed to review the terms

- According to Wetang'ula, the condition restricting Obado from stepping anywhere less than 20kms from Homa Bay county made him to be a house prisoner

- The governor was released under tough bail terms after more than a month in remand

FORD Kenya party leader Moses Wetang'ula has sympthised with Migori Governor Okoth Obado saying the High Court's bail terms given to him in a murder case he is facing are unfair.

TUKO.co.ke earlier reported Justice Jessie Lesiit On Wednesday, October 24, granted Obado KSh 5 million cash bail with two sureties of similar amount and ordered him against accessing Homa Bay county, the home of his slain lover Sharon Otieno.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

READ ALSO: Two I&M bank employees arrested by DCI for stealing KSh 27 million

FORD Kenya leader Moses Wetang'ula said Governor Okoth Obado's bail out terms were too restrictive and similar to house imprisonment. Photo: UGC

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Police arrest teacher for defiling KCPE candidate in Nakuru

In Wetang'ula's tweet seen by TUKO.co.ke on Saturday, October 29, the senator said it would be wise for the judge to review the bail terms she imposed on the governor who tasted freedom after spending 36 days in police custody and remand prison.

The Bungoma Senator who is also an advocate of the High Court said the tough bail conditions for Obado were unfair because they curtailed his basic freedom of movement.

"Justice Lesiit must reconsider the bond/bail terms imposed on governor Obado. It's unfair and unjust to give with the right hand and take away with the left!! It amounts to house imprisonment," read part of Wetang'ula's tweet.

The Bungoma senator said the tough conditions accompanying the bail were unnecessary because the court had liberty to impose such whenever accused personabused bail. Photo: The Star.

Source: Facebook

READ ALSO: Wakwe za Rais Uhuru walikuwa wapinzani wakuu wa babake Raila Odinga

Obado would be unable to access his preferred palatial home in Rapogi because it was within restricted 20kms radius between Homa Bay and Migori counties.

According to Wetang'ula, the court had liberty to vary bail terms after establishing the accused person had abused the terms which was not the case for Obado.

"The court has the freedom and authority to review bail terms or suspend them after the accused person breaches ," he argued.

Obado however, stated he would obey all bail conditions and would not step in Homa Bay county as restricted by the court.

Justice Lesiit said barring the governor from Homa Bay would reduce his chances of contacting the deceased's family members and witnesses.

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.

Governor Okoth Obado Release Terms and Conditions - On Tuko TV

Source: Tuko
- Kajwang' said Moi is an honest politician whose name is not mentioned in any graft

- He assured Moi of Luo support should he work with Raila

- Ruto is the presumed Jubilee party presidential candidate in the next General Election

Politics took centre stage at a fund raiser in Homa Bay county on Saturday, October 26, with Senator Moses Otieno Kajwang describing his Baringo counterpart Gideon Moi as a man worth his salt to lead Kenya.

In an thinly veiled reference to Deputy President William Ruto, Kajwang' said unlike 'the other' presidential hopeful, the KANU party chairman is not suffering from malady of land grabbing and greed.

READ ALSO: Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens.

READ ALSO: Gideon Moi courts Raila for a 2022 alliance against William Ruto

Homa Bay Senator Kajwang' who wants Uhuru to hand over power to Raila, Gideon Moi in 2022. Photo: Moses Otieno Kajwang'/Facebook.

Source: Facebook

READ ALSO: Uhuru will back me in 2022 - Gideon Moi

"Moi is among those who do not suffer from grabiosis(land grabbing) and he also does not suffer disease called tumbiocracy (greed). I can also confirm he is not one of the crocodiles that confronted us when we we were about to cross River Jordan. In other words Senator Moi is a good man," said the senator.

The second time senator sought to warn Kenyans against electing people whose names have featured in corruption scandals either personally or via proxies.

On succession politics, Kajwang' urged President Uhuru Kenyatta to hand over reigns of power to ODM leader Raila Odinga and Moi come 2022, saying the Luo are willing to embrace leadership which addresses their needs.

READ ALSO: Raila Odinga meets retired president Daniel Moi days after famous handshake with Uhuru

"Senator Moi is a kind of man when we are talking about the future of this country, he must be on that table. I hope Uhuru shall hand over this country to the capable hands of Raila and Moi. Let's work together. Luos embrace leaders who are committed to the course," he added.

READ ALSO: Dynasties of Kenyatta, Odinga and Moi are united to remind Ruto he cannot be president - Lawyer Ahmednasir

In June, Tiaty MP William Kamket, a staunch KANU lieutenant spilled the beans that the party was courting ODM in its 2022 game plan.

"We have said time and again that KANU will have a presidential candidate come 2022. We are currently working with like-minded parties like ODM in this plan and be sure something great would be coming out of the talks" he said.

TUKO.co.ke understands the independence party is burning the midnight oil to revitalise its all powerful self after going under since retired President Daniel Moi left power in 2002.

Ruto is the presumed Jubilee party presidential candidate in the next General Election.

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.

Governor Okoth Obado Release Terms and Conditions - On Tuko TV

Source: Kenyan Breaking News
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko expects the representatives of Belarusian business to participate in the privatization processes in Ukraine.

The process of privatization has been restarted. A new law was adopted. The Parliament supported the initiatives of the President and the Government. The large-scale privatization has been launched. The small-scale privatization has been simplified as much as possible. The objects of small-scale privatization are buildings, industrial sites and recreational facilities. I believe that Belarusian entrepreneurs will take advantage of this opportunity, Poroshenko said during the final part of the First Forum of the Regions of Ukraine and Belarus in Gomel on Friday, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

According to him, Ukraine has become a country of opportunities for foreign investors and companies.

In 2018, Ukraine will become one of the first countries in the world with emerging markets for investors, Poroshenko noted.

We ensure economic growth. In the first three quarters, it was 3.8% of GDP, despite the difficult conditions in which Ukraine develops, the Head of State emphasized.

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The European Union remains committed to providing further budget support for the public administration reform in Ukraine.

"The EU is closely following the recent developments of Public Administration Reform in Ukraine. Much progress has been achieved while more needs to be done. The EU remains committed to providing further Budget Support of which EUR 15.5 million were released in 2018 based on good results achieved," reads the statement of the EU Delegation to Ukraine on Facebook.

The European Union welcomed the efforts of the Government of Ukraine to update the strategy of the public administration reform according to the OECD/SIGMA recommendations and the review of progress so far.

The EU particularly supports the advanced setup of the recruitment and selection of the new civil servants within Reform Staff Posts mechanism. This needs to be supported by speedier reorganization in participating ministries, the EU Delegation to Ukraine stressed.

SIGMA (Support for Improvement in Governance and Management) is one of the most prestigious think tanks of the European Union, created at the initiative of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the European Union.

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Ukraine will attach the resolution of the European Parliament, which provides for tightening sanctions against the Russian Federation in case of escalation in the Sea of Azov, to the evidence base in litigation against Russia in the international courts.

Mariana Betsa, the Spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine, made the relevant statement on the air of Hromadske.

According to her, the resolution contains many political signals and condemns not only the aggravation of the situation in the Sea of Azov but also the construction of the Kerch Bridge.

"This document is an element of Ukraines tactics in the international tribunal. We will attach it to the evidence base to protect our interests. It is important that we are being supported," Betsa added.

As reported, on October 25, the European Parliament adopted the resolution in which it proposes tightening sanctions against Russia if the conflict in the Sea of Azov escalates.

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In the early hours of Sunday, October 28, Ukraine switches to winter daylight saving time. The clocks should be set one hour back.

Changing clocks for summer and winter daylight saving time is regulated by the resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of May 13, 1996.

According to the document, the clocks in Ukraine are set one hour forward on the last Sunday of March at 3 o'clock and one hour back on the last Sunday of October at 4 o'clock.

The European Commission proposes abandoning the practice of changing clocks for summer and winter daylight saving time in the EU member states from 2019.

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President of the Ukrainian World Congress Eugene Czolij has called on the Tunisian authorities to abolish visa requirements for Ukrainian citizens.

"Eugene Czolij called on the Chair and Vice Chair of the Ukraine Friendship Group in the Parliament of Tunisia to open a Tunisian consulate in Kyiv and introduce a visa-free regime for Ukrainians travelling to Tunisia, which would contribute to the growth of tourism in Tunisia," the press service of the Ukrainian World Congress reports upon visit of Eugene Czolij to Tunisia.

In addition, Czolij urged the authorities of Tunisia to develop inter-state relations with Ukraine in every possible way. "The UWC President informed about the reform process in Ukraine and encouraged the strengthening of political and economic relations between the two countries," the statement reads.

Moreover, the UWC President thanked Tunisia for voting in favour of Resolution  28/262 on the territorial integrity of Ukraine adopted on 27 March 2014 by the United Nations General Assembly.

He also welcomed the newly registered community organization of Ukrainians abroad Berehynia and noted he looks forward to its productive and close cooperation in the future.

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The relevant decree was signed by the head of state on October 26.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has appointed Volodymyr Pakhniuk as a new head of the Directorate of Ukraine's SBU Security Service in Zakarpattia region.

The relevant decree was signed by the head of state on October 26.

Read alsoMFA Ukraine to create "cross-border" post amid Hungary row

Prior to that, the president had dismissed Pakhniuk from the post of the SBU head in Vinnytsia region.

At the same time, Poroshenko dismissed Oleh Voyevodin from the post of the head of the SBU Directorate in Zakarpattia.

As UNIAN reported earlier, in September, a video was uploaded on the internet showing Ukrainians being granted Hungarian citizenship with an instruction not to inform the authorities about the fact. People on the video read out the oath of allegiance as Hungarian citizens. Then the Hungarian diplomat urged them to conceal from the Ukrainian authorities the fact of obtaining Hungarian citizenship.

On October 4, the Hungarian consul in the city of Berehove was declared persona non grata. In response, Hungary announced the expulsion of the Ukrainian consul in Budapest.

On October 20, a number of billboards calling to "stop the separatists" were put up in Ukraine's Zakarpattia region with photos of the three leaders of the Hungarian community and anti-Hungarian calls.

The regional state administration reported that the ads were placed by unknown individuals and without relevant permits.

A criminal case was opened under Part 1 of Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine "Violation of citizen equality on the grounds of their race, nationality or religious beliefs."
Officers of the prosecutor's office and security agencies, accompanied by masked individuals earlier raided the premises were lawyers, public defenders and relatives of political prisoners held a monthly meeting.

Russian law enforcers in the occupied Crimea handed over a notice "on prevention of the violation of law in the field of extremism and terrorism" to lawyers Edem Semedlyaev and Lilia Gemedgi, as well as coordinator of Crimean Solidarity NGO Dilaver Memetov.

Read alsoUkraine shows full list of "Kremlin prisoners"

"Semedlyaev, Gemedgi, and Memetov have not been detained and restricted in freedom. They were given a notice on prevention of the violation of law in the field of extremism and terrorism," the NGO said in a statement on Saturday.

Crimean Solidarity says all three activists have not been presented with procedural status so far.

"The prosecutor's office received information from [the Russian-controlled] Center for Counteraction to Extremism that the activists are preparing single-person pickets. So, they were given a warning, supposedly as organizers," the human rights activists said.

As was earlier reported, officers of the prosecutor's office and security agencies, accompanied by masked individuals raided the premises were lawyers, public defenders and relatives of political prisoners held a monthly meeting.

The officers said their purpose was to hand over an order to Memetov and Gemedgi to appear before the prosecutor's office.

The security agencies used video recording amid the raid, although it is forbidden by the law, the NGO added.
According to intelligence data, one occupier was killed and another seven were wounded.

Russia's hybrid military forces mounted eight attacks on Ukrainian army positions in Donbas in the past 24 hours, with two Ukrainian soldiers reported as wounded in action (WIA); no heavy weapons proscribed by the Minsk accords were used.

Read alsoUkraine's army eliminates two more members of Russian-led forces in Donbas (Photo)

"Two Ukrainian soldiers have been wounded in action," the press center of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation said in an update on Facebook as of 07:00 Kyiv time on October 27, 2018.

The enemy shelled Ukrainian positions near the towns of Avdiyivka and Krasnohorivka, as well as the villages of Krymske, Taramchuk, Pavlopil, Vodiane, and Hnutove.

"Russian occupation forces opened aimed fire from grenade launchers of various systems, heavy machine guns and small arms. The enemy fired on the Joint Forces strong points near Avdiyivka twice. The Ukrainian troops are holding their positions, keeping the situation under control and are ready to respond to drastic changes in the situation," the press center added.

According to intelligence reports, one occupier was killed and another seven were wounded.

Since Saturday midnight, Russian-led forces haven't attacked the Ukrainian positions yet, the report said.

As UNIAN reported earlier, on October 24, monitors from the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine spotted a surface-to-air missile system in occupied Donbas near the border with the Russian Federation.
No casualties have been reported on the Ukrainian side.

Russian-led forces mounted four attacks on Ukrainian troops in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, on October 27.

Read alsoOSCE spots trucks with Russian license plates near Makiyivka in occupied Donbas

"The enemy used weapons banned by the Minsk agreements in one instance," the press center of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation (JFO) said in an update on Facebook as of 18:00 Kyiv time on Saturday.

Ukrainian troops' positions near the village of Vodiane in the Azov Sea area came under fire from 82 mm mortars and large-caliber machine guns. The enemy also resorted to grenade launchers there twice. The units of the Joint Forces adequately responded, the report said.

Moreover, the Russian occupation forces opened aimed fire from grenade launchers, heavy machine guns and small arms to attack the defenders of the villages of Pisky and Opytne.

No Ukrainian army casualties have been reported since the start of the day.

The situation in the zone of the Joint Forces Operation remains under control of Ukrainian troops.
(@FahadShabbir)

The High Court Bar Association has urged the United Nations to play its effective role in resolving the lingering Kashmir dispute

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 27th Oct, 2018 ) :The High Court Bar Association has urged the United Nations to play its effective role in resolving the lingering Kashmir dispute.

According to Kashmir Media Service (KMS), the HCBA at a meeting of its executive committee in Srinagar said that unresolved Kashmir dispute was the main cause of tension between Pakistan and India and its amicable settlement would bring permanent peace in the region.

The participants of the meeting also slammed the remarks made by Governor of the territory, Satya Pal Malik, regarding talks with Hurriyat leaders.

The Governor had stated that there would be no talks with the Hurriyat leaders till they stoppedconsulting Pakistan on the Kashmir dispute.

The HCBA members said Pakistan is the basic party to the Kashmir dispute.
(@rukhshanmir)

The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation (MBRF) is taking part in the international Big Bad Wolf Books Sale, which is being hosting in Dubai for the very first time from 18th to 28th October, 2018, in Dubai Studio City.

DUBAI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 27th Oct, 2018) The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation (MBRF) is taking part in the international Big Bad Wolf Books Sale, which is being hosting in Dubai for the very first time from 18th to 28th October, 2018, in Dubai Studio City.

The event is the biggest of its kind in the world, offering significant discounts to incentivise the community to purchase more books, with prices much lower than those at regular bookshops.

Qindeel Printing, Publishing and Distribution  MBRFs publishing arm  had set up a pavilion at the event, which houses up to 2,000 titles from 19 publishers. The exhibition welcomed more than 100,000 book buyers in its first week, while the Arabic content pavilion alone sold more than 50,000 books.

Jamal bin Huwaireb, CEO of MBRF, underlined the importance of the Big Bad Wolf Books Sale, which presents an ideal global platform showcasing international publications under one roof.

Taking part in the event as a strategic partner aligns with the Foundations goals to promote the production and dissemination of knowledge  and particularly in Arabic.

"Through our affiliate, Qindeel Printing, Publishing and Distribution, the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation will be presenting Arabic content for the first time in the exhibitions history," Bin Huwaireb added.

"The books cover various sectors and are issued by 19 Arab publishers. We call on all members of the community to visit the Big Bad Wolf Books Sale to benefit from the rich and affordable knowledge content and spread the love of reading among all segments of our society."
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

In fulfilment of the wise vision of the leadership for creating an attractive investment environment that encourages businesses and supports the national economy, the Ports, Customs, and Free Zone Corporation, PCFC, signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, with the General Administration of Customs in Abu Dhabi.

DUBAI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 27th Oct, 2018) In fulfilment of the wise vision of the leadership for creating an attractive investment environment that encourages businesses and supports the national economy, the Ports, Customs, and Free Zone Corporation, PCFC, signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, with the General Administration of Customs in Abu Dhabi.

The MoU aims to enhance ties of mutual cooperation and partnership and exchange of expertise and best practices and business process solutions, which would give impetus to trade and economic activity.

Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, DP World Group Chairman and CEO and Chairman of Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation, and Rashed Lahej Al Mansoori, Director-General, General Administration of Customs, Abu Dhabi signed the MoU which will see both departments work together towards mutual benefit and added value to clients.

Ahmed Mahboob Musabih, Director of Dubai Customs, Nadya Kamali, CEO, Customs World, and Mubarak Matar Al Mansoori, Executive Director, Customs Operations Division at Abu Dhabi General Administration of Customs, attended the signing.

Sultan bin Sulayem pointed out the MoU is set to further cooperation with government, semi-government and private sectors in realisation of the wise vision of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, and the close follow-up of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, which aim to achieve higher social and economic development, a knowledge based economy and more international competitiveness.

Bin Sulayem added," We, at PCFC, are creating a competitive edge by signing these agreements on local and international levels. This helps in continuous development of operations and services in different sectors in order to attract and stimulate local, regional and foreign investments."

Al Mansoori said the signing of the MoU with PCFC reflects the commitment of the General Administration of Customs in Abu Dhabi of building positive and forward thinking partnerships with strategic partners to promote and develop the national economy.

He highlighted the importance of adopting the best practices as they help facilitate trade and passenger traffic and support the national economy.
Sheikha Fatima Global Humanitarian Campaign has succeeded in attracting young doctors, enabling them to alleviate the suffering of Rohingya refugees by providing best diagnostic, therapeutic and preventive services to children and women.

COX'S BAZAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 27th Oct, 2018) Sheikha Fatima Global Humanitarian Campaign has succeeded in attracting young doctors, enabling them to alleviate the suffering of Rohingya refugees by providing best diagnostic, therapeutic and preventive services to children and women.

Commenting on the initiative, Noura Al Suwaidi, Director-General of General Womens Union (GWU), said that the relief programme is in line with the noble approach first adopted by late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, preserved by President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, and translated into great deeds by His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.

The initiative benefitted thousands of women and children and attracted best medical staff, enabling them to provide better diagnostic, treatment and preventive services that greatly contributed to ease the suffering of vulnerable communities and thousands of patients, she added.

A group of Emirati and Bangladeshi doctors have participated in the campaign, which is being held in Coxs Bazar in Bangladesh, under the directives of Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, Chairwoman of the General Womens Union (GWU), President of the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood, and Supreme Chairwoman of the Family Development Foundation.

The campaign, held under the slogan "Following the Footsteps of Zayed", aims to promote the culture of volunteering and humanitarian giving among the youth, and follows the announcement of President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan declaring 2018 as the Year of Zayed.

The move is a joint initiative of the Zayed Giving Initiative and the General Womens Union, in partnership with the Hope Foundation for Women and Children of Bangladesh, Dar Al Ber Society, Sharjah Charity House, the Saudi-German Hospitals Group, Zayed Humanitarian Work academy, to ease the suffering of patients regardless of their colour, gender, race, or religion.

The campaign includes organising humanitarian volunteer programmes to treat women and children using mobile clinics, field hospital, as well as organising youth forum aimed at establishing a culture of volunteering and humane work with the participation of young UAE and Bangladesh volunteers.
The UAE and Bahrain have reviewed their latest efforts in administering government financial operations, and also expressed their keenness to cooperate toward achieving common goals that are aligned with their shared vision and history.

DUBAI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 27th Oct, 2018) The UAE and Bahrain have reviewed their latest efforts in administering government financial operations, and also expressed their keenness to cooperate toward achieving common goals that are aligned with their shared vision and history.

This was discussed when a delegation from the Ministry of Finance of Bahrain visited the UAE Ministry of Finance. Younis Haji Al Khoori, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Finance welcomed the visiting delegation.

Saeed Rashid Al Yateem, Assistant Under-Secretary of Resources and Budget Sector at the ministry reiterated the strong historical relationship between the two countries. "The ministry is committed to achieving the principles of GCC economic integration and the UAEs role in implementing the unified economic agreement. These visits will enhance the integration and mutual cooperation of GCC countries and encourage them to exchange the experience garnered, knowledge gained and visions set, leading to the development of a regionally consolidated financial system. Additionally, this will further strengthen the UAE's position in the region and highlight its pioneering model of financial work and monetary policies," he said.

Through the meeting, the ministry reviewed the latest pioneering efforts of the UAE in establishing federal budget preparation and finalisation procedures. They highlighted MoFs role in the development of financial and accounting systems, the tools it uses in preparing the general budget and preparation plans and also reviewed the issuance of financial circulars and procedure manuals on executing operations, reflecting the strategic plans of the country. Additionally, they identified the coordination mechanisms with the Federal Human Resources Authority and possible synergies with financial and administrative systems that would enhance efficiency, management and funding of recruitment programs.

During the visit, the two parties reviewed the zero-based budget preparation procedures, the integrated interface structure among all federal entities, the accurate allocation of costs to activities and programmes, as well as the standards and procedures of the drivers of cost and measurement outcome.

Furthermore, they reviewed the method of forecasting the budget cycle, updating whats pending from the year-based plan and the implementation of the general budget.

The ministry team also presented the financial regulations adopted in the implementation of the general budget in the UAE that have optimised the processes of the federal government by automation. They also introduced the automated systems in use and the projects on integrated interfaces, such as Bayanati and Hyperion and other financial reporting systems. All these systems are linked to the federal financial systems, thereby enhancing the financial performance of federal entities.

The ministry discussed preparing and submitting consolidated final accounts, the ways of automating them for ministries and federal entities, the structure the latter takes, and the legal grounds behind such. In terms of monetary management, MoF reviewed the electronic procedures associated with supplier payments as well as its zero-banking system for ministries. The ministry also shared its experience in applying leading-edge financial systems in the preparation of financial operations related to the federal budget implementation, as well as its experience in the procurement cycle until payment.

During the meeting, they presented the tasks, services and guidelines entrusted to the management of the nations general budget, which should be adhered to in the preparation of the federal budget, including the rules relating to income and expenditure. They also reviewed the UAE's expertise in the implementation of the financial and central system. The dialogue focused on the system's revenues, challenges, ways to overcome them and the monetary management processes along the way.

The meeting also shed light on the UAE's expertise in public debt management, especially after Federal Decree No. 9 of 2018 on public debt, which enables the federal government to issue sovereign bonds, and helps the banking sector meet international liquidity rules as soon as they are issued. This also enables banks operating in the UAE to buy government bonds denominated in Dirhams or in foreign currencies, which helps them comply with Basel III requirements.
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PORT LOUIS, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 28th Oct, 2018) Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade Minister of Mauritius, Seetanah Lutchmeenaraidoo, has hailed the outcome of the UAE - Mauritius Business Forum which was held in the capital Port Louis on Thursday.

The minister made the statements while receiving Dr. Rashid Al-Afari, Charge d'Affaires at the UAE Embassy in Mozambique and the country's non-resident ambassador to Mauritius, who conveyed to the minister the greetings of H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and the country's keenness to underpin bilateral relations.

The UAE-Mauritius Business Forum was organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Federation of Chambers of the State, the Economic Development board of Mauritius and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Mauritius, to introduce the investment-conducive environment in both countries and update investors from both sides on business opportunities in vital sectors of mutual interest.
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Dr. Sultan bin Ahmad Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of State, has said that the UAE wise leadership attaches great importance and particular attention to enhancing historic ties with Pakistan, which are based on strong pillars of respect, mutual confidence and conformity on all regional and international issues.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 27th Oct, 2018) Dr. Sultan bin Ahmad Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of State, has said that the UAE wise leadership attaches great importance and particular attention to enhancing historic ties with Pakistan, which are based on strong pillars of respect, mutual confidence and conformity on all regional and international issues.

He said this while leading a UAE high profile 15-member economic delegation from government and private sectors entities including a number of CEOs of key companies and investment bodies. The visit came in implementation to the directives of the wise leadership.

Dr. Al Jaber held meetings with top Pakistani officials including Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Minister of Finance Asad Umar, Minister of Energy Omar Ayub Khan, and a number of other ministers.

During his meeting with Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan, Dr. Al Jaber conveyed the greetings of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, and His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, to the leadership, government and people of Pakistan and their best wishes of more progress, welfare and prosperity.

Prime Minister Khan reciprocated his regards to the wise leadership, government and people of the UAE, while wishing further development and prosperity.

Dr. Al Jaber and the Pakistani officials' discussions focused on ways to enhance cooperation between the two countries, especially in economic development, infrastructure, energy, agriculture fields and ways to increase bilateral trade.

The two sides agreed on a roadmap and a practical framework for developing bilateral economic cooperation leveraging the multiple opportunities and advantages available to invest in various vital sectors, especially in energy, oil, agriculture, communications, infrastructure, housing, and urban development.

They also agreed to move forward towards practical measures to ensure greater cooperation in the economic and investment fields and to remove all obstacles that undermine investors in the light of the positive investment environment and work mainly to build on the successes achieved in the past and move forward towards a strategic relationship between the two friendly countries.

Dr. Al Jaber stressed that the UAE leadership attaches special importance to its relations with Pakistan due to its historical dimensions including economic, trade, development and social cooperation.

He pointed out that the visit coincides with the accelerating ties between the two countries at all levels. He also stressed the need to seize the available opportunity and maintain a positive environment for advancing cooperation in various fields, especially in view of great mutual trust and understanding of the leadership of the two countries, reflecting the strong relations established by the Founding Father, late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

"The UAE considers Pakistan as an important partner and we work closely to continuously develop these ties," he said, adding, "The UAE is committed to keeping focusing on cooperation with Pakistan in various economic, investment, business development and joint ventures domains."

He reaffirmed the UAE's commitment to contribute to the development of Pakistan through various initiatives and projects.

Dr. Sultan Al Jaber noted the leadership's firm belief that education and health are the cornerstones of human development. "Empowerment of economic and social development puts us today with a great responsibility to ensure a prosperous future," he said while stressing that the UAE and Pakistan share this strategic vision.

Dr. Al Jaber pointed to the presence of 1.6 million Pakistanis in the UAE, who are contributing effectively to the national economy and to the growth and prosperity of the country, reflecting cohesion and bonds between the two friendly countries based on solid foundations of mutual respect and cooperation.

He also stressed the importance of stability in Pakistan, which is in the interest of the stability of the region. He extended thanks and appreciation to the leadership, government and people of Pakistan for their warm reception and wished them more stability, development and prosperity.

The UAE Pakistan Assistance Programme, UAE-PAP, focuses on the development of health, education, infrastructure and water projects. The third phase of the programmes which covers more than 85 vital and developmental projects in Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces worth US$ 200 million was signed.
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The UAE underscored the importance of gender equality and womens empowerment in conflict prevention and broader efforts to maintain international peace and security during the United Nations Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security (WPS).

NEW YORK, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 26th Oct, 2018) The UAE underscored the importance of gender equality and womens empowerment in conflict prevention and broader efforts to maintain international peace and security during the United Nations Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security (WPS).

"Womens meaningful participation is at the heart of the implementation of the WPS agenda," emphasised Lana Nusseibeh, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the UAE to the UN.

"This includes recognising womens agency and the vital roles played by women in local communities, as well as the inclusion of women in political and peace processes, and institution-building. The UAE will continue to promote womens participation as a key principle of our global peace and security efforts and is committed to working towards the effective implementation of the WPS agenda."

Ambassador Nusseibeh commended the measures undertaken by the UN to operationalise the WPS agenda, but stressed that the progress must continue at a faster pace.

She noted that the implementation of the agenda on the ground remained a challenge due to a confluence of threats, including the rise in terrorism and extremism, the targeting of women and girls in conflict zones, and the protracted nature of crises today. In addition, she cited the disappointingly low number of women in peacebuilding and mediation efforts and called on the international community to commit to improving this by tying financial contributions to a demand that womens participation in peace processes reach 50 percent.

Acknowledging the importance of financial support to effectively implement the WPS agenda, Ambassador Nusseibeh highlighted the UAEs "100% Women Policy".

Launched recently, the policy aims to ensure that by 2021, 100 percent of bilateral and multilateral foreign assistance will target or integrate gender equality and womens empowerment as key components of the Ministrys policy and programming.

"Research continues to demonstrate the direct relationship between gender equality and the prevention of conflict, and we believe that this policy is a real and tangible way to achieve this," she added.

A key element of the UAEs global strategy to implement the WPS agenda is its partnership with UN Women. Ambassador Nusseibeh pointed out that while the UAEs 2018 contribution of USD 5 million to UN Women was unearmarked, the UAE has urged the entity to use part of the funds to ensure the implementation of the WPS agenda.

Additionally, she noted that in response to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres call to increase the number of women in peacekeeping, the UAE General Womens Union, Ministry of Defense, and UN Women will organise a military and peacekeeping training for Arab women  the first of its kind in the region. She recognised that peacekeeping operations and uniformed personnel remain the most visible representatives of the UN and that improving gender parity in peace operations is an strategic imperative.

Furthermore, Ambassador Nusseibeh stressed the critical need to advance womens meaningful participation in both formal and informal peace processes around the world.

She stated, "In our region, we face a challenge of prolonged crises, which are merely managed in the absence of political solutions. The UAE will strive to support existing political initiatives, including working with UN envoys to support womens effective participation in peacebuilding."

Ambassador Nusseibeh took the opportunity to congratulate Nadia Murad and Dr. Denis Mukwege on their being awarded the 2018 Nobel Peace prize and applauded them for their tireless dedication to bringing a spotlight to the plight of survivors of conflict-related sexual violence and their work to improve the lives of those affected. In this regard, she highlighted how individual voices can put WPS at the heart of the global agenda.
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All Pakistan Flour Mills Association (APFMA) Friday demanded of the government and authorities concerned to remove hurdles in the way of goods' vehicles on their return from Afghanistan.

PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Oct, 2018 ) :All Pakistan Flour Mills Association (APFMA) Friday demanded of the government and authorities concerned to remove hurdles in the way of goods' vehicles on their return from Afghanistan.

In a meeting of APFMA held here under the chairmanship of Muhammad Naeem Butt, said that due to delay in release of cargo vehicles the traders in Pakistan were facing heavy losses due to damage of export items.

They demanded of the government to increase time for goods' vehicles on their return from Afghanistan and decrease in fares.

The meeting was attended by Chairman Flour Mills Association Peshawar Division Haji Muhammad Tariq and executive board members. Collector Custom, IG FC and high ups of other relevant departments were also present during the meeting.
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi Friday underscored need for implementation of preferential trade, visa and customs agreements to turn D-8 into an economic power house.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Oct, 2018 ) :Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi Friday underscored need for implementation of preferential trade, visa and customs agreements to turn D-8 into an economic power house.

He said this in an informal discussion with High Commissioner/ Ambassadors from Developing Eight (E-8) members countries here.

Minister of State for Revenue Muhammad Hammad Azhar also attended the session.

High commissioners from Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nigeria as well as ambassadors from Iran, Indonesia, Egypt and Turkey participated in open and frank deliberations focusing on future development of the organization.

The foreign minister stressed that bottlenecks and impediments causing delay in enforcement of legal instruments and agreements should be identified.

In addition, steps should be taken to resolve these issues expeditiously to make D-8 a vibrant and dynamic economic organization.

He shared with the participants that Pakistan remained committed to vision and objectives of the D-8 and would continue to accord high priority to the organization to achieve its full potential.
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With a view to witness the operational readiness of the troops during ongoing major Maritime Exercise SEASPARK 2018, Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi Friday visited Naval units and installations on Makran Coast including Gwadar, Turbat and Jinnah Naval Base at Ormara.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Oct, 2018 ) :With a view to witness the operational readiness of the troops during ongoing major Maritime Exercise SEASPARK 2018, Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi Friday visited Naval units and installations on Makran Coast including Gwadar, Turbat and Jinnah Naval Base at Ormara.

Upon arrival at HQ COMWEST at Gwadar which is entrusted with Defense and Security of Gwadar Port, a lynchpin of China Pakistan Economic Corridor CPEC, through effective employment of Task Force-88, Chief of the Naval Staff was received by Commander Coast, Rear Admiral Moazzam llyas and Rear Admiral Faisal Rasul Lodhi, Deputy Chief of Naval Staff (Operations), a press release issued here by Directorate of Public Relations of Pakistan Navy said.

A comprehensive brief was presented on operational deployment of assets along the west coast to maintain Coastal Security and Harbour Defence and Ground Based Air Defence of designated areas.

Subsequently, Chief of the Naval Staff witnessed Live Weapon Firing of Ground Based Surface to Air Missiles, wherein, firing of three different types of Air Defence Missiles was demonstrated.

The Naval Chief also visited business Centre Gwadar Free Zone. While interacting with Chinese officials, the Admiral expressed Pakistan Navy's resolve to ensure protection of Gwadar Port against all asymmetric threats and said that Gwadar was cardinal to CPEC and sea lanes/ routes connecting it (Gwadar) with international markets are extension of CPEC.

Later during the day, Chief of the Naval Staff visited Turbat and Jinnah Naval Base Ormara. Upon arrival, Chief of the Naval Staff was received by Commander Pakistan Fleet, Rear Admiral Muhammad Amjad Khan Niazi. During the visit, Naval Chief was given detailed overview/briefings on the ongoing operational activities at Coastal Stations Turbat and Ormara.

The Naval Chief also interacted with the troops at various stations and expressed his satisfaction on their professional excellence and high morale in ensuring impregnable defence of the motherland and reaffirmed the resolve of Pakistan Navy to ensure seaward defence ofPakistan and safeguard national maritime interests at all costs.

He reiterated that any misadventure by the enemy would be thwarted with an iron fist.
Preparations for holding the conference of Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) Political Affairs Committee and Special Committee on Creation of Asian Parliament are in full swing in Gwadar and coordinated efforts were being made to make the conference a success.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 27th Oct, 2018 ) :Preparations for holding the conference of Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) Political Affairs Committee and Special Committee on Creation of Asian Parliament are in full swing in Gwadar and coordinated efforts were being made to make the conference a success.

The conference is being hosted by the Senate, the House of Federation, said a press release of Senate Secretariat on Saturday.

Chairman Senate Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani has also reached Gwadar to review the arrangements.

Soon after reaching Gwadar this afternoon on Saturday, Chairman Senate presided over a high level meeting in which the director generals of Gwadar Development Authority (GDA) and Gwadar Port Authirity (GPA) gave a detailed briefing on the steps taken to make this conference a success.

He also issued instructions to the concerned authorities in connection with this important international conference.

Secretary Senate Amjed Pervez Malik also briefed the chairman Senate about the administrative steps taken by the Senate secretariat in connection with the high level international meeting.

Delegates from different countries have also started pouring in to participate in the conference. Senator Kauda Babar and Secretary Senate Amjed Pervez Malik received and welcomed Deputy Secretary General Dr. Khurram Ali from APA Headquarters and a delegation Cambodia to participate in the event.

With a view to showcase Gwadar, the city administration has taken extraordinary steps to beautify the roads and venue of the meeting decorated with banners and flags.

The city administration and the provincial government of Balochistan are busy day and night to make it a success. Gwadar witnessed tremendous development soon after chairman senate gave attention to the area.

The provincial authorities and other concerned have enhanced their coordination to develop the city and improve its communication and connectivity.

The conference would help project Gwadar in a different manner and the city would soon become an attractive hub for trade and economic activities.
Women exposed to smoke from burning wood and related "biomass" combustibles, such as leaves, crop stalks, and dung are more likely to suffer from respiratory problems including chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 27th Oct, 2018 ) :Women exposed to smoke from burning wood and related "biomass" combustibles, such as leaves, crop stalks, and dung are more likely to suffer from respiratory problems including chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder.

It could be because men were found to have significantly higher markers of an inflammatory response in cells that line the nasal passages relative to men exposed to filtered air.

By contrast, for women, the wood smoke exposure appeared to lower markers of the inflammatory response.

While the scientists are not yet sure about the difference in the sex-specific responses, one theory suggests that evolution may be blamed.

Over thousands of years, women might have had greater and more chronic exposure to smoke from cooking fires compared to men, Health news reported.

"We wonder if a greater wood smoke exposure has led to evolutionary pressure on women to have a more blunted inflammatory response, which would probably result in less damage to the airway during respiratory virus infection," said Ilona Jaspers, Professor at the University of North Carolina.

Other factors include differences in male and female hormone profiles and genetics.

In the study, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the team exposed men and women volunteers to wood smoke or filtered air. They then injected them with a standard dose of the live-attenuated influenza virus vaccine which causes a natural yet mild immune response in the nasal passages.

The combined analysis showed the false impression that the wood smoke had almost no effect on the immune response to the live-attenuated influenza virus vaccine.

The study suggests that any research on environmental exposures should take potential gender differences into account as impacts of environmental toxins may be missed when researchers fail to compare effects on men and women.
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Douala, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Oct, 2018 ) :Cameroon police on Saturday arrested around 50 supporters of opposition figure Maurice Kamto during an unauthorised march in Douala, his spokesman said.

"Mass arrests of activists (Mrs Michele Ndoki and around 50 others) and of supporters demonstrating peacefully today," the spokesman, Olivier Bibou-Nissack, said in a Facebook post, referring to one of Kamto's lawyers.

The protesters were arrested during a rally in Douala, the country's economic capital.

Among them was a journalist who was covering the event, sources said.

Kamto has rejected the official outcome of this month's presidential election, in which he was one of seven candidates seeking to unseat President Paul Biya who has ruled Cameroon for 35 years.

Kamto came second with 14.23 percent the vote, against 71.28 percent for 85-year-old Biya who has spent 35 years in power.

Ndoki is one of Kamto's lawyers who protested before the Constitutional Council against what she called "massive and systematic fraud" during the election.

Bibou-Nissack said the headquarters of Kamto's party, Movement for the Rebirth of Cameroon (MRC), had been vandalised.

The building was cordoned off by police who stopped anyone from approaching, an AFP journalist said.

On Friday, government minister Paul Atanga Nji warned that "any attempts to disturb the public order will be met with the greatest firmness".

Cameroon authorities were not available for comment Saturday afternoon.
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Egyptian Armed Forces prevented the smuggling of weapons and large batches of drugs from neighboring Libya, an army spokesperson said in a statement on Saturday.

CAIRO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 27th October, 2018) Egyptian Armed Forces prevented the smuggling of weapons and large batches of drugs from neighboring Libya, an army spokesperson said in a statement on Saturday.

"The border guards together with the forces of the Western Military District managed to stop two four-wheel drive vehicles on the western border, in which they found three machine guns, a sniper rifle, five magazines, 115 different cartridges, and a satellite phone," the statement reads.

Also, the military confiscated a large consignment of drugs - about a million pills and one tonne of other drugs.
Former Slovak Prime Minister Jan Carnogursky was elected chairman of the coordination council of the Friends of Crimea international association, Georgy Muradov, the deputy prime minister of the Crimean government, said Friday.

SIMFEROPOL (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th October, 2018) Former Slovak Prime Minister Jan Carnogursky was elected chairman of the coordination council of the Friends of Crimea international association, Georgy Muradov, the deputy prime minister of the Crimean government, said Friday.

Friends of Crimea was established in 2017. The association adopted a resolution detailing the need to restore normal relations between Crimea and the global community.

"A coordination council has been established. It comprises about 14 people. Jan Carnogursky, known in Slovakia as a politician, and in Russia as a public figure and chairman of the Slovak-Russian friendship association, was elected chairman of the coordination council," Muradov told reporters.

In turn, Yaroslav Ivanchenko, the director of the business and cultural center of Crimea, told Sputnik that representatives of Armenia, Germany, Norway, Tunisia, China, Japan, Greece, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Austria had joined the coordination council, among others.

Crimea rejoined Russia in 2014, when 97 percent of those participating in a regional referendum voted for the reunification. Despite this, the vote was not recognized by the majority of Western countries, including EU member states, which subsequently imposed economic and political sanctions on Moscow.

Russian authorities have repeatedly stated that the Crimean residents decided to rejoin Russia in accordance with democratic procedures. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the issue of Crimea's territorial belonging is "historically closed."
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Gabon began voting Saturday in the second round of legislative elections with the party of President Ali Bongo, whose family has ruled the country for nearly 50 years, coasting towards victory

Libreville, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 27th Oct, 2018 ) :Gabon began voting Saturday in the second round of legislative elections with the party of President Ali Bongo, whose family has ruled the country for nearly 50 years, coasting towards victory.

Bongo's Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) has already won 74 of the 83 seats up for grabs in the first round of the long-delayed parliamentary election, which is being boycotted by veteran politician Jean Ping.

Ping, a former stalwart of Bongo's father Omar's regime, proclaimed himself president after a controversial 2016 election which saw Bongo re-elected by just a few thousand votes.

Violence broke out and dozens of people were killed in 2016 according to the opposition, but the government says only four died.

Ping's headquarters were also bombed.

On Saturday, polling stations opened at 8:00 am (0700 GMT) for the remaining 59 seats of the 143-member legislature. Polling has been deferred in the northern constituency of Ellelem and the election commission has not given a date yet.

The fractured opposition only took four seats in the first round. Two seats were won by independent candidates and three by small parties or groups affiliated to the ruling party.

The October 6 first round also included municipal polls.

African Union observers had described the running of the election as "satisfactory" and without irregularities, but several civil society organisations complained that there had been attempts to buy votes.
Libreville, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Oct, 2018 ) :Voting in Gabon ended Saturday in the second round of legislative elections with the party of President Ali Bongo, whose family has ruled the country for nearly 50 years, coasting towards victory.

No major incidents were reported on voting day which ended at 1700 GMT.

Voters and election officials said voter turnout had been low in Libreville.

Bongo's Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) has already won 74 of the 83 seats up for grabs in the first round of the long-delayed parliamentary election, which is being boycotted by veteran politician Jean Ping.

Ping, a former stalwart of Bongo's father Omar's regime, proclaimed himself president after a controversial 2016 election which saw Bongo re-elected by just a few thousand votes.

Violence broke out and dozens of people were killed in 2016 according to the opposition, but the government says only four died.

Ping's headquarters were also bombed.

On Saturday, polling was for the remaining seats of the 143-member legislature.

Polling has been deferred in the northern constituency of Ellelem and the election commission has not given a date yet.

The fractured opposition only took four seats in the first round. Two seats were won by independent candidates and three by small parties or groups affiliated to the ruling party.

The October 6 first round also included municipal polls.

African Union observers had described the running of the election as "satisfactory" and without irregularities, but several civil society organisations complained that there had been attempts to buy votes.
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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the government of Argentina have reached a $5.7 billion stand-by arrangement (SBA) for 2019, the fund said in a statement on Friday.

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th October, 2018) The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the government of Argentina have reached a $5.7 billion stand-by arrangement (SBA) for 2019, the fund said in a statement on Friday.

"The completion of the review allows the authorities to draw the equivalent of about US$5.7 billion (SDR 4.10 billion)," the statement said.

The revision of Argentina's economic performance under the 36-month stand-by arrangement was approved on June 20, 2018.

The total disbursements since June reached $20.4 billion (SDR 14.71 billion), the IMF board added.

Argentina was also given an augmentation of the stand-by arrangement to raise access to about US$56.3 billion (equivalent to SDR 40.71 billion or 1,277 percent of quota).
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 27th October, 2018) Lebanese President Michel Aoun called on international community to provide assistance to Beirut in encouraging Syrian refugees, living in Lebanon, to return to their homes as hostilities have been ceasing in Syria, local media reported.

"The vast majority of displaced Syrians have forcibly left their areas because of the fighting that was going on ... And obviously, with the cessation of military confrontations, they can successively return to their homeland," Aoun said at a meeting with French officials in Beirut on Friday, as quoted by the Lebanese National news Agency (NNA).

Aoun recalled that those Syrian refugees who had already returned to their homeland had not reported any cases of abuse against them, the agency added.

The president also noted that Lebanon was waiting for the political solution to the Syrian crisis to be reached in order to allow refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) return to their homes.

Lebanon, the population of which is just over six million people, has taken in around one million Syrian refugees in the course of the conflict in the neighboring country, according to various estimates. Beirut has been working with Moscow and Damascus in facilitating the return of Syrian refugees to their homeland.
Morocco decided Friday to keep its clocks at summer time around the year, abandoning winter time which would have come into effect at the weekend.

Rabat, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Oct, 2018 ) :Morocco decided Friday to keep its clocks at summer time around the year, abandoning winter time which would have come into effect at the weekend.

The government said Morocco would "maintain summer time to avoid repeated changes during the year and... repercussions at several levels", the official news agency MAP reported.

A government official confirmed to AFP that the transition to winter time will not take place. The North African state was due to switch on Sunday, from its current time of GMT+1.

Avoiding the switch saves "an hour of natural light" and reduces electricity consumption, said the administrative reform minister, Mohammed Ben Abdelkader, quoted by MAP.

The European Union said at the end of August that it will recommend the bloc's member countries abolish the twice-yearly clock change.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday he had proposed at a summit on Syria in Istanbul to support Moscow's initiative to hold an international conference to solve the problem of Syrian refugees.

ISTANBUL (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 27th October, 2018) Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday he had proposed at a summit on Syria in Istanbul to support Moscow's initiative to hold an international conference to solve the problem of Syrian refugees.

"We offered partners to support the Russian initiative of convening an international conference on Syrian refugees.

We understand what is linked to this issue, we understand the problems, but if we don't work together, we won't achieve any results," Putin said following the quadrilateral talks on the Syrian settlement.

According to the Russian leader, the parties agreed to broaden the concept of "humanitarian aid" and to understand it as "supply of medical equipment, medicines, restoration of infrastructure and water supply."
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Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said on Friday that he and his Hungarian counterpart, Peter Szijjarto, had agreed to meet in Milan during the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Ministerial Council, slated for December 6-7.

KIEV (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th October, 2018) Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said on Friday that he and his Hungarian counterpart, Peter Szijjarto, had agreed to meet in Milan during the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Ministerial Council, slated for December 6-7.

Earlier in the week, Klimkin met with Szijjarto during the Warsaw Security Forum (WSF) to discuss the growing tensions between the neighboring countries.

"We agreed to meet in a month during the OSCE ministerial meeting in Milan, because we at this point have only exchanged proposals. Next time we will check at what stage the work on these issues is," Klimkin said in an interview with the Ukrinform news agency.

The foreign minister noted that the latest meeting with his Hungarian counterpart mainly focused on Budapest blocking a session of the Ukraine-NATO Commission.

"I strongly condemn the fact that Hungary uses the NATO platform against Ukraine. Hungary believes that this is the only place where it can influence Ukraine," Klimkin underlined.

Ukrainian-Hungarian relations deteriorated over Ukraine's 2017 education law, which restricted national minority children's right to study in their native languages. In September, tensions escalated further over reports that the Ukrainian consulate in Beherove, a city located in Ukraine's western Zakarpattia region, near the Hungarian border, issued Hungarian passports for Ukrainian citizens. This was done in spite of the fact that Ukraine does not recognize dual citizenship. The move prompted Kiev to expel the Hungarian consul from the country, and Hungary responded in kind.
The withdrawal of experts from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) did not affect the response to the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Jessica Ilunga, a spokeswoman for the DRC Ministry of Public Health, told Sputnik on Saturday.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 27th October, 2018) The withdrawal of experts from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) did not affect the response to the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Jessica Ilunga, a spokeswoman for the DRC Ministry of Public Health, told Sputnik on Saturday.

CDC spokesman Benjamin Hayes told Sputnik on Friday that the health body hoped for a tangible improvement in the security situation in several Ebola-hit areas in the DRC to send back its experts there.

"It hasn't impacted the Ebola response as they [CDC experts] were only in [the northeastern city of] Beni for two or three days before their withdrawal, and they continue following the response even from Kinshasa and Atlanta," Ilunga said.

The spokeswoman added that no other experts working on the Ebola outbreak in the areas with increased security risks had expressed their desire to withdraw, stressing that all experts are protected during their work.

"Experts [working] in the field are already protected by the national police, the national army and the MONUSCO [United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC] when carrying Ebola response activities in dangerous areas," she stressed.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday that as of October 23, 247 Ebola cases, including 159 fatal ones, had been registered in seven health zones in the province of North Kivu and three health zones in the province of Ituri. The area also suffers from instability due to the ongoing clashes between local militants and government troops.

The Ebola virus is transmitted to humans from wild animals and is estimated by the WHO to have a 50-percent fatality rate. Ebola is named after the DRC's Ebola River, near which the virus was discovered by a team of Professor Peter Piot in 1976.
Over a thousand young people gathered for the Arab Catholic Youth Congress hear from Sr Anne Joan Flanagan, FSP who describes herself as a walking theology of the body.

By Sr Bernadette Mary Reis, fsp

Sr Anne Joan Flanagan, a Daughter of St Paul from the USA, is one of the internationally renowned speakers on the programme of the Arab Catholic Youth Congress (ACYC) taking place in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates (UAE), from 25-27 October. In an interview with Vatican News earlier in the week, she gave us a sneak preview of what shes sharing with the 1,500 young people attending.

Do not be afraid

The theme of ACYC2018 is Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favour with God. Sr Anne said that the Marian theme resonates very strongly with her. She sees a link with Pope Saint John Paul II who used to repeat, Do not be afraid to open the doors to Christ in your own life. She hears an invitation being extended to herself and the ACYC participants to: take Marys response, Be it done to me, as our own.

Theology of the Body

After offering event planners several options, they asked her to speak on Pope John Paul IIs theology of the body (TOB). Thats something Ive had at heart for almost 40 years, Sr Anne explained.

I sometimes that joke I am a walking theology of the body because I have been intrigued and captivated by Pope John Pauls insight practically since he started speaking in St Peters Square in 1979.

Listen to our interview with Sr Anne Joan Flanagan, FSP

Delight

Delighted is the way Sr Anne describes being able to share her passion for TOB at the ACYC.

I am delighted. Im gonna tell those young people, This is Pope John Pauls secret for happiness. It has made me happy and I want to share it with you and it will make you happy too. 

TOB connection with media

TOB fits well into the world of young people because it speaks directly to the media world in which they are immersed.

The interesting thing about media messages is they address us as embodied persons, but the messages arent coming to us in an embodied way. They are coming to us digitally. And yet they have such an impact on the way we live in the body. So, we do need to reflect on this relationship of message, of our body, of communication and of relationshipand what we do with all of that.

TOB is the Gospel

Sr Anne says is that TOB is the Gospel when you get down to it.

If you give yourself as a gift, youll discover yourself. You find life in giving life. Its the secret of love, its the secret of happiness.

Sense of meaning

Sr Anne concluded saying that TOB provides a sense of meaning. Suffering, she said, is not the most painful human experience. Meaningless is.

Im delighted to be able to share with young people something that is so profoundly meaningful and can help them, I believe, face so many of lifes deepest sufferings, too, in a way that will give life to them.
Brother Alois, the Prior of the Ecumenical Community of Taize, looks back to an exciting month at the Synod, and forward to the implementation of the Final Document.

Brother Alois is the Prior of the Ecumenical Community of Taize. In line with the tradition of the monastic reality founded by Brother Roger, he continues to work for and to preach communion, reconciliation and solidarity between all people.

He was invited to join the Synod Fathers in the Vatican for the month of October to participate in the Synod of Bishops on Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment.

One month with bishops from all over the world was a wonderful experience! he says.

Brother Alois points out that the Churchs universality is an enormous richness that, at the same time, is not always easy because we are talking about concrete subjects, concrete questions that are very different in the different countries  even within Africa there are so many different situations.

He said Synod participants heard from bishops from the four corners of the world and stresses that the presence of the young people was a great help.

The main question was how those with responsibility in the Church can be closer to the young people he explains, adding that he feels the strong will to do that now.

So, Brother Alois, continues, the Synod is not finished: it will continue with meetings in different countries, in the different bishops conferences, also with young people, taking the Final Document and working together to make sure the Church has the means and the tools to accompany young people more closely.

We pray the Holy Spirit for that he concludes.


During the Synod on young people in the Vatican, Bishop Pius Riana Prapdi of Ketapang spoke about the challenges, hopes and aspirations of Indonesias youth.

According to a Synod Father from Indonesia, education, jobs, the fight against intolerance and environmental protection are the main challenges that the young people of his country are facing.

"The country is called to provide them with an adequate education, with the same quality both in the more developed regions, such as Java and Sumatra, as well as the less prosperous regions, like Papua and Kalimantan," Bishop Pius Riana Prapdi of Ketapang told AsiaNews.

Bishop Prapdi, the president of the Youth Commission of the Bishops Conference of Indonesia (KWI), and Bishop Adrianus Sunarko of Pangkal-Pinang (Bangka-Belitung) are the two Synod Fathers representing the Indonesian Church at the world Synod of Bishops in the Vatican.

There is also a young lay woman, Anastasia Indrawan, a member of the Youth Commission who is representing the young people of Indonesia at the Synod as an auditor.

The October 3-28 world Synod of Bishops on the theme, Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment, is coming to an end on Sunday, with a Mass by Pope Francis in St. Peters Basilica in the Vatican.

Demographics

Indonesia, home to the worlds largest Muslim population and the fourth most populous country in the world, is going through a demographic transition.

In the coming years, the younger segment of the Indonesian population will continue to grow, although at a slower rate than that of their parents. According to government data, those aged between 15 and 29 number more than 62 million of the nations estimated population of over 266 million.

While expressing satisfaction over numerous young people, Bishop Prapdi said that a young and growing labour force will need quality jobs, which makes vocational training crucial. "It would be a disaster if young people were not qualified and had a weak mindset", the bishop stressed.

Islamist pressures

Young people in the most populous Islamic country in the world are also threatened by Islamist pressures.

According to Bishop Prapdi, "relations between the different communities are good", but it is necessary to "recognize that radical groups operate in society, promoting intolerance with a considerable attraction for youth."

Environment

According to the bishop, economic development must not ignore the protection of the environment. He called for a "serious commitment to nature" through programmes and initiatives that counter consumerism and the problems it creates, such as monocultures, excessive use of plastic and paper and deforestation.

In Indonesia, out of about seven million Catholics, two are young. "We realize that they are a 'small flock' but we can face the challenges knowing that they are the missionaries in today's world," Bishop Prapdi said.

Small but committed

He said that in many of the countrys 37 dioceses and also at the national level, the Church offers young men and women different programmes aimed at business training, leadership, environmental protection and interfaith dialogue. "This way, he said, they can participate in the building of the Church and of society."
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin sent a condolence telegram expressing the sadness of Pope Francis for the dead and injured in Jordans flash floods.

Pope Francis has expressed his sorrow for the victims of Thursdays flash floods in Jordan that has killed at least 20 and injured about 3 dozen, mostly school children in a bus that was swept away.

The death toll from the tragedy near the Dead Sea shore rose to 21 on Friday, in what Civil Defense officials said was one of the deadliest incidents in the kingdom involving school children.

Deeply saddened to learn of the tragic loss of life and the injury caused by the serious floods following heavy rains in Jordan, His Holiness Pope Francis expresses heartfelt solidarity with all those affected by this natural disaster, wrote Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin in a condolence telegram sent on the Popes behalf to the Apostolic Nuncio in Jordan, Archbishop Alberto Ortega Martin.

In a particular way, the cardinal wrote, the Pope prays for the young people whose lives were lost, the healing of those injured and the consolation of all who grieve. While encouraging civil authorities and those involved in search and rescue efforts, the Holy Father invoked upon all the divine gifts of strength and peace.

The incident began early Thursday afternoon when 37 students from an Amman private school, along with seven adult guides, as well as other visitors were taking a break in a popular tourist spot several kilometres from the Dead Sea shores.

Sudden heavy rains sent flash floods surging toward them from higher ground, sweeping people, vehicles and livestock to the shores of the Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth.


The Nevada Dispensary Association (NDA) hosted a press conference today to present a summary of the economic impact resulting from the states first year of recreational cannabis sales (Pictured: Nevada State Senator Tick Segerblom  Photo credit: Joe Durkin).

Riana Durrett, executive director of the Nevada Dispensary Association, spoke alongside Andrew Jolley, NDA president and chief executive officer of The+Source dispensaries; John Ritter, board member of The Grove and NDA; Senator Tick Segerblom; and John Restrepo, principal of RCG Economics.

Photo credit: Joe Durkin

The speakers presented information on tax revenue, projected revenue and economic benefits through 2024, employment statistics, regulatory costs, operating costs and more. The full report can be viewed at: http://www.nvdispense.com/ndareport2018/ . Highlights include:

Jobs: Approximately 6,000 in marijuana facilities, Approximately 8,300 in the industry

Excise Tax Revenue: $69.8 million

Total Economic Benefits: $989.7 million

Taxable Sales: $539.9 million

The report is indicative of demand for safe, tested marijuana in Nevada. There remains a robust black market, but with strict enforcement of regulation and fair tax policy, Nevadas regulated marijuana industry will continue to erode the black market, Durrett said. The press conference also allowed speakers to reply to questions from the audience, speaking to safety and regulatory concerns, as well as the decriminalization and normalization of the plant.

Photo credit: Joe Durkin

There are currently 64 retail dispensaries operating throughout the state and the tourist market is projected to drive recreational cannabis sales to become the largest marketplace nationwide. Nevada is an exciting state to examine when it comes to medical adult use marijuana regulation, because we are an international destination for tens of millions of people, and we do strict regulation very well, said Senator Segerblom. I will continue to ensure we remain a leader in cannabis business and regulation.
Binh Duong joins Smart21 and becoming an official member of ICF

At a ceremony recently held in Hamilton (Canada) and through information released by its New York, US headquarters, ICF has published the list of 21 cities honoured as Intelligent Communities (Smart21).

Accordingly, Binh Duong was officially voted as one of the 21 cities which were recognised as Intelligent Communities of the World in 2019.

ICF is a global network connecting more than 180 cities from across the world which are recognised as smart communities, to cooperate for economic and social development as well as share expertise and experiences to promote the cities progress. ICF studies the criteria from which to build a smart framework for communities to develop.

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam and leaders of WTA and Binh Duong province visited the model of Binh Duong Smart City. Photo: Le Toan

Binh Duong is also the first city in Vietnam to become a member of ICF which has been helping establish stronger international relations with the global smart community in an aim to exchange information, experience, and attract many talented people to work in Binh Duong.

With assistance from the government of Eindhoven city (the Netherlands), cooperation with Brainport Group (the Netherlands) and Becamex IDC Corporation, many workshops and field visits were held, and opinions were collected from experts, in late 2016 Binh Duong province approved the Binh Duong Smart City Project with the nucleus of Binh Duong New City.

Students from International Eastern University (Binh Duong) trying their hands at using new technology. Photo: Le Toan

According to Mary Ann Schreurs, Eindhoven's deputy mayor, 20 years ago Eindhoven had a similar start to Binh Duong. Then, Eindhoven was just a small and traditional industrial development area, with no airports and seaports. After continuously trying and developing, Eindhoven has become one of the smartest cities in the world, positioned at the top of the ICF rankings.

Binh Duong is a province located in the Southern Key Economic Zone, which has many similarities with the former city of Eindhoven because it has a large business community, many vocational training institutions, and many universities. Binh Duong province has a cooperative relationship with more than 65 countries and territories with nearly 20,000 foreigners living and working in the province.

The official accession of Binh Duong to ICF is a result of tireless efforts from local leaders, the business community, and the people, with particular merits by Becamex IDC and International East University, which contributed greatly to help Binh Duong achieve most of the criteria of ICF.

Binh Duong and Vietnam at major international platforms WTA and Horasis

Recently, Binh Duong successfully organised the World Technopolis Association (WTA). Prior to that, Binh Duong became the 106th member of WTA and was honoured to host the series of events commemorating the 20th anniversary of WTA.

At the closing session, Chairman of Binh Duong People's Committee Tran Thanh Liem stressed that based on the knowledge gained and as a member of WTA, Binh Duong will actively participate in exchange and cooperation activities with science cities in other countries. These will contribute to strengthening solidarity and friendship as well as to promoting peace and the prosperity of the entire human race.

The Asian Economic Cooperation Forum 2018 (Horasis) will take place on November 25-27 in Binh Duong. The event will be co-chaired by the Binh Duong People's Committee, Horasis, Becamex IDC, and Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park Ltd. (VSIP) in cooperation with local provincial departments and agencies.

Binh Duong New City - the venue for Horasis 2018. Photo: Le Toan

Key events at Horasis 2018 will include plenary sessions, discussion sessions, and debates among world-leading panellists.

This is an opportunity for Binh Duong to promote its image among international partners, improve its management capacity and scientific and technological level to contribute to the development of Binh Duong Smart City.

At the same time, this event also creates favourable conditions for local businesses to exchange points of view and experiences and connect to a network of senior partners, founders, general directors, and leaders of leading companies in Asia, the region, and the world over.

It also offers enhanced opportunities and partnerships for economic development, trade promotion, and investment from countries in Asia in general and Vietnam in particular.

Horasis is an international investment promotion organisation established in 2005 with the mission of connecting investors from multinational corporations around the world. Through direct dialogues, Horasis has created a platform that connects and helps local and multinational corporations in the world to seek out global partners, find solutions to the most important challenges for today's corporations, and predict international trends.
FBI agents search for clues and evidences at the Auto Zone Store in Plantation, North of Miami, where a suspect was arrested in connection with 12 pipe bombs and suspicious packages mailed to top Democrats. (Michele Eve Sandberg/AFP)

Cesar Sayoc, 56, a registered Republican with a criminal past, born in New York and who lived in a van covered in pro-Trump and anti-liberal stickers, was arrested outside a strip mall in Florida.

The van was impounded and Sayoc charged with five federal crimes, including mailing of explosives and threats against former presidents, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced.

If put on trial and convicted, he faces up to 48 years in prison in what politicians on both sides of the aisle have condemned as domestic terrorism.

"We do believe that we've caught the right guy but ... there's a lot of work still to be done, which means there are still plenty of unanswered questions," FBI director Christopher Wray told a news conference.

The 13 bombs were sent through the mail, many of them through a US Postal Service processing centre in Florida, and Sayoc was tracked down based on fingerprint and possible DNA evidence, agents said.

READ: Police find packages sent to US senator, ex-intel chief as probe pivots to Florida The Republican president congratulated law enforcement for what he called a "fantastic job" which he likened to "finding a needle in a haystack".

"These terrorising acts are despicable and have no place in our country," he told an event at the White House. "Americans must unify and we must show the world that we are united together in peace and love and harmony."

Speaking before his supporters at a North Carolina campaign rally later that evening, he called the attempted attacks "terrorist actions" that must be punished "to the fullest extent of the law."

"Political violence must never ever be allowed in America and I will do everything in my power to stop it," he said.

In southern Florida, FBI agents and police swarmed the strip mall in Plantation, where an AFP photographer saw a van covered in blue tarpaulin loaded onto a truck by authorities and driven away.

TRUMP DENIES BLAME

Sayoc is accused of mailing explosives to 11 prominent Democrats or liberal critics of the president, including former president Barack Obama and Trump's opponent in the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton.

The other targets were ex vice president Joe Biden, Hollywood star Robert De Niro, billionaire donor George Soros, former CIA director John Brennan, former intelligence chief James Clapper, former attorney general Eric Holder, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, and Senators Cory Booker and Kamala Harris.

Waters and Biden were each sent two packages. All the targets are loathed by Trump supporters for their public opposition to the US president and for being the recipients of his toxic remarks in the past.

The president acknowledged the suspect's political allegiance, but denied any responsibility that his incendiary rhetoric could have played a role in motivating the spree.

"I heard he was a person that preferred me over others," he told reporters. "There is no blame," he insisted, despite being hounded by political opponents for his response to the crisis in which he lashed out at the media.

"The media has been unbelievably unfair to Republicans, conservatives, and certainly to me," he said Friday. "But with all of that being said, we're winning. So I like that."

Asked about the role that rhetoric could have played, the FBI demurred.

"It's too early at this stage for us to be discussing motivation in this particular case," Wray told reporters in Washington. "We're concerned about people committing acts of violence under any motivation."

A laywer for the suspect's family, Ron Lowy, told CNN that Sayoc prior "had no interest in politics," and that he was more into "bodybuilding, nightclub events."

US media reported Sayoc had once danced as a male stripper, and The New York Daily News quoted an event promoter as saying the suspect would dance at strip clubs and ran a show called "Girls Night Out."

"It is my opinion that he was attracted to the Trump formula of reaching out," lawyer Lowy said. "Trump reaching out to these types of outsiders, people who don't fit in, telling them they have a place at the table."

Each of the homemade bombs included six inches of PVC pipe, a small clock, a battery, wiring and energetic material, defined by FBI director Christopher Wray as potentially explosive.

The first package was intercepted on Monday at Soros's Bedford, New York home. The most recent ones on Friday in California, Florida and New York.

The Clapper and Brennan packages were marked care of CNN, a television network often critical of the administration and long provoking Trump's ire.

Trump has come under fire for his response to the spree, which politicians on all sides have branded domestic terrorism, stretching from New York, Maryland, Florida, Delaware and Los Angeles.

On Friday, shortly before news of the arrest broke, he complained that the packages were slowing momentum for his Republican Party ahead of the November 6 elections, remarks that enraged his opponents.

Double Oscar winner and biting Trump critic De Niro on Friday urged people to vote in the midterms, one day after a device was discovered at the Manhattan offices of his production company.

"I thank God no one's been hurt, and I thank the brave and resourceful security and law enforcement people for protecting us," he said. "There's something more powerful than bombs, and that's your vote. People MUST vote!"

The packages were sent in manila envelopes lined with bubble wrap, each stamped with six postage stamps bearing the picture of an American flag.

Each envelope listed Debbie Wasserman Schultz, former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, as the sender, and mispelt Florida as "Florids," according to the criminal complaint.

The typed addresses included misspellings in Clinton, Obama and Waters's first names. The package destined for the former president included a photograph of Obama marked with a red X, according to the criminal complaint.
Head office of Vietcombank Laos in Vientiane. - Photo vneconomy.vn

Most recently, the Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) opened its wholly-owned Vietcombank Laos in Vientiane early this week.

Six Vietnamese banks have established a presence in Laos, including Military Bank (MB), Vietcombank, Saigon-Hanoi Bank (SHB), Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BIDV), Vietnam Bank for Industry and Trade (Vietinbank) and Saigon Thuong Tin Bank (Sacombank).

According to Pham Manh Thang, deputy director of Vietcombank, Vietcombank Laos will provide services for Vietnamese businesses looking to invest in Laos, those already operating in the country, as well as others.

Vietcombank also has offices and branches in Paris (France), Moscow (Russia) and Singapore, as well as the Vietnam Finance Company Limited (Vinafico) in Hong Kong. Vietcombank plans to open a branch in Australia and representative office in the US by the end of the year.

BIDV is also pioneering the expansion to foreign markets, with branches and offices in Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, the Czech Republic, Taiwan and Russia.

Vietinbank has branches in Germany, one representative office in Myanmar and one wholly-owned bank in Laos.

Laos and Cambodia were two top markets for Vietnamese banks, due to significant overseas investment by Vietnamese firms.

Statistics from the Vietnam Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment showed that in the first eight months of this year, the finance and banking sector saw the highest overseas investment by Vietnamese firms with total registered capital of US$105.8 million, accounting for 33.7 per cent of the countrys total overseas investment.

Laos was the top destination for Vietnams overseas investment, with registered capital of $95.2 million. Cambodia was also in the top three destinations for Viet Nams overseas investment.

Experts said with a number of free trade agreements (FTAs) signed such as the European Union  Vietnam FTA and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, Viet nams overseas investment was anticipated to rise significantly, creating opportunities for Vietnamese banks.

Experts also said that besides Vietnamese firms, other companies were also potential customers for Vietnamese banks to increase shares in foreign markets.

Financial and banking expert Can Van Luc said that Vietnamese banks had increased overseas investment for several reasons.

FTAs were opening significant opportunities for businesses investing abroad and this created demand for banks in foreign countries to provide banking services.

In addition, the formation of the ASEAN Economic Community created favourable conditions for Vietnamese banks to invest within the bloc.

Under the banking development strategy to 2025 with a vision to 2030 recently approved by the Prime Minister, Vietnam aims to have at least 2-3 banks in Asias top 100 banks by assets and 3-5 banks listed on foreign exchanges.
Join moderator Michael Warren of the Weekly Standard and Tracy Wilkinson of the Los Angeles Times for a discussion on the week's top stories, including recent bomb threats against media and political personalities. This show was recorded before the police arrested a suspect in Florida, after the discovery of a 12th pipe bomb. Tune in for this and more on this week's edition of Issues in the News.
As Americans head to the polls to elect a new Congress as well as other state and local officials, Moscow and other malign actors are engaged in ongoing influence campaigns to disrupt the 2018 midterm elections. On this edition of the program, Laura Rosenberger, Director of the Alliance for Securing Democracy and senior fellow at The German Marshall Fund of the United States, talks with host Carol Castiel and VOA National Security Correspondent, Jeff Seldin, about strategies to counter foreign interference in US elections.
Paulo Sotero, Director of the Brazil Institute at The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and James Roberts, Research Fellow for Economic Freedom and Growth at the Heritage Foundation, preview Brazils upcoming presidential runoff with host Carol. They discuss the internal and external factors that are likely to propel populist firebrand Jair Bolsonaro to victory.
Music Time in Africa is VOAs longest running English language program. Since 1965, this award-winning program has featured pan African music that spans all genres and generations. Ethnomusicologist and Host Heather Maxwell keeps you up to date on whats happening in African music with exclusive interviews, cultural information, and of course, great music -- including rare recordings from the Leo Sarkisian Library of African Music.
Palestinian militants said Saturday they would halt their rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza, after Egypt negotiated a cease-fire agreement.



"A comprehensive cease-fire agreement was reached which came into force immediately in exchange for a halt to the Israeli aggression," Islamic Jihad spokesman Dawould Shihab said.



There was no immediate confirmation from Israel.



Israel said Saturday it believes Syria and Iran are responsible for ordering the rocket attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip that began Friday and lasted into Saturday.





Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus said Saturday that Iran's Al Quds force, based in Syria, ordered the Islamic Jihad group to launch the rocket attack on Israel.



"We have seen and established a clear link between Gaza and Damascus," Conricus said.



Conricus said Israel holds Hamas responsible for the attack, even though it was carried out by the Islamic Jihad.



Before the news of the cease-fire agreement, Conricus said Israel would retaliate against Syria and Iran.



Israel's military said Saturday that it intercepted 10 of 30 rockets fired overnight on Israel from Gaza.

The Israeli army said its Iron Dome serial defense system intercepted the projectiles, adding that two rockets fell within the Gaza Strip while the others landed in open areas.



The volley of rockets into Israel came just hours after Palestinian health authorities said five people were killed and dozens wounded by Israeli forces Friday in protests along the border.



The Israeli army said it aimed airstrikes at three positions belonging to Hamas, the militant group that has political control of the Palestinian territory.



Israel said thousands of Palestinians gathered along the Gaza border Friday to throw firebombs and rocks at Israeli troops. Such protests have been taking place since March 30 as Palestinians demand an end to the Israeli blockade of the territory.



On Thursday, the United Nations' Special Rapporteur on human rights situation in the Palestinian territories told a committee of the General Assembly that Gaza has become "unlivable" as a result of the blockade. The rapporteur, Michael Lynk, said the youth unemployment rate is at 70 percent, the health care system has collapsed, and much of the drinking water supply is contaminated.



In addition, he said, about 200 Palestinians, including 40 children, have been killed by Israel's security forces during the Friday protests.



Lynk said it was time for the international community to take action to stop Israel's annexation of territory in the West Bank.



"During five decades of the occupation," Lynk said, "Israel has steadily entrenched its sovereign footprint throughout the West Bank" through settlement and expansion.



"The strict prohibition against annexation in international law applies not only to a formal declaration, but also to those acts of territorial appropriation by Israel that have been a cumulative part of its efforts to stake a future claim of formal sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territory," he added.



Lynk urged the international community to take "meaningful steps ... to insist upon accountability."



Israel has held a blockade against Gaza for more than a decade. It says the blockade is necessary to isolate Hamas.
There have been at least three other significant anti-Semitic shootings in the United States in the past 20 years, and the Anti-Defamation League reports that anti-Semitic attacks, particularly vandalism, are on the rise.

On Aug. 10, 1999, five people were wounded at the Los Angeles Jewish Community Center when white supremacist Buford Furrow fired 70 shots in the lobby of the building. Furrow later killed a mail carrier, fled in a taxi to Las Vegas, and there surrendered to authorities. He told the FBI he wanted the shooting to be "a wake-up call to America to kill Jews."

Furrow was found guilty of murder and civil rights violations. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

On July 28, 2006, one person died and five others were injured in Seattle, Wash., when a gunman opened fire at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle.

The gunman, Naveed Haq, a U.S. citizen of Pakistani origin, was convicted of aggravated murder under Washington's hate-crime statute and sentenced to life in prison without parole, plus 120 years.

On April 13, 2014, three people were killed in Overland Park, Kan., in shootings at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City and in Village Shalom, a Jewish retirement center.

The gunman, white supremacist Frazier Glenn Miller Jr., 73, of North Carolina, was convicted of murder and other crimes and sentenced to death in 2015.

In its 2017 audit of anti-Semitic events, the Anti-Defamation League said it logged 1,986 incidents, an increase of 57 percent over the findings of a year earlier. Notable was a spree of 163 bomb threats made against Jewish institutions in the first three months of 2017. An additional six bomb threats against Jewish groups took place later in the year.

The largest increase in types of incidents in 2017  86 percent over 2016  was vandalism. The ADL recorded 952 incidents of anti-Jewish vandalism in 2017, many of them cemetery vandalisms or schoolyard incidents.
The state of California on Friday agreed not to enforce its own state net neutrality law until a final court decision on the Trump administrations decision to overturn the 2015 Obama-era open internet rules.

The move likely means the California net neutrality law, which was set to take effect Jan. 1, now will be on hold for a year or longer. The law has been challenged by the U.S. Justice Department and trade groups representing providers including AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and Comcast Corp.

Arguments set for February

A federal appeals court set oral arguments for Feb. 1 on the administrations net neutrality reversal. California agreed it would not seek to enforce its law until that courts decision and any potential review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

A federal judge Friday approved an agreement between California, the Justice Department and the trade groups to delay implementation and the legal challenges to the state law.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, who led the effort to overturn the Obama-era net neutrality rules, said in a statement Californias substantial concession reflects the strength of the case made by the United States earlier this month. It also demonstrates ... there is no urgent problem that these regulations are needed to address.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said the decision was intended to put us in the best position to preserve net neutrality for the 40 million people of our state. We are fighting the Trump administrations attempt to repeal net neutrality in the D.C. Circuit Court and we will vigorously defend Californias own net neutrality law.

FCC action

In December, the FCC said in repealing the Obama-era rules that it was pre-empting states from setting their own rules governing internet access, an issue the federal appeals court is expected to address.

The FCC order reversed rules barring internet service providers from blocking or throttling traffic or offering paid fast lanes, also known as paid prioritization. A group of 22 states and the District of Columbia have sued to overturn the repeal.

The four trade associations that sued to block the law said Californias decision not to enforce the law is a win for consumers that will allow continued innovation and investment while these deliberations continue. The groups also filed suit last week against Vermont over a separate state net neutrality law.

Win for providers

The Trump administration rules were a win for internet providers but opposed by companies such as Facebook Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc.

The FCC handed sweeping powers to internet providers to recast how Americans use the internet  as long as they disclose any changes. The new rules took effect in June but major providers have made no changes in internet access.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in September in a statement that the the California legislature has enacted an extreme and illegal state law attempting to frustrate federal policy.
Catholic Bishop Bosco and Minister Nirua sign the MOU to handover management responsibility of Anambrou School from the government to La DEC
In May 2017, as it was stepping up its two-year military campaign in Yemen, Saudi Arabia faced the prospect of a cutoff in badly needed American bombs.



A bipartisan resolution introduced by three senators threatened to block the sale to Saudi Arabia of precision-guided munitions and other weapons, part of a $110 billion arms package that President Donald Trump had negotiated with Saudi leaders just days before.



To overcome the opposition, Saudi Arabia turned to a platoon of Washington firms that it employs to lobby members of Congress.



Among them was Marc Lampkin, a Republican lobbyist and managing partner at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, one of more than two dozen firms that represent Saudi interests in the United States. Over the course of several weeks, Lampkin, an ex-adviser to former House Speaker John Boehner, called or emailed the offices of several Republican senators more than 20 times to discuss the motion to disapprove the sale of precision-guided munitions, according to filings made with the Justice Department.



One of Lampkins frequent targets was the office of Tim Scott, a Republican senator from South Carolina. On May 16, one of three times he called Scotts office, Lampkin discussed the resolution with Charles Cogar, Scotts legislative director, according to Brownsteins federal lobbying records. Lampkin later reported donating $2,000 to Scotts political action committee on the same day, May 16.



Less than a month later, Scott joined 52 other senators in voting to defeat the resolution, though he has voted against Saudi interests on at least one other occasion.



Transparency group



The episode is one of a dozen in which a lobbyist working for Saudi Arabia approached a member of Congress on behalf of the kingdom last year and contributed to the members political campaign on the same day, according to new research by Ben Freeman, director of the Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative at the Center for International Policy.



U.S. law allows foreign governments and other entities to lobby members of Congress and U.S. government officials, but it prohibits foreigners from making contributions to American political campaigns.



Freemans findings, based on 2017 data, will appear in a research report on Saudi Arabias influence operations in the United States that he is releasing next week. Freeman discussed his findings with VOA ahead of the reports release.

In all, Freeman found lobbyists working for Saudi Arabia made more than $2 million in campaign contributions in 2017, including nearly $400,000 to the campaigns of at least 75 members of Congress whom they contacted on behalf of the kingdom. The beneficiaries represent a whos who" list of members of Congress, with roughly equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats, Freeman said.



Its one of the few nonpartisan issues in D.C. actually, he said.



Key members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee, as well as leaders of both political parties, were contacted and contributed to, Freeman said.



He declined to disclose the full list but said it included Senators Bob Corker, Angus King, Claire McCaskill and the late John McCain, as well as Representatives Nancy Pelosi, Devin Nunes and Ed Royce.



The more somebody is contributed to by Saudi lobbyists, the more theyre contacted by Saudi lobbyists, the more theyre likely to vote the way the Saudis want, Freeman said.



One of largest operations



Saudi Arabia runs one of the largest influence operations in the United States. Last year, the oil-rich kingdom spent nearly $27 million on lobbying efforts in the U.S. Records show that the Brownstein firm received nearly $500,000 from the Saudi government in 2017.



Freeman and other critics say operations like the Saudis straddles a gray area legally, since individual lobbyists are permitted to make campaign contributions in their own names.



One of the laws it gets around is the prohibition on foreign nationals making campaign contributions in the U.S., Freeman said. You cant do that. But what you can do if youre a foreign national, you can hire a lobbying firm or a public relations firm to work on your behalf. So long as that lobbying or public relations firm is run by American citizens, those American citizens can donate to whomever they choose to.



David Laufman, a Washington lawyer who until recently oversaw the Justice Departments enforcement of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), said there is nothing in the law that prohibits lobbyists for foreign governments from making campaign contributions, which often facilitate access to key lawmakers.

Its fair for people to have concerns about an appearance of impropriety as well as actual impropriety and possible violations of law, but unless and until Congress wanted to change the law, this is the legal regime we have to work with, Laufman said.



Paul Miller, president of the National Institute For Lobbying & Ethics, said the proximity between the reported campaign contributions and contacts can create appearances of impropriety, but he rejected the notion that donations were meant to exert undue influence on members of Congress.



I just find it hard to believe in todays day and age, youre buying or bribing anybody at any level for $2,000 for a vote on something that significant, Miller said.



He noted that many lobbyists represent multiple clients, making it hard to tie a donation to one client.



Unless the Saudi government is their only client, they could have been doing it on behalf of other clients or multiple clients, Miller said.



Lampkin did not respond to questions about the timing of his campaign contribution to Scott. Sean Conner, a spokesman for Scott, did not respond to a request for comment.



Dismisses link



Al Mottur, a shareholder at Brownstein Hyatt, dismissed any link between the firms lobbying and campaign contributions.



We have well over 100 clients and were a bipartisan firm that makes contributions to senators and congressmen on both sides of the aisle, Mottur said. Those contributions have absolutely nothing to do with any of our work for foreign sovereign clients. Absolutely nothing.



The Oct. 2 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey has put a spotlight on Saudi Arabias global influence operations, including its lobbying efforts in the United States. Amid an international uproar over Khashoggis death, four firms have dropped Saudi Arabia as a client, but others have stuck it out and at least one new firm has added the kingdom to its client list.



Among the firms representing Saudi Arabia are some of the biggest names in the lobbying world: Squire Patton Boggs, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, DLA Piper, the now-defunct Podesta Group, and the McKeon Group, a shop headed by Howard Buck McKeon, a former Republican congressman who headed the powerful House Armed Services Committee from 2011 to 2015.



In all, the lobbying and PR firms working for Saudi Arabia engaged in more than 2,500 political activities, including contacting members of Congress, in late 2016 and 2017, according to Freemans calculation. The activities included hundreds of instances where PR firms contacted major media outlets such as The Washington Post, The New York Times, CNN and Fox News trying to get favorable coverage for Saudi Arabia.



The lobbying activity accelerated around key votes in Congress, though it wasnt always successful.



In late 2016, as Congress prepared to pass the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, a law that would allow victims and families of victims of the attacks of 9/11 to sue Saudi Arabia over its alleged involvement in the tragedy, the Saudi lobbying machine went into overdrive.



We saw a lot of activity surrounding that, Freeman said.



In the end, Congress passed the bill despite the lobbying. Former president Barack Obama vetoed it, but Congress overrode the veto with Scott, the South Carolina senator, among those voting to do so.






The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) says it is giving millions of dollars in cash to more than 150,000 of the most vulnerable people displaced by more than three years of civil war in Yemen.



UNHCR says in doing so it is stepping up its efforts to ease the plight of tens of thousands of Yemeni civilians caught up in a war that shows no sign of winding down.



UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic said his agency is providing vulnerable people displaced by the war with money they can use as they see fit as the best way to help them meet their immediate survival needs.



This allows UNHCR to provide assistance to families in hard to reach and remote areas. Cash assistance is the most cost-efficient way to offer a flexible and dignified form of support. Those benefiting say it helps them to avoid resorting to desperate coping mechanisms, such as child labor and forced marriages, Mahecic said.



The United Nations calls the situation in Yemen the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. The price of food and fuel has skyrocketed since March 2015. That is when Saudi Arabia began its bombing campaign against Houthi rebels in support of the government. The United Nations says more than 22 million people need international assistance and more than eight million are on the brink of famine.



Mahecic said many of the estimated 2.7 million displaced people have depleted all their resources. He said UNHCRs cash grants are providing a critical lifeline to some of them.



The selected families receive cash to cover their immediate protection needs, for example life-saving medical treatments and subsidies that help families avoid evictions and secure a roof over their heads. This assistance is benefiting the local economy, as families buy essential goods in local stores and pay for the local services, he said.



Mahecic said the UNHCR has distributed almost $33 million in cash assistance. He said the agency aims to distribute a total of more than $41 million before the end of the year. This, he said, will end up benefiting 830,000 IDPs, returnees and conflict-affected host communities, refugees and asylum seekers across Yemen.
The man arrested and charged with mailing at least 13 packages containing explosive devices to critics of President Donald Trump is expected to make his first court appearance Monday, according to several media reports citing law enforcement officials.

The Associated Press cited a law enforcement official who said Cesar Sayoc, 56, of Aventura, Fla., would make an initial court appearance in Florida before facing charges in federal court in New York, where five of the devices were recovered. The official was not authorized to discuss the prosecution and therefore spoke on condition of anonymity.

Sayoc, a man with a decades-long criminal record, faces five charges in connection with the mail bomb campaign, including the illegal mailing of explosive devices and threatening government officials. Attorney General Jeff Sessions told reporters Friday that Sayoc faced up to 48 years in prison if found guilty.

The crude pipe bombs were addressed in recent days to former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a former U.S. attorney general, two Democratic members of Congress, and former Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan.

FBI Director Christopher Wray, speaking at the same news conference as Sessions, said 13 IEDs were sent in the packages, and each mailing included 6 inches of PVC pipe, a small clock and potentially explosive material.

"These are not hoax devices," Wray said, noting that none of the bombs exploded. Authorities told AP that the devices were not rigged to explode when the packages were opened, but they said they were not sure whether that was because the devices were poorly made or were not intended to harm.

Wray added that authorities thought other bombs might still be found.

Wray said a fingerprint found on one of the packages led investigators to Sayoc. He said possible DNA evidence was found on another package.

Sayoc was previously known to law enforcement officials and has been arrested nearly a dozen times in Florida, including a 2002 arrest for making a bomb threat. His first arrest in the state was at age 29 for larceny. Other charges against him have included grand theft, fraud and illegal possession of steroids.

Sayoc's arrest Friday in Plantation, Fla., about 30 miles north of Miami, ended a nearly weeklong stretch of terror in which at least one bomb was found each day.

Van taken

Officers also hauled away Sayoc's white van  its windows plastered with pro-Trump stickers, American flags and images of Democratic figures with red cross hairs over their faces.

His arrest came just hours after the FBI intercepted two suspicious packages, one addressed to Democratic Sen. Cory Booker, the other to former National Intelligence Director James Clapper. And even as Sayoc was being detained, officials with Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris of California said investigators were looking at a package sent to her office.

Clapper said Friday on CNN that he was not surprised he was targeted and that the incidents were "serious."

Trump, speaking at a White House event Friday, vowed that those responsible for mailing suspicious packages would be prosecuted to the "fullest extent of the law."

"We must never allow political violence to take root in America," Trump told the Young Black Leadership Summit at the White House.

Later Friday, Trump told a political rally in Charlotte, N.C., that the media were to blame for polarizing the country.

"We have seen an effort by the media in recent hours to use the sinister actions of one individual to score political points against me and the Republican Party." He said the media's "constant unfair coverage, deep hostility and negative attacks" only served to "drive people apart."

In a tweet earlier Friday, Trump referred to the investigation as "this bomb' stuff," which he blamed for taking focus away from the upcoming midterm elections.
Declarations filed in support of a lawsuit filed by the parents of Otto F. Warmbier, the University of Virginia student who died after returning to the U.S. from 17 months in captivity in Pyongyang, may raise new questions about how the college student was treated while in North Korea.

Warmbier, a 22-year-old American, traveled to North Korea in December 2015 and was taken into custody by North Korean officials at the airport Jan. 2, 2016. He was accused of stealing a poster from his hotel and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in March 2016. Warmbier died June 13, 2017, shortly after being returned to the United States in a coma.

Otto Warmbiers parents, Fred and Cindy Warmbier, have filed a lawsuit against the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea.

It is unbelievable to me that North Korea would send Otto home as a vegetable, with scars on his body and crooked teeth, Fred Warmbier said in his declaration to a U.S. federal court Oct. 10 in support of a lawsuit he filed with his wife.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho. The lawsuit charged the North Korean government with hostage taking, illegal detention, torture and killing of a young American tourist in order to extract various concessions from the United States government.

Claims of being beaten

In the complaint filed in April, the Warmbiers, who live in Wyoming, Ohio, claimed their son had been intentionally beaten.

Physically, he returned destroyed in a state of unresponsive wakefulness with a devastating brain injury; he also had a large scar on his left foot and traumatic dental injuries, all of which resulted from North Koreas torture, the complaint stated.

North Korea has denied torturing Warmbier.

Declarations from his pediatric dentist and the dentist he transferred to as an adult, suggest otherwise, as does a declaration filed by the neurologist who led Otto Warmbiers care upon his return from North Korea. On Saturday, a day after VOA Korean reported on the declarations, North Korea replied with indignation to suggestions in the latest court filings that Warmbier may have been tortured.

I remember Otto as having straight teeth without any significant misalignment or crowding, said Dr. Murray Dock, a pediatric dentist in Cincinnati, Ohio, who was Otto Warmbiers dentist between 2011 and 2013.

After reviewing post-mortem dental images, Dock stated in his declaration that he observed substantial differences in the positions of Ottos  bottom four middle-most teeth. The teeth were moved backwards towards the tongue, in comparison to his teeth before he traveled to North Korea. This sort of change would most typically be caused by some sort of impact. Nothing in my treatment of Otto would have led me to expect this sort of change as a result of natural occurrence.

Warmbiers dentist between 2014 and 2015, Todd Williams, also of Cincinnati, Ohio, declared Otto had excellent teeth with an excellent bite between the upper and lower teeth. But upon review of the Warmbiers post-mortem dental images, Williams declared that some of his patients bottom teeth were positioned towards the back of his mouth. In my professional opinion, some force was obviously applied to them after his May 27, 2015, appointment. There is also evidence ... indicating a loss of bone. This is very unusual for a previously healthy young dental patient.

Neurologists declaration

And a declaration filed by Daniel Kanter, the neurologist who was the lead physician for Otto Warmbier upon his return at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, said Otto died of severe brain damage resulting from being deprived of oxygen, which was caused by the sustained cessation of blood flow to the brain for about five to 20 minutes. Because the injury was so extensive, it was unlikely that Mr. Warmbier was with medical personnel who were willing and able to intervene to resuscitate him when the injury occurred.

It remains unclear how Otto Warmbier was deprived of oxygen.

The director of Pyongyangs Friendship Hospital said in a report released on Saturday by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), North Koreas official mouthpiece, that Warmbier was undergoing the reform through labor that he had been sentenced to" before he was returned to the United States. KCNA did not name the director.

The KCNA report said several American doctors reportedly involved in the health checkup and treatment of Warmbier submitted medical observation to a federal district court in Washington, D.C., on October 10 to the effect that he had died of torture, alleging that they had concluded his teeth were dislocated and his gum bone damaged by physical force from outside.

As the director of the hospital directly involved in medical treatment of Warmbier, I cannot repress my indignation over the American total distortion of the truth regarding his death, the report said.

The Warmbiers are holding North Korea liable for economic and noneconomic compensatory damages for the suffering of their son and their own. The couple seeks damages in an amount to be determined by the court.

Financial losses incurred by Otto Warmbier and his parents are estimated to range between $1,993,386 and $6,038,308, according to an expert statement submitted to the court by James V. Koch, an economics professor at Old Dominion University.

Koch estimated the minimum amount of damages based on the average salaries of University of Virginia graduates and the maximum amount based on what Otto Warmbier would have earned if he had followed his intended career path to Wall Street.

Private citizens are not allowed to sue foreign governments under American law. However, because the Trump administration re-instated North Korea to the state sponsors of terrorism list in November 2017, the Warmbiers could sue North Korea as citizens injured in acts of state-sponsored terrorism may take legal actions against countries on the list.

If the court rules in favor of the Warmbiers, they may be awarded compensatory damages from the U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund.

The summons to the foreign minister was sent from Washington in May via the international shipping company DHL and delivered to Pyongyang in June. The receipt was signed by Kim.

Shortly after Otto Warmbier returned to the U.S., but before he died, a senior American official said the United States had obtained intelligence reports stating that Otto Warmbier had been beaten repeatedly, according to a New York Times article.

Coroners report

After Otto Warmbiers death, Dr. Lakshmi Kode Sammarco, the Hamilton County, Ohio, coroner, found no evidence that Otto Warmbier had been tortured.

During a press conference in September 2017, Sammarco said, There was no evidence of trauma to the teeth, and the post-mortem report filed in the same month said the teeth are natural and in good repair.

The report, signed by Dr. Gretel Stephens, deputy coroner for Hamilton Country, said Otto Warmbier died of complications of chronic anoxic/ischemic encephalopathy due to unknown insult more than a year prior to death, but concluded the manner of his death as undetermined.

Anoxic-Ischemic encephalopathy is medical terminology for brain damage resulting from the lack of oxygen fed into the brain by the blood stream.

In interviews with VOA Korean Service, former American detainees in North Korea have said they were subject to harsh treatment but denied being physically tortured.

Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American Christian missionary who was detained in North Korea in 2012 said, I was not treated with force. Bae was accused of conducting hostile acts against the government before being released in 2014.

There was no physical [force] used on me, Bae said. But they used psychological tactics, saying that I could not go home and that I will be held for 15 years.

Jeffrey Fowle, a father of three children in Ohio, was detained in North Korea for six months for leaving a Bible in a restaurant in Pyongyang during his tour of the country in 2014.

Fowle said, At one point ... [I was told I was not as] forthcoming as I should have been with my answers and [was asked], Would you like to be transferred to a place where conditions might be harsher?

The U.S. imposed a travel ban on North Korea following Otto Warmbiers death in June 2017.

Christy Lee and Ahn So-young contributed to this report which originated on VOA Korean.
A Florida man with a decades-long criminal record was arrested and charged Friday with mailing at least 13 packages containing explosive devices to critics of President Donald Trump, authorities said.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions told reporters Cesar Sayoc, 56, of Aventura, Florida, is being charged with five federal crimes, including the illegal mailing of explosive devices and threatening government officials. Sayoc faces up to 48 years in prison if found guilty, Sessions added.

The crude pipe bombs were addressed in recent days to former President Barack Obama as well as other high-profile Democrats, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a former U.S. attorney general, two Democratic members of Congress, and former Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan.

FBI Director Christopher Wray, speaking at the same news conference, said at least 13 IEDs were sent in the packages, and each mailing included 6 inches of PVC pipe, a small clock and potentially explosive material.

These are not hoax devices, Wray said, noting that none of the bombs exploded. Authorities told the Associated Press the devices were not rigged to explode when the packages were opened, but they said they were not sure if that is because the devices were poorly made or were not intended to harm.

Wray added that authorities believe other bombs may still be found.

Wray said a fingerprint found on one of the packages led investigators to Sayoc. He said possible DNA evidence was found on another package.

WATCH: Mail Bomb Suspect Charged With Five Federal Crimes

Sayoc was previously known to law enforcement officials and has been arrested nearly a dozen times in Florida, including a 2002 arrest for making a bomb threat. His first arrest in the state was at age 29 for larceny. Other charges against him have included grand theft, fraud and illegal possession of steroids.

Sayocs arrest Friday in Plantation, Florida, about 30 miles north of Miami, ended a nearly weeklong stretch of terror where at least one bomb was found each day.

Officers also hauled away Sayocs white van, its windows plastered with pro-Trump stickers, American flags, and images of Democratic figures with red crosshairs over their faces.

His arrest came just hours after the Federal Bureau of Investigation intercepted two more suspicious packages, one addressed to Democratic Sen. Cory Booker, the other to former National Intelligence Director James Clapper. And even as Sayoc was being detained, officials with Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris of California said investigators were looking at a package sent to her office.

Clapper said on CNN Friday morning he was not surprised he was targeted and said the incidents were serious.

President Donald Trump spoke at an event at the White House Friday and vowed that those responsible for mailing suspicious packages will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

We must never allow political violence to take root in America, Trump told the Young Black Leadership Summit at the White House.

Later Friday, Trump told a political rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, that the media is to blame for polarizing the country.

We have seen an effort by the media in recent hours to use the sinister actions of one individual to score political points against me and the Republican Party. He said the medias constant unfair coverage, deep hostility and negative attacks only serve to drive people apart.

In a tweet earlier Friday, Trump referred to the investigation as this bomb stuff, which he blamed for taking focus away from the upcoming midterm elections.

The weeklong bomb scare began Monday, when the first bomb was found at the suburban New York compound of billionaire George Soros, a major contributor to Democratic candidates and causes. He has often criticized Trump.

In the following days, packages containing pipe bombs were intercepted for Clinton, Obama, and later were found addressed to former Vice President Joe Biden, former Attorney General Eric Holder and U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters.

Federal investigators searched a massive mail sorting facility in Florida late Thursday, after determining that at least one of the pipe bombs had been processed there.

All of the "suspected explosive devices" were taken to the FBI's laboratory at the U.S. Marine Corps base in Quantico, Va., said New York City Police Commissioner James O'Neill.
Syrias largest surviving rebel stronghold, Idlib, faces a complex, uncertain and possibly violent future.

Right now, a deal between Turkey and Russia is holding off Syrian military action to recapture this area.

U.S. and U.N. officials say there are tens of thousands of militants active in Idlib. The top U.S. military officer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford, said a large-scale military operation to recapture the province could result in many civilian as well as military deaths.

Im suggesting that counterterrorism operations should take place in a manner that mitigates the risk of the loss of innocent life, Dunford said.

In August, Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. Special Envoy for Syria, said there are many foreign fighters among the militants in Idlib who could use chlorine gas as a weapon and make a military operation horrific.

Oct. 15 deadline

As part of the deal struck between Russia and Turkey, rebels were required to remove their heavy weapons from a buffer zone between the Syrian government forces and the rebels by Oct. 15.

The deadline passed and both the rebels and the militant groups are still present in the province.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights group, which follows developments in Syria, said Monday that Syrian government forces had exchanged fire with rebels Sunday.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)

Idlib, in the northwestern part of the country, is home to an evolving group of active jihadist groups, including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Hurras al-Deen and Turkistan Islamic Party.

HTS has the capability to continue to weave itself in the social and political structures of Idlib, and that will take concentrated and huge efforts from Turkey to remove HTS, Nicholas Heras, a Middle East expert at the Center for New American Security, told VOA.

HTS is the strongest jihadist group in the province. Hurras al-Deen is an offshoot branch of HTS with links to al-Qaida and the Turkistan Islamic Party, which is made up mostly of Chinese Uighur militants.

HTS was formerly known as al-Nusra Front and was an affiliate of al-Qaida in Syria. In 2016, the group said it cut ties with al-Qaida and named itself as the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham. In 2017, the group organized an alliance with several other smaller militant groups and renamed itself HTS.

The U.S and EU still consider HTS an al-Qaida-affiliated terror group.

Al-Nusra Front has changed its name, but the U.S. State Department said it remains a menace.

Whatever name Nusra chooses, we will continue to deny it the resources it seeks to further its violent cause, Nathan Sales, the U.S. State Department coordinator for counterterrorism affairs, said.

HTS reaction

HTS, which was somewhat open to the Turkish-Russian deal, did not say that it would act on it.

We appreciate the efforts of those in the inside and outside who are trying to protect the free area in Idlib, HTS said in an Arabic statement released a day before the expiration of the deal. We warn against trusting the devious Russian invader, the statement added.

Ahmed Abazid, a Syrian analyst, believes that HTS is being deliberately vague.

HTS fears a Turkish reaction and a local reaction against it because the people were afraid of a Russian campaign in Idlib, and (the) Sochi agreement came to save Idlib from a humanitarian disaster, Abazid said.

Abazid added that HTS leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani is keen to establish a local authority in Idlib and his group would not give up on that goal easily.

The deal is still on

Despite the obstacles, Syrian government officials say they prefer negotiation over confrontation.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said last week his government gave its ally Russia more time to deal with the rebels.

Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesperson, acknowledged difficulties with fully implementing the agreement, but said the deal is still in place.

Of course, one cannot expect everything to go smoothly with absolutely no glitches, but the work is being carried out, Peskov told reporters in Moscow last week.

Turkeys interests

Turkey, which has helped broker the deal, benefits by the prevention of a major conflict in Idlib. Ankara backs the National Liberation Front, an alliance of pro-Turkey rebels in the province, and a major military attack by the Russia-backed regime forces would hit those forces as well.

Idlib also shares a border with Turkey and any large-scale military operation would push hundreds of thousands of civilians into Turkey, which already hosts about 3 million Syrian refugees.

But Colin Clarke, a senior research fellow at the Soufan Center, a New York-based think tank, said Turkey may also have a hidden agenda.

A secondary objective is certainly for (Turkish President Recep Tayyip) Erdogan to see if he can redirect HTS fighters toward fighting against Kurdish groups like the YPG, Clarke told VOA, referring to a U.S.-allied Kurdish group that fights the Islamic State.

Turkey views the group as a wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a charge denied by the U.S.
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Saturday the "murder of Jamal Khashoggi in a diplomatic facility must concern us all."



"Failure of any nation to adhere to international norms and the rule of law undermines regional stability at a time when it is needed most," Mattis said in prepared remarks for the annual Manama Dialogue security conference in Bahrain.



The defense secretary said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has already revoked some Saudi visas and "will be taking additional measures" against the responsible people.



A U.S. news report, meanwhile, says Salah bin Jamal Khashoggi, son of the journalist slain in Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul, has arrived in the United States.



The dual U.S.-Saudi citizen had been banned from traveling by the Saudi government until earlier this week. The restriction on his passport was lifted following a photographed handshake with the Saudi Crown Prince and King Salman on Tuesday. News network CNN reported Friday that he has arrived, although his location was not clear.

The State Department said Secretary of State Pompeo was "pleased" at the lifting of the travel restriction. Pompeo had urged the Saudis to allow Salah Khashoggi to leave the country.



Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Saturday that the media coverage about the Khashoggi case has become "hysterical." He acknowledged that Saudi Arabia had made some mistakes, but promised the country will conduct a transparent probe into the killing.



Meanwhile, Turkish state-run news says Turkey has asked for extradition of the 18 men arrested in Saudi Arabia in connection with the killing.



Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, however, dashed that hope Saturday when he said, "On the issue of extradition, the individuals are Saudi nationals. They are detained in Saudi Arabia and the investigation is in Saudi Arabia, and they will be prosecuted in Saudi Arabia."



Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Saudi Arabia Friday to disclose the location of Khashoggi's body and the identity of the "local cooperator" who allegedly disposed of the body after Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi consulate.

Speaking to provincial members of his AK Party in parliament, Erdogan said Ankara has more evidence related to the journalist's murder, but he did not give any details. He also said Saudi Arabia's chief prosecutor will visit Istanbul Sunday and will meet with Turkish officials as part of the investigation into Khashoggi's murder.



And Khashoggi's Turkish fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, told Turkish broadcaster Haberturk that although her fiance had been worried about visiting the consulate in Istanbul, he did not think he would be arrested or harmed in Turkey.



"He thought Turkey is a safe country and if he would be held or interrogated, this issue would be swiftly solved," Cengiz said.



She called on those responsible for his murder to be brought to justice.



Saudi Arabia acknowledged in a statement Thursday that Khashoggi's killing appeared to have been premeditated, on the basis of evidence supplied by Turkey.



What was left unclear was who premeditated the killing. The Saudi statement said, "The public prosecution continues its investigation with suspects ... to complete the course of justice." The Saudis fired five officials linked to the killing and have arrested 18 suspects.



International critics, including U.S. President Donald Trump, have said that the country's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, bears ultimate responsibility for the killing.



The Kremlin said Friday Russia believes the Saudi royals were not involved in the journalist's murder. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, "There's an official statement from the king, there's an official statement from the Crown Prince (Mohammed bin Salman) and no one should have any grounds not to believe them."



Saudi Foreign Minister Jubeir said ties between his country and the U.S. have remained "ironclad" and praised the foreign policy of the Trump administration as "rational, realistic."


Part 1

The Activist

After Alyssa Alhadeff died in the Parkland shooting, her mother Lori turned first to faith, then politics. In honor of Alyssa, she took on the establishment and won a seat on the county school board.

Part 2

A Family United

Carmen Schentrups death in the shooting turned her family into a force for action. While Carmen's brother and sister worked to sign up young voters, their parents lobbied for safer schools back home.

Part 3

American Divide

Firearms are a staple in Virginia's 5th Congressional District, an expansive area stretching from wine country through the majestic Shenandoah Valley  and a place of two minds on guns.

Part 4

From Ashes to Canvas

Through his art, parent Manny Oliver created a passionate tribute to the son he lost at Parkland  and became an inspirational force for students during the midterm elections.

Part 5

Mother of the Everglades

Marjory Stoneman Douglas almost singlehandedly saved the Everglades with the motto, Be a nuisance where it counts, but never give up. After the shooting, Parkland students adopted her advice.
Sri Lankas president suspended parliament Saturday even as the prime minister he fired the previous day claimed he has majority support, adding to a growing political crisis in the island nation.

Chaminda Gamage, a spokesman for the parliamentary speaker, confirmed that President Maithripala Sirisena had suspended parliament until Nov. 16.

The suspension came while ousted Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was holding a news conference in which he asserted that he could prove his majority support in parliament.

Sirisena sacked Wickremesinghe and his Cabinet Friday and replaced him with former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa, creating what some observers said could be a constitutional crisis in the South Asian island nation.

Constitutional crisis

Wickremesinghe said parliament should be allowed to resolve the political crisis.

As far as the prime ministership is concerned, the person who has the majority support in parliament has to be the prime minister, and I have that majority of support, he said. When a motion of no confidence was moved (in the past), we defeated it showing that the house has the confidence in me.

It is not necessary for us to create a crisis. It is not necessary for the people of the country to suffer, Wickremesinghe said.

Tensions have been building up between Sirisena and Wickremesinghe for some time, because the president did not approve of some of the economic reforms being introduced by the prime minister. Sirisena was also critical of police investigations into military personnel accused in the abductions and disappearances of civilians and journalists during Sri Lankas long civil war, which ended a decade ago.

Strong man returns

Rajapaksa ruled Sri Lanka as president for nine years beginning in 2005, accumulating immense power and popularity among the countrys majority ethnic Sinhalese after overseeing the militarys brutal defeat of ethnic Tamil rebels in May 2009, ending the 25-year civil war. Some supporters hailed him as a king and savior.

But he also was criticized for failing to allow an investigation into allegations of war crimes by the military. Under his government, dozens of journalists were killed, abducted and tortured and some fled the country fearing for their lives. He lost a bid for re-election in 2015 amid mounting allegations of corruption and nepotism.

His return to power as prime minister could signal that Sri Lanka is sliding back to an era of violence against political opponents, critics and journalists, observers said.
When she was a young girl, Edna Adan Ismails mother and grandmother circumcised her in a traditional ceremony while her father, a doctor, was away.

That evening, he returned home, enraged at what had happened. What have you done? he asked Ismails mother and grandmother. Cutting the young girl, he said, was haraam  a sin.

She was only seven or eight, but Ismail knew what had happened was wrong. The event, and her fathers reaction, would have a lasting impact.

Medical trailblazer

Years later, Ismail followed in her fathers footsteps, pursuing a career in medicine. She studied abroad and became a pioneer in health care in Somaliland, an autonomous region of Somalia.

In 1965, the World Health Organization made Ismail the first Somali appointed to a senior civil servant position. She spent decades with the organization working in Somalia, Somaliland and Djibouti, and caring for patients from across the Horn of Africa, many of whom were refugees.

In 1976, Ismail attended a health conference in Sudan that changed her next steps. Ismail, then a director in Somalilands Ministry of Health, had traveled with a team of doctors to learn about developments in the field.

At the conference, Ismail heard, for the first time, people in a Muslim country openly discuss the harm caused by female circumcision, also called female genital mutilation, or FGM.

For Ismail, the discussions were a revelation. Back home, talking about FGM, let alone its harms, was taboo.

But Ismail knew there was another way. In England, where Ismail studied and practiced medicine, women werent subjected to FGM, and they gave birth with few complications.

But Ismail didnt believe the practice could be stopped in Somaliland, where she had returned in 1961 as the countrys first qualified nurse and midwife.

I saw the difficulties, and the tears, and the lacerations, and the fistulas, Ismail said. This created in me this anger about this damage.

Ismail knew the practice was wrong. But she couldnt break through the silence.

That changed after the Sudan conference, where doctors, nurses and midwives discussed the physical and psychological toll of the traditional practice. They shared steps that health care workers could take to lessen suffering. They made FGM defeatable.

Ismail knew she could do more. She returned home and co-founded a group to eradicate the procedure. She also began speaking up.

I was the first person who publicly spoke about the harmful effects of female circumcision, Ismail told VOA in a recent studio interview in Washington. The practice, she added, is the most harmful thing that can happen to a girl.

Little girls are still being cut

Ismail retired in 1997 and built a hospital a year later in Hargeisa, Somaliland, with her personal savings. The facility opened in 2002. It was a natural thing to do, Ismail said.

Doctors and nurses at the facility, also a teaching hospital, treat patients from Somaliland, Somalia and Ethiopia. As a center for learning and caring, the hospital is a symbol of what we need to do in our countries, Ismail said. Im so privileged and so happy that I could also influence so many others and be an example for others to come back, she added.

After retirement, Ismail contributed in other ways. In 2003, she became Somalilands foreign minister, a post she held until 2006. Now in her 80s, Ismail continues to direct the hospital.

But she knows theres work left to do. Little girls are still being cut, she said.

Often, its women  mothers, grandmothers, aunts  directly responsible for FGM, which 200 million women and girls alive today have experienced, the World Health Organization estimates.

But men have a vital role to play in stopping the practice. Fathers must come into it, Ismail said, the same way my father objected.

Legal mechanisms must also be used, Ismail said. Countries where FGM rates remain high have, in some cases, passed laws banning at least the most severe forms of the procedure, but enforcement is key.

Fathers should be taken to court if their daughters are harmed, Ismail said, forcing all parts of society to face the issue. Its a battle that needs to be fought by both men and women  and communities and governments  together.

At her own hospital, Ismail has seen progress. In 2002, 98 percent of the women who delivered babies had experienced FGM. That number had fallen to 76 percent several years later.

But Ismail isnt satisfied. Zero percent is what we want, she said.
Thousands of Rome residents gathered in the main square in front of city hall on Saturday to call for a new dignity for their city and to protest against what they say has been the failure of city authorities to deal with the rubbish, potholes and fallen trees. The rally was organized by a group called Rome Says Enough.

It was a peaceful protest with a clear message: Enough to the current state of affairs in one of the great capitals of the world. Hundreds of city residents of all ages gathered in front of the Renaissance city hall to voice their unhappiness with the public transport system, the lack of efforts in cleaning the filth off streets and buildings, and the dreadful state of the many roads and parks in the city.

The event was launched on social media by six young local women, with different jobs, who created the Rome Says Enough civic group. They are appealing for a capital city that must return to being livable and have a vision for the future.

Addressing the large crowd gathered on Saturday, one of the organizers said, From this square which for us Romans, and for the whole world that watches us in shock, is the symbol of the eternal city, we have come to say enough but also to shout lets start over.

Residents who turned out for the sit-in pointed the finger at the current city administration run by 5-Star-Movement Mayor Virginia Raggi. She was elected in 2016 promising a fresh start. Instead, she currently is under investigation for abuse of office and false testimony. They called for her to resign because they say Rome has never before been in such a poor state.

Miriam Klein has lived in Rome all her life. She arrived early in the morning for the protest wearing a white T-shirt sporting the Rome Says Enough slogan.

She explained that she lives in quite a central area of the city, Gregorio Settimo, near the Vatican, and her building looks onto a large parking area for tourist buses. It is surrounded, she added, by huge quantities of garbage and there is no proper collection. She said, I am ashamed for the tourists that come off those buses.

Organizers added that the ancient Roman Empires capital, with its iconic Colosseum and Trevi Fountain, has suffered too many years of neglect and corruption, and it is now urgent that something be done to remedy the situation. They say no other European capital is in such a poor state and tourists visit once but have no desire to come back.
President Donald Trump will campaign in eight states in the final days before Nov. 6 U.S. congressional elections, putting most of his attention on tight races in which Republicans have a shot at winning Senate seats, White House officials said Friday.

From Wednesday until Election Day, the president will make campaign stops in Florida, Missouri, West Virginia, Indiana, Montana, Ohio, Georgia and Tennessee, the officials said.

Trump, who was making campaign stops in North Carolina Friday night and in Illinois Saturday, is scrambling to head off a Democratic push to take control of the U.S. House of Representatives and possibly the Senate.

Officials said Trump wants to go to places where races are competitive and where he can make a difference.

No one Republican, no surrogate, no person can better move the political needle than President Trump, White House political director Bill Stepien told Reuters.

Democrats had appeared to be in a good position to capture the House, but many races have tightened in recent weeks to the point that some analysts think it is conceivable Republicans could hang on to control.

While realistic about their chances of holding the House, Republicans see a better-than-expected chance of not only holding their current 51-49 Senate majority but adding a small number of seats to their margin.

Tremendous momentum

I think the Republicans have tremendous momentum, Trump told reporters at the White House, as he sought to refocus attention on the congressional races rather than the series of bombs sent to prominent Democrats and critics of the president.

A man was charged in Florida earlier Friday in connection with the bombs.

We have a lot of Senate races where were leading, races that frankly were going to be uncontested, Trump added. ... There are a lot of people in the House, so were going to see how that goes. But I think were doing very well in the House.

Bolstered by a recent uptick in his job approval ratings to the high 40s in opinion polls, Trump is hammering away at two major themes: illegal immigration and the contentious Senate confirmation battle over U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who denied accusations of sexual misconduct. He is also promoting a plan for middle-class tax cuts.

Trumps itinerary

In Florida, Trump will seek to boost the Senate campaign of Florida Governor Rick Scott, who is in a tough race against veteran Democratic Senator Bill Nelson, as well as lend a hand to U.S. Representative Ron DeSantis in his gubernatorial race against Democrat Andrew Gillum.

In Missouri, Trump will try to help Republican Josh Hawley in his bid to unseat Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill, while in West Virginia, he will aid Republican Patrick Morrisey in his fight against Democratic Senator Joe Manchin.

Trump will be making a return visit to Montana as he seeks to help Republican Matt Rosendale unseat Democratic Senator Jon Tester, who was instrumental in derailing the presidents nominee for Veterans Affairs, presidential physician Ronny Jackson, earlier this year.

Trump will visit Tennessee on behalf of Republican Senate candidate Marsha Blackburn, who is in a neck-and-neck battle with Democrat Phil Bredesen for the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Bob Corker, a Trump critic.

The president will try to give a boost to Republican Brian Kemp in his campaign against Democrat Stacey Abrams for governor of Georgia. In Indiana, Trump will campaign for Republican Mike Braun in his attempt to knock out incumbent Democratic Senator Joe Donnelly.

And in Ohio, Trump will lend a hand to Republican Mike DeWine in his campaign against Democrat Richard Cordray in the race to succeed Republican John Kasich, another Trump critic, as governor of a state that may be instrumental to Trumps 2020 re-election campaign.
The top U.S. general says diplomatic efforts on the Korean Peninsula will lead to military discomfort in the coming months, as leaders try to strike a very difficult balance between military risk and political progress.

The more successful we are in the diplomatic space, the more uncomfortable military leaders are going to be, General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a group of reporters at a conference at the Navy League Building just outside Washington Friday.

The generals comments came a week after the U.S. and South Korean militaries suspended another large-scale joint military exercise.

Give diplomacy a chance

Chief Pentagon spokesperson Dana White said last Friday the two militaries were suspending their joint air exercise, dubbed Vigilant Ace, in order to give the diplomatic process every opportunity to continue.

Before that, the United States and South Korea canceled annual Ulchi-Freedom Guardian exercises that had been scheduled for August.

Dunford told reporters the decision to suspend these exercises was informed by the fact that the general in command of the peninsula, General Vincent Brooks, is an experienced commander who has been in the Korean theater for three years. He added that staff turnover for the South Korean forces is typically not until around January.

So we felt like we had sufficient staff training and exercises that had been conducted where we could look at tasks, Dunford said. Youve either demonstrated proficiency to perform that task or you havent.

Many smaller-scale military exercises have continued on the peninsula and across the region, but the U.S. general nominated to be the next commander of American forces in South Korea pointed out during his confirmation hearing last month that the Ulchi-Freedom Guardian suspension had caused slight degradation to military readiness on the peninsula.

When asked how many large-scale exercises could be skipped before a significant decline in readiness, Army Gen. Robert Abrams told Senate members it was hard to judge.

Officer rotation

As U.S. and South Korean leaders rotate out to make way for new leaders, their untested forces will need to find ways to practice successfully operating together.

Dunford said Friday it was incumbent to find ways to mitigate training in a different way in the absence of some of these major exercises on the peninsula.

He then added, Where we cannot mitigate those impacts on readiness, (we must) communicate it to our political leadership so they can then say, Is the risk that were occurring in the readiness of the force actually justified by the reason were taking that risk in the political space?

Dunford, Brooks and Admiral Philip Davidson, the commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, spent hours in talks Thursday.

Dunford said the leaders started defining what mission-essential tasks in which U.S. Forces Korea and Republic of Korea Armed Forces must demonstrate proficiency over the next several months.
U.S. gun-control advocates have outspent gun-rights groups by more than 40 percent on next month's congressional elections, reversing the National Rifle Association's long-standing dominance in spending on gun politics.

Boosted largely by the personal fortune of billionaire Michael Bloomberg, who is considering a 2020 presidential run, the gun-control spending almost entirely benefits Democrats, who are seeking to wrest majorities from the Republicans in the House of Representatives and Senate in the Nov. 6 elections.

Gun-control groups, including Giffords and Everytown for Gun Safety, have spent $20.2 million on the elections, well over the $14.1 million spent by pro-gun groups led by the NRA, according to data released Friday by the U.S. Federal Election Commission.

Federal, state activity

So far, it marks the first time in at least two decades that gun-control groups have outspent gun-rights groups on federal races, though gun-control groups have outspent gun-rights advocates in state elections in recent years, according to data compiled by the National Institute on Money in Politics.

"There is definitely a shift," said Peter Ambler, the executive director of Giffords, formed by gunshot survivor and former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords after the mass shooting in December 2012 that killed 20 schoolchildren in Connecticut. "It was just a few years ago when people considered gun safety to be one of politics' third rails. Now the opposite is true."

The FEC report covers federal campaign spending through Oct. 17 and will be the last public report before the Nov. 6 vote.

The NRA accounts for about 85 percent of the gun-rights spending and overwhelmingly supports Republicans. It could still close the gap; its Political Victory Fund had $8.9 million on hand as of Oct. 17, the FEC data showed, compared with $2.1 million for Giffords and Everytown combined.

An NRA spokeswoman said Bloomberg's money would not overturn public support for the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which protects the right to keep and bear arms.

"While the gun-control lobby is funded by a blank check from a New York City anti-gun billionaire, the NRA relies on millions of small donations from working men and women," NRA spokeswoman Jennifer Baker said in an email. "His money is no match for our grass-roots organization."

The NRA is concentrating on unseating Senate Democrats and recently said it would spend more than $1 million aimed at defeating Sen. Joe Donnelly of Indiana.

Bloomberg efforts

Bloomberg, founder of the financial information and media company Bloomberg LP, formed Everytown in 2014 when he pledged $50 million to the cause and combined forces with Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. Bloomberg has pledged another $100 million for House and Senate Democrats this year.

Everytown has spent $3.6 million, according to the FEC data. Most of its $20 million budget this year has been devoted to state races.

Giffords has spent $16.3 million this election cycle, the FEC data show, and has set aside at least $1 million for each of four competitive House races to defeat incumbent Republicans in Virginia, Minnesota, Texas and Colorado.

Everytown has pledged to spend $10 million in state races in Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and New Mexico, plus another $3.5 million in Nevada and $2 million in Florida.

Gun-control groups have outspent the pro-Second Amendment forces in states before, notably in 2016, by a margin of $26 million to $11 million, according to National Institute on Money in Politics. The NRA and its allies more than made up for that with $70 million in spending on the federal level.
The federal government sent supplies to a U.S. territory in the Pacific that was ravaged by a super typhoon as residents of the Northern Mariana Islands dug through crumbled houses, smashed cars and fallen utility poles two days after the deadly storm.

A military plane brought in food, water, tarps and other supplies, U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesman David Gervino said. The agency is focused on helping restore power, opening sea and air ports, and ensuring cell towers can operate on emergency power until electricity returns, he said.

Super Typhoon Yutu packed maximum sustained winds of 180 mph (290 kph) as it passed over the islands of Tinian and Saipan early Thursday, the National Weather Service said. By Saturday, power was still out across Saipan, the largest island with 50,000 residents, and Tinian, with 3,000, local officials said.

The strongest storm to hit any part of the United States this year overturned cars, crushed small planes, ripped off roofs and killed a woman who took shelter in an abandoned building that collapsed. Others were injured, including three people who needed surgery.

Jan Reyes and her family lost everything.

"Everything my family and I have bought and added to our home over 13 years laid on the flooded floor as every window in our house shattered," the Saipan resident wrote in an email to The Associated Press.

The ceiling of a bedroom collapsed, destroying all the furniture. A cousin was trapped under debris for seven hours, Reyes said.

Her family rode out the storm in a hotel room, overturning a bed to create a barricade against the wind, rain and debris. When the worst passed, she said it took half an hour to navigate fallen poles and trees for what would normally be a five-minute drive to their home.

"However, as islanders, we value family more than anything else in this world and we are more joyful and relieved that we are still complete and safe," she said, adding that those in the U.S. territory are "resilient people."

Michelle Francis hid in a closet while the storm destroyed her Saipan house, saying in a Facebook message that "many people lost their homes and their belongings. Now everyone is trying to stand strong, have faith."

People in the islands are used to riding out monster storms, but Yutu was the worst that many said they have experienced.

"One of the things that's unique and great about the Northern Mariana Islands is because they do often have severe weather, the residents here are very resilient," said Gervino, the FEMA spokesman. "They listen to warnings from local officials, they take shelter when directed to do so, they stock up on supplies in advance of the storm."

He said he's convinced that's why there weren't large amounts of injuries.

The territory's only hospital, in Saipan, said it received 133 people in the emergency room Thursday, and three patients had severe injuries that needed surgery.

Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, the territory's delegate to Congress, said residents will need major help to recover.

FEMA has a significant amount of food and water stored on nearby Guam, which was preparing for Typhoon Mangkhut last month. The damage wasn't as bad as expected, so more than 220,000 liters of water and 260,000 meals are still available for the Northern Marianas, a half-hour plane ride away.

The agency is constantly communicating with local officials on transportation, communications, food and water, and energy and fuel, Gervino said. FEMA made changes after Hurricane Maria, a Category 5 storm that struck Puerto Rico last year, creating task forces to tackle those areas.

Hurricanes are spawned east of the international dateline, while typhoons develop west of it. Yutu was a Category 5 storm when it hit.

Commercial flights won't be operating for some time, said Nadine Deleon Guerrero, a spokeswoman for the territory's emergency management department. Terminals, the tarmac, runway and equipment were damaged.

More than 800 people were in shelters across the islands, and space was running out, officials said.

Many homes were destroyed because some poor families can't afford concrete homes that conform to building codes meant to withstand typhoon winds, said Edwin Propst, a member of the territory's House of Representatives. Some build houses with concrete foundations and walls but that have wooden and tin roofs.

Even some concrete houses were reduced to rubble on the smaller island of Tinian, which took a direct hit, resident Juanita Mendiola said.

"We had to hide inside the bathroom because the house felt like it was going to blow apart," she said. "It was literally shaking  a concrete house shaking."

Rebuilding efforts can't wait, Reyes said, though many expected the recovery to be lengthy.

"The foundation of our culture is selflessness and family values and this is what has always helped us get through hard times," she wrote. "We will always remain hopeful and prepared for the worst. This is our way of life."
A Turkish court on Oct. 12 freed American Pastor Andrew Brunson, who had been convicted on terror charges  charges he denies  and imprisoned for two years. Brunson, who is now back in the U.S. with his family, and his wife, Norine Brunson, spoke with Mehmet Toroglu of VOAs Turkish service about his time in prison and how it felt to be released.

Q: How did you learn you were being released and how did you feel in that moment  whom would you want to thank?



Andrew Brunson: Well, I didn't know that I was going to be released because I was actually declared guilty. I knew that I was going to be declared guilty  it was very obvious from what was happening in the court  but I didn't know how many years they would get me as a sentence. Would it be five, 10, 15 or more? And when I was told I was found guilty  first of all, I was unhappy at being found guilty because I'm not guilty, but now officially, according to the court, [I was found] guilty of supporting terrorism, which is not at all what we're about.

We spent our time, 23 years in Turkey, working in churches and telling people about Jesus Christ, showing his love to people. So, we had nothing to do with any kind of terrorism. We never did anything against Turkey. In fact, we tried to bless Turkey and we often prayed for Turkey. So it was a surprise when we were accused of terrorism. So, when I was, I did not know how many years they would give me, I was very afraid that I would be sent back to prison, but when I heard that they were convicting me, giving me a three-year sentence and then releasing me because of time already served, two years that I've been held by the government, then I was very relieved. My wife and I got together, we knelt down on the courtroom floor, and we just prayed together and thanked God that this nightmare, this two-year-long nightmare, was finally coming to an end.

Norine Brunson: So, who do we thank? First, we thank God because he's the one that did it. And he did it through the prayers of people in Turkey, in America, in China, in Senegal, in Madagascar  I mean, all over the place. It was very supernatural. And this was all the Christians from all kinds of different churches that for some reason this was in their heart to pray for us. Very supernatural. And it was through these prayers that this happened.

Andrew Brunson: We believe God did it. But God uses people and he also used people in setting us free.

Q: Why do you think you were arrested?

Andrew Brunson: My wife has used the word the perfect storm, and what happened is that there had been an attempted coup, and of course that created a lot of tension in Turkey and the government was very, obviously, under tremendous pressure.

And at the same time, we had been working with Syrian refugees. There was a humanitarian crisis, but many of the ones that came to Izmir and that we ended [up] helping are Kurds, and that made the government uncomfortable because they are concerned about Kurdish terrorism through the PKK. And so they were suspicious of that.

Also, we are Americans and Christians, and Christians are often seen with some suspicion. And all of that happened at the same time, all of those factors coming together at the same time. We were actually arrested to be deported. When they arrested us, we were told that it was a threat to national security, and normally when that happens  it has happened to other friends of mine  then they are very quickly deported within a day or two.

But at our arrest someone wrote on our paper, they wrote terrorism  and then we knew that this was different. We feared that it would become much more serious, as it did, indeed, and it continued on for two years.

Q: Would you tell us about the circumstances in the prison? Were you treated well?

Andrew Brunson: I was treated well by prisoners and I did not complain about the conditions, whether it was cold or crowded or about food or anything like that. Although, some of those [conditions] were difficult. My main complaint was that I'm imprisoned  that my liberty has been taken away and I'm an innocent man.

As for the people I was with, for example I was in a very crowded cell at Sakran Prison for a number of months. Most of them were very nice to me, and prisoners supported each other. Everyone was of course very afraid. Most people had not been indicted. It was taking a year or longer.

It took 18 months for me to actually find out what I was being accused of. And during that time of course there was a lot of fear. Why am I in here? How long will I be in here? What am I going to be charged with?

They were all very conservative Muslims, committed Muslims. And obviously I'm a pastor, so I felt very alone in my faith. There wasn't anyone else there to pray with me, to support me, to correct me when I'm having wrong thoughts. But even so, there were several of the Muslim prisoners who were very kind to me and encouraged me during very difficult times.



Q: What did you know about the coup attempt?



Andrew Brunson: We knew nothing about it until it happened. I had been at a prayer meeting on Friday night and that had gone on for two or three hours. Then I returned to my home and turned on the television, and we saw on the news channels that something unusual was happening. So that's the first time I heard of it.

Now, I've been accused of helping to plan it, but we knew nothing about it. Shortly after that, I went to the States to visit my children  they were all studying in the States at that time  but then within three or four weeks after the coup, my wife and I returned to Turkey together. So while many people were trying to escape Turkey, because many people were being arrested at that time, we came back very confidently to Turkey because we were innocent and we had no idea that we would be charged with being involved in the coup.

Norine Brunson: We had nothing to do with it. So, August 12, we come back very comfortably to Turkey. This is our home. This is where we have our church. These are people we love, and we had no concern whatsoever.



Andrew Brunson: Yes.

Q: Well, let's assume you have a chance to sit down with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. What would you tell him?



Norine Brunson: We would welcome the opportunity, just like we were able to meet President [Donald] Trump. It was a huge honor, and to be able to pray for him there, and we would really love the opportunity to do that for any president. For any high position in authority. They need prayer. They all need prayer.

Andrew Brunson: So I would love to meet with him, and I would say to him that God loves him and wants to use him to bless the Turkish people. Leaders need prayer, and as Christians we are told to pray for our leaders. Whatever party they are from, we are told to pray for them. So I would love to meet with him and be able to pray for him in the same way I prayed for President Trump. Just to bless him in the name of Jesus Christ.

Q: What do you know about other Americans still in jail in Turkey right now, and why do you think you were the only one who was released?

Andrew Brunson: Well, the main difference between my case and theirs was that I'm an American citizen but they are dual citizens. They're American and Turkish, and they come from a Turkish background. The American government looks at us all the same. I was told this many times by consular visits. They would tell me, We look at you all this same. But the Turkish government looks at dual citizens, a citizen who's also a citizen of Turkey, [and] they'll say, You're a Turk, so the United States should not be intervening or interfering in any way in this case, because you're a Turkish citizen.

So I think that's the main issue. It's not an issue that the United States government gave more importance to me. We were at the State Department yesterday and Secretary of State [Mike] Pompeo said very clearly  that they still continue to work to get the other Americans released. So from the U.S. government side, they're committed to continue to work on this. The main issue has been that [the other prisoners] are also Turkish citizens, and so the Turkish government evaluates them differently.



Norine Brunson: This is what we think. This is what we think.



Q: Is there anything you'd like to add?

Norine Brunson: No. I mean, we pray for them too, for their spouses. It's a very difficult situation.

Andrew Brunson: I would like to say  we've said in a number of interviews  that we love Turkey, and this is true. We love the Turkish people, but we want to clarify what this means.

Obviously, we love Turkish food. We lived in Turkey for many years, and we love many things about the culture. But when we say we love Turkey and the Turkish people, what we especially mean by that is that God loves the Turkish people, and he gave us some of his love that he has for the Turkish people and put it in our hearts.

So it's not just that we're enamored of Turkish culture, although we love and have lived in it. We're talking about a different kind of love  the love of God that is in our hearts for the Turkish people. So we say we love Turkey in spite of what we've been through, and it was a very difficult two years for our family. We can say God loves Turkey and we love Turkey.
Cesar Sayoc, the man arrested in the nationwide mail-bomb scare targeting prominent Democratic political figures, has a long criminal history and is known on social media for posting inflammatory comments against leading Democrats.



Sayoc, 56, of Aventura, Florida, faces five federal crimes, including mailing explosives and threatening former presidents. He faces up to 48 years in prison if found guilty, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said.



Sayoc was previously known to law enforcement officials and has been arrested nearly a dozen times in Florida, including a 2002 arrest for making a bomb threat. His first arrest in the state was at age 29 for larceny. Other charges against Sayoc  an amateur body builder and former stripper  included grand theft, fraud and illegal possession of steroids.



Social media profiles that apparently belonged to Sayoc contain posts attacking political foes of President Donald Trump. Florida voter records show he first registered to vote in 2016 as a Republican. Video posted on social media appears to show him at Trump rallies.



His online profiles show he engaged in name-calling and promoted online conspiracy theories. On a Twitter account that appeared to be belong to him, he called mass Florida school shooting survivor David Hogg a "fake phony."



Sayoc even retweeted the false claim that German Chancellor Angela Merkel had been conceived using Adolph Hitler's frozen sperm.



After FBI agents arrested Sayoc Friday in Plantation, Florida, they hauled away Sayoc's white van. Media reports show images of the van plastered with pro-Trump stickers, American flags, and images of Democratic figures with red crosshairs over their faces.



Sayoc appeared to be living in the van and was seen bathing regularly at a local fitness center or at the beach.



His political awakening appears to have coincided with Trump's run for the presidency. Records show Sayoc has voted early since registering to vote in March 2016.



Documents released by the Broward County, Florida Sheriff's Office show Sayoc reported in May 2015 that more than $40,000 worth of goods were stolen from his fan and an attached trailer, including 11 pieces of Donald Trump-branded clothing valued at more than $7,000. The report shows detectives were not able to confirm whether the theft actually occurred.



A friend and former co-worker of Sayoc's, Justin Humberger, told VOA that "every conversation you ever get into with Cesar, it comes around to politics." He described Sayoc's political leanings as "very pro-Trump," but said he did not display any violent tendencies.



Humberger said he previously worked with Sayoc in a male dancing business over two years ago. He said Sayoc served as a tour manager for himself and two other male dancers and said the group drove hundreds of miles to venues across the country and often slept in Sayocs van.



Humberger said Sayoc could not fix his own van so it was not surprising to him that the bombs his former tour manager is suspected of making did not detonate.



He was a kind of strong personality, Humberger said, but added he never saw Sayoc be violent. He said in recent months Sayoc wanted to get out of the entertainment industry and hoped to get involved in an industry that wasnt associated with alcohol.

Sayoc also delivered pizza in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. His employer Debra Gureghian said he worked night hours only because of the politically charged images on his van.



When Sayoc discovered Gureghian was a lesbian, he told her he would go to "an island with the blacks, the Jews, the gays, the lesbians, the transgenders, and that he would nuke the island."



Records show Sayoc had a history of financial problems and filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012. Court records from the bankruptcy filing show Sayoc lived with his mother at the time and owned no furniture.



The lawyer who represented Sayoc in the 2002 bomb threat case, Ronald Lowy, described his former client as "a confused man who had trouble controlling his emotions."



Sayoc told Lowy his father was Native American. More recently, Sayoc described himself on social media as being associated with the Seminole Warriors boxing club and a member of the "Unconquered Seminole Tribe."



Seminole Tribe of Florida spokesman Gart Bitner said there is no evidence he worked for the tribe or was a tribal member.



Sayoc's cousin, Lenny Altieri, who told Associated Press Sayoc "is a lunatic," said Sayoc's only connection to Native Americans was that he once dated a member of a Native American tribe.



Sayoc was born in New York City. Altieri said Sayoc's mother was Italian and his biological father was Filipino. His parents separated when he was a young boy and was subsequently "kind of rejected" by his family, Altieri said.



After attending two colleges in North Carolina in the 1980s without graduating, Sayoc moved to the Miami, Florida suburbs in the late 1980s.



Sayoc is the only person arrested in connection with the mailings of at least a dozen suspicious packages sent to political and media figures, including former president Barack Obama, former vice president Joe Biden and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
Several people were arrested Friday in Zimbabwe's second largest city, Bulawayo, where a Commission of Inquiry into the killing of at least six people in Harare by the members of the armed forces soon after the July elections, was holding a meeting with residents. (Video: Annastacia Ndlovu)
A man yelling "all Jews must die" burst into a Pittsburgh synagogue during Sabbath services Saturday, shooting indiscriminately and killing congregants in the latest mass shooting in the United States.

Officials have not released the total number of dead, but local media reports in Pennsylvania said as many as eight people were killed inside the Tree of Life Synagogue.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation took the lead in the investigation, "as this falls under a hate crime, Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich told reporters near the synagogue. He described the shootings as "one of the worst crimes I've ever seen."

Hissrich said six people were wounded, including four police officers.

Media reports identifed the suspect in custody as Robert Bowers, 48, from just south of Pittsburgh. He was taken to a hospital for treatment of undisclosed injuries, authorities said.

Social media posts apparently made by Bowers indicated hatred of Jews. One message stated: "I can't wait while my people are getting slaughtered ... I'm going in."

President Donald Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews, Md., he would make a full statement about the attack during his afternoon speech in Indianapolis to the Future Farmers of America.

"When people do this, they should get the penalty," said the president, prior to boarding Air Force One. "They should very much bring the death penalty into vogue."

If the synagogue "had an armed guard inside, they might have been able to stop him immediately," Trump added. "They had a maniac walk in and they didn't have any protection."

Asked whether all houses of worship in America now need armed guards, Trump responded "it's certainly an option" in a "world with a lot of problems."

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf issued a statement calling the shooting "an absolute tragedy." He said he had spoken with local leaders and would provide resources to help law enforcement and first responders with the crisis.

"These senseless acts of violence are not who we are as Americans," he said.

"I was heartbroken and appalled by the murderous attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue today," said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who graduated from high school in Pennsylvania.

Several Sabbath services and a circumcision ceremony for an infant, attended by dozens of worshipers on three levels of the building, were underway in the predominately Jewish neighborhood of Squirrel Hill at 9:30 a.m. local time when the first shots were fired, congregants said.

Tree of Life traces its roots to the beginning of organized Judaism in Pittsburgh in the mid-1860s and has occupied its current building since 1946.

VOAs Marissa Melton contributed to this report.
VOA Studio 7 reporter Annahstacia Ndlovu being heckled by suspected Zanu PF youth outside the venue where the Kgalema Motlanthe Commission of Inquiry was gathering people's views in Bulawayo, Friday, on the killing of civilians by the army in Harare in August this year.
Local bomb technicians showed WAAY 31 how they react when called to a scene where explosives could be putting lives in danger.

On Friday, federal agents announce the arrest of Cesar Sayoc. Agents say he's the man who sent a dozen pipe bombs to prominent democrats this week.

Huntsville Police's Bomb Squad said it wears the same suits as the technicians all across the United States who intercepted the bombs that were sent this week. Their suits aren't the only equipment that they said are used.

The technicians also demonstrated how they use their robot to intercept possible bombs, and it's just like the robots used in New York, Delaware, Washington D.C. , Florida and California this week. It costs about $250,000, but has made the process not only safer, but also more effective.

"The train of thought is different than it was 20 years ago where it was, 'destroy it, make it gone and everything is safe.' Now, we are moving towards, 'we need to make it safe but preserve as much evidence as possible,'" said Jason Clarke, a bomb tech.

Clarke says they've gotten bulletins all week about what to look for.

"We take things out of the media...the current things and actually build them ourselves and train on them just in case something like that was to make its way to Huntsville," Clarke said.

These experts tell us from what they've seen from the suspicious packages, the bombs likely wouldn't be able to hurt anyone.

The Huntsville Bomb Squad responds to calls in ten different counties in north Alabama. They said they have enough equipment and personnel to responsible to multiple calls at once.
Chad Green, 49, of Athens was arrested by the Limestone County Sheriff's Office on charges of breaking into the concession stand at the Clemens High School field twice.

Green first broke into the stand on October 8 and again on October 23. On each occasion, he's accused of taking around $200 worth of food. The cost of the damages to the concession stand has not been determined yet.

He became a suspect when someone anonymously identified Green as the burglar after viewing footage of the incidents. Green confessed to both burglaries during an interview, saying that he was hungry.

He is charged with two counts of burglary 3rd degree, and is being held in the Limestone County Jail on a $5,000 bond.
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World wine production is expected to jump 12 percent this year, a rebound from the bad weather that sent 2017's output slumping to the lowest in more than two decades, the Paris-based International Organization of Vine & Wine said Friday. Global wine production is expected to climb to 282 million hectoliters in 2018, an increase equivalent to about 4.1 billion bottles. Output recovered for top producers Italy, France and Spain, the group said. Italy is expected to keep its spot as the world's biggest wine producer in 2018, with volumes rising 14 percent to 48.5 million hectoliters. Production in the United States  the world's fourth-biggest wine producer  is expected to rise 2 percent to 23.9 million hectoliters, the OIV said, citing data from the U.S. Agriculture Department.
Casino owner Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam, shot to the top of the list with their $112 million donation to two super PACs that aims to help Republicans retain their hold on Congress. In 2016, the couple gave large sums to anti-Clinton groups and together they have been some of the biggest political givers of the past three elections.
Many times, when we think about losing critical senses  and it is a risk we all face as we age  we envision the ways our world might collapse inward. How instead of seeing 20 feet in front of us, we might be able to see only two inches in front of us, or less. How instead of being able to hear someone shout our name from across the street, we might hear only as whispers, or not at all, words spoken in our faces. How it would feel safer to stay within the same familiar space. What struck me about Cornings company is its aim to expand the world for people who have limited or no use of two senses that many of us couldnt imagine functioning without.
As it happens, the nation did not always appreciate the gifts of Uriah P. Levy, both those he bequeathed to the country and those endowed unto him by his maker. A descendant of Jews who had fled the Inquisition in Portugal to settle in  and help found  Savannah, Ga., Levy confronted anti-Semitism throughout his life.
The Special Victims Unit, which launched last month, was conceptualized and is led by Mina Malik, deputy attorney general for the public safety division. Malik who was a New York prosecutor for more than 16 years, said she had pushed for the unit in the District after seeing the success of similar programs in places including New York.
By September 2017, on the heels of the spike in calls from 2015, the fire department had rolled out a reduced assignment that required fewer resources: three engines, two trucks and two battalion chiefs, according to Donnelly. Its a product, he said at the time, of increased reporting in an era when emergency calls come not just from Metro, but from Twitter-savvy riders and observers who have an awareness of potential risks.
Museum attendees and employees were briefly evacuated from the museum in the 1400 block of Constitution Avenue NW after a grease truck picking up used oil from the restaurant in the museum caught fire, Doug Buchanan, a D.C. fire department spokesman said.
I cant vote for Vangie [Williams], and neither can you, Dorathea Peters told would-be volunteers at an Oct. 1 meeting in Alexandria, referring to the Democrat trying to unseat Rep. Rob Wittman (R) in Virginias 1st District. But there are other things we can do. . . . We want you canvassing, and we want you writing postcards, and we want your money. You only have 35 days to save democracy in this country.
She expressed impatience, for example, with the battles over who should be allowed to use which bathrooms during an interview with The Washington Post in 2016. Theres a lot more at issue in higher education than this particular issue, she said at the time. I mean, come on.
Thousands rally to keep Soros-founded university in Hungary: Thousands rallied in Budapest on behalf of a university founded by U.S. financier George Soros that says it is being forced out of Hungary by the nationalist government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Orban, who thinks European culture is under threat from multiculturalism and migration, has long vilified the liberal Soros, who was born in Hungary and backs a number of causes there. The U.S.-registered Central European University, founded by Soros in 1993, said Thursday that it would switch to enrolling new students in Vienna if it did not get guarantees of academic freedom by Dec. 1.
N. Korea hospital director denies Warmbier was tortured: The director of the hospital in North Korea that treated American student Otto Warmbier, who died last year after detention in the country, has rejected fresh charges that he died as a result of torture. The official Korean Central News Agency quoted the director of the Pyongyang Friendship Hospital as saying recent reports about the fate of the 22-year-old, who died days after he was returned to the United States in a coma, were a "total distortion of the truth." The report added that Warmbier's "health indicators were all normal" at the time of his release and that there should instead be an investigation into the cause of his sudden death after his arrival in the United States. The KCNA report came hours after the Korean service of the Voice of America radio station carried a report on a lawsuit filed by Warmbier's parents alleging that their son was tortured while in detention.
In the grand scheme of things, this is not an important problem. Its not even an important immigration problem. The caravan now numbers less than 4,000, which is a tiny fraction of the hundreds of thousands of people who enter the United States legally and overstay their visas every year. But I dont want to argue any further about the caravan, because thats the point: Like drugs in the Philippines or refugees in Italy, this is an event being used to create fear, anger, division  a distraction. If you are talking about the caravan, you arent talking about U.S. companies suffering from the presidents trade war, or the U.S. government deficit, which is up 17 percent from last year, or the presidents utter failure to provide the health insurance for everybody he promised during the campaign.
Of course, the Trump administration is not just tearing up car efficiency standards but an entire suite of global-warming rules that President Barack Obama approved, including on power plants, oil and gas production, and other industrial activities. Taken together, the impact of these policies on the planets future would have been significant. True, it would not have been nearly enough without commensurate effort on the part of other countries. But U.S. participation in the Paris global-warming agreement, the worlds best chance to get all major polluters moving together to cut emissions, would have helped bring other countries along. And President Trump pulled the United States out of it, too. Once the exit is official, the United States will be the only country in the world not party to the pact. If catastrophic warming materializes, it will be in part because of the ruinous choices the Trump administration has made over the past two years.
But do not be fooled  it has only been lip service. In these midterm elections, with health care at the top of voters concerns and preexisting-condition protections now established law, Republicans are on the defensive and trying to lie their way out of the political hole they have dug. Proving again that he views Americans as clueless rubes, Trump is declaring Republicans the champions of preexisting-condition protections and claiming it is Democrats who are fiendishly scheming to abolish the Obamacare requirement. Never mind that 20 Republican-run states joined a lawsuit to do away with the provision and that McConnell and other Trump Republicans are planning to make another run at repealing Obamacare after the election.
The high stakes in 2018 reflect the consequences of what happened in 2016: the election of Donald Trump as president. Contrary to many wishful forecasts, assuming power did not render Mr. Trump more responsible or temperate, more respectful of long-standing norms or even of the ordinary human feelings of those with whom he interacts at home and abroad. He has used the bully pulpit of the presidency to normalize vulgarity and venom and to divide an already divided nation along lines of race, region, gender and education. He has done repeated violence to the truth, about matters trivial (the size of the crowd at his inauguration) and tragic (the presence of very fine people, on both sides, during last years violence-plagued right-wing demonstrations in Charlottesville). As we have repeatedly emphasized, this is not what a normal president would do. It is not what any decent person would do.
Tolerance for political and religious differences is a non-negotiable part of the social contract in the United States. It is the very core of our national identity, even if it has all too often been honored more in the breach than the observance. We settle our political differences through debate followed by voting. Political terrorism and sectarian bloodletting  these are the sorts of horrors that occur in the Balkans or the Middle East. Not here. Not in the land of the free. Were better than this. Were Americans.
You have to try to be civil with the other side, said Olivia Keenan, 19, who attended the rally with her parents and twin sister. The family viewed themselves as independents, but wanted to hear from Trump. Its going to get to the point where its so polarized that something like bombs are happening.
Its absurd, Kelly said. There is no way we can go back to the Brownback experiment. Sam Brownback pushed these tax cuts through, and even when Kansas was falling apart in front of his face, Brownback wouldnt admit it. Now we have Kris Kobach, who lived through all of that, saying we need to get back there. Thats not living in reality.
As with so much about this president, the tweet was remarkable, if predictable. At a time when the full apparatus of law enforcement at all levels was focused on the threat of political violence, when former high government officials and others were being targeted for attack, when the perpetrator was not publicly known to be in custody, the president could only see it the events through a narrow partisan and personal lens: Whats good or bad for me? He prefers that the news media focuses on the caravan of people moving up from Central America through Mexico.
These are bad people. You cant allow them to dominate what we do, Trump said, referring to perpetrators of attacks like the one on the Pittsburgh synagogue. So, Ill go. Not that I want to go, but I think that I actually, in reverse, have an obligation to go.
Of course, there are questions raised . . . on whether there are people conniving on the sidelines to try to frustrate this, Anwar told The Washington Post in a recent interview at his partys headquarters in Kuala Lumpur. Of course, this is politics. Im aware of some of these measures, but I dont think I am unduly concerned.
But with presidential elections planned for April, and both Afghan and U.S. officials trying to accelerate negotiations with the Taliban, analysts said the violent removal of Raziq had dramatically exposed the weakness of the Afghan state and could add a new element of uncertainty to both situations. He was viewed as a kingmaker in the presidential contest and a bulwark against Taliban aggression in the insurgents onetime stronghold.
Earlier Friday, the Hamas Health Ministry in Gaza said Israeli forces killed six Palestinians involved in the ongoing protests at the border fence. Since March, more than 200 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire, as thousands of Gaza residents make their way to the fence each week to protest the ever-deteriorating humanitarian conditions for the strips 2 million residents and the decade-long land, sea and air blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt.
During his speech, he also called for an end to the war in Yemen but did not address the humanitarian impact of Saudi-led coalition airstrikes that have killed hundreds of civilians, or a coalition blockade that has pushed the nation to the brink of famine. For more than three years, the Saudi-led coalition has been struggling in vain to defeat Iranian-allied Houthi rebels. Various estimates have put the death toll at between 10,000 to 50,000 people with more than 8 million more dependent on emergency food aid to survive.
As far as the prime ministership is concerned, the person who has the majority support in parliament has to be the prime minister, and I have that majority of support, Wickremesinghe said, according to the Associated Press. It is not necessary for us to create a crisis. It is not necessary for the people of the country to suffer.
The government should focus on creating digital town hubs in towns across Waterford as part of new National Broadband Plan, says Irelands domain registry.

IE Domain Registry says Governments priority should be to move away from 100% fibre-optic coverage and instead ensure regional towns with high-growth potential like those in Waterford, can access high-speed broadband.

New research shows that 68% of Irish people feel that their local town high street is not equipped for the digital age, with many pointing to offline businesses and poor broadband

Offline towns are bad business for Ireland Inc: most of Irelands 12.3 billion per annum e-commerce spend is going abroad to international retailers, according to the report.

The National Broadband Plan in its current form remains in limbo following the beginning of an independent audit into the plans future viability, the recent resignation of Denis Naughten TD as Minister for Communications, and the withdrawal of all but one bidder in the tendering process.

IE Domain Registry says that the Government should reassess and reset the National Broadband Plan, prioritising the connection of regional towns with potential for local e-commerce growth and entrepreneurship, rather than 100% fibre-optic coverage for the entirety of Ireland.

David Curtin, Chief Executive of IE Domain Registry, made the comments at Internet Day 2018 in Gorey, Co Wexford. Internet Day is a celebration of the internet and its contribution to society and the economy, hosted annually by IE Domain Registry.

While the long-term goal of linking up every townland and village in Ireland to a fibre-optic broadband network is an admirable goal, and one we should strive to achieve at some point in the future, we must be realistic, said Mr Curtin.

At present, the Government is trying to be everything to everyone all at once, and that approach simply isnt feasible. The delays that have resulted from this approach come at the expense of many regional urban centres that would otherwise have immediately reaped the rewards of a modern digital infrastructure," he added.

By channelling investment into towns with high-growth potential, particularly in terms of revenue generated from e-commerce, citizens, business owners and local government will benefit."

Digital hubs act like magnets for investment. Gorey, IE Domain Registrys first recognised Digital Town, is a superb example of this. The co-working space here, The Hatch Lab, which is powered by high-speed broadband, is home to several European HQs, local entrepreneurs, and remote workers. The Ludgate Hub in Skibbereen, which has a gigabit broadband connection, not only offers space for local entrepreneurs, but even offers its own business start-up fund.

Recent IE Domain Registry research, commissioned ahead of Internet Day 2018, shows that 68% of people in Ireland believe that their local high street is not equipped for the digital age.

When asked why, 36% of people in Munster said that their local shops are not online. 18% of people in the region said their local internet infrastructure is too poor to facilitate online business.

However, 70% in Munster said they would buy more from their local shops if they offered some sort of click-and-collect service that allowed customers to order a product online and pick it up in store.

More than 90% of Irish businesses are micro-businesses, or businesses with fewer than 10 employees, said Mr Curtin.

However, according to our SME Digital Health Index, just 30% of them can take sales orders online. Consumers are not waiting around for them to catch up. Irelands e-commerce economy is worth 12.3 billion per annum, and thats because most of us are buying from international retailers that offer us the goods and the service we want."

In a rapidly globalising, ferociously competitive world, Irelands businesses simply cannot afford to be left behind any longer. We need to focus on making sure that SMEs outside of Dublin and other Irish cities not only meet the needs of local customers, but also have the capabilities to scale internationally and export to customers in foreign markets. A new National Broadband Plan must prioritise this and focus on turning Irelands offline high streets into digital towns.

Over the last four weeks, as part of Internet Day 2018, IE Domain Registry has worked with community organisations and businesses in Gorey to showcase the digital achievements of Gorey and to help develop their digital skills and online presence.

Internet Day was officially celebrated today at an event at the IE Domain Registry Digital Dome in the towns Civic Square.

The event was moderated by broadcaster and businessman Bobby Kerr.
Kerryn Phelps, the likely new member for Wentworth, will push for the revival of the near-defunct Climate Change Authority as part of her efforts to advance action on global warming at a federal level.

Dr Phelps, who appears to hold an unassailable lead of 1783 votes for the seat vacated by former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, said her determination to emphasise cutting carbon emissions and advancing renewable energy was reinforced by a meeting in Sydney on Saturday with ex-Kiribati president Anote Tong.

Anote Tong (left), a former president of Kiribati and now leading advocate for climate action, discussed the issue during a meeting with Kerryn Phelps, the likely new member for Wentworth, on Saturday in Sydney. Credit:Ryan Stuart

Dr Phelps said that while Mr Tong's island nation faced immediate threats from rising sea-levels, the former leader stressed that "sooner or later everyone will be on the frontline" from threats wrought by a warming world.

The independent candidate said it was clear from this month's byelection that climate change - and the lack of federal policies - was among the highest concerns for Wentworth voters.
The mother of a Canberra construction worker killed in a workplace accident has called for a federal taskforce to ensure all recommendations from a recent Senate committee report on industrial deaths are carried out.

Kay Catanzariti, whose son Ben died on a Kingston foreshore construction site in 2012 after he was hit by a concrete-pouring boom, said such a taskforce should be funded by the government for three years to make sure all 34 recommendations are implemented.

Kay Catanzariti, pictured with her husband Barney and holding the jumper her son Ben was wearing when he died on a construction site on the Kingston foreshore. Credit:Fairfax Media

"It's all well and good to have these recommendations, but who is going to fund it and who is going to make sure they're all followed through?" Ms Catanzariti said.

"The government needs to allocate a taskforce team that's solely there to make sure these recommendations are followed through."
An Australian Transport Safety Bureau report has revealed a regional WA flight bound for Perth earlier this year took off with a small tear after the pilots "dismissed an ambiguous warning" before flying, with the tear eventually discovered after the flight had landed.

The final report into the Regional Express (REX) aircraft's May flight was released on Thursday.

Rex is one of WA's main regional airlines. Credit:AP

It found the aircraft was taxiing at Esperance Airport on a scheduled passenger flight to Perth on May 26 about 6.47am when the flight crew received a series of unclear warnings.

The captain and first officer discussed the warnings and saw no visible defects had been detected in the daily walk-around check.
In any event, the rise of the base in political rhetoric is particularly dangerous for the Liberal Party, says Stirton, because, of all modern parties, it demonstrably has no such thing. In Robert Menzies famous words, the Liberal Party was to serve the forgotten people, those not represented by trade unions and those not to be found either in great luxury hotels and the petty gossip of so-called fashionable suburbs. Then prime minister Robert Menzies in 1965. Credit:R. L. Stewart Menzies Liberal Party was to be socially progressive and economically dry, hence Howards rhetoric of the broad church and his effective appeal not only to traditional conservatives but to the so-called Howard battlers. During the recent coup the term base was co-opted by the Liberal Partys conservative wing to mean, says Stirton, those people who agree with me. Or, bluntly, the partys right wing. One Liberal insider described this group this week not as conservative, but as reactionary.

It is not hard to find evidence for Stirtons point. The plotters leader of choice was Peter Dutton, a man best known for articulating the rights various hard lines. In his maiden speech Dutton sought to recast Menzies own words. The fight for a better place in which to live is today made even more difficult for many reasons, not least of which is the fact that the boisterous minority and the politically correct seem to have a disproportionate say in public debate today, he said. The plotters leader of choice was Peter Dutton. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen The silent majority, the forgotten people - or the aspirational voter of our generation, as some like to term them - are fed up with bodies like the Civil Liberties Council and the Refugee Action Collective, and certainly the dictatorship of the trade union movement. Over the years Dutton came to embody the right in his position on asylum seekers and in his vigorous contempt for climate science.

As the faction grew more frustrated with both Turnbulls centrism and his failure to dominate Labor in polling, Duttons champions made plain their claim for the base. Fundamentally  in order to win elections, you have to start by securing your base, and reaching out across the spectrum, to a broad cross-section of the community, but it is very, very difficult to win elections, without your traditional supporters behind you, and that is one of the reasons, that a number of people have come to the conclusion that Peter Dutton is the best man to lead us, the ACT Senator Zed Seselja told ABCs 7.30 program days before the coup. Loading "You can't win an election without your base. It's a called a base for a reason and you build on it with other parts of the community, but you need to listen to your traditional supporters." Seseljas view - and that of his conservative colleagues - held firm even though support for Dutton was demonstrably limited. In an Essential poll conducted in April, Dutton was the preferred choice of Liberal leader of just 3 per cent of respondents, trailing Turnbull on 24 per cent, and Someone Else on 14 per cent. Just 4 per cent of Liberal voters backed him.

Even in the wake of the bloodletting, prominent advocates of a return to a hardline have continued in their advocacy of base politics. Hours after Turnbull narrowly survived the Dutton challenge in August, the conservative commentator Janet Albrechtsen wrote, This is not over. There is unfinished business in the Liberal Party that guarantees another leadership spill. The rising damp of the wets in the party has left the joint with dodgy foundations. Until that is fixed, the Liberal Party will crumble further, unable to define itself, prosecute policy or win an election. She went on to observe that, Turnbull is decidedly more ABC than Sky News. And though he will say speaking with Leigh Sales rather than, say, Paul Murray is all about audience reach, Turnbull should be brave enough and smart enough to reach out to both audiences. Murrays audience is where Turnbull needs to make a mark. When you lose the base, its clear that you have lost your philosophical bearings. Turnbull might be more ABC than Sky News, but so is Australia. While Turnbull was favouring Leigh Sales over Paul Murray, her nightly audience was around 600,000 and his was less than 60,000. A similar gulf can be found between those self-identifying as the Liberal base and the opinions of the broader Australian public. While Tony Abbott opposed gay marriage, 61 per cent of Australians supported it, including 75 per cent of voters in Abbotts own seat. While the hardliners oppose action on climate change to keep faith with what they call the base, 58 per cent of Australians see it is as a critical threat according to a recent Lowy Institute poll, while 84 per cent want the government to focus on renewable energy even if it costs more.

So why are the hardliners defending the base at such political cost? The Liberal Party may have learned the wrong lessons from Tony Abbotts 2013 victory, says John Stirton. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Stirton points to two factors. He believes many may have learned the wrong lessons from Abbotts victory over Kevin Rudd in 2013. While it is understood by many of his supporters in the party to have been a win secured by the maintenance of a conservative hardline, Stirton believes it could also have been due to Abbotts effective communication and clarity in the face of a weak government. Secondly, he believes that many in the parliamentary party are no longer acting in their political self-interest, rather they are wedded to views that are becoming increasingly unpopular, much as parts of the Labor party were during their years in the wilderness. They truly believe that gay marriage is wrong, he says. They would rather be ideologically pure in opposition than compromised in government.

Moderate Liberals have been flagging similar concerns. Senator Dean Smith told Fairfax Media this week he feared that the party risked losing touch with key demographics, particularly young voters. In all this discussion of the base, people have overlooked the fact that with our compulsory voting system we need to win the vote from the centre right, he said. He notes some people appear to have misread the success of US President Donald Trumps rhetorical flamboyance, noting that American politicians do need to narrow cast to their political base simply to motivate them to turn up to the polls. Emulating Trumps style has limited utility in Australia, he says. The political historian Judith Brett sees another trend in play. Like Stirton she believes that the term base is used too loosely, and often as a rhetorical tool to silence dissent. If such a thing did exist, she says, one working reasonable definition of it might be the card-carrying members, those foot soldiers who turn up to polling booths and help the party win elections. Though the major parties are coy about membership it is clear that it has been declining for both parties for many years. She estimates Liberal Party membership to be around 50,000.

This leaves the Labor Party with an advantage, says Brett, because it can turn to the union movement for practical support during elections. In response the Liberal Party has been turning to church groups to fill the gaps. People brought up in the church, says Brett, make ideal political recruits. They are used to joining community events, to offering their time to support a common cause, and to public advocacy. Former prime minister John Howard appealed to traditional conservatives and the so-called Howard battlers. Credit:AAP Professor Marion Maddox, author of God Under Howard, says this trend is clear but hard to quantify. She agrees that there are more practising Christians in the Liberal Party - and in the Labor Party - than in the general population and more again in parliament. This trend, Brett and Maddox note, could be drawing the party to the right and redefining its base. An investigation by Fairfax Media earlier this year found that members of the Mormon church were making a concerted effort to take control of parts of the Victorian Liberal Party machine, securing nearly 13 per cent of key positions within the partys organisational wing, while making up just 0.3 per cent of all Australians.
Jim was a hard-working man who always had a smile for everyone
Manitobas entrepreneur of the year is a cabinetmaker and antique finisher who tears down barns and fashions them into furniture.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 27/10/2018 (1119 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitobas entrepreneur of the year is a cabinetmaker and antique finisher who tears down barns and fashions them into furniture.

Blayne Wyton, 39, of Prairie Barnwood in Morden, was bestowed the Entrepreneur of the Year honour at the Manitoba Business Awards of the Year ceremony Friday night at the Fairmont Hotel. The awards are organized by the Manitoba Chamber of Commerce.

In addition to business, Wyton has provided humanitarian aid to widows and orphans in villages of rural India, including raising funds to build a farm that employs widows there.

Finalists were Hillary Proctor, Leaf Landscaping Inc., Karen Swystun and Fred Loewen of Waterford Global Inc.

Other winners included:

 Outstanding Large Business  SkipTheDishes was founded in 2012 by brothers Chris and Joshua Simair, who left their traditional careers to launch a Prairie tech startup offering Canadians a better way to order restaurant food through online delivery. The founding group also included another Simair brother, Daniel, and two university friends, Jeff Adamson and Andrew Chau. Skip established its Winnipeg headquarters in 2013 and it is one of citys largest private sector employers, with 2,000 employees.

Other finalists were Hylife Ltd. and Westman Communications Group.

 Outstanding Medium Business  Keystone Western Inc., based in Grande Pointe, is a long-distance trucking logistics company. Keystone also offers freight forwarding services, logistics audits, shipment lane costing and carrier optimization across North America.

Other finalists were Vomar Industries Inc. (Tank Traders) and McNally Robinson Booksellers.

 Outstanding Small Business  Sycamore Energy Inc. of Winnipeg is a vertically integrated renewable energy design and installation firm. Its owners have been involved in the renewable energy sector for over 12 years. Sycamore Energy Inc. has over 30 years of residential, commercial and agricultural experience in the areas of solar photovoltaics, electrical, structural, design and sales.

Other finalists were Brockie Donovan Funeral Home & Cremation Services and The Sneath Group in Brandon.

 Lieutenant Governor Awards  Individual  Abdo (Albert) El Tassi is president and CEO of Peerless Garments, and a well-known philanthropist. For more than 45 years, he has worked closely with Department of National Defence staff working on the design and development of specialized garments for the military.

 Lieutenant-Governor Awards  Business  StandardAero, founded in 2011, is one of the aerospace industrys largest independent maintenance, repair and overhaul providers. It employs 1,300 people in Winnipeg and 6,000 worldwide.

 Outstanding Social Enterprise  Manitoba Museum is the provinces largest, not-for-profit heritage and science centre. It holds more than 2.8 million artifacts and specimens, including 27,133 artifacts from the internationally renowned Hudsons Bay Company Museum Collection.

Other finalists were Building Urban Industries for Local Development (BUILD) Inc. and NorWest Co-op Community Health Centre.

 Outstanding Long-term Achievement  Barkman Concrete has been an innovator and industry leader in precast concrete manufacturing. It started as a small septic tank-producing operation in Steinbach and is now a company that offers the most diverse, quality-tested precast product line for residential, commercial, and agricultural applications in Canada.

Other finalists were The North West Company and Triple E Canada Ltd.

Return to Work Award sponsored by Workers Compensation Board  Federated Cooperatives Ltd., Winnipeg Distribution Centre.
It can be brutal raising cattle in Canadas heartland. In the winter, you battle arctic winds and frigid temperatures. And in the summer, there can be scorching heat. But at least then theres usually rain to cool things down and make the grasslands green. This year, there was barely a drop.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 27/10/2018 (1119 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It can be brutal raising cattle in Canadas heartland. In the winter, you battle arctic winds and frigid temperatures. And in the summer, there can be scorching heat. But at least then theres usually rain to cool things down and make the grasslands green. This year, there was barely a drop.

For Larry Maxwell, the unrelenting drought fried his pasture, leaving brown, brittle grass in its wake  useless for grazing. In order to feed his 150-cow herd, hes been trucking in feed from 97 kilometres away thats nearly twice the price it was last year.

Maxwell had planned to keep his herd size stable this year, but the surging costs have already forced him to cull 30 of his animals, bringing him down to 120, and hes probably going to have sell as many as 10 more to raise the funds he needs to feed the rest during the winter freeze.

"This is one of the worst years weve ever had," Maxwell, 60, said by telephone from his ranch in Trochu, Alta. "Thats our main source of income, and it was very hard for us to part with the cows. It was heartbreaking."

Maxwells story is playing out across Canada, the worlds sixth-largest beef exporter. The soaring feed costs mean the national herd, which was already at a 30-year low, is likely going to shrink further. With the harsh conditions of winter approaching, ranchers will probably cull as much as 20 per cent of their herds this year, since animals usually need even more feed during the coldest months, said Charlie Christie, chairman of Alberta Beef Producers.

Canadas cattle industry has suffered one blow after another, starting with an outbreak of mad cow disease more than a decade ago. Thats been followed by drought, floods and labour shortages, driving the national herd down to 12.4 million cattle as of July, the smallest since 1988, government data show.

"Weve been wanting this herd to grow for several years now," said Christie, who moved his animals to a feed yard a month early and has been using canola straw to help supplement feeding. "Were going to see a smaller herd."

Unfortunately for consumers, the increased slaughter is unlikely to dramatically reduce domestic beef prices in the short term as demand remains relatively strong, he said. At the same time, theres been a boom in U.S. meat production, which will also keep global supplies ample.

For Canadas ranchers, the problems intensified this year when swaths of Alberta  the countrys largest beef producer  got less than 60 per cent of normal rainfall throughout much of the crop-growing season.

The dry conditions degraded pasture conditions and sent the price of hay soaring to twice as much as a year earlier. The cost of feed barley in Alberta is near the highest in at least three years, according to data from Winnipeg-based Farmers Advanced Risk Management Co.

As ranchers have been forced to sell more animals, cattle-auction marts opened earlier than they typically do in fall and sales have already been busy, said Brian Lemon, general manager of Manitoba Beef Producers. The number of cows for sale is up more than 10 per cent this year, pushing some cattle prices to the lowest in years, said Brian Perillat, a senior analyst at Calgary-based Canfax, the market analysis division of the Canadian Cattlemens Association.

"Moving forward, we thought wed hopefully reverse the shrinking trend and start to grow," Perillat said by phone.

Instead, "well continue to probably see our slaughter and marketings be above a year ago" as ranchers cull, he said.

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Galit Baram, consul general of Israel based out of Toronto and responsible for Western Canada, made her first visit to Winnipeg this week, meeting with elected officials and members of the Jewish community.

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This article was published 26/10/2018 (1119 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Galit Baram, consul general of Israel based out of Toronto and responsible for Western Canada, made her first visit to Winnipeg this week, meeting with elected officials and members of the Jewish community.

Earlier this year, Canada and Israel completed an updated version of the free trade agreement the two countries originally signed in 1997. In the meantime, trade has more than tripled to $1.7 billion per year in bilateral business.

Supplied Israels Consul General Galit Baram makes first visit to Winnipeg to meet with officials and the Jewish community.

The updated agreement expanded and modernized the deal, producing what the two countries believe to be one of the worlds most liberal trade agreements to date, including clauses recognizing womens rights and gender equality in trade.

Agricultural technology and water management technology are the leading commercial issues on the agenda between Israel and Manitoba.

The two technology sectors are connected in Israel in the countrys efforts to make the "desert bloom," and Manitobas agriculture and water management is often focused on dealing with too much water.

Baram said she was impressed with the strong Jewish community in Winnipeg, noting in particular the strong leadership role the Asper Foundation had in the creation of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

She said one of the duties of Israeli diplomats is to meet with Jewish communities, a role that may be more prominent for diplomats of that country than might be the case for every other country.

"With all due respect to diplomatic and political activity, past a certain point we have to take a step back and leave it to the people themselves to find what interests them," she said. "The Jewish community definitely functions as a bridge between Israel and Canada."

Manitoba and Israel have strong academic connections, in particular between the University of Manitoba and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. There is a growing population of Israelis who are permanent residents in Winnipeg.

"They are highly educated, many who came to Canada to study and some chose to stay here," she said "It is something that is difficult for me to see as an Israeli diplomat because we are a little afraid of a brain drain."

The two countries continue to have excellent relations with each other on the global scene.

Baram said, "Canada continues to be one of Israels strongest allies and staunchest supporter in the international community."

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca
The recent weather and the teases of snow told me last week that year-end is coming into sight. That means we have to talk about year-end tax planning. We will look at a variety of topics over the next two months, but right now lets talk about early withdrawal of RRSPs.

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This article was published 27/10/2018 (1119 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

The recent weather and the teases of snow told me last week that year-end is coming into sight. That means we have to talk about year-end tax planning. We will look at a variety of topics over the next two months, but right now lets talk about early withdrawal of RRSPs.

Taking money out of your RRSP will likely mean paying taxes sooner rather than later, and may also incur penalties on government tax credits and even OAS benefits. With those potential downsides, why even think about taking RRSPs out early?

Well, for some people, paying a little extra tax now will save paying a lot more down the road. Those folks should take a look at the pros and cons of withdrawing some money from RRSPs, before being forced by the government at age 71 to convert to a RRIF or annuity.

To be clear, we only recommend this strategy sparingly, because to me, deferring tax is almost always better than paying it now. But lets take the example of someone who is 60, has stopped working but is not yet drawing a pension, CPP or OAS. Therefore, their taxable income is very low.

If that person was fortunate enough to have significant unregistered investments and/or TFSAs, they would have a lot of flexibility and choices, like tax-free withdrawals from either of those accounts.

However, subject to other situational factors, we might recommend that they start taking CPP, and supplement that with RRSP withdrawals, raising taxable income to at least the point where taxes are payable, typically about $14,000 to $16,000 of taxable income.

If it was a very large RRSP  say $500,000 or more  then paying tax on as much as $31,843 of taxable income might make sense. This is the point at which the combined federal and Manitoba taxes go from 25.8 per cent on the next dollar, to 27.75 per cent.

What are the decision points?

Well, if that $500,000 is earning six per cent in a balanced portfolio, then it will be worth as much as $950,000 when this person reaches age 71. The minimum RRIF withdrawal prescribed by law at that point would be 5.28 per cent, or $50,000 per year.

The analysis involves projecting other expected sources of income at 71  interest and dividends, capital gains, CPP and OAS  to determine if government benefits will be clawed back at that point in the future. The benefits could include the Age (65) Credit, where clawback starts at $36,976 of net income, and OAS, which is clawed back starting at $75,910 of net income.

These credits and benefits are reduced by 15 per cent of the income exceeding the threshold, until the benefit is eliminated completely. So, having income above those thresholds at those ages essentially adds 15 per cent to the normal tax rate at that bracket.

So, paying tax now at 25.8 per cent might be preferable to paying 41 per cent tax at age 65 (the total of income taxes and loss of age credit), or to losing 15 per cent of OAS after age 71, if you are lucky enough to have enough income for that to happen. OAS clawback on top of regular income tax means you are actually taxed at 58 per cent or more.

I would love to run several more examples, but hopefully this gives you a framework to look at your own situation.

We prepare an annual calculation for our clients to confirm our chosen strategy each year, and that is something I recommend that you do.

Everyone loves the immediate tax benefit of contributing to an RRSP. The contribution is used to reduce your taxable income, saving you tax at your marginal tax rate. But remember, this "saving" is really a deferral.

All things being equal, deferring tax is a good thing. If you can earn investment income on the larger pre-tax amount of your RRSP or RRIF, and delay the taxes as long as possible, you will have more money. Even if you pay more dollars of tax on withdrawal, you will still have more left over to spend (or leave to your estate), after paying the taxes.

So, a person who is retired at 60 might be better off withdrawing some amounts from the RRSP, if taxable at 25.8 per cent or 27.75 per cent, in order to decrease future withdrawals taxed at twice that rate.

Employer pension income, pension-splitting opportunities, tax-paid resources like TFSAs or non-registered investments all enter into the picture.

For more reading, I suggest Your Retirement Income Blueprint, by Daryl Diamond, or my book, Managing the Bull, and previous articles Ive written on this topic, available on the Winnipeg Free Press website.

Dollars and Sense is meant as an introduction to this topic and should not in any way be construed as a replacement for personalized professional advice.

David Christianson, BA, CFP, R.F.P., TEP, CIM is recipient of the Fellow of FPSCTM Distinction, and repeatedly named a top 50 financial advisor in Canada. He is a portfolio manager and senior vice-president with Christianson Wealth Advisors at National Bank Financial Wealth Management, and author of the book Managing the Bull  A No-Nonsense Guide to Personal Finance.
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This article was published 27/10/2018 (1119 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When disaster struck, Paul Guyader was your guy.

The friendly firefighter  whose natural leadership ability led him to become Winnipegs deputy fire chief, and later a director at Manitobas Emergency Measures Organization  was the person in charge during fires and floods who helped folks cope.

"When people are in crisis, they want to be heard, they dont want to be told," said friend and colleague Shelley Napier.

Guyader died March 10 at 63 from a sudden illness.

JESSICA BURTNICK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Guyader not only spoke at the launch of Sirens for Life in 2013, he donated blood there, too.

"He always listened, which is a dying art," Napier said. "He made people feel like they mattered."

One occasion in 2011 stands out, she recalled, when Manitoba faced a one-in-300-years flood. Above-average precipitation in western Manitoba and Saskatchewan overwhelmed the Assiniboine River. Guyader was the governments point man at a meeting with members of communities that would be hit hardest.

"We had to deliver the news of how severe the flood was going to be," said Napier, who retired from the EMO in 2017. "He got yelled at and bore the brunt of peoples anger because he was government. He was calm, and answered questions. He wasnt an apologist. He heard them and let them know, Im in this with you. Lets roll up our sleeves and get to work."

The Manitoba Disaster Management Conference board recognized Guyaders contribution to emergency management in the province with a posthumous award. It was presented to his widow, Leslie Guyader, and their two adult daughters, at the annual disaster management conference earlier this month in Winnipeg.

Guyader was a Winnipeg firefighter from 1977 until 2008, when he retired as a platoon chief. He was the officer in charge at many harrowing fires, including a fatal rooming house fire on Elgin Avenue in 2006. He then spent several years with the EMO.

When ice jams and flooding threatened municipalities north of Winnipeg in 2009, he was emergency co-ordinator for the RMs of St. Andrews and West St. Paul.

"We worked in many stressful situations," said Napier, who knew Guyader from his work with the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service, as a councillor in the RM of St. Francois Xavier and as a co-ordinator with the EMO.

Supplied Guyader loved the outdoors and was considered a leader who had a mind like a computer.

"Sometimes, when the stress level got very high, he could bring it down. He could make you laugh... He was a great leader," said Napier. "Theres a big difference between being a leader and being a manager. He made you feel excited about being a part of the team.

"He was quick. He had a mind like a computer, and could go to things and pull out facts but he wasnt a know-it-all," said Napier. "He was very kind to people.

"He was one of those individuals youd work with who put you in your place, but you never felt it was done maliciously."

When Paul Belair took on the job of municipal emergency co-ordinator for the RM of St. Laurent, Guyader offered guidance.

"He had so much knowledge and was so kind," said Belair, who drove with Guyader to check out all the beach-front properties in the community that were affected by the 2011 flood. The last time he saw Guyader was at the annual disaster management conference in Gimli.

"We were talking about an ice storm and having a backup power supply. He gave me some great input on that and, if we did go forward with it, it would save tens of thousands of dollars," said Belair.

"He was a leader and was always the one people were listening to."

WAYNE GLOWACKI / Winnipeg Free Press files Paul Guyader was the Director of Operations, Manitoba EMO in the new mobile Emergency Co-ordination Unit in 2010.

Those leadership qualities likely came from Guyaders upbringing, said Leslie Guyader, who was married to him for 33 years.

Her husband was born in Brussels, Belgium, where his mom and dad, an RCMP officer, were posted. After returning to Canada, Guyader attended the Anglican St. Johns Cathedral Boys School in Selkirk, from the age of 12 to 14.

"He learned a lot about survival and general life skills," his wife said. "There were a lot of activities outdoors and lessons on how to survive on as little as possible."

There, Guyader also cultivated a love of camping, canoeing, snowshoeing and snowmobiling.

"He was always on the move," his wife said. "He never slowed down. If there was nothing to do, hed make something to do."

He was a devoted dad to his two daughters, one of whom is a paramedic with the WFPS. He was a doting "pappy" to his grandchildren, and a guy with a great sense of humour, Leslie Guyader said.

"The best thing about him was he was a family person and community oriented," she said. "He was always willing to lend a hand where he could, and he never shied away from anything difficult. Hed meet it head-on."

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
Employees at the Keeyask Generating Station worksite lodged almost 200 complaints, including bullying, racism, physical violence and sexual misconduct, over a two-year period.

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This article was published 26/10/2018 (1119 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Employees at the Keeyask Generating Station worksite lodged almost 200 complaints, including bullying, racism, physical violence and sexual misconduct, over a two-year period.

About half of the complaints investigated had merit, according to data obtained by the Free Press through a freedom of information request sent to Manitoba Hydro.

Sudhir Sandhu, chief executive officer of the Allied Hydro Council, which covers labour relations at Keeyask, said the number of internal issues is undoubtedly higher, but not everyone reports every incident.

The number of complaints  196 from Sept. 1, 2016 to Aug. 28, 2018  may seem small compared to the size of the workforce, which had 3,771 active hires as of September 2018. Still, Sandhu said: "Every single complaint is one too many."

MANITOBA HYDRO The 695-megawatt Keeyask Generating Station is 725 kilometres north of Winnipeg on the Nelson River, near Gillam, MB.

Sandhu said Indigenous people generally experience more issues than non-racialized groups.

"Cultural issues, historical issues, intergenerational impacts are still being experienced by our Indigenous members, so that tends to be much more of a sensitive issue," he said Friday.

Mandatory Indigenous cultural awareness training for all Keeyask workers has helped, he added.

"Unfortunately, we cannot modify every single individuals behaviour, so we still continue to have issues. But absolutely those (training courses) have had positive impacts."

Minister meets with First Nations Minister of Indigenous and Northern Relations Eileen Clarke Minister of Indigenous and Northern Relations Eileen Clarke has met with the chief and council of Fox Lake Cree Nation in the wake of a Clean Environment Commission report that triggered many emotions for the community. click to read more Minister of Indigenous and Northern Relations Eileen Clarke has met with the chief and council of Fox Lake Cree Nation in the wake of a Clean Environment Commission report that triggered many emotions for the community. She also plans to meet with at least three other First Nations affected by Hydro development: York Factory First Nation, Tataskweyak Cree Nation and War Lake First Nation. During hearings used to gather information for the report, Fox Lake members detailed historical allegations of abuse suffered at the hands of Manitoba Hydro workers and RCMP. Hydro development began in their traditional territory on the lower Nelson River in the 1960s. Fox Lake is also a partner in the Keeyask Generating Station, which is under construction. York Factory and War Lake leaders have spoken out about racism and drug abuse among the workforce at Keeyask. Clarke's office confirmed that a meeting with Fox Lake officials took place and conversations with the three other communities continue. "We encourage the communities to work with the Independent Investigation Unit and the Ontario Provincial Police on their ongoing investigations," the spokesperson wrote in an email, referring to investigations launched after the report was released. "Multiple departments have been involved in discussions (with the communities), including Justice and Crowns, but Indigenous and Northern Relations remains the lead department as we work to build better relationships with northern First Nations." Close

The Allied Hydro Council warned Hydro about the need to foster a safe workplace culture before construction on Keeyask began.

"Weve got a very, very diverse workforce and to try and infuse a culture after all the people come together and expect everything will just organically somehow fall into place, I think its a classic mistake that project environments make in every single instance," Sandhu said. "And once things start to go wrong, it literally is akin to trying to rein in the horses when theyve bolted through the open doors."

Hydro spokesman Bruce Owen said the Crown corporation took steps to ensure a safe and respectful workplace from the planning stages of Keeyask, but did expect there would be complaints.

"Yes, Keeyask recruits workers from all across Canada to create a highly diverse and complex work environment. To be clear, even one instance of discrimination, harassment or abuse is too many," Owen wrote in an email.

The work environment includes 1,787 non-Manitobans (48 per cent of the workforce) and 1,019 workers who self-identify as Indigenous (28 per cent). The number of Indigenous hires increased over the past six months to 1,019 from 978, Hydro said.

Owen said most complaints are resolved through a formal investigation and there have been times when individuals had their Hydro site access immediately suspended pending an investigation. He wouldn't describe what types of complaints were grounds for immediate suspension "as it may identify individuals."

Under Hydro's categorization of the Keeyask workplace complaints, 119 of the 196 reports were founded and 34 of the incidents were resolved informally.

Reports of bullying, intimidation, inappropriate language and abuse of power were among the most common concerns, with 51 incidents.

Other problems ran the gamut from reports of sexual comments or contact being made (22 incidents); to physical contact, violence or threats of violence (41); and allegations of racism (18).

There were 64 "unidentified" complaints, which could relate to camp cleanliness, flight schedules or collective bargaining issues, among other issues, Owen said.

MANITOBA HYDRO Keeyask Generating Station project is expected to cost $8.7 billion and start partial service in October 2020.

The Keeyask Hydropower Limited Partnership, which oversees the project, has four First Nations partners: Fox Lake Cree Nation, York Factory First Nation, Tataskweyak Cree Nation and War Lake First Nation. Many of their members work at Keeyask.

Leaders of the four First Nations didn't return calls Friday.

Hydro said it continues to work with its partners and contractors "to promote a positive and respectful work environment at Keeyask."

The 695-megawatt generating station is 725 kilometres north of Winnipeg on the Nelson River, near Gillam. The project is expected to cost $8.7 billion and start partial service in October 2020.

jessica.botelho@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @_jessbu
The provincial government is showing "ignorance" and doing nothing about high levels of lead detected a decade ago in the Weston and other areas of the city, members of the provincial and federal Liberal party said Saturday.

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This article was published 27/10/2018 (1118 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The provincial government is showing "ignorance" and doing nothing about high levels of lead detected a decade ago in the Weston and other areas of the city, members of the provincial and federal Liberal party said Saturday.

MP Robert-Falcon Ouellette (Winnipeg Centre) and and provincial Liberal leader Dougald Lamont (St. Boniface) came out firing as they stood together outside Weston School calling out the provincial Progressive Conservative government for withholding the results of a report on high levels of lead in soil until after this past summer's byelection and calling for a plan of action to clean things up.

"We do have enough resources and we should have enough accountability within the system to protect our citizens and keep them informed," said Ouellette. "It is really concerning that we haven't informed the citizens about what it is they should be doing. Can their dogs play on the grass? Can their children be outside? If they've closed off this school, what happens if I have a playground in the back of my yard or a sand pit for my children? Are there things they can and can't do? We don't know. We need to inform citizens and they've known about it for an awfully long period of time."

They were referring to a report revealed to the public by media on Sept. 13. The report, completed 10 years ago by the NDP, which did not release the results, showed high levels of lead in the soil in several areas of the city, including Point Douglas, St. Boniface and Weston, and that those levels could be harmful to children.

As they spoke, four of Ouellette's children looked at the playground through a chain-link fence but were unable to play there because the area was closed last month after the information about lead levels was revealed.

Radean Carter of the Winnipeg School Division said the school's playground won't be reopened until the school division receives results from the provinces sustainable development department, which is re-testing the field to determine current lead levels.

"We know lead has a huge impact on children's ability to learn and cognitive ability in the long term, on their health. Parents should be really concerned about this. It's extremely unusual to see a playground closed," Ouellette said. "It's unacceptable that previous governments at the provincial level would play with the health of our citizens in such a way as keeping results hidden from the public."

Lamont said the report was quietly tabled a year ago by the PCs, who are accusing the NDP of a coverup.

The field at Weston School has been closed since a report on high lead levels in the soil was released last month. (Mike Sudoma / Winnipeg Free Press)

"The only thing they've (PCs) done with it (the report) is used it to bash the NDP," Lamont said. "The Pallister government should be going out of its way to educate residents on how to keep themselves safe. They must act now to clean up this mess, but it looks like they are doubling down on the failures of the NDP."

In a statement responding to the Liberal allegations, provincial health minister Cameron Friesen said the Liberals are spreading misinformation about the governments efforts to address soil-testing results.

"It was our government that proactively ordered re-testing at various locations, the results of which will be announced in December after analysis from the lab. It was our government that sent provincial staff to meet with concerned residents, including officials at Weston School, and it was our government that asked the chief provincial public-health officer to review and make recommendations on how to improve the handling and communication of public-health issues. That review is ongoing," Friesen said in the statement.

"Manitobans have the right to expect their provincial government to take action and relay information about public-health issues that affect them. Unlike the NDP, which covered up troubling soil test results for a decade, were meeting that expectation."

Lamont said the Liberals are calling for two points of action.

"We want the provincial government to stand up and inform people of what they should be doing to keep their families safe because that hasn't happened. The other thing is we need a plan and a commitment behind it with dollars to say what are we actually going to do to reduce lead levels and make peoples' neighbourhoods safe," he said.

Manitoba NDP leader Wab Kinew issued a statement saying he has called for a health-risk assessment to test families living in the affected areas to learn about any health issues they may have due to the soil contamination.

"I have also asked the Ombudsman to investigate the Pallister governments failure to publicly report dangerous lead levels in our communities. That investigation is now underway. The premier and his minister owe it to Manitobans to do everything possible to make our communities safe."

Ouellette said he plans to address the issue in the House of Commons with national health minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor.

ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca
Neighbourhood patrols have started in Point Douglas in an effort to curb arson and save lives.

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This article was published 27/10/2018 (1118 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Neighbourhood patrols have started in Point Douglas in an effort to curb arson and save lives.

Sel Burrows, chair of the Point Douglas Residents Committee, said five fires were set in the Point Douglas area in the early hours of Friday in addition to the suspected arson fire at 68 Prince Edward St., which claimed the lives of Maria Klaric and her 11-year-old granddaughter, who lived across the street with her mother, one of Klarics daughters.

"This particular family are just wonderful, salt-of-the-earth people. We just can't understand why their house would be targeted now," Burrows said.

Klaric was the victim of a home invasion a few months ago when a man on meth grabbed her and hauled her into the house, so she had stayed close to home since that happened, he said.

"This is a woman who contributed so much to our community and had two horrible things happen to her. It just makes you sick," Burrows said.

"We've got to come up with some solutions. We've got some guys, volunteering as individuals, walking up and down lanes when they're off work. We're going to try to be vigilant. The community is just trying to think of alternatives."

Police cars guarded the fire scene on Prince Edward Street Saturday, so it's likely police are investigating the deaths as being criminal in nature, Burrows noted. Police arrested a person Friday in connection with the other fires but it isn't known if there is a connection to the fatal blaze.

The fatal house fire at 68 Prince Edward St. in Point Douglas started in the middle of the night.

"Somebody was running around lighting fires in back lanes. Some of them could have been very serious. People got out and put them out, some with home fire extinguishers," Burrows said.

"We've really worked hard at building community and people communicating; this is one of the wonderful things about Point Douglas. So a landlord on Lorne has really good video cameras and he picked up the guy setting the fire in the back lane by (his property), he got ahold of the police and they made an arrest very shortly after. So the arrest has been made for the smaller fires, but there's no indication yet that it's the same person who set the fire where the two people were killed."

Another area resident gave police a video of a man running away when the fire engines were responding to the fatal house fire, he said.

"Basically, all our systems in Point Douglas to try to defend ourselves from this stuff is kicking in to catch somebody after the fact," Burrows said, noting that actions of one person "doing something terrible" is difficult to prevent.

"On the whole, we've beaten the thing, no ratting, no squealing. We call it jail culture. We put a flyer out ever month or two to every house and it talks about being a community and calling," he said, referring to the Point Douglas Powerline and community-watch programs.

"If you're nervous about calling the police, call the Powerline."

Residents working with police have helped curb drug problems in the area and greatly reduced break-ins, he said.

"We haven't figured out how to deal with arson and for some reason, Point Douglas has been victim to more deaths by arson than any other area. What we're asking people to do is just look out your window. If you see something, anything, call us. We'll get the appropriate authorities to take care of it."

A Winnipeg police spokesman said more information about the fires and the investigations would be released on Sunday.

ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca
The newly elected government of Quebec has indicated that it intends to ban civil servants in positions of authority (including police officers and judges) from wearing religious dress or symbols such as the turban or hijab.

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This article was published 27/10/2018 (1119 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

The newly elected government of Quebec has indicated that it intends to ban civil servants in positions of authority (including police officers and judges) from wearing religious dress or symbols such as the turban or hijab.

The new government views the wearing of religious dress by civil servants not as an act of personal religious or cultural expression but instead as a political act  an act of the state  that is incompatible with the requirement that the state remain neutral in matters of religion.

The ban will have the effect of excluding the members of certain religious minorities from civil service jobs. And it will, almost certainly, breach religious freedom under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

At the same time, the government has confirmed that a crucifix will continue to hang in the provincial legislature. The government insists that the crucifix is simply a "heritage object" and "part of our history"and so its presence in the legislature doesnt violate the requirement that the state remain neutral in matters of religion.

Even if this practice breaches religious freedom, the Canadian courts have held that the internal operations of the legislatures in the various provinces are not subject to judicial oversight.

Several European countries have made similar arguments about the crucifix. The Italian government, for example, has justified the hanging of crucifixes in public school classrooms on the grounds that its a symbol of the countrys national identity, its Christian heritage and the civic values of its political community  values that are said to be traceable to Christian doctrine.

Proponents argue its cultural

Proponents say that the crucifix in the legislature serves as a symbol not of Christianity but of a secular community that has been shaped by Christianity. When the province hangs a crucifix in the legislative chamber, it is not favouring or supporting Christianity as the true faith, its simply recognizing the historic and conceptual link between Christian doctrine and the national identity and civic values of the community. Or so goes the argument.

In truth, the civic values of modern liberal democracies like Quebec have other, more obvious precursors.

The Christian heritage argument conflates the plausible claim that certain elements of Christian doctrine made possible the separation of church and state in the West (secularism) with the more problematic claim that tolerance and democracy are Christian values that arose directly or significantly from Christianity  and so may be symbolized by the crucifix.

This link between religion or religious heritage and politics may help to reinforce the core principles of a political community and its connection to its members.

Christian rituals or values may serve as a civil religion that inspires and binds citizens, contributing to a richer or more substantial form of national identity than one that is based simply on a shared commitment to democratic principles.

Not just a side effect

At the same time, the link between Christian morality and national identity or political community serves to exclude the members of some groups. Indeed, it appears that the exclusion of non-Christians or those who dont identify with the Christian tradition is not simply a regrettable side effect of the attempt to bolster civic union and national identity.

The debate about hanging a crucifix in the Quebec legislature is in some ways similar to the debate in the United States over the posting of the Ten Commandments in public buildings.

Supporters of the public display of the Ten Commandments argue that its an important historical document that helped to shape contemporary Western law and society. The identity of the political community, even if now understood in secular terms, is tied to a religious history that ought to be acknowledged.

There is something to this claim  that the political community has a history that its members should know about, if only to understand better their current circumstances.

The problem with this attempt to link the Ten Commandments to the contemporary legal order is that the Commandments do not appear to have had either a unique or even significant role in shaping contemporary Western law.

There seems little doubt that those hoping to post the Ten Commandments in public spaces want to affirm the Commandments truth as Gods law and to link the Christian or Judeo-Christian tradition to the American national identity. They realize, though, that if they dont provide a secular reason for the posting, it will be found to breach the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Nonetheless, the proponents regard the United States as a Christian nation and believe that its public institutions should reflect that, both symbolically and substantively.

The U.S. Supreme Court recognized this as the motive behind the posting of the Ten Commandments when it ruled that the practice was unconstitutional.

The motivation behind the keeping the crucifix in the Quebec legislature, however, seems more complicated.

Anxiety about national identity?

Many of the contemporary supporters of the crucifix in the legislature may believe that it symbolizes the sacrifice of Jesus and Gods mercy and that these spiritual truths should be affirmed in the civic sphere. But it seems clear that support for the practice comes also from those who no longer formally adhere to Catholicism.

The display of the crucifix appears to be a response to a general anxiety about national identity. For many Quebecois, the crucifix may reaffirm the idea of a national culture in the context of a changing population and a perceived challenge to shared values.

The recognition of a link between Christianity and the identity and civic values of the Quebec community may serve to strengthen the civic bond and to create a sense of identity among many Quebecois.

But it seems sadly obvious that this link between Christianity and civic culture also serves to mark off as un-Quebecois the members of some religious groups; to signal that they are not full or proper members of the civic community.

The message is that other religious traditions, and most notably Islam, are incompatible with the provinces civic/secular culture.

The commitment to inclusion and religious neutrality becomes a basis for excluding the members of some religions.

Richard Moon is a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Windsor.

This article was first published at The Conversation Canada: theconversation.com/ca.
HUIXTLA, Mexico  Edith Cruz was sitting at home in central Honduras, scanning Facebook on her phone, when she saw the post about the caravan on a community news page.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 27/10/2018 (1119 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

HUIXTLA, Mexico  Edith Cruz was sitting at home in central Honduras, scanning Facebook on her phone, when she saw the post about the caravan on a community news page.

It was Oct. 12. She and her cousin had just opened a small business selling tortillas when they were confronted by a gang, threatened with death if they didnt hand over half of their profits. She looked at the Facebook post: "An avalanche of Hondurans is preparing to leave in a caravan to the United States. Share this!" Within three hours, her bags were packed.

The question of how the migrant caravan began has wound its way to the American midterm elections. U.S. President Donald Trump and other Republicans have suggested that Democrats paid migrants to begin the journey. As the group continues to grow, the largest such caravan in recent years, its beginnings are being scrutinized: how did more than 5,000 migrants from across Central America find each other?

Although the caravans origin story remains somewhat opaque, the answer from many migrants here is that they had wanted to leave for months or years, and then  in a Facebook post, a television program, a WhatsApp group  they saw an image of the growing group and decided.

"Right away, I knew I would go," said Irma Rosales, 37, from Santa Ana, El Salvador, who saw images of the caravan on television and bought a bus ticket to meet up with the group in Guatemala last week.

"I had been waiting for a way to get north, and then I heard about the caravan," said Ediberto Fuentes, 30, who had fled Honduras for southern Mexico but was stranded for months, without the money to pay for a smuggler to travel to the United States.

"I packed my bag in 30 minutes," said Jose Mejia, 16, from Ocotepeque, Honduras, who heard about the caravan when his friend knocked on his door at 4 a.m. and said simply, "Were going."

On Tuesday, they stopped to rest in the small southern Mexican city of Huixtla, washing their clothes in buckets of water, sending messages to their families from internet cafes, accepting whatever donations local residents were willing to offer. There was word that hundreds more migrants from across Central America, drawn by the endless media coverage, were on their way.

The Honduran government claims that community activists, led by a former legislator named Bartolo Fuentes, were initially behind the group, intending to malign the countrys leaders. The bulk of the migrants here are still from Honduras.

"Theres clear evidence where it began. Bartolo was the person who was in front of the media; he was the face of this event," Alden Rivera Montes, Hondurass ambassador to Mexico, said in an interview.

"They were trying to show Honduras as a failed country, which is totally false," Rivera Montes said.

U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence said in an interview with the Washington Post on Tuesday that Hondurass president told him the caravan was financed by Venezuelas left-wing government. There is no evidence to support that claim.

Fuentes told the Post he was merely helping to connect small groups of would-be migrants who were already planning to travel north. In September, there were posts on Honduran Facebook groups about the plans for the caravan.

"These people who have normally migrated, hidden, day after day, had decided to come together and travel together to protect themselves," Fuentes said.

He said he was in touch with four groups of would-be migrants who were talking on WhatsApp and other social networks  in Tegucigalpa, the capital, as well as La Ceiba, Colon and San Pedro Sula  about the possibility of travelling together.

"They contacted me. They said, We saw what youve written. We want you to tell us how the caravan had gone in March," he said.

Fuentes had a long career as a political activist on the Honduran left. A former student leader who had protested against the U.S.-backed "contra" war to overthrow the neighbouring Nicaraguan government, he was elected to the legislature in 2013 and hosted a radio show about migration called Without Borders. He is a staunch critic of Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez.

A week before the caravan started, Fuentes posted on his Facebook page a flyer about the caravan that read, "We arent going because we want to, violence and poverty is driving us out." It called people to meet at 8 a.m. on Oct. 12 at the San Pedro Sula bus terminal.

"We are going to accompany these people," Fuentes wrote on Facebook on Oct. 5. "We will support them at least for the departure."

The early days of the caravan received a surge of media coverage in Honduras, particularly from HCH, a popular television broadcaster in the country. By the time people started gathering at the bus terminal on Oct. 11 and 12, there were live streams on various Facebook pages. Before Americans had heard about it, the caravan had gone viral in Central America.

"Everyone wants to know who is guilty, who is behind this," said Irineo Mujica, director of Tijuana-based Pueblos Sin Fronteras, which has advocated for this and previous caravans, helping to arrange the routes and other logistics. "But no one has the power to organize this many people. No one can engineer an exodus."

By mid-October, the explosion of media coverage and viral social media posts across Central America prompted an explosion in the number of migrants. Within days of the caravans departure from San Pedro Sula on Oct. 13, almost no one could pin down the groups official origin story. They could cite only the Facebook post or television program that led to their own decision to migrate.

Many of the migrants watched the caravan grow in real time, surprised as the numbers surged.

"When I arrived at the bus terminal (in San Pedro Sula), there were 30 people. A few hours later, there were hundreds," said Jose Vijin, 32, from northwestern Honduras.

Migrant caravans have travelled through Central America for several years, part human rights protest, part effort to guarantee safe passage for Central Americans traversing a dangerous route north. Normally, a Central American migrating to the United States must pay a series of cartel-linked smugglers to make the journey, a sum that can reach more than US$10,000. The caravan offered a relatively safe way to migrate that was basically free of cost.

The last caravan, which left southern Mexico in March, received so much media attention, particularly during its final days, that it appears to have set the groundwork for the current, larger exodus, many migrants said. The current group is exponentially bigger than previous caravans. Hondurans, Guatemalans and Salvadorans who missed their chance this spring decided that this time, they would rush to join the group.

By the time Rosales heard about the caravan in El Salvador, the migrants were already nearing the Guatemala border. Her husband had been murdered a year earlier, she said, and after she reported the crime to the police, the MS-13 threats began naming her.

"I didnt have the money to pay for a coyote, so the caravan was the only way," she said.

After she saw the images of the group on television, she typed "caravana migrante" into Google and saw that the migrants were expected to reach the Guatemala-Mexico border in two days, on Oct. 19. She paid about US$10 for three separate bus tickets, travelling for 16 hours, making it to the border on time to catch the caravan.

Then she bought a Mexican phone card and texted her cousin in Chicago.

"Im coming," she wrote.

 Washington Post
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KAZ Minerals PLC, together with its subsidiaries, engages in mining and processing copper and other metals primarily in Kazakhstan, Russia, and Kyrgyzstan. It operates through Bozshakol, Aktogay, East Region and Bozymchak, and Mining Projects segments. The company operates the Aktogay and Bozshakol open pit copper mines in the east region and Pavlodar region of Kazakhstan; three underground mines in the east region of Kazakhstan; and the Bozymchak copper-gold mine in Kyrgyzstan. It also develops greenfield metal deposits; operates Koksay deposit in Kazakhstan, and the Baimskaya licence area in the Chukotka region of Russia; and produces and sells various by-products, such as gold, silver, molybdenum, and zinc. In addition, the company supplies and distributes heat, water, and electricity; and offers construction, project management, financing, management, sales and logistics, and repairs and maintenance services. The company was formerly known as Kazakhmys PLC and changed its name to KAZ Minerals PLC in October 2014. KAZ Minerals PLC was founded in 1930 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.

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Lloyds Banking Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides a range of banking and financial services in the United Kingdom and internationally. It operates through three segments: Retail; Commercial Banking; and Insurance and Wealth. The Retail segment offers a range of financial service products, including current accounts, savings accounts, mortgages, motor finance, unsecured loans, leasing solutions, credit cards, and other financial services to personal and small business customers. The Commercial Banking segment provides lending, transactional banking, working capital management, risk management, and debt capital market services to small and medium-sized entities, corporates, and financial institutions. The Insurance and Wealth segment offers life, home, and car insurance products; and pension, investment, and wealth management products and services. It also provides digital and mobile banking, and telephone services, as well as advisory services for savings, investments, and planning for retirement. The company offers its products and services under the Lloyds Bank, Halifax, Bank of Scotland, Scottish Widows, MBNA, Schroders Personal Wealth, Black Horse, Lex Autolease, Birmingham Midshires, LDC, IWeb, and Agricultural Mortgage Corporation brands. Lloyds Banking Group plc was founded in 1695 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

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Avient Corp. engages in the business of thermoplastic compounds. It specializes in polymer materials, services, and solutions with operations in specialty polymer formulations, color and additive systems, plastic sheet and packaging solutions and polymer distribution. The firm is also involved in the development and manufacturing of performance enhancing additives, liquid colorants, fluoropolymers and silicone colorants. It operates through the following segments: Color, Additives and Inks; Specialty Engineered Materials; and Distribution. The Color, Additives and Inks segment provides custom color and additive concentrates in solid and liquid form for thermoplastics, dispersions for thermosets, speciality inks, plasticols, and vinyl slush molding solutions. The Specialty Engineered Materials segment makes polymer formulations, services, and solutions for designers, assemblers, and processors of thermoplastic materials. The Distribution segment distributes engineering and commodity grade resins, including PolyOne-produced solutions, principally to the North American, Central American, and Asian markets. The firm's products include polymer distribution, screen printing inks, and thermoplastic elastomers. Its services include IQ design and color services. The company was founded on August 31, 2000 and is headquartered in Avon Lake, OH.

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Too much Chinese is not good for you!
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Ltd., Shanghai Si Fa Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Sinensix & Co., Spinal Modulation LLC, St. Jude Medical, St. Jude Medical AB, St. Jude Medical ATG Inc., St. Jude Medical Argentina S.A., St. Jude Medical Asia Pacific Holdings GK, St. Jude Medical Atrial Fibrillation Division Inc., St. Jude Medical Brasil Ltda., St. Jude Medical Business Services Inc., St. Jude Medical Cardiology Division Inc., St. Jude Medical Colombia Ltda., St. Jude Medical Coordination Center, St. Jude Medical Costa Rica Limitada, St. Jude Medical Europe Inc., St. Jude Medical Export Ges.m.b.H., St. Jude Medical GVA Sarl, St. Jude Medical Holdings B.V., St. Jude Medical India Private Limited, St. Jude Medical International Holding, St. Jude Medical LLC, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings II, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings NT, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings SMI S.a r.l., St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings TC S.a r.l., St. Jude Medical Mexico Business Services S. de R.L. de C.V., St. Jude Medical Middle East DMCC, St. Jude Medical Operations (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., St. Jude Medical Puerto Rico LLC, St. Jude Medical S.C. Inc., St. Jude Medical Systems AB, St. Jude Medical Turkey Medikal Urunler Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Standard Diagnostics Inc., Standing Stone LLC, Swan-Myers Incorporated, TC1 LLC, Tendyne Holdings Inc., Tendyne Medical Inc., Thoratec Delaware LLC, Thoratec Europe Limited, Thoratec LLC, Thoratec Switzerland GmbH, Tobal Products Incorporated, Topera GmbH in Liquidation, Topera Inc., Tremora S.A., Tuenir S.A., TwistDx, UAB Abbott Laboratories, UAB Abbott Medical Lithuania, Union-Madison Realty Company Inc., Unipath Limited (dba Alere International/aka Cranfield), Unipath Management Limited, Unipath Pension Trustee Limited, Veropharm, Veropharm Limited Liability Partnership, Vida Cell Inversiones S.A., Vida Cell S.A., Vivalsol, W&R Pharma Handels GmbH, Western Pharmaceuticals S.A., X Technologies Inc., Yissum Holding Limited, ZonePerfect Nutrition Company, eScreen Canada ULC, eScreen Inc.,      ( ), and Abbott Laboratories Baltics.
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.
The Hershey Co. engages in the manufacture and market of chocolate and sugar confectionery products. The firm operates through the following geographical segments: North America; and International and Other. The North America segment is responsible for the traditional chocolate and non-chocolate confectionery market position of the company, as well as its grocery and snacks market positions, in the United States and Canada. The International and Other segment is the combination of all other operating segments which are not individually material, including those geographic regions where the company operates outside of North America. Its brands include Hershey's, Reese's, and Kisses. The company was founded by Milton S. Hershey in 1894 and is headquartered in Hershey, PA.

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iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF's stock was trading at $158.09 on March 11th, 2020 when COVID-19 reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Since then, IWF shares have increased by 94.8% and is now trading at $307.97.

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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

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Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA engages in the traditional banking businesses of retail banking, asset management, private banking, and wholesale banking. It operates through the following segments: Spain, the United States, Mexico, Turkey, South America, and Rest of Eurasia. The Spain segment includes mainly the banking and insurance business that the group carries out in Spain. The United States segment consists of the financial business activity of BBVA USA in the country and the activity of the branch of BBVA SA in New York. The Mexico segment refers to banking and insurance businesses in this country as well as the activity of its branch in Houston. The Turkey segment reports the activity of Garanti BBVA group that is mainly carried out in this country and, to a lesser extent, in Romania and the Netherlands. The South America segment comprises of operations in n Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. The Rest of Eurasia segment includes the banking business activity carried out by the group in Europe and Asia, excluding Spain. The company was founded in 1857 and is headquartered in Madrid, Spain.

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Truist Financial Corp. operates as a financial holding company, which engages in the provision of banking services to individuals, businesses and municipalities. The firm offers a variety of loans and lease financing to individuals and entities, including insurance premium financing, permanent commercial real estate financing arrangements, loan servicing for third-party investors, direct consumer finance loans to individuals, credit card lending, automobile financing and equipment financing. It also markets a range of other services, including deposits, life insurance, property and casualty insurance, health Truist Financial Corp. operates as a financial holding company. It engages in the provision of banking services to individuals, businesses and municipalities. The company operates through the following segments: Consumer Banking and Wealth; Corporate and Commercial Banking; and Insurance Holdings. The firm offers a variety of loans and lease financing to individuals and entities, including insurance premium financing, permanent commercial real estate financing arrangements, loan servicing for third-party investors, direct consumer finance loans to individuals, credit card lending, automobile financing and equipment financing. It also markets a range of other services, including deposits, life insurance, property and casualty insurance, health insurance and commercial general liability insurance on an agency basis and through a wholesale insurance brokerage operation, merchant services, trust and retirement services, comprehensive wealth advisory services, asset management and capital markets services. The company was founded on December 6, 2019 and is headquartered in Charlotte, NC. insurance and commercial general liability insurance on an agency basis and through a wholesale insurance brokerage operation, merchant services, trust and retirement services, comprehensive wealth advisory services, asset management and capital markets services. The company was founded on December 6, 2019 and is headquartered in Charlotte, NC.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Boston Scientific: 34 Biomedical Merger Corp., 9357-1867 Quebec Inc., Acurate Industria e Comercio Ltda., Advanced Bionics, Advanced Stent Technologies, American Medical Systems, American Medical Systems Europe B.V., Apama Medical, Apama Medical Inc., Asthmatx, Atritech, Augmenix, Augmenix Inc., Augmenix K.K., BSC International Medical Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., BSC Medical Device Technology (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., BTG, BTG Australasia Pty Ltd, BTG Europe B.V., BTG IM Holdings Ltd., BTG International (Holdings) Limited, BTG International Asia Limited, BTG International Canada Inc., BTG International Germany GmbH, BTG International Healthcare Inc., BTG International Healthcare LLC, BTG International Healthcare Limited, BTG International Inc., BTG International Limited, BTG Limited, BTG Management Services Limited, BTG Medikal Limited Sirketi, Bard Electrophysiology, Barosense, Biocompatibles Inc., Biocompatibles International Limited, Biocompatibles UK Limited, Boston Scientific (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Boston Scientific (South Africa) Proprietary Limited, Boston Scientific (Thailand) Ltd., Boston Scientific (UK) Limited, Boston Scientific AG, Boston Scientific Argentina S.A., Boston Scientific Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Boston Scientific Benelux NV, Boston Scientific Canada Limited, Boston Scientific Ceska republika s.r.o., Boston Scientific Chile SpA, Boston Scientific Colombia Limitada, Boston Scientific Comercial de Costa Rica BSCR S.R.L., Boston Scientific Far East B.V., Boston Scientific Gesellschaft m.b.H., Boston Scientific Group plc, Boston Scientific Hellas S.A., Boston Scientific Hong Kong Limited, Boston Scientific Iberica S.A., Boston Scientific India Private Limited, Boston Scientific International B.V., Boston Scientific International Finance Limited, Boston Scientific International S.A., Boston Scientific Israel Ltd., Boston Scientific Japan K.K., Boston Scientific Korea Co. Ltd., Boston Scientific Lebanon SAL, Boston Scientific Limited, Boston Scientific Ltd., Boston Scientific Medical Device, Boston Scientific Medical Device Limited, Boston Scientific Medizintechnik GmbH, Boston Scientific Middle East FZ-LLC, Boston Scientific Middle East SAL, Boston Scientific Nederland B.V., Boston Scientific Neuromodulation Corporation, Boston Scientific New Zealand Limited, Boston Scientific Nordic AB, Boston Scientific Peru S.A.C., Boston Scientific Philippines Inc., Boston Scientific Polska Sp. z o.o., Boston Scientific Portugal - Dispositivos Medicos Lda, Boston Scientific Pty Ltd, Boston Scientific Romania S.R.L., Boston Scientific S.A.S., Boston Scientific S.p.A., Boston Scientific Scimed, Boston Scientific Scimed Inc., Boston Scientific Services Private Limited, Boston Scientific TIP Gerecleri Limited Sirketi, Boston Scientific Technology & Engineering Services Private Limited, Boston Scientific Uruguay S.A., Boston Scientific Vietnam Company Limited, Boston Scientific de Costa Rica S.R.L., Boston Scientific de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Boston Scientific del Caribe Inc., Boston Scientific do Brasil Ltda., Bravo Bidco Limited, BridgePoint Medical, Cameron Health, Cardiac Pacemakers Inc., Cardiac Pathways Corp, Catheter Innovations, Claret Medical, Claret Medical Inc., Cosman Medical, Cosman Medical LLC, CryoCor, Cryterion Medical, Cryterion Medical Inc., Cryterion Medical Ireland Limited, EKOS LLC, EMcision, EMcision International Inc., EP Technologies, EP Technologies Inc., Electron Acquisition Corporation, EndoChoice, EndoChoice Holdings Inc., EndoChoice Inc., EndoChoice Innovation Center Ltd., EndoChoice Israel Ltd., Endotex, Enteric Medical Technologies, Galil Medical Inc., Galil Medical Ltd., Galil Medical UK Limited, Guidant, Guidant Delaware Holding Corporation, Guidant Europe NV, Guidant Puerto Rico B.V., Hong Kong Medtech Trading Limited, Intelect Medical, Millipede, Millipede Inc., NXT Merger Corp., Notebook Merger Sub Ltd., Novate Medical Limited, NxThera, NxThera Inc., PT Boston Scientific Indonesia, PneumRx GmbH, PneumRx LLC, PneumRx Liimited, Protherics Medicines Development B.V., Protherics Medicines Development Limited, Protherics UK Limited, Provensis Limited, RMI Acquisition Corp., Remon Medical Technologies, Rhythmia Medical, Robert S. Smith M.D. Inc., Roxwood Medical Inc., SNS Merger Corp, Sadra Medical, Sadra Medical Inc., Securus Medical Group, Securus Medical Group Inc., Special K Merger Corp., StarMedTec, Stream Enterprises LLC, Symetis, Symetis SA, Target Therapeutics, Target Therapeutics Inc., The LumenR Tissue Retractor System, Veniti, Veniti Inc., VertiFlex, Vertiflex Inc., Vessix Vascular, Xlumena, Zuma Investment Pty Ltd, iogyn, nVision Medical, and nVision Medical Corporation.
The following companies are subsidiares of Bristol-Myers Squibb: 1096271 B.C. ULC, 345 Park LLC, A.G. Medical Services P.A., AHI Investment LLC, AbVitro LLC, Abraxis BioScience Australia Pty Ltd., Abraxis BioScience Inc., Abraxis BioScience International Holding Company Inc., Abraxis BioScience LLC, Abraxis BioScience Puerto Rico LLC, Acetylon Pharmaceuticals Inc., Adnexus, Adnexus a Bristol-Myers Squibb R&D Company, Allard Labs Acquisition G.P., Amira Pharmaceuticals, Amira Pharmaceuticals Inc., Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Apothecon LLC, B-MS Generx Unlimited Company, BMS Benelux Holdings B.V., BMS Bermuda Nominees L.L.C., BMS Data Acquisition Company LLC, BMS Forex Company, BMS Holdings Sarl, BMS Holdings Spain S.L., BMS International Insurance Designated Activity Company, BMS Investco SAS, BMS Korea Holdings L.L.C., BMS Latin American Nominees L.L.C., BMS Luxembourg Partners L.L.C., BMS Omega Bermuda Holdings Finance Ltd., BMS Pharmaceutical Korea Limited, BMS Pharmaceuticals Germany Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals International Holdings Netherlands B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Korea Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Mexico Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Netherlands Holdings B.V., BMS Real Estate LLC, BMS Spain Investments LLC, BMS Strategic Portfolio Investments Holdings Inc., Blisa Acquisition G.P., Bristol (Iran) S.A., Bristol Iran Private Company Limited, Bristol Laboratories Inc., Bristol Laboratories International S.A., Bristol Laboratories Medical Information Systems Inc., Bristol-Myers (Andes) L.L.C., Bristol-Myers (Private) Limited, Bristol-Myers Middle East S.A.L., Bristol-Myers Overseas Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb (China) Investment Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (China) Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (Israel) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (NZ) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Proprietary) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (Singapore) Pte. Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Taiwan) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (West Indies) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb A.E., Bristol-Myers Squibb Aktiebolag, Bristol-Myers Squibb Argentina S. R. L., Bristol-Myers Squibb Australia Pty. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Axia Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb B.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb Belgium S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Business Services Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada Co., Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada International Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Delta Company Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Denmark Filial of Bristol-Myers Squibb AB, Bristol-Myers Squibb EMEA Sarl, Bristol-Myers Squibb Egypt LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Epsilon Holdings Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Farmaceutica Ltda., Bristol-Myers Squibb Farmaceutica Portuguesa S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb GesmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb GmbH & Co. KGaA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holding Germany GmbH & Co. KG, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings 2002 Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Germany Verwaltungs GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Ireland Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Pharma Ltd. Liability Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Ilaclari Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb India Pvt. Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb International Company Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb International Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb Investco L.L.C., Bristol-Myers Squibb K.K., Bristol-Myers Squibb Kft., Bristol-Myers Squibb Luxembourg International S.C.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Bristol-Myers Squibb MEA GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb Manufacturing Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Marketing Services S.R.L., Bristol-Myers Squibb Middle East & Africa FZ-LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Norway Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Nutricionales de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb Peru S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma (HK) Ltd, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma (Thailand) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Holding Company LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Ventures Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Polska Sp. z o.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Products SA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Puerto Rico Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb Puerto Rico/Sanofi Pharmaceutical Partnership Puerto Rico, Bristol-Myers Squibb Romania S.R.L., Bristol-Myers Squibb S.A.U., Bristol-Myers Squibb S.r.l., Bristol-Myers Squibb SA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Sanofi Pharmaceuticals Holding Partnership, Bristol-Myers Squibb Sarl, Bristol-Myers Squibb Service Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Services Sp. z o.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Spol. s r.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Theta Finance Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Trustees Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Verwaltungs GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb de Colombia S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb de Costa Rica Sociedad Anonima, Bristol-Myers Squibb de Guatemala S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb/Astrazeneca EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb/Pfizer EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb/Sanofi Pharmaceuticals Partnership, Bristol-Myers de Venezuela S.C.A., CHT I LLC, CHT II LLC, CHT III LLC, CHT IV LLC, CR Finance Company LLC, Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals, Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals Inc., Celem LLC, Celem Ltd., Celgene, Celgene A.B., Celgene AS, Celgene Ab (Finland), Celgene Alpine Investment Co. II LLC, Celgene Alpine Investment Co. III LLC, Celgene Alpine Investment Co. LLC, Celgene ApS, Celgene B.V., Celgene BVBA, Celgene Brasil Produtos Farmaceuticos Ltda., Celgene CAR LLC, Celgene CAR Ltd., Celgene Chemicals Sarl, Celgene China Holdings LLC, Celgene Co., Celgene Corporation, Celgene Distribution B.V., Celgene EngMab GmbH, Celgene Europe B.V., Celgene Europe Limited, Celgene European Investment Company LLC, Celgene Financing Company LLC, Celgene Global Holdings Sarl, Celgene GmbH [Austria], Celgene GmbH [Germany], Celgene GmbH [Switzerland], Celgene Holdings East Corporation, Celgene Holdings II Sarl, Celgene Holdings III Sarl, Celgene Ilac Pazarlama ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Celgene Inc., Celgene International Holdings Corporation, Celgene International II Sarl, Celgene International III Sarl, Celgene International Inc., Celgene International Sarl, Celgene K.K., Celgene Kft., Celgene Limited [Hong Kong], Celgene Limited [Ireland], Celgene Limited [New Zealand], Celgene Limited [Taiwan], Celgene Limited [UK], Celgene Logistics Sarl, Celgene Ltd, Celgene Luxembourg Sarl, Celgene Management Sarl, Celgene NJ Investment Co, Celgene Netherlands B.V., Celgene Netherlands Investment B.V., Celgene Pharmaceutical (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Celgene Pte. Ltd., Celgene Pty Ltd, Celgene Puerto Rico Distribution LLC, Celgene Quanticel Research Inc, Celgene R&D Sarl, Celgene RIVOT LLC, Celgene RIVOT Ltd., Celgene RIVOT SRL, Celgene Receptos Limited, Celgene Receptos Sarl, Celgene Research Incubator At Summit West LLC, Celgene Research S.L.U., Celgene Research and Development Company LLC, Celgene Research and Development I ULC, Celgene Research and Development II LLC, Celgene Research and Investment Company II LLC, Celgene S. de R.L. de C.V., Celgene S.L.U., Celgene S.R.L., Celgene SAS, Celgene Sarl AU, Celgene Sdn Bhd, Celgene Services Sarl, Celgene Sociedade Unipessoal Lda, Celgene Sp. Z.o.o., Celgene Sro [Czech Republic], Celgene Summit Investment Co, Celgene Switzerland Holding Sarl, Celgene Switzerland II LLC, Celgene Switzerland Investment Sarl, Celgene Switzerland LLC, Celgene Switzerland Sarl, Celgene Tri A Holdings Ltd., Celgene Tri Sarl, Celgene UK Distribution Limited, Celgene UK Holdings Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing II Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing III Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing Limited, Celgene d.o.o., Celgene sro [Slovakia], Celmed LLC, Celmed Ltd., ConvaTec Divestiture, Cormorant Pharmaceuticals, Cormorant Pharmaceuticals AB, Crosp Ltd., Delinia Inc., Deuteria Pharmaceuticals Inc., DuPont Pharmaceuticals, E. R. Squibb & Sons Inter-American Corporation, E. R. Squibb & Sons L.L.C., E. R. Squibb & Sons Limited, EWI Corporation, EngMab Sarl, F-star Alpha, FermaVir Pharmaceuticals L.L.C., FermaVir Research L.L.C., Flexus Biosciences, Flexus Biosciences Inc., Forbius, Galecto Biotech, GenPharm International L.L.C., Gloucester Pharmaceuticals LLC, Grove Insurance Company Ltd., Heyden Farmaceutica Portuguesa Limitada, IFM Therapeutics, Impact Biomedicines Inc., Inhibitex, Inhibitex L.L.C., Innate Tumor Immunity Inc., JuMP Holdings LLC, Juno Therapeutics GmbH, Juno Therapeutics Inc., Kosan Biosciences, Kosan Biosciences Incorporated, Linson Investments Limited, Mead Johnson (Manufacturing) Jamaica Limited, Mead Johnson Jamaica Ltd., Medarex, Morris Avenue Investment II LLC, Morris Avenue Investment LLC, MyoKardia, O.o.o. Bristol-Myers Squibb, Oy Bristol-Myers Squibb (Finland) AB, Padlock Therapeutics, Padlock Therapeutics Inc., Pharmion LLC, Princeton Pharmaceutical Products Inc., Receptos LLC, Receptos Services LLC, RedoxTherapies Inc., Route 22 Real Estate Holding Corporation, SPV A Holdings ULC, Seamair Insurance DAC, Signal Pharmaceuticals LLC, Sino-American Shanghai Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited, Societe Francaise de Complements Alimentaires(S.O.F.C.A.), Squibb Middle East S.A., Summit West Celgene LLC, Swords Laboratories, VentiRx Pharmaceuticals Inc., Westwood-Intrafin SA, Westwood-Squibb Pharmaceuticals Inc., X-Body Inc., ZymoGenetics, ZymoGenetics Inc., ZymoGenetics LLC, ZymoGenetics Paymaster LLC, iPierian, and iPierian Inc..
Telecom Italia S.p.A., together with its subsidiaries, provides fixed and mobile telecommunications services in Europe, South America, and the Mediterranean Basin. The company operates through Domestic, Brazil, and Other Operations segments. It offers fixed and mobile voice and Internet, and public telephony services, as well as products managed and developed for individuals and families; and voice, data, and Internet services and products, and information and communications technology solutions for small and medium-size enterprises, small offices/home offices, the public sector, large accounts, and enterprises in the fixed and mobile telecommunications markets. The company also manages and develops a portfolio of regulated and unregulated wholesale services for fixed and mobile telecommunications operators; provision of infrastructure for housing radio transmission equipment of mobile telephone networks; and development, engineering, building, and operation of network infrastructures, information technology (IT), real estate properties, and plant engineering. In addition, it engages in customer care, operating credit support, loyalty, and retention activities; and staff functions and other support activities. Further, the company offers office products and services for IT sector. The company was founded in 1908 and is headquartered in Rome, Italy.

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BT Group plc provides communications services worldwide. Its Consumer segment sells telephones, baby monitors, and Wi-Fi extenders through high street retailers, online BT Shop, and Website BT.com; and offers home phone, copper and fiber broadband, TV, and mobile services in various packages. The company's EE segment offers 2G, 3G, and 4G mobile network services; broadband, fixed-voice, and TV services; and postpaid and prepaid plans, and emergency services network. This segment also sells 4G mobile phones, tablets, connected devices, and mobile broadband devices from various manufacturers. Its Business and Public Sector segment provides fixed voice, mobility, fiber and connectivity, and networked IT services to retailers, utilities, public sector, healthcare, sports, construction, finance, and educational sectors. The company's Global Services segment offers business communications and ICT services comprising BT Connect, BT Security, BT One, BT Contact, BT Compute, BT Advise, and BT for financial markets. This segment serves approximately 5,500 customers in 180 countries. Its Wholesale and Ventures segment enables communications providers and other organizations to provide fixed or mobile phone services. Its ventures provide mass-market services, such as directory enquiries and payphones; and enterprise services comprising BT Fleet and BT Redcare. This segment also provides broadband and Ethernet, voice, hosted communication, mobile virtual network operator, managed solutions, machine-to-machine, roaming, and media services. The company's Openreach segment engages in the provision of services over the local access network; and installation and maintenance of fiber and copper communications networks that connect homes and businesses. The company was formerly known as Newgate Telecommunications Limited and changed its name to BT Group plc in September 2001. BT Group plc was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

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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.

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There is not enough analysis data for Centennial Mining.

5.0 Community Rank

Outperform Votes Centennial Mining has received 57 outperform votes. (Add your outperform vote.)

Underperform Votes Centennial Mining has received 17 underperform votes. (Add your underperform vote.)

Community Sentiment Centennial Mining has received 77.03% outperform votes from our community.

MarketBeat's community ratings are surveys of what our community members think about Centennial Mining and other stocks. Vote Outperform if you believe CTL will outperform the S&P 500 over the long term. Vote Underperform if you believe CTL will underperform the S&P 500 over the long term. You may vote once every thirty days.

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Canadian Utilities Limited and its subsidiaries engage in the electricity, natural gas, and retail energy businesses worldwide. It operates through Utilities, Energy Infrastructure, and Corporate & Other segments. The Utilities segment provides regulated electricity transmission and distribution services in northern and central east Alberta, the Yukon, and the Northwest Territories; and integrated natural gas transmission and distribution services in Alberta, the Lloydminster area of Saskatchewan, and Western Australia. It owns and operates approximately 9,000 kilometers of natural gas pipelines, 16 compressor sites, approximately 3,700 receipt and delivery points, and a salt cavern storage peaking facility located near Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta in Canada. The Energy Infrastructure segment provides electricity generation, natural gas storage, industrial water, and related infrastructure development solutions in Alberta, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, Australia, Mexico, and Chile. The Corporate & Other segment retails electricity and natural gas business in Alberta. The company was incorporated in 1927 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada. Canadian Utilities Limited is a subsidiary of ATCO Ltd.

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Shares of iShares S&P Mid-Cap 400 Value ETF split before market open on Monday, October 19th 2020. The 2-1 split was announced on Friday, September 18th 2020. The newly created shares were issued to shareholders after the market closes on Friday, October 16th 2020. An investor that had 100 shares of iShares S&P Mid-Cap 400 Value ETF stock prior to the split would have 200 shares after the split.
ConocoPhillips engages in the exploration, production, transportation and marketing of crude oil, bitumen, natural gas, natural gas liquids, and liquefied natural gas on a worldwide basis. It operates through the following geographical segments: Alaska; Lower 48; Canada; Europe, Middle East and North Africa; Asia Pacific; and Other International. The Alaska segment primarily explores for produces, transports and markets crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. The Lower 48 segment consists of operations in the U.S. and the Gulf of Mexico. The Canada segment is comprised of oil sands development in the Athabasca Region of northeastern Alberta and a liquids-rich unconventional play in western Canada. The Europe, Middle East and North Africa segment consists of operations and exploration activities in Norway, the United Kingdom and Libya. The Asia Pacific segment has explorations and product operations in China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia. The Other International segment handles exploration activities in Columbia and Argentina. The company was founded in 1875 and is headquartered in Houston, TX.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Sysco: 2234829 Alberta ULC, 2234842 Alberta ULC, A. M. Briggs Inc., A.M. Briggs, Almacen Fiscal Frionet Caldera S.A., Almacen Fiscal Frionet Limon S.A., Appert's Foodservice, Arnotts (Fruit) Limited, Asian Foods, Bahamas Food Holdings Limited, Bahamas Food Services Limited, Brake Bros, Brake Bros Foodservice Ireland Limited, Brake Bros. Foodservice Limited, Brake Bros. Holding I Limited, Brake Bros. Ltd., Brakes Foodservice NI Limited, Buchy Food Service, Buckhead Beef Co., Buckhead Meat & Seafood of Houston Inc., Buckhead Meat Company, Buckhead Meat Midwest Inc., Buckhead Meat of Dallas Inc., Buckhead Meat of Denver Inc., Buckhead Meat of San Antonio LP, Buzztable Inc., CAKE Corporation, Central Seafood Co., Christys Wine & Spirits Limited, Clafra Aktiebolag, Colorado Boxed Beef Co - Specialty meat-cutting division, Corporacion Frionet Sociedad Anonima, Crossgar Foodservice, Crossgar Foodservice Limited, Crown I Enterprises Inc., Cucina Acquisitions (UK) Limited, Cucina Finance (UK) Limited, Cucina French Holdings Limited, Cucina Fresh Finance Limited, Cucina Fresh Investments Limited, Cucina Lux Investments Limited, Curleys Quality Foods Limited (Third Party), Davigel Belgilux S.A., Davigel Espana S.A., Desert Meats & Provisions, Distagro, Doerle Food Service, Doughtie's Foods Inc., Dust Bowl City LLC, Eko Fagel Fisk o mittemellan AB, Enclave Insurance Company, Enclave Parkway Association Inc., Enclave Properties LLC, European Imports, European Imports Inc., Figg Inc., Freedman Meats, Freedman Meats Inc., Freedman-KB Inc., Fresh Direct (UK) Limited, Fresh Direct Group Limited, Fresh Direct Limited, Fresh Holdings Limited, FreshPoint, FreshPoint Arizona Inc., FreshPoint Atlanta Inc., FreshPoint California Inc., FreshPoint Central California Inc., FreshPoint Central Florida Inc., FreshPoint Connecticut LLC, FreshPoint Dallas Inc., FreshPoint Denver Inc., FreshPoint Hawaii LLC, FreshPoint Inc., FreshPoint Las Vegas Inc., FreshPoint North Carolina Inc., FreshPoint North Florida Inc., FreshPoint Oklahoma City LLC, FreshPoint Pompano Real Estate LLC, FreshPoint Puerto Rico LLC, FreshPoint San Francisco Inc., FreshPoint South Florida Inc., FreshPoint South Texas Inc., FreshPoint Southern California Inc., FreshPoint Tomato LLC, FreshPoint Vancouver Ltd., Freshfayre Limited, Fruktservice i Helsingborg AB, GHS Classic Drinks Limited, Gilchrist & Soames Inc., Gilchrist & Soames UK Limited, Guest Packaging LLC, Guest Supply, Guest Supply Asia Limited, Guest Supply Singapore Pte. Ltd., International Food Group, Isakssons Frukt & Gront AB, J & M Wholesale Meats, J. Kings Food Service Professionals, J. Kings Food Service Professionals Inc., Kent Frozen Foods, Les Ateliers Du Gout, Liquid Assets Limited, M&J Seafood Holdings Limited, M&J Seafood Limited, Manchester Mills LLC, Mayca Autoservicio S.A., Mayca Distribuidores S.A., Menigo Foodservice AB, Mitshim Etatu Supply LP, Newport Meat Company, Newport Meat Northern California Inc., Newport Meat Pacific Northwest Inc., Newport Meat Southern California Inc., Newport Meat of Nevada Inc., North Star Holding Corporation, North Star Seafood, North Star Seafood Acquisition Corporation, North Star Seafood LLC, PFS de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Palisades Ranch Inc., Pallas Foods, Pallas Foods Farm Fresh Unlimited Company, Pallas Foods Unlimited Company, Pauleys Produce Limited, Promotora del Servicios S.A. de C.V., Restaurangakdemien AB, Restaurant of Tomorrow Inc., Rohan Viandes Elaboration SAS, SMS Bermuda Holdings, SMS GPC International Limited, SMS GPC International Resources Limited, SMS Global Holdings S.a.r.l., SMS International Resources Ireland Unlimited Company, SMS Lux Holdings LLC, SOTF LLC, SYY Netherlands C.V., SYY Panama S. de R.L., Serca Foodservice, Servicestyckarna I Johannes AB, Servicios Ameriserve S.A. de C.V., Shenzhen Guest Supply Trading Co. Limited, Societe Civile Immobiliere (SCI) Bianchi Montegut, Societe Civile Immobiliere (SCI) De Boiseau, Societe Civile Immobiliere (SCI) De Garcelles, Societe Civile Immobiliere (SCI) J.D. Lanjouan, Societe Civile Immobiliere (SCI) Le Dauphin, Specialty Meat Holdings LLC, Stockflag Limited, Stockholms Fiskauktion AB, Supplies on the Fly, Sysco Albany LLC, Sysco Asian Foods Inc., Sysco Atlanta LLC, Sysco Autoservicio S.A., Sysco Baltimore LLC, Sysco Baraboo LLC, Sysco Bermuda Partners L.P., Sysco Boston LLC, Sysco Canada Holdings S.a.r.l., Sysco Canada Inc., Sysco Central Alabama LLC, Sysco Central California Inc., Sysco Central Florida Inc., Sysco Central Illinois Inc., Sysco Central Pennsylvania LLC, Sysco Charlotte LLC, Sysco Chicago Inc., Sysco Cincinnati LLC, Sysco Cleveland Inc., Sysco Columbia LLC, Sysco Connecticut LLC, Sysco Corporation, Sysco Corporation Director's Deferred Compensation Plan Trust, Sysco Corporation Employee's 401(k) Plan Trust, Sysco Corporation Executive Deferred Compensation Plan Trust, Sysco Corporation Good Government Committee Inc., Sysco Corporation Retirement Trust, Sysco Corporation Supplemental Executive Retirement Trust, Sysco Corporation Supplemental Unemployment Benefits Plan Trust, Sysco Detroit LLC, Sysco Disaster Relief Foundation Inc., Sysco EI VI S. s.r.l., Sysco EU II S.a.r.l., Sysco EU III S.a.r.l., Sysco EU IV Capital Unlimited Company, Sysco EU IV S. s.r.l.., Sysco EU V S. s.r.l., Sysco Eastern Maryland LLC, Sysco Eastern Wisconsin LLC, Sysco Foundation Inc., Sysco France Holding SAS, Sysco France SAS, Sysco George Town II LLC, Sysco George Town Limited S. s.r.l.., Sysco Global Finance LLC, Sysco Global Finance LLP, Sysco Global Holdings B.V., Sysco Global Resources LLC, Sysco Global Services LLC, Sysco Grand Cayman Company, Sysco Grand Cayman II Company, Sysco Grand Cayman III Company, Sysco Grand Rapids LLC, Sysco Guernsey Limited, Sysco Guest Supply Canada Inc., Sysco Guest Supply Europe Goods Wholesalers LLC, Sysco Guest Supply Europe Limited, Sysco Guest Supply LLC, Sysco Gulf Coast LLC, Sysco Hampton Roads Inc., Sysco Hawaii Inc., Sysco Holdings II LLC, Sysco Holdings LLC, Sysco Indianapolis LLC, Sysco International Food Group Inc., Sysco International Inc., Sysco Iowa Inc., Sysco Jackson LLC, Sysco Jacksonville Inc., Sysco Kansas City Inc., Sysco Knoxville LLC, Sysco Labs Europe Limited, Sysco Labs Pvt. Ltd., Sysco Leasing LLC, Sysco Lincoln Inc., Sysco Lincoln Transportation Company Inc., Sysco Long Island LLC, Sysco Los Angeles Inc., Sysco Louisville Inc., Sysco Memphis LLC, Sysco Merchandising and Supply Chain Services Canada Inc., Sysco Merchandising and Supply Chain Services Inc., Sysco Metro New York LLC, Sysco Minnesota Inc., Sysco Montana Inc., Sysco Nashville LLC, Sysco Netherlands Partners LLC, Sysco North Central Florida Inc., Sysco North Dakota Inc., Sysco Northern New England Inc., Sysco Philadelphia LLC, Sysco Pittsburgh LLC, Sysco Portland Inc., Sysco Raleigh LLC, Sysco Resources Services LLC, Sysco Riverside Inc., Sysco Sacramento Inc., Sysco San Diego Inc., Sysco San Francisco Inc., Sysco Seattle Inc., Sysco South Florida Inc., Sysco Southeast Florida LLC, Sysco Spain Holdings SLU, Sysco Spokane Inc., Sysco St. Louis LLC, Sysco Syracuse LLC, Sysco Technologies Cayman Ltd., Sysco Technologies LLC, Sysco UK Holdings Limited, Sysco UK Limited, Sysco UK Partners LLP, Sysco USA I Inc., Sysco USA II LLC, Sysco USA III LLC, Sysco Ventura Inc., Sysco Ventures Inc., Sysco Virginia LLC, Sysco West Coast Florida Inc., Sysco Western Minnesota Inc., The SYGMA Network Inc., Upsys, Victua SAS, Walker Foods Inc., Waugh Foods, and Wild Harvest Limited.
Koninklijke Philips N.V. is the Netherlands-based health technology company. The Company's segments include Personal Health businesses, Diagnosis & Treatment businesses, Connected Care & Health Informatics businesses, HealthTech Other and Legacy Items. The Personal Health businesses segment is engaged in the health continuum, delivering integrated, connected solutions that support healthier lifestyles and those living with chronic disease. The Diagnosis & Treatment businesses segment delivers precision medicine and treatment, and therapy. The Connected Care & Health Informatics businesses segment provides consumers, care givers and clinicians with digital solutions that facilitate care by enabling precision medicine and population health management. The HealthTech Other segment comprises such items, as innovation, emerging businesses, royalties, among others. The Legacy Items segment consists mainly of separation costs, legacy legal items, legacy pension costs, among others.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft: 87 Leonard Development LLC, ABFS I Incorporated, ABS MB Ltd., Acacia (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., Accounting Solutions Holding Company Inc, Alex. Brown Financial Services Incorporated, Alex. Brown Investments Incorporated, Alfred Herrhausen Gesellschaft mbH, Amber Investments S.a r.l., Ambidexter GmbH, Ambidexter GmbH i.L., Argent Incorporated, BHW - Gesellschaft fur Wohnungswirtschaft mbH, BHW Bausparkasse Aktiengesellschaft, BHW Holding GmbH, BHW Kreditservice GmbH, BNA Nominees Pty Limited, BT Globenet Nominees Limited, BTAS Cayman GP, BTD Nominees Pty Limited, Baincor Nominees Pty Limited, Bainpro Nominees Pty Ltd, Baldur Mortgages Limited, Bankers Trust Investments Limited, Barkly Investments Ltd., Bayan Delinquent Loan Recovery 1 (SPV-AMC) Inc, Bayan Delinquent Loan Recovery 1 (SPV-AMC) Inc., Berkshire Mortgage Finance, Betriebs-Center fur Banken AG, Biomass Holdings S.a r.l., Birch (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., Blue Cork Inc, Blue Cork Inc., Borfield Sociedad Anonima, Breaking Wave DB Limited, Cape Acquisition Corp., CapeSuccess Inc., CapeSuccess LLC, Cardales UK Limited, Cardea Real Estate S.r.l., Career Blazers LLC, Career Blazers Management Company Inc, Career Blazers Management Company Inc., Career Blazers Personnel Services Inc, Career Blazers Personnel Services Inc., Career Blazers Personnel Services of Washington D.C. Inc. Washington D.C., Caribbean Resort Holdings Inc, Caribbean Resort Holdings Inc., Carpathian Investments Designated Activity Company, Cathay Advisory (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Cathay Advisory (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Cathay Asset Management Company Limited, Cathay Capital Company (No 2) Limited, Cedar (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., Centennial River 2 Inc., Centennial River Corporation, Chapel Funding, Charlton (Delaware) Inc, China Recovery Fund LLC, China Recovery Fund LLC, Cinda - DB NPL Securitization Trust 2003-1, City Leasing (Thameside) Limited, City Leasing Limited, Consumo S.p.A., Consumo Srl in Liquidazione, Cyrus J. Lawrence Capital Holdings Inc., Cyrus J. Lawrence Capital Holdings Inc., D B Investments (GB) Limited, D&M Turnaround Partners Godo Kaisha, D.B. International Delaware Inc., D.B. International Delaware Inc., DAHOC (UK) Limited (in members' voluntary liquidation), DAHOC Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, DB (Barbados) SRL, DB (Malaysia) Nominee (Asing) Sdn. Bhd., DB (Malaysia) Nominee (Tempatan) Sendirian Berhad, DB (Pacific) Limited, DB (Pacific) Limited New York, DB (Pacific) Limited New York, DB Abalone LLC, DB Alex. Brown Holdings Incorporated, DB Alps Corporation, DB Aotearoa Investments Limited, DB Asia Pacific Holdings Limited (in voluntary liquidation), DB Asset Finance I S.a r.l., DB Asset Finance II S.a r.l., DB Aster II LLC, DB Aster III LLC, DB Aster Inc., DB Aster LLC, DB Beteiligungs-Holding GmbH, DB Boracay LLC, DB Capital Investments Sarl, DB Capital Markets (Deutschland) GmbH, DB Capital Partners Inc., DB Capital Partners Inc., DB Cartera de Inmuebles 1 S.A.U., DB Cartera de Inmuebles 1 S.A.U., DB Chestnut Holdings Limited, DB Commodity Services LLC, DB Consorzio S. Cons. a r. l., DB Corporate Advisory (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., DB Covered Bond S.r.l., DB Credit Investments S.a r.l., DB Delaware Holdings (Europe) Limited, DB Direkt GmbH, DB Elara LLC, DB Energy Commodities Limited (in members' voluntary liquidation), DB Energy Trading LLC, DB Enfield Infrastructure Holdings Limited, DB Equipment Leasing Inc., DB Equipment Leasing Inc., DB Equity Limited, DB Finance (Delaware) LLC, DB Finance (Delaware) LLC, DB Finance International GmbH, DB Ganymede 2006 L.P., DB Global Markets Multi-Strategy Fund I Ltd., DB Global Technology Inc., DB Global Technology Inc., DB Global Technology SRL, DB Group Services (UK) Limited, DB HR Solutions GmbH, DB Holding Fundo de Investimento Multimercado Investimento no Exterior Credito Privado, DB Holdings (New York) Inc., DB Holdings (New York) Inc., DB Holdings (South America) Limited, DB IROC Leasing Corp., DB Immobilienfonds 1 Wieland KG, DB Immobilienfonds 2 KG i.L., DB Immobilienfonds 4 KG i.L., DB Immobilienfonds 5 Wieland KG, DB Impact Investment (GP) Limited, DB Impact Investment Fund I L.P., DB Impact Investment Fund I L.P., DB Industrial Holdings Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, DB Industrial Holdings GmbH, DB Intermezzo LLC, DB International (Asia) Limited, DB International Investments Limited, DB International Trust (Singapore) Limited, DB Investment Managers Inc., DB Investment Managers Inc., DB Investment Partners Inc., DB Investment Partners Inc., DB Investment Resources (US) Corporation, DB Investment Resources Holdings Corp., DB Investment Services GmbH, DB Io LP, DB Litigation Fee LLC, DB London (Investor Services) Nominees Limited, DB Management Support GmbH, DB Managers LLC, DB Municipal Holdings LLC, DB Nexus American Investments (UK) Limited (in members'voluntary liquidation), DB Nexus Investments (UK) Limited (in members' voluntary liquidation), DB Nominees (Hong Kong) Limited, DB Nominees (Singapore) Pte Ltd, DB Omega BTV S.C.S., DB Omega Holdings LLC, DB Omega Ltd., DB Omega S.C.S., DB Operaciones y Servicios Interactivos Agrupacion de Interes Economico, DB Overseas Finance Delaware Inc., DB Overseas Finance Delaware Inc., DB Overseas Holdings Limited, DB PWM, DB Portfolio Southwest Inc., DB Print GmbH, DB Privat- und Firmenkundenbank AG, DB Private Clients Corp., DB Private Wealth Mortgage Ltd., DB RC Holdings LLC, DB Re S.A., DB Service Centre Limited, DB Service Uruguay S.A., DB Services Americas Inc., DB Services Americas Inc., DB Servizi Amministrativi S.r.l., DB Strategic Advisors Inc., DB Strategic Advisors Inc., DB Structured Derivative Products LLC, DB Structured Derivative Products LLC, DB Structured Finance 1 Designated Activity Company, DB Structured Finance 2 Designated Activity Company, DB Structured Holdings Luxembourg S.a r.l., DB Structured Products Inc., DB Structured Products Inc., DB Trustee Services Limited, DB Trustees (Hong Kong) Limited, DB U.S. Financial Markets Holding Corporation, DB UK Bank Limited, DB UK Holdings Limited, DB UK PCAM Holdings Limited, DB USA Core Corporation, DB USA Corporation, DB Valoren S.a r.l., DB Value S.a r.l., DB VersicherungsManager GmbH, DB Vita S.A., DBAB Wall Street LLC, DBAH Capital LLC, DBAH Capital LLC, DBCIBZ1, DBCIBZ2, DBFIC Inc., DBFIC Inc., DBNZ Overseas Investments (No.1) Limited, DBOI Global Services (UK) Limited, DBOI Global Services Private Limited, DBR Investments Co. Limited, DBRE Global Real Estate Management IA Ltd., DBRE Global Real Estate Management IB Ltd., DBRE Global Real Estate Management IB Ltd., DBRE Global Real Estate Management US IB L.L.C., DBRMS4, DBRMSGP1, DBUK PCAM Limited, DBUKH No. 2 Limited, DBUSBZ1 LLC, DBUSBZ1 LLC, DBUSBZ2 S.a r.l., DBUSBZ2 S.a r.l., DBX Advisors LLC, DBX ETF Trust, DBX Strategic Advisors LLC, DBO Vermogensverwertung GmbH, DEBEKO Immobilien GmbH & Co Grundbesitz OHG, DEE Deutsche Erneuerbare Energien GmbH, DEUFRAN Beteiligungs GmbH, DEUKONA Versicherungs-Vermittlungs-GmbH, DEUTSCHE BANK A.S., DG China Clean Tech Partners, DI Deutsche Immobilien Treuhandgesellschaft mbH, DIB-Consult Deutsche Immobilien- und BeteiligungsBeratungsgesellschaft mbH i.L., DISCA Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, DNU Nominees Pty Limited, DSL Portfolio GmbH & Co. KG, DSL Portfolio Verwaltungs GmbH, DTS Nominees Pty Limited, DWS Alternatives France, DWS Alternatives Global Limited, DWS Alternatives GmbH, DWS Asset Management (Korea) Company Limited, DWS Beteiligungs GmbH, DWS CH AG, DWS Distributors Inc., DWS Distributors Inc., DWS Far Eastern Investments Limited, DWS Group GmbH & Co. KGaA, DWS Group Services UK Limited, DWS Grundbesitz GmbH, DWS International GmbH, DWS Investment GmbH, DWS Investment Management Americas Inc., DWS Investment Management Americas Inc., DWS Investment S.A., DWS Investments Australia Limited, DWS Investments Hong Kong Limited, DWS Investments Japan Limited, DWS Investments Shanghai Limited, DWS Investments Singapore Limited, DWS Investments UK Limited, DWS Management GmbH, DWS Real Estate GmbH, DWS Service Company, DWS Trust Company, DWS USA Corporation, De Heng Asset Management Company Limited, De Meng Innovative (Beijing) Consulting Company Limited, DeAM Infrastructure Limited, Deloraine Spain S.L., Delowrezham de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Deposit Solutions, Deutsche (Aotearoa) Capital Holdings New Zealand, Deutsche (Aotearoa) Foreign Investments New Zealand, Deutsche (Mauritius) Limited Port, Deutsche (New Munster) Holdings New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Access Investments Limited, Deutsche Aeolia Power Production Societe Anonyme, Deutsche Alt-A Securities Inc., Deutsche Alt-A Securities Inc., Deutsche Alternative Asset Management (France) SAS, Deutsche Alternative Asset Management (UK) Limited, Deutsche Asia Pacific Holdings Pte Ltd, Deutsche Asset Management (India) Private Limited, Deutsche Asset Management (Japan) Limited, Deutsche Asset Management (Korea) Company Limited, Deutsche Asset Management S.A., Deutsche Asset Management S.G.I.I.C. S.A., Deutsche Australia Limited, Deutsche Bank (Cayman) Limited, Deutsche Bank (Chile), Deutsche Bank (China) Co. Ltd., Deutsche Bank (China) Co. Ltd., Deutsche Bank (Malaysia) Berhad, Deutsche Bank (Suisse) SA, Deutsche Bank (Uruguay) Sociedad Anonima Institucion Financiera Externa, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft, Deutsche Bank Americas Holding Corp., Deutsche Bank Bauspar-Aktiengesellschaft, Deutsche Bank Capital Finance LLC I, Deutsche Bank Capital Finance Trust I, Deutsche Bank Europe GmbH, Deutsche Bank Financial Company, Deutsche Bank Holdings Inc., Deutsche Bank Holdings Inc., Deutsche Bank Insurance Agency Incorporated, Deutsche Bank Insurance Agency of Delaware, Deutsche Bank International Limited, Deutsche Bank Investments (Guernsey) Limited, Deutsche Bank Luxembourg S.A., Deutsche Bank Luxembourg S.A. - Fiduciary Deposits, Deutsche Bank Luxembourg S.A. - Fiduciary Note Programme, Deutsche Bank Mutui S.p.A., Deutsche Bank Mexico S.A. Institucion de Banca Multiple, Deutsche Bank Mexico S.A. Institucion de Banca Multiple, Deutsche Bank National Trust Company, Deutsche Bank National Trust Company Los, Deutsche Bank Nominees (Guernsey) Limited, Deutsche Bank Nominees (Jersey) Limited, Deutsche Bank Polska Spolka Akcyjna, Deutsche Bank Representative Office Nigeria Limited, Deutsche Bank S.A. - Banco Alemao, Deutsche Bank S.A. - Banco Alemao Sao, Deutsche Bank SPEARs/LIFERs Series DBE-8011 Trust, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities Limited, Deutsche Bank Services (Jersey) Limited, Deutsche Bank Sociedad Anonima Espanola, Deutsche Bank Sociedad Anonima Espanola, Deutsche Bank Societa per Azioni, Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, Deutsche Bank Trust Company Delaware, Deutsche Bank Trust Company National Association, Deutsche Bank Trust Company National Association, Deutsche Bank Trust Corporation, Deutsche CIB Centre Private Limited, Deutsche Capital Finance (2000) Limited, Deutsche Capital Hong Kong Limited, Deutsche Capital Management Limited, Deutsche Capital Markets Australia Limited, Deutsche Capital Partners China Limited, Deutsche Cayman Ltd., Deutsche Colombia S.A.S., Deutsche Custody N.V., Deutsche Domus New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Equities India Private Limited, Deutsche Finance Co 1 Pty Limited, Deutsche Finance Co 2 Pty Limited, Deutsche Finance Co 3 Pty Limited, Deutsche Finance Co 4 Pty Limited, Deutsche Finance No. 2 Limited, Deutsche Foras New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Immobilien-Leasing mit beschrankter Haftung, Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Immobilien-Leasing mit beschrankterHaftung, Deutsche Global Markets Limited, Deutsche Group Holdings (SA) Proprietary Limited, Deutsche Group Services Pty Limited, Deutsche Grundbesitz Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Deutsche Grundbesitz Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH i.L., Deutsche Grundbesitz-Anlagegesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Deutsche Holdings (BTI) Limited, Deutsche Holdings (Grand Duchy), Deutsche Holdings (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., Deutsche Holdings (Malta) Ltd., Deutsche Holdings Limited, Deutsche Holdings No. 2 Limited, Deutsche Holdings No. 3 Limited, Deutsche Holdings No. 4 Limited, Deutsche Immobilien Leasing GmbH, Deutsche India Holdings Private Limited, Deutsche International Corporate Services (Ireland) Limited, Deutsche International Corporate Services Limited, Deutsche International Custodial Services Limited, Deutsche Inversiones Dos S.A., Deutsche Inversiones Limitada, Deutsche Investments (Netherlands) N.V., Deutsche Investments India Private Limited, Deutsche Investor Services Private Limited, Deutsche Knowledge Services Pte. Ltd., Deutsche Leasing New York Corp., Deutsche Mandatos S.A., Deutsche Master Funding Corporation, Deutsche Mexico Holdings S.a r.l., Deutsche Morgan Grenfell Group Limited, Deutsche Morgan Grenfell Group Public Limited Company, Deutsche Mortgage & Asset Receiving Corporation, Deutsche Mortgage Securities Inc., Deutsche Mortgage Securities Inc., Deutsche Nederland N.V., Deutsche New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Nominees Limited, Deutsche Oppenheim Family Office AG, Deutsche Overseas Issuance New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Postbank, Deutsche Postbank Finance Center Objekt GmbH, Deutsche Postbank Funding LLC I, Deutsche Postbank Funding LLC II, Deutsche Postbank Funding LLC III, Deutsche Private Asset Management Limited, Deutsche Securities (India) Private Limited, Deutsche Securities (Proprietary) Limited, Deutsche Securities (SA) (Proprietary) Limited, Deutsche Securities Asia Limited, Deutsche Securities Australia Limited, Deutsche Securities Inc., Deutsche Securities Israel Ltd., Deutsche Securities Korea Co., Deutsche Securities Mauritius Limited, Deutsche Securities Menkul Degerler A.S., Deutsche Securities S.A., Deutsche Securities S.A. de C.V. Casa de Bolsa, Deutsche Securities S.A. de C.V. Casa de Bolsa, Deutsche Securities Saudi Arabia, Deutsche Securities SpA, Deutsche Securities Venezuela S.A., Deutsche Securitisation Australia Pty Limited, Deutsche Services Polska Sp. z o.o., Deutsche StiftungsTrust GmbH, Deutsche Strategic Investment Holdings Yugen Kaisha, Deutsche Trust Company Limited Japan, Deutsche Trustee Company Limited, Deutsche Trustee Services (India) Private Limited, Deutsche Trustees Malaysia Berhad, Deutsche Wealth Management S.G.I.I.C. S.A., Deutsches Institut fur Altersvorsorge GmbH, Durian (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., EC EUROPA IMMOBILIEN FONDS NR. 3 GmbH & CO. KG i.I., Elba Finance GmbH, Elizabethan Holdings Limited, Elizabethan Management Limited, Emerald Asset Repackaging Designated Activity Company, Erste Frankfurter Hoist GmbH, European Value Added I (Alternate G.P.) LLP, Exinor SA, FARAMIR Beteiligungs- und Verwaltungs GmbH, FRANKFURT CONSULT GmbH, Fiduciaria Sant' Andrea S.r.L., Finanzberatungsgesellschaft mbH der Deutschen Bank, Franz Urbig- und Oscar Schlitter-Stiftung Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Freddie Mac Class A Taxable Multifamily M Certificates Series M-037, Freddie Mac Class A Taxable Multifamily M Certificates Series M-039, Freddie Mac Class A Taxable Multifamily M Certificates Series M-040, Freddie Mac Class A Taxable Multifamily M Certificates Series M-041, Freddie Mac Class A Taxable Multifamily M Certificates Series M-043, Freddie Mac Class A Taxable Multifamily M Certificates Series M-044, Freddie Mac Class A Taxable Multifamily M Certificates Series M-047, Funfte SAB Treuhand und Verwaltung GmbH & Co. Suhl "Rimbachzentrum" KG, G Finance Holding Corp., G.O. IB-US Management L.L.C., G918 Corp., GAC-HEL Inc., GWC-GAC Corp., Galene S.a r.l., Gemini Technology Services Inc., German American Capital, German American Capital Corporation, Gladyr Spain S.L., Global Markets Fundo de Investimento Multimercado, Global Markets III Fundo de Investimento Multimercado - Credito, Greenwood Properties Corp., Grundstucksgesellschaft Frankfurt Bockenheimer Landstrae GbR, Grundstucksgesellschaft Kerpen-Sindorf Vogelrutherfeld GbR, Grundstucksgesellschaft Leipzig Petersstrae GbR, Grundstucksgesellschaft Wiesbaden Luisenstrae/Kirchgasse GbR, HTB Spezial GmbH & Co. KG, Hollandsche Bank-Unie, IOS Finance EFC S.A., ISTRON Beteiligungs- und Verwaltungs-GmbH, IVAF I Manager S.a r.l., IVAF I Manager S.a r.l., Immobilienfonds Buro-Center Erfurt am Flughafen Bindersleben I GbR, Immobilienfonds Buro-Center Erfurt am Flughafen Bindersleben II GbR, Immobilienfonds Mietwohnhauser Quadrath-Ichendorf GbR, Immobilienfonds Wohn- und Geschaftshaus Koln-Blumenberg V GbR, J R Nominees (Pty) Ltd, Joint Stock Company Deutsche Bank DBU, Jyogashima Godo Kaisha, KEBA Gesellschaft fur interne Services mbH, Kidson Pte Ltd, Konsul Inkasso GmbH, Kradavimd UK Lease Holdings Limited, LA Water Holdings Limited, LAWL Pte. Ltd., Latitude Australia Secured Personal Loans Trust, Leasing Verwaltungsgesellschaft Waltersdorf mbH, Leonardo III Initial GP Limited, Lindsell Finance Limited, London Industrial Leasing Limited, MEF I Manager S. a r.l., MEF I Manager S. a r.l., MHL Reinsurance Ltd., MIT Holdings Inc., MIT Holdings Inc., MPP Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Maher Terminals Holdings (Toronto) Limited, Morgan Grenfell & Company, MortgageIT, MortgageIT Inc., MortgageIT Inc., MortgageIT Securities Corp., Motion Picture Productions One GmbH & Co. KG, NCW Holding Inc., Navegator - SGFTC S.A., Navegator - SGFTC S.A., New 87 Leonard LLC, Nordwestdeutscher Wohnungsbautrager Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, OOO "Deutsche Bank TechCentre", OOO "Deutsche Bank", OPB Verwaltungs- und Beteiligungs-GmbH, OPB Verwaltungs- und Treuhand GmbH, OPB-Holding GmbH, OPB-Nona GmbH, OPB-Oktava GmbH, OPB-Quarta GmbH, OPB-Quinta GmbH, OPB-Septima GmbH, OPPENHEIM Capital Advisory GmbH, OPPENHEIM Flottenfonds V GmbH & Co. KG, OPPENHEIM PRIVATE EQUITY Manager GmbH, OPPENHEIM PRIVATE EQUITY Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, OPS Nominees Pty Limited, OVT Trust 1 GmbH, OVV Beteiligungs GmbH, Opal Funds (Ireland) Public Limited Company, PADUS Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH, PARTS Funding LLC., PB Factoring GmbH, PB Firmenkunden AG, PB International S.A., PB Spezial-Investmentaktiengesellschaft mit Teilgesellschaftsvermogen, PBC Banking Services GmbH, PCC Services GmbH der Deutschen Bank, PT Deutsche Sekuritas Indonesia, PT. Deutsche Verdhana Sekuritas Indonesia, Pan Australian Nominees Pty Ltd, Peruda Leasing Limited, Plantation Bay Inc., Plantation Bay Inc., Postbank Akademie und Service GmbH, Postbank Beteiligungen GmbH, Postbank Direkt GmbH, Postbank Filialvertrieb AG, Postbank Finanzberatung AG, Postbank Immobilien GmbH, Postbank Immobilien und Baumanagement GmbH, Postbank Immobilien und Baumanagement GmbH & Co. Objekt Leipzig KG, Postbank Leasing GmbH, Postbank Service GmbH, Postbank Systems AG, QR Tower 2 LLC, Quantiguous, R.B.M. Nominees Pty Ltd, REO Properties Corporation, RREEF, RREEF America L.L.C., RREEF China REIT Management Limited, RREEF European Value Added I (G.P.) Limited, RREEF Fund Holding Co., RREEF India Advisors Private Limited, RREEF Management L.L.C., RTS Nominees Pty Limited, Reference Capital Investments Limited, RoPro U.S. Holding Inc., RoPro U.S. Holding Inc., Route 28 Receivables LLC, Route 28 Receivables LLC, SAB Real Estate Verwaltungs GmbH, SAGITA Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH, SAPIO Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH, SCUDO Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH i.L., SEDO Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH i.L., SENA Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH & Co. Objekt Kamenz KG, SIFA Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH, SOLIDO Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH, SP Mortgage Trust, SPINO Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH i.L., SPV I Sociedad Anonima Cerrada, SPV II Sociedad Anonima Cerrada, STATOR Heizkraftwerk Frankfurt (Oder) Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Sal. Oppenheim, Sal. Oppenheim Alternative Investments GmbH, Sal. Oppenheim jr. & Cie. AG & Co. Kommanditgesellschaft auf Aktien, Sal. Oppenheim jr. & Cie. Beteiligungs GmbH, Sal. Oppenheim jr. & Cie. Komplementar AG, Sechste Salomon Beteiligungs- und Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Sechste Salomon Beteiligungs- und Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH i.L., Service Company Four Limited, Sharps SP I LLC, Singer Island Tower Suite LLC, Somkid Immobiliare S.r.l., Stelvio Immobiliare S.r.l., Structured Finance Americas LLC, Structured Finance Americas LLC, Swabia 1. Vermogensbesitz-GmbH, Suddeutsche Vermogensverwaltung Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, TAKIR Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH, TELO Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, TEMATIS Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH i.L., TERRUS Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH i.L., TESATUR Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH & Co. Objekt Halle I KG i.L., TESATUR Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH & Co. Objekt Nordhausen I KG i.L., TOSSA Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH, TRIPLA Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH, TRS Aria LLC, TRS Leda LLC, TRS Maple II LTD, TRS Oak II LTD, TRS SVCO LLC, TRS Scorpio LLC, TRS Tupelo II LTD, TRS Venor LLC, TRS Walnut II LTD, Tagus - Sociedade de Titularizacao de Creditos S.A., Tasfiye Halinde Deutsche Securities Menkul Degerler A.S., Tempurrite Leasing Limited, Thai Asset Enforcement and Recovery Asset Management Company Limited, Tianjin Deutsche AM Fund Management Co. Ltd., Treuinvest Service GmbH, Triplereason Limited, UKE Beteiligungs-GmbH, UKE Grundstucksgesellschaft mbH, UKE s.r.o., Ullmann - Esch Grundstucksgesellschaft Kirchnerstrae GbR, Ullmann - Esch Grundstucksverwaltungsgesellschaft Disternich GbR, Ullmann Ullmann Krockow Krockow Esch GbR, VCJ Lease S.a r.l., Vesta Real Estate S.r.l., VOB-ZVD Processing GmbH, WEPLA Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, WEPLABeteiligungsgesellschaftmbH, Wealthspur Investment Ltd., Whale Holdings S.a r.l., World Trading (Delaware) Inc., World Trading(Delaware)Inc., Zumirez Drive LLC, db PBC, and norisbank GmbH.
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.

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Ellie Mae, Inc. provides cloud-based platform for the mortgage finance industry in the United States. It provides Encompass, an enterprise solution that engages in running the business of originating mortgages, including marketing and lead management; loan origination and processing; underwriting; preparation of mortgage applications, disclosure agreements, and closing documents; loan funding and closing; compliance with regulatory and investor requirements; and enterprise management. The company's Encompass Digital Lending Platform helps lenders and investors across their workflow from the prospective customers to the point of loan delivery. In addition, the company provides education and training services; professional and technical support services; and loan product, policy, and guideline data and analytics services. Ellie Mae, Inc. was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Pleasanton, California.

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Spirent Communications plc provides test, assurance, and analytics solutions for devices and networks in the Americas, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. It operates through Networks & Security and Lifecycle Service Assurance segments. The Networks & Security segment provides high-speed Ethernet/IP performance testing for the development and validation of new equipment, networks, and applications for cloud and mobile; consulting services, test tools, methodologies, and security validation solutions; global navigation satellite system (GNSS) simulation products; and positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) solutions, as well as develops test methodologies, tools, and services for virtualized networks and cloud. The Lifecycle Service Assurance segment offers lab-based testing of mobile core networks and cellular and Wi-Fi devices; solutions that reduce the time and cost to turn-up new services, as well as to diagnose, troubleshoot, and resolve issues with production networks and services; and automated test solutions and services for mobile devices and supported voice, video, and location services in the lab or on operational networks. It also offers automated wireless test solutions and methodologies to the wireless industry and communication service providers, as well as chipset, device, network infrastructure, and Wi-Fi equipment vendors. The company was formerly known as Spirent plc and changed its name to Spirent Communications plc in May 2006. Spirent Communications plc was founded in 1936 and is headquartered in Crawley, the United Kingdom.

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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 (WHO). Since then, IJR shares have increased by 89.9% and is now trading at $118.35.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Ingersoll Rand: 211 E. Russell Road LLC, Air-Relief, Belliss & Morcom Brasil, Belliss and Morcom, Boardwalk Enterprises, Charm Merger Sub Inc., CompAir, CompAir (Hankook) Korea Co. Ltd., CompAir Acquisition (No. 2) Ltd., CompAir Acquisition Ltd., CompAir BroomWade Ltd., CompAir Canada, CompAir Finance Ltd., CompAir GmbH, CompAir Holdings Limited, CompAir Holman Ltd, CompAir International Trading (Shanghai) Co Ltd, CompAir Korea Ltd, CompAir South Africa (SA) (Pty) Ltd., CompAir UK Ltd, CompAir USA, Consolidated Distribution Holdings Ltd., DV Systems Inc., Emco Wheaton, Emco Wheaton GmbH Branch, Emco Wheaton Gmbh, Emco Wheaton UK, Emco Wheaton USA Inc, Enza Air Propriety Limited (South Africa), GD Aria Holdings #2 Limited, GD Aria Holdings Limited, GD Aria Investments Limited, GD First UK Ltd, GD German Holdings GmbH, GD German Holdings I Gmbh, GD German Holdings II GmbH, GD German Investments GmbH, GD Global Holdings, GD Global Holdings II, GD Global Holdings UK II Ltd., GD Global Ventures I B.V., GD Global Ventures II B.V., GD Global Ventures III B.V., GD Industrial Products Malaysia SDN. BHD., GD Investment KY, GD UK Finance Ltd., Gardner Denver (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Gardner Denver Austria GmbH, Gardner Denver Bad Neustadt Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Belgium NV, Gardner Denver Brasil Industria E Comercio de Maquinas Ltda., Gardner Denver CZ + SK sro, Gardner Denver Canada Corp, Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments II Ltd., Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments II Ltd. - US Branch, Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments Ltd., Gardner Denver Cyprus Investments Ltd. - US Branch, Gardner Denver Deutschland GmbH, Gardner Denver Engineered Products India Private Limited, Gardner Denver FZE, Gardner Denver Finance II LLC, Gardner Denver Finance Inc & Co KG, Gardner Denver France SA, Gardner Denver France SAS, Gardner Denver Group Services Ltd, Gardner Denver Group Svcs Ltd, Gardner Denver Hoffman, Gardner Denver Holdings, Gardner Denver Holdings Limited, Gardner Denver Hong Kong Investments Limited, Gardner Denver Hong Kong Ltd, Gardner Denver Iberica, Gardner Denver Industries Ltd., Gardner Denver Industries Pty Ltd., Gardner Denver Industries Pty Ltd. Branch, Gardner Denver International, Gardner Denver International Ltd., Gardner Denver Intl Ltd Middle East Regional Rep Office, Gardner Denver Investments, Gardner Denver Italy Holdings S.r.L., Gardner Denver Japan, Gardner Denver Kirchhain Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Korea, Gardner Denver Korea Ltd, Gardner Denver Ltd, Gardner Denver Ltd South Africa, Gardner Denver Ltd., Gardner Denver Ltd. Branch (Ireland), Gardner Denver Machinery (Shanghai) Co, Gardner Denver Machinery (Shanghai) Co., Gardner Denver Nash Brasil Industria E Comercio De Bombas Ltda, Gardner Denver Nash Deutschland GmbH, Gardner Denver Nash LLC, Gardner Denver Nash Machinery Ltd, Gardner Denver Nash Machinery Ltd., Gardner Denver Nederland BV, Gardner Denver Nederland Investments B.V., Gardner Denver Oberdorfer Pumps, Gardner Denver Oy, Gardner Denver Petroleum Pumps, Gardner Denver Polska Sp z.o.o., Gardner Denver Pte Ltd., Gardner Denver S.r.l., Gardner Denver Schopfheim GmbH, Gardner Denver Schopfheim Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver Schweiz AG, Gardner Denver Slovakia, Gardner Denver SudAmerica S.r.l., Gardner Denver Sweden AB, Gardner Denver Taiwan Ltd., Gardner Denver Thomas, Gardner Denver Thomas GmbH, Gardner Denver Thomas Pneumatic Systems (Wuxi) Co., Gardner Denver Thomas Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Gardner Denver UK, Gardner Denver Water Jetting Systems, Garo Dott. Ing. Roberto Gabbioneta S.r.l., Hamworthy Belliss & Morcom, ILMVAC (UK) Ltd., ILS Innovative Labor Systeme, ILS Inovative Laborsysteme GmbH, Indonesia Foreign Trade Representative Office, LeROI, LeRoi International Inc, MP Pumps Inc., Mako Compressors, Nash, Nash Elmo, Oina VV, Oina VV Aktiebolag, Robuschi, Rotary Compression Technologies, Runtech Systems, Runtech Systems (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Runtech Systems Inc., Runtech Systems OY, Shanghai CompAir Compressors Co Ltd, Shanghai Compressors & Blowers Ltd., Syltone, TCM Investments, TIWR Real Estate GmbH & Co. KG, TODO AB, Tamrotor Marine Compressors AS, Thomas Industries, Thomas Industries Inc., Tri-Continent Scientific, Welch Vacuum Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Zinsser Analytic, Zinsser Analytik GmbH, and Zinsser NA.
First BanCorp (Puerto Rico) is a holding company, which engages in the provision of personal, commercial, and corporate banking services through its subsidiaries. It operates through the following segments: Commercial and Corporate Banking, Consumer (Retail) Banking, Mortgage Banking, Treasury and Investments, United States Operations, and Virgin Islands Operations. The Commercial and Corporate Banking segment consists of the company's lending and other services for large customers represented by specialized and middle-market clients and the public sector. The Consumer (Retail) Banking segment includes consumer lending and deposit-taking activities conducted mainly through FirstBank's branch network in Puerto Rico. The Mortgage Banking segment focuses on the origination, sale, and servicing of a variety of residential mortgage loan products and related hedging activities. The Treasury and Investments segment deals with treasury and investment management functions. The United States Operations segment represents all banking activities conducted by FirstBank on the United States mainland. The Virgin Islands Operations segment includes all banking activities conducted by FirstBank in

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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

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'Bridge of Dreams' has finally become a reality Updated: 2018-10-25 05:58 By Daniel de Blocq van Scheltinga(HK Edition)

Daniel de Blocq van Scheltinga points out that the HZMB has demolished an old myth that China was incapable of producing original engineering marvels

It seems not so long ago that many Western observers shared the view that China was incapable of producing its own design, technology or engineering, and merely copied everything from the West. The theory even went around, as published in The New York Times, that copying was an inherent part of Chinese culture and tradition, fostered by the way the written language was learned, namely by spending years memorizing thousands of characters needed to achieve literacy, and copying these, "single-mindedly and unquestioningly". That Western children also needed to copy the letters of the alphabet to learn how to write them seems to have been conveniently forgotten in this theory.

With the opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, surely this idea must be banished to the rubbish bin. The world's longest sea bridge (beating the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge) is an engineering marvel, which has already proven itself to be strong enough to withstand the force of the recent Typhoon Mangkhut. It should also be noted that before this opening the top five longest bridges of any type in the world were all Chinese.

A number of elements made this bridge, which in reality is a combination of a bridge and tunnel, an engineering challenge: For example, the requirement that it be built to last for at least 120 years, combining different Hong Kong, Macao and mainland regulations and standards, having to consider the impact of frequent typhoons, crisscross navigation, airport height restrictions, and the high environmental standards.

The dimensions are by themselves impressive: The whole structure is 55 kilometers long and includes a 29.6-km dual three-lane carriage way in the form of a bridge-cum-tunnel. The HZMB was built with an impressive 420,000 tons of steel, according to one calculation, 60 times the amount of steel used to construct the Eiffel Tower in Paris. President Xi Jinping has called the HZMB "a bridge of dreams, self-confidence, and rejuvenation".

Even though the completion and opening were delayed as with most mega projects, it seems highly appropriate and symbolic that the opening was in the same year that the world celebrates the 40-year anniversary since the reform and opening-up of China was initiated by paramount leader Deng Xiaoping. As we all know today, the proposed changes, which Deng described as "China's second revolution", have resulted in an amazing and unprecedented economic success. In only four decades China has moved from being a very poor nation to becoming an economic superpower with the world's largest foreign reserves, the world's second highest GDP, and the third largest levels of foreign direct investment. As Xi rightly stated at the recent Boao Forum, "Reform and opening-up, China's second revolution, has not only profoundly changed the country but also influenced the whole world".

Four decades ago no one could have imagined China being capable of producing an engineering marvel such as the HZMB, although the idea was first touted by the famous Hong Kong entrepreneur-engineer Gordon Wu Ying-sheung of Hopewell Holdings, 35 years ago. Even then it must have seemed unlikely for many others. Bridge of Dreams is indeed an appropriate name!

It is also symbolic that the HZMB connects Hong Kong with Zhuhai, which was one of the original special economic zones created in the 1980s, following the first one in Shenzhen, all as part of the reform and opening-up. Hong Kong was then a British colony with its own different economic, political and legal systems. It was sometimes presented as the standard that China should aspire to, at least with regard to economic and financial matters. Today the relationship between mother and daughter has changed, and Hong Kong's economy benefits greatly from its unique status within the nation. The new physical connection can be seen as a long-term sign of this symbiotic economic interlinkage.

The HZMB was, as one could have expected, a very expensive infrastructure project. It will slowly but surely repay itself over time. Land transport between Hong Kong and Zhuhai will now take one hour and 15 minutes, instead of the three and a half hours in the past. Residents in Zhuhai and Macao will clearly have more international travel options now that Hong Kong International Airport is only an hour away from them.

And lastly, HZMB connects the three important partners in the Greater Bay Area initiative, Guangdong (nine cities), Macao and Hong Kong, which together are forecast to produce a GDP of $4.62 trillion (HK$36.2 trillion) by 2030 - larger than the Tokyo Bay Area or the New York Bay Area. The HZMB will clearly play a vital role in maintaining the important trade and human interaction necessary to ensure China's strong GDP growth.

The HZMB is a clear symbol of the New China: The old days of copycats are clearly over; it is breaking new ground and setting new standards for the world in many aspects of its economic achievements.

The author is an adviser on China-related matters to both the private and public sectors, and was the first non-Chinese CEO of a Chinese State-owned finance company.

(HK Edition 10/25/2018 page12)
Wells Fargo & Co. is a diversified, community-based financial services company. It is engaged in the provision of banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance. It firm operates through the following segments: Community Banking, Wholesale Banking, Wealth & Investment Management, and Other. The Community Banking segment offers complete line of diversified financial products and services for consumers and small businesses including checking and savings accounts, credit and debit cards, and automobile, student, and small business lending. The Wholesale Banking segment provides financial solutions to businesses across the United States and globally. The Wealth and Investment Management segment includes personalized wealth management, investment and retirement products and services to clients across U.S. based businesses. The Other segment refers to the products of WIM customers served through community banking distribution channels. The company was founded by Henry Wells and William G. Fargo on March 18, 1852 and is headquartered in San Francisco, CA.

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Shares of iShares MSCI Japan ETF reverse split on the morning of Monday, November 7th 2016. The 1-4 reverse split was announced on Friday, October 14th 2016. The number of shares owned by shareholders was adjusted after the closing bell on Friday, November 4th 2016. An investor that had 100 shares of iShares MSCI Japan ETF stock prior to the reverse split would have 25 shares after the split.
iShares MSCI Spain ETF's stock was trading at $22.48 on March 11th, 2020 when COVID-19 reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Since then, EWP stock has increased by 20.8% and is now trading at $27.15.

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North American Construction Group Ltd. provides mining and heavy construction services to the resource development and industrial construction sectors in Canada and the United States The company's Heavy Construction & Mining division offers constructability reviews, budgetary cost estimates, design-build construction, project management, contract mining, pre-stripping/pit pioneering, overburden removal and stockpile, muskeg removal and stockpile, site preparation, air strip construction, site dewatering/perimeter ditching, tailings and process pipelines, haulage and access road construction, tailings dam construction and densification, mechanically stabilized earth walls, dyke construction, and reclamation services. Its Equipment Maintenance Services division provides fuel and lube servicing, portable steaming, equipment inspections, parts and component supply, major overhauls and equipment refurbishment, onsite haul truck brake testing, onsite maintenance support, under carriage rebuild, machining, hose manufacturing, and technical support services, as well as welding, fabrication/repairs, weld certification, and inspection services. As of December 31, 2020, the company had a heavy equipment fleet of 626 units. The company was formerly known as North American Energy Partners Inc. and changed its name to North American Construction Group Ltd. in April 2018. The company was founded in 1953 and is headquartered in Acheson, Canada.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Illinois Tool Works: A V Co 1 Limited, A V Co 2 Limited, A V Co 3 Limited, ACCU-LUBE Manufacturing GmbH - Schmiermittel und -gerate -, AIP/BI Holdings Inc., Accessories Marketing Holding Corp., Advanced Molding Company Inc., Allen Coding GmbH, Allen France SAS, Alpine Automation Limited, Alpine Engineered Products, Alpine Holdings Inc., Alpine Systems Corporation, Anaerobicos S.r.l., AppliChem GmbH, Arylux Hungary Elektromechanikus Alkatreszgyarto Kft, Avery Berkel France, Avery India Limited, Avery Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Avery Weigh Tronix, Avery Weigh-Tronix (Suzhou) Weighing Technology Co. Ltd., Avery Weigh-Tronix Finance Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix Holdings Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix International Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix LLC, Avery Weigh-Tronix Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix Properties Limited, Azon Limited, B.C. Immo, Beijing Miller Electric Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Berkel (Ireland) Limited, Berrington UK, Brapenta Eletronica Ltda., Brooks Instrument (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Brooks Instrument B.V., Brooks Instrument GmbH, Brooks Instrument KFT, Brooks Instrument Korea Ltd., Brooks Instrument LLC, Buell Industries Inc., CAPMAX Logistica S.A. de C.V., CCI Realty Company, CFC Europe GmbH, CS (Australia) Pty Limited, CS (Finance) Europe S.a.r.l., CS Mexico Holding Company S DE RL DE CV, CSMTS LLC, Calvia Spolka z Ograniczona Odpowiedzialnosci, Capital Ventures (Australasia) S.a r.l, Capmax Logistica S.A. de C.V., Celeste Industries Corporation, Coeur, Coeur (Shanghai) Medical Appliance Trading Co. Ltd, Coeur Asia Limited, Coeur Holding Company, Coeur Inc., Compagnie Hobart, Compagnie de Materiel et d'Equipements Techniques-Comet, Constructions Isothermiques Bontami C.I.B., Crane Carrier Company, Despatch Industries, Diagraph Corporation Sdn. Bhd, Diagraph ITW Mexico S. de R.L. De C.V., Diagraph Mexico S.A. DE C.V., Dongguan Ark-Les Electric Components Co. Ltd., Dongguan CK Branding Co. Ltd., Dorbyl U.K. (Holdings) Limited, Duo Fast de Espana S.A.U., Duo-Fast Korea Co. Ltd., Duo-Fast LLC, E.C.S. d.o.o., ECS Cable Protection Sp. Zoo, ELRO (Holding) AG, ELRO Grosskuchen GmbH, ELRO-WERKE AG, Elga Skandinavian AS, Elro Group, Eltex-Elektrostatik-Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Envases Multipac S.A. de C.V., Eurotec Srl, FEG Investments L.L.C., Fasver, Filtertek, Filtertek De Mexico Holding Inc., Filtertek De Mexico S.A. de C.V., GC Financement SA, Gamko B.V., Gun Hwa Platech (Taicang) Co. Ltd., HOBART Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Hartness International, Hobart (Japan) K.K., Hobart Andina S.A.S., Hobart Brothers International Chile Limitada, Hobart Brothers LLC, Hobart Dayton Mexicana S. de R.L. de C.V., Hobart Food Equipment Co. Ltd., Hobart Foster Belgium, Hobart International (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Hobart Korea LLC, Hobart LLC, Hobart Nederland B.V., Hobart Sales & Service Inc., Hobart Scandinavia ApS, Hobart Techniek B.V., Horis, ILC Investments Holdings Inc., ITW (China) Investment Company Limited, ITW (Deutschland) GmbH, ITW (EU) Holdings Ltd., ITW (European) Finance Co. Ltd., ITW (European) Finance II Co. Ltd., ITW (European) Finance III Co. Ltd., ITW (Ningbo) Components & Fastenings Systems Co. Ltd., ITW AEP LLC, ITW AOC LLC, ITW Aircraft Investments Inc., ITW Alpha Sarl, ITW Ampang Industries Philippines Inc., ITW Appliance Components EOOD, ITW Appliance Components S.A. de C.V., ITW Appliance Components S.r.l.a, ITW Appliance Components d.o.o., ITW Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, ITW Australia Property Holdings Pty Ltd., ITW Australia Pty Ltd, ITW Automotive Components (Chongqing) Co. Ltd., ITW Automotive Components (Langfang) Co. Ltd., ITW Automotive Japan K.K., ITW Automotive Korea LLC, ITW Automotive Parts (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, ITW Automotive Products GmbH, ITW Automotive Products Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Bailly Comte, ITW Befestigungssysteme GmbH, ITW Belgium, ITW Brazilian Nominee L.L.C., ITW Building Components Group Inc., ITW CER, ITW CP Distribution Center Holland BV, ITW CS (UK) Ltd., ITW Canada Inc., ITW Celeste Inc., ITW Chemical Products Ltda, ITW Chemical Products Scandinavia ApS, ITW Colombia S.A.S., ITW Construction Products (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., ITW Construction Products (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., ITW Construction Products AB, ITW Construction Products AS, ITW Construction Products ApS, ITW Construction Products CZ s.r.o., ITW Construction Products Italy Srl, ITW Construction Products OU, ITW Construction Products OY, ITW Contamination Control (Wujiang) Co. Ltd., ITW Contamination Control B.V., ITW Covid Security Group Inc., ITW DS Investments Inc., ITW DelFast do Brasil Ltda., ITW Delta Sarl, ITW Denmark ApS, ITW Dynatec, ITW Dynatec Adhesive Equipment (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., ITW Dynatec GmbH, ITW Dynatec Kabushiki Kaisha, ITW EAE B.V., ITW EAE Mexico S de RL de CV, ITW EF&C France SAS, ITW EF&C Selb GmbH, ITW Electronic Business Asia Co. Limited, ITW Electronic Components/Products (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., ITW Electronics (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., ITW Epsilon Sarl, ITW Espana S.A., ITW FEG Hong Kong Limited, ITW FEG do Brasil Industria e Comercio Ltda., ITW Fastener Products GmbH, ITW Finance Designated Activity Company, ITW Finance Europe S.A., ITW Fluids and Hygiene Solutions Ltda., ITW Food Equipment Group LLC, ITW France Finance Alpha S.A.S., ITW GH LLC, ITW GSE ApS, ITW GSE Inc., ITW Gamma Sarl, ITW German Management LLC, ITW Global Investments Holdings LLC, ITW Global Investments Holdings Y Compania Sociedad en Comandita por Acciones, ITW Global Investments II Inc., ITW Global Investments Inc., ITW Global Tire Repair Europe GmbH, ITW Global Tire Repair Inc., ITW Global Tire Repair Japan K.K., ITW Graphics (Thailand) Ltd., ITW Graphics Asia Limited, ITW Graphics Italy S.R.L. in liquidazione, ITW Great Britain Investment & Licensing Holding Company, ITW Group France (Luxembourg) S.ar.l., ITW HLP Thailand Co. Ltd., ITW Holding Quimica B.C. S.L. Sole Shareholder Company, ITW Holdings Australia L.P., ITW Holdings I Limited, ITW Holdings II Limited, ITW Holdings III Limited, ITW Holdings IV Limited, ITW Holdings IX Limited, ITW Holdings Inc., ITW Holdings UK, ITW Holdings V Limited, ITW Holdings VI Limited, ITW Holdings VII Limited, ITW Holdings VIII Limited, ITW Holdings X Limited, ITW Holdings XI Limited, ITW Hungary Finance Beta Kft, ITW ILC Holdings I Inc., ITW IPG Investments LLC, ITW Imaden Industria e Comercio Ltda., ITW India Private Limited, ITW International Holdings LLC, ITW Invest Holding GmbH, ITW Ireland Holdings Unlimited Company, ITW Ireland Unlimited Company, ITW Italy Finance Srl, ITW Italy Holding Srl, ITW Japan Ltd., ITW Korea LLC, ITW LLC & Co. KG, ITW Limited, ITW Lombard Holdings Inc., ITW Lys Fusion S.r.l., ITW M FILMS II LLC, ITW MH LLC, ITW Meritex Sdn. Bhd., ITW Metal Fasteners S.L., ITW Mexico Holding Company S. De R.L. de C.V., ITW Mexico Holdings LLC, ITW Morlock GmbH, ITW Mortgage Investments II Inc., ITW Mortgage Investments III Inc., ITW Mortgage Investments IV Inc., ITW Netherlands Administration BV, ITW Netherlands Beta B.V., ITW Netherlands Finance Alpha BV, ITW New Universal LLC, ITW New Zealand, ITW Novadan Sp. Z.o.o., ITW PPF Brasil Adesivos Ltda., ITW Packaging Technology (China) Co. Ltd., ITW Participations S.a r.l., ITW Pension Funds Trustee Company, ITW Performance Plastic (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids Japan Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids Korea Limited, ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids OOO, ITW Performance Polymers (Wujiang) Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers ApS, ITW Performance Polymers and Fluids Group FZE, ITW Peru S.A.C., ITW Philippines Holdings LLC, ITW Poly Mex S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Polymers Sealants North America Inc., ITW Pronovia s.r.o., ITW Pte. Ltd., ITW Qufu Automotive Cooling Systems Co. Ltd., ITW Real Estate Germany GmbH, ITW Residuals III L.L.C., ITW Residuals IV L.L.C., ITW Rivex, ITW SMPI, ITW SPG Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Simco-Ion (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., ITW Slovakia s.r.o., ITW Spain Holdings S.L., ITW Specialty Film LLC, ITW Specialty Films France, ITW Specialty Materials (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., ITW Spraytec, ITW Sverige AB, ITW Sweden Holding AB, ITW Test & Measurement Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, ITW Test & Measurement GmbH, ITW Test and Measurement Italia Srl, ITW Test and Measurement Services Industry and Trade Ltd., ITW Texwipe Philippines Inc., ITW Thermal Films (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., ITW UK, ITW UK Finance Beta Limited, ITW UK Finance Delta Limited, ITW UK Finance Gamma Limited, ITW UK Finance Limited, ITW UK Finance Zeta Ltd., ITW UK II Limited, ITW Universal II LLC, ITW Welding, ITW Welding AB, ITW Welding GmbH, ITW Welding Products B.V., ITW Welding Products Group FZE, ITW Welding Products Group S. DE R.L. De C.V., ITW Welding Products Italy Srl, ITW Welding Products Limited Liability Company, ITW Welding Produtos Para Solgdagem Ltda., ITW Welding Servicios Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Welding Singapore Pte. Ltd., ITW de France, ITW do Brasil Industrial e Comercial Ltda., Ideal Molding Technologies LLC, Illinois Tool Works (Chile) Limitada, Illinois Tool Works (ITW) Nederland B.V., Illinois Tool Works Norway AS, Impar Comercio E Representacoes Ltda., Industrie Plastic Elsasser GmbH, Inmobiliaria Cit. S.A. de C.F., Innova Temperlite Servicios S.A. de C.V., Innovacion y Transformacion Automotriz S.A. de C.V., Instron (Shanghai) Ltd., Instron (Thailand) Limited, Instron Brasil Equipamentos Cientificos Ltda., Instron Foreign Sales Corp. Limited, Instron France S.A.S., Instron GmbH, Instron Holdings Limited, Instron International Limited, Instron Japan Company Ltd., Instron Korea LLC, International Leasing Company LLC, International Truss Systems Proprietary Limited, Isolenge - ITW Sistemas de Isolamento Termico Ltda., KCPL Mauritius Holdings, Kester, Kester Components (M) Sdn. Bhd., Kleinmann GmbH, Krafft S.L., Loma Systems, Loma Systems (Canada) Inc., Loma Systems BV, Loma Systems sro, Lombard Pressings Limited, Lumex Inc., Lys Fusion Poland Sp. z.o.o., M&C Specialties (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., M&C Specialties Co., MAGNAFLUX GmbH, MEHB Holdings Limited, MGHG Property LLC, MOA Enterprises Inc, Manufacturing Avancee S.A., Meritex Technology (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Meurer Verpackungssysteme GmbH, Miller Electric Mfg. LLC, Miller Insurance Ltd., NDT Holding LLC, NOVADAN APS, Norden Olje AB, North Star Imaging Europe, North Star Imaging Inc., Nova Chimica S.r.l., Orbitalum Tools GmbH, PENTA-91 OOO, PR. A. I. Srl, PT ITW Construction Products Indonesia, Pacific Concept Industries Limited (Enping), Panreac Quimica S.L., Paslode Fasteners (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Peerless Machinery Corp., Penta Dnepr LLC, Penta Sever OOO, Penta Volga OOO, Polyrey, Premark FEG L.L.C., Premark HII Holdings LLC, Premark International, Premark International LLC, Prolex Sociedad Anonima, QSA Global Inc., Quimica Industrial Mediterranea S.L., Ramset Fasteners (Hong Kong) Ltd., Rapid Cook LLC, Refrigeration France, S.E.E. Sistemas Industria E Comercio Ltda., ST Mexico Holdings LLC, Sealant Systems International Inc., Sentinel Asia Yuhan Hoesa, Shanghai ITW Plastic & Metal Co. Ltd, Simco (Nederland) B.V., Simco Japan Inc., Societe de Prospection et dInventions Techniques  SPIT, Speedline Holdings I Inc., Speedline Holdings I LLC, Speedline Technologies GmbH, Speedline Technologies Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Speedline Technologies Mexico Services S. de R.L. de C.V., Stokvis Celix Portugal Unipessoal LDA, Stokvis Danmark ApS, Stokvis Holdings S.A.R.L., Stokvis Promi s.r.o, Stokvis Prostick Tapes Private Limited, Stokvis Tapes (Hong Kong) Co. Limited, Stokvis Tapes (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes (Taiwan) Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes BVBA, Stokvis Tapes Benelux B.V., Stokvis Tapes Deutschland GmbH, Stokvis Tapes France, Stokvis Tapes Italia s.r.l., Stokvis Tapes Limited, Stokvis Tapes Limited Liability Company, Stokvis Tapes Norge AS, Stokvis Tapes Oy, Stokvis Tapes Polska Sp Z.O.O., Stokvis Tapes Sverige AB, Stolvis Holdings II S.A.R.L., Technopack Industria Comercio Consultoria e Representacoes Ltda., Teknek (China) Limited, Teknek (Japan) Limited, Teksaleco Ltd., The Miller Group Ltd, Thirode Grandes Cuisines Poligny, Tien Tai Electrode (Kunshan) Co. Ltd., Tien Tai Electrode Co. Ltd., Unichemicals Industria e Comercio Ltda., VR-Leasing Sarita GmbH & Co. Immobilien KG, VS European Holdco BV, Valeron Strength Films B.V.B.A., Veneta Decalcogomme S.r.l., Versachem Chile S.A., Vesta, Vesta (Guangzhou) Catering Equipment Co. Ltd, Vesta Global Limited, Viltronics Soltec, Vitronics Soltec B.V., Wachs Canada Ltd., Wachs Subsea LLC, Weigh-Tronix Canada ULC, Weigh-Tronix UK Limited, Wilsonart International Holdings LLC, Wynn Oil (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd., Wynn's Automotive France, Wynn's Belgium BVBA, Wynn's Italia Srl, Wynn's Mekuba India Pvt Ltd, ZF TRW (Engineered Fasteners and Components), and Zip-Pak International B.V..
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.
Parody 'Uncle Tom Don Lemon' Music Video Defends Kanye West Meeting with Trump "Uncle Tom Don Lemon" Released By The Terry Train



Contact: Michael Veritas, 904-826-9989



WASHINGTON, Oct. 27, 2018 /Christian Newswire/ -- When Kanye West met with President Trump, a wave of contempt washed over liberal black Democrats. CNN commentator Don Lemon, led the charge against Kanye West, disparaging Mr. West with multiple insults.



"Uncle Tom Don Lemon" pokes fun at Don Lemon, by pointing out that he is trying to keep Kanye West on the Democrat plantation.



Full permission is given to duplicate, use, or distribute the video in full or in part.



Music and lyrics written by Randall Terry.



Music performed by The Terry Train



www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kNhbPjTL8k&feature=youtu.be





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NovaGold Resources Inc. explores for and develops gold mineral properties in the United States. It primarily owns 50% interest in the Donlin Gold project consisting of 493 mining claims covering an area of 71,420 acres located in the Kuskokwim region of southwestern Alaska. The company was formerly known as NovaCan Mining Resources (1985) Limited and changed its name to NovaGold Resources Inc. in March 1987. NovaGold Resources Inc. was founded in 1984 and is based in Vancouver, Canada.

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Orange S.A. provides a range of fixed telephony and mobile telecommunications, data transmission, and other value-added services to customers, businesses, and other telecommunications operators in France and internationally. It operates through France; Spain and Other European Countries; The Africa and Middle East; Enterprise; International Carriers & Shared Services; and Mobile Financial Services segments. The company offers mobile services, such as voice, SMS, and data; fixed broadband and narrowband services, as well as fixed network business solutions, including voice and data; and convergence packages. It also sells mobile handsets, broadband equipment, and connected devices and accessories. In addition, the company provides IT and integration services comprising unified communication and collaboration services, such as LAN and telephony, consultancy, integration, and project management; hosting and infrastructure services, including cloud computing; customer relations management and other applications services; security services; and video conferencing, as well as sells related equipment. Further, it offers national and international roaming services; and mobile virtual network operators, network sharing, and mobile financial services, as well as sells equipment to external distributors and brokers. Orange S.A. markets its products and services under the Orange brand. The company was formerly known as France Telecom and changed its name to Orange S.A. in July 2013. Orange S.A. was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Paris, France.

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There is not enough analysis data for Pilbara Minerals.

4.5 Community Rank

Outperform Votes Pilbara Minerals has received 144 outperform votes. (Add your outperform vote.)

Underperform Votes Pilbara Minerals has received 68 underperform votes. (Add your underperform vote.)

Community Sentiment Pilbara Minerals has received 67.92% outperform votes from our community.

MarketBeat's community ratings are surveys of what our community members think about Pilbara Minerals and other stocks. Vote Outperform if you believe PLS will outperform the S&P 500 over the long term. Vote Underperform if you believe PLS will underperform the S&P 500 over the long term. You may vote once every thirty days.

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Reinsurance Group of America, Inc. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of traditional and non-traditional life and health reinsurance products. It operates through the following segments: U.S. and Latin America; Canada; Europe, Middle East, and Africa; Asia Pacific; and Corporate and Other. The U.S. and Latin America segment markets individual and group life and health reinsurance to domestic clients for a variety of products through yearly renewable term agreements, coinsurance, and modified coinsurance. The Canada segment offers individual life reinsurance, and to a lesser extent creditor, group life and health, critical illness and disability reinsurance, through yearly renewable term and coinsurance agreements. The Europe, Middle East, and Africa segment serves individual and group life and health products through yearly renewable term and coinsurance agreements, reinsurance of critical illness coverage that provides a benefit in the event of the diagnosis of a pre-defined critical illness and underwritten annuities. The Asia Pacific segment comprises individual and group life and health reinsurance, critical illness coverage, disability, and superannuation thr

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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.

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Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. engages in global investment banking, securities, and investment management, which provides financial services. It operates through the following business segments: Investment Banking, Global Markets, Asset Management, and Consumer & Wealth Management. The Investment Banking segment serves public and private sector clients around the world and provides financial advisory services, help companies raise capital to strengthen and grow their businesses and provide financing to corporate clients. The Global Markets segment serves its clients who buy and sell financial products, funding and manage risk. The Asset Management segment provides investment services to help clients preserve and grow their financial assets. The Consumer & Wealth Management segment helps clients to achieve their individual financial goals by providing a wealth advisory and banking services. The company was founded by Marcus Goldman in 1869 and is headquartered in New York, NY.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Stryker: ActiViews, Aimago SA, Alcott Indemnity Company, Arrinex Inc, Arrinex Inc., Ascent Healthcare Solutions, Berchtold, Berchtold + Fritz GmbH, Berchtold Consulting GmbH, Berchtold Corporation, Berchtold GmbH & Co. KG, Berchtold Holding Switzerland GmbH, CHG Hospital Beds, Cactus LLC, Cardan Robotics, Changzhou Orthomed Medical Instrument Company Limited, Concentric Medical, Concentric Medical Inc., Entellus Medical, Entellus Medical Europe Ltd, Entellus Medical Inc., GYS Tech LLC, Gaymar Industries, Gongping (Shanghai) Medical Devices Trading Co. Ltd., Groupe Bertec, HeartSine Technologies LLC, HeartSine Technologies Limited, Howmedica International S. de R.L., Howmedica Osteonics Corp., Hygia Health Services, Hygia Healthcare Services Inc., HyperBranch, HyperBranch Technology Inc., ITAPCo Limited, Image Guided Technologies, Imorphics Limited, Infinity MSD Corp., Infinity MSE Corp., Infinity MSF Corp., Infomedix Communications, Instratek, InstruMedics L.L.C, Invuity Inc., Ivy Sports Medicine, Ivy Sports Medicine LLC, Jiangsu Chuangyi Medical Instrument Company Limited, Jolife AB, K2M Germany GmbH, K2M Group, K2M Group Holdings Inc., K2M Holdings Inc., K2M Iberia Medcomtech S.L.U., K2M Inc., K2M Solutions Australia Pty Ltd, K2M Spine Solutions (Schweiz) GmbH, K2M UK Limited, Loon Intermediateco LLC, MAKO Surgical, MAKO Surgical Corp, Memometal Technologies, Mobius Imaging, Mobius Imaging LLC, Muka Metal, Muka Metal Ticaret ve Sanayi Anaonim Sirketi, NV Stryker SA, Nettrick Limited, Novadaq Corp, Novadaq Hong Kong Ltd, Novadaq Technologies, Novadaq Technologies ULC, OOO "Stryker", Orneo Ozel Saglk Hizmetleri Medikal Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, OrthoSpace, OrthoSpace Ltd., OrthoSpace US Inc., Orthomed (Hong Kong) Medical Instrument Company Limited, Orthovita, Orthovita Inc., OtisMed, P.C. Sweden Holding AB, Patient Safety Technologies, Patton Surgical, Pficonprod Pty. Ltd., Physio-Control, Physio-Control (Shanghai) Sales Co. Ltd., Physio-Control Brazil Vendas Ltda., Physio-Control Czech Sales s.r.o., Physio-Control Holdings Cooperatief U.A., Physio-Control Holdings Inc, Physio-Control Hungary Sales Kft, Physio-Control Inc., Physio-Control India Sales Pvt. Ltd, Physio-Control Investments LLC, Physio-Control Lebanon Sales Offshore s.a.l., Physio-Control Manufacturing Inc., Physio-Control Operations Netherlands B.V., Physio-Control Sales Limited Liability Company, Physio-Control Singapore Pte. Ltd., Physio-Control South Africa Sales Pty. Ltd., Physio-Control UK Sales Ltd., Pivot Medical, PlasmaSol, Porex Technologies, SSI Divestiture Inc., SYK Costa Rica Services Sociedad De Responsabilidad Limitada, SafeAir AG, SafeWire, Sage Products, Sage Products Coperatief U.A., Sage Products Holdings II LLC, Sage Products Holdings III LLC, Sage Products LLC, Scopis GmbH, Sightline Technologies, Small Bone Innovations, SpineCore, Spirox Inc., Stanmore Implants Worldwide, Stanmore Implants Worldwide Limited, Stanmore Inc., Stryker (Barbados) Foreign Sales Corporation, Stryker (Beijing) Healthcare Products Co. Ltd., Stryker (Shanghai) Healthcare Products Co. Ltd., Stryker (Suzhou) Medical Technology Co Ltd, Stryker (Thailand) Limited, Stryker AB, Stryker Acquisitions BV, Stryker Asia Holdings CV, Stryker Australia LLC, Stryker Australia Pty. Ltd., Stryker Austria GmbH, Stryker B.V., Stryker Berchtold BV, Stryker Beteiligungs GmbH, Stryker Canada GP ULC, Stryker Canada Holding Company, Stryker Canada Manufacturing ULC, Stryker Canada ULC, Stryker Canadian Management ULC, Stryker Canadian Sales Holding Company ULC, Stryker Capital BV, Stryker China Limited, Stryker Colombia SAS, Stryker Communications Inc., Stryker Corporation (Chile) y Compania Limitada, Stryker Corporation (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Stryker Customs Brokers LLC, Stryker Czech Republic s.r.o., Stryker Delaware Inc., Stryker EMEA Supply Chain Services BV, Stryker Employment Company LLC, Stryker European Coordination Center BV, Stryker European Holdings Cooperatief U.A, Stryker European Holdings I LLC, Stryker European Holdings II LLC, Stryker European Holdings LLC, Stryker European Holdings V LLC, Stryker European Operations B.V., Stryker European Operations Holdings I BV, Stryker European Operations Holdings II BV, Stryker European Operations Holdings III BV, Stryker European Operations Holdings LLC, Stryker European Operations Limited, Stryker European Technologies C.V., Stryker Far East Inc., Stryker Foreign Acquisitions Inc., Stryker France Holding SNC, Stryker France MM Holdings SAS, Stryker France SAS, Stryker Funding B.V., Stryker GI Services CV, Stryker Global Technology Center Private Limited, Stryker GmbH, Stryker GmbH & Co. KG, Stryker Grundstucks GmbH & Co KG, Stryker Grundstucks Verwaltungs GmbH, Stryker Holdings BV, Stryker IFSC Designated Activity Company, Stryker Iberia SL Unipersonal, Stryker India Private Limited, Stryker International Acquisitions BV, Stryker International Holdings BV, Stryker Investment Holdings B.V., Stryker Ireland Holding Unlimited Company, Stryker Ireland Limited, Stryker Italia S.r.l. S.U., Stryker Japan Holdings BV, Stryker Japan K.K., Stryker Korea Ltd., Stryker Lebanon (Offshore) S.A.L., Stryker Leibinger GmbH & Co. KG, Stryker Luxembourg Holdings S.a.r.l., Stryker Luxembourg Sarl, Stryker Manufacturing S. de R.L. de C.V., Stryker Mauritius Holding Ltd., Stryker Medical London LP, Stryker Medtech K.K., Stryker Medtech Limited, Stryker Mexico Holdings B.V., Stryker Mexico SA de CV, Stryker NV Operations Limited, Stryker Nederland BV, Stryker New Zealand Limited, Stryker Osteonics AG, Stryker Pacific Limited, Stryker Performance Solutions LLC, Stryker Polska Sp.z.o.o., Stryker Portugal - Produtos Medicos Unipessoal Lda., Stryker Professional Latin America S. de R.L. de C.V., Stryker Puerto Rico Limited, Stryker Romania SRL, Stryker Sage Inc., Stryker Sales Corporation, Stryker Servicios Administrativos S.de R.L. de C.V., Stryker Singapore Private Limited, Stryker South Africa (Proprietary) Limited, Stryker Spine SAS, Stryker Spine Sarl, Stryker Sustainability Solutions Inc., Stryker Tibbi Cihazlan Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Stryker Trauma GmbH, Stryker Turkish Holdings BV, Stryker UK Ltd, Stryker Verwaltungs GmbH, Stryker Vietnam Company Limited, Stryker do Brasil Ltda, Surpass Medical, Synergetics, TG SP Holdings Corp, TSO3 Corp, TSO3 Inc, Trauson, Trauson (China) Medical Instrument Company Limited, Trauson (Hong Kong) Company Limited, Trauson Holdings (BVI) Company Limited, Trauson Holdings (Hong Kong) Company Limited, Trauson Holdings Company Limited, VEXIM SA, Vexim, Waterloo Bedding Co., Wright Medical Group, ZipLine Medical Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., ZipLine Medical Hong Kong Limited, ZipLine Medical Inc., and eTrauma.com.
The following companies are subsidiares of Carnival Co. &: 1972 Productions Inc., 6348 Equipment LLC, A.C.N. 098 290 834 Pty. Ltd., A.J. Juneau Dock LLC, AIDA Kundencenter GmbH, Adventure Island Ltd., Air-Sea Holiday GmbH, Alaska Hotel Properties LLC, Barcelona Cruise Terminal SLU, Bay Island Cruise Port S.A., Belize Cruise Terminal Limited, CC U.S. Ventures Inc., CCL Gifts LLC, CSSC Carnival Italy Cruise Investment S.r.L, Carnival (UK) Limited, Carnival Bahamas FC Limited, Carnival Bahamas Holdings Limited, Carnival Corporation & plc Asia Pte. Ltd., Carnival Corporation Hong Kong Limited, Carnival Corporation Korea Ltd., Carnival Corporation Ports Group Japan KK, Carnival Finance LLC, Carnival Grand Bahama Investment Limited, Carnival Investments Limited, Carnival Japan Inc., Carnival License Holdings Limited, Carnival Maritime GmbH, Carnival North America LLC, Carnival Port Holdings Limited, Carnival Ports Inc., Carnival Support Services India Private Limited, Carnival Technical Services (UK) Limited, Carnival Technical Services Finland Limited, Carnival Technical Services GmbH, Carnival Technical Services Inc., Carnival Vanuatu Limited, Costa Crociere PTE Ltd., Costa Crociere S.p.A., Costa Cruceros S.A., Costa Cruise Lines Inc., Costa Cruise Lines UK Limited, Costa Cruises Shipping Services (Shanghai) Company Limited, Costa Cruises Travel Agency (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Costa Cruzeiros Agencia Maritima e Turismo Ltda., Costa Group Digital & Strategic Services GmbH, Costa International B.V., Costa Kreuzfahrten GmbH, Cozumel Cruise Terminal S.A. de C.V., Creative Travel Lab Ltd., Cruise Ships Catering & Services International N.V., Cruise Terminal Services S.A. de C.V., Cruiseport Curacao C.V., D.R. Cruise Port Ltd., Ecospray Technologies S.r.L., F.P.M. SAS, F.P.P. SAS, Fleet Maritime Services (Bermuda) Limited, Fleet Maritime Services Holdings (Bermuda) Limited, Fleet Maritime Services International Limited, GXI LLC, Gibs Inc., Global Experience Innovators Inc., Global Fine Arts Inc., Global Shipping Service (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Grand Cruise Shipping Unipessoal LdA, Grand Turk Cruise Center Ltd., HAL Antillen N.V., HAL Beheer B.V., HAL Cruises Limited, HAL Maritime Ltd., HAL Nederland N.V., HAL Properties Limited, HAL Services B.V., HSE Hamburg School of Entertainment GmbH, Holding Division Iberocruceros SLU, Holland America Line Inc., Holland America Line N.V., Holland America Line Paymaster of Washington LLC, Holland America Line U.S.A. Inc., Ibero Cruzeiros Ltda., Iberocruceros SLU, Information Assistance Corporation, International Cruise Services S.A. de C.V., International Leisure Travel Inc., International Maritime Recruitment Agency S.A. de C.V., Milestone N.V., Navitrans S.R.L., Ocean Bahamas Innovation Ltd., Ocean Medallion Fulfillment Ltd., Operadora Catalina S.r.L., P&O Princess American Holdings, P&O Princess Cruises International Limited, P&O Princess Cruises Pension Trustee Limited, P&O Properties (California) Inc., P&O Travel Limited, Prestige Cruises Management S.A.M., Prestige Cruises N.V., Princess Bermuda Holdings Ltd., Princess Cays Ltd., Princess Cruise Corporation Inc., Princess Cruise Lines Ltd., Princess Cruises and Tours Inc., Princess U.S. Holdings Inc., RCT Maintenance & Related Services S.A., RCT Pilots & Related Services S.A., RCT Security & Related Services S.A., Roatan Cruise Terminal S.A. de C.V., Royal Hyway Tours Inc., Santa Cruz Terminal S.L., SeaVacations Limited, SeaVacations UK Limited, Seabourn Cruise Line Limited, Shanghai Coast Cruise Consulting Co. Lda, Ship Care (Bahamas) Limited, Sitmar Cruises Inc., Spanish Cruise Services N.V., Sunshine Shipping Corporation Ltd., T&T International Inc., Tour Alaska LLC, Transnational Services Corporation, Trident Insurance Company Ltd., Westmark Hotels Inc., Westmark Hotels of Canada Ltd., Westours Motor Coaches LLC, Wind Surf Limited, and World Leading Cruise Management (Shanghai) Co. Ltd..
The following companies are subsidiares of Western Union: Banco Western Union do Brasil S.A., Coins, Custom House, Custom House (Online) Ltd., Custom House Currency Exchange (Australia) Pty. Limited, Custom House Currency Exchange (Singapore) Pte. Limited, Custom House Financial (UK) Limited, Custom House Financial Ltd., Custom House Holdings (USA) Ltd., Custom House ULC, E Commerce Group Products Inc., First Financial Management Corporation, Global Collection Services S.A., Global Corporate Real Estate Advisors LLC, Grupo Dinamico Empresarial S.A. de C.V., MT (Bermuda) 1 Ltd, MT (Bermuda) 2 Ltd, MT Caribbean Holdings SRL, MT Financial Holdings Ltd., MT Global Holdings Ltd., MT Group Investment Holdings Ltd., MT Group Ltd., MT Holdings (Bermuda) Ltd., MT Holdings Limited, MT Holdings Switzerland GmbH, MT International Holdings Ltd., MT International Operations Partnership, MT International Operations SRL, MT Network Holdings Ltd., MT Payment Services Ltd., MT Payment Services Operations EU/EEA Limited, MT Worldwide Holdings Ltd., Money Transfer Financial Services Limited, Operaciones Internacionales OV S.A. de C.V., Opus Software Technologies Private Limited, PT Western Union Indonesia, Paymap Inc., RII Holdings Inc., Red Global S.A., Ruesch Holding LLC, Ruesch International (Delaware) LLC, Ruesch International L.L.C., Servicio Electronico de Pago S.A., Servicio Integral de Envios S. de R.L. de C.V., Servicios de Apoyo GDE S.A. de C.V., SpeedPay Inc., Speedpay, The Western Union Real Estate Holdings LLC, Transfer Express de Panama S.A., Travelex, Union del Oeste de Costa Rica SRL, Vigo Remittance Canada Company, Vigo Remittance Corp., WU BP Peru S.R.L., WU Technology Engineering Services Private Limited, WUBS Financial Services (Singapore) Pte Limited, WUBS Payments Limited, Western Union (Bermuda) Holding Finance Ltd., Western Union (Hellas) International Holdings S.A., Western Union Acquisition Partnership, Western Union Benelux MT Ltd., Western Union Business Solutions (Australia) Pty Limited, Western Union Business Solutions (Hong Kong) Limited, Western Union Business Solutions (Malta) Limited, Western Union Business Solutions (SA) Limited, Western Union Business Solutions (Singapore) Pte Limited, Western Union Business Solutions (UK) Limited, Western Union Business Solutions (USA) LLC, Western Union Business Solutions Japan KK, Western Union Chile Limitada, Western Union Communications Inc., Western Union Consulting Services (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Western Union Corretora de Cambio S.A., Western Union Financial Holdings L.L.C., Western Union Financial Services (Australia) PTY Ltd., Western Union Financial Services (Canada), Western Union Financial Services (Hong Kong) Limited, Western Union Financial Services (Korea) Inc., Western Union Financial Services (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l., Western Union Financial Services Argentina S.R.L., Western Union Financial Services Eastern Europe LLC, Western Union Financial Services GmbH, Western Union Financial Services Inc., Western Union Financial Services International (France) SARL, Western Union GB Limited, Western Union Global Network Pte. Ltd, Western Union Holdings Inc., Western Union International Bank GmbH, Western Union International Holdings LLC, Western Union International Limited, Western Union International Services LLC, Western Union Ireland Holdings Limited, Western Union Ireland Partnership, Western Union Japan K.K., Western Union LLC, Western Union Luxembourg Holdings 1 S.a.r.l., Western Union Luxembourg Holdings 2 S.a.r.l., Western Union Luxembourg Holdings 3 S.a.r.l., Western Union MT (Australia) Pty. Ltd., Western Union MT East Ltd., Western Union Malta Holdings Limited, Western Union Malta Limited, Western Union Morocco SARL, Western Union Network (Canada) Company, Western Union Network (France) SAS, Western Union Network (Ireland) Limited, Western Union Network Belgium SPRL, Western Union Northern Europe GmbH, Western Union Online Limited, Western Union Overseas Limited, Western Union Payment Services (India) Private Limited, Western Union Payment Services GB Limited, Western Union Payment Services Ireland Limited, Western Union Payment Services Network (Canada) ULC, Western Union Payment Services Network EU/EEA Limited, Western Union Payment Services UK Limited, Western Union Payments (Malaysia) SDN. BHD., Western Union Peru S.A., Western Union Processing Limited, Western Union Processing Lithuania UAB, Western Union Processing Services Inc., Western Union Regional Panama S.A., Western Union Retail Services Belgium, Western Union Retail Services GB Limited, Western Union Retail Services Ireland Limited, Western Union Retail Services Italy S.r.l., Western Union Retail Services Norway AS, Western Union Retail Services RO SRL, Western Union Retail Services Spain S.A., Western Union Retail Services Sweden AB, Western Union Services (Philippines) Inc., Western Union Services (Spain) S.L., Western Union Services India Private Limited, Western Union Services S.L., Western Union Services Singapore Private Limited, Western Union Singapore Limited, Western Union South Africa (PTY) Limited, Western Union Support Services (Nigeria) Limited, Western Union Support Services Cote dlvoire, Western Union Turkey Odeme Hizmetleri Anonim Sirketi, Western Union do Brasil Participacoes Limitada, and Western Union do Brasil Servicos e Participacoes Ltda..
Vanguard Information Technology ETF's stock was trading at $219.43 on March 11th, 2020 when COVID-19 (Coronavirus) reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization. Since then, VGT stock has increased by 107.3% and is now trading at $454.82.

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Varian Medical Systems, Inc. designs, manufactures, sells, and services medical devices and software products for treating cancer and other medical conditions worldwide. It operates through Oncology Systems and Proton Solutions segments. The Oncology Systems segment offers hardware and software products for treating cancer with radiotherapy, fixed field intensity-modulated radiation therapy, image-guided radiation therapy, volumetric modulated arc therapy, stereotactic radiosurgery, stereotactic body radiotherapy, artificial intelligence based adaptive radiotherapy, and brachytherapy, as well as quality assurance equipment. Its products include linear accelerators, brachytherapy afterloaders, treatment accessories, and quality assurance software; and information management, treatment planning, image processing, clinical knowledge exchange, patient care management, decision-making support, and practice management software. This segment serves university research and community hospitals, private and governmental institutions, healthcare agencies, physicians' offices, medical oncology practices, radiotherapy centers, and cancer care clinics. The Proton Solutions segment designs, develops, manufactures, sells, and services products and systems for delivering proton therapy for the treatment of cancer. The company has a strategic agreement with McKesson Corp. to supply treatment delivery systems and planning, services, and radiotherapy information system solutions to its U.S. Oncology Network and Vantage Oncology affiliated sites of care; and a strategic partnership with Siemens AG to represent Siemens diagnostic imaging products to radiation oncology clinics in the United States and other select markets. Varian Medical Systems, Inc. was formerly known as Varian Associates, Inc. and changed its name to Varian Medical Systems, Inc. in April 1999. The company was founded in 1948 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.

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VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund Limited specializes in private equity investments. The fund seeks to invest 80 percent of its portfolio in private equity and 20 percent in equitization projects will be re-allocated to listed shares. The fund also makes private investments. It invests in stocks of companies operating across the diversified sectors. The fund invests in value stocks of companies having any market capitalization. It prefers to invest in Vietnam.

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The following companies are subsidiares of WESCO International: 1502218 Alberta Ltd., ALLNET Technologies Pty. Ltd., AXE Distribution Solutions Trinidad Ltd., Accu-Tech Corporation, Anixter (Barbados) SRL, Anixter (CIS) LLC, Anixter (Switzerland) Sarl, Anixter (U.K.) Limited, Anixter Argentina S.A., Anixter Asia Holdings Limited, Anixter Australia Pty. Ltd., Anixter Austria GmbH, Anixter Bahamas Limited, Anixter Belgium B.V.B.A., Anixter Cables y Manufacturas S.A. de C.V., Anixter Canada Inc., Anixter Canadian Holdings ULC, Anixter Chile S.A., Anixter Colombia S.A.S., Anixter Communications (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Anixter Communications (Shanghai) Co. Limited, Anixter Costa Rica S.A., Anixter Czech a.s., Anixter Danmark A/S, Anixter Deutschland GmbH, Anixter Distribuidor de Soluciones Empresariales e Industriales S.A., Anixter Distribution Ireland Limited, Anixter Dominicana SRL, Anixter Egypt LLC, Anixter Espana S.L., Anixter Eurotwo Holdings B.V., Anixter Fasteners Deutschland GmbH, Anixter Financial Inc., Anixter France SARL, Anixter Guatemala y Compania Limitada, Anixter Holdings Inc., Anixter Holdings Mexico LLC, Anixter Hong Kong Limited, Anixter Iletisim Sistemleri Pazarlama ve Ticaret A.S., Anixter Inc., Anixter India Private Limited, Anixter Information Systems LLC, Anixter International, Anixter Italia S.r.l., Anixter Jamaica Limited, Anixter Japan KK, Anixter Jorvex S.A.C., Anixter Limited, Anixter Logistica do Brasil LTDA, Anixter Logistica y Servicios S.A. de C.V., Anixter Magyarorszag Elektronikus Halozati Rendszer Kereskedelmi es Szolgaltato Kft, Anixter Mid Holdings B.V., Anixter Middle East FZE, Anixter Morocco SARL AU, Anixter Nederland B.V., Anixter New Zealand Limited, Anixter Norge A.N.S., Anixter Operaciones y Logistica s De RL De CV, Anixter Panama S.A., Anixter Pension Scheme Trustees Limited, Anixter Pension Trustees Limited, Anixter Peru S.A.C., Anixter Philippines Inc., Anixter Poland Sp.z.o.o., Anixter Portugal S.A., Anixter Power Solutions Canada Inc., Anixter Power Solutions Inc., Anixter Procurement Corporation, Anixter Puerto Rico Inc., Anixter Real-Estate LLC, Anixter Receivables Corporation, Anixter Saudi Arabia Limited, Anixter Singapore Pte. Ltd., Anixter Slovakia s.r.o., Anixter Sub Holdings B.V, Anixter Sverige AB, Anixter Thailand Inc., Anixter U.S. LLC, Anixter Venezuela Inc., Anixter de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Anixter do Brasil Ltda, Atlanta Electrical Distributors, Atlanta Electrical Distributors LLC, Atlas Gentech (NZ) Limited, Avon Electrical Supplies, B.E.L. Corporation, Brews Supply, Brown Wholesale Electric, Bruckner Supply, CBC LP Holdings LLC, CDW Holdco LLC, Calvert Wire & Cable Corporation, Carlton-Bates Company, Carlton-Bates Company (CBC), Carlton-Bates Company de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Carlton-Bates Company of Texas GP Inc, Central Security Distribution Pty. Ltd, Communication Cables LLC, Communications Supply Corporation, Conney Investment Holdings LLC, Conney Safety Products, Conney Safety Products LLC, Distribuidora Materiales Electricos E-Supply Limitada, EECOL Electric, EECOL Electric Bolivia Ltda, EECOL Electric Corp., EECOL Electric Peru S.A.C, EECOL Industrial Electric (SudAmerica) Limitada, EECOL Industrial Electric Ecuador Limitada, EECOL Industrial Electric Limitada, EECOL Power S.A., EECOL Properties Corp, Eurinvest B.V., Eurinvest Cooperatief U.A., Fastec Industrial, HMH Pension Trustees Limited, Hazmasters, Hazmasters Inc., Herning Underground Supply, Hi-Line Utility Supply, Hi-Line Utility Supply Company LLC, Hill Country Electric Supply, Hill Country Electric Supply L.P., ICV GP Inc., Infast Group Limited, Inner Range Pty. Ltd, Itel Container Ventures Inc., Itel Corporation, Itel Rail Holdings Corporation, J-Mark Inc., LaPrairie, Liberty Wire & Cable Inc., Monti Electric Supply, Needham Electric Supply, Needham Electric Supply LLC, Obras Y Servicios Sunpark S.A.C., PT Anixter Indonesia, Potelcom Supply, Pro Canadian Holdings I ULC, RECO LLC, RS Electronics, Reily Electrical Supply, SASK Alta Holdings S.A., Services Voice Video and Data Distribution de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Servicios Anixter S.A. de C.V., Signal Capital Corporation, Signal Capital Projects Inc., Stone Eagle Electrical Supply GP Inc., Stone Eagle Electrical Supply Limited Partnership, TVC Communications, TVC Communications L.L.C., TVC Espana Distribucion y Venta De Equipos S.L., TVC International Holding L.L.C., TVC UK Holdings Limited, Tri-Ed Puerto Rico Ltd. Inc., Trydor Industries, Voice Video and Data Distribution de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., WDC Holding Inc., WDCH LP, WDCH US LP, WDI USVI LLC, WDI-Angola LDA, WDINESCO B.V., WDINESCO II B.V., WDINESCO III B.V., WEAS Company S. de R.L., WESCO (Suzhou) Trading Co. Ltd., WESCO Australia Pty Ltd, WESCO Canada GP Inc., WESCO Canada I LP, WESCO DC Holding I LP, WESCO DC Holding II LP, WESCO DC Holding III LP, WESCO DC Holding IV LP, WESCO Distribution Canada Co., WESCO Distribution Canada LP, WESCO Distribution HK Limited, WESCO Distribution II ULC, WESCO Distribution III ULC, WESCO Distribution IV Inc., WESCO Distribution Inc., WESCO Distribution Ireland Limited, WESCO Distribution NL B.V., WESCO Distribution Pte. Ltd., WESCO Distribution de Mexico S. de R.L., WESCO Distribution-International Limited, WESCO Enterprises Inc., WESCO Equity Corporation, WESCO Holdings LLC, WESCO Integrated Supply Inc., WESCO Integrated Supply Polska Spolka z o.o., WESCO Netherlands B.V., WESCO Nevada Ltd., WESCO Nigeria Inc., WESCO Procurement Canada ULC, WESCO Real Estate I LLC, WESCO Real Estate II LLC, WESCO Real Estate III LLC, WESCO Real Estate IV LLC, WESCO Receivables Corp., WESCO Services LLC, WESCO TLD Holdings Co. Ltd., WND Nigeria Limited, WireXpress Ltd., Xpress Connect Supply Hong Kong Limited, XpressConnect Holdings B.V., XpressConnect International B.V., XpressConnect Supply B.V.B.A., XpressConnect Supply Colombia S.A.S., XpressConnect Supply Inc., XpressConnect Supply Mexico S.A. de C.V., and XpressConnect Supply do Brasil Ltda.
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.

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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.

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Embraer SA engages in the design, manufacture, and sale of aircraft and its parts for commercial, defense, and executive aviation sectors. It operates through the following segments: Commercial Aviation, Defense and Security, Executive Jet Business, Service & Support and Others. The Commercial Aviation segment is involved in the development, production, and sale of commercial jets; and the provision of support services to regional aviation and aircraft leasing. The Defense and Security segment engages in research, development, production, modification, and support for defense and security aircrafts, as well as other integrated products and solutions including satellites and information and communication systems. The Executive Jet Business segment deals with the development, manufacture, and sale of executive jets. The Service & Support segment provides after-service solutions and support to its customers through a comprehensive portfolio of innovative and competitive solutions to ensure operational efficiency of products manufactured by Embraer and by other aircraft manufacturers, extending the useful life of commercial, executive and defense aircraft. The Others segment refers to

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Concord Medical Services Holding Ltd. engages in the operation of radiotherapy and diagnostic imaging centers. It provides radiotherapy and diagnostic equipment leasing services to hospitals; and sale of medical equipment and the provision of radiotherapy and diagnostic equipment leasing and management services to hospitals, It operates through Network Business and Hospital Business segments. The company was founded on November 27, 2007 and is headquartered in Beijing, China.

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Hertz Global's quiet period expires on Monday, December 20th. Hertz Global had issued 44,520,000 shares in its initial public offering on November 9th. The total size of the offering was $1,291,080,000 based on an initial share price of $29.00. During the company's quiet period, underwriters and any insiders that worked on the IPO are prevented from issuing any research reports or earnings estimates for the company because of SEC regulations. Following the end of the company's quiet period, it's expected that the brokerages that served as underwriters on the stock will initiate research coverage on the company.
LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI)- Lafayette Jefferson's marching band got in one last practice Friday evening before they head to the Scholastic State Finals.

The bronchos will compete against 13 other schools in the Indiana State School Music Association event.

The competition, which was originally scheduled for last week, was canceled due to weather issues.

So the dedicated bronchos all cut their fall break short to come back and compete this weekend.

Skyeler Sumrall said the extra practice will definitely help their performance, and shows each members dedication to the team.

"I feel pretty confident," Sumrall said. "We've been practicing and working hard every day and I think it's good that we get to come back together and prepare again."

Dion Walkup said members really went the extra mile, and that attitude is going to help them in this competition.

"I appreciate all the people that decided that, hey, they were going to come back, cut their vacation a little short to be a part of this band family," Walkup said. "That shows a lot about how much they value this program."

The Marching Bronchos will compete Saturday just after 4 p-m at Mount Vernon High School in Fortville.

If the band wins, they will get the opportunity to perform at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Following the competition, the band will begin preparing to march in the Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Anthony Andy Thomas Schanding, a 43-year-old United Parcel Service worker, was killed on the job Tuesday morning at the Mercer Road hub in Lexington, Kentucky. He suffered a fatal injury while performing maintenance on a conveyer at approximately 11:20 a.m. He was pronounced dead fifty minutes later, shortly after arriving at the University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital. A funeral will be held today in the nearby city of Carlisle, Kentucky.

Andy leaves behind a loving family: his wife of 21 years, Sarah Dixon Schanding; a son Elliot and a daughter Emilee; his parents, Bradley and Bonita; brother David; and sisters Elizabeth and Kathy.

Andy Schanding (source: Elizabeth Hughes)

The family published a tribute on Facebook on Tuesday, describing Andy as a private person [who] was humble, shy, quiet and genuine. His sister, Elizabeth Hughes, wrote, Your heart was so big, your smile was contagious and your love for your wife and children was enormous. You were a wonderful father and husband and the love between you and Sarah was admirable. You did good my brother now go rest easy.

Andy Schanding had been employed at UPS for one year. Before then, he spent 20 years at Stamler/Joy Mining in Millersburg. He was born on December 11, 1974, and graduated from Nicholas County High School in 1994. According to the obituary published by his family, he enjoyed farming, karaoke, throwing darts and working on small projects. He was by all accounts a well-respected and liked worker, and his family has included employees at both Stamler/Joy and UPS among the honorary bearers at todays funeral.

No information has been released by company management, the Teamsters union, the coroners office or the federal governments Occupational Safety and Health Association as to how or why Schanding was fatally injured. The Teamsters Local 651 has not returned a request for information or comment from the World Socialist Web Site and has not published any statement, besides a brief Facebook post linking to the familys obituary.

Andys sister Elizabeth told the Herald Leader that he was always highly conscious about safety, both on and off the job. She said Schandings supervisor at UPS told the family that Andy was known at the plant for being cautious and always wearing his safety harness. He was wearing the harness when he was killed.

Andys brother in law, Tim Dixon, himself a former UPS employee and now an autoworker in Kentucky, told the Herald Leader that employers squeeze every nickel out of workers. Companies are greedy, he said. Thats when mistakes are made. Dixon added that Andy enjoyed his job. I never saw anyone who loved to go to work as much as he did.

Thousands of UPS workers are injured or killed in workplace accidents every year due to relentless company demands for speedup, facilitated by the Teamsters union, to maximize profits.

The day after Schanding was killed, UPS released its quarterly profit figures, showing a 20 percent year-on-year increase in third quarter profits to $1.5 billion. The company is on track to record a $7 billion profit this year. This money, enough to give every UPS worker around the world a $20,000 raise, will be passed on to investment funds and the billionaire financial parasites who control them, in the form of stock buybacks and dividend payouts. In the past twenty years, UPS has increased its dividend-per-share payout four-fold. It will hand over $3 billion in dividends in 2018.

The atmosphere of management harassment and intimidation in the warehouses has increased following the the Teamsters October 5 decision to defy the 54 percent no vote by UPS workers on its sellout four-year labor contract backed by management. Workers in hubs across the country report that the company has been inspired by the Teamsters gangsterism to go on the offensive.

Schandings death is not an isolated incident. On a GoFundMe page set up to send money to Andys family, one worker, Lisa Hayes, commented, A fatality almost happened at our facility due to a conveyor. The WSWS UPS Workers Newsletter has spoken with hundreds of other UPS workers across the country over the past four months. Without fail, every worker has a horror story of an injury to themselves or someone they know.

In Rockford, Illinois, Lily, who earns $13 an hour and is attempting to raise three children with her husband, told us how a co-worker, who had received little training, had her finger ripped off by a rapidly moving box on the sorting line.

In Tennessee, Sean, a 32-year-old permanent part-time UPS worker, told us how his wrist tendon was torn trying to lift an overweight package. He was sent to a company-approved doctor, who proscribed anti-inflammatories and instructed him to return to work with a brace. Only five months later was he able to get the surgery he needed, and he has permanently lost range of motion in his arm. He is now living on poverty-level workers compensation payments trying to support his baby son and wife.

In Ontario, California, Irene, a 36-year-old porter of 10 years, revealed that workers are becoming dizzy and have to leave work early due to the polluted air in the warehouse. The fumes are caused by welding as part of ongoing construction work to install new, more highly-automated equipment. Many workers have become sick, including pregnant women workers on the line. Last year, Irene said, a 22-year-old worker had a seizure, fell on his head and was killed.

Such conditions exist only because the Teamsters functions as an arm of management and suppresses workers grievances and concerns.

At the Blue Sky Parkway UPS Freight hub, also in Lexington but separate from the facility in which Andy Schanding was killed, an explosion in May injured two workers. A propane torch reportedly set off the explosion of tanks of acetylene (a gas used for welding) on a truck and trailer parked in the hub. The two workers who were hospitalized and six other workers in the vicinity were lucky to escape with their lives, having been sufficiently far away when the explosion occurred.

Aftermath of the explosion in at the Lexington UPS Freight hub in May

Every year, thousands of workers are killed on the job in Americas industrial slaughterhouse. The most recently-available government data, from 2016, reports 5,190 workers killed on the job, up by 7 percent from the year before. Another 5060,000 workers die from occupational diseases, including Black Lung and cancers caused by workplace pollution. This means an average of 150 workers die every day from workplace-related incidents and illnesses.
The World Socialist Web Site invites workers and other readers to contribute to this regular feature.

Asia

India: Haryana road workers strike continues

Road workers in Haryana have continued their strike for the ninth consecutive day. The Haryana Roadways Employees Union had called the stoppage as a two-day strike on October 16, opposing the state governments decision to hire around 700 private buses.

Since discussions with the government failed, the union had to announce that the strike would continue indefinitely.

Thousands of commuters impacted by the lack of government buses have had to use alternative modes of transport. There are around 4,100 public buses transporting more than 1.2 million passengers in Haryana each day. According to trade union leaders, more than 4,000 buses are off the roads during the strike.

Workers from more than 100 other trade unions reportedly joined meetings to support the stoppage. The government has threatened workers with punishment under the Essential Services Maintenance Act.

So far, over 300 probationer conductors have been fired from their jobs and nearly 300 human resource employees have been arrested.

Bangladesh: Police attacks injure more than 40 protesting garment workers

Police tear gas attacks on garment workers demonstrating to demand owed wages and salary arrears have injured more than 40 workers. Several hundred workers from Soad Fashions and other factories in the Narayanganj Export Processing Zone of Siddhirganj in central Bangladesh started the demonstrations on Sunday morning, blocking the Adamjee-Narayanganj road for about five hours.

Later, they withdrew their blockade when the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority and local Awami League leaders assured them they would be paid what they are owed on November 15.

Between 3,000 and 3,500 workers had worked in the Soad Fashions factory when it was closed on September 22 without any prior notice. By then, workers pay was four months in arrears. The factory was reportedly sold by the original owner, a Bangladesh-Kuwait joint venture, to a Bangladeshi company, without any agreement on arrears payments.

India: Contract employees on strike in Delhi

Contract employees in Delhi, most of them working in schools, have stopped work to protest against pay cuts this month. The workers include security guards, caretakers and sanitation employees. The stoppage, which began last week, has grown rapidly over the past few days.

Last August, Delhis High Court set aside the state governments March 2017 notification raising contract workers minimum wages. The government decision had fixed gross salary at 13,350 rupees ($US183) per month for unskilled workers, 14,698 rupees for semi-skilled staff, and 16,182 rupees for skilled workers. After the High Courts order, the salaries were revised down to 8,858 rupees for sanitation workers and 9,800 rupees for guards.

The High Courts order was in response to petitions filed by employer associations in a host of sectors, including hospitality, medicine, publishing and real estate.

Sensing unrest among school contract workers, the Directorate of Education issued a circular on October 15 stating that employees should be motivated to work in the interests of schooling and for the welfare of students. It also said no anti-social element should be let into the schools lest they misguide the deployed outsourced workers. A Directorate of Education official said the circular was issued because Some union types were disturbing schools. It became a matter of security when the workers started agitating, he said.

Pakistan: Retail workers oppose privatisation, demand permanent jobs

Workers at Pakistans largest state-run retail chain, Utility Stores Corporation (USC), have held ongoing protests to oppose the governments plans to privatise it. Workers are also demanding permanent jobs for all contractors and a wage increase.

USC employs 14,000 workers. The main demonstrations have been held in Islamabad, with a sit-in protest near the government administrative complexes, known as the Red Zone, involving several hundred workers.

The USC provides state-subsidised groceries. Governments have failed over the last seven years to release funds for these subsidies resulting in an accumulated debt of 27.6 billion rupees ($206.58 million). The USCs financial crisis is being used as a pretext to push for its privatisation.

Negotiations between officials from the All Pakistan Utility Stores Corporation Union and representatives of the prime minister broke down on Tuesday, with the government rejecting the demand for permanent jobs. The next day, the police used barbwire to prevent protesters entering the Red Zone. Workers have said the protests will continue until all their demands are met.

Bangladesh: Transport workers demonstrate against new legislation

Transport workers belonging to the Bangladesh Road Transport Workers Federation staged an eight-hour strike on October 19, demanding an eight-point charter, including an amendment to the Road Transport Act 2018.

Under these laws, truck drivers can be sentenced to five years jail and fined 500,000 takas ($US5,913) for traffic offenses. The law also states that if a driver kills anyone in an accident, they can be charged with murder or culpable homicide.

Truck drivers earlier staged a three-day strike ending on October 3, to protest against the act. Rallies have been held since.

Federation leaders had threatened another two-day strike for October 28. They postponed it until October 31 after Home Minister Asaduzzaman Kamal said he would consider their demands.

Bangladesh: Police attack teachers demanding permanent employment

Police attacks prevented a pre-announced hunger strike of several hundred secondary school teachers demanding job permanency last Tuesday.

Under the banner of the Additional Class Teachers (ACT) Association, they gathered in front of Jatiya Press Club in Dhaka. Police attacked them on the false pretext that the teachers did not have permission to protest.

Many of us were injured and lost mobile phones and wallets when police launched the attack. We strongly condemn such attack on us at midnight, when we were asleep, the general secretary of ACT reported.

On Monday, the workers had staged an all-day sit-in, demanding the publication of a gazette regarding their job status and announcing Tuesdays event.

The teachers were recruited under a World Bank-funded project, called the Education Quality and Access Enhancement Project, established to improve maths, science and English skills.

The government recruited 5,200 teachers in 2015 on three-year contracts. Though the project ended on December 31 last year, some 4,500 of the employees are still teaching without permanency.

Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific

BP oil refinery in Western Australia moves to cancel enterprise agreement

Management at BPs Kwinana oil and gas refinery in Perth, Western Australia has applied to the Fair Work Commission (FWC) to terminate an enterprise agreement covering 163 of its 700 employees. The move followed 16 months of failed negotiations that included 42 meetings with the Australian Workers Union for a replacement to the expired Operations and Laboratory Enterprise Agreement (EA).

Workers covered by the EA, which was struck in 2014, could be forced onto minimum award conditions with considerable cuts to wages and conditions. Negotiations will continue in the FWC. The union, which has pushed through sellout deals at other refineries, has not called any industrial action.

Australian crane hire workers strike in Singleton

Workers at Boom Logistics in Singleton, north of Sydney, began an indefinite strike on October 15 over pay and working conditions. A spokesman from the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) said ten months of negotiations in the Fair Work Commission had failed to establish an agreement on pay and casualisation. Workers complained that there were four different entities working at the depot at four different rates of pay doing the same job.

Boom Logistics provides crane logistics and lifting services to the construction industry. It employs over 500 people at 18 depots across Australia. It has 23 permanent staff at Singleton. The CFMEU also covers Boom workers in Wollongong and Port Kembla.

Australia: Meat processing workers walk out in NSW

Workers from the Bindaree Beef processing plant in Inverell, in northern New South Wales walked off the job on Wednesday and rallied to protest over low wages. The Australian Meat Industry Employees Union (AMIEU), representing 700 Bindaree workers at the plant, has been in negotiations with management for several months. The union claims to be demanding a $20 per week increase. Management has rejected calls for a raise.

Strikers returned to work on Thursday but continued industrial action in the form of token 20-minute rotational stoppages beginning in the boning room and on the slaughter-floor. Management has agreed to put an offer to workers by the end of the month.

The union and the company have enforced poverty wages. Around 80 percent of workers receive an annual wage of $40-50,000, which translates to a net amount of roughly $600-750 per week, well below the annual average wage of $75,000. The company refused to lift their pay above the minimum award rate.

Workers complained that although bonuses lift their pay above the minimum wage, work is not guaranteed and is seasonal, which keeps their average income low.

Bus drivers strike throughout New Zealands North Island

On Tuesday, bus drivers from West Aucklands Ritchies Murphy company and South Aucklands Pavlovich held a 24-hour strike. Around 350 services were cancelled. On the same day, a four-hour strike was held by Go Bus drivers in Hamilton from 5 am to 9 am.

Tranzit bus drivers in Wellington were also set to begin an indefinite strike on Tuesday, but the Tramways Union deferred the stoppage until Thursday based on a legal technicality in the Employment Relations Act, a bill passed in 2000 with the full support of the union bureaucracy. The strike is proposed to last until November 30.

Earlier in the year, Ritchies Murphy bus drivers struck twice. Go Bus drivers in the Waikato region have walked out five times. The strikes have been over low pay and long working hours. Wellington bus drivers are striking over attacks on their pay and working conditions after Tranzit took over a majority of the NZ Bus routes in July.

The unions are desperate to control the situation and reduce strike activity. The Tramways Union have deferred the strike and entered mediation with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. First Union has begun mediation with the Employment Relations Authority.

First Union has also leapt on the almost nation-wide strikes to promote the establishment of an industry-wide Fair Pay Agreement, which will extend the powers of the union bureaucracy and completely ban strikes during negotiations for new contracts.

New Zealand: Continued strikes by anaesthetic technicians

Six anaesthetic technicians in Hawkes Bay went on strike for 24 hours on Thursday. The technicians are overworked and are asking for a minimum of nine staff on the roster to allow for adequate sleep. They are also calling for professional development to meet the requirements of the Medical Sciences Council.

A 24-hour strike was held earlier in the month by the workers who were also joined by technicians in Northland, who are also grossly understaffed.

As with the 30,000 healthcare workers in the New Zealand Nurses Organisation, the technicians union, Apex, has prolonged negotiations for nearly a year. NZNO members, who also have to deal with inadequate staffing and unsafe working hours, were eventually sold out by the union without any of their demands being met.

New Zealand court workers continue industrial action with lightning strikes

Court workers in Auckland held a one-hour strike on October 19 with only 30 minutes notice. Courtrooms in Manukau, Papakura and Waitakere were closed between 2pm and 3pm. The strikers included various administrative staff such as court reporters and victim advisors.

Ministry of Justice workers began rolling industrial action on September 19 with a two-hour nationwide strike of around 1,500 workers.

The Public Services Association, which also represents thousands of workers for Inland Revenue and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, has established a precedent for extremely limited strikes, all of two hours or less. They have also primarily focussed the court workers dispute around closing the gender pay gap, rather than lifting wages overall.

Workers voted in favour of further industrial action in a ballot, which closed on Wednesday. Until November 9, a work to rule will be imposed, as well as a ban on overtime, and common daily breaks of 1 hour and 35 minutes.

New Zealand: Staff strike at Auckland University of Technology

Over 750 staff members at the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) held a strike for 24-hours on October 19. Teaching staff are also withholding assessment marking for two weeks unless their demands are met.

The Tertiary Education Union says its members want at least a 3 percent increase, and that their lowest paid staff receive at least the living wage. Over a thousand staff and students have supported the living wage pay increase in a petition.

This modest target of $20.55 an hour, set by privileged union bureaucrats, would barely be enough for full time workers to get by on with just the basic necessities.
In response to the turn by Pakistans newly-elected government to an emergency bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), China has cautioned against the loan, saying it could affect economic cooperation between Islamabad and Beijing.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a press briefing in Beijing last week: China wants an objective and professional evaluation of the loans. The measures to be worked out by the IMF should not affect the China-Pakistan relations, he warned.

Prime Minister Imran Khan announced on October 10 that Pakistans government had to borrow from the IMF since the countrys foreign reserves had fallen last month to $US8.4 billion. Khan said he would also be seeking financial help from friendly countries, by which he meant China and Saudi Arabia.

Amid a worsening balance-of-payments crisis, the Pakistan government desperately needs an estimated $12 billion and is looking toward China for further financial assistance. It is under pressure from the US, however, to distance itself from China and wind back projects associated with the massive proposed China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo effectively warned the Khan government in late July that any IMF loan would be contingent on lessening Pakistans economic dependence on China. Make no mistake: we will be watching what the IMF does. There is no rationale for IMF tax dollarsand associated with that, American dollars that are part of the IMF fundingfor those to go to bail out Chinese bondholders or China itself.

The US has added to the pressure by demanding that Pakistan do more to suppress militias that use its border areas to mount attacks on US-led occupation forces and government targets inside Afghanistan. Last month the Trump administration cut off $300 million in military aid to Islamabad.

The CPEC is a crucial component of Chinas infrastructure strategythe Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)which is aimed at linking Eurasian landmass and countering US efforts to strategically isolate and encircle it. Washington is mounting an offensive against BRI on all fronts, including in the media with a growing drumbeat in the US and international media accusing China or luring countries into debt traps.

The CPEC includes the development of road, rail and pipeline links between the Pakistani port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea and western China. For Beijing, such a corridor would secure Chinas links to Africa and the oil-rich Middle East and strengthen its ability to resist a US naval blockade of Chinas vital shipping routes through South East Asia in the event of conflict.

Facing pressure from the US, the Pakistan government is seeking to remodel the terms of the CPEC to lessen the financial burden and focus the project on economic rather than strategic issues. In preparing for his first visit to China as Pakistans premier next month, Khan is insisting that the emphasis of the CPEC shift from infrastructure to agriculture, job creation and foreign investment.

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry told the media: Earlier, the CPEC was only aimed at construction of motorways and highways, but now the prime minister decided that it will be used to support the agriculture sector, create more jobs and attract other foreign countries like Saudi Arabia to invest in the country.

Earlier this month, Sheikh Rashid, the railways minister, said the cost of the rail projects in Pakistan as part of the CPEC had been brought down, but had to be further reduced. The main rail project is a major upgrade to the major line stretching 1,872 kilometres from Karachi in the south to Peshawar in the north of the country.

We have brought down railways projects cost to $6.2 billion from $8.2 billion. Its my wish to further bring it down to $4.2 billion, Rashid said. I am the biggest supporter of CPEC, but I also want that the railways have minimum burden.

China is committed to pressing ahead with the CPEC, which entails nearly $60 billion in infrastructure funds. Speaking to Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi during UN sessions last month, Chinas top diplomat, State Councillor Wang Yi, hailed his countrys all weather partnership with Pakistan.

While not naming the US, Wang pointedly warned that any conspiracies attempting to incite disharmony or interfere in China-Pakistan relations will not prevail. He declared that China and Pakistan should continue to make all-out efforts to promote the economic corridor, expand trade and reduce poverty.

China is also seeking to strengthen ties with Pakistan on other fronts. In mid-September, at a meeting with Pakistan Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chinese President Xi Jinping said: Pakistan is our time-tested iron friendship and the Pakistan army has a pivotal role towards this lasting relationship. He praised the Pakistani armed forces and declared: China shall continue to support Pakistan as a strategic partner.

Just days before Bajwas visit to China, Commerce Minister Abdul Razak Dawood had suggested that the government might suspend CPEC projects for a year. Facing pressure from Washington and Beijing, Pakistan is engaged in a desperate balancing act as it confronts a deepening economic and social crisis at home.

Pakistan is not the only country seeking to modify its BRI projects. Malaysia has suspended or cancelled $26 billion in Chinese-funded projects, while Myanmar is negotiating a significant scaling back of a Chinese-funded port project on the Bay of Bengal. Undoubtedly, the US and its allies are applying pressure behind the scenes in a bid to undermine Chinas plans.

Pakistan is also seeking funds elsewhere. Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry has announced that Islamabad and Saudi Arabia have signed three major investment deals involving CPEC projects, including a new oil refinery at the deep-sea port of Gwadar.

This week, Prime Minister Khan ignored the uproar over the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi to attend the showcase Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh and was promised at least $6 billion in financial support. The US, no doubt, backs the loan from one of its key allies in the Middle East as a means of lessening Pakistans economic dependence on China.

As the Trump administration intensifies its confrontation with China, countries like Pakistan are finding it increasingly difficult to balance their relations with Washington and Beijing. This intense manoeuvring is another indication of sharpening geo-political tensions and the rising dangers of war.
About 5,000 young workers gathered at Galle Face Green in central Colombo on Wednesday for a day-long protest supporting a plantation workers campaign for a 1,000-rupee (about $US6) daily wage.

Many young men and women working in Colombo and other parts of the country participated in the protest, shouting slogans until noon. They demanded a resolution to the wage demand before October 31.

A new collective agreement is due to be signed between the trade unions and the Sri Lanka Employers Federation by that date. Before previous agreements, the unions employed militant rhetoric to divert workers anger but ultimately imposed meagre wage increases tied to increasing workloads. This time, they are engaged in backroom discussions with companies.

When protestors started marching toward the nearby Presidential Secretariat, police erected road blocks to stop them. Fully-armed riot police with teargas, batons and water cannon trucks were initially kept on standby.

Protesters were informed by a Presidential Secretariat official that they should send some representatives the next morning to meet higher officials. Protesters decided to wait at the site until then.

Police confronting protesters

At about 8 p.m., police suddenly unleashed violence on the peaceful protest, attacking the youth with batons and chasing them away.

Thousands of plantation workers are holding daily protests, demanding the doubling of their current wage of 500 rupees. The demonstrations were called by the National Union of Workers (NUW), led by a government minister, P. Digambaram, which has deliberately called limited protests on a staggered basis, fearing a major struggle could erupt.

In response to Wednesdays protest, the Planters Association held a press conference in Colombo to reject the workers demand. Association chairman Sunil Poholiyadde said any such increase would result in the collapse of the plantation industry. He insisted that only a 20 percent, or 100-rupee, wage increase was possible.

Poholiyadde claimed that with various allowances, workers could reach 1,000 rupees. However, workers find it difficult to reach the related productivity and attendance requirements.

The Colombo protest marks a new stage of development in the class struggle, as part of an international resurgence of the working class. Adopting the name Group 24, youth used social media to organise the campaign, saying they wanted to give voice to the justified demand of the plantation workers and gather the support among workers in the country and internationally. This is the first time that Sri Lankan workers have conducted such a campaign.

Prasad Kumar

Representing the group, a young medical officer, Prasad Kumar, told WSWS reporters: Plantation workers have hugely contributed to the economy for over 200 years since British rule, and for 70 years since the countrys independence. However, like the imperialist rulers, the Sri Lankan rulers too have neglected them. They get only 500 rupees a day  How can they cope with 500 rupees as cost of living is sky rocketing?

Kumar explained that the group did not limit the protest to plantation-origin youth but invited all those who backed the wage demand. Accordingly, youth from the north, and Sinhalese youth from the south were among the participants. He warned: Bourgeois politicians are seeking to grab this kind of opportunity for their advantage. Some political parties from the plantations have come here to derail the protest.

Among the protestors were associates of the NUW and the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC)another plantation-based union, led by ex-government minister Arumugam Thondaman and a former parliamentarian Shri Renga who has now lined up with Thondaman.

Young men and women who spoke to the WSWS voiced opposition to the trade unions.

Yoga, a Colombo textile worker, said: Unions say one thing to workers and discuss another thing with the companies. They come to workers and tell them as the factories are on the verge of collapse, you better accept the wage offer and return to work. Workers are going down the precipice. That is why many in our generation have abandoned toiling in the estates and come to Colombo. Even working here, we are just managing to survive.

A section of the demonstration

A young woman from an estate at Maskeliya, currently working at Cargills Food City as a salesgirl, said her parents had sent her to school from the estate in difficult conditions. We had to walk six kilometres to school. So we need definitely a 1,000-rupee salary. I finished my advanced level at school but Im working as a salesgirl in Cargills to help my parents to educate my brothers.

In Cargills we face very difficult working conditions. We come to the shop at 7 in the morning and start work at 8, continuing until 5 in the evening. Sometimes we work two shifts continuously.

Prabu from Bibila said no one in his family worked in the estates but their origins were in the plantations. So I came here to support the wage campaign. I work at a construction site in very difficult conditions and receive 1,500 rupees a day. After sending some money to my family, it is not enough to live on.

Prabu said there were no basic facilities for plantation workers, including decent housing. The unions boast they build homes for estate workers, but they build a few houses without adequate water supply or decent toilets. He added: I agree with you about building a society with social equality. It would open a huge opportunity. We would like to discuss these issues.

Because the Group 24 provided no political perspective, pro-capitalist organisations, particularly one led by Shri Renga, worked to divert a section of protestors to appeal to President Maithripala Sirisenas government.

During the past several months, the trade unions have betrayed struggles involving postal, railway and waterboard workers, urging them to accept Sirisenas false promises. Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe promised a 1,000-rupee wage for plantation workers when they campaigned to come to power, but reneged on the pledge. Nevertheless, the unions have channelled workers behind this pro-imperialist government, which is implementing the austerity measures dictated by the International Monetary Fund.

Protesters marching

Organisers of the protest said they planned to spread the message about the wage struggle to other cities. It is a positive initiative on the part of these youth to make workers conscious of the situation and the anger felt toward the government, the companies and the trade unions that have become their direct agencies. However, this is not politically adequate to win the struggle of plantation or other workers.

In its protest invitation, the group said: No to politics or political organisations. Organisers tried to justify this by saying they meant to bar establishment parties and trade unions. However, a prohibition on politics would be an obstacle to politically exposing those parties and unions, and to building a genuine working class leadership. The working class needs a socialist political perspective.

Socialist Equality Party (SEP) and International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) members distributed a leaflet in Sinhala and Tamil languages, raising the necessity of building a revolutionary party among workers and youth.

Pointing to the underlying economic, political and social crisis, the leaflet explained that the working class and poor could not achieve their democratic and social rights within the capitalist system. Specifically addressing plantation workers, the statement called for the establishment of action committees in every estate, elected by workers democratically, totally independent of the trade unions and bourgeois parties.

These committees must discuss and decide the decent wage that workers should fight for. They must call a conference of workers delegates to call for a united struggle of plantation and other sectors. It is necessary to fight for the unity of the international working class in this struggle.

Above all, this is a political struggle. The working class, including plantation workers, can realise their rights only under a workers and peasants government that will nationalise the large estates, banks and big companies under workers control as part of the struggle for international socialism.
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NEW ALBANY, Miss. (WTVA) - A 136-year-old church is now a total loss after what officials believe was an accidental fire.

Mallalieu United Methodist Church is described as a fixture for its congregation and also for those in the community.

"I smelled something like hot wood and started checking around," said church member Thomas Mosley. "We still didn't discover nothing."

Mosley was meeting with a veterans group inside of the church's basement about an hour before the fire was reported. He got a call about the fire after he left and locked up.

Its a bad feeling," shared Mosley. "All your memories, your mother and your father and your grandfather. All your memories are gone.

The veteran has been with the church for sixty-five years and says it's the people and the chance to reach out to the youth that keeps him coming back.

Mallalieu United Methodist Church was founded in 1882, with 60 members. It is part of the Hallelujah Trail.

Thomas' cousin says he helped do extensive research into African-American churches that were 100 years or older. Mallalieu Church was one of them.

We were looking at life in the black community in that period, what kept us together and it was the church," said Sam Mosley. "That was the meeting place that was our safe haven.

Church members will be having service at their sister church, St. Mary's United Methodist Church in New Albany this Sunday.
Update 10/31/18 11:18 a.m.

Starkville police have released this video surveillance from the store. See the video above.

Photo: Starkville PD Photo: Starkville PD

If you have any information, please contact Starkville police at 662-323-4131.

See the original post below.

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WTVA) - Starkville police say a store clerk was assaulted Thursday night.

At 8:36 p.m., Starkville police responded to a report of an armed robbery at Quality Fuels at 300 Highway 12 West.

Police say the clerk received minor injuries during the incident.

The suspect is described as a black male, approximately 60 in height, with an average body build.

Police say the suspect is not in custody.

The incident is still under active investigation.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Starkville police at 662-323-4131 or Golden Triangle Crime Stoppers at 1-800-530-7151.

Crime Stoppers may offer a cash reward.
Filmmaker Michael Moore has issued a statement regarding Cesar Sayoc Jr., who on Friday in Florida was arrested in connection with a series of mail bombs sent to CNN and several prominent Democrats this week. Sayoc, had a picture of Moore with crosshairs over Moores face pasted to the side of his van.

Moore said in the statement obtained by TheWrap that the threat of right-wing violence is not an aberration but is the norm, and that Fox News Channel has helped to create a generation of angry and violent conspiracy theorists and have encouraged to act on those lies.

Read Moores full statement below:

Also Read: Here Are Some Photos of Cesar Sayoc's Van (Photo)

The accused bomber plastered a picture of me on the side of his van, with a crosshairs target over my face. Actually, the target is over my neck, which Ill take as a minor concession on his part.

The threat of right-wing violence against figures on the American left is not new. It is not an aberration. It is not a violation of norms. It IS the norm. Rupert Murdochs Fox News Channel and right-wing radio have preyed upon those whove seen their American Dream go up in smoke, and they have helped to create a generation of angry and violent conspiracy theorists who will believe any lie that is perpetrated on those airwaves. These angry right wing men have been openly encouraged to act on those lies, even as late as this very morning when Trump was tweeting his doubts that the bombs were real.

Sadly, the new and dangerous dynamic of political violence in America is that it is now promoted and encouraged by the President of the United States.

We must vote out of office all enablers of this man and the violent culture he instigates and nurtures. There are millions and millions of us who will never be intimidated, who will never back down, and who will show up on Election Day.

Many of the recipients of the bombs have been outspoken critics of President Trump, including billionaire George Soros, Robert De Niro and Rep. Maxine Waters.

Read original story Michael Moore Says Fox News Helped to Create Accused Florida Bomber at TheWrap
A dozen relatives of Nevadas current attorney general and Republican candidate for governor, Adam Laxalt, penned an op-ed in the Reno Gazette Journal this week explaining why they think Laxalt should not be governor.

Laxalts family, including an aunt and cousins, addressed their reasons for the writing the op-ed, saying they feel compelled to protect our family name from being leveraged and exploited. They wrote about their familys rich history in Nevada and how Laxalt has falsely claimed he was raised in the state, pointing out that although Laxalt was born in Reno, he was raised out of state.

Adam never knew the state or its people, the family wrote. They went on to suggest his motives for moving back to the state were purely political: He left as an infant and was raised on the East Coast, 3,000 miles away, in Washington, D.C., and moved here only in 2013, only one year later launching his political career.

The family went on to ridicule Laxalt, calling into to question his authenticity. They cited as an example a Basque Fry fundraiser he held recently and said, This event perfectly captures the Adam Laxalt candidacy: the phoniness of the setting and costumes, the pretense of folksiness used as a prop for Washington power players like Kellyanne Conway and Devin Nunes.

A Basque Fry is a traditional Nevada event. The family linked to a promotional video from Laxalts event and explained, Adam is dressed in a western shirt monogrammed with his campaign logo, work boots and jeans that look like they were ordered off Amazon the week before its all fake, all props paid for by someone else.

A spokesman for the candidate responded to the opinion piece and told NBC News, Adam has a large family and some distant relatives are lifelong liberal activists, donors, and operatives. Theyve done this many times, going back to 2014, and its never had any impact.

Interestingly, Laxalt is the illegitimate son of former New Mexico Republican Sen. Pete Domenici and the grandson of Paul Laxalt, also a former Republican senator and close friend of Ronald Reagan.

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This is not the first time this election cycle weve seen family members come out publicly against a family member running for office. Back in September, the family of Republican Paul Gosar appeared in a political ad endorsing Democrat David Brill, who is running against Gosar to represent Arizonas 4th Congressional District, and the ad went viral.

David Gosar, Pauls brother, told the Washington Post of the ad, There isnt a kooky, crazy, nutty thing that he isnt a part of. What are we supposed to do?
Pittsburgh synagogue mass shooting claims 11 lives; 4 officers among multiple wounded: Officials originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

Eleven people were killed and at least six more were injured -- including four police officers -- when a gunman opened fire at a Pittsburgh synagogue Saturday morning, authorities said.

"It's a very horrific crime scene," Alleghany Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich told reporters during the press conference Saturday afternoon. "It's one of the worst that I've seen."

Police responded earlier Saturday to reports of active gunfire at the Tree of Life Or LSimcha congregation, where a service was taking place, Hissrich said. The suspect is in custody and has been taken to the hospital, Hissrich said.

Eight men and three women were killed in the shooting, according to a criminal complaint. One of the four officers is in critical condition.

The shooter has been identified as Robert Bowers, who is 46 years old and lives in Pittsburgh. Bowers use at least one assault rifle in the shooting and had three handguns on him.

Bowers was charged with 29 federal counts late Saturday, including several hate crimes. He is facing 11 counts of obstruction of exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death, 11 counts of use of a firearm to commit murder, four counts of obstruction of exercise of religious belief resulting in bodily injury to a public safety officer and three counts of use and discharge of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.

The four counts of bodily injury to a public safety officer stem from the police officers injured in the shooting.

Bowers was not known to the FBI before Saturday, Bob Jones, the agency's special agent in charge, said during a press conference Saturday afternoon. He is believed to have acted alone, Jones added.

PHOTO: A Department of Motor Vehicles ID picture of Robert Bowers, the suspect of the attack at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. (AFP/Getty Images)

He suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was in fair condition at a local hospital, Hissrich said.

In addition to the federal charges, Bowers was also charged with 35 state offenses, including 11 counts of criminal homicide, six counts of criminal attempted homicide, six counts of aggravated assault and 13 counts of ethnic intimidation.

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PHOTO: People gather on a corner near the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh where a shooter opened fire, Oct. 27, 2018. (Gene J. Puskar/AP)

The congregants were attending a baby-naming ceremony in the synagogue, Pennsylvania's state attorney general told the Associated Press. There were no children among the dead, Hissrich said.

Jennifer Paddy said her daughter, who was staying at a friend's house near the synagogue, "heard rapid gunfire."

"Her and her friend ... they ran downstairs and barricaded themselves in the basement," she told ABC affiliate WTAE in Pittsburgh.

Since the incident happened at a synagogue, it is being treated as a federal hate crime and will be handled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) with the assistance of local, county and state police, he added.

PHOTO: First responders surround the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh where a shooter opened fire, Oct. 27, 2018. (Gene J. Puskar/AP)

The Anti-Defamation League said it was "unconscionable for Jews to be targeted during worship on a Sabbath morning."

"This is the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the history of the United States," it said in a statement.

First responders prevented the shooting from becoming a worse tragedy, and the injured have been taken to three area hospitals with level one trauma centers, Hissrich said.

"Without their courage, this tragedy would have been far worse," said Hissrich said.

Rabbi Alvin Berkun, who was not at the synagogue at the time, told ABC News he was "stunned" and "sorry" to hear of the shooting. He said he had stayed home from services Saturday morning because his wife was sick and that he has not heard from friends who were in the building.

PHOTO: A man is escorted out of the Tree of Life Congregation by police following a shooting at the Pittsburg synagogue, Oct. 27, 2018. (Alexandra Wimley/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP)

Berkun, who lives nearby the synagogue, said police officers came to his door and told him to stay inside his home. He described the neighborhood of Squirrel Hill, where the synagogue is located, as "a very Jewish neighborhood" which is "known as a Jewish community."

"There's absolutely no crime, it's an amazing neighborhood," Berkun said. "It's hard to believe it's a city neighborhood. It's dominated by the Jewish community center four blocks away ... by kosher bakeries -- all kinds of Jewish gift shops, bookshops, a number of synagogues."

"There is one major synagogue but there are at least five other synagogues within two miles of where we are," he said.

PHOTO: From left, Kate Rothstein looks on as Tammy Hepps hugs Simone Rothstein, after multiple people were shot at The Tree of Life Congregation synagogue, Oct, 27, 2018, in Pittsburgh. (Alexandra Wimley/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP)

When the gunman opened fire at the synagogue, law enforcement officers, including agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) swiftly responded to the scene.

The suspect was apprehended a short time later.

The synagogue is a conservative Jewish congregation, according to its website, and there was a morning Shabbat service scheduled from 9:45 a.m. to noon.

PHOTO: Locator map of deadly shooting in Pittsburgh synagogue. (TNS/Newscom)

Berkun said there are "three different religious groups that are meeting in our building on Saturday morning with three distinct services," estimating that there could have been approximately 75 people in the building at the time. Hissrich declined during the press conference to say how many people were inside at the time.

PHOTO: Police respond to an active shooter situation at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Oct. 27, 2018. (Pam Panchak/Post-Gazette via AP)

By late Saturday afternoon, with the death toll at 11, President Donald Trump signaled that he will change the tone of his typical rally speeches, telling reporters that "tone is very important."

He said he was enthusiastic about being on the campaign trail, but that Saturday's mass shooting had changed things.

"Tonight, I will absolutely change my tone," he said.

Earlier, speaking to reporters before boarding a flight to the event in Indiana, Trump called the attack "a shame," calling the suspect "a wacko" and a "maniac." He also said the suspect should "pay the ultimate price" and be subjected to the death penalty.

When asked about whether the nation's gun laws should be changed, Trump said the synagogue should have had armed security there.

"You want protection, and they didnt have any protection, they had a maniac walk in," Trump said. "The results could have been much better."

He said that before getting into office, he would think "what a shame, what a shame" when incidents like this one unfolded.

"Its even tougher when youre the president of the United States and you have to watch this thing happen," Trump said.

After he arrived Saturday afternoon, the president said the shooter appeared to be an "anti-Semitic crime."

"That is something you wouldn't believe could still be going on," he added.

After hinting earlier in the day that he might cancel Saturday night's rally out of respect for the dead and wounded in Pittsburgh, he told the crowd that he was inspired to attend the rally by the late New York Yankees' owner and friend George Steinbrenner -- and his resolve for the Yankees to play after the September 11th attacks in 2001.

Trump also claimed that the US Stock Exchange remained open, though it was closed for six days after the attacks.

Vice President Mike Pence offered his condolences on Twitter.

"Praying for the fallen, the injured, all the families impacted, and our courageous first responders, he tweeted Saturday morning. "God bless them all."

Monitoring reports of shooting at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. Praying for the fallen, the injured, all the families impacted, and our courageous first responders. God bless them all.  Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) October 27, 2018

First lady Melania Trump said her "heart breaks" over the shooting, and that "the violence needs to stop."

My heart breaks over the news out of #Pittsburgh. The violence needs to stop. May God bless, guide & unite the United States of America.  Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) October 27, 2018

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf tweeted that he was headed to Pittsburgh.

PHOTO: Police at the scene in Pittsburgh where an active shooter was reported, Oct. 27, 2018. (WTAE)

"We are providing local first responders with whatever help they need," he wrote.

On my way to Pittsburgh. Headed to the scene at Tree of Life Synagogue shooting. The suspect is in custody. We are providing local first responders with whatever help they need.  Governor Tom Wolf (@GovernorTomWolf) October 27, 2018

By Saturday evening, residents of the Pittsburgh apartment building where Bowers lived who had been evacuated were allowed back into their apartments. One neighbor described the suspect to ABC News as a quiet loner who lived alone and didn't stick out as any sort of danger.

The New York City Police Department and the Los Angeles Police Department said that they are deploying extra teams to synagogues and Jewish locations throughout those cities as well.

"The NYPD is deploying heavy weapons teams, including the officers from the Critical Response Command and the Strategic Response Team, to houses of worship across the City," the department said in a statement. "Additionally, sector cars in every command across New York City will be making additional visits to ensure the safety of all of our residents. Currently, there is no nexus to New York. But these steps are being taken until further information is learned about the events in Pittsburgh by the NYPD."

Police in Washington, D.C., are also on alert.

"We have reached out to Jewish community leaders and have directed officers to pay special attention to synagogues until further notice," a spokesperson for the D.C. police department said.
Police identify sisters found dead and bound together in New York City's Hudson River

Police identify sisters found dead and bound together in New York City's Hudson River originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

Authorities have identified the two women whose bodies, bound together with duct tape, were found floating along New York City's Hudson River earlier this week.

The bodies are those of Tala Farea, 16, and Rotana Farea, 22, who are sisters from Fairfax, Virginia, according to the New York City Police Department.

The working belief among investigators is that the women wanted to end their own lives, taped themselves together and jumped into the water, a police source told ABC News.

The medical examiner's office will determine the causes of death as the investigation continues, police said.

(MORE: Police looking to identify women found dead and bound together in New York's Hudson River)

PHOTO: Police at the scene, Oct. 24, 2018, near the Hudson River in New York City where the bodies of two dead females, bound in duct tape, were found. (Matthew McDermott/Polaris)

A passerby spotted the bodies in the river off of Manhattan's Upper West Side on Wednesday afternoon and alerted authorities.

The sisters were found lying on rocks near the river, fully-clothed, both wearing black jackets with fur trim and black leggings. There were no obvious signs of trauma, police said.

(MORE: 2 women's bodies bound together discovered floating in New York's Hudson River, police say)

PHOTO: Police sketches of the two women found taped together in the Hudson River on Oct. 24, 2018. (New York Police Department)

The bodies are believed to have washed ashore with the tide and stayed when the tide went out, police said.

Anyone with information about the Farea sisters is urged to call the New York City Police Department's Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS.

ABC News' Aaron Katersky and Emily Shapiro contributed to this report.
Two married Indiana teachers in the midst of divorce proceedings were found fatally shot in their home Wednesday in an apparent murder-suicide, PEOPLE confirms.

The bodies of Frank Sergi II, 52, and 44-year-old Kristal Sergi were discovered around 6 p.m. Oct. 24 inside their Fishers home shortly after police received a 911 call reporting gunshots, Fishers Police Department Sgt. Tom Weger tells PEOPLE.

Kristal died from multiple gunshot wounds to the chest while Frank, the suspected shooter, died from a single gunshot wound to the head, says Weger.

Based on the results of the autopsy, it appears to be a murder-suicide, says Weger, who also said, No one else was in the home at the time.

A family friend told WGNO that prior to the shooting, he and others received a text from Frank asking them to take care of their kids. He also provided them with phone numbers, according to the station.

Weger says the couple, who shared a young son, was in divorce proceedings at the time but there were no reported incidents of violence between them. Frank had a son from a previous relationship.

We have no record of any calls for service to that house or regarding the two individuals, he says. We have no record of any history of violence or problems.

Neighbors told WGNO that Kristal had not been living in the home, which had been put up for sale in August.

According to Hamilton Southeastern Schools officials, Frank Sergi had been an art teacher with the Hamilton Southeastern Schools since 1992, having spent most of his career at Fall Creek Intermediate.

Kristal Sergi worked with the same district for 21 years, most recently as a preschool teacher at Hoosier Road Elementary.

We are grateful for the work of the Fishers Police Department, and we support their efforts in this on-going investigation, school officials said in a statement provided to PEOPLE. Our hearts are with the affected families. We will work through our districts Crisis Response Team, which includes mental health professionals, to provide much-needed support during this difficult time.

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The deaths of the popular couple have shocked students, teachers and neighbors.

You know I woke up this morning still shaking, surprised by everything, neighbor Michael Jenson told WGNO. It was completely unexpected.

Jensen said Frank was the first person he met when he moved to the area. I was taking my kids trick-or-treating last year, he said. He was dressed up as a werewolf playing games in the street. He seemed like a cool guy to be around.

This has had a huge impact on the community, adds Weger. Obviously being school teachers, they had influence on a lot of young people and parents. It is tragic.
Afghans risked their lives to vote in legislative elections in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, after the Taliban-claimed killing of a powerful police chief delayed the ballot by a week.

Turbaned men and burqa-clad women stood in long, segregated queues outside polling centres in the deeply conservative Kandahar provincial capital, which was blanketed with heavy security in anticipation of militant attacks.

More than half a million people -- the vast majority of them men -- were registered to vote in Kandahar province where more than 100 candidates competed for 11 lower-house seats.

Organisers were under pressure to avoid last weekend's debacle that forced the Independent Election Commission (IEC) to extend the nationwide ballot by a day.

Problems with untested biometric verification devices, missing or incomplete voter rolls and absent election workers following Taliban threats to attack the ballot forced Afghans to wait hours outside polling stations, many of which opened late or not at all.

Similar issues were evident in Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban and a province notorious for ballot stuffing, with many polling sites in the city opening more than an hour late -- despite assurances from IEC deputy spokeswoman Kobra Rezaei on Friday that "we are absolutely ready".

Electoral Complaints Commission spokesman Ali Reza Rohani told reporters that preparations had been "better" in Kandahar compared with last weekend. But hiccups with biometric devices and voter lists persisted.

An AFP correspondent visited several polling centres in the city where election workers did not know how to use the biometric machines. At some sites the gadgets were not used at all.

Streets in the city were quieter than usual at the beginning of the Afghan working week, after authorities restricted the use of cars and motorbikes during voting hours.

"I have to vote for a better future for my country," shopkeeper Abdul Abbas told AFP outside a polling centre in the provincial capital.

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"I have defied all the threats of attacks and explosions to vote."

Voting in the province bordering Pakistan was postponed following the October 18 death of General Abdul Raziq, an anti-Taliban strongman seen as a bulwark against the insurgency in the south, amid fears of violence flaring up.

Raziq was among three people killed in a brazen insider attack on a high-level security meeting in Kandahar city that was attended by General Scott Miller, the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan.

Miller escaped unhurt, but US Brigadier General Jeffrey Smiley was among 13 people wounded in the shooting claimed by the Taliban.

It was hoped that the appointment of Tadeen Khan -- a brother of Raziq and a member of the Afghan security forces -- as acting provincial police chief would help keep a lid on polling day unrest.

As voting centres closed, there were no reports of violence.

On the eve of the ballot, Afghan air strikes killed at least 56 Taliban militants in Kandahar's Shah Wali Kot district, provincial police spokesman Zia Durrani told AFP.

- Election death toll -

IEC figures show around four million people voted in last weekend's parliamentary election that was held in 32 out of 34 provinces after months of chaotic preparations.

That compares with nearly nine million on the voter roll, but many suspect a significant number of those were based on fake identification documents that fraudsters planned to use to stuff ballot boxes.

Scores of attacks marred the first day of the election on October 20, with an AFP tally showing nearly 300 civilians and security forces were killed or wounded in poll-related violence.

That was significantly higher than the government's casualty figures, supporting speculation that officials had deliberately downplayed the violence so voters would not be scared off.

The discrepancy also added to concerns about the lack of transparency and credibility in the election, which is more than three years late and the third since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

More than 2,500 candidates, including mullahs, journalists and sons of warlords, are competing for 249 seats in the lower house.

The election is seen as a dry run for next year's presidential vote and an important milestone ahead of a UN meeting in Geneva in November where Afghanistan is under pressure to show progress on "democratic processes".

With vote counting under way, the IEC is scheduled to release preliminary results on November 10.
He has been cited by Rush Limbaugh, quoted in the New York Times, featured at Real Clear Politics and Lucianne.com and interviewed on radio, TV and in social media.





For many years he served as a Lecturer in Corporate Communication at Penn State University. A former President of the Philadelphia Public Relations Association (PPRA) he has lectured at Rowan University, Temple University, The College of New Jersey and Arcadia University. He has conducted workshops on public relations for thousands of participants throughout the nation and has taught countless others the art of public speaking. He has also advised numerous lawyers, judges, public officials and political candidates.





Cirucci is a prolific writer and his op-ed pieces have appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia Inquirer, Courier-Post and other publications.



A native of Camden NJ, Cirucci is a former President of the Philadelphia chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators. Cirucci served as Associate Executive Director of the Philadelphia Bar Association for nearly 30 years. He served as Chair of Penn State University's Professional Advisory Board for the Corporate Communication major at Penn State Abington and on the Pennsylvania Bar Association's Judicial Selection Commission.



He received his MA degree from Rowan University and his BA from Villanova University. He has been named a Distinguished Alumnus of Rowan's public relations program and was inducted into the Philadelphia Public Relations Hall of Fame. He received the E. A. "Wally" Richter Leadership Award from the National Association of Bar Executives' Communications Section. The Award is the Section's highest honor. He has also been honored by numerous other local, state and national groups.









Cirucci's passions include politics, the popular culture, books and authors, art, communication, music, theatre, movies, dining and travel. In his hometown of Camden, Cirucci taught fifth grade at the Ulysses Wiggins Elementary School named for the founder of the Camden NAACP. He later served as editor of a local weekly newspaper, as Assistant to the Township Manager of Cherry Hill Township and as Associate Director of Communications at the New Jersey State Bar Association.

He's Dan Cirucci, the founder and editor-in chief of the Dan Cirucci Blog, Matt Rooney's sidekick on Save Jersey's weekly videocast and one of the most widely honored public relations professionals in his field. He's also been a public relations consultant to numerous organizations and individuals and hosted The Advocates on RVN-TV.
TIRANA (Reuters) - Albania's Interior Minister Fatmir Xhafaj resigned on Saturday and will be replaced by Prime Minister Edi Rama's security advisor Sander Lleshi, a former army general, according to statements from Xhafaj and Rama. Xhafaj's resignation came as a surprise a week after police arrested 27 people in a major drug rings crackdown and two former ruling Socialist lawmakers over graft, but failed to catch a drug lord who has eluded arrest for two years now. In his announcement, Rama recognized Xhafaj's contribution in "paving the road" but asked for "more speed and significant results" from Lleshi, a fluent German speaker trained in Germany and the United States. A NATO member and a candidate to join the European Union, Albania has been told repeatedly it needs to fight organized crime, including drug rings, and corruption, if it wants to join the bloc. Throughout his 19 months in office, Xhafaj was under pressure from the opposition to quit over his half-brother's drug conviction in Italy in early 2000, but Rama stood by him. Xhafaj's brother flew to Italy to face justice three weeks after the minister's appointment and began serving a sentence of more than seven years in prison. Rama appeared impatient to see Xhafaj's back, however. He announced the resignation on social media early on Saturday, while Xhafaj took several hours to admit it, telling reporters he was spending time with his family. "The challenges were very big and I am proud ... we managed to bolster law and order and security, achieving successes considered impossible for years," he said in a statement. Xhafaj came to the job after his contribution to a crucial reform of the judiciary intended to clean it of corrupt judges apparently earned him the backing of Western diplomats. The opposition Democratic Party head Lulzim Basha said his departure was "a milestone in their battle to clean politics of crime" since Xhafaj was "the only interior minister in Europe with a drug trafficker for a brother". Xhafaj's predecessor Saimir Tahiri also quit so he could be investigated for alleged links to a cannabis smuggling ring ran by some of his distant cousins. This led many to question why Rama could not pick a "clean" interior minister. (Reporting by Benet Koleka; Editing by Clelia Oziel)
By Munsif Vengattil and Paresh Dave

(Reuters) - Google parent Alphabet Inc on Thursday missed analysts' quarterly revenue estimates for the first time in at least two years and reported continuing erosion of its operating margin, sending shares down almost 7 percent after hours.

The tech company's third-quarter results fanned investor concern that big investments in new businesses, increasing regulatory scrutiny and emerging competition are producing slow and unpredictable returns.

Alphabet disclosed, for example, that passengers of its self-driving Waymo minivans are now paying for rides, but the offering remains limited to the Phoenix, Arizona region and Waymo's finances are not broken out.

Overall revenue rose 21 percent to $33.74 billion, missing analysts' estimate by about $310 million, according to Refinitiv data.

Google ad sales contributed 86 percent of revenue, but growth slowed to 20 percent from nearly 24 percent last quarter.

"Googles earnings momentum remains strong," said Haris Anwar, senior analyst at Investing.com. "But if you dig in a little deeper, there are cost pressures which are building up and are mainly responsible for this periods disappointment."

The company attributed much of the slower revenue growth to unfavourable currency exchange rates. Lower ad pricing to contend with antitrust concerns, new privacy rules in Europe and increased competition from Amazon.com Inc may have played a role too, financial analysts said.

Non-advertising revenue, such as from sales of mobile apps and cloud computing services, also came in slightly below expectations.

Those results combined with rising expenses brought down the company's operating margin to 25 percent from 28 percent a year ago.

After falling as low $1028.77, Shares of Alphabet were down about 3 percent to $1,071.01 after hours from their close at $1103.59.

Alphabet reported net profit of $9.2 billion, or $13.06 per share, compared with $6.7 billion, or $9.57 per share in the year-ago quarter. That beat the average analyst estimate of $10.45.

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Earnings were boosted by a lower tax rate and favourable valuation of the firm's investments in startups such as Uber Technologies Inc.

NEW BUSINESSES

Alphabet has committed to providing cloud computing services and selling hardware over the last few years. It has also ventured into areas where commercial opportunities are nascent, including regions such as India and Nigeria and businesses such as self-driving cars.

The Waymo operation in Phoenix is in the early stages of testing pricing, Alphabet Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat said on a conference call on Thursday, noting that some employers were sponsoring workers' rides.

Priming Alphabet's newer ventures has been costly in terms of marketing and hiring, with about 5,300 employees added in the third quarter.

Alphabet's cost of revenue was $14.3 billion in the third quarter, up 28 percent from a year ago. Capital expenditures soared to $5.3 billion from $3.5 billion last year, with 20 data centre sites in development, Porat said.

Google has posted strong revenue growth for several years as retailers flock to buy product image ads on Google's search engine and commercials on YouTube.

But Google's cost structure has been disrupted by surges in usage of its services on smartphones, where the company splits ad revenue with technology makers such as Apple Inc, and smart speakers, where ads do not appear.

Google has been fined $7.7 billion for antitrust violations in Europe over the last two years, and heightened attention on privacy, security, competition and the rise of artificial intelligence tools has led investors to fret about potentially costly regulatory scrutiny in the United States and elsewhere.

The steady revenue growth had helped Alphabet weather an otherwise bruising last few months on the stock market for big technology and communications companies.

Alphabet gained 5.8 percent this year before Thursday and traded at 24 times expected earnings over the next year. Shares of No. 2 online ad firm Facebook Inc, which faces questions about flattening usage limiting revenue growth, had fallen 12.5 percent and were trading at 19 times future earnings.

(Reporting by Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru and Paresh Dave in San Francisco; Editing by Bernard Orr and Bill Rigby)
Robert De Niro is thanking security and law enforcement people after police intercepted a suspicious package mailed to his New York City restaurant on Thursday.

I thank God no ones been hurt, and I thank the brave and resourceful security and law enforcement people for protecting us, De Niro said in a statement Friday. Theres something more powerful than bombs, and thats your vote. People MUST vote!

The actor was an intended recipient of one of at least 13 packages allegedly sent by Florida man Cesar Sayoc, who was arrested by federal agents on Friday afternoon. Attorney General Jeff Sessions confirmed at a press conference Friday that Sayoc was specifically targeting Democrats. He appears to be a partisan, Sessions said.

De Niro has publicly condemned President Trump multiple times, most famously saying f**k Trump at the Tony Awards this year.

Law enforcement officials are still investigating the packages, many of which were addressed to high-ranking Obama Administration officials, including former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former CIA Director John Brennan and former Attorney General Eric Holder.

Other intended recipients have also spoken out against the attacks. One of them, James Clapper, the former Director of National Intelligence and frequent critic of President Donald Trump, said on CNN he believed the packages were a form of domestic terrorism.

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper on the suspicious package addressed to him and the CNN bureau in New York: This is definitely domestic terrorism. No question about it in my mind. https://t.co/EQvejS9oQf pic.twitter.com/IB7qWb4TvW  CNN (@CNN) October 26, 2018

Another intended target, former Vice President Joe Biden, said Thursday that he hoped the country would pull together after the incidents. My hope is this recent spate of who knows what they were, pipe bombs being mailed, might wake everybody in my business up a little bit and we will begin to put this nation back together again. he said.

Congresswoman Maxine Waters, also a target, said in a statement that she is appreciative of the law enforcement entities who intercepted the package and are investigating this matter.

I unequivocally condemn any and all acts of violence and terror, Waters added.
Saudi Crown Prince Muhammed bin Salman appeared typically confident Wednesday at a high-profile investment conference, joking about that one time he kidnapped the prime minister of Lebanon and lamenting the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi with a straight face. His biggest message went unsaid: Im still here.

But away from the spotlight, members of the Saudi ruling family and influential foreign governments are quietly debating the crown princes future  especially whether he should remain the single most powerful player in a kingdom facing its biggest international crisis since the Sept. 11 attacks.

Three weeks after Khashoggi was murdered at a Saudi consulate in Turkey, the princes position as de facto ruler of the kingdom and his status as king-to-be seem secure. Neither a steady drip of leaks detailing how MBSs inner circle was responsible for the gruesome killing nor global pressure on Riyadh for a major response to the assassination has convinced Saudi King Salman or President Donald Trump to cut him off.

Yet the idea that his influence needs to be curtailed in some way is gaining traction. Having held power for close to a century, the Al-Saud dynasty knows it has to do more than just sell oil and position itself as a bulwark against Western nemeses to survive. Their political savvy means theyre well aware that their powerful friends have been growing more and more frustrated by MBSs policies. They see the headlines criticizing his U.S.-backed military campaign in Yemen, his domestic crackdowns that have spooked international investors and his fights with Qatar, Canada and Germany.

Regional figures are making clear they are worried about MBS but expect the system to self-correct. A lot of people around the world would like to take the king seriously and hope that he will definitely punish all those involved regardless of their identity, said Khalil Jahshan of the Arab Center think tank.

And key Western allies continue to question the Saudi explanation so far, while in the U.S., many officials remain close to some of the royals MBS sidelined during his rise to power, like former Crown Prince Muhammed bin Nayef. MBN, as the former interior minister is colloquially known, is still Washingtons favorite Saudi, except for at the White House, said Gregory Gause, a professor at Texas A&M University who has studied the kingdom for decades. MBS has cultivated close personal relationships with Trump and his son-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner.

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Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has worked to maintain the pressure on the crown prince, whose initial rise Turkey saw as a disaster, Yusuf Selman Inanc, a journalist formerly with the pro-government newspaper Daily Sabah told HuffPost. Erdogan directly addressed King Salman in a Tuesday speech, urging him to find answers about the Khashoggi killing while implicating MBS. And his government has now played an audio recording of the murder for CIA director Gina Haspel, the Washington Post reported Wednesday night, making it easier for critics of MBS to keep the issue alive in Washington.

Though the Saudi royal family wont allow the rest of the world to determine its choice of crown prince, they understand the expectation of a change. By taking face-saving measures that protect MBSs standing  like the king placing him in charge of a reorganization of Saudi intelligence or elder statesman Prince Turki Al Faisal telling the Washington Post the family and Saudi public are with MBS  they have created an opening for a quiet adjustment that doesnt seem dramatic or harsh.

Its a strategy that echoes the traditional Saudi caution and preference for backroom dealing that MBS has broken from with his brash approach.

(Photo: Reuters)

Now the king could promote an experienced royal as a form of balance, Gause suggested, to signal decisions are not being made exclusively by his son.

Given that MBS-linked actions outside the kingdom  like targeting Khashoggi on foreign soil and pushing Yemen into the worlds worst humanitarian crisis  have caused the greatest backlash, an adjustment on foreign policy seems like the obvious choice.

Theres going to be Americans, presumably even in the Trump administration, who are going to be telling the Saudis youve got to put some guardrails around this guy, and the most public way you can do that is by having a senior member of the family [become] foreign minister, Gause said. He pointed to a likely figure: Prince Khalid Al Faisal, who is outside the MBS branch of the clan and was chosen by the king as his emissary to Turkey after the murder.

To avoid a backlash from Saudi nationalists who champion MBS, royal elders would have to be careful to frame any tweak as key for the kingdoms stability and interests, as the king did in reaffirming support for Palestine after pro-Israel moves by the prince. And they must negotiate with other key Saudi forces that have shown no signs of abandoning MBS. He has promoted members of the youngest generation of adult royals to positions of rare power in the generally ossified Saudi hierarchy, Gause noted, and as defense minister, MBS has empowered a Saudi military elite personally invested in his position, according to Carnegie Middle East Center analyst Yezid Sayigh.

While the precise aftermath of the Khashoggi scandal remains unclear for the prince and his kingdom, the continued uproar, geopolitical maneuvering and shifts in Saudi explanations mean things are far from settled, Saudi watchers and allies say.

We need more credibility when it comes to a holistic picture of what actually happened, said a Western diplomat who spoke to HuffPost under the condition of anonymity to speak candidly on government affairs. So I think were now just waiting to see what the Saudis can come out with [while] privately messaging on the urgency of this.

This story has been updated with additional context.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Vienna (AFP) - A century after their dismemberment in the aftermath of World War I, Austria and Hungary take two very different approaches to their Habsburg past -- one choosing Imperial kitsch, the other a return to strident nationalism.

Both countries were carved out of the Austro-Hungarian empire after its defeat alongside Germany in the First World War.

And both were stripped of swathes of territory and millions of inhabitants under the 1919 Treaty of St Germain, concluded with Austria, and the Treaty of Trianon signed with Hungary the next year.

But a hundred years on, that upheaval resonates in very different ways in Vienna and Budapest, according to Oliver Rathkolb, director of Vienna University's Institute of Contemporary History.

"In a study a few years ago we asked people in the two countries if Saint Germain and Trianon still meant anything to them. We got two totally different results: In Austria, it had no importance, in contrast to Hungary," Rathkolb told AFP.

"The myth of Trianon and the dismemberment of Greater Hungary has been promoted for internal political ends even in the communist era, and even more so after 1989," he says.

Nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban has even risked the ire of neighbouring governments by cultivating Hungarian minorities on his country's borders and offering them Hungarian citizenship.

Even if many ethnic Hungarians in other countries "don't quite identify with Orban's strongman version of democracy, he is able to spin a national fairy-tale that resonates", says Nandor Bardi, a historian of ethnic minorities at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

According to Bardi, "it is no coincidence that he makes keynote speeches -- for example the famed speech about moulding Hungary into an 'illiberal state' -- in Tusnad in Transylvania," a region of modern-day Romania that belonged to Hungary under the empire.

- 'Doctrines of victimhood' -

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Austria, though, has put its imperial past behind it and "has benefited from its status as a small, neutral country," having joined the European Union but not NATO, Rathkolb says.

The key to understanding these two different approaches to history, according to Rathkolb, is grasping the distinct "doctrines of victimhood" the two countries developed during their very different experiences over the past century.

In Austria, "the myth of Saint-Germain become obsolete after 1945" when the country again faced defeat, this time as part of Nazi Germany.

After the war the country tried to distance itself from Germany by reinventing itself as the "Nazis' first victim" and trying to minimise Austrians' role in the atrocities of the Third Reich.

The Habsburg past also proved useful in marking out a distinctly Austrian identity, as well as being "a skilfully exploited tourist attraction," with Emperor Franz Josef and his wife Elisabeth -- also known under the moniker Sissi -- turned into kitsch icons.

Meanwhile Austria made the most of its neutral status during the Cold War, attracting the UN and several other major international organisations to open headquarters in Vienna.

However in Hungary, the myth of Trianon remains very much alive in the national subconscious and has been "skilfully revived by Orban" after his return to power in 2010.

He can now "easily mobilise the electorate" with a narrative which paints Hungary as having constantly been the victim of history: first under Trianon, then communism, then liberalism, and today because of allegedly EU-backed immigration, says Rathkolb.

Indeed, during this year's election campaign Orban claimed Brussels wanted to rob Hungarians of their country, "not with the stroke of a pen, as happened one hundred years ago at Trianon; now they want us to voluntarily hand our country over to others."

By contrast, "Austria doesn't labour under its past role as a big power and the nostalgia for Franz-Josef and Sissi is superficial. But in Hungary the belief persists that it was the country most wronged by the events of 1919-20," says Austrian political scientist Anton Pelinka.

Pan-German nationalism is still one strain of thought within the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe), currently in coalition with the centre-right.

Even though in recent years the party has had to distance itself from that ideology, it has recently taken a leaf from Orban's book in floating the idea of Austrian citizenship for the German- and Ladin-speaking minorities in the Italian province of South Tyrol, which was also part of the Habsburg empire.

But Rathkolb thinks that even "this suggestion lacks support and will probably end up quietly disappearing from the agenda".
Baltimore Sun

BALTIMORE  Despite pleas for a peaceful surrender, the four-day manhunt for ex-Baltimore County Police Officer Robert Vicosa and his two kidnapped daughters ended in tragedy Thursday, with both girls dead. Police found Giana and Aaminah Vicosa, ages 7 and 6, respectively, their father and his alleged criminal accomplice in a minor car crash Thursday afternoon after a brief chase into Western ...
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Thursday the U.S. government will not open fire on a migrant caravan currently heading north through Mexico, after news emerged that the Trump Administration was planning to send at least 800 troops to the southern border.

We do not have any intention right now to shoot at people, Nielsen told Fox News. They will be apprehended, however.

The caravan of some 7,000 people, which Trump has described as a national emergency, was near Mapastepec in southern Mexico on Thursday  approximately 1,000 miles away from the U.S. border.

Moving mostly on foot at a rate of roughly 30 miles per day, the caravan could take months to reach the U.S. unless buses or other forms of transport are provided.

.@SecNielsen: "We do not have any intention right now to shoot at people. They will be apprehended, however." pic.twitter.com/cYXpxev5xj  Fox News (@FoxNews) October 26, 2018

If they come here illegally with no legitimate reason to stay, they absolutely will be apprehended and removed immediately, Nielsen said. Everything is on the table, she added.

Nielsen suggested that border officers would be armed, however, and able to shoot if they felt threatened. I also take my officer and agents, their own personal safety, extraordinarily seriously, she said. They do have the ability of course to defend themselves.

The Mexican government estimates that the caravan is formed of roughly 3,600 people, around half the U.N.s estimate of over 7,000.

On Friday, NBC reported the Trump Administration was drafting an executive order that would make it difficult for migrants from Central America to gain asylum in the U.S.

Trump addressed migrants in the caravan directly through Twitter on Thursday. Go back to your Country, he wrote, and if you want, apply for citizenship like millions of others are doing!
Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - Central African Republic's ex-Seleka rebels on Saturday gave government officials in areas under their control 48 hours to leave.

The ultimatum came a day after the sacking of the National Assembly president which the rebels say was illegal.

"The state representatives posted in the zones occupied by the armed groups of the ex-Seleka have 48 hours to leave those zones," Abdoulaye Hissene, the leader of the ex-Seleka and of the National Defence and Security Council, which comprises several ex-Seleka armed groups, told AFP.

Deputies in the National Assembly voted out their president, Karim Meckassoua, in a censure motion late Friday.

The move against Meckassoua, who represents a predominantly Muslim neighbourhood in Bangui as MP, was not justified by any wrongdoing and therefore "illegal", Hissene said. "We think it happened because he's a Muslim," he said.

The ex-Seleka rebels are themselves mostly Muslim.

But government spokesman Ange-Maxime Kazagui denied any religious motives in the dismissal of the National Assembly president.

"Those who launched the censure procedure raised management problems. At no time was the religious question raised," he said.

After years of confrontation between Muslim and Christian groups, the election of Meckassoua in 2016 was seen as a symbol of reconciliation between communities in the Central African Republic.

But observers have also said that relations between Meckassoua and President Faustin-Archange Touadera, a Christian, have never been good.

Several hundred people demonstrated on Tuesday to protest against the upcoming censure motion against Meckassoua.

One demonstrator, Moussa, warned that there would be "total crisis in this country" if the parliamentary chief was ousted.

Sporadic gunfire was heard in the PK5 neighbourhood late Friday, and also in rebel strongholds Bria and Bambari, but it was not clear whether there was any link with Meckassoua's fate.

The Central African government controls only a small part of its territory, with vast parts living under the control of armed groups.

The country of 4.5 million inhabitants, rich in diamonds and uranium, counts among the world's poorest.
Vatican City (AFP) - Hailed as a chance for the Catholic Church to reconnect with today's young, a month-long meeting at the Vatican ended with a whimper Saturday as bishops from across continents fail to see eye to eye.

The 267 prelates attending the meet had been tasked with finding a way to breathe fresh life into a centuries-old institution suffering from both a damaging global sex abuse crisis and widespread secularity in the West.

Pope Francis appeared to acknowledged the difficulties of presenting an attractive front, saying the church was being "persecuted" and "dirtied" by "continuous accusations" -- a possible reference to his conservative critics.

He said the concluding document from the meeting, or synod, was "for all of us, me included", and "must work in our hearts".

- Moral rule 'untenable' -

Not everyone was happy. The text "looks like an IKEA catalogue", one exasperated bishop told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"You have everything you need for the bathroom and the kitchen, in all styles, so everyone can identify with it," he said.

"One Eastern European bishop ventured to say that the church's rule about 'no sex before marriage' had become untenable. We moved on to the next issue and didn't talk about it again," the bishop said.

"The conservatives later joined the fray by demanding a reminder of church morals," he said.

Another bishop told AFP that "consensus on the digital (world) is possible, but not on sexual morality. The difference in opinions is too great".

The sex abuse crisis, which has shaken the church from Germany to Chile and the United States, was discussed during the first week but took a back seat when clerics from countries spared the scandal so far shifted the focus to other matters.

Some complained there was no progress elsewhere either.

Women invited to participate called for a greater female role within the church, with progressive Catholic lay groups slamming the lack of voting rights for the female religious superiors present.

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As well as the bishops, two non-ordained religious men were able to vote.

"In many places it is difficult to give (women) space in decision-making processes," the synod fathers said in the document.

"The absence of the female voice and gaze impoverishes the church," the document's authors said, and they recommended "making everyone more aware of the urgency of an inextricable change".

- 'Bold proposals' ignored -

The text was vague on homosexuality, saying merely that there are "already accompanying walks in the faith of homosexual persons" in many Christian communities, and "the synod recommends encouraging these paths".

Attempts by some of the 34 young Catholics at the synod to get the LGBT acronym into the final text were rebuffed.

"Some bold proposals, likely to make newspaper headlines, were not taken up," admitted French bishop Emmanuel Gobillard, one of the few to have talked about sexuality.

He insisted however that the synod, bringing together the elements of a universal church in all its diversity, had been a remarkable one -- just one that was "untranslatable" for the media.
The suspect arrested in connection with the spate of bombs and suspicious packages sent to prominent critics of President Donald Trump has been identified as Cesar Sayoc, Jr, according to law enforcement sources.

The suspect is said to be 56 years old, and reportedly owned a white van that is covered with pictures of Mr Trump, the presidential seal, and the insignia of the Republican Party.

The van was seized by officials in Plantation, Florida, and then hauled off to a secure facility  and American cable news channels covered the van's movement live with aerial footage from a helicopter.

Mr Sayoc is suspected of having sent at least 12 packages containing crude pipe bombs to prominent critics of Mr Trump including former President Barack Obama, former Vice President Joe Biden, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and former US Attorney General Eric Holder. The 11th and 12th packages were intercepted on Friday, and were addressed to Senator Cory Booker and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper Jr.

The first suspicious package was delivered to Democratic donor George Soros on Monday, leading the billionaire to urge a return to civility. But, the packages continued to be delivered over the week, with the return address on the packages directed to the office of Florida Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Ms Wasserman Schultz's office did receive at least one package, but she was reportedly not at the facility a the time. The Florida congresswoman previously served as the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee.

It was not immediately clear what have motivated Mr Cesar to allegedly mail the pipe bombs, or if he was directly influenced by the president's tendency to disparage the news media and his political foes.

Mr Cesar is registered as a Republican in Florida, and reportedly has an extensive criminal history. He has owned a dry cleaning business, and a catering business, according to public records.

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Soon after the packages were delivered to the various addresses this week, Mr Trump called for unity in the United States  but continued to criticise the news media for spreading what he describes as "fake news".

On Friday morning, Mr Trump suggested that the rash of bombs was a distraction for American voters that is hurting Republicans ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.

"Republicans are doing so well in early voting, and at the polls, and now this 'Bomb' stuff happens and the momentum greatly slows  news not talking politics," Mr Trump said. "Very unfortunate, what is going on. Republicans, go out and vote!"

I would like to begin todays remarks by providing an update on the packages and devices that have been mailed to high-profile figures throughout our Country, and a media org. I am pleased to inform you that law enforcement has apprehended the suspect and taken him into custody. pic.twitter.com/UFjwjjUkLd  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 26, 2018

A review of Mr Sayoc's apparent Twitter account  identified by several news outlets as "@Hardrock2016"  shows that the suspect had previously attended a Trump rally, and frequently shared posts criticising Mr Soros, the billionaire Democratic funder.

His apparent posts also included attacks on Florida gubernatorial candidate and Mayor of Tallahassee Andrew Gillum, Mr Obama, and others.

It has been reported that DNA evidence played a role in Mr Sayoc's arrest,
It took less than five days for US law enforcement officials to identify the man they believe was responsible for sending at least 13 pipe bombs to political opponents of President Donald Trump.

Mobile phone data, DNA records, spelling mistakes and a single fingerprint all played a part in leading to the arrest of Cesar Sayoc at a parking lot in Plantation, Florida.

Mr Trump said investigators had done an incredible job in bringing in a suspect so quickly after a string of suspicious packages were discovered at homes and offices in New York, Florida and California.

The FBI, the Joint Terrorism Task Force and local police officials worked swiftly to untangle clues this week as the number of packages containing potentially explosive material mounted.

The big break came when a single fingerprint found on a package intended for California lawmaker Maxine Waters matched a fingerprint of Mr Sayocs on file with Florida authorities.

A DNA sample from a device intended for former president Barack Obama similarly matched the suspects DNA, the FBI revealed.

An FBI agent investigates the van believed to belong to Cesar Syoc (AFP/Getty)

An additional clue came in the spelling errors found on the packages which matched misspellings made on Mr Sayocs online posts, according to an 11-page criminal complaint that included the formal charges of threatening former presidents and transporting explosives across state lines.

Five packages were traced back to the Opa-Locka distribution centre just outside of Miami, in the days after they were sent.

And mobile phone geolocation information was also used to track him to Plantation, a small city six miles outside Fort Lauderdale.

Around 50 armed officers swarmed Mr Sayoc as he approached a white van in the parking lot outside an auto parts store. They ordered him to the ground and he did not resist.

Cesar Sayoc is escorted from an FBI facility in Miramar, Florida (Reuters)

He had that look of, Im done, I surrender, said witness Thomas Fiori, a former federal law enforcement officer who watched from across the street.

FBI Director Christopher Wray hailed the unbelievable work of investigating officials. This is phenomenal work with the greatest pressure under an incredibly tight time frame.

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New packages addressed to New Jersey senator Cory Booker and former National Intelligence director James Clapper were intercepted. Packages had been sent to Mr Obama, former vice president Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, George Soros and the cable network CNN earlier this week.

Investigators are still examining the material found in more than a dozen packages. They have been found to contain timers, batteries, shrapnel and PVC pipes up to 6 inches in length.

Although they were not rigged to explode upon opening, authorities noted that they included energetic material.

A footnote to the charging document said such explosive material gives off heat and energy through a rapid exothermic reaction when initiated by heat, shock or friction.

Some of the packages included photographs of the intended recipients marked with a red x.

Todays arrest does not mean we are all out of the woods, Mr Wray warned on Friday. There may be more packages in transit now.

FBI officials are also probing for a motive behind the mail bomb spree. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has suggested politics may have played a role, noting that Mr Sayoc appeared to be a partisan.

Photos and video found on Mr Sayocs social media accounts showed he attended Trump rallies, wore a Make America Great Again hat and shared far-right conspiracy theories.
ISLAMABAD (AP)  Two charities linked to a radical cleric wanted by the U.S. are no longer on Pakistan's list of banned groups because a presidential order banning them under a U.N. resolution has lapsed.

The presidential ordinance regarding Jamaat-ud-Dawa and the Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation, founded by cleric Hafiz Saeed, lapsed without parliament's approval.

The issue came up in the Islamabad High Court, where Saeed challenged the ordinance banning the two entities. Presidential orders must be extended or passed as an act of parliament.

Saeed founded the Lashkar-e-Taiba group, which was blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people. Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Falah-e-Insaniat are alleged fronts for Lashkar-e-Taiba.

The United States has offered a $10 million reward for Saeed's arrest.

Saeed denies involvement in the Mumbai attacks.

Pakistan released Saeed in November after 11 months of house arrest.
Manama (AFP) - US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said Saturday his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe would visit Washington next week, following tensions between the two powers.

"I would just point out that (our) strategic competition does not imply hostility," Mattis said at a Middle East security conference in Bahrain, in response to a question about tensions.

"I have met with my counterpart in Beijing a month ago, I have met with him again in Singapore a week ago. He is coming to Washington next week to continue our discussions," Mattis added.

But in early October, a US defence official said that a planned visit by Mattis to China had been cancelled, because Beijing declined to make General Wei available.

The cancellation came amid military tensions and an escalating dispute between the two countries over tariffs.

In September, US tariffs came into effect, targeting Chinese goods worth $200 billion (175 billion euros).

Beijing also rebuked Washington for its "provocative" flights of bombers over the South China and East China seas.

It also criticised US arms sales to Taiwan, nixed a planned visit by a US warship to a Hong Kong port and cancelled a meeting between the head of the Chinese navy and his American counterpart.

"I will tell you that we are committed to cooperating with China, with Russia, where we can," Mattis said on Saturday.

"But we will not surrender freedom of navigation. We will not surrender international law."

The US justifies naval deployments in the South China Sea on the grounds of "freedom of navigation", causing tensions with Beijing, which claims large parts of the maritime area.
Harare (AFP) - Zimbabwe's main opposition leader Nelson Chamisa on Saturday vowed to continue his push to take power after disputed elections in which he lost to President Emmerson Mnangagwa in July.

"We want to claim the victory of the people. We must lead this country. We won the election on 30 July but they were stolen," said Chamisa in a speech to thousands of his Movement of Democratic Change (MDC) supporters in the capital Harare.

"Mnangagwa we don't acknowledge him because he didn't win the elections," he said.

The MDC's 19th anniversary rally which was banned several times by police citing a cholera outbreak which killed at least 50 people was given the go-ahead this week.

Chamisa, 40, has called for a transitional government to resolve the worsening economic and political crisis engulfing the country.

"Because we have not resolved the political issues our economy cannot perform. The economy is in a shambles," he said.

"The economy is a reflection of politics that is not in proper shape. We have solutions to the economic crisis," he added.

Thousands of MDC supporters sang and danced to music as Chamisa lit a "democratic flame" and released 19 doves calling for "peace in Zimbabwe".

And he vowed to organise protests to contest Mnangagwa's presidency.

"We are planning the day or days, we will not do violence...," he said without elaborating.

Party supporters and senior officials addressed Chamisa as the "real president of Zimbabwe."

Chamisa also dismissed a commission of inquiry led by former South African President Kgalema Motlanthe appointed by Mnangagwa to investigate the death of six people after soldiers opened fire on protestors who accused officials of delaying election results.

"It is a waste of time, it is a shame. Motlanthe runs the risk of losing all credibility," he said. "We will not accept any outcome of the commission if it does not agree that the people who committed the crime are the people in government."

Zimbabwe has been facing foreign currency shortages in recent weeks that have sparked an economic crisis with supplies of fuel, food and pharmaceuticals drying up.
Saipan (Northern Mariana Islands) (AFP) - US military aircraft laden with emergency supplies flew in to the Northern Mariana Islands Saturday in the wake of destructive Super Typhoon Yutu which destroyed buildings and cut electricity.

Ralph Torres, the governor of the US Pacific territory, said President Donald Trump had approved a request for a "major disaster declaration" after the storm.

Yutu packed winds of up to 180 miles per hour (290 kilometers per hour), left one person dead, and caused widespread damage.

At least 130 people required hospital treatment, mainly for cuts caused by flying debris.

More than 1,000 were also stranded with the international airport on the main island of Saipan closed to commercial flights to free up space for military aircraft.

China's consular office in Los Angeles said around 1,500 Chinese tourists were trapped on Saipan and would be evacuated from Sunday, Beijing's official Xinhua news agency reported.

A total of 21 South Korean tourists were airlifted out of Saipan to Guam and returned home Saturday, according to Korean news agency Yonhap.

Electricity was out across Saipan, which is home to most of the territory's 55,000 residents, as well as nearby Tinian.

Tinian mayor Joey San Nicolas said aid was urgently needed and authorities still did not know the full extent of the damage, two days after Yutu swept through.

"Many homes have been destroyed. Our physical infrastructure has been compromised. We have no power or water," he said.

"Our ports are currently inaccessible, and several other points in other parts of the island are also inaccessible."

There have been reports of looting, and stores which were able to open quickly ran out of water and food.

"Right now, water, clothing, personal hygiene and easy to cook food items like canned goods and instant noodles are needed," Saipan resident Jonathan Perez told AFP.

Torres' office said on its Facebook page that the one known fatality was a 44-year-old woman who died while taking shelter in an abandoned building that collapsed.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP)  A former director of Haiti's National Police has been arrested on charges of weapons trafficking.

Judge Dieunel Lumerant said Friday's arrest of Godson Orelus stems from the September 2016 discovery of a container filled with machine guns. He said it's the first arrest in Haiti related to that case.

Orelus was arrested in the eastern coastal town of Saint-Marc located northwest of Port-au-Prince. His attorney could not be immediately reached for comment.
WASHINGTON (AP)  George Papadopoulos, the former Trump campaign adviser who pleaded guilty in special counsel Robert Mueller's probe, is asking for immunity to testify before the Senate intelligence committee.

Two people familiar with the negotiations said Friday that Papadopoulos has asked for the immunity as the committee seeks a closed-door interview with him. The people requested anonymity because the committee's negotiations are confidential. The committee is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

It's unclear why Papadopoulos wants immunity after he was already sentenced to two weeks in prison for lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian intermediaries during the campaign. But he has spent many nights posting on Twitter, along with his wife, venting anger about the FBI and insisting he was framed by the government.

Papadopoulos appeared on Capitol Hill on Thursday for a closed-door interview with Republicans in the House who are investigating what they say is bias at the Justice Department. He did not receive immunity for that interview.

Republicans left the interview saying he had reinforced their belief that the FBI and Justice Department were biased against Trump when they started the Russia investigation. And Papadopoulos said in an interview Friday on "Fox & Friends" that he learned new information in the meeting and is considering withdrawing his guilty plea.

It's unlikely that he would be able to do that. Federal law generally does not allow defendants to withdraw a guilty plea after sentencing without proof of some overriding injustice or new evidence.

A lawyer for Papadopoulos would not comment specifically on his request for immunity.

"There are a number of options on the table right now and we are evaluating all of them closely," said Caroline Polisi.

Republicans said they learned new facts from Papadopoulos but wouldn't detail what they were. They repeated their claims, echoed by President Donald Trump, that the Justice Department made mistakes in 2016 as it cleared Democrat Hillary Clinton in an investigation of her emails and started a probe of Trump's Russia ties.

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"These facts continue to lend themselves to the narrative that there were folks in the Obama FBI and Justice Department that prejudged Hillary Clinton's innocence, and prejudged Donald Trump's guilt or involvement with the Russian government and potential collusion," said Texas Rep. John Ratcliffe, who attended the interview.

Papadopoulos, who served as a foreign policy adviser to Trump's campaign, has been a central figure in the probe dating back before Mueller's May 2017 appointment. He was the first person to plead guilty in Mueller's probe and the first Trump campaign adviser to be sentenced. His case was also the first to detail a member of the Trump campaign having knowledge of Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election while it was ongoing.

According to a sweeping indictment, Russian intelligence had stolen emails from Clinton's campaign and other Democratic groups by April 2016, the same month Papadopoulos was told by a professor, Joseph Mifsud, that Russian officials had told him they had "dirt" on Clinton in the form of "thousands of emails." According to a New York Times report last year, Papadopoulos then told an Australian diplomat, Alexander Downer, who tipped off the FBI.

Papadopoulos later lied about those contacts. He told a judge during sentencing that he was "deeply embarrassed and ashamed" of his lies.
By Christopher Bing and Munsif Vengattil

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Facebook Inc said on Friday it had deleted more accounts originating in Iran that attracted more than a million U.S. and British followers, its latest effort to combat disinformation activity on its platform.

The social media company removed 82 pages, groups and accounts on Facebook and Instagram that represented themselves as being from American or British citizens, then posted on "politically charged" topics such as race relations, opposition to U.S. President Donald Trump and immigration, Facebook's head of cybersecurity policy, Nathaniel Gleicher, said in a blog post.

In total, the removed accounts attracted more than 1 million followers. The Iran-linked posts were amplified through less than $100 in advertising on Facebook and Instagram, Facebook said.

While the accounts originated in Iran, it was unclear if they were linked to the Tehran government, according to Facebook, which shared the information with researchers, other technology companies and the British and U.S. governments.

The action follows takedowns of hundreds of accounts linked to Iranian propaganda efforts by Facebook, Twitter Inc and Alphabet Inc.

Social media companies have increasingly targeted foreign interference on their platforms following criticism that they did not do enough to detect, halt and disclose Russian efforts to use their platforms to influence the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential race.

Iran and Russia have denied allegations that they have used social media platforms to launch disinformation campaigns.

(Reporting by Chris Bing in Washington and Munsif Vengattil in Bengalaru; Editing by Steve Orlofsky and Bernadette Baum)
By Christopher Bing and Munsif Vengattil

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Facebook Inc said on Friday it had deleted accounts originating in Iran that attracted more than 1 million U.S. and British followers, its latest effort to combat disinformation activity on its platform.

Social media companies are struggling to stop attempts by people inside and outside the United States to spread false information on their platforms with goals ranging from destabilising elections by stoking hardline positions to supporting propaganda campaigns.

The fake Facebook accounts originating in Iran mostly targeted American liberals, according to the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab, a thinktank that works with Facebook to study propaganda online.

Facebook said it removed 82 pages, groups and accounts on Facebook and Instagram that represented themselves as being American or British citizens, then posted on "politically charged" topics such as race relations, opposition to U.S. President Donald Trump and immigration, Facebook's head of cybersecurity policy, Nathaniel Gleicher, said in a blog post.

In total, the removed accounts attracted more than 1 million followers. The Iran-linked posts were amplified through less than $100 in advertising on Facebook and Instagram, Facebook said.

While the accounts originated in Iran, it was unclear if they were linked to the Tehran government, according to Facebook, which shared the information with researchers, other technology companies and the British and U.S. governments.

The Iranian U.N. mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The action follows takedowns in August by Facebook, Twitter Inc and Alphabet Inc of hundreds of accounts linked to Iranian propaganda.

The latest operation was more sophisticated in some instances, making it difficult to identify, Gleicher said during a press conference phone call on Friday.

Although most of accounts and pages had existed only since earlier this year, they attracted more followers than the accounts removed in August, some of which dated back to 2013. The previously suspended Iranian accounts and pages garnered roughly 983,000 followers before being removed.

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"It looks like the intention was to embed in highly active and engaged communities by posting inflammatory content, and then insert messaging on Saudi and Israel which amplified the Iranian government's narrative," said Ben Nimmo, an information defence fellow with the Digital Forensic Research Lab.

"Most of the posts concerned divisive issues in the U.S., and posted a liberal or progressive viewpoint, especially on race relations and police violence," Nimmo said.

Social media companies have increasingly targeted foreign interference on their platforms following criticism that they did not do enough to detect, halt and disclose Russian efforts to use their platforms to influence the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential race.

Iran and Russia have denied allegations that they have used social media platforms to launch disinformation campaigns.

(Reporting by Chris Bing in Washington and Munsif Vengattil in Bengalaru, additional reporting by Jack Stubbs in London and Michelle Nichols in New York; Editing by Steve Orlofsky, Bernadette Baum and Susan Thomas)
Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - Brazil elects its next president Sunday in a run-off that looks all but guaranteed for far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro, an ex-army captain nostalgic for the country's military dictatorship.

Coming on the heels of a punishing recession and mind-boggling corruption scandal, the sprawling South American country's elections have thrown up a spectacular cast of characters, even by the standards of these divisive, anti-establishment times.

Facing Bolsonaro, 63, is leftist candidate Fernando Haddad, 55, a former Sao Paulo mayor who is standing in for jailed ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, founder of the Workers' Party.

Lula, who led Brazil through the boom years of 2003 to 2010, remains its most popular politician, despite being accused of masterminding the massive pilfering of state oil company Petrobras. But the hugely divisive ex-leader was barred from running because he is serving a 12-year prison sentence.

As for Bolsonaro, he has churned out enough politically incorrect vitriol to earn himself the nickname "Tropical Trump" -- which may actually be an understatement.

He has said the "mistake" made by Brazil's brutal military regime (1964-1985) was that it tortured, instead of killing, leftist dissidents and suspected sympathizers.

He once said a female lawmaker he opposed was "not worth raping."

And he has gone out of his way to denigrate gay and black people.

- Incendiary rise -

The incendiary rhetoric only appears to have boosted his numbers.

He won the first-round election on October 7 with 46 percent of the vote.

And in a final opinion poll published Thursday, he led Haddad by 56 percent to 44 -- though that was a narrower gap than the week before, when Bolsonaro had an 18-point lead.

Running for the formerly minor Social Liberal Party, Bolsonaro is, according to many political analysts, a symptom of the crises ailing Brazil since the Workers' Party's 13 years in power came crashing to an end with the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff in 2016.

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Among those crises: Brazil's economy shrank nearly seven percent during its worst-ever recession, from 2015 to 2016; the multi-billion-dollar Petrobras scandal has left voters disgusted with the seemingly bottomless corruption of politicians and business executives; and there is widespread outrage over violent crime, in a country that registered a record 63,880 murders last year.

Outgoing President Michel Temer, himself implicated in corruption, is set to leave office on January 1 as the most unpopular president in Brazil's modern democracy.

Vowing to restore order with a firm hand, Bolsonaro has ridden a wave of widespread exasperation among Brazil's 147 million voters.

"He's capitalized on the very strong current of discontent with the Workers' Party and corrupt politicians in general," says David Fleischer, a political scientist at the University of Brasilia.

"He has successfully sold himself as an anti-establishment candidate," despite the fact that he has been in Congress for 27 years.

- Turn to 'fascism'? -

Haddad, who was education minister under Lula, has struggled to unite opposition to Bolsonaro, despite mounting warnings that the former army officer would endanger democracy.

The most recent came in an "International declaration against fascism in Brazil," signed by a long list of ex-world leaders, public intellectuals and celebrities who condemned Bolsonaro's "xenophobic, racist misogynist and homophobic values."

The ideologically mixed group of signatories included former presidents Francois Hollande of France and Vicente Fox of Mexico, American actor Danny Glover and ex-US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

Bolsonaro has only doubled down in recent days, vowing to "cleanse" Brazil of leftist "reds" -- including both Lula and Haddad, who he said "will rot in jail."

He has waged his campaign almost entirely from social media, after being knifed in the stomach by an attacker at a campaign rally in September.

Rejecting Haddad's calls to debate, saying his doctors advised against it, he has waged an all-out war on Facebook, where he has eight million followers.

Haddad, whose campaign slogan is to make Brazil "happy again" -- as in Lula's poverty-fighting golden days -- ultimately ended up pulling his mentor's image from his campaign ads.

Bolsonaro has, crucially, done a better job convincing the business world that he is the face of real change for Brazil's troubled economy, tapping US-trained liberal economist Paulo Guedes as his top economic advisor.

But he would have to govern with a divided and discredited Congress, in which the Workers' Party remains a major force.
By Zachary Fagenson and Bernie Woodall PLANTATION, Fla. (Reuters) - The man suspected of mailing at least 14 pipe bombs to some of U.S. President Donald Trump's leading critics was arrested on Friday in Florida on federal charges in a case echoing the rancor of one of the most toxic election campaigns in decades. Cesar Sayoc, 56, a part-time pizza deliveryman, grocery worker and former stripper once charged with threatening to bomb an electric company in a billing dispute, was taken into custody by federal agents outside an auto parts store in Plantation, Florida, near Miami as helicopters flew overhead. Authorities also seized a white van that Sayoc appeared to have used as his dwelling, its windows plastered with pro-Trump stickers, the slogan "CNN SUCKS" and images of Democratic leaders with red cross-hairs over their faces. Fingerprint and DNA evidence helped identify the suspect, but his arrest did not necessarily end the threat, Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray warned at a news conference. "There may be other packages in transit now and other packages on the way," Wray said. One federal law enforcement source told Reuters that authorities were investigating whether other individuals were involved and did not rule out further arrests. Sayoc's arrest followed an intense four-day manhunt sparked by the discovery of bombs concealed in packages addressed to such leading Democratic figures as former U.S. President Barack Obama and former first lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whom Trump defeated in the 2016 presidential race. Some of the parcels also contained photographs of the intended recipients marked with a red X, according to a criminal complaint in Manhattan federal court. The complaint accused Sayoc of sending 13 bombs to 11 individuals, starting with billionaire Democratic donor George Soros. A package surfaced on Monday near his home in Katonah, New York. A 14th package was found on Friday at a post office outside San Francisco addressed to another wealthy contributor to the Democratic Party and liberal causes, Tom Steyer. The bombs were sent in manila envelopes lined with bubble wrap and consisted of plastic 6-inch pipes packed with explosive material and wired to small clocks and batteries, the complaint said. Wray said investigators had yet to determine whether the bombs were actually "functional," but added that the devices could be dangerous "if subjected to the right combination of heat or shock or friction." All were sent through the U.S. Postal Service system and intercepted before reaching their intended targets without exploding. No one has been hurt. But the bombs have heightened tensions during the closing days of a highly contentious campaign ahead of the Nov. 6 elections in which Democrats are battling to seize control of Congress now held by Trump's Republican Party. Wray said fingerprints on one of two packages sent to U.S. Representative Maxine Waters, a Los Angeles Democrat frequently disparaged by Trump as "low-IQ Maxine," belonged to Sayoc. The complaint also cited a "possible DNA" link between samples taken from two of the bombs and a sample previously collected from Sayoc. 'POLITICAL VIOLENCE' Sayoc was charged with five felony counts, including interstate transportation and illegal mailing of explosives, threatening a former president, making threatening interstate communications and assaulting federal officers. If convicted, Sayoc could be sentenced up to 48 years in prison, officials said. "We will not tolerate such lawlessness, especially political violence," Attorney General Jeff Sessions said at a press conference. Announcing the arrest to a cheering audience at the White House, Trump said, "We must never allow political violence to take root in America - cannot let it happen," Trump said. "And I'm committed to doing everything in my power as president to stop it and to stop it now." A native of New York City's Brooklyn borough and a registered Republican, Sayoc made his political views evident on social media. In Facebook and Twitter posts, he railed against Democrats, Muslims and liberals, including an anti-Soros tweet two days before a bomb showed up at the financier's home. The Arizona Republic newspaper reported that Sayoc threatened Republican U.S. Senator Jeff Flake, one of the few Republicans in Congress openly critical of Trump, in a pair of Oct. 1 Twitter posts consisting of violent imagery and a photo of Flake's Arizona home, with the message, "... very nice house Jeff a lot entrances." Public records showed numerous arrests over the years for domestic violence, theft and other charges, including the alleged bomb threat against a utility company. Sayoc was expected to be held at the Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami and make his first appearance before a judge on Monday, according to former Assistant U.S. Attorney David Weinstein. A public defender listed as Sayoc's attorney of record in New York, Sarah Baumgartel, could not immediately be reached for comment. Ron Lowy, a former lawyer for Sayoc who now represents his family, told CNN he believed Sayoc was left emotionally scarred as a boy when his father left the home, developing an identity crisis in which he ultimately embraced Trump as a kind of father figure. "Its my opinion that he was attracted to the Trump formula of reaching out, Trump reaching out to these types of outsiders - people who dont fit in, people who are angry at America, telling them that they have a place at the table, telling them that its OK to get angry," Lowy said. 'STOP THE RANCOR' All the individuals targeted by the packages Sayoc is accused of sending have been outspoken critics of Trump and his administration, foils for the president and his right-wing supporters or both. Among intended recipients earlier in the week were former Vice President Joe Biden, former Attorney General Eric Holder, actor Robert De Niro and former CIA director John Brennan, whose security clearance Trump revoked after Brennan lambasted Trump's Russia summit performance as "nothing short of treasonous." His package was delivered to the Manhattan bureau of CNN, where he had served as an on-air analyst. On Friday, packages surfaced for Democratic U.S. Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, former U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Democratic U.S. Senator Kamala Harris of California. The episode has sparked an outcry from Trump's critics charging that his inflammatory rhetoric against perceived enemies among Democrats and the press has fostered a climate ripe for politically motivated violence. "If we don't stop this political mania, this fervor, rancor, hatred, you'll see this again and again and again," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told MSNBC. "...It starts with the president." Trump's supporters have accused Democrats of unfairly suggesting that the president was to blame for the bomb scares, and Trump himself accused the press of using coverage of the investigation to score political points against him. After first calling for unity at the White House event, Trump lamented partisan attacks against him and again pointed at the media. "I get attacked all the time ... I can do the greatest thing for our country, and on the networks and on different things it will show bad," he told the crowd, acknowledging an attendee who shouted "fake news." (Reporting by Zachary Fagenson and Bernie Woodall; Additional reporting by Gina Cherelus, Gabriella Borter and Peter Szekely in New York, Mark Hosenball, Makini Brice, Susan Heavey, Sarah N. Lynch and Lisa Lambert in Washington, and Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Writing by Daniel Wallis and Steve Gorman; Editing by Bill Tarrant, Cynthia Osterman and Michael Perry)
Libreville (AFP) - Voting in Gabon ended Saturday in the second round of legislative elections with the party of President Ali Bongo, whose family has ruled the country for nearly 50 years, coasting towards victory.

No major incidents were reported on voting day which ended at 1700 GMT.

Voters and election officials said voter turnout had been low in Libreville.

Bongo's Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) has already won 74 of the 83 seats up for grabs in the first round of the long-delayed parliamentary election, which is being boycotted by veteran politician Jean Ping.

Ping, a former stalwart of Bongo's father Omar's regime, proclaimed himself president after a controversial 2016 election which saw Bongo re-elected by just a few thousand votes.

Violence broke out and dozens of people were killed in 2016 according to the opposition, but the government says only four died. Ping's headquarters were also bombed.

On Saturday, polling was for the remaining seats of the 143-member legislature.

Polling has been deferred in the northern constituency of Ellelem and the election commission has not given a date yet.

The fractured opposition only took four seats in the first round. Two seats were won by independent candidates and three by small parties or groups affiliated to the ruling party.

The October 6 first round also included municipal polls.

African Union observers had described the running of the election as "satisfactory" and without irregularities, but several civil society organisations complained that there had been attempts to buy votes.
Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - The Israeli army accused the Syrian government and Iran on Saturday of ordering Palestinian militants in Gaza to fire dozens of rockets into southern Israel, and threatened to retaliate wherever it chose.

The barrage of rockets, which began late Friday and continued into Saturday morning, triggered extensive retaliatory strikes by Israeli aircraft against Gaza that risked escalating into a wider conflict.

Islamic Jihad, the Palestinian militant group that launched the rockets, said on Saturday lunchtime it had agreed to an Egyptian-brokered truce with Israel to cease hostilities.

The new flare-up came hours after six Palestinians died in renewed clashes on the Gaza-Israel border even as the territory's Islamist rulers Hamas said Egypt was seeking to negotiate a return to calm.

"The rockets that were launched against Israel... we know that the orders, incentives were given from Damascus with the clear involvement of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force," Israeli army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus told journalists, referring to the Guards' foreign operations unit.

The army said 39 rockets have been fired at southern Israel by the Islamic Jihad group since late Friday, with 17 of them intercepted by air defences and the rest hitting open ground.

Israeli aircraft carried out extensive retaliatory strikes, targeting 87 sites belonging to the territory's Islamist rulers Hamas.

It also struck eight Islamic Jihad targets on Saturday, the army said.

- Retaliation against Syria, Iran -

Conricus said that Israel held Hamas responsible for the fire, even though it was carried out by Islamic Jihad at the behest of Syria and its ally Iran.

"We hold Hamas responsible for everything coming from Gaza," he said.

Conricus said Israel would also retaliate against the Syrian government and Iran's Quds Force, and would choose where.

"Part of the address by which we will deal with this fire is also in Damascus and the Quds Force," he said. "Our response is not limited geographically."

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The armed wing of Islamic Jihad, the second largest militant group in Gaza, initially threatened to continue and expand its rocket fire.

But on Saturday afternoon, the group's spokesman announced an immediate ceasefire, saying Egypt had negotiated a truce with Israel.

"A comprehensive ceasefire agreement was reached which came into force immediately in exchange for a halt to the Israeli aggression," Islamic Jihad spokesman Dawoud Shihab told AFP.

Israeli security officials refused to comment on any truce, but confirmed there had been no fire from either side since the Islamic Jihad announcement.

In Eshkol, an Israeli regional council east of central and southern Gaza, authorities revoked in the afternoon a directive ordering residents to remain near bomb shelters.

The change came following "the lull and a renewed situation assessment in the afternoon", a spokeswoman told AFP.

- Truce deal progress -

The biggest rocket barrage from Gaza in months came despite talk of progress towards an Egyptian-brokered deal to end months of often violent protests along the border in return for an easing of Israel's crippling 11-year blockade.

On Sunday, Israel reopened the people and goods border crossings with Gaza and on Wednesday renewed the flow of Qatar-funded fuel to the Palestinian enclave, in an indication of its confidence that Hamas would rein in violence.

The Friday border marches however drew 16,000 protesters, some of them clashing with Israeli soldiers.

Five Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli fire in separate incidents along the border fence, the Gaza health ministry said.

A sixth died when a hand grenade he was holding exploded accidentally, witnesses said.

There were no reports of deaths in Gaza as a result of the Israeli air strikes, which continued until late Saturday morning.

In Gaza City, a four-storey building was completely destroyed, AFP correspondents reported.

The Israeli army said it was a major headquarters of Hamas.

- 'Embarrasses Hamas' -

Israel has fought three wars since 2008 with Hamas and its allies, including Islamic Jihad, and Egypt and the United Nations have been leading diplomatic efforts to avert a fourth.

Saleh an-Nami, a political analyst in Gaza, said the rocket fire would weaken Hamas's efforts to reach a long-term truce and showed it was unable to impose its position on other factions.

"It embarrasses Hamas in front of regional and global mediators that are intervening to achieve a truce," he told AFP.

Palestinians have gathered for protests along the border at least weekly since March 30.

At least 213 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza since the protests began, according to figures collated by AFP.

The majority have died during protests, while smaller numbers have been killed by air strikes or tank fire.

One Israeli soldier was shot dead by a Palestinian sniper over the same period.

The protesters are calling to be allowed to return to lands their families fled or were expelled from in the 1948 war that accompanied Israel's creation.

They are also protesting against the Israeli blockade.
(Reuters) - Google Inc Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said on Thursday the company had fired 48 employees for sexual harassment over the past two years.

Pichai sent an email to Google employees in response to a New York Times story https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/25/technology/google-sexual-harassment-andy-rubin.html that was published earlier in the day.

The report said the search engine giant protected three senior executives from allegations of sexual misconduct by offering them payouts.

The email, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, said of the 48 that were fired, 13 were senior managers or held more senior posts.

However, Pichai said none of those employees received an exit package.

The email, which was also signed by Google's vice president of people operations Eileen Naughton, said that company employees could use internal tools to report cases of inappropriate behaviour anonymously.

It also said that Google has updated its policy to require all vice presidents and senior vice presidents to disclose any relationship with a co-worker regardless of reporting line or presence of conflict.

"We are committed to ensuring that Google is a workplace where you can feel safe to do your best work, and where there are serious consequences for anyone who behaves inappropriately," the email said.

(Reporting by Nivedita Bhattacharjee; editing by Clive McKeef)
Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday expressed grief and solidarity with the United States, after a gunman opened fire in a Pittsburgh synagogue, killing and injuring several people.

"I was heartbroken and appalled by the murderous attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue today," Netanyahu said in a video message.

"The entire people of Israel grieve with the families of the dead. We stand together with the Jewish community of Pittsburgh. We stand together with the American people in the face of this horrendous antisemitic brutality."

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said "we are thinking of the families of those who were murdered and praying for the quick recovery of those who were injured".

Diaspora Minister Naftali Bennett announced he was travelling to Pittsburgh to meet members of the Jewish community and participate in the funerals.

"I am going to offer strength to the community and its leaders, and to examine how we can offer assistance," he said in a statement.

"When Jews are murdered in Pittsburgh, the people of Israel feel pain."

The attack took place as dozens of people were understood to be celebrating Shabbat services on the Jewish sabbath, and comes with the US witnessing a sharp spike in anti-Semitic incidents.
Smoke rises from an explosion caused by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, - AP

Palestinian militants have said that they would halt attacks into Israel from the Gaza Strip after they fired the heaviest rocket salvoes across the border in months.

The Islamic Jihad, one of the armed groups that operates in Gaza, said it fired the rockets in retaliation for Israel's killing of four Palestinian protesters on Friday.

Israel in response struck dozens of targets in the Gaza Strip on Saturday.

Video footage showed several of the rockets from Gaza being shot down by Israels Iron Dome air defence system. No casualties were reported on either side.

Israel took the unusual step of claiming Syria and Iran had been behind the attacks and hinted that their response would not be limited to Gaza.

A fireball exploding during Israeli air strikes in Gaza City. Credit: AP

"The rockets that were launched against Israel... we know that the orders, incentives were given from Damascus with the clear involvement of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force," Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, an army spokesman, said, referring to the Guards' foreign operations unit.

Lt Col. Conricus told reporters Israel's response "is not limited geographically."

Israel has regularly hit Iranian targets in Syria, but has never struck these sites in response to bombardments from Gaza.

Islamic Jihad is an Iranian-backed military group that sometimes operates independently of Gaza's Hamas rulers.

Its armed wing initially threatened to continue and expand its rocket fire. But by the afternoon, the group's spokesman announced an immediate ceasefire.

Palestinians gather at the site devastated after an Israeli airstrike hit a five-storey building in the Gaza Strip in response to rockets said were fired towards the country Credit: Analdolu

The biggest rocket barrage from Gaza in months came despite talk of progress towards an Egyptian-brokered deal to end months of often violent protests along the border in return for an easing of Israel's crippling 11-year blockade.

Last week, Israel reopened the people and goods border crossings with Gaza and on Wednesday renewed the flow of Qatar-funded fuel to the Palestinian enclave, in an indication of its confidence that Hamas would rein in violence.

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The Friday border marches however drew 16,000 protesters, some of them clashing with Israeli soldiers.

Five Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli fire in separate incidents along the border fence, the Gaza health ministry said.

Saleh an-Nami, a political analyst in Gaza, said the rocket fire would weaken Hamas's efforts to reach a long-term truce and showed it was unable to impose its position on other factions.

"It embarrasses Hamas in front of regional and global mediators that are intervening to achieve a truce," he said.
US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis warned the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi threatened the stability of alliances in the Middle East, as the kingdoms foreign minister claimed the ongoing global outcry had become hysterical.

Speaking at a conference in Bahrain on Saturday, Mr Mattis said Washington would take additional measures against those found responsible.

He also said no nation should be able to flout international norms and the rule of law.

His comments came as Saudi Arabia desperately tries to contain the diplomatic fall-out from the brutal murder of the reporter at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October.

Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said the ongoing global outcry had become hysterical.

Speaking at the same conference as Mr Mattis, the senior diplomat said: This issue has become fairly hysterical. I think people have assigned blame on Saudi Arabia with such certainty before the investigation is complete.

Earlier this week US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced moves against 21 Saudis in response to the columnists death, revoking existing visas or making them ineligible for visas.

President Donald Trump has said he wants to get to the bottom of the case, but has continued to highlight Saudi Arabias role as an ally against Iran and Islamist militants, as well as a major purchaser of US arms.

Mr Mattis made clear the US took the killing seriously, but did not mention any specific measures under consideration as punishment.

With our collective interests in peace and unwavering respect for human rights in mind, the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in a diplomatic facility must concern us all greatly, he said.

He added that Mr Pompeo will be taking additional measures as the situation is clarified.

The US defence secretary did not mention Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman  who has called the killing a heinous crime  by name in his speech. The former Marine Corps general also suggested military ties between Washington and Riyadh would not change.

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Mr Mattis said the US remained supportive of the Saudis right to defend themselves against Iranian-supplied Houthi attacks in Yemen.

He said our respect for the Saudi people is undiminished but added that respect must come with transparency and trust.

Earlier this week Saudi Arabias public prosecutor said Mr Khashoggis killing was premeditated, contradicting a previous official statement that it happened accidentally during a tussle in the consulate in Istanbul.

Turkey alleges a 15-member hit squad was sent to Istanbul to kill the journalist, an outspoken critic of Prince Mohammed in regular columns for The Washington Post.

Riyadh has arrested 18 people as part of its investigation into the case. Turkey alleges those include the 15 that flew in hours before the killing and carried it out.

Additional reporting by agencies
Manama (AFP) - Pentagon chief Jim Mattis warned a Middle East forum on Saturday that the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul "must concern us all greatly".

Quoting US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Mattis told a security conference in Bahrain that the United States "does not tolerate this kind of ruthless action to silence Mr Khashoggi, a journalist, through violence".

"With our collective interests in peace and unwavering respect for human rights in mind, the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in a diplomatic facility must concern us all greatly," Mattis added.

"Failure of any nation to adhere to international norms and the rule of law undermines regional stability at a time when it is needed most."

A critic of Saudi Arabia's powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Khashoggi was murdered after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2.

On Thursday, CIA Director Gina Haspel briefed US President Donald Trump on the latest developments in the investigation after a fact-finding mission to Turkey.

Pro-government Turkish media said that intelligence officers showed Haspel video images and audio tapes of Khashoggi's killing gathered from the consulate.

His murder has generated international outrage and undermined relations with Riyadh, which Washington is hoping can help counter Tehran's influence in the Middle East.

Prince Mohammed, the heir apparent to the kingdom's throne, has denounced the "repulsive" murder, denying any involvement. The Saudi leadership has pushed responsibility down the chain of command.

Trump has called the case "one of the worst cover-ups in history".

Washington moved late Tuesday to revoke the visas of several Saudis. Britain followed suit on Wednesday.

Mattis said more measures would follow.

"We will maintain our 'twin imperatives', as stated by Secretary of State Pompeo, of protecting America and holding accountable those responsible for this murder," he told the forum.

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"Our secretary of state has already revoked visas and will be taking additional measures."

Turkey said on Friday it wanted Saudi Arabia to extradite 18 Saudis it has arrested over Khashoggi's murder.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has stopped short of directly blaming the Saudi government, said the 18 suspects must know who killed Khashoggi and repeated his call for the men to be tried in Turkey.

He urged Riyadh to reveal who ordered the killing and the whereabouts of Khashoggi's body.

"You need to show this body," Erdogan said.

"Unless you tell, Saudi Arabia will not be free from this suspicion."
By Ezgi Erkoyun and Mehmet Emin Caliskan ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Dozens of people gathered outside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Thursday in a vigil to demand "full justice" for journalist Jamal Khashoggi, killed after entering the building three weeks ago. Several carried cardboard images of his face and signs reading "Khashoggi's friends". One, his hands painted red, wore a mask depicting the face of Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of the crown prince, disappeared after entering the consulate. Saudi officials initially denied having anything to do with the disappearance, before changing that account to say an internal investigation suggested Khashoggi was accidentally killed in a botched operation to return him to the kingdom. Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor said on Thursday that the murder was premeditated. "On this occasion, and from this place where the spirit of Jamal has been lost, we clearly state that we will not accept compromises in the case of his murder," the group outside the consulate said in a statement, read out in Arabic, Turkish and English. "We will continue to demand that all authorities across the Middle East immediately release all opinion leaders and political prisoners." The killing of Khashoggi has sparked global outrage and a crisis for the world's top oil exporter and strategic ally of the West. Turkey and Western allies of Riyadh have voiced deep scepticism about Saudi explanations of the killing. U.S. President Donald Trump, the kingdom's staunchest Western ally, was quoted by the Wall Street Journal as saying Prince Mohammed bore ultimate responsibility for the operation that led to Khashoggi's death. The people outside the consulate, some of whom had traveled from other countries for the vigil, lit candles in front of posters of Khashoggi. One taking part was Yasin Aktay, an adviser to Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and a friend of Khashoggi's. He said the investigation should bring all those responsible to justice, "no matter where it reaches". (Writing by Ali Kucukgocmen)
BORACAY, Philippines (Reuters) - The Philippines reopened its top holiday island on Friday, promising sustainable tourism and a greener environment as it welcomed back visitors after a six-month cleanup ordered by a president who had described it as a "cesspool".

Hundreds of excited tourists barred from Boracay since April trooped to a jetty that is the gateway of the 10-sq-km (4-sq-mile) island, famed for its powdery white sands, turquoise waters, lively nightlife and abundant water sports.

"We are lucky today to be here, so we have to enjoy and see what it's like. Party, swim and eat and everything," French tourist Chris Balloug told Reuters upon disembarking.

GRAPHIC: Boracay island re-opens https://reut.rs/2D7KPkz

Filipino tourist Kat Ruiz said she was looking forward to a better island with a home-like atmosphere.

Cabinet and local government officials unveiled a billboard-size image of Boracay's Puka Beach, before declaring the island "officially open to all".

In April, President Rodrigo Duterte ordered Boracay's closure after seeing a video of dirty water being piped to sea, a side-effect of decades of unregulated construction that overwhelmed a tiny sewerage system.

"We have already done the first phase, this is the rehabilitation," Environment Minister Roy Cimatu told a news conference. "There is no more cesspool."

Boracay attracted 2 million visitors last year and raked in $1 billion in revenue, but its environment suffered, with garbage pile-ups, rampant land encroachment, and narrow roads clogged with traffic emitting fumes.

Now the island is reforming.

Beach parties are banned, as is smoking and drinking. Its shoreline is free of vendors, masseuses, fire dancers and watersports, while the scores of moored boats on the beach, a fixture in former years, must anchor elsewhere.

Just 19,000 tourists are to be allowed on the island each day, with worker numbers also capped at 15,000.

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"When we think about it, our problem is everybody wants to go to Boracay," Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat told reporters.

The government plans to extend its restoration beyond Boracay to tourist spots elsewhere in the archipelago of more than 7,000 islands, she said.

Prior to the closure, authorities found about a third of the island's 600 to 700 resorts had no permits to operate. About 157 hotels offering 7,308 rooms were allowed to operate from Friday.

The six-month closure saw authorities remove illegal sewage pipes, close or demolish unregistered hotels and widen roads, some of which work continues.

Tourists were greeted by rubble, excavators and partially-knocked down buildings flanking roads, but caught some glimpses of Boracay's idyllic past.

"Manage your expectations," Romulo-Puyat added. "The front is beautiful, the water is pristine and clear, but of course the roads are still being built."

(Reporting by Ronn Bautista; Writing and additional reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by Michael Perry and Clarence Fernandez)
A white man who allegedly gunned down two African-American people at a grocery store in Kentucky also tried to enter a predominantly Black church in the area minutes before the attack, according to police.

Vickie Lee Jones, 67, and Maurice Stallard, 69, were killed at Kroger Marketplace in the Louisville suburb of Jeffersontown on Wednesday. Suspect Gregory Bush, 51, was jailed with bail set at $5 million on two counts of murder and 10 counts of felony wanton endangerment.

On Friday afternoon, a federal prosecutor said the shooting is being investigated as a possible hate crime.

Before Bush showed up at the grocery store, surveillance video shows him trying to enter the First Baptist Church in Jeffersontown, according to police Chief Sam Rogers. There were reportedly eight to 10 people inside the church at the time.

"There were 70 people here at our weekly meeting service just an hour before he came by," Billy Williams, the church administrator, told the New York Times. "Im just thankful that all of our doors and security was in place." Both victims reportedly had relatives who had attended the church.

Vickie Lee Jones (left) with her nephew Kevin Gunn Photo: Courtesy of Kevin Gunn.

Maurice Stallard Photo: Courtesy of Kellie Watson.

When he was unable to enter the church, Bush drove to the nearby store. He opened fire inside, killing Stallard. Then, he shot Jones in the parking lot, authorities said.

According to CNN, Stallard was at the grocery store with his 12-year-old grandson buying poster board for his school project.

Ed Harrell told the Kentucky Courier-Journal that he was waiting for his wife in the parking lot when he heard shots and grabbed his gun. As he saw Bush walk out, he asked what was happening, to which Bush replied, "Don't shoot me. I won't shoot you. Whites don't shoot whites." Harrell then hid behind a car and watched as Bush drove off. Minutes after, police arrested Bush.

The suspected gunman has a long history of using racial slurs, assault, domestic violence, and threats, WDRB reported. In 2001, an ex-girlfriend reportedly took out an emergency protective order against him because she "feared for her life." In 2009, he allegedly assaulted his parents. According to court records, he abused and threatened his ex-wife, as well as repeatedly called her the n-word. A domestic violence conviction in 2009 prevents Bush from legally owning weapons.

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Maurice Stallard. Vickie Lee Jones. Both grandparents. Human beings. Gunned down and killed in Louisville, KY. The shooter: A man full of hate, bigotry & racism. Hate, bigotry & racism wont go quietly. We cant afford to elect more people who encourage & embody the three. pic.twitter.com/7ZoeANQWpf  Be A King (@BerniceKing) October 25, 2018

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LONDON (Reuters) - A 45-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of trying to steal an original copy of the 1215 Magna Carta from Salisbury cathedral in southern England, police said on Friday.

Alarms were activated when an attempt was made on Thursday evening to smash the glass box containing the priceless medieval charter.

"A man matching the description given by witnesses was arrested on suspicion of attempted theft, possession of an offensive weapon and criminal damage ..," Wiltshire police said in a statement.

The parchment, one of only four original copies still surviving, was not damaged in the incident, they added.

One of the most important manuscripts in English history, the Magna Carta is a charter of citizens' rights curbing the arbitrary power of medieval kings which among other things guaranteed the right to a fair trial.

King John agreed to place his seal on the document in June 1215 at Runnymede near Windsor, west of London, as a means of ending an uprising by rebel barons.

(Reporting by Stephen Addison; editing by Costas Pitas)
Federal authorities warned there could be more mail bombs in circulation as they announced they arrested a 56-year-old Florida man in connection with explosives sent to prominent Democrats and critics of President Donald Trump.

At a Department of Justice press conference Friday afternoon, FBI Director Christopher Wray said while none of the 13 intercepted devices exploded, analysis has found that they were still functional and capable of causing harm.

These are not hoax devices, Wray said.

Authorities did not comment on Sayocs motives but his social media accounts appear to show he shared right-wing conspiracy theories and was an avid Trump supporter. Attorney General Jeff Sessions confirmed that Sayoc was specifically targeting Democrats.

He appears to be a partisan, Sessions said.

Officials confirmed that Cesar Sayoc of Aventura, Florida was arrested and charged with five federal crimes including interstate transportation of an explosive, illegal mailing of explosives, threats against former presidents, threatening interstate communication and assaulting current and former federal officers. Authorities said Sayoc faces up to 58 years in prison if convicted.

Federal authorities took Cesar Sayoc, 56, of Aventura, Fla., into custody Friday, Oct. 26, 2018 in Florida in connection with the mail-bomb scare that earlier widened to 12 suspicious packages, the FBI and Justice Department said.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said Sayoc sent 13 improvised explosive devices (IED) to various individuals across the country, each of which consisted of six inches of PVC pipe, a small clock, a battery, wiring and energetic material that could potentially cause the device to detonate or burn.

Wray said Investigators were able to identify Sayoc after matching his fingerprints on one of the envelopes sent to Congresswoman Maxine Waters.

Aerial television footage showed federal agents seizing a white van at the site of Sayocs arrest. The van was covered in pro-Trump stickers as well as stickers with sniper targets over prominent Democrats including Hillary Clinton and filmmaker Michael Moore. Authorities have not confirmed if the van belonged to Sayoc.

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Authorities are seen Plantation, Florida taking a man into custody suspected of being connected to the series of mailed packaged bombs.

Arrest records show that Sayoc has an extensive criminal record that dates back 27 years and include multiple charges of grand larceny and drug possession. In November 2002 Sayoc pleaded guilty to charges of making bomb threats.

Shortly after Sayoc was arrested, President Trump addressed the investigation into the bomb packages at the Young Black Leadership Summit at the White House.

These terrorizing acts are despicable and have no place in our country. No place, he said. We must never allow political violence to take root in America.

I would like to begin todays remarks by providing an update on the packages and devices that have been mailed to high-profile figures throughout our Country, and a media org. I am pleased to inform you that law enforcement has apprehended the suspect and taken him into custody. pic.twitter.com/UFjwjjUkLd  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 26, 2018

Many of the packages were addressed to high-ranking Obama Administration officials, including former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former CIA Director John Brennan and former Attorney General Eric Holder.

On Friday morning, the FBI said a package had been recovered in Florida that was addressed to Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey. New York police confirmed a suspicious package had been found at a Manhattan post office addressed to James Clapper, the former Director of National Intelligence and critic of President Donald Trump, taking the total number of packages to 12.
MANAMA (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Saturday that the United States was in close contact with allies in Europe about the INF treaty and its implications for the region. "We are in close collaboration with our European allies... and we will continue to collaborate very closely with the treaty and its implications for European security," Mattis said in a speech in Bahrain. "Eventually we have to look reality in the eye, that is not to mean that we are walking away from arms control. But arms control must be more than words on a paper, it must be actions," Mattis added. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Oct. 20 that Washington planned to quit the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty which Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader, and Ronald Reagan had signed in 1987. The pact eliminated all short- and intermediate-range land-based nuclear and conventional missiles held by both countries in Europe. Washington has cited Russia's alleged violation of the treaty as its reason for leaving it, a charge Moscow denies. Russia in turn accuses Washington of breaking the pact. Gorbachev has denounced the U.S. decision to leave the INF that helped end the Cold War, saying it would heralded a new arms race which increased the risk of nuclear conflict. (Reporting by Idrees Ali; Editing by Michael Perry)
NBC has cancelled Megyn Kelly Today after the host's comments about Halloween blackface costumes.

"Megyn Kelly Today is not returning," the statement read. "Next week, the 9am hour will be hosted by other 'Today' co-anchors."

The announcement comes amid uncertainty over the television personality's future at NBC. Ms Kelly signed a contract granting her $23 million a year for three years.

The cancellation of Megyn Kelly Today is the latest outcome in a series of consequences resulting from her comments defending blackface Halloween costumes, for which she has apologised. Earlier this week, on Wednesday, The Hollywood Reporter revealed the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) dropped Ms Kelly as a client and that its rival agency United Talent Agency (UTA) refused to sign her. Her show was also taken off air for one week.

During her morning show on Tuesday, Ms Kelly hosted a roundtable discussion on cultural appropriation and Halloween costumes. In the discussion, she argued in favour of blackface and whiteface for the spooky holiday citing that it was "OK when I was a kid as long as you were dressing like a character. It should be noted that not a single black commentator appeared her roundtable discussion.

The comments sparked outrage from viewers and from her NBC colleagues. In a company town hall meeting, NBC Chairman Andy Lack expressed disappointment in Ms Kellys comments.

There is no other way to put this, but I condemn those remarks, there is no place on our air or in this workplace for them. Very unfortunate, Mr Lack said to NBC employees.

Following the backlash, Ms Kelly apologised for her remarks and said the negative response from viewers made her realised that it is not OK for [blackface] to be part of any costume, Halloween or otherwise.

She also noted that she has never been a politically correct person. This much is true considering Ms Kelly had made several racially insensitive comments in the past. The most notable example was in December 2013 when Ms. Kelly, who hosted The Kelly File on Fox News at the time, baulked at a Slate op-ed arguing against a white male Santa Claus.

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"Just because it makes you feel uncomfortable it doesn't mean it has to change, Ms Kelly said. Jesus was a white man, too. It's like we have, he's a historical figure that's a verifiable fact, as is Santa, I just want kids to know that. How do you revise it in the middle of the legacy in the story and change Santa from white to black?"

Historians and scientists have come to a consensus that Jesus was a dark-skinned, Middle Eastern man. Santa Claus is a fictional character.
Washington (AFP) - Microsoft said Friday it is prepared to provide its technology to the US military, including for a massive cloud computing project, despite ethics concerns among some of its employees and others in Silicon Valley.

"All of us who live in this country depend on its strong defense," Microsoft president Brad Smith said in a blog post.

"Today the citizens in our military risk their lives not only as the country's first line of defense, but often as the nation's first line of assistance around the world in hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and other disasters."

The statement came two weeks after Google dropped out of the bidding for the huge Pentagon cloud computing contract that could be worth up to $10 billion. The company said the deal would be inconsistent with its principles, which left Amazon and Microsoft as two leading contenders.

Smith said Microsoft has been a longstanding supplier of technology for the US military, and added that the company was aware of the potential ethical concerns about the use of artificial intelligence in warfare.

"We appreciate that technology is creating new ethical and policy issues that the country needs to address in a thoughtful and wise manner," Smith wrote.

"But we can't expect these new developments to be addressed wisely if the people in the tech sector who know the most about technology withdraw from the conversation."

Smith said he and chief executive Satya Nadella clarified Microsoft's position in a conversation with employees, and acknowledged "that some of our employees may have different views" on the matter.

He said that Microsoft would respect the position of employees who did not want to work on a military project and would offer the option of shifting jobs where possible.

Smith said Microsoft is maintaining its bid for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract aimed at modernizing the military's computing systems.

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Earlier this month, Google said it was dropping its JEDI bid in part because "we couldn't be assured that it would align with our AI principles" unveiled this year. Those points state the company would steer clear of "technologies that cause or are likely to cause overall harm" and "weapons or other technologies whose principal purpose or implementation is to cause or directly facilitate injury to people."

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said recently his company would maintain its JEDI bid, saying it was important to support US defense efforts even if unpopular.

"This is a great country and it does need to be defended," Bezos said at the Wired 25th Anniversary conference in San Francisco.
Voters in Texas are having their selection flipped to an entirely different party by the states 20-year-old ballot machines, officials have admitted.

Dozens of people attempting a straight-ticket choice  where they vote for the same party in all posts being contested  have reported their commands being disobeyed by the devices.

Republican voters say they have found themselves staring at screens telling them they have selected democrat Beto O'Rourke for the US Senate. Democrats say the same machines have told them they have favoured the Republican Ted Cruz for the same position.

It is unclear if anyone has actually voted for the wrong party as a result of the flipping as the machines give users the chance to correct any errors before confirming.

But the issue has added one more controversy to one of the most acrimonious midterm elections in American history.

Concerns with the devices were first raised on social media but state officials confirmed on Friday they were aware of the problem  which they then blamed on voter misuse.

Beto O'Rourke and Ted Cruz debate for the Texas US Senate: Tom Reel/San Antonio Express-News via AP, Pool

The Hart eSlate machines are not malfunctioning, said Sam Taylor, spokesman for the office of Secretary of State, according to the Press Association news agency. The problems being reported are a result of user error  usually voters hitting a button or using the selection wheel before the screen is finished rendering.

The Hart eSlate machines in question are used in 30 per cent of Texas counties, including the states largest, Harris, which includes the city of Houston.

In a statement on Friday, Ted Cruz said he had heard of multiple reports of race selections changing and told supporters: Once you select the Republican party ticket, please be patient and do not select next until the ballot has populated all of the selections.

Gilberto Hinojosa, the Texas Democrat party chairman, demanded a public service announcement to warn voters, training for poll workers on the issue and the removal of malfunctioning machines.

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But Zenen Perez, of the Texas Civil Rights Project, said the problem would keep happening until the state increased investment in its election infrastructure.

"Texas just hasn't spent the resources necessary to modernize," he told GQ magazine. "Until they do, we're going to continue to see this kind of thing on a regular basis."
By Delphine Schrank

PIJIJIAPAN, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexico on Friday offered temporary identification papers and jobs to migrants who register for asylum in the country, stepping up efforts to halt the advance of a U.S.-bound Central American caravan that has angered Washington.

U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to close the U.S.-Mexico border and cut aid to Central America to try to stop the caravan of several thousand people. U.S. officials have said that up to 1,000 troops may be sent to the U.S. southern border to prevent the migrants from crossing.

Making reference to the caravan, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said that migrants wishing to obtain temporary identification documents, jobs or education for their children could do so by registering for asylum in southern Mexico.

"This plan is only for those who comply with Mexican laws, and it's a first step towards a permanent solution for those who are granted refugee status in Mexico," Pena Nieto said in a pre-recorded address broadcast on Friday afternoon.

To qualify for the scheme he called "Estas en Tu Casa" ('Make Yourself at Home') migrants had to be in the southern states of Chiapas and Oaxaca, Pena Nieto said.

Temporary work in the states would be extended so as also to benefit Mexicans, said Pena Nieto, who leaves office on Nov. 30.

The caravan, which is moving through Chiapas on the border of Guatemala, has enabled Trump to campaign hard on illegal immigration ahead of midterm congressional elections on Nov. 6, in which Republicans are battling to keep control of Congress.

Mexican officials have said those migrants who do not qualify for refugee status are liable to be deported.

Mexico's government has said that more than 1,700 people in the convoy have registered for asylum, while others have returned home. Estimates on the size of the group vary.

Alden Rivera, the Honduran ambassador to Mexico, told Mexican radio on Friday that the caravan could reach Mexico City by next Friday. He put an "official" headcount at 3,500, estimating that at least two-thirds of them were Hondurans.

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The caravan set off in Honduras nearly two weeks ago, and has picked up other Central Americans en route.

Alexander Fernandez, a Honduran traveling in the caravan, said people began leaving the town of Pijijiapan at about 3 a.m. to head for Arriaga, a town in the west of Chiapas.

A banner hanging over a bridge on the migrants' path read: "Your hearts are brave, don't give up."

Tens of thousands of Central Americans set off for the United States every year, looking to escape violence and poverty. Hondurans, Guatemalans and Salvadorans make up the bulk of illegal immigrants apprehended at the U.S. border.

On Thursday night, thousands of people took refuge under small tents or teepees made from garbage bags in Pijijiapan's town square. Many people rushed to a nearby river in the afternoon to wash off the sweat of travel and extreme heat.

A White House official said on Thursday that "a wide range of administrative, legal and legislative options" were being considered regarding the migrants.

(Additional reporting by Veronica Gomez in Mexico City; Editing by Dave Graham and Tom Brown)
Families pushing toddlers in strollers. A group of skinny young men who say there are no jobs in their country. A young woman from Guatemala being helped by medics by the roadside, her ankle twisted and swollen after six days of walking.

These are the Central American migrants Donald Trump is sending extra troops to the border to protect America from.

On the highway between the southern Mexican towns of Pijijiapan and Mapastepec, thousands of people made their way  in groups, in couples, and some by themselves. They know Mr Trump does not like them, but many are pressing on all the same.

There is no alternative, said Alex Lonal, 25, a Guatemalan, whose cousin, Adelee, was being helped by the Red Cross. There are no jobs, no work. The economy is bad. And it is a dangerous place  there are bandits.

The size of the caravan appears to be dwindling every day. From a starting total of 10,000, it is estimated the number is now somewhere between 4,000-5,000.

The Associated Press said sickness, fear, police harassment  and offers of government money to cover the cost of their return journey  were each day chipping away at the total. Mexican officials said nearly 1,700 had dropped out of the caravan to apply for asylum in Mexico.

Carlos Roberto Hernandez, of Yoro province in Honduras, ended his effort to make it further north after developing a cough during the heat and evening rain.

We got hit by rain, and ever since then Ive had a cold, said Mr Hernandez said. Asked Wednesday if he would make another attempt to reach the US, replied: No. Im going to make my life in Honduras.

But others are ploughing on, despite the difficulty of the journey and the knowledge that while many in America may sympathise with their cause, its president does not.

The caravan on the highway between the southern Mexican towns of Pijijiapan and Mapastepe (Getty)

On Thursday, it emerged defence secretary Jim Mattis expected an additional 800 members of the National Guard to arrive at the US-Mexico border amid what Mr Trump had described as a national emergency. The extra troops will provide what was described as logistical support to the border patrol. This would include a variety of things such as vehicles, tents and equipment.

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Mr Trump said on Thursday that he was bringing out the military to deal with the border before addressing those in the caravan.

Turnaround, we are not letting people into the United States illegally, the president tweeted. Go back to your country and if you want, apply for citizenship like millions of others are doing!

Jose Dia, who was among a group of 20 young men from Honduras, said they knew about Mr Trump but that they would continue their journey all the same. Perhaps it is possible to cross, the 23-year-old Mr Dia told The Independent. Perhaps we can make an application for asylum.

He said the group had all come from the barrios of Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, which, along with El Salvador, takes turns at being the deadliest nation in the world, outside of a war zone.

Gangs, drug and human traffickers, and a lack of opportunity were behind their reason to leave.

Central Americans are travelling in groups because the journey is dangerous and there is safety in numbers, said Alison Parker of Human Rights Watch.

"Central American migrants are fleeing severe insecurity putting their lives and safety at risk, as well as droughts and floods. Some are also leaving due to the lack of economic opportunity in their home countries.

While Mr Trump is sending troops to the border to protect against the migrants, he is also weaponising them politically. His increasingly vitriolic attacks in recent days at rallies across the country is no coincidence; he knows that few things energise many of his supporters than the issue of immigration.

He has claimed without evidence, that migrants from the Middle East are among the caravan.

He later acknowledged there was no proof of the claim Middle Easterners were in the crowd. But he tweeted the US will never accept people coming into our country illegally.

Experts say while people from countries such as Syria and Somalia do enter the US from Mexico, they do so with the help of "coyotes" or traffickers.

The caravan, which takes place every year, provides a a way for those without the means to pay a coyote, a relatively safe way to make their way northwards. The reason the journey is so long  at least 1,250 miles from the Mexican border in Chiapas  is that they are not following a shorter route that avoids especially dangerous areas they would have to pass if they went closer to the city of Monterrey and try and enter the US through Texas.

Commentators point out that the US has never been a bystander in the problems engulfing Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, that have led so many to leave. For decades, Washington has sided with right-wing military-led governments, suppressed freedom movements and in the case of Guatemala in 1954, ordered the CIA to help overthrow the elected government of Jacobo Arbenz in a coup. Mr Trump has not yet tweeted about this.

Melkin Claros, 34, was travelling with his seven-year old son and a teenage nephew. He told the AP that despite the challenges, he was not going to give up.

Everyones objective is to arrive [in the United States], he said, explaining that the prevalence of gangs made life in Honduras impossible.

Its true you risk your life a lot here, but we risk more in our country.
Jakarta (AFP) - Indonesia's quake-tsunami battered city of Palu is facing a public health crisis as torrential rains threaten to spread malaria and dengue fever to the devastated region a month after the disaster, aid agencies have warned.

On September 28, a magnitude 7.5 quake and a subsequent tsunami razed swathes of Palu on Sulawesi island, killing some 2,200 people and displacing more than 220,000.

Thousands more are missing, presumed dead, after entire neighbourhoods were swallowed up by liquefaction -- a process where a strong quake makes the ground start behaving like a liquid, turning it into a kind of quicksand.

Desperate to stave off disease, authorities last week dropped disinfectant from helicopters on the worst-hit parts of Palu, where some 5,000 rotting corpses are feared buried beneath the ruins.

Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency said the move was crucial to preventing the proliferation of disease-laden flies, cockroaches and rats.

But aid groups say there has been an increase in cases of diarrhoea and respiratory infection, while there are also suspected cases of mosquito-borne illnesses, including malaria and dengue fever.

Heavy monsoon rains predicted for the months ahead threaten to make a bad situation worse.

"It is likely we're going to see more and more people getting sick... given how hard it is to maintain hygiene standards, with the rains providing the perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes, and with hundreds, if not thousands of bodies, believed to be decomposing in the ground," said Selina Sumbung, chairperson of Save the Childrens partner in Indonesia, Yayasan Sayangi Tunas Cilik.

- 'Difficult to keep clean' -

Safe play spaces and temporary schools have provided some solace for kids -- including many left orphans or still separated from surviving parents -- but children are at particular risk from any illness outbreak.

Local and international relief efforts have accelerated over the past month after initial delays sparked looting as food and water ran out.

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Telephone reception and electricity have been restored to many areas with shops, restaurants and markets open.

Disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said Friday that things were "getting better" for people in the worst-affected areas.

But numerous challenges remain.

The hundreds of thousands left homeless by the disaster are scattered across Palu and beyond.

Many squat outside their ruined homes or are bunkered down in makeshift camps and entirely dependent on handouts to survive.

Safe drinking water has to be trucked into encampments, while tarpaulins, blankets and tools are still in short supply in some areas.

"We know when people are living in temporary conditions -- in tents or under tarpaulins -- that always poses a problem for hygiene," said Andreas Weissenberg, team leader of the Red Cross field assessment team in Palu.

"People stay closer together. It's difficult to keep clean. They may not have access to water and latrines."

Elsewhere, monsoon rains have already turned roads to mud and primed slopes for landslides in some remote areas -- hampering access for relief teams.

Indonesian authorities lifted a state of emergency on Friday, after which a "transition period" is to continue before that ends on December 25.

Indonesia has said that damage to the devastated area has topped $900 million while the World Bank has offered the country up to $1 billion in loans to get Palu back on its feet.

Seventy percent of Palu has been cleaned up and water supply will return to normal by December, Central Sulawesi governor Longki Djanggola said Thursday.

More than 1,400 tents have been erected for classes and 1,200 semi-permanent shelters -- each with a dozen rooms -- are expected to be finished in two months' time.

For many, however, life is still far from returning to normal.

"I just hope I can get a decent place, permanent housing and a job," said 65-year-old Abdurrahim Laadu.
Pittsburgh (AFP) - A man suspected of bursting into a Pittsburgh synagogue during a baby-naming ceremony and gunning down 11 people has been charged with murder, in the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in recent US history.

The suspect -- identified as a 46-year-old Robert Bowers -- reportedly yelled "All Jews must die" as he sprayed bullets into the Tree of Life synagogue during Sabbath services on Saturday before exchanging fire with police, in an attack that also wounded six people.

He was taken into custody and transferred to hospital before being charged by US prosecutors over the bloodshed, including with 11 counts of using a firearm to commit murder and 11 counts of obstructing the exercise of religion resulting in death.

President Donald Trump denounced "a wicked act of mass murder," while his daughter Ivanka, a convert to Judaism, declared: "America is stronger than the acts of a depraved bigot and anti-Semite."

"This evil anti-Semitic attack is an assault on all of us," Trump told supporters at an election rally in Illinois where he drew loud cheers as he vowed to fully enforce the death penalty for such crimes.

"We must stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters to defeat anti-Semitism and vanquish the forces of hate."

Trump said he would soon travel to Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, where hundreds held a candlelit vigil late Saturday.

The president ordered all flags at the White House and at public grounds, military posts and naval stations to be flown at half-staff through October 31 as a mark of "solemn respect" for the victims.

- 'Sickening' -

Stephen Weiss, a 60-year-old member of the congregation, described hearing dozens of shots coming from the synagogue's front lobby.

"We had services going on in the chapel when we heard a loud noise," he told the Tribune-Review newspaper. "I recognized it as gunshots."

Authorities said Bowers was armed with an assault rifle and at least three handguns when he opened fire shortly before 10:00 am (1400 GMT) Saturday.

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Wendell Hissrich, Pittsburgh's public safety director described the scene after the attack as "horrific".

"One of the worst that I've seen. I've been on plane crashes," said Hissrich, who confirmed that 11 people were killed, and six injured. No children were among the casualties.

"Hate Has No Home Here," read a placard in a simple memorial, next to a heart-shaped US flag -- the same slogan was repeated in Hebrew and Arabic, with candles and bouquets of pink roses and carnations.

"It's sickening. Outside of just the evil factor of it, who wakes up on a Saturday morning to do that?" said Pittsburgh chef Nathan, 42, who came to pay his respects but refused to give his second name.

The United States is witnessing a sharp spike in anti-Semitic incidents, surging 57 percent from 2016 to 2017, to 1,986 from 1,267, according to the Anti-Defamation League, a civil rights group which has tracked anti-Semitism in the United States since the 1970s.

The ADL said it believes the Pittsburgh shooting to be the deadliest such attack in US history.

"We are devastated," said the group's head Jonathan Greenblatt. "Our hearts break for the victims, their families, and the entire Jewish community."

Bowers, who the FBI said was not previously known to law enforcement, appeared to be the author of a rash of anti-Semitic online posts, notably on the Gab.com website, where conspiracy theories are common.

- 'Toxic place to live' -

A quote atop the Bowers page said "jews are the children of satan," according to screenshots of the now-suspended account released by the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist movements.

Bowers faces a total of 29 charges, which authorities said could carry the death penalty.

"The crimes of violence are based upon the federal civil rights laws prohibiting hate crimes," a US prosecutor statement said.

Saturday's attack comes at a time of heightened tensions -- a day after a Trump supporter from Florida was arrested for mailing explosive devices to Democrats and liberals, setting the country on edge ahead of close-fought elections on November 6.

Trump has been accused of fueling hate with divisive rhetoric.

"I think our president's totally dividing us," said Nathan, the chef who came to pay his respects in Pittsburgh.

"If he doesn't take some type of responsibility, shame on him. He's making our place a very toxic place to live."

The attack drew condemnation and messages of solidarity from world leaders, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declaring himself "heartbroken and appalled."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel slammed an act of "blind anti-Semitic hatred."

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for a united front "to roll back the forces of racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and other forms of hatred."

The Tree of Life Synagogue, whose congregation was founded more than 150 years ago, is located in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood that is historically the heart of Jewish life in greater Pittsburgh.

Neighbors in the quiet neighborhood came out of their homes to provide police with coffee to stave off the drizzle as officers manned road blocks, sealing off all approaches to the scene.

A 2017 Brandeis University study found that more than 80 percent of its residents were concerned about rising anti-Semitism.

burs/jm/wd/klm
By Katie Paul MANAMA (Reuters) - Oman described Israel as an accepted Middle East state on Saturday, a day after hosting a surprise visit by its prime minister that Washington said could help regional peace efforts. Oman is offering ideas to help Israel and the Palestinians to come together but is not acting as mediator, Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, the sultanates minister responsible for foreign affairs, told a security summit in Bahrain. "Israel is a state present in the region, and we all understand this," bin Alawi said. "The world is also aware of this fact. Maybe it is time for Israel to be treated the same [as others states] and also bear the same obligations." His comments followed a rare visit to Oman by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu which came days after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas paid a three-day visit to the Gulf country. Both leaders met with Oman's Sultan Qaboos. "We are not saying that the road is now easy and paved with flowers, but our priority is to put an end to the conflict and move to a new world," bin Alawi told the summit. Oman is relying on the United States and efforts by President Donald Trump in working toward the "deal of the century" (Middle East peace), he added. Bahrain's foreign minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa voiced support for Oman over the sultanate's role in trying to secure Israeli-Palestinian peace, while Saudi Arabia's foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir said the kingdom believes the key to normalizing relations with Israel was the peace process. The three-day summit was attended by Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, and his counterparts in Italy and Germany also participated, but Jordan's King Abdullah canceled his appearance after a flood that hit the Dead Sea region killed 21 people. Trumps Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt welcomed the "warming ties & growing cooperation between our regional friends" in a tweet late on Friday. "This is a helpful step for our peace efforts & essential to create an atmosphere of stability, security & prosperity between Israelis, Palestinians & their neighbors. Looking forward to seeing more meetings like this! Greenblatt said. CURBING IRAN Israel and some Gulf states share an interest in curbing Iran's influence in the region. Oman has long been to the Middle East what neutral Switzerland is to global diplomacy. The country helped to mediate secret U.S.-Iran talks in 2013 that led to the historic nuclear deal signed in Geneva two years later. Earlier this year, bin Alawi visited Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque and Netanyahu has on several occasions hinted at warmer ties with Gulf states. He told Israel's parliament last week that due to fears of a nuclear threat from Iran, "Israel and other Arab countries are closer than they ever were before." Though uncommon, Israeli leaders have previously visited the Gulf state. In 1996, the late Shimon Peres went to Oman and Qatar when he was prime minister and opened Israel trade representative offices in both Gulf countries. His predecessor, the late Yitzhak Rabin, made the first trip to Oman in 1994. On his visit on Friday, Netanyahu was accompanied by senior officials, including the head of the Mossad intelligence agency and his national security adviser. (Writing by Hadeel al Sayegh, additional reporting by Dan Williams in Jerusalem; Editing by Clelia Oziel)
Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - A Palestinian was killed during clashes with Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank Friday, the Palestinian health ministry said.

The man was hit with live ammunition from behind, with the bullet piercing organs in his lower abdomen, the ministry said.

Medical sources named him as Othman Ladadwa.

Another man who was shot in the head was in serious condition, the Palestinian health ministry said.

Witnesses said clashes began when Israeli settlers came to visit a site near the village of al-Mizraa al-Gharbiya in the occupied West Bank and local Palestinians threw stones at them.

Israeli forces then intervened and fired both tear gas and ammunition at the Palestinians, the witnesses said.

The Israeli army said that "dozens of Palestinians instigated a riot near the Nahalin ruins, northwest of Ramallah", during which they "set off fireworks and hurled rocks at IDF (Israel defence forces) and border police forces".

The forces "responded with riot dispersal means, and fired in accordance with standard operation procedures", a spokesman for the army said, noting they were aware of reports of the fatality and injuries.
Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Palestinian officials on Saturday expressed concern about a potential "normalisation" of relations between Israel and Arab countries, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Oman.

Netanyahu met with Oman's Sultan Qaboos late Thursday, an encounter that was kept secret until after he returned to Israel, where it was presented as a major coup for the Jewish state's efforts to bolster ties with the Arab world.

"The value system and the Arab political and social pact don't exist anymore," said Mohammad Shtayyeh, an adviser to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, in a statement.

"It is the start of a public normalisation and the end of the Arab peace initiative", he added, referring to a 2002 Arab League proposal.

The 2002 initiative affirmed Arab states would restore diplomatic ties with Israel in exchange for a peace settlement creating a Palestinian state that returned all land occupied or annexed in and since the 1967 war.

Deputy speaker of the Palestinian parliament Hassan Khreisheh on Saturday lamented an "unprecedented haste by Arab countries to normalise ties with Israel".

Netanyahu's visit to Oman was the first by an Israeli premier since 1996, when acting prime minister Shimon Peres visited and the countries agreed to establish trade representative offices.

Oman closed those offices in 2000 after the outbreak of the second Palestinian intifada.

Netanyahu has long sought alliances with other Arab states which, like Israel, face an emboldened Iran, stressing that such ties could enable peace with the Palestinians.

Israel currently has full diplomatic relations with only two Arab states, Egypt and Jordan.
By John Altdorfer and Chriss Swaney

PITTSBURGH (Reuters) - A gunman yelling, "All Jews must die," stormed a Pittsburgh synagogue during Saturday services, killing 11 worshippers and wounding six other people including four police officers, before he was arrested.

U.S. attorney for western Pennsylvania Scott Brady told a news conference that charges could be filed later on Saturday against the suspected shooter, 46-year-old Robert Bowers from Pittsburgh.

"The actions of Robert Bowers represent the worst of humanity. We are dedicating the entire resources of my office to this federal hate crime investigation and prosecution," Brady said.

The U.S. Department of Justice will file hate crime and other criminal charges against Bowers that could lead to the death penalty, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said.

FBI special agent Bob Jones said the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which is leading the probe into the attack, believed Bowers was acting alone, adding: "We have no knowledge that he was known to law enforcement before today."

KDKA television cited police sources as saying Bowers walked into the building and yelled "All Jews must die."

Bowers had made many anti-Semitic posts online, including one early on Saturday. In another, he slammed U.S. President Donald Trump for doing nothing to stop an "infestation" of the United States by Jews.

Jones said Bowers was armed with an assault rifle and three handguns, and that he was believed to have entered the synagogue, murdered the worshippers, then was leaving when he encountered a uniformed police officer. The pair exchanged gunfire, Jones said, and Bowers reentered the building before a SWAT team arrived. After a shootout, he surrendered.

Bowers was taken to a hospital where he was listed in fair condition with multiple gunshot wounds. Victims taken to area hospitals included a 61-year-old woman, a 70-year-old man, and a 55-year-old officer. No children were killed, authorities said.

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Three police officers were shot and one was injured by shrapnel, authorities said. Two of the six people injured were in critical condition.

RAGING AGAINST 'INVADERS'

A social media post by Bowers on Saturday morning said a Jewish refugee organization, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, "likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I can't sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I'm going in."

The comment was posted on Gab, a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based social networking service created as an alternative to Twitter. In a statement, Gab.com confirmed the profile belonged to Bowers and also said it had suspended the account and contacted the FBI about it.

The mass shooting prompted security alerts at houses of worship around the country. It follows a spate of pipe bombs found mailed in recent days to prominent political figures, mostly Democrats including former President Barack Obama.

The Tree of Life synagogue in the city's Squirrel Hill neighborhood, a heavily Jewish area, was holding a Shabbat religious service at the time of the shooting.

Police are normally only present at the synagogue for security on high holidays, Michael Eisenberg, former president of the synagogue, told KDKA.

"On a day like today, the door is open, it's a religious service, you can walk in and out," he said.

Around the time, three congregations amounting to about 100 people would have been using the building, Eisenberg said.

Shortly after reports of the shooting emerged, Trump said in a tweet he was watching what he described as a "devastating" situation.

Trump told reporters later that the killings might have been prevented if there had been an armed guard in the building.

"If they had some kind of a protection inside the temple maybe it could have been a much more different situation, they didn't," he said when asked if there was any link to U.S. gun laws.

He also called the shooting a wicked act of pure evil, and called on Americans to rise above hate. He said he would visit Pittsburgh, but did not say when.

Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive officer of the Anti-Defamation League, said it was likely the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the history of the United States.

On April 13, 2014, a pair of shootings occurred at a Jewish Community Center and a Jewish retirement community, both located in Overland Park, Kansas. A total of three people were killed in the shootings.

In 2015, a white supremacist murdered nine African Americans during a prayer service in Charleston, South Carolina.

In 2012, a neo-Nazi gunman with white supremacist ties walked into a Sikh gurdwara - or house of worship - in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, and murdered six Sikh Americans.

(Additional reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis and Steve Gorman in Los Angeles, Jarrett Renshaw in New York and Mark Hosenball, David Brunnstrom and Timothy Gardner in Washington and Sybille de La Hamaide in Paris; Writing by Nick Zieminski; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Marguerita Choy)
Eleven people have been killed during a mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in what Donald Trump called a "wicked" antisemitic act of mass murder.

Another six people were injured, two of them critically  including four police officers having exchanged fire with the shooter. Among the injured were a 61-year-old woman, a 70-year-old man and a 55-year old police officer. A suspect  later named as Robert Bowers, who is in his 40s  was arrested at the scene and also taken to hospital with multiple gunshot wounds.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions later announced the Justice Department will file hate crimes charges against Mr Bowers, including charges that could lead to the death penalty".

There were a number of services underway at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburghs Squirrel Hill neighbourhood, including a baby-naming ceremony or bris, when the active shooter call was placed to police just before 10am.

Its a very horrific crime scene, Wendell Hissrich, Pittsburgh public safety director, said at the scene. One of the worst that Ive seen. Law enforcement officials said that the shooter was armed with an assault weapon, and three handguns  although it was not clear all were used. Dispatchers on police radio claimed that the shooter made a number of comments during a stand-off with police about wanting to kill Jews.

Federal officials said the shooter went into the synagogue and shot the congregation before being engaged by officers on his way out. Two were shot before the gunman returned into the building to hide from approaching Swat teams. Two Swat officers were injured in a later exchange of gunfire.

The FBI are now leading the federal hate crime investigation. Mr Bowers is said to have been acting alone, with the lead FBI investigator, Bob Jones, saying that officials believed he was unknown to law enforcement before the shooting.

Speaking at a Future Farmers of America convention in Indianapolis, Mr Trump called the shooting a wicked act of mass murder that is antisemitic and pure evil, hard to believe.The president added that antisemitism must be confronted anywhere and everywhere it appears".

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The FBI say they will now be looking into every facet of the suspects life as they seek to pin down a motive. From his home, to his vehicle, to his movements in recent days. However a focus will be his social media output, with accounts under the suspect's name appearing to show a number of antisemitic rants.

A social media post just before the time of the shooting under a profile with the name Robert Bowers said a Jewish refugee organisation, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I cant sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, Im going in".

Saturdays mass shooting comes just 10 days before a bitterly fought national midterm election that has divided the country and set Americans on edge, and in a week in which more than a dozen pipe bombs were mailed to critics of Mr Trump.

Mr Trump said on his way to Indianapolis, before a later rally in Illinois: Its a terrible, terrible thing whats going on with hate in our country and frankly all over the world, and something has to be done.

If you want to see how the day unfolded read our live coverage below.

Please allow a moment for the live blog to load
Berlin (AFP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel denounced the deadly shooting rampage at a synagogue in the US city of Pittsburgh on Saturday as "blind anti-Semitic hatred".

"We all have to stand up against anti-Semitism, everywhere," she said, in a brief statement posted on Twitter by a German government spokesman.

Eleven people were killed and six injured in the shooting, the city's public safety director Wendell Hissrich said, an attack the FBI is investigating as a federal hate crime.

Merkel, who faces a resurgence of antisemitism in her own country, said her thoughts were with the victims' families and expressed the hope that those injured would make a full recovery.

The anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party, which captured nearly 13 percent of the vote in last year's general election, has broken a taboo by repeatedly challenging Germany's "remembrance culture" and atonement for the Nazi era.
A gunman opened fire at the Tree of Life Congregation synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Saturday, causing multiple fatalities.

The suspected shooter has been taken into custody after surrendering to police officers at the building in the Squirrel Hill area of the city.

At least eight people were killed and several others were wounded, according to CBS-affiliate KDKA. A local law enforcement official told CNN at least 12 people were shot.

There are fatalities, said Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, but officials have not provided any other details.

Police responded to 911 calls about an active shooter near the synagogue on Wilkins Ave around 10am.

The Pittsburgh force received several calls from people trapped inside the building, where people had been attending a Shabbat prayer service.

According to KDKA reporter Andy Sheehan, police officers said the gunman walked into the building and shouted: All Jews must die.

Police officers were shot at by the suspect when the approached the building, forcing them to hide behind vehicles. Three officers were reportedly hit and wounded by the suspect.

Police respond to an active shooter situation at the Tree of Life synagogue (AP)

The area around the building was sealed off and Pittsburgh Public Safety Department told people to stay away.

Police also asked all residents in the Jewish neighbourhood to stay inside their homes during the standoff. Students at the nearby Carnegie Mellon University were sent texts telling them to stay indoors on the campus.

President Donald Trump tweeted about the incident, telling people in the Squirrel Hill area should remain sheltered.

Watching the events unfolding in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Law enforcement on the scene. People in Squirrel Hill area should remain sheltered. Looks like multiple fatalities. Beware of active shooter. God Bless All!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 27, 2018

The president later told reporters it appeared as if a wacko had carried out the shooting. He suggested armed guards should be in place at churches and other religious buildings, and the US needed stiffen up death penalty laws.

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Michael Eisenberg, former president of the Tree of Life Synagogue, said several dozen people would having been attending the Saturday prayer service.

The shooting in Pittsburgh this morning is an absolute tragedy, said Governor Tom Wolf in a statement.

These senseless acts of violence are not who we are as Americans. My thoughts right now are focused on the victims, their families and making sure law enforcement has every resource they need.
University of Utah police have released a timeline and additional details about the murder of student of Lauren McCluskey, who was killed on October 22nd by a man she dated for a month, Melvin Rowland, who took his own life before he could be apprehended. McCluskey broke off the relationship with Rowland on October 9th, after learning that he had lied to her about his name, age and the fact that he was a registered sex offender. On October 12th and 13th, McCluskey alerted university police that Rowland was harassing her, and while her complaints were documented and a detective was assigned to the case, new details make clear that the harassment continued, McCluskey regularly updated police, and yet few investigatory measures were taken prior to her tragic murder.

As Rolling Stone reported on Wednesday, McCluskey was on the phone with her mother and walking home to her campus apartment when Rowland abducted her, forced her into a car in a nearby parking lot and shot her to death; her body was discovered by police a few hours later, after her father called 911. According to new information released by university police, Rowland, 37, was picked up from another part of the school campus by a woman he met on an online dating site, who thought he had just come from the gym. While university police were conducting a manhunt on campus, Rowland and the unidentified woman went to dinner, visited the state Capitol and then returned to her apartment, where Rowland took a shower. By the time the woman dropped him off at a coffee shop, Rowland had been identified as a suspect and she called police after seeing news reports.

Salt Lake City police spotted Rowland in the downtown area and followed him into a local church, preparing to take him into custody, but he shot himself first, using the same gun used to kill McCluskey. Police have since learned that the gun belongs to Rowlands friend, who told police that Rowland asked to borrow it because he wanted to teach his girlfriend how to shoot. Neither the friend nor the woman are expected to face charges, as University of Utah Police Chief Dale Brony said both had been duped by Rowland.

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Rowland was a manipulator. If his lips were moving, he was lying, Brophy said. I dont think he told the truth to anybody based on our investigation.

That assessment has merit, as there is evidence that Rowland charmed not only McCluskey, but her friends as well; however, university police dont have firsthand knowledge of Rowlands manipulative tactics because they never contacted him, nor did they alert the Salt Lake City Police Department or the Department of Corrections, which would have considered the harassment accusations a violation of Rowlands parole. Initially, Chief Brony suggested that the investigation was stymied because university police didnt have Rowlands current address, but as DOC spokesperson Kaitlyn Feldsted told Rolling Stone earlier this week, that information was up to date in their records, and could have also been found through the publicly available sex offender registry. Rolling Stones efforts to reach university police for comment have not been answered.

New information released by university police about the timeline of their investigation, as well as the seriousness and unrelenting nature of Rowlands harassment, has raised further questions about whether McCluskeys murder could have been prevented. The victims mother, Jill McCluskey, contacted campus dispatch on October 10 and asked that campus security escort Lauren to pick up her car, which Rowland had borrowed. Dispatch contacted McCluskey, who declined the escort, as Rowland was bringing the car to her residence. However, she ended up requesting an escort when Rowland opted to leave the car in the schools stadium parking lot.

Two days later, McCluskey contacted campus police with her first complaint, saying she had been receiving suspicious text messages from people she thought might be Rowlands friends telling her that he was dead and it was her fault. According to Brony, McCluskey told the officer who took the report that she knew Rowland was alive, and she didnt feel like she was in danger, but that she believed Rowlands friends were trying to lure her out of her dorm.

The next day, on October 13th, McCluskey filed another complaint, telling university police that the text messages now included demands for money in exchange for not posting compromising photos of McCluskey and Rowland online. McCluskey heeded the threat by sending $1,000 to an account. McCluskey had informed police that Rowland was a registered sex offender and the agency ran his criminal history, Brony said, but did not learn he was on parole. While that may explain why police didnt contact the DOC, it also appears to contradict Bronys statement earlier in the week that Rowlands last known residence was a halfway house; halfway houses are temporary residences for either addicts in recovery and/or recently released prisoners who are transitioning back into society.

According to the Salt Lake City Tribune, Rowland was actually in touch with his parole agent on October 16th, but they were not aware of McCluskeys harassment complaints, which would have provided probable cause for an arrest warrant. Meanwhile, university police didnt start an official investigation into Rowlands extortion attempt until October 19th, after McCluskey received another suspicious text. Brony explained that the delay in investigating was due to the many cases his detectives are working at one time, and Rowland wasnt explicitly threatening physical violence.

On the day of the murder, McCluskey contacted police once again after receiving a suspicious text message from someone claiming to be the Deputy Chief, asking her to come down to the station. University police believe the text was sent by Rowland in an attempt to lure McCluskey out of her dorm, just as she had suspected was the goal of the previous messages. Later that afternoon, Brony said, Rowland spent hours waiting around a common area of McCluskeys dorm with some of her friends, and police have since recovered campus security video from several days prior, which shows Rowland seemingly looking for McCluskey on campus. Just after 8 p.m. on October 22nd, Rowland, who had spent the last nine days attempting to lure McCluskey to him, finally found her on campus, while she was alone. Shortly thereafter, she was dead.

According to CBS News, University of Utah president Ruth Watkins said outside investigations are being conducted to assess campus security and police protocols, but that so far, she found university police made no mistakes in how they handled McCluskeys case. Utah Governor Gary Herbert said the Utah DOC had approved independent investigations into the handling of Rowlands parole.

Clearly in hindsight, were going to say, You should have done this, you should have done that,' Herbert said during a televised news conference, adding, You never know when these things are going to occur.
President Donald Trump on Friday addressed the taking into custody of man in Florida in connection with the suspected mail bombs sent to high-profile figures and organizations.

These terrorizing acts are despicable and have no place in our country. No place, Trump said during a previously-scheduled event with a group of young black conservatives. We must never allow political violence to take root in America.

Trumps remarks came just hours after the President tweeted that this Bomb stuff was distracting from the upcoming midterms.

Republicans are doing so well in early voting, and at the polls, and now this Bomb stuff happens and the momentum greatly slows - news not talking politics. Very unfortunate, what is going on. Republicans, go out and vote!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 26, 2018

The person in Florida was taken into custody after investigators responded to two suspicious devices on Friday, one of which was addressed to Sen. Cory Booker and the other to former U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

Among the other high-profile intended recipients include former President Barack Obama, former Vice President Joe Biden, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former CIA Director John Brennan. The mailings to Brennan and Clapper were addressed to CNNs offices in New York. A total of 12 packages have been found so far.

Many of the people intended to receive the packages have either personally criticized Trump or have been criticized by him in the past.

Law enforcement agents were seen examining a white van with a blue tarp over it Friday morning. Images posted to social media depict a vehicle that appears to be covered in stickers celebrating the President.

Trump congratulated local and national law enforcement officials for apprehending a potential suspect, comparing the hunt to finding a needle in a haystack.

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He indicated the guilty party or parties would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Read President Trumps remarks regarding the investigation below:

TRUMP: Thank you. Thank you very much. Wow, what a group! What a group! Thank you very much. What a great honor to have you. Thank you. It is a great, great honor to have you in the White House. Thank you very much.

They call this, as you know, this is Young Black Leadership, and its the summit, and to have you here is truly my privilege, and were going to have a lot of fun. Were going to talk. Were going to meet. But

But before  before I do, Id like to begin

TRUMP: And you are leaders. Thats a  youre real leaders.

Id like to begin todays remarks by providing an update on the packages and devices that have been mailed to high-profile figures throughout our country, and a media organization. I am pleased to inform you that law enforcement has apprehended the suspect and taken him into custody.

Its an incredible job by law enforcement. Weve carried out a far-reaching federal, state and local investigation to find the person or persons responsible for these events. These terrorizing acts are despicable, and have no place in our country. No place.

Ive instructed authorities to spare no resource or expense in finding those responsible, and bringing them to swift and certain justice

 and we will prosecute them, him, her  whoever it may be to the fullest extent of the law.

We must never allow political violence to take root in America  cannot let it happen, and Im committed to doing everything in my power as president to stop it, and to stop it now, to stop it now.

I have just concluded a briefing with the Department of Justice following the apprehension of the suspect. I want to applaud the FBI, Secret Service, the Department of Justice, the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of New York, the NYPD and all law enforcement throughout the entire country. Incredible partners. These people have worked so hard, and to have done it so quickly. Its looking like a  youre looking  its a needle in a haystack. How do you do this so quickly? Theyve done an incredible, incredible job, and I want to congratulate them.

But a bottom line is that Americans must unify, and we must show the world that we are united together in peace and love and harmony as fellow American citizens. There is no country like our country, and every day, we are showing the world just how truly great we are.
A floating light. A ghost named Jack. An angry devil.

And a pumpkin?

Though jack-o-lanterns are now an American cultural icon of Halloween, their symbolism is quite recent  and the story of how they came to be is a complicated one.



The custom of carving a face into a pumpkin for Halloween is an American amalgamation of different European autumnal customs and an old piece of spooky folklore, explains Lesley Bannatyne, an author of five books on Halloween history, literature and culture.

Starting in the 1800s, Bannatyne says, countries in Northern Europe developed their own customs of carving faces into vegetables in the fall season. In Ireland and Scotland, for example, people would carve faces into turnips, and beets were used in other places as well. Though 19th century immigrants very well could have brought their vegetable-carving traditions to the U.S., Bannatyne says it was actually something else that really popularized the carving of a pumpkin: its potential as a prank.

Before Halloween was widely celebrated in the United States, kids started taking pumpkins  which were overwhelmingly plentiful during the months of September and October  and carving faces into them. After sticking a candle in the pumpkin to light it up, kids would run around, Bannatyne tells TIME, frightening people with the spooky-looking objects. The so-called carved pumpkin trick became so popular that there were even how-to articles printed in magazines as early as 1842.

Poet John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892) described the practice in his poem The Pumpkin: When wild, ugly faces we carved in its skin, / Glaring out through the dark with a candle within!

This growing popularity of the carved pumpkin trick happened to coincide with the countrys rising interest in Halloween itself, Bannatyne says. The end of the Civil War also brought an increased cultural interest in ghosts. So many men went missing in the Civil War, so you didnt know whether your loved one was alive or dead, Bannatyne says. Meanwhile, as the curiosity surrounding death grew, so too did the number of immigrants coming to the United States, which gave an extra appeal to the notion of a new American holiday that everyone could celebrate together.

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Holidays were one way we had, as a culture, to put everybody on the same page, Bannatyne explains.

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So, where did the name Jack come from? There are a few steps in this story, and the etymology of jack-o-lantern is almost unrelated to its modern meaning and tradition.

According to one prominent theory, the Jack in question is the subject of an old folktale. The story, which has several different iterations, can be traced back to as long ago as 1551, Bannatyne says, and is quite sinister indeed. Often called Stingy Jack, he spends much of his life tricking the devil. In many versions of the story, the frustrates the devil so much that upon his death, he is locked out from the gates of Hell. The devil leaves Jack with nothing other than a burning piece of coal, and Jack wanders aimlessly for the rest of eternity: just a ghost and his floating light.

Jack of the lantern, according to that version of the history, became Jack-o-Lantern.

Based on Jacks tale, there remains a bit of irony in his pumpkins symbolic ability for bringing people together. And the pumpkin itself was a rather sinister vegetable historically, Bannatyne writes. In fact, European art from the 16th century used the pumpkin as a symbol for North American untamed wilderness, as she explains.

But still, the story of Jack and his lantern has nothing to do with a pumpkin.

It was only after 19th century Americans saw the connection between the legend and the spookily lit-up carved pumpkins they were creating that the two came to be seen as connected. By the early 20th century, carved pumpkins had adopted the name we now use.

Like all good legends, the tale of Stingy Jack was born from some truth, as a medieval explanation for the flame-like phosphorescence caused by gases from decaying plants in marshy areas, as Merriam-Websters dictionary puts it. Despite scientific explanations for these flashes, marsh lights held their sinister air of mystery for hundreds of years, inspiring even more stories of how they were related to the dead, Bannatyne says.

Its no surprise then that each aspect of the journey to the jack-o-lantern as we know it  the legend of Stingy Jack, marsh lights and the carved pumpkin trick  carries a certain air of mystery. After all, the carved pumpkin has evolved into the modern icon of the one holiday dedicated to fright.
A Los Angeles judge ruled Thursday that millionaire real estate heir Robert Durst, the eccentric subject of the HBO documentary series The Jinx, must stand trial for the murder of his longtime friend Susan Berman in 2000.

Durst, now 75 years old, was arrested in 2015 and has pleaded innocent to the charge of murdering Berman with a gun and killing a witness. He will have an opportunity to re-enter his plea on Nov. 8, Reuters reports.

Judge Mark Windham ordered Durst to be held without bail until his arraignment. The judge said Durst had incriminated himself in statements, such as remarks he made during production of The Jinx.

Prosecutors say Durst killed Berman because she could implicate him in the death of his wife, who disappeared in New York City in 1982.

But Dursts attorneys say without fingerprints or DNA evidence connecting him to Bermans death, there is insufficient evidence to call for a trial.

If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Friday it had detained six members of an Islamic State cell plotting attacks in Moscow, Russian news agencies reported, citing an official statement. The FSB said the group planned to use guns and improvised explosive devices for their attacks and was guided by Islamic State members in Syria. (Reporting by Maria Kiselyova; Writing by Maria Tsvetkova; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
(Corrects reference to Bahrain foreign minister to Sheikh Khalid from Sheikh Khalifa in penultimate paragraph)

* Saudi minister says Iran provides "vision of darkness"

* Mattis says Khashoggi killing undermines regional security

* Bloc says security alliance to be activated in 2019

By Katie Paul and Idrees Ali

MANAMA, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia and key ally Bahrain said on Saturday that Gulf states are playing a critical role in maintaining stability in the Middle East by combating Iran's "vision of darkness", as Riyadh faces its worst political crisis in decades.

Saudi Arabia is the lynchpin of a U.S.-backed regional bloc against growing Iranian influence in the Middle East but the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at its consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2. has prompted a global outcry and strained Riyadh's ties with the West.

"We are now dealing with two visions in the Middle East. One is a (Saudi) vision of light ... One is a (Iranian) vision of darkness which seeks to spread sectarianism throughout the region," Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told a security summit in Bahrain.

"History tells us that light always wins out against the dark ... The question is how do we defeat them."

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Saturday that the killing of Khashoggi, a prominent critic of Saudi policy, undermined regional stability and that Washington would take additional measures against those responsible after announcing visa bans on 21 suspects in the case.

"Failure of any one nation to adhere to international norms and the rule of law undermines regional stability at a time when it is needed most," Mattis told a separate session of the annual Manama Dialogue security conference.

The long-planned event has been the focus of greater scrutiny this year after the killing of Khashoggi, with Jubeir questioned about how the case would affect Saudi Arabia's credibility on foreign policy and security matters.

He reiterated that Riyadh would bring to justice those responsible for Khashoggi's death, saying they would be prosecuted in the kingdom, a day after Turkey demanded the extradition of 18 Saudis suspected of involvement in his murder.

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Jubeir said ties between Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, and the United States are "ironclad" and praised what he described as the "rational, realistic" foreign policy of the current U.S. administration.

President Donald Trump has said he wants to get to the bottom of the Khashoggi case, while also highlighting Riyadh's role as an ally against Iran and Islamist militants, as well as a major purchaser of U.S. arms.

Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Muslim Iran, which was not represented in the Manama conference agenda, have long been locked in a proxy war, competing for regional supremacy from Iraq to Syria and Lebanon to Yemen.

Trump, who in May withdraw the United States from a 2015 international nuclear accord with Tehran, has strongly backed Saudi Arabia in its efforts to counter Iran's influence. The next wave of U.S. sanctions against Iran are due to come into effect on Nov 4.

Iran, for its part, accuses Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates of funding gunmen who attacked a military parade in Iran last month, killing 25 people, 12 of them members of the elite Revolutionary Guards. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have denied any involvement.

The Guards accused them of creating "plots and tensions".

SECURITY ALLIANCE

Bahrain's foreign minister, Shiekh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, told the conference the Gulf bloc would remain a "pillar" of regional security and that a proposed security alliance grouping the United States, Gulf states, Jordan and Egypt would be activated next year.

The Middle East Strategic Alliance (MESA) is meant to serve as a bulwark against Iran and extremism, Washington says. But there has been uncertainty about how it can get off the ground given a protracted dispute between Qatar and four Arab states led by Saudi Arabia who launched a boycott of Doha in 2017.

Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut off travel and trade ties with Qatar in June 2017, accusing it of backing their archrival, Iran, and supporting terrorism. Qatar denies the charges and says the boycott impinges on its sovereignty.

Mattis said that it was important to end the 16-month-old Arab dispute with Qatar that analysts say has weakened regional coordination against Iran.

Jubeir said recent discussions in Saudi Arabia about a framework for MESA included Qatari officials and that the proposed alliance would not be affected by the diplomatic row.

"It (MESA) is an alliance for security and prosperity for the region and will be open to those who accept its principles," Sheikh Khalid said, adding that the alliance would also cooperate on economic issues.

Gulf Arab foreign ministers also touched on Middle East peace initiatives, with Sheikh Khalid lauding efforts by Oman, which hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday in a rare visit.

Oman's foreign minister, Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, told the forum that Muscat was offering ideas to help Israel and the Palestinians to come together but was not acting as mediator. (Writing by Hadeel Al Sayegh and Ghaida Ghantous; Editing by Alison Williams)
Federal prosecutors filed 29 charges on Saturday evening against the man suspected of fatally shooting at least 11 people at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The suspect, 46-year-old Robert Bowers, allegedly opened fire Saturday morning at the Tree of Life Or LSimcha Congregation.

Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich told reporters late Saturday afternoon that no children died in the shooting. Six people were reportedly injured, four of them police officers.

A news conference to discuss the charges is scheduled for Sunday morning, The Associated Press reported.

Bob Jones, FBI special agent in charge of the Pittsburgh field office, said he believed the suspect was wielding an assault rifle and also had at least three handguns with him.

This is the most horrific crime scene Ive seen with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, he said.

Hissrich made similar comments at an earlier press conference that day.

Its a very horrific crime scene, Hissrich said at an earlier press conference. Its one of the worst that Ive seen, and Ive seen some plane crashes. Its very bad.

Law enforcement responded to reports of an active shooter at the synagogue, which was crowded for Saturday services in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood, shortly before 10 a.m. Police sources told KDKA that a gunman walked into the synagogue and yelled, All Jews must die, before opening fire.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement that the Department of Justice plans to charge the suspect with hate crimes, along with other criminal charges.

The Tree of Life Or L'Simcha Congregation in Pittsburgh. (Photo: Yahoo News Photo Staff)

Congregation member Zachary Weiss, 26, told HuffPost that his father, Stephen Weiss, had been filling in on Saturday for a sick rabbi.

Anytime a congregant passes away you lose a friend, said Weiss, noting that his father was unharmed. The city is coming together and right now that is all we can do.

Multiple victims were being treated by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, spokeswoman Amy Charley said in a statement on Saturday afternoon.

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At this time, UPMC Presbyterian is treating four patients from the Tree of Life synagogue shooting, she said. Three victims are in surgery and one other is stable, awaiting surgery. Another patient at UPMC Presbyterian was treated and released. UPMC Mercy is treating a patient who is currently in surgery.

Police and medical personnel gather on the side of Tree of Life synagogue on Saturday, Oct. 27, 2018, in Pittsburgh (Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Jeff Finkelstein of the Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh told WHNT that he estimated between 60 and 100 people were inside the building when the shooting occurred. The synagogue had a Torah study and Shabbat services scheduled for Saturday, and a bris  a Jewish ceremony in which an infant boy is circumcised  was reportedly also taking place.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf issued a statement calling for action to prevent future mass shootings.

We must all pray and hope for no more loss of life. But we have been saying this one is too many for far too long. Dangerous weapons are putting our citizens in harms way, Wolf said.

And in the aftermath of this tragedy, we must come together and take action to prevent these tragedies in the future. We cannot accept this violence as normal.

From left, Kate Rothstein looks on as Tammy Hepps hugs Simone Rothstein, 16, on the intersection of Shady Avenue and Northumberland Street after multiple people were shot at the Tree of Life Congregation synagogue. (Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS)

The Tree of Life Congregation, founded more than 150 years ago, merged with Or LSimcha in 2010 to form Tree of Life Or LSimcha, according to its website. The synagogue describes itself as a Conservative Jewish congregation  Conservative referring to a denomination of Judaism unrelated to political leanings. The site states that the synagogue is true to traditional teachings while being progressive and relevant to the way we live today.

Rabbi Emeritus Alvin Berkun, who was not in the building at the time, told ABC News that the Squirrel Hill neighborhood hosts a number of other synagogues, along with Jewish gift shops and bookstores and kosher bakeries.

Absolutely no crime, its an amazing neighborhood, its hard to believe its a city neighborhood, he said.

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NEW: Rabbi Emeritus Alvin Berkun says there is "absolutely no crime" in the neighborhood where a shooting took place at his synagogue: "It's an amazing neighborhood. It's hard to believe it's a city neighborhood." https://t.co/TJJ3BEA0kS pic.twitter.com/AP1dgQVOCW  ABC News (@ABC) October 27, 2018

The shooting took place on International Religious Freedom Day, the day that commemorates former President Bill Clinton signing the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act, which aimed to promote religious freedom through U.S. foreign policy.

Both New York City and Los Angeles confirmed that they were increasing security measures as a precaution in response to the Pittsburgh incident.

The New York Police Department told HuffPost it would be deploying heavy weapons teams at houses of worship across the city as a precaution in response to the Pittsburgh incident. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti tweeted that the LAPD would also be stepping up security.

HuffPost reporter Saba Hamedy contributed to this report.

This story has been updated.

Related...

A Week Of American Hate: Bombs Mailed, Black People Executed, Jews Slaughtered

On Day Of Mass Shooting, Trump Jokes He Nearly Canceled Speech Due To 'Bad Hair Day'

Twitter Melts Down After Trump Says Synagogue Needed An Armed Guard

Also on HuffPost

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
MADRID/CARACAS (Reuters) - Spain's High Court agreed on Friday to extradite a Venezuelan woman who was part of the late socialist leader Hugo Chavez's inner circle to her home country, where she is suspected of money laundering and illicit enrichment. According to Venezuelan media, Claudia Diaz was Chavez's nurse when he was being treated for cancer, which ultimately led to his death in 2013, while her husband served as one of his aides de camp. From 2011 until 2013, Diaz also served as an executive of government fund Fonden - an obscure state-run investment fund which received more than $100 billion in state revenue but produced little if any documentation as to how the funds were spent. The court said in a statement that Diaz is suspected of using the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca to create companies through which she acquired illicit assets in Venezuela and abroad, in a case linked to the "Panama Papers." Both Diaz and her husband's names surfaced in the Panama Papers - millions of documents from Mossack Fonseca that were published by the media in April 2016 and which show how the rich and powerful used offshore corporations to evade taxes. When Diaz was detained in Spain in April, Venezuela's Chief Prosecutor Tarek Saab wrote on Twitter that his office had requested her arrest due to her appearance in the Panama Papers. In a written statement, Saab's office said it opened an investigation into Diaz and her husband in April 2016 and that the two were wanted for money laundering and embezzlement. Investigators raided their properties and determined their wealth was greater "than they could have acquired from their occupations as public officials," according to Saab's office. According to the High Court statement, Diaz claims the case is politically motivated due to her opposition to Venezuela's current government. The court dismissed this explanation, saying there was no indication the case was motivated by her political ideas. The court's decision, which may be appealed, must now be ratified by the Spanish government. It is not clear whether Fonden funds were implicated in the alleged money laundering. A 2012 Reuters investigation found that Fonden plowed hundreds of millions of dollars into state-run factories that were never completed and have never produced anything. [https://reut.rs/2SjxAkR] Human rights groups and Venezuela's opposition accuse President Nicolas Maduro of holding hundreds of critics of his administration in harsh conditions to stifle dissent. Maduro's government denies it holds political prisoners. (Reporting by Paul Day; Additional reporting by Brian Ellsworth and Luc Cohen in Caracas; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Bill Trott)
Colombo (AFP) - Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena suspended parliament Saturday to forestall a challenge against his surprise ouster of the prime minister, deepening a sudden swell of political turmoil in the island nation.

Police cancelled all leave as tensions heightened in Colombo a day after the president dismissed Ranil Wickremesinghe and replaced him with controversial former strongman leader Mahinda Rajapakse.

Parliamentary officials said the president had suspended parliament until November 16. Wickremesinghe had earlier demanded an emergency session to prove he still commanded a majority.

Wickremesinghe continued to occupy Temple Trees, the official residence of the prime minister, and insisted in a letter to Sirisena that he was still in office.

"Get this controversy out of the way," Wickremesinghe told reporters in a press conference at the residence. "Reconvene parliament immediately so that I can prove my majority."

Parliamentary sources said Speaker Karu Jayasuriya would now have to decide if he recognised Rajapakse or Wickremesinghe as the prime minister.

The falling out between the two former allies has come to a rapid head since Sirisena earlier this year backed a no-confidence motion against the man he had handpicked to lead the government.

Sirisena initially said he would be a one-term president but later indicated he will seek re-election next year, pitting himself against Wickremesinghe who also has presidential ambitions.

China's ambassador to Colombo, Cheng Xueyuan, met separately with Rajapakse and Wickremesinghe on Saturday, officials said.

Details of those talks were not immediately available.

Regional power India was also "closely watching" developments in Colombo, official sources in New Delhi told AFP.

Rajapakse is seen as being closer to China than Wickremesinghe, who had sought to re-establish stronger ties with traditional ally India.

Separately, Colombo-based Western diplomats meet with Wickremesinghe at Temple Trees residence for a briefing about the sacking.

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Before the meet, the United States urged all sides to abide by Sri Lanka's constitution and refrain from violence. European ambassadors in Colombo issued a similar message on Saturday.

- Standoff -

Overnight, Rajapakse loyalists stormed two state-owned television networks -- which they regard as loyal to Wickremesinghe's outgoing government -- and forced them off the air. They resumed broadcasting Saturday and were supporting Rajapakse.

There were reports of sporadic attacks against supporters of Wickremesinghe's United National Party in several parts of the country after Rajapakse was sworn in late Friday.

The streets of the capital remained calm Saturday but security was tightened around Rajapakse's residence and the state television station.

Sirisena had withdrawn Wickremesinghe's security detail and vehicles, said finance minister Mangala Samaraweera.

Wickremesinghe, 69, who trained as a lawyer and regarded a champion of free market reforms, insisted that he can be removed only by parliament.

His party has the largest number of seats, but the president's United People's Freedom Alliance walked out of the governing coalition shortly before Wickremesinghe was sacked.

This is the second time that a president has ousted Wickremesinghe from office. In 2004, the then president sacked him and called snap elections.

After winning the premiership a third time in August 2015, Wickremesinghe amended the constitution to remove the head of state's power to sack prime ministers to prevent a repeat of his earlier ouster.

However, Sirisena proceeded on Friday despite the insistence of many political observers that he lacked the power to remove the premier.

Political commentator Victor Ivan said Sirisena's action was a blatant violation of the constitution. "This is a capture of power through a conspiracy," Ivan said.

However, Rajapakse loyalist and former foreign minister G. L. Peiris said they believed there was nothing illegal about sacking Wickremesinghe and challenged him to prove his majority on November 16.

- Talks on cabinet -

Since his rushed swearing in, Rajapakse has yet to announce any official moves although several of his supporters said they expect a new cabinet to be formed on Sunday and talks were underway.

Rajapakse, 72, is a controversial figure at home and abroad but has pushed for a return to frontline politics since he lost the presidential election to Sirisena in 2015.

His decade in power saw Colombo crush a decades-long Tamil Tiger uprising.

Rights groups say tens of thousands of Tamil civilians were killed in the final stages of the campaign, but Rajapakse has refused to acknowledge any abuses in the civil war.

He also leaned heavily on China for political support and took loans to build infrastructure which the new government described as white elephants. His reliance on Beijing angered India, who Rajapakse blamed for his defeat in the last presidential polls.

After Sirisena became president, Sri Lanka has moved to reconcile with India, the United States and other Western powers.

It promised the UN it would investigate allegations of rights abuses during the civil war but has been criticised for a lack of progress in the years since.
By Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez COLOMBO (Reuters) - A constitutional crisis in Sri Lanka deepened on Saturday as President Maithripala Sirisena temporarily suspended parliament a day after sacking the prime minister and replacing him with a former leader seen as being close to China. Sirisena fired Ranil Wickremesinghe and swore in former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as his replacement late on Friday in a move cheered by Rajapaksa supporters but described as a coup by opponents. The president's order to suspend parliament until Nov. 16 was widely seen as an attempt to stop Wickremesinghe from trying to prove he maintains a parliamentary majority even after Sirisena pulled his party out of the ruling coalition. Wickremesinghe says he is still prime minister, and shortly before the suspension was announced he had urged the speaker to convene a session to show that he had a majority. "I have the majority in the parliament, convene the parliament to resolve this," Wickremesinghe told a news conference in Colombo on Saturday, flanked by all his coalition partners except Sirisena's party. Cheng Xueyuan, China's envoy to Sri Lanka, sent Rajapaksa a customary congratulatory message but also paid a courtesy call on Wickremesinghe and said China would not interfere in the political crisis, sources close to the embassy told Reuters. Sirisena ordered the police chief to withdraw the security detail provided to Wickremesinghe as prime minister. The president also appointed an acting head for the government's information department, which in a statement said that the cabinet had been dissolved with the appointment of a new prime minister. An opposition legislator told local media that Sirisena will address the nation on Sunday and appoint a new cabinet on Monday. At least one lawmaker from Wickremesinghe's party said he would now back Rajapaksa and told reporters at least another 20 legislators also planned to change sides. Under the constitution, the president can appoint a new prime minister if the current premier loses control of parliament. An opposition leader and Rajapaksa ally G.L. Peiris said, however, that parliament's suspension was aimed at facilitating the establishment of a new government. "The parliament has to allocate new seats ... we can't arrange all these in one or two days. We need time," he said. An opposition legislator told local media that Sirisena would address the nation on Sunday and appoint a new cabinet on Monday. The shutdown means the country's national budget will not be released as scheduled on Nov. 5 and Peiris said the new administration would work with a temporary budget for now. CELEBRATIONS, PROTEST Firecrackers were set off in celebration in Colombo late on Friday as Sirisena administered the oath of office to Rajapaksa, while Wickremesinghe was off touring the country's south. Under Sri Lanka's constitution, the president has executive powers while the prime minister heads parliament. Hundreds of angry Wickremesinghe supporters turned to his official residence to express their solidarity to their leader, a four-time prime minister. "Sirisena is a traitor. He let our leader down despite us bringing him to power," one of the supporters told Reuters. Media and Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera called Wickremesinghe's ouster "an anti-democratic coup". Wickremesinghe's party has called on its supporters to hold a protest in the capital Colombo on Monday. The crisis comes against a backdrop of weakening economic growth and follows months of infighting in the ruling coalition, and analysts say the heightened uncertainty could roil markets. Relations between Wickremesinghe's United National Party (UNP) and Sirisena's United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) became strained after Sirisena criticised Wickremesinghe for not adequately investigating an assassination plot targeting the president. The UPFA had threatened to quit the ruling coalition. Sirisena accused Indian intelligence services of involvement in the plot, a claim denied by New Delhi and Colombo. India, which has long seen Sri Lanka, located just off its southern tip, as part of its area of influence, has not yet commented about the crisis. The Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request seeking comment on Rajapaksa's appointment. India has been concerned about Rajapaksa's ties to China. As president, he ushered in billions of dollars of investment from Beijing to help rebuild the country following the end of a 26-year-long civil war against Tamil separatists in 2009. That investment has since put the island nation deep in debt and forced it to hand over control of a strategic southern port to China, drawing criticism from India and the United States. (Reporting by Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez in COLOMBO; Writing by Zeba Siddiqui; Editing by Michael Perry and Helen Popper)
Bratislava (AFP) - Halting arms sales to Saudi Arabia because of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi would be "pure demagoguery", French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday.

The sale of weapons "has nothing to do with Mr Khashoggi. One shouldn't mix everything up," he said at a press conference during a visit to Bratislava.

If sanctions are called for, "this should be a European response, across the board," but only "once all the facts are known", he said.

Earlier this week, French government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux also suggested France might take "punitive measures", but only if Saudi Arabia was "proven" to be behind the murder at its consulate in Istanbul of Khashoggi, a harsh critic of the Saudi government.

Riyadh was the second-biggest purchaser of French weapons between 2008 and 2017, after India, with deals amounting to some 12 billion euros ($13.8 billion).

On Sunday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Berlin would suspend arms exports to Saudi Arabia following Khashoggi's murder.

"I agree with all those who say when it comes to our already limited arms exports (to Saudi Arabia) that they cannot take place in the current situation," she said.

Germany's Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said later that European nations should take a joint stance on whether to halt arms exports.

Altmaier, a close Merkel confidant, underlined that "there won't be any positive effects if only we halt exports and then other countries fill the gap".

"Only when all European nations are in agreement will this make an impression on Riyadh," he said on public television.
Kafr Dariyan (Syria) (AFP) - The first winter storm has belted down on hundreds of displaced Syrians huddled in flimsy tents in a muddy field in the country's last major rebel stronghold of Idlib.

After the skies clear on Friday, Umm Mohammed steps outside her family's tent to better prepare it for the cold months ahead.

She is one of 300 people living in Kafr Dariyan camp in the northwestern Idlib region, after Syria's seven-year war forced them to flee their homes.

Strong gusts of wind send ripples across the sides of her makeshift family home, a mismatching patchwork of blankets sewn together and thrown over a metal frame.

Her tanned face etched with age lines, Umm Mohammed shovels mud into a white rice sack to weigh down the sides of her tent.

Dressed in a long brown robe and dark blue headscarf, she hammers down a massive wooden peg to anchor her billowing home with rope.

Inside, she threads a large needle with coarse string to fix any holes in the tent after the storm overnight.

"The start of winter has come and we're stuck in tents with just blankets over our heads," Umm Mohammed says, two young girls and a boy perched by her side.

"They're all going to fly off, so we're here fixing them so they don't."

Outside, rainwater has pooled in a large brown puddle just several metres beyond where her family sleeps.

Small children in jackets squelch in the mud -- the luckiest in rubber boots, some in plastic sandals or even barefoot.

Sheep wander across the wet earth in between the rows of tents.

Under a clear blue sky, another elderly woman fills up sacks with earth and flings them onto the edges of her tent.

Half of the three million people living in the Idlib region have been displaced from their homes by fighting in other parts of the country.

Since 2011, Syria's war has killed more than 360,00 people and caused more than half the country's population to flee their homes.

For now, Kafr Dariyan and the wider Idlib region have been protected from a regime assault by a buffer zone deal agreed by regime ally Russia and rebel backer Turkey.

But Damascus has said the deal is temporary, and said the region will eventually revert to state control.
By Alexandria Sage and Arjun Panchadar

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Tesla Inc has not received a U.S. subpoena related to its Model 3 production forecasts, the electric carmaker said on Friday, following a report that it faced a deepening criminal probe about the projections.

The company has cooperated in responding to what it called a "voluntary request" for documents from the Department of Justice in September, a Tesla spokesperson said. The agency has the ability to press criminal charges.

"We have not received a subpoena, a request for testimony, or any other formal process, and there have been no additional document requests about this from the Department of Justice for months," the spokesperson said in an email.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is examining whether Tesla misstated information about the production of its Model 3 sedans and misled investors about its business going back to early 2017, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources.

In recent weeks, FBI agents have contacted former Tesla employees to seek testimony in the criminal case, according to the report. The ex-employees received subpoenas earlier in the probe, and FBI agents recently have sought to interview a number of them, the sources said.

Any focus on Tesla's past statements about Model 3 production targets would broaden the probe by the agency, which Tesla said last month was looking at statements made by Chief Executive Elon Musk about a go-private deal that was later called off.

Tesla first disclosed in September that the DoJ was investigating Musk's tweets about having "funding secured" for a deal to take Tesla private, saying the agency had asked for documents about such statements.

Any expansion of the FBI's probe comes as Musk faces pressure to deliver consistent production of the Model 3 at a profit. The company on Wednesday posted a profit and positive cash flow, making good on pledges made by Musk earlier this year, as the company ramps up volume of its new sedan.

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MODEL 3 CHALLENGES

Tesla and Musk already face a proposed class action shareholder lawsuit claiming that the company and its top executives made false statements about the readiness of the Model 3 for volume production.

The car, which the money-losing company is banking on to turn a profit, was introduced to the public in early 2016 to great fanfare, with repeated promises throughout 2017 that Tesla was "on track" to build 5,000 Model 3s per week by the end of that year at its factory in Fremont, California.

Such statements were fraudulent, according to the lawsuit, given that the automated assembly lines to build the car in such volume were behind schedule.

Tesla has denied the claims in the lawsuit, saying it disclosed production bottlenecks once they were identified, and citing Musk's public statements that the company was undergoing a period of "production hell" in 2017.

Tesla only reached a goal to build 5,000 Model 3s per week in June, although current production has fallen short of that.

Musk and Tesla only recently settled with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over Musk's Aug. 7 tweets. The SEC sued him for fraud, calling his claims "false and misleading," before reaching a settlement.

Both Tesla and Musk must pay a $20 million fine, and Musk must give up his chairman role for three years as the company appoints an independent chair.

Shares of Tesla rose 4.5 to $329, extending their rally following bullish results on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Arjun Panchadar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta, Sai Sachin Ravikumar and Richard Chang)
LEICESTER, England (AP)  A helicopter belonging to Leicester City's owner crashed in flames in a carpark next to the soccer club's stadium shortly after it took off from the field following a Premier League game on Saturday. The central England team said it was assisting authorities with "a major incident" at the stadium but there were no details about who was on board or their condition. The Air Accident Investigation Branch is working alongside the emergency services and the club to "establish the exact circumstances of the collision," Leicestershire Police said in a statement. Billionaire Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, who owns Thai duty-free retail giant King Power, bought Leicester in 2010 and provided the funds that helped the team improbably win the Premier League at odds of 5,000-1 in 2016.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP)  Sri Lanka's president suspended Parliament even as the prime minister he fired the previous day claimed he has majority support, adding to a growing political crisis in the South Asian island nation. Chaminda Gamage, a spokesman for the parliamentary speaker, confirmed that President Maithripala Sirisena had suspended Parliament until Nov. 16. He made the move while ousted Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was holding a news conference Saturday in which he asserted that he could prove his majority support in the chamber. Sirisena sacked Wickremesinghe and his Cabinet on Friday and replaced him with former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa, creating what some observers said could be a constitutional crisis.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP)  The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are due to arrive in New Zealand on Sunday afternoon for the final stop of their 16-day tour of the South Pacific. Prince Harry and wife Meghan are scheduled to spend four days in New Zealand, where they will meet with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, go for a trail walk in a national park, meet young people training to be part of Wellington's film industry, and visit a hatchery for New Zealand's national bird, the kiwi. The couple are due to arrive on the same plane as a number of competitors returning from Sydney's Invictus Games, which Harry founded in 2014.

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BEIJING (AP)  The first attempt by a private Chinese company to send a rocket into space has failed. Beijing-based Landscape said late Saturday that the first and second stage of its ZQ-1 rocket worked normally but something went wrong with the final of the three-stage rocket. It was the first three-stage rocket built by a private company in China. Video posted by a Chinese news site shows the 19-meter- (62-foot-) tall red-and-white rocket lifting off Saturday against clear blue skies. Landscape said that "cowling separation was normal but something abnormal happened after the second stage." The statement posted on its social media account did not elaborate.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP)  Tens of thousands of people gathered in Taiwan's capital on Saturday for the city's annual gay pride parade ahead of referendums next month that will determine whether same-sex marriages will be recognized on the island. In a first for Asia, Taiwan's Constitutional Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage in May 2017, punctuating a yearslong campaign by advocates for gay rights in one of the continent's most liberal democracies. Authorities were given two years to either enact or amend relevant laws, failing which same-sex couples could have their marriages recognized by submitting a written document. But little progress has been made toward implementing the court's ruling.

Some airport and shipping access has returned to a U.S. Pacific territory ravaged by a super typhoon, but tens of thousands of residents still without power and sifting through rubble face a long road to recovery. Saipan International Airport reopened with limited service Sunday after Super Typhoon Yutu slammed the Northern Mariana Islands this week as a Category 5 storm. A statement posted on the Facebook page of Northern Marianas Gov. Ralph Torres said the airport will be open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. but will receive only six international flights per day. Inbound flights are restricted to residents and humanitarian aid, the statement said.

Saipan International Airport has been reopened with limited service after the Northern Mariana Islands were hit by Super Typhoon Yutu. A statement posted on the Facebook page of Northern Mariana Islands Gov. Ralph Torres says the airport is open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and is limited to receiving six international flights per day starting Sunday. Inbound flights are restricted to residents and humanitarian aid. The airport sustained significant damage to buildings and several small, crumpled planes were scattered around the tarmac after the storm. Officials say the airport is still mostly without power, and the Transportation Security Administration has only one working scanning machine.

NEW DELHI (AP)  Protesters on Saturday set fire to a Hindu religious center in southern India for supporting a Supreme Court decision allowing women of menstruating age at one of the world's largest Hindu pilgrimage sites. Swami Sandeepananda Giri, who runs the center in Kerala state, said some vehicles were also burned by the attackers. Television stations showed video of the center burning, but it wasn't immediately clear how much damage was done. Giri blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu Nationalist party for the attack. The party demands that the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led state government appeal the court's decision.

NEW DELHI (AP)  Seven elephants in search of food were electrocuted after coming in contact with loosely hanging electric wires in eastern India on Saturday, a forest guard said. Wildlife warden Jitendranath Dass said the elephants were part of a herd of about 15 that came near Kamalanga, a village in Dhenkanal district of Orissa state. The carcasses were spotted by villagers who informed the forest guards, according to the Press Trust of India news agency. Roaming elephants in the region are struck by trains fairly regularly. With increasing numbers of humans settling down in forest areas, the elephants often stray into villages and towns.

BEIJING (AP)  The death toll in an eastern China coal mine collapse has risen to 11, with 10 miners still trapped underground, state media reported. One week after the disaster, rescue crews were clearing fallen rock from the shaft, with the remaining miners believed to be located 74 meters (242 feet) below the surface, the official Xinhua News Agency said late Friday. It said that rescuers were making progress but gave no indication of when they expected to break through. More than 300 people were inside the mine at the time of the collapse. China long had the world's deadliest coal mines but safety has improved considerably with more modern equipment, better training and the closure of most of the smallest, most dangerous mines.
London (AFP) - British fashion tycoon Philip Green has denied "unlawful sexual or racist behaviour" after a lawmaker named him Thursday as having used an injunction to suppress the publication of harassment allegations by five employees.

Peter Hain, a House of Lords peer, claimed Green -- whose international clothing empire includes the popular Topshop and Topman brands -- was behind a court-issued injunction on Tuesday preventing sexual harassment and racial abuse accusations against the businessman being printed.

The order had led media outlets to cry foul about being "gagged" by rich and powerful tycoons, and prompted Prime Minister Theresa May to accuse unnamed employers of abusing non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).

In a statement late Thursday Green said he would not comment "on anything that has happened in court or was said in Parliament today".

But he added: "To the extent that it is suggested that I have been guilty of unlawful sexual or racist behaviour, I categorically and wholly deny these allegations."

The billionaire said Arcadia Group, the holding company he controls, takes employee accusations "very seriously" and thoroughly investigates them.

"In some cases these are settled with the agreement of all parties and their legal advisers.

"These settlements are confidential so I cannot comment further on them," he added.

- 'Parliamentary privilege' -

The allegations emerged earlier this week after The Daily Telegraph gave its entire front page Wednesday to a story headlined: "The British #MeToo scandal which cannot be revealed."

The newspaper said the second-most senior judge in England had issued a temporary injunction the previous day stopping the publication of the accusations against a leading British businessman.

Amid widespread criticism over the court order, several members of parliament threatened to reveal the boss's name, and on Thursday afternoon Hain told the House of Lords he would use his "parliamentary privilege" to make the disclosure.

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"I feel it is my duty under parliamentary privilege to name Philip Green as the individual in question given that the media have been subject to an injunction preventing publication of full details of a story which is clearly in the public interest," he said.

Hain said he learned the name after being "contacted by someone intimately involved in the case".

The Daily Telegraph said the accused man had hired seven lawyers and spent nearly 500,000 ($645,000, 565,000 euros) in legal fees to settle the complaints using NDAs.

It followed up the story with another one on Thursday in which a woman identified only as a "well-known socialite" said she believed the same businessman slid a hand up her skirt at a function a decade ago.

NDAs are signed by companies and their executives to prevent business secrets from leaking out.

Their use -- by high-profile figures including Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and lawyers for US President Donald Trump -- has been a source of debate since the #MeToo movement first gained momentum last year.

May stressed in parliament Wednesday that NDAs "cannot stop people from whistleblowing".

- 'Highly damaging' -

Billionaire Green's reputation was already damaged by a 2016 scandal in which the collapse of his BHS retail chain left a 571-million deficit in its pension fund.

Following Thursday's revelations Vince Cable, leader of the opposition Liberal Democrats, called for him to lose his knighthood if the allegations are true.

Analysts noted although the claims are unproven, they could be "highly damaging for both him and the various retail businesses he owns", predicting there could be calls to boycott his stores.

Neil Saunders, managing director at GlobalData Retail, said: "Unlike the pension scandal, which was complex and nuanced and readily overlooked by many consumers, this is a very personal and emotional situation.

"The sexual abuse of women is not something people forgive or forget, and it will weigh on people's minds when they decide where to shop."
By Sarwar Amani and Ismail Sameem KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan held parliamentary elections in the southern province of Kandahar on Saturday, a week late because of the assassination of the provincial police chief by Taliban insurgents. Police said voting in the province had taken place without major security incidents. Thirty-two of Afghanistan's 34 provinces voted over two days on Oct. 20-21. No voting has been held in one other province, Ghazni, still reeling from having been taken over by the Taliban in August. The election, held up for years amid disputes between political factions over voting rules, is one of the biggest tests of Afghanistan's ability to protect itself since an international security force mostly withdrew in 2014. A far smaller NATO-led force still trains Afghan troops and helps them hunt down insurgents. Kandahar is the birthplace of the Taliban and has long been a center of the insurgency that has been waged throughout years of international intervention since the strict Islamist movement was toppled during a U.S. bombing campaign in 2001. Voting in Kandahar was delayed after police chief Abdul Razeq, one of Afghanistans most feared anti-Taliban commanders, was killed along with the provincial intelligence chief two days before the election by a member of the governors bodyguard. The attack took place after a meeting with the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General Scott Miller. Miller escaped unharmed but another U.S. general was wounded. Residents braved threats of militant attacks to queue on Saturday outside more than 170 polling stations across the province amid heavy security. "We were worried about attacks but our security arrangement worked to prevent disruption of the vote," Zia Durani, a spokesman for Kandahar police. Despite delays caused by technical and organizational glitches, voters waited patiently to cast their vote. Election officials said the turnout was higher than expected. During two days of voting last weekend, insurgents launched some 250 attacks across the country, killing at least 50 people and wounding more than 100, the interior ministry said. Thousands of soldiers were deployed to boost the morale of voters shaken by the killing of Razeq, who was widely credited in the province with maintaining stability. Major roads were closed nearly 24 hours before polls opened to prevent car bombs. President Ashraf Ghani's government named Razeq's brother as his successor after his supporters threatened to block the Kandahar vote. Razeq's death served as a rallying cry for some voters and candidates. "People are determined to take part in the election because they want to show the Taliban that terror cannot stop the Afghans from deciding their future," Dawa Khan Menapal, an independent candidate, said before the voting in Kandahar. With the Taliban operating freely across much of the country and heavy pressure from international partners for the vote to be held, the election was seen as a major test of the credibility of the government. Voting in the 32 provinces also saw a high turnout but problems with new biometric verification devices, missing or incomplete voter rolls and absent election workers following Taliban threats meant many voters waited for hours. Preliminary nationwide results are expected to be released in November. Final results will not be known until the new year. (Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi; Writing by Rupam Jain; Editing by Peter Graff)
Washington (AFP) - US President Donald Trump hit out Saturday at what he called "hate" in America after a gunman opened fire at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, killing and injuring several people.

"It's a terrible, terrible thing what's going on with hate in our country, frankly, and all over the world," Trump told reporters before leaving for a series of campaign events in Indiana and Illinois.

"Something has to be done," said the president. "When people do this, they should get the death penalty."

As local media reported the death toll in Pennsylvania could be as high as eight people, Trump said the shooting appeared "far more devastating than anybody originally thought."

"The world is a violent world," he said, calling the suspect "a mad man, a whacko."

Asked whether it was time to revisit the country's lenient gun laws, the president suggested instead that the toll might have been far lower had armed guards been posted in the synagogue, which they reportedly do only on the religion's High Holy Days.

"If they had protection inside the temple, maybe it could have been a very much different situation," he said. "They didn't."

But Trump did call for stiffer penalties and speedier justice.

"I think they should very much bring the death penalty into vogue," he said. "Anybody who does a thing like this to innocent people in temple, in church... they should really suffer the ultimate price."

Over the past 10 years in the US, there have been mass shootings at a Texas church (26 people died), at a mainly African American church in South Carolina (nine dead), at two Jewish centers in Kansas City, Kansas (three dead), at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin (six dead, plus the shooter), and at a Unitarian church in Tennessee (two dead).

Asked if all churches and synagogues should have armed guards, Trump replied, "I hate to think of it that way."

He then added: "Certainly you want protection. They didn't have any protection. ... Results could have been much better."
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that news coverage of the pipe bombs targeting high-profile Democratic politicians and critics of the president had drowned out other stories and slowed Republican momentum ahead of congressional elections. "Republicans are doing so well in early voting, and at the polls, and now this 'Bomb' stuff happens and the momentum greatly slows - news not talking politics. Very unfortunate, what is going on," Trump wrote on Twitter as he urged Republicans to get out to vote. Democrats are seen as having a good chance of wresting control of the U.S. House of Representatives away from Republicans in the Nov. 6 elections, while Republicans are expected to hold their Senate majority. If Democrats were to take the majority in either or both chambers, it would likely increase congressional oversight of Trump, a Republican, and thwart parts of his policy agenda. Departing the White House after news broke that a suspect had been arrested in the bomb case, Trump told reporters it was time for Republicans to regain their lost momentum. "The Republicans had tremendous momentum and, of course, this happened where all that you people talked about was that -- and rightly so, it was a big thing, rightly so -- but now we have to start the momentum again," he said. Federal agents on Friday arrested 56-year-old Cesar Sayoc for the string of pipe-bomb mailings after following a trail of evidence that included a fingerprint lifted from one of the devices. (Reporting by Makini Brice and Jeff Mason; Editing by Tim Ahmann, Jeffrey Benkoe, Toni Reinhold)
President Donald Trump on Saturday stated that the mass shooting at a Pennsylvania synagogue had little to do with gun control laws, suggesting the results would have been far better if there had been protection inside.

This is a case where if they had an armed guard inside ... they would have been able to stop them, Trump told reporters before departing for the Future Farmers of America convention in Indianapolis.

Maybe there would have been nobody killed except for him, frankly, he added, referring to the shooter.

A gunman shot three police officers when he opened fire at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as Saturday services began around 9:45 a.m. Eastern time and killed 11 people, injuring six others.

Congregants at the synagogue, located in the historically Jewish Pittsburgh neighborhood of Squirrel Hill, had been observing a baby-naming ceremony.

Trump demurred when asked whether he thought he could do anything to prevent future mass shootings.

The world is a violent world, the president said.

Before I ran for office, Id watch instances like this with churches and other things, Id say, What a shame, what a shame, he said, adding that its even tougher when youre the president of the United States and you have to watch this kind of a thing happen.

Trump told reporters he is always in contact with the National Rifle Association, one of the largest opponents of gun law reform.

Bowers will be charged with a hate crime under federal law, Attorney General Jeff Sessions confirmed Saturday afternoon.

Referencing the shooter, Trump also said lawmakers should stiffen up death penalty laws and bring capital punishment into vogue.

When people do this, they should get the death penalty and shouldnt have to wait years and years, he said. Now the lawyers will get involved, and everybodys going to get involved, and well be 10 years down the line. I think they should stiffen up laws, and I think they should very much bring the death penalty into vogue.

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Vice President Mike Pence reiterated Trumps call for the death penalty at a Nevada campaign rally.

The president  a staunch supporter of the death penalty  infamously took out full-page newspaper ads in 1989 reading Bring Back The Death Penalty to comment on a group of teens known as the Central Park Five. The teens were wrongfully convicted of attacking a jogger.

Trump has also pushed for the use of armed guards as an effective deterrent to mass shooters, going so far as to suggest some teachers be armed in schools. Research suggests more guns is not the solution, as many mass shooters do not expect to survive their shootings.

The presidents remarks stood in sharp contrast to those made by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D), who issued a statement calling for action to prevent future mass shootings.

We must all pray and hope for no more loss of life. But we have been saying this one is too many for far too long. Dangerous weapons are putting our citizens in harms way, Wolf said.

And in the aftermath of this tragedy, we must come together and take action to prevent these tragedies in the future. We cannot accept this violence as normal, he added.

Former President Barack Obama also called for action, writing on Twitter, We have to stop making it so easy for those who want to harm the innocent to get their hands on a gun.

Several news outlets have identified the gunman as 46-year-old Robert Bowers, who is currently receiving medical treatment for multiple gunshot wounds.

He appears to be strongly anti-Semitic. Law enforcement sources told KDKA that Bowers walked into the synagogue and yelled, All Jews must die, before opening fire.

The gunman had an assault-style rifle and at least three handguns with him at the synagogue, according to Bob Jones, the FBI special agent in charge of the Pittsburgh field office.

Jones, a 22-year veteran of the FBI, said the synagogue was the most horrific crime scene hed ever seen on the job.

Trump once again condemned the attack as he addressed the Future Farmers of America convention in Indiana.

You wont think this would be possible in this day and age, but we just dont seem to learn from the past, Trump said. Our minds cant comprehend the cruel hate and twisted malice that could cause a person to unleash such terrible violence during a baby-naming ceremony.

He continued: There must be no tolerance for anti-Semitism in America or for any form of religious or racial hatred or prejudice.

While the president is not Jewish, his daughter Ivanka Trump converted to Orthodox Judaism before marrying her husband, Jared Kushner.

This story has been updated with additional comments from Trump and details about the shooting.

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Twice in the 20th century, the great powers tried to create a peaceful world for the long run by limiting armaments. And, with recent developments, it appears as if those efforts have twice failed. The first failure led directly to the Second World War. We do not know where the second will lead.

The first attempt at disarmament followed the First World War, which shocked Europe and persuaded many that a second such war might mean the end of civilization. The process began with the Treaty of Versailles, which the British and French forced the new German government to sign. After blaming Germany and its allies for starting the war  a judgment that later generations of historians endorsed  they limited the Germans to a tiny army of 100,000 men and a small navy without battleships of the first rank, and forbade them from having any air force at all. But the treaty also characterized these restrictions as the first step towards general disarmament, committing the victorious nations to going down the same road. They did not take immediate steps to do so, but another disarmament effort began shortly thereafter.

In 1921, Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes convened the Washington Conference to discuss, among other topics, naval disarmament among the leading maritime powers, Britain, the United States, Japan, France and Italy. The United States at that time had committed itself to a Navy second to none and had decided in principle to build 48 battleships, one for every state. Hughes stunned the conference by suggesting that all the major powers drastically cut back on their future building plans.

Eventually all agreed to much smaller navies, freezing the battleships of the U.S., Britain and Japan at a 5-5-3 ratio that would in theory make it impossible for them to risk a naval war against one another. In 1930, at a second conference, they also agreed on ratios for some smaller ships.

Meanwhile, in 1932, after years of wrangling, the European powers finally sat down in Geneva to discuss a general disarmament agreement. Both the British and French governments finally realized that they had to do some disarming of their own, and perhaps allow Germany some small increases in its forces and allow it to have some different types of weapons.

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Unfortunately the Great Depression was now at its height, and the German government faced a political crisis. Before agreement could be reached, Adolf Hitler became German chancellor in January 1933. After the French government refused to allow him to triple the size of the German army, he quit both the disarmament conference and the League of Nations. In early 1935 he went further, repudiating all the restrictions of the Versailles Treaty, re-instituting a draft and announcing the creation of a new air force.

In Japan, meanwhile, naval and military officers had terrorized the civilian government by assassinating some leading politicians, and had seized Manchuria in 1931. They now wanted to make Japan the supreme power in East Asia, and they needed a navy that could defeat the Americans or the British to do so. In 1936, when yet another conference convened to revise the 1930 naval treaty, the Japanese refused to participate and made clear they would no longer be bound by earlier treaties. The major nations all began building new classes of larger battleships. The Second World War began in 1939.

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That war, and the threat of nuclear arsenals, eventually moved the victorious powers to take steps to limit nuclear weapons, in a second 20th-century period of arms limitation. The Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963, which stopped above-ground testing by the Americans, Soviets and British. In the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, signed in 1968, most non-nuclear powers renounced nuclear weapons in return for promises from the leading nuclear powers to give up theirs. Then came the SALT I and SALT II agreements of 1972 and 1979, which banned anti-ballistic missile systems and set limits on Soviet and U.S. missiles. (Although the United States never ratified SALT II, successive administrations observed it.) The advent of Mikhail Gorbachev and the collapse of Communism opened up the possibility of a new era of world peace, and Reagan and Gorbachev eliminated intermediate-range missiles from their arsenals in the INF treaty in 1987. Subsequently, Presidents Clinton and Obama signed new START agreements with the Russian government in 1991 and 2010, limiting their nuclear arsenals much more.

But during the last 18 years, the drama of the 1930s  in which individual powers refused to limit armaments and destroyed the disarmament effort  has replayed itself. This time, however, the disruptive power that has renounced arms control is the United States.

The neoconservatives who began to dominate Republican thinking on foreign policy in the 1980s and 1990s never believed in arms control, which they saw as a trap, and instead favored U.S. military supremacy. They also seized on Ronald Reagans idea that missile defense, rather than agreements, might protect the U.S. from hostile nuclear weapons.

Those ideas became orthodoxy in the Administration of George W. Bush, and in December 2001, he announced that the U.S. was withdrawing from the ABM treaty. In the following year the U.S. government also announced a new non-proliferation strategy. Rather than rely on international agreements, it would simply make war on any nation that sought to acquire nuclear weapons if the U.S. government did not think they should have them.

John Bolton was one of the leading neocons in the Bush II Administration, and he is now Donald Trumps National Security Adviser. This month the President has announced that he plans to withdraw from the INF treaty as well. Meanwhile, Russias President Putin has stated that his country is developing new weapons because of the American withdrawal from the ABM treaty. Just this Thursday, two titans of the Cold War era  Mikhail Gorbachev and George P. Shultz  called for maintaining existing treaties in the New York Times.

The two disarmament efforts of the last century aimed at making great-power war impossible by limiting and reducing great armaments. Recent Republican administrations have abandoned those efforts because they believe that U.S. military supremacy, not diplomacy, is the solution to the power of world peace.

Disarmament failed completely in the 1930s and remained controversial in the Cold War period. Yet it represents mankinds best hope for a better world. If the United States, the worlds strongest power, abandons that hope, our planet can only get more dangerous.

Historians explain how the past informs the present

David Kaiser, a historian, has taught at Harvard, Carnegie Mellon, Williams College, and the Naval War College. He is the author of seven books, including, most recently, No End Save Victory: How FDR Led the Nation into War. He lives in Watertown, Mass.
Istanbul (AFP) - The leaders of Turkey, Russia, France and Germany on Saturday called for a political solution to Syria's devastating seven-year civil war and a lasting ceasefire in the last major rebel-held bastion of Idlib.

A joint statement adopted at the end of a major summit in Istanbul said the countries were committed to working "together in order to create conditions for peace and stability in Syria".

It also "stressed the importance of a lasting ceasefire" in Idlib, while hailing "progress" following a deal last month between Syrian-regime supporter Russia and rebel-backer Turkey to create a buffer zone around the northwestern province.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke for several hours with Russia's Vladimir Putin, France's Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel about the Syrian conflict, in which more than 360,000 people have been killed since 2011.

Their statement, read by Erdogan, called for a committee to be established to draft Syria's post-war constitution before the end of the year, "paving the way for free and fair elections" in the war-torn country.

It also said there was "the need to ensure humanitarian organisations' rapid, safe and unhindered access throughout Syria and immediate humanitarian assistance to reach all people in need".

- 'Prevent humanitarian disaster' -

The talks came after a week of escalating violence in Idlib culminated in Syrian regime artillery fire killing seven civilians on Friday, the highest death toll there since the fragile ceasefire began last month.

Following the joint news conference in Istanbul, the leaders spoke separately, with Macron urging Russia to pressure the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to bring about a "stable and lasting ceasefire in Idlib".

"We rely on Russia to exercise very clear pressure on the regime which depends on it for survival," he said.

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However Putin warned that if "radicals" were to "launch armed provocations from the Idlib zone, Russia reserves the right to give active assistance to the Syrian government in liquidating this source of terrorist threat".

Merkel, meanwhile, said the leaders "have the duty to prevent another humanitarian disaster".

"The challenge is to end two wars: The war against terror and the war of the regime against large parts of its own population," she said.

"A solution cannot happen through military means but only through political negotiations under the leadership of the United Nations."

A rival United Nations plan for a committee to write the constitution ran aground this week, with UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura, who attended the summit, saying Damascus rejected the UN having a role in the selection process.

The summit also addressed the plight of the millions displaced by the grinding conflict, saying that conditions needed to be created "throughout the country for the safe and voluntary return of refugees".

However whether or not those forced to flee the country would be allowed to vote in a future election was left for the separate press conferences.

"We must advance with the political process at the end of which there must be free elections open to all Syrians - including those in the diaspora," Merkel said.

Erdogan, a vocal opponent of Assad, agreed, saying that Syrians "inside and outside" the country must decide the president's fate.

- 'Russia cannot replace US' -

Aid groups have warned that a Syrian government military offensive in Idlib, home to three million people, could spark one of the worst humanitarian disasters of the seven-year war.

With an assault by government troops seeming imminent, Moscow and Ankara agreed on September 17 to create a 15-20 kilometre-wide demilitarised zone ringing Idlib as Turkey sought to avoid an attack leading to a further influx of people across its border.

On Friday, Syria's UN envoy Bashar Jaafari maintained that the buffer zone is temporary and that Idlib would eventually revert to government control.

Turkey and Russia have held several talks with Iran on the Syrian conflict in efforts that have often been greeted with suspicion in the West, but Saturday's summit was the first to include the EU's two most significant national leaders.

Syria's opposition, which has previously described Russia's military intervention in 2015 as an occupation, on Friday said it welcomed dialogue with Moscow.

However US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis told a security conference in Bahrain that Russia was no replacement for the United States.

"Russia's presence in the region cannot replace the longstanding, enduring, and transparent US commitment to the Middle East," Mattis said.
* Fiancee says rejected Trump invite to White House as PR move

* Erdogan urges Saudis to reveal location of journalist's body

* Warns Turkey knows more about case than it has disclosed

* Erdogan says Saudi prosecutor to visit Istanbul on Sunday (Recasts, adds extradition request)

By Ezgi Erkoyun and Ali Kucukgocmen

ISTANBUL, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Turkish prosecutors have prepared an extradition request for 18 suspects from Saudi Arabia in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, authorities said on Friday, after President Tayyip Erdogan urged Riyadh to disclose who ordered the murder.

Erdogan has in recent days stepped up pressure on Saudi Arabia to come clean in the case, and Western governments have also voiced increasing scepticism, pitching the world's top oil exporter and a pivotal Middle East ally into a worsening crisis.

Erdogan said Turkey had more information than it had shared so far about the killing of Khashoggi, a Saudi national and Washington Post columnist who was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct.2.

Khashoggi, who lived in the United States, was a critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom's de facto ruler.

Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor on Thursday said the killing of Khashoggi was premeditated, contradicting a previous official statement that it happened accidentally during a tussle in the consulate. Riyadh's numerous shifting accounts of the killing have undermined Prince Mohammed's stance in the West.

Turkish prosecutors seeking the extradition accuse the 18 of "murder by premeditation, monstrous intent or by torture". Riyadh previously arrested the 18 as part of its investigation into the case. Those include a 15-man security team that Turkey says flew in hours before the killing and carried it out.

"Who gave this order?" Erdogan said in a speech to members of his AK Party in Ankara. "Who gave the order for 15 people to come to Turkey?" he said.

Saudi officials initially denied having anything to do with Khashoggi's disappearance after he entered the consulate, which he had visited to obtain paperwork for a planned marriage.

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"The reasoning behind the extradition request is that Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in Turkey by Saudi nationals who travelled to Turkey for this specific purpose," a senior Turkish official said.

"It is clear that the judicial system in Turkey is better equipped to genuinely serve the cause of justice in this case."

Saudi Arabia has also sacked five senior government officials as part of the investigation.

FIANCEE SPURNED TRUMP INVITE

Khashoggi's Turkish fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, said she did not accept an invitation from U.S. President Donald Trump, the kingdom's staunchest Western champion, to visit the White House after Khashoggi's murder because she thought it was aimed at influencing public opinion in his own favour.

In her first television interview since the killing, Cengiz recounted the events leading up to their visit to the consulate on Oct. 2 where Khashoggi handed her his two mobile phones and went inside while she waited outside for him to emerge.

"Trump invited me to the United States but I perceived it as a statement to win public favour," Cengiz told broadcaster Haberturk, pausing at times during an interview and more than once breaking down in tears.

Trump and Prince Mohammed have cultivated warm ties though the U.S. president said earlier this week that the crown prince, as the kingdom's de facto ruler, bore ultimate responsibility for the operation against Khashoggi. Trump also said Riyadh had staged the "worst cover-up ever" over the killing.

Cengiz said Khashoggi was concerned tensions would arise when he visited the consulate for the first time on Sept. 28, but he was treated well at that visit, which appeared to reassure him, she said.

"He thought Turkey is a safe country and if he would be held or interrogated, this issue would be swiftly solved," she said.

SELF-STYLED REFORMER

How Western allies deal with Riyadh will hinge on the extent to which they believe responsibility for Khashoggi's death lies directly with Prince Mohammed and the Saudi authorities.

Prince Mohammed, who casts himself as a reformer, has said the killers will be brought to justice.

Erdogan said he had spoken with Prince Mohammed. "I also told the crown prince. I said, 'You know how to make people talk. Whatever happened between these 18 people, this dodgy business is among them. If you are determined to lift suspicion, then the key point of our cooperation is these 18 people.'"

Turkish officials suspect Saudi agents killed Khashoggi, 59, inside the consulate and dismembered him. Turkish sources say authorities have an audio recording documenting the murder.

U.S. CIA Director Gina Haspel heard the audio during a visit to Turkey this week, sources told Reuters, and has briefed Trump about Turkey's findings and her discussions.

Saudi state television quoted the Saudi public prosecutor on Thursday as saying Riyadh was interrogating suspects on the basis of information given by a joint Saudi-Turkish task force.

Many Saudis have been shocked by Riyadh's admission after two weeks of denials and condemnation of foreign news reports.

On Friday, authorities tried to stem the domestic fallout, instructing mosque preachers to focus sermons on "the fierce and unjust onslaught targeting the country", according to a directive seen by Reuters that did not specifically mention the Khashoggi murder.

One Riyadh cleric warned worshippers against repeating reports from TV or social media "without contemplating the danger of this news", adding that "most of them are lies". (Additional reporting by Orhan Coskun and Tulay Karadeniz in Ankara, Maria Tsvetkova in Moscow; Yesim Dikmen and Daren Butler in Istanbul and Stephen Kalin in Riyadh; Writing by David DolanEditing by Mark Heinrich)
Bamako (AFP) - Two UN peacekeepers were killed and "several others" wounded in two attacks in central and northern Mali on Saturday, the United Nations mission in the country said.

In a statement the MINUSMA peacekeeping mission said Blue Helmets had "repelled a complex attack" at dawn at its base in Ber, in the Timbuktu region, launched from several trucks armed with "rocket launchers, machine guns and other explosives".

A second attack in Konna, in the central Mopti region, involved an improvised explosive device (IED).

"According to an initial toll, two peacekeepers were killed and several others were wounded," it said.

The Burkina Faso army confirmed that two of its peacekeepers had been killed in the Ber attack, with five wounded.

The United Nations has deployed about 12,000 troops and police in its MINUSMA peacekeeping mission in Mali, which ranks as the most dangerous for blue helmets.

"I strongly condemn this brutal attack, which will not dent our determination to support Mali in its march towards peace," said MINUSMA chief Mahamat Saleh Annadif in the statement, adding that attacks against peacekeepers "could constitute war crimes".

Mali, the eighth largest country in Africa and one of the poorest in the world, has been struggling to return to stability after Islamic extremists linked to Al-Qaeda jihadists took control of the north of the country in early 2012, prompting France to intervene militarily.

The extremists were routed in a French-led military operation in 2013 but large stretches of the landlocked Sahel state remain out of government control.

In central Mali, the situation has been made even more unstable by a resurgence of violence between ethnic groups, notably Fulani nomadic herders and Dogon farmers over access to land.

A peace deal between the government and armed groups was signed in 2015, but implementation has been slow and attacks have continued in the center and north of the country.

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Mali on Thursday extended by a year a state of emergency in place since a deadly November 2015 attack on a top hotel in the capital Bamako which claimed 20 lives.

The state of emergency was due to expire at the end of this month and the cabinet approved the extension.

It gives authorities greater powers to take measures to pre-empt attacks and accords more powers to security forces and judicial authorities, the government said.
By Laura Zuckerman

(Reuters) - The Trump administration unlawfully withdrew a plan to limit the number of whales, turtles and other marine creatures permitted to be inadvertently killed or harmed by drift gillnets used to catch swordfish off California, a federal judge has ruled.

The decision requires U.S. fisheries managers to take steps to implement the plan, which calls for placing numerical limits on the bycatch of bottlenose dolphins, four whale species and four sea turtle species snared in swordfish gillnets.

As currently written, the regulation in question also would mandate suspension of swordfish gillnet operations altogether off Southern California if any one of the bycatch limits were exceeded.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council endorsed the plan in 2015, and it was formally proposed for implementation by the U.S. Commerce Department's National Marine Fisheries Service the following year.

The rule was expected to gain final approval but was abruptly withdrawn instead in June 2017 under President Donald Trump, whose Commerce Department determined the cost to the commercial fishing industry outweighed conservation benefits.

The environmental group Oceana sued, accusing the Commerce Department of violating U.S. fisheries laws and the federal Administrative Procedures Act. Oceana also asked the courts to order the agency to put the bycatch limits into effect.

U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner declined to force the National Marine Fisheries Service to immediately implement the restrictions in a decision handed down Wednesday in Los Angeles.

But he sided with environmentalists in finding the agencys reversal exceeded its authority and was arbitrary, capricious or an abuse of its discretion.

Klausner ordered federal fisheries managers to either re-issue the regulations as written or consult with the Pacific Fishery Management Council on any revisions.

Drift gillnets, consisting of mile-long (1.8 km-long) strands of nylon mesh draped 200 feet (60 meters) deep in the ocean from surface floats, pose a hazard to a wide assortment of marine mammals and turtles that can become entangled and drown.

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According to Oceana, the 20 vessels that make up the California drift gillnet fishery ended up discarding 61 percent of their catch from 2004 to 2017.

The Marine Fisheries Service said Friday it had not yet seen the judge's ruling and was unable to comment.

Oceana attorney Mariel Combs told Reuters the legal finding marked a victory for marine wildlife.

The National Marine Fisheries Services decision to withdraw those important protections was irresponsible and illegal, she said.

(Reporting by Laura Zuckerman in Salmon, Idaho; Editing by Steve Gorman and Michael Perry)
John Bolton, right, made the announcement after meeting President Putin at the Kremlin on Tuesday: AFP

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been invited to visit Washington in early 2019, Donald Trumps national security advisor John Bolton has announced.

Mr Bolton spoke at a press conference in Georgia on Friday morning. He said scheduling for the trip had yet to be worked out, but Mr Putin would be invited after the first of the year.

We have invited President Putin to Washington after the first of the year for, basically, a full day of consultations, Mr Bolton said, days after meeting the Russian president in Moscow. What the scheduling of that is, we dont quite know yet.

President Trump held a summit with Mr Putin in Helsinki, the Finnish capital, in July, and then issued Mr Putin an invitation to visit Washington in the autumn. But plans for a reciprocal visit were postponed after Mr Trump faced allegations of not being hard enough on the Kremlin.

It was not immediately clear if Mr Putin had accepted the invitation. The Russian president last held a meeting with his US counterpart on American soil in 2015, when he met Barack Obama on the sidelines of a UN general assembly.

Mr Trumps earlier invitation to Mr Putin sparked outcry in Washington, including from members of the presidents Republican party, who argued Mr Putin was an adversary not worthy of a White House visit.

US intelligence agencies allege Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election and the matter is the subject of a federal investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller. That probe is also examining possible collusion between Moscow and Trump campaign officials. Russia denies any election meddling.

Mr Bolton said the two presidents are set to meet in Paris when they attend 11 November events marking 100 years since Armistice Day  although that meeting is expected to be brief.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov had a call with US secretary of state Mike Pompeo to discuss acute issues on the international agenda, and bilateral ties in the context of preparations for planned contacts between the presidents, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report
Early voting in Texas began on Monday, but some Texans who showed up to cast a ballot were met with a rude surprise: Despite opting to vote straight-ticket for candidates of a single party, their voting machines tried to disobey their express instructions in certain races. This means, for example, that folks who intended to vote for Democrats found themselves staring at a screen commemorating their alleged support for Ted Cruz instead.

So far, the Texas Civil Rights Project has received about a dozen reports of this discrepancy, says communications director Zenen Perez, and the pace picked up considerably after images began circulating on social media. But for those concerned that a massive conspiracy may be afoot to deprive Beto O'Rourke of a Senate seat or steal one from Cruz, depending on your point of view, Perez emphasizes that this is a nonpartisan problem that often manifests itself in more than one race on the ballot. And the culprit isn't some shadowy team of Russophilic voter fraudsters. It is likely the state's ancient voting equipment.

For nearly two decades, Texas has relied on Hart eSlate voting machines, which look sort of like giant PalmPilots and are manipulated using a selection wheel and an ENTER button. Manipulating both of these things at the same time, it seems, is what can lead to unintended and very unwanted results. "Texas just hasn't spent the resources necessary to modernize its elections," Perez told me. "Until they do, we're going to continue to see this kind of thing on a regular basis." The trend prompted elections director Keith Ingramwho operates under the aegis of the Republican secretary of stateto issue an urgent advisory to voters on Tuesday: When a preview of your ballot appears at the very end, double-check every line before pressing that SUBMIT button.

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Finicky voting machines are just one of many ways in which Texas's archaic infrastructure and draconian state laws interfere with the democratic process. It is one of the few states that still do not allow for online voter registration, and counties routinely have trouble filing the inundations of paperwork they receive before each contest. When residents attempt to register at a site like vote.org, the best it can do is populate the requisite paper forms and then instruct the person to print them out, sign them, and mail them to the local elections office. This, Perez says, is the point at which frustrated users decide that the ordeal is more trouble than it's worth.

The state even refuses to allow Texans who renew their driver licenses online to register to vote at the same time. (Only those who renew in person have the option to register.) Earlier this year, in a suit brought by the TCRP, a federal court found that this practice violates the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which requires state motor-vehicles departments to take affirmative steps to offer registration materials to their customers. The attorney general's officealso helmed by a Republicanhas appealed the decision.

Texas's restrictions on in-person voter registration might be the most convoluted of all. In order to register someone to vote, prospective clipboard-toters must first get "deputized" by the county in which the prospective voter lives, and can face criminal penalties for their failure to do so. (Perez says Texas is the only state to criminalize violations of this type of rule.)

For example, take a voter-registration booth at the Texas State Fair, which takes place in Dallas County. If a volunteer deputized in Dallas County registers someone who traveled to the fair from neighboring Tarrant Countyor from anywhere else in the statethat person becomes subject to prosecution for a Class C misdemeanor. Understandably, this is a risk that many volunteers are reluctant to take. Each of Texas's 254 counties runs its own deputization schemes, some of which include mandatory trainings or tests that are administered only during business hours. "It has a chilling effect over the entire state's voter-registration process," Perez says, "and is a big deterrent to national groups that want to come in and help get people registered to vote."

No one phenomenon explains why Texas experiences such low levels of voter registration, engagement, and turnout. But problems like theseand we haven't even gotten to the state's onerous voter-ID and voter-fraud laws, which are designed to combat a problem that does not existall contribute to that result. "It's a death by a thousand cuts," Perez says. These stray O'Rourke-Cruz flips are perhaps the least consequential symptom of a much deeper problem: Texas's elections aren't occurring in this century, and state officials don't seem very interested in investing the time or money to change that.
Israel Air Force fighter jets attacked a building that serves as Hamas' general security headquarters in Gaza's al-Daraj neighborhood, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit stated Saturday.

According to the IDF Spokesperson's Unit, the attack was carried out in response to the rocket fire at Gaza border communities and that the residents of the building were called to evacuate it before the attack.
Seven people were evacuated Saturday to Barzilai Hospital as a result of the rocket fire from Gaza towards the city of Sderot. Six were evacuated with minor bodily injuries, and another person was treated for anxiety.
Israeli Air Force aircraft struck dozens of terror sites across the Gaza Strip early Saturday in response to some 39 rockets launched into Israel from Gaza, in the heaviest exchange of fire since August.

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Despie recent reports that Egypt has forged understandings between Israel and Hamas, 18 Code Red rocket alert sirens sounded on Friday night and Saturday morning in Gaza border communities.



Out of the 39 rockets launched into Israel, the Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted 17. Two rockets landed inside the Gaza Strip and the rest landed in open areas in Israel. This was the heaviest barrage of rockets since early August, when 150 rockets were fired in two days.

Israeli Air Force strikes in Gaza (Photo: Reuters)

Seven people were evacuated Saturday to the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon: six suffered from minor injuries, while another person was treated for shock.

Following the barrage of rocket launch into the Gaza border region, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot held a meeting to assess the situation with senior IDF and Shin Bet officials at the Kirya headquarters base in Tel Aviv.

Iron Dome intercepts rockets

On Saturday morning, the Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the rocket fire.

"The enemy must understand that the resistance will not accept the equations it imposes, based on killing from their side and silence on our side. We decided to respond to the aggression and acted with will-power and determination. We will maintain the resistance and its stancebombing will be answered with bombing and blood with blood. We will be committed to a cease-fire deal if Israel commits to it. The Palestinian resistance will respond to any Israeli attack," the organization's statement read.

Hamas' general security headquarters demolished (Photo: AP)

The IAF struck dozens of terror sites across the Gaza Strip in response to nearly 40 rockets launched into Israel from Gaza. One of the targets destroyed was a building that served as Hamas' general security headquarters in Gaza's al-Daraj neighborhood.

IAF bombs Hamas headquarters

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On Saturday morning, IAF aircraft bombed eight Islamic Jihad targets in response to early morning rockets.

Among the targets attacked were two main arms manufacturing sites in Al Atatra and the Netzarim area; a tunnel shaft in Khan Yunis; five military complexes in Khan Yunis, Deir al-Balah, Tel al-Zaatar and Jabaliya; an integrated training complex in Rafah; and an observation post in Beit Lahia.

IAF attacks Islamic Jihad targets

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The IDF Spokesperson's Office said in a statement that it gravely views the rocket attack tonight (Friday) against Israeli communities. The attacks are carried out in a terror-enabling atmosphere led by Hamas near the border fence, which led terror groups in the strip to carry out tonights attack.





Gaza border riot (Photo: AP)

"Hamas bears responsibility for everything happening in and out of the Gaza Strip, and it will bear the consequences for the terrorist acts carried out against Israeli citizens," the military continued.

"The IDF will act with great force against terrorist attacks of any kind from the Gaza Strip and gravely sees the terror activity being led by the organizations. IDF is prepared for a variety of scenarios and is determined to continue its mission to protect the citizens of Israel," the statement continued.

Yakir Shimoni, a resident of Sderot spoke to Ynet following the attack. "We stayed with friends when we heard the sirens and loud explosions, we immediately ran for shelter. We could hear the explosions from inside. And immediately afterwards when we went outside, we saw a lot of frightened people," Shimoni said.

Shimoni slammed the government for the situation. "It does not stop. The government does nothing, and we're just tired of it. Every time they hold a Security Cabinet meeting, they make no decisions. They attack dunes and tin cans. The bottom line is that nothing is being done. We are not in favor of demolishing anyone; we are in favor of having quiet and being able to live. We feel helpless," he said.

One of the rockets caused damage to a greenhouse in Ashkelon Regional Council There were no casualties.

Rocket launched from Gaza (Photo: Netiv HaAsara security )

The Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), Maj. Gen. Kamil Abu Rokon, posted a photo on Facebook of the damage caused by a mortar to the Erez border crossing.

Rocket hits Erez Crossing (Photo: COGAT Spokesperson's Unit)

"Tonight the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip fired mortar shells towards the Erez Crossing and hit the ambulances' entrance," Rokon wrote in Arabic, addressing Gaza residents.

"How low could the terror organizations in Gaza go when striking the passage of the ambulances at the Erez Crossing, a crossing through which children in need of medical care enter Israel every day?" he continued.

"The terror organizations do not feel sorry for you, residents of the Gaza Strip. They have not even a drop of compassion for babies, the elderly, and the poor patients among you. These terror organizations harm you first and foremost," Rokon added.

US Special Representative for International Negotiations, Jason Greenblatt, expressed his support for Israel.

"More rockets from Gaza into Israel. Another night where parents are ushering terrified children to cover. Violence will not build futures for anyone. Our plan, when released, will offer a path that doesnt involve fear of rockets, but brighter futures for all in the region," he tweeted.

Jason Greenblatt (Photo: EPA)

Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon also addressed the situation in his Twitter account. "Another night of rockets launched at Israeli cities and villages from #Gaza. Again, peaceful Israelis pay a heavy price for the bloodthirsty tactics of the Palestinian terror organizations and their masters in Teheran and Damascus. #IDF strikes back and protects our population," he wrote.

On Friday, at least 16,000 Palestinians gathered at five locations along Gaza border fence, burning tires and throwing rocks, grenades and firebombs at Israeli troops who responded with tear gas and occasional live fire.

Five Palestinians were killed Friday in the border riots.

According to the IDF, Israeli Air Force aircraft, including fighter helicopters, attacked three Hamas observation posts.

The Israeli army said some suspects briefly crossed the fence twice, while under constant IDF surveillance.

GOC Southern Command Maj. Gen. Herzi Halevi met with the local authorities' heads of the Gaza border communities, as tensions rise along the Gaza border.

"Our policy is to return to the status quo that existed before March 30. Quiet on the border without incendiary kites and balloons, we certainly recognize Hamas' attempt to maintain quiet, there is a decrease in the intensity of the demonstrations and the incendiary balloon launch. Humanitarian aid will help reduce violence. The residents of Gaza will have plenty to lost," Halevi stated.
The IAF attacked at least one target in the northern Gaza Strip after the bombardment at Sderot and Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council on Saturday morning.
The IDF has accused Iran and Syria of directing the Palestinian Islamic Jihad's rocket fire at Israel on Friday night and Saturday morning.

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"The direction for what happened tonight in the Gaza Strip came from Damascus. We view the regime in Syria and the Iranian Quds Force as responsible for the incidents," the IDF Spokesman's Office said.

"We sent clear messages in this spirit to those who need it: that no one is immune, not in the strip or outside it," the IDF added.

(Photo: Reuters)

The threats toward Iranian forces in Syria added a new dimension to what was already the heaviest fighting between Israel and Gaza terrorists in several weeks. Opening a new front in Syria could put Israel in open confrontation with heavily armed Iranian and Hezbollah forces, along with recently deployed Russian anti-aircraft systems.

"We have seen and established a clear link between Gaza and Damascus," said Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, an IDF spokesman.

"We know that the orders incentives were given from Damascus with the clear involvement of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Quds Force. From our perspective, part of the address by which we will deal with this fire is also in Damascus and the Quds Force. Our response is not limited geographically," he added.

According to the IDF Spokesperson's Office, "the IDF's main objectives includes fighting against Iranian entrenchment in Syria, preventing the transfer of advanced weaponry to Hezbollah and maintaining the security for the residents of the south and Judea and Samaria."

The IDF also said that "our expectation, after a large shipment of humanitarian aid entered Gaza this week, was that Friday would look completely different. Hamas is tested on results, not effort. We accomplished our mission Fridayno mass crossing through the fence was carried out."

Iron Dome intercepts rockets (Photo: Ofer Kariv)

"Hamas bears responsibility for everything happening in and out of the Gaza Strip, and it will bear the consequences for the terrorist acts carried out against Israeli citizens," the military continued.

"The IDF will act with great force against terrorist attacks of any kind from the Gaza Strip and gravely sees the terror activity being led by the organizations. IDF is prepared for a variety of scenarios and is determined to continue its mission to protect the citizens of Israel," the statement continued.

Conricus said there had been no signs of Hamas trying to rein in Islamic Jihad.

The IAF struck dozens of terror sites across the Gaza Strip in response to nearly 40 rockets launched into Israel from Gaza. One of the targets destroyed was a building that served as Hamas' general security headquarters in Gaza's al-Daraj neighborhood.

Attack of Hamas headquarters

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On Saturday morning, IAF aircraft bombed eight Islamic Jihad targets in response to early morning rockets. The targets included three military sites, including sites for the manufacture of weapons in the northern Gaza Strip and a tunnel-manufacturing facility in the southern Gaza Strip.

IAF attacks Islamic Jihad targets

X

Out of the 39 rockets launched into Israel, the Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted 17. Two rockets landed inside the Gaza Strip and the rest landed in open areas in Israel. This was the heaviest barrage of rockets since early August, when 150 rockets were fired in two days.

Following the escalation in the south, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman held security consultations with IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot and senior IDF and defense officials at the Kirya base in Tel Aviv.

In addition, Ben-Gurion Airport changed the planes' landing routes following the security situation.

Iron Dome defense system intercepts rocket launch from Gaza (:  )

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The military wing of Islamic Jihad threatened Saturday morning to escalate the rocket fire. "We are considering increasing the scope and quality of the response if Israel continues its violence and aggression," Islamic Jihad said.

According to the terror group, it fired the rockets in retaliation for Israel's killing of four Palestinian protesters on Friday near the border

"The enemy must understand that the resistance will not accept the equations it imposes, based on killing from their side and silence on our side. We decided to respond to the aggression and acted with will-power and determination. We will maintain the resistance and its stancebombing will be answered with bombing and blood with blood. We will be committed to a cease-fire deal if Israel commits to it. The Palestinian resistance will respond to any Israeli attack," the organization's statement read.
The Islamic Jihad announced Saturday that following Egyptian intervention , understandings had been reached for a ceasefire with Israel.

"We inormed the Egyptians that we will be committed to a ceasefire as long as Israel is committed to it," the organization said.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad group said Saturday it had agreed to stop rocket fire at Israel following Egyptian intervention.

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After firing the heaviest rocket barrage across the border since August, a spokesman for Islamic Jihad, one of the armed groups that operates in Gaza, said understandings had been reached for a ceasefire with Israel with the help of Egyptian mediation.

"After contacts between the Islamic Jihad leadership and the brothers in Egypt, it was agreed that a comprehensive ceasefire will begin immediately," spokesman Daoud Shehab said. "Islamic Jihad will abide by the ceasefire if the occupation (Israel) does the same."

IDF strikes in Gaza

An IDF spokesman, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, told reporters that Islamic Jihad was behind the rocket fire, after receiving orders from Iran's Quds Force based in Syria.

"We have seen and established a clear link between Gaza and Damascus. Orders and incentives were given from Damascus with a clear involvement of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force," he said, adding that Israel's response will not be "limited geographically."

Conricus also emphasized that Israel still holds Hamas responsible for all fire out of Gaza, and has seen no signs of Hamas trying to stop the fire.

Following the escalation in the south, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman held security consultations with IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot and senior IDF and defense officials at the Kirya base in Tel Aviv.

Assessment attended by Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman and IDF chief of staff (Photo: Ariel Harmoni/Ministry of Defense)

In addition, Ben-Gurion Airport changed the planes' landing routes following the security situation.

The IAF struck dozens of terror sites across the Gaza Strip in response to nearly 40 rockets launched into Israel from Gaza. One of the targets destroyed was a building that served as Hamas' general security headquarters in Gaza's al-Daraj neighborhood.

On Saturday morning, IAF aircraft bombed eight Islamic Jihad targets in response to early morning rockets. The targets included three military sites, including sites for the manufacture of weapons in the northern Gaza Strip and a tunnel-manufacturing facility in the southern Gaza Strip.

Out of the 39 rockets launched into Israel, the Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted 17. Two rockets landed inside the Gaza Strip and the rest landed in open areas in Israel. This was the heaviest barrage of rockets since early August, when 150 rockets were fired in two days.

The military wing of Islamic Jihad threatened Saturday morning to escalate the rocket fire. "We are considering increasing the scope and quality of the response if Israel continues its violence and aggression," Islamic Jihad said.

According to the terror group, it fired the rockets in retaliation for Israel's killing of four Palestinian protesters on Friday near the border

"The enemy must understand that the resistance will not accept the equations it imposes, based on killing from their side and silence on our side. We decided to respond to the aggression and acted with will-power and determination. We will maintain the resistance and its stancebombing will be answered with bombing and blood with blood. We will be committed to a cease-fire deal if Israel commits to it. The Palestinian resistance will respond to any Israeli attack," the organization's statement read.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad is an Iranian-backed military group that sometimes operates independently of Gaza's Hamas rulers.
Palestinian sources in the Gaza Strip have told Ynet that the heavy rocket fire into Israeli border communities on Friday night was done against Hamas's will.

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The attack was likely carried out by Islamic Jihad terrorists, who were signaling to Egyptian intelligence that they were dissatisfied with the fact they were being excluded in the ceasefire talks.

"The resistance cannot stand idly by in the face of the continued killing of people in cold blood by Israel," an Islamic Jihad official said in a statement Friday night.

IDF strikes Gaza (Photo: AFP)

"The resistance has long been committed to restraint in an effort to bring about a ceasefire... The resistance has repeatedly warned against harming civilians, but Israel has continued not to honor the law," the statement continued.

Although the attack was carried out by Islamic Jihad, the IDF emphasized that Israel still holds Hamas responsible for all fire out of Gaza and has seen no signs of Hamas trying to stop the fire.



"Hamas bears responsibility for everything happening in and out of the Gaza Strip, and it will bear the consequences for the terrorist acts carried out against Israeli citizens," the military said in a statement.

"The IDF will act with great force against terrorist attacks of any kind from the Gaza Strip and gravely sees the terror activity being led by the organizations. IDF is prepared for a variety of scenarios and is determined to continue its mission to protect the citizens of Israel," the statement continued.

IDF strikes in Gaza (Photo: AFP)

The IDF also accused Iran and Syria of directing the rocket fire. "We have seen and established a clear link between Gaza and Damascus. Orders and incentives were given from Damascus with a clear involvement of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force," IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said, adding that Israel's response will not be "limited geographically."

In recent weeks, a delegation of senior Egyptian intelligence officials have been visiting the Gaza Strip in an effort to mediate an arrangement between Hamas and Israel that would include an end to the recent hostilities.

According to Al-Hayat, as part of the negotiations, Israel has agreed to expand the fishing zone in the Gaza Strip, transfer fuel, increase the electricity supply, and allow the continued construction of UN infrastructure projects in the strip.

Egyptian intelligence officials presented the plan to the Palestinian Authority leadership, which expressed its opposition to any agreement between Israel and one of the Palestinian factions without its involvement and signature as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (: )

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has conditioned his consent to such an agreement by renewing and implementing the reconciliation agreement and resuming the Palestinian government's activity in the Gaza Strip, so that it will be the representative of the Palestinian people in a possible ceasefire deal with Israel.

The Egyptians explained their aim is a deal in which Israel eases its restriction on the Gaza Strip in return for a cessation of the violent rioting on the border as part of the "March of Return" campaign, and not a truce or a general ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.

Gaza border riot (Photo: AP)

Al-Hayat reported the understandings reached so far would soon be publicly presented by Egyptian Intelligence Chief Abbas Kamel.

The members of the Egyptian delegation, which met with Hamas leadership four times in two weeks, also held a meeting with representatives of the other Palestinian factions in the strip last week.

Egyptian intelligence officials told the Palestinian factions that their efforts had prevented a war in Gaza and suggested that they commit to the understandings with Israel. According to the report, the representatives of the other Palestinian factions agreed to the Egyptian proposal.

Meanwhile, a senior Palestinian official told the Associated Press on Friday that Omans Sultan Qaboos bin Said had offered to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his visit to the country to play a role mediating between the Palestinians and Israelis, and that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had said he welcomed any meaningful peace process.

PM Netanyahu and Oman's Sultan

US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Jason Greenblat welcomed Netanyahu's meeting with the Sultan and said that the meeting "is a helpful step for our peace efforts & essential to create an atmosphere of stability, security & prosperity between Israelis, Palestinians & their neighbors.

Looking forward to seeing more meetings like this!" he added.
Oman described Israel as an accepted Middle East state on Saturday, a day after hosting a surprise visit by its prime minister that Washington said could help regional peace efforts.

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Oman is offering ideas to help Israel and the Palestinians to come together but is not acting as mediator, Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, the sultanates minister responsible for foreign affairs, told a security summit in Bahrain.

Israel is a state present in the region, and we all understand this, bin Alawi said.

Netanyahu with Omans Sultan Qaboos (: AP)

The world is also aware of this fact. Maybe it is time for Israel to be treated the same (as others states) and also bear the same obligations.

His comments followed a rare visit to Oman by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which came days after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas paid a three-day visit to the Gulf country. Both leaders met with Omans Sultan Qaboos.

Netanyahu visits Oman (:  )

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We are not saying that the road is now easy and paved with flowers, but our priority is to put an end to the conflict and move to a new world, bin Alawi told the summit.

Oman is relying on the United States and efforts by President Donald Trump in working toward the deal of the century (Middle East peace), he added.

Bahrains foreign minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa voiced support for Oman over the sultanates role in trying to secure Israeli-Palestinian peace, while Saudi Arabias foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir said the kingdom believes the key to normalizing relations with Israel was the peace process.

The three-day summit was attended by Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, and his counterparts in Italy and Germany also participated, but Jordans King Abdullah canceled his appearance after a flood that hit the Dead Sea region killed 21 people.

Trumps Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt welcomed the warming ties & growing cooperation between our regional friends in a tweet late on Friday.

This is a helpful step for our peace efforts & essential to create an atmosphere of stability, security & prosperity between Israelis, Palestinians & their neighbors. Looking forward to seeing more meetings like this! Greenblatt said.

Curbing Iran

Israel and some Gulf states share an interest in curbing Irans influence in the region.

Oman has long been to the Middle East what neutral Switzerland is to global diplomacy. The country helped to mediate secret US-Iran talks in 2013 that led to the historic nuclear deal signed in Geneva two years later.

Earlier this year, bin Alawi visited Jerusalems Al-Aqsa Mosque and Netanyahu has on several occasions hinted at warmer ties with Gulf states.

The prime minister told the Knesset last week that due to fears of a nuclear threat from Iran, Israel and other Arab countries are closer than they ever were before.

Though uncommon, Israeli leaders have previously visited the Gulf state.

In 1996, the late Shimon Peres went to Oman and Qatar when he was prime minister and opened Israel trade representative offices in both Gulf countries.

His predecessor, the late Yitzhak Rabin, made the first trip to Oman in 1994.

On his visit on Friday, Netanyahu was accompanied by senior officials, including the head of the Mossad intelligence agency and his national security adviser.
BEIRUT - Member of the Islamic State group killed at least 40 US-backed Syrian fighters, captured several alive and regained areas they lost earlier this month in eastern Syria near the border with Iraq in some of the most intense fighting in weeks, a war monitor and an agency linked to ISIS said Saturday.

Members of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces have been on the offensive since early September under the cover of airstrikes by the US-led coalition to capture the last pocket held by ISIS in Syria.

Friday's fighting that lasted until the early hours of Saturday began when ISIS, taking advantage of a sandstorm, launched a counteroffensive against SDF positions east of the Euphrates river in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour that borders Iraq, activists said.

Rami Abdurrahman who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that since Friday ISIS killed more than 60 SDF fighters, wounded others and captured at least 20. It added that some 100 SDF fighters have fled the battlefield against the extremists who carried out suicide car bomb attacks.
A gunman stormed a Pittsburgh synagogue during Saturday services and shot worshipers, killing 11 and wounding six others, including four police officers, before he was arrested. None of the dead were children.

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The gunman, a bearded heavy-set white male, yelled "All Jews must die" before opening fire using an AR-15 rifle and two handguns. He killed worshipers on the ground and basement floor of the Tree of Life Congregation synagogue.





He then barricaded himself on the third floor of the building as police arrived at the scene. The gunman, as well as the four police officers, were wounded in the exchange of fire that ensued. Three of the police officers were shot and one was hurt by shrapnel.

The shooter, who was pinned down by SWAT teams, eventually surrended himself to the police, crawling to them due to his injuries.

Scene of the shooting

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US attorney for western Pennsylvania Scott Brady told a news conference that charges could be filed later on Saturday against the suspected shooter, 46-year-old Robert Bowers from Pittsburgh.

"The actions of Robert Bowers represent the worst of humanity. We are dedicating the entire resources of my office to this federal hate crime investigation and prosecution," Brady said. "Please know that justice in this case will be swift and it will be severe."

Bob Jones, the special agent in charge of the FBI's office in Pittsburgh, said investigators Bowers was not known to law enforcement and that they believe he was acting alone. He said Bowers' full motive still isn't known.

Bowers was in a hospital in fair condition with multiple gunshot wounds. Patients at area hospitals included a 61-year-old woman, a 70-year-old man, and a 55-year-old officer. No children were killed, authorities said.

A social media post by Robert Bowers on Saturday said the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society "likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I can't sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I'm going in."

The Tree of Life synagogue is locted on the intersection of Wilkins and Shady avenues at the heavily Jewish populated Squirrel Hill neighborhood, some 10 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh. It describes itself on its website as a traditional, progressive and egalitarian congregation.

In 2010, Tree of Life Congregationfounded more than 150 years agomerged with Or L'Simcha to form Tree of Life (asterisk) Or L'Simcha.

The synagogue is a fortress-like concrete building, its facade punctuated by rows of swirling, modernistic stained-glass windows illustrating the story of creation, the acceptance of God's law, the "life cycle" and "how human-beings should care for the earth and one another," according to its website. Among its treasures is a "Holocaust Torah," rescued from Czechoslovakia.

Its sanctuary can hold up to 1,250 guests.

Shooting investigated as a hate crime

"It's a very horrific crime scene, one of the worst that I've seen, and I've been on some plane crashes," Pittsburgh public safety director Wendell Hissrich told a news conference near the scene.

"This falls under hate crime," he said, adding there was no active threat to the community and that the shooter had been taken to a hospital. The Federal Bureau of Investigation will lead the probe into the attack.

Jeff Finkelstein of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh told WPXI that organization's security officer has notified all JCC synagogues and that they are on modified lockdown.

Finkelstein said local synagogues have done "lots of training on things like active shooters, and we've looked at hardening facilities as much as possible."

"This should not be happening, period," he told reporters at the scene. "This should not be happening in a synagogue."

Michael Eisenberg, former president of the synagogue, told KDKA that police were normally only present at the synagogue for security on the High Holy Days.

"On a day like today, the door is open, it's a religious service, you can walk in and out," he said.

Around the time of the shooting, three congregations would be using the building, Eisenberg said. The Tree of Life congregation would have about 40 people present, another group meeting for Shabbat services in the basement would have 30 to 40 people and a third Jewish congregation meeting for a study session would have about 15 people. A common atrium area would be busy with people milling around, he added.

Most of the congregants were older people, according to a former rabbi interviewed by local media.

Eisenberg, who lives about a block from the building, was getting ready for services when he received a phone call from a member who works with Pittsburgh's Emergency Services, saying he had been notified through scanner and other communications that there was an active shooter at their synagogue.

"I ran out of the house without changing and I saw the street blocked with police cars. It was a surreal scene. And someone yelled, 'Get out of here.' I realized it was a police officer along the side of the house. ... I am sure I know all of the people, all of the fatalities. I am just waiting to see," Eisenberg said.

He said officials at the synagogue had not gotten any threats that he knew of prior to the shooting. The synagogue maintenance employees had recently checked all of the emergency exits and doors to make sure they were cleared and working.

"I spoke to a maintenance person who was in the building and heard the shots. He was able to escape through one of the side exit doors we had made sure was functioning," Eisenberg said.

Trump: Shooting has little to do with gun laws

US President Donald Trump told reporters that the shooting had little to do with gun laws and that if there had been protection inside the temple the results would have been different.

The shooting shows that the United States should stiffen laws on the death penalty, Trump told reporters at Andrews Air Force Base before getting on Air Force One on his way to Indianapolis.

Trump commenting on the shooting (: )

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"I think one thing we should do is we would stiffen up our laws with guns with the death penalty," Trump said. "When people do this they should get the death penalty."

Trump called the shooting "far more devastating than anyone thought," saying "it's a terrible thing what's going on with hate in our country."

In later comments at the airport in Indianapolis, Trump said the incident "looks definitely like it's an anti-Semitic crime," adding it was "a horrible, horrible thing."

He said the FBI is now involved, noting the crime scene is one of the worst many professionals have seen.

The president's daughter, Ivanka Trump, wrote on her Twitter page that "America is stronger than the acts of a depraved bigot and anti-Semite. All good Americans stand with the Jewish people to oppose acts of terror & share the horror, disgust & outrage over the massacre in Pittsburgh. We must unite against hatred & evil. God bless those affected."

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf called the shooting an "absolute tragedy."

"We must all pray and hope for no more loss of life," Wolf said. "But we have been saying 'this one is too many' for far too long. Dangerous weapons are putting our citizens in harm's way."

The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Pittsburgh Penguins said in separate statements on their Twitter pages that their "thoughts and prayers" are with all those affected by the shooting.

Deadly anti-Semitism

World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder called the shooting "an attack not just on the Jewish community, but on America as a whole."

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, said, "This is likely the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the history of the United States."

On April 13, 2014, a pair of shootings occurred at a Jewish Community Center and a Jewish retirement community, both located in Overland Park, Kansas. A total of three people were killed in the shootings.

French President Emmanuel Macron said, "I want to express our sadness and support to the American people."

France is home to western Europe's biggest Jewish population and many in the 400,000-strong community have complained for years of a rise in anti-Semitic hate crimes.

In 2015, vandals desecrated 250 tombstones in a Jewish cemetery in eastern France days after four Jews were killed in an attack on a kosher grocery in Paris.

In the United States that year, a white supremacist murdered nine African Americans during a prayer service in Charleston, South Carolina.

In 2012, a neo-Nazi gunman with white supremacist ties walked into a Sikh gurdwara - or house of worship - in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, and murdered six Sikh Americans.
ISTANBUL - Russian President Vladimir Putin said that a constitutional committee for Syria should start work and that Moscow would actively take part in that work.

Speaking after the four-way Syria summit with leaders of Turkey, France and Germany, Putin also told the joint press conference he hoped that Turkey would finish creating a demilitarized zone in Syria's Idlib province soon.
Education and Diaspora Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett will be travelling to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the wake of the deadly shooting at the Tree of Life Congregation synagogue, where at least eight people were killed and several others wounded.

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Local authorities and media said a gunman yelling "All Jews must die" stormed the synagogue during Saturday services and shot worshipers, killing at least eight people and wounding six others including four police officers before he was arrested.

"When Jews are murdered in Pittsburgh, the people of Israel feel pain. All Israel are responsible for one another," Bennett said.

(Photo: Motti Kimchi)

The minister will visit the scene of the attack, meet the local community and participate in the funerals of those killed in the shooting.

I am going to offer strength to the community and its leaders, and to examine how we can offer assistance, he said.

Bennett directed the director general of the Diaspora Ministry to prepare to assist the Pittsburgh Jewish community. Among other things, the ministry is sending emergency and resilience teams that immediately left Israel for psychological assistance and community rehabilitation.

"The State of Israel is deeply pained by this terrible anti-Semitic murder. Our Jewish brothers and sisters came under a murderous attack while at prayer. Our hearts go out to the families of those killed, and we pray for the swift recovery of the injured, as we pray this is the last such event. Jewish blood is not free. May the memory of the murdered be blessed," the minister concluded.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also offered support to the Tree of Life Congregation, saying he was "heartbroken and appalled by the murderous attack."

"The entire people of Israel grieve with the families of the dead. We stand together with the Jewish community of Pittsburgh. We stand together with the American people in the face of this horrendous anti-Semitic brutality. And we all pray for the speedy recovery of the wounded," Netanyahu said.

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President Reuven Rivlin also expressed sorrow at the horrible tragedy.Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected by the events in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he said.

We are thinking of our brothers and sisters, the whole house of Israel, in this time of trouble, as we say in the morning prayers. We are thinking of the families of those who were murdered and praying for the quick recovery of those who were injured," the president added.

"I am sure that the law enforcement agencies and the legal authorities in the US will investigate this horrific event thoroughly and that justice will be served on the despicable murderer, he concluded.

Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt has tweeted: "We are devastated. Jews targeted on Shabbat morning at synagogue, a holy place of worship, is unconscionable. Our hearts break for the victims, their families, and the entire Jewish community."
DUBAI - Iran's parliament on Saturday approved a new economy minister and three other ministers in a reshuffle of the cabinet's economic team by President Hassan Rouhani ahead of new US sanctions targeting key oil exports from Nov 4, state television reported.

Academic Farhad Dejpasand won a vote of confidence as the new minister of economics and finance in a reshuffle that also included new industry, labour and roads ministers, during a parliamentary session that was carried live on state TV.
INDIANAPOLIS - US President Donald Trump called a shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue on Saturday a wicked act of mass murder and pure evil and called on Americans to rise above hate and move past divisions.

Trump said at the start of a campaign rally in Indianapolis that anti-Semitism "must be condemned and confronted everywhere and anywhere it appears."
Unemployment numbers reached nearly 30-year low levels in Gogebic and Ontonagon counties in September, according to the Michigan Bureau of Labor Market information.

In Gogebic County, the September jobless rate was 4 percent, down from 4.4 percent in August. One year ago, the September rate was 5.4 percent.

According to the bureaus statistics, the size of the civilian labor force in the county fell from 6,075 in August to 6,025 in September.

Total employment in Gogebic County was also down. Twenty-five fewer people were employed in September and total unemployment is down by those same 25.

State officials indicated the level of unemployment in the U.P. is the lowest since at least 1990.

Ontonagon Countys September employment statistics are a mirror image of August. The jobless rate decreased from 6.2 percent in August to 5.5 percent in September. With 2,100 in the workforce, 1,975 were employed.

A year ago, the Ontonagon rate was 7.3 percent.

The Ontonagon unemployment rate of 5.5 percent was still the highest in the Upper Peninsula in September.

The Baraga County jobless rate decreased to 4.7 percent in September from 6.1 percent in August. One year ago, the rate was 6.1 percent.

Houghton County recorded the lowest unemployment rate in the western U.P in September at 3.7 percent, down from 4.3 percent in August and 5 percent a year ago.

The smallest county, Keweenaw, had 4.5 percent unemployment in September, down from 4.9 percent in August.

Jan Tucker
Latest News

Washington, DC - President Trump Commemorating the 35th Anniversary of the Attack on Beirut Barracks:

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you very much. (Applause.) Thats fantastic. Thank you. Please be seated. Thank you very much. A lot of spirit in this room. (Laughter.) A lot of spirit. For good reason.

Were gathered together on this solemn occasion to fulfill our most reverent and sacred duty. Thirty-five years ago, 241 American service members were murdered in the terrorist attack on our Marine Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. It was a very sad period of time. These are great, great people.

Today, we honor our fallen heroes and pledge that their blessed memory will never die, but live instead in the hearts of our grateful nation forever.

We are joined by, and for, todays observers. And Id like to introduce some of the outstanding people in our government, and some that are outside of our government, starting off with Secretary of State Pompeo. (Applause.) Mike? Where is Mike? Stand up, Mike. (Applause.) Thank you. Great job. And hes been doing a lot of traveling. A very well-traveled man, arent you, Mike? Huh?

Secretary of Defense Mattis. (Applause.) Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer. (Applause.) Thank you. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford. (Applause.) Hi, Joseph.

Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley. (Applause.) Mark, thank you. Thank you, Mark. Commandant of the Marine Corps General Robert Neller. (Applause.) Robert.

Commandant of the Coast Guard Admiral Karl Schultz. (Applause.) And Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Ronald Green. Ronald. (Applause.) As well as my Chief of Staff, and a beloved Marine  he loves the Marines  John Kelly. John. (Applause.)

And much more important, a great wife and a great mother: Karen. Please stand up. Karen Pence. (Applause.) Great woman. Great man. Great woman. Thank you very much. Thank you everybody.

And thanks to the French Ambassador to the United States, Gerard Araud, for being here. Gerard. Where are you, Gerard? Thank you very much. (Applause.) Thank you very much. I just spoke to your President. I just spoke to President Macron, and hes doing well. He sends his regards. (Laughter.)

I also want to recognize two very special retired Marines who led with extraordinary valor in the wake of the Beirut terrorist attack: Colonel Tim Garrity and General Al Gray. (Applause.)

AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you, General Gray!

THE PRESIDENT: See that? They all love you.

We are also truly thankful to have with us the veterans of Beirut, who really  I mean, this is an incredible group. Im going to ask you to stand. You courageously survived that terrible October day, and you have made your First Duty to Remember. Please stand. (Applause.)

AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you, Mr. President!

THE PRESIDENT: Such incredible spirit. I see hugging and kissing. I think its fantastic. Thats  thats what love is, right? Thats real love. Thats the kind of love we like. Thats beautiful. Thank you. Thank you. Great, great people.

Most importantly, were joined by the families of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for us. Please stand. Please. (Applause.) Wow. Wow. Thats great. Thats really great. Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thats great. Incredible.

To every Gold Star Family: Today, we pay tribute to the heroes you knew and loved. We grieve and mourn by your side. And we honor the immortal sacrifice of 241 heroes who gave their lives for our freedom. Thank you for being here very much.

In 1983, roughly 1,800 Marines were in Beirut to keep the peace in a nation torn apart by civil war. Terrorists had bombed the U.S. Embassy earlier that year, killing 63 people, including 17 Americans.

For the 300 Marines stationed at the Beirut Airport, the morning of October 23rd arrived like any other. The Marines on guard stood there and at their post; others slept peacefully in their bunks  until suddenly, and without warning, a truck driven by a terrorist crashed through the fences and barricades, and into the lobby of the Marine Barracks.

At 6:22 a.m., the terrorist detonated the equivalent of 1,200 pounds, commonly known as 12,000 pounds  thats a lot, and its terrible  of explosives, killing 3 American soldiers, 18 American sailors, and 220 United States Marines. That was a horrible moment.

Minutes later, another truck bomb took the lives of 58 French paratroopers. It was the single deadliest day for the Marines since Iwo Jima.

The attack was carried out by Hezbollah, which Iran was instrumental in founding a year earlier to advance its radical agenda, and remain its main patron today. And we are doing a big number on Iran today, in case you havent noticed. (Applause.)

AUDIENCE MEMBER: God bless you, Mr. Trump!

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Ill tell you what  theyre not the same country they were when I took office, I will tell you that. (Applause.) Theyre rioting in their streets. Their money has collapsed. Their lives are a lot different. And theyre not looking so much for the Mediterranean. When I took office, they were looking for the Mediterranean. They were going to take over everything. Now they want to survive. Whole different deal, folks. Its a whole different deal.

No terrorist group other than al Qaeda has more American blood on its hands.

The service members who died that day include brave young Marines just out of high school, accomplished officers in the middle of their military careers, and enlisted men who had served in theaters all over the world. But they formed one united military family, defending their nation, serving their fellow Americans, and wearing their uniform with dignity and pride. Such incredible pride.

Each of these heroes died as they lived: as noble warriors  they were warriors  whose hearts were filled with courage and whose souls were rich with love.

The United States Marines are often the first to deploy, the first into danger, and the first to fight. And on that morning 35 years ago, they were among the very first to give their lives in the battle against radical Islamic terrorism  the battle that we are winning and we will win. (Applause.)

And I have to point out  and I can do this for General Kelly, General Mattis, and everybody here  that we are doing very well in our fight against ISIS. They are virtually knocked out entirely in Syria. In another short period of time, theyll be gone, and also in Iraq and in lots of other places. We have stepped up the fight to a level that even General Mattis was very happy to get that order. Is that right, General? Weve done a very strong number. (Applause.) Radical Islamic terror.

As Commander-in-Chief, I will always ensure that our service members have the tools, resources, equipment, support, and trust they need to protect this nation and to defeat Americas enemies with overwhelming force. No enemy on Earth can match the strength of our military or the might of our Marines. We will use every instrument of our national power to confront the sinister forces of terrorism.

That is one reason why last year I withdrew the United States from the Iran nuclear disaster. (Applause.) On November 5th, all U.S. sanctions against Iran lifted by the nuclear deal will be back in full force  every sanction that we had on there originally, which would have  if they would have just left it a little bit longer, it would have been so much easier than what weve been through over the last number of years. All they had to do was leave it the way it was. It was eating them away. But weve started it all over again, and it will be just as good. Wasted time  and lives, unfortunately.

And they will be followed up with even more sanctions to address the full range of Irans malign conduct. We will not allow the worlds leading sponsor of terror to develop the worlds deadliest weapons. Will not happen.

Over the past year, we have levied the highest number of sanctions ever imposed on Hezbollah in a single year, by far. Just a few moments ago, I signed legislation imposing even more hard-hitting sanctions on Hezbollah to further starve them of their funds. And they are starving their funds. (Applause.)

We will target, disrupt, and dismantle their operational and financing networks  of which they had plenty; they dont have plenty now  and we will never forget what they did to our great Marines in Beirut. We will never forget. (Applause.)

In the days after the attack, very brave General Al Gray traveled to more than 150 funerals of his beloved Marines who perished in the Beirut bombing.

On one of those trips, he arrived at Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. There, he joined the hour-long funeral procession to transport a fallen Marine to his final resting place in a small town near Auburn, Alabama.

On that long drive, General Gray witnessed a sight that would stay with him forever. Throughout the entire journey  along both sides of the highway, for miles and miles of country road, as far as the eye could see - everyday citizens, who came by the thousands, were lined up to pay their highest respects. They were waving flags, holding hands, holding their hands also over their hearts, and standing in silent salute to our great fallen Marine heroes.

This outpouring of love and devotion was but a small measure of the eternal gratitude of our nation. In all of our history, no figure has ever lived with more grace and courage than the men and women who serve our country in uniform. They are Gods blessing to us all. They are Gods blessing. (Applause.) They are incredible, incredible people.

Each of the Gold Star families here today carries on the remarkable legacy of their loved ones. You care for your families, you serve your communities, you support one another, you persevere, and you overcome. And I know you very well: You win. You just know nothing but winning. I know the people  some of the people in this room, they just know how to win. And you keep the memory of our heroes alive.

So this evening, we pay tribute to your service. We honor your sacrifice. And we say, on behalf of all Americans, thank you. Thank you for your courage. Thank you for your strength. Thank you for your devotion. Thank you for your love that is greater than life itself. And thank you for remembering us all what it means to live like our heroes: forever brave, forever strong, and always, always, always faithful.

Thank you once again. And God bless you. Thank you. Thank you very much.
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Ivanhoe Mines has only been the subject of 4 research reports in the past 90 days.

According to analysts' consensus price target of $12.21, Ivanhoe Mines has a forecasted upside of 54.8% from its current price of $7.89.

Ivanhoe Mines has received a consensus rating of Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.86, and is based on 6 buy ratings, 1 hold rating, and no sell ratings.

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Community Sentiment Ivanhoe Mines has received 74.23% outperform votes from our community.

MarketBeat's community ratings are surveys of what our community members think about Ivanhoe Mines and other stocks. Vote Outperform if you believe IVPAF will outperform the S&P 500 over the long term. Vote Underperform if you believe IVPAF will underperform the S&P 500 over the long term. You may vote once every thirty days.

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Not long ago, a young man named Earnest Ansah studied at Pope John Secondary School in Kiforidua before joining the University of Ghana. After studying Psychology, he ventured into Information Technology and International Business in London. His love for education was part of the reason he came back and establish Datalink. His wife was the co-founder, while Prof. Jacob Nortney is listed as a fellow principal officer. In this article, we give you an insight into the courses offered in the institution, the admission requirements, and the fees you'll pay for the given courses.

Datalink Institute (DLI), also known as Datalink University College, aims to provide the best possible learning environment for all students. The university also boasts its ability to reach research and moral development in line with international standards set by its compatriots in the west. Datalink University College affiliations include Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. It is also affiliated to the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).

Courses offered

Datalink University College courses or programs are as follows;

The School of Business Administration

The School of Computer Sciences

Professional Programs

Masters Programs

The above are some of the programmes offered at Datalink University, among others.

School of Business Administration

As part of the programs offered at Datalink University, the School of Business Administration is key to nurturing students with a corporate mindset. The institution aims to enable students to become academically and professionally functional in managing the organization. Part of the objectives of this school include training students to acquire skills that can help them manage an organization effectively.

They also aim to train students on the basic skills required in business which ensure job retention and placement. At Datalink University School of Business Administration, students are also taught self-reliance and given the tools needed to start businesses and grow into established entrepreneurs. The school is divided into four departments including the department of accounting and the department of banking and finance.

The remaining two are the department of marketing and management studies and the department of human resource management. These departments allow a student to pursue the following academic programs.

Bachelor of Science in Administration (Marketing) Bachelor of Science in Administration (Accounting) Bachelor of Science in Administration (Human Resource Management) Bachelor of Science in Administration (Banking and Finance)

The School of Computer Sciences

Apart from business, Datalink University in Ghana also offers computer-related courses and is among the best in that field at the moment. The institution provides students with programs that offer requisite skills for attaining and keeping jobs as a graduate or even on certificate level. Datalink University seeks to enable students appreciate the value of efficient designing, enabling them to blend easily with competitive job market. At the moment, the university has only two departments under this school in operation.

Department of Information Communication Technology Department of Computer Science

These two departments further subdivide the academic programs offered in this school into two; the Bachelor of Science in computer science and graduate programs. The Bachelor of Science in Computer Science offers the following;

Information Systems (KNUST)

Bachelor of Science in Information and Communication Technology (KNUST)

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science (JUST, China)

These are the graduate programs;

Master of Science in Computer Science (JUST, China)

Programmes undergoing Process of Accreditation

The programmes currently under processing are;

Master of Science in Computer Science (UDS)

Master of Science in Actuarial Science and Statistics (UDS)

The School of Computer Sciences also offers activities such as workshops, industrial trips, conferences, research and innovation, seminars, industrial trips, and admission drives among others. Being that these activities are practical, the university has the ability to improve its internalization agenda, which should be key for every learning institution.

Seminars hosted by the university include Securing Data in the 21st Century and Cyber Security in the 21st Century'. Datalink University also offers industrial attachments and other forms of the internship as part of its activities in a bid to bridge the gap between academics and industry. This school also offers human resource development to encourage staff development in the school. As a result, more offices have been opened and more positions regularized.

At the moment, seven lecturers are about to attain their Ph.D.'s in various fields and will prove pivotal for the university in a few years.

Masters Programs

Datalink University offers the following Masters programmes in collaboration with the Jiangsu University of Science and Technology (JUST), China.

MSc. Computer Science & Information Systems (1 year in Ghana, 1 year in China (optional) with scholarship available)

BSc. Computer Science & Information Systems (2 years in Ghana, 2 years in China (optional) with scholarship available)

Professional Programs

With the economy as it is at the moment, a lot of emphases should be put on professional success if one is to be guaranteed of success in any career. The Data link student portal is the easiest way to access professional programs offered by the institution. These programs are deemed necessary for the acquisition of the necessary tools for contribution towards growth in any organization.

Datalink Universitys strategic location at Temas Industrial Hub helps bring opportunities for workers around Harbour City. The programs which are presented right at their doorsteps offer a hands-on experience to students. Considering some of the applicants are already excelling in business or life, these skills empower them to meet both business and industry needs while maintaining their organizations growth.

Some of the professional programs offered at Datalink University include;

1. International Certificate/Diploma/Advanced Diploma in Logistics and Transport Programmes, offered in collaboration with the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT, UK)

The following people are eligible for this program.

Senior managers and middle line managers

Supervisors

Freight Forwarders

Personnel in supply and Transport in government institutions

Armed forces and the Police

Fire Service and CEPS

Warehousing and Store Managers

Airline Workers and shipping companies workers. Other professionals with interest in pursuing a career in Logistic and Transport management can proceed.

Each of the courses offered under this program has different entry requirements. Here are the Datalink pre-university admission requirements for the International Certificate in Logistics and Transport  CILT.

Senior High school

This is one of the Datalink pre University admission requirement.

GCE Ordinary/Advanced levels (minimum credit pass) or equivalent professional qualifications for the program

Datalink University requirement for mature students

If over 27 and do not meet the academic requirements, students will be required to sit for Mature Entry exams but only for the certificate level.

Candidate must successfully complete four (4) modules through examinations (3 compulsory and one optional)

Compulsory models include Supply Chain Operations, Business Applications, and business theory. Examples of optional courses include warehousing management, inventory management, passenger transport operations, procurement, freight transport operations, transport planning, and green logistics to mention a few.

2. International Certificate/Diploma/Advanced Diploma in Logistics and Transport Programmes

The Charter Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT, UK) is among the Datalink College affiliations that make it possible for such a course to be advertised in Ghana. This course offers in-depth knowledge, confidence boosts, enhanced skill levels, and professional advice to mention a few to its students. Datalink university admission requirements for mature students are a wee bit stringent when it comes to this course with only the following people allowed to enroll.

Senior managers and middle line managers

Supervisors

Freight Forwarders

Personnel in supply and Transport in government institutions

Armed forces and the Police

Fire Service and CEPS

Warehousing and Store Managers

Airline Workers and shipping companies workers.

Other professionals with interest in pursuing a career in Logistic and Transport management can also make applications for consideration.

Here is the Datalink university admission requirement for mature students willing to pursue this course.

Senior High School (SHS)

GCE Ordinary/Advanced Levels (Minimum credit pass)/ equivalent professional qualifications to qualify for this program

If over 27 and do not meet the academic requirements, students will be required to sit for Mature Entry exams but only for the certificate level.

Candidates are also required to successfully complete four (4) modules through examinations (3 compulsory and one optional). The three compulsory modules are supply chain operations, business applications, and business theory. Their optional models include but are not limited to, warehousing management, inventory management, passenger transport operations, procurement, freight transport operations, transport planning, and green logistics.

Datalink University also offers a diploma in logistics and transport DILT as well as its ADILT counterpart. The rules for these two are a little different compared to the certificate entry discussed earlier but only in terms of the number of modules per course. The duration is also different and might change seeing these programmes are currently growing. You can find more information regarding admission for this course here; .

How to apply

To apply for any of the programs offered at Datalink University simply visit their website. On this page, you will see an attached application form that needs to be filled before being submission. However, before downloading the file, be sure to remember the documents the school demands accompany the application. These include;

Personal Information (i.e., Name, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Marital Status, Citizenship, etc...)

Permanent Address (i.e., Box Number, City, Phone Number(s), and a valid email address.

Information about your Next of Kin or Guardian such as Name, Address, Telephone Number, Email address, etc...

Religion

Educational History (i.e., School Attended, Period, Certificate Earned, Subjects, and Grades Obtained)

The program you want to pursue in our institution

Scratch number

Seeing we cannot cover all the Datalink University college courses here, we implore you to visit their website to see if any have been added. Interestingly, the faculties have divided these courses into categories, which make it easier when it comes to viewing the requirements for a certain course. Here are the entry requirements for these different categories.

Category One

Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations (SSSCE), West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and General Business Certificate Examination (GBCE)

The general requirements for admission of WASSCE, SSSCE and GBCE candidates to the B.Sc. (Accounting) Programme are three (3) credit passes in three core subjects and three (3) credit passes in three relevant elective subjects.

Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSSCE) Candidates: Credit

Passes (A-D) in six (6) subjects comprising three core subjects, including English Language and Mathematics, plus three (3) relevant elective subjects.

West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) Candidates: Credit Passes (A1-C6) in six (6) subjects comprising three core subjects, including English Language and Mathematics, plus three (3) relevant elective subjects.

General Business Certificate Examination (GBCE) Candidates: Credit Passes (A-D) in six (6) subjects comprising three core subjects including English Language and Mathematics plus three (3) relevant elective subjects.

Category 2

General Certificate of Education (GCE) Advanced Level Candidates

Passes in three (3) subjects (at least, one of the passes should be Grade D or better). Also, the applicant must have had credit passes (Grade 6) in five GCE Ordinary Level subjects including English Language, Mathematics and a Science subject.

Category 3

Advanced Business Certificate Examination (ABCE) Candidates

The candidate must possess the Full Diploma Certificate in ABCE. Also, the applicant must have had credit passes in five (5) subjects including English Language, Mathematics, Integrated Science or Social Studies in the General Business Certificate Examination (GBCE) or Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSSCE) or West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE).

ABCE candidates will be considered for admission at level 200 of the Programme.

Category 4

Higher National Diploma (HND)

Applicant must have graduated with a good HND certificate (i.e. at least 2nd Class Lower Division). In addition, the applicant must have acquired a 2-year post-HND qualification working experience.

Other Diploma qualifications from elsewhere assessed to be equivalent to HND by NAB shall be considered.

HND and other equivalent Diploma candidates will be considered for admission at level 200 of the programme.

Category 5

Partly Qualified Professionals

Must have passed all subjects at Level I or Level II of ACCA, ICA, CIMA or other equivalent professional qualifications in Accounting.

Category 6

Mature Applicants

Be at least 25 years old, and show proof of age with a birth certificate or any legitimate documentary proof of date of birth.

Applicant must pass the Mature Students Entrance Examination in English Language, Mathematics and an Aptitude Test.

Category 7

Foreign qualifications

All foreign qualifications shall be referred to the National Accreditation Board (NAB) for determination of equivalences and eligibility before admission is offered into the Programme.

More information can be found on the Datalink Student portal as far as the calendar and classes are concerned.

Datalink University College fees information is perhaps the only one you won't find on the university's website. However, the same is relayed to students once you contact the universities offices using the contact information provided below. You can use the email info@datalinkedu.gh or call +233 (0) 303 30 70 80. You can also visit Datalink University Tema Ghana, where you will find the head office.

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Source: Yen.com.gh
Laweh Open University is one of the best universities in the country and the whole of West Africa. Established in 2014, the institution offers a wide selection of programs ranging from certificates to doctorate degrees. Whats more, the university is a global partner of the Open University of Tanzania. Laweh Open University location is at Teshie-Nungua, Addogon Rd, off Baatsona Rd, near Lekma Polytechnic, Accra Ghana.

Laweh University is actually the first and only in Ghana and second in West Africa to be accredited as an Open University College. The school strives to provide some of the best programs and therefore has been able to build a good reputation for itself over the years. Laweh Open University College Ghana has good policies which ensure that it maintains a high level of integrity. Some of these policies include;

Staff development policy  This is a policy that applies to all staff members of the school, whether part time staff or full time staff. All the staffs must attend training at their managers discretion.

Library policy - There are rules and regulations which are outlined to ensure the school library is used in the right way.

Ethics policy  Laweh Open University is committed to ensure that the highest professional and ethical standards are maintained for a great future ahead.

Victims rights policy  This is a policy that has been outlined by the school to all the community members to conduct themselves professionally and uphold a high level of standard. The policy is meant to curb any thefts or other miscellaneous activities.

ODQLA policy  Open distance and e-learning policy which aims to promote and encourage delivery of high-quality practices to higher education institutions.

OER policy  These are free learning and teaching materials known as the Open Educational Resources which are available and can be easily accessed online.

Online courses in Ghana

When it comes to online courses, Laweh Open University is not left behind. Students can access these courses through the iLaweh portal which can be found on the website of the school. This is known as the iCampus and to access it, you need to have been given a student or staff ID.

This actually means that you can learn from anywhere at your own convenience regardless of your location and earn a certificate or degree from Laweh Open University. Laweh Open University also offers online library services which is open to all registered students.

Short courses in Ghana

Laweh provides high-quality programs to the students and the school also features some great short courses which one can partake in. These short courses are certificate and diploma courses.

There are also undergraduate, graduate, as well as college courses, although these are not offered as short courses.

Some of the undergraduate Laweh Open University courses offered include;

BBA International Business Management

BBA Finance and Accounting,

BBA Marketing

BBA Human Resource Management.

Graduate courses include;

MBA Entrepreneurship

MBA Finance & Marketing

MSc Development Economics

MBA Human Resource Management

MBA Procurement & Supply Chain Management

Colleges include;

College of Business,

College of Arts & Social Sciences

College of Science & Technology

College of Health & Public Administration

When you are looking to join an open universities in Ghana, then joining Laweh Open University is the right choice you can make.

Application requirements for Laweh Open University

I'm sure you are asking "is laweh open university accredited?" Yes. they are actually the first and only national open university of Ghana. The laweh open university accreditation is by the National Accreditation board. For application, you can decide to apply online through their website. The process of application requires certain things such as bio-data of the applicant, academic records, as well as Curriculum Vitaes for graduate applicants.

A personal statement is required. Also, you need to note that you might be required to submit hard copies of certified academic records in cases where a conditional offer of admission is received

You can check out more details on the admission requirements here.

Laweh Open University fees

The fee structure of Laweh Open University differs from one level to the other depending on which course you are undertaking . These levels can either be certificates, diplomas, undergraduate programs, or graduate programs.

Laweh Open University fee for undergraduate local students is GHC 1600 for trimester and the graduate programs fee for a trimester for local students is GHC 2800. The fees for international students undergraduate programs is $600 per semester or $1,200 per year. School fees are always paid through deposit to the institutions designated bank account which they specify to you on admission.

Laweh Open University is one to watch out for and a one-of-a kind college that is suitable for all types of people. When it comes to choosing a school, the best recommendation is a university that stands out and provides the right kind of environment and facilities that will be beneficial to students. One such university is the Laweh Open University. Be sure to check out more details about the school on their website. You can also visit them on their specified address above and get to learn more.

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Source: Yen.com.gh
Tensions between students and management of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) have calmed in recent days following the violent protests from the former earlier this week.

On Monday some students went on rampage destroying school properties and ransacking cars belonging to school authorities in a bid to register their displeasure with what they termed as oppression.

This came after some 11 students including an alumnus of the university were arrested and put behind bars at the KNUST police station.

Some angry KNUST students protesting. Source: Citinewsroom

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: KNUST lecturers declare indefinite strike

The students were reportedly beaten and brutalised by the universitys security personnel before being handed to the police for holding a vigil without permission.

Initially the demonstration was meant to be peaceful, but it turned chaotic after the students were incensed by a message from the Dean of Students trying to stop them from going on with it.

In the meantime, the SRC has been having deliberations with the Education Ministry and the schools management on the way forward to resolve the issue.

Following a series of meeting, the SRC came out with some demands which they want students to be enjoying when school resumes.

Below are nine things the students are likely to enjoy, as per the SRCs demands:

1. Return to previous hall/college week celebration schedules. All hall celebrations will be celebrated separately.

2. Open engagement with students regularly (Have an open forum with students to get to know their concerns). Also, students will be treated with respect and dignity-unnecessary harassment from any quarters in their residential life will be promptly attended to.

READ ALSO: I dont believe in Juju because it makes no one popular  Shatta Wale

3. Reverse decisions to consolidate/centralise all student association accounts.

4. Complete lift of ban on morale.

5. Accommodate UNITY and UNIVERSITY hall executives. They should be given the respect due them and also recognition to function as constitutionally elected executives.

6. University management to assure students the happening of student brutality by security personnel will not happen and ensure the safety of students on campus.

7. Re-orientation of campus security personnel. Their limits should be well-defined.

8. University to provide medical care for affected brutalised students.

READ ALSO: Customer sues UMB Bank over GHC160k illegal withdrawal

9. That in light of moving forward a reconciliation approach rather than punitive should be adopted. The end goal of the mediation program is to heal the divides involved.

Ghana News Today: Musical Performances at the Glo Concert: Davido, Stonebwoy and Sarkodie Yen.com.gh

READ ALSO: Four reasons why KNUST's Kelvin Sah is a superstar in Ghana now

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Source: Yen
Ghanaian actress and socialite, Moesha Boduong, has bought herself a brand-new Range Rover Evoque.

The actress has been in the news for both good and bad reasons in recent times but she looks to be moving on just fine.

Moesha is a very popular figure on social media and is noted for posting catchy pictures on her Instagram page.

READ ALSO: President Akufo-Addo presents 200 vehicles to the Ghana Police Service (Video)

Some months back she became the object of scrutiny when she suggested that Ghanaian women need to depend on rich men if they are to be successful.

She was heavily criticized for her utterances, which led to the actress subsequently rendering an unqualified apology to the public.

However, she appears to have moved on from that episode and she has acquired herself a brand new Range Rover Evoque to add to her cars.

In a short video that has gone viral on social media, the socialite is captured walking towards her car to take a ride.

Aside the controversy that she ignited following her interview with the CNN, it is fair to say the actress has had a very good year.

Earlier in June, Moesha was given the honour of hosting the red carpet session of the 2018 Golden Movie Awards held in Ghana.

READ ALSO: Shatta Wale, Shatta Michy wedding to come off early 2019

Recently, she was also unveiled as a brand ambassador for Loggy Travel and Tours to help the company grow in terms of branding and larger audience.

Having been named face of the company, the controversial actress is expected to use her popularity and social media presence to improve their customer base.

Ghana News Today: Musical Performances at the Glo Concert: Davido, Stonebwoy and Sarkodie Yen.com.gh

READ ALSO: Patapaa joins Sarkodies #BiibibaChallenge

Do you have a story to share with us? Inbox us on our Facebook/Instagram page and we could feature your story

Source: Yen Newspaper
The former Deputy Minister of Information last Friday appeared before the Appointments Committee of Parliament to be vetted after being elevated by President Nana Akufo-Addo.

Kojo, the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Ofoase Ayirebi constituency in the Eastern Region, had been the Deputy Minister of Information and got promoted in Akufo-Addo's first reshuffle ever.

For a 36-year-old, Kojo's elevation is an obvious steady rise in the political arena which suggests he has bright a future.

Kojo Oppong Nkrumah and wife, Akua (Photo: Adomonline.com)

Source: Instagram

As the popular saying goes that behind every successful man, there is a woman. And it is no different for the Minister of Information-designate.

READ ALSO: Shatta Wale announces wedding date on radio

Kojo Oppong Nkrumah and wife (Photo: Kojo Oppong Nkrumah)

Source: Twitter

Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has a beautiful woman behind him who has been leading the cheers for him and she is called Akua.

READ ALSO: See photos of unhappy bride who made away with husband's money, properties few days after their honeymoon

Kojo Oppong Nkrumah and wife (Photo: Kojo Oppong Nkrumah)

Source: Twitter

While Kojo, a former Joy FM Super Morning Show host, has been popular, his family life has always been kept on the low.

READ ALSO: Socialite Moesha Boduong buys Range Rover Evoque

Kojo Oppong Nkrumah's wife, Akua (Photo source: Myjoyonline.com)

Source: UGC

His wedding to Akua seven years ago was kept to the blind side of the media and the general public. It was only two weeks after their wedding that it came in the news.

READ ALSO: Sam Okyere defies the odds; becomes the most famous black man in all of South Korea

Kojo Oppong Nkrumah and his mum and wife (Photo source: Myjoyonline.com)

Source: UGC

The two have two kids together named Kwaku and Ama.

Ghana News Today: Chaotic Riot by KNUST Students/Poisonous Tilapia on Ghanaian Markets |Yen.com.gh:

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Source: Yen News
Assin Central Member of Parliament (MP), Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, has criticised the rate and manner in which companies are being taxed under the government of Nana Akufo-Addo.

According to Agyapong, Ghanaian and expatriate businesses are all being affected as they cannot sustain their operations due to the high tax demands from the Akufo-Addo government.

The New Patriotic Party lawmaker is warning that there is a need to tailor taxing to suit ambitions of economic development. Rather, he asserts, taxation has been destructive.

In a report first filed by Mynewsgh.com, Agyapong cited particular examples of companies that he felt were victims of an ongoing poor situation.

He is quoted as saying: "The government has to help these industrieslocal industries. What I observed was that almost all the factories lined up from Mankuazi to VALCO Roundabout have all collapsed.

READ ALSO: Four reasons why KNUST's Kelvin Sah is a superstar in Ghana now

The Assin Central MP (middle) has been a vocal critique of some of the decisions undertaken by the President and Veep from his party

Source: Original

The MP revealed that his contacts in some of the companies had told him that the tax regime was to blame for many of their woes.

He cited one aluminium company that belonged to an Indian. Agyapong claimed that although the company employed Ghanaians, it has had to fold up over debts.

He went on: "I asked him why they were selling off the factories but in response, he told me they owe CAL Bank and they have to sell to go and pay their debt."

READ ALSO: Shatta Wale, Shatta Michy wedding to come off early 2019

Of the government, he said: Your aim is tax. You can tax the workers when you create a lot of employment. Right now you have taxed everything and companies are collapsing it does not make sense."

The MP has couched an image of a vocal critic of the governance of the party he belongs to. Recently, he complained about how he felt the government was out of touch with reality.

Ghana News Today: Chaotic Riot by KNUST Students / Poisonous Tilapia on Ghanaian Markets |Yen.com.gh

Your stories and photos are always welcome. Get interactive via our Facebook page.

Source: Yen
National Democratic Congress (NDC) activist, Dela Coffie, is calling on the party's youth delegates to look out for and elect someone like the New Patriotic Party's (NPP) Sammy Awuku.

The immediate former national youth organiser of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Sammy Awuku, is a man worthy of emulation. That is according to leading opposition youth activist Dela Coffie.

According to a report first filed by Mynewsgh.com, Coffie believes that Awuku's leadership qualities are to be learned and copied irrelevant of whether one shares Awuku's politics.

Coffie claimed that Awuku's part in the NPP's general elections victory of 2016 was underrated. He went on to credit the NPP man with engineering an overwhelming youth support for Nana Akufo-Addo.

READ ALSO: Ken Agyapong laments economic difficulties under Akufo-Addo

Coffie is quoted as saying: When Sammy Awuku was elected the national youth organiser of the NPP in April 2014, he seemed like a different kind of a leader.

"Not just the everyday politician but a new sort of youth leader: thoughtful, reflective and determined to represent all of his party folks.

Now, some two years after galvanizing the Ghanaian youths for the NPP 2016 victory, he has come to represent the standard in youth activism and leadership."

It is indeed not the first time Sammy Awuku has had praise from opposition members. NDC Member of Parliament Sam George has in the past praised Awuku for his youth leadership.

READ ALSO: Shatta Wale, Shatta Michy wedding to come off early 2019

Earlier, YEN.com.gh reported that the NPP government is the target of another Member of Parliament's criticism.

Kennedy Agyapong of Assin Central has slammed the government on what he believes are industry-collapsing taxes.

Ghana News Today: Chaotic Riot by KNUST Students / Poisonous Tilapia on Ghanaian Markets |Yen.com.gh

Your stories and photos are always welcome. Get interactive via our Facebook page.

Source: Yen
In the last week, the campus of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has witnessed violence between students and school security. The leadership of the students has spoken on what caused this.

Interestingly, the troubles have made new heroes and villains out of some people. For one, the president of the students' council, Kelvin Sah has been hailed.

But in the midst of all of this, what has been lost is the idea that facts matter even if the events are overwhelming.

Many in the public have got certain things wrong. YEN.com.gh therefore lists and clarifies four main things that have been misunderstood.

READ ALSO: Photos: Meet Kojo Oppong Nkrumah's beautiful wife

1. The misunderstanding is not because of mixed halls

On a number of occasions since violence broke out on the campus of KNUST, many have drawn conclusions based on the fact that students are still angry about the gender mixing in some traditional halls.

Time and again since the beginning of the week, students and their leadership have had to clarify.

They have said their issue was with an administration that forces its way and looks on as security brutalise students.

2. Students could not build a case against school security

In an interview on Metro TV that was monitored by YEN.com.gh, the leadership of KNUST SRC explained that the mistreatment they got from school security was an issue that had persisted for a while.

According to them, because the school security uniforms had no name tags, students found it hard to identify their harassers and assaulters.

In their non-negotiable demands in the aftermath of the violence, the students asked for name tags for security.

3. Some of the issues precede Vice-Chancellor Obiri-Danso

On social media, it is easy to think that the students' biggest problem is with embattled Vice-Chancellor Kwasi Obiri-Danso.

But from what was gathered by YEN.com.gh in the interviews and press releases of the SRC, some of the problems are not the doing of the VC.

For instance, Afiba Harrison of the SRC lamented the way past administrations have managed to keep SRCs in tight corners, thereby limiting their influence.

READ ALSO: Four reasons why KNUST's Kelvin Sah is a superstar in Ghana now

4. It does not seem like national politics are involved here

A regional executive of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) blamed the violence on the campus of KNUST on the Presidency.

According to the executive, the students felt they have been let down by failed promises that came from the Minister of Education.

But in their official statements on the matter, the SRC of KNUST has never sought to blame the government for the school's problems.

Ghana News Today: Chaotic Riot by KNUST Students / Poisonous Tilapia on Ghanaian Markets |Yen.com.gh

Your stories and photos are always welcome. Get interactive via our Facebook page.

Source: Yen.com.gh
With the media still discussing the fallout from Tuesdays protest staged by students of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) against school management, one name that appears to have the heart of many is Afiba Harrison.

Afiba Harrison occupies the role in the Students' Representative Council (SRC) designated as the chief of staff.

Her comments on Metro TVs Good Evening Ghana show hosted by Paul Adom-Otchere on the KNUST impasse was critical of youth silencing.

YEN.com.gh goes behind the scenes and brings you five facts about Harrison that Ghanaians do not know.

READ ALSO: Four things that Ghanaians have got wrong about KNUST violence

1. She wants to do politics

Information gathered by YEN.com.gh from some students of KNUST indicates that Afiba Harrison has intentions of entering mainstream politics.

Her partisan bend is certainly not open to the general public. But it would not matter much if she continues to fight for the disenfranchised.

2. Harrison is a debator

The chief of staff of KNUST SRC is a confirmed member of the school's Debate Society. If anyone doubted her prowess, her interview with Paul Adom-Otchere should put things in context.

If her intentions on politics are to be seen through, her ability to debate would matter.

3. She is a third year student

Harrison is a third year student on a science programme. This only means that apart from the expected toughness of her studies, she is also standing up to abuse at a very young age.

If she decides to run for SRC president in this academic year, it will be hard to bet against her.

4. She is a former student of Nkroful Senior High

Nkroful is the birthplace of Ghana's first president, Kwame Nkrumah. It would seem like the small Western Region town has given us another gift for future leadership.

Harrison attended Nkroful Senior High where she is believed to have completed in 2015.

READ ALSO: Shatta Wale, Shatta Michy wedding to come off early 2019

5. Afiba Harrison loves reggae music

YEN.com.gh cannot say for sure whose music Harrison like but we can confirm that she is a firm lover of reggae music.

It would not be hard to make the inference that she could like the "liberation" theme of reggae songs owing to how she wants to do politics.

Ghana News Today: Chaotic Riot by KNUST Students / Poisonous Tilapia on Ghanaian Markets |Yen.com.gh

Your stories and photos are always welcome. Get interactive via our Facebook page.

Source: Yen News
A motorist driving past normal speed limits ran over and killed Constable Emmanuel Nii Odartey Lamptey, a recently married police officer who was expecting his first child, YEN.com.gh has learnt.

According to a report sighted by YEN.com.gh on Myjoyonline.comConstable Emmanuel Nii Odartey Lamptey and other officers were performing check duties at the Afienya Snap location near Akosombo when the accident happened.

In recounting the incident, eyewitnesses said that at approximately 7:30 PM, a Toyota Land Cruiser, driven by suspect Benjamin Abash, accelerated and knocked down Lamptey.

Late Constable Odartey Lamptey. Credit: Myjoyonline.com

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Photos: Meet Kojo Oppong Nkrumah's beautiful wife

The crash resulted in Constable Emmanuel Nii Odartey Lamptey's body being dragged underneath the vehicle until the car crashed into a barrier.

The Toyota Land Cruiser then was then thrown into a head-on collision with a Toyota Tundra.

Lamptey sustained life-threatening injuries. He was rushed to Tema General Hospital but died shortly after. Abash was apprehended and detained.

Late Constable Odartey Lamptey. Credit: Myjoyonline.com

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Give me a chance like Tiwa Savage gave Wizkid - Kalybos begs Ahuofe Patri

It is however unclear what charges he will face after the death of the police officer.

Yesterday, October 26, 2018, the Director General of Welfare of police, Akuffo Dampare, visited Lampteys family to commiserate with them over their loss.

Officials from the police service visiting family of late Constable Odartey Lamptey. Credit: Myjoyonline.com

Source: UGC

Lamptey leaves behind a wife, who he married six months ago, and a baby girl, who was born days after her father died.

READ ALSO: Real ages of Yaw Dabo, Don Little, other popular Ghanaian diminutive actors

Watch: Ghana News Today: Musical Performances at the Glo Concert: Davido, Stonebwoy and Sarkodie Yen.com.gh

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Source: Yen.com.gh
Pregnant women in Africa have been given another option on how they can make their deliveries worthwhile and in comfortable fashion.

For many people, giving birth is all about carrying a baby in the womb for nine months and then going to the hospital to deliver.

However, the world is now changing and so has everything been uplifted, including child delivery services.

READ ALSO: Moesha Boduong releases new Range Rover Evoque

A Nigeria-based company known as Oasis Birth Services is specialized in ensuring that pregnant women get the best experiences all the way from pregnancy to labour.

Oasis Birth Services was specifically designed with the aim of assisting pregnant women who have dreams of birthing in America.

What this means is that if you can afford, you pay them and they arrange for you to travel to the USA or Canada to deliver.

How amazing, right?

They take care of planning, health assurances, food and anything else that is concerned with the pregnant woman and her unborn child.

READ ALSO: Drunkards association unhappy with increase in price of beer(Video)

This may be new but it appears maternity is also being taken to another level by the Oasis Birth Services.

Yenkasa: Ghallywood - Popular Ghanaian Actors Share Thoughts About Ghallywood Future | #Yencomgh

READ ALSO: 9 things KNUST students can now do when school resumes

Your stories and photos are always welcome. Get interactive via our Facebook page.

Source: Yen
Ghana's movie industry has exploded in the last two decades. And among the actors who have made Kumawood and "Ghallywood" productions very vibrant are several diminutive stars who have lit up our screens with fun and laughter.

Click here for all the latest arts and entertainment news in Ghana

READ ALSO: Video: I am seeking a court injunction on "One Corner" to save lives- Top Pastor reveals

Today, YEN.com.gh brings you some of the diminutive actors who have graced our screens with their acting and their ages. Some of these actors play their roles so well that it becomes difficult to tell their real ages just by looking at the characters they are portraying or their size.

It became a trend some time ago to have these diminutive actors star in movies because of the sense of humor they added to the movies. One of the popular movies that paraded a number of these minuscule professionals was Harry Lauds Koti Academy.

Here are 4 of Ghanas famous diminutive actors and their real ages:

1. Don Little (20 Years)

Don Little

The young actor made his first appearance on TV in Funny Faces series, Cow and Chicken. The actor is believed to have been adopted by actor Funny Face. The young actor is reported to have indicated that he liked women with big backsides despite he being a little man. He is also noted to have a smart mouth. It is alleged that he had Junior High School graduate has slept with 5 women.

READ ALSO: Government offers scholarships to all SHS students in Denkyira Obuasi

2. Wayoosi (43 Years)

Wayoosi

The popular Kumawood actor has starred in over 50 Kumawood-produced movies alongside some of the industrys greats. He is known to have taken ill some time back but has recovered fully. The actor indicated that he attended Kings College and became a painter by profession.

He added that he had made a lot of money from acting stating that he owned a car and also had a pub of his own. Wayoosi considers Pastor Lord Kenya as his role model because according to him, he shot to fame after he joined the former musicians dance group.

3. Yaw Dabo (20 Years)

Yaw Dabo

The budding Kumawood actor has been speculated to be over 27 years old but it has been revealed that the young man was born in 1998. Recently, news was rife that he was in a relationship with fellow Kumawood actress, Vivian Okyere.

The actor has indicated that he is in love with her and has promised to wed her soon. He is reported to have indicated that his wedding to the actress was going to be a lavish one since he plans on spending GHc 150,000 on the event. He has also indicated that his services cost GHc 3,000 and above. He is however believed to be very wealthy and known to own a number of properties

READ ALSO: Actress Rosemond Brown strips down for new photo-session

4. Joseph Pamfo (32 Years)

Joe Shortingo

The actor is best known by the stage name, Joe Shortingo but better known for his immaculate foreign accent. He has starred in many movies and series and has acted with some of the top stars in the movie industry.

The actor is believed to have indicated that he was inspired by Osita and Chinedu of Aki and Porpor fame. His first appearance on the screen was when he was cast in the series, Broadway.

READ ALSO: 12 photos that explain why most pastors will go to hell

YEN is building a platform where Ghanaians can share local news and own experiences with each other. Witnessing an incident?

Want to tell about a local problem? Know someone who is extremely talented and needs recognition?

Your stories and photos are always welcome. Send us a message via YENs official Facebook page.

Source: Yen
Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili.

HTF MI recently introduced Global and Regional Pharma & Healthcare Social Media Market study with in-depth overview, describing about the Product / Industry Scope and elaborates market outlook and status to 2023. The market Study is segmented by key regions which is accelerating the marketization. At present, the market is developing its presence and some of the key players from the complete study are ABBOTT LABS, AMGEN, ASTELLAS PHARMACEUTICALS, ASTRA-ZENECA, BAYER PHARMACEUTICALS, BAXTER, BOEHRINGER INGELHEIM, BRISTOL MYERS SQUIBB, DAIICHI SANKYO, ELI LILLY, GLAXOSMITHKLINE, JOHNSON & JOHNSON, MERCK, NOVARTIS, NOVO NORDISK, PFIZER, ROCHE, SANOFI-AVENTIS, TEVA PHARMACEUTICALS, UCB, etc.







Request Sample of 2018-2023 Global and Regional Pharma & Healthcare Social Media Industry Production, Sales and Consumption Status and Prospects Professional Market Research Report @: https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/1428437-2018-2023-global-and-regional-pharma-healthcare-social-media-industry-production-sales-and-consumption-status-and-prospects-professional-market



This report studies the Global and Regional Pharma & Healthcare Social Media market size, industry status and forecast, competition landscape and growth opportunity. This research report categorizes the Global and Regional Pharma & Healthcare Social Media market by companies, region, type and end-use industry.



Browse 100+ market data Tables and Figures spread through Pages and in-depth TOC on " and Regional Pharma & Healthcare Social Media Market by Type (Medical Service, Medicine Marketing), by End-Users/Application (Hospitals, Clinics, , , ,), Organization Size, Industry, and Region - Forecast to 2023". Early buyers will receive 10% customization on comprehensive study.



In order to get a deeper view of Market Size, competitive landscape is provided i.e. Revenue (Million USD) by Players (2013-2018), Revenue Market Share (%) by Players (2013-2018) and further a qualitative analysis is made towards market concentration rate, product/service differences, new entrants and the technological trends in future.



Enquire for customization in Report @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/enquiry-before-buy/1428437-2018-2023-global-and-regional-pharma-healthcare-social-media-industry-production-sales-and-consumption-status-and-prospects-professional-market

Competitive Analysis:

The key players are highly focusing innovation in production technologies to improve efficiency and shelf life. The best long-term growth opportunities for this sector can be captured by ensuring ongoing process improvements and financial flexibility to invest in the optimal strategies. Company profile section of players such as ABBOTT LABS, AMGEN, ASTELLAS PHARMACEUTICALS, ASTRA-ZENECA, BAYER PHARMACEUTICALS, BAXTER, BOEHRINGER INGELHEIM, BRISTOL MYERS SQUIBB, DAIICHI SANKYO, ELI LILLY, GLAXOSMITHKLINE, JOHNSON & JOHNSON, MERCK, NOVARTIS, NOVO NORDISK, PFIZER, ROCHE, SANOFI-AVENTIS, TEVA PHARMACEUTICALS, UCB, etc.



Market Segments:

The Global and Regional Pharma & Healthcare Social Media Market has been divided into type, application, and region.

On The Basis Of Type: Medical Service, Medicine MarketingFinally, the report contains the conclusion part where the opinions of the industrial experts are included..

On The Basis Of Application: Hospitals, Clinics, , , ,

On The Basis Of Region, this report is segmented into following key geographies, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), and market share, growth rate of and Regional Pharma & Healthcare Social Media in these regions, from 2013 to 2023 (forecast), covering

 North America (U.S. & Canada) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Analysis (%) and Opportunity Analysis}

 Latin America (Brazil, Mexico & Rest of Latin America) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Share (%) and Opportunity Analysis}

 Europe (The U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Sweden & RoE) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Share (%) and Opportunity Analysis}

 Asia-Pacific (China, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Rest of Asia) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Share (%) and Opportunity Analysis}

 Middle East & Africa (GCC, South Africa, North Africa, RoMEA) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Share (%) and Opportunity Analysis}

 Rest of World {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Analysis (%) and Opportunity Analysis}



Buy Single User License of 2018-2023 Global and Regional Pharma & Healthcare Social Media Industry Production, Sales and Consumption Status and Prospects Professional Market Research Report @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/buy-now?format=1&report=1428437





Have a look at some extracts from Table of Content



Introduction about Global and Regional Pharma & Healthcare Social Media



Global and Regional Pharma & Healthcare Social Media Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 2017

and Regional Pharma & Healthcare Social Media Market by Application/End Users

Global and Regional Pharma & Healthcare Social Media Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Applications

(2013-2023) table defined for each application/end-users like [Hospitals, Clinics, , , ,]

Global and Regional Pharma & Healthcare Social Media Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2023)

and Regional Pharma & Healthcare Social Media Competition by Players/Suppliers, Region, Type and Application

and Regional Pharma & Healthcare Social Media (Volume, Value and Sales Price) table defined for each geographic region defined.

Global and Regional Pharma & Healthcare Social Media Players/Suppliers Profiles and Sales Data



Additionally Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors list is being provided for each listed manufacturers



Market Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018) table for each product type which include & The report contains the SWOT analysis of the market. Finally, the report contains the conclusion part where the opinions of the industrial experts are included.

and Regional Pharma & Healthcare Social Media Manufacturing Cost Analysis

and Regional Pharma & Healthcare Social Media Key Raw Materials Analysis

and Regional Pharma & Healthcare Social Media Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers, Industrial Chain Analysis

Market Forecast (2018-2023)

........and more in complete table of Contents





Browse for Full Report at: https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/1428437-2018-2023-global-and-regional-pharma-healthcare-social-media-industry-production-sales-and-consumption-status-and-prospects-professional-market

Source URL: https://www.openpr.com/news/1331158/Pharma-Healthcare-Social-Media-Market-is-Booming-Worldwide-ABBOTT-LABS-AMGEN-PFIZER-ROCHE-SANOFI-AVENTIS.html



Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.



About Author:

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.



Contact US :

Craig Francis (PR & Marketing Manager)

HTF Market Intelligence Consulting Private Limited

Unit No. 429, Parsonage Road Edison, NJ

New Jersey USA  08837

Phone: +1 (206) 317 1218

sales@htfmarketreport.com




Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili.

HTF MI recently introduced Global and Regional Nurse Call Systems Market study with in-depth overview, describing about the Product / Industry Scope and elaborates market outlook and status to 2023. The market Study is segmented by key regions which is accelerating the marketization. At present, the market is developing its presence and some of the key players from the complete study are Ascom Holding AG, Hill-ROM Holdings, Inc., Tyco International PLC, Honeywell International, Inc., Rauland-Borg Corporation, Siemens AG, Schrack Seconet AG, Azure Healthcare Limited, Tektone Sound & Signal Mfg., Inc., Intercall Systems. etc.





Research projects that the Nurse Call Systems market size will grow from USD 1.22 Billion in 2017 to USD 2.07 Billion by 2023, at an estimated CAGR of 9.2%. The base year considered for the study is 2017, and the market size is projected from 2018 to 2023.

Request Sample of 2018-2023 Global and Regional Nurse Call Systems Industry Production, Sales and Consumption Status and Prospects Professional Market Research Report @: https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/1428178-2018-2023-global-and-regional-nurse-call-systems-industry-production-sales-and-consumption-status-and-prospects-professional-market



This report studies the Global and Regional Nurse Call Systems market size, industry status and forecast, competition landscape and growth opportunity. This research report categorizes the Global and Regional Nurse Call Systems market by companies, region, type and end-use industry.



Browse 100+ market data Tables and Figures spread through Pages and in-depth TOC on " and Regional Nurse Call Systems Market by Type (Buttons, Integrated Communication Systems, Mobile Systems, Intercom Systems), by End-Users/Application (Hospitals, Clinics and Physician Offices, Assisted Living Centers and Nursing Homes, Ambulatory Care Centers, Other End Users,), Organization Size, Industry, and Region - Forecast to 2023". Early buyers will receive 10% customization on comprehensive study.



In order to get a deeper view of Market Size, competitive landscape is provided i.e. Revenue (Million USD) by Players (2013-2018), Revenue Market Share (%) by Players (2013-2018) and further a qualitative analysis is made towards market concentration rate, product/service differences, new entrants and the technological trends in future.





Enquire for customization in Report @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/enquiry-before-buy/1428178-2018-2023-global-and-regional-nurse-call-systems-industry-production-sales-and-consumption-status-and-prospects-professional-market

Competitive Analysis:

The key players are highly focusing innovation in production technologies to improve efficiency and shelf life. The best long-term growth opportunities for this sector can be captured by ensuring ongoing process improvements and financial flexibility to invest in the optimal strategies. Company profile section of players such as Ascom Holding AG, Hill-ROM Holdings, Inc., Tyco International PLC, Honeywell International, Inc., Rauland-Borg Corporation, Siemens AG, Schrack Seconet AG, Azure Healthcare Limited, Tektone Sound & Signal Mfg., Inc., Intercall Systems, etc.



Market Segments:

The Global and Regional Nurse Call Systems Market has been divided into type, application, and region.

On The Basis Of Type: Buttons, Integrated Communication Systems, Mobile Systems, Intercom Systems.

On The Basis Of Application: Hospitals, Clinics and Physician Offices, Assisted Living Centers and Nursing Homes, Ambulatory Care Centers, Other End Users,

On The Basis Of Region, this report is segmented into following key geographies, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), and market share, growth rate of and Regional Nurse Call Systems in these regions, from 2013 to 2023 (forecast), covering

 North America (U.S. & Canada) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Analysis (%) and Opportunity Analysis}

 Latin America (Brazil, Mexico & Rest of Latin America) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Share (%) and Opportunity Analysis}

 Europe (The U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Sweden & RoE) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Share (%) and Opportunity Analysis}

 Asia-Pacific (China, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Rest of Asia) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Share (%) and Opportunity Analysis}

 Middle East & Africa (GCC, South Africa, North Africa, RoMEA) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Share (%) and Opportunity Analysis}

 Rest of World {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Analysis (%) and Opportunity Analysis}



Buy Single User License of 2018-2023 Global and Regional Nurse Call Systems Industry Production, Sales and Consumption Status and Prospects Professional Market Research Report @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/buy-now?format=1&report=1428178



Have a look at some extracts from Table of Content



Introduction about Global and Regional Nurse Call Systems



Global and Regional Nurse Call Systems Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 2017

and Regional Nurse Call Systems Market by Application/End Users

Global and Regional Nurse Call Systems Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Applications

(2013-2023) table defined for each application/end-users like [Hospitals, Clinics and Physician Offices, Assisted Living Centers and Nursing Homes, Ambulatory Care Centers, Other End Users,]

Global and Regional Nurse Call Systems Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2023)

and Regional Nurse Call Systems Competition by Players/Suppliers, Region, Type and Application

and Regional Nurse Call Systems (Volume, Value and Sales Price) table defined for each geographic region defined.

Global and Regional Nurse Call Systems Players/Suppliers Profiles and Sales Data



Additionally Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors list is being provided for each listed manufacturers



Market Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018) table for each product type which include & The report contains the SWOT analysis of the market. Finally, the report contains the conclusion part where the opinions of the industrial experts are included.

and Regional Nurse Call Systems Manufacturing Cost Analysis

and Regional Nurse Call Systems Key Raw Materials Analysis

and Regional Nurse Call Systems Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers, Industrial Chain Analysis

Market Forecast (2018-2023)

........and more in complete table of Contents



Browse for Full Report at: https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/1428178-2018-2023-global-and-regional-nurse-call-systems-industry-production-sales-and-consumption-status-and-prospects-professional-market

Source URL: https://www.openpr.com/news/1331179/Nurse-Call-Systems-Market-is-Booming-9-CAGR-Ascom-Holding-Honeywell-International-Intercall-Systems-Rauland-Borg.html



Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.



About Author:

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.



Contact US :

Craig Francis (PR & Marketing Manager)

HTF Market Intelligence Consulting Private Limited

Unit No. 429, Parsonage Road Edison, NJ

New Jersey USA  08837

Phone: +1 (206) 317 1218

sales@htfmarketreport.com




Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili.

HTF MI recently introduced Global and Regional Artificial Intelligence in Security Market study with in-depth overview, describing about the Product / Industry Scope and elaborates market outlook and status to 2023. The market Study is segmented by key regions which is accelerating the marketization. At present, the market is developing its presence and some of the key players from the complete study are Nvidia , Intel , Xilinx , Samsung Electronics , Micron , IBM , Cylance , Threatmetrix , Securonix , Amazon , Sift Science , Acalvio , Skycure , Darktrace , Sparkcognition , Antivirus Companies , High-Tech Bridge, Deep Instinct, Sentinelone, Feedzai etc.







HTF Research projects that the Artificial Intelligence in Security market size will grow from USD 3.92 Billion in 2017 to USD 20.01 Billion by 2023, at an estimated CAGR of 31.22%. The base year considered for the study is 2017, and the market size is projected from 2018 to 2023.

Request Sample of 2018-2023 Global and Regional Artificial Intelligence in Security Industry Production, Sales and Consumption Status and Prospects Professional Market Research Report @: https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/1428854-2018-2023-global-and-regional-artificial-intelligence-in-security-industry-production-sales-and-consumption-status-and-prospects-professional-market

This report studies the Global and Regional Artificial Intelligence in Security market size, industry status and forecast, competition landscape and growth opportunity. This research report categorizes the Global and Regional Artificial Intelligence in Security market by companies, region, type and end-use industry.





Browse 100+ market data Tables and Figures spread through Pages and in-depth TOC on " and Regional Artificial Intelligence in Security Market by Type ( & The report contains the SWOT analysis of the market. Finally, the report contains the conclusion part where the opinions of the industrial experts are included.), by End-Users/Application (????????????), Organization Size, Industry, and Region - Forecast to 2023". Early buyers will receive 10% customization on comprehensive study.



In order to get a deeper view of Market Size, competitive landscape is provided i.e. Revenue (Million USD) by Players (2013-2018), Revenue Market Share (%) by Players (2013-2018) and further a qualitative analysis is made towards market concentration rate, product/service differences, new entrants and the technological trends in future.



Enquire for customization in Report @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/enquiry-before-buy/1428854-2018-2023-global-and-regional-artificial-intelligence-in-security-industry-production-sales-and-consumption-status-and-prospects-professional-market



Competitive Analysis:

The key players are highly focusing innovation in production technologies to improve efficiency and shelf life. The best long-term growth opportunities for this sector can be captured by ensuring ongoing process improvements and financial flexibility to invest in the optimal strategies. Company profile section of players such as Nvidia , Intel , Xilinx , Samsung Electronics , Micron , IBM , Cylance , Threatmetrix , Securonix , Amazon , Sift Science , Acalvio , Skycure , Darktrace , Sparkcognition , Antivirus Companies , High-Tech Bridge, Deep Instinct, Sentinelone, Feedzai, etc.



Market Segments:

The Global and Regional Artificial Intelligence in Security Market has been divided into type, application, and region.





By Offering

Software, Hardware, Services

By Deployment Type

Cloud Deployment, On Premise Deployment

By Security Type

Endpoint Security, Network Security , Application Security , Cloud Security

By Technology

Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing (NLP) , Context Awareness Computing

On The Basis Of Region, this report is segmented into following key geographies, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), and market share, growth rate of and Regional Artificial Intelligence in Security in these regions, from 2013 to 2023 (forecast), covering

 North America (U.S. & Canada) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Analysis (%) and Opportunity Analysis}

 Latin America (Brazil, Mexico & Rest of Latin America) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Share (%) and Opportunity Analysis}

 Europe (The U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Sweden & RoE) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Share (%) and Opportunity Analysis}

 Asia-Pacific (China, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Rest of Asia) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Share (%) and Opportunity Analysis}

 Middle East & Africa (GCC, South Africa, North Africa, RoMEA) {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Share (%) and Opportunity Analysis}

 Rest of World {Market Revenue (USD Billion), Growth Analysis (%) and Opportunity Analysis}



Buy Single User License of 2018-2023 Global and Regional Artificial Intelligence in Security Industry Production, Sales and Consumption Status and Prospects Professional Market Research Report @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/buy-now?format=1&report=1428854



Have a look at some extracts from Table of Content



Introduction about Global and Regional Artificial Intelligence in Security



Global and Regional Artificial Intelligence in Security Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 2017

and Regional Artificial Intelligence in Security Market by Application/End Users

Global and Regional Artificial Intelligence in Security Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Applications

(2013-2023) table defined for each application/end-users Global and Regional Artificial Intelligence in Security Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2023)

and Regional Artificial Intelligence in Security Competition by Players/Suppliers, Region, Type and Application

and Regional Artificial Intelligence in Security (Volume, Value and Sales Price) table defined for each geographic region defined.

Global and Regional Artificial Intelligence in Security Players/Suppliers Profiles and Sales Data



Additionally Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors list is being provided for each listed manufacturers



Market Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018) table for each product type which include & The report contains the SWOT analysis of the market. Finally, the report contains the conclusion part where the opinions of the industrial experts are included.

and Regional Artificial Intelligence in Security Manufacturing Cost Analysis

and Regional Artificial Intelligence in Security Key Raw Materials Analysis

and Regional Artificial Intelligence in Security Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers, Industrial Chain Analysis

Market Forecast (2018-2023)

........and more in complete table of Contents





Browse for Full Report at: https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/1428854-2018-2023-global-and-regional-artificial-intelligence-in-security-industry-production-sales-and-consumption-status-and-prospects-professional-market

Source URL: https://www.openpr.com/news/1331227/Artificial-Intelligence-in-Security-Market-is-Booming-31-CAGR-Nvidia-Intel-Xilinx-Samsung-Electronics-Micron-IBM.html



Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.



About Author:

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.



Contact US :

Craig Francis (PR & Marketing Manager)

HTF Market Intelligence Consulting Private Limited

Unit No. 429, Parsonage Road Edison, NJ

New Jersey USA  08837

Phone: +1 (206) 317 1218

sales@htfmarketreport.com




UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said today the Prime Minister should be the person who has the majority support in parliament and that he commands the majority support.

I urge to convene Parliament without leading the country into chaos. It is not necessary to create crisis in the country. Let the Parliament decide whether who should be the Prime Minister, he said.

He said this at a news conference held at temple Trees attended by constituent parties of the United National Front including Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and the Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA).

Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) General Secretary Patali Champika Ranawaka said the United National Front (UNF) could form a government without the support of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA).
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By USA Today , Oct. 25, 2018





Federal investigators are increasingly focusing on Florida as a transit point for a number of the 10 suspected explosive devices recovered so far in a chilling terror campaign aimed at top Democratic Party leaders and supporters, a law enforcement official said Thursday.





The official, who is not authorized to comment publicly, said among the locations that have drawn investigative interest has been the postal distribution center in Opa Locka, Florida, where several of the packages may have passed through.

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By FreeBeacon , Oct. 26,, 2018





A female staffer for Jared Polis, the Democratic nominee for governor in Colorado, angrily confronted a conservative activist at a public political event and grabbed the activist's phone out of his hand.





Mara Sheldon, Polis's communications director, confronted activist Jovanni Valle at the event, which was headlined by Bernie Sanders. Valle was asking female members of the crowd about whether Polis can be considered a "feminist" after he admitted to police in the late 1990s that he pushed his female employee.

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Thousands of people are protesting to save ancient forest

Ancient Hambach Forest is at risk of being felled for mining. Germans are trying to stop this decision.

Protesters gathered at Hambach Forest near the western German city of Aachen on Saturday in the hope of saving what is left of the 12,000-year-old forest before it is felled for mining.

GERMAN POLICE BEAT THE PROTESTERS

Police faced off with some 5000 activists. German police beat and wiped the floor up with some protesters. Also some protesters took into custody by the police.

SOON THERE WILL BE MINING OPERATIONS

German energy giant RWE bought the land Hambach Forest sits on in the 1970s but the company is required to preserve the forest as long as possible and clearing trees is only allowed when it is seen as essential to mining operations.

PROTESTERS AR OCCUPING THE AREA FOR THE PAST 6 YEARS

Protesters have occupied the area for the past six years, with some living in tree house structures. But as RWE prepares to fell the remaining forest, protests at Hambach have escalated. But German police is trying to put an end for this protest.
When investigators found $45,000 in cash inside the Brooklyn apartment of a man they suspected might be linked to last weeks killing of a reputed mobster, the mans grandmother offered an explanation.

The money had turned up in the last week, she told investigators, and it came from her grandsons T-shirt business.

Federal prosecutors had a different theory: The man, Bushawn Shelton, 34, was a high-ranking member of the Bloods street gang, and had taken part in a plot to kill Sylvester and Salvatore Zottola, a father and son who were reputed to be associates of the Bonanno crime family.

On Thursday, Mr. Shelton, who is known as Shelz, was arrested and charged in United States District Court in Brooklyn with federal conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and brandishing a firearm.
Seafood among 7 commodity groups earning over USD1 billion worth of export turnover in the US market

Since the Vietnam  US trade agreement took effect in 2000, trade turnover between the two countries continued to grow at a high level. While the export turnover only reached USD730 million in 2000, the figure amounted to USD41.6 billion in 2017.

Vietnam has 7 commodity groups earning export turnover of more than USD1 billion in the US in the nine months, down 1 group (handbag, purse, hat and umbrella, at USD952 million) compared to the same period last year.

Garments and textiles topped the list with a turnover of USD10.33 billion, increasing by 11.6% over a year earlier and making up 46% of the total.

Footwear earned USD4.27 billion, a year-on-year rise of 13.5% and making up 12.2%.

Exports of telephones and components were valued at USD619 million in September, bringing the total figure for the nine months to USD4.12 billion, a sharp rise of 43.6% and making up 11.8%.

Wood and wooden products bagged USD337 million this month, bringing the total figure for the nine months to USD2.73 billion, up 15.7% and making up 7.8%.

Export value of computer, electronic products and spare parts reached USD235 million this month, raising the figure for the nine months to USD2.07, down 14.1% and accounting for 5.9%.

The two remaining groups earning export turnover of more than USD1 billion are machinery, devices and accessories (USD2.34 billion, up 29.6%) and seafood (USD1.14 billion, up 9.2%).

Statistics of Vietnam General Department of Customs showed imports from the US reached USD9.55 billion in the nine months, up 36.9% over a year earlier and making up 5.5%./.
This blog covers software patent news and issues with a particular focus on wireless, mobile devices (smartphones, tablet computers, connected cars) as well as select antitrust matters surrounding those devices.
Board member Sunny Zia has said she would recuse herself from any discussions specifically related to her.
Info

Zusatzliche Zuge am Bahnhof Siegburg/Bonn nach Fahrplanwechsel:

Richtung Suden: Dortmund - Nurnberg - Munchen: 15.55 Uhr (taglich)

Dortmund - Stuttgart: 17.26 Uhr (taglich auer Sa)

Richtung Norden: Munchen - Nurnberg - Essen: 14 Uhr (Mo bis Fr)

Gestrichene ICE-Halte:

Richtung Suden: Dortmund - Stuttgart - Munchen: 10.09 Uhr (taglich ab April 2019) sowie 16.09 Uhr und 18.09 Uhr (jeweils taglich)

Richtung Norden: Munchen - Stuttgart - Dortmund, 11.47 und 13.47 Uhr (jeweils taglich) sowie 19.47 Uhr (taglich ab April 2019)

Frankfurt - Koln: 14.38 Uhr (Mo bis Fr)
Rooms sealed off : Mercury found in Bonn University buildings

Bonn In the former Chemical Institute of Bonn University 147 rooms are contaminated with mercury, 30 of those heavily. As a first measure, the rooms were sealed off, and utilisation periods agreed on for other rooms.

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The rooms in the former Chemical Institute seem to have been contaminated with mercury for decades. The premises at the Meckenheimer Allee, where chemists handled harmful substances until 1972, are used nowadays as work and office rooms for microbiologists and geographers. The university has now sealed off the rooms.

The amounts found by an expert team far exceed the limits issued by the environmental agency. The source of the mercury contamination is named as the drainage system, according to the report. The report also states that mitigation measures are necessary.

The university decided that business can be conducted as usual, with some restrictions. Former employees and students who were exposed to the mercury fumes, possibly for years, were not specifically informed yet about the extent of the contamination.

Decontaminating the protected building would incurvery high costs, according to the experts.

If there hadnt been a mishap, the mercury contamination in the air might have never been detected. In spring this year, a measuring instrument in the cellar broke, releasing some of the poisonous heavy metal in to the air. After the mercury was removed, experts measured the levels in the air as a routine check - and noticed something they could not quite explain at first. Not only the room in question but also the halls, other rooms and other storeys as well as the lecture halls were affected.

In total, 147 rooms, including three lecture halls, are contaminated.

Heinz-Jorn Moriske, who is leading the counselling centre for environmental hygiene at the federal environmental agency, saw it as the universitys duty to act immediataley. The agency is not responsible for this case, but was asked by the General-Anzeiger for a professional judgement on the measured mercury levels. Moriske: Nobody should be allowed to sit anymore in some offices.

Until 1972, the complex was used intensively by the chemistry faculty, after that it was empty and decayed. 1984 the city listed it as a protected building, for three years, extensive restoration works were undertaken. After that the geographers moved in, then the microbiologists. Since then the scientists are not using chemicals like mercury there any more. Obviously the old, contaminated drainage pipes were not exchanged - which, according to Moriske, should have been done to remove the mercury sources. If the drainage system is indeed the culrpit, it most likely has to be taken out. Experts suggest to examine the pipes from the inside with cameras, and to clean them.

Pregnant women are not allowed into the rooms

The university has decided on utilisation periods as a first measure, and hung up notifications on many doors. Five rooms are allowed to be used for one hour per day, another nine rooms for up to four hours. Two rooms are completely sealed off. Pregnant women are not allowed into the lower storeys of the building complex any more. In a information event in September, some employees and students were told of the new regulations. And there was a notification on the universitys website.

The exact levels were not published, according to the students and staff. They were told instead to open the windows. Very strict limits were set in the examinations, they were told.

University spokesperson Andreas Archut also doesnt call the contamination alarming. he argues that the measuring took place with closed windows and switched off air-conditions - a scenario indicating the worst case. The levels measured were ranging from extremely elevated to extremely low.

But only the labs have air-conditioning systems which are running around-the-clock. It is quite unlikely that the windows in the other rooms are open all the time. We assume there is no danger if the agreed utilisation periods are respected, which were established with the in-house medical authority, said Archut.

So far, only very few people had presented themselves at the universitys doctors offices. There were no complaints about health problems. It remains unclear though what happened to the hundreds of students and employees who were exposed to the fumes since the geographers moved in in 1987.

Cause of the mercury contamination unexplained

According to Archut, the cause of the contamination is not clear and can possibly be traced back to the 100-year long use of the building as a chemical institute. The expert report names a definite result: The sources are, according to the first measurings, the drainage pipes. Not only inside the building, but also in exterior gullys, for example in the inner yard, there were mercury amounts found. From there, the waste water runs into the sewer system. The report is substantiated by the reports of former institute staff: Mercury used to be poured straight down the drain back then, they told the GA newspaper. Therefore the contamination would be so high in basin and floor drains.

The city council Bonn was not officially informed about the incident, according to the press office. We assume these findings are an internal issue for the university, where occupational safety and in-house doctors are in demand, said a city council spokesperson.

The NRW ministry for culture and science as well as the construction and the building and infrastructure service NRW (BLB) who rents the building to the university have been notified. The university uses the complex independently and is responsible for the facilities and technical systems itself, said BLB spokesperson Tim Irion. Thus the university has to handle the incident and has to call the experts in itself.

The room air contamination at a glance

To measuremercury fumes in room air there are the guide values I and II of the environmental agency: guide value I (35 nanogram per cubic meter room air) describes a so-called precautionary value, within which no health risks are expected even if lifelong exposure occurs. Guide value II or risk value" is an amount coinciding with health risks. It is describing a concentration of a a subtance which is so high that an immediate reaction is called for. In particular to permanently stay in the rooms affected can be dangerous to sensitive people including children.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (R) receives Calin Dragan, Director of Coca-Colas Bottling Investments Group, in Hanoi on October 26th (Photo: VNA)



Along with fulfilling tax responsibilities, the firm has also actively engaged in social activities, the PM said while receiving Calin Dragan, Director of Coca-Colas Bottling Investments Group in Southeast Asia and the Middle East in Hanoi on October 26th.

The PM pledged that the Vietnamese Government always creates favourable conditions and mechanism for investors.

Recalling his meeting with the Vietnamese leaders during his visit to the US in May 2017, Dragan said that he always remembers the PMs suggestions, including the increase of using domestic materials.

Thanks to Vietnams policy of creating favourable conditions, the firm has enjoyed good growth and become one of the 100 biggest tax payers in the country, he said.

Dragan revealed that Coca-Cola is seeking a suitable area in Hanoi to open its fourth factory in Vietnam, adding that the firm also plans to launch another factory in Ho Chi Minh City.

Dragan thanked the Government of Vietnam and PM Phuc for creating good environment for enterprises. He reaffirmed Coca-Colas commitments to fulfil both tax and social responsibilities.

The PM showed his delight at Coca-Cola plan to expand operation to the north of Vietnam, especially a plan to build a USD300-million factory in Hanoi.

The project is expected to produce both traditional and nutritious products with higher added value, using local materials, while generating jobs for thousands of direct and indirect labourers and developing a network of distribution./.
nametalkam at 27-10-2018 07:50 AM (3 years ago) (m)

9ice ex-wife, Toni Payne Abolore regards herself as one of the best artist managers in the country, do you agree? see her post below:





9ice ex-wife, Toni Payne Abolore regards herself as one of the best artist managers in the country, do you agree? see her post below: Quote

Many who know me career wise, probably know me as one of the best artist managers to come out of naija (no bragging). I was extremely good at my job so naturally I should have stayed. On the contrary, I wasnt happy or content so I quit. You see the thing is, quitting isnt always a bad thing. Sometimes it allows us room to find our place in this world and ultimately find true happiness.

After I left, deciding what next was a huge challenge. I had invested so much of myself into music, and the prospect of starting over doing something else was difficult. Plus I did not want to look like a failure in the eyes of those who looked up to me. But yeah, I bit the bullet and took this unsure step.

It took many years and many tries, many should I do this? and many I can do that. Many failures and many disappointments, many depressed night, and many days where I felt hopeless, plenty broke ass days lol and finally.... I found peace in Photography.

I sold my car and started investing the money in equipment.

In such a short amount of time, I have gone from photographing birds in my backyard to photographing Rhinos in their natural habitat in Kenya. I have travelled from Los Angeles to the Serengeti. Little me! Who am I to be this blessed? All the same, I am grateful.

I am not sure what tomorrow holds, but today has been AMAZING. I will continue to do this the best way I know how and hopefully it leads me to greatness!

If you ever find yourself lost, confused, unsure, just remember, there is something beautiful waiting for you. You just gotta keep trying and remember, it is ok to fall a few times as long as you get back up.

A big shalla to those that love me truly who stood by me so that I can do me.

Nothing this magical is achieved by ones might alone.



And thanks to all of you who take the time to comment and like the things I share. The Universe will surely meet you at your point of need.

The Toni Payne Experience is where dreams come alive.



#travelphotography

#travelphotographer

#magicalkenya

#travelBlog Excuse me while I get a bit emotional. Today has been amazing and I am still in awe.Many who know me career wise, probably know me as one of the best artist managers to come out of naija (no bragging). I was extremely good at my job so naturally I should have stayed. On the contrary, I wasnt happy or content so I quit. You see the thing is, quitting isnt always a bad thing. Sometimes it allows us room to find our place in this world and ultimately find true happiness.After I left, deciding what next was a huge challenge. I had invested so much of myself into music, and the prospect of starting over doing something else was difficult. Plus I did not want to look like a failure in the eyes of those who looked up to me. But yeah, I bit the bullet and took this unsure step.It took many years and many tries, many should I do this? and many I can do that. Many failures and many disappointments, many depressed night, and many days where I felt hopeless, plenty broke ass days lol and finally.... I found peace in Photography.I sold my car and started investing the money in equipment.In such a short amount of time, I have gone from photographing birds in my backyard to photographing Rhinos in their natural habitat in Kenya. I have travelled from Los Angeles to the Serengeti. Little me! Who am I to be this blessed? All the same, I am grateful.I am not sure what tomorrow holds, but today has been AMAZING. I will continue to do this the best way I know how and hopefully it leads me to greatness!If you ever find yourself lost, confused, unsure, just remember, there is something beautiful waiting for you. You just gotta keep trying and remember, it is ok to fall a few times as long as you get back up.A big shalla to those that love me truly who stood by me so that I can do me.Nothing this magical is achieved by ones might alone.And thanks to all of you who take the time to comment and like the things I share. The Universe will surely meet you at your point of need.The Toni Payne Experience is where dreams come alive.#travelphotography#travelphotographer#magicalkenya#travelBlog

Post Reply I specialize in investigative reportage across several subject matter and sectors but mainly focus on metro events and investigation. Do leave your thoughts and opinion on my reports to let me know what you think about them. Thank you Posted: at 27-10-2018 07:50 AM (3 years ago) | Hero
bohlah at 27-10-2018 11:47 AM (3 years ago) (m)

Mr Abbas Mojeed Akanni left Nigeria for Saudi Arabia in the hope of a greener pasture. Unfortunately, this was not to be as he got into jail on account of what he claimed he knew nothing about. He miraculously got rescued alongside others in 2017.

Mr Abbas Mojeed Akanni left Nigeria for Saudi Arabia in the hope of a greener pasture. Unfortunately, this was not to be as he got into jail on account of what he claimed he knew nothing about. He miraculously got rescued alongside others in 2017.

In this Interview with Nigerian Tribune, he recounts his experience in the Middle East country, particularly in prison. Now that he is back in the country, he begs Nigerians to come to his aid.



In this Interview with Nigerian Tribune, he recounts his experience in the Middle East country, particularly in prison. Now that he is back in the country, he begs Nigerians to come to his aid. Excerpts:

How did you get to Saudi Arabia and how did the development lead you to prison?



On the 10th of August 2001, I left Nigeria for Saudi Arabia. I could not locate the fellow I was supposed to meet up with in Saudi Arabia due to the fact that he had changed his name and the nature of work he was into. He did not disclose his nature of work to me before I left Nigeria and when I got there, I learnt he could not attend to me or even see me. Upon realising that I was on my own, I met some other Nigerians and inquired from them how I could make a living. They told me that the legal business they were into was washing of cars, I told them I could wash cars as well and we started going to the car wash together.



How then did you land in prison?



The fellow who helped me is named Musbau; he is from Ilorin and we used to go to the car wash together. On the 28th of September, it was only forty-nine days since I got to Saudi Arabia that an incident happened. At that point, I had no understanding of the countrys official language but there were others who understood the language already. Sometimes, the patrons of the car wash and the washer men engaged in heated argument about where to park their cars or how to park the cars for easy cleaning. Most of the patrons detested the manner in which the washer men talked to them.



On that fateful day, the argument got so heated up that the patron had to call the police. No one knew that they were police officers since they were not in uniform. Moreover, some officers did come around, we would give them money and they would just leave. The washer men simply told the officers to leave, at some point it became a physical combat. After about three days, a declaration was made that the Nigerian washer men killed a police officer. We were all perplexed because we all knew that you should not assault a police officer, particularly one in uniform.



We were told that the policeman was not in uniform and that he was not on duty that day, he just came illegally to raid the car wash. As a result, a large number of people were arrested, about five hundred in number. At that point, the different embassies of the nationalities involved began to wade into the situation and a large number of the other people were allowed to go.



The Nigerian Embassy in Saudi Arabia just left us until Nigerians were the only one left in the police net. We pleaded our case, there were thirty-five of us. Along the line, someone was released. They also released another twenty-one people. Amidst the thirteen of us left, someone died. His name is Nurudeen, one person was also picked to stand in on the case, his name is Sulaimon, he is still in Saudi Arabian Prison as we speak.



When you were sentenced, how many years did they say you were going to spend in jail?



The case was decided about four different times, the first judge said five years, then the second judge said seven years. The third time the judge said ten years, when he came around the fourth time, he pronounced that he sentenced us to fifteen years in anger. The legal ramification of this meant that we would be imprisoned and also given a thousand lashes. At that point, before the final trial, the Amnesty International was already involved. I was in constant correspondence with Chim Him before he left the post and handed over to Mrs Ella.



The organisation mounted pressure on Nigerian diplomats and the embassy in Saudi Arabia. As a result, the embassy sent a representative to our final trial. On the 28th of April, 2017, we were released due to the continued pressure that the Amnesty International mounted. We experienced a lot of things in prison and occasionally, the prison officials would frame up people to provoke us and push us to fight.



They did this so that we could have another case but we refrained from such because we knew their intent. The fifteen years I spent there was the equivalent of forty-five years in terms of experience because we saw and experienced a lot of things. We reached out to several high profile Nigerians during the period of our imprisonment but it was all to no avail. The Amnesty International really did a whole lot to ensure that we were safely released. We once witnessed the death of about ninety-two inmates, we knew that if we didnt get help soon, our lives were hanging in the balance.



You talked about the lone suspect remaining in prison, what means did they use in identifying him as the one who allegedly committed the crime



He didnt kill the police officer, none of us was involved in the situation. According to their legal tradition, anyone who is found to kill someone will be imprisoned until the child of the murdered becomes of age. If the child is male, the accused will be in prison until he is eighteen, it is seventeen for the female child. It is only after the child becomes an adult that he or she will then decide to either let the culprit go or that he should be killed. Sulaimon was the youngest of us all from Nigeria. Today, he is about forty-one years old, he was only about twenty-one when he got to Saudi Arabia.



For the record, there were so many nationalities that were working in the car wash. There were people from Ghana, Somalia, Jamaica, Chad, Niger and several other countries but their embassies took diplomatic steps to ensure their freedom, leaving only Nigerians behind. I only got to know about the Amnesty International after about four years in prison without trial. We were in court for over fifteen times before our first trial ever took place. There were a lot of times that the judge would not be on seat and several other issues like that. It was in court that Sulaimon was picked to be the one to wait behind, this was based on multitude of fabricated evidence.



We were tortured and forced to give statements against our will that we committed the murder. It was during the torture process that one of us died. If they didnt find any person to pin the murder on, they would be in trouble before the king. So, they forced Sulaimon to not only to confess but to also act out the scene of the murder under duress. They packaged this as video evidence to show the king and to also present in court.



Myself, I was almost implicated in the situation; a fellow came to bear false evidence against me. He identified me as one of those involved in the atrocity but upon cross examination, his evidence didnt hold water. His witness was highly faulty and as such I was allowed to go. He was a citizen and so he was not charged for perjury and contempt of court. I think I was allowed to go because they had already nailed Sulaimon and they didnt want two people to stay back for the case. They would have allowed the faulty witness to remain sustained but God didnt allow that to happen.



How were you able to maintain communication with the external world from the prison

We were doing menial tasks in prison and we were able to save up money to buy phones. We also used part of the money to buy recharge vouchers and make calls too. There are several prisoners who are more affluent and would ask us to help them deliver their own food instead of going to queue in the mess hall. They also did not allow people go on hunger strikes, they did not allow anyone die deliberately in the prison too. On the 10th of August 2001, I left Nigeria for Saudi Arabia. I could not locate the fellow I was supposed to meet up with in Saudi Arabia due to the fact that he had changed his name and the nature of work he was into. He did not disclose his nature of work to me before I left Nigeria and when I got there, I learnt he could not attend to me or even see me. Upon realising that I was on my own, I met some other Nigerians and inquired from them how I could make a living. They told me that the legal business they were into was washing of cars, I told them I could wash cars as well and we started going to the car wash together.The fellow who helped me is named Musbau; he is from Ilorin and we used to go to the car wash together. On the 28th of September, it was only forty-nine days since I got to Saudi Arabia that an incident happened. At that point, I had no understanding of the countrys official language but there were others who understood the language already. Sometimes, the patrons of the car wash and the washer men engaged in heated argument about where to park their cars or how to park the cars for easy cleaning. Most of the patrons detested the manner in which the washer men talked to them.On that fateful day, the argument got so heated up that the patron had to call the police. No one knew that they were police officers since they were not in uniform. Moreover, some officers did come around, we would give them money and they would just leave. The washer men simply told the officers to leave, at some point it became a physical combat. After about three days, a declaration was made that the Nigerian washer men killed a police officer. We were all perplexed because we all knew that you should not assault a police officer, particularly one in uniform.We were told that the policeman was not in uniform and that he was not on duty that day, he just came illegally to raid the car wash. As a result, a large number of people were arrested, about five hundred in number. At that point, the different embassies of the nationalities involved began to wade into the situation and a large number of the other people were allowed to go.The Nigerian Embassy in Saudi Arabia just left us until Nigerians were the only one left in the police net. We pleaded our case, there were thirty-five of us. Along the line, someone was released. They also released another twenty-one people. Amidst the thirteen of us left, someone died. His name is Nurudeen, one person was also picked to stand in on the case, his name is Sulaimon, he is still in Saudi Arabian Prison as we speak.The case was decided about four different times, the first judge said five years, then the second judge said seven years. The third time the judge said ten years, when he came around the fourth time, he pronounced that he sentenced us to fifteen years in anger. The legal ramification of this meant that we would be imprisoned and also given a thousand lashes. At that point, before the final trial, the Amnesty International was already involved. I was in constant correspondence with Chim Him before he left the post and handed over to Mrs Ella.The organisation mounted pressure on Nigerian diplomats and the embassy in Saudi Arabia. As a result, the embassy sent a representative to our final trial. On the 28th of April, 2017, we were released due to the continued pressure that the Amnesty International mounted. We experienced a lot of things in prison and occasionally, the prison officials would frame up people to provoke us and push us to fight.They did this so that we could have another case but we refrained from such because we knew their intent. The fifteen years I spent there was the equivalent of forty-five years in terms of experience because we saw and experienced a lot of things. We reached out to several high profile Nigerians during the period of our imprisonment but it was all to no avail. The Amnesty International really did a whole lot to ensure that we were safely released. We once witnessed the death of about ninety-two inmates, we knew that if we didnt get help soon, our lives were hanging in the balance.He didnt kill the police officer, none of us was involved in the situation. According to their legal tradition, anyone who is found to kill someone will be imprisoned until the child of the murdered becomes of age. If the child is male, the accused will be in prison until he is eighteen, it is seventeen for the female child. It is only after the child becomes an adult that he or she will then decide to either let the culprit go or that he should be killed. Sulaimon was the youngest of us all from Nigeria. Today, he is about forty-one years old, he was only about twenty-one when he got to Saudi Arabia.For the record, there were so many nationalities that were working in the car wash. There were people from Ghana, Somalia, Jamaica, Chad, Niger and several other countries but their embassies took diplomatic steps to ensure their freedom, leaving only Nigerians behind. I only got to know about the Amnesty International after about four years in prison without trial. We were in court for over fifteen times before our first trial ever took place. There were a lot of times that the judge would not be on seat and several other issues like that. It was in court that Sulaimon was picked to be the one to wait behind, this was based on multitude of fabricated evidence.We were tortured and forced to give statements against our will that we committed the murder. It was during the torture process that one of us died. If they didnt find any person to pin the murder on, they would be in trouble before the king. So, they forced Sulaimon to not only to confess but to also act out the scene of the murder under duress. They packaged this as video evidence to show the king and to also present in court.Myself, I was almost implicated in the situation; a fellow came to bear false evidence against me. He identified me as one of those involved in the atrocity but upon cross examination, his evidence didnt hold water. His witness was highly faulty and as such I was allowed to go. He was a citizen and so he was not charged for perjury and contempt of court. I think I was allowed to go because they had already nailed Sulaimon and they didnt want two people to stay back for the case. They would have allowed the faulty witness to remain sustained but God didnt allow that to happen.We were doing menial tasks in prison and we were able to save up money to buy phones. We also used part of the money to buy recharge vouchers and make calls too. There are several prisoners who are more affluent and would ask us to help them deliver their own food instead of going to queue in the mess hall. They also did not allow people go on hunger strikes, they did not allow anyone die deliberately in the prison too.

Post Reply I have been reporting on latest news from Nigeria for almost 10 years now. I report on every possible news area I come across, but always ensure my reports are compiled with dignity and fact to uphold my personal values and duty as a journalist Posted: at 27-10-2018 11:47 AM (3 years ago) | Addicted Hero
Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 26, 2018. (Xinhua/Li Tao)

BEIJING, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- President Xi Jinping met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Beijing Friday, calling on both sides to cherish the good momentum in bilateral ties.

Xi welcomed Abe's official visit to China and spoke highly of his positive efforts in improving and developing China-Japan relations in recent years.

"China and Japan, as neighbors with great converging interests, are major world economies and influential countries," Xi said. "The healthy, steady and long-term development of China-Japan ties is in the fundamental interests of the two countries' people, and represents common expectations of the international community."

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the signing of the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship.

"The treaty, signed by the elder generation of leaders of both countries, established a general direction of lasting peace, friendship between the two countries in the form of law, and provided solid support for both sides to conduct mutual beneficial cooperation, achieve common development, and properly deal with sensitive historical issues and the Taiwan issue," Xi said. "With concerted efforts by both sides, China-Japan ties are back on track and gaining positive momentum. This is worth cherishing."

He called on both countries to "adhere to the various principles affirmed in the four political documents, stick to the general direction of peace and friendship, continue their joint efforts in mutual beneficial cooperation and further develop bilateral ties."

"Under the new situations, China and Japan, increasingly interdependent in bilateral areas, also share more common interests and concerns on multilateral occasions," Xi said.

"Thorough strategic communication should be carried out, and the two countries' dialogue mechanisms should play a better role via diverse channels at multiple-levels, so that each side can precisely grasp the other's development and strategic intentions."

The two sides should effectively implement the consensus that they are partners rather than mutual threats, facilitate positive interactions, and deepen mutual political trust, Xi said.

The Chinese president also called for tapping the potential of higher-level cooperation.

"As China continues its reform and opens its door even wider to the world, more opportunities have emerged in China's cooperation with countries including Japan," Xi told Abe. "Japan is welcome to participate in China's progress in the new era."

He expressed his hope of facilitating people-to-people exchanges between China and Japan, boosting mutual understanding, and encouraging the young to strive for friendship between both countries.

"China and Japan should interact more actively in the security area, foster constructive security relations, and pursue the path of peace and development for regional peace and stability," Xi said.

He called on the two sides to cooperate ly in the international arena, expand common interests, promote regional economic integration, jointly combat global challenges, safeguard multilateralism and uphold free trade and construct an open world economy.

Xi reiterated the importance of keeping promises, noting that China and Japan should "act on the basis of their four political documents and consensus, deal with problems and differences constructively, so as to maintain the political foundation guiding healthy development of bilateral ties."

Abe voiced his pleasure at paying an official visit to China at the "important moment" of the 40th anniversary of the signing of the treaty.

"It is hoped that through this visit, the two sides will usher in a new era when 'competition is transformed into coordination,'" Abe said.

As neighbors, Japan and China should push forward bilateral ties on the basis of the principles set in their four political documents and in the spirit of "cooperating in a mutual-beneficial way and never posing a threat to each other," he said.

The two countries should contribute to regional and international peace, as well as free trade, he suggested.

Saying Japan welcomes and supports China's efforts in furthering opening-up, Abe expressed Japan's willingness to intensify exchanges with China to lay the social foundation to improve bilateral ties.

The Japanese prime minister called on both sides to manage differences properly and make joint efforts to maintain regional stability and prosperity.

Calling the Belt and Road Initiative "promising", Abe said Japan was willing to beef up cooperation with China in wide areas, including the exploration of third-party markets.

[ Editor: Zhang Zhou ]
(TNS)  Counties in more than a dozen swing states across the country operate election-related websites that lack basic security measures and are not even identified as government related, computer security research firm McAfee found in a study published Wednesday.We found that large majorities of county websites use top level domain names such as .com, .net and .us rather than the government validated .gov in their web addresses, the study found after examining 20 swing states. Our findings essentially revealed that there is no official U.S. governing body validating whether the majority of county websites are legitimately owned by actual legitimate county entities.Websites that use .gov must pass a U.S. government validation process to ensure that the entity operating such a site indeed belongs to a government entity, McAfee said.This is important, because unlike .gov sites where there is a thorough vetting process and background checks, including government officials as references, anyone can buy a .com domain, McAfees Chief Technology Officer Steve Grobman said in a statement. Attackers could launch a fake .com website that mimics a county website, he said.Minnesota and Texas had the largest percentage of non-.gov domain names with 95.4 percent and 95 percent respectively, according to McAfee. They were followed by Michigan with 91.2 percent of the sites lacking a .gov designation, followed by 90 percent in New Hampshire, 86.6 percent in Mississippi, 85.9 percent in Ohio, the study found. McAfee chose the 20 swing states because they present the most compelling targets for threat actors.Texas and Minnesota election authorities could not immediately be reached for comment.A majority of the counties studied also did not enforce the use of SSL, or Secure Sockets Layer certificates, Grobman said. These digital certificates protect a website visitors web sessions, encrypting any personal information voters might share and ensuring that bad actors cant redirect site visitors to fraudulent sites that might give them false election information.McAfee highlighted that many of the county websites that lack the SSL feature clearly show up as Not Secure on the websites address bar.While Congress and the Department of Homeland Security have focused on reducing the risk of attackers interfering in the actual voting process, either by hacking into voting machines, or voter registration databases, adversaries could choose simpler and more effective techniques, Grobman said.DHS Undersecretary Christopher Krebs told reporters earlier this week that the department was going through a series of exercises to figure out all the ways in which adversaries may try to interfere in the midterms, and helping states prepare for such eventualities.Adversaries are more likely to employ a disinformation campaign in specific states or closely contested congressional districts with the goal of suppressing voter turnout, including such tactics as mass email campaigns that distribute fake websites and false information on polling locations, Grobman said. In such a scenario voters would likely turn to county websites for accurate information on polling stations, eligibility requirements, and other information, McAfee said.If county websites lacking basic security measures can be duplicated, voters would likely never find accurate information, Grobman said.McAfee said adversaries could produce mass email phishing campaigns targeting voters in key states using publicly available voter information. But the company did not find any evidence such a campaign was underway.To ensure that voters get accurate information, state and county officials should offer official phone numbers where voters can call, and DHS must recommend that counties use .gov domains and employ security measures, McAfee said.
(TNS) - The Federal Emergency Management Agency has awarded nearly $1.7 million to the St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Houston to construct a temporary school facility and to lease property for the facility following Hurricane Harvey.The facilitys 16 temporary classroom buildings and one bathroom building are anticipated to be used for two to three years until the St. Thomas Episcopal School facilities are refurbished. These buildings will be placed on a leased parking lot. The grant includes the monthly lease for restrooms and security services.The cost of the temporary school facility is more than $1.8 million. The federal share of nearly $1.7 million requires a 10 percent nonfederal match by the applicant, or $188,432.These funds come from FEMAs Public Assistance grant program which reimburses communities for actions taken in the immediate response to and during recovery from a disaster. Eligible applicants include states, federally recognized tribal governments, U.S. territories, local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations.FEMAs Public Assistance grant program provides project funding directly to the state for disbursement to the applicants.For additional information on Hurricane Harvey and Texas recovery, visit the Hurricane Harvey disaster web page at www.fema.gov/disaster/4332, Facebook at www.facebook.com/FEMAHarvey, the FEMA Region 6 Twitter account at www.twitter.com/FEMARegion6 or the Texas Division of Emergency Management website at www.dps.texas.gov/dem.2018 the Houston ChronicleVisit the Houston Chronicle at www.chron.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Here are some key findings:

Just how fast?

For and against

Is this really a serious proposal?

What would it cost?

Whats next?

(TNS)  What could be the future of high-speed travel between Baltimore, Washington and New York is already a reality in rural Japan. The magnetic levitation or maglev train outside Tokyo regularly hits 311 mph while floating about four inches above its test track. Its the fastest train in the world.The trains developers have partnered with a Maryland-based team to propose a maglev train here. It would get you from Baltimore to Washington in just 15 minutes.Baltimore Sun reporter Kevin Rector traveled across central Japan and throughout the Baltimore-Washington region to better understand the U.S. proposal and its Japanese counterpart. He conducted more than 50 interviews with railroad executives, engineers, lawyers, activists, analysts, local residents and elected officials.He also rode the maglev, to experience the technology firsthand. To read his story, click here The maglev trains 311 mph maximum speed is more than twice the top speed of the fastest train in the U.S. today, Amtraks Acela, which sometimes reaches 150 mph.A Northeast Corridor maglev could take travelers from Washington to New York in an hour.Riding the maglev doesnt diminish its other-worldliness. When the train rumbles to life, starts to move and hits about 70 mph, you can feel it suddenly lose touch with the ground as powerful magnets work their magic. The speed quickly doubles, then triples, then quadruples.Maglev technology uses powerful magnets to lift, center and propel the train along a guideway. The magnets  made with a titanium alloy cooled to minus 452 degrees Fahrenheit  are built into the train. They interact with other magnets in the guideway walls.Supporters cite the projects potential to ease highway congestion , free up air space, create jobs and boost American productivity. They say it will be a boon for Baltimore, in particular, which has lost population for decades and struggles to hold onto an economic base beyond the universities and hospitals that anchor it. They say terrible traffic congestion throughout the Northeast will strangle economic growth if nothing is done.But opposition to the project is widespread among people who live in communities along the two proposed routes. They worry about noise, vibration or electromagnetic fields creating dangerous or disruptive conditions near their homes. They also worry the developers will seek a taxpayer-funded bailout. They want to see the money spent on other things.Those pushing the train here say concerns about disruption or danger have all been addressed as the Japanese project has gone forward. They say few residential properties will be affected. And they say that after up-front government investment, they have no intention of seeking subsidies.Officials from the Central Japan Railway Co., which developed the technology, have been laying the groundwork for a U.S. maglev for nearly a decade. They recruited a team of well-connected U.S. political operatives and investors.A Maryland-based company, Baltimore Washington Rapid Rail, is now pushing the project. They say that if all goes well, they could begin construction as early as 2020. And they say the maglev could be operating between Washington and Baltimore in 2027.The Obama administration provided $28 million to study the Washington to Baltimore proposal. Gov. Larry Hogans administration agreed to sponsor Baltimore-Washington Rapid Rail through the federal review process.Hogan, a Republican, says hes waiting for the review before deciding whether to support the project. Ben Jealous, Hogans Democratic challenger in the November election, says he favors mass transit that would serve a much larger ridership and is opposed to the maglev project. The Trump administration has not taken a position.The Washington to Baltimore leg, which would come first, would cost an estimated $10 billion to $15 billion, according to railroad estimates. It would require significant federal funding up-front. But its backers say they would need no state cash and no ongoing federal funding.They say fares would be competitive with those for Amtraks Acela service, which generally range between $50 and $100, depending on time and class of ticket.A detailed federal analysis of the two proposed routes is expected this fall.Next year, a draft Environmental Impact Statement is expected to identify a preferred route. The public can comment.By 2020, the Federal Railroad Administration is expected to issue a final report saying which line, if either, should be built.If political leaders in Washington and Annapolis decided to back the project, its developers would have to come up with $10 billion to $15 billion to pay for it.
Mercedes has got the green light to resume using its preferred wheel rim design.

In Austin, amid rumours Ferrari had prepared an official post-race protest, Mercedes filled the controversial holes in its wheel rims with silicone.

But in Mexico, the German team asked the stewards if it could resume using the hole design.

"The stewards gave the green light," reported Germany's Auto Motor und Sport.

Ferrari, however, claims the holes represent moveable aerodynamics, which is not allowed in F1.

But with the FIA disagreeing, other teams will now be looking into the Mercedes solution.

"I expect to see a few interesting interpretations of this concept next season," said Renault technical boss Nick Chester.

"Next year it will be even more important to blow the air through the rims, because with the new front wings you cannot push the flow out so easily," he added.

(GMM)
Kevin Magnussen has revealed he is engaged to be married.

Denmark's Ekstra Bladet newspaper reports that the Haas driver proposed to his girlfriend Louise.

"Yes, it is true that we will be married in the summer," Magnussen confirmed in Mexico.

Danish media said the wedding will take place in the August break next year.

Magnussen says he has been engaged for some time now, but didn't feel the need to announce it.

"It's strange to me to share my privacy with people I do not know," said the Dane. "So I do not want to go into too much detail and I hope people respect that."

Magnussen is much keener to let the world know his opinion about the 'fuel economy' rules in formula one, which led to his disqualification in Austin a week ago.

He says the rules are "stupid".

"The end of the race was not a race anymore. Nobody attacking, nobody defending. How is that racing?" Magnussen is quoted by SID news agency.

"The last lap we all drove down the straight at half throttle. It was a joke."

(GMM)
Esteban Ocon looks increasingly likely to sit out the 2019 season.

Toto Wolff, the Mercedes boss, said the Frenchman's chances of securing the second place at Williams for 2019 are "minimal".

"Over the past two months the situation has not changed," he said. "We are already thinking about 2020.

"Esteban will help us with the Mercedes car, and then we'll see what awaits him."

Mercedes successfully placed its other development driver, George Russell, at Williams for 2019. But Wolff said it is a "completely different situation" for Ocon, who has lost his seat at Force India.

"Perhaps it will be good for him to miss a year and return to a competitive car," he said.

The big rumour is that the 'competitive car' could be Valtteri Bottas' seat at Mercedes.

The Finn has struggled, particularly in the second half of 2018.

"I have lost a lot of points this year and in the second half I never finished ahead of Lewis (Hamilton)," Bottas acknowledged in Mexico.

"But I don't think I am really 130 points behind him. The difference between us is much smaller. I know it and so does the team," he added.

(GMM)
Carlos Sainz is hoping to get his McLaren career off to a fast start next month.

The Spaniard currently drives for Renault, but he is switching to McLaren for 2019.

He hopes to get his first taste of the Woking team's Renault-powered car in the post-race Abu Dhabi test.

"It will be a good opportunity to try out this year's car," Sainz told Speed Week in Mexico.

"I think my managers are checking to see if that's possible. But nothing is decided yet."

Another driver hoping to get an early taste of his new team for 2019 is Kimi Raikkonen, who is switching from Ferrari to Sauber.

"We are still discussing, but I hope that we are able to take a decision regarding Abu Dhabi during this weekend," said Sauber boss Frederic Vasseur in Mexico.

Lance Stroll could get an early release from Williams to test for Force India, but Red Bull has reportedly barred Daniel Ricciardo from driving the Renault in Abu Dhabi.

(GMM)
A trainee packs tea leaves at the vocational training center. (Photo/Huanqiu.com)

Like many other cities in northwest Chinas Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Hotan offers vocational training to residents. Western media has previously described these schools as places of horror, where locals are imprisoned. However, these labels are false.

At a training center in Yutian County, Hotan City, a sign outside the center reads, "Turn people who need work into people who have the necessary skills for work."

Extremist ideas previously poisoned the minds of many trainees here, and some were even coerced or lured into terrorism. This behavior breaks Criminal Law, Anti-Terrorism Law, and other relevant laws and regulations.

To better adapt those affected, the local government provides free, education-oriented training sessions for people to improve their skills, as well as learn laws and Mandarin Chinese.

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[ Editor: Zhang Zhou ]
The photos are part of an exhibition entitled Divinities, Ancestors and Shamans: The Bru - Van Kieu in The Truong Son Range, and were taken by Hungarian professor of socio-cultural anthropology Gabor Vargyas in the 1980s.

The exhibition will run until January 2019. Visitors will have a chance to learn about the life and religion of the Vietnamese Bru - Van Kieu ethnic group, who live primarily in the two central provinces of Quang Tri and Quang Binh.

Between 1985 and 1989, Professor Vargyas spent one and a half years in the Central Highlands in a Bru - Van Kieu village in Huong Hoa, Khe Sanh in Quang Tri. He moved into a local home and was accepted as a member of the family.

He lived, slept, ate and worked with the family, sharing their fate in good times and bad times. He learnt their language and spent all his time and energy on getting to know Bru - Van Kieu culture from the inside.

"The circumstances were more than romantic," said Vargyas. "To reach the village, one had to walk a whole day on forest paths and cross rivers on suspension bridges. There was no electricity, shops, radio, television, telephone, post office or medical station. If money was known, it was hardly ever used.

"During my fieldwork I worked 14-16 hours and walked on average five to 10 km per day. I lost more than 20 kg, and during the 10 months I did not leave the village, only two letters from my family reached me."

After 30 years, those remained the most beautiful days of his life, and he still remembers them with emotion. There is rarely if ever such a unique occasion in the life of a social scientist or researcher.

"The exhibition of my field photos is open in perhaps the most prestigious ethnological museum in Southeast Asia, the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology," said Vargyas.

The photos feature daily life; images of farm work and ritual ceremonies help visitors understand the lives and beliefs of a Vietnamese ethnic group in the 1980s.

During the recent ceremony to open the exhibition, a book by Vargyas on Bru - Van Kieu culture and customs was also released. It is a collection of Vargyass scientific essays about different aspects of the culture: ethnic affiliation, subsistence and related technology, shamanism and rituals in the Vietnamese language. It is published by Dong Tay Publishing House.
This years event featured the participation of 20 designers and brands, including 14 from Vietnam and six from foreign countries.

The 2018 VIFWFWs catwalk was designed under the image of Dong Xuan market  a cultural symbol of Hanoi.

In the opening programme, designer Lam Gia Khanh treated the audiences with his latest collection inspired by ballet dancers. In addition, collections by Vietnams Veston Ngoc Lan brand and Turkish designer Mert Erkan were also introduced.

This is the eighth time Vietnam International Fashion Week has been held in Vietnam, becoming an annual cultural event which is warmly welcomed by fashion lovers.

The week will run until October 27.
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In a press conference with Gov. Dan McKee Tuesday afternoon, Dr. Nicole Alexander Scott of the Rhode Island Department of Health announced that the state of Rhode Island has expanded eligibility for COVID-19 vaccine booster shots to all adults over the age of 18. Citing rising case numbers in the state, Alexander Scott and state officials are hoping to encourage residents of the state to get the booster shots ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday and winter months. Are you planning on getting a COVID-19 booster shot? Why or why not? Let us know below.

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PM Phuc said he is delighted to know that Ueda is accompanied by representatives from the prefectures business association and different banks during his Vietnam visit this time. This demonstrates Saitama enterprises wish to seek business and investment cooperation opportunities in Vietnam, he said.

He told the guests that Vietnams business and investment environment is favourable, hoping that Saitama enterprises will invest in all fields in the country.

Ueda briefed the Vietnamese leader on the outcomes of his meeting with leaders of the Ministry of Planning and Investment where they discussed measures to boost bilateral ties.

Saitama prefecture opened a business support office in Hanoi to help its enterprises which are investing or will invest in Vietnam, he stated.

Saitama enterprises are facing difficulties related to human resources, Ueda noted, suggesting both sides collaborate in this field.

Ueda also said that his prefecture holds much potential to boost trade and investment cooperation with Vietnam, as it currently ranks fifth out of 47 Japanese cities and prefectures in terms of economy, with gross domestic product reaching around US$190 billion a year.

Agreeing with the governors proposals, PM Phuc asked the prefecture to support its enterprises in investing in Vietnam in the spheres of its strength such as automobile industry, manufacturing, and pharmaceuticals.

He suggested both sides intensify cooperation in human resources training and education, and urged Saitama to receive more Vietnamese guest workers to help them improve their skills, especially in manufacturing and health sectors.

The two sides also need to boost cultural and people-to-people exchanges, particularly in 2018 when Vietnam and Japan are celebrating the 45th founding anniversary of diplomatic ties, thus helping tighten the bilateral relations, PM Phuc added.
October 26, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - The murder of Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Arabian embassy in Turkey is unprecedented in its audacity. The response from Washington and the Canadian government is to sell more weapons to Saudi Arabia, weapons that are being used by the Saudis in their destruction of the Yemeni population. The Russian response, if the report I saw was not fake news, is to sell the Saudis the S-400 air defense system. https://on.rt.com/8pd0

What we can conclude from this is that armament profits take precedence over murder and genocide.

Genocide is what is going on in Yemen. I heard a report today on NPR that Yemeni are dying from starvation and from a cholera epidemic that has resulted from the Saudi destruction of the infrastructure in Yemen. The aid worker giving the report was obviously sincere and upset, but had difficulty connecting the high death rate to the Washington-sponsored war, blaming instead a 20% devaluation of the Yemen currency that raised food prices out of the reach of most Yemeni. She said that the solution to the crisis was to stabilize the currency!

It is difficult to understand why in the Western media and among Western politicians there is so much demonization of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, North Korea, China, and Russia. It is not these demonized countries that are murdering people in their embassies, conducting wars of aggression (war crimes under the Nuremburg Standard), and embargoing food and medical supplies to the populations that are being bombed. These crimes are being done by Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the United States and its NATO vassals.

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Obviously, the Yemeni, like the Palestinians, dont count. Their slaughter doesnt cause a moral ripple in the West.

Putin might be giving Washington tit for tat by horning in on Washingtons armaments customers, but the decision to sell the Saudis the S-400 is a strategic blunder. Saudi Arabia is a sponsor of the war against Syria, in whose defense Russian lives and treasure have been spent. Moreover, Saudi Arabia is an enemy of Iran. Iran is an ally of Russia in the defense of Syria, and a country whose stability is essential to Russias stability. Perhaps even more important, the minute the Saudis get their hands on the S-400 they will hand it over to Washington, and experts will figure out how to defeat it, thus negating Russias investment in the weapon and its advantage. The decision to sell the S-400 to the Saudis convinces Washington that Putin and his government are clueless, babes in the woods to be easily run over.

In my opinion, the worst aspect of the S-400 sale is that it erases the moral edge that Putin has gained for Russia over the murderous and ever-threatening West. Now we have Russia putting profits above the Russian governments professed respect for the rule of law and moral behavior.

An even more immoral and irresponsible development is President Trumps withdrawal from the INF Treaty. The only reason for Trumps Zionist Neoconservative National Security Advisor to orchestrate this withdrawal is to threaten Russia. Intermediate range missiles cannot reach the US. Russian ones could reach Europe, and US ones placed in Europe on Russias border can comprise a first-strike nuclear attack on Russia that has no warning and is indefensible.

President Putin has complained for years, and warned of the consequences, of Washington establishing ABM missile sites in Poland and Romania under cover that their purpose is to protect Europe from Iranian missile attack. Putin has pointed out repeatedly that these missile sites can easily, without anyone knowing, be converted into a nuclear cruise missile attack posture against Russia. Yet, the crazed US National Security Advisor claims, illogically, that it is the Russians, who have nothing to gain from violating the treaty, who are cheating.

Europe has no capability whatsoever of being a military threat to Russia except as launching posts for Washington. If it were not for Washingtons aggression toward Russia, Europe would face no Russian threat.

The reason President Reagan negotiated the INF Treaty with Gorbachev was to reduce the Soviet perception of the US as a threat. Reagan wanted the end of the Cold War and nuclear disarmament. Reagan hated nuclear weapons. By Reagans time in office, no one with any intelligence any longer believed that the Red Army intended to overrun Europe. The problem was different. The problem was to get rid of nuclear weapons that are capable, if used, of winning no war but of destroying life on planet Earth. Reagan understood this completely.

Unfortunately, this understanding has been lost in Washington.

If the INF Treaty is abandoned, it is impossible for Russia to tolerate any missile bases near its borders as these bases could be first-strike nuclear weapons against which Russia has no defense. The European countries sufficiently stupid to host these bases will be on a hair-trigger with the Russian military. Just one false signal, and nuclear war begins.

Trumps intention to normalize relations with Russia has been defeated by CIA Director John Brennan, FBI Director James Comey, Justice Department Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the military/security complex, the Israel Lobby, the Democratic Party, the US liberal/progressive/left, and the presstitute mediaCNN, MSNBC, New York Times, Fox News, BBC, Washington Post, etc.

We will all die, because the American Establishment lied through its teeth nonstop.

We can conclude from the acceptance of Saudi crimes and Western indifference to Washingtons withdrawal from the INF Treaty that morality takes a back seat to material interest. We can also conclude that evil has achieved dominance over good, with the consequences that avarice and lawlessness will escalate their destruction of truth, peoples, and life on earth.

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. Roberts' latest books are The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West , How America Was Lost , and The Neoconservative Threat to World Order .

==See Also==

Russia confirms sale of S-400 missile systems to Saudi Arabia

Angered By Saudi Plan to Purchase Russian S-400, Trump Admin Exploiting Khashoggi Disappearance to Force Saudis to Buy American

Russian sovereign wealth fund attracts Saudi partner to its fund with China

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By Paul Craig Roberts

October 26, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - The tobacco companies response to the US Surgeon Generals report in 1964 linking smoking to lung cancer was countered by the tobacco companies setting up propaganda organizations to create a controversy by generating doubt over the link. This strategy staved off the inevitable for more than two decades.

The same tactic is being used by the carbon energy companies against the independent climate scientists who have established that the climate is warming as a result of CO2 emissions. After a certain amount of warming, feedback mechanisms come into play that accelerate the warming. For example, as CO2 emissions raise temperatures, permafrost begins melting releasing methane, a greenhouse gas that speeds the warming.

Another example of feedback is the loss of sea ice and snow cover on land. Ice and snow reflect the suns heat, but the dark surface of the ocean and land absorb the heat, resulting in a further rise in temperature.

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The greenhouse gases around the planet trap heat radiation. The oceans, which cover about 75% of the planet, have enormous heat capacity and can soak up a lot of energy. Being very deep, they take a long time to heat up. As the oceans absorb the heat, it takes decades for the atmosphere to heat up. This climate lag delays the full impact of global warming.

As temperatures rise, the feedback mechanisms come into play and the planet arrives at tipping points at which things spin out of control. Once that happens, it is too late to control carbon emissions. The release of methane and nitrous oxide, the acidification of the oceans, the destruction of rain forestswhich turns them from their service as carbon sinks into net carbon sourceswork together to destroy the oceans and coral reefs as a source of food, to deplete water resources, and to raise temperatures beyond those at which life can exist.

It is important to understand that global warming is not a theory. It is observable fact. It is documented. The measurements are made. The numbers are actual measurements, not predictions from a model. If CO2 emissions are not controlled in time, there is no way to avoid the consequences.

It is important to understand that we are talking about whether planet Earth will be able to sustain life in the near future. It is important to understand that mass bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef is already occurring, that CO2 is rising as a percentage of the atmosphere, that the acidification of the oceans is increasing. These are facts.

It is also important to understand that unlike the hired guns of the carbon energy industry, independent climate scientists have no material interest in misrepresenting the facts.

It is important to understand that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is not a fake news organization. Neither is NASA. Neither is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

It is important to understand that glaciers have melted away, that the Greenland ice shelf is rapidly shrinking, that ships now move year round through the Artic ice.

The carbon energy industry has put out all manner of disinformation and conspiracy theories about the independent scientists. They are said to be part of a plot to install global government, as part of a plot to reduce the human population, as part of a plot to reduce living standards for the mass of humanity to primitive levels so that the one percent can have even more, and so on.

If you want to gain an understanding of climate science and to discover that there is much more to the ecocide threat than you are aware of, and if you want to see the hard, documented evidence, read the just published book, Unprecedented Crime: Climate Science Denial and Game Changers for Survival (Clarity Press, 2018) by Dr. Peter D. Carter and Elizabeth Woodworth, with a foreword by Dr. James E. Hansen. The authors write: Since the United Nations Paris conference in late 2015, climate change indicators have escalated so quickly that an emergency response is imperative if civilization is to avoid breakdown and eventual collapse. The authors provide the hard and extensive evidence in a science appendix titled Evidence of the Climate Emergency.

Humans need to understand that just as their own life depends on a maintained balance, so does the life of the planet. That balance is more delicate than people comprehend.

It is important to understand that the tobacco companies with their policy of creating doubt and controversy only endangered the lives of smokers. But the carbon industry is endangering the life of the planet itself. This is what the authors mean by their book title, Unprecedented Crime. It is unconscionable that corporations are so determined to extract the last dollar from their oil and coal reserves that they knowingly endanger the life of the planet.

It is difficult to comprehend the risks that the carbon energy industry and its propagandists are willing to take with the life of the planet. The corporations know about the Greenhouse Effect and its danger. The President of Exxon Research and Engineering Company, Mr. E. E. David, Jr., explained it to a meeting of scientists: The critical problem is that the environmental impacts of the CO2 buildup may be so long delayed. A look at the theory of feedback systems shows that where there is such a long delay the system breaks down unless there is anticipation built into the loop.

Readers always want solutions. Two-thirds of the book is about solutions. The carbon energy corporations could continue to be major energy suppliers by switching into non-carbon forms of energy. It is better for us all to go through a painful adjustment than to cease to exist. For example, oil companies can be transitioned to renewable energy in an orderly and upbeat way. StatOil in Norway is working in this direction. Removing government carbon subsidies and transferring them to renewable energy is an important step toward saving the planet.

There are working CO2 reduction solutions already in existence in Europe, Afria, India, and China. These solutions are seldom mentioned in US media because 7 out of the top 10 global Fortune 500 companies are either oil or automotive corporations, and the media is silenced by their advertising (see chapter 4).

Chained to profit, the Fourth Estate is itself part of the betrayal of life on earth. With the media failing to inform and to sound the alarm and with politicians dependent on industry campaign contributions, saving the planet is an iffy proposition.

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. Roberts' latest books are The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West , How America Was Lost , and The Neoconservative Threat to World Order .

==See Also==

This Map Shows Exactly How Many Republicans in Your District Dont Believe in Global Warming

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By Craig Murray

October 26, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - The Turkish account of the murder of Khashoggi given by President Erdogan is true, in every detail. Audio and video evidence exists and has been widely shared with world intelligence agencies, including the US, UK, Russia and Germany, and others which have a relationship with Turkey or are seen as influential. That is why, despite their desperate desire to do so, no Western country has been able to maintain support for Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. I have not seen the video from inside the consulate, but have been shown stills which may be from a video. The most important thing to say is that they are not from a fixed position camera and appear at first sight consistent with the idea they are taken by a device brought in by the victim. I was only shown them briefly. I have not heard the audio recording.

There are many things to learn from the gruesome murder other than the justified outrage at the event itself. It opens a window on the truly horrible world of the extremely powerful and wealthy.

The first thing to say is that the current Saudi explanation, that this was an intended interrogation and abduction gone wrong, though untrue, does have one thing going for it. It is their regular practice. The Saudis have for years been abducting dissidents abroad and returning them to the Kingdom to be secretly killed. The BBC World Service often contains little pockets of decent journalism not reflected in its main news outlets, and here from August 2017 is a little noticed piece on the abduction and disappearance of three other senior Saudis between 2015-17. Interestingly, while the piece was updated this month, it was not to include the obvious link to the Khashoggi case.

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The key point is that European authorities turned a completely blind eye to the abductions in that BBC report, even when performed on European soil and involving physical force. The Saudi regime was really doing very little different in the Khashoggi case. In fact, inside Saudi Arabia, Khashoggi was a less senior and important figure than those other three abducted then killed, about whom nobody kicked up any fuss, even though the truth was readily available. Mohammed Bin Salman appears to have made two important miscalculations: he misread Erdogan and he underestimated the difference which Khashoggis position as a Washington Post journalist made to political pressure on Western governments.

Khashoggi should not himself be whitewashed. He had a long term professional association with the Saudi security services which put him on the side of prolific torturers and killers for decades. That does not in any sense justify his killing. But it is right to be deeply sceptical of the democratic credentials of Saudis who were in with the regime and have become vocal for freedom and democracy only after being marginalised by Mohammed Bin Salmans ruthless consolidation of power (which built on a pre-existing trend).

The same scepticism is true many times over when related to CIA Director Gina Haspel, who personally supervised torture in the CIA torture and extraordinary rendition programme. Haspel was sent urgently to Ankara by Donald Trump to attempt to deflect Erdogan from any direct accusation of Mohammed Bin Salman in his speech yesterday. MBS embrace of de facto alliance with Israel, in pursuit of his fanatic hatred of Shia Muslims, is the cornerstone of Trumps Middle East policy.

Haspels brief was very simple. She took with her intercept intelligence that purportedly shows massive senior level corruption in the Istanbul Kanal project, and suggested that Erdogan may not find it a good idea if intelligence agencies started to make public all the information they hold.

Whether Erdogan held back in his speech yesterday as a result of Haspels intervention I do not know. Erdogan may be keeping cards up his sleeve for his own purpose, particularly relating to intercepts of phone and Skype calls from the killers direct to MBS office. I have an account of Haspels brief from a reliable source, but have not been updated on who she then met, or what the Turks said to her. It does seem very probable, from Trumps shift in position this morning to indicate MBS may be involved, that Haspel was convinced the Turks have further strong evidence and may well use it.

Meantime, the British government maintains throughout that, whatever else happens, British factories will continue to supply bombs to Saudi Arabia to massacre children on school buses and untold numbers of other civilians. Many Tory politicians remain personally in Saudi pockets, with former Defence Minister Michael Fallon revealed today as being amongst them.

It is of course extraordinary that Saudi war crimes in Yemen, its military suppression of democracy in Bahrain, its frequent executions of dissidents, human rights defenders, and Shia religious figures, even its arrests of feminists, have had little impact in the West. But the horrible murder of Khashoggi has caught the public imagination and forced western politicians to at least pretend to want to do something about the Saudis whose wealth they crave. I expect any sanctions will be smoke and mirrors.

Mohammed Bin Salman is no fool, and he realises that to punish members of his personal security detail who were just following his orders, would put him in the position of Caligula and the Praetorian Guard, and not tend to his long term safety. Possibly people will be reassigned, or there will be brief imprisonments till nobody is looking. If I were a dissident or Shia in Saudi Arabia who bore any kind of physical resemblance to any of the party of murderers, I would get out very quick.

With every sympathy for his horrible murder, Khashoggi and his history as a functionary of the brutal Saudi regime should not be whitewashed. Mohammed Bin Salman is directly responsible for his murder, and if there is finally international understanding that he is a dangerous psychopath, that is a good thing. You will forgive me for saying that I explained this back in March whilst the entire mainstream media, awash with Saudi PR cash, was praising him as a great reformer. For the Americans to deploy Gina Haspel gives us a welcome reminder that they are in absolutely no position to moralise. Whatever comes of this will not be justice. The truth the leads can reveal is much wider than the narrow question of the murder incident, as I hope this article sketches out. That the fallout derails to some extent the murder machine in Yemen is profoundly to be hoped.
October 26, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - Gen. Ahmed al-Assiri, the Saudi intelligence chief taking the fall for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, hobnobbed in New York with Michael Flynn and other members of the transition team shortly before Trumps inauguration. The topic of their discussion: regime change in Iran.

Mohammed bin Salman, the powerful Saudi crown prince, dispatched Assiri from Riyadh for the meetings, which took place over the course of two days in early January 2017, according to communications reviewed by The Daily Beast. The January meetings have come under scrutiny by special counsel Robert Muellers office as part of his probe into foreign governments attempts to gain influence in the Trump campaign and in the White House, an individual familiar with the investigation told The Daily Beast. A spokesperson for Mueller declined to comment.

The New York meetings were attended and brokered by George Nader, a Lebanese-American with close ties to leaders in the United Arab Emirates who is currently cooperating with Muellers team. Also present at the meetings was Israeli social media strategist Joel Zamel, who has been questioned by Mueller for his role in pitching top campaign officials on an influence operation to help Trump win the electionovertures that could have broken federal election laws.

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Steve Bannon was involved as well in conversations on Iran regime change during those two days in January, according to the communications.

The communications show that participants in the meetings discussed a multi-pronged strategy for eroding, and eventually ending, the current Iranian regimeincluding economic, information, and military tactics for weakening the Tehran government. Earlier this year The New York Times reported Nader was promoting a plan to carry out economic sabotage against Iran and pitched the plan in the Spring of 2017 to Saudi, UAE, and American officials. Its unclear if that plan ever moved forward or if it was part of the larger project for regime change discussed in these January 2017 meetings.

Either way, former CIA acting director John McLaughlin told The Daily Beast, the get-togethers as described were very unusual.

Its concerning to me as a former intelligence official because of the fact that it smacks of covert action planning, which is the most sensitive thing the U.S. government does and is so uniquely the province of the sitting president, he said.

A spokesperson for Zamel said his client had spoken to the special counsels office about his business but declined to comment on the January 2017 meeting. Bannon did not comment on the record for this story. A lawyer for Flynn declined to comment.

The meetings in New York, which have not yet been reported, show the depth of efforts by foreign officials and power brokers to influence the nascent Trump administration on the most sensitive foreign policy decisions. The discussions in New York came at a time when the Trump team was developing its Iran strategy and looking for input from individuals who were working on plans to counter Tehrans influence. Saudi Arabia and the UAE, whose leaders made overtures to the campaign throughout the 2016 election, were at the time developing campaigns to thwart its regional adversaries, including Iran.

It makes complete sense that Assiri would have been meeting with the Trump team during this time, one former Pentagon official with close ties to the intelligence community told The Daily Beast. The team was meeting with a lot of foreign influencers and Saudi was a country that wanted in on all anti-Iran projects.

The meetings in New York not only reveal details of one of the Trump teams first encounters with officials from Saudi Arabiaa country that is embroiled in one of the years most scandalous and consequential geopolitical incidentsbut also sheds more light on Trumpworlds relationship to Zamel, a self-styled Mark Zuckerberg of the national-security world with deep ties to Israeli intelligence.

Trumps team drew in Zamel, a young strategist and entrepreneur, during the campaign. Zamel had pitched a plan in August 2016 to Donald Trump Jr. to help Trump win the presidential election, according to The New York Times. Its unclear if that plan was ever put into action. Trumps lawyer has previously stated that the candidate heard Zamels plan but did not move forward with it.

Zamels lawyer has also previously denied his clients involvement in U.S. election or campaign efforts and told The Daily Beast that he is not a target of the Mueller investigation.

But it appears Zamel remained close to the Trump team throughout the election and into the transition. Part of the reason? He had an easy in. He had been introduced to Nader, closely connected with the Trump campaign, years earlier by John Hannah, a former aide to Dick Cheney now working as a senior counselor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a right-leaning think tank known for its anti-Iran work. Hannah is listed as a member of the advisory council of Wikistrat, one of Zamels companies, on the firms website. (Other members of that board, including former CIA chief Michael Hayden, say their involvement with Wikistrat is informal and at arms length.)

Hussein Ibish, senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, told The Daily Beast that Wikistrat doesnt bill itself as a typical consulting firm.

Wikistrat presents themselves as a kind of private intelligence service, Ibish said. If you look at the work theyve done in Yemen, theyve been a work for hire. Its sort of like an intelligence-for-hire kind of thing.

If you have a very rudimentary conversation discussing the possibility of raising the question of regime change, then its not surprising to bring in a set of stakeholders including Wikistrat, he added.

Details of the January 2017 meeting reviewed by The Daily Beast show how Zamelalready a familiar face in Trumpworld for his audacious plan to use social media influence campaigns to help beat Hillary Clintonhad ambitions beyond Trumps election. According to communications reviewed by The Daily Beast, Zamel flew to New York to help pitch the Iran idea to Assiri and Trump's team, delivering a bound presentation full of tactics to undercut the countrys government.

The Trump team offered a new way forward for Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Israel, who had all grown frustrated by the Obama administration for its stance toward Iran and its brokering of the nuclear deal. Trump had campaigned, in part, on the promise that he would renegotiate the deal and take major steps against the Iranian regime during his first days in office. In his first public address after taking office, Flynn said the U.S. was officially putting Iran on notice after it carried out a missile test and attack on a Saudi warship by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. Since then, the Trump administration has pulled out of the nuclear deal and levied snapback sanctions on the country.

The meetings in New York were part of a flurry of visits from influential foreigners to Trump Tower. Weeks before, Emirati Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed reportedly discussed Iran policy at Trump Tower with Bannon, Flynn, and Jared Kushner. The meetings appear to be part of Saudi and Emirati efforts to lobby the incoming Trump administration against Qatar and Iran, their top regional competitors. The New York Times reported earlier this year that Nader worked with Republican fundraiser Elliott Broidy to urge the White House to take an aggressive stance against the two countries. (Nader also helped orchestrate the meeting between Blackwater founder and Trump ally Erik Prince and Moscow moneyman Kirill Dmitriev.)

Mohammed bin Salmanknown by his initials, MBS leaned on General Assiri to help carry out conversations with Western officials about Iran and the Saudi-led war in Yemen, according to two senior officials in the intelligence community. Assiri was previously the spokesperson for Saudis military offensive in Yemen. That effort, in concert with the UAE and backed by the United States and European countries, has drawn enormous outcry from human rights activists and members of Congress. The UN has called it the globes worst humanitarian crisis, and UN air chief Mark Lowcock said earlier this week that the war puts 14 million Yemeni people at risk of starvation.

Sources familiar with the Saudi footprint in Washington described Assiri as one of MBS closest allies and most trusted confidants. Before joining the intelligence service, he was top officer in the Saudi air forcean elite service branch tasked with shooting down missiles that target the country. A former U.S. defense official told The Daily Beast Assiri was highly regarded in his air force days.

The killing of Khashoggi has thrown Assiri, and his Saudi leaders, under the spotlight. While several Washington-based lobbying firms have dropped the kingdom as a client, the Trump administration says it is still mulling its options for punishment. Earlier this week Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the administration would ban travel visas for the individuals involved in the operation in Istanbul. But it is unclear if the White House will approve financial measures levied against Saudi Arabia. If it does, those actions would most likely fall after the midterm elections.

with additional reporting by Asawin Suebsaeng

This article was originally published by " Daily Beast " -

Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here.

==See Also==

German Press Reveals Saudi Spook Saga Behind Khashoggi Disappearance: Khashoggi was not a journalist, but a high-level operative for the Saudi intelligence service, an intimate of Osama bin Laden, and the nephew of the shadiest of all Arab arms dealers, the infamous Adnan Khashoggi.

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Peace and joy
By Ghassan Kadi

October 26, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - With the ever-changing and escalating aftermath of the Khashoggi disappearance episode, there remain many fixed marks that are interesting to identify.

But before we do, we must stop and briefly look at the official American, Turkish and Saudi stands on this issue.

The Americans are best seen to be playing yoyo with their Saudi friends. One moment they seem to be totally abandoning them and sending them spiraling down in a free-fall, and the next moment they lift them up, clutch them, and give them a sense of safety. Notwithstanding that on the 3rd of October, and just before the Khashoggi story hit the media frenzy, Trump reiterated that Saudi Arabia would not last two weeks without Americas support, and what followed was a series of fluctuations and backflips on the American side. At the time of promising severe measures against the Saudis, Trump said that this will not mean canceling the arms deal with Saudi Arabia. And when Pompeo visited Al Saud to talk to the royals, leaving the Kingdom of Sand with an understanding that his boss Trump articulated by hinting at vindicating the royals and putting the blame on some rogue elements, America turned again supporting Turkish investigations and awaiting their outcome, but just before Erdogans speech of the 23rd of October, Trump reiterated that he was prepared to accept the Saudi Government denial of involvement.

And speaking of Turkish investigations, the highly awaited Erdogan speech ended in a pop and a fizzle, and was nothing short of a domestic propaganda speech that had no conclusions and did not provide any evidence as to the details of Khashoggis disappearance and alleged murder. And alleged it remains until a body is found and identified by an independent reliable coroner.

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The speech was not endorsed by America, and America was for a few hours or so once again looking sympathetic towards the Saudi royals, but less than 24 hours later, Trump was talking about the worst cover-up in history.

There is no need to flood this article with easy-to-find references to substantiate the above.

Back to Erdogan later.

These swings that are extremely bizarre and hypocritical even by American standards make one wonders what kind of relationship do Saudis and Americans have.

To understand the underlying nature of this relationship, having a look at the events of the last ten years or so are revealing enough without having to dig deeper into history.

To this effect, I am not talking about the strategic alliances, defense agreements, the importance of oil to both countries, the world and the Israeli role in all of this. I am not talking about the Saudi obsession with Iran either. What I am talking about is the personal human relationships between the Americans and Saudis as human beings and how they view each other as men; this is about the personal love-hate-respect-loath relationship between American policymakers and their Saudi counterparts.

This relationship is not a simple one. It is embroiled by deep cultural differences and belief systems. Having lived and worked in Saudi Arabia, I can understand the Saudi mindset more than many, but anyone who has had the same privilege that I had living there would concur, albeit not necessarily be prepared to sit down and write about it.

In case the reader is unfamiliar with the predominant Saudi mindset, speaking generally of course, allow me to pin point certain pertinent aspects of it:

1. Contrary to the word of the Holy Quran and which clearly states that God chose the Arabic language for the religion of Islam, Saudis believe otherwise. They believe that Islam was Gods gift to them.

2. Saudis also believe that God also gave Arabia another gift; petrol, and the biggest national reserve of them all  perhaps.

3. Al-Saud believe they have been afforded the God-given mandate to rule Arabia at the time when petrol became such an important commodity for the rest of the world.

4. Finally, the above privileges give Saudis, especially members of the Royal Family, an illusion of being above others. And this mindset views other nations from the perspective that Saudis are the rich masters of the world and that they have the power and ability to employ members of those other nations to serve them.

When I lived and worked in Saudi Arabia, Saudis did not work. They had jobs, but they never really worked. Apart from the security apparatus whose job is mainly to protect the status quo of the Royal Family, the only other real working job that Saudis had was taxi driving. But that was what poor and uneducated Bedouins did.

All other jobs from garbage collectors to doctors to dockyard engineers were contracted to expats from different regions of the world. Professional jobs that needed communication and fluency in the Arabic language were given to Lebanese, Syrians, Palestinians, Jordanians and Egyptians. Blue collar jobs were given to Yemenis and Arabs of the above nationalities without tertiary education. High ranking professional jobs that did not require fluency in Arabic were given to Americans and Europeans.

This mentality produced a generation or two or three of Saudis who are filthy rich, overweight, and engrossed with self-grandeur and superiority that was fed time and time again by their financial prowess.

But this is not restricted to Saudis only. Arabs of the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait all have that same superiority disease. Qatar that has a Qatari population of less than 200,000 has a population of over one and a half million expats to serve them. This is exactly how they see it; themselves being masters, and expats beings serving serfs.

In recent times, the Saudi and Gulf youth have increasingly been gaining tertiary education qualifications, receiving generous government scholarships and immediate employment following graduation. The Saudi Government protects its people by imposing quota rules on the percentage of Saudi employees in companies as well as the public sector of course. However, this fact has not been reflected in the work load they perform. These educated Saudis sit at the head of governmental positions and companies in tokenistic managerial supervisory roles over an entire staff of foreign professionals. They often try to assert their positions and feed their egos by yelling and barking irrelevant, and often laughable orders, at their employees and junior staff. And even if they are not in managerial roles, they will still be around the foreign professionals, leaving all the work for them to do and doing nothing themselves.

Saudi professionals I worked with were living examples for me to learn this mindset. They did not lift a finger, but when a report was submitted by either myself or other expats around me, a Saudi name had to appear as its senior author, and he received all the accolade.

Saudis genuinely believe that they can buy anything and anyone with money, including buying the stature of being a leading nation.

And if, hypothetically-speaking, the Saudis were to contract a Western company to build them a space ship and send a man to Mars, they will regard this as a Saudi achievement. Surprised? Well, just have a look at Dubais achievement in building Burj Khalifa, the tallest building on earth.

Once again, that Saudi mentality is not any better or worse than the general oil-rich Arabian one. They are all almost identical.

At a deep and subtle level however, the Saudis (and Gulfies in general) know well that in the eyes of the Empire and its cohorts, they are perceived as a bunch of uncivilized camel riders who happen to be horribly rich by sheer luck. They know that they are not really regarded as true allies of the West, but as its milking cow; and some Saudis and Gulfies are trying to change this image.

None tried harder than Prince Bandar Bin Sultan.

Prince Bandar Bin Sultan was Saudi Arabias Ambassador to Washington from 1983 to 2005. He became the Saudi royal who best understood the Western mind and how the West regarded the Arab World, and especially Saudi Arabia. He had his own evil agenda he wanted to use to catapult himself into ascending to the throne as the first grandson of founding King Abdul-Aziz.

He was a close personal friend of the Bushes and many others in the previous and successive American administrations. And, if America ever had a Saudi Prince that American lawmakers could speak to and reciprocate understanding with, it was Bandar Bin Sultan.

He was banking on the fact that his father, Sultan, had been in line for the throne for decades and was Crown Prince ever since King Abdullah took the throne in 2005. But to Bandars disappointment, his father died in 2011, before King Abdullah who died in 2015.

As Bandar Bin Sultan was grooming himself to become king after his father, his knowledge of the Western mind and closeness to many key people in the United States led him to realize that he had to present himself as a competent and reliable partner in order to be respected.

Bandar wanted to demonstrate his personal character worth to his American allies by plotting the War on Syria. That war was his pet project and his license to achieve equality with his American friends. But Bandar fell on his sword when Syrian resistance proved to be much stronger than his ambitions, and not long after his failed desperate attempt to persuade America to attack Syria after he blamed the Syrian Army for a chemical attack that he staged in East Ghouta in September 2013, Bandar disappeared, vanishing into oblivion.

With the rapid and unprecedented changes in the line of Saudi throne succession that followed Prince Sultans death, and which eventually presented Mohamed Bin Salman (MBS) as the new Saudi strong-man Crown Prince, the young prince had big shoes to fill. Haunted by the image, ambition and failures of Bandar, MBS had a bigger obligation to prove his worth to his American allies.

The war on Yemen was MBSs own love-child. He wanted to kill two birds with one stone; overcoming the Houthis, and proving to America that he is reliable in curbing Irans regional influence. He was hoping he could prove that his army was able to fight and win a war against Iran itself. He thus gave his war a name akin to American military operations; Operation Decisive Storm. Sounds a bit like Operation Desert Storm, does it not? In doing this, he wanted to put himself on par with great military leaders and score a quick and decisive victory in Yemen. Three years later, he cannot even hold his own borders.

In more ways than one, in as much as the Saudis and Gulfies have the afore-mentioned superiority complex, ironically they also possess a huge inferiority complex. They try to prove their own worth by bragging their friendship with America, and when President Trump made his first formal visit as President to Saudi Arabia, he was greeted like no other visiting foreign dignitary anywhere in the past. Only Elizabeth Taylor could claim such a reception as Hollywoods version of Cleopatra.

Trumps visit was Saudi Arabias greatest moment of pride.

But even on much smaller matters, Saudis and Gulfies brag their Western employees and they have a special liking for white blue-eyed Westerners. With thousands of Americans and Westerners working in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, it would be rare, if not impossible, to find a black American/Westerner; especially if the post involves being in the public view. And this is because, if you are a Saudi employer and you need a Westerner to fill the position of a public relations officer, you would want a white, blue-eyed person on that desk and not a black person. After all, a black Westerner could be mistaken for a Sudanese, a Somalese or a member of any other inferior African nation; as perceived in the eyes of the Saudis/Gulfies.

Back to the Khashoggi debacle and the role of Erdogan. As mentioned above, in his Tuesday the 23rd of October speech, Erdogan did not supply the goods, and it was time for America to pull the rug from underneath his feet, reclaim control of the narrative, and draw the Saudi yoyo back up again to give the Saudis a bit of a breather; until further notice. America can neither afford to keep the fate of the Khashoggi story in Erdogans hands any more than it can afford to lose the Saudi milking cow. But the human relationships between Americans and Saudis are now perhaps at their worst, and mostly for the Saudis. The Saudis have again failed the validity and fortitude test and they know they have taken a back step that needs many years, perhaps decades to recover from. In the eyes of the Americans, their credibility as partners and viability as capable men has suffered a big time blow.

The biggest twist perhaps in the Khashoggi debacle is that the Saudis have always felt that they were entitled to the same level of impunity the West affords to itself. After all, this was how Al-Saud got away with persecuting dissent, imposing undemocratic laws, and exporting Wahhabi ideology and the terror acts that come with it. Needless to mention the biggest human tragedy of them all; inflicting war crimes in Yemen, killing tens of thousands and inflicting starvation and disease upon millions others.

But when America lifted the blanket of impunity on the Saudis over the Khashoggi story leaving them out on their own to face the consequences of their crimes for a change, the Saudis indeed did not survive for more than two weeks.

Just imagine how would the world popular opinion could be manipulated if leading Western media outlets suddenly decide to start reporting the Yemeni tragedy and the role of Saudi Arabia in creating it, and specifically the role of MBS in creating this tragedy. Will MBS in this instance become the Wests new Saddam?

MBS has been named, his Foreign Minister desperately tried to isolate him from the Khashoggi story, but it is up to America and its fake news media to decide whether or not MBS is implicated, and the more they implicate him, the deeper America can dig into his pocket. And as this article was getting ready to be submitted for publishing, MBS himself broke his silence proclaiming that the murder of Khashoggi was a heinous crime and that those responsible will be punished.

Either way, when the Saudis return to the negotiating table with their American partners, MBS will not only be facing a bill for American protection of Saudi Arabia per se, but also a bill for protecting his own personal aspirations to become king as well as protecting his own head. He must prepare himself to expect a hefty price of his own head. What will that price be is yet to be seen.

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October 26, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - The likely assassination of the Saudi critic and Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi underscores how urgent it has become for the United States to redefine our relationship with Saudi Arabia, and to show that the Saudis do not have a blank check to continue violating human rights.

One place we can start is by ending United States support for the war in Yemen. Not only has this war created a humanitarian disaster in one of the worlds poorest countries, but also American involvement in this war has not been authorized by Congress and is therefore unconstitutional.

In March 2015, a coalition of Arab states led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates started a war against Yemens Houthi rebels. Since then, many thousands of civilians have been killed and many more have lost their homes. Millions are now at the risk of the most severe famine in more than 100 years, according to the United Nations. The chaos in Yemen has also provided fertile ground for extremist groups like Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, and created new opportunities for intervention by Iran.

The United States is deeply engaged in this war. We are providing bombs the Saudi-led coalition is using, we are refueling their planes before they drop those bombs, and we are assisting with intelligence.
October 26, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - Media headlines have been dominated for the last two days by the news that pipe bombs are being sent to Democratic Party elites and their allies, a list of whom as of this writing consists of Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barack and Michelle Obama, Joe Biden, George Soros, Maxine Waters, Eric Holder, Robert De Niro, and the CNN office (addressed to former CIA Director John Brennan who actually works for NBC). As of this writing nobody has been killed or injured in any way by any of these many explosive devices, and there is as of this writing no publicly available evidence that they were designed to. As of this writing there is no evidence that the devices were intended to do anything other than what they have done: stir up fear and grab headlines.

And of course it is a good thing that nobody has been hurt by these devices. Obviously targeting anyone with packages containing explosive materials is terrible, even if those devices were not rigged with the intention of detonating and harming anyone, and it is a good thing that not a single one of them has done so. It is a good thing that none of Americas political elites were targeted by the sort of explosive device that America drops on people in other countries every single day. You know, the kind that actually explode.

Apparently some Acme comedy bombs mailed to a number of extremely rich people, which thankfully did not hurt anybody at all, are infinitely more newsworthy than the real bombs which maim and destroy children in Yemen on an industrial scale.  @CraigMurrayOrg

It is good that Barack Obama was never sent anything resembling the 26,171 bombs that his administration dropped in the final year of his presidency, for example. It is good that neither the first US president to serve every minute of his administration under wartime, nor those who served as part of that administration like Joe Biden or Hillary Clinton, were targeted with the kinds of weapons which were deployed against impoverished people in other nations every single day for all eight years. People would have been killed and badly injured if anyone had been sent anything like those kinds of explosive devices, their bodies ripped to shreds like the countless civilians killed in the airstrikes which resulted from the Obama administrations expansion of Bushs so-called war on terror.

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President Trump, whose administration has been dropping even more bombs than its predecessor after expanding the use of drone strikes and peeling back regulations on air strikes designed to protect civilians, was quick to condemn the headline-grabbing pipe bomb campaign which did not hurt anyone whatsoever.

A major federal investigation is now underway, said the president who continues to assist Saudi Arabia in murdering untold tens of thousands of civilians in Yemen. The full weight of our government is being deployed to conduct this investigation and bring those responsible for these despicable acts to justice.

Right now the only political debate happening over these bomb scares is who is responsible for them. I am being told by everyone to the left of Ted Cruz that I am required to believe that this was with 100 percent certainty a terrorist plot orchestrated by a Trump supporter due to the presidents hateful rhetoric against the people whove been targeted, and if I dont subscribe to that belief it means Im a Nazi. Meanwhile Trump supporters are telling me this is a deep state false flag designed to get Democrats elected in the midterms, because <sarcasm> Republicans are totally not in bed with the alliance of plutocrats and government agencies known as the deep state.</sarcasm>

But the fact of the matter is that next to nothing is known about this case; as of this writing there isnt even a suspect yet. The proper thing to do when the mass media is telling us with a unified voice to be afraid of something is to remain agnostic and very, very skeptical of everything we are being told. There are any number of possible explanations for this spate of impotent pipe bombs, many of which dont involve a partisan explanation at all. Without endorsing any particular one, there are for example a few sociopathic government agencies in the US which would love nothing more than to manufacture support for more intrusive domestic counter-terrorism powers.

But partisan explanations are possible as well; maybe there really is a Trump supporter out there who either (A) wanted to scare Democratic elites without hurting them and didnt realize doing so would only generate sympathy and unify Democrats right before midterms, or (B) is really, really consistent in being really, really bad at making pipe bombs. Who knows. The important thing is to remain agnostic and skeptical.

Meanwhile, while we wait for copious amounts of facts and evidence before forming a solid opinion one way or the other, how about a little interest in the people who are being targeted with actual bombs that actually explode by the empire these Democratic elites serve? That, in my opinion, is one debate we should all always be having.

Caitlin's articles are entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking her on Facebook, following her antics on Twitter, checking out her podcast, throwing some money into her hat on Patreon or Paypal, or buying her book Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers.

This article was originally published by " Medium " -

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==See Also==

Pipe Bomb Suspect Arrested in Southern Florida : Mr. Sayoc, a registered Republican, has a lengthy criminal history in Florida

Suspected MAGA bomber identified Native American Trump supporter: Images on the van include a photoshopped image of Trump atop a tank while a bomb explodes in the background. Yet another sticker reads: I am Donald Trump & I Approve This Message.

Close-Up Pictures of Suspected Bomber's Van: Here They Are

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October 26, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - As Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) comes under increasing pressure over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, policymakers in Washington and London have one overriding priority: to preserve the House of Saud, a military and economic ally in which they have invested so much. Yet, if Mohammed bin Salman cannot be retained, the UK and US will likely work to ensure some face-saving transfer of power to one of his relatives.

It has already been reported that members of the ruling family have begun discussing the possibility of replacing the crown prince. But there is also a little-known precedent for a Western role in the removal of a Saudi leader.

Promoting a palace coup

Declassified British files show that Britain previously covertly supported a palace coup in Saudi Arabia involving Mohammed bin Salmans forebears in the House of Saud. The coup occurred as long ago as 1964, but has eerie echoes to the present. It helped then Crown Prince Faisal oust his older brother King Saud, who had ruled since 1953 and was backed by the British to preserve the House of Saud.

Faisal, like bin Salman now, had by the late 1950s become the real force in Saudi Arabia and was running the government. But in December 1963, King Saud attempted to reassert his power by deploying troops and guns outside his palace in Riyadh. A tense standoff with forces loyal to Faisal continued into 1964, when Saud demanded that Faisal dismiss two of his ministers and replace them with the kings sons.

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However, crucial support for Faisal was provided by the National Guard, the then 20,000-strong body responsible for protecting the royal family. The commander of the National Guard at the time was Prince Abdullah, who would later become king until his death in 2015, when he was succeeded by his half-brother, King Salman - the father of Mohammed bin Salman.

Who was the force then behind the Saudi Arabian National Guard? Then, as now, it was Britain, which had a military mission in the country following a Saudi request in 1963. The declassified files show that two British advisers to the National Guard, Brigadier Kenneth Timbrell and Colonel Nigel Bromage, drew up plans on Abdullahs express wish for the protection of Faisal, defence of the regime, occupation of certain points and denial of the radio station to all but those supported by the National Guard.

These British plans ensured Faisals personal protection, with the aim of ensuring that full power would be transferred to him, which duly occurred when Saud was forced to abdicate.

Preserving the House of Saud

Britain backed the 1964 palace coup for a particular reason: It viewed King Saud as incompetent and opposed to introducing the political reforms necessary to keep the House of Saud from being overthrown. Frank Brenchley, the charge daffaires in the British embassy in Jeddah, wrote that the sands of time have steadily been running out for the Saudi regime, the major factor then being the nationalist revolution in neighbouring Yemen and the intervention of Egyptian troops there, which challenged Saudi authority in Arabia.

Brenchley noted that, in contrast to Saud, "Faisal knows that he must bring about reforms quickly if the regime is to survive. Hampered everywhere by a lack of trained administrators, he is struggling to speed evolution in order to avert revolution".

British training of the Saudi Arabian National Guard (SANG), including arms exports to it, was greatly expanded after 1964. Today, Britain has dozens of military personnel advising the SANG and a major project helping it with communications. The SANGs role remains overwhelmingly focused on promoting "internal security" - that is, preserving the House of Saud.

The US has an even bigger training and modernisation programme for the SANG - worth $4bn - and is now more likely to play a similar role to that of Britain in 1964.

Echoes in Yemen

What also has echoes from the past is that in the mid-1960s, Britain was conniving with the Saudis in a war in Yemen that was as brutal as the present one. A popular coup in September 1962 by republican forces deposed the imam, Muhammad al-Badr, who had been in power for a week after the death of his father, a feudal autocrat who had ruled since 1948. The imams forces took to the hills and declared an insurgency, while Britain and Saudi Arabia soon began a covert war to support them that lasted throughout the 1960s.

The British establishment's fear was that the popular republican government in Yemen, backed by Nassers Egypt, would threaten the House of Saud and spread to the other British-controlled feudal sheikhdoms in Arabia. By the time the war fizzled out in 1969, the death toll might have been up to 200,000. Then, as now, human lives were seen as insignificant to London and Riyadh when compared with high policy.

The British-backed palace coup in 1964 also reinforced the role of Wahhabist ideology in the country. In March 1964, the Saudi religious leadership (the ulema) issued a fatwa sanctioning the transfer of power to Faisal as being based on sharia law; two days later, King Saud abdicated.

Reflecting on the coup, then British Ambassador Colin Crowe noted that what may also be serious in the long-term about the transfer of power to Faisal, is the bringing of the ulema into the picture, and they may exact a price for their support. His comments proved prescient as the alliance between Wahhabism and the House of Saud would go on to promote extremism, involving the backing of terrorist forces, in various places around the world.

The friend and ally

The British government has condemned Khashoggis killing and supports an investigation. But it is still referring to Riyadh as a friend and ally and emphasising its important strategic partnership involving the military and trade. But how likely is it that a Saudi leader with blood on his hands can really keep up the pretence to the Western public that things are improving in the region?

London and Washington may end up preferring a repeat of 1964: to put another "Saudi" in power. Yet, much better for Saudis and the world would be something altogether different, as recently argued by Madawi Al-Rasheed: allowing people the experience of participating in government and decision-making, including freedom of speech, in a gradual transformation of Saudi Arabia into a democratic system.

In this, London and Washington will need a revolution in their thinking to become part of the solution rather than remaining part of the problem.

Mark Curtis is a historian and analyst of UK foreign policy and international development and the author of six books, the latest being an updated edition of Secret Affairs: Britains Collusion with Radical Islam.

This article was originally published by " MEE " -

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Khashoggi Cover-Up Underway



By Finian Cunningham October 26, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed this week to reveal the naked truth about the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi; however, in fact, he didn't uncover anything extraordinary, but why? It is significant that the day before Erdogans much-hyped speech to Turkish parliamentarians, President Donald Trump dispatched his CIA chief to Turkey to investigate the evidence of Khashoggis killing.

The involvement of the CIA at such a high level in an overseas criminal case is unprecedented. Surely, FBI crime investigators would have been more appropriate, if at all.

What was the real purpose of CIA director Gina Haspel going to Turkey? Haspel, or Bloody Gina as she is known, has an ignominious record of being personally involved in past CIA torture cases and destroying incriminating evidence. Was her trip to Turkey not so much about discovery of facts, and rather more about covering-up the truth of what really happened to Khashoggi?

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For his part, President Erdogans speech this week provoked much disappointment among many international observers who had been expecting him to reveal hard evidence incriminating the Saudis in a murder plot. There was an expectation that Erdogan would finally release audio and video tapes, which Turk investigators claim to have, which would expose the grim way in which Khashoggi was allegedly disposed of.

The Turkish leader certainly laid out plainly the charge that Saudi Arabia had carried out a premeditated murder in its consulate in Istanbul on October 2. Erdogan called it a brutal killing which implies Khashoggi was tortured and dismembered, as Turkish officials have been leaking for the past three weeks to media.

But Erdogan did not name names of who the Turks believe was ultimately responsible for ordering the assassination.

The Saudis have stated that Khashoggi was killed in a botched interrogation carried out by a rogue team of state security agents. They have strenuously denied that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the 33-year-old heir to the throne, had any involvement in ordering the plot.

Nonetheless, unnamed American and Turkish intelligence sources have separately told various media outlets they have telecoms intercepts implicating the crown prince in personally sanctioning the murderous operation.

The holding back of damning evidence by Erdogan this week suggests that the Turkish leader is trying to maximize his leverage over the Saudi rulers and President Trump to get a deal for his country. This may explain the real reason why CIAs Haspel rushed to Turkey this week.

Erdogan is a renowned Machiavellian politician. He may have been personal friends with the doomed Khashoggi, but when Erdogan vows to expose the full truth while holding back purported damning evidence, what he is aiming to do is extract further concessions from the Saudis and the Americans.

Turkey needs the US to back off from its recent campaign of hostility and sanctions which have thrown the Turkish economy into turmoil. US-Turkish relations soured over the detention by Ankara of an American pastor, Andrew Brunson, on charges of espionage. The return of the pastor earlier this month only days after the Khashoggi case emerged suggests the beginning of Erdogans gambit to appease the US for favors.

It can also be anticipated that Erdogan will extract eye-watering financial concessions from oil-rich Saudi Arabia, which reportedly has huge investments in Turkey. That could involve debt write-offs for Ankara or more soft loans into the future.

For the Saudis and Washington, they want the whole Khashoggi scandal to go away as fast as possible. President Trump has helped create the media narrative that the Khashoggi killing was a horrible mistake carried out by rogue agents. This week, ironically, Trump described the Saudi version of events as the worst cover-up in history. Cynically, what Trump means is that the alibi needs to be improved with a more sophisticated deception.

The Saudi monarch is also crucial to Trumps policy of aggression towards Iran. The US needs the Saudis to ramp up oil production in order to offset the expected decrease in Iranian crude supply if Trumps anti-Iran sanctions due to kick in next month are to succeed.

Maintaining multi-billion-dollar arms sales to Saudi Arabia is, of course, another imperative reason why the White House does not want the truth about what happened Khashoggi to come out. It wants to whitewash the role played by senior House of Saud figures.

A bipartisan move by US congress members was launched this week to limit arms sales to Saudi Arabia if President Trump does not show that senior Saudi royals were not involved in the Khashoggi killing. Trump is therefore under pressure to absolve the Saudi authorities of culpability.

For the Saudi rulers they have been caught in a global public relations disaster. Their image, never too positive anyway, has been shattered over the foul murder of a journalist. Saudis oil economy is not as secure as one might think. The military operation in Yemen and ballooning social costs internally are making the kingdom heavily reliant on foreign capital. The Davos in the Desert conference this week has seen many top investors stay away due to the Khashoggi scandal.

The House of Saud desperately needs to find a cover-up that absolves its senior figures in Khashoggis murder.

For these reasons, Turkey, the US and Saudi Arabia are positioning for a sordid deal which will involve burying the truth about what happened to Khashoggi and who ordered his murder.

For ordinary people around the world one might expect justice and truth to prevail. But in the dirty business of politics  especially involving these three arch-practitioners of dirty politics  justice and truth are values more likely to be liquidated.

Finian Cunningham has written extensively on international affairs, with articles published in several languages. He is a Masters graduate in Agricultural Chemistry and worked as a scientific editor for the Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, England, before pursuing a career in newspaper journalism. He is also a musician and songwriter. For nearly 20 years, he worked as an editor and writer in major news media organisations, including The Mirror, Irish Times and Independent.

This article was originally published by " Sputnik " -

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The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Rights Movement in Nigeria, says it support the choice of former Vice President Mr. Atiku Abubakar as the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

In a statement by its president, Spinky Victor Lee, he said the decision to support Atiku for the 2019 presidential race comes from the fact that Atiku has a liberal disposition as opposed to present and past government.

According to the president, Nigeria, West Africa LGBT community, there are many crimes claiming lives hourly in the country, yet law enforcement agents derive pleasure in hounding its members down for no crime whatsoever.

In the statement:

Diverse takes note of how a previous administration initiated, passed and signed the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act that also criminalized homosexual clubs, associations and organizations, with penalties of up to 14 years in jail into law.

We also note how the present administration has enforced same with a zeal that creates the impression that LGBT is a crime at a time when violent crimes take life across the country every single hour. Our community is daily hounded and exploited by law enforcement agents for no other crime than being who we are. We need a President that understands from experience.

This repression of LGBT rights has negatively impacted the ability of the community to meaningfully contribute to the economy because the persecution of government as presently oriented towards sexual preferences stifles creativity and productivity on a scale that has held Nigeria back from catching up with other nations.

It is on this backdrop and given the liberal disposition of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and his passion for bringing Nigeria into economic prosperity, we appreciate that he will work for an enabling environment by ending the criminalization of LGBT issues and place the community at a vantage position to run the economy.

Diverse therefore throws its weight behind the candidacy of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and his party the PDP as We are aware that his liberal stance will not only go along way to promote harmonisation of all interest groups but also brings the hope that the inhuman Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act will be repealed within his first 12 weeks in office. We urge him to see the hostility to his political aspiration as confirmation that he is the politician to beat in the election and one that the others would gang up against because they know of his capacity to deliver where they had failed. They had always and continue to base their vision of Nigeria on the archaic notion of building physical infrastructure while Alhaji Abubakar has always recognized that what the nation needs to move forward is the development and liberalization of its human capital in line with global trends.

Our community further comments the PDP for proving to be a true democratic party for all freedom-loving Nigerians to move our great country into the comity of nation that have recognized that people are free to live their lives without the fear of ancient stereotypes that have no scientific basis. We are mobilizing all our support and resources for him already.

Diverse thus informs that we will mobilise our members in the coming months to ensure the candidate wins to become President and to abolish the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act within his first 12 weeks in office.
The meeting was co-chaired by Vietnams Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai and Argentinas Secretary for International Economic Relations Horacio Reyser.

The Argentinian official stated that the close cooperation between the two sides is being realised with the implementation of a number of technical cooperation projects.

He added that the business delegation that accompanied Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship Argentina Jorge Fauries visit to Vietnam aimed to explore opportunities in pharmaceuticals, biotech, medical equipment, poultry and beef, seafood and fruits.

Secretary Reyser also stated that Mercosur, to which Argentina is a member, is willing to begin pre-feasibility talks towards negotiations on a possible free trade agreement between Mercosur and Vietnam.

For his part, Deputy Minister Hai stated that the two sides have been actively working together to implement technical cooperation projects with positive results, bringing substantive benefits to both countries.

He noted that in order to boost trade and investment cooperation, Vietnam and Argentina needs to exchange information more frequently and increase business, trade promotion and investment delegations.

The Vietnamese official also called on the two sides to work more closely to diversify each countrys exports to the other.

During the meeting, the two countries trade promotion agencies signed a memorandum of understanding to facilitate trade and investment between Vietnam and Argentina.

Argentina is currently Vietnams second largest trade partner in Latin America, while Vietnam is the South American countrys fifth largest global trade partner. Last year, the two-way trade value reached US$3.03 billion, of which Vietnams exports to Argentina were US$482 million.
Billionaire kidnapper, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, aka Evans has told of how men of the Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, and men of the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Intelligence response team, coerced him into giving statement.

The alleged kidnapper who is facing trial for a two-count charge of conspiracy and kidnapping alongside six others, at the Ikeja High Court in Lagos on Friday.

Olanrewaju Ajanaku, his lawyer, reveales that a video purpottedly showing Evans writing his statement in the presence of law enforcement agents was doctored.

Evans, while giving evidence as his lawyer led him, gave a graphic description of how police officers tortured him after his arrest. He also told of how they allegedly murdered suspected who were paraded alongside him.

In his words;

Insp. Haruna (member of IGs Intelligence Response Team) took me to Abuja and brought me back to Lagos, where I was at the I-Gs Guest House at Obalende, Lagos.

Sunny, the 2 I/C (second in command) to Abba Kyari, Head of the IRT, Mr. Christian Ugu, Mr. Phillip and other police officers working with them were there.

Haruna brought about 25 sheets of paper and asked me to sign; that day, my mind told me not to sign because it might be my death warrant. Phillip put his hand in his pocket and brought out a brown hospital card; showed it to me and told me to sign it, saying that do you think that we are joking here? he said if anything happens to me here, this card covers everything.

Phillip said the police will not be held responsible, and before I knew, Ugu slapped me and that was how they started beating me.

Mr. Ugu was smoking, he quenched the cigarette on my hand. My lord, look at my head where they beat me; My Lord, look at my hand.

They took me to the backyard of the I-Gs guest house; I sustained injuries on my head and body, and Phillip asked the policemen to walk on me and when I started bleeding, he said you think we are joking here.

At the backyard, I saw some people that I was paraded with; they were wearing leg chains. Some of them had bullet wounds on their legs and Phillip ordered Haruna to bring a big brown sellotape, handkerchief and poly bags.

Haruna forced a handkerchief into the mouth of one of them; he used the sellotape to tightly tape his mouth and face and put a poly bag over his head and sellotaped it, and used another poly bag and sellotaped it for the second time, and they left the man on the ground.

The man on the ground was shaking; he pissed (urinated) on his body, he poo-pooed (defecated) on his body and, after a while, he went quiet. Haruna went to the man and stepped on his body and he was unresponsive and he told me can you see I have travelled him.

The suspected kidnapper revealed also that four more suspects were executed in the same manner by the police officers and he was made to watch.

I was brought before them, and I started begging, asking them what do they want me to do, and they told me to cooperate with them, and I said okay that I will do anything they wanted me to do.

Phillip asked them to take me to the house, and he asked if I knew the method of killing and I said no; they said that it is called Saddam Hussein.

He said that there is no way an autopsy can predict the cause of death of the five people they had just killed and that those people have travelled.

He revealed that be had sign the the 25 sheets of paper with fear and trembling.

When the Fanta was given to me, I drank it and after a few minutes, they brought the 25 sheets of paper for me and I signed them, he said.

Some things were written on some of the sheets of paper while some were blank; that was how I was forced to sign the confessional statements.

On cross-examination by Titilayo Shitta-Bey, Lagos state director of public prosecution (DPP), Evans confirmed his name and the names of his parents, and denied knowing the officers before his arrest.

I am 38-year-old, I was born on April 29, 1980; my mothers name is Mrs Chinwe Onwuamadike and my father is Mr Stephen Onwuamadike, he said.

I did not know Insp. Haruna, Abba Kyari, before my arrest; Im the one in the video, I was cautioned in the video, but after the cautionary words, I was forced to sign. The story I told the court was never an afterthought, SARS killed more than 30 people in my presence; the killings took place at the I-Gs guest house in Ikoyi.

On the day I was arrested, I was arrested in my house and I was taken to Ikeja SARS Station; journalists were there; they had beaten the hell out of me in my house, I was interviewed by the journalists on Sunday, a day after I was arrested on Saturday.

When I was taken to the station, there was a field; I was in a car while I was waiting for Abba Kyari to come. Kyari, when he came, told me to beg for forgiveness in my interview with journalists, and also to inform the world I had cancer which I dont have. The police killed one Felix Chinemeri in my presence.

After listening to the submission of Evans, the trial judge, Hakeem Oshodi adjourned the case until November 23 for continuation of defence in the trial.
Vanguard



Tension reigned in Kaduna again after kidnappers Thursday killed a prominent Traditional ruler in Kaduna state, the Agwom Adara, Maiwada Raphael Galadima, after allegedly collecting ransom for his release.

The Nation



President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday said the greatest investment Europe and America can make in Africa now is helping the continent accomplish inter-basin water transfer to recharge the Lake Chad.The President spoke at State House, Abuja yesterday while hosting the Chairman of the African Union Commission, Mr Moussa Faki Mahamat.Buhari, according to a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, noted that the Lake Chad

Guardian



On her 62nd posthumous birthday, late Nigerian medic Stella Adadevoh is being celebrated by tech giant Google with a doodle. Doodles are changes made to the Google logo to celebrate holidays, anniversaries, and the lives of famous artists, pioneers, and scientists. Today our #Googledoodle celebrates the life of Stella

The Sun



In an exclusive interview with Saturday Sun, an uncle to the deceased, John Ameh, who spoke on behalf of the family revealed a lot of issues surrounding the rape, ill health and death of little Ochanya Ogbanje.

Daily Times

No nation develops without massive infrastructural investment- FG



The federal government has said that no nation develops without massive infrastructural investment which the present administration has taken as a priority.

Daily Trust



The emergence of the Deputy Governor of Sokoto State, Ahmed Aliyu, as the flag-bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2019 governorship election did not come as a surprise considering his close relationship with Senator Aliyu Wamakko. But many political observers are saying the fight is not about Aliyu, but Governor Aminu Tambuwal

Tribune

The Nigerian army said it has discovered a shallow grave where the missing immediate past Army Chief of Administration, retired Major General Idris Alkali, was killed and buried. Major General Benson Akinroluyo, the General Officer
Nigerians who logged on to google today, Oct 27th, wouldnt miss the fact that they celebrated Nigerian doctor, Stella Adadevoh, for her heroic role in stopping Ebola from spreading into Lagos and subsequently other parts of Nigeria.

Adadevoh, who would have celebrated her 62nd birthday today, had she been alive, will be forever remembered for not allowing Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian who had the highly contagious disease from being discharged from the hospital even though, he insisted on leaving.

Sadly, Adadevoh herself got infected from the disease from Sawyer and died weeks after, Nigerians will never forget, how she played a role that saved Nigerians from a catastrophe.

However, Nigerians have blamed the government for not doing enough to immortalise her, especially after Google dedicated todays doodle to her.

However, reacting to Googles honour for the late doctor, President Muhammadu Buhari said his administration is doing all it could to build on Adadevohs legacy by strengthening the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC).

In his words:

Dr Stella Adadevoh would have turned 62 today. Today and always we celebrate her dedication and sacrifice. As part of our efforts to build on her legacy our administration has put great effort into strengthening the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC).
Senator Shehu Sani has advised Nigerians in the habit of trekking from one part of the country to another in solidarity for or opposition against any politician should avoid Kaduna state route.

This advised comes after a spate of unrest that led to the death of over 50 Nigerians following a communal clash. And more recently, the murder of Kaduna monarch, ruler of Adara Kingdom Mr Maiwada Rapheal Galadima, who was abducted and killed by his captors even after ransom was paid.

The Kaduna government as a result of this, reinstated a 24 hours curfew in order to curb further violence from protesting youths.

The senator while speaking via Twitter, urges trekkers to enquire from police safer routes to take.

He wrote:
20-year-old, Nigerian-born Taofeek Abijako is a young designer recognized for his ability to express social and political commentary through the lens of luxe-street clothing. Abijakos brand, Head of State+ is a New York-based company that focuses on art, fashion, furniture, and product design.

In 2018, Abijako presented his Spring/Summer 19 collection for Head of State+ at New York Fashion Week, making him the youngest designer ever to show at that prestigious event, giving him widespread acclaim across the industry.

Abijako has received press coverage with renowned magazines and websites like the New York Times, Teen Vogue and i-D Magazine. Head of State+ is sold internationally in prominent stores like United Arrows, Assembly and American Rag Cie.

Date: Saturday, November 10th, 2018.

Time: 12:00 pm  1:00 pm

Venue: Plot 1, Water Corporation Drive, Oniru Estate, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Taofeek Abijako will be at the GTBank Fashion Weekend to discuss on Understanding the Industry: Starting Out.

To register for his master class click here.
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Column Policy

Columns are hyper-specific to opinion and are written by only columnists employed by the Iowa State Daily. Columnists are unique because they have a specific writing day and only publish on those writing days. Each column undergoes a thorough editing process ensuring the integrity of the writer, and their claim is maintained while remaining research-based and respectful. Columns may be submitted from community members. These are labelled as Guest Columns. These contain similar research-based content and need to be at least 400 words in length. The following requirements should be met: first and last name, email and relation or position to Iowa State. Emails must be tied to the submitted guest column or it will not be accepted or published. Pseudonyms are prohibited and the writer will be banned from submissions.

Read our full Opinion Policies here. Updated on 10/7/2020
Qualcomm and Apple are engulfed in a major legal battle since last year which has seen the latter stop all royalty payments to the San Diego chipmaker. Now, Qualcomm says that Apple owes it $7 billion in royalties since it first stopped making payments to it.

Qualcomms lawyer says that by withholding their payments, Apple is trying to destroy the chip makers business. It has asked the court to drop 56 patent-related claims from the lawsuit.

Theyre trying to destroy our business, Qualcomm lawyer Evan Chesler said at a hearing Friday in federal court in San Diego. Theyre now $7 billion dollars behind in royalties. The house is on fire and there is $7 billion of property damage right now.

Apple has used its power to stop royalty payments to not just Qualcomm but has also asked its suppliers to stop paying money to the chipmaker. This has put Qualcomm in a troubled spot as Apple and its suppliers are one of its largest customers. The battle between the two companies has seen Apple completely switch to Intel modems for its 2018 iPhone lineup.

Apple has accused Qualcomm of unfair business practices while Qualcomm is accusing the former of patent infringement. It has even gone so far ahead to claim that Apple shared its confidential modem source code with that of Intel to help improve its modem development.

[Via Bloomberg
Al Jinnah Multi Purpose Cooperative Society Managers Jobs

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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.
During his trip, Dung had working sessions with Minister of Environment Francois de Rugy, and CEO of the French Development Agency (AFD) Remy Rioux, paid a courtesy visit to Vice President of the Senate Philippe Dallier, and received representatives from several French groups and companies.

The Deputy PM also worked with officials of the French Prime Minister Office to prepare for PM Edouard Philippes upcoming visit to Vietnam.

During the meetings, both sides stressed that the Vietnam-France Strategic Partnership has developed strongly over the past years. Currently, France is the only European nation Vietnam has cooperative mechanisms in all fields, ranging from politics, security, defence to economy, science, culture and education.

Together with the official visit to France by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong in March 2018, the upcoming visit by PM Philippe manifests the trust and closeness between senior leaders of the two countries. During the French PMs visit, the two sides expect to sign different agreements on digitalisation, health and communications.

The two sides affirmed their wishes to improve the efficiency of existing mechanisms to intensify bilateral relations at all levels. They agreed that economic cooperation is a priority pillar in the bilateral strategic partnership, but needs to be fostered to match fine political ties.

They vowed to continue supporting the implementation of economic cooperation projects, and creating favourable conditions for the two countries enterprises to step up business connectivity in the fields of health, agriculture and aerospace.

Dung urged the French Government and Senate to early complete necessary procedures to officially sign a free trade agreement (FTA) and an investment protection agreement (IPA) between the European Union and Vietnam in late 2018 and ratify them in early 2019, so as to realise huge benefits of the EU-Vietnam FTA.

The Deputy PM said that he welcomed and hoped France will has a stronger voice in supporting the settlement of disputes in the East Sea by peaceful measures, upholding the supremacy of law in seas and oceans as well as ensuring security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea.

Deputy PM Trinh Dinh Dung (L) holds talks with French Minister of Environment Francois de Rugy. (Photo: NDO)

At his meetings with Environment Minister Francois de Rugy, and CEO of the AFD Remy Rioux, Deputy PM Dung appreciated Frances assistance to Vietnam through AFD aid worth over EUR2 billion (US$2.28 billion) for 80 projects that has helped Vietnam implement green growth goals and Paris Agreement commitments.

The French officials promised to expand cooperation with Vietnam in different fields such as environmental protection, disaster prevention and control, and natural resources development and protection, and support Vietnam in making policies to adapt to climate change and drawing scenarios to seek measures to mitigate climate change impacts.

Receiving leaders of Total and Air Liquide Groups and Aaquius company, Dung encouraged them to continue expanding investment in Vietnam in the fields of renewable energy and green development to help the country carry out international commitments to climate change adaptation.
The two sides should continue technical discussions to define the framework and issues need to be negotiated, thereby creating favourable conditions for the later negotiation process, he said.

Highlighting the importance of Wards role in the Vietnam-UK strategic partnership, PM Phuc said he expected the British ambassador will help double the bilateral trade turnover during his tenure.

According to the government leader, bilateral trade exceeded US$6 billion last year, up 11% from 2016. The UK has invested US$3.71 billion in Vietnam, ranking 15th out of 129 countries and territories investing in the country.

PM Phuc said that in celebration of the 45th founding anniversary of diplomatic relations, Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh paid an official visit to the UK and he himself met with his British counterpart Theresa May on the sideline of the 12th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit in Belgium earlier this month.

The PM also voiced his hope that the UK will help Vietnam access capital from the Commonwealth Fund, particularly for improving the business climate, coping with climate change, and developing infrastructure projects.

For his part, the UK ambassador said Vietnams improvements in the business climate have impressed British enterprises.

He pledged to make efforts throughout his tenure to boost bilateral trade as well as collaboration in other sectors such as education-training, culture, health, and defence.

Affirming his support for free trade, Ward said the UK backs the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement and will help accelerate its early signing and ratification.

Regarding the East Sea issue, the diplomat affirmed that he supports the supremacy of law, as well as freedom, security and safety of navigation and overflight.
The suggestion was made by Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Viet Nhung, Director of the National Lung Hospital cum Head of National TB Programme.

At the end of last September, Vietnam attended the United Nations General Assembly's first-ever high-level meeting on ending TB in New York, the United States, with the participation of the Heads of State, senior officials and representatives from UN agencies. At the event, Vietnam made a commitment to end the TB epidemic by 2030.

Thien Lam, a Nhan Dan Online correspondent, interviewed Associate Prof., Dr. Nguyen Viet Nhung on the goals and measures that are required to put an end to TB across the country.

Q: How were Vietnams efforts assessed at the first UN General Assembly high-level meeting on global TB ending? What does this event mean for Vietnam?

A: Vietnam is considered as a typical model on the way to end TB, so after the opening session, Minister of Health, Nguyen Thi Kim Tien, was invited to deliver her speech in welcoming the Declaration of the first-ever UN High Level Meeting on TB.

The event is very meaningful for all countries and is particularly significant for Vietnam's anti-TB work, as most of the interventions mentioned in the Declaration have been applied in Vietnam in different levels. The document will provide sufficient resources and mechanisms for implementation across the country. On the other hand, the event is expected to promote activities that ensure sustainable resources for the National TB Programme until its final victory to end TB by 2030.

The event is also very meaningful for Vietnam to call for international organisations, such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, the WHO, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Royal Netherlands Chemical Society (KNCV) and many other partners, in providing both financial and technical support, as well as cooperating in deploying new breakthrough research that is appropriate to Vietnams conditions.

Q: At the event, what commitments did Vietnam make to achieve the goal of ending TB by 2030?

A: Vietnam fully supported the political statement at the high-level meeting and pledged to focus its resources and mobilise the relevant authorities, organisations, communities and citizens for the successful implementation the global TB ending programme, along with the Sustainable Development Goals.

Q: What are some bright spots in Vietnams TB prevention and control to be considered as one of the leading countries in the field?

A: Vietnam is one among the nine countries that reached the Millennium Development Goals regarding all three indicators of TB incidence, morbidity and mortality. So far, after three years, the TB mortality rate has dropped from 16,000 in 2015 to 13,000 in 2016 and 12,000 in 2017.

Vietnam has converged nearly enough fundamental conditions to put an end to TB by 2030. Firstly, in terms of political commitments, the Resolution adopted at the 6th plenary session of the 12th Party Central Committee has set the basic target of ending TB by 2030, while the Government launched a national TB strategy by 2020 with a vision to 2030, in addition to a range of documents from the Government, the Ministry of Health and the Prime Minister, to facilitate TB prevention and control in Vietnam.

Vietnam has standardised technical guidelines and unified treatment regimens throughout the country, with a long-standing, strong and dedicated network of experts from the central to local levels that are capable of effectively implementing multiple interventions.

We have received strong international support both in finance and technique, in addition to great determination from the senior leaders in the health sectors for the humanistic purpose of avoiding the deaths of tens of thousands and the fears of hundreds of thousands of families each year.

Vietnam has established a national lung and TB research network featuring the coordinating and connecting role of the Vietnam Integrated Centre for TB and Respirology Research and the participation of many other domestic and international partners.

Currently, we have applied most of the world's advances, new tests and new drugs that have helped facilitate early TB detection and treatment with high success rates, including multi and super drug-resistant TB. Furthermore, we have a very good research capacity to be ready to apply new innovations and techniques in the world, while also being able to contribute experience to help other countries in the region, thus increasing Vietnam's prestige and gaining strong potential for international assistance in the future.

Minister of Health, Nguyen Thi Kim Tien (L), and Director of the National Lung Hospital, Nguyen Viet Nhung, at the first-ever UN General Assembly high-level meeting on ending TB, in the US in late September 2018.

Q: Vietnam pledges to end TB by 2030. So, what are the challenges in this work?

A: The biggest challenge for the current National TB Programme is to maintain all of the current favourable conditions and positive achievements gained by 2030. Vietnam needs an active community-based approach to TB services for early detection and treatment of all TB. Cutting off the source of infection will help stop TB.

Regarding the solutions for sustainable development, we need to establish a national inter-branch commission, a national action plan, a TB Law and a multi-sectoral accountability framework that is evaluated annually.

We also need active participation from the community and the solution for active community-based access is facilitating communication campaigns to reduce stigma and discrimination against TB, as well as providing support, especially economic support for all, in order to eliminate barriers that allow them to hide the disease or give up treatment. The Patients Support Foundation to End Tuberculosis (PASTB) is actively promoting its role in how to make people aware of and no longer have to worry about TB, no matter how disadvantaged they are.

Q: In the near future, what strong policies does Vietnam need to achieve the goal of ending TB by 2030?

A: After the UN General Assembly high-level meeting, the Ministry of Health will propose that the Government integrates the TB component into the National Committee for Prevention and Control of AIDS, Drugs and Prostitution, making it the National Committee for Prevention and Control of TB, AIDS, Drugs and Prostitution. Alongside that is the development of a national action plan to end TB by 2030 based on the current conditions and the forecast breakthroughs in science and technology. The ministry will also propose that the Government holds a conference on the implementation of the National Action Programme on TB to mobilise all central and local agencies to take part in and then organise an inter-agency review on the programmes annual progress.

We will also propose to the National Assembly to put the issue of ending TB into law, which may be the Law on the Care and Protection of People's Health or the revised Law on Communicable Disease Prevention and Control.

As for the organisation of the TB prevention and control system, we will advise the Ministry of Health on the TB programme model that has been applied in 15 provinces where there is no specialised hospital for the disease, while strengthening the training for local medical facilities in integrating chronic disease control into the public healthcare coverage plan.

We need to increase capacity and expand research from the central to local levels, as well as building a regional TB research network among the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) members, in collaborating with Australia, Singapore, China, Cambodia, Thailand and other countries, as proposed at the recent APEC meeting on TB prevention in Papua New Guinea.
Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi received a phone call on Friday evening from Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, where they both discussed the situation in the Middle East.

In an official statement, presidential spokesman Bassam Rady said El-Sisi and Conte discussed developments in several regional issues of bilateral interest, including the situation in Libya.

They both asserted the importance of supporting the efforts being made to reach a political reconciliation to achieve the aspirations of the Libyan people to restore stability and security.

The two loeaders also discussed bilateral ties between their countries.

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Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi is set to head to Germany on Sunday for a busy four day visit, where he will discuss cooperation in combating terrorism and illegal migration.

In press statements to Al-Ahram, preidential spokesman Bassam Rady said El-Sisi is set to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and a number of senior German officials.

This is going to be El-Sisis sixth meeting with Germanys Merkel since the Egyptian President was sworn in as head of state in 2014.

The talks will also include a focus on means of boosting ties, cooperating in different fields, and increasing German investments in Egypt.

El-Sisi will also participate in a mini summit with African leaders at the G20 summit.

Rady said such a participation comes as an affirmation of the level of importance which Egypt attaches to activate cooperation between African countries and the countries of the G20 in different developmental fields in light of Egypts chairmanship of the AU Summit next year.

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Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi expressed on Saturday to Chinese Vice-President Wang Qishan his country's aspirations to promote direct Chinese investments, presidential spokesman Bassam Rady said in a statement.

Qishan and an accompanying delegation arrived to Cairo on Friday to discuss boosting bilateral cooperation.

The meeting was attended by Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry, Minister of Trade and Investement Amr Nassar, and the Chinese Ambassador to Egypt.

During the meeting, El-Sisi highlighted the importance of the bilateral relations as well as the comprehensive strategic partnership between Egypt and China.

Meanwhile, the Chinese vice-president hailed the Egyptian efforts exerted in the economic reform programmes as well as the completion of several major national projects in a short period of time, which led to encouraging major Chinese companies to work in Egypt and contribute to the implementation of these projects.

The talks also touched upon a number of regional issues of common interest.

Qishan expressed his country's support for the Egyptian efforts in the fight against terrorism, uprooting extremism and reaching political solutions to resolve the crises in the Middle East. He has also stressed the support of the Chinese government to the development progress in Egypt.

The vice-president stressed that the level of coordination in the political level reflects the consensus on relations between Egypt and China, noting that Egypt represents one of the most important African countries.

Qishan said that the continuous high-level coordination aims at developing relations with the African continent, especially with the launch of the Chinese "Belt and Road" initiative and also in the light of the Egyptian presidency of the African Union in 2019.

The Belt and Road initiative is Bejing's multibilion dollar 21st century silk road, made up of a belt of overland corridors and a maritime road of shipping lanes. From Southeast Asia to Eastern Europe and Africa, the Belt and Road includes 71 countries that account for half the worlds population and a quarter of global GDP.

El-Sisi visited Beijing in September and signed five agreements with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping concerning the manufacture of an Egyptian satellite, as well as a framework agreement for future projects in the coming three years.

The president also witnessed during his visit the signing of a number of contracts with Chinese companies to implement development projects in Egypt with an investment worth of $18.3 billion.

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The United States on Friday called on the United Nations to fully comply with sanctions on North Korea until the regime gives up its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert issued the call in a statement welcoming a U.N. committee's decision to deflag and ban port entry to three vessels suspected of engaging in illicit activities with the North.

The Shang Yuan Bao, New Regent and Kum Un San 3 are accused of carrying out banned ship-to-ship transfers of refined petroleum to North Korean ships.

"North Korea's illicit imports of refined petroleum have substantially breached the U.N. sanctions cap on refined petroleum by making illicit transfers, and we urge that Member States immediately end all sales of refined petroleum to North Korea," the spokeswoman said. "We call on the 1718 Committee to formally recognize this breach."

Nauert said the U.S. has deployed aircraft and surface vessels to detect and disrupt the illicit maritime activities.

"The U.S. remains committed to achieving the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea," she said. "The full enforcement of North Korean-related U.N. Security Council Resolutions is crucial to a successful outcome. The international community must continue to enforce and implement U.N. Security Council Resolutions until North Korea denuclearizes."

The U.S. has vowed to maintain sanctions pressure on North Korea while also pushing diplomatic efforts to denuclearize the regime.

U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are expected to hold a second summit early next year following their first one in Singapore in June.

At the first summit, Kim committed to work toward "complete" denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in exchange for security guarantees from the U.S. (Yonhap)
A small shack at the foot of the mountain circa 1920



By Robert Neff





A waterfall circa 1920

Gangwon-do is arguably the most beautiful province in Korea. It is filled with steep, rugged mountains that tower over deep mist-filled valleys and pools with thick forests and a relatively small population. Some of my most pleasant memories of the province were my morning jogs.



Each morning, around five or six, I would run through the countryside  the mist in the air and the low mournful toll of the temple bells made it feel as if I were traveling back into the past, a past that haunts my life now.



But if we are to believe the old tales and the "facts" of modern urban legends, Gangwon province is haunted not only by its past but also by ghosts.



Often, when I drank with my young Korean friends, ghost stories were a popular subject. They would tell me tales of the mul gwishin (water ghosts) that lurked in the deep pools of Chiak Mountain or in the murkiness of the nearby river. They were the victims of drownings or of murders and, sometimes, they were the victims of the mul gwishin who were determined to drown their own friends so that they would not be so lonely.



There are many military bases in Gangwon-do  bases filled with young virile men. Naturally enough, cheonyeo gwishin (the virgin maiden ghosts) were a constant encounter. These spirits were filled with resentment for their short, unfulfilled lives and the injustices they suffered while they lived. They were feared but, perhaps to some degree, fantasized about by the young soldiers. Of course, Korean soldiers were not the only ones to have encounters with ghosts. Most of the American military camps had their own resident ghosts but they tended to be Japanese  soldiers from the past.





A peaceful scene of a farming community circa 1920 (courtesy of Jan Downing)



But not all of the night terrors were ghosts. I remember a friend's grandmother once warned me to be careful near the cornfields and  if memory serves me right  she gave me a small packet of dried ground-up hot pepper. My friend laughed and  in broken English  explained that his grandmother thought I was young and cute (her eyesight was obviously failing) and that I would be a prime target for the ghouls that lurked among the corn.



Who were these lurkers? They were the victims of Hansen's disease  known in the past as lepers. Muriel Lewis, a young girl living in Wonju in the 1920s, recalled:



"I remember as a child being afraid a lot of the time. There was a lot that was frightening such as the sound of a sorceress beating her drum and yelling to frighten the devils from a sick person, the beggars who roamed the countryside, especially the ones with leprosy with missing fingers and toes who sat on our porch demanding food, the bulls who pulled the oxcarts and occasionally went mad and broke loose and ran down the road bellowing, the half-starved Korean dogs who were never shown any affection and were vicious and menacing, and the insane who roamed homeless or were placed in cages in the family's yard."



While much of this was gone by the time I arrived in Korea, the fear of lepers and what they might do to children still lived on in the folklore of the elderly. It was alleged that the lepers would waylay lone children as they walked through the fields  the tall cornstalks not only camouflaged the diseased predator but also hid his desperate deed of murder. It was desperation and not evil that caused the leper to kill the child and cut out and devour its liver.



A Western hunter, who traversed the peninsula in the 1930s, also described this grisly cure:



"The raw and still warm liver of a human being is held by the Koreans to be an absolutely certain cure for leprosy. For this reason it often happens that children are killed by Koreans suffering from this affliction. Whenever a Korean leper comes to a new region, therefore, all the inhabitants become anxious about their children and do not let them go out in the dark."





An uninviting location circa 2018.
AFP



By Ahn Chan-sik




No age limit / Yonhap



Korean street demonstrations



By Jacco Zwetsloot




Park Chang-kwoun

By Park Chang-kwoun



The number of people affected by natural disasters doubled, from 102 million in 2015 to 204 million in 2016, while the total damage also increased significantly.

Natural disasters, including earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, pandemic diseases and social disasters like Japan's 2011 nuclear plant accident, hit the Asia-Pacific region frequently.

Considering the region is on the Ring of Fire that has a high possibility of earthquakes, that the impact of climate change is significant and that the population of cities is rapidly rising as a result of economic growth, disaster threats to the region are further increased. It is in this sense that disasters can trigger complex emergency situations due to many factors. Strengthening a system of regional defense cooperation to cope with large-scale disasters and complex situations, with prompt responses to minimize losses, will help restore situations effectively.



Republic of Korea's HADR policies and increased role of the military



The significance the military's role in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) management has been increasing. The military possesses lots of high-tech equipment, well-trained human resources and maintains an emergency response system that can promptly accomplish various tasks including disaster responses. It also has the strength of being able to perform more demanding missions that are difficult for civilians, such as those in a disputed territory. Because of these merits, the demand for the active role of the military in HADR missions is immensely high, and the military is placing more emphasis on HADR missions as well as conventional security missions.

The ROK has not been immune to the threats of disasters, including typhoons, heavy rain, earthquakes, wildfires, pandemic diseases and oil spills. Therefore, the ROK has developed a national disaster management system and maintained close civil-military cooperation.

The Ministry of National Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and each service have established the Disaster Countermeasures Center and coordinate closely with the government, while also setting up the 1:1 disaster cooperation arrangement with regional governments. Furthermore, the military is participating in government-wide training exercises for managing large-scale disasters and it has actually played a crucial role in responding to domestic disasters.



The ROK intends to expand its role and contribution to overseas disaster missions, in line with its growing status in the international arena. The Moon Jae-in administration has set a national security strategy that Korea should play an active role in contributing to regional and global peace promotion. Accordingly, the ROK government puts more importance on providing support for international HADR missions, as well as responding to the conventional threats it has confronted.

The ROK has set up relevant laws and took a "whole-of-government" approach to ensure effective support and necessary cooperation for international HADR missions. When a request for emergency assistance is made, a national-level public-private joint committee convenes and promptly decides on the matters. The primary role of the Korean military in international HADR missions includes transporting personnel and goods required for emergency relief and providing army supplies if necessary. Although its role related to overseas missions is still regarded as limited, the ROK military's role in future missions is expected to expand further. The ROK military is already actively participating in HADR missions in the field of international peacekeeping operations.



The ROK is always ready to send experts, medical staff and relevant supplies to overseas emergency relief missions. For example, its emergency relief agencies are ready to leave the country within 24 hours from the moment that a decision is made and to arrive at the site within 72 hours to perform the mission.



The ROK Air Force and Navy have accumulated appropriate assets to carry out international HADR missions effectively. The Air Force has C-130 and CN-235 aircraft that can transport personnel and supplies promptly within Asia. The Navy also has large transport ships, such as the LST (Landing Ship Tank.)



The ROK's military has actively accomplished international HADR missions. Since the dispatch of C-130 aircraft and two LSTs to transport relief supplies and equipment for the recovery mission after the 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia, the Korean military has participated in international HADR missions 12 times. As a recent example, last month five C-130s transported 23 tons of relief supplies and rescue teams to the Laos dam accident. In April 2016, two C-130s transported relief supplies to the earthquake disaster in Kumamoto, Japan. In 2013, nine C-130s and four LSTs delivered humanitarian aid to the Haiyan typhoon disaster in the Philippines.



In particular, when an earthquake struck Haiti in January 2010, Korean troops were dispatched the following month and carried out disaster relief and recovery activities for about three years. Korean military disaster relief in the Philippines in November 2013 after a powerful typhoon also should not be overlooked.



Defense cooperation for HADR missions



Regional and international defense cooperation for HADR missions is becoming increasingly important and is expected to protect millions of lives. Nonetheless, military participation in HADR missions on an international level should give equal consideration to its strengths and weaknesses. Accordingly, the role of the military in HADR and its strengths in accomplishing missions should be utilized with caution.



The possible fields of defense cooperation include education and training, joint exercises and workshops, civil-military cooperation, expert exchanges, capacity building and information and lesson sharing.



The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) held disaster relief exercises every two years from 2009 to 2015 to prepare for potential large-scale disasters, and the ROK co-hosted it with Thailand in 2013. The ADMM-Plus has held joint disaster relief exercises every three years since 2013. Moreover, HADR exercises were conducted during Cobra Gold 2018. At regional security and defense cooperation meetings, related cooperation measures are discussed and neighboring countries are actively supporting and cooperating in the event of regional disasters.



Nevertheless, it is indispensable to encourage the discussion of the following issues to promote defense cooperation for HADR missions. First and foremost is to shed a light on the military's role and contribution to HADR missions. There are many areas in disaster responses where the military can perform better than civilians.

Secondly, it is necessary for each country to develop appropriate capacities and institutions to carry out international HADR missions. Building up necessary capacities will enable countries to cope with sudden disaster relief situations effectively. Especially, the expertise and skills of the military when conducting HADR missions should be addressed.
The head of the Kuwaiti delegation to the Egyptian-Kuwaiti cooperation council, Mohamed Al-Sagger, said investment in Sinai will be on top of the agenda of the first forum between both countries.

The first Egyptian-Kuwaiti forum is expected to be held on November 7 in Kuwait.

In statements to MENA on Saturday, Al-Sagger said most investors from the Gulf tend to invest in Egypts real estate sector in line with the development witnessed over the past years.

In this regard, Al-Sagger called on the Egyptian government to shed more light on investment opportunities in Sinai, especially that security conditions are getting better there.

The Egyptian-Kuwaiti cooperation forum will be held under the auspices of Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, who is also set to attend the event.

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Pentagon chief Jim Mattis told Arab leaders on Saturday that Russia is no replacement for the United States in the Middle East following Moscow's military intervention in Syria.

"Russia's presence in the region cannot replace the longstanding, enduring, and transparent US commitment to the Middle East," Mattis told a meeting in the Bahraini capital Manama.

He was speaking as Russian President Vladimir Putin was due to hold talks in Istanbul with the leaders of France, Germany and Turkey on Saturday seeking to find a lasting political solution to the seven-year civil war in Syria.

Russia supports the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey backs the rebels seeking to oust the Syrian leader.

Mattis told the IISS Manama Dialogue that Moscow's "opportunism and willingness to overlook Assad's criminal activities against his own people evidences its lack of sincere commitment to essential moral principles."

He said Iran's support for the Syrian regime "coupled with Russia's repeated vetoes of UN Security Council Resolutions, is the leading reason Assad remains in power."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was to host Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel for the summit on the conflict, in which more than 360,000 people have been killed since 2011.

Saturday's summit will be the first to bring together the Turkish and Russian leaders with the European Union's two most significant national leaders.

Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Friday that the primary goal would be to "clarify the steps to be taken for a political solution and to determine a roadmap".

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The only art form declared dead as generally as the novel is rock n roll, and so the rock novel should be doubly doomed. It doesnt help that the subject is so  elusive. Cue Frank Zappas snappily convincing axiom: Writing about music is like dancing about architecture. (And writing this review was not immune.)

Its no surprise, then, that some of the best rock novels are hardly about music at all. Consider Dana Spiottas cerebral and affecting Stone Arabia, which uses rock like a canvas, painting portraits of obsession and family mythology. Steve Ericksons overwhelming Shadowbahn, despite its musicophilia, is really about the composition of the American Songbook, 9/11 and political death. Don DeLillos occasionally gleeful and wonderfully conspirative Great Jones Street is about an enigmatic and colossally famous rock god in hiding, but, of course, the book is really about celebrity. And paranoia. And drugs. In fact, the evidence largely suggests that rock n roll  the actual music  plays a mostly peripheral part in the rock novel proper. (A very un-rock n roll phrase, if Ive ever used one.) The music, instead, becomes context for more pressing, and possibly more interesting secondary dramatic projects.

Enter Jeff Jacksons crackingly ambitious new novel, Destroy All Monsters: The Last Rock Novel, wherein he gutsily half-disproves my theory. Its about bands and band practice and torn ticket stubs, gig fliers, amplifiers, guitars, drums, long hair, dyed hair, scenes, stall graffiti and mix tapes. More, it imbues them with a power that only a true fans cataloging can provide.

Heres Jackson, cannily, and loyally, on waiting in line for a show: Drivers cruise the streets in search of parking spaces, gliding past the ticket holders streaming toward the show and the onlookers loitering under streetlights. Normally people come to make the most of their hours away from jobs at the wheelchair factory, the tire warehouses, and construction gigs, but this crowd has flocked here for the homecoming show of a local band whose songs have gone viral. Their attention is riveted on the theater, its facade lit up like a beacon. A bustling queue of teenagers wraps along the buildings perimeter, bodies pressed tight to keep a claim on their territory. Theyve camped out on the sidewalk for hours, dressed light in anticipation of spring weather that hasnt arrived, a sampling of what passes for an underground scene in this conservative industrial city. The strip-mall goths, the mod metalheads, the blue-collar ravers, the [dirty] punks, the jaded aesthetes who consider themselves beyond a category. Everyone in line had imagined a night that could crack open and transform their dreary realities. This is it.

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Destroy All Monsters by Jeff Jackson (FSG Originals)

Jackson gets this right. The experience of rock, especially the punk rock of this book, is about music and identity, experience and stuff. There is a visual aesthetic inextricably connected to the songs we love. And Destroy All Monsters physically claims that aesthetic. Composed of both an A side and a B side, the book is conversely bound (start with either side, just flip it), sporting graphic art on both covers that might easily grace a punk or indie 7-inch from the 70s, 80s or 90s. Not to mention the title echoes a schlocky 60s monster movie. The book is a startlingly delightful pop object.

All of which diametrically prepares the reader for a novel that is formally complex, experimental, poetic, puzzling, often uncomfortable, at times dizzying, always alive, beautifully written and just plain daring. The plot, though, is rather straightforward: Xenie and Shaun are part of a small-ish towns fading rock scene (I often thought of Sonic Youths song Chapel Hill; Jackson is from North Carolina); and at different times they obsessively fan-boy/-girl over bands, while at others they make music. Amidst all this comes a scarily relevant red wave of murderous violence, a nationwide epidemic of people bringing guns to rock shows and killing the players. There is blood. People die. But how will Xenie and Shaun fair? Will they kill? Will they be killed? The questions hover over this dispersive novel like feedback resounding lowly.

Which brings us to Jacksons distressingly bold second subject  one that also happens to be (Id argue) the seed subject of rock n roll. In the words of Iggy Pop: Gimme danger, little stranger / And I feel with you at ease / Gimme danger, little stranger / And Ill feel your disease  . The Stooges know what we want. Jackson does too. Think of Little Richards Tutti Frutti homoeroticism in a 1950s gospel South; of Black Flags brutal sonic assaults; of Kathleen Hannas fierce stabs at patriarchy; of Death Grips genre-destroying maelstrom (I could easily go on). There is but one pioneering continuous vital thread in the force that is rock n roll: danger. It is the starting gate and horizon. Its the machinery, fire and fuel.

Destroy All Monsters dares pair a most troubling aspect of contemporary life in the United States, mass shootings and the proliferation of guns, with the romantic desire for danger that runs in the blood of rock n roll. And the link? A search for authenticity. These bands are poisoning something that used to be meaningful, Xenie says. Their music is actually toxic. Its a risky idea, unsettling, and plausibly offensive; one might even call it dangerous. Which is pretty rock n roll, if you ask me.

Cheshire is the author of the novel High as the Horses Bridles.

::

Destroy All Monsters: The Last Rock Novel

Jeff Jackson

FSG Originals: 384 pp., $16 paper
Welcome to the weekend. And go, Dodgers! Im Carolina A. Miranda, staff writer at the Los Angeles Times, with the weeks essential arts news:

POLITICS GETS THEATER WRONG

Times theater critic Charles McNulty writes about how political news coverage is often likened to theater criticism. Its an insult to theater criticism, he writes: That quite a few talking heads decided that [Christine] Blasey Ford and [Brett] Kavanaugh were equally compelling told me that safety was more important than nuance to these commentators, who (cowering behind generalizations) would rather proclaim the afternoon riveting than sort through more complicated thoughts. [Insert flame emoji.] Los Angeles Times

Christine Blasey Ford and Brett Kavanaugh testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee. (Getty Images)

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A TEEN SENSATION

The Tony Award-winning Dear Evan Hansen, about a teenager who becomes a social media star under false pretenses, has landed at the Ahamanson Theatre. This beautifully acted touring production [is] one of the most evocative portraits of the inner turmoil of adolescence ever put on stage, writes Charles McNulty. Los Angeles Times

Ben Levi Ross in the title role of Dear Evan Hansen at the Ahmanson Theatre. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

McNulty also has a look at Inua Ellams The Barber Shop Chronicles at the Freud Playhouse, which takes place across a series of barber shops where African-heritage men gather. These arent voices we hear from regularly, so the news they bring of trials and ragged triumphs is enlightening, he writes. But the play exists in some cloudy limbo between drama and pure performance. Los Angeles Times

A MAGNIFICENT PRODUCTION

Times classical music critic Mark Swed had a gander at the must-see magnificent production of Philip Glasss Satyagraha being staged by the Los Angeles Opera. He says Glass work, inspired by Mohandas Gandhis years as a barrister in South Africa, essentially reformed the whole concept of what American opera could be. Los Angeles Times

Sean Panikkar as Mohandas Gandhi surrounded by puppets in L.A. Operas production of Satyagraha. (Maria Alejandra Cardona / Los Angeles Times)

Swed also writes about Barrie Koskys production of Fiddler on the Roof (or Anatevka) at Berlins Komische Oper, an easy stroll from the Reichstag, where the Nazi government once managed its endeavor to eliminate Jews. At a time when anti-Semitic hate crimes are on the rise in Germany, the production, with half its cast Jewish, has struck a nerve with audiences, gaining rave reviews even as, Swed writes, immigration has everyone here uneasy about the uncertain social calculus of maintaining identities, hospitality and assimilation. Los Angeles Times

Plus, Swed, who is one busy dude, checks out the L.A. Philharmonic on Week 3 of its centennial celebration. On the docket: Prokofievs Romeo and Juliet and a performance by L.A. Dance Project. Los Angeles Times

In other classical music news, contributor Rick Schultz reports on pianist Seong-Jin Chos evocative L.A. Phil debut. Los Angeles Times

ON STAGE

Margaret Gray reports on the fright-filled Woman in Black at the Pasadena Playhouse  a clever, playful, high-spirited work that also offers plenty of good scares, while The Times Daryl H. Miller checks out Sarah Burgesss politically minded Kings at South Coast Repertory. The artistic team is terrific, he notes, but the script is coldly wonkish.

Miller also profiles Oliver Mayer upon the release of his new play, Members Only, about an Irish Mexican boxer named Pedro Quinn, that is being staged by the Latino Theater Company. Of his soulful, pugilist character, Mayer says: I thought that Quinn potentially could help me understand being alive in these years and the choices Ive made. Los Angeles Times

Playwright Oliver Mayer at Los Angeles Theatre Center. (Maria Alejandra Cardona / Los Angeles Times)

A NEW PERFORMANCE SPACE

The shuttered Crest Theater on Westwood Boulevard will soon be reborn as the UCLA Nimoy Theater, an experimental performance space programmed by UCLAs Center for the Art of Performance. As CAP director Kristy Edmunds tells me: It allows a range of work, including digital film, live cinema and music and... dance. Los Angeles Times

Brett Steele, dean of the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, and Kristy Edmunds, director of UCLAs Center for the Art of Performance. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

ALL ABOUT THE ART MARKET

Nathaniel Kahns new documentary The Price of Everything is in L.A. theaters this week. I review the new doc, which looks at the upper echelons of the art market, where a painting fulfills a desire for power, prestige and financial one-upmanship. Los Angeles Times

Buyers at an art auction, as seen in Nathaniel Kahns The Price of Everything. (HBO)

Plus, Jonathon Sturgeon has a worthwhile essay on art, the market and Banksys shredding stunt: With all things being equal, Banksy is the Thomas Kinkade of his generation. Baffler

Related: Christies sold a portrait made via algorithm for $432,500 because art market. (Me thinks that algorithm is very Western art.) New York Times

STREET SYMPHONY

Since 2011, L.A. Phil violinist Vijay Gupta (now a newly minted MacArthur fellow), has been performing free concerts for L.A.s homeless community. The Times Deborah Vankin followed him on his perambulations around skid row. We need arts now more than ever as a public health intervention, he says. The role of the artist in todays world is not only to heal and inspire, but to disrupt and provoke. Los Angeles Times

Violinist Vijay Gupta, left, visits with Kelvin Jefferson, 55, who lives on skid row with his dog Prince. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

EXPLOSIONS OF COLOR AND POLITICS

Vankin also sat down for a Q&A with Tony Berlant, a key figure in the West Coast Pop Art Movement of the 60s. Berlant has a new solo exhibition at Kohn Gallery that features more personal work, including self-portraits. Theyre not for the art world, theyre for me, says Berlant. The more personal and intimate work becomes, the more universal and timeless it actually becomes. Los Angeles Times

A detail from Tony Berlants photographic, collaged-metal portrait of his wife at Kohn Gallery. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times)

Vankin (who has been busy) also hung with Robbie Conal, a poster artist who has long papered L.A. with his political broadsides. The artist has a show of work at Track 16 that takes on Trump and his Cabinet. His scathing caricatures, he says, were inspired by the best of the worst of the current administration. Los Angeles Times

A detail of Robbie Conals print: Brett Kavanaugh Breaking Bad. (Track 16)

MORE POLITICAL ART

Actor Jim Carrey is handy with a pen  and hes using it to render Donald Trump in unflattering ways in a series of political cartoons that are now on view at L.A.s Maccarone gallery. This is a piercing scream, he tells The Times Jessica Gelt of the exhibition. I want people to vote. I feel like if we dont regain some sort of balance in the midterms, then were really lost. Los Angeles Times

Jim Carrey at his gallery show of political cartoons at L.A.s Maccarone gallery. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

IN THE GALLERIES

Contributing reviewer David Pagel reports on director David Lynchs paintings at Kayne Griffin Corcoran, which give intimate form to the insecurities of adolescence, as well as installation artist Olafur Eliassons mesmerizing planetary magic at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery. Pro tip: give yourself time to absorb this wonder-inducing adventure.

Olafur Eliasson, Straight back. (Jens Ziehe)

READY FOR THE WEEKEND

Margaret Gray rounds up whats happening in the 99-seat theaters (expect some Southern Gothic) and Matt Cooper has his weekend picks, covering everything from La Traviata to Social Distortion.

Plus, my weekly Datebook includes a quarter-mile long piece by Robert Rauschenberg and architecture by Sou Fujimoto.

AND THE WEEK AHEAD IN ARTS

Matt Cooper previews the coming week in dance, including a new seven-hour, three-part marathon work from Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane Company at UCLA; coming in classical music, were looking forward to the Halloween performances of Vampyr from LA Opera and Nosferatu at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Looking ahead in SoCal theater, theres Eliza Clarks new comedy Quack at the Kirk Douglas. Plus, Cooper looks at whats coming in SoCal museums and galleries.

IN OTHER NEWS

 Someone tried to steal the Magna Carta. BBC

 On the myth of whiteness in classical sculpture. New Yorker

 Related: A video game that is faithful to what ancient classical cities may have looked like. Hyperallergic

 Gentlemen, start your quarters: Banning, Calif., is now home to a museum of pinball. Los Angeles Times

 New York City has allocated its largest budget ever for cultural programming: $198.4 million. Hyperallergic

 Broadway audiences are getting younger. Deadline Hollywood

 How do you stage a sex scene? Hire an intimacy director. American Theatre

 Two critics reflect on #MeToo and ballet. New York Times

 Kelly Hargraves is taking over as executive and artistic director at Dance Camera West. LA Dance Chronicle

 A show of Chicano art in Mexico City helps connect the Mexican and the American. Artbound

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST 

Dont go in the closet: The soundtrack for Halloween deconstructed. Song Exploder

Sign up for our weekly Essential Arts & Culture newsletter 

carolina.miranda@latimes.com | Twitter: @cmonstah
MUSEUMS

Reviews by Sharon Mizota (S.M.), David Pagel (D.P.) and Leah Ollman (L.O.). Compiled by Matt Cooper.

Openings

The National Geographic Photo Ark Images of animal species living in zoos and wildlife sanctuaries around the world. Annenberg Space for Photography, 2000 Avenue of the Stars, Century City. Now open; ends Jan. 13. Closed Mon.-Tue. Free. (213) 403-3000.

Untitled (Question) Reinstallation of L.A.-based artist Barbara Krugers politically charged 1990 outdoor mural. The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, 152 N. Central Ave., Little Tokyo, downtown L.A. Now on view; ends Nov. 2020. (213) 626-6222.

Rauschenberg: The 1/4 Mile Exhibition of the pioneering artists quarter-mile-long assemblage of 190 panels incorporating photographs, textiles, etc., plus everyday objects (opens Sun.; ends June 9). Also on display: Merce Cunningham, Clouds and Screens, a salute to the acclaimed choreographer that includes immersive video installations created by Charles Atlas and Andy Warhol (opens Sun.; ends March 31). Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. Closed Wed. $10-$25; members and children 17 and under, free. (323) 857-6010.

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The Renaissance Nude Works by da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Durer and others. The Getty Center, N. Sepulveda Blvd. & Getty Center Drive, L.A. Opens Tue.; ends Jan. 27. Closed Mon. Free. (310) 440-7300.

Underworld: Imagining the Afterlife A monumental funerary vessel and other objects from Greece and southern Italy featuring depictions of the afterlife. The Getty Villa, 17985 Pacific Coast Highway, Pacific Palisades. Opens Wed.; ends March 18. Closed Tue. Free; advanced tickets required. (310) 440-7300.

Out of Character: Self-Imaging Through Narrative USC Roski School of Art and Design presents this exhibition of works by contemporary artists. Gayle and Ed Roski Master of Fine Arts Gallery, 3001 S. Flower St., L.A. Opens Thu.; ends Nov. 14. Closed Mon.-Tue. (213) 821-1290.

AxS Festival: City as Wunderkammer Presented by Fulcrum Arts, this multi-venue exploration of the intersection of art and science includes exhibitions, performances and educational programming. Various locations, Pasadena and surrounding communities. Starts Fri.; ends Nov. 11. Most events, free. www.axsfestival.org.

Office Hours 2018 Works by local artists. The Main Museum, 114 W 4th St., L.A. Opens Fri.; ends Nov. 18. Closed Mon.-Tue. Free. (213) 986-8500.

Shoreline Project Part of Laguna Art Museums sixth-annual Art & Nature festival, this site-specific work by sculptor Elizabeth Turk features 1,000 volunteer performers wielding LED-illuminated umbrellas. Laguna Beach, main beach, 107 S. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach. Sat., 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Free. (949) 494-8971.

Also recommended

The Incongruous Body Humor and the human body serve as brackets loosely containing the sculptural work in this 14-person show. Not all here is comic, and not everything manages to muster heat from the rub of expectation against direct experience  curator Tim Bergs organizing principle  but the show has enough radiant moments to redeem the whole. Standouts include works by Kim Tucker, Kristen Morgin, Jeremy Brooks, Elana Mann and Robert Arneson. (L.O.) AMOCA, 399 N. Garey Ave., Pomona. Open Wed.-Sat. Ends Jan. 20. $5, $7; 12 and under, free. (909) 865-3146.

GALLERIES

Critics Choices

Living With Clay: California Ceramics Collections Six collections are represented in this terrifically engaging show, each decades in the making and thousands of works deep. The samplings from each are largely stellar, and the installation is fresh and inventive. Huge photo-murals illustrate the home environments of the collectors and some of the furnishings and sculptures from those rooms appear in the gallery, making for an experiential lesson in living with art. (L.O.) Nicholas and Lee Begovich Gallery, Cal State Fullerton, 800 N. State College Blvd., Fullerton. Ends Nov. 17. Open Mon.-Thu., Sat. (657) 278-2011.

Ron Jude: 12 Hz How cheapened the term awesome has become, punctuating every mundane exchange. A visit to Judes ravishing show presses the reset button and restores to awe its rightful measure of stunned respect. There are six large photographs here, each a view of pristine, unpeopled landscape. Acts of homage and acts of witness, the prints have a lush, velvety surface and an extraordinary range of tones. (L.O.) Gallery Luisotti, Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave., Santa Monica. Ends Nov. 17. Open Tue.-Sat. (310) 453-0043.
Reencountering Qui Nguyens Vietgone in the new East West Players production, I am struck once again by the originality of the playwriting.

A quick synopsis of the play might yield the following: A personal drama about how the playwrights parents fled the Vietnam War and fell in love in an American refugee camp. But that outline would leave out what is fundamental to the experience: Nguyens irrepressible (and deliriously anachronistic) theatrical imagination.

Vietgone begins with the traditional preshow announcement, but this time its delivered by an actor impersonating the author. Albert Park, in the guise of the nerdy-hip Playwright, welcomes us to the David Henry Hwang Theatre at the Union Center for the Arts, where the play opened Thursday under the direction of Jennifer Chang.

Jane Lui as American Girl, Scott Ly as Nhan, Paul Yen as Quang and Albert Park as Hippie Dude in East West Players Los Angeles premiere production of Qui Nguyens Vietgone. (Michael Lamon)

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After going through the cellphone, candy wrapper, emergency exit spiel, the Playwright protests a little too insistently that the play is not really about his parents. And if anyone rats him out, hes going to be really pissed.

The 2015 South Coast Repertory world premiere of Vietgone, ingeniously directed by May Adrales, served the play as a pop-art, vintage rap, multimedia singularity. Kinetic and colorfully kaleidoscopic, the staging made a fantasy fight scene with ninjas completely logical. (Nguyen, co-founder of the Obie-winning Vampire Cowboys Theatre Company, has an unhinged comic book sensibility.)

Changs production has some trouble in the first half navigating the hairpin turns of the plays antic style. The cartoon comedy doesnt always land, and the canned musical background for the hip-hop monologues drains energy from the performers. (Seeing Vietgone after Hamilton is a strange experience. The play isnt a musical, but Lin-Manuel Miranda has set the rapping bar astronomically high.)

The production radically improves, however, in the second act. After the intermission, the broad humor has more bite and the wackiness is attacked with more conviction. The martial arts fight scene (choreographed by Thomas Isao Morinaka and Aaron Aoki) goes on too long, but its a quizzically madcap spectacle.

Paul Yen is stupendous from start to finish as Quang, the Playwrights charismatic bad boy father. Yen raps with as much swagger as he fast-talks the super contemporary slang Nguyen feeds the characters. When Yens Quang sails on his stationary jalopy of a motorcycle, hes like an Asian James Dean: a refugee with a wrenching cause.

After being rescued by the U.S. Navy, Quang is desperate to make it back to Vietnam to be reunited with the wife and children he hardly knows because of the war hes been fighting. He hasnt yet accepted that the fall of Saigon means he can never go home again. He plays it cool with his buddy Nhan (a terrific Scott Ly), whos perpetually in randy overdrive, but guilt is strangling him.

Yen never allows the comic frenzy to unmoor him from the pathos. He has a light touch with the character, but Quangs every emotion is felt. And those emotions inflame when Quang meets Tong (Sylvia Kwan), who is as lovely as she is sharp-tongued  and as lustfully drawn to Yen as he is to her.

Kwans rapping skills arent all that formidable. But she brings a refreshing tartness to her portrayal of Tong, who is not what anyone would call a people-pleaser, even though she is Quangs fantasy come true in bed.

Tongs scenes with her mother, Huong (Jane Lui), whom she convinces to flee to America, fall a bit flat. Huong hates being holed up in military barracks in nowheresville, Arkansas. The fried food turns her stomach, and she cant bear the pathetic way Bobby (Park donning a blond wig), an earnest American soldier at the refugee camp, is swooning over Tong.

Lui paints a crisp comic portrait of a meddling mother whose will is as strong as her daughters, but the rhythm of these scenes is off. Huongs role in the naturally obstacle-riddled romance between Quang and Tong gives Lui more to do than reel off middling retorts, and her performance grows noticeably more confident.

Some of the minor American figures whom Quang and Nhan meet when they take off for the California coast in the hope of finding their way back to Vietnam are clumsily sketched. The problem isnt that theyre gag roles  its that the zaniness could use more precision.

But despite these shortcomings, Changs staging beautifully realizes the depth of feeling swelling inside this haunted play. The romantic comedy that Quang and Tong unexpectedly find themselves in is given a starker reality by the trauma of war they are both figuring out how to survive. Yen and Kwan let in just the right amount of grief into the erotic mania.

At South Coast Rep, the gravitas of the final scene  in which, the Playwright returns to interview his now elderly father about his wartime experiences  was delivered almost as a coup. The ending is more organically reached in this East West Players production. A faint trail of tears  the audiences even more than the characters  guides the journey toward this reckoning between survivor father and artist son, a conclusion that daringly keeps an open mind about Americas controversial role in the Vietnam War.

The physical staging (with sets and projections by Kaitlyn Pietras and Jason H. Thompson) struggles a bit to keep pace with Nugyens fanciful imagination. But the complicated heart of this quicksilver play tenderly comes through.

          

Vietgone

Where: David Henry Hwang Theater at the Union Center of the Arts, 120 Judge John Aiso St., L.A.

When: 8 p.m. Thursdays-Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays (call for exceptions). Ends Nov. 18

Tickets: $40-$60

Info: (213) 625-7000 or www.eastwestplayers.org

Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes

charles.mcnulty@latimes.com

Follow me @charlesmcnulty
When President Trump mocked Christine Blasey Ford at a rally in Mississippi earlier this month, the crowd, which presumably included rape victims, as well as mothers, fathers and other relatives of rape victims, roared its approval and greeted his parody of her testimony with laughter. Shocked, columnist Charles Blow wondered in the New York Times,  how are there so many Americans willing to accept Trumps corrosion of our culture and our discourse, to gleefully follow him as he plumbs the depths 

On reflection, if youve been watching our movies and TV, there was nothing surprising about it. They have been denouncing humans for some time. As a character in AMCs long-running zombie series, The Walking Dead, put it, All this time running from walkers, you forget what people do.

First on the bill of attainder is that people are planetary litterers, serial polluters, pissers in their own pond. Once upon a time, Earth was the envy of the universe, a lush green world that was repeatedly set upon by aliens from shithole planets who had carelessly burned through their raw materials and were trying to help themselves to ours. They wanted what we had, and didnt hesitate to help themselves, like the ocean suckers in 2011s Battle Los Angeles. In NBCs The Event (2010-11), the advanced inhabitants of a dying civilization plot to exterminate the human race to make room for their entire population of undocumented aliens pouring through one of those ubiquitous portals that have turned our world into Swiss cheese. Fortunately, the show was dropped before they could implement their plan.

Now, however, the traffic is going in the other direction. It turns out that humans have made a mess of the planet, and its our turn to hightail it to other worlds in search of greener pastures. In Neill Blomkamps Elysium (2013), Earth has been reduced to a ruined husk, ravaged, as a title card tells us, by disease and pollution. Anyone who can afford to has gotten the hell out. White flight has taken on a lunar dimension. The 1% have fled to an orbiting Malibu that hangs in the sky like a glistening Mercedes hood ornament, while Earth has been turned into a factory planet where the 99% left behind have become drones servicing the so-called ring-world in the sky.

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Island in the sky: Elysiums sanctuary for earths 1%. (TriStar PIctures)

Heading for the wormhole: Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway in Interstellar. (Melinda Sue Gordon / MCT)

It turns out that humans have made a mess of the planet, and its our turn to hightail it to other worlds.

A year later in Interstellar (2014), Stephen Hawkings remark, Our only chance of long-term survival is not to remain inward-looking on planet Earth, but to spread out into space, has sent Matthew McConaughey on a lengthy journey through space in search of a new home for humans escaping a planet-wide blight. If characters cant put some physical distance between themselves and Earth, in shows like Steven Spielbergs Terra Nova (2011) they jump back in time, to an era before everything went sideways. Humans from the year 2149, when the planet is beggared by too many people and too little food, choked by pollution and starved of natural resources, transport themselves to a Jurassic world, where they find that living cheek by jowl with raptors is preferable to their life in the future.

If escape is not an option, people plunder other worlds for ore and minerals, bringing them back home where they sell them for a tidy profit, as they do in the Alien franchise and Avatar (2009). What happened to that lush, green planet? Humans happened.

Zoe Saldana in Avatar as Neytiri, the chiefs daughter who falls in love with the avatar of a human. (Twentieth Century Fox)

SPECIAL REPORT | Midterms 2018: How politics and the arts are colliding

How Humans used to be the measure of all things. What a piece of work is man! Hamlet famously mused. How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty!  In action how like an angel. The Bible may have cautioned Adam and Eve against that apple, and warned against pride and a grab bag of other sins, but Hamlet was only affirming the judgment of Genesis, which privileged humans above all, asserting, God created mankind in his own image.

If ever there was a time to question the humanity of humans, it was after World War II, when the full scope of Nazi atrocities was first revealed. But the good guys, after all, had won the war and America, virtually the last nation standing, rode the crest of a worldwide wave of heady optimism, the result of which were new institutions like the United Nations. A collection of photographs assembled by Edward Steichen called The Family of Man, was a testimony to our common humanity that the Nazis had done so much to destroy. It opened at the Museum of Modern Art in 1955 and toured the world. It was seen by an estimated 9 million people.

Science, meanwhile, freeing humans from religious dogma, affirmed human exceptionalism. Ever since Darwin, humans have been regarded as the ripest fruit of evolution. Thus, the creatures that inhabit our myths, fantasies and fairy tales, from Pinocchio to the Tin Woodman of Oz, all aspired to be human. And who can blame them? Simply put, humans were the be all and end all of creation.

On the pop culture front, in the same way that invaders from outer space were eager to make off with Earths oil and uranium, or just breathe our fresh air, so they too couldnt wait to avail themselves of the pleasures of being human, as they did in Robert Heinleins 1951 novel Puppet Masters, translated to the screen in movies like Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956, 1978).

Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter in 1956s Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Everett Collection / Turner Classic Movies)

The mainstream still heroizes humans, but the extremist shows of the new century that have overwhelmed them strip away the cloak of virtue in which humans have traditionally wrapped themselves. In Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016), Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), anxiously describing the plight of the endangered beast species hes rescuing, says, Theyre currently in alien terrain surrounded by millions of the most vicious creatures on the planet: humans.

In X-Men: First Class (2011), standing on a beach facing American and Soviet warships in the films version of the Cuban Missile Crisis, mutant Erik/Magneto gets to the heart of the matter when he says that these mortal enemies are basically identical: both humans, the same species. Ditto the warring Americans and North Vietnamese gathered in Paris for the peace accords in X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014).

In The Walking Dead, the distinction isnt between nationalities but something more fundamental, the living and the dead. The choice may seem obvious, but its not. As zombie godfather George Romero once put it, In my work, [its] usually the humans that are the worst.  I have a soft spot in my heart for zombies. Indeed, the parade of cannibals, homicidal tyrants and treacherous killers who populate The Walking Dead make zombies seem almost benign.

Heath Ledger as The Joker in a scene from The Dark Knight. (Stephen Vaughan / Warner Bros. Pictures)

In The Dark Knight trilogy, humans are also on trial. The League of Shadows has marked Gotham for destruction because humans are too far gone to save, and indeed, it is a sewer of corruption. Batman, however, demurs, clinging to the mainstreams sunnier view of humans. Whos right, the League or Batman?

For awhile, the trilogy seems to blame corruption that gnaws at the moral fiber of Gotham on the poor. The rabble-rousing villain of The Dark Knight Rises (2012) empties Gothams prisons and inspires the newly freed riffraff, the 99%, to rise up against the rich. Is Gothams venality, then, a class issue? It seems so, until the Catwoman warns wealthy playboy Bruce Wayne, Theres a storm coming. When it hits, youre all gonna wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us.

Thus, the film seems to blame the evil it anatomizes on the rich and the poor, the haves and the have-nots, the 1% and the 99%, in other words: everyone. And if everyone is culpable for the corruption that pervades not only Gotham, but every government institution in the DC universe, on which color will the bouncing ball of blame land?

Enter the Joker, who takes the Leagues side. To prove his point, the grinning trickster devises an ingenious experiment intended to expose humans for the beasts they are. As he tells Batman, When the chips are down  these civilized people, theyll eat each other. He loads one ferry with convicts and another with law-abiding citizens. Both vessels are wired with explosives, but the detonator for each is on the other. If the convicts dont blow up the citizens (or vice versa) by midnight, the Joker threatens to obliterate both. As it turns out, neither the law-breakers nor the law-abiders detonate their opposite numbers, forcing the Joker to reluctantly concede that Batman is right, people are basically good, and therefore Gotham is worth saving.

The Joker, however, is a poor oddsmaker. Too infatuated with his own cleverness and too busy tormenting his humorless, square-jawed opponent to do the numbers, he misses the point. The convicts, on message, indeed choose to blow up the 1%. The surprise is that Gothams prosperous burghers vote to sink the convicts. Each group is only prevented from obliterating the other by chance. The Jokers experiment proves that there isnt much to distinguish the good citizens of Gotham from the bad convicts of Gothams jails, because they all behave the same way  badly. The X-Men would agree.

Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron in a scene from Mad Max: Fury Road. (Jasin Boland / Associated Press)

In mainstream shows, humans dehumanized by the extreme circumstance in which they find themselves, like Mad Max in Fury Road (2015), eventually make their way back to the human within them. Since theyre mostly men, this takes the form of escaping their usual gender roles. Over the course of the first few seasons of The Walking Dead, when hes not going off the deep end, Rick, in contrast to his brutish pal Shane, continually seeks support and reassurance from his wife. In Game of Thrones, it doesnt take Freud to recognize that bad guy Jaime Lannister, who throws poor Bran Stark off a parapet and cripples him for life, becomes good guy Jaime Lannister by virtue of losing an arm. In the seventh season, Jon Snow, King of the North, in contrast to the shows full house of toxic males like rapist Ramsay Bolton, bends the knee to Daenerys Targaryen.

Even Bruce Wayne, in a centrist twist to an extremist trilogy, hangs up his Batsuit to sip cappuccino with the Catwoman in a sidewalk cafe in Italy.

Extreme culture turns mainstream culture on its head. What is good for the mainstream is bad for the extremes, and vice versa. If the mainstream vilifies aliens and outsiders as beasts or monsters, the extremes heroize beasts and monsters. After all, the Romantics taught us that savages are noble. In X-Men: First Class, mutant Erik/Magneto travels to Argentina looking for the Mengele stand-in who murdered his mother. When he finds himself in a rats nest of Nazi emigres and is asked his name, he replies, Lets just say Im Frankensteins monster. And Im looking for my creator.

Even the devil gets a makeover. As Gilfoyle puts it in Silicon Valley: There are very few things I will defend with true passion. Medical marijuana  crypto currency, and the biblical Satan as a metaphor for rebellion against tyranny.

Jennifer Lawrence is still getting her blue on in X-Men: Apocalypse. (Twentieth Century Fox)

Also in First Class, X-Woman Raven worries that shes ugly, and indeed, she does look like a monster. Yellow cats eyes peer out from a turquoise face topping a body covered with scars and scales from head to foot  in all but color like Michael Gambon in the 1986 BBC miniseries The Singing Detective, disfigured by full-body psoriasis. But eventually, she embraces her otherness. We are different, and we shouldnt be trying to fit into society, she says. Society should aspire to become more like us. Mutant and proud.

Moreover, in extreme shows, escaping gender is not enough. Humans need to escape the human. Supes and superheroes like Raven become whole by accepting what they are, beasts and monsters. Moreover, in the same way that outbound traffic from Earth has exceeded inbound traffic, so it is that humans, fed up with their own species, no longer waited passively for the pods and blobs to have their way with them, but rather, beat them to the punch, making a beeline for alien life forms.

Body snatchers, in other words, gave way to body ditchers. They are desperate to leave the species. In Avatar, not only does the hero Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), an ex-Marine confined to a wheelchair, turn against the company that employs him, and against his fellow soldiers whom the company uses to do its dirty work, but worst of all, he turns against his fellow Homo sapiens. At the end of the movie, he melds with a 10-foot-tall blue alien.

Avatar seems to be saying that humans, the species, like its hero, are hopelessly crippled, while random aliens inhabiting an obscure moon in a remote galaxy are both morally and physically superior. And Avatar, remember, released nine years ago, is still the highest-grossing movie of all time, and about to be followed by four sequels.

Sally Hawkins and Doug Jones in the film The Shape of Water. (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

In The Shape of Water, best picture winner at this years Oscars, the heroine, lightly disfigured by three parallel scars on her neck, helps a creature kidnapped by the U.S. Army in hopes of weaponizing it escape into the ocean. Not only that, she joins him in the water, enjoying a romantic moment of submarine love. Moreover, hers is no one-fathom stand; the three scars turn into gills, as she abandons air for water, the human for the aquatic, to live happily ever after with a monster. Like Jake Sully, she betrays her species.

Even in a more traditional movie like the review-proof Venom (2018), Tom Hardys eponymous symbiote, who takes over a human host in much the same way that the pods do in Invasion of the Body Snatchers, doesnt dehumanize him, depriving him of emotion, as they do in that earlier film. Rather, the symbiote becomes humanized itself, at least partially. The human host is less victim than collaborator. The relationship, after all, is symbiotic.

According to director Ruben Fleischer, Venom and its host, unlike Jekyll and Hyde, are a hybrid, two characters sharing a common body and working together. One of the characters says something like, Look around at the world. What do you see? A planet on the brink of collapse. Human beings are disposable. But man and symbiote combined, this is a new race, a new species ... a higher life form.

If this survey of todays extreme culture tells us anything, it is that humans have worn out their welcome. With their reputation tarnished beyond recognition, it should come as no surprise that Trumps campaign for now-Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh at the expense of Christine Blasey Ford fell on receptive ears. After all, as one character in HBOs late, great vampire series True Blood puts it, People are scum.

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The superfood mantra is, by now, familiar to anyone who inspects labels, hovers over produce at the local farmers market or consumes the literature of the wellness community. The cosmetic and beauty industry has endorsed the superfood concept as well and is pushing out new products about as quickly as you can say avocado oil (an ingredient in many beauty and personal care products).

The trend has inspired studies, papers and reports from academics, suppliers and business analysts, including the global marketing firm Mintel, which in 2016 noted the phenomenal increase in products  including those found in the beauty and health aisles  that use the terms superfood, superfruit or supergrain.

Hillary Bonhomme writing for the New Food Economy, a website devoted to the culture and politics of food, put it this way: Food is no longer a supporting player in the world of cosmetics. ... Its pushed its way into a starring role.

According to Harvards School of Public Health, a food is promoted to superfood status when it offers high levels of desirable nutrients, is linked to the prevention of a disease, or is believed to offer several simultaneous health benefits beyond its nutritional value.

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Theres no scientifically based or regulated definition for superfood, but that has not dampened the enthusiasm of the beauty industry. New products include superfood ingredients such as mushrooms, as well as moringa oil, in addition to more familiar additives such as green tea, seaweed, jojoba oil, papaya and blueberries. (The Living Libations line uses jojoba oil in several products, including the All Season Serum, to moisturize and balance oil production. Lushs Turtle Jelly Bomb includes seaweed absolute because of its skin-soothing properties.)

1 / 12 LOLI (Living Organic Loving Ingredients) line is composed of individual elements that customers can combine. (Calvin B. Alagot / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 12 LOLIs tea seed elixir, left, and plum elixir. (Calvin B. Alagot / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 12 Lushs Enzymion (Calvin B. Alagot / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 12 Living Libations Maverick cream (Calvin B. Alagot / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 12 Living Libations royal rose honey mask. (Calvin B. Alagot / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 12 Items from the Living Libations line. (Calvin B. Alagot / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 12 Living Libations sea buckthorn. (Calvin B. Alagot / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 12 Living Libations green papaya and lime mask. (Calvin B. Alagot / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 12 Lushs turtle jelly bomb (Calvin B. Alagot / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 12 A Lush avocado wash (Calvin B. Alagot / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 12 True Botanicals products, from left: resurfacing body mask, antioxidant booster and pure radiance body oil by (Calvin B. Alagot / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 12 Ursa Majors 4-in-1 Essential Face Tonic with aloe, bamboo and green tea. (Calvin B. Alagot / Los Angeles Times)

Sources ranging from WebMD to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (a branch of the National Institutes of Health) regularly post information and academic papers that acknowledge the possible benefits of certain ingredients. Moringa oil, for example, can be found in Lush products such as Queen Bee Hair Honey.

Mushrooms, which seem to be having a moment in the beauty world (the ingredients list for Los Angeles-based Youth to the Peoples Adaptogen Deep Moisture Cream includes reishi mushroom), are the focus of a paper listed on the NCBI website, which reports that mushroom extracts are even capable of accelerating the skin turnover rate and repairing dermal molecular components that provide structure and elasticity to the skin.

But even though some medical experts acknowledge that certain ingredients may improve overall skin condition, ease redness and dryness and help with healing, they caution that it is sometimes difficult to know how an ingredient might be processed and how much is used.

Dr. Jenny Kim, a professor of clinical medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and chief of dermatology at the Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System Veterans Affairs, says an ingredient such as avocado is chock-full of healthy stuff  when its served on a plate. When its used as a topical ingredient, research shows it may play a role in collagen synthesis and wound healing  but how much are they putting in? (In the United States, the cosmetic industry is, to some extent, self-regulated. Federal law, according to the Food and Drug Administration website, does not require cosmetic products and ingredients, other than color additives, to have FDA approval before they go on the market.)

Avocado co-wash by Lush. $15.95, lushusa.com (Calvin B. Alagot / Los Angeles Times)

Her bottom line? Theres no doubt that some of these products can benefit the health of the body and the skin. We just dont know which product  or how much we should use it.

None of which has deterred the entrepreneurial efforts of beauty gurus who are experimenting with ingredients, production and marketing.

Tina Hedges, a veteran of the beauty industry and an advocate of clean beauty, says she experienced an aha moment as she inspected cosmetics and beauty products in bricks-and-mortar locations. Why cant women shop beauty the way they shop for food? she wondered. Why cant we pick our own organic ingredients?

Those questions ultimately led her to create the LOLI (Living Organic Loving Ingredients) Beauty line, a direct-to-consumer food grade organic approach to customizing your own skin care and beauty products.

LOLI offerings  including Matcha Coconut Paste, Date Nut Brulee, Tea Seed Elixir, Purple Corn Grains, Aloe Blueberry Jelly and Plum Elixir  can be combined to create products that cleanse, hydrate, scrub, exfoliate, calm and tone the skin and hair. (LOLI also sells three-ingredient kits for consumers who prefer a less complicated approach to their beauty routines.)

Theres an increasing demand and interest in clean and green beauty, the LOLI founder and chief executive says, and, looking at the flood of new products on the market, it seems as though superfood beauty has staying power.

Various products by Living Libations. (Calvin B. Alagot / Los Angeles Times)

Nadine Artemis, co-owner and creator of the Living Libations beauty line with a boutique in Venice, uses a variety of superfood ingredients in her products (which include elixirs, serums and essential oils).

Check the fine print on various Living Libations bottles and jars and you might find avocado oil (for brightening and moisturizing skin), virgin coconut oil (for moisturizing skin), cacao butter (for moisturizing and healing); wildflower honey (included for its antioxidants and moisturizing properties); and green papaya (which can brighten, heal and smooth the skin). The line has attracted fans  listed on the website  including Alanis Morissette, Shailene Woodley and Shiva Rose.

Transdermal absorption is an amazing gift we have that we can use to boost our beauty and health, says Artemis, who started to make some of her own cosmetics as a college student.

In her 2017 book Renegade Beauty: Reveal and Revive Your Natural Radiance--Beauty Secrets, Solutions, and Preparations, Artemis lists a number of recipes for DIY beauty and skin care products. Here are three using ingredients that can be purchased at health food stores, grocery stores like Whole Foods, apothecaries, and a variety of websites, including livinglibations.com.

FRANKINCENSE FIZZ FORTIFYING BATH BALMS

Ingredients

1 cup vitamin C (ascorbic acid)

2 cups aluminum-free baking soda

20 drops frankincense essential oil

10 drops laurel essential oil

10 drops blue tansy essential oil

1 tablespoon bentonite clay

1 tablespoon organic jojoba, olive, or coconut oil

1 spritz bottle of water

Molds such as muffin tins or silicone ice-cube trays

Instructions

Thoroughly mix baking soda and ascorbic acid in a bowl. Add the essential oils to the tablespoon of jojoba, olive or coconut oil and then mix together quickly with the baking soda and vitamin C before the mixture starts to fizz.

Spray water onto the mixture one mist at a time and continue mixing. (The goal is to achieve a consistency where the combination is still crumbly yet able to hold its shape when pressed into the palm of your hand. Pack the mix firmly into the molds.

Allow the balms to dry for a couple of hours in a warm, dry place, away from sunlight.

Enjoy within a month for a full fizz effect.

BLITHE BEAUTY SPLENDID SERUM

(a calming and cooling emollient for face and special areas of concern such as acne or skin irritations)

Ingredients

2 tablespoon jojoba oil

1/4 teaspoon frankincense essential oil

10 drops yarrow essential oil

10 drops sandalwood essential oil

10 drops peppermint essential oil

Instructions

Mix the ingredients together in a bottle and use a few drops on areas of concern.

HAPPY HONEY MASK

Mix and jar full amount, or whip up a smaller batch on the spot.

Ingredients

2 tablespoon raw honey

5 drops Immortelle essential oil

5 drops sweet thyme essential oil

Instructions

Mix ingredients and apply to freshly cleansed skin; wait about five to 15 minutes before rinsing.

health@latimes.com
This Halloween, cast a spell thats more magical than macabre with a no-carve unicorn pumpkin that is as sweet as it is simple thanks to step-by-step instructions from Dayna Isom Johnson, trend expert for Etsy.com and celebrity judge for NBCs competitive crafting show, Making It.

This pumpkin is more about whimsy than spooktacularness, Isom Johnson said. This year, its all about being pretty-scary.

And she should know.

Halloween is a big deal on Etsy. A quick search for Halloween decor on the website devoted to makers and handcrafted, artisanal goods turned up 233,782 results, and a search for Halloween in general yielded 1,310,019 matching responses.

Its one of our favorite times of the year, said Isom Johnson, because its all about being creative  whether thats through home decor or what youre going to dress up as; we have so many different levels of inspiration.

As trend director, she combs through the site daily looking for new talent, trends and undiscovered merchandise. I try to find things that havent been tapped yet, that havent really been seen in the media yet, Isom Johnson said, and then I write a monthly trend guide.

For the spooky season this year, Etsys most popular trends  meaning the ones being searched most often on the site  include tarot cards, mysticism, true-crime themes and palmistry. You will start to see, if you havent already, said Isom Johnson, a lot of tarot card decks, a lot of palm prints and Ouija boards. Im still terrified of Ouija boards myself, she admitted, but its a trend, and if you are into it, its up to you.

Etsy.com trend expert Dayna Isom Johnson calls Halloween one of our favorite times of the year because its all about being creative. Calvin B. Alagot / Los Angeles Times

Overall, Isom Johnson sees a style direction away from the old school plastic pumpkins and black and orange decor into what she is referring to as a more elevated and refined look.

Enter, the unicorn.

Galloping to front and center, the family-friendly DIY pumpkin craft is danger-free and foolproof, Isom Johnson said. (Not spooky enough for you? Grab a marker and draw a face, and maybe some fangs, where you  or the kids  see fit.)

Theres no messing it up  because if you mess up, no big deal; you can start again or present it as it is.

Its a wabi-sabi philosophy the trend expert defines as really just loving and embracing something that is handmade.

Heres how to make a Unicorn Pumpkin, but feel free to improvise

What youll need

Unicorn yarn pumpkins. Calvin B. Alagot / Los Angeles Times

Faux craft-store pumpkin (or you can go with the real thing)

Scissors

Thick or braided yarn in different colors (or a single, multicolored yarn)

Glue gun (optional)

How to

Choose yarn color to wrap the stem. Begin wrapping the stem from the bottom up. You may want to add a bit of hot glue at the bottom to hold it, or you can tie the end. When you get to the top of the stem, wind the yarn back down to the bottom and cut it from the skein, allowing enough yarn to tuck under or tie off the end. To make the unicorn tail, use the flat, open palm of your hand and wrap the yarn around and around to desired thickness. (More yarn makes a fuller tail.) Cut the end of the yarn when you have reached desired thickness for that color. Gently remove the yarn loop from your hand and set aside (keep the loop shape!). Repeat the hand-wrapped yarn looping process for each color you want to include. Next, cut a long strand of yarn and thread it through all of the different multicolored loops. Tie the yarn tightly to pull all the loops together. Once the loops are secured, use the long piece of yarn to tie the loops onto the bottom of the pumpkin stem. After the yarn is tied off and tucked under, or hot-glued down, use the scissors to cut the bottoms of all the looped yarn to create a unicorn tail. Trim the tail strands as necessary. Feel free to draw a face, etc. Happy Halloween!

Bonnie McCarthy contributes to the Los Angeles Times as a home and lifestyle design writer. She enjoys scouting for directional trends and reporting on whats new and next. Follow her on Twitter @ThsAmericanHome

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By definition, contemporary design means style that is of the moment, representing the kind of trends that end up being used as a shorthand for conjuring flashbacks to a certain time period, think: wood-paneled rec rooms and avocado appliances. Last weekend, modern day lifestyle themes that one day will be studied by set designers looking to tell a story about the late teens of the 21st century were on display at the WestEdge Design Fair held at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica.

Showcasing more than 175 companies of seemingly every size and stripe, the sixth WestEdge fair may have looked like a colorful collection of luxury furniture, decor and appliances, but it also served up cultural cues to our current relationships with technology, world events, social justice and environmental concerns.

And you thought you were just looking at a rug.

In an era when we are simultaneously embracing technology in all forms for smart home design and appliances  while doing everything we can to create soothing sanctuaries that buffer and shield us from the fray  contemporary design is a study in contrasts. Yes, we want to preheat the oven from our smartphone, but we also want to eat dinner on a table made of sustainable wood by artisans who take pride in their craft.

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Both were at WestEdge.

The show celebrated the craftsmanship and handmade appeal of artists and artisans like designer Kelly Lamb, ceramicist Lynne Meade and artists Lisa Donohoe and Brynn Gelbard of Los Angeles-based Londubh, while at the same time reveling in dramatically conceived booths like the one from JennAir that was as much a contemporary art installation as a product showcase.

The Shade Store, one of the large companies there, introduced its latest Roman shade and drapery collaboration with designer Nate Berkus. Among the emerging companies on hand was Del Mar, Calif.-based Ibbq, showing off its Social Grilling table, an outdoor dining table with gas grill inset, and the Personal Space to-the-trade showroom in Manhattan Beach, which debuted the latest additions to its lines.

Here are 12 designs we thought captured both the spirit of the show and the style zeitgeist:

Flip on the light

(Imaginary Lamp Empire)

One-of-a-kind lamps designed with industrial hardware, handmade ceramics and patchwork shades debuted from Mokelumne Hill, Calif.-based Imaginary Lamp Empire, starting at $625. imaginarylampempire.com

They said there wouldnt be math

(Fanae Aaron)

Los Angeles-based Parts + Assembly sells a collection of modular geometric pieces in natural wood or mirrored or metallic finishes that clip together to create a customized design or can be purchased in combinations like the Cody ($1,000) styled by designer-owner Fanae Aaron. partsandassembly.com

Vintage-inspired pottery

(Heather McCalla)

Powdery pastel pottery with a vintage-inspired vibe ($18-$65) designed by Heather McCalla at San Diego-based tinybadger.com.

Life in 2-D

(Franz Viegener)

Premier faucet company Franz Viegener showcased the Edge faucet ($1,350), an ultra-modern, visual equivalent of a die-cut piece of steel, which was one of several products at the WestEdge show to earn a Best of Category commendation from CA Home + Design. franzviegener.us

Wash your hands

(Ume Studio)

Botanically scented, hand-poured soaps called Erode Summits by Ume Studio (from $55) are designed to be swiped with a wet hand or cloth and beg to be touched; available at ume-studio.com.

Youre soaking in it

(Studio 7)

Custom, wooden soaking tub from former boat builder and award-winning staircase designer Nathie Katzoff of Seattle-based, NK Woodworking. nkwoodworking.com

Night lights

(Les Jardins Solar Lighting)

The WestEdge outdoor lounge area was lighted at night courtesy of French company Les Jardins new solar lighting division, which will launch retail Nov. 1. Blade Solar Lantern in teak with Duratek finish, $500, lesjardins.solar

Case workers

(Ashley Randall Photography)

Lloyd Drinks Cabinet inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright in oiled walnut and hand-polished brass from Los Angeles-based Foreman Brothers, $5,200, foremanbrothersdesign.com

Prints charming

(Maple Jude & Co)

Los Angeles-based interior designers Jen Dallas and Perry Helderman debuted Maple Jude & Co., a charming new line of printed organic textiles and matching ceramic tiles, prices available upon request at maplejude.com.

Luxury afoot

(Woven Concepts)

Luxury carpet company Woven Concepts debuted its customizable UnTitled Collection designed by Jaime Derringer, the founder of influential style blog Design Milk, who created a line of carpets inspired by the idea of coloring outside the lines. An 8-foot by 10-foot rug starts at $7,840. wovenconcepts.com

Black magic

(JennAir)

Inspired by black volcanic glass, JennAirs new column refrigerators are designed with obsidian interiors dramatically lighted from within that boast triple-sensor climate controls and smart-home integration, the 24-inch starts at $6,199. At WestEdge, consumers also got a glimpse of Cuts by JennAir, an industry exclusive collection of custom leather panels designed to adorn refrigerator doors. Want a fridge that dresses as well as you do? Reserve panels, starting at $4,000 online at boundbynothing.jennair.com.

Now thats smart!

(Brizo)

Luxury faucet manufacturer Brizo demonstrated its Litze Smart Touch articulated faucet in Brilliance Luxe Gold finish at a fully plumbed sink: once the water handle is engaged, the faucet can be turned off and on with a simple to touch to any of the metal parts, $1,282, brizo.com

home@latimes.com

Bonnie McCarthy contributes to the Los Angeles Times as a home and lifestyle design writer. She enjoys scouting for directional trends and reporting on whats new and next. Follow her on Twitter @ThsAmericanHome

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Good morning. Im Paul Thornton, and it is Saturday, Oct. 27, 2018. There are exactly 10 days left before election day. Lets take a look back at the week in Opinion.

Donald Trump has not earned the moral authority to call for unity and civility. He just hasnt. Yes, hes president, but he gained power by stoking the smoldering resentments of bitter white voters and convincing millions of people that his opponent was a lying crook. In office, he has insisted those of us in the media lie knowingly and unceasingly (which, based solely on the professional standards of journalism, can be compared to flippantly accusing all physicians of willingly sickening their patients) just so we can stop him from doing wonderful things for his voters.

But in his statements after crude explosive devices were mailed to his most prominent critics this week, he couldnt help but remind us explicitly just how hollow his appeals for peace and respect are. Amid a bomb scare that targeted a media organization, CNN, which has frequently come under rhetorical fire by the president, Trump blamed journalists for the anger we see today and admonished them to clean up their act. In other words, Trump thinks wed all get along just fine if journalists ceased their aggressive coverage of him.

The Times Editorial Board took the president to task for his consistent attacks on the media:

The problem is that this is the same president who once called major news organizations the enemy of the American People, who refused to answer a question from a CNN correspondent because CNN is fake news, who ranted about Crooked Hillary while his adoring fans chanted Lock her up, and who only a few days ago entertained the crowd at one of his rallies by complimenting a member of Congress who pleaded guilty to assaulting a reporter while campaigning. "Any guy that can do a body slam, he's my candidate, the president said. The intended recipients of the explosive devices are a whos who of Trump targets: Soros, the bogeyman for right-wing conspiracy theorists; John Brennan, Obamas CIA director whom Trump has described as a loudmouth, partisan, political hack who cannot be trusted with the secrets to our country; Waters, whom Trump has derided as "crazy" and "low IQ." If it turns out that the devices, which fortunately harmed no one, were sent by a supporter of the president, Trump can of course argue that he never encouraged violence or criminality. But surely this kind of violence is the foreseeable outcome of our increasingly toxic politics. >> Click here to read more

Dont call it terrorism (yet). Scott Stewart, the lead State Department investigator assigned to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, distinguishes between events that cause mass terror and actual terrorism. With this bomb scare, he sees crude explosive devices less intended to cause death and serious injury than to look scary and induce widespread panic. L.A. Times

Trumps the real crisis, not the migrant caravan. The presidents desire to use military personnel to meet the Central Americans at the border and his attempt to grind the asylum process to a halt  both moves that run counter to long-established law and basic human decency  are much bigger threats to this country than a few thousand people seeking safety and work, writes Scott Martelle. L.A. Times

How do we uphold the law while helping Central Americans? Sonia Nazario, a former L.A. Times reporter who wrote a Pulitzer Prize-winning series on a migrant childs journey through Mexico to the United States, has an answer that she says will work but make a lot of liberals angry: Send more aid to places like Honduras and El Salvador for improving safety, and treat asylum seekers more humanely but deport 100% of the people whose cases are rejected or who are in the United States illegally. New York Times

Safe houses in California: Throughout the country and especially in this state, Latina immigrants are opening their homes to abused women from Mexico and farther south who risk being deported if they report the men  mainly their husbands or boyfriends  who are harming them. California Sunday Magazine

Voting on Nov. 6? Of course you are  why do I ask? Heres a list of The Times Editorial Boards endorsements:

Lieutenant governor: Ed Hernandez

Attorney general: Xavier Becerra

Secretary of state: Alex Padilla

Insurance commissioner: Steve Poizner

Proposition 1 (affordable housing): Yes

Proposition 2 (mentally ill housing): Yes

Proposition 3 (water bond): No

Proposition 4 (childrens hospitals): Yes

Proposition 5 (property taxes): No

Proposition 6 (motorist taxes): No

Proposition 7 (daylight saving time): Yes

Proposition 8 (dialysis centers): No

Proposition 10 (rent control): Yes

Proposition 11 (EMT pay): Yes

Proposition 12 (chicken cages): Yes

California Supreme Court and 2nd District Court of Appeal: Yes to all judges

L.A. Charter Amendment B (public bank): No
A judge has ruled that the man accused of killing two Palm Springs police officers during an ambush-style attack is mentally fit to be executed if found guilty.

In his ruling on Friday, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Anthony R. Villalobos rejected a motion filed by defense attorneys to strike the death penalty for John Hernandez Felix, 28, asserting he was too intellectually disabled to face capital punishment.

Felix faces two counts of murder with the special circumstances of multiple murders, murder of a police officer in the line of duty and lying in wait.

Authorities say that during the Oct. 8, 2016, slayings, Felix used an assault rifle with an extended magazine to fire on Officers Lesley Zerebny, 27, and Jose Gil Vega, 63, through a metal security gate.

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The officers had responded just after noon that day to a disturbance at Felixs home.

The officers were wearing ballistic vests at the time of the attack, officials said. Felix, who was wearing body armor during the confrontation, was arrested after a lengthy standoff.

Louis.Sahagun@latimes.com

@LouisSahagun
Pentagon chief Jim Mattis warned Arab leaders on Saturday that the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul "must concern us all".

The United States "does not tolerate this kind of ruthless action to silence Mr. Khashoggi, a journalist, through violence," Mattis told a meeting in the Bahraini capital Manama.

"Failure of any nation to adhere to international norms and the rule of law undermines regional stability at a time when it is needed most."

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On the evening of Oct. 17, as Venice residents roughed up L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti for his plan to build temporary homeless housing in the neighborhood, Pasadena residents gathered for a meeting on the planned conversion of a motel into permanent supportive housing.

That one didnt go so well, either.

It was the most negative meeting Ive ever been to, said Pasadena City Councilwoman Margaret McAustin. People were not just against it. They were visibly angry and shaking their fists.

Anne Miskey is chief executive of Union Station, a housing and homeless services nonprofit in Pasadena that would have provided management of tenants at the converted motel. She was at the meeting and said city officials who tried to explain the project were called liars and shouted down.

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These people dont want to work, Miskey recalls hearing, among other complaints. Theyre bums, theyre mentally ill  they should be shipped out, put them in fields. We dont want them in our neighborhood.

And happy Thanksgiving to you, too.

McAustin said that at one point a woman held up a piece of paper and said it proved the meeting was a sham because the city had already begun to convert motels in the neighborhood without consulting residents.

That was news to McAustin, who asked to see the document.

She couldnt believe what she was looking at. Someone had used her official city letterhead to misinform the public.

At that point I said, Where did you get this? This is a forgery, and this is against the law,  McAustin said. She said, Well, it was on my porch. Thats when I realized that a lot of the people who came into that meeting came in angry because they were under a false impression.

At the moment, the Ramada Inn conversion is dead. City officials say National Community Renaissance, whose purchase of the motel was in escrow, has pulled out.

Seventy or so homeless people in Pasadena who would have moved indoors will have to wait, and some of those people are senior citizens, the fastest-growing segment of the homeless population.

Dara Lasky, center, a 20-year Venice homeowner, joins others in voicing their opposition to plans for temporary homeless housing in Venice during the Oct. 17 town hall. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

I hesitate to say were at a crossroads when it comes to dealing with a catastrophe that has hit the entire region, with encampments filling the sprawl between mountain and sea.

But were at a point where theres some potential to have an impact, and taking the next step is going to require a little more sacrifice.

Hundreds of millions of dollars are available for housing and services generated by Proposition HHH in the city of Los Angeles and the countywide Measure H.

Thats not going to end homelessness, and dont believe anyone who tells you its ever going to be ended. One of the drivers is that wages in todays economy dont pay the rising cost of housing, and nobodys got that problem figured out. So the 50,000-plus who are homeless now will have a few more filing in behind them.

But you cant do nothing. People got tired of how that worked out. So they gave their approval to measures that required two-thirds approval, which tells you how big the appetite is for solutions.

Yes, they said, well pay for housing.

Yes, they said, well pay for services.

Yes, they said, enough already.

Just dont put any housing or services anywhere near where we live.

At a meeting in Sherman Oaks to discuss potential supportive and emergency housing, Councilman David Ryu was shouted down by residents who threatened to recall him.

In Koreatown, a temporary housing plan was initially blasted before an alternative was hammered out.

Protesters march down Wilshire Boulevard in May to oppose temporary homeless housing planned for Koreatown. The initial plan was eventually scrapped and replaced with an alternative site about half a mile away. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

More than a decade ago, public officials rolled out plans to build five regional homeless service centers in L.A. County, but one community after another put the kibosh on the campaign.

Is it any wonder weve got tent villages everywhere you look?

I went to a screening last week of the documentary The Advocates, director Remi Kesslers powerful look at the unsung heroes who are out on the streets of Los Angeles at all hours. They do the exhausting work of reeling in the most hardcore and long-term homeless, many of them dealing with mental illness and addiction (you can catch the movie through Thursday at the Laemmle Glendale). When you see troubled people get some dignity back, along with a set of keys, it becomes all the harder to give up on the rest.

In a panel discussion after the screening, Claudia Perez, one of the advocates featured in the movie, said she went to the Venice meeting on Garcettis bridge housing proposal even though she doesnt live there. If housing is going to happen, said Perez  who is formerly homeless and now does outreach as the founder of L.A. On Cloud 9  people who support it have to start showing up in equal force at the meetings where people shout it down.

Organize, Perez told audience members who asked what they can do to make a difference. Mobilize, she said. Start a YIMBY movement.

Another strategy, as Union Stations Miskey pointed out, is to do a better job of trying to address peoples fears. She said the Ramada project should have been handled better, with city officials reaching out to residents before the meeting to justify that location  which is near a school  and explain the particulars.

Councilwoman McAustin agreed.

I came away pretty bruised, she said of the meeting that turned into a melee. But she told me she is arranging meetings with opponents to explain the benefits of permanent supportive housing, one of which is fewer homeless people, another of which is the possibility of greater public safety rather than less.

In Venice, the anger and frustration of residents is understandable to a degree. For a long time, theyve put up with a lot, including drugs, violence, trash and intimidation, especially in the area around Rose Avenue not far from the beach. Some say the city isnt distinguishing between homeless people who truly need help and those who just want to party; some say its crazy to put temporary housing near a school; others say a shelter will only draw more people and crime and turn out to be a waste of money.

Those charges cant all be dismissed, but I have trouble believing that emergency housing that offers a link to more permanent solutions will make the situation worse rather than better. Garcetti and Councilman Mike Bonin went to the meeting to take their lumps and explain their position, but they didnt get past the lumps.

I saw a letter to the editor by Venice resident Chris Tilly, who said he went to the meeting and believed that those who supported the proposal or were undecided and wanted to hear more about it made up a majority, but they were muffled by those willing to shout and interrupt.

Tilly, a professor of urban planning at UCLA, told me hes often annoyed by the hassles of living near homeless encampments, and he thinks public officials can be accused of doing too little too late. He says police need to be part of the solution, but you cant police away a problem created largely by a housing crisis that has left the working poor, the out-of-work poor, the mentally ill, the sick, the addicted and victims of domestic abuse sprawled on sidewalks.

I believe that these problems are only going away when we have adequate housing alternatives, Tilly said, and when people stand in the way of taking steps in that direction, its not helping.

One of the advocates I most admire is Sister Mary Scullion, a Philadelphia nun who taught me a lot about patience and compassion when I lived back East, and who can teach us something here in Los Angeles.

When her nonprofit took over an abandoned apartment building in a nice Philadelphia neighborhood with plans to turn it into permanent supportive housing for homeless people, she got pushback from neighbors who said they already had people sleeping at their doors.

I know, Sister Mary said. Thats why were here.

steve.lopez@latimes.com

Twitter: @LATstevelopez
Los Angeles police increased patrols around synagogues and other places of worship Saturday in the wake of a mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue.

We are monitoring the situation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania very closely and communicating with our local, state and federal law enforcement partners, the LAPD tweeted. Right now there is no apparent connection to Los Angeles.

However, out of an abundance of caution you will see extra patrols around houses of worship today. Remember if you see something...say something.

Mayor Eric Garcetti tweeted a similar message of caution, saying we are reaching out to Jewish community leaders. We mourn with #TreeOfLife community today.

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Authorities in Pittsburgh said there were 11 fatalities in the shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood, the center of the citys Jewish community. Four police officers were also shot.

The suspected gunman was in custody and identified as Robert Bowers, 46, law enforcement officials said.

The incident is being investigated as a possible hate crime, Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich told reporters. A law enforcement official told CNN that the shooter made anti-Jewish comments during the incident.

Amanda Susskind, Los Angeles regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, said anti-Semitic incidents were up by 57% nationwide in 2016-17. Still, she said the shooting surprised her.

It never stops being shocking and horrifying when something like this happens, she said.

Speaking to reporters, President Trump suggested that if the synagogue had had armed protection, maybe it could have been a very much different situation.

Susskind said security can be helpful but isnt the only way to protect places of worship from harm.

Frankly, if someone is coming in with guns blazing, its hard to say whether that would make a difference, she said. Synagogues struggle with balancing wanting to be open to the community and protecting congregants. Its a tough, conflicting thing.

Meanwhile, the Interfaith Solidarity Network, a group comprised of L.A.-area faith-based leaders seeking to inspire solidarity and interfaith dialogue  issued a statement Saturday about the shootings.

The ISN condemns the shooting as a xenophobic act of violence stemming from ongoing national divisive rhetoric and policies, and stands in solidarity with the victims of this heinous and racist act, the organization said. The ISN also calls on all faith-based leaders across the country to step up efforts toward building bridges of tolerance, peace and unity.

The ISN plans to hold an Interfaith Solidarity March on Sunday from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. to foster understanding and unity through shared values. The mile-long march will begin at Temple Aliyah, 6025 Valley Circle Boulevard, in Woodland Hills, proceed to Presbyterian Church, 5751 Platt Avenue, and end at Ezzi Masjid Mosque, 5701 Platt Avenue.

andrea.castillo@latimes.com

UPDATES:

12:10 p.m.: This article was updated with new information from local officials.

10:00 a.m.: This article was updated with new information from LAPD.

This article was originally posted at 9:55 a.m.
A teenager released from adult detention after mistakenly being determined to be an adult has been redetained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after turning 18.

The teenagers case highlighted the controversial use of dental forensics to determine age. Last year, after Jose illegally crossed the border into California, a dental exam showed an 85% probability that he was 18.

At that point, the Office of Refugee Resettlement removed him from a youth shelter and turned him over to ICE, which held him in Orange County jails with adult immigrant detainees for nearly a year. During that time, a judge ordered him removed from the country.

When Joses birth certificate arrived from Guatemala last month, it showed that Jose had been 17 all along. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is required to take custody of and provide care for unaccompanied children, defined as those who have not yet turned 18.

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Jose, whose lawyers asked that he not be identified due to safety concerns, was taken back into the refugee offices custody and had been held at a youth shelter.

On Friday, about a month after Joses release to the shelter, he was taken back into custody on his 18th birthday. His lawyers fear he could be deported based on the prior removal order.

Lori Haley, an ICE spokeswoman, said Jose is in ICE custody pending his removal from the United States.

The reason he has a removal order is because they put him in detention when he was a kid, said Lindsay Toczylowski, executive director of the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, which is representing Jose pro bono. They pushed through a deportation when he was unrepresented and still a child.

Unaccompanied minors are given greater protections than adults when they are apprehended by immigration agents, including the right to have their case heard by an asylum officer, Toczylowski said.

After Joses release to a youth shelter last month, Toczylowski requested that ICE join a motion to reopen his case, which the agency declined.

Joses asylum application remains pending, Toczylowski said.

Jose has told U.S. officials that he fled Guatemala seeking protection from gang members who had shot him in the stomach after he repeatedly refused to join.

When he crossed the border into Calexico last year on Oct. 27, Jose did not have a birth certificate. He provided two different birth dates to the Guatemalan consulate in Los Angeles, neither of which showed up in the countrys birth registry.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement turned to a dental exam.

If an individuals estimated probability of being 18 or older is 75% or greater, and is considered along with other evidence, the Office of Refugee Resettlement may refer the person to DHS, according to its policy guide.

Beginning in November, Jose was held in the James A. Musick and Theo Lacy jails in Orange County.

It is unclear what evidence aside from the dental exam was used to determine that Jose was an adult.

Jose is among an unknown number of minors in the last decade who appear to have been placed in adult detention centers based on forensic testing.

brittny.mejia@latimes.com

Twitter: @Brittny_Mejia
The government has agreed to pay $55,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by a San Bernardino woman who was detained by immigration authorities last year despite repeatedly saying that she was an American citizen.

Civil rights attorneys said Guadalupe Plascencia, a citizen for two decades, spent a night in jail last year before she was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for at least an hour and a half, part of the time in handcuffs, and threatened with deportation. Plascencia eventually was released when her daughter showed ICE agents her passport.

The settlement agreement calls for San Bernardino County to pay $35,000 and the federal government $20,000.

The government should be held accountable when it violates peoples rights, Adrienna Wong, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, said in a statement. San Bernardino County residents like Ms. Plascencia have the right to live, work, and raise their families in peace, without fear that ICE may unfairly arrest them without cause.

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James Thebeau, an attorney representing San Bernardino County, said the agreement did not include an admission of wrongdoing and declined to comment further. An attorney for the federal government did not immediately return a call for comment.

Plascencias ordeal began in March 2017, when she visited the Ontario Police Department to recover a gun, which she legally owned, that had been seized after her daughter was involved in a car accident. As she waited in the police station, officers told her she was going to be arrested on a warrant for allegedly failing to testify in a decade-old court case.

During her night in jail, Plascencia said a deputy asked her to sign documents acknowledging that ICE had inquired about her. She was arrested by immigration agents as she left jail the next day.

I felt helpless, like I was no one, Plascencia told The Times in an interview last year. Here, they talk about rights  in that moment, I realized, we dont have rights.

Plascencia, a mother of five with 16 grandchildren, eventually was able to speak with her daughter, who brought her passport to prove her citizenship, her attorneys said.

This settlement sends a strong message that her entire ordeal could have been prevented had law enforcement taken a moment to properly investigate Ms. Plascencias citizenship before arresting her, Alexandria Ruiz, another attorney representing Plascencia, said in a statement. The Constitution requires no less.

alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com

Twitter: @AleneTchek
It was a dramatic engagement photo that quickly went viral.

With the sun setting over Yosemite National Park, a man got to his knees and proposed to his girlfriend at Taft Point, a rock outcropping perched precariously over the valley.

But just days after that image made its way around social media, Taft Point became the focus of a different kind of notoriety.

Another man and woman hiked to the top but then somehow plunged to their deaths. Their bodies were discovered Thursday about 800 feet below the popular hiking destination.

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The National Park Service is investigating how the pair fell. But the incident has reignited concern about the risk people take in parks such as Yosemite, where the picturesque vistas are perfect for Instagram or Facebook but can hide the dangers.

On Instagram, posts from visitors climbing to the top of Taft Point show hikers leaping in the air and sitting with their legs dangling off the side of the cliff. There are couples embracing against a sunset backdrop and even exchanging vows in suits and flowing ivory gowns.

Earlier this year, a teenager visiting Yosemite from Jerusalem lost his balance and plunged to his death while reportedly trying to take a selfie at Nevada Fall, a nearly 600-foot-high waterfall on the Merced River.

Divided attention and unfamiliarity with the topography have long played a role in fatal falls at Yosemite and other wilderness parks. But experts said social media has added another element to the mix, with the overwhelming desire to chronicle the beauty of the environment sometimes making visitors more careless.

Winning the prize sometimes is psychologically more important than the peril of that prize, said Michael Ghiglieri, who co-authored Off the Wall: Death in Yosemite, a 2007 book that chronicles fatal misadventures in the park.

Yosemite is one of the most photographed places in the world, and the familiarity of those images can lead visitors to a false sense of security.

A lot of people when theyre in a place like Yosemite where theres spectacular danger, they cant just be there, they have to brag about it, Ghiglieri said. This idea enters like a Grim Reaper with a camera, he said.

Ghiglieri and others said danger looms at Taft Point and other areas of the national park where people can walk to the edge of cliffs and waterfalls sans railings to capture the perfect, enviable shot.

One website produced safety tips for taking selfies at Yosemite. It urges against posing for photos on granite outcrops, saying it would only take a loose rock or bad footing to plummet.

The bad selfies list by MyYosemitePark.com also advises against posing near waterfalls, wildlife and rivers. It also reminds visitors to always hold the cables while climbing Half Dome. Never attempt a selfie on them or try to go up the cables if it is raining, snowing, hailing or looks like it may storm. Both the cables and the rock get really slippery and treacherous, the website says.

There are limits to how safe park officials can make these majestic outdoor spaces.

Grand Canyon National Park spokeswoman Kari Cobb said the park wont install a permanent structure such as a guard rail after a visitor fatality or fall because it would compromise the natural integrity of the landscape.

Instead, officials dispatch more rangers along trails where accidents are most common and post safety messages and warnings on maps and at trail heads, she said.

Ultimately, visitors are accepting an inherent risk when they come and hike here, Cobb said.

At Grand Canyon, two or three people fall to their death each year on average. About 6.3 million people visited Grand Canyons vast expanse in 2017.

At least 10 people have died in Yosemite this year, six of them from falls and the others for reasons including underlying medical conditions to lack of water. That number appears to be trending in line with recent years in which the park has seen 13 to 20 fatalities annually. Yosemite welcomed about 4.3 million visitors last year.

By Ghiglieris count, there have been 1,002 traumatic deaths with more than 300 attributed to falls  at Yosemite since the 1800s.

In May, a man died on Half Dome after he slipped and fell during a thunderstorm on the last 400 feet of the climb, where hikers grasp cables to scale the summit.

The next month, two veteran rock climbers were killed when they fell from the sheer granite face of El Capitan, which rises 3,000 feet and is a favorite challenge for climbers.

In August, two bodies  one of a hiker and another of a missing National Park Service employee  were discovered in the park. It is not clear how they died.

This experience isnt exclusive to national park visitors. A hankering among local hikers to rack up likes and shares on Instagram and other social media sites has led to a significant increase in rescue missions by first responders in the Angeles National Forest.

The Los Angeles County Sheriffs Departments search and rescue teams conducted 681 missions in 2017, the largest number in five years.

Ghiglieri said places such as Yosemite have always posed danger to humans. But the smartphone camera adds a different element.

The big payoff is at war with the normal level of caution were born with, he said.

Times staff writer Laura Newberry contributed to this report.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @Hannahnfry
The image on the deputys calf depicted a skeleton in an officers uniform, wearing a cowboy hat and clutching a smoking rifle.

Jason Zabala said he was inked by an artist who worked at a Sunset Beach tattoo shop and was the 140th person to get the same design. The tattoo, he said, was a proud mark of camaraderie among his fellow peace officers.

But years later, a judge would order Zabala and another Los Angeles County sheriffs deputy to answer questions about whether they were members of a clique and allow their tattoos to be photographed as part of a wrongful-death lawsuit. The county paid $1.5 million to settle the case last year. Zabala denied he was part of a clique.

The Sheriffs Department is paying a growing price for its failure to find a solution for an issue that decades of watchdog reports and lawsuits have highlighted as a problem.

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The tattoos and questions about cliques are being used to challenge deputies credibility in court. Officers who are sued over allegations of excessive force have been compelled to answer questions about their ink and allow it to be photographed.

What goes around comes around, said Merrick Bobb, who was a civilian monitor of the Sheriffs Department for 22 years. He said the persistence of deputy cliques demonstrates a failure of management.

This is bound to remain an issue as long as the deputies continue to do it, he said.

Few police agencies in the nation have received as much public scrutiny over tattoos and alleged cliques. Similar stories of officer cliques have surfaced in Oakland, New Orleans and the Los Angeles Police Department, but the accounts date back several years and rarely involved exclusive membership.

It remains unclear how pervasive the cliques are. Some deputies defend tattoos as fostering morale, arguing that they dont signify an outlaw culture. Some have also said they have a free-speech right to wear them.

The Sheriffs Department, however, has continued to face fresh allegations of misconduct attributed to branded groups. Just this month, three sheriffs deputies and a sergeant were placed on leave in connection with an off-duty fight that some deputies say was a dispute over membership in the Banditos, an East Los Angeles deputy club.

Judge says L.A. County sheriffs officials must reveal if they know which deputies have skull tattoos 

Watchdog panels in 1992 and 2012 exhorted the Sheriffs Department to root out gang-like deputy groups. Then-interim Sheriff John Scott said in 2014 he would share the results of an investigation into claims of bullying by the Banditos, yet the probe has remained confidential.

In July, Sheriff Jim McDonnell launched what he said would be a comprehensive study of alleged deputy cliques. The inquiry came after The Times revealed that a Compton station deputy involved in a fatal shooting testified that he and as many as 20 of his colleagues have matching skull tattoos.

On Thursday, a judge presiding over a wrongful-death lawsuit involving Compton station deputies said the department must reveal whether its identified all of the deputies at the station who have the identical tattoos. Members of the departments civilian oversight commission Thursday also expressed frustration they had received little information about McDonnells inquiry.

McDonnell said in a statement that his organization has taken a very strong posture to hold employees accountable, including recently hiring a second constitutional policing advisor to promote reforms.

We are continuing to assess any potential issues that may arise related to employee conduct, as well as personal and professional choices that impact our organization. We have the same concerns as all of law enforcement, the military, and the private sector about how to balance the constitutional right of free expression with what may, or may not be, an indicator of something more serious, he said.

An icon of the peace officer

For years, James Real watched as the lawmen traveled to his Sunset Beach tattoo parlor to be branded with the same design.

The Los Angeles County sheriffs deputies would come in groups, sometimes socializing over pizza as they watched one of their own go under the needle, said Real, the owner of American Beauty Tattoo. An artist in his shop etched the matching motifs of a skeleton wearing a cowboy hat, adding a number in sequential order to each one  more than 100 in all.

The number on Zabalas tattoo was 140. The skeleton imprinted on his lower left leg was uniformed with a star-shaped badge, appearing next to a tombstone bearing the logo of the departments Century station, Zabala said in a 2016 deposition that was reviewed by The Times.

Zabala was deposed as part of a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the family of Terry Laffitte, who was shot by deputies in the back of the head and the leg as he lay face down in his backyard in 2013.

Prosecutors said Laffitte punched Zabalas partner and was resisting deputies while holding a revolver when Zabala shot him. The district attorneys office determined the shooting was lawful.

But Laffittes family alleged in court documents that Zabala and the other deputy escalated the encounter by violently dragging Laffitte to the ground after pursuing him for riding a bike without a light. The familys lawyers claimed in their lawsuit that the deputies were part of a clique.

Zabala said in depositions he was not part of a department gang. He said the tattoo, with its Old West style, honored the Sheriffs Departments founding in 1850, and he claimed that skeletons are an icon of the peace officer.

It signifies that all police officers are the same. Theres no race. Theres no gender. Theres no color. Theres no bias. Its just everyone is the same underneath, Zabala testified. He said he got the ink two or three months before the shooting of Laffitte.

Zabala is now a gang enforcement deputy at the Carson station. He did not respond to requests for comment.

Its far from clear whether deputy tattoos or involvement in cliques have any direct role in the outcome of court cases. A Times review found more than $7 million in county payouts over the last decade in lawsuits claiming excessive force by deputies known to have matching tattoos as well as to settle a case alleging harassment by an inked deputy gang. Of that amount, $5.5 million was paid out in the last two years.

Those sums are relatively small compared to the total amount the county spent in Sheriffs Department litigation payouts over the last 10 years  at least $182 million.

Watchdogs say deputies should be more aware of the legal consequences of having matching tattoos.

It makes any lawsuit extremely more complicated and increases potential liability for the county, said Michael Gennaco, who headed the Office of Independent Review, which monitored the Sheriffs Department, for 13 years.

John Sweeney, the attorney in the wrongful-death lawsuit who elicited the admission by a Compton deputy about his tattoo, said lawyers suing the Sheriffs Department would be silly not to depose deputies over whether they are inked.

One hundred percent of the time, I ask that question, Sweeney said.

Earlier this year, the county agreed to pay $2.5 million tied to a separate wrongful-death case involving Zabala. He was one of several deputies who fired a total of 34 rounds at Johnny Martinez, a schizophrenic man, in 2014. Prosecutors, who found the shooting was justified, said Martinez had swung a knife at officers.

An L.A. County sheriffs deputy from the Compton station said as part of a lawsuit this year that he has a skeleton tattoo on his calf. He said as many as 20 others at his station have the same ink. (Sweeney Firm / Glickman & Glickman)

Some deputies have admitted that their tattoos correspond to cliques.

Charles McDaniel said under oath in 2013 that his skull ink belonged to the Regulators associated with the Century station, according to a deposition reviewed by The Times.

He said the tattoo signified an attachment to friends, social group, camaraderie, but he denied knowing about any deputy clubs that honored members who broke peoples bones  an allegation lodged against a group of deputies at Mens Central Jail.

In 2009, McDaniel was a floor sergeant at the county lockup when deputies he supervised were accused of repeatedly beating and shocking an inmate with a stun gun, leaving the man with a fractured leg and extensive injuries.

A civil court jury found McDaniel liable for negligence but blamed other deputies for excessive force and battery in the case. The inmate, Tyler Willis, was awarded $290,000  with $100,000 of the total ordered to be paid out of former Sheriff Lee Bacas personal funds.

McDaniel, now a lieutenant in the departments custody division, did not respond to requests for comment. His lawyers argued as part of the court proceedings that he did not participate in the use of force and was not implicated in wrongdoing merely by being a supervisor.

The only policy in the Sheriffs Department about tattoos says they should remain covered while deputies are on duty. The department often notes that 1st Amendment concerns may prevent officials from crafting stricter rules barring tattoos.

It seems to me the government would have an uphill battle banning tattoos, said Eugene Volokh, a 1st Amendment law professor at UCLA. He said California labor law also prohibits employers from interfering with an employees political activities, which covers a broad array of behavior that could include being part of a group.

Gennaco, the former Sheriffs Department watchdog, said the countys lawyers have resisted past efforts to institute more restrictive policies.

Its very difficult to undo [decades] of culture, he said.

For years, that culture may have been bolstered by the departments denials about deputy cliques.

After the Kolts Commission completed a wide-ranging investigation of the Sheriffs Department and recommended in 1992 that officials conduct an inquiry and severely punish deputies displaying gang-like behavior, the agency dismissed the idea.

The department is confident there are no racist deputy gangs or cliques within the organization and therefore disagrees that an internal investigation is appropriate, said Sherman Block, who was then sheriff.

The department was more responsive after the Citizens Commission on Jail Violence issued findings about widespread mismanagement in the department in 2012. At the recommendation of the panel and other reform efforts, the department began training new deputies about destructive cliques and rotating jail assignments more regularly in order to prevent clubs from forming.

Some deputies still quietly complain  as the jail violence commission pointed out  that captains and other department leaders know who the clique members are within the agency and allow them to operate.

One deputy, who did not want to be named for fear of retribution, said some of the ink, as tattooed officers are called, are hard-chargers who drive up the arrest rates at their stations even if it means violating search-and-seizure laws.

They belong to a clique, but yet theyre out there trying to put gangs away off the streets. I just find it a little hypocritical, if you ask me, the deputy said.

Another deputy has openly claimed that the cliques try to enforce unfair rules among their own colleagues.

Guadalupe Lopez accused several male officers at the East Los Angeles station of being part of the Banditos, a group that she said wore tattoos of a skeleton in a sombrero and bullied female deputies into submitting to sexual advances.

She claimed in a lawsuit in 2014 that after she complained about verbal abuse and hazing by her colleagues, she suffered retaliation including having eggs thrown at her car and finding a rat under it.

At least four of the deputies she complained about were suspended for a few days over a range of violations including inappropriate conduct, using derogatory language and hazing. Investigators found that one of the deputies told Lopez, Girls shouldnt even be allowed to come into this job force, and, Were going to have to regulate you, according to an internal affairs report.

Another disciplinary letter found that a different deputy told her, If you dont submit to the program, youre going to have a problem.

The reports did not mention findings related to the Banditos or having tattoos. The county paid $1.5 million to settle Lopezs case last year. She is no longer a deputy.

The department has launched administrative investigations into questionable tattoos and cliques whenever the allegations have surfaced, especially if deputies were accused of violating policies, said a statement sent by Capt. Darren Harris of the Sheriffs Departments Information Bureau.

At American Beauty Tattoo in Sunset Beach, Real said he was stunned by the number of deputies coming in for ink.

It wasnt uncommon for military members to have coordinated tattoos, he said, but Real said he felt that the identical ink on deputies was cause for concern.

It paints a very strong picture of a group of law enforcement agents that are basically unifying themselves in a way that resembles a gang, he said.

maya.lau@latimes.com

Twitter: @mayalau
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said asylum-seeking families have strained his agencys ability to respond to the caravan of thousands of immigrants headed for the U.S.-Mexico border.

Obviously the system is beyond capacity right now, McAleenan said, with the Border Patrol responsible for transporting and caring for asylum seekers.

Id like to free up my officers and agents to do law enforcement work. Thats what theyre trained for, thats what the American people need them to do on the front line to address security risks, he said.

President Trump has vowed to stop the caravan, but its not clear how the Border Patrol will cope, given an influx of asylum-seeking families this year that recently accelerated.

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McAleenan said he plans to send special response and tactical teams to the border ahead of the caravan, likely to large ports of entry where the migrants might attempt to cross. They will be joined by 800 troops the Pentagon is deploying to assist.

Were not going to let a large group push into the United States unlawfully, McAleenan said.

On Friday, McAleenan toured ports of entry south of San Diego in Otay Mesa and San Ysidro after meeting with Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen at Calexico to review a newly rebuilt section of 30-foot border wall.

The border has seen a recent surge of crossings by asylum seekers, up from 7,800 last fiscal year to 17,000 in fiscal year 2018 that ended in September, officials said.

Thats reflective of a border-wide surge in asylum seekers, mostly Central American families. More than 161,000 immigrant family members were caught or turned themselves in during the fiscal year that ended last month, 42% more than any previous year.

Immigrants can legally claim asylum once they enter the U.S. Last summer, when immigrant families began lining up on bridges to claim asylum, the Border Patrol began stationing officers at the midpoint, or limit line, of the crossings to stop them, citing limited processing space.

In San Ysidro, immigrants turned away from the border can add their names to an unofficial waiting list, a process called metering that McAleenan said keeps waits manageable. Elsewhere on the border, asylum seekers are just told to wait. Advocates have sued in California federal court, arguing the system is tantamount to rejecting asylum seekers.

McAleenan said that if the Border Patrol sees a significant increase in asylum seekers, it will expand metering to other border crossings  effectively blocking immigrants from entering. He said the agency already faced a significant backlog of asylum seekers in Tijuana and delays at three to four other crossings daily.

San Ysidro processes 100 asylum seekers a day and houses 300, larger than other crossings, which house fewer than 100. McAleenan toured holding areas where immigrants were processed behind chain-link fence and housed in locked cells that did not appear full.

McAleenan said he would like to expand the agencys ability to process and house asylum-seeking families, but did not describe specifics. That appears unlikely. The Trump administration is locked in a legal battle to extend family detention, but for now, families with children cannot be detained for more than 20 days. Therefore, allowing more families in would mean releasing more pending resolution of their immigration cases.

The system is failing us, McAleenan said. We absolutely need to overhaul the system and ask Congress to address the asylum gap.

molly.hennessy-fiske@latimes.com

@mollyhf
This small Kansas town with a majority Latino population has moved its lone polling site to a tough-to-access location outside the city limits, drawing a federal lawsuit that claims the move is intended to discourage voters who have less access to transportation and dont have flexible work schedules.

The lawsuit, filed Friday, seeks a temporary restraining order that would force Ford County to open a second voting location in Dodge City in time for the Nov. 6 election after the county sent newly registered voters an official certificate of registration that listed the wrong place to cast a ballot in the general election.

The southwest Kansas city, located 160 miles west of Wichita, has only one polling site for its 27,000 residents. For nearly two decades, that site was at the civic center in the mostly white part of town. Citing road construction, the county moved it for the November election outside the city limits to a facility more than a mile from the nearest bus stop.

The federal lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas on behalf of the League of United Latin American Citizens and voter Alejandro Rangel-Lopez, and names Ford County Clerk Deborah Cox as its defendant.

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We understand that there are people who believe voting is a privilege, but we dont. It is a right that must be fiercely protected. We can and must do better, Micah Kubic, executive director of the ACLU of Kansas, said in a news release announcing the lawsuit.

Cox did not return a call for comment.

The iconic Dodge City of yesteryear embodied the romance of the American West with its cattle drives and buffalo hunters, but today this western Kansas town is 60% Latino after an influx of immigrants drawn to its two meatpacking plants.

The Wichita Eagle reported that after the ACLU initially objected to the Dodge Citys single, out-of-town location. Cox forwarded to the state an ACLU letter asking her to publicize a voter helpline.

LOL, she wrote in an email to Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobachs office.

Cox told the newspaper that she didnt mean anything when she wrote LOL and that the move wasnt done with any racial intention.

The emergency motion for a temporary restraining order asks the court to order Cox to reopen the original polling location at the Civic Center in town as a second site to avoid voter confusion by new voters who received an official registration notice that listed only their regular polling site  not the temporary site for the November election.

The ACLU argued in its filing that the court order was necessary to remedy the misinformation Cox sent to newly registered voters and to ensure all residents can access the polling location.

Dodge Citys only polling site services more than 13,000 voters in the area, compared with an average of 1,200 voters per polling site at other locations.

ACLU contends that the countys actions have a discriminatory impact on Latino voters in violation of the Voting Rights Act because they are less likely than their white counterparts to have access to a vehicle and they tend to have lower incomes and work in industries with less flexible schedules.

Alejandro Rangel-Lopez, a Dodge City high school student who turns 18 this month, will be a new voter in the upcoming election. As the named plaintiff in the lawsuit, he wrote in an affidavit that exercising his right to vote holds a special significance for him because his parents were immigrants who came to the United States at great personal sacrifice so he could be a U.S. citizen.

My vote is important to me because it extends beyond myself, he said. It presents the opportunity to speak on behalf of immigrants like my parents were, young people, and other members of my community who do not have the right to vote. My civic participation is for all of them.

The lawsuit seeks a judgment declaring the decision to move the only polling place in Dodge City to a largely inaccessible location on the outskirts of town illegal and unconstitutional.

In addition to the emergency order for the November election, it also seeks a permanent injunction requiring the county to open polling locations that are accessible by public transportation.

A top Democratic legislator called on Cox to resign. Kansas Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley was particularly offended by her LOL message, calling it despicable and suggesting it demonstrated bias against Latino voters.

I think shes shown that shes incapable of providing any sort of fair and meaningful public service, Hensley said. I absolutely believe she should resign.
The United States has the dubious honor of maintaining the worlds largest immigration detention system. Other countries may house more refugees and temporarily displaced persons, but we lock up the most people whose right to stay in the country is in dispute. Tens of thousands of people a day are held until theyre deported or granted permission to stay by an immigration judge (or at least released on bond or into a sponsors custody pending a further hearing).

It is a shameful aspect of U.S. immigration enforcement that the government denies liberty to so many people who have neither been accused nor convicted of a crime. To be sure, every nation has a right to control its borders and determine who gets to come in, for what reasons, and through what legal mechanism. We dont believe that the U.S. should maintain open borders, but the governments historic reliance on detention as a tool for dealing with people accused of arriving or staying here illegally is needlessly expensive, grossly inhumane and unjust to people exercising their legal right to seek asylum.

While the current administration has embraced and expanded the practice, this is not a creation of President Trump. Such detentions date to the Immigration Act of 1882, and current detention policies are rooted in the 1952 Immigration and Naturalization Act. More recently, Cuban and Haitian migrants arriving by boat in the 1970s and 80s were placed in detention centers, in part to deter their countrymen from similarly setting off to sea on rickety boats. Congress eventually mandated detention for migrants convicted of certain crimes that made them ineligible for admission.

ICE spends nearly $3 billion a year on immigration detention.

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The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 greatly expanded the immigration detention system through contracts with local jails and state and privately run prisons. In fact, most of the 39,000 people incarcerated on any given day in the U.S. for immigration reasons  more than 350,000 pass through the system each year  are held in prison-like conditions in more than 200 locations around the country.

Some local governments have expanded their jails so they can house, for a daily fee, migrants that Immigration and Customs Enforcement wants detained. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has granted $360 million in low-interest loans since 1996 to help rural communities build jails often larger than they need, so local officials can use detainees and the federal fee payments they bring to cover operating expenses, according to a recent report by the nonprofit Vera Institute of Justice.

ICE spends nearly $3 billion a year on immigration detention, according to the Government Accountability Office. About two-thirds of that goes to private prison corporations to operate detention centers and to local jails to reimburse them for housing detainees. Through those efforts the government has expanded an incarceration industry costing an exorbitant amount of tax dollars to deny freedom of movement of people who, in the vast majority of cases, pose no threat to us.

And notably, at least 77% of migrants facing deportation proceedings show up for their hearings, according to reports. Rates are highest among those who find legal help or receive support from community groups, which suggests there are better methods for handling this than detention.

There may, of course, be valid reasons for detaining some migrants, such as newly arrived asylum-seekers whose identities have yet to be verified, people facing imminent court-ordered deportation who the government has reason to fear might disappear, or violent felons who pose a realistic threat to public safety.

Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute from L.A. Times Opinion 

One of the largest contributors to no-shows is the governments failure to keep current contact information for migrants during proceedings that can stretch out for years. One approach would be to match migrants to community service groups or sponsors to better keep track of the individuals and ensure they appear for court hearings; sadly, Trump killed an experimental Obama program that did just that.

This administration has chosen instead to double down on detention, and now it reportedly is considering reviving a version of the vile family separations. If family separation and detention worked as a deterrent, the president wouldnt be tweeting so furiously these days about the current caravan of Central American migrants moving northward through Mexico. Detention-as-deterrence is not only an inhumane approach, its a failed one.

The government can neither detain nor deport its way out of this problem. It must find a better way. The fact that it has failed to do so for so long, regardless of which party controlled Congress or the White House, is an embarrassment.

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The campaign to pass Proposition 6  a contentious effort by anti-tax conservatives to repeal last years fuel tax and vehicle fee increases, eliminating $5 billion in transportation infrastructure funding  has been filled with even more gross exaggerations and misleading claims than voters are used to seeing. One of the worst is the assertion that the state is maliciously misspending gas tax revenue on  gasp!  public transit.

Proposition 6 campaign chairman Carl DeMaio likes to complain that lawmakers have diverted fuel taxes to pay for transit. DeMaio argues that gas tax revenues should be spent solely on roads.

Heres the problem with that argument: Years ago, California voters explicitly gave the state the green light to spend gas tax money on public transit. They did so by approving a constitutional amendment on the June 1974 ballot (Proposition 5) that allowed fuel excise tax revenue to be spent on building and maintaining mass transportation systems. It also allowed the money to be used to lessen the environmental impact of highway and transit projects.

While Californians take pride in having the finest highways in the world, we must concede that in many areas were nearly paralyzed because of congestion, the supporters of the amendment wrote in the ballot argument mailed to every registered voter. Unless we want to put much more of our State under an asphalt blanket, accompanied by increased taxes and a deteriorating environment, we have to begin moving in a new direction.

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The decision in the 1970s to allow gas tax revenue to be spent on public transit remains the right one.

Sound familiar? The amendment was passed during the gas shortages of the 1970s. Los Angeles was smothering under a layer of smog, and the states urban highways were increasingly clogged with cars. California voters made the rational decision then to begin a transition toward mass transit to cut air pollution, ease congestion and reduce reliance on oil.

Its been slow going. The states fuel taxes have largely gone to highway projects and road maintenance. (And they still do. Two-thirds of the recent gas and diesel tax increases are dedicated to highway and road repairs, according to the Legislative Analysts Office.) Theres never been enough money to build out urban mass transit systems, although thats changing as more counties pass sales tax increases for transportation investments. Its also harder to build mass transit to serve the states sprawling suburbs and dispersed job centers. Again, thats changing a bit as cities build more housing and jobs in their urban cores.

The decision in the 1970s to allow gas tax revenue to be spent on public transit remains the right one. California is still choking on unhealthy air, its highways are still clogged. And like much of the industrialized world, the state is racing to slash carbon emissions to avoid the worst effects of climate change, such as life-threatening heat waves and long periods of drought followed by destructive floods.

But to hear Proposition 6 supporters tell it, theres no urgent need to address the climate threat. Theres no recognition that Californians have already committed to expanding public transit, or that investing in buses, trains and bike infrastructure is about giving people more choices to get around so they dont have to waste productive time stuck behind the wheel.

Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute from L.A. Times Opinion 

Instead, Proposition 6 backers are determined to convince voters that its all a nefarious scheme. For example, take what Republican Diane Harkey, who is running for the congressional seat being vacated by Darrell Issa, recently declared at a news conference:

This is just fraud. Its forcing you to take bikes, get on trains, hose off at the depot and try to get to work. That does not work. That does not work with my hair and heels. I cannot do that and I will not do that.

That message seems designed to push a particular set of voters buttons. Republicans put Proposition 6 on the ballot in a nakedly partisan attempt to boost GOP turnout in the midterm. Comments like Harkeys amplify the pitch to GOP voters outside of city centers  the ones who dont rely on buses and trains.

The plain truth is, there is no fraud. There is no forcing. And there should be no turning back from a future that Californians endorsed four decades ago, where people can choose to drive or choose to take the bus or choose to bike  regardless of their hair or heels.

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The leaders of Turkey, Russia, France and Germany meet in Istanbul on Saturday to try and find a lasting political solution to the Syrian civil war and consolidate a fragile ceasefire in a rebel-held northern province.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will host Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel for a summit on the conflict, in which more than 360,000 people have been killed since 2011.

Russia, which supports the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and Turkey, which backs the rebels, have held previous talks with Iran on the issue, in efforts that have often been greeted with suspicion in the West.

But Saturday's summit will be the first to bring together the Turkish and Russian leaders with the European Union's two most significant national leaders.

Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Friday that the primary goal would be to "clarify the steps to be taken for a political solution and to determine a roadmap".

Forming a commission to create Syria's post-war constitution, seen as a stepping stone to staging elections in the war-torn country, would be a particular point of emphasis, Kalin told the state-run news agency Anadolu.

The talks will also look to extend a ceasefire around the last major rebel-held bastion of Idlib, where aid groups have warned that a military offensive could spark one of the worst humanitarian disasters of the seven-year war.

With an assault by government troops seeming imminent, last month Russia and Turkey agreed to create a demilitarised buffer zone ringing Idlib, home to three million people.

The September 17 deal for the 15-20 kilometre-wide zone came after a flurry of activity as Turkey sought to avoid an assault leading to a further influx of people across its border.

However shelling in the area has continued intermittently, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Syrian regime artillery fire killed seven civilians in Idlib on Friday -- the highest death toll there since the ceasefire deal.

- 'Modest expectations' -

The participants have damped down hopes of a long-term solution ahead of the summit, with France's Elysee palace saying there were "modest expectations" and Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov urging everyone to be "realistic".

Peskov said that while all sides want a political settlement in Syria, "certain disagreements may exist regarding the instruments and tactics".

"The issue of the day is to reconcile different formats in order to synchronise our watches, to negotiate, and to attempt to identify common topics," he said.

While two key global players in the Syria conflict -- Iran and the United States -- will be absent, Macron said he briefed US President Donald Trump on strategy this week.

The push by Turkey and Russia has overshadowed a rival United Nations-backed political process, which has been hampered by the Syrian regime's refusal of "any foreign interference" in writing the new constitution.

However France and Germany's inclusion in Saturday's summit could help Turkey's bargaining position, as all three share the same view of Assad's regime, said Jana Jabbour, professor of political science at Sciences Po university in Paris.

The talks could even let Erdogan "try to normalise relations with Europe" and show he can be "a good partner with the West" after relations were badly affected by Ankara's crackdown over a failed coup in 2016.

The summit will also take place in the aftermath of journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2.

Turkish media reported that Erdogan will discuss the crisis in one-on-one talks with some leaders on the summit's sidelines.

The summit is expected to start at around 4:00 pm (1300 GMT) and the four leaders are expected to issue a joint statement ahead of individual press conferences.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online.

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To the editor: As someone who has taught at both public and private schools, I can attest to the positive effect that small class size has on students.

In the public high school where I taught, 37 students in a history class was common, and we had five classes a day. It was easy for students to be anonymous in those large groups and fall so far behind that it was impossible to catch up. Maintaining classroom discipline sometimes became the goal of the day.

Later, I taught in two private schools. What a difference numbers can make. My middle school classes had between 12 and 16 students, all of whom worked hard and did their homework (granted, their parents were greatly involved in their education). The number of students in the room affected their attitude toward what was going on there. If someone was falling behind or struggling with anything, I could deal with it quickly.

The students in a small class actually get to know each other and can work together much better than in large classes. This kind of socialization that has been a goal of public schools for decades is sorely missing today in districts like Los Angeles Unified.

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We must share the advantages that privileged children get with our public school students. Our country will be much better off if we do.

Kris Sullivan, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Although small classes are optimal for learning, the presence of an effective teacher produces greater benefits than having fewer students, according to the latest research on the matter.

In fact, the U.S. Department of Education found a weak relationship between achievement and a reduction in class size. To date, there is no formula to determine what size is most conducive to learning.

Walt Gardner, Los Angeles

The writer taught for 28 years in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

..

To the editor: Way back in 1948-49, a social studies teacher at the middle school I was attending induced such a large number of students to take Latin that they had to form two beginning classes. As a result, I was in the smallest class that I had ever attended in a public school; the back half of the classroom was empty.

I worked harder than I ever had, trying to shine for my teacher.

The next year some students must have dropped out, because the two Latin classes were combined. I found myself in a seat in the back of the room, the excitement all gone. I studied just enough to pass.

Ruth Persky, Los Angeles

..

To the editor: If your boss gave you 15 hours of work to do in eight hours, how would you cope? Would you stay late to finish, or would you cut corners?

When I was an English teacher, it was clear to me that for students to improve their writing skills, they had to practice their writing, which they and their parents expected me to thoroughly evaluate. If I had three classes of 25 students, and each had to write a two-page paper, you can see how much reading I had to do after 3 p.m.

What if class size goes up to 35? What if the two-page essay becomes three pages? And how much less comfortable is a room with 35 students than one with 25?

Now you see why your kid comes home and complains about school.

Michael Katzman, Big Bear Lake

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Everything that happens today  natural disasters, shootings, morning talkshow firings  is filtered through a political lens, examined less for its own direct consequences and more for its possible effect on poll numbers or election outcomes. The migrant caravan, for example, is really a story about the violence and corruption in Honduras that prompts thousands of people to flee north, and how the United States might respond to it, but its proximity to the Nov. 6 election makes it about partisan politics.

This focus can lead to conspiratorial thinking, and its showing in some of the letters sent to the L.A. Times this week. For example, some say the migrant caravan seems timed just too perfectly to stir anti-immigrant voters for it not to have been started or at least encouraged by President Trumps allies. And those crude bombs mailed to two Democratic ex-presidents and some of Trumps most outspoken critics, just weeks before the election, bear the markings of a false-flag operation, write some Trump supporters.

The only thing these two lines of thinking have in common is that there is no evidence to back them up, but that hasnt stopped them from making up part of the commentary we received on the caravan or the bombing scare.

A reader from Claremont is just asking a question:

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I am hearing outside the mainstream media that the bomb fiasco could be the work of Democrats trying to draw attention away from the caravan. Lots of people are talking about it but dont say it because it would be politically incorrect.

Im just asking. It is an interesting point of view.

One reader from Encino, who wrote before the arrest of a man in South Florida, connects the bombing scare to the Brett Kavanaugh hearings:

A 10-year-old boy can see the bombs mailed to prominent Democrats and Trump critics are linked. Its the same game when then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaughs sexual assault allegation was made public just days before he was to be confirmed.

Now pipe bombs are sent to Democrats weeks before Nov. 6, and Republicans look bad. I can guarantee you, 100%, these pipe bombs were sent by a leftist loon.

Regarding the caravan, a resident of Chula Vista has a hunch:

I am suspicious of the timing of this caravan from Honduras. Its so close to the 2018 midterm election.

It gives President Trump plenty of opportunity to make comments about the border situation.

One Culver City resident suspects this is a big photo-op:

Conspiracy theories have been presented regarding the migrant caravan: It was organized by Democrats or by political opponents of Honduras right-wing president.

I have a third theory: Right-wing U.S. operatives wanted to create great photos of a massive invasion with precise timing for the midterm election. Its the perfect way to promote fear and fire up the Trump base.

They can say: See? We were right. Build the wall. Dont let the Democrats control the House.

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Newsoms budget proposes $3 million for Alzheimers research, brain task force By Melody Gutierrez Amyloid plaques, shown here in human brains, are a hallmark of Alzheimers disease. (UCLA School of Medicine) Gov. Gavin Newsom will call for the creation of a brain health task force and dedicate $3 million annually from the states general fund to Alzheimers disease research in the budget proposal he will release Thursday, a source close to the administration said. The money for Alzheimers research would target the new grants at understanding why the disease is more prevalent in women and people of color. Former California first lady and Alzheimers activist Maria Shriver pushed for the funding to be included in the state budget. Shriver said in a statement Wednesday that the funding would make California the first state to make understanding our brains a priority. The states former first lady, whose late father Sargent Shriver was diagnosed with Alzheimers, founded the Womens Alzheimers Movement, an advocacy group raising awareness about womens increased risk for developing the disease. In 2011, she wrote a comprehensive assessment on the disease, to which Newsom  then mayor of San Francisco  contributed a portion called What one city is doing. This is personal to me, just like it is to millions of California families, Shriver said. Alzheimers is one of the largest medical, social and economic crises in our state, and of our time. I am so proud that, once again, California is leading the way. Wiping out Alzheimers is going to require bold thinking, and there is no doubt in my mind that California is home to bold thinkers who can make this happen. Facebook

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Gov. Gavin Newsom orders reinvention of troubled California DMV By Patrick McGreevy A line of people stretches around the South L.A. location of a California Department of Motor Vehicles Office on Aug. 7. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday ordered an overhaul of the California Department of Motor Vehicles, which has been plagued by hours-long wait times at field offices, computer crashes and voter registration errors involving tens of thousands of customers. Just a few days after taking office, Newsom appointed a top advisor to a new DMV Reinvention Strike Team to revamp the beleaguered agency over the next six months. By any metric, California DMV has been chronically mismanaged and failed in its fundamental mission to the state customers it serves and the state workers it employs, Newsom said in a statement, adding Its time for a reinvention. The governor appointed state Government Operations Agency Secretary Marybel Batjer to lead the strike team with a goal of modernizing the agency and enacting changes that improve customer satisfaction, employee performance and transparency. Newsom also ordered an accelerated review of initial findings of an ongoing audit ordered last year by Gov. Jerry Brown. The action was welcomed by lawmakers who have been critical of the DMV, including Assemblyman Vince Fong (R-Bakersfield). The egregious management failures of the DMV have been self-evident, which is why I have been calling for new leadership and a comprehensive independent audit of this troubled state agency over and over again as the problems grew significantly worse, Fong said. Last summer, Californians seeking new driver licenses complained of wait times of four to six hours at DMV offices, which the agency blamed partly on snafus caused by a rush of people trying to get Real IDs, a new identification card design required for airline passengers starting in late 2020. Delays were also blamed on computer crashes at DMV offices as the agency struggled to update its aging automation systems. The DMV also admitted that there were an estimated 23,000 errors as people either were unknowingly registered to vote or mistakes were made in their registration status as part of the states new motor voter program. The agency registered to vote as many as 1,500 people with legal U.S. residency but no citizenship. Last month, DMV Director Jean Shiomoto retired from the agency. Legislators were angered earlier this week when the DMV said it needed an additional $40 million to prevent the return of long lines at its field offices. In addition, the agency has been under fire for issuing driver licenses in the last year that do not comply with the federal Real ID standards requiring two forms of identification by applicants. Facebook

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California police unions are preparing to battle new transparency law in the courtroom By Maya Lau Just as a landmark police transparency law is going into effect, some California police agencies are shredding internal affairs documents and law enforcement unions are rushing to block the information from being released. The new law, which begins to unwind Californias strictest-in-the-nation protections over the secrecy of law enforcement records, opens to the public internal investigations of officer shootings and other major uses of force, along with confirmed cases of sexual assault and lying while on duty. But the lawsuits and records destruction, which began even before the law took effect Jan. 1, could tie up the release of information for months or years, and in some instances, prevent it from ever being disclosed. The fact that police unions are challenging this law is on some level not surprising, said Peter Bibring, director of police practices at the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, one of the principal supporters of the new law. They have a long history of fighting tooth and nail against transparency. Read More Facebook

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Secretary of State Alex Padilla begins second term with challenge to ensure every Californian is counted By Jazmine Ulloa Secretary of State Alex Padilla takes the oath of office as his family stands by his side on Monday in Sacramento. (Jazmine Ulloa / Los Angeles Times) Secretary of State Alex Padilla was sworn in for a second term on Monday, saying he would continue the battle to protect the right to vote at a time when voter suppression efforts, online disinformation campaigns and interference from foreign adversaries have polarized the public and threatened to undermine trust in U.S. elections. I am doubling down on our fight here in Sacramento and in Washington, D.C., to defend our democracy, he said. Working on the front lines with so many of you, I know that our collective resolve has never been stronger. But the loudest applause came when Padilla promised to fight back against the Trump administrations changes to the U.S. census, saying he will ensure every Californian gets counted. Padilla, a former state senator and Los Angeles City Council member from the San Fernando Valley, led the cause for a new motor voter registration law in 2015, and a new system for online business registrations. But the programs have had experienced problems: More than 23,000 Californians were registered to vote incorrectly by the state DMV, the agency reported last year. On Monday, Padilla said he would continue to push back against false claims of voter fraud in California and pointed to the states voter turnout as proof that his office was involving more people in the democratic process, a promise he made when he was first sworn in four years ago. More than 12.7 million voters cast ballots in the Nov. 6 midterm election, representing roughly 65% of the states registered voters, the highest number of any midterm election since 1982, according to state certified results. I made that promise based on a shared belief that we are a stronger democracy and a better California when we hear all voices from all corners of California, and when those voices are not just heard but counted, Padilla said. Facebook

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Ricardo Lara, Californias first statewide officeholder to come out as gay, sworn in as insurance commissioner Ricardo Lara on the floor of the state Senate in 2016. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) Ricardo Lara took the oath of office as California insurance commissioner on Monday, pledging action to boost healthcare coverage and combat climate change. Lara, a Democrat from Bell Gardens, is the first elected statewide officeholder in California who has come out as gay. He began his speech in downtown Sacramento by thanking LGBTQ leaders who came before him and celebrated the occasion. Today, because of you, weve shattered the pink ceiling, Lara said. In his inaugural speech, Lara announced the creation of an executive position in his office to address climate change. There is no other industry that has the necessary expertise to ensure that California is prepared to mitigate and reduce risk to our communities and our environment, Lara said. Our planet cant wait. Im ready, and I hope you are too. Lara served as a state legislator and in 2017 introduced a bill to create a single-payer healthcare system in the state. He promised to work with new Gov. Gavin Newsom to expand coverage across California. Lara was sworn in by retired U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, who declared unconstitutional Californias Proposition 8 gay marriage ban. State Sen. President Pro Tem Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) was on hand for the ceremony along with multiple other state lawmakers. Facebook

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New California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis says she will help expand access to universities in the state New Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, center, is shown in June talking with attendees at the Power to the Polls rally in Sacramento. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) More Californians should be given access to public universities, Eleni Kounalakis said as she took the oath of office Monday to become the states first woman elected lieutenant governor. Kounalakis was given the oath of office by Gov. Gavin Newsom, her predecessor in the job, who pledged they would work together. As lieutenant governor, Kounalakis serves on the University of California Board of Regents and the California State University Board of Trustees, she noted in a speech at her swearing-in ceremony at the main Sacramento Library. In that role, she said, she will be committed to expanding access to affordable public higher education here in our state. Its wise, its smart and it is the best way to address our rapidly changing digital economy. Kounalakis is former president of a development company founded by her father, Angelo Tsakopoulos, and served during the Obama administration as the U.S. ambassador to Hungary. In November, she won her first run for statewide office. Also attending the ceremony were House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm. Facebook

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California meets Dutch Newsom, who steals the show at his fathers inauguration By Taryn Luna Gov. Gavin Newsom gives his inaugural address while holding his youngest son, Dutch. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) In the California political world, all eyes were on Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday until his 2-year-old son stole the show. Dutch, the youngest of four children in the Newsom brood, climbed onstage in the middle of his fathers inaugural address in a tent outside the Capitol on Monday. The unplanned moment saw the 51-year-old governors big day interrupted by the toddler, bringing levity to the ceremony. Newsom was recounting Gov. Jerry Browns last inaugural speech and reference to the Sermon on the Mount, a biblical story about two men who built separate homes on sand and rock, when Dutch approached his father, a pacifier in his mouth and blanket in hand. Now more than ever we Californians know how much a house matters and children matter, Newsom said, improvising as he scooped the boy into his arms. The governor kissed Dutch on the cheek and held him for several minutes as he continued with the speech. This is exactly how it was scripted, Newsom joked. Newsom eventually put his child down and Dutch walked to the edge of the stage before retreating behind the podium to hide from his mother, First Lady Jennifer Siebel Newsom. The crowd roared. Siebel Newsom was able to briefly divert her son only for him to return to the stage minutes later. She grabbed him again and this time, the crying toddler did not reemerge. When fires strikes, when kids cry and the earth shakes, well be there for each other, Newsom said. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who said the moment humanized Newsom, threw cold water on any theories that Dutchs cameo was planned. No, I know it was not, Garcetti said with a laugh after Newsoms speech concluded. I could see that look of absolute abject terror [on Newsoms face]. Weve all been there. Kids always think its about themselves and theyve proved it. California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) agreed. I worked in early childhood education for 20 years and theres no way you can ever get a child to do anything when you want them to do it, Rendon said. Facebook

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Fiona Ma takes oath as Californias new treasurer By Liam Dillon State Treasurer Fiona Ma. Fiona Ma took the oath of office in Sacramento on Monday as the states 34th treasurer, promising to boost Californias economy. Ma previously served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, in the state Assembly and on the California Board of Equalization. I want to thank everyone for entrusting me with this important job. I understand my role here as your state treasurer is to build that financial wall around California so that we will remain the fifth-largest economy, Ma said in brief remarks. That is my promise to you. California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye administered the oath to Ma. Following the ceremony, Ma held an ice cream social for guests. On Wednesday, she will host a public event in San Francisco to celebrate her swearing-in. State Treasurer Fiona Ma takes the oath of office. (Liam Dillon / Los Angeles Times) Facebook

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Expectations are high for newly sworn-in state schools chief Tony Thurmond Tony Thurmond shakes hands with retired Alameda County Superior Court Judge Gordon Baranco after taking the oath of office. (Melody Gutierrez / Los Angeles Times) Tony Thurmond took the oath of office as Californias state superintendent of public schools on Monday, promising a labor-friendly agenda before the teachers, students and Democratic officials who filled an auditorium at McClatchy High School in Sacramento to watch him being sworn in. We cant close the achievement gap without a great teacher at the head of every class, Thurmond said Monday to applause. We have to make sure we provide quality compensation and support to our teachers and our classified staff and all the educators who support our kids. Thurmond, a Bay Area Democrat who served in the state Assembly, won a hotly contested and expensive race with the help of labor leaders against charter school executive Marshall Tuck. The race took several days to sort out after Tuck held an initial lead in early returns on election night before falling behind thereafter. Thurmond was sworn in Monday by retired Alameda County Superior Court Judge Gordon Baranco. He was joined on stage by labor rights leader Dolores Huerta and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount). Thurmonds former colleagues in the state Assembly took turns praising him and promising to be an ally in improving schools. Many said they expected Thurmond would be a strong leader focused on improving student outcomes. We know we are going to work hard to give you the money you need and the budget you need to fully fund education and our schools so we can put our money where our mouth is and make sure our children have everything they need, Assemblywoman Connie Leyva (D-Chino Hills) said. As state superintendent, Thurmond will oversee the education of 6.2 million students at 10,000 schools. Thurmond was a member of the West Contra Costa County School Board and a Richmond city councilman before he was elected to the state Assembly. Tony is the right man at the right time to fight the federal, Donald Trump, Betsy DeVos anti-child, anti-education, anti-civil and -human rights agenda, U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) said. Tony is going to do that for us. Facebook

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State Controller Betty Yee takes oath of office with call for more affordable housing and healthcare State Controller Betty Yee California Controller Betty Yee took the oath of office Monday for a second term, saying she still has work to do addressing problems that include a lack of affordability in housing, healthcare and higher education. A San Francisco native, Yee is the chief financial officer of California  the fifth-largest economy in the world  having first won election to the post in 2014 before winning reelection in November. No region is spared from the widening inequality and increased poverty that plague our state, fueled by the lack of affordable, stable housing, the cost of healthcare and transportation, limited educational opportunities, student loan debt, displacement caused by disasters and more, she said. Yee was administered the oath of office by California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento before an overflow crowd that included state Senate leader Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), state Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra and San Francisco Mayor London Breed. As a public official it is about governance that delivers results and stays accountable while upholding the underlying value of dignity for all, Yee said. Facebook

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California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra begins new term promising to fight Trump policies California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra ( (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)) California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra on Monday took the oath of office for a new term, saying he would continue his role as a leading challenger to Trump administration actions that he believes are counter to the states interests. Becerra, a former 12-term congressman, has become a national opposition figure to Trump, having sued the federal government 45 times since he was appointed as the states first Latino attorney general in 2017. Weve been a little busy stopping the dysfunction and insanity in Washington, D.C., from infecting California, Becerra told an audience during a swearing-in ceremony at the California Museum in Sacramento. Whether its the criminals on our streets or the conman in the boardrooms or highest office of the land, Becerra said, the California Department of Justice, well, weve got your back. Becerra won his first statewide election as the states top cop in November, two years after he filled the post vacated when predecessor Kamala Harris was elected to the U.S. Senate. He has peppered the Trump administration with lawsuits challenging federal policies on healthcare, the U.S. census, the environment and immigration. Our state builds dreams, not walls, he said in a direct criticism of Trumps proposal to build a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border. Just last week, Becerra led a coalition of 17 Democratic attorneys general in announcing an appeal of a federal judge in Texas that ruled the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional. The ACA has been the law for nearly a decade and is the backbone of our healthcare system, Becerra said last week. This case impacts nearly every American  workers covered by employers, families, women, children, young adults and seniors  so we will lead the ACAs defense as long and far as it takes. Facebook

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California Democratic Party Vice Chairman Daraka Larimore-Hall announces bid to lead group By Christine Mai-Duc Daraka Larimore-Hall. (Dominic Parisi / Courtesy of Daraka Larimore-Hall) Daraka Larimore-Hall, a top official at the California Democratic Party, said Monday hes running to replace former chairman Eric Bauman, who resigned abruptly in November after being confronted with allegations of sexual misconduct. Larimore-Hall, a longtime state party activist and former chairman of the Democratic Party of Santa Barbara County, was one of the party leaders who urged Bauman to resign following the allegations. In an email to supporters announcing his bid, he urged both structural and cultural change at every level of our Party. He also repeated his call for a top-to-bottom investigation of the allegations, the party and its culture. In a Times investigation, 10 party activists and staff members said Bauman made crude sexual comments and engaged in unwanted touching and physical intimidation in professional settings. In order to be where we need to be for 2020, we have to confront the culture of abuse and fear that allowed someone to behave in such a vile way for so long, Larimore-Hall said in an interview. We cant brush it aside or think that our activists or our candidates or our donors are going to forget about this overnight. Larimore-Hall said his first priority would be to fully investigate the allegations and restore rank-and-file confidence in the partys leadership. The second would be to refocus the party on political priorities as the 2020 presidential election nears. The Bauman episode, Larimore-Hall said, threatens to derail the Democrats plans to help defeat President Trump and keep the seven congressional seats gained in the midterm elections. Its definitely a crisis, Larimore-Hall said. But the component parts  the energy, the enthusiasm, the volunteers, the infrastructure  its still there. We just need to direct it toward something. Larimore-Hall was elected vice chairman of the state party in February following Baumans razor-thin victory over Bay Area activist Kimberly Ellis. Ellis has announced another bid for the chairmanship and former state Senate leader Kevin de Leon is also mulling a run. The vote will take place at the partys May convention in San Francisco. Facebook

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Newsom will vow to seize this moment, and swipe at Trump in Monday inaugural address By Melanie Mason Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom and his family attend an Inauguration Family Event at the California Railroad Museum in Sacramento on Jan. 6. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) Building on the theme of California exceptionalism that defined his campaign, Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom will depict the state as a guardian of progressive values and a counterweight to President Trump in his inaugural address Monday, according to excerpts of his prepared remarks. What we do today is even more consequential, because of whats happening in our country, read the excerpts obtained by The Times. Peoples lives, freedom, security, the water we drink, the air we breathe  they all hang in the balance. The country is watching us. The world is waiting on us. The future depends on us. And we will seize this moment. The speech casts Californias political stakes in a decidedly national scope, promising an agenda that will unify and be an example to the rest of the country. It contrasts the governing goals of Newsom, a Democrat, with that of Trump, the incoming governors perennial foil. We will offer an alternative to the corruption and incompetence in the White House, the excerpts say. Our government will be progressive, principled, and always on the side of the people. Newsom campaigned on an ambitious and wide-ranging platform, promising sweeping solutions on housing, healthcare, education and other issues that rank among Californians top concerns. In the weeks after his election, he struck a more muted tone, taking pains to emphasize his fiscal caution and need for patience in achieving those goals. The inaugural excerpts indicate a return to lofty pledges. While Newsom will vow to prepare for uncertain times ahead by building budgetary reserves and paying down debt, the prepared remarks quickly turn to a vow to be bold. Newsom has already floated several proposals for his first budget that carry significant price tags, including a nearly $2-billion plan to boost early childhood development for low-income families and a dramatic expansion of paid family leave from six weeks to six months. When asked for a preview of his inauguration speech during a news conference Sunday evening, Newsom predicted pundits would criticize his address as short on specifics. Well, of course, Im at an inaugural, Newsom said. But Ill be very detailed in the budget, a few days later. And then we will architect, in much more nuance and detail, in state of the state. I really see this as three opportunities  to communicate over the next few weeks our agenda, our vision for the state. Times staff writer Taryn Luna contributed to this report. Read More Facebook

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Newsom-hosted benefit concert raises nearly $5 million for wildfire victims By Taryn Luna Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom speaks at a concert to benefit wildfire victims at the Golden 1 Arena in Sacramento on Jan. 6. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) On the eve of the gubernatorial inauguration, Californias political class rubbed elbows in Sacramento for a benefit concert hosted by Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom and headlined by the rapper Pitbull. Newsom told the crowd gathered at the Golden 1 Center on Sunday evening that the fundraiser brought in nearly $5 million for the California Wildfire Foundation, a 501(c)(3) that supports the families of fallen firefighters and communities affected by wildfires. You know, a lot of folks feel anxious about not just politics, but government, Newsom said on stage before introducing the rapper and activist Common. But those firefighters, they are the antidote to the fear and cynicism; they are the manifestation of why government matters and why you should care. Top sponsors, including Salesforce, Kaiser Permanente and other interest groups, paid up to $1 million each to support the cause and curry favor with the new administration. Nathan Click, a spokesman for Newsom, said organizers sold more than 7,000 tickets. Several state lawmakers attended the concert alongside Capitol staff, lobbyists and business types, who mingled on the floor of the arena and offstage in private VIP areas. The rock band X Ambassadors and a duo called the Cold Weather Sons from the town of Paradise, which was destroyed by fire in November, were among several performers who entertained the crowd during the four-hour event. The California Rises concert is the final in a series of festivities held Sunday to celebrate the inauguration of Californias 40th governor. Earlier in the day, Newsom attended a private brunch at Sacramentos Crocker Art Museum and his inaugural committee hosted a free party for families at the California State Railroad Museum at the Old Sacramento Waterfront. Newsoms inauguration is set to begin at 11 a.m. Monday on the steps of the Capitol. Facebook

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Inauguration fever hits Sacramento as Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom prepares to take office By Phil Willon Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom holds his son, Dutch, as he and his family attend an inaugural event at the at the state Railroad Museum Sunday. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) Incoming Gov. Gavin Newsom doesnt officially take the oath of office until Monday, but the parties celebrating his inauguration were in full swing all day Sunday. Newsom and his family were mobbed by well-wishers at the California State Railroad Museum at the Old Sacramento Waterfront in the afternoon, where his inaugural committee hosted a free party for families. He just has charisma. Hes able to really connect with people, said Rosielyn Pulmano, an attorney from Elk Grove who came to see Newsom with her husband, two sons and her niece. I think he cares about working Californians and a lot of their issues. Newsom arrived with his wife, documentary filmmaker Jennifer Siebel Newsom, and their four young children, and the governor-elect spent a good deal of his time wading through crowds, taking selfies with supporters and signing autographs as music boomed in the background. As the family toured the inside of the museums locomotives and the bevy of exhibits, Newsoms two-year-old son, Dutch, was wide-eyed, impressed by all the train cars and seemingly a little overwhelmed by the crowd. Newsom said that for his son, all that was missing from the museum was Thomas the Train, popular fictional locomotive in childrens books and cartoons . If theres one thing I can contribute to Sacramento maybe its getting a Thomas the Train exhibit for the two years olds, Newsom joked when talking with reporters afterward. Newsom said he wanted to include such an event in his inaugural festivities to highlight families and children, whose wellbeing will be among the top priorities of his administration. Youll see that not only as a preamble to the inaugural and the budget that well be submitting next week, but I think itll be a big part of the administration, Newsom said. The museum event followed a private, high-dollar brunch at Sacramentos Crocker Art Museum. A steady rain failed to dissuade as many as 200 guests who sipped wine and dined on chicken and salmon while waiting for a photo with Californias new first couple. Seen at the event were representatives of some of the states most powerful political interests, among them organized labor, healthcare companies and tribal gaming interests. A few other high-profile guests attended, too, including Larry Baer, CEO of the San Francisco Giants, and Erika Jayne, a singer and cast member of the reality TV show The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Im excited to see someone like Gavin  young, vibrant  taking over the state and leading us into the future, Jayne said after attending the brunch with her husband, attorney Tom Girardi. Hes got a lot of great plans. Attendees said the event, which was closed to reporters and held under a tent in the museums outdoor atrium, did not include prepared remarks by Newsom. Among those seen leaving the event were representatives of AT&T, the California Medical Assn., Uber, Kaiser Permanente and the State Building and Construction Trades Council. A fundraising invitation obtained by The Times offered bundled tickets to all of the inauguration events, including those on Sunday and the Monday ceremony, ranging in price from $25,000 to $200,000. The money will be collected by a committee specifically organized to pay for Newsoms inaugural weekend. Sundays festivities are scheduled to end with a benefit concert headlined by Pitbull at the Golden 1 Center, home of the NBAs Sacramento Kings, to raise money for the victims of Californias recent deadly wildfires. Among the attendees at @GavinNewsoms pre-inaugural leadership brunch: Real Housewife of

Bev Hills @erikajayne. Im excited to see someone like Gavinyoung, vibranttaking over the state and leading us into the future. Hes got a lot of great plans. pic.twitter.com/561NHiy2XQ  Melanie Mason (@melmason) January 6, 2019 Facebook

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As Newsom inaugural events begin, he unveils more state budget promises on education and paid family leave Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom, seen here last April, will propose new state budget efforts on paid family leave and education subsidies. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) Californias incoming governor, who must send his first state budget plan to the Legislature this week, has already signaled a significant new focus on programs to help families and children from infancy to college. Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom campaigned on a platform that included a number of child-focused efforts specifically aimed at helping lower-income families. The price tag for the initial efforts is expected to approach $2 billion  a cost paid out of an unrestricted tax revenue windfall that could be one of the largest in state history. Newsom may also seek help for families through new subsidies paid by California employers. The governor-elect is expected to propose a dramatic expansion of paid parental leave  from six weeks to six months  according to an internal document provided by a source close to the Newsom transition team, first reported on Sunday by the New York Times. The document doesnt offer a full explanation for how the program will be funded, saying instead that the budget will set a goal of ensuring that all newborns and newly adopted babies can be cared for by a parent or a close family member for the first six months. Employers across the state are currently assessed a payroll tax that helps offer a subsidy to parents who temporarily leave their job to care for a newborn. Newsoms plan, according to the document, would pay for some of the new costs by shrinking the mandated cash reserve of the state fund that administers the program, allowing more of the money to be paid in benefits. The increase in paid leave would not all happen at once but instead be phased in over a multi-year period. A task force to help implement the expanded care plan is also envisioned, according to the document. It would determine whether two parents could split the six months of paid leave and whether an extended family member could be enlisted to help care for the child of a single parent over the six-month period. The incoming administrations focus on young children will also include $1.8 billion in new spending on early childhood education programs, with a particular focus on training childcare workers and pushing for more California schools to offer full-day kindergarten. Those costs, according to an overview memo obtained by the Los Angeles Times, are considered to be a one-time expense while leaving the long-term costs of the effort to be determined later. More community college students would get free tuition under a third initiative expected in the new governors budget plan. Newsom will propose spending $40 million to offer a second year of tuition-free college to California students, according to an outline provided by a transition official, first reported by Politico. Students are already eligible for a single year of paid tuition under a plan agreed to by Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers in 2017. The incoming governor embraced the idea of free community college during the 2018 campaign as part of a broader focus on additional investments in higher education. Education is an economic development strategy, Newsom said at a higher education forum last spring. We need to significantly increase the investment from the general fund of this state on higher education. Theres no greater higher return on investment. Whether the proposal would be targeted to students based on a familys financial need is unclear. Many low-income students are already eligible for fee waivers at community colleges. The new governor must submit his full state budget plan to lawmakers no later than Thursday. Facebook

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Gavin Newsom and his family decide Sacramento is the place to be The Old Governors Mansion State Historic Park in Sacramento. Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom will move his family into the mansion. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom and his family will give up the Marin County life and move to the Victorian-style governors mansion in Sacramento after he takes the oath of office Monday. Newsom and his wife, documentary filmmaker Jennifer Siebel Newsom, had debated whether or when to relocate to the state capital since his election in November. The couple have four young children and expressed reservations about moving in the middle of a school year. To best serve the people of California while also maximizing family time together, the Newsoms have therefore decided to move to Sacramento, said Newsoms spokesman, Nathan Click. On Monday, they will move into the Governors Mansion  along with their four children, their two family dogs, and their family bunny rabbit  and reside there for the immediate future. The Newsoms currently live in Marin County. Gov. Jerry Brown and his wife, Ann Gust Brown, moved into the grand house in 2015 after it underwent $4.1 million in renovations to update electrical and plumbing systems, as well as to remove lead-based paint and install a fire sprinkler system and other security features. The mansion was built in 1877 and has been home to 14 governors, but before Brown it had not housed a California governor for nearly half a century. The state bought the mansion from a wealthy Sacramento hardware merchant, Albert Gallatin, in 1903 for $32,500. It was one of the few California homes at that time to have indoor plumbing. Facebook

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Newsom announces top labor, business liaisons as he prepares to take office Julie Su will be secretary of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency for Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom. (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times) Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom on Friday named two advisors on issues related to the California economy, each recognized for their expertise on business and labor. The incoming governor will appoint Julie Su as secretary of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency and Lenny Mendonca as chief economic and business advisor and director of the Governors Office of Business and Economic Development. Su, 49, has served as state labor commissioner under Gov. Jerry Brown since 2011 and has led an office tasked with the enforcement of Californias labor laws. She won a MacArthur Foundation genius grant in 2001 and previously worked as a civil rights attorney representing low-wage workers. In her new position, Su will be tasked with coordinating the work of several workforce departments in state government, including those that administer unemployment benefits and oversee the relationship between agriculture workers and employers. Mendonca, 57, has been a longtime advocate for rethinking government operations as co-chairman of the nonprofit organization California Forward. Previously, he was partner at McKinsey & Co., a global management consulting firm. While he will be a key advisor to Newsom on the states economy, Mendonca will also lead the office often referred to as Go-Biz, designated as a high-level way to encourage job growth and economic development. In his new role, Mendonca will help ensure that California is rolling out the welcome mat to current and future California businesses and growing a sustainable economy for every Californian, said a statement from the Newsom transition team. Newsom will take the oath of office as governor Monday. He has previously selected key advisors on the state budget, legislative affairs and the executive branchs wide array of agencies and departments. Facebook

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Joshua Groban, aide to Gov. Jerry Brown, sworn in to California Supreme Court By Taryn Luna California Supreme Court Justice Joshua Groban gives remarks after he is sworn into the court by Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday. (Taryn Luna) California Supreme Court Justice Joshua Groban, a lawyer and longtime aide to Gov. Jerry Brown, was sworn into the states highest court Thursday in Sacramento. The ceremony marked Browns fourth appointment to the state Supreme Court and gave the seven-member bench a Democratic majority. We live in a highly chaotic, ever-changing and ever-confusing world, Groban said in prepared remarks at the Stanley Mosk Library and Courts Building. But Im happy to report that Im joining an institution whose fundamental purpose, at core, is to provide stability and consistency amidst this chaotic place we live. I look forward to doing that with a sense of reflection, respect, fidelity to the law and compassion. None of Browns appointees, Groban included, have judicial experience. Groban served as legal counsel to Browns 2010 gubernatorial campaign and joined the administration as a senior advisor to the governor, overseeing the appointments of some 600 judges over the last eight years. Prior to working with Brown, Groban, 45, practiced law for more than a decade. In perhaps his final public appearance before his successor, Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom, takes office next week, Brown pushed back on notions that he stacked the court. I dont want this to be known as a Brown court, the governor said before administering the judicial oath of office. First of all, the so-called Brown appointments do not agree with themselves and nor should they. They are individuals. They will differ. Its not anybodys court. The governor called the court a high calling and said Groban possesses the values for the job. Probably, next to my wife, Ive talked to no person as much as Ive talked to Josh Groban, Brown said. I think youve talked to him more, Californias First Lady Anne Gust Brown interjected. I cant tell you what the hell hes going to do, Brown later quipped. I warned him, dont screw up, at least not at first. Facebook

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California campaign watchdog agency seeks law barring use of campaign funds to fight harassment claims Former state Sen. Tony Mendoza (D-Artesia). ( (Steve Yeater / Associated Press)) Elected officials accused of harassment or discrimination would be barred from using political contributions to cover their legal defense costs under legislation proposed by Californias campaign watchdog agency. The state Fair Political Practices Commission has agreed to pursue a law change to clear up confusion after an attorney for one former state lawmaker argued political funds could be used in such legal defenses. Commission Chairwoman Alice Germond said putting a prohibition into the law would provide some much needed clarity. As chair, I would like to show the public their lawmakers are held to a standard that is above reproach, Germond said in a statement. People dont give money to campaigns for lawmakers to use it to defend their own bad behavior, so lawmakers shouldnt be able to use it in that manner. The issue came up a year ago when an attorney for former Sen. Tony Mendoza (D-Artesia) sought a formal opinion from the FPPC after the Senate launched an investigation that later concluded Mendoza likely engaged in a pattern of harassment against female aides. Mendoza resigned in February under threat of expulsion by the Senate. In a Jan. 10, 2018, letter, Cassandra Ferrannini, an attorney for Mendoza, wrote to the FPPC that she believed Mendoza should be allowed to establish a legal defense fund able to defray his legal expenses in defending himself against the allegations. The use of campaign funds for attorneys fees under these circumstances would fall squarely within the scope of legislative matters, since it involves the alleged conduct of a legislator with regard to legislative staff that he supervised, Ferrannini wrote. The commission staff originally issued an advice letter that said Mendoza may use campaign and legal defense funds to defend himself from claims of sexual harassment that arose directly out of his activities or status as a candidate or elected officer. But the panel later rescinded the letter after some members questioned using campaign funds to fight sexual harassment claims. That left uncertainty about what was allowed, which Germond said could be cleared up by a new law. The FPPC is still looking for a legislator to carry the bill, a spokesman said. Facebook

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Californias landmark police transparency law takes effect after court denies police union effort to block it California Supreme Court building (Eric Risberg / Associated Press) A new state law allowing the public disclosure of internal police shooting investigations has gone into effect after the California Supreme Court on Wednesday denied a bid by a police union to block it. The law opens to the public for the first time internal investigations of officer shootings and other major uses of force, along with confirmed cases of sexual assault and lying while on duty. The San Bernardino County Sheriffs Employees Benefit Assn. challenged the law last month, asking state Supreme Court justices to decide that the law only apply to incidents that occur in 2019 or later. The court rejected that request Wednesday, allowing members of the public to seek all applicable records held by police departments. Union president Grant Ward said in a statement that his organization was disappointed with the decision and is now seeking other legal options. We feel this is a statewide issue and should be considered accordingly, Ward said. Last month, the city of Inglewood authorized the destruction of more than 100 police shooting investigations and other records in advance of Jan. 1, when the disclosure law was scheduled to take effect. California law requires police departments to keep such records for five years, and Inglewood City Council voted to destroy records older than that. Mayor James T. Butts has said the decision had nothing to do with the new law. In Los Angeles, Police Chief Michel Moore has said that complying with the new disclosure rules could take hundreds of thousands of hours of work. State Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), the author of the transparency law, has said she has no immediate plans to propose changes to it. Facebook

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Few complaints of racial profiling are sustained by police agencies in California, state panel finds CHP Officer J. Nelson stands outside the office of Gov. Jerry Brown as activists in 2015 support requiring the tracking of police stops. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Law enforcement agencies in California sustain few citizen complaints of racial or identity profiling, according to a report Wednesday by a state panel set up to help reduce bias in policing. The states Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board recommended in its annual report that law enforcement agencies improve training and adopt clear guidelines for tracking and reporting data on who is stopped by officers. The panel said that 453 law enforcement agencies in the state received 9,459 civilian complaints in 2017, including 865 complaints alleging racial or identity profiling. Of the racial and identity complaints that reached a disposition that year, 1.5% were sustained, 14.6% resulted in officers being exonerated and 83.9% of complaints were not sustained or were determined to be unfounded, the report said. A clearer picture of the issue is expected from a 2015 law that requires police agencies to report demographic data on all detentions and searches. The first reports by the eight largest agencies, including the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department, are due to be submitted in April. California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra, whose office oversees the board, said tracking of all detentions and searches will be helpful to understand the scope of the issue. The Boards recommendations will help make our law enforcement agencies more transparent and promote critical steps to enhance, and in some cases, repair the public trust, Becerra said in a statement Wednesday. Facebook

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California housing crisis podcast: What Minneapolis decision to end single-family zoning might mean for California A view of downtown Minneapolis in 2014 (Stephen Maturen / Getty Images) Theres a national movement brewing to roll back zoning rules in cities that only allow one house on a plot of land. The epicenter of that movement is Minneapolis, which passed a plan last month to eliminate single-family zoning citywide and let landowners build duplexes and triplexes on residential property. On this episode of Gimme Shelter: The California Housing Crisis Podcast, we talk about the reasons why Minneapolis leaders took this action, including their desire to combat a history of racial exclusion and spur more housing density to fight climate change. We also debate how Minneapolis decision might affect housing politics in California. Our guest is Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender, who helped shepherd the new zoning rules to passage and a former San Francisco city planner. The episode also crowns 2018s Avocado of the Year  the most ridiculous story exemplifying Californias housing woes  and includes our predictions for the most under-the-radar important themes in housing politics in 2019. Gimme Shelter, a biweekly podcast that looks at why its so expensive to live in California and what the state can do about it, features Liam Dillon, who covers housing affordability issues for the Los Angeles Times Sacramento bureau, and Matt Levin, data and housing reporter for CALmatters. You can subscribe to Gimme Shelter on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Google Play and Overcast. Facebook

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How young immigrant Dreamers made flipping control of the House a personal quest By Jazmine Ulloa Gabriela Cruz, who was brought to the U.S. illegally when she was 1, couldnt vote, but in the final hours before the Nov. 6 election, she was making one last run to get people to the polls. The sun was setting in Modesto when she found Ronald Silva, 41, smoking a cigarette on a tattered old couch behind a group home. He politely tried to wave her off until she reminded him he had a right that she as an immigrant without citizenship didnt have. It could really make a change for us, said Cruz, 29. Read More Facebook

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Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom will propose almost $2 billion for early childhood programs (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Seeking to frame his new administration as one with a firm focus on closing the gap between children from affluent and poor families, Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom will propose spending some $1.8 billion on an array of programs designed to boost Californias enrollment in early education and child-care programs. Newsoms plan, which he hinted at in a Fresno event last month, will be a key element in the state budget proposal he will submit to the Legislature shortly after taking office Monday, a source close to the governor-elects transition team said. The spending would boost programs designed to ensure children enter kindergarten prepared to learn, closing what some researchers have called the readiness gap that exists based on a familys income. It would also phase in an expansion of prekindergarten and offer money to help school districts that dont have facilities for full-day kindergarten. The fact that hes making significant investments with his opening budget is really exciting, Ted Lempert, president of the Bay Area-based nonprofit Children Now, said Tuesday. Whats exciting is the comprehensiveness of it, because its saying were going to focus on prenatal through age 5. A broad overview document reviewed by The Times on Tuesday shows that most of the outlay under the plan  $1.5 billion  would be a one-time expense in the budget year that begins July 1. Those dollars would be a single infusion of cash, an approach favored by Gov. Jerry Brown in recent years. Most of the money would be spent on efforts to expand child-care services and kindergarten classes. By law, a governor must submit a full budget to the Legislature no later than Jan. 10. Lawmakers will spend the winter and spring reviewing the proposal and must send a final budget plan to Newsom by June 15. Though legislative Democrats have pushed for additional early childhood funding in recent years  a key demand of the Legislative Womens Caucus  those actions have typically come late in the budget-writing season in Sacramento. Quite frankly, to start out with a January proposal that includes that investment in Californias children reflects a new day, state Sen. Holly J. Mitchell (D-Los Angeles) said. The governor-elect will propose a $750-million boost to kindergarten funding, aimed at expanding facilities to allow full-day programs. A number of school districts offer only partial-day programs, leaving many low-income families to skip enrolling their children because kindergarten classes end in the middle of the workday. Because the money would not count toward meeting Californias three-decades-old education spending guarantee under Proposition 98, which sets a minimum annual funding level for K-12 schools and community colleges, it will not reduce planned spending on other education services. Close behind in total cost is a budget proposal by Newsom to help train child-care workers and expand local facilities already subsidized by the state, as well as those serving parents who attend state colleges and universities. Together, those efforts could cost $747 million, according to the budget overview document. An expansion of prekindergarten programs would be phased in over three years at a cost of $125 million in the first year. The multiyear rollout would, according to the budget overview, ensure the system can plan for the increase in capacity. Lempert said the Newsom proposal is notable for trying to avoid the kinds of battles that in recent years pitted prekindergarten and expanded child care against each other for additional taxpayer dollars. The reality is we need to expand both simultaneously, he said. Another $200 million of the proposal would be earmarked for programs that provide home visits to expectant parents from limited-income families and programs that provide healthcare screenings for young children. Some of the money would come from the states Medi-Cal program, and other money from federal matching dollars. Funding for the home visits program was provided in the budget Brown signed last summer; the Newsom effort would build on that. Emphasizing a policy area with broad appeal in his first state budget could reflect Newsoms political sensibility about the challenges ahead. Democratic lawmakers and interest groups will be especially eager to see how Newsom addresses the demand for an overhaul of healthcare coverage in California  especially after a 2017 effort to create a single-payer, universal system fizzled. The path forward on healthcare is complex and costly, making early childhood education a more achievable goal in the governor-elects early tenure. Newsom is likely to face considerable demands for other additional spending. In November, the Legislatures independent analysts projected that continued strength in tax revenues could produce a cash reserve of some $29 billion over the next 18 months. Almost $15 billion of that could be in unrestricted reserves, the kind that can be spent on any number of government programs. Kim Belshe, executive director of the child advocacy organization First 5 LA and a former state health and human services secretary, said the initial Newsom budget proposal suggests the next governor will focus on a comprehensive approach to improving outcomes for children from low-income families. School-ready kids deserve quality early learning, strong and well-supported families, and access to early screening services, Belshe said. Newsom understands the whole child, multifaceted needs of our kids and is clearly ready to lead. Mitchell, the chair of the Senate budget committee, said shes eager to see the details of the governor-elects proposal to determine whether it might signal the beginning of an even broader expansion of early education efforts. Similar efforts have been hindered by a lack of money and ongoing debate over which services to help children 5 and younger need state funding the most. Universal preschool, in particular, has been debated for more than a decade. California voters rejected a ballot measure to fund a full prekindergarten system in 2006. Its clear theres a new movement afoot trying to engage on investment for universal preschool, Mitchell said. How we invest, and how we prioritize that investment, is going to be a great conversation for the coming months. Facebook

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California Politics Podcast: A final conversation with Gov. Jerry Brown No Californian has served longer as governor, signed more laws, granted clemency to more felons or waged more high-profile campaigns than Gov. Jerry Brown. Brown will leave behind a unique legacy when he packs his last belongings for the trip from the governors mansion in Sacramento to his Northern California ranch. His final two terms in office could be his most consequential. The governor reviewed some of the more notable moments from the past eight years in a far-reaching interview with The Times on Dec. 22. This weeks podcast episode includes extended portions of that conversation. Facebook

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A sagging economy could doom a 2020 ballot measure to raise commercial property taxes, Gov. Jerry Brown says Gov. Jerry Brown, at his Colusa County home on Saturday, said a ballot measure to raise commercial property taxes could struggle in 2020. (Randall Benton/For The Times) An effort to remove commercial property in California from the tax limits imposed by the landmark Proposition 13 could be felled by an economic slowdown, Gov. Jerry Brown said. In a Saturday interview with The Times at his Northern California ranch, Brown said liberal activist groups that have successfully placed the proposal on the November 2020 statewide ballot shouldnt read too much into early poll numbers showing support for the plan. That isnt as easy as you think, Brown said. Because youre going to be in a downturn of the business cycle. And youre talking many kinds of business. And the cost of doing business in California is already high. The ballot measure would allow counties to more frequently assess the market value of commercial property in California than allowed under Proposition 13, a 1978 ballot initiative that amended the state constitution to place strict limits on assessing property values and taxation for both homeowners and businesses. An analysis of the new measure, which qualified in October for the 2020 ballot, estimates it could bring in some $10.5 billion a year in new tax revenue. The business community will fight it, Brown said. And the minimum wage, the family leave, the environmental rules  business[es] have left California, thats going to be the big argument. And I think thats something you really have to think a lot about. The governor, who leaves office early next month due to term limits, declined to either endorse or oppose the ballot measure. He said Californias economic health in two years time could be a key factor in how voters weigh the proposal. Well be in a recession by then, Brown said. So its anybodys guess. Facebook

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Inglewood to destroy more than 100 police shooting records that could otherwise become public under new California law By Jack Dolan Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts (Maria Alejandra Cardona / Los Angeles Times) The city of Inglewood has authorized the shredding of more than 100 police shooting and other internal investigation records weeks before a new state law could allow the public to access them for the first time. The decision, made at a City Council meeting earlier this month, has troubled civil liberties advocates who were behind the state legislation, Senate Bill 1421, which takes effect Jan. 1. The law opens to the public internal investigations of officer shootings and other major uses of force, along with confirmed cases of sexual assault and lying while on duty. The legislature passed SB 1421 because communities demanded an end to the secrecy cloaking police misconduct and use of force, Marcus Benigno, a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, said in a statement. Inglewood PDs decision to purge records undermines police accountability and transparency against the will of Californians. California law says police departments must retain records of officer shootings and internal misconduct investigations for five years. The city of Inglewood, however, had kept records longer than that, including case files of police shootings dating to 1991. State Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), the author of SB 1421, intended for her bill to allow public access to all qualifying records held by a department, no matter the date of the incident. Inglewood City Council approved the destruction of records that have been in the police departments possession  more than 100 cases  longer than required by law. The city staff report and council resolution describing the action makes no mention of the new police transparency law. Instead it says the affected records are obsolete, occupy valuable space, and are of no further use to the police department. It added the traditional method of destroying such records is to shred them. It is unclear whether the records have since been destroyed. A spokesman for the Inglewood Police Department along with Inglewoods city manager, attorney, clerk, four council members and Mayor James T. Butts, a former Santa Monica police chief, did not respond to requests for comment. Inglewoods City Hall is closed the last two weeks of December. The Inglewood Police Department has a reputation for secrecy and using excessive force. In 2008, the departments officers fatally shot four men in as many months, three of whom turned out to be unarmed. The U.S. Department of Justice launched a civil rights probe and found significant flaws in the way the department oversaw use-of-force cases and investigated complaints against officers. Civil rights advocates still question why Inglewood police opened fire on a couple found sleeping in a car in 2016, killing them both. California police have a long history of shredding records to avoid scrutiny of their actions. In the 1970s, the LAPD famously destroyed more than four tons of personnel records after defense attorneys began requesting them as part of criminal cases against their clients. The move resulted in the dismissal of more than a hundred criminal complaints. In response, the Legislature demanded that records be preserved but then took other measures, supported by police unions, to ensure the public had very little access to them, making California the most secretive state in the nation when it comes to police misconduct. Skinners legislation begins to unwind those laws, which have been on the books since 1978. No video or audio of the Dec. 11 council action is available on the citys website and neither are meeting minutes or any record of the decision. A city spokeswoman, Courtney Torres, confirmed that the council had voted in favor of the police records purge, and said all the relevant reasons for the decision were included in the city staff report. The Jan. 1 implementation for SB 1421 has prompted other police officials to act. A police union in San Bernardino is asking the state Supreme Court to determine that Skinners bill only applies to incidents that occur in 2019 or later. Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore sent a letter to Skinner earlier this month warning that complying with the law in regard to older records in the departments possession could take hundreds of thousands of work hours. Facebook

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Federal officials question California DMVs process for issuing Real IDs (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has notified the California Department of Motor Vehicles that its process for providing residents with federally recognized identification cards is not adequate. DMV spokesman Armando Botello said Friday that 2.3 million residents who received Real IDs under the current process will have to submit additional documentation when their cards are renewed in five years but will be able to use them in the meantime. The DMV is developing a way for residents to submit more documentation online or via email to comply with the stricter federal requirement, he said. But some state legislators are upset about delays in notifying them of the problem and say Homeland Security could eventually require additional documentation provided by current holders. The DMV has known for a month that millions of Real IDs theyve been dolling out are potentially invalid, Assemblyman Jim Patterson (R-Fresno) said. The DMVs only hope is that the Department of Homeland Security takes pity on California and gives the DMV more time to fix this mess. Real IDs are a new kind of driver license and identification card that federal law will require legal residents to present when boarding domestic flights or visiting military bases and other federal facilities starting Oct. 1, 2020. The DMV has only been requiring one form of documentation, including a current lease or utility bill, to verify the residence of a card applicant. But the federal government said in a Nov. 21 letter to the agency that two such documents are needed. On Friday, DMV Director Jean Shiomoto released a letter defending the current process but said her agency will start requiring a second document to prove residency in April. In order to minimize confusion among our customers, the CADMV will work to inform individuals who have been issued a Real ID under the current process that their card will be accepted for official federal purposes, even if their renewal occurs after the October 1, 2020, final enforcement date for Real ID, Shiomoto wrote to the federal agency. Legislative officials worry there is still a possibility that those issued Real IDs in the past might be required to present a second document to have their cards designated as compliant. The more complex process for obtaining Real IDs has led to hours-long waits for customers at DMV field offices this year, although wait times have been reduced recently by an increase in staffing. Shiomoto last month announced that she is retiring amid problems with the motor voter registration system and after the governor ordered an audit of her agency in response to the long wait times. On Friday, Assembly Republican Leader Marie Waldron of Escondido blasted the DMV for waiting a month to tell legislators of the problem. This is unacceptable and flies in the face of security for our citizens, which is what Real ID was created for in the first place, she said in a statement. Facebook

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Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom taps Keely Bosler to be his finance director Keely Bosler, the director of the California Department of Finance, will continue in that role under Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom. (California Department of Finance) Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom on Friday appointed Keely Martin Bosler as director of the California Department of Finance, continuing the role she has served under Gov. Jerry Brown since August. Bosler will become Newsoms chief fiscal advisor, and will play a pivotal role in shaping Newsoms spending plan for the state that will lay the foundation for his top policy priorities. Newsom must roll out his first budget plan within days of taking office on Jan. 7. Californias brighter future depends on a strong, stable fiscal foundation, Newsom said in a statement released Friday afternoon. Keely is an accomplished public servant of sound fiscal judgment. She understands that state budgets are more than numbers on a page  they are value statements affecting the fate and future of millions of families reaching for the California Dream. We are fortunate to have her on our team. Prior to being appointed finance director, Bosler served as Browns cabinet secretary for two years and, before that, as the chief deputy director for budget in the Finance Department for three years. Earlier this year, Brown picked Bosler to lead an audit of the Department of Motor Vehicles, which had come under fire for long wait times at DMV field offices and numerous computer problems, including errors in the new motor voter program that registered Californians to vote. As we have discussed, long wait times at the Department of Motor Vehicles do not reflect the high standards of service that Californians expect from their state government, Bosler wrote in a letter in September to DMV Director Jean Shiomoto. The audit is still ongoing, but Shiomoto has since announced she will retire at the end of the year. Facebook

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Californias legislative analyst, after decades of nonpartisan research for lawmakers, calls it a career Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor, who has led the state research unit since 2008, will retire on Dec. 31. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Only five people have led the independent research office of the California Legislature since its creation in 1941. And each of them has had a pretty simple mantra to live by in reviewing public policy proposals and government programs: Call it like you see it. The job of any analyst, to me, is you maintain that nonpartisanship, Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor said. Taylor, 65, will retire from the post at the end of December after a four-decade career with the research team that began, as he likes to tell it, just after the passage of the landmark property tax rollback, Proposition 13, in 1978. He became the leader of the office, with the title of legislative analyst, in October 2008. Two months later, state government found itself in arguably the worst fiscal crisis in its history  a projected shortfall that ultimately grew to $42 billion by the following winter. There were forces beyond our control, Taylor said of that time. But dont underestimate the policy changes that were made afterward. Those changes, most notably a boost in taxes paid by high-income earners and a robust state budget cash reserve fund, have helped lead to successive years of fully funded government services. The state is projected to have some $24 billion in reserves by the end of the current fiscal year. Taylor announced his intention earlier to step down this year. Leaders from both houses of the Legislature select the analyst, who leads a staff of almost five dozen researchers. The office provides in-depth reports on pending legislation, as well as on broader policy topics like education and healthcare, and produces an independent analysis for every proposed ballot measure. A succession of lawmakers and governors alike have praised or panned the work of the Legislative Analysts Office based on their own political worldview. Taylor said his staff is mindful that they work for legislators, but try to ignore the rhetoric that follows the release of a major report. People are going to do what theyre going to do with our information, he said. They dont always like it, but they appreciate that we give them our best advice. Taylor oversaw a transformation in the way the Legislative Analysts Office distributes its information, embracing the release of research reports through social media instead of relying on traditional printed copies and journalist roundtable events. But he said the work of the researchers has remained largely unchanged through the decades. Having an independent take on things, I think, is good for the Legislature, he said. No replacement for Taylor has been announced, which means a short transition for his eventual successor before Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom sends his first budget proposal to lawmakers in early January. Taylor, who lives in the Sacramento suburbs, said he will honor the tradition of his predecessors in stepping away from public policy debates in order to give the new analyst space to lead the team as he or she sees fit. He said he hopes to travel in the coming years and spend time with his children who have moved to the East Coast. Forty years in state government, Taylor said in why he was stepping aside now. Isnt that enough? Facebook

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Gov. Jerry Brown sues to save California sentencing laws By Don Thompson, Associated Press (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Outgoing Gov. Jerry Brown sued Thursday to protect one of his signature actions in office, a voter-approved measure that allows most prison inmates to seek earlier release and participate in rehabilitation programs. His administration filed a lawsuit challenging a pending 2020 initiative that seeks to toughen criminal penalties as part of an effort to roll back reforms adopted by voters within the last decade. Browns lawsuit in Sacramento County Superior Court contends the measure lacked enough valid signatures to overturn a previously approved constitutional amendment. County officials and California Secretary of State Alex Padilla certified the signatures in July but said they were submitted too late to qualify for last months election. The lawsuit names Padilla and the ballot measures official proponent, Nina Salarno Besselman, president of the advocacy group Crime Victims United. Padilla said the measure exceeded the required roughly 366,000 valid signatures, equal to 5% of votes cast for governor in 2014. Browns lawsuit says he used the wrong threshold. It says changing the state Constitution requires 8%, or more than 585,400 signatures. That makes the pending initiative more than 150,000 signatures short, the lawsuit says. Hes wrong, said Jeff Flint, a spokesman for the campaign backing the measure. He predicted a judge will be reluctant to reject a measure that already has qualified for the ballot. The secretary of state told us how many signatures are required, and thats how many we collected, Flint said. Padillas office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The measure would reverse reforms adopted by voters through Proposition 47 in 2014 and Proposition 57 in 2016. Proposition 57 allows most inmates to seek earlier paroles, and Proposition 47 reduced some drug and property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors. The combination has helped keep Californias inmate population below a population cap set by federal judges. Corrections department spokeswoman Vicky Waters said the measure gives corrections and parole officials broad discretion to protect our communities and fashion a rational system of rehabilitation and punishment. This new initiative unlawfully seeks to supplant the departments constitutional authority to implement these critical reforms to our criminal justice system. The pending initiative would shorten the list of crimes that qualify for earlier parole and change some theft crimes from misdemeanors back to felonies. It would also increase the number of crimes for which DNA is collected, a list that was limited when some crimes went from felonies to misdemeanors. Those supporting the tougher penalties say easing criminal penalties has increased the number of dangerous criminals on the streets, but those backing the changes say they have helped reduce mass incarceration and rehabilitate convicted criminals. Facebook

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California Supreme Court orders records unsealed in pardon of ex-state Sen. Roderick Wright Former state Sen. Roderick Wright (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times) The California Supreme Court has granted a request to unseal court records involving Gov. Jerry Browns decision last month to pardon former state Sen. Roderick Wright for felony convictions involving lying about living in his legislative district, officials said Thursday. The court order was in response to a request by the nonpartisan First Amendment Coalition, which argued that the public has a right to know what information went into the governors decision to grant clemency to Wright. This is an important victory for public access to court files involving the exercise of executive clemency, said coalition spokesman Glen A. Smith. We are gratified the court has recognized that these decisions should be subject to the same public access rules that apply to other judicial records under California law. The court gave Browns office until Jan. 2 to redact confidential material before giving the court documents that can be released to the public. The court files submitted by the governors office include letters of support for a pardon and an internal review of Wrights case. The court denied a motion to unseal the records of all clemency cases but left open consideration of requests on other individual cases. Browns office is currently evaluating the courts decision, said spokesman Brian Ferguson. The governor argued against unsealing records in a recent court filing that said confidentiality is consistent with historical practice and is supported by state law. In pardoning Wright on Nov. 22, the governor wrote: He has shown that since his release from custody, he has lived an honest and upright life, exhibited good moral character, and conducted himself as a law abiding citizen. Facebook

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California political watchdog agency fines BART, urges prosecution over using public funds for campaign A Bay Area Rapid Transit train leaves the station in Oakland in this 2013 file photo. (Ben Margot / AP) Californias state political watchdog agency on Thursday imposed a $7,500 fine against the Bay Area Rapid Transit District and called for a possible criminal or civil prosecution over allegations the district used public resources to campaign for a 2016 bond measure. The state Fair Political Practices Commission levied an administrative fine against BART for its failure to disclose spending on YouTube videos, social media posts and text messages to promote Measure RR, which authorized $3.5 billion in general obligation bonds. Though the panel lacks authority to seek criminal charges over the misuse of public funds, it also urged county district attorneys in the BART service area and the state attorney general to pursue possible criminal or civil charges over the spending of taxpayer dollars for campaign purposes, Commission Chairwoman Alice Germond said. It is the concept of misusing public funds that I think we all here are very disturbed about, and we want to send a warning and not create a precedent that is a minor, little slap on the wrist, Germond said, adding that the referral to criminal prosecutors would further send a message that this is wrong. Commissioner Brian Hatch also called for the state Legislature to consider granting the FPPC power to go after public agencies that spend taxpayer money on campaigns. Sen. Steve Glazer (D-Orinda) called on the agency to increase the fine to the maximum level of $33,375. The proposed $7,500 fine represents a slap on the wrist for a very serious violation of the law and the publics trust, Glazer said in a letter to the panel. In supporting the fine recommended by the staff, Germond said BART has agreed to pay the penalty. Somebody did something wrong and they have admitted it, she said. A staff report said there were factors in favor of a fine below the maximum. Although the Commission considers BARTs violations to be serious, the absence of any evidence of an intention to conceal, deceive, or mislead; the voluntary filing of the delinquent campaign statement; and the absence of a prior record are mitigating, the report said. Facebook

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California police union seeks state Supreme Court review of new law disclosing internal investigation records Los Angeles Police Department officers. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) A police union is asking the California Supreme Court to block the release of internal officer investigations before a new state law takes effect next year. The San Bernardino County Sheriffs Employees Benefit Assn. filed a petition Tuesday asking justices to rule that only investigations of incidents that occur after Jan. 1 would be available under the law  and not those the department has on file from years prior. The litigation comes after this years passage of Senate Bill 1421, which opens to the public for the first time internal investigations of officer shootings and other major uses of force, along with confirmed cases of sexual assault and lying while on duty. The law goes into effect Jan. 1, and the San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department has told the union it intends to make available in response to public records requests all the information it has. The union is very concerned about any plans to retroactively apply Senate Bill 1421, Grant Ward, the unions president, said in a statement. We believe retroactive application violates our members rights and we hope the California Supreme Court will consider the serious issues raised by our legal challenge. The bills author, Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), does not agree with the unions interpretation. She has said her legislation should apply to all the records in a police departments possession because the law simply declared that affected records were no longer confidential. If the record exists, its disclosable, Skinner said. A decision on what records will be available under the law is key to how far-reaching it will be. If the court restricts access to incidents that occurred prior to 2019, those cases will not be subject to public scrutiny. The police union in San Bernardino County is not the only one raising concerns about the law. Earlier this month, Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore sent a letter to Skinner expressing concern that his agency would be overwhelmed if the law required the department to disclose older incidents. Even if the law only applied to the previous five years, Moore wrote, it could take nearly 300,000 hours of work to comply with its provisions. The LAPD operates with a guiding principle of Reverence for the Law; as such, we will diligently comply with SB 1421, Moore wrote. We maintain, however, that a retroactive implementation of SB 1421 will be exceptionally burdensome and would require significant reallocation of front-line investigative personnel. Skinner said if complying with the law becomes untenable for law enforcement agencies that maintain records for a long time, she would consider modifications. But she said agencies did not raise this concern during discussion over the bill. SB 1421 went through multiple committee hearings, multiple floor debates, extensive opportunity for all parties to weigh in on concerns with its structure, she said. That was not an issue that was raised by law enforcement at the time. Facebook

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Gov. Brown warns of backlash for Republicans in 2020 if Obamacare repeal is upheld Gov. Jerry Brown at the National Press Club in April. (Alex Wong / Getty Images) Gov. Jerry Brown warned Republicans on Tuesday that repeal of the Affordable Care Act would devastate the partys political chances in the 2020 election. Brown, speaking at a Sacramento Press Club event moderated by Los Angeles Times columnist George Skelton and Brown family historian Miriam Pawel, said a federal judges ruling last week to strike down the 2010 law  if upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court  will build such a backlash that the Democrats will not only take over the Senate, theyll win the presidency and will win with the kind of momentum, particularly on the issue of healthcare, that [the law] will be replaced probably with something even better. The governor, who leaves office in less than three weeks, said he did not believe the ruling by a Texas judge would ultimately prevail. I think the decision will probably be overturned, Brown said. Few states have embraced the law championed by former President Obama more than California, both through its healthcare exchange, Covered California, and by expanding access to government-funded services under Medi-Cal. Some 12 million Californians now receive healthcare through Medi-Cal, and Brown said a final ruling affecting the federal dollars that subsidize that care would be a serious blow. California would not be able to afford it without the subsidy, the governor said. Facebook

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Bars in Los Angeles, San Francisco could stay open until 4 a.m. under new bill A bar in Sherman Oaks (acuna-hansen) For the third year in a row, a California lawmaker is trying to keep bars open until 4 a.m. State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) is reintroducing legislation that would allow Los Angeles, San Francisco and seven other cities to extend the sales of alcohol in bars, clubs and restaurants by an additional two hours. Nightlife brings people together, fosters creativity and innovation, supports small businesses, and creates middle-class jobs, Wiener said in a statement. Its time to embrace our nighttime economy and give our cities the tools they need to foster the best nightlife possible. Last year, Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a similar bill by Wiener, writing: I believe we have enough mischief from midnight to 2 without adding two more hours of mayhem. Should this years measure, Senate Bill 58, advance through the Legislature, Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom would decide whether to sign it into law. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has endorsed SB 58, saying the city should have more flexibility than it does now. Every community has its own needs, and cities should be able to make informed decisions about what nightlife hours make sense for residents, visitors, and neighborhoods, Garcetti said in a statement. The bill would create a five-year pilot program where Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, West Hollywood, Long Beach, Coachella, Cathedral City and Palm Springs could decide to allow restaurants and bars within their cities to serve alcohol until 4 a.m. with the approval of the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Facebook

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Bars in Los Angeles and San Francisco could stay open until 4 a.m. under new bill A bar in Sherman Oaks. (Acuna-Hansen) For the third year in a row, a California lawmaker is trying to keep bars open until 4 a.m. State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) is reintroducing legislation that would allow Los Angeles, San Francisco and seven other cities to extend the sales of alcohol in bars, clubs and restaurants by an additional two hours. Nightlife brings people together, fosters creativity and innovation, supports small businesses and creates middle-class jobs, Wiener said in a statement. Its time to embrace our nighttime economy and give our cities the tools they need to foster the best nightlife possible. Last year, Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a similar bill by Wiener, writing: I believe we have enough mischief from midnight to 2 without adding two more hours of mayhem. Should this years measure, Senate Bill 58, advance through the Legislature, Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom would decide whether to sign it into law. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has endorsed SB 58, saying the city should have more flexibility than it does now. Every community has its own needs, and cities should be able to make informed decisions about what nightlife hours make sense for residents, visitors and neighborhoods, Garcetti said in a statement. The bill would create a five-year pilot program where Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, West Hollywood, Long Beach, Coachella, Cathedral City and Palm Springs could decide to allow restaurants and bars within their cities to serve alcohol until 4 a.m. with the approval of the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Facebook

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Californias DMV director announces retirement amid problems with motor voter program (Kent Nishamura/Los Angeles Times) The director of the California Department of Motor Vehicles will retire at years end with a number of questions unanswered about the implementation of a major voter registration system and long wait times experienced by customers for much of the past summer. Jean Shiomoto will not continue in her current role as Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom takes office, and announced to staff several weeks ago her intent to retire at the end of the year after 38 years in state service, spokesman Armando Botello said in an email to The Times on Friday. Newsoms transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment on who might lead the department in 2019. Shiomoto was appointed DMV director by Gov. Jerry Brown in the fall of 2013, having served in prior leadership roles with the department. DMV officials have been sharply criticized by lawmakers in recent months for delays in serving customers at its field offices across the state. Last week, DMV officials revealed errors in registering California voters for the November election  mistakes that followed a series of problems in the rollout of the states new motor voter registration system. Secretary of State Alex Padilla last week said he had lost confidence in Shiomotos leadership as a result of the voting registration problems. Facebook

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New law could break the stalemate over housing on the site of a near-vacant Cupertino mall By Liam Dillon For more than a decade, developers have tried to build new housing on the site of an all-but-empty mall in Cupertino, a city in the heart of Silicon Valley and home to Apple headquarters. A well-organized group of neighbors, upset about traffic, building heights and the potential loss of the communitys suburban lifestyle, turned away every plan. Now, for the first time, the stalemate might be broken  thanks to a decision made in the state Capitol. In an effort to address Californias housing affordability problem, legislators passed a law last year that requires cities and counties to approve housing projects if they comply with local zoning rules and other standards, forcing some resistant communities to agree to new homebuilding. In September, the city of Cupertino, citing the state law, approved developer Sand Hill Property Co.s proposal to build an office park and more than 2,400 homes where the Vallco Shopping Mall sits. Read More Facebook

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Local government was a last bastion for struggling California Republicans. Not anymore By Mark Z. Barabak Theres no shortage of watery metaphors to describe the disaster that befell California Republicans this midterm election. A blue wave. A Democratic tsunami. But the most apt may be a flood, with the casualties steadily rising as the vote count climbed in the days and weeks following Nov. 6. Eventually half the GOP congressional delegation was washed away, along with the entire slate of statewide Republican candidates. In Sacramento, Democrats claimed 29 of 40 state Senate seats and seized three-quarters of the 80-member Assembly  the largest number since 1883, when Chester A. Arthur was serving in the White House. Read More Facebook

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For the Republicans left in Californias Legislature, fewer lawmakers will have to do more work By John Myers From January to late summer every year, the California Legislature is a perpetual motion machine. And in the new year, the people most likely to struggle in keeping up will be Republicans, vastly outnumbered but still responsible for representing millions of the states residents. There are 22 standing committees in the state Senate, plus at least a dozen more subcommittees or special committees. And after Novembers election, only 11 Republican senators will be left to divvy up the work. To the victors go the spoils. To the vanquished go the extra assignments. Read More Facebook

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Californias DMV failed to finish registering 329 new voters before November election (Los Angeles Times) Officials at the California Department of Motor Vehicles said Friday that the agency failed to send information for 329 new voters to state elections officers in time for the November election, the latest revelation in a string of mishaps regarding voter registration. Secretary of State Alex Padilla responded with a blistering letter, calling on Gov. Jerry Brown or Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom to replace Jean Shiomoto, the DMV director. The Director of DMV has lost my confidence and trust, Padilla wrote. In all, the agency revealed that 589 mailed voter registration records that should have been processed under election deadlines werent sent to Californias secretary of state until late November, including forms from 260 drivers who had intended to update their address on existing voter registration records. The DMV had been instructed to not send registration forms that came in after Oct. 22, but the voters in question had forms that were postmarked before the deadline. In some cases, when the postmark wasnt legible, the agency said, documents inside indicated the voter had intended to finish their registration in time for the Nov. 6 election. The DMV recognizes the pause in transmittals was an error and affected the timing of the registration of the 589 individuals referenced above relative to the November election, Shiomoto wrote in a letter to Padilla on Friday. The pause was due to a misunderstanding on the part of the department, for which we take responsibility. Those who were trying to update their address for voter registration would not have been blocked from casting ballots. But officials said its unclear whether any of the 329 new voters were able to participate in the election. Shiomoto said in her letter that DMV will work with elections officials. The errors were not related to previous DMV mistakes about registering voters, problems associated with the rollout of the states new motor voter law. In those cases, multiple registration forms were sent to local elections offices for some voters, some people were assigned the wrong political party preference and others who are noncitizens were incorrectly placed on the list of registered voters. DMV officials have yet to respond to questions posed by The Times over the last several weeks about who knew of those mistakes and when. Facebook

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Newsom appoints a labor advocate and a former staffer as his chief deputy Cabinet secretaries By Taryn Luna A labor advocate and a San Francisco political operative have accepted positions in Gov.-elect Gavin Newsoms new administration. Angie Wei, a Capitol insider with deep ties to organized labor in California, will serve as a chief deputy Cabinet secretary with a focus on policy development. As a legislative director and chief of staff at the California Labor Federation, Wei has represented more than 1,200 unions and 2.1 million workers in Capitol fights over a host of policy issues, including drug-pricing transparency and paid family leave. The governor-elect also tapped Jason Elliott, a policy advisor to Newsom during his time as mayor of San Francisco and a chief of staff to San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, as another chief deputy Cabinet secretary overseeing executive branch operations. Elliott and Wei will serve under Ana Matosantos, Newsoms previously
Defense Secretary James N. Mattis condemned the killing of Washington Post contributor and Saudi government critic Jamal Khashoggi as intolerable, minutes before Saudi Arabias foreign minister, at the same venue, characterized the global reaction to the murder as hysterical.

Mattis suggested the killing threatened to undermine stability in the Middle East, his first substantive comments on the matter. The defense secretary made the remarks at a security conference in the island kingdom of Bahrain, across the bridge from Saudi Arabia, minutes before Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir took to the stage and said people were jumping to conclusions before the investigation was completed.

Mattis reiterated President Trumps vow to get to the bottom of what happened to Khashoggi, who disappeared at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, and said Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo would be taking unspecified additional measures in response to the killing beyond the revocation of U.S. visas for certain Saudi suspects. Above all, Mattis characterized the matter as not only a human rights issue, but also a national security concern for nations in the Middle East.

When opposing voices can be heard within a political process adapted to each nations culture, one that permits peaceful opposition by giving voice and human rights to all, a nation becomes more secure, Mattis said. When people can speak and be heard calling for peace and respect for all, the terrorist message of hatred and violence is not embraced. With our collective interests in peace and unwavering respect for human rights in mind, the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in a diplomatic facility must concern us all greatly.

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Without calling out Saudi Arabia by name, Mattis said Khashoggis death could further disrupt the power dynamics in the region at a time it cant afford it. The Middle East is struggling to cope with brutal conflicts in Syria and Yemen, a political divide between Persian Gulf nations and Qatar and what Mattis described as malign activity from Iran emanating across the region.

Failure of any one nation to adhere to international norms and the rule of law undermines regional stability at a time when it is needed most, Mattis said.

Saudi Arabia is not only the biggest importer of U.S. arms but a critical partner in the Trump administrations Middle East agenda, which includes stabilizing Syria, brokering a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, pushing back against Iranian influence, finishing off the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq and bringing an end to the war in Yemen.

Mattis made the comments moments before Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, took to the same stage and criticized what he described as hysteria over Khashoggis killing.

This issue has become fairly hysterical, Jubeir said. I think people have assigned blame on Saudi Arabia with such certainty before the investigation is complete. We have made it clear that we are going to have a full and transparent investigation, the results of which will be released.

Jubeir didnt directly answer a question about whether it was credible for the Saudi leadership to suggest Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman would have been unaware of a large-scale operation involving more than a dozen agents to target Khashoggi in Istanbul.

We know that a mistake was committed, Jubeir said. We know that people exceeded their authority. We know that well investigate it.

Jubeir also rejected the idea of extraditing the suspects in the killing to Turkey. The individual suspects in question are Saudi nationals and will be prosecuted in Saudi Arabia, he said.

Turkey has requested the extradition of 18 Saudi nationals arrested by Saudi authorities in the killing, including members of the 15-man hit squad allegedly sent from Saudi Arabia to kill the journalist, and three consulate employees. The Turkish government has argued it should prosecute the crime because the killing took place in Turkey and consular employees do not enjoy legal immunity in the case of grave crimes under the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, according to a Turkish official.

It would be best for the reputation of our Saudi friends that the court proceedings take place in Turkey, said the official, who requested anonymity to discuss the governments internal deliberations.

Despite raising Khashoggis killing as a cause for concern, Mattis treaded lightly when criticizing Riyadh and didnt go as far as Trump, who said Saudi Arabias response to the journalists disappearance amounted to the worst cover-up ever.

The Saudi journalist and author, who contributed to the columns to the Washington Post, entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul to pick up paperwork he needed to marry his Turkish fiancee. He never emerged.

The Saudi government initially denied any knowledge of Khashoggis disappearance, only to say later that he was accidentally killed there during an altercation with Saudi agents. Earlier this week, the story changed again, with Riyadhs public prosecutor saying in a statement that Khashoggi was killed in a premeditated operation.

Saudi officials have sought to contain the damage of the resulting scandal by arresting a number of Saudis, firing senior officials and restructuring the nations intelligence agencies. Questions, however, have persisted about what the 33-year-old Saudi crown prince, a target of Khashoggis criticism, knew about the operation.

Trump has repeatedly said that he wants to get to the bottom of what happened but doesnt want to jeopardize the United States relationship with Saudi Arabia, and in particular, the billions of dollars in arms purchases that the Saudi armed forces make each year from American defense contractors.

Mattis underscored the position in his speech in Bahrain, backing the administrations twin imperatives of protecting Americans and holding accountable those responsible for the murder.

The defense secretary said the United States respect for the Saudi people was undiminished, but added that with our respect must come transparency and trust.

These two principles are vital for ensuring the continued collaboration we know is necessary for a safe, secure and prosperous Middle East, Mattis said.

Mattis also called for an end to the war in Yemen but didnt address the humanitarian impact of Saudi airstrikes that have led to civilian atrocities and famine in the embattled nation, where a Saudi-led military coalition has been facing off against Iran-backed Houthi rebels since 2015. An estimated 10,000 people have died, with 8 million more threatened by famine.

The United States provides limited military backing to the Saudi-led coalition prosecuting the Yemen campaign, including aerial refueling and intelligence support.

All wars must eventually end, and the tragedy of Yemen worsens by the day, Mattis said. Enough time has been spent on the subordinate issues; now is the time to move forward on stopping this war. In November, we must start negotiating the substance of the issues. Compromise must replace combat, and the people must have peace to heal.

Still, Mattis backed the justification for Saudi Arabias intervention in Yemen.

I reiterate U.S. support for our partners right to defend themselves against Iranian-supplied Houthi attacks on their sovereign territory, and at the same time, call for an urgent end to the fighting, he said.

Sonne and Fahim write for the Washington Post.
As President Trump on Friday celebrated the FBIs arrest of a suspect in a spate of attempted mail bombings, he read from a teleprompter to promise swift justice, denounce despicable political violence and call for national unity.

Yet just two hours earlier  and less than an hour before the arrest  the president had tweeted his frustration that the medias coverage of this Bomb stuff, instead of politics, was hurting Republicans momentum headed into the Nov. 6 midterm election. By his quotation marks, he even seemed to subscribe to some conservatives false flag conspiracy theories that the threats were a liberal hoax.

Even after the arrest, Trump turned from his scripted statement at the White House to address supporters there, reverting to his usual attacks on fake polls, the media and globalists. That last mention prompted chants against George Soros, the billionaire philanthropist who was a target of a pipe bomb, and Lock him up!, which a smiling Trump indulged.

It was yet another moment of mixed messages and missed opportunities for leadership from a president who, in times of national crisis, has repeatedly delivered the expected presidential performance only briefly and from a script, before returning to his familiar political attacks. In this case, moreover, the attacks were the very sort that had critics charging that his provocative rhetoric  including the harsh jibes at Soros, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and others  were what goaded the would-be bomber to target them.

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You want and expect presidential leadership in times like these to be strong, empathetic and consistent. And its really the consistency bit where President Trump falls short, said Michael Steel, a Republican strategist who was a spokesman for former House Speaker John A. Boehner.

Hell make the teleprompter speech, say the right thing, and then theres a 3 a.m. tweet or an aside that goes right back to viewing these events through a partisan or self-centered lens, Steel added. It undercuts his sincerity.

The White House declined to comment on this line of criticism. Aides also refused to say whether Trump had been briefed on the arrest before or after his 10:19 a.m. tweet in which he suggested doubts about the attempted bombs. The suspect, 56-year-old Cesar Sayoc Jr., was arrested at his white van, which was plastered with tributes to Trump and hate messages against Democrats and CNN, which was the intended recipient of at least two pipe-bomb devices.

Whatever he does, there are followers who model their behavior on his, said Charlie Sykes, a conservative author who has broken with his party over Trump. In a country of 350 million people, there are going to be more than a few unbalanced individuals who will take him both literally and seriously.

Yet, Sykes said, The president will read the right statement and then he immediately reverts to form.

Trumps inability to sustain a unifying message in the midst of national trauma  in this case potential assassinations of two former presidents, former Cabinet officials and several members of Congress  sets him apart from all predecessors, according to Julian Zelizer, a presidential historian at Princeton University.

All our presidents are very political and partisan, but there is this check where in these moments, they have to be unifying, he said. Its low-hanging fruit for a president to respond in a consistent, somber way to something like this. Trump can do it a little bit but its almost as if the temptation is too strong to go back to his campaign rhetoric.

An early, memorable example of whats become Trumps familiar behavior pattern was his response to the violence incited in August 2017 by white supremacists and neo-Nazis marching in Charlottesville, Va. He vacillated between words of unity and then statements condemning both the racists and the mostly peaceful counter-protesters equally.

On Wednesday, after authorities intercepted suspected bombs mailed to Hillary Clinton, former President Obama, former CIA Director John Brennan, former Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. and Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters of Los Angeles, Trump made his first remarks to the country from the White House, reading from a teleprompter to decry violence and disunity.

But he stepped on that message almost as soon as he stepped off Air Force One that evening in Wisconsin for a political rally. There, he joked repeatedly that he was behaving and being nice by eschewing some of his usual attack lines, against Clinton and Waters, for example.

It was the closest thing to an acknowledgement that his incendiary rhetoric might contribute to the charged political climate. Yet he attacked the media, as usual, for fake news that caused the anger.

The next morning, Trump made that point with a tweet:

A very big part of the Anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the Mainstream Media that I refer to as Fake News. It has gotten so bad and hateful that it is beyond description. Mainstream Media must clean up its act, FAST!

Trump did not call any of the Democrats who were the intended targets, as past presidents likely would have.

Leon E. Panetta, a former White House chief of staff and Cabinet official in Democratic administrations, said presidents typically have had a sense of their obligation as president to try to comfort people that are being threatened, regardless of party.

Everything for him is placed in a political context that he interprets as not requiring the president to kind of play the role of leader of the country, Panetta said. Hes in the middle of an election campaign. Hes been doing all of these rallies. I think in many ways there was a sense that whether or not this threat was real or not, that this was just kind of the political volatility that were all a part of.

Trump did use his phone to tweet  about 50 times since the news broke on Monday afternoon of the first suspected bomb at Soros New York estate. Six were against the so-called caravan of refugees from Central America walking toward the U.S. border, which Trump has tried to make an anti-immigration campaign issue. Four related to the bomb scare, though just one  a retweet of a post by Vice President Mike Pence  expressed concern for the intended targets while the others criticized the media.

Most memorably, on Friday morning as the FBI closed in on Sayoc, Trump tweeted his complaint against the media for reporting on this Bomb stuff to the detriment of Republicans. He also tweeted his complaints that Twitter had removed followers from his account, about the cost of illegal immigration and, pre-dawn, against CNN.

There are certain baseline things that a president should do to unify the country, to step away from partisan politics for at least a few days, to reach out to his political opponents, and hes done none of these things, Sykes said.

Ari Fleischer, who served as press secretary for President George W. Bush, said Trump is driven by political approval.

Fleischer said he would have preferred that Trump display a more traditional style but believes a sufficient number of Americans shrug their shoulders and say, Thats Trump.

As he left the White House on Friday evening for another rally, Trump spoke briefly with reporters and was asked whether the terrorism scare would cause him to further temper his political remarks.

I think Ive been toned down, if you want to know the truth, he said.

He went back to casting blame elsewhere. The media has been unbelievably unfair to Republicans, conservatives and certainly to me, he said, and walked away. At the rally in Charlotte, N.C., he repeated the message, to cheers and chants from supporters.

There, after restraining himself at an earlier rally this week amid the attention to the pipe bombs, the president was back to slamming both Crooked Hillary  encouraging the usual Lock her up! chants  and Waters, though he omitted his usual nickname for her, Low IQ Maxine.

I wont say it, Trump told the crowd. Pointing toward reporters, he added, I want them to say I was so nice tonight.

The latest from Washington 

estokols@gmail.com

@EliStokols
Every introduction is nearly the same during every meeting, nearly every other week.

Former Burbank Unified board president Larry Applebaum states during the public-comment section of board meetings that hes a 58-year resident of the school district that educates his daughter, Lauren, a Burbank High junior.

Applebaum served as a Burbank Unified board member for 12 years until 2017 and has helped the district in other capacities.

A strong Burbank Unified advocate, Applebaum is on the opposite side held by many friends and former colleagues.

The man perhaps most responsible for passage of Measure S, a 2013 bond sometimes referred to as Larrys Bond that raised $110 million for upgrades to district facilities, is opposing the districts latest funding effort.

Applebaum is urging residents to vote no on Measure QS, saying its fatally flawed. The measure is a 10-cents-per-square-foot annual parcel tax expected to cost average city residents about $170 per year and raise roughly $9 million annually.

He even authored the main argument against Measure QS, co-sponsored by former board members Audrey Hanson and William Abbey, in the voter guide.

My former colleagues are not too happy with me, Applebaum said on Oct. 17, the day before he spoke at the latest district meeting. But, there are a lot of people in the community who are happy with me because at least Im standing up and speaking about what I believe needs to be said.

Applebaum has, at times, stood alone against a purple sea of Measure QS supporters.

He doesnt like that the parcel tax has ties to salaries and doesnt address the districts pension problem, while the measure has no sunset clause and would require a voter repeal to end it.

Applebaum said he also thinks key benefactors may reduce their giving levels to Burbank Unified. He cited the new 456,000-square-foot IKEA store as an example. Applebaum said he expects the store will scale back its usual grants and donations totaling around $60,000 a year to the district because the company will have to pay a $46,000 annual tax.

Im not against the parcel tax. Im against how theyre using it and how theyre saying theyre going to use it, he said. Once they use it for salary, all the things that theyre saying and the goal sheets, salary will overwhelm all of that and there wont be any of that.

The parcel tax is supposed to address several needs, such as buying new band uniforms and helping lower classroom sizes, along with giving teachers and staff a one-time 3% salary raise, in addition to a 2% hike that was recently approved.

This measure is being marketed in a way that is not honest because its going for salaries and 3% is already guaranteed, he said. It doesnt take somebody with a brilliant mind to extrapolate that next year when the [unions] go to the bargaining table, theyre going to see $5.7 million of additional revenue and theyre going to want to bargain.

Applebaum contends that a 3% salary hike translates into roughly $3.3 million of the annual $9-million Measure QS pot.

When I left in 2017, every percent of a salary increase equaled about a $1.1-million increase, so thats where Im getting that number from, he said. So this year, it will be 3%. If the district gives another 2% the following year, then 2% again and 2% again, then in five years, guess what? Theres no money left.

Burbank Supt. Matt Hill countered that claim.

Measure QS opponent Larry Applebaum sits behind a group of Measure QS supporters at the Burbank Unified board meeting in council chambers at Burbank City Hall on Oct. 18. Public comment during the meeting focused on the Measure QS issue. (Tim Berger/Staff Photographer)

Thats just his assumption, Hill said. Theres nothing in the parcel tax language or contract agreement that would say that.

Applebaum said that parcel-tax money should have been directed toward fixing the pension problem, which he contends is the real issue.

Currently, 88% of the districts operating cost is tied to employee compensation, with pension costs expected to be around $16.5 million for the 2018-19 school year. Five years earlier, the district paid a little over $7 million.

While hes fond of Hill, Applebaum said he thinks the former Los Angeles Unified administrator is avoiding making tough decisions.

Hes in year four, Applebaum said of Hill. Hes never had to cut as a superintendent. I had to cut several years as a board member. Its not fun, but you do what you have to do.

Applebaum said the school district should relax its student-teacher ratio as a way to help offset spending, noting his daughter went from a second grade class with a 20-to-1 ratio to 28-to-1 the following year and shes doing just fine now in 11th grade.

He pointed to the district cutting $2 million in 2000 during the dot-com bubble, which was done, in part, by slashing discretionary positions.

They did what they had to do, Applebaum said. And guess what? When good times came back, class sizes were lowered again, and some people were hired back. We can do that again.

andrew.campa@latimes.com

Twitter @campadresports
School traffic safety improvements designated for George Washington and Thomas Jefferson elementary schools and John Muir Middle School are closer to becoming reality.

Members of the city of Burbanks Transportation Department will present a series of designs and proposals to the City Council on Nov. 13 regarding upgrades at all three schools, with plans to begin work this winter.

Transportation associate planner Hannah Woo gave a preview of the projects during the second Safe Routes to School Project community meeting held on Oct. 18 in the Burbank Community Services building.

Woo said the goal was to build a better Burbank.

She added the projects did that by improving safety for children walking and biking to school, encouraging more students to walk and bike, reducing traffic injuries, raising health benefits through increased physical activity and improving air quality.

The improvements include high-visibility crosswalks, all-way stop signs, speed humps and 15-mph speed zones at all three schools, along with some curb ramps and extensions.

In order for the projects to proceed, City Council members must vote in policy changes in regards to the speed zones, all-way stop signs and speed humps.

For instance, installation of a four-way stop sign requires an engineering study, while nearby residents generally need to agree to the addition of a speed hump.

Transportation officials are hoping the city will expedite the process by lowering the threshold of the engineering study, according to Woo, while bypassing the neighborhood petition process for speed humps.

A high-visibility crosswalk, which consists of several yellow-striped bars versus two parallel yellow lines, was installed on Eton Drive and Sixth Street at the corner of Jefferson Elementary two years earlier.

The project at Jefferson calls for the addition of six high-visibility crosswalks, two all-way stops signs and two curb ramps, along with an extension at Cambridge Drive and Sixth Street.

The changes taking place near Jefferson are what interested Burbank resident Jackie Bodley.

I live on Cambridge, right close to Jefferson, she said. Our concern was the speeding going up and down the street and the safety of the kids.

John Muir Middle Schools improvements will include eight high-visibility crosswalks, two all-way stop signs and seven curb ramps, while two high-visibility crosswalks, three curb ramps, one all-way stop sign and a curb extension will be added at Washington Elementary.

All of the changes came about after a series of walking and bike safety audits and surveys from residents living around the three schools pointed to many problems.

Drivers were often speeding and rolling through stop signs, pedestrians jaywalked, children said they felt unsafe biking to school and congestion caused school drop-off and pick-up areas to be dangerous.

While the project addresses many issues, others were left off the table.

Another thing we heard from our outreach is schools and parents saying that they really want more crossing guards, Woo said. Crossing guards are expensive, and the schools budget and the citys budget are very tight.

The Safe Routes to School project is funded by a $490,000 grant from Caltrans.

Burbank resident Zainab Rogers has a child attending Washington and another at Muir and was also interested in what improvements were taking place.

My two kiddos here are what are most important to me, Rogers said. I wanted to hear the feedback today and give my input. Im glad theyre taking action for these types of issues.

andrew.campa@latimes.com

Twitter @campadresports
Organizers cut short on Wednesday night a heated debate between candidates vying for seats in the 28th and 30th Congressional districts after numerous interruptions from the audience.

The League of Women Voters of Glendale/Burbank had planned to ask each candidate at least 12 questions during the forum, which was held in the Burbank City Council chambers. The candidates were 28th District incumbent Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) and his Republican opponent, Johnny Nalbandian, and 30th District incumbent Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) and his GOP opponent, Mark Reed, who has run against Sherman three times previously.

However, the audience of about 100 people, some of whom were wearing Make America Great Again hats, yelled angrily whenever Schiff or Sherman spoke, claiming that the Democratic candidates were liars, skunks and racists.

Mary Dickson, president of the local League of Women Voters chapter, Rita Zwern, the debates moderator, and other members of the organization tried to plead with audience members to refrain from interrupting, but their efforts didnt work.

It got to the point where two Burbank police officers had to watch over the meeting, and a member of the audience had to be escorted out after refusing to settle down.

Dickson and Zwern said they eventually decided the disruptions would no longer be tolerated and the forum had to be cut short.

Its been one of the most loudest and disrupted forums weve ever had, Dickson said. People werent listening to all of the candidates. They had their own agenda, Im afraid.

Zwern, who has been moderating debates for the League of Women Voters for 15 years, said that it was the worst debate she has had to oversee.

The last event she thinks comes close was a forum in 2010, when the chambers and lobby were filled. However, organizers were able to get through that debate with only minor interruptions.

She added that people who wanted to watch the debate were shortchanged.

When we have a debate like we had tonight, I just feel so badly for everyone, Zwern said. We tried so hard to give everybody an equal chance and to have a forum thats informative for the voters. That is our goal. Even I feel personally cheated tonight.

The candidates were asked eight questions during the forum, but some of the questions went unanswered due to interruptions from the audience or candidates defending themselves.

During the opening statements, Reed immediately accused Sherman of allowing sexual misconduct in his district office.

Matt Dababneh, a former state Assemblyman and Shermans former aide, is currently being investigated for allegedly forcing a lobbyist into a bathroom and masturbating in front of her, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Sherman fired back and said that Reed is making up the accusations. He also pointed out that Reed has never gotten 40% of the vote when running against him in the past.

When asked about refugee admissions and immigration, Schiff said he doesnt support any of President Donald Trumps immigration policies, adding that he believes Trump has vilified immigrants.

Schiff said it is important to reform immigration policies so they create an orderly immigration process that protects Dreamers and their families.

Nalbandian said that illegals have been taking over the spaces currently occupied by homeless veterans, adding that Democrats have been hypocritical on immigration policies.

Sherman said the United States should be welcoming and that, in order for immigration reform to pass, residents will need to agree with policies they otherwise would not agree with.

Reed said Sherman and Schiff have not done anything to make changes to immigration policies, adding there hasnt been any political will from either party to do so because both sides like cheap immigrant labor.

anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com

Twitter: @acocarpio
Riyadh Saturday dismissed Ankara's calls to extradite 18 Saudis wanted for the murder of critic Jamal Khashoggi, as Washington warned the crisis risked destabilising the Middle East.

"The individuals are Saudi nationals. They're detained in Saudi Arabia, and the investigation is in Saudi Arabia, and they will be prosecuted in Saudi Arabia," Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told a regional defence forum in Bahrain.

He was responding to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who on Friday renewed his call for the 18 men to be extradited for trial in Turkey.

Khashoggi, 59, who had lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since 2017, vanished after entering the consulate on October 2 to obtain paperwork for his marriage to his Turkish fiancee.

Prince Mohammad, heir to the oil-rich nation's throne, publicly denounced the murder as "repulsive", while the Saudi prosecutor acknowledged for the first time this week that based on the evidence of a Turkish investigation the killing had been "premeditated".

- 'Undermining stability' -

But US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis, who was also addressing the Manama forum, warned that "the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in a diplomatic facility must concern us all greatly".

"Failure of any nation to adhere to international norms and the rule of law undermines regional stability at a time when it is needed most," he stressed.

Saudi authorities have arrested 18 men wanted by Ankara following the international furore over Khashoggi's murder, which was reportedly carried out in the consulate by a team which flew to Istanbul.

Five intelligence chiefs have been sacked.

The journalist's murder has generated international outrage and undermined Riyadh's relations with the United States and other Western governments.

But the Saudi foreign minister vowed Saturday "we will overcome it."

"The issue, as I said, is being investigated. We will know the truth. We will hold those responsible accountable. And we will put in place mechanisms to ensure it doesn't happen again," Jubeir told the defence forum.

On Thursday, CIA Director Gina Haspel briefed US President Donald Trump on the latest developments in the investigation after a fact-finding mission to Turkey.

Pro-government Turkish media said intelligence officers showed Haspel video images and audio tapes of Khashoggi's killing gathered from the consulate.

But the body of Khashoggi remains missing.

"You need to show this body," Erdogan insisted on Friday, indicating that his country had more evidence about the killing to reveal.

The Turkish president, who has stopped short of directly blaming the Saudi government, added the 18 suspects must know who killed Khashoggi and repeated his call for the men to be tried in Turkey.

"The culprit is among them. If that is not the case, then who is the local conspirator? You have to tell," he said.

"Unless you tell, Saudi Arabia will not be free from this suspicion."

*This story was edited by Ahram Online.

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A recent police chase ended with the arrest of a suspected bank robber in a Costa Mesa garage, authorities confirmed Friday.

Brendan Dashon Finks, 23, was arrested Tuesday by Costa Mesa police and charged by prosecutors Thursday.

Finks allegedly used a note to rob a bank in the 300 block of E. 17th Street Tuesday afternoon, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said.

Costa Mesa police responded at about 3:45 p.m., department spokeswoman Roxi Fyad said, and a Huntington Beach police helicopter assisted in the chase.

Finks was pursued by police onto 17th Street, through Pinkley Park and onto Ogle Street, police said.

The suspect allegedly entered residential backyards before being detained in a homes garage on E. 18th Street.

An Instagram user captured the pursuit with his phone and uploaded video showing police officers running through a residential area and multiple officers approaching a residence.

Police are yelling right now, the user said. I can hear them wrestling inside.

Later in the one-minute video, a man in a gold Lakers jersey is seen being detained by police.

The resident of the invaded property told the interviewer that the suspect jumped the fence and entered through the back of his home.

Stolen money was recovered, but not a weapon, police said.

The Orange County district attorneys office charged Finks with three felonies related to burglary and false impersonation and a misdemeanor for resisting an officer.

Finks served prison time for a 2013 felony carjacking in Riverside County, according to the complaint filed by the district attorneys office.

julia.sclafani@latimes.com
Following the release of a mailer that included her name on a list of supporters for Costa Mesa City Councilwoman and mayoral candidate Katrina Foley, Costa Mesa Sanitary District board member Arlene Schafer emphasized this week that she has not endorsed Foleys campaign.

In a phone call to the Daily Pilot Wednesday, Schafer said her current position as president of the Costa Mesa branch of the California Federation of Republican Women precludes her from endorsing any candidate.

All of a sudden, this flier comes out and it has 200 people endorsing, and I look at the list and heres Arlene Schafer, she said.

That list, which also ran as a full-page advertisement in the Oct. 21 print edition of the Pilot, contains hundreds of names listed under the header Costa Mesa Supports Katrina Foley for Mayor.

In the print advertisement, numerous names, including Schafers, are listed twice.

On Friday, Foley said the list has been pulled together from walking door-to-door and doing many meet-and-greets in the community over the last year, and from people sending in donations and endorsement envelopes. The duplication of names in the paper, she said, was unintentional and apparently the result of a printing or design error.

Weve been working very hard on gathering support for our campaign, and I think there are now more than 900 names that we have collected in support, she said. There were a couple that should not have been publicly included. That was a mistake, and we corrected it.

Over the past week, a few residents have reached out to the Pilot claiming that some of those named on the list do not actually support Foley  who is facing off against current Mayor Sandy Genis in the race to become Costa Mesas first directly elected mayor. Similar concerns also have been raised on social media.

One particular name thats attracted attention is Phil DAgostino, the director of student and community services for the Newport-Mesa Unified School District. He addressed the issue in a recent Facebook post.

Setting aside the fact that I have resided in South Orange County for the past 25 years, I was shocked that Katrina and her campaign would place my name on campaign materials without asking for my permission, verbally or in writing, he wrote. I have asked her to remove my name from any and all campaign-related materials immediately and that she and/or her campaign correct the campaign literature that has already been published.

Given his position in the district, DAgostino wrote that he has chosen not to make any endorsements or contribute my support to any candidate in any election at a local level this year.

Foley said DAgostino was included by mistake and that she has sent him a letter of apology for accidentally listing his name. She added that shes planning to send out another mailer ahead of Election Day and that any unintentional mistakes or typos or misspellings of names or wrong titles have all been corrected.

Whats great about all the attention that this list is getting is that many supporters have contacted us and asked that their names be included, as well, she said.

De Leon to make stop in Newport

Current state Sen. and U.S. Senate candidate Kevin de Leon will make an appearance Saturday at Balboa Peninsula Park in Newport Beach.

The Newport Beach Womens Democratic Club and Imagine Action Orange County are hosting de Leon, who is challenging Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

Orange County Sheriff candidate Duke Nguyen is also expected to attend.

The event starts at 11 a.m. at the park, 100 Main St. Admission is free but RSVPs are required. Visit NBWDC.org or ImagineActionOC.com to RSVP.

Orange County early vote centers open this weekend

A slew of early vote centers will open throughout Orange County on Saturday, giving residents the chance to cast their votes, or drop off their completed ballots, before Election Day.

The Orange County registrar of voters office will operate centers at eight locations ahead of the Nov. 6 election, including at the Costa Mesa Senior Center, 695 W. 19th St.; and Huntington Beach Five Points Plaza at 18597 Main St.

The centers will be open between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Saturday through Nov. 2 and from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Nov. 3, 4 and 5.

Vote centers will provide full-service voting to Orange County voters prior to Election Day, Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley said in a prepared statement. Weve streamlined our check-in process, increased personnel and expanded our locations in anticipation of heavy voter volume prior to Election Day.
Homelessness, substance abuse and mental health remain some of Glendales most salient health concerns, according to community leaders who came together Thursday for an annual summit to identify and address the citys health needs.

The Glendale Community Health Summit  which stretched for six hours and brought together representatives from the city, school district, police department and area hospitals  was the first leg in a process that will ultimately result in a public report slated for completion in June.

We cant, any one of us, address these significant health challenges by ourselves. We need to be working together, said Bruce Nelson, administrative director for community research and mission development at Adventist Health Glendale, which, along with Dignity Health Glendale Memorial Hospital, paid for the summit.

Travis Leach, who was formerly incarcerated and now attends Glendale Community College, told summit attendees that he used to be just like the homeless people sleeping outside the Downtown Central Library in Glendale. The summit was held inside the library.

Addicted to drugs and living on the streets in Santa Ana, Leach learned he had AIDS when he was 26. His condition qualified him to receive healthcare and social services, allowing him to turn his life around, he said.

If we could give our society healthcare, we would be a much more thriving society, Leach said.

Since the 2018 school year kicked off, Glendale Unified has had to remove and hospitalize 21 students and perform a student risk assessment almost daily, according to Ilin Magran, assistant director of the districts welfare and attendance program.

If [children] are not healthy socially and emotionally, they will not learn, said Glendale Unified Supt. Winfred Roberson Jr., adding that students face tremendous pressure and stress via social media.

Local police are also struggling with homeless and drug-addicted youth, with few nearby hospitals or shelters that specialize in that type of care, according to Danny Carver, a lieutenant with the Glendale Police Department.

Police officers recently had to take a 14-year-old girl to a facility in Ventura County because it was the nearest place with an open bed, Carver said.

On the other end of the spectrum are seniors, who deal with similar mental-health problems as other populations but can suffer more because theyre older and dont have the social support anymore, Dr. William Wang, chief medical officer at Glendale Memorial Hospital, said.

While the hospital offers senior programs to sharpen their social skills, develop community and improve driving, Wang said Glendale Memorials team has identified nine other critical senior health issues that are not being addressed.

We all have a different perspective that we bring to this, Nelson said after the presentations. And that perspective, when its added together, helps us get a handle on both the challenges we face and the resources we have available.

This years summit also included focus-group work in preparation for Glendales Community Health Needs Assessment that is conducted every three years and guides local healthcare policies.

The previous assessment focused on many of the same health concerns raised at this summit, Nelson said.

Some community health concerns identified in previous summits have improved as a result of an action plan: Primary care availability has gone up and the prevalence of diabetes has gone down, Nelson said.

While roughly 150 homeless people have been housed, Nelson said homelessness has been difficult to control.

New homeless individuals replace the ones who get housed, so we need to keep those resources in place, Nelson said.

Using feedback from the summit, a follow-up meeting will identify the citys 10 most important health concerns, in addition to the drivers behind them, Nelson said.

lila.seidman@latimes.com

Twitter: @lila_seidman
It might not come as a surprise that Gary Shaffer, Glendales new director of library, arts and culture, describes himself as bookish.

I grew up in the library. Its where I discovered the world, said Shaffer, who took the helm of the citys library system on Oct. 1.

Shaffer, who was previously running a library-science masters program at USC, takes over the reins from 37-year veteran Cindy Cleary.

As Shaffer settles into his new role, he said hes launched a listening tour, of sorts, to get feedback from community members about their vision for the library before he starts making any major decisions.

Its important for a library to assist the community with all of its aspirations, said Shaffer, an Orange County native who lived in Glendale in his 20s. That means identifying its unique needs and goals, he added.

A theme thats emerged as he talks with stakeholders is a strong desire to celebrate the citys diversity, he said.

One project that predates Shaffers hiring that he plans to realize is Mayor Zareh Sinanyans dream of turning Grandview Library into a childrens library.

In January, the library system will also be rolling out an online student-tutoring system, Shaffer said.

On a recent Tuesday afternoon, the Downtown Glendale Central Library, where Shaffer has his office, was bustling, with clusters of teenagers clacking away on Mac laptops, young children running around their designated reading room and individuals of all ages sitting  or reclining  on brightly colored, geometric furniture, reading books and magazines.

Thats how it is every day, Shaffer said.

The citys eight libraries see 2,500-3,000 in-person visitors daily, in addition to an unknown number of online visitors, he said. A line to get in forms outside the downtown branch every morning.

Theres a misconception that because everything is on the Internet, people dont use libraries, Shaffer said.

But there are many books, publications and services that are unavailable  or unavailable for free  online, Shaffer said, pointing to the example of a new bestseller that would have to be purchased.

Reference questions havent gone away. Theyve just gotten more difficult, he said.

Twenty years ago, someone might have come to a library to find out the capital of Uzbekistan. Now, they might want to find out how to get the necessary licenses to start a business, Shaffer added.

Armed with three masters degrees and a doctorate degree, , Shaffer initially pursued a career in marketing and advertising.

Then he had an epiphany, that I would rather sell you reading and literacy than things perhaps, maybe, you didnt necessarily need.

Although Shaffer still teaches one marketing class at USC, his world is mostly books.

Hes currently reading a biography of American pioneer writer Laura Ingalls Wilder; he published a book earlier this year on creating a sustainable public library; and he teaches another class at USC on partnerships and collaboration in libraries.

That takes up most of my free time, he said.

lila.seidman@latimes.com

Twitter: @lila_seidman
Dodgers lose to Red Sox, 8-4

BOSTON  For 163 games during the regular season and 11 more in October, the Dodgers could comfort themselves by knowing they possessed more talent than the other club on the field. No team holstered more firepower. No opposing roster stockpiled more depth. No clubhouse boasted a more effective blend of superstars and role players. When the standings suggested the Dodgers were bound for an early winter, the team steeled itself with self-confidence.

As the Dodgers sputtered through the summer, a budding juggernaut developed on the East Coast. The Boston Red Sox won 108 games this season, more than any team in 17 years, and picked up steam in the playoffs. Boston brushed aside a 100-win Yankees team and blitzed the defending champions from Houston to set up a date with the Dodgers in the World Series.

In the days leading up to Game 1, some Dodgers joked about how they would enjoy being treated like an underdog. That was before they absorbed the clout of their opponent in an 8-4 loss Tuesday at Fenway Park. Boston met every Dodgers action with a more forceful reaction.

When the Dodgers bruised the ace of the Red Sox, Boston answered by taxing Clayton Kershaw for five runs. Boston pounced on every opening, burst through every sliver of space. When manager Dave Roberts inserted Alex Wood as a reliever in the seventh inning, Red Sox manager Alex Cora countered with pinch-hitter Eduardo Nunez. The subsequent three-run homer from Nunez robbed the final two innings of any drama.

Little unfolded in the Dodgers favor on Tuesday. The pitchers duel between Kershaw and Red Sox ace Chris Sale never materialized. Neither man could record an out in the fifth inning. Sale departed with one runner aboard. Kershaw permitted two before Roberts intervened. Sale allowed three runs.

Two of the runs charged to Kershaw were scored with reliever Ryan Madson on the mound. The Dodgers had designated Madson as the fireman of their bullpen, a veteran reliever with an elite fastball. Madson only fanned the flames on Tuesday, throwing a wild pitch, walking a batter and giving up an RBI single as the Red Sox pulled ahead in the fifth.

The men surrounding Kershaw did him few favors. A missed play in the first inning led to a two-run rally. Madson stumbled in the fifth. But the responsibility for the loss still hung on Kershaws shoulders, even before Wood served up the game-deciding homer to Nunez.

Rain doused the diamond in the afternoon. The storm muddied the warning track and cancelled batting practice. The clouds parted by the evening, so the game could start on time. As the fans filtered into their seats, Kershaw and Sale warmed up about 20 yards away from each other in right field.

Sale had not pitched since Game 1 of the American League Championship Series, 10 days earlier. His fastball sat at 92.2 mph against the Astros, down from the 94.7 mph he averaged during the season. He was hospitalized for a stomach ailment in the aftermath, which he joked was caused by an infection from a belly-button ring.

Sale dealt with shoulder issues earlier in the season, but Roberts insisted the Dodgers could not hope to face a diminished ace. Roberts planned for the version of Sale, a whippet-thin lefty with an electric fastball and devastating slider, who has decimated American League lineups since debuting with the Chicago White Sox in 2010.

Thats our expectation, Roberts said. But if we can get him out of the game early, thats a good thing for us.

Sale wiped out the first two batters he faced in a scoreless first inning. In the bottom of the frame, Kershaw learned how painful it can be to give the Red Sox an extra out. Boston outfielder Mookie Betts popped up Kershaws second pitch of the game. The baseball soared into foul territory past first base. David Freese twisted his way to find it, but misjudged the ball and let it drop.

Freese was not charged an error. Kershaw would soon be charged a run. In Game 5 of the last series, Kershaw stymied the Brewers by wielding his curveball. He tried an 0-2 curve to Betts, and saw it hit the dirt. He did not throw it again during the inning. The Red Sox aimed to avoid swinging at the pitch, forcing Kershaw to locate it for strikes.

On a 2-2 slider, Betts singled up the middle and stole second base. Red Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi stroked an 89-mph slider through the right side of the infield. Betts scored, and Benintendi took second when Yasiel Puig decided to throw home.

The extra 90 feet contributed to a second run. J.D. Martinez, the slugger who terrorized the Dodgers with Arizona last season, lined a slider up the middle. The ball nearly brained Benintendi, who avoided contact and sprinted home. The inning took 20 pitches.

Matt Kemp halved the deficit in the second. He fouled off a pair of 95-mph fastballs and held his swing on a slider that dipped just beneath the zone. On the eighth pitch of the at-bat, Kemp hammered a 94-mph fastball over the Green Monster. The Dodgers drove Sales pitch count up to 51 by the time the inning was over.

The hitters pecked at Sale with singles in the third. Justin Turner sneaked a one-out hit through the right side. Freese whacked a 3-2 slider into left. Manny Machado tied the game with a grounder between the shortstop and third baseman for the first of his three RBIs.

The Red Sox reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the inning. After a one-out single by Benintendi, first baseman Steve Pearce kept the inning alive by beating out a double-play ball. He set the table for Martinez, who smashed a knee-high slider into the center-field triangle. Enrique Hernandez chose to play the ball on a carom. The RBI double bounced off the base of the wall, and Pearce scored to put Boston back in front.

Sale started the fifth inning with 86 pitches on his ledger. He would only throw five more, walking Brian Dozier to begin the inning. Boston manager Alex Cora would not let Sale face Turner for a third time. From the bullpen emerged right-handed reliever Matt Barnes.

Turner greeted Barnes with a single. After Barnes spiked a curveball for a wild pitch, Dozier scored on a groundout by Machado to tie the game once more. The deadlock did not last beyond the bottom of the inning.

Kershaw walked Betts to start the frame. Benitendi collected his third single of the game. The hit prompted Roberts to leave his dugout. Kershaw was preparing for a conference with catcher Austin Barnes when he caught sight of his manager. He handed the baseball to Roberts and retired to his dugout.

Madson slicked gasoline over the blaze. He bounced a changeup for a wild pitch and loaded the bases with a walk. Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts brought a run home with a grounder. A single by third baseman Rafael Dever extended Bostons lead to two.

The Dodgers squeezed a run from reliever Ryan Brasier in the seventh. Boston sneered in response. Benintendi blooped a double off Julio Urias. Pedro Baez sandwiched a pair of strikeouts around an intentional walk of Martinez. Roberts elected to remove Baez to send Wood, a left-handed pitcher, against Devers, a left-handed hitter.

Nunez swings from the right side. Cora called upon him. A curveball from Wood snapped over the plate. Nunez lifted it over the Monster. It was the third homer allowed by Wood this postseason. The Dodgers could not recover.

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Bruins fall to the Utes 41-10

The Utah Utes dominated the UCLA Bruins to pick up a 41-10 victory in a Pac-12 Conference game on Friday night at the Rose Bowl.

Zack Moss rushed for a career-high 211 yards and three touchdowns in 26 carries to lead Utah (6-2, 4-2 in Pac-12), which had 325 yards rushing and 470 yards of offense.

Tyler Huntley completed 13 of 21 passes for 138 yards with one interception. Receiver Britain Covey threw a seven-yard scoring pass and had a 19-yard run on an attempted double pass.

Wilton Speight completed 20 of 39 passes for 164 yards with two interceptions for UCLA (2-6, 2-3). Joshua Kelley had 90 yards rushing and the Bruins lone touchdown in 16 carries. Caleb Wilson had five catches for 62 yards while Theo Howard had six catches for 51 yards.
Hello, my name is John Cherwa and welcome back to our horse racing newsletter as we have another handicapping lesson from Rob Henie .

At long last, Hoppertunity is going to get a chance to be a stallion. The 7-year-old horse has been a long-time campaigner for Bob Baffert with quite a lot of success. Hes won $4.7 million in purses with nine wins, and all but his maiden victory were in graded stakes. He has only run 34 times.

Hell be standing in Pennsylvania at Northview PA in Peach Bottom. He is said to be the richest horse to start his stud career in the mid-Atlantic region. His fee is $5,000 for a live foal.

Baffert is more known for his younger horses but this is one older horse that he loved having around.

At the Belmont, Baffert would always bring Hoppertunity out at the same time as Justify for morning works. Of course, there were lots of people, including plenty of media, all gathered at where the horses would enter the track. Baffert would joke that Hoppertunity always thought the attention was for him, not for Justify.

--One of Bafferts top fillies, Dream Tree, will miss the Breeders Cup Fillies and Mare Sprint after an epiglottic entrapment was discovered following her work on Friday. It can cause respiratory sounds and make a horse not exercise as well as they might.

--Its Gonna Hurt, who qualified by winning the Speakeasy Stakes at Santa Anita, is out of the Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint with a suspensory issue. He is trained locally by Brian Koriner .

Hes got  a little flare in the suspensory, Koriner told Balan of the Bloodhorse. It was a gift [to qualify for the Breeders Cup]. Never thought he was that kind of horse, so were not going to cry about it. Jeremys full story can be found here .

Heres our weekly contribution from Rob Henie of the WCHR (West Coast Handicapping Report) and the ECHR (East Coast Handicapping Report). The thinking is if you can know and understand the strategies, it will make you a better handicapper. One of Robs many specialties is first timers, where the WCHR has had the last 16 of them.

An optional claimer at seven furlongs, a distance which many handicappers believe is advantageous for runners from off the pace, after all, more ground, but the reality is, this distance rewards one-paced horses on or near the front end. The reason for this is, early splits are usually a bit more judicious going , unlike the ultra-quick splits seen in 5  to even 6  furlongs races. So, those who can run evenly near the front, with early splits such as :23, :47, theyll usually offer a better response the final , making life a bit more difficult for the closing type, despite the added ground. With that in mind, top selection is CONQUEST FLATTERME (#6) . Off the freshening, she raced to the inside of others, unable to sustain her effort off those :21.4 and :45.4 splits. Despite adding ground, the ability to race close up off slower splits, will allow for a better distribution of energy, likely staying on with more tenacity today, with apprentice Assael Espinoza taking over. ZUSHA (#4) is finding some good health right now, stringing three races together, spotted well over this distance, with Drayden Van Dyke likely positioning her close up throughout, while staying on just fine, fitting well from a class perspective as well.

The final race of the day, a 1 -mile allowance on the turf, brought home a longshot in the $53,000 feature. Markies Water was able to fire past a strong Well Developed to win by a length.

Markies Water paid $18.20, $8.20 and $5.00 for trainer Richard Baltas and jockey Mario Gutierrez , who rode him for the first time. Well Developed was second and Accountability was third.

I talked to Billy ( Koch , with co-owner, Little Red Feather Racing) [Friday] morning and he told me to watch a couple of this horses races, Gutierrez told Mike Willman of Santa Anita. Im glad I did, because I could see that he prefers to run outside of horses, especially turning for home and thats what we did. We had a perfect trip.

Its a big card at Santa Anita on Saturday with 11 races starting at noon. There are five turf races, including a 14-horse Grade 3 stakes race. Santa Anita has had a problem getting big fields in some of its stakes races, but not on this penultimate Saturday of the meeting.

The 10 th race is $100,000 Autumn Miss Stakes for 3-year-old fillies. The mile race goes at 4:40 p.m. Toinette, who has been running in heavy company, is the 9-5 favorite. She is three-for-five lifetime including a Grade 3 win in the Edgewood at Churchill Downs. Neil Drysdale is the trainer and Flavien Prat will get the ride.

Ms Bad Behavior is the 4-1 second choice. She is three of 11 lifetime and is coming off a second-place finish in the Unzip Me Stakes at Santa Anita. Baltas is the trainer and Rafael Bejarano is the jockey.

Recent winner from the Billy Morey barn again catches a field without much zip and looks like an excellent wire-to-wire candidate. Although both wins have come at Los Alamitos (dirt only), this older gelding has run a number of competitive races on turf, including five in-the-money finishes here at Santa Anita.

Fridays result: Magical Gray sat a great trip, got first run at the leader to make a clear lead turning for home, then didn't put up much fight in deep stretch to finish third in the opener.

In a field where five of the six runners like to win on the front end, this gelding has the versatility to sit behind the leaders if the situation arises which seems likely. He had an outside post draw and drifted wide into the lane of last neck loss and should get a great ground-saving trip from the number two slot in this six-horse field.

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 Friday, October 26. Copyright 2018 by Equibase Company. Reproduction prohibited. Santa Anita, Santa Anita Park, Arcadia, California. 17th day of a 22-day meet. Clear & Firm

FIRST RACE. 1 Mile Turf. Purse: $50,000. Maiden Special Weight. Fillies and Mares. 3 year olds and up. Time 22.95 46.53 1:10.55 1:22.70 1:34.68

Pgm Horse Wt PP St    Str Fin Jockey $1 2 Stradella Road 120 2 3 3 31 31 21 11 T Baze 9.10 6 She Be Striking 123 5 5 52 5 52 31 22 Prat 0.80 5 Magical Gray 120 4 2 21 21 11 1 3 Delgadillo 4.90 8 Dancing Belle 115 7 4 42 42 4 61 4 Espinoza 26.90 1 Gattaia 120 1 6 6 7 7 5hd 51 Talamo 9.10 4 Rancor 120 3 1 11 11 2 41 61 Bejarano 3.70 7 Smile Awhile 120 6 7 7 61 6hd 7 7 Gutierrez 22.80

2 STRADELLA ROAD 20.20 6.60 4.20 6 SHE BE STRIKING (GB) 2.40 2.40 5 MAGICAL GRAY 3.40

$1 EXACTA (2-6) $25.00 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (2-6-5-8) $80.92 50-CENT TRIFECTA (2-6-5) $46.50 $1 X-5 SUPER HIGH FIVE (2-6-5-8-1) Carryover $1,839

WinnerStradella Road B.f.3 by Elusive Quality out of Miss Houdini, by Belong to Me. Bred by Bo Hirsch LLC (KY). Trainer: Gary Stute. Owner: Bo Hirsch, LLC. Mutuel Pool $133,096 Exacta Pool $82,335 Superfecta Pool $36,347 Trifecta Pool $57,405 X-5 Super High Five Pool $2,409. ScratchedScreenshot.

STRADELLA ROAD saved ground stalking the pace, went around a rival leaving the second turn, bid outside the leader in midstretch, gained the advantage nearing the sixteenth pole and won clear under urging. SHE BE STRIKING (GB) angled in on the first turn and chased inside, came out into the stretch and again in midstretch and finished willingly but could not catch the winner. MAGICAL GRAY close up stalking the pace off the rail, bid alongside the pacesetter to take the lead leaving the second turn, inched away, battled inside in midstretch and held third. DANCING BELLE chased outside a rival, came three wide into the stretch and was edged for the show. GATTAIA saved ground chasing the pace, came out a bit in the stretch, split rivals in deep stretch and put in a late bid at a minor award. RANCOR sped to the early lead, angled in and set the pace inside, dueled briefly along the rail leaving the second turn and weakened in the stretch. SMILE AWHILE broke a step slowly, settled outside a rival chasing the pace, came out into the stretch and lacked the needed rally.

SECOND RACE. 5 Furlongs. Purse: $32,000. Starter Allowance. 3 year olds and up. Claiming Price $50,000. Time 22.07 45.56 57.71 1:04.29

Pgm Horse Wt PP St  3/8 Str Fin Jockey $1 3 Old Indian Trick 120 3 3 2 21 1 1 Pereira 9.60 4 I Am the Danger 123 4 4 5 5 43 2nk Bejarano 1.00 5 Quick Finish 125 5 2 31 31 31 3 Van Dyke 1.20 2 Cayate 123 2 1 11 1 21 48 Gonzalez 16.50 1 Buck Duane 115 1 5 4hd 4hd 5 5 Espinoza 8.80

3 OLD INDIAN TRICK 21.20 6.20 2.80 4 I AM THE DANGER 2.80 2.10 5 QUICK FINISH 2.10

$2 DAILY DOUBLE (2-3) $214.40 $1 EXACTA (3-4) $22.00 50-CENT TRIFECTA (3-4-5) $25.95

WinnerOld Indian Trick Ch.c.3 by Ministers Wild Cat out of Ms Vanenzza, by Successful Appeal. Bred by Tommy Town Thoroughbreds, LLC (CA). Trainer: Jack Carava. Owner: Paymaster Racing LLC and Sinister Racing Stable. Mutuel Pool $121,351 Daily Double Pool $35,072 Exacta Pool $50,350 Trifecta Pool $41,221. Scratchednone.

OLD INDIAN TRICK stalked a bit off the rail, bid outside the pacesetter on the turn, was carried out some into the stretch, took the lead nearing midstretch, inched away under some urging in deep stretch and held on gamely. I AM THE DANGER chased outside a rival, came out leaving the turn and four wide into the stretch and finished willingly late. QUICK FINISH stalked the pace outside a rival then off the rail on the turn, also came out four wide into the stretch and also went on willingly between foes late. CAYATE sent inside to the early lead, set the pace along the rail, battled back on the turn, came a bit off the rail into the stretch, fought back inside foes in the drive and was outfinished. BUCK DUANE saved ground stalking the pace, drifted out a bit on the turn then was angled back to the rail and weakened along the inside in the drive.

THIRD RACE. 1 Mile Turf. Purse: $50,000. Maiden Special Weight. Fillies and Mares. 3 year olds and up. Time 22.91 46.11 1:10.27 1:22.07 1:34.07

Pgm Horse Wt PP St    Str Fin Jockey $1 5 Take a Leap 120 4 6 51 41 22 11 11 T Baze 7.40 4 Sutro 120 3 7 8 8 8 4hd 21 Smith 1.70 8 Kaydetre 123 7 3 22 2 31 31 31 Blanc 21.20 9 Dearborn 120 8 1 11 14 1 22 41 Van Dyke 1.30 7 Arctic Roll 120 6 4 32 3 41 52 51 Pereira 6.30 3 Journal Entry 120 2 2 4 5hd 5hd 6 61 Elliott 17.30 6 Waze Ready 120 5 8 6 6hd 6hd 73 78 Quinonez 26.50 1 Smart Win 123 1 5 73 72 7 8 8 Conner 64.00

5 TAKE A LEAP 16.80 5.40 4.80 4 SUTRO 3.40 3.00 8 KAYDETRE 9.60

$2 DAILY DOUBLE (3-5) $189.80 $1 EXACTA (5-4) $23.00 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (5-4-8-9) $56.17 $1 SUPER HIGH FIVE (5-4-8-9-7) $1,781.90 50-CENT TRIFECTA (5-4-8) $104.85

WinnerTake a Leap Dbb.f.3 by The Factor out of From Jump Street, by Jump Start. Bred by Mr. & Mrs. Broussard Hundley (KY). Trainer: Jeff Mullins. Owner: Red Baron's Barn LLC and Rancho Temescal LLC. Mutuel Pool $191,140 Daily Double Pool $19,653 Exacta Pool $103,378 Superfecta Pool $57,211 Super High Five Pool $4,595 Trifecta Pool $79,371. ScratchedMiss Voluptuous. 50-Cent Pick Three (2-3-5) paid $333.60. Pick Three Pool $38,743.

TAKE A LEAP between foes early, stalked outside a rival, bid alongside the pacesetter on the second turn, took the lead while being fanned out a bit into the stretch, inched away and drifted in some in midstretch and held under urging. SUTRO saved ground off the pace, went up inside into the stretch, came out nearing midstretch and finished willingly to be second best. KAYDETRE three deep early, stalked a bit off the rail or outside a rival, angled in entering the stretch, came out in midstretch and went around the pacesetter late for the show. DEARBORN sped to the early lead and angled in, set the pace inside, fought back on the second turn, came out a bit into the stretch and lost third late. ARCTIC ROLL (GB) tugged between foes early, angled in and stalked inside, came out into the stretch and lacked the needed rally. JOURNAL ENTRY pulled along the inside and steadied early, saved ground stalking the pace, came out into the stretch and did not rally. WAZE READY three deep into the first turn, chased outside a rival then three wide leaving the backstretch and on the second turn, drifted four wide into the stretch and lacked the necessary response. SMART WIN pulled inside early, went between foes leaving the backstretch and on the second turn, dropped back in the stretch and weakened.

FOURTH RACE. 6 Furlongs. Purse: $21,000. Claiming. Fillies and Mares. 3 year olds and up. Claiming Prices $16,000-$14,000. Time 22.24 45.39 1:10.93 1:18.09

Pgm Horse Wt PP St   Str Fin Jockey $1 3 Discatsonthesquare 125 3 2 3hd 32 1 1hd Delgadillo 2.10 2 Christy Jackson 123 2 1 21 2hd 2hd 2 Pereira 14.70 1 Spectacular Move 115 1 6 6 5 44 3 Espinoza 3.30 5 Li'l Grazen 125 5 7 1hd 1hd 33 47 Maldonado 4.80 4 Magicalchic 118 4 3 7 7 65 52 Payeras 48.00 6 Belle Monte 122 6 4 4hd 41 52 613 Fuentes 3.50 7 Bobbie Lincoln 120 7 5 51 61 7 7 Figueroa 5.40

3 DISCATSONTHESQUARE 6.20 3.80 2.80 2 CHRISTY JACKSON 11.60 5.60 1 SPECTACULAR MOVE 3.20

$2 DAILY DOUBLE (5-3) $44.40 $1 EXACTA (3-2) $25.20 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (3-2-1-5) $30.27 50-CENT TRIFECTA (3-2-1) $41.95 $1 X-5 SUPER HIGH FIVE (3-2-1-5-4) Carryover $1,793

WinnerDiscatsonthesquare Ch.m.7 by Square Eddie out of Categorize, by Menifee. Bred by Kevin De Vincenzi (CA). Trainer: John F. Martin. Owner: Troy Onorato. Mutuel Pool $133,581 Daily Double Pool $17,833 Exacta Pool $60,481 Superfecta Pool $25,449 Trifecta Pool $41,906 X-5 Super High Five Pool $2,352. ClaimedDiscatsonthesquare by Besecker, Joseph E. and O'Neill, Doug. Trainer: Doug O'Neill. ClaimedSpectacular Move by CM Racing, Spaunhurst, Ed and Miyadi, Steven. Trainer: Steven Miyadi. Scratchednone. 50-Cent Pick Three (3-5-3) paid $169.30. Pick Three Pool $16,870.

DISCATSONTHESQUARE stalked a bit off the rail then bid three deep on the turn and into the stretch, gained the advantage nearing midstretch and held on gamely under urging. CHRISTY JACKSON went up inside to duel for the lead, battled along the rail on the turn and into the stretch, fought back from the fence through the final furlong and also went on gamely to the end. SPECTACULAR MOVE saved ground stalking the pace, came out into the stretch and finished with interest. LI'L GRAZEN moved up between horses then dueled outside the runner-up, battled between rivals on the turn and in the stretch and was outkicked late. MAGICALCHIC chased outside a rival, dropped back a bit off the rail on the turn and weakened. BELLE MONTE stalked between horses and four wide into the turn, angled in some on the turn and also weakened. BOBBIE LINCOLN stalked four wide then five wide into the turn, dropped back off the rail on the turn and gave way.

FIFTH RACE. 1 Mile. Purse: $32,000. Starter Optional Claiming. 2 year olds. Claiming Price $40,000. Time 24.27 49.46 1:14.43 1:27.41 1:40.92

Pgm Horse Wt PP St    Str Fin Jockey $1 4 Lead Star 115 4 5 3hd 31 3hd 43 1nk Espinoza 2.70 5 Baby Frankie 120 5 1 21 21 23 11 2nk Prat 3.40 6 Easy Keeper 120 6 6 5hd 5 43 3hd 31 Bejarano 11.00 2 Palladium 120 2 3 6 6 5hd 52 44 Roman 1.60 1 Keyson 120 1 4 1hd 1hd 1hd 21 51 Pena 24.80 3 Big Impression 120 3 2 41 4hd 6 6 6 Pereira 4.30

4 LEAD STAR 7.40 3.80 4.40 5 BABY FRANKIE 3.80 4.60 6 EASY KEEPER 7.80

$2 DAILY DOUBLE (3-4) $27.20 $1 EXACTA (4-5) $15.30 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (4-5-6-2) $18.65 50-CENT TRIFECTA (4-5-6) $35.10

WinnerLead Star B.c.2 by Union Rags out of Apt to Star, by Aptitude. Bred by Vegso Racing Stable (FL). Trainer: J. Keith Desormeaux. Owner: Vegso Racing Stable. Mutuel Pool $213,389 Daily Double Pool $14,246 Exacta Pool $103,915 Superfecta Pool $43,806 Trifecta Pool $65,881. Scratchednone. 50-Cent Pick Three (5-3-4) paid $62.70. Pick Three Pool $42,291. 50-Cent Pick Four (3-5-3-4) 128 tickets with 4 correct paid $730.40. Pick Four Pool $122,186. 50-Cent Pick Five (2-3-5-3-4) 28 tickets with 5 correct paid $10,022.10. Pick Five Pool $325,356.

LEAD STAR stalked outside a rival then a bit off the rail into and on the second turn, split horses past midstretch, bid between foes in deep stretch and gamely prevailed under urging. BABY FRANKIE angled in and dueled outside a rival, took the lead into the stretch, inched away in midstretch and held on gamely but was edged late. EASY KEEPER chased off the rail then outside a rival, went three deep into the second turn, continued outside the winner, bid three wide in deep stretch and continued willingly to the end. PALLADIUM chased outside a rival then between foes leaving the backstretch and alongside a foe on the second turn, came out in the stretch and found his best stride late. KEYSON dueled inside, fought back into the stretch and weakened in the final sixteenth. BIG IMPRESSION saved ground chasing the pace, came a bit off the rail in the stretch and weakened.

SIXTH RACE. 1 Mile Turf. Purse: $25,000. Claiming. 3 year olds and up. Claiming Price $25,000. Time 22.74 45.74 1:09.89 1:22.42 1:34.57

Pgm Horse Wt PP St    Str Fin Jockey $1 1 Acclimate 118 1 2 3hd 41 41 31 11 Figueroa 15.90 7 Gray Admiral 120 7 7 8 8 71 5hd 21 Fuentes 4.70 8 Hoover Tower 123 8 6 76 77 61 61 3 Roman 23.30 4 Platinum Equity 120 4 3 41 3 21 1hd 42 Quinonez 10.80 2 Jack and I 120 2 4 21 2hd 3hd 41 52 Pedroza 5.40 3 Extreme Heat 123 3 1 1hd 11 1hd 2 6 Prat 1.00 6 Catch Fire 123 6 5 64 5hd 51 710 738 Pereira 10.20 5 Gracida 120 5 8 51 64 8 8 8 Gutierrez 10.00

1 ACCLIMATE 33.80 13.20 6.40 7 GRAY ADMIRAL 5.60 3.80 8 HOOVER TOWER 7.40

$2 DAILY DOUBLE (4-1) $101.40 $1 EXACTA (1-7) $95.10 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (1-7-8-4) $744.13 50-CENT TRIFECTA (1-7-8) $403.40 $1 X-5 SUPER HIGH FIVE (1-7-8-4-2) Carryover $6,057

WinnerAcclimate B.g.4 by Acclamation out of Knows No Bounds, by Boundary. Bred by Old English Rancho, Sal Berumen & PatsyBerumen (CA). Trainer: Philip D'Amato. Owner: The Ellwood Johnston Trust and Timmy Time Racing. Mutuel Pool $203,186 Daily Double Pool $24,951 Exacta Pool $116,910 Superfecta Pool $59,532 Trifecta Pool $82,016 X-5 Super High Five Pool $5,592. Scratchednone. 50-Cent Pick Three (3-4-1) paid $80.30. Pick Three Pool $25,822.

ACCLIMATE pulled hard and steadied early on the first turn and took back to stalk the pace, went between horses leaving the backstretch then outside a rival on the second turn, came out in the stretch, bid three deep in midstretch, gained the advantage approaching the sixteenth pole and inched away under urging. GRAY ADMIRAL bobbled some at the start, angled in and saved ground off the pace, came out on the second turn and four wide into the stretch and finished well. HOOVER TOWER settled and angled in a bit off the rail, went outside a rival on the second turn and three deep into the stretch and finished with interest for the show. PLATINUM EQUITY three deep early, stalked outside a rival then three wide leaving the backstretch, bid outside a foe on the second turn, drifted out into the stretch, battled between horses in midstretch and was outkicked late for third. JACK AND I tugged between horses early then angled in and dueled inside, stalked along the rail leaving the backstretch and on the second turn, came a bit off the rail in the stretch and weakened in the final furlong. EXTREME HEAT had speed three deep then dueled outside a rival, inched away a half mile out, battled inside on the second turn and into the stretch, fought back along the rail in midstretch and weakened late. CATCH FIRE chased three deep then outside a rival on the backstretch and off the rail on the second turn and did not rally. GRACIDA a step slow to begin, chased a bit off the rail, dropped back inside on the second turn, gave way and was eased in the stretch.

SEVENTH RACE. 1 Mile. Purse: $23,000. Maiden Claiming. Fillies. 2 year olds. Claiming Price $30,000. Time 22.93 48.17 1:13.65 1:26.24 1:39.54

Pgm Horse Wt PP St    Str Fin Jockey $1 3 Divine Dharma 122 1 3 11 12 15 110 115 T Baze 1.70 10 Cassie Belle 122 8 9 8 5hd 3hd 34 2hd Conner 3.20 4 American Falls 122 2 6 4 41 21 22 38 Quinonez 7.80 9 Easy Peasy 117 7 1 7hd 9 810 71 4nk Payeras 10.00 5 Borussia 122 3 2 31 21 42 43 53 Vergara, Jr. 60.80 6 Algorithmnblues 117 4 8 6hd 71 5hd 5hd 65 Espinoza 3.30 11 Morning Press 117 9 5 2hd 3hd 61 61 72 Figueroa 18.00 7 Sharp Image 122 5 4 51 6hd 72 820 833 Blanc 12.20 8 Great Salvation 122 6 7 9 8 9 9 9 E Garcia 109.00

3 DIVINE DHARMA 5.40 3.40 2.80 10 CASSIE BELLE 4.20 3.00 4 AMERICAN FALLS 4.60

$2 DAILY DOUBLE (1-3) $112.20 $1 EXACTA (3-10) $11.10 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (3-10-4-9) $42.37 $1 SUPER HIGH FIVE (3-10-4-9-5) $3,991.60 50-CENT TRIFECTA (3-10-4) $38.15

WinnerDivine Dharma B.f.2 by Paynter out of Cloud Rise, by Buddha. Bred by WinStar Farm, LLC, MR Capital, LLC & R.Michael Lowenbaum (KY). Trainer: John W. Sadler. Owner: Mark DeDomenico LLC. Mutuel Pool $191,344 Daily Double Pool $21,800 Exacta Pool $108,269 Superfecta Pool $61,487 Super High Five Pool $12,987 Trifecta Pool $79,134. ScratchedAwepollonia, In the Spotlight. 50-Cent Pick Three (4-1-3) paid $100.75. Pick Three Pool $25,887.

DIVINE DHARMA sped to the early lead, set the pace inside, kicked clear on the backstretch and drew off in the stretch under urging then a long hold late. CASSIE BELLE broke a bit slowly, angled in just off the rail then saved ground chasing the pace, came out into the stretch and edged a rival for the p.ace late. AMERICAN FALLS saved ground stalking the winner, came out into the stretch and was edged late for second. EASY PEASY steadied when bumped four wide between foes into the first turn, chased off the rail, came out into the stretch and improved position. BORUSSIA stalked between horses then outside a rival on the second turn, came three deep into the stretch and weakened. ALGORITHMNBLUES angled in and chased a bit off the rail then between foes, came out into the stretch and also weakened. MORNING PRESS five wide into thee first turn, stalked three deep, angled to the inside nearing the stretch and had little left for the drive. SHARP IMAGE three deep between foes into the first turn, chased outside a rival, came out four wide into the stretch and gave way. GREAT SALVATION in tight between horses early, drifted out five wide into the first turn then chased four wide, dropped back and angled in on the second turn, gave way and was eased in the stretch.

EIGHTH RACE. 1 Mile Turf. Purse: $53,000. Allowance Optional Claiming. 3 year olds and up. Claiming Price $62,500. Time 23.83 48.39 1:13.12 1:36.76 1:59.46

Pgm Horse Wt PP    1 Mile Str Fin Jockey $1 3 Marckie's Water 123 3 41 42 3hd 3hd 2hd 11 Gutierrez 8.10 7 Well Developed 123 7 11 11 1 1 11 21 Van Dyke 2.30 2 Accountability 123 2 32 3 41 42 3hd 3nk Pereira 7.30 4 Whoop Whoop 121 4 2hd 21 21 21 42 41 T Baze 14.20 5 Maestro Dearte 121 5 61 6 5hd 5hd 5hd 5 Stevens 3.50 1 Any Questions 121 1 5hd 51 6 7 7 6ns Bejarano 6.90 6 Oscar Dominguez 123 6 7 7 7 62 62 7 Talamo 3.10

3 MARCKIE'S WATER 18.20 8.20 5.00 7 WELL DEVELOPED 4.00 3.20 2 ACCOUNTABILITY 4.20

$2 DAILY DOUBLE (3-3) $58.20 $1 EXACTA (3-7) $39.60 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (3-7-2-4) $168.88 $1 SUPER HIGH FIVE (3-7-2-4-5) $8,554.50 50-CENT TRIFECTA (3-7-2) $129.10

WinnerMarckie's Water Ch.c.4 by Tribal Rule out of Russian River, by Stravinsky. Bred by Frank Mermenstein & Tom McCrocklin (CA). Trainer: Richard Baltas. Owner: Little Red Feather Racing and Tavares, Norman. Mutuel Pool $245,743 Daily Double Pool $90,363 Exacta Pool $123,514 Superfecta Pool $62,446 Super High Five Pool $11,211 Trifecta Pool $88,656. Scratchednone. 50-Cent Pick Three (1-3-3) paid $260.60. Pick Three Pool $108,962. 50-Cent Pick Four (4-1-1/2/3-3) 251 tickets with 4 correct paid $1,061.40. Pick Four Pool $349,103. 50-Cent Pick Five (3-4-1-1/2/3-3) 42 tickets with 5 correct paid $3,224.25. Pick Five Pool $177,467. 20-Cent Pick Six Jackpot (5-3-4-1-1/2/3-3) 8 tickets with 6 correct paid $14,036.34. Pick Six Jackpot Pool $210,209. Pick Six Jackpot Carryover $817,542.

MARCKIE'S WATER stalked outside a rival, came three deep into the stretch, rallied under urging to the front in deep stretch and proved best. WELL DEVELOPED took the early lead and angled in, set the pace inside, fought back into and on the second turn and into the stretch, inched away a bit off the rail in midstretch and held on well but was caught late. ACCOUNTABILITY saved ground stalking the pace, continued along the rail in the stretch, waited in a bit tight while lacking room nearing and after the sixteenth pole, was in close behind the runner-up again in late stretch and held third. WHOOP WHOOP (NZ) stalked outside a rival then a bit off the rail, bid outside the runner-up leaving the backstretch and on the second turn and was edged for the show. MAESTRO DEARTE three deep on the hill, chased outside a rival then three wide a half mile out and alongside a foe on the second turn, came out into the stretch and lacked the needed rally. ANY QUESTIONS saved ground chasing the pace, went between foes leaving the backstretch, was shuffled back into the second turn and did not rally. OSCAR DOMINGUEZ (IRE) outside a rival early, angled in and saved ground off the pace, came out into the stretch and could not offer the necessary late kick.
Sri Lanka slid deeper into political crisis on Saturday when the president suspended Parliament to block a vote on his surprise decision to fire the prime minister and install the countrys former strongman in his place.

The ex-leader, Mahinda Rajapaksa, took the prime ministerial oath of office Friday night in a ceremony broadcast on a television station loyal to his powerful family.

His supporters said they would appoint a Cabinet on Monday even as the fired prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, described the move as a constitutional coup and refused to step down, insisting he had the support of a parliamentary majority.

Let Parliament decide who should be the prime minister, Wickremesinghe told a news conference on Saturday, surrounded by allies at his official residence.

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At the same time, the president, Maithripala Sirisena, issued an order suspending Parliament until Nov. 16. The move appeared designed to give Rajapaksa time to build political support.

It suggests that they might feel they dont have the numbers, said Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, executive director of the Center for Policy Alternatives, a Colombo think tank. But [Rajapaksa] has support with the security forces and law enforcement, and they will try to work on the rest.

Sri Lankan media published a photo of a senior police official saluting Rajapaksa in his office, sending a message that the ex-president had the states force on his side.

IGP Pujith Jayasundera salutes newly appointed PM Mahinda Rajapaksa, Former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksha is also in the picture pic.twitter.com/xVGI1bZa19  Azzam Ameen (@AzzamAmeen) October 26, 2018

The dramatic shake-up plunged the island nation into its gravest constitutional crisis in 70 years of independence and capped a period of intense political dysfunction following Rajapaksas defeat in a 2015 presidential election that was then hailed as a triumph of democracy.

Wickremesinghe met later Saturday with diplomats from the United States and other countries at Temple Trees, his official residence in the heart of Colombo. He showed no sign of bowing to a threat by Wimal Weerawansa, a lawmaker and top Rajapaksa ally, that if he didnt vacate the residence by 8 a.m. Sunday, Rajapaksas supporters would take action.

Sri Lankas fired Prime Minister Ranil Wickeremesinghe, center, meets supporters at his official residence in Colombo. (Eranga Jayawardena / Associated Press)

Rajapaksa amassed power and loyalty from Sri Lankas ethnic Sinhalese Buddhist majority during his decade as president. Casting himself as a military hero, he brought a decisive but brutal end to a long civil war with minority Tamil rebels while shrugging off allegations of war crimes and the enforced disappearances of opponents.

But he was widely accused of corruption and of embracing high-interest Chinese loans for pet projects that critics said plunged the country of 20 million into unsustainable debt.

He was defeated at the polls by Sirisena, a former ally, who took the helm of a coalition government. But Sirisena quickly clashed with Wickremesinghe, and their government has become deeply unpopular for failing to fulfill most of its pledges to investigate graft and wartime abuses.

In recent months their relationship has ruptured openly with each man publicly undermining the other.

The last straw, observers said, appeared to be a statement issued by Wickremesinghe last week following a visit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. According to a report in the Hindu, an Indian newspaper, Sirisena had been angered when Wickremesinghe reported that Modi was dissatisfied with the progress of Indian investment projects in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka has become an arena of intensifying competition between neighbor India and China, which has sought to expand its influence in southern Asia by doling out loans and infrastructure.

The U.S. State Department called on Sri Lankans to refrain from violence, and follow due process.

The US is following events in #SriLanka. We call on all parties to act in accordance with SLs constitution, refrain from violence, and follow due process. We expect gov of SL to uphold its Geneva commitments to human rights, reform, accountability, justice, and reconciliation.  State_SCA (@State_SCA) October 26, 2018

Rajapaksas defeat in 2015 was widely seen as a setback for China, and the new government immediately launched a review of Beijings investments on the island. But Sri Lanka didnt cancel any projects, which were bound by debt and contractual obligations, and last year handed China control of a giant port on its southern coast, a strategic location along key shipping lanes in the Indian Ocean.

While the 99-year lease on the port in Hambantota, Rajapaksas hometown, prevents its use for military purposes, the move alarmed India.

There isnt a lot that China has wanted in Sri Lanka that it hasnt gotten even under this government, said Alan Keenan, an analyst with the International Crisis Group.

But if Rajapaksa comes back into power, China and its money, political leadership, ideas and influence will be more enthusiastically received again.

Rajapaksa, who tweeted a photo of his swearing in on Friday, did not issue any public statements. His allies said Sri Lankas constitution gives the president the power to appoint a prime minister he believes would command parliamentary support.

I dont think we should even step out to defend this as his swearing in was within the constitution, Keheliya Rambukwella, a lawmaker from Rajapaksas party, said in an interview.

Rajapaksa plotted his comeback from the moment he lost reelection, and earlier this year his party won a landslide victory in local elections as voters expressed their dissatisfaction with the fractious Sirisena-led government.

Following that vote, Wickremesinghe handily defeated a parliamentary no-confidence vote in April. But most observers believed that Sirisena was looking for an opportunity to fire Wickremesinghe and restore his alliance with Rajapaksa before presidential elections next year.

The shake-up came as newly established anti-corruption courts begin hearing cases stemming from the Rajapaksa era. Although the courts were steering clear of the most explosive allegations, one case involved Rajapaksas brother, Gotabaya, the former defense secretary, who was accused of misappropriating nearly $300,000 in state funds to build a museum.

Rajapaksas return to power all but assures that those cases will be quashed, Keenan said.

That might have been one reason why the Rajapaksas wanted to strike as soon as possible  they may well have been worried that they might actually get zapped by one of these cases, Keenan said.

Thats one of the most disappointing aspects of this, which is that these cases probably wont proceed anymore  and the government would have lost a historic opportunity to begin to put a check on the culture of impunity that has plagued Sri Lanka for many years.

Special correspondent Mushtaq reported from Colombo and Times staff writer Bengali from Mumbai, India.

shashank.bengali@latimes.com

Shashank Bengali is South Asia correspondent for The Times. Follow him on Twitter at @SBengali
When a resident of Anxi village in the Sichuan province of China set a match to a small pile of garbage in the gutter two years ago, a loudspeaker blared out his name and address and ordered him to extinguish the blaze immediately. He jumped with fright, quickly put out the flames and scurried away.

He had been caught on a surveillance camera, monitored around the clock on one of 16 screens in the village security control room.

Everyone knew who the culprit was, so he would never dare to do that again, explained the local Communist Party secretary, Yin Xiuqin, 55, wearing a satisfied smile.

The surveillance video in Anxi is also broadcast to cellphones and some televisions  placing neighborhood snitches and busybodies on the front line of local security.

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People know they are always being watched. Fear of public shaming is the essence of Sharp Eyes  or Xue Liang  a rural security project being tested in 50 Chinese towns as part of what will be a nationwide system.

The name appears to be drawn from a Mao-era slogan aimed at encouraging people to denounce those who failed to follow the Communist Party creed: The people have sharp eyes.

China has 1.4 billion people and an estimated 176 million public and private surveillance cameras, including on every block in Beijing. As more are installed in rural areas and the technology becomes increasingly sophisticated, with the ability to recognize faces and walking styles, China is poised to overtake Britain as the worlds most monitored society.

The government website of one district  Liuhe, in the eastern province of Jiangsu  boasted that security cameras will cover everything, with no blind spots.

The goal is to catch criminals and operate alongside another evolving project, known as the social credit system, which will vacuum up data from police, hospitals, schools, banks and other institutions  and possibly from social media  and use it to rank the trustworthiness of citizens and, according to official planning documents, create a more honest society.

People will be judged not only on whether they pay bills and taxes and obey traffic regulations and other laws, but potentially also on social behavior such as how well they care for their parents.

A planning document released in 2014 said the system would let the trustworthy roam everywhere under heaven while making it hard for the discredited to take a single step.

The final shape of the penalty-and-reward system has not been decided. But those who score poorly will probably be stopped from buying rail and air tickets, staying at good hotels or educating their children at top schools, among other measures, according to the governments planning documents, while those with good scores will get benefits. More than 10 million people who failed to follow court orders have already been blacklisted.

The system also is seen as a way to reduce corruption in Chinas vast government bureaucracy and prevent scandals such as the breaching of food and drug quality standards or the dumping of toxic waste in rivers.

But human rights groups say the system also could be used to track political targets amid a crackdown on dissidents and other critics of the government. Under President Xi Jinpings leadership, internet censorship has worsened, freedom of speech has narrowed, protests have been swiftly quashed, and hundreds of unapproved non-governmental organizations have been shut down.

An array of security cameras monitors Tiananmen Square in Beijing. (Andy Wong / Associated Press)

Extending surveillance to the local level, and maybe even into peoples homes, is not for safety but for control, said Frances Eve of the Hong Kong office of Chinese Human Rights Defenders. The government claims such programs are designed to catch criminals or keep people safe, but police treat those that exercise basic civil liberties like peaceful assembly or freedom of association as criminals.

Human Rights Watch has called Chinas surveillance and social credit systems dystopian and warned of ominous consequences for human rights.

Activists are especially concerned about intense surveillance in the Xinjiang region, where the United Nations has reported that as many as a million members of Muslim minority groups have been detained in reeducation camps that the government describes as vocational training centers.

Tibetans, Uighurs and other minorities are treated with suspicion and subjected to racially based surveillance because of their ethnicity, Eve said.

But local officials and citizens in places that are testing Sharp Eyes say they like it because it has cut crime.

In Jiantai village, in Sichuan province, officials said that thieves once targeted the area before festivals to steal prized home-cured hams. It happened about 10 times a year.

The camera system cut that to five cases in 2016 and zero cases last year, according to a village official, Zhang Dabing.

And early last year, a man browsing security video on his mobile phone saw a villager pull a knife on a neighbor. He immediately called police, who rushed to the scene and broke up the fight before anyone was hurt, Zhang said.

The village is developing a group of volunteers who are very passionate about having a peaceful neighborhood, he said. We are developing them as active monitors.

Nearby Shanghe village has 90 households and eight surveillance cameras.

In his crowded living room with a bare bulb overhead, Yeng Linquan showed off his TV where he can tune in to local surveillance cameras whenever he wants.

Its supplied by the government and we pay no fees, he said.

If he wants to call the police, he presses a green button on his TV remote, alerting whoever is on patrol, a duty that rotates among the families.

I feel its pretty useful, Yeng said. In the past there was a lot of theft. They were stealing chickens, ducks, pigs, oil and that kind of thing. I had all sorts of stuff stolen before.

But since the government installed Sharp Eyes I see no stealing, he said.

Villagers had been warned not to call police unless they had solid evidence, he said, or we will be given an oral warning.

A Sharp Eyes system monitor in Shanghe village, in Chinas Sichuan province.

The technology is rapidly advancing, and some cities are already using cameras that recognize faces and read license plate numbers. Beijing has such systems in airports and train stations and has announced plans to install one in the citys subway.

On three occasions in April and May, police used such a system to pluck alleged criminals from crowds of up to 60,000 attending concerts by Hong Kong pop star Jacky Cheung. One of the arrested men was accused of failing to pay $17,000 for a load of potatoes three years ago.

Technology that uses artificial intelligence to comb through mountains of surveillance data is rapidly improving.

Police in the city of Guangzhou have apprehended 800 suspects and solved more than 100 crimes in the last year using a system that recognizes faces and runs them through a police database in near real time, according to Sensetime, the company that developed the technology.

Back in Anxi village, Yin showed off the village control room, with its 16 screens.

She was especially proud of some cameras that are equipped with loudspeakers.

If there is anything to tell the villagers, we can broadcast the announcement through this speaker, Yin said. This blue camera and loudspeaker is versatile, not only for security monitoring, but also for environmental sanitation monitoring, managing illegal parking and vendors occupying the road.

She said the cameras miss nothing, not even people who park illegally or dump trash. In two years, she said, crime, which usually amounted to petty theft and an occasional assault, has dropped to zero.

Citizens have also called the surveillance room to find elderly parents or monitor seasonal flooding without having to go to the riverbank, Yin said. The village employs people to monitor the cameras, and paid guards on motorcycles and citizen volunteers rush to the scene when somebody spots suspicious behavior and sends an alert.

The village is patrolled using a grid system that has its roots in the days of Chinas imperial dynasties, when rulers relied on leaders of communal blocs to provide soldiers, gather taxes and keep public order.

Residents of Anxi shrugged off any concern about intrusion.

One man said the surveillance system came in handy when his daughter disappeared for a few hours one day. He simply tapped into surveillance cameras on his cellphone and found many children playing. There she was.

Still, video surveillance has become a sensitive subject amid rising criticism from human rights advocates.

Few people wanted to be quoted by name on the subject, and local official were reluctant to discuss it with foreigners. Yins openness about it was rare  and, it turned out, short-lived.

About 40 minutes into the interview, her phone rang. It was her boss.

Yin apologized and said was not allowed to discuss Sharp Eyes with foreigners.

robyn.dixon@latimes.com

Twitter: @RobynDixon_LAT
Israel responded with airstrikes Saturday after a salvo of rockets fired by militants from the Gaza Strip into its territory overnight, saying it held Gazas rulers, Hamas, responsible for the flare-up and that it had evidence that the Quds Force of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard was behind the latest escalation.

Israeli army spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said military jets had struck more than 80 targets across the Palestinian enclave, including command posts, weapons manufacturing facilities and a four-floor building housing Hamas general security agency.

We hold Hamas responsible for everything coming from Gaza, Conricus said. All violence and provocations are Hamas responsibility. The humanitarian improvements made recently should have caused Hamas to rein in the terror, but it allows a violent atmosphere to continue.

It has been Israels long-standing policy to hold Hamas, the militant Islamist group that rules Gaza and is viewed as a terrorist organization by Israel and the United States, responsible for each round of violence, even if other Gaza-based factions claim responsibility for the attacks.

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Conricus said the army was aware that Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Gazas second-largest militant group, was behind the latest round of rockets. He said the group was working under guidance, instruction and incentives from Irans Revolutionary Guards, Quds force, based in Damascus.

The army later said eight of the targets it struck belonged to the group.

Islamic Jihad immediately took responsibility for firing the rockets, saying it was in response to the continuing coldblooded killing by the Israeli occupation and the continued shedding of the blood of peaceful civilians. On Saturday morning, the group issued an additional statement announcing a ceasefire.

Earlier Friday, Hamas Health Ministry in Gaza said Israeli forces killed six Palestinians involved in the ongoing protests at the border fence. Since March, more than 200 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire, as thousands of Gaza residents make their way to the fence each week to protest the ever-deteriorating humanitarian conditions for the strips 2 million residents and the decade-long land, sea and air blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt.

Israel views the protests as riots and says its response is a justified defense of Israeli civilians living in the Gaza periphery. It has accused Hamas of using the mass protests as a cover to infiltrate into Israel and carry out terrorist attacks.

We are not the aggressors; we are defending our civilians, Conricus said.

He said Friday nights rockets had not caused any casualties on the Israeli side, with most intercepted by the Iron Dome defense systems or falling in open areas. A mortar, however, reportedly caused extensive damage to the Erez crossing, the main passage between Israel and Gaza used for humanitarian purposes.

One Israeli soldier was killed in July by sniper fire from Gaza, and during last weeks flare-up a family home in the southern Israeli city of Beersheva was destroyed.

There are indications that Egypt and some European states are involved in ongoing mediation between the sides, but they have yet to yield results.

In its statement, Islamic Jihad said it was Israel that had not respected the laws and customs and continues to manipulate the lives of people under constant siege.

In recent months, Islamic Jihad has faced a severe financial crisis, failing to pay its workers or fighters. The group has relied heavily on funding from Iran in the past but now Israels archenemy has looked on disapprovingly as the faction in Gaza works to reach a long-term arrangement with Israel  via indirect negotiations brokered by Egypt  to restore calm.

The group also recently elected a new secretary-general, Ziad Nakhaleh, who is said to have close ties to the Iranian regime.

Balousha contributed to this report from Gaza City.
Palestinian militants said on Saturday they would halt attacks into Israel from the Gaza Strip after they fired the heaviest rocket salvoes across the border since August.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad, one of the armed groups that operates in Gaza, said it fired the rockets in retaliation for Israel's killing of four Palestinian protesters on Friday.

Israel in response struck dozens of targets in the Gaza Strip on Saturday.

A spokesman for the militants said an Egyptian-mediated truce had been reached.

"After contacts between the Islamic Jihad leadership and the brothers in Egypt it was agreed that a comprehensive ceasefire will begin immediately," spokesman Daoud Shehab said. "The Islamic Jihad will abide by the ceasefire if the occupation (Israel) does the same."

Egyptian security officials have been talking separately to Israeli and Palestinian leaders in an attempt to restore calm along the border.

An Israeli military spokeswoman declined comment on Shehab's remarks and there was no immediate response from other Israeli officials. Israel rarely acknowledges it has reached a truce with Gaza's militant groups which it designates as terrorist organisations.

Earlier, Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Conricus accused Syria and Iran of involvement in the rocket attack.

"Orders and incentives were given from Damascus with a clear involvement of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards al-Quds force," Conricus told reporters. "Our response is not limited geographically."

Israel regularly accuses Iran of aiding Gaza militants, but rarely levels the charge in connection with a specific rocket attack.

Shehab dismissed the allegation as "an Israeli attempt to escape its responsibility" for Friday's protest deaths.

Palestinians have been protesting along the frontier since March 30, demanding an end to an Israeli blockade and the right to return to lands from which they fled or were driven from when Israel was founded in 1948.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, 213 Gazans have been killed by Israeli occupation forces during the protests. An Israeli soldier was killed by a Palestinian sniper.

About two million Palestinians are packed into the Gaza Strip which is in a deep economic crisis. Israel besieged Gaza Strip since 2007, waging three wars 2008, 2012 and 2014, leaving more than 3000 Palestinians killed, thousands injured and infrastructure in shambles.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online.

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The sprawling new airport under construction on the outskirts of Mexico City is one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in this countrys history, with a $14-billion price tag.

Its also one of the most controversial public undertakings in recent memory, with Mexicos incoming president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, once describing it as a bottomless pit of corruption.

Now, Lopez Obrador is putting the question of whether Mexico should go forward with the new airport to a popular vote, holding a nationwide referendum on the issue.

The public consultation, held at 1,073 polling places over four days ending Sunday, is an unprecedented step for Mexico, whose constitution does not spell out the effect of referendums. It so far appears to have been rife with irregularities, with some Mexicans reporting harassment at polling locations and others saying they were allowed to cast ballots multiple times.

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The stakes are high for Mexicos economy and for Lopez Obrador, whose populist platform helped him win in a landslide and who will take office Dec. 1.

Lopez Obrador has vowed to cancel the airport project if it is rejected by voters, which would set him on a collision course with business interests and a powerful group of investors that includes Mexicos wealthiest man.

Mexicos president-elect, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, casts a vote to decide whether construction of a new airport in Mexico City should continue. (Mario Guzman / EPA/Shutterstock)

There is no question that Mexico Citys current airfield, Benito Juarez International Airport, is woefully inadequate. The aging facility serves more passengers than any other airport in Latin America  nearly 50% more people than it was originally designed for.

But exactly how to address the problem has been the subject of intense debate.

In 2014, President Enrique Pena Nieto announced plans for construction of a vast new airport on a marshy wetland in Texcoco, about 14 miles north of the citys historical center. High-profile investors including billionaire tycoon Carlos Slim quickly signed on to build the project, which was designed by award-winning British architect Norman Foster and Mexican architect Fernando Romero, who happens to be Slims son-in-law.

With three runways and a futuristic-looking terminal shaped like an X, the airport would be the largest in the Americas and the third-largest in the world. It is already about a third completed.

(Los Angeles Times)

But the project is fiercely opposed by residents of Texcoco, who say it will threaten one of the citys last remaining wilderness areas, and by critics who point to the ballooning price tag as evidence of corruption. The airport was originally due to open in 2020 and cost $8.7 billion, but is now scheduled to open two years later and cost about 40% more.

Then theres the matter of the ground where the new airport is being built. Like the rest of the city, it is a former lake bed that was filled in by Mexicos Spanish conquerors, and is rapidly sinking. Environmental reports show that the ground in Texcoco is sinking at an even higher rate than the rest of the metropolis.

Lopez Obrador, whose pledge to end Mexicos rampant corruption helped him win more than 50% of the vote in this summers presidential election, promised to cancel the new airport project as a candidate, despite the billions of dollars already spent. As an alternative, he proposed continuing to use the existing airport while adding a second one at a Mexico City military base.

After he was elected, Lopez Obrador changed course, saying he would let voters decide. The referendum kicked off Thursday and ends Sunday, with results expected Sunday night.

His strategy has been praised by some as democracy in action while harangued by others who say most voters dont have the technical knowledge to make an informed decision about such a complicated infrastructure project.

Interviews with voters at several polling sites suggest the referendum has been plagued with irregularities.

Mexico City resident Javier Montesinos, 32, said he voted four times in the referendum in favor of the new airport. He said he voted multiple times to prove that the referendum, which is being run by volunteers, is poorly organized and unreliable.

Its not cheating, its demonstrating that the consultation is a farce, Montesinos said. I worry that the Lopez Obrador government is like this consultation: a mockery, a farce.

Rosario Diaz, 42, said she was able to vote against the new airport without displaying her federal voter card.

She said the organizer asked her first if she planned to vote against the new airport. If you said yes, they told you it did not matter if you dont have your voter card, she said.

Others said they welcomed the process to vote directly on a project that will impact the lives of many.

Do you prefer decisions to be made unilaterally, as former presidents have always done? asked Dolores Servin, a 22-year-old university student. Lopez Obrador wants our opinion, and that seems extraordinary to me. I am very much in favor of these consultations, of being asked what I want for my country.

In this Oct. 17, 2018, photo, men work on the site of Mexico Citys new airport on Lake Texcocos dry lake bed. (Marco Ugarte / Associated Press)

On Friday, as reports mounted over possible voting irregularities, Lopez Obrador described the process as a clean, credible democratic process, and said nobody would dare alter the outcome.

In a statement, he said that 250,000 people voted on Thursday, a small fraction of Mexicos population of 130 million.

He has pledged to hold referendums on other issues, including Pena Nietos controversial energy reforms, which opened Mexicos oil sector up to foreign investment.

We are going to govern like this, he said in his statement, asking the people.

kate.linthicum@latimes.com

Twitter: @katelinthicum
Mexican authorities have broken up a second attempted migrant caravan near the countrys southern border, as Mexico  under pressure from U.S. authorities to halt the northward flow  offered temporary residency to Central Americans who would agree to remain in the country.

The second caravan, numbering 200 to 300, was much smaller than the major U.S.-bound caravan and was stopped shortly after setting off on a highway just north of the Mexico-Guatemala border on Friday. More than 100 people were arrested and face deportation, a police official said.

In a recorded national address, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said Central Americans who applied for refugee status and vowed to remain in the southern states of Chiapas and Oaxaca would be offered provisional residency permits, work papers and access to healthcare and schools.

Mexico wants to protect and help you, Pena Nieto said, addressing the migrants and outlining the new plan, named Estas en Tu Casa, or, Make Yourself at Home.

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The proposal seemed designed at least in part to demonstrate to Washington that Mexico City was doing something to halt the northbound caravan, which President Trump has labeled a national emergency and repeatedly used as a campaign issue ahead of congressional elections Nov. 6. Trump has announced plans to deploy troops along the southwestern border to thwart the groups advance.

Mexican authorities have eschewed police action against the caravan, which began marching north from southern Mexico last weekend. Most caravan members are Honduran nationals who entered Mexico illegally via Guatemala.

Mexico, the largest source of immigrants in the United States, faces a dilemma between its pronounced commitment to human rights and pressure from Washington to stop the caravan.

The number of current participants has been estimated at 3,500 to 4,000, though there is no precise count of the rag-tag group that has often stretched several miles along the highway. Many others have dropped out and returned home because of the grueling conditions, including intense heat and tropical downpours.

The caravan began two weeks ago in Honduras and has since captured international headlines while drawing the ire of the Trump administration.

The Mexican governments offer on Friday of temporary residence and other benefits had limited impact on caravan participants.

The Mexican media reported that many in the caravan rejected Mexicos plan during an assembly held in the town of Arriaga, in southern Mexico, where the Central Americans camped out in the central square and elsewhere, as is their custom. Caravan members objected to the idea of being confined to Mexicos southern states, among the countrys poorest, and were skeptical of avoiding deportation.

Caravan participants say they plan to continue their northward trek, advancing into Oaxaca state after having traversed much of Chiapas. The caravan is still some 1,000 miles from the nearest point along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Reports indicate that the group plans to proceed on a route taking them through Mexico City. There, caravan representatives may seek a meeting with officials from the Mexican government and from the incoming administration of President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who takes office on Dec. 1.

Times staff writer Kate Linthicum and special correspondent Cecilia Sanchez in Mexico City contributed to this report.

patrick.mcdonnell@latimes.com

Twitter: @PmcdonnellLAT
It was a little less than a year ago that Lebanons prime minister, Saad Hariri, was apparently summoned to Saudi Arabia and reportedly slapped around before delivering a bizarre resignation speech  later rescinded.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was widely presumed to be the mastermind behind the episode, which many Lebanese characterized as a kidnapping.

So it was a surprise last week to see Hariri share the stage at an investor conference in the Saudi capital with Prince Mohammed, who was delivering his first public remarks since the slaying of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrives with former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri at the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh on Oct. 24. (Fayez Nureldine / AFP/Getty Images)

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It was even more of a surprise when the crown prince brought up the incident with Hariri.

I just want to say Prime Minister Saad is spending two days in Saudi Arabia, so I hope there wont be any rumors that hes kidnapped, the prince joked.

Im totally free! Hariri responded, in what many later called a Stockholm Syndrome-inspired performance.

That expression of fealty captured the treacherous landscape Saudi Arabias allies must now navigate when dealing with a leader not known for tolerating dissent. Prince Mohammed is presumed to be keeping tabs on those who have stuck by him even as Khashoggis death continues to elicit global condemnation.

From the first days following Khashoggis disappearance after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul more than three weeks ago, Middle Eastern governments have had to balance how to remain in Riyadhs good graces while an inexorable drip-line of leaks by Turkish officials pointed to a cruel killing and dismemberment of a onetime insider turned critic.

That task was complicated by Saudi Arabias acknowledgment of the killing, the conflicting versions of the incident its officials have offered, and mounting questions surrounding Prince Mohammeds connection to the incident.

Saudi Arabia is living through another 9/11 moment, Adam Ereli, a former U.S. ambassador to Bahrain, said in a phone interview on Wednesday. He referred to the attack on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, as a low point in U.S.-Saudi relations when it emerged that 15 of the 19 hijackers held Saudi passports.

For the Saudis, its now, Youre either with us or against us, Ereli said.

Saudi Arabia has long used its oil riches as both a carrot and a cudgel to bend allies to its will.

A number of states, including Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Bahrain, will be in Riyadhs camp regardless of its loss of leverage, said Michael Stephens, a Middle East expert at the Royal United Services Institute.

Theres nothing they can do, theyre under the wing of Saudi patronage, Stephens said in a phone interview on Wednesday.

Another example of what is at stake came on Wednesday, when Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan chose to attend the conference in Riyadh, despite an international boycott of the event.

He was rewarded when Prince Mohammed gave him $6 billion, including $3 billion to import barrels of oil, according to state-aligned media in both countries.

Another attendee: Jordans King Abdullah II.

Jordans King Abdullah II and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attend the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh on Oct. 23. (Fayez Nureldine / AFP/Getty Images)

Earlier this year, after he faced a raft of protests against a deeply unpopular austerity program, Saudi Arabia led a Gulf-based drive to give him billions of dollars in grants and investments.

When Saudi Arabia came under fire this month, Amman declared its full support, with the Jordanian monarch pictured sitting beside the crown prince on the first day of the investor conference.

The crown prince of Bahrain also showed up with Prince Mohammed, joining him and Hariri for the plenary session on the second day of the conference. And Egypt, which earlier had come out in support of Saudi Arabia, sent a sizable delegation.

The relationship Saudi Arabia shares with the United Arab Emirates is even more special. Under Prince Mohammeds guidance, the UAE has formed a tight alliance with Saudi Arabia.

The two countries act as partners in the war on Yemen, and sought to destroy the Muslim Brotherhood, the transnational Sunni Islamist movement, in countries such as Egypt and Libya while working against countries that support it, including Qatar and Turkey.

Because its rich in its own right, Stephens said, the UAE could forge its own path in the belief that following MbS is not necessarily in its national interest as it was before. (Prince Mohammed is widely known by the initials MbS.)

Yet the UAE wholeheartedly subscribes to Saudi Arabias insistence that the anger around the Khashoggi matter is a Muslim Brotherhood-led conspiracy.

The vicious campaign against Riyadh and the coordination between those inciting it is expected, the UAEs foreign minister, Anwar Gargash, tweeted earlier this month.

The repercussions for targeting Saudi Arabia, he continued, will be grave for those behind it.

Then there are Saudis themselves.

At least publicly, residents have closed ranks around their leader. Hundreds of thousands of Saudis on Twitter have raced to defend Prince Mohammed and excoriate anyone writing against him.

But its difficult to gauge the sincerity of those who could suffer travel bans, imprisonment and even execution for speaking out of turn.

That point was illustrated on Tuesday when the crown prince was pictured giving condolences to Khashoggis eldest son, Salah.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman shakes hands with Salah Khashoggi, a son of Jamal Khashoggi, in Riyadh on Oct. 23. (Saudi Press Agency / Associated Press)

In the image sent out on the Saudi Foreign Ministrys Twitter account, Salah looks stricken, offering a limp hand when shaking the hand of the man many believe to be responsible for his fathers slaying.

His reward for playing along? A lifting of a travel ban placed on him and his family earlier this year.

Two days later, he was on a plane out of the country.

Twitter: @nabihbulos
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Counsel causing too large a delay before oral hearing is scheduled, the number of issues raised on appeal, and what makes a good appellate lawyer were some of the subjects on Judge Kara Stolls mind at the AIPLA meeting
Khalifa Haftar, Libyan National Army (LNA) commander, has said he will attend a conference in Sicily next month aimed at reconciling rival factions in the north African nation, Italy's foreign minister said on Saturday.

The meeting will be held in the Sicilian capital, Palermo, on Nov. 12 and 13, with key players from both within Libya and abroad set to take part, Enzo Moavero told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Florence.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is among foreign leaders slated to attend, while the United States, Russia and France have also promised to send high-level representatives, Moavero said.

Italy is particularly anxious to ensure that Haftar turns up, fearing a no-show on his part would kill off any hopes of finding a political settlement to end years of violence in the oil-rich nation.

"He should be there (in Palermo). He gave us his assurance that he would be, so we count on the fact that he will be there," Moavero said.

Libyan National Army (LNA) last year seized the country's second-largest city, Benghazi, by expelling Islamist. He is the main rival of Prime Minister Fayez Seraj, who leads a U.N.-brokered transitional government based in Tripoli, the capital.

While Seraj is firmly backed by Italy, Libya's former colonial ruler, Haftar has the support of Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.

Libya slid into lawlessness after the NATO-backed uprising in 2011 that overthrew Muammar Gaddafi.

Haftar launched a campaign in May 2014 in Benghazi that lasted three years, styling himself as a military leader capable of restoring order.

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'Rosita' threatens cagayan, Isabela

posted October 27, 2018 at 08:38 pm by Manila Standard October 27, 2018 at 08:38 pm

Typhoon ''Rosita'' (international name: Yutu) was moving toward Luzon on Saturday and was expected to make landfall over Cagayan Valley, particularly Cagayan and Isabela, on Tuesday, weathermen told a news briefing. Tropical Cyclone Warning Signals may possibly be raised over the eastern section of Northern and Central Luzon tonight and over Metro Manila tomorrow evening, weathermen added. Light to moderate rains are expected over Northern Luzon, recently battered by a series of powerful typhoons, and the eastern section of Central Luzon, the countrys rice granary, tomorrow night. On Tuesday, heavy rains are predicted over these areas, particularly Isabela, Cagayan, Aurora, and Quezon on Luzons eastern seaboard facing the Pacific Ocean. Strong to very strong winds are also expected in the eastern section of Northern and Central Luzon starting Tuesday. The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said sea travel was dangerous over the northern and eastern seaboards of Luzon and the seaboard of Samar in Eastern Visayas. Flooding and landslides are also possible, PAGASA said. By Tuesday night, the rains would be concentrated over Western and Central Luzon including Zambales, Bataan, and Ilocos.It will be rainy the whole day Tuesday over Northern and Central Luzon including Metro Manila. On Wednesday morning, rains are expected over Bataan, Zambales, and Ilocos Region. By Wednesday evening, the rains will be over the West Philippine Sea and weather conditions will start improving. As of 10 a.m. on Saturday, the eye of Rositawhich has a diameter of 800 kilometerswas spotted at 1,345 kilometers east of Aparri, Cagayan and was moving west at 20 kph and has winds of 200-245 kph. Rositas diameter is 800 kilometers, bringing rain to a wider area. PAGASA said Rosita is highly similar to Typhoon ''Ompong'' which caused devastation in Cagayan and Isabela area in September. READ: Typhoon gaining strength near PAR

COMMENT DISCLAIMER: Reader comments posted on this Web site are not in any way endorsed by Manila Standard. Comments are views by manilastandard.net readers who exercise their right to free expression and they do not necessarily represent or reflect the position or viewpoint of manilastandard.net. While reserving this publications right to delete comments that are deemed offensive, indecent or inconsistent with Manila Standard editorial standards, Manila Standard may not be held liable for any false information posted by readers in this comments section.
Difficult Market Spooks Stock Investors

We have been following the news cycles for many months regarding the prognosticators that believe the sky is falling in the global markets and we find it interesting to see how quickly the bulls turn to bears when the market rotates 4~5% or more. The reality is that in traditional market price rotation, a 3~5% market price rotation is a very healthy component of price advance or price declines.

When we consider the price swings within the SPY from early 2017 till now, we are looking at a total of at least 18% total Low to High price swings with a number of large 6~8% price rotations and many 2~4% smaller price rotations. The natural rotation of price, as Fibonacci price theory teaches, is that price will always attempt to establish a new higher high or lower low in the process of extended trends. This means that price is always attempting to find and establish some new price high or low by rotating/trending within existing/past high or low price levels.

This is fairly obvious to see in the chart, above, where the initial downside price rotation in February 2018 established the deeper price low. This low price level was still higher than the previous price low on the left edge of this chart. As you can see, after the February 2018 price low, price continued to rotate in an attempt to establish a new price high or price low beyond the existing highest and lowest price levels. It failed many time to accomplish this new price high or low and, in doing so, continued to rotate within a narrower price range. Until

May 2018 price pushed above the most recent price high channels and established a NEW Breakout Price High. This established the price trend as Bullish again and began a normal type of price rotation higher. In the process, it established a number of price lows that we can use as reference points for prior support and for our analysis of Fibonacci Price Theory as it relates to this current price move lower.

Getting to the current price charts and trying to make sense of the Fibonacci Price Theory example, above, is something we all need to pay attention to. Understanding price theory is only one component of the overall analysis process. There are many aspects to technical analysis and one of the most important is to understand how price operate within a global environment  the global economy. Price becomes a variant of many aspects of the global economic environment and is continually related to various external factors of the global economy and the perceptions of traders/investors. Putting it in simple terms, price becomes a factor of whatever price investors are willing to pay for the safety and security of any type of various investment instruments OR whatever price investors are willing to sell at for the safety and security of exiting any type of various investment instruments.

Keeping all of this in mind, remember that the US Equity market is, in our opinion, the leading capital market and investment destination on the planet right now. There is no other source as big, as varied, as capable and as liquid as the US Equities and Capital markets.

This Weekly SPY chart highlights a few key elements of the current price swings and one key element which is the Standard Deviation channels. Within this chart, weve drawn two Standard Deviation Channels that originate on November 8, 2016, and continue through today  a 2.0 StdDev channel and a 3.0 StdDev channel. The purpose of showing you these channel ranges and levels is to more clearly illustrate the type and level of current price rotation that we are seeing in the US Markets. The current price rotation originated near the top of the 2.0 StdDev channel and rotated to near the low of the 2.0 StdDev channel. In relative terms, this is nothing more than a common price rotation that has yet to extend beyond normal rotational channels.

Support from the February 2018 price rotation and what we call the Price Support Zone are still intact and active as core elements of current price support. In other words, the price would have to fall below $259.00 before we would be concerned with any massive Fibonacci Price Theory price reversal.

This SPY Daily chart shows the same Standard Deviation channels and the Support from Feb 2018 as key elements of this chart. The importance of this chart is to understand that the current lows, near $270 (or the lower 3.0 StdDev channel) are the low price level that acts as massive support for this potential bottom. Should price break below this level, then the $259 level becomes our next target and we could assume price has entered a short-term bearish mode.

Right now, we believe the bearish price trend will end near this support level and will soon begin an upward price move very similar to what happened after the February 2018 lows were established. Volatility is high right now and the price will rotate to establish new high and low price levels just like we saw on the first chart of this article. Eventually, price will consolidate and break to one side or the other. Our modeling systems suggest the breakout move will be to the upside again.

Playing this move with skill and understanding of price theory and dynamics can allow you to identify and execute incredibly profitable trades throughout this price rotation. Dont be fooled by the news cycle content. Expect price to rotate within a 3~4% range for the next few weeks while volatility decreases and price range decreases. Near November 8 ~ 12, we expect an ultimate price bottom that will likely be the start of a new Bullish price trend and result in a new Breakout move to the upside. Nothing, so far, is unusual in terms of price rotation. Be smart and take advantage of these price setups while you can.

If you want to learn about what we do and how we help our members find greater success, please visit www.TheTechnicalTraders.com to learn more. We pride ourselves on being ahead of these market moves and helping our members find and execute trades for greater success. We called this downside market move over 3 weeks before it happened and you can read how we did it by visiting www.TheTechnicalTraders.com/FreeResearch/. Please take a minute to see if our services and tools can help you create greater success in 2019 and beyond.

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.



He is a regular speaker on HoweStreet.com, and the FinancialSurvivorNetwork radio shows. Chris was also featured on the cover of AmalgaTrader Magazine, and contributes articles to several leading financial hubs like MarketOracle.co.uk

Disclaimer: Nothing in this report should be construed as a solicitation to buy or sell any securities mentioned. Technical Traders Ltd., its owners and the author of this report are not registered broker-dealers or financial advisors. Before investing in any securities, you should consult with your financial advisor and a registered broker-dealer. Never make an investment based solely on what you read in an online or printed report, including this report, especially if the investment involves a small, thinly-traded company that isnt well known. Technical Traders Ltd. and the author of this report has been paid by Cardiff Energy Corp. 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.

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she and French President Emmanuel Macron discussed on Saturday the implications of the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and agreed to find a common European Union position on arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

Merkel has vowed to halt all German arms exports to Saudi Arabia until the killing of Khashoggi is explained.

"We agreed that when we have more clarity, and we are counting on that, when we know who was behind this then we will try to find a unified European solution or reaction from all member states of the European Union to show that we negotiate on the basis of common values," Merkel told reporters in Istanbul.

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A constitutional crisis in Sri Lanka deepened on Saturday as President Maithripala Sirisena temporarily suspended parliament a day after sacking the prime minister and replacing him with a former leader seen as being close to China.

Sirisena fired Ranil Wickremesinghe and swore in former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as his replacement late on Friday in a move cheered by Rajapaksa's supporters but described as a coup by opponents.

The president's order to suspend parliament until Nov. 16 was widely seen as an attempt to stop Wickremesinghe from trying to prove he maintains a parliamentary majority even after Sirisena pulled his party out of the ruling coalition.

Wickremesinghe says he is still prime minister and, soon before the suspension was announced, he had urged the speaker to convene a session to prove his majority.

"I have the majority in the parliament, convene the parliament to resolve this," Wickremesinghe told a news conference in Colombo on Saturday, flanked by all his coalition partners except Sirisena's party.

At least one lawmaker from Wickremesinghe's party, Ananda Aluthgamage, said he would now back Rajapaksa and told reporters at least another 20 legislators also planned to change sides.

Under the constitution, the president can appoint a new prime minister if the current premier loses parliamentary control.

An opposition leader and Rajapaksa ally G.L. Pieris said, however, that parliament's suspension was aimed at facilitating the establishment of a new government. Sources said a new cabinet would be sworn in soon.

"The parliament has to allocate new seats ... we can't arrange all these in one or two days. We need time," he said.

The shutdown means the country's national budget will not be released as scheduled on Nov. 5 and Pieris said the new administration would work with a temporary budget for now.

Firecrackers were set off in celebration in Colombo late on Friday as Sirisena administered the oath of office to Rajapaksa, while Wickremesinghe was off touring the country's south.

Under Sri Lanka's constitution, the president has executive powers while the prime minister heads parliament.

Hundreds of angry Wickremesinghe supporters turned to his official residence to express their solidarity to their leader, a four-time prime minister.

"Sirisena is a traitor. He let our leader down despite us bringing him to power," one of the supporters told Reuters.

Media and Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera called Wickremesinghe's ouster "an anti-democratic coup".

The crisis comes against a backdrop of weakening economic growth and follows months of infighting in the ruling coalition, and analysts say the heightened uncertainty could roil markets.

Relations between Wickremesinghe's United National Party (UNP) and Sirisena's United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) became strained after Sirisena criticised Wickremesinghe for not adequately investigating an assassination plot targeting the president. The UPFA had threatened to quit the ruling coalition.

Sirisena accused Indian intelligence services of involvement in the plot, a claim denied by New Delhi and Colombo.

India, which has long seen Sri Lanka, located just off its southern tip, as part of its area of influence, has not yet commented about the crisis. The Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request seeking comment on Rajapaksa's appointment.

India has been concerned about Rajapaksa's ties to China. As president, he ushered in billions of dollars of investment from Beijing to help rebuild the country following the end of a 26-year-long civil war against Tamil separatists in 2009.

That investment has since put the island nation deep in debt and forced it to hand over control of a strategic southern port to China, drawing criticism from India and the United States.

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Acting Director of the US Trade and Development Agency Thomas Hardy has met several Egyptian ministers, including Petroleum Minister Tarek El-Molla, to discuss the agencys support for US commercial engagement in Egypts infrastructure development.

During the visit, Hardy signed a grant with Egyptian energy and electric cable corporation El Sewedy Electric to evaluate the technical, regulatory and financial viability of a waste lube oil collection and re-refining network in Egypt, the US embassy posted on its website.

We are pleased to support this important project that will advance Egypts energy development goals, Hardy said in a statement.

Todays grant is an excellent example of the types of projects that USTDA supports, one with a strongly committed Egyptian partner who seeks the best of U.S. technology in achieving its objectives.

Hardy also met with leaders and members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt to explore areas of collaboration between US and Egyptian businesses.

The US Trade and Development Agency helps companies export US goods and services for priority development projects in emerging economies.

USTDAs past successes in Egypt include a vessel traffic management system in the Suez Canal and various petrochemicals plants.

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Chinas commitment to cooperation and development in regions across the world appears different in nature to that of previous Western colonial drives

The question shot out like a bullet during a joint press conference that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Abul-Gheit and Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir held at the end of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum (CASCF) in Beijing several weeks ago.

I could not believe that the person who fired out the question was a Chinese journalist from the Xinhua News Agency. Addressing Foreign Minister Yi, she said: In January, there was a China cooperation forum with Latin American countries.

Today, a cooperation forum has been held with Arab countries. In a few weeks, a cooperation forum with African countries will take place. Can you explain to us what China is trying to accomplish through all these forums?

It was a question I might have expected from a journalist working with Reuters or Associated Press. I had not imagined that the official state-run news agency in a communist country had reached such a level of development and audacity because, generally, in such important conferences, the questions are agreed upon in advance, especially when it comes to a senior official in a major power such as China.

Yi answered the question frankly and succinctly: Chinas first aim is to build world peace, security and stability. In its capacity as the largest developing nation in the world, China seeks to help friendly developing nations in Asia and Africa, and thereby to improve the standards of living of their peoples.

China does not interfere in the domestic affairs of other nations. It seeks to build genuine partnerships with other countries on the basis of mutual respect and cooperation in the framework of mutual gain.

In fact, the Chinese journalists question has surfaced with increasing persistence in recent years in the international, and especially the Western media.

The China-Africa Cooperation Forum was founded in 2000. Its last summit, attended by around 50 African leaders, most notably President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi, was just held a few days ago.

The China-Arab Cooperation Forum was established in 2004 and its eighth session, which I had the honour to attend as a representative of Al-Ahram, was held in Beijing several weeks ago. CASCF has 22 member states.

More recently came the Forum of China and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) which has 33 members.

In addition, there is the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) which includes Chinas neighbours in Central Asia and which was recently joined by India, Pakistan and Russia.

Vladimir Putin attended the last SCO conference in China, even though Moscow eyes the organisation with suspicion as it believes that China is trying to pull the rug out from beneath what Russia regards as its natural sphere of influence in Central Asia.

Grander yet, is the Belt and Road Initiative unveiled by President Xi Jinping in 2013 and which currently has 68 member states. Some $150 billion worth of projects, especially infrastructural projects, are in the process of being carried out on what is also known as the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-century Maritime Silk Road.

The Belt and Road Initiative, which will link China by land and sea to dozens of countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America, triggered a flurry of speculation, suspicions and even outright accusations.

But, Chinas other cooperation forums with the Arabs, Africans and Latin Americans stirred no less of a storm of suspicion and allegations in the Western media, especially with regard to Chinese-African relations, Chinas huge investments and infrastructural projects in many African countries and its generous aid deals to help those countries escape the vicious cycle of poverty and want.

It is little wonder, therefore, that the success of the recent Forum on China-African Cooperation (FOCAC), which brought together a throng of African leaders and featured a major $60 billion aid package that President Xi Jinping unveiled in his opening address, would provoke a rush of questions and suspicions among analysts and Western media concerning Chinas intentions or ambitions in Africa, dubbed Chinas Second Continent by Howard French in his 2014 book by that title.

Chinese-African relations and cooperation have taken enormous strides since FOCAC was launched 18 years ago. China has been Africas first trading partner for nine years running.

Chinese investments in Africa have increased 100-fold and the volume of trade between China and Africa exceeded $100 billion during the first six months of 2018 alone.

In his address at the FOCAC conference, the Chinese president pledged a $60 billion aid package to Africa over the next three years.

It consists of $15 billion of aid and interest free and facilitated loans, $20 billion in the form of development funds; $10 billion to finance development projects, a $5 billion fund to support Chinese imports from Africa and $10 billion new Chinese investments in Africa.

On top of that, Xi announced that his government had decided to write off the debt from interest free loans due by the end of 2018 for poor and debt encumbered African countries.

More importantly, as Peter Gary, professor of development studies at the National University of South Africa, put it, China is offering Africa much more than support, aid and investment.

It is offering the Chinese experience in combatting poverty, a model that African countries can learn from and emulate in order to end the continents chronic poverty and shift from an agrarian or fishing based economy to an economy based on industry and production.

The Chinese approach contrasts sharply with that of European colonising powers which plundered (as they continue to do today) Africas wealth and resources and used them to fuel their own industrial revolutions, in return for which they offered Africans the scraps and handouts needed to survive as slaves employed in extracting and mining the raw materials to be shipped to the West to keep their factories running.

Instead of teaching Africans how to industrialise and training them on advanced technologies, Western powers were determined to prevent the Africans and Arabs from accessing modern technologies for fear of what they might do with them.

This is not Chinas way, at least not yet, according to an exceptional article by Nick Van Mead in The Guardian entitled China in Africa. Chinas projects, such as the transformation of the tiny fishing village of Bagamoyo in Tanzania into Africas largest port, the 290-mile railway from Nairobi to the port city of Mombasa, the 470-mile railway from Addis Ababa to Djibouti, not to mention the Tazara railway line from Zambia to Dar Es Salaam that the Chinese build in the 1960s, all stand as proof that rather than merely giving fish to Africans, China is teaching them how to fish.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 25 October, 2018 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: Bringing the Chinese experience to Africa

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